ã€ŠDistorted (Pokemon SI)ã€‹


 (1) Freefalling~

    The sound of rushing wind bled into my consciousness as I slowly came to. I¡¯m falling?

    Wait¡­... Aren¡¯t I dead? People usually die when a plane explodes and drops outta the sky¡­ Is this the afterlife?

    I slowly opened my eyes and took in the painfully bright and saturated blue galaxy zooming by.

    Huh. This is not what I thought being dead would be like. I¡¯m freeeeeefaaaaaalllling~

    I cackled as the song played through my head.

    ¡°Niiihihihihihilego!!!¡± A shrill echoing cry broke me from the joys of my skydiving experience. Shifting around to see what made the sound, I let out a shrill yelp as a white jellyfish creature who¡¯d just appeared out from who knows where floated towards me, greedily reaching out towards me with its tentacles.

    ¡°Gah shit! What the fuck???!¡± It grabbed my leg as I flailed around, trying to get away. ¡°GET OFF!¡± I kicked the jellyfish with my free leg, sinking my foot into it¡¯s soft head.

    The tentacles grip tightened, causing me to yelp again as pain lanced through my leg.

    ¡°Getoffgetoffgetoff!¡±

    Unflinching, the jellyfish grabbed onto my kicking leg and pulled me closer, chattering in glee.

    Great! Now I¡¯m gonna be jellyfish food! What type of afterlife is this?

    ¡°SOOOLL!¡± A metallic roar vibrated the very air around us, making the jellyfish flinch and loosen its grip on me. Taking this chance, I gave it another solid kick and broke free of its grasp, using it¡¯s head as a launchpad to jump away.

    As soon as I jumped, a glowing white lion with dazzling gold, blue, and orange highlights crashed into the jellyfish, tearing into it¡¯s pale flesh. The shockwave from its impact sent me spinning away into the torso of another creature. A giant bat with a night sky skin texture and golden edges looked curiously down at me with glowing dark pink eyes.

    Wait, Lunala and Solgaleo? Da heck??? I gave the night bat a bewildered stare, mouth agape as my already fried brain tried to process this sudden revelation.

    Lunala trilled as a light melodic voice spoke in my head. Yes indeed strange one~ I haven¡¯t come across a human soul before, how curious!

    ¡°What?!¡± I asked, what did it mean by human soul?

    This is no place for a dead wanderer~ Maybe¨Chm?

    Lunala was interrupted by Solgaleo¡¯s shriek of pain, its eyes narrowed as it glanced at its companion. A shiny black amalgamation of geometric shapes had Solgaleo in its claws while the latter was writhing in its grip.

    Necrozma? Why in the? This is all going too fast, I need a moment-

    My train of thought crashed and burned when Lunala careened us both to the side, a blindingly bright Hyper Beam barely missing us. The sheer heat from the energy blast made me feel like I was boiling alive despite Lunala shielding me with its wings.

    Uh oh, ummm, I have to go. Do not worry, I shall drop you in a safe place! I think. Lunala gave me a derpy smile as it waved its wing. A a glowing interdimensional hole swirled to life beside us.

    ¡°Wait, what do you mean ¡®you think¡¯?!¡± I screamed, but I got no answer as Lunala shoved me into the wormhole.

    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

    Lunala¡¯s form zoomed away at light speed and a string of expletives flew out of my mouth as I careened through Ultra Space. Dazzling displays of otherworldly colors and shapes spun around me as an unholy assortment of extraterrestrial sounds bombarded my poor ears.

    Black symbols with large eyes phased in and out of my vision, swirling in kaleidoscoping spirals, chanting in childish voices, ¡°Laaaa~ Laaaa~¡±

    This was too much. Someone needs to turn the goddamn sound dial down! I tried to block out the sounds by covering my ears with my hands, but my hands were transparents and phased through my head. I was just waiting to wake up and for all of this to be a crazy bad dream that I could forget about.

    ¡°Fucking assholes!¡± I screamed at the shifting mass of living symbols. ¡°Get me outta here! I don¡¯t want to be a space ghost anymore this fucking sucks!¡±

    Just as I was about to shriek out another string of curses at the asshole who thought it would be funny to drop me into this situation, the sounds and colors stopped.

    ¡°OOMPH!¡± The breath was forced out of my lungs as I landed face-first into the ground, eating a mouthful of dirt. Coughing and spitting out grass and soil, I unceremoniously crawled to my feet with a groan and blearily surveyed my surroundings.

    The sky was a mix of nauseatingly oversaturated dark blues and neon aquas. Islands of all shapes and sizes floated in the air, oriented in random directions and the waterfalls attached to each island flowed in completely wrong directions.

    ¡°Ahahaha¡­ This is crazy. Pokemon? Clearly I missed the memo on how truck-kun¡¯s abilities extended to airplanes. ¡±

    Taking in a deep breath and running my hands through my hair, I finally took stock of the situation I had landed in.

    I¡¯ve read a few Pokemon isekai fanfics before, but to think that it would happen to me.

    Finally, my eyes registered that I wasn¡¯t see through anymore. I felt my face, yep. Perfectly solid.

    ¡°Hehehehe¡­¡± I let out a few more nervous chuckles, this felt like some sort of crazy dream. This was all a dream and I would wake up back on the airplane and think about this weird dream I had before moving on with my life.

    I closed my eyes and pinched my arm hard before opening them again. Nothing changed. I took another more measured glance at my surroundings. There isn''t a Pokemon region with floating islands like this.

    Then it hit me. ¡°The Distortion world?¡± I rubbed my face and took another disbelieving look at my surroundings. Still the same collection of floating islands and awful color schemes.

    Out of all the places to end up in the Pokemon world, the Distortion world was far from ideal, I¡¯d rather just be dumped in the Pokemon wilderness. Well, I guess this probably isn¡¯t the worst world place to be sent to, I could¡¯ve been dumped into the middle of a Team Rocket base.

    As far as I knew, the only other being here would be Giratina. No idea on if the literal devil of the Pokemon world is as friendly with random isekaiied stranger as it is in the anime with Ash and his kid show protagonist plot armor.

    ¡°Am I just gonna be stuck here? Is this really real?¡± It definitely was real, no dream I¡¯d ever had felt this real. I could feel the individual blades of grass beneath my hands when I touched the ground, my mouth tasted very much like dirt, and I could clearly hear the sounds of water flowing off the edge of the island.

    Ignoring my aching muscles, I crawled over to the suspiciously colored pond and looked warily into the saturated blue-green iridescent water, staring at my reflection.

    Wait a minute¡­ I leaned closer to the undisturbed water and felt my face. ¡°This isn¡¯t me.¡± Last I checked I wasn¡¯t a middle schooler, I looked my myself but younger, and with unnatural colored hair and eyes. Navy blue hair and red eyes. Kinda like my default pick for customizing the player character in Pokemon.

    Honestly I would¡¯ve preferred staying my older and less colorful self, middle school was awful. Wait, I was kind of intangible before, maybe I didn¡¯t have a body? Is this a new body? Where¡¯s my old body then?

    My thought were interrupted when the water abruptly rippled like something had been thrown into it. The pond¡¯s reflection of my eyes turned a bright yellow and my mouth stretched into an abnormally wide grin.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    A small white and red blur zipped out of the pond, playfully splashing me with water before jumping away.

    I screamed and hopped back a few paces, spinning angrily to see what it was that had jumpscared me.

    ¡°Hey! Watch it!¡±

    ¡°zorua!¡± A small white and red fox-like Pokemon stood a few feet away from me with a wily grin on it¡¯s face.

    ¡°A Zorua?¡±

    The fox pokemon giggled at me before running around me joyously, kind of like a child who¡¯d found a new toy.

    I¡¯m not even going to question why there¡¯s a lone Hisuan Zorua in the distortion world. At least I¡¯m not alone anymore.

    ¡°Hey¡­ are we the only ones here? Are there more Zorua or Zoroark around? Do you know a way out of this place?¡± I asked the fox.

    The Zorua just stared at me with a blank look, head tilted to the side like a puppy.

    I sighed, ¡°I¡¯ll take that as a no. Oh well, would you like to stick around at least? It would be nice to have some company.¡±

    ¡°zorua!¡± This time Zorua responded, it grinned widely and ran a few more circles around me in excitement.

    ¡°Heh, you¡¯re a cute lil guy. Maybe I should give you a nickname. Hmmm¡­Are you a boy or girl? Do ghosts even have genders?¡± I asked, Zorua stopped in front of me and morphed the flowing tuft of hair on its head into a one.

    ¡°That¡¯s smart. First option? So you¡¯re a boy, ok¡­ummm¡­What about Swiper?¡± The Zorua sniffed haughtily, flattening his ears and shaking his head. ¡°Umm, ok, I can rapid fire them. Foxy, Frosty, Casper, Fang, Aesop, Winnie¨C¡±

    ¡°zor!¡± Zorua barked and nodded.

    ¡°You like Winnie?¡± I asked, Zorua nodded again.

    ¡°Well then Winnie, I¡¯m Azalea. What do you say about getting off this lump of dirt and finding a way out of this place?¡±

 (2) The Distortion World

    The Distortion world had a thing for contradicting natural laws. To be fair, it was pretty fun. The decreased gravity helped a lot with traveling, I could hop tens of feet without a care in the world. It felt like I was an astronaut jumping on the moon, or one of those scenes in a cartoon where the characters were jumping on clouds.

    When we came to an area without any floating chunks for us to jump across, Winnie would step up and use some sort of psychic type move to nudge chunks of dirt and rocks over for us so we wouldn¡¯t have to take longer routes.

    He struggled with the move at first and would have to concentrate for a few minutes to reach and drag over chunks that were a bit too far away, but with some encouragement and lots of practice, he was able to improve his usage of the move.

    It definitely wasn¡¯t Psychic, I don¡¯t think the Hisuan Zorua line can learn Psychic, but they can learn Extrasensory.

    Besides the Distortion world¡¯s floating islands, weird colors, there were also these weird bubbles that showed scenes of random places in the Pokemon world. Most were just places out in the wilderness, but I was able to identify a few iconic scenes, like the Spear Pillars, Lumiose tower, and what I think was the battle subway.

    I tried experimenting with the bubbles to see if they were portals out of the Distortion world but they somehow always remained just out of reach. Rocks thrown by me and attacks from Winnie didn¡¯t seem to reach or affect the bubbles either, so we quickly lost interest in them and kept moving.

    The problem was that there were nothing but floating islands as far as the eye could see. We were just going in some random direction with no real destination and had been for who knows how long.

    We made stops every now and then either to take a break or look for a change in scenery that we could explore. After a while, it began to feel like we were just going in circles, I swore that I¡¯d seen certain islands before. Not to mention how the complete muffled silence of the Distortion realm really grated on my nerves.

    Winnie¡¯s presence helped cheer me up, he wasn¡¯t super talkative while we were on the move, but during breaks he¡¯d yap to me about what I guess is whatever he was thinking about.

    The language barrier didn¡¯t stop me from understanding the basics of what he was saying thanks to how animated he was while he was explaining something.

    I¡¯d tell him about stuff too, mostly stuff about the Pokemon world, though he seemed the most interested in listening to me talk about food. I promised him that once we get out and to a city, I¡¯d find a nice restaurant for us to eat at (assuming we had the money for that).

    By the time something new came up, my legs were burning from the constant jumping. We were due for a break. A yip from Winnie alerted me to a strange vertical spiral of interconnecting islands appeared in the distance.

    There was something strange about the spiral, like when there¡¯s a heat wave and the heat makes the air shimmer. It was a no brainer for the two of us that this was our next destination. I was exhausted from moving for so long despite the breaks, but one last push would be fine, we¡¯d just take a longer break after that.

    Steadily, we made our way towards the spiraled islands looming in the distance. Eventually we came to an area with no rock or dirt chunks within Winnie¡¯s reach, the gap between islands we were trying to cross was too big and didn¡¯t have any rock chunks to cross over with.

    I was about to turn back to find another route when Winnie tapped my leg with a paw, signaling for me to wait.

    ¡°Zorua!¡± He yipped before crouching down and scrunching up his face in concentration.

    Winnie¡¯s eyes glowed blue with psychic type energy and the ground beneath us began to slowly move through the air. I crouched down and grabbed the grass on the chuck to steady myself, as Winie¡¯s Extrasensory propelled us to the closest area with chunks big enough for us to stand on.

    ¡°Thanks buddy, I was dreading having to find a roundabout way across.¡±

    ¡°Rua,¡± Winnie panted, ears and tail drooping from the effort of moving such a large chunk of dirt.

    Kneeling down, I scooped the little white fox up, ¡°Here, I¡¯ll carry you and we can stop and take a longer rest at the tower island.¡±

    Winnie grinned and hopped out from my arms onto my shoulders and head, gripping onto my head with his small claws, which made me wince.

    After making sure Winnie was in a comfortable position on my head, I continued walking towards the island tower. We had no plans after getting there, maybe make a ruckus and hope that Giratina shows up and lets us out?

    I mean, you¡¯re bound to notice a rodent in your house if it gets on top of the counter and begins yelling super loud for help, right?

    I slowly followed the trail of islands and floating rocks up and around the tower till we reached the top. My legs were beginning to feel numb from the effort of basically having just jumped up a few hundred flights of stairs, even with the light gravity.

    The last jump onto the top of the spiral island took everything left in me to get through. By then my legs were essentially noodles of no energy. Winnie hopped off of me as I let myself fall to the ground and laid down on my back, regaining my breath.

    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°Zorua!¡± The ghost fox yipped in celebration as he ran a few laps around me and jumped on my face.

    ¡°Mgrfph. Yeah, we got to the top.¡± I replied, the little fox¡¯s soft belly fur muffling my voice.

    Winnie wiggled his way off my face and curled up next to my head as I yawned and stretched. I had always been decently athletic and active, but hiking for what felt like hours almost nonstop would make anyone tired.

    Come to think of it, besides from getting tired, I don¡¯t really feel hungry or thirsty. And no need for a bathroom either¡­Eh, a mystery for another time.

    <hr>

    A sharp nip from Winnie woke me up. I blearily blinked and sat up, groaning as I felt a dull aching pain in my leg muscles. Did I fall asleep?

    Then I saw the swirling mass of singing Unown surrounding us. There were so many of them they they almost completely blocked out the sky. ¡­And they were singing the same undulating song from that Pokemon Movie with Entei and the Unown in these creepy child-like voices.

    ¡°Laaaa~ laaaa~ laaaaa~ laaaa~¡±

    All their creepy little eyes looked at and stayed focused on me, as if they were waiting for something. My heart rate spiked, and Winnie¡¯s fur stood on end as he looked between me and the Unown with wide eyes. I rested my hand on his back and smoothed down his fur before getting up.

    ¡°What the hell?¡± I muttered. The mass of Unown¡¯s changed their pattern of movement as I moved.

    ¡°Hi?¡± I said, waving at the living symbols. There was no reaction from them. Ummm, what did they do in the anime again? They granted that girl¡¯s wishes from that Movie with Entei and the wish of another kid in Pokemon Journeys. So maybe I can make a wish?

    ¡°Crap. Ok, uh, can I get my bag from my Pokemon Violet game save with all the stuff in it? Including some form of ID. And some extra changes of clothes.¡±

    The Unown immediately changed patterns and violently swirled around, changing from a dome into a conical shape as their chanting and singing became more frenzied. A rectangular red bag materialized out of nowhere and fell down, I grabbed it before it hit the ground.

    ¡°Nice, thanks guys.¡± I said as I examined the bag, it was the exact same one I had in Pokemon Violet from what I could tell. How convenient.

    ¡°zorua?¡± Winnie asked.

    ¡°They¡¯re friendly. I think. I¡¯m not sure how they work but they can alter reality while in large groups.¡± I answered his question as I thought about what else to ask for, probably just a portal out of the Distortion world.

    But before I could ask for another wish, the Unown¡¯s singing changed to garbled squeaks of panic and they scattered like a school of fish, disappeared into thin air. Shit, maybe I should¡¯ve asked for the portal first.

    An enormous shadow loomed over the two of us as a deep gravelly voice growled out, ¡°Well, well, look at the little pests I¡¯ve found.¡±

    Winnie whipped around and hissed at the owner of the shadow. I slowly turned around, heart rate spiking to another high as I realized who it was.

    THE Giratina loomed over us, glaring at us with it¡¯s unnerving red eyes. The anime didn¡¯t do Giratina any justice, it was a massive Pokemon, large enough to eat a double decker airplane with ease.

    A single eye was bigger than I was, and the sheer pressure from the power the legendary exuded made it hard to stay standing.

    It felt like someone turned the gravity dial up to the max setting. My limbs locked up and I just stared back as my mind went into overdrive, trying to figure out what to do next.

    Before my mind could catch up, I stupidly smiled at one of the literal gods of the Pokemon world, ¡°Hey, what¡¯s up?¡±

    There was a tense pause before Giratina spoke again, ¡°There is nothing of note above us. What are you mortals doing in my realm?¡±

    ¡°Ummmmmm. L-looking for a way out. Lunala sent us here by a-accident because of a Necrozma attack.¡± I replied, doing my best to keep my voice from shaking.

    ¡°zor. zorua zorua.¡± Winnie barked, his voice was a shaky too. I could feel him pressing himself to my leg, I just nodded along to what he said as if I could understand it.

    ¡°Hmph. Incompetent bastards. The Ultra Beasts have an irritating tendency of sending mortals to other dimensions, this isn¡¯t the first time one has been sent to mine. ¡± Giratina¡¯s deep baritone voice rumbled, its eyes narrowed.

    ¡°O-oh, that sucks.¡±

    The giant centipede dragon growled and slowly circled the island like a shark circling it¡¯s prey, ¡°You know nothing of it. Having to clean up their mess is irritating at the least.¡± It snapped, before letting out an exasperated sigh, ¡°Whatever. Tell me where you are from so I can send you back.¡±

    That¡¯s gonna be harder to answer. ¡°Um, I¡¯m from another dimension that¡¯s really different from this one. Like, really different. Pokemon don¡¯t really exist where I¡¯m from, they¡¯re from a video game franchise.¡±

    Giratina leaned in as if to examine me more closely before speaking. I felt a strange chill and shivered as its enormous red eyes focused on me, ¡°That is true, you are not from a world that I or my peers have jurisdiction over. Strange¡­A world where Pokemon are fictional.¡± How does it know even know that I¡¯m telling the truth? Pokemon magic?

    Its eyes shifted to examine Winnie as well. The little fox ducked behind my legs before poking his head out to growl at Giratina.

    ¡°Yet the little white one is from the same place. Interesting¡­ Perhaps that is why the Unown took an interest in you two.¡±

    ¡°What does that mean?¡±

    ¡°It means that the little one was brought to life by the Unown while your soul was given a new body.¡±

    ¡°New body?¡± I asked, so I was right about that.

    ¡°Yes. Your original body is in that flying metal tube you humans use for transportation, at the bottom of the ocean. ¡± Giratina replied.

    ¡°You most likely gained a new body from the Unown because you did not have one when you arrived in this universe.¡±

    I stood there for a minute, trying to process what Giratina just told me. And is it normal to not really care that my old body is rotting at the bottom of the ocean? Most people would¡¯ve been horrified, I certainly was not exempt from that group, but I felt strangely apathetic about being dead and then brought back to life by the whims of some sentient letters.

    ¡°zorua.¡± Feeling Winnie¡¯s paw tap my leg. ¡°I¡¯m okay Winnie, this is just kinda weird? I dunno. I guess that explains why Winnie is here.¡±

    ¡°Do not think too much about it, afterall, it is not possible to go back. Think of it as a fresh start with wisdom from the past.¡±

    I sighed, ¡°I¡¯m more confused on why the Unown would help us. Ya know, with bringing Winnie to life and bringing me back to life.¡±

    ¡°No one knows why, the Unown act for unknown reasons. Hence the name.¡± Giratina said with an eye roll, as if it was obvious.

    I nodded at the dragon¡¯s statement. ¡°Yeah, I guess so.¡±

    Giratina did an approximation of a shrug. ¡°You can go contemplate your existence somewhere else where I do not have to deal with you. I will send you two to the region that resembles your original homeland the closest.¡±

    With a lazy wave of a dark tendril, a portal swirled to life next to me, it was pretty similar to the one I entered the distortion realm though, just with more purple and black and somehow even more saturated.

    ¡°Thanks Giratina.¡± I said, the dragon scoffed and made a shooing motion at us to get going. Taking the hint, I stepped through the portal with Winnie at my heels.

 (3) Why a cave of all places?

    It was pitch black. Not like the darkness of night with no moons out. There was absolutely no source of light for my eyes to pick up, like the bottom of the ocean or a cave deep in the earth type of darkness.

    The only thing my senses could pick up was the heavy scent of damp earth and the echoing drip of water from somewhere in the cave we landed in. A pair of glowing yellow eyes opened up at my feet, ¡°zorua!¡± Winnie barked. He probably could see everything, unlike my pitiful human eyes.

    ¡°Why did we get dumped in a cave? I dunno, maybe Giratina felt like it was being too nice to us.¡± I grumbled, swinging off by backpack and crouching down to look for something in it that could provide me a bit of light.

    A few Will-O-Wisps flickered to life, the dim light wasn¡¯t enough to penetrate far into the darkness of the cave, but it was enough for me to light up my immediate surroundings.

    A chorus of high pitched chittering in the ceiling above let us know that the Zubat weren¡¯t happy about the intruders. Or maybe they were happy for a prospective meal.

    At least I wouldn¡¯t have to try to feel my way through an entire cave system. ¡°Thanks bud, I don¡¯t suppose you know how to navigate caves?¡±

    Winnie gave me a haughty grin before disappearing through a wall, yipping a short, ¡°Zorua!¡± to me as he poked his head out from the wall.

    I chuckled, ¡°Yeah, right. You¡¯re a ghost, you can phase through stuff. Well, go wild. Make sure to stay safe and stay out of the way of anything that looks dangerous.¡± And with that, I was left alone to my own devices.

    The little wisps of ghostly fire that Winnie has left behind provided just enough light to see what I was doing, but they wouldn¡¯t last forever, so I got to searching my pack for a source of light.

    After digging through a few pockets, I was able to find a Rotom phone, though it didn¡¯t come with a Rotom, but it didn¡¯t need one to function. It was nice to see that it still had the blue phone case from the game.

    I quickly opened the phone up and looked through it¡¯s apps. There were a few games, a camera app, maps, Pokenet, which was probably this world¡¯s version of Google, and a few more. Most of which besides the maps function weren¡¯t accessible due to there being no wifi or data connection. I¡¯d have to wait till I got to the surface to use those.

    I found and turned the flashlight on, making sure to point it down as to not disturb the Zubat any further. The phone was fully charged, so unless the battery was shit, I wouldn¡¯t have to worry about having no light for a while.

    Next thing on the checklist was to see what I got from the Unknown. I asked for the same stuff I had from my Pokemon Violet game, but I never bothered to see what stuff I had in it unless I needed it.

    The bag was organized similarly to how the bag in game was organized, it was even labeled: Key Items, Treasures, Medicine, Pokeballs, Battle Items, Berries, Other Items, TRs, TR Materials, and Picnic Items, and Clothes.

    The first thing I took out of the Key Items pocket was my Trainer ID, there wasn¡¯t anything particularly noteworthy about it.

    <h4>Trainer ID</h4>

    Name: Azalea Lang

    ID No. 613381

    Date of Birth: 2xxx | Sex: Female | Home Region: Unova

    According to the date on my Trainer ID and the date on my phone, this current body was 15.

    Miraidon¡¯s Pokeball wasn¡¯t in the Key items pocket, but the upgraded Terra Orb was, as well as the Catching and Exp. charm and a few others items.

    Food and water weren¡¯t going to be an issue, the berry pocket was almost overflowing, and the picnic pocket was full of food that I had bought a ton of, but never really used in the game, and I had a ton of Fresh Waters, Lemonades, and Soda Pops that I¡¯d never used either.

    It was a similar scenario with medicine and Pokeballs, I wouldn¡¯t have to buy any for a long time, I mean, how long will it take to use up more than two hundred assorted potions or the same amount of assorted Pokeballs?

    The clothes pocket wasn¡¯t something that I had in the game, but made sense cause I had asked for extra clothes. There were a few plain changes of clothes and light jackets. Since the cave was a bit chilly, I pulled out the jacket with the most pockets and quickly donned it before putting a few different Pokeballs into the pockets for later use.

    The treasure¡¯s pocket had stuff I could sell for a lot of money, like big gold nuggets, and the Other Items pocket had the usual assortment of evolution and battle items, tera shards, and the like.

    A flicker of movement caught my eye and Winnie announced his return with a few happy yips and ran over to me.

    I put everything away, shouldered my pack, and pat Winnie¡¯s soft head, ¡°Sounds like there¡¯s good news. Did you find a way out?¡±

    The white fox¡¯s tail slightly wagged and he nodded hesitantly, ¡°zor¡­ zorua¡­¡±

    ¡°Bad news too? We¡¯ll figure it out when we get there.¡± I said, getting up and dusting off my pants. ¡°Lead the way buddy, I¡¯m ready to get out of this place!¡±

    ¡°Zorua!¡± Winnie barked as he lead me towards one of the bigger tunnels.

    Squeaks echoed from Zubat in the roof above as we trekked through winding dark tunnels. We had to deal with the occasional Zubat diving at us, but a weak Extrasensory from Winnie was enough to send them on their way.

    The tunnels were leading upwards, which I guess meant that we were getting closer to the exit. Hopefully I¡¯d be able to rest soon, after all that jumping in the Distortion world plus caving, my legs were absolutely dying.

    We stopped a few times to rest up and eat. It seems that whatever effect of the Distortion world that prevented me from not needing food or water had worn off by now. I quickly found out that Winnie had a massive sweet tooth, his favorite berry was the Pecha berry, which gave off a mouth watering sweet peach scent. The berries were so much better than any other fruit I¡¯d ever eaten before, and I was revitalized after eating a Sitrus berry, which had a more pear-like taste.

    Eventually, we came to a massive cavern. It was big enough that even the semi-bright light from my phone wasn¡¯t enough to pierce through the darkness, and I could only see the tips or bases of stalactites thicker than a tree trunk and a few outlines of countless Zubat hanging from lower parts of the ceiling. It was kinda like a cave forest but the trees were rock pillars.

    Winnie stopped and perked up his ears, he had tensed up. Suddenly, the entire Zubat swarm dropped from the ceiling, the panicked flapping of wings and squeaking from swarm echoed relentlessly throughout the cavern as the bat Pokemon fled the cavern in droves.

    I looked down at Winnie when he began growling, his fur was standing on end.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Before Winnie could reply, a dinosaur-like roar resonated throughout the cavern, drowning out the noise of the frantically flapping Zubat swarm. Then a chain of resounding BOOMs shook the cavern. Dust and grit sprinkled down onto us.

    ¡°Okay, that¡¯s concerning.¡±

    Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    Another chain of booms from an attack resounded throughout the cave system, this time coupled with furious roars and screams of pain from multiple Pokemon.

    ¡°Someone¡¯s having an all-out brawl,¡± I muttered under my breath.

    ¡°rua.¡± Winnie replied, flicking his tail for me to follow him as he trotted away. Seems like the bad news he had was some sort of dangerous big Pokemon living in caves.

    Random flashes of light from the battle illuminated cavern as we wove between the stalactites. We both paused behind a stalactite as a boulder the size of a car landed in front of us with a loud crash.

    I looked towards where the boulder came from, straining my eyes to make out who the battlers were amidst the occasional flashes of light in what looked like the middle of the cavern.

    I was slowly able to make out the silhouettes of an enormous 3 headed dragon grappling with a smaller, but still massive large shark-like dragon.

    ¡°A Hydreigon and a Gabite!¡± I muttered under my breath. ¡°I wonder what they¡¯re fighting about. Maybe a territory dispute?¡±

    ¡°zorua.¡± Winnie replied, his paw was pointed towards the other end of the cavern where another tunnel was. We were one third of the way there, but the exit had only just become visible.

    ¡°That¡¯s our exit?¡± I asked, Winnie nodded a confirmation. ¡°Got it.¡±

    Gabite roared, shooting a purple-blue beam of energy at Hydreigon, who shot three similar beams back at the shark dragon, one from each head. The dragon pulses met each other in the middle, with Hydreigon¡¯s triple Dragon Pulse easily overpowering Gabite¡¯s single attack before hitting the landshark and exploding.

    The entire cave system shook, filling the place with dust. I recoiled, ears ringing from the explosion and ducked back behind the stalactite to avoid being hit by shrapnels of rock, coughing and wiping my watering eyes.

    Winnie sneezed and shook himself, then tapped my leg to get my attention before darting away, snaking a path towards the entrance. Turning my flashlight off I followed Winnie¡¯s Will-O-Wisps, the last thing we need is for the cave to collapse on us and trap us in here.

    We took a path that skirted the edges of the cavern, ducking behind boulders and stalactites in order to avoid the fight and being detected by the two battling dragons. Though they were pretty preoccupied with fighting each other so the chance of being noticed was rather slim.

    It was hard to see anything, even with the light from the Will-o-Wisps, the occasional blinding flashes from the dragons fighting from didn¡¯t help much with visibility.

    We were three fourths of the way there before stopping again behind another stalactite. The entrance to the exit tunnel was so close.

    ¡°What¡¯s up Winnie?¡± I rubbed my eyes and looked at where Winnie pointed to with his paw.

    There were three Deinos huddled behind a small boulder that was directly in our path. Despite the dogshit lighting, I could still see the worryingly large puddle of red that the three Deinos were laying in.

    ¡°Oh shit, did they get caught in the crossfire?¡± I whispered. Winnie snorted in irritation at the obstacle and motioned for me to keep going.

    ¡°We should make sure they¡¯re okay. This is stupid but I don¡¯t think it¡¯s right to just leave them there. Fuck mother nature.¡±

    Winnie grimaced, but then nodded his head with a determined expression, ¡°zorua.¡±

    Putting a hand on Winnie¡¯s back, I told him to wait a moment and peeked around our current hiding spot to make sure the two dragons were still occupied with their fight.

    Hydreigon looked like she was winning the battle and she had Gabite backed into a corner. The shark dragon wasn¡¯t giving up though, and burrowed into the ground, reappearing below the three-headed dragon and sending a barrage of mud at it.

    ¡°Yeah, they¡¯re still going at it. Let¡¯s move.¡± We dashed over to the boulder sheltering the three Deino. A raspy growl emanated from one of the little dragons, they were tiny, probably only thigh height.

    Now that I was closer, I could see the rather nasty looking injuries that all three had. One had a claw injury on it¡¯s side, but it didn¡¯t look like anything serious was hit. The second was the least injured. It was missing a bunch of scales on its back and had a bad burn. The third smallest one had it the worst with a deep neck wound that was gushing blood.

    ¡°Stay on watch for their mom, I don¡¯t want her to notice and maul us to death.¡± Winnie nodded, uttering an affirmative ¡°rua!¡±

    Having never done anything close to medic stuff before, I kinda just had to wing it. I ignored the raspy growl from Deino number two and approached the trio.

    Number three¡¯s neck wound was my first priority, I could tell by the slight rise and fall of its chest that it was alive, but just barely, potions and a revive weren¡¯t gonna work fast enough, so I used plan B, the heal ball.

    Retrieving a heal ball from my bag, I tapped the pink Pokeball on the injured Deino and watched as the heal ball pinged to notify a successful capture and began to glow a warm deep pink as the ball worked overtime to heal the Pokemon inside.

    Then I got to work on the other two, using a burn heal and a max potion on them. Number one was still conscious but didn¡¯t have enough strength to protest to me touching it as I applied the max potion to its side wound and gave it pieces of a Sitrus berry to eat.

    The effects of the potion and berry combined and were pretty awesome to see as the bleeding stopped. Skin, flesh, and scales began to regrow and knit the wound back together.

    Number two was still healthy enough to snap at me when I tried to treat its burn wounds. I recoiled at it almost took off one of my fingers, ¡°Hey, I¡¯m trying to help you guys, okay? This green bottle is for burns, and this blue one will make you feel better.¡±

    The Deino didn¡¯t seem very receptive to my reasoning and kept trying to bite me, so I shoved a Pokedoll in its mouth to distract it and quickly sprayed the burn heal and max potion onto it as it ripped the Pokedoll to shreds.

    As I finished number two¡¯s treatment, the heal ball softly dinged again to let me know that it¡¯s treatment was done.

    I let number three out, making sure to press the button twice to properly release it. It reappeared in a blue light and was now conscious and in much better condition now than before. Its neck wound wasn¡¯t bleeding but still looked raw.

    Number three was nice enough to let me use up the rest of the max potion on it and even grunted a friendly, ¡°Deino!¡± at me as I set down a few more Sitrus berries near the trio for good measure.

    I couldn¡¯t resist petting it¡¯s cute lil head after that, what a polite little guy!

    Suddenly I got goosebumps. Something was wrong. The noise of battle had died down, Winnie jumped down from his lookout stop on top of the boulder and barked a warning at me. I guess it¡¯s time to dip.

    Peeking out from behind the boulder, I saw a still very angry Hydreigon floating over a very injured Gabite, pinning the limp body of the landshark down. It was charging up a hyper beam for a finishing blow on its opponent.

    Without a second though, I grabbed two of the ultra balls I had put in my pockets earlier and chucked it at the two dragons. It was a long shot, but Winnie quickly caught on. His eyes glowed blue with psychic energy as he helped propel the two balls further than I could throw them.

    The ultra balls hit Gabite and Hydreigon, surprising the latter, and sucked the dragons into them, landing on the ground with two heavy clunks. Gabite¡¯s ball quickly dinged a success and I dashed forward to retrieve the ball before booking it for the exit.

    ¡°Winnie we need to go! NOW!¡± I shouted at my companion, pitch rising with every second that passed. There was no way the other ball would hold Hydreigon for long.

    Winnie caught up with me and jumped onto my shoulder. Legs pumping furiously, I sprinted for our lives for the exit and dived behind a large stalactite just as the area behind me exploded with a resounding BOOM!

    The heat coming off from the Hyper Beam burned singed my hairs as I scrambled away from the impact zone. There was a furious roar from Hydreigon as she realized her Hyper Beam missed.

    Sparing a glance back as I got up to run, I caught a glimpse of Hydreigon flying after me. Her fangs glistened, three heads snarling viciously as three balls of different colored energy gathered around the maws of each head.

    Oh lawd she comin!

    There was an ominous whoosh, and crackle as Hydreigon let out a bellow, releasing the ferocious Tri-Attack she had been charging.

    Searing heat grazed my back as I dived into the exit tunnel. Three consecutive BOOMs erupted behind me. Pieces of rock and magma splattered all around me and I winced as a few pieces hit and burned my legs. Thankfully adrenaline helped me ignore the pain and quickly get back up on my feet.

    Not bothering to look back this time at the carnage left by Hydreigon¡¯s Tri Attack, I quickly scurried away through the winding tunnel with Winnie hanging onto my shoulder.

    Another outburst from Hydreigon echoed through the passageways, but the three headed dragon didn¡¯t follow us through the tunnel, and her enraged roars slowly became too muffled to hear.

    Despite not being able to hear Hydreigon anymore, I kept booking it through the tunnels like a bat out of hell until we finally exited the cave. I didn¡¯t even notice that the cave had been getting lighter until my eyes were blinded by the light outside.

    Huffing and puffing, I bent over, hands on my knees as I tried to recover my breath. The fresh air and eye searing light from the midday sun was amazing compared to the dank air and total darkness of the caves where we were trapped with an absolute monster of a dragon.

    Winnie hopped down from my shoulder and danced around with a somewhat crazed look in his eyes, ¡°zorua! zor zorua!¡± He barked as he acted out what I assumed was the fight between Hydreigon and Gabite.

    ¡°You..*gasp* thought that was fun?!¡± I asked incredulously. Winnie gave me an enthusiastic nod and foxy laugh, his eyes were shining.

    I took another deep breath as my heart rate finally stabilized, ¡°Well I¡¯m glad you enjoyed that. I sure didn¡¯t.¡±

    Winnie rolled his eyes at me and kept jumping around as if in an imaginary battle.

    Once my breathing returned to normal, I surveyed our new surroundings. Behind us was a steep cliff face and the cave we just exited from. In front loomed a thick forest, with gnarled trees that reached high up into the sky with their densely packed branches.

    I could see a few Pidove roosting in the trees curiously staring down at us, cooing to each other as if they were having a conversation.

    Now that we¡¯re out of the cave there should be some sort of connection that I can use, right? I pulled out my phone, I had one bar of data that occasionally turned to SOS then to one bar and back to SOS again.

    Well, now that I had some cell reception I could technically try to call someone, but I had no one to call and no idea what emergency number to use. The usual 9-1-1 didn''t work and the internet connection was too weak. It kept loading and showing a blank white screen when I tried to search for what emergency numbers to use when you''re stuck in the wilderness.

    "You''re kidding me. I don''t want to have to hike out of this place. I''m not a fucking hiker." I grumbled as I opened the maps app instead. It had a general map of every region in the Pokemon League already downloaded onto it. I had to wait and a bit for the maps locator to load and figure out where we were, but at least it worked.

    According to Giratina we should be in Unova, but I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if we were somewhere else considering how that bastard dumped us in a cave with a murderous dragon. The map finally loaded. We were in Unova, far northeast Unova to be exact. There weren¡¯t any towns or cities near us, the closest settlement to us was Humilau City, which was just under thirty miles away.

    Well, who in the world would want to be close neighbors with a giant Hydreigon? They were my favorite dragon type, but even I would know better than to live right next to a den of a wild Hydreigon.

    ¡°Urgh, we¡¯re gonna have to hike at least thirty miles, that¡¯s gonna take so long.¡± I groaned, my muscles were aching terribly from the constant running, walking, and jumping I¡¯d been doing with little rest ever since I got yeeted to the Distortion realm.

    Winnie let out a squeaky hehehehhe that foxes do, before reassuringly putting his paw on my shin.

    ¡°How in the world are you not tired?¡± I asked Winnie. ¡°zorua, zor, zor rua.¡± He replied matter of factly. Then he pointed to my bag and his mouth.

    I sighed and nodded, ¡°Okay, let¡¯s fuel up. Let¡¯s first go somewhere a bit further from this stupid cave. I don¡¯t want to encounter Hydreigon again if she decides to come get some sunshine and fresh air.¡±

 (4) Out of the frying pan and into the fire

    We walked into the woods and kept going until we couldn¡¯t see the cave anymore. The forest canopy was so thick that the bright mid-afternoon sun barely filtered through the thickly woven leaves and branches above us.

    It didn¡¯t take us long to find a nice spot to rest in a small clearing with a large flat mossy stone in the middle. There weren¡¯t any Pokemon around besides a few assorted bird Pokemon curiously observing us from the trees. I guess humans wouldn¡¯t be a common sight this deep in the wilds.

    Setting my bag down, I groaned with relief as I plopped down onto the rock.

    Winnie went to work picking out what he wanted to eat from my bag. I took out some bread and ham to munch on as I contemplated what to do with Gabite.

    On one hand, I could just wait until I got to a Pokemon center and let them handle the healing, on the other hand, Winnie wasn¡¯t strong enough to deal with any powerful and territorial wild Pokemon, and I didn¡¯t have the energy or stamina to be constantly fleeing for my life either. Thirty miles was a long way to go on foot.

    Having a Gabite that can trade blows with a Hydreigon on my side would be great, but there was the problem of even getting the dragon to listen to me. Well, even if it didn¡¯t want to join my team, maybe I could convince it to at least help us get to Humilau safely. I kinda did save its life from Hydreigon.

    A few more minutes of deliberation and another piece of bread later, I made my decision.

    Winnie curiously watched from as I pulled out the medicine that I¡¯d need to get Gabite back to fighting condition.

    ¡°A full restore¡­ Revive or max revive? Definitely Sitrus berries, maybe some Moomoo milk too? Can dragons even drink milk, I¡¯ll stick with the full restore.¡±

    ¡°zorua?¡± He questioned, mouth still half full of Pecha berry.

    I gestured to the medicine, ¡°Gabite was badly hurt by Hydreigon, so I wanna heal it up. I¡¯d like to have a bit more backup if we encounter another aggressive Pokemon.¡±

    ¡°zor?¡± Winnie said with a bit of sass as he gave me a dubious look and then shrugged before taking another bite out of his pecha berry.

    I put a hand on my hip, ¡°What? I have a plan for if Gabite isn¡¯t friendly.¡±

    ¡°zorua zor.¡± Winnie waved a paw at me to continue what I was doing.

    Lastly, I picked out a shiny stone from the Other Items pocket. Many Pokedex entries mentioned that Gabite would become docile if given a shiny object, aka, Gabite liked shinies a LOT. Sooooo it was a bribe and/or distraction just in case Gabite became belligerent.

    With preparations complete, I pressed the button on the ultra ball, releasing Gabite with a *pop*!

    The landshark appeared in a flash of red light. It was still unconscious and covered in injuries. At least I won¡¯t have to wrestle it into letting me heal it.

    I grabbed the full restores and got to work applying the potions on Gabite¡¯s wounds. It was still kind of miraculous to me how effective this stuff was.

    Deep gashes that were still leaking blood slowly closed up and new scales began growing to replace lost ones. The nasty burns and frostbite Gabite had gotten from Hydreigon¡¯s Tri-Attack healed too and the damaged scales fell out as new ones grew in their place

    As I worked I noticed there was no notch in Gabite¡¯s back fin. Gabite¡¯s a female then. I¡¯m pretty sure a normal Gabite is around 4 feet tall, but this gal is at least two feet taller than that. Maybe she¡¯s close to evolving.

    I went to retrieve a max revive from the medicine pile to wake the dragon, but Gabite began to stir, letting out a confused groan as she came to.

    Swapping the revive for a Sitrus berry, I stood back and let Gabite come to and get her bearings. Though I kept a tight hold on the Ultra ball just in case.

    The landshark dragon slowly got up, her eyes landed on me and narrowed. I smiled and waved at her, ¡°Hello Gabite! You were in a pretty rough spot there with Hydreigon so I bailed you out¨C¡±

    A loud growl from Gabite interrupted my introduction as the dragon examined herself and then roared into the sky. A large flock of Pidove burst out from the forest flew away. The dragon was upset about something, though I couldn¡¯t for the life of me figure it out.

    Winnie and I exchanged a glance, the little fox harumphing as if to say, ¡° i told you so¡± before he jumped off of his rock and ran over, placing himself in between me and the landshark. All the while Gabite began shooting ridiculously big Dragon Pulses into the air, paying us no mind as she went on a rampage.

    I dropped to the ground to avoid a Dragon Pulse that slammed into the tree just above me and disintegrated most of it. Winnie barely dodged another Dragon Pulse aimed at him and threw a few rocks at Gabite using his Extrasensory.

    Scrambling away from the wreckage, I realized Gabite¡¯s Ultra ball was no longer in my hands, I had dropped it somewhere among the tree roots when I dodged the Dragon Pulse.

    Thinking fast, I hurriedly took out the shiny stone and threw it at the dragon, hitting her squarely on the nose. The landshark let out a cry of outrage and looked down at the thing that hit her in the face. Please work.

    Gabite paused and her eyes widened as she saw the shiny stone. Yes!

    Seizing the moment of calm, I quickly crawled back over to where I¡¯d dropped the the Ultra ball and dug around the wreckage of the tree. The ball wasn¡¯t there, I could¡¯ve sworn I¡¯d dropped it there.

    I looked back up at Gabite. She had calmed down enough and was talking with Winnie, the shiny stone was in Gabite¡¯s claws. That was fast. Ahh, the magic of shiny rocks.

    Halting my search for the Ultra ball, I got up and cautiously approached the two. ¡°Hey guys, is everything alright?¡±

    Winnie nodded. Gabite huffed and turned her attention back to the shiny stone. Seeing that Gabite wasn¡¯t in a super good mood, I decided to just give her some time by herself.

    ¡°Here, have a Sitrus berry. I¡¯m gonna keep looking for the ultra ball.¡± I put the berry down next to Gabite before returning to the destroyed tree to search.

    Well, that was what I was going to do. I turned back around when I heard a commotion coming from where my bag was.

    My bag was floating in the air with Winnie biting to one of it¡¯s straps, trying to keep it from flying away.

    I just stared as the bag jerked upwards a few times before a small blue rectangular object flew out and the bag dropped back onto the ground, landing straight onto Winnie.

    My Rotom phone came to life and a derpy face appeared on it¡¯s screen, smiling like the grinch before zooming away into the woods.

    A floating Ultra ball followed it.

    Ghosts. Ghosts? ¡°Wait, those bastards stole my phone! And the ultra ball!¡± I hurriedly grabbed my bag and gestured for Gabite and Winnie to follow, ¡°Come on we need to my stuff back!¡±

    Winnie darted to the front as I began jogging through the forest, barely keeping the two dirty little thieves in sight.

    After all that exercise from the caves and Distortion world, I could barely keep a fast walking pace, it was like I¡¯d just run a marathon and had to run another one right after.

    A thick chilling fog slowly began to rise up as we pursued the two ghosts, who had made sure to stay just close enough so that they could be seen but far enough to not reached by any long ranged moves.

    Dark shadows moved at the edges of my vision and indecipherable voices giggled and whispered all around us. I didn¡¯t like where this was going, but without the map from the phone I wouldn¡¯t be able to find my way to a city, and long term wilderness survival was not a skill that I possessed.

    Not to mention where the hell the ghosts were leading us, but I had a good idea considering all the disturbing ghost type Pokedex entries of ghosts killing people or sucking out their life energy.

    Follow the suspicious ghost in hopes of getting my phone back and possibly get trapped in a haunted forest forever, or ditch the phone, get lost in the normal forest and die to nature. Wow I have so many choices!

    I stumbled to a stop as the ghosts flew straight into a literal wall of dense fog. ¡°Like hell I¡¯m going in there!¡± I shouted at the ghosts, ¡°Give me my stuff back, I¡¯ll trade for them!¡±

    Winnie barked into the fog as well, but the only response we got was silence.

    And then we were in the fog. I don¡¯t know how else to explain it but, one moment we were right outside it, the next, the fog had instantly expanded and I could barely see my own hands in front of my face.

    ¡°Winnie, Gabite, you guys still here?¡± The two confirmed their presence with a short yip from Winnie and a growl from Gabite.

    A light flickered to life at eye level in front of me, it was my phone. Without another thought, I grabbed it.

    ¡°GAH!¡± I dropped the phone as it zapped me and stayed floating in the air in front of me.

    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

    The Pokedex app booted up and the phone¡¯s mechanical voice began to speak,

    ¡°Trevenant, the Elder Tree Pokemon.Using its roots as a nervous system, it controls the trees in the forest. It will trap people who harm the forest, so they can never leave.¡±

    ¡°Is that a threat?¡± I asked the my possessed phone. A smug dopey face appeared on the phone screen and it blew a raspberry at me before zooming backwards into the mist before I could grab it again.

    ¡°Stupid ghosts and their tricks.¡± I grumbled. Prankster and possibly murderous ghosts were the last thing I wanted to deal with after nearly getting mauled to death by an angry Hydreigon less than a hour ago.

    ¡°Zorua rua.¡± Winnie said in agreement.

    ¡°What do we do now?¡± Blindly wandering around in this dense fog was probably the only option left. We didn¡¯t have long to consider any alternative options.

    The air shifted, like a pressure shift, and my ears popped. A giant gray hand appeared out of the mist, followed by the rest of the ghost¡¯s body. Dark gray arms and a round torso with gold markings and a conical head with a red orb in the center and a long frill-like collar.

    I could hear Winnie growling and Gabite snarl at the newcomer.

    Dusknoir casually regarded us for a few seconds before bowing and waving it¡¯s hand through the air. The fog swirled like a cyclone, the strong winds blowing my hair into my face as the fog cleared out a large circle around us. Dusknoir sank into the ground and the pressure that came with it abated.

    On on other side of the clearing from us, there was a colossal half dead looking tree. The creaking of hollowed wood and soft giggles echoed through the forest, and I felt countless unseen eyes staring as us. Shadows shifted just behind the curtain of the fog surrounding the clearing.

    A red orb flickered to life in the biggest hollow of the tree and the entire thing shifted as if it was getting into a more comfortable position. Dusknoir reappeared near the Trevenant like, hands folded behind it¡¯s back in a classy manner.

    The Great Deku tree?! Oh wait, this isn¡¯t Zelda.

    ¡°Greetings visitors. I am the lord of this forest.¡±

    Trevenant¡¯s voice was like the deep creaking of wood and dead tree branches rattling spoke, and powerful enough to reverberate through the entire place, I could literally feel the sound waves vibrating through my body.

    ¡°Hi?¡± I smiled weakly and waved a hand.

    Winnie yipped a much more enthusiastic response, pointing at me and Gabite, introducing us to the ancient ghost.

    ¡°Hmm. A child of the Alabaster Icelands. How is the Elder doing nowadays?¡± Trevenant asked Winnie. We exchanged confused looks and Winnie replied, ¡°zorua.¡±

    ¡°That is good. I apologize for the two denizens of the forest who have been troubling you.¡± Trevenant rumbled, waving a branch at the shadows in the fog. ¡°Your items will be returned. Dusknoir, go fetch the two troublemakers.¡±

    The giant gray ghost nodded and floated into the ground shortly before reappearing with a little dark blue-purple rag thing was floating just behind it. My phone was floating on the other side of Dusknoir, though it had no other ghosts visibly near it.

    Shuppet bashfully took the ultra ball from Dusknoir and handed it back to me. I thanked it for giving the ultra ball back. The Shuppet stopped in it¡¯s tracks, silent, face expressionless and staring.

    Then it split it¡¯s face open with a ridiculously wide grin and shrieked with laughter as it flew backwards into the mist like someone in a horror movie being dragged away by a monster.

    My phone took Shuppet¡¯s little act as a cue for it¡¯s turn to mess with me and flew straight for my head. I ducked and narrowly avoided being beaned in the face. Instead, I was hit in the back of the head as the phone boomeranged back and clattered to the ground in front of me with a troll face on the screen.

    ¡°Thanks a lot you punk.¡± I growled at the possessed phone as I snatched it up. The Rotom who¡¯d been inhabiting it notably did not exit the phone.

    ¡°If you¡¯re staying in my phone you¡¯d better stop being a little punk, or else you¡¯ll be evicted.¡±

    Rotom¡¯s response was a Croagunk styled pepe laugh emoji and a thumbs up. I rolled my eyes. At least it got the message.

    Trevenant let out a chattering, woody laugh and spoke again, ¡°Do not mind them. Please take good care of Rotom.¡±

    The giant tree¡¯s eye then shifted down again to look at Winnie, ¡°I cannot let a child of an old friend leave without any gifts, I insist. Tell me what you would like, perhaps a battle item since you are going into the world of humans?¡±

    Winnie¡¯s eyes widened and he scrunched up his mouth as he thought for a few seconds before answering.

    Trevenant grinned, and the two spoke in what I¡¯d called Pokespeak. Again, no idea what they were saying. Gabite was listening too and looked rather surprised during one point of the conversation.

    Finally, Winnie and Trevenant seemed to come to an agreement. The ghost tree looked at Gabite and murmured something. Gabite took a few steps back from me.

    ¡°Uhh, what¡¯s going on?¡± A swirl of what looked like ghost type energy formed around me in a mini cyclone. It was fucking cold, like I¡¯d been dipped in the waters of Antarctica with no cold protection.

    The swirl of ghost type energy thickened and blocked out the view of everything else, and the freezing wind it conjured up battered at my hair and clothes. The previously cryptic echoing voices of ghosts slowly became more and more understandable.

    ¡°It¡¯s the new one!¡± ¡°Hi, hello.¡± ¡°Are we allowed to snatch her bag?¡± ¡°I¡¯m huuunnngry..¡±

    So this is how I die. Again. I knew I shouldn¡¯t have followed the ghosts. Who in their right mind follows dubious ghosts who are clearing leading them somewhere? I clearly do.

    The twister of ghostly energy quickly died down. I was alive and unharmed. Well, maybe I had frostbite. I checked my hands. They were a bit pale but not frostbitten.

    ¡°What happened?¡± I asked.

    ¡°i asked trevenant to help you be able to understand me.¡± That was a new voice. I looked down as my feet where Winnie was sitting.

    ¡°Wait.¡± I crouched down. ¡°I can understand you.¡±

    ¡°Yep.¡±

    I looked back at Gabite, ¡°Then what about her? Gabite can you say something?¡±

    The landshark rolled her eyes, ¡°Gabite. Gab gabite.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t understand what she¡¯s saying but I can understand you only? Wait, how is that possible?¡±

    ¡°i dunno, something related to curses?¡± Winnie replied. ¡°trevenant said he¡¯d only be able to make it so you can understand ghosts.¡±

    I raised an eyebrow. ¡°A curse? What do you mean a curse? Uh, mister Trevenant?¡±

    Trevenant didn¡¯t answer, the red orb in his body was gone. Dusknoir floated in front of the giant tree and answered for the lord of the forest, ¡°The lord is asleep. Do not fret. I will step in for him for the time being.¡±

    ¡°For your question, what the lord did was place a curse on you that made you capable of understanding our kind. Ghosts are quite skilled with curses and there are those who can create curses that act more as blessings. I hope that answers your question well enough.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, it did. Thanks Dusknoir.¡±

    Winnie pawed at my leg. ¡°azalea! let¡¯s go! i wanna get to the city as fast as possible! trevenant told me about the yummy foods that have in cities!¡±

    ¡°Alright, settle down my man. You ready to go Gabite?¡± The dragon stoically nodded.

    Winnie jumped onto my shoulder, ¡°yep, let¡¯s get outta here!¡±

    We all looked at Dusknoir, who waved a hand at the surrounding fog, making it swirl around us and obscuring everything but us from view.

    ¡°Good luck on you journey.¡± The ghost¡¯s voice echoed before the fog abruptly dissipated.

    The sun had long set. The chattering and rustling movements of nocturnal Pokemon accompanied the singing of crickets.

    There was no hint of any fog, in fact the sky was clear enough to see every star int he sky, and we were in an area of the woods were the trees were much less densely packed.

    ¡°Did we spend the entire day in there?¡± I muttered to myself. ¡°It looks a bit too late to be traveling, lets set up camp here for the night and get going tomorrow morning.¡±

    Winnie and Gabite voiced their agreement and I got started trying to make a fire. Gabite could see much better in the dark so she was able to gather some tinder, and Winnie¡¯s Will-o-wisp helped light the campfire once I¡¯d set it up.

    I took out the sausages and roasted them by the fire on some decently straight sticks because I didn¡¯t have any cooking or camping stuff.

    While we were waiting by the fire for the food to cook, I decided to settle a few things on my mind.

    I cleared my throat, ¡°Ahem. Umm. So, Gabite. What do you think about joining my team? If you don¡¯t want to that¡¯s fine too, I can release you here. I just wanted to make sure you were fine with that, you seemed pretty upset after you recovered.¡±

    Gabite just stared at me with no reaction, so I continued,

    ¡°But I can help you get a lot stronger, you¡¯ll get to fight strong opponents and get lots of good food and I¡¯ll make sure you¡¯re in the best health you could possibly be.¡±

    The purple dragon tilted his head. It was pretty hard to tell how she felt due to how unexpressive dragon types are, their faces just weren¡¯t built to have facial expressions.

    ¡°So, what do you think?¡±

    Gabite continued to stare at me for a minute before rumbling and nodding. She was a lot more mellow than I expected a member of the Garchomp line would be. Gabite turned to Winnie and said something, and Winnie nodded.

    ¡°she wants you to know that she wasn¡¯t upset about being caught, she was upset at not evolving during her fight with Hydreigon.¡±

    ¡°Oooohhh, okay. Yeah, I can definitely do something about that, you¡¯ll get to fight plenty of tough opponents without having to risk your life.¡±

    I picked up the sausage sticks and handed one to her and one to Winnie, ¡°Welcome to the team¨C Oh! You should get a nickname too!¡±

    ¡°Winnie, you have any ideas?¡± The fox Pokemon swallowed a mouthful of meat before speaking, ¡°What bout Purple? Cause she¡¯s purple. Or Grumpy. Cause she¡¯s a grumpy dragon.¡±

    Gabite shot Winnie a sharp look at the latter suggestion and growled.

    I slightly furrowed my brow as I brainstormed for some good names, ¡°Umm, good dragon names. Saphira? You¡¯re not blue though, Glaedr¨Cno that the name of a gold dragon. Sahara? Because the Garchomp line is usually found in deserts.¡±

    Gabite just stared at me while she munched on her food. She didn¡¯t seem too opinionated on what I called her, and gave me the equivalent of shrug with another tilt of her head. ¡°I guess I¡¯ll go with my own choice, Sahara. Do you like that name?¡± Gabite blinked and let out a short grunt.

    I sighed, ¡°I¡¯ll stick with Sahara for now, let me know if you don¡¯t like it okay? We can pick something you like better if that¡¯s the case.¡±

    I ate sausage before switching to the other thing I wanted to address. I asked Winnie if he wanted a Pokeball.

    ¡°They¡¯re basically like transportable homes for a Pokemon because there are places where they¡¯re not allowed or are too big to go to. They also prevent other trainers from catching you.¡±

    ¡°ehh, i¡¯m not interested. i can just jump in your shadow if need be.¡± And as to demonstrate, Winnie dipped his entire paw into one of the shadows.

    ¡°That¡¯s cool, point taken.¡± Is that Shadow Sneak?

    I finished the sausages and threw the stick into the fire. Actually, I don¡¯t know what moves they have yet.

    As if on cue, my phone flew out of my pocket. Rotom booted up the Pokedex app and scanned Winnie and Sahara.

    The Pokedex¡¯s signature robotic voice began to speak:

    ¡°Zorua, the tricky fox Pokemon. To protect themselves from danger, they hide their true identities by transforming into people and Pok¨¦mon. Apparently, it often transforms into a silent child.

    Type: Dark

    Abilities: Illusion

    Sex: Male

    Known moves: Detect, Agility, Torment, Will-o-Wisp, Scratch, Shadow Sneak, Extrasensory, Hex¡±

    ¡°Gabite, the cave Pokemon. It loves sparkly things. It seeks treasures in caves and hoards the loot in its nest. Its scales can be ground into a powder and used as raw materials for traditional medicine.

    Type: Dragon-Ground

    Abilities: Sand Veil, Rough Skin

    Sex: Female

    Known Moves: Scary Face, Metal Claw, Dragon Rush, Bite, Slash, Dragon Claw, Dragon Tail, Dig, Rock Tomb, Twister, Dragon Pulse, Sand Tomb¡±

    ¡°Weird, the Pokedex doesn¡¯t know about Hisuan Zorua? Winnie is a Normal-Ghost type.¡± The picture that was displayed by the Pokedex was also a picture of a non Hisuan Zorua, the usually dark type ones.

    I grabbed my phone from the air and looked through the Pokedex app, the Pokedex information currently on the app was for Paldea, which made sense cause the phone was technically from Paldea. Also there was no internet, so there was no way I could call for someone to come out and help get us back to the city.

    Yawning, I began prepping for sleep and took out some of the bigger clothes from my bag to use as blankets for the three of us. Sahara was already asleep, curled up by the fire.

    Winnie trotted over to my side as I got comfy on a patch of grass. I was more than ready to go to sleepland.

    Too bad someone had other plans. It was too quiet. I wasn¡¯t sure when, but all the rustling sounds of smaller Pokemon in the underbrush had stopped. The forest was holding it¡¯s breath.

    ¡°Urghhhh¡­ Please don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s another threat.¡± I groaned. Winnie had woken Sahara up. and they both sniffed the air.

    ¡°az, sahara says it¡¯s another dragon.¡± That woke me up.

    ¡°Is it Hydreigon?¡± I asked. Sahara shrugged and got up, head still sniffing the air.

    Then we all heard the flapping of wings, and a massive dragon-like shape flew overhead and before slowly circled downwards into our little camp.

    By then I had packed up all our stuff and was ready to book it. Sahara was growling like a hellhound, she was ready for round two. Yeah, nope.

    ¡°We¡¯re not fighting her Sahara.¡± The landshark ignored me and began readying a Dragon Pulse, so I returned her to her Ultra Ball and said to it, ¡°Sahara, I know you¡¯re gonna be mad, but we¡¯re not going to start a fight unless we¡¯re attacked first.¡±

    Hydreigon had already landed and was floating just above out campfire, patiently waiting for us to get our shit together.

    ¡°i don¡¯t think she¡¯s here for a fight az.¡± Winnie said. Yeah, if Hydreigon wanted to fight, she could''ve incinerated us with a long ranged Hyper Beam instead of coming into camp.

    ¡°Hey Hydreigon, what¡¯s your business here?¡± I called out to the massive dragon.

    Hydreigon rumbled something in response. Her middle head reached around to her back and grabbed something. She floated forward and dropped a little dark lump in front of me. That lump moved and got up. It was a Deino. Baby number three, it still had an area on it¡¯s neck of newly grown scales that wasn¡¯t fully healed.

    ¡°What did she say?¡± I asked. Number three had waddled over to me and was nibbling on my pant leg.

    ¡°she said that her kid wanted to join us.¡± Winnie replied, he looked as surprised as I was.

    ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± Hydreigon didn¡¯t even answer, the dragon rumbled something else and floated back up into the sky and away.

    ¡°Wait, she just dumped her kid on some rando?!¡± I had moved to trying to stop Deino from ripping my pant leg apart.

    ¡°she also said that the kid was too weak and she didn¡¯t want him, and she knew that humans liked having her kind in their families.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s harsh.¡± I commented, not that I minded getting another pseudo-legendary. At least Deino didn¡¯t seem to mind the fact that its mom abandoned him, it seemed quite happy to be with us. Kind of like a young puppy exploring a new and exciting place for the first time.

    I pushed Deino off of my leg and pulled out a Pokedoll from my bag for it to play with. Then I pulled out a Dusk Ball and tapped it on Deino¡¯s head, sucking it in with a red flash.

    The ball only shook once before it ding-ed to notify a successful capture. Then I shoved the dusk ball into my coat pocket with Gabite¡¯s ultra ball.

    I would deal with this all later. I needed sleep. Now.

    Hopefully tomorrow would be less hectic.

 (5) Hiking stuff

    By the time I woke up, my muscles had finally realized how fucked up they were. Everything hurt like I¡¯d gotten run over by a dump truck multiple times. A bit of stretching helped alleviate some of the pain, but the day¡¯s hike was gonna be miserable.

    I had considered trying to call for help so a ranger could come pick us up, but there was zero internet connection. At least Dusknoir was nice enough to have placed us closer to Route 22 than we were before. We could just go south to Route 22 and then east.

    Note to self, get a flying Pokemon asap. Sahara would technically be able to fly when she evolved into a Garchomp, but it would be impossible to fly with her until I got some sort of saddle.

    Speaking of dragons, I let Sahara and Deino out to stretch while Winnie helped me make breakfast.

    Deino either didn¡¯t seem to notice or care that Sahara was the Gabite that injured him and his siblings during her fight with their mom.

    He¡¯d slowly approach her, nip at her tail or spew a small stream of Dragon Breath at her before playful running away. This was probably how he played with his siblings back in the cave, but Sahara was not happy.

    Judging by her constantly shooting death glares at the oblivious Deino and muttering something about ¡°burying the kid six feet under,¡± in Winnie¡¯s words, I stepped in and used a Pokedoll to keep Deino occupied so that everyone else could eat in peace.

    Winnie and I tried to get it through to Deino that not everyone wanted to play with him he could play with Winnie if he wanted but again, he didn¡¯t know or care. Maybe he was too young to understand?

    Once we had eaten and packed everything up, I assigned Sahara to the back while Deino was in the front where I could watch him.

    Rotom, whom I had decided not to give a nickname to due to its annoying tendency of zapping me whenever I tried to access my phone, led the way with Deino following close behind. The little dragon was constantly trying to get his maw on the ghost. I had to keep on reminding him that the flying ghost phone was not a toy. Then I had to scold Rotom for trying to bait Deino into biting it by zapping him with little sparks of electricity. I got zapped instead.

    The rest of us soon got tired of their bickering, so a warning snarl from Sahara and a quick Hex from Winnie was able to get the message through for them to stop fighting.

    Winnie suggested that I return Deino to help keep the peace, but I wanted my entire team to be out walking with me, cause walking with your Pokemon out is super cool and because I wanted everyone to get exercise from the walk.

    We were in a rather mountainous an untamed area of Unova, so the less agile of the group (Deino, and I) had a heck of a time climbing up and down winding wildlife trails that were packed full with slippery fallen leaves and gnarled tree roots.

    Sahara kept an eye out for anything dangerous. She¡¯d been assigned the role of warding off any Pokemon looking for a fight and had been taking her job very seriously.

    Thankfully, most wild Pokemon, even this far from league maintained routes were too weak to challenge her, and those that were foolish enough to try to start a fight were sent running after a Dragon Pulse or two.

    ¡°so, should we give the kid a nickname too?¡± Winnie asked as he hopped over a tall tree root.

    I nodded, ¡°Yeah. I think I have a good idea for Deino.¡±

    Deino paused, looking back as I mentioned him and ran back to walk in time with me, tail wagging like a puppy. It was pretty cute.

    I smiled at the little guy, ¡°Hey bud, since everyone else has a nickname, why don¡¯t we give you one too? What do you think about the name Kaiju? It¡¯s what people call gigantic super powerful monsters.¡±

    ¡°Deino!¡± Deino nodded enthusiastically, he hopped and ran ahead, then back to me and then back around heading straight for Sahara.

    I grabbed him by the neck and torso and lifted him up, ¡°Nonononononono, we¡¯re not bothering Sahara okay? She¡¯s doing a very important job, so we can¡¯t distract her.¡±

    Kaiju whined in disappointment, but stopped and lowered his head when Sahara shot him her meanest death glare yet. He decided the next best option was to chew on my hair. I sighed and set him down again, ushering for him to go back to the front with Rotom and he happily did.

    ¡°oi, kiddo you¡¯d better behave! you too sparky!¡± Winnie yelled at Kaiju and Rotom, who¡¯d both been about to take more shots at each other.

    I chipped in, ¡°Anyone who tries to bite or zap one another will be put in timeout until tomorrow.¡± They both huffed at that, but listened and minded their own business.

    Lowering my voice, I said to Winnie, ¡°Feel free to Hex them if they try to start anything again. I don¡¯t need a broken phone or a paralyzed dragon.¡±

    Winnie in turn gave me a wicked smile, ¡°no problem az, i¡¯ll keep em in check. hehehe.¡±

    <hr>

    Despite the sunny day, it wasn¡¯t too hot out thanks to the constant shade of the trees. We kept traveling until midday, stopping in a small clearing to have lunch.

    I didn¡¯t know the expiry dates for the stuff in my bag, so I was trying to use up all the perishables first. Twenty miles would¡¯ve been about a day¡¯s walk on nice flat terrain, but with my slow ass and the rough mountainous terrain, it would probably take more than two days.

    Winnie enjoyed an assortment of smaller sweet berries while Sahara had discovered the joys of spicy food and demanded that I cover all of her food in chili sauce of jalapenos.

    I was able to keep Kaiju occupied with food and a Pokedoll while I ate a sandwich.

    The smell of food must¡¯ve attracted some unwanted attention. There was a lot of rustling from the trees, so we all looked up. There were two Emolga sitting in the trees right above us.

    They were absolutely adorable. Before I could even say a word, one of them jumped and dived down, landing on my face with a soft thump. It¡¯s so fluffy! Oh shit.

    The Emolga released a charge of electricity and I stiffened and fell to the ground, paralyzed. The other Emolga jumped down, stuffing my dropped sandwich into it¡¯s cheeks as the other one detached from my face and ran for my bag.

    ¡°oh no you don¡¯t!¡± Winnie yelled, jumping on my bag and using Extrasensory to pick up the little thief. The electric squirrel shrieked and tried to get out of Winnie¡¯s grasp. Sahara finally stepped into action, blasting the struggling Emolga away with a Dragon Pulse.

    The Emolga stealing my sandwich didn¡¯t get far as well. Kaiju got his mouth on the Emolga and was violently shaking it around like a ragdoll with glee, ignoring it¡¯s pitiful squeals and attempts to shock him into letting it go.

    By then I¡¯d finally regained control over my limbs. I hurriedly returned Kaiju to his ball, letting the Emolga scrambled away and back into the forest.

    I sat down, taking a deep breath and sighing. My head was spinning, I had stood up too fast when I got up to return Kaiju.

    ¡°are you okay az?¡± Winnie asked, putting a paw on my shin. ¡°those stupid rodents should¡¯ve known better than to challenge the mighty winnie!¡± Sahara snorted at that and commented on what Winnie had said, ¡°Gabite gab gabite.¡±

    Winnie rolled his eyes, ¡°yeah, okay, but iiii was the one who caught it.¡±

    I chuckled at that, ¡°I¡¯m fine Winnie, thanks for helping guys.¡± Kaiju¡¯s dusk ball shook and he released himself in a flash of red. ¡°Deino!¡± The little dragon roared and jumped into my lap.

    ¡°You did good too Kaiju, just maybe don¡¯t try to maul your victims to death next time.¡± Kaiju tilted his head, he didn¡¯t get it.

    I patted his head as I got up, adding in. ¡°They need to live to tell others about how scary you are.¡±

    Kaiju opened his mouth as if he¡¯d reached an epiphany and nodded with enthusiasm, ¡°Deino!¡±

    We all went silent and glanced up again as a shadow flitted across the clearing. The sunlight glinted off of the razor sharp feathers of a mean looking Skarmory, who circled our clearing before cawing and gliding away.

    ¡°That¡¯s our cue to go.¡±

    <hr>

    It wasn¡¯t thirty minutes later that we encountered another wild Pokemon while following a path through a ravine full of large boulders.

    The yellow and red weasel Pokemon, a Mienfoo, quickly blocked our path, shouting a challenge at us and readying it¡¯s fighting stance.

    Rotom flew over to me and activated the Pokedex app, ¡°Bzzt!¡± I flinched and grumbled in annoyance as I got zapped on the nose but ignored Rotom¡¯s jest.

    ¡°Mienfoo, the martial arts Pokemon. It takes pride in the speed at which it can use moves. What it loses in power, it makes up for in quantity.¡±

    ¡°Thanks a lot Rotom. Who¡¯s gonna fight Mienfoo?¡± I asked my team. My heart beat a little faster at the prospect of actually being able to do a Pokemon battle, even if it was against a wild Pokemon in the middle of nowhere.

    ¡°i call dibs!¡± Winnie shouted, leaping forward onto one of the bigger rocks in front of Mienfoo. Kaiju whined and turned to me, he wanted to battle too.

    ¡°You can battle next time if it¡¯s not something that Sahara needs to handle.¡± I said. He sighed but seemed fine with that arrangement.

    The the sound of claws scraping on rock drew my attention back to Mienfoo. The fighting type had taken the time I was talking with my team to boost it¡¯s attack with Hone Claws. I called for Winnie to be at the ready.

    ¡°Winnie, you have a type immunity to fighting, normal, and ghost type moves. Mienfoo should only know fighting and normal type moves, but I still want you to dodge them as if they¡¯ll hit you.¡± It wouldn¡¯t be a good idea to let Winnie build a bad habit of letting his opponents get a free shot on him due to moves and abilities like Foresight and Scrappy.¡±

    ¡°Use Detect, Agility, and Shadow Sneak to avoid Mienfoo¡¯s attacks and move around fast. Torment.¡±

    ¡°got it boss!¡±

    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    Winnie grinned and used Agility to get close to Mienfoo, muttering a string of insults under his breath. Mienfoo growled, now enraged and lunged at the white fox.

    Dodging under a Force Palm from Mienfoo, Winnie dived into it¡¯s shadow with a giggle before reappearing from the shadows of a few nearby bushes.

    Mienfoo paused, its flow interrupted as it tried to use Force Palm again but was forced to switch to another attack due to the effect of Torment. It wasn¡¯t able to overwhelm it¡¯s opponent with a barrage of attacks like it usually did now that it couldn¡¯t use one move multiple times in a row.

    ¡°Winnie, your species is adept at using illusions against opponents, try using them here. Turn into another Pokemon to scare Mienfoo before attacking to get a critical hit.¡±

    Winnie dodged a Pound from Mienfoo before stopping and trying to focus, but failing to create an illusion. He dodged another attack and this time I could see the air around him waver a bit.

    ¡°You got this!¡± I had no idea how a Zorua¡¯s Illusion ability should work so I wasn¡¯t able to give him any advice on it, but Winnie seemed to figure it out after another repeat of dodging Mienfoo.

    As Mienfoo got close again, Winnie jumped and a green-purple light illuminated him as his form shifted to look like Sahara and snarled menacingly at the fighting type. ¡°ahahahaha! i¡¯m a mighty dragon who¡¯s gonna eat you!¡±

    Mienfoo skidded to a halt, eyes wide with surprise as it was suddenly faced with a giant mean looking dragon instead of a little fox.

    I tried to hold back a laugh when I noticed that Winnie had only created an illusion for Sahara''s upper half. ¡°Use Hex!¡±

    A circle of ghost type energy enveloped Mienfoo and stabbed into it. Mienfoo cried out in pain and cartwheeled back, looking warily at Winnie, who had released the illusion. It seems like he wasn¡¯t able to keep up the illusion and use a move at the same time, but that was fine.

    ¡°Try it again but with Kaiju¡¯s mom, then Extrasensory.¡± Winnie grin only became wider as he charge at Mienfoo, who furrowed it¡¯s eyebrows and yelled out in determination. Its claws grew longer as it charged to attack Winnie with a flurry of Fury Swipes.

    Torment had worn off, but unfortunately for Mienfoo, getting back into the flow of attacking didn¡¯t help prepare it for the terrifying sight of mama Hydreigon¡¯s enormous head suddenly lunging for it. To give it credit, it doubled down and slashed at the illusion.

    Winnie jumped to the side and sent Mienfoo flying into a tree with Extrasensory.

    Sensing that this was a battle it couldn¡¯t win, Mienfoo got up and quickly retreated into the underbrush.

    Rotom circled Winnie and played an Umbreon dancing gif on its screen. Where does it keep getting these emojis without any internet connection? Did they come with the phone?

    ¡°Haha! did you see that guys? i won my first battle! did you see?¡± Winnie¡¯s illusion dispelled as he ran and jumped into my arms, wriggling around in excitement. I almost dropped him right into Kaiju¡¯s mouth (he was trying to eat Winnie¡¯s tail).

    Sahara walked over and gave Winnie a respectful nod. He hopped over onto Sahara''s head as Kaiju tried to hop into my arms too.

    <hr>

    After another half day of hiking and a night of camping out near a river, we were finally getting close to Route 22. Once we got to a well maintained road where we didn¡¯t have to wind our way through the woods hoping that we didn¡¯t run into any powerful and aggressive Pokemon, traveling would be so much less stressful. I had a new appreciation for people who¡¯d hike in rough terrain for fun.

    The thrill of an actual Pokemon battle still hadn¡¯t worn off even now, and I was somewhat hoping for another wild Pokemon to challenge us. Kaiju was still looking for his battle, and even though she pretended not to care, I knew Sahara was looking for a battle too. Winnie had told me that she was grumbling about the lack of any worthy opponents.

    We encountered an angry Buizel while we were walking along a riverbank. It didn¡¯t seem pleased to have intruders in it¡¯s territory and was shooting Water Guns as us from the water before jumping out and getting into a battle ready stance.

    I decided that this would be the perfect chance for Kaiju to try out a battle. The little dragon was more than ready to take on the water weasel.

    It was only then that I realized I had forgotten to scan Kaiju for his moves. The two had swiftly engaged in battle, well, it was currently more like a wrestling match. Kaiju had gotten a hold on Buizel¡¯s tail and was doggedly holding on while Buizel was flailing around in an attempt to throw the little dragon off.

    Winnie was egging the two while Sahara was viewing the spectacle with some amusement. If a dragon had the face muscles to smile, she would be smiling.

    Rotom came in clutch and scanned the two with a robotic beep after zapping my hair to make it staticy.

    ¡°Deino, the irate Pokemon. Lacking sight, it¡¯s unaware of its surroundings, so it bumps into things and eats anything that moves.

    Type: Dark-Dragon

    Abilities: Hustle

    Sex: Male

    Known moves: Work Up, Scary Face, Screech, Bite, Fire Fang, Thunder Fang, Ice Fang, Head Smash, Astonish, Hyper Voice, Tackle, Dragon Breath¡±

    ¡°Buizel, the sea weasel Pokemon. It spins its two tails like a screw to propel itself through water. The tails also slice clinging seaweed.¡±

    How in the world does Kaiju know all three elemental fang attacks? I thought the only moves he¡¯d know would be Bite and Dragon Breath.

    I shook my head, I needed to focus on the battle. Moving a bit closer so that I could be heard by my Pokemon, I shouted a command.

    ¡°Kaiju! Used Thunder Fang!¡±

    Kaiju paused and tilted his head. Buizel took this opportunity to shoot a Water Gun in Kaiju¡¯s face. He wasn¡¯t fazed by the attack and went back to trying to tear the sea weasel¡¯s tail off.

    I groaned, before trying another order, ¡°Kaiju! Remember how Rotom zapped you? Try doing that when you Bite down!¡±

    Thankfully Kaiju seemed to get what I said this time and lightning sparked in his mouth. The area was lit up as Buizel was electrocuted.

    Kaiju let go of Buizel¡¯s tail as he was surprised by his own move and the water weasel whipped around, growling at Kaiju before lunging at him. Water swirled around Buizel in a torrent as it used Aqua Jet to slam into Kaiju.

    Kaiju was thrown back but regained his feet fast enough to duck below another Aqua Jet from Buizel as I shouted for him to dodge.

    There was no way Kaiju would be able to get ahold of Buizel again, so the next next move would be, ¡°Dragon Breath!¡±

    Thankful Kaiju seemed to know what that was. He opened his mouth wide and spewed a mass of blueish fire at the oncoming Aqua Jet. Buizel tried to dodge but ended up swerving to the side and crashing into the ground right next to Kaiju.

    The little dragon was delighted that Buizel had served itself on a platter right next to him and went straight for it¡¯s throat. And missed. He bit one of the football sized river rocks instead and began trying to rip it apart.

    Winnie cracked up, ¡°he¡¯s not the sharpest crayon in the box is he?¡±

    Buizel quickly recovered and chattered angrily at us before diving back into the river with a large chunk of fur missing from its tail.

    I was stuck with the task of making sure Kaiju didn¡¯t try to eat the rock he had in his mouth.

    <hr>

    There were few more incidents of weaker wild Pokemon challenging us, but now that Winnie and Kaiju had gotten a taste for battle I had them take turns battling new challengers.

    Winnie further practiced using his ability and I had him work on learning and using Confuse Ray to enhance his ability to use Illusions.

    Kaiju was a wild card and would keep trying to eat whatever he thought was edible, which was basically everything that moved, as stated in the Pokedex. This resulted in him getting too excited to listen to my instructions and trying to eat his opponents alive every time he battled. I tried rectifying this problem by giving him extra snacks but he¡¯d still keep trying to eat stuff even if he was full. Quite a few poor unsuspecting Pidove met their ends to thanks to Kaiju.

    Note to self, don¡¯t send Kaiju out against small and weak Pokemon during trainer battles until he learns a bit of impulse control.

    Sahara wanted to battle too, but none of the wild Pokemon that we encountered were up to her standards. She was very specific about how strong her opponents had to be for her to battle them.

    The only exception to that was when an exceptionally tough Seviper attacked, it was double the size of a normal Seviper at around seventeen feet. I was ready to battle with Sahara for the first time, when a bunch of Zangoose appeared out of nowhere and began mauling Seviper to death while the snake in turn tried to kill them too.

    I quickly dragged Sahara and the others away while the Zangoose and Seviper were distracted with killing each other. Their hatred for each other was no joke. I kept fast-walking away until we couldn¡¯t hear their shrieks of pure rage and pain faded into the distance.

    The next big problem we ran into was at around midday.

    The trees branches above were literally growing into each other and the shade they provided made the forest below feel like it was almost night. The ground was equally as packed with chest high thorny bushes that constantly caught on and ripped at my clothes and skin.

    The dragons were fine due to their tough scales, though I had to return Kaiju because he kept running into the bushes and out of sight to chase whatever new scent he was smelling. He didn¡¯t have the impulse control to stay on the path that Sahara cleared for us.

    To our left was the a particularly deep and fast flowing section of the river we had previously been walking along and to our right was a steep drop into a valley-like area full of even more thorn bushes. There was no path along the river that we could go through and I really didn¡¯t want to have to backtrack to find another way across so going straight forward was the only option.

    Sahara lead the way using Slash to cut the thorny branches apart while Winnie found a comfortable seat in my in the hood of my jacket.

    We were approaching a clearing with a lot of tall grass, but a warning growl from Sahara alerted us that something was wrong.

    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡±

    Winnie hopped up onto my shoulder, ¡°sahara says that she smells mushroom pokemon up ahead.¡±

    ¡°Mushroom?¡± I took a few steps closer to the clearing to get a better look at it. There were indeed a bunch of mushrooms in the clearing in clusters. The mushroom caps had Pokeball patterns, and a few of them were swaying even though there was no breeze.

    ¡°Bzzt, beep beep!¡± Rotom buzzed and fired up the Pokedex. A few arcs of electricity arced into my hair, making it staticy and puffy.

    ¡°Foongus, the mushroom Pokemon. It lures people in with its Pok¨¦ Ball pattern, then releases poison spores. Why it resembles a Pok¨¦ Ball is unknown.¡±

    ¡°Amoongus, the mushroom Pokemon. It moves the caps on both arms and does a dance to lure prey, but very few Pok¨¦mon are fooled by this. It prefers damp places.¡±

    I swiped a hand through my hair to get rid of the static, ¡°Yeah I know what those are. We¡¯re not going in there. Lets go around them.¡±

    Sahara nodded and began slashing away at the thorn bushes to her left.

    We emerged into another clearing, but there was another horde of Foongus and Amoongus sitting there. Their caps all eerily turned to us once they sensed our presence.

    ¡°Nope, nope nope nope. Back to the bushes.¡±

    ¡°couldn¡¯t we just blast them all with some long ranged attacks?¡± Winnie asked.

    ¡°I¡¯d rather not risk having them release poisonous spores all over us. We¡¯re avoiding confrontation unless it¡¯s necessary.¡± I said as I followed Sahara away from the clearing.

    We ended up trying countless other paths but had to backtrack each time due to the presence of those stupid mushroom Pokemon. It was like they were trying to surround us. Actually, they were trying to surround us.

    From his vantage point on my head, Winnie was able to spot multiple Foongus moving around in the brush, getting closer to us as we tried to get out of that stupid maze of thorn bushes.

    We ended up backtracking all the way back to were we first entered the thorn bush trail. The Foongus didn¡¯t follow us out, but it was pretty unsettling knowing that they were trying to hunt us.

    I sent Winnie out to scout for any ways around that we may have missed. It would be easier for him to travel by himself due to him being able to phase through objects and use Shadow Sneak.

    While Winnie was away, Sahara tried to use dig, but there were too many roots and large rocks in the way for digging a tunnel to be easy. We were also near a large river and I was worried about any tunnels being flooded if we dug in the wrong direction.

    We need a way to sneak past them without them noticing us.

    ¡°az!¡± Winnie broke me from my train of thought, he had reappeared from the direction of the river. He was accompanied by a large white cat-dog Pokemon with a large black scythe horn protruding from it¡¯s forehead.

    My eyes widened, I was looking at a real life Absol! It was absolutely gorgeous.

    ¡°i found some help. there¡¯s another human by the river.¡± That must be Absol¡¯s trainer.

    ¡°Great! Well, lead the way.¡±

    We backtracked through the forest before coming to the spot where Kaiju had battled that wild Buizel.

    There was a man with long brown hair in a classic orange and black ranger outfit. He was accompanied by a Sawsbuck with antlers full of green leaves that were beginning to transition to the colors of fall.

    The mean looking Skarmory we saw from about a day ago was flying overhead.

    Absol trotted up to the ranger with a pleased look and the ranger patted it on its head as he turned to us with a frown.

    ¡°Hey you! We¡¯ve been looking for you guys, what are you doing this far from Route 22? It¡¯s dangerous for trainers to come this way unless they have more than six badges.¡±

    The Ranger took a closer look at me as he walked over, ¡°And I doubt you¡¯re old enough to even participate in the gym circuit.¡±

    I recalled the the multiple incidents that landed us here and simply said, ¡°It¡¯s a long story.¡± I guess it makes sense that there¡¯s an age requirement to participate in the gym circuit, I wonder what it is.

    The Ranger furrowed his eyebrows and sighed in annoyance, ¡°Whatever, I¡¯m taking you back to Route 22.¡± He let out a sharp whistle. Skarmory dove down, crying out a metallic sounding, ¡°Skarr!¡±, and gracefully landing next to the Ranger. Skarmory lovingly nuzzled its trainer while simultaneously giving us a an extra mean glare.

    I shivered and avoided eye contact with the metal bird. I was just glad that we could skip climbing up and down rough terrain for the next day or two.

    Once Sahara was returned to her ultra ball, the Ranger whose name I learned was Owen, helped me up into a carrier basket that Skarmory would carry by a handle while flying.

    It was kind of like being in a hot air balloon, but the balloon was a giant metal bird. Owen rode on Skarmory¡¯s back because the basket wasn¡¯t big enough for two people plus Absol.

    Skarmory may have been unfriendly but Absol was a sweetheart and let me pet it while we flew. It¡¯s fur was coarser than I expected, more like a dog¡¯s fur than a cat¡¯s.

    I got a pair of too big goggles to wear for the 20-ish minute trip to Route 22. The flight was fantastic! Being able to see everything below and that awesome feeling of flying, it was a dream come true.

    Again, I made a my previous mental note of getting a flying Pokemon or evolving Sahara extra important.

    I could tell Winnie enjoyed the experience too from him giggling in my ear and constantly tail hitting the back of my head. Once the initial joy of flying worse off, he and Absol had an animated conversation about Ranger work.

    Owen slightly ruined the experience with a rather aggressive lecture about being more responsible and how I could¡¯ve died and that I was lucky I wasn¡¯t attacked by an aggressive Hydreigon that lives in that area. Boi I¡¯ve already died once. Also I wasn¡¯t killed by the Hydreigon I think you¡¯re talking about.

    According to the Ranger, tens of trainers have been killed in the area he was patrolling just in the past few years because they wanted to catch a Deino or a Zweilous from this place called Three Fang Cave, where a Hydreigon was known to live with her brood.

    I refrained from commenting on that. I knew exactly where he was talking about, and I would have completely avoided the place if I hadn¡¯t been dumped there by a grumpy Pokemon Deity.

    He was angry, but in a disappointed parent way. Judging by the descriptive details he put into those stories, he¡¯d probably seen the aftermath or at least heard of from his colleague about what happened to the trainers who met their end because they overestimated their abilities. I really couldn¡¯t blame him for his reaction either way.

    I guess this is a bit of the dark side of the Pokemon world. Kids who get mauled to death by angry wild Pokemon. I was almost in that category thanks to Giratina dumping me in a cave with an angry mama Hydreigon.

    Route 22 soon came into view. It was a wide and clear sand and dirt path lined with tall grass through a part of the forest that was much less densely packed than where we came from.

    There were a few people walking along the path, as well as a one or two other trainers riding flying Pokemon in the distance.

    Once we landed, Owen directed me to Humilau, specifically pointing out a sign in the shape of an arrow that said, ¡®To Humilau City¡¯. He strongly emphasized that he didn¡¯t want to see me off route again, at least until I was as strong as a seven badge trainer before shooing me off.

    Skarmory shot me another glare, so I gave them a crisp thumbs up and booked it in the direction of Humilau city. I was in dire need of a hot shower and an actual bed, and I was sure my team would appreciate something other than berries and slightly burnt campfire food.

 (6) Some Stuff Happens

    Humilau was a sprawling seaside city with rows of palm trees, low buildings, and a large port full of boats. A large section of the city was made up of an organized maze of houses and bridges that floated atop the crystal blue and turquoise water.

    Despite Humilau being to the north of Unova, the weather was still warm enough for there to be a decent amount of people and Pokemon out sunbathing or walking or playing on the beach or in the water.

    The only time I¡¯d ever seen water like this was in pictures and videos online. I took a deep breath of the fresh ocean air. Man, this is the perfect place for a vacation.

    I never really liked beaches, partially because the water was too cold and suspiciously dark to comfortably swim in back where I came from, but this place? I could see why someone would want to live by the beach here.

    ¡°Psst psst psst psst psst.¡± There was a barely audible whisper in my ear. Despite the warmth of the sun, a sudden cold chill ran up my back and I shivered, glancing around. What was that?

    Winnie hopped up onto my head from his place in my hood to get a better look at everything, distracted from that weird event, I smiled as Winnie looked at the boat docks with wide eyes. This was probably his first time seeing a city. ¡°what¡¯s that big thing floating in the water?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a boat. Humans and non aquatic Pokemon usually use that to get around large bodies of water.¡±

    We walked through the city, continuing the pointing game. Winnie would point to something and ask what that was, I¡¯d answer to the best of my ability, and he¡¯d either think it was boring or ask more questions about it until he spotted something else he wanted to know about.

    Kaiju participated in the game for a short while before he was returned to his ball. The first thing he did after spotting a Wingull was to try to eat it.

    Sahara also had to be returned after she began growling and glaring at a Druddigon that was relaxing on the beach with its trainer. The Druddigon¨Cwhich was half buried in the sand¨Cgave us a disapproving glance before closing its eyes to doze off again.

    It was easy enough to find a Pokemon center, it was the large blue building with a bright red roof and a Pokeball symbol. This particular one was near Humilau city¡¯s town hall.

    I wanted my entire team to get a check up to make sure they were in good health, though I was kind of worried about if I¡¯d have to pay for it.

    A quick scan of my bank account showed that I only had a few hundred dollars to my name, but Rotom did a search on the Pokenet and showed me that Pokemon health care was free across all regions that were members of the Pokemon league. Does everything have to start with ¡®Poke¡¯? I get Pokemon are important but that probably gets confusing, right?

    The inside of the Pokemon center had a typical sterile hospital smell. There was a large lobby with a waiting room to the right were there were a few people waiting for their Pokemon to finish getting check up or being healed.

    To the left was a small section with a bunch of cubbies, PCs, and more chairs. There were posters with Nurse Joy and Audino plastered all over the walls featuring blurbs and puns about Pokemon health and promoting certain brands.

    The front desk had two ladies in standard nurse outfits typing away at their computers and an Audino doing some paperwork.

    It seemed that ¡®Nurse Joy¡¯ in this world was more of a mascot for Pokemon centers, though Audino was still the main healer Pokemon used in Unovan Pokemon centers from looking at the posters.

    There was no line so no wait time, yay! I kind of expected for a Pokemon center near town hall to be busier, but maybe it was just a quiet day.

    With a bit of nervousness, I approached the front desk and waited until one of the nurses finished what they were doing.

    The nurse with dark violet hair tied up in a neat bun looked up from her computer. ¡°Hi there! What can I help you with?¡±

    ¡°Hi, um, I¡¯d like to get my Pokemon a health check.¡±

    ¡°Okay, scan your Trainer ID here,¡± the nurse pointed at a little white flat cube on the countertop with a Pokeball symbol on it.

    ¡°i got it!¡± Winnie hopped down into my hood and dug around in my bag before proudly handing me the card.

    ¡°Thanks Winnie.¡± I took the ID and scanned it.

    The nurse smiled at our little interaction, ¡°I¡¯ve never seen a Zorua like that before, is it a regional variant?¡±

    I nodded, ¡°Yeah, he¡¯s a regional variant from Sinnoh called a Hisuan Zorua. They¡¯re normal-ghost types instead of dark types like the ones from Unova.¡±

    This nurse seemed particularly interested in regional variants, she ended up telling me all about this one Alolan Ninetales that she got to take care of a few months back. I patiently listened as the nurse praised the Nintales¡¯s trainer for taking such good care of its coat as it looked ethereal, etc.

    The other lady at the desk rolled her eyes, I got the feeling that this was a common occurrence. Well, I¡¯d probably be telling everyone about a cool Pokemon that I got to take care of.

    Finally, we got back on track when an Audino came over to me with a rolling cart. It motioned for me to place my Pokeballs, Winnie, and Rotom on it. I made sure to inform Audino about Kaiju¡¯s tendency to try to eat anything and everything.

    Rotom floated upwards with a displeased ¡°Bzzt!¡± It didn¡¯t want to go with Audino.

    Audino smiled and nodded at Rotom, ¡°Audino!¡± Then the healer Pokemon carted the others away to the back.

    ¡°You have something against doctors?¡± I asked Rotom. The plasma Pokemon¡¯s entire body vibrated with fury as it let out another, ¡°BZZT!¡± Its screen flashed an angry Skitty meme.

    ¡°Okay okay! I won¡¯t ask.¡±

    After that, I registered all four Pokemon with me to my Trainer ID. I was surprised to learn that there was a way to register Pokemon without using a Pokeball, that way Winnie and Rotom could both be registered.

    According to the nurses, it was very common for ghost types to prefer staying in their trainers shadow instead of a Pokeball. Most ghosts had the ability to phase through their Pokeball and basically destroy the ball in the process.

    Quite a few psychic type species also had the ability to teleport out of their balls with a similar effect.

    So the league ended up creating a new registration system specifically for Pokemon that preferred to not be kept in a ball, though this was mostly reserved for ghosts and psychics.

    Does that mean that ghost type specialists don¡¯t have to use Pokeballs for most of their team? They wouldn¡¯t have to worry about a team limit then. That sounds a bit overpowered.

    While I waited for my team to finish their check ups, I went to one of the PCs and used some of my money to rent a Pokemon center room for the night.

    Normal trainers got a huge discount during gym season¨Ca big plus for me, while people like Ace Trainers and Rangers had free rooms no matter the area or season.

    Unova was currently beginning its annual conference at Vertress city, so the rent prices would lose their discount in less than two weeks, once break season started and I wouldn¡¯t be able to afford a room at all.

    Taking another look at the dwindling money in my bank account, I sighed. I have to find a source of income asap.

    Of course there was always the option of betting money on a battle with another trainer.

    Some basic research on the Pokenet yielded me pretty decent solutions to my money problems. The league had an official website specifically for posting jobs that trainers could take to earn some money, and Pokemon centers had bulletin boards with a similar system.

    From a quick glance, most of the jobs from Humilau had to do with driving away water types causing issues with the city.

    Pokemarts also had areas for appraising and selling items, and the prices they¡¯d buy things at were lower but consistent. Most people recommended saving certain items and selling them on collectors forums for a lot more money instead.

    Well, selling stuff to collectors would take too long. I¡¯d have to settle with the Pokemart. I smiled and I silently thanked by past self for forgetting to sell treasure items. It should at least be enough to last us all a while.

    After retrieving my Pokeballs, Winnie took up his usual position on my shoulder.

    <hr>

    There was a Pokemart just a street over from the Pokemon Center. It had a section in the back labeled ¡®Appraisal Office¡¯.

    After a quick look at my trainer profile, the clerk handling the appraisals didn¡¯t even bat an eye at the large pile of pearls, comet shards, star pieces, and stardust that I slid across the table. Honestly, he looked like he was ready to end his shift and go home, the sun had just begun to set at that point.

    It took a bit over half an hour for him and his Reuniclus to appraise and calculate the total amount they¡¯d buy the items for.

    A six figure deposit into my account later, I stepped out into the main area of the Pokemart to buy all the necessities I needed. My budget was just under ?250,000, so I had more than enough money to spend. Hehehe! I¡¯m rich!

    Winnie had no concept of money so I gave him a summary of how currency worked while we shopped for essential items.

    A large chunk of the items we needed were for camping, like an awesome tent that used Pokeball technology to fold up into a cube small enough to fit in the palm of my hand, a sleeping bag, and a large assortment of cooking items.

    Winnie was insistent on getting the best brush for his fur after hearing about that one Alolan Nintales¡¯s luscious coat, which I had no problem with.

    Kaiju and Sahara got their own care items too, and Rotom got a high quality power bank and charger, though I made it promise to stop zapping me for no reason.

    This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

    I spent the most time deciding on what type of Pokemon food to buy, the Pokenet forum opinions varied a lot on which was the best brand, but they all generally agreed on which one was the worst.

    Some directions from the Pokemart¡¯s Morpeko¨Cand Winnie¡¯s translation¨Ctaught me that I could just buy Pokemon foods for one specific type and mix it with food for another type for dual type Pokemon.

    Then I could do some research and supplement it with whatever extra stuff my Pokemon needed in their diet and change the ingredients until I found something that worked for me. It was a pretty common practice for most Pokemon trainers and especially breeders and trainers that participated in contests.

    It was almost time for dinner anyways, so it would be a good opportunity to learn what flavors my team liked.

    The rented Pokemon center rooms came with a small but nice complete kitchen that trainers could cook food with.

    I already knew that Winnie enjoyed sweets, so I added some Pecha berries to his food. I set out some different flavored berries for Kaiju and Sahara to test. Sahara liked savory food, specifically stuff that was extra spicy. Kaiju ate everything regardless of taste, he¡¯d eat anything that was remotely edible.

    One thing I made sure to add to their food were vitamins. Adding too many in one dish threw off its taste, so I just added two for each mon based on their request.

    Pretty sure either Kaiju or Winnie were sneaking extra berries, I had taken out about ten different berries, but three of them went missing the moment I took my eyes off of them. Neither owned up to it but I was too tired to care, I was struggling to keep my eyes open at this point.

    I yawned, I was planning on trying out the grooming items I¡¯d just bought but I¡¯d probably have to do it sometime tomorrow.

    One sandwich and the best shower ever later, I collapsed into bed and was out like a light.

    <hr>

    Winnie¡¯s ear twitched. The deep and even breathing of the others sleeping let him know that the coast was clear.

    Sneakily wriggling out of Azalea¡¯s arms and avoiding Kaiju¡¯s wide open and drooling mouth, the fox yawned and stretched before a tricky smile split his face. The night was still young and he wanted to train his control over illusions.

    During their hike, Azalea had described his species as masters of illusions, the ultimate tricksters. There was once a Zoroark that was powerful enough to fool an entire city AND three legendaries into believing that its illusions were reality.

    Master of Illusions, he wanted that title. It would be a long road, but he was willing to work for it. He would become THE Master of Illusions, the KING of Illusions! Winnie chuckled to himself as he imagined himself as a bigger more muscled version of his current self with a golden crown.

    First, some pre-workout snacks! Winnie rummaged through Azalea¡¯s bag and pulled out a handful of blue candies. These candies were the best sweets he¡¯d ever tasted, and Winnie always felt energized after eating them.

    Rotom peeked out of one of the bag¡¯s side pockets, softly buzzing in a questioning tone.

    ¡°i¡¯m going outside to train for a bit. go back to sleep.¡± Winnie whispered, shoving the possessed phone back into the bag.

    Double checking that everyone was asleep, Winnie merged into the shadows of the room before reappearing outside the Pokemon center. His smile reappeared, jumpscare time!

    The Zorua darted into a bush next to a sidewalk, he would practice creating illusions until his first victim came along.

    Azalea had pointed out Winnie¡¯s inability to create a full illusion of another Pokemon and had given him some suggestions on how to improve.

    He was able to copy Gabite¡¯s complete form only after a few tries, but attempts at copying Hydreigon were unsuccessful. The illusion was too big for him to properly control, it just didn¡¯t click with him like the others.

    He gave up on Hydreigon for the time being and switched to copying the various Pokemon he¡¯d seen throughout the city and during their hike. There was the Druddigon at the beach, a Pidove, a Jellicent, a Seviper¡­The closer they were to his size, the easier they were to create an illusion of.

    The sound of someone humming a merry tune caught Winnie¡¯s attention. It was a lone human walking down the sidewalk with a knee high brown and navy dog Pokemon following close at his heels. Perfect.

    This was his chance to test out his new illusions.

    <hr>

    Martin loved late night walks, it was quiet and the beaches would be empty at this time of night. He and Herdier would be able to have a nice relaxing walk by the beach after a long day of dealing with his in laws.

    Herdier stopped and began growling at a clump of bushes next to the sidewalk, it hackles were raised.

    Martin whistled, ¡°Herdier, get away from the bushes.¡± The last time Herdier had done something like this it had gotten shocked and paralyzed by a Parchirisu hiding in the bushes. And before that, it was an angry Tranquil that nearly pecked the dog¡¯s eye out.

    Herdier didn¡¯t listen and began furiously barking at the bushes. Martin sighed, muttering under his breath, ¡°Julie was right about getting a leash.¡±

    He was about to grab his unruly dog, but a low hissing sound made him freeze and look at the bushes again. A pair of red eyes stared at him from the bushes, and gleaming blood red fangs shone under the light of the streetlamps.

    Martin audibly gulped. Screw relaxing midnight walks by the beach, they were going home.

    Grabbing Herdier by the collar, Martin pulled his Pokemon a safe distance back just as the Seviper struck where Herdier had just been standing.

    Herdier didn¡¯t need any orders from Martin, it whined, tail between its legs and they both booked it straight back home.

    <hr>

    The illusion of Seviper dissipated and Winnie rolled around on the ground laughing his ass off, that human should¡¯ve seen his face!

    Sensing another human approaching, the fox jumped back into the bushes, this time preparing an illusion of an angry Zangoose.

    This time he was gonna chase the human down the street! Before he could enact his plan, an outburst of giggles echoed behind him. Victim number two stood still for a second before booking it in the opposite direction, not even bothering to looks back.

    Winnie whipped around and came face to face with a floating navy-purple rag ghost with a single spike in it¡¯s head cloth. The ghost grinned before floating back to give Winnie some space.

    ¡°Hiyyya hahaha!¡± The ghost giggled.

    Winnie raised an eyebrow, ¡°who are you?¡±

    ¡°The forest lord says that the humans call my type of ghost Shuppet.¡± Shuppet said somewhat proudly, like a little kid who had earned a golden star sticker from the teacher.

    The rag ghost leaned forward conspiratorially and whispered, ¡°I¡¯m the one who stole the black and yellow Pokeball from your human.¡±

    Then it turned back and nodded at the cluster of ghosts swirling in the shadows behind it. Their forms were too rough to make out what type of ghost Pokemon they were. ¡°There are also a few others here too. Say hi guys!¡±

    A bunch of childish voiced echoed off of each other in a chorus of hi¡¯s and hellos.

    Winnie¡¯s eyebrow now raised even higher as he tilted his head,

    ¡°what are you guys doing here? are you gonna steal stuff from az again?¡± The last part he said with a slight snarl, attempting to imitate of Sahara¡¯s snarl and piercing death glare.

    ¡°HAH! Naaaahhhh, now that we¡¯re not in the forest lord¡¯s domain, there are plenty of humans and Pokemon we can mess around with.¡±

    Shuppet twirled around, ¡°We left the forest because weEEee wanted to! We¡¯re not gonna stay with the lord for the rest of eternity! I¡¯d go CrAaaAaaazY if I had to do that!¡±

    One of the other ghosts piped up, half whispering, half yelling, ¡°Dusknoir suggested we come with you guys cause it would be safer to go in a group.¡±

    With an eye roll to the moon, Winnie sighed, ¡°well just because dusknoir told you guys you come tag along doesn¡¯t mean that you can. you guys were the ones who stole the berries from az weren¡¯t you?¡±

    Shuppet dramatically gasped, letting its mouth fall comically wide open, ¡°Us? Steal? No way! I told you that there were other humans we could steal from you know.¡±

    Winnie looked over at the small cluster of ghosts still sitting in the shadows behind Shuppet. Some of them looked away with clear guilt. ¡°Hmmmm, i see.¡±

    Shuppet blocked Winnie¡¯s view of the ghosts, ¡°Fiiiiine, I guess someone could¡¯ve taken a berry or two, but it¡¯s no big deal okay? It¡¯s not like we¡¯re taking anything important.¡±

    ¡°az told me about this today. those berries cost money that we have to earn by doing jobs which take time and energy. and you guys are basically trying to freeload off of us. dusknoir and the forest lord probably wouldn¡¯t approve of that would they?¡± Winnie retorted,

    ¡°go find someone else to freeload off of, freeeeloaders.¡± Winnie made sure to emphasize freeloaders.

    Shuppet at least had the sense to look a bit ashamed, ¡°Ummmm¡­ Fine, I guess you¡¯re right.¡±

    The rag ghost then perked up, ¡°Why don¡¯t we help you guys then? We didn¡¯t leave the forest to be caught by some human, but we can help with jobs. We won¡¯t be freeloaders then.¡±

    Winnie turned his nose up and gave the other ghosts a judging look, ¡°hmmmm,¡± he pretended to think hard about it.

    ¡°fine, but you guys have to behave, and no more stealing unless i say so.¡±

    Shuppet frowned, ¡°Unless you say so? IIII get to be leader because I¡¯m the strongest ghost here. You¡¯re not even the strongest member of your team, why should we listen to you? ¡±

    ¡°i¡¯m not the strongest on my team but i sure am stronger than you are!¡± Winnie growled, getting nose to nose with Shuppet.

    Shuppet floated up a bit to tower over Winnie, its cloth fluttering as it got more agitated and growled, ¡°Bet.¡±

    ¡°alright, you win you guys get to freeload and i help you guys out, i win, you guys have to listen to me as your new boss and call me the strongest.¡±

    ¡°DEAL!¡± Shuppet roared, sending a sudden burst of ghostly soundwaves at Winnie. A spinning ray of ghostly energies followed Shuppet¡¯s Astonish before the rag puppet flew backwards and disappeared into the shadows.

    The ghost type energy had no effect on Winnie but he still flinched from the sudden sound, letting the slow moving Confuse Ray hit him.

    Winnie shook his head and looked around. The small wooded area they were in was now foggy and densely packed with gnarled trees as far as he could see. Was I teleported somewhere?

    Shadows jumped out at Winnie and he dodged the first few times before realizing that they weren¡¯t real. The trees weren¡¯t exactly tree shaped or textured, and the shapes jumping out at him were simple dark circles with no substance, Detect wasn¡¯t triggered by any of them.

    Detect suddenly went off like an alarm in his head. Winnie jumped and rolled to the side, narrowly dodging a ball of ghostly energy.

    Shaking his head again, the confusion began to wear off and the lightly wooded area by the bushes they had started in slowly faded back into reality.

    Looking up, Winnie spotted the rag ghost circling the air high above him. Shuppet cackled and created another Shadow Ball, shooting it at Winnie.

    Rolling to the side to dodge, Winnie closed his eyes and concentrated hard. As he got up, two copies of himself sprung up with him and began running around the clearing.

    None of Winnie¡¯s moves were long ranged enough to reach where Shuppet was flying, and he couldn¡¯t reach up that high either.

    Winnie¡¯s eyes glowed as he focused ghost type energy into a ball and fired back at Shuppet.

    The rag ghost spun like a ballerina and easily dodged.

    ¡°HAHAHAHA! Is that all you can do? All bark and no bite!¡± Shuppet stuck out its tongue as its eyes gleamed.

    Winnie shuddered and frowned as he tried to use Shadow Ball again and found that he couldn¡¯t. It¡¯s like he¡¯d never learned how to use it.

    ¡°Take this foxy boy!¡± A ring of darkness exploded from Shuppet and scattered ghost type energy all over the place, dispelling the fake Winnies and sending the real one sprawling.

    ¡°I got you now!¡± Shuppet crowed. It dived into the shadows and reappeared next to Winnie, grabbing at the fox claws made of shadows. Winnie turned, with wide eyes of surprise much to Shuppet¡¯s delight.

    The attack phased straight through and Winnie¡¯s scared expression turned into a a look of utter contempt as the illusion Shuppet had just clawed through disappeared in a puff of smoke.

    Shuppet let out a squeak of surprised as it felt itself caught by strands of shadows. The battle scarred, violet crowned, dark blue head of a monstrous dragon instantly formed and roared in Shuppets face and licked its lips as the rest of the dragon crawled out of the shadow.

    Shuppet could hear a commotion from the spectating ghosts as the three headed dragon revealed itself in it¡¯s full horrifying glory. The thing was MASSIVE!

    The rag ghost¡¯s eyes widened as it felt its nonexistent stomach drop. The dragon opened its mouth, revealing its rows of sharp teeth coated in dark type energy.

    ¡°I-I SURRENDER!¡± Shuppet screamed as it struggled like a trapped fish to get out of the dragon¡¯s grasp.

    Suddenly the entire dragon was gone and Shuppet was let go.

    The rag ghost fell to the ground with a soft thump, its blue and yellow eyes met Winnie¡¯s cheerful golden eyes and wide grin. Shuppet¡¯s mouth gaped open as it realized that Winnie was completely unscathed.

    The white fox puffed out his chest and chuckled as it propped Shuppet up with Extrasensory, ¡°i win! say it.¡±

    Shuppet scowled and looked away.

    ¡°say it. you bet and lost.¡±

    One dramatic sigh later, Shuppet spoke. ¡°You¡¯re the strongest.¡±

    ¡°yes i am!¡±

    Winnie grinned widely, his eyes gleaming with excitement. He trotted around to the rest of the ghosts, head held high.

    The other ghosts bubbled in anticipation and slowly emerged from the shadows they¡¯d previously been hiding in to get a loser look at their new boss.

    ¡°greetings hench-ghosts! there¡¯s been a change in leadership.¡±

    <hr>

    The crinkling of papers being shuffled around and the soft scratch of a pen working were the only sounds in the otherwise silent office of Professor Rowan. He was looking through applicants for next gym seasons sponsors.

    There were thousands of applicants each year, but only three of them would get the sponsorship each season.

    Rowan liked to get these done early during the break season once the initial thousand had been filtered down by his assistants. He was currently in the process of narrowing down which of the last hundred applicants were able to meet his standards.

    Usually he would¡¯ve spread out the work over a few weeks in between other things he had to attend to, but he wouldn¡¯t have the time for his usual methods this year.

    Rowan leaned back, rubbing his stiff back and looking out the window. The sun had long since set and the crescent moon was already past its zenith. Feeling his back crack, the professor let out a heavy sigh, he was getting a bit too old to be pulling all nighters like this.

    The thump of frantic footsteps running down the hall to his office took his attention. The door swung open and a tall man with messy lavender hair and a wrinkled and stained lab coat burst into his office, he bent over and panted as he tried to recover his breath.

    ¡°Professor! You have t-to see this!¡± The man proclaimed while waving his tablet in the air.

    Rowan patiently waited for the researcher to catch his breath before prompting him, ¡°I guess I do. What¡¯s got you so excited Marcus?¡±

    Marcus adjusted his glasses and excitedly shoved the tablet in the professors face.

    ¡°It¡¯s a Hisuan Zorua! One was just registered to a trainer in Unova! This, t-this is wonderful!¡±

    The professor calmly took the tablet from Marcus and took a better look at the pictures and information on the tablet.

    It indeed was an hours old picture of a Hisuan Zorua, taken by one of the nurses at one of the Pokemon centers in Humilau to create documentation for the Pokemon.

    Marcus pointed at the description of the fox Pokemon¡¯s typing, ¡°See? I-it was scanned as a normal-ghost type, not a dark type! This could be a major advancement for studying Hisuan variants!¡±

    Slowly nodding, Rowan handed the tablet back to Marcus, ¡°Hmm, I¡¯d also like to know where this trainer, what¡¯s their name?¡±

    ¡°Azalea Lang, sir.¡±

    The professor cleared his throat before continuing, ¡°Yes, I¡¯d like to know where Azalea was able to find a species that¡¯s both not native to Unova and been extinct for more than two hundred years.¡±

    ¡°Actually sir, they¡¯re technically not extinct, there¡¯s that massive illusion at Alabaster Mountain that¡¯s most likely the work of a Hisuan Zoroark.¡± Marcus said as he tapped away at his tablet, showing the professor a rather complicated looking graph of energy readings.

    ¡°It could also just be multiple powerful ghosts creating a mass illusion.¡±

    Marcus vehemently shook his head and readjusted the glasses he just shook loose, ¡°N-no, I doubt it, we measured the type energy and compared it with other mass illusions, it wasn¡¯t a match. If we get data from an actual member of the Hisuan Zoroark line, then we would be able to confirm it.¡±

    Marcus paused as another train of though came to him, ¡°Actually, it probably could help us with figuring out the illusion maze at Alabaster mountain.¡±

    Nodding, Rowan stacked the application folders together and placed them into a drawer to work on later, ¡°I will contact Aurea to help get in contact with this trainer and Zorua. In the meantime, prepare plane tickets for them to Jubilife.¡±

    ¡°Yes sir! I-I have to go tell the others!¡± Marcus grinned as he rushed out of the professor¡¯s office.

    Sighing, Rowan got up and closed the door before checking the time. 2 AM, Unova was a few hours behind, so Professor Juniper or one of her assistants should still be up.

    He pulled out his laptop, ¡°Porygon, please call Professor Juniper¡¯s office.¡±

 (7) Humilau City

    Something sharply nipped my hand and jolted me awake. Blearily blinking my eyes, I shooed the offender away

    ¡°Deino!¡± Kaiju licked my face and jumped off the bed, clumsily landing and almost tripping over his own feet.

    I groaned and stretched, ¡°Rotom, what time is it?¡±

    ¡°Bzzt!¡± Rotom answered from Sahara¡¯s mouth. What did it do to annoy her?

    ¡°it¡¯s morning!¡± Winnie helpfully relied.

    Kaiju¡¯s stomach loudly grumbled and I felt the lil guy stand nom on my fingers, covering my hand in saliva. Yay.

    ¡°Mmmph. Okay, breakfast time. Sahara, let Rotom go please, I don¡¯t want a broken phone.¡±

    The landshark obliged and spit Rotom out onto the carpet. Rotom chattered indignantly and zoomed into one of my bag pockets.

    Winnie was still dozing next to my pillow. I gently pat the soft fur on his head to wake him up, as I sat up. ¡°Winnie it¡¯s time for breakfast.¡±

    The little fox yawned and stretched like a cat, ¡°Tell me when the food is ready.¡± He muttered before he promptly went back to sleep.

    <hr>

    After breakfast, we were all ready to go and do stuff. Well, everyone besides me, I was still stiff and a bit fatigued from that whole ordeal through wilds, but I¡¯d wake up with a bit of exercise and just go to bed earlier today.

    Sahara and Winnie were eager to do some training. I could hear Winnie talking about battles with her, or something related to learning new moves.

    No idea what Kaiju was thinking about besides food even though we literally just ate. Food would probably be a useful incentive for getting him to actually obey so I wouldn¡¯t have to worry about him eating another trainers Pokemon.

    Since the Pokemon center still wasn¡¯t super busy, I was able to get one of the battlefields behind it for ourselves. There was one other trainer who was hanging out with his Swanna, but they left not too long after we got there.

    With my team lined up in front of me, I gave them directions.

    ¡°Winnie, your current goal is to continue training your control over illusions. I want you to start incorporating not just fooling your opponents vision, but their other senses. Like hearing, touch, smell, and that all stuff. You are only allowed to use illusions, Detect, and Agility.¡±

    ¡°alrighty az!¡± Winnie nodded and saluted, he had a tricky grin on his face.

    ¡°Kaiju. Earth to Kaiju?¡± The little dragon snapped back to attention, the little guy had been drooling and staring at nothing.

    ¡°Dein?¡±

    ¡°Kaiju, you¡¯re going to be training with Winnie. I want you to work on using a newmove combination and your reaction speed. Work up, then Astonish, and then use whatever biting move you find fit. But you have to let go once you¡¯ve hit Winnie.¡±

    That last bit went in one ear and out the other as Kaiju literally shook from excitement from being allowed to bite someone without getting into trouble.

    I sighed, ¡°Rotom, you¡¯re gonna be in charge of managing Kaiju¡¯s bite control. Zap him until he lets go if he doesn¡¯t listen.¡±

    I wouldn¡¯t dub Rotom as reliable, but I knew it would be more than happy to zap anyone for any reason. Especially a Pokemon who¡¯d tried to eat it on multiple occasions.

    Rotom spun around and gave me a happy, ¡°Bzzt!¡± It was happy about being able to get back at the little terror of a dragon.

    Hopefully this won¡¯t result in a broken phone.

    ¡°Winnie, Deinos are basically blind and don¡¯t rely on their eyes to get around. So you¡¯ll have to work on fooling Kaiju¡¯s other senses in order to dodge his attacks. You can use all your moves except for Will-o-Wisp. Get Rotom to call me over if one of you needs a heal.¡±

    ¡°You three got it?¡±

    ¡°Deino!¡±

    ¡°yep!¡±

    ¡°Bzzt!¡±

    I shooed them away, ¡°Then off you go!¡±

    Now it was time to address Sahara. ¡°Sahara, I¡¯m going to be working with you to upgrade one of your moves and work on one of your abilities.¡±

    Sahara nodded with brighter eyes than usual, this was probably the first time she looked particularly excited about anything since she joined the team. Maybe she¡¯s a battle junkie?

    ¡°First, I want you to work on turning Sand Tomb into Sandstorm. Then we can apply one of your abilities, Sand Veil. It increases your evasion in a sandstorm, which will give you a huge advantage over your opponents.¡±

    Sahara nodded and growled in approval. ¡°Gabite!¡±

    Sand Tomb was a ground type move while Sandstorm wad a rock type move, but I was pretty sure that the way Sand Tomb functioned was good enough to use as a simple template for Sandstorm.

    ¡°Alright, first let me explain the concept. You have to use the same type energy you use for Rock Tomb, but instead of creating a ton of rocks, try creating a pile of sand, don¡¯t worry about moving it around.¡±

    Sahara¡¯s first try was just a normal rock tomb, she was only able to make a single grain of sand the second time, and the third. The landshark kept trying, and I kept encouraging her. After countless attempts, she succeeded in making a small pile of sand.

    ¡°Great!¡± I cupped my hands and held them out to Sahara, ¡°Now move them to my hand, don¡¯t try to move each individual grain like you¡¯d move the rocks in Rock Tomb, move it as an entire group. Like you¡¯re trying to transport water from one cup to another.¡±

    It only took a few tries this time for Sahara to get the hang of moving the sand. Then I had her increase the amount of sand she generated and moved each time until she found it too difficult to control.

    We stopped at that amount and switched to her generating a small Sandstorm around herself and she created one that looked similar to Sand Tomb. It didn¡¯t last as long as the actual move, but it was a great start.

    ¡°Good job! You got everything down a lot quicker than I expected. Now it¡¯s just up to practice, practice, and more practice.¡±

    Sahara gave me a determined look and roared, ¡°Gabite!¡± Another miniature sandstorm kicked up around her. I stepped a few paces back to not get caught up in the storm.

    ¡°Keep practicing your control over the sand, I¡¯m gonna go check on the others!¡± I yelled into the small storm before walking over to the other side of the field.

    The two were panting as they eyed each other down, Kaiju didn¡¯t have any visible injuries but one of Winnie¡¯s legs was covered in a light layer of frost and his fur was sticking out like he¡¯d gotten electrocuted.

    Rotom was hovering over them, a huge grin on its face.

    ¡°Heya! How¡¯s it going you guys?¡± I waved to get their attention.

    The two trotted over to me and Winnie let me apply the ice heal and paralyze heal I had pulled out.

    ¡°i think i figured out how to do the stuff for other senses, but it¡¯s not as good as i want it to be.¡± Winnie said.

    I finished applying the potions and he shook himself off. Kaiju wanted a turn even though he didn¡¯t have a status effect, I just pretended to spray some potion on him and he was satisfied with that.

    ¡°Alright, show me what you got Winnie.¡±

    Winnie was instantly replaced by a smaller version of Kaiju¡¯s mom.

    ¡°Wow! Looks like you mastered creating a visual illusion. I¡¯m so proud of you Winnie!¡±

    Fake Hydreigon happily growled and flapped it¡¯s wings at my comment. I could clearly hear the flapping of the dragon¡¯s wing and it¡¯s growl, but when I reached out to touch it, my hand kinda phased through it. There was the slight feeling that I had touched scales but I wouldn¡¯t have noticed it if I wasn¡¯t paying attention.

    Hydreigon disappeared and Winnie was in its place again.

    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    ¡°Hmmm¡­I can see you¡¯re struggling with.¡± I scratched my head, ¡°Tell me how you create your illusions, what¡¯s your process?¡±

    ¡°i imagine exactly what i want the others to see and then apply them to the illusion. it works perfectly fine for illusions that others can see and hear, but not so much for the other senses. kaiju wasn¡¯t affected by most of my illusions and i got bit a few times.¡±

    ¡°Deino!¡± Kaiju proudly held his head. I pat his head as I thought.

    ¡°What about just imagining how the illusions would sense, you imagine what you would sense and apply that?¡± I suggested.

    ¡°huh, i dunno, lets try it out.¡±

    ¡°Sure, show me one round, I¡¯ll give you both some more pointers if it¡¯s needed.¡±

    The two ran a bit away before beginning their sparring match.

    Kaiju stomped his feet, using Work Up before roaring. The sound from Astonish was sharp and Rotom and I flinched. Winnie had a trick up his sleeve and used a hollow half sphere of ghost type energy to counter the move and essentially block it.

    ¡°Is that a new move? Rotom?¡± The plasma Pokemon gave me a cheerful ¡°Bzzt!¡± and showed me a new scan of Winnie.

    ¡°Huh, Shadow Ball and Night Shade. Impressive.¡±

    Winnie ran at Kaiju, turning into a snake that I recognized as a Seviper that wrapped around and trapped Kaiju in a tight coil. The poisonous snake emanated a venomous hiss, threateningly waving its tail around.

    Kaiju bit into the illusionary snake multiple times, using different biting moves but was unsuccessful in getting free.

    ¡°Kaiju, use a normal dark type Bite.¡±

    With a grunt, dark type energy poured out of Kaiju¡¯s mouth and the little dragon bit down on Seviper¡¯s head. The illusion wavered and was slow to reform as the dark type energy somehow disturbed it. Because of that, Kaiju was able to wriggled out of fake Seviper¡¯s grasp and began trying to Bite the Seviper even more.

    ¡°Okay, we can end the match here Winnie.¡±

    The snake disappeared and Winnie appeared from my shadow, giving me a small surprise.

    ¡°How did it feel?¡±

    Winnie grinned, ¡°better than before! i think i get it a bit more now!¡±

    I smiled back at the little fox, ¡°Good. Keep practicing that. Keep in mind until you get stronger, your main strategy will be to hide and trick your opponents with illusions while you wear them down from a safe distance.¡±

    Then I turned to Kaiju, ¡°I think you¡¯ve got the basics of attacking down, but you need to work on dodging and defending. You didn¡¯t even try to defend yourself when Winnie¡¯s Seviper attacked you.¡±

    Kaiju cocked his head to the side as he absorbed what I said before grunting, ¡°Dein!¡±

    ¡°Okay, this time Winnie will be the one attacking¨Cno status effect moves allowed by the way. Kaiju, you¡¯re only allowed to dodge and use Dragon Breath to keep Winnie at a distance.¡±

    The two nodded and I waved at them to go back to practicing.

    My team trained in this manner for the rest of the morning and into early afternoon. I¡¯d switch in between working with Sahara and changing the rules of Kaiju and Winnie¡¯s duels.

    Sahara was able to create a sandstorm big enough to cover half of a field and keep it up for a minute before it petered out. While we waited for her Sandstorms to die out so that she could reset them, Sahara would work on her ability Sand Veil by hiding amongst the sand and attacking rocks she¡¯d set up earlier using Rock Tomb.

    Winnie was able to greatly improve his illusions and the speed and quantity at which he produced them.

    Kaiju kinda learned how to dodge, his first instinct always was to charge headfirst at his opponent before he remembered that we was supposed to get out of the way. It sort of got better as he kept practicing but it was slower than I would¡¯ve liked.

    On a more positive note, he somehow ended up adapting Dragon Breath into Dragon Pulse and Dragon Rage. The lil dragon taught himself two new powerful moves but couldn¡¯t get out of the way while something¡¯s charging at him.

    Maybe he was some sort of Pokemon savant? Or younger Pokemon just learned faster like how babies learn new stuff super quickly?

    I¡¯d have to think of a better way to teach defensive stuff to him.

    <hr>

    After lunch, I took the team to view the Marine Tube. It was a huge underwater tube that let people safely view the aquatic wildlife in the Humilau bay area.

    Sahara wasn¡¯t interested in any of this so she returned to her ball to wait until we were ready to train again. She probably wouldn¡¯t have been allowed in anyways, the sign outside the Marine Tube¡¯s entrance had a list of prohibited Pokemon, probably to prevent them from accidentally destroying something or cracking the glass.

    Unlike in the Black and White 2 games, the ocean outside the tube was filled with colorful coral reefs swarming with a huge variety of Pokemon. There were a few bright pink and blue Corsola blending in amongst the coral, some of them had branches decorated with tiny Horsea clinging to them by their tails.

    Schools of Basculin, and Magikarp swam by, there was a ton of Remoraid there too, some of the smaller schools swam underneath the few Mantyke and Mantine that were gliding through the reef.

    Winnie pointed out an Octillery I didn¡¯t seen before, it was blending in with the red corals. The octopus Pokemon patiently waited for one Remoraid school to get close before striking, grabbing one as the rest of the school scattered.

    Remoraid evolve into Octillery though right? Isn¡¯t that technically cannibalism? Well, cannibalism is pretty common among animals, so why not Pokemon?

    The Octillery tore the poor Remoraid apart before retreating and lying in wait for its next victim, which happened to be a Qwilfish that swam over to eat the scraps that Octillery hadn¡¯t eaten.

    The pufferfish viciously eyed Octillery and spit a bit of purple stuff at the octopus, prompting it to angrily spit black ink at Qwilfish before swimming away from the cloud of poison.

    A Lumineon led a small school of Finneon over the tube and the people watching them oohed and awwed at their iridescent glittering scales. I swear I saw Lumineon smugly grin at the people admiring it and its school.

    On the other side of the tube, there was a section of coral that had clusters of Clamperls, but they were all closed.

    A small crowd gathered to watch as an enormous Kingler slowly approached the Clamperl cluster it got to work mechanically prying their shells open one by one to eat what was on the inside.

    Kaiju began to drool and began to lick the glass, he wanted a bite too. I quickly pushed his head away from the glass and gave him an admonishing look before looking back at what Kingler was doing.

    Kingler only got through three and a half Clamperl before a Clawitzer rocketed over and shot water at the giant crab, pushing it away from the Clamperl. Kingler clicked it¡¯s mandibles in outrage, the two began squaring off for rights to the food source.

    I was expecting to see Corphish or Crawdaunts here instead of a Clawitzer, but they were freshwater Pokemon who were usually found in lakes or ponds.

    Guess they also didn¡¯t want to have to compete against two other viable species for a spot in the same niche in this ecosystem.

    The crowd watching them got bigger, but the entire reef population scattered as an enormous serpentine shadow flitted over the area. There was a loud splash, my eyes widened at the goddamn Gyarados that had just dived down towards the reef.

    People began chattering in excitement and taking pictures of the Gyarados. They were a lot less scared than I expected them to be.

    ¡°Deino!¡±

    ¡°woah! az, what¡¯s that? it looks so cool!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a Gyarados, you wanna pull up the Pokedex entry Rotom?¡±

    ¡°Bzzt!¡± Rotom flew out of my bag and its screen showed the Pokedex page for Gyarados.

    ¡°Gyarados, the Atrocious Pokemon. Pokedex entry. When Magikarp evolves into Gyarados, its brain cells undergo a structural transformation. It is said that this transformation is to blame for this Pok¨¦mon¡¯s wildly violent nature. Once Gyarados goes on a rampage, its ferociously violent blood doesn¡¯t calm until it has burned everything down. There are records of this Pok¨¦mon¡¯s rampages lasting a whole month.¡±

    ¡°wait, if it¡¯s so violent, why isn¡¯t this one angry?¡± Winnie asked.

    ¡°I dunno, there¡¯s always an exception. That Gyaradoes probably likes this place enough not to destroy it is he comes here often enough to become famous for it.¡±

    I spotted a sign next to a bench with a picture of a Gyarados on it and walked over to read it, nudging Kaiju with my knee to walk in front of me so that I could monitor him.

    ¡°that looks like the same gyarados as the one outside, what does it say?¡±

    ¡°It says that this Gyarados is a local celebrity. It was allowed to stay because it¡¯s super amicable compared to other members of its species. Also because this area is part of its territory, other Gyarados don¡¯t come near the city and that¡¯s gotten rid of their problem with raging Gyarados¡¯s. The Marine Tube staff have nicknamed this one Joe.¡±

    We went with a crowd and a member of the Marine Tube¡¯s staff who was doing a tour, following Joe as he swam alongside the tube. The tourists took pictures and videos of Joe, who seemed to enjoy the little crowd of people following and admiring him.

    The tour guide talked about Gyarados¡¯s as a species and then explained Joe¡¯s history with the city dating up to eighty years ago when he first appeared.

    The crowd followed Joe until the we reached the end of the Marine Tube, which was a deeper section that hung over the open ocean and watched the blue serpent swim deeper into the depths of the ocean.

    At the encouragement of the tour guide, the crowd clapped for Joe until he fully disappeared from sight.

    Heh. Joe managed to rizz up an entire city just by living here, what a chad.

    We waited another hour in hopes of seeing Stacy, another local Pokemon celebrity. She was a Wailord that liked to bring her calves to Humilau bay, using it as a rest stop. Joe¡¯s presence meant that most predators stayed away, and male Wailord who might kill her calves were too big to safely enter the bay without getting stuck.

    During that time, Winnie helped me keep Kaiju from doing anything stupid. I ended up promising Kaiju a super duper yummy treat if he could keep his mouth to himself. Kaiju agreed and after that only needed a few corrections, but he actually put conscious effort into behaving. I made sure to constantly praise him for it to hopefully encourage him to do this in the future without me prompting it.

    Soon after that, I spotted the signature white outfit of a an Aether Foundation Employee. He was leading another group of tourists and basically telling them about the Pokemon found around the Marine Tube.

    I wasn¡¯t expecting to see someone from the Aether Foundation here, but I also wasn¡¯t surprised. It made sense considering that the foundation was all about protecting Pokemon and their habitats, so having employees go out to inform the public about Pokemon was on brand. From what I knew, I wouldn¡¯t consider the organization as a whole as evil, just the people at the core of the operation.

    Either way, I wasn¡¯t exactly at the liberty to say anything about the ultra beasts or Type:Null unless I wanted to get deleted from the face of the earth.

    Yawning, I made my way outside. Stacy probably wouldn¡¯t be appearing today cause the time she usually came around had passed and Sahara was probably getting impatient to train.

    ¡°Rotom, pull up directions to the park.¡± I said as I took out one Herba Mystica from my bag and gave it to Kaiju, who instantly scarfed it down. He didn¡¯t even bother to taste the herb¡­ I put one in my lunch sandwich and it was literally one of the best spices I¡¯d ever had. No wonder it was so high in demand.

    I wanted to get my team and I some actual battle experience against a trained Pokemon and trainer who knew what they were doing.

    Squinting my eyes as they got used to the bright sun after the dimness of the Marine tube, I raised an eyebrow at something I didn¡¯t notice before in my hurry to get to the Marine tube.

    There was a large building being built diagonally across from the Marine tube, the banners on the metal chain fences that surrounded the construction site said, ¡°Humilau Gym Coming Soon!¡± With a photo of a dark skinned young man with dark turquoise-blue hair in blue swim trunks and a blue Jellicent posing in front of the Wave badge.

    One of the locals, an elderly lady, saw me staring and happily told me that the Icirrus Gym was going to be replaced by the Humilau gym because the league wasn¡¯t able to find an ice type specialist to replace Brycen.

    She and most of the locals were happy about this because having a gym gave a city some pretty high prestige, better funding from the league, and even more money from tourists and trainers passing through the area.

    The local gave me some cookies in a typical kindly grandma fashion before we left for the park.

    I wanted to switch gears and have everyone train something different for the afternoon just to keep training interesting. Sahara was deadset on mastering Sandstorm, so I left her to it.

    Winnie was to practice the power behind his moves and the speed that he could output them, and I¡¯d be working with Kaiju to get his dodging up to par.

    Offense was the only thing Kaiju seemed to understand or care about, no matter how I tried to explain it. So I just decided to adapt and turn his offense into defense.

    There were a few other trainers at the park willing to battle us, so I had Kaiju battle a few other Pokemon. First was a Growlithe that I had Kaiju grapple onto by the scruff to prevent it from being able to attack while he continuously used Dragon Breath.

    We used a similar strategy against a trainer and their Sandile, then switched to staying at a distance and spamming Dragon Rage and Dragon Breath against a Boldore and paralyzing it with Dragon Breath''s secondary effect. I could have had Kaiju use Dragon Pulse, but the move was too draining for him to spam a lot like with Dragon Breath.

    The most difficult battle was against a Joltik who latched onto the back of Kaiju¡¯s neck and continuously used Bug Bite and Discharge while Kaiju tried to throw it off. I seriously thought I was gonna lose the battle (and 20 bucks), but then Kaiju screamed. Oh gods did he scream. My ears were ringing like crazy, it was a wonder that my eardrums didn¡¯t burst.

    There was a reason why I had yet to have Kaiju use Hyper Voice. Joltik instantly fell off, eyes spinning from the completely unexpected damage it took. Well that¡­certainly was effective.

    Everyone in our vicinity stared at us, some were glaring. I shrank down a bit and my face reddened from embarrassment.

    ¡°Pssssssst hi. Hey. Hi.¡± I raised an eyebrow and glanced at where the sound came from. Who the hell keeps whispering in my ear?

    Still clutching one of his ears, the other trainer handed me 20 bucks and left for the Pokemon center to get his Joltik healed and also probably get his ears checked up on.

    We had no more battles after that, and Kaiju wasn¡¯t allowed to use Hyper Voice again unless I allowed him to. It wasn¡¯t his fault for using Hyper Voice. I never told him not to use the move, but my ears were still ringing hours later and I would like to not have permanent hearing loss.

    Sahara and Winnie both gave Kaiju some shit for his use of Hyper voice, but Winnie comforted him afterwards and complimented his other battles, which cheered him up.

    On a lighter note, Sahara had gotten a better hang of Sandstorm and could use the move at about 70% the proficiency it would normally have.

    I promised my team some extra delicious food as thanks for their hard work as soon as we got back to the Pokemon center.

    Someone had other plans though, I was approached by one of the employees of the Pokemon Center, ¡°You¡¯re Azalea Lang right?¡±

    Shit, is this about Kaiju using Hyper Voice in the park?

    ¡°Yeah, what do you need?¡±

    The guy gestured towards a door near the PCs, ¡°There¡¯s someone on video call who would like to talk to you. You can enter the private meeting room over there.¡±

 (8) A Walking, Talking Buffet

    ¡°Hello Azalea, I am Professor Juniper. My colleague Professor Rowan asked me to get into contact with you about your Hisuan Zorua.¡±

    Insert nonstop internal screaming.

    Professor Aurea Juniper. THE Professor of Unova. Capital P Professor, named after a tree. Signature light brown hair done up in a bun and white lab coat, most influential researcher in Unova. THAT Professor Juniper was talking to me on video call.

    Dude I¡¯ve literally only been here for a few days and literally just began to do normal shit¡­

    Last thing I expected was someone this important wanting to talk to some random trainer who hadn¡¯t even challenged in any gyms or participated in any tournaments yet. I literally had no notable achievements that they should know about yet here we were.

    And did she just mention Professor Rowan?! How do they know about Winnie? Why? What the?

    Winnie climbed onto my shoulder and whispered in my ear, ¡°is she talking about me?¡±

    Clearing my throat, I glanced at Winnie and gave him a short nod before replying.

    ¡°Um. Yes. Uh, his name is Winnie by the way.¡±

    ¡°Oh, his name is Winnie? That¡¯s adorable! My, I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m actually seeing a live Hisuan Zorua!¡±

    ¡°Thanks.¡± I did a double take as a registered the last part of Professor Juniper¡¯s sentence, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, what do you mean about a live Hisuan Zoria?¡±

    ¡°Well, part of Rowan¡¯s team is doing research that has to do with extinct Sinnoh variants. The Hisuan Zorua line has been officially extinct for over two centuries, so imagine his surprise when one pops up in Unova!¡±

    ¡°Wait what?¡± My eyes widened and my mouth dropped open. ¡°Wait, but there are other Hisuan Variants out there, the Lily of the Valley Conference just this year had some guy with a Hisuan Goodra!¡±

    Professor Juniper chuckled at my reaction, ¡°Not all Hisuan variants are extinct. Though Rowan and the others are very sure there still are members of species thought to be extinct out there, they¡¯re just haven¡¯t been able to confirm it by league standards, so they stay officially extinct.¡±

    ¡°Actually,¡± I heard some click clacking from Junipers keyboard as she pulled something up on her computer.

    ¡°Because of that, were curious about where you found Winnie.¡±

    I raised an eyebrow, ¡°Oh. I¡¯ve been with him ever since I can remember¡± getting to this world, ¡°so I don¡¯t really know.¡±

    I am not explaining to her that whole incident with the Unown and Giratina and all that ultra wormhole stuff.

    ¡°yep, we¡¯ve been a team ever since we were little!¡± Winnie chipped in. Juniper probably just heard him saying Zorua a bunch of times but she seemed to get the meaning behind his words.

    ¡°Hmmm, that¡¯s too bad. Do your parents know where he came from?¡±

    I grimaced a bit, ¡°Nope. Cause they¡¯re not with us. Or any other family.¡± Cause they didn¡¯t come to this universe with me.

    I felt a bit bad pulling the orphan card but again, I wanted to avoid talking about anything that could lead to my dumbass spilling shit about encountering legendaries or how Winnie or I got here.

    Pausing, Juniper mouthed an O, ¡°Oh dear, I¡¯m sorry! You don¡¯t need to talk about that Azalea. Here, we¡¯ll move on then.¡±

    She briefly glanced at another computer screen before continuing, ¡°The Sinnoh Regional Lab is offering to pay at twenty five a thousand dollars per week to do some research with Winnie. The pay for the flight there and back, and living expenses are included as well.¡±

    That sounds like a lot of money, is a thousand the average pay for this sort of stuff? I¡¯d rather stay in Unova cause I haven¡¯t explore the rest of the region yet, but it would be a great opportunity to see Sinnoh and go tour some places before coming back. It¡¯s not like I have anything else to do.

    ¡°Oh. Hmm, let me talk to Winnie first. It¡¯s him they want to research so he should be able to decide.¡±

    ¡°I understand, go ahead!¡± Professor Juniper smiled and gestured for me to do so.

    I muted the microphone and turned the camera off, lowering my shoulder a bit to make it easier for Winnie to hop onto the table so we could talk face to face.

    ¡°So. What do you think? Are you willing to let them research you? From what I know it¡¯ll probably be something like researching your diet, maybe what moves you know, maybe some genetic stuff to compare to the Unovan variant?¡±

    Winnie tilted his head and shrugged, ¡°i¡¯m fine with that. if you trust them then i¡¯ll trust them. It doesn¡¯t matter were we go, i¡¯ll follow you to the ends of the earth.¡±

    I smiled and gave him some cheek scratches, my boi¡¯s fur was super frickin soft and I just couldn¡¯t resist the floof.

    ¡°When¡¯d you get so poetic?¡±

    Winnie let out a squeaky laugh and jumped back on my shoulder, ¡°i¡¯ve always been classy, how¡¯d you not notice? come on, lets tell em. i wanna go eat dinner soon.¡±

    ¡°Alright then,¡± I unmuted the microphone and turned the camera back on.

    ¡°Yeah, we¡¯ll accept.¡±

    Juniper smiled, ¡°Great! I¡¯ll send you the paperwork right away, tell me if you have any questions about it. I¡¯ll also be giving you the contact information for the Sinnoh Regional Lab¡¯s Hisuan Variant Studies office.¡±

    ¡°Ok thanks.¡±

    I was given a bit more information on who to contact about the airplane ticket and other stuff I kinda wasn¡¯t paying attention to before the call ended. It kind of felt like a blur, also I was hungry and thinking about what to make for dinner. I probably should¡¯ve been paying attention.

    The moment the call disconnected, I leaned back in my chair and sighed. That was more stressful than it should have been.

    At least I was able to get her to not grill me more about my past. Oh yeah by the way, I¡¯m from another universe where Pokemon is just a game franchise. I also met Giratina and a bunch of Ultra Beasts and the Unown brought me back to life!

    ¡°Now that I think about it, we¡¯re gonna have to come up with a reasonable backstory for the two of us. It¡¯s easy enough to explain how we met Sahara and Kaiju, but how should we explain our own existence? I have no idea how to explain having no parents or other family.¡±

    ¡°you already said that you don¡¯t have any living family, so why not have a dead family?¡± Winne jumped back down onto the desk.

    ¡°That¡¯s the same thing.¡±

    ¡°nah, nah, i mean you can say that your family are ghosts! cause i¡¯m a ghost. and my gang are all ghosts too!¡±

    I raise an eyebrow, ¡°Your gang?¡±

    Winnie gave me a sheepish smile, ¡°ahhh, i haven¡¯t had the chance to tell you yet.¡±

    Hopping up onto the PC, Winnie loudly spoke, ¡°come on out guys!¡±

    The lights in the room flickered and I could hear the murmuring of a bunch of children¡¯s voices, one of which went ¡°Psst psst psst psst.¡±

    My shadow extended into the middle of the room. Multiple smaller shadows rose from mine and formed into a group of ghost Pokemon consisting of a Shuppet, a Ghastly, a Misdreavus, two Driftloon, a Duskull, two Litwick, and a handful of roaming form Gimmighoul.

    They were hiding in my shadow?

    ¡°FINALLY! I though you were never going to tell her!¡± Shuppet yelled as it floated up and twirled in the air, its rag dress floating outwards like it was stretching it¡¯s nonexistent arms.

    Winnie waved Shuppet over and proudly pointed at the rag ghost, ¡°this is shuppet, my second in command.¡±

    Rotom flew out from my bag and happily buzzed at the others, who all said some variation of ¡°Hi, nice to see you!¡± to Rotom.

    I wasn¡¯t impressed, ¡°Winnie. Explain.¡±

    Winnie grinned sheepishly and explained the whole story to me, with some helpful commentary from the other ghosts. He beat Shuppet and became a leader of a bunch of ghosts that followed us from Trevenant¡¯s haunted forest.

    Well, it was unexpected but I wasn¡¯t as surprised as I probably should¡¯ve been. What I was most worried about was having to feed like, ten plus more Pokemon. I had funds, but no source of income, and taking care of my current team was already pretty expensive.

    Shuppet waved me off after I voiced my concerns, ¡°Nah, it¡¯s fine. We don¡¯t have to eat food like you living folk, Trevenant and Dusknoir¡¯s energy kept us fed with ghost energy while we were in the forest but out here life energy is more than enough.¡±

    ¡°Berries are yummier than that though!¡± The Misdreavus commented. The other ghosts voiced their agreement to each other.

    I frowned at the implications for that, a scene from the anime where Team Rocket¡¯s life energy was drained by a bunch of Litwick to the point that they might¡¯ve almost died came to mind.

    ¡°Aaannd, where are you getting this ¡®life energy¡¯?¡±

    Shuppet zoomed up to my face with a grin, ¡°You of course! Why do you think we were hiding in your shadow? For funsies? Well actually yeah we kinda were but that¡¯s not the main reason.¡±

    Shuppet was talking as if it was obvious they were feeding off of my life energy. Like we had discussed this previously and agreed to this arrangement.

    ¡°Wait what?! I do NOT have enough life energy to be feeding a bunch of ghosts! I¡¯m not an ultra powerful ghost like Trevenant or Dusknoir either! I¡¯m a very normal, very non-ghosty human!¡±

    Everyone paused at my outburst.

    Shuppet shot Winnie a confused glance, who in turn shrugged.

    This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.

    ¡°umm.. az? i¡¯m you are in fact not a very normal, non-ghosty human.¡±

    I crossed my arms. ¡°Oh really?¡±

    ¡°yep.¡± Winnie replied with an emphatic nod, ¡°you¡¯ve got a whole ocean¡¯s worth of energy. the entire group can probably only drink a few gallons at most each day, and that¡¯s filled up faster than they can drink.¡±

    ¡°And it¡¯s ghost flavored.¡± Shuppet ever so helpfully added.

    I stared at them with a grimace, ¡°And why am I learning about this now?¡±

    Winnie awkwardly laughed and kneaded his tail, ¡°well¡­cause you¡¯re always explaining stuff to me i thought you already knew about this stuff.¡±

    I rubbed my face and sighed, ¡°No I didn¡¯t. And even though I know a decent amount of stuff, I. Do. Not. Know. Everything. Next time please tell me about this stuff.¡±

    ¡°will do.¡±

    ¡°And how long have they¨Cactually I won¡¯t ask, I don¡¯t want to know.¡±

    There was an awkward pause. Then I turned to Shuppet. ¡°By the way, why in the world am I ¡®ghost-flavored¡¯? What the fuck does that mean?¡±

    Shuppet lifted the corners of its cloth up in a shrug, ¡°I dunno. Your life energy tastes like ghost. It¡¯s like how salt tastes salty or sugar tastes sweet. Ghost is ghost. Maybe it¡¯s because Trevanant curse slash blessed you so you could talk to us.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the only part of anything that makes sense.¡±

    So I¡¯m basically a walking, talking buffet for ghosts. I don¡¯t suppose they know why the hell I have a, ¡°whole ocean¡¯s worth of energy¡¯ as Winnie phrased it. How much does a life energy normal person even have? I bet this has to do with those creepy little Unown.

    One of the Driftloon raised a string, ¡°Are we still allowed to eat your life energy?¡±

    Ghastly chipped in, ¡°Can we still prank people?¡±

    Driftloon number two smacked Ghastly in the back of the head with a string, harshly whispering, ¡°We might get our food source cut off and you¡¯re worried about pranking people?¡±

    Winnie nudged me with his tail, ¡°it won¡¯t harm you, i wouldn¡¯t let that happen if it was going to. and it¡¯s only until they evolve and don¡¯t have to rely on another for energy. i mean, you didn¡¯t even notice it before we told you.¡±

    As if to support Winnie, Rotom buzzed and pulled up some random and rather unhelpful article about how cool ghost Pokemon are.

    What Winnie had said was true, but it didn¡¯t help with giving me any peace of mind that a bunch of ghosts were literally drinking my life energy for sustenance. I wasn¡¯t particularly scared of dying again, but it certainly would be inconvenient if I let a bunch of ghosts drink me to death.

    I mean I trust Winnie, and Rotom to an extent but a bunch of unfamiliar ghosts? Urgh, I don¡¯t want to deal with this shit anymore.

    ¡°Ok. Fine, sure. Just¡­¡± I sighed. I just won¡¯t think about it. Yep.

    ¡°I don¡¯t mind you guys hanging around or¡­ drinking life energy from me. Just don¡¯t make it obvious. I guess.¡±

    I took a deep, calming breath before speaking again.

    ¡°But you guys will have to listen to me or Winnie. Harmless pranks are fine, but if you guys cause too much of an issue then I will be held responsible and get in trouble for it. Also you need to pull your weight if I ask for help. You guys got it?¡±

    There was a chorus of yes¡¯s and okay¡¯s from the ghosts. Good, now I could toss this memory into the back of my head until it was needed again.

    ¡°Okay, yeah, getting back on track¡­Backstories. So I guess I should just say I was raised by ghost Pokemon? That still sounds a bit far fetched.¡±

    There definitely were cases of kids being raised by Pokemon. N was the biggest example, he could talk to Pokemon too. And there also was that one kid that was raised by Zarude after their parents were murdered.

    ¡°Bzzt!¡± Rotom pulled up another search on human children raised by Pokemon. There were a LOT of articles of thousands of different cases over the years, but most of them were children raised by humanoid psychic or fighting types.

    This is a lot more common than it probably should be. Are human parents just dying or leaving their kids all alone to be raised by Pokemon on a regular basis? Where¡¯s CPS?

    ¡°Okay, lets keep the story simple for now. I was found by one of the ghosts in the forest as a little kid and they raised me cause they felt bad for me. You guys will say that you guys don¡¯t know how I got there and you didn¡¯t ask. Winnie you¡¯ll say that you don¡¯t know how you got there, you just remember being there.¡±

    I paused and looked around the room as everyone nodded in agreement.

    ¡°Then once I got old enough, I was given a bag of stuff that you all found from other places and I left the forest with all of you to go explore the world.¡±

    More nodding and ok¡¯s.

    I clapped my hands together. ¡°Alright! That¡¯s done. Kaiju and Sahara are waiting for us, I¡¯m hungry, let¡¯s go make dinner.¡±

    One of the Litwick jumped up and down, waving its stubby little hand in the air, ¡°Oooh! Oooh! Can we try some food too? Winnie said it was really yummy!¡±

    ¡°Sure, I have some food that needs to be eaten before it goes bad anyways.¡±

    <hr>

    My room certainly felt lively with the addition of a bunch of ghosts. It was like a party. A ghost party.

    It was nice to see that Winnie had made some new friends, though I made it very clear that it was his job to manage these guys. I¡¯d help out if it was needed, but otherwise, his underlings, his responsibility.

    It kinda felt like a parent telling their kid to be responsible for a pet but instead of a pet, it was a gaggle of kid ghosts out on an indefinite field trip.

    They made it pretty clear that they were with us to basically tour the world outside of the forest they came from, not battle for humans. And I was fine with that as long as they pulled their weight in other ways. I already had my hands full with just three Pokemon on my team, no way could I handle like, ten more.

    Sahara was less than pleased about the new additions to our group. The ghosts were wise enough to not bother the grumpy shark dragon brooding in the corner, and I promised her most training time before we went to sleep to quell her distaste for the newcomers.

    On the other hand, Kaiju was actually doing quite well in not trying to eat the ghosts on sight. Well that was until they tried to steal some herb mystica from his food.

    I was digging into a prosciutto sandwich and listening to Shuppet and Winnie talk about the haunted forest when Kaiju roared and began chasing Ghastly around the room with absolute murder in his eyes.

    This was the first time I¡¯d ever seen Kaiju even get mad at something. I was beginning to wonder if he was Hydreigon¡¯s kid or not.

    I watched as Kaiju leaped off the bed as Ghastly flew for the ceiling and caught the ghost with a dark type infused Bite. Then came the ragdolling as Ghastly squealed for someone to save it.

    ¡°I¡¯ll get Kaiju. Winnie, make sure the others know that they¡¯re not allowed to mess with Sahara or Kaiju¡¯s food. Or any food really. That¡¯s a real fun way to get attacked by an angry Pokemon. And give Ghastly an Oran berry for the dark type damage.¡±

    Besides that one incident, dinner went fine. I gave Kaiju a good brushing to clear all the dirt from the crevices in his scales and he fell asleep as I was doing that. The lil guy was tired out from exercising all day. The other two would get some brushing after they were done training.

    Sahara was still up for another hour or so of training Sandstorm and she had already mastered it enough to create a decent sandstorm and keep it going for a few minutes.

    I had her begin adding in moves like Twister and Sand Tomb and hiding them in the storm to create even more of a field hazard for future opponents. Hopefully this would become muscle memory to her when she set up Sandstorms in the future.

    At my request, Winnie practiced some Pachirisu illusions, before working on the power and accuracy of Shadow Ball and Night Shade.

    Shadow Ball was straightforward enough and easy to master through practice. Night Shade on the other hand was a very interesting move. At its base level, it created a dome of ghost type energy around the user, but once the most was mastered, it could be used like another part of the user¡¯s body. Basically it was the perfect move to combine with an Illusion.

    I didn¡¯t really have to do much after the initial training prep and just sat down on a bench to watch the two train.

    Now that they didn¡¯t have to hide themselves, I could hear and see the ghosts hiding in my shadow. They were just whispering to each other about food or about cool stuff they saw in the city today. It was a bit distracting but I quickly got used to it and was able to ignore them as background noise.

    Now that Winnie wasn¡¯t the only Pokemon I could talk to and understand, it just kinda felt weird. I mean I was cursed by a powerful ghost to be able to understand ghosts and could now talk to specifically ghost Pokemon like N.

    Kinda weird cause I wasn¡¯t planning on specializing in any specific type and still wasn¡¯t. It was just a useful tool. I though back to before I could understand Winnie, Thank you very much mister Trevenant.

    I blinked at I thought of something and spoke aloud, ¡°Wait, isn¡¯t Rotom part ghost type? If I¡¯m supposed to understand ghosts, why can¡¯t I understand what Rotom is saying?¡±

    Shuppet phased into sight and sat on the bench next to me. ¡°Don¡¯t know. Rotom doesn¡¯t talk to us either, it just buzzes.¡±

    ¡°What about the other Rotom in the forest?¡±

    ¡°There aren¡¯t any so we don¡¯t know. Most of them usually stay where humans live because they prefer eating electricity.¡±

    ¡°Huh. That¡¯s interesting.¡± Rotom wouldn¡¯t be giving any answers though, it was sitting in my pocket and could clearly hear us, but didn¡¯t respond or comment on out conversation.

    I felt my phone buzz in my pocket and took it out. Rotom let out another ¡°bzzt!¡± and opened my messages.

    It was from the contact info to that Hisuan section whatever lab that Professor Juniper sent me.

    This is the start of a conversation between Justine and Azalea:

    Justine: Hi, this is Justine from the Sinnoh Regional Lab. I¡¯m contacting you about your plane ticket to Jubilife City.

    Azalea: Hi! Yeah, I can leave anytime. I¡¯m guessing the sooner the better, so I can take the earliest flight starting from tomorrow.

    Justine: Oh, lol. I wasn¡¯t expecting you to answer since it was so late. The earliest flight I can get you is tomorrow morning, you¡¯ll have to wait more than 24 hrs for the next flight into Sinnoh.

    Azalea: Tomorrow¡¯s flight sounds good. Is there anything else I have to know?

    Justine: Ok, the tickets will be emailed to you. We¡¯ll send someone to pick you up. Look for a guy with a Zoroark, shouldn¡¯t be hard to miss.

    Azalea: Ok thx!

    Justine: No problem. We¡¯ll see you soon!

    <hr>

    Airports in the Pokemon world were completely different. The only security that I could see were a few uniformed security guards with Growlithe, Mightyena, or some low level psychic types. No long lines for security to check our bags and for people to get scanned.

    Large Pokemon, especially large dragon types weren¡¯t allowed outside of their Pokeballs in the airport or on airplanes for obvious reasons, so Sahara was kept inside of her Pokeball. She wouldn¡¯t have liked the airport anyways, too many people for her taste.

    This was a pretty good chance to further reinforce Kaiju¡¯s training to not bite stuff upon finding a new thing, and he was doing really well. He was kept occupied with snacks and pokedolls to destroy instead of stuff in the stores.

    Winnie, now disguised as a Pachirisu, comfortably sat in my hoodie and looked around at all the new stuff with wide eyes.

    Now that I knew how rare Winnie was, I didn¡¯t want to draw too much attention to us. Even a normal Unovan Zorua would¡¯ve drawn a lot of unwanted attention so it would be best for him to pretend to be a squirrel.

    Though Kaiju was already drawing a lot of attention just for being a Deino. The Hydreigon line had a reputation worse than a Gyarados and people were kind of giving us a wide berth, and that was fine with me.

    Ignoring the weird looks people kept giving us, I answered the questions Winnie and Kaiju asked about stuff they saw in the airport. Especially the ones about the snacks that were being sold in shops. They was really interested in those snacks and just wanted to talk about them and nothing else, they totally didn¡¯t want unhealthy snacks that tasted really yummy.

    Damn kids teaming up on me. I guess this was a glimpse into what it felt like to be a parent traveling with kids.

    At least the ghosts were quiet. They were nocturnal so they just stayed in my shadow and slept during the day.

    Because I had expected a long wait time to get into the airport, we got to our gate way earlier than necessary. At least I had enough pokedolls to keep Kaiju occupied for a few hours, and once Winnie knew that I wouldn¡¯t be buying him all the candy he wanted because it was bad for him, he curled up in my hoodie and dozed off. He probably stayed up late with Shuppet and the ghosts doing some sort of ghost stuff, I didn¡¯t ask.

    I was impressed though, he now was able to maintain his illusion of Pachirisu even when he was asleep.

    Well now that I had time to myself, I had some questions to answer. To the Pokenet!

    I needed to know what meta knowledge was okay to say and what wasn¡¯t. For example, Z-Moves, Dynamaxing, and Terrestrialization were all well known phenomena. I actually had the upgraded Terra Orb in my bag, probably should try using that sometime.

    Mega evolution on the other hand had no mentions besides in an old tourism article about the Shalour City¡¯s Tower of Mastery. Diantha¡¯s Gardevoir was well known for it¡¯s mega evolution but people just thought it was some sort of hidden ability for the Gardevoir line. No other champion seemed to be able to mega evolve their Pokemon either so they probably just didn¡¯t have the mega stone or keystone needed. There was no way they didn¡¯t know.

    There was a lot of Kalos history stuff, including myths about the Kalos War, the ultimate weapon, Xerneas, Yveltal, and Zygarde, and even King AZ and his Eternal Floette being brought back to life. But curiously no connections to mega evolution.

    Team Flare isn¡¯t a thing either, just a company named Lysandre Technologies that was well liked by Kalos as a whole. What a creative name Lysandre.

    Gee am I going to have to wait for the best mechanic in the games to be revealed in a few years when Ash finally gets to the Kalos region?

    I wonder if I could find mega stones where they were in the games. That will be worth checking out.

    And Ash Ketchum. From the league records, he recently finished in the Hoenn League, so he was probably heading for the Battle Frontier next.

    Teams Aqua and Magma were gone, having recently suffered from some ever so annoying main protagonists and the Hoenn League actually being competent in taking them down after years of investigation.

    Most of the leaders of teams Aqua and Magma had been caught, with only one admin still on the run. No mention of the red or blue orbs in Hoenn and only vague myth stuff about the weather trio. Looks like they didn¡¯t get to Kyogre or Groudon.

    From what I could deduce, this world had some mix of stuff from the games and anime because Brandon¨CMay¡¯s older brother¨Chad a hand in tracking down and defeating important members of Aqua and Magma. Ash Ketchum and his friends somehow got involved too, but the details weren¡¯t really clear.

    Well, the more protagonists the better, that simply meant the world would be better protected. Right?

    As for the other evil teams: Team Rocket had met its downfall a few years ago and was now just a shell of its former self. I guess Hunter J must¡¯ve replaced them in the Pokemon trafficking market.

    Team Galactic wasn¡¯t known at all, but there was a large company in Sinnoh run by Cyrus, called Galactic Corporations. So yeah, they definitely existed.

    Team Plasma were now good guys because the events of black and white happened not long after Team rocket fell. No sign of the main characters Hilbert or Hilda from the Black and White games. They both existed but had disappeared after Team Plasma was exposed, so I would have to watch out for the events of Black and White 2 and Team Neo Plasma.

    Paradox Pokemon and Ultra beasts were completely unknown. The only thing close to an ultra beast were a ton of articles about alien sightings in the Alola region.

    The Aether foundation was obviously still going strong, as shown with me seeing a few members in the Marine tube in Humilau, they had spread out to other regions. These guys had a spotless, pristine reputation.

    I remembered that Chairman Rose was a bad guy in the Galar games right? He wanted to bring back Eternatus for some reason. And there wasn¡¯t much on any Professors Turo or Sada or their time machine besides some scientific articles they wrote that confirmed their existence.

    I let Rotom fly back into my pocket and rubbed by eyes. I needed a bit of time to absorb all that information and decide what the heck I should do with all this meta knowledge.

    Even if I didn¡¯t know the exact timeline that was going to happen, I knew how to summon one of the creation trio, control the weather trio, and activate the ultimate weapon. That was all very dangerous information.

    And what to do with knowledge of all these evil organizations? Well, at best, this was a universe where some of the bad guys were actually good guys. Worse case was that this was one of the universes where the villains win. Team Rainbow Rocket¡¯s mere existence in the games made that a possibility.

    Would it be okay to let things just happen as they should? This clearly is an alternate universe of the games and anime so things might turn out worse than they would have if I don¡¯t intervene, but they might also change for the worse if I do.

    But what could an inexperienced trainer with no backing like me even do? I was excited about mega evolution but I can¡¯t even do shit about it cause any info given to Sycamore would just inadvertently end up in Lysandre and Team Flare¡¯s hands.

    I honestly felt a little in over her head with this stuff. All I wanted to do was fun Pokemon stuff with my team, not deal with evil organizations who would like to do destroy, conquer, or change the world because (insert crazy ideal) using (insert crazy plan involving a legendary that will most definitely destroy the world or cause mass death and destruction).

    What was I expecting? If all went well, the protagonists and the Pokemon League would do something about all that stuff. If not, well we¡¯d either be doomed or I¡¯d have to find someone powerful enough to use my info to do something about it.

    Actually, getting acquainted with a Professor like Rowan or Juniper would be a great start. I guess I got lucky on that front.

    That was the start of a plan. Find a bunch of people I could trust who had the power to oppose these groups. Besides regional professors, a champion would probably work. Probably not Diantha because she¡¯s friends with Lysandre, and I don¡¯t remember how friendly Cynthia was with Cyrus. I feel that Steven is probably too busy with managing a post Team Aqua and Magma Hoenn, and Alder doesn¡¯t feel reliable¨C

    A pleasant ding interrupted my thoughts and I looked up at the desk next to the boarding area.

    ¡°Ladies and gentlemen, we are now ready to begin boarding Flight 1234 to Nimbasa City. We will be boarding by groups. Please have your boarding pass and identification ready. We would like to invite passengers needing special assistance and those traveling with young children to begin boarding at this time.¡±

 (9) Hello Sinnoh! And other stuff

    It felt weird sitting on an airplane for a good ten plus hours considering how I kinda died from a plane crash the last time I was on one. At least now I knew I wasn¡¯t scared of planes, that would¡¯ve been hella inconvenient.

    We landed in Jubilife City international airport at night and I let Kaiju out as soon as we got off while I put on some extra layers. Kaiju wasn¡¯t happy about having to stay in his ball for such a long time, and I bet Sahara was Sinnoh was much chillier than Unova was, it felt like late fall instead of early fall.

    Still disguised as a Pachirisu, Winnie hopped up onto my head to get a better view above the bustling crowds of the airport. ¡°hey, there¡¯s the guy with the zoroark!¡±

    I brushed his tail out of my face and looked. There indeed was a guy with a Zoroark next to him. Zoroark noticed Winnie waving at them and tugged on its trainers sleeve to get his attention as we walked over.

    If I had to guess, this guy was dark type specialist. He had a whole all black and dark gray get up, black leather jacket with a full array of dusk balls and one ultra ball on his belt, and for some reason he was wearing sunglasses even though it was night?

    Honestly, I respected the drip, he pulled off the look really well. I want to get a cool outfit too!

    ¡°Hi, you¡¯re Azalea right? The trainer that Professor Rowan sent me to get? ¡±

    I nodded and shook hands with him, ¡°Yep that¡¯s me. This guy is Winnie, and this is Kaiju.¡±

    ¡°Nice to meet you guys. I¡¯m Leonard, just call me Leo. I¡¯m one of the trainer¡¯s who¡¯s helping out with Hisuan variant studies.¡±

    ¡°Zoroark! Zor!¡± Zoroark pointed at Winnie, who jumped back into my hoodie to hide behind my head, putting on a shy act.

    ¡°Oh yeah. Zoroark here has been pretty excited to meet another one of his kind too considering how rare they are.¡± Leo gave us a wily smile that matched his Zoroark¡¯s grin, ¡°I¡¯m guessing that Pachirisu isn¡¯t an actual Pachirisu, right?¡±

    Winnie giggled and hopped down onto the floor, doing a fancy flip as he transformed himself back into his actual appearance, ¡°i guess he saw through me hehehehe!¡±

    I smiled back, ¡°You are correct.¡±

    Keeping my smile up, I pulled Kaiju¡¯s head back by his horn a few times to prevent him from taking a bite out of Leo¡¯s hand as we walked to the parking lot.

    Leo chuckled, ¡°He reminds me of my Houndoom when he was still a puppy.¡±

    Zoroark grinned, mimicking his trainer¡¯s smile, ¡°Zoroark, ark zor zoroark.¡±

    Zoroark must¡¯ve said something funny cause Winnie giggled and began talking more with the illusion fox as we got in the car. Winnie, Zoroark and Kaiju got in the back while I sat in the front with Leo.

    I spent the first few minutes of the drive just looking out the window at what was going on in the city. Humilau was a rather small city and had virtually no nightlife compared to Jubilife, which was still bustling with activity.

    People and Pokemon were everywhere just hanging out with each other, there were a lot of food stalls and lots of pretty glowing signs and giant advertisement billboards. It was what people imagined of when they thought of the idealistic big city. The lively conversation from the three in the back were having helped add to the mood.

    ¡°So, you ever been to Sinnoh before?¡± Leo asked.

    ¡°Nope, I¡¯ve only ever been in Unova. Jubilife is bigger than I thought it would be, but it¡¯s not as big as Nimbasa.¡± I¡¯d obviously never been to nimbasa either but I was comparing it to New York City, which I had been to.

    ¡°Hmmm, yeah I¡¯d say I agree. Unova in general has some pretty large cities compared to other regions I¡¯ve been to. Especially Paldea. Though I prefer the colder temperatures that Sinnoh has.¡±

    ¡°You from Paldea?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m from Zapapico.¡±

    That¡¯s one of the cities in the Scarlet and Violet games, where was it on the map again? Somewhere near Tagtree Thicket I think, cause I remember players could find Zoroark and Zorua there.

    I shrugged, ¡°Sorry, never heard of it before. I only really know about Mesagoza and the Great Crater.¡±

    ¡°Heh, that¡¯s fine. That¡¯s what most people think of when Paldea is mentioned.¡±

    And so we passed the time in traffic with some pleasant conversation.

    I was correct about Leo being a dark type specialist, the reason he was hired by the lab was because they wanted a Zoroark to compare with a Hisuan Zoroark. He was the only trainer they could find with Zoroark on his team who also met the expeditions requirements.

    Also, besides having Zoroark and Houndoom his team, the guy had a freaking Tyranitar. He originally was going to try getting a Hydreigon too but realized that Tyranitar wouldn¡¯t be able to get along with any other pseudo-legendaries unless it was something less aggressive, like a Goodra or a Dragonite.

    Staying friendly with each other was a common issue with people who had multiple pseudo-legendaries on one team, it was why being a successful dragon type specialist was so impressive.

    That made me worry a bit about how Sahara and Kaiju would get along in the future. They seemed fine with each other now. Kaiju had quickly learned to respect Sahara¡¯s space and Sahara didn¡¯t seem too bothered by Kaiju.

    I¡¯d probably have to ask on the dragon type forums for some advice on that.

    <hr>

    Unlike the games or anime, the Sinnoh Regional Lab was more like a small college campus. I¡¯d imagine that as the most important research facilities in their respective regions, the other regional labs were similar in that aspect.

    There were a series of large story buildings with a large well kept front lawn, a parking lot out front, and a massive field and a bunch of barn-like buildings in the back were the Pokemon of sponsored trainers presumably stayed.

    Leo and Zoroark took us to a side door of one of the smaller two story buildings on the side that was labeled, ¡®Hisuan Variant Studies¡¯.

    ¡°I¡¯m back guys! And we have a guest.¡± Leo proclaimed as we stepped into what looked like a large lounge or break room type area.

    There was big comfy looking couch with a low table and a TV playing a movie in front. Behind the wall the TV was mounted on, was a staircase leading up to the left and a small balcony type area and another hallway that I couldn¡¯t see much of.

    An Alolan Ninetales and a Kantonian Nintales took up most of the space on the couch, with a lady with hair in a similar style and color to her Alolan Ninetales sat between them, watching the TV. It was kinda cute how both Nintales covered her up with their tails like a blanket. It looked really comfy.

    Eyes still riveted on the TV, the lady casually waved at us, ¡°Sup.¡±

    There was a muffled ¡°Bzzt!¡± from my bag. Rotom flew out, excited to scan all the new Pokemon.

    ¡°Not now Rotom, you can do that later.¡± I muttered, grabbing the Rotom phone and turning it to silent before putting it back in my pocket.

    Sitting on the side of the couch was a kid only a few years older than me, he had pastel red spikey hair and a stern expression. He acknowledged Leo and looked at Kaiju, Winnie, and I like he was sizing up an opponent before turning back to the TV. A Dragonair poked it¡¯s head out from around the couch to sleepily look at us before curling back up.

    OMG it¡¯s a Dragonair! It¡¯s so freaking pretty I want one! Heh, nah. Two dragons are good enough for me at the moment.

    To the left was a kitchen and another hall leading somewhere, plus another hallway that went underneath the balcony and further into the building into what looked like a lab area.

    There was a guy on his computer at the kitchen table, what I assumed where his Boltund and Manectric laid on the floor underneath the table. Computer guy didn¡¯t seem to notice we were here, he was very focused on whatever he was doing, click clacking away on his keyboard.

    Boltund jumped up and ran over to us, entire body wiggling around and tail wagging like crazy. It reminded me of my friend¡¯s golden retriever whenever I went over to her house.

    Leo knelt down and greeted Boltund in slightly babying voice as the dog whined and licked Leo¡¯s hands. I tried petting Boltund when it switched to greeting me but got a bunch of static shocks as I touched its fur.

    Winnie sneezed and jumped away as his fur became staticy just from being near the electric doggo.

    ¡°Deino!¡± Kaiju grunted, running forward to greet the electric doggo. He was ecstatic that there was another Pokemon that could match his energy and penchant for licking stuff and the two began chasing each other around the lounge.

    Leo walked over to the woman on the couch and patted her head. ¡°Celia, don¡¯t you have a meeting to get to? You can watch your movie later.¡±

    Celia groaned in protest before reluctantly getting up and stretching. ¡°Yeah yeah, I got it. Hey kid.¡± She waved to me, ¡°come on, you¡¯re coming to the meeting too.¡±

    A meeting this late? It¡¯s like 10pm. ¡°Okay.¡± I shrugged and nodded.

    ¡°Hey Leo, can I leave Kaiju here while I¡¯m in the meeting?¡± Kaiju and Bolthund were now playing tug of war, someone was going to be upset about their ruined shoes.

    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

    ¡°Yeah sure, I¡¯ll watch him.¡±

    ¡°Thanks.¡±

    I jogged a bit to catch up to and followed her down a few hallways, past a lot of dark empty offices and into the only office that still had its lights on.

    The office was actually a large meeting room with a big circular table in the center for the participants and a large whiteboard with a map projected onto it.

    The one and only Professor Rowan was standing next to the map, pointing at it and talking to the two guys sitting at the table. Sitting slouched over in the seat on the left was a younger looking guy with large glasses in a stained lab coat.

    When did this guy last get any sleep? He had some pretty dark shadows under his eyes and there was a large can of some sort of energy drink with a leaping red Tauros label on the table next to his arm.

    Opposite of nerdy guy was a guy with salt and pepper hair in dressed in business casual. My eyes were immediately drawn to the nasty looking claw scar across his face. Considering how good healthcare was in the Pokemon world, the injury must have had to be bad enough that even their advanced tech couldn¡¯t fully heal it.

    The three paused as we entered and Celia waved at them, ¡°Hey, they¡¯re here.¡±

    ¡°Azalea, you should know of Professor Rowan,¡± Celia pointed at the stern looking gray haired man standing near the whiteboard who nodded and said, ¡°Good to meet you two.¡±

    She pointed to messy lab coat guy. ¡°The guy who looks like he¡¯s gonna pass out any moment is Marcus, he studies Hisuan Pokemon¡±

    ¡°and that guy is Tim. He looks like he got mauled by a Weavile because he did, and he studies Pokemon item evolution.¡±

    Tim gave Celia a ¡®I¡¯m tired of your shit¡¯ look but didn¡¯t comment.

    ¡°And I¡¯m usually hired to help organize and guide research expeditions, yada yada. Tim, Marcus, and I are leaders of an upcoming expedition to the northernmost regions of of Sinnoh.¡± Celia lazily waved her hand around as she spoke and then gestured to me and Winnie.

    ¡°Everyone, this is Azalea and Win¨C.¡±

    ¡°Oh my Arceus! It¡¯s an a-actual Hisuan Zorua!¡± Marcus suddenly went from negative -100 energy to: I-chugged-ten-cans-of red-bull mode. He jumped up and almost ran over to us , nearly tripping himself in the process.

    I leaned back as far as I could as the researcher got a bit too close in his attempt to observe Winnie and began bombarding me with questions.

    I felt Winnie slide from the top of my head and into my hoodie to get away from this guy.

    ¡°Where did you meet him? In Unova? W-what¡¯s his diet like? How about h-his behavior compared to a Unovan Zorua? Do you know how he creates his illusions?¡±

    Rolling her eyes, Celia dragged the excited researcher back to his side of the table by his collar, ¡°Why don¡¯t we get to the main point of this meeting first. You can interrogate them tomorrow, and perhaps with a bit more respect for their personal space.¡±

    All Marcus¡¯s energy immediately evaporated and he visibly deflated, flopping back down into his chair. ¡°Oh. Okay.¡±

    ¡°Ahem.¡± Rowan coughed. ¡°Why don¡¯t you two take a seat?¡±

    Nodding, I sat on Tim¡¯s side of the table and Celia sat opposite of me. Winnie gingerly hopped onto the table to get a better look at the whiteboard, glancing at Marcus before sitting down.

    After making sure he had our attention, Professor Rowan began to speak, ¡°You must be wondering why you¡¯ve been invited here, we¡¯ve recently decided that we¡¯d like to hire you two not just for the lab study but for the expedition we mentioned earlier as well.¡±

    Rowan stepped back from the whiteboard to not block our view as Celia took out a remote and used its laser pointer to point at a mountain range to the northwest of Sinnoh, circled on the map projected on the whiteboard.

    ¡°That¡¯s the Icebound Mountain Range, and this,¡± She pointed at an area at the northernmost point of the mountain range, ¡°is Alabaster Mountain. The area we¡¯ve been planning an expedition to for a while.¡±

    That¡¯s definitely part of where the Alabaster Icelands were back when Sinnoh was still called Hisui.

    ¡°Okay. And why that place specifically?¡±

    ¡°Well, using evidence collected from two previous expeditions to the area, we were able to prove that previously thought to be extinct Pokemon species are most likely alive somewhere inside Alabaster Mountain. We theorize that it¡¯s a similar case to where the current Unovan Champion Alder discovered a hidden hive of Volcanra in the depths of Relic Castle.¡±

    I frowned and tilted my head at that. Wait, they thought Volcanra were extinct?

    Tim added, ¡°It could also be similar to the expedition into the depths of the Great Crater of Paldea a few years ago where they discovered a new species of Pokemon called Glimmora, we could discover a completely new Pokemon species, hidden away from the rest of the world. The Icebound Mountain Range has never been touched by human civilization before.¡±

    I nodded, ¡°Okay, and why are we needed?¡±

    Marcus yawned and waved his hand to answer my question, ¡°B-because there¡¯s an illusion related barrier t-that¡¯s protecting Alabaster Mountain and the area around it. We w-were able to get energy readings on it last time and now we¡¯re a-a hundred percent sure that it¡¯s the work of a Hisuan Zoroark.¡±

    ¡°The first expedition failed to get anywhere near the mountain due to the illusion leading us in circles. We brought Leo and his Zoroark in for the second one and were able to get to the entrance, but no further as the illusion became too complicated for Zoroark to navigate or unweave. ¡± Tim said,

    ¡°This time we¡¯d like to be better prepared. We weren¡¯t able to find another trainer with a Zoroark able to join us, and getting help from a Hisuan variant might make unweaving the illusion easier due to the difference in the type energies used to weave the illusions. If not, simply having a member of the Hisuan Zoroark line might at least help us befriend the Hisuan Zoroark guarding the place.¡±

    ¡°Alright, I see what you guys are saying. But what I don¡¯t get is why you guys are so insistent on getting into this sanctuary besides research.¡± I said,

    ¡°If the Pokemon inside the mountain want to be left alone so much that two previous expeditions failed to get to them, then wouldn¡¯t it be better to not poke a sleeping dragon? I mean, if there¡¯s a Pokemon strong enough to shield an entire mountain nonstop for years on end, I wouldn¡¯t want to make it angry or mess with it.¡±

    Celia let out a grim chuckle, ¡°Oh trust me, we don¡¯t either, but the dragon is going to be poked whether we do the expedition or not.¡± She pressed a button on the remote, zooming into the map to an area northwest of Lake Acuity. ¡°You see the areas outlined in green?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°Those are protected areas that are guarded by Rangers and Ace trainers. Alabaster mountain is not within that protected zone because of how dangerous and isolated it is compared to other areas and because the league doesn¡¯t think that there are any endangered species living there.¡±

    The map changed to a slide with a huge Team Galactic symbol on it and some bullet points on this company called Galactic Corporations. What an unpleasant jumpscare.

    ¡°The problem is that one of Sinnoh¡¯s biggest companies, Galactic Corporations has identified some sort of special metal there and they wish to mine the mountain for that ore.¡±

    That doesn¡¯t sound good. This has to do with the red chain doesn¡¯t it? From what I know, they only ever went for the metals available in Iron Island and some meteorites in¡­ Veilstone, I think? But they would totally go for other locations with the ore they want.

    Tim sighed as he built on what Celia said, ¡°We found solid proof of endangered species like Hisuan Avalugg living there, as well as Sneasler fur and claw marks on the cliff faces and the energy readings from the Hisuan Zoroark illusion. Despite all that, the league says it¡¯s not enough and need proof in the form of, I quote: ¡®high quality photos and videos.¡¯¡±

    I could hear the contempt in Tim¡¯s voice for the Pokemon League, ¡°We were originally going take a bit longer to prepare for the third expedition but they¡¯ve only given a till the end of the year to prove our point, or else the league will approve their mining operation.¡±

    We all looked at Marcus as he started up again, ¡°I-I¡¯m telling you, it¡¯s those Galactic corps idiots lobbying behind the scenes to make things hard for us! They¡¯ve b-been sending people to harass members of our expedition ever since they began their campaign! And do you guys r-remember th-the shit they tried to pull at Iron Island last year? The only reason they didn¡¯t get their way was because¡­becaush Byron¡­¡±

    Marcus¡¯s speech slurred as his eyelids drooped. Then he fell forward, faceplanting on the table with a loud ¡°thunk!¡± And he stayed there.

    I let out a surprised, ¡°ooooh shit!¡± and Winnie giggled, ¡°is he dead?¡±

    Rowan frowned. ¡°When was the last time he slept?¡±

    Tim and Celia both shrugged.

    Celia tried to hide a laugh behind a worried sigh mixed with a cough, ¡°He¡¯s been living off of caffeine for the past few days. Have you guys not noticed how jittery he¡¯s been?¡±

    ¡°The stuttering?¡± Rowan replied, ¡°Yes, I noticed. Once Marcus is awake, tell him that he¡¯s banned from caffeine. No one is allowed to secretly give him caffeinated foods or beverages either.¡±

    The other two researchers solemnly nodded in agreement.

    I raised my hand, ¡°Soooooo, what did Byron do about the Iron Island situation?¡±

    Rowan¡¯s usually stern face crinkled as if he was remembering something amusing, ¡°He goaded Galactic executives and members of the Sinnoh Government to a battle and crushed them with his steel types. It was quite entertaining.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but we don¡¯t have a Byron to protect the mountain.¡± Celia growled, ¡°Those bastards are using their lawyers to make things difficult for anyone with power to intervene this time around!¡± I was a bit taken aback at the sudden venom in her voice.

    ¡°Okay, so lemme get this straight. There¡¯s an evil corporation that wants to mine this mountain and destroy it, but this mountain has endangered Pokemon living there that you guys have proof of. But due to some backend stuff from Galactic, the League won¡¯t accept your evidence because it isn¡¯t ¡®good enough¡¯.¡± I said, making the most sarcastic air quotes I could at ¡®good enough¡¯.

    ¡°But they¡¯re ¡®nice enough¡¯ to give you guys a limited amount of time to prove that you guys are right. Or else the worst case scenario happens and the endangered Pokemon are put in danger.¡± As well as the whole world because those guys wanna summon the gods of space and time for their own selfish reasons.

    ¡°And you guys,¡± I gestured at the Tim and Celia, ¡°want Winnie to help because of illusion around the mountain it too hard for just one Zoroark to get through.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Uh huh.¡±

    ¡°Alright. I¡¯m down for taking down the evil corporation.¡± And preventing world threatening events from taking place.

    I grinned, ¡°Whaddya say Winnie?¡±

    Winnie grinned back with a wicked look in his eye, ¡°i see no problem with that, who doesn¡¯t like seeing bad guys get their butts kicked?¡±

    Tim raised his hands to stop us there, ¡°Umm¡­we still have to explain a few things to you. This is a very danger¨C¡±

    Celia interrupted Tim, who glared at her,¡°The pay is good because there¡¯s a large danger bonus. But also, there¡¯s a danger bonus, which means that the league considers this expedition dangerous enough to be potentially fatal.¡±

    What could be more fatal than dying in a plane crash?

    I shrugged, ¡°Alright. Talk to me.¡±

    Celia continued, ¡°Okay, so, the first time we tried getting to Alabaster Mountain, we were attacked by wild Pokemon a few times¨C¡±

    ¡°You mean constantly attacked.¡± Tim interrupted, but Celia ignored him and steamrolled over him, ¡°It¡¯s not uncommon in areas where humans don¡¯t go for Pokemon to be more aggressive.¡±

    ¡°Might I mention that the Pokemon in this area are more aggressive than any other place we¡¯ve seen or heard of? We¡¯ve had members almost die during both expeditions.¡± Tim pointedly said.

    I¡¯m guessing that¡¯s how Tim got his face scars.

    This time Rowan said something, ¡°We made sure to hire a strong and qualified security force from then on and made sure that even non-combatants have strong teams. They all have teams that are rated to have at least seven crowns. You¡¯ve probably already met a few of them. The security team this time around is the best we could¡¯ve possibly gotten.¡±

    Crowns? Oh yeah, the Pokenet forums use that term a lot. That¡¯s their way of power ranking Pokemon right? How strong is seven crowns again?

    I nodded and surreptitiously added a note on my phone to look up what how strong seven crowns were.

    Celia clicked the remote button again and changed the slides to some weather data, ¡°Next is the weather, since we¡¯ll be going in mid to late fall, it¡¯ll be negative forty degrees at the warmest. Aka, it¡¯s gonna be colder than a Regice¡¯s asscrack and we¡¯re gonna be hiking and climbing through a lot of very rough and icy terrain.¡±

    Rowan coughed and shot Celia a disapproving look.

    Hey, I know I might look like a kid, but I can handle a few swears. Also, is she using fahrenheit of celsius?

    Celia threw up her hands, ¡°Hey, I¡¯m not gonna sugarcoat how bad the weather is. I lost a few fingers and toes from the cold last time despite thorough preparations.¡±

    Now that she mentioned it, I noticed that she was missing her left ring and pinky fingers.

    ¡°Yet you gloss over the other dangerous things.¡± Tim grumbled.

    So there are going to be murderous Pokemon possible on the same level as Kaiju¡¯s mom, it¡¯s gonna be at least as cold than the arctic in winter, and to top it all off it¡¯s going to be like climbing Mount Everest. Well, I totally can see why Tim wouldn¡¯t want to bring a rookie, but¡­

    ¡°Okay. What¡¯s the pay?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Seventy five thousand base pay. The danger bonus will be at least half that amount, though if all goes well I will be able to increase it to double the base pay.¡± Rowan answered.

    That¡¯s a lot of money... Where are they getting all this money? Well¡­The top lab in the region would definitely be well funded, so I guess they have the money to spare.

    Sure I cared about the pay, but making sure Team Galactic didn¡¯t get what they wanted so that they could potentially destroy this world would be a the best bonus possible. I was all for being one of ¡®those meddling kids¡¯ thwarting the villain¡¯s evil plans. Might as well make use of that meta knowledge while I could.

    ¡°Ok. Where do I sign?¡±

    Rowan and Tim glanced at each other, probably due to how quickly I said yes. They must¡¯ve thought that I wasn¡¯t fully getting how dangerous this was. Celia didn¡¯t seem to have any qualms about this though.

    Honestly, I probably wasn¡¯t cause I¡¯d never been to the arctic, nor had I ever climbed Mount Everest, but again, it would be better than Team Galactic getting their way.

    ¡°Are you really, really sure?¡± Tim asked.

    I raised an eyebrow ¡°You guys literally had a meeting to explain everything to me. Now you¡¯re starting to make me think that you guys don¡¯t want me to come along. And yes I am sure.¡±

    Tim¡¯s frown deepened, ¡°Frankly, as someone who was nearly killed last time despite having a full team of powerful Pokemon. I¡¯m just not sure about a young trainer with no experience coming with us. I don¡¯t think you know what you¡¯re getting yourself into.¡±

    Celia stood up and pointed accusingly at Tim, ¡°You personally approved the twins joining us and they¡¯re two years younger than Azalea.¡±

    ¡°The twins have the ability to teleport away from danger, are some of Olympia¡¯s best students, and their teams are rated at eight stars.¡± Tim shot back.

    Celia rolled her eyes and pointed again at Tim, ¡°They can¡¯t teleport within the mountain range, and Flint will be lending us his Infernape. You know, the one from his personal team.¡±

    ¡°Celia, sit down. Tim, Azalea and Winnie have made it clear that they plan to go. I understand your worry about Azalea¡¯s safety, so Flint¡¯s Infernape will be assigned to Azalea¡¯s team when the time comes. We will have other people from our expedition lend her some of their Pokemon as well because she has four empty positions on her team. Does that help?¡±

    Celia shot Tim a victorious look. Tim grimaced and relented with a sigh, gingerly rubbing his face, ¡°Fine. We have a month until the expedition starts, I¡¯ll ask the others to help train your team too.¡±

    I gave Tim a crisp thumbs up, and tried to give him a reassuring smile. ¡°Yeah sure, that¡¯ll be great.¡± He didn¡¯t seem convinced.

    ¡°Well, that should be enough to brief Azalea on our situation.¡± Rowan said as he checked his watch, ¡°It¡¯s late, I¡¯m sure everyone is tired from the day. We¡¯ll leave the rest for tomorrow. Azalea, I¡¯ll get your paperwork to you in the morning. Tim, make sure Marcus gets to bed. Celia, show Az to one of the free rooms.¡±

    The Professor collected his stuff and walked to the door, ¡°Good night everyone.¡±

    We bid him good night as he left.

    I followed Celia out the room after she got her stuff, stopping to let Winnie hop back on my shoulder while Tim was trying to wake Marcus up.

 (10) New Friends, new Rivals

    Back in the lounge area, Computer guy was still at the kitchen table. Dragonair guy and both Ninetales had left, and Leo and Zoroark were sitting on the couch and watching TV with Kaiju and Boltund fast asleep next to them. Both of them had their hair sticking up like they got zapped by lighting.

    Winnie giggled as he poked Zoroark¡¯s staticy mane with a paw and got slightly zapped. Zoroark grinned and rubbed Boltund¡¯s fur before rubbing its paws on Winnie¡¯s head tuft, making it puff up like a fuzz ball and the two of them snickered at each other¡¯s appearance.

    I thanked Leo for watching Kaiju and returned Kaiju to his ball.

    Then I went upstairs with Celia and down a hallway with a bunch of doors, kind of like halls of an apartment building, but less suites. A few of them had nametags and decorations on the doors.

    Celia pointed at the doors at the end of the hallway. ¡°You can pick what room you want as long as it doesn¡¯t have a name on it. I suggest the one of the ones furthest from the lounge and from Angela¡¯s room.¡±

    She pointed as a room decorated with cute Pokemon themed halloween stickers and the fancily written word, Angela, on it.

    ¡°Why Angela¡¯s room?¡±

    ¡°Cause she smokes even though, WE¡¯RE NOT ALLOWED TO SMOKE INDOORS!¡± Celia suddenly shouted.

    ¡°It¡¯s as if there¡¯s a smoking area outside just for her!¡± Celia shouted again.

    The slight scent of woodsmoke suddenly got stronger, as if someone purposefully wafted the scent in our direction. Wrinkling my nose, I waved my hand in front of my face to try to clear the scent away. I thought she meant smoking cigarettes. Not¡­wood?

    We heard some muffled footsteps and Angela¡¯s door opened. A tall lady who looked like a classy hex maniac stepped out with a slightly annoyed expression stepped out. Notably, she was holding a long smoking pipe that was emitting more smoke than it should¡¯ve been. ¡°Leo smokes too asshole.¡±

    Celia put her hand on her hip and rolled her eyes. ¡°Not inside. And he doesn¡¯t turn the building into an unfiltered medieval smoker. For the hundredth time, either go outside or put your pipe away. Building management isn¡¯t going to be happy about this.¡±

    Angela huffed and sassily dropped the pipe. Her shadow reach out and caught it as she retreated back into her room and shut the door behind her with a sharp, ¡°Clack!¡±

    Anyways¡­¡°Umm, I¡¯m good now Celia. Just one more question, uh, where can I got to let one of my Pokemon stretch her legs a bit before bed? She¡¯s been in her Pokeball all day.¡±

    ¡°Out back. It¡¯s the fenced in area with the big barns on the opposite side of the parking lot. You¡¯ll see it. If you have anymore questions just ask¨Cuhhh, wait you¡¯re not in the group chat. I¡¯ll get Justine to add you so you can ask there.¡±

    ¡°Okay. Thanks.¡±

    Celia nodded, ¡°Good night then.¡± Exit stage right.

    I chose one of the rooms at the end of the hallway and put Kaiju to bed. Shuppet was assigned to babysit him while we went outside.

    A sharp chill went down my spine as I stepped into the hallway. Did someone turn the air conditioning on?

    ¡°GRAAHHH! FEAR ME PEASANTS!¡±

    Suddenly, I was nose to nose with a gruesome face plastered on a golden mask. I blinked in surprised, the face reminded me of the sad side of those theater drama masks with one happy side and one sad side.

    I waved the mask away like it was some fly buzzing in my face, ¡°Oi, watch it. You ever heard of personal space?¡±

    The Pokemon holding the mask phased into view with a rather grumpy expression. ¡°Yeah, I have lady.¡± Yamask crossed its arms and growled with an extra side of rude.

    Winnie jumped up onto my head and growled back, ¡°hey! watch your manners masky!¡±

    I just raised an eyebrow, is it upset that I didn¡¯t get scared?

    Rotom chose this moment to fly out and scan the new Pokemon.

    ¡°Yamask, the spirit Pokemon. These Pok¨¦mon arose from the spirits of people interred in graves. Each retains memories of its former life. Each of them carries a mask that used to be its face when it was human. Sometimes they look at it and cry.¡±

    Yamask growled again, it¡¯s red eyes glowing maliciously, ¡°Hey, watch your mouth you little shit or else I¡¯m gonna make you regret it!¡±

    A wave of angry ghost type energy radiated off of Yamask and the temperature dropped significantly.

    Rotom let out a robotic giggle and Winnie grinned, ¡°what? can¡¯t deal with some hard facts? You started this.¡±

    ¡°Why you! You idiots should know when to respect a noble ghost like me!¡± Yamask sneered, putting a lot of emphasis on the word ¡®noble.¡¯

    Its aura turned murderous and it began floating towards us terminator style. I heard the Winnie¡¯s gang getting restless in my shadow as their collective auras became more hostile in response to Yamask and the temperature dropped even lower.

    Rotom buzzed with alarm and flew back into my pocket while Winnie¡¯s hackles rose and he got ready for a fight.

    I put my hands up to try to block Winnie and Yamask from getting at each other.

    ¡°Oi! Guys! Guys! Chill! Geez, don¡¯t start a fight in the hallway!¡±

    My hands went ice cold as Yamask phased through it and I sucked in my breath through my teeth in a grimace. Thankfully the angry ghost stopped at the sound of a bunch of footsteps running up the stairs.

    Yamask huffed and blew a raspberry at us, quickly vanishing into the wall, it¡¯s voice echoed, ¡°This isn¡¯t finished you bastards.¡±

    What the fuck? Jeez, someone get that ghost a therapist.

    I turned to see two identical girls with brunette hair in neat ponytails and dressed in the same exact outfits ran dow the hallway toward us, moving in sync. A pair of Meowstic, one male, one female, followed them. What is this, The Shining ft Pokemon?

    ¡°Hiya!¡± The girls said at the same time, waving at us at the same time.

    ¡°Brrr! It¡¯s cold in here.¡± The girl on the left commented, I was able to pick up a slight french accent from her words.

    ¡°Hi, uh, who are you guys?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m Chloe!¡± The twin on the right said. ¡°And I¡¯m Zoe!¡± Said the twin on the left.

    The two Meowstic waved and posed, meowing, ¡°Meowstic!¡± at the same time.

    Oh yeah, Celia and Tim mentioned ¡®the twins.¡¯ Are they the Kalos versions of Tate and Liza?

    ¡°are they performing for something?¡± Winnie whispered in my ear, ¡°I dunno.¡± I muttered back.

    ¡°Nice to meet you guys. I¡¯m Azalea. This guy here is Winnie.¡±

    Both twins grinned, ¡°You guys must be the ones Marcus was yapping about.¡±

    ¡°Uh, yeah I guess.¡±

    ¡°Meowstic!¡± Both Meowstic shouted and pointed to their wrists.

    ¡°Well, we¡¯ll see you later then, we need to go to bed.¡± All four of them began to float in the air. I took a few steps back expecting them to do something crazy.

    ¡°Good night!¡± They chorused.

    ¡°Good night?¡±

    I blinked and then all four of them were gone.

    ¡°Am I hallucinating?¡± I looked around and pinched my arm. What we¡¯d just seen felt like the type of weird shit I¡¯d see in a dream.

    Winnie shrugged. ¡°nope, they were real. they¡¯re weird.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, they sure were uh¡­interesting.¡±

    <hr>

    It was a crisp and cold fall night, I had to put on some extra layers but the fresh cold air was nice after hours on a plane followed by a long meeting cause I absolutely sucked at sitting still for long periods of time.

    The lights from the lab buildings illuminated a pretty large area around it, including the fenced in field we were in, so I could see pretty decently despite it being night out.

    Sahara was eager to train since she¡¯d been stuck in her Pokeball all day, so I let her practice the usual sandstorm tactics against Winnie, who was working on a slightly new tactic that we had come up with.

    Since Winnie could fool his target¡¯s senses, why not trick them into not knowing that they¡¯re taking damage? This only worked with chip damage, but if Winnie could improve on this then he¡¯d be able to abuse the shit out of this tactic and not take any damage at all.

    A few minutes in, Rotom notified me that Justine had added me to the expedition group chat, which was named ¡®Santa¡¯s Elves.¡¯ Nice to know that Santa exists in this world too.

    ¡°Heeyy~¡±

    The three of us stopped and looked in the direction of the lab where a younger version of Angela but with darker purple hair, a Golett, and the same Yamask from before were approaching us.

    Rotom was excited about finally being able to scan new Pokemon again, ¡°Golett, the Automaton Pokemon. The energy that burns inside it enables it to move, but no one has yet been able to identify this energy. These Pok¨¦mon are thought to have been created by the science of an ancient and mysterious civilization.¡±

    Yamask gave us the most contemptuous smirk it could muster, ¡°What¡¯s up losers!¡±

    Winnie growled but I nudged him with my shoe for him to stay calm.

    I smiled and waved at them ¡°Hey!¡±

    ¡°Nice to finally meet you! I¡¯m Justine, I helped you with the plane tickets.¡± Justine reached out her hand and I shook it. She seemed pretty friendly, but why did it feel like she was trying to figure out the best way to dissect me?

    ¡°Nice to meet you too Justine. What are you doing out here so late?¡±

    ¡°Celia told me where you were, and I wanted to meet the new expedition members! That Rotom of yours is super interesting though, I wanna have a Rotom phone! How has no one thought of something like this yet? I¡¯m gonna ask Jason to make one for me.¡±

    ¡°Oh, yeah if you need any help on that feel free to ask me. By the way, are you by chance related to Angela?¡±

    ¡°Ha! Yes, I am! I¡¯m her younger sister, aaaand also aspiring to be a ghost type master like her someday!¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s a ghost type master?¡± I asked, that¡¯s one step above ghost type specialist right?

    ¡°Yep~¡± Justine¡¯s smile widened, ¡°She was personally taught by Agatha of the Indigo Elite four and is her best student. She helped me get my starter, Golett, and Agatha gifted me Yamask~ Aren¡¯t they cute?¡±

    Yamask floated closer to Winnie to get in his face, it¡¯s golden mask now had a shit eating grin plastered in it in place of the sorrowful frown it had earlier.

    ¡°You hear that loser? I was deemed worthy by THE Agatha and I was taught by ghosts on the same level as an elite Pokemon. Elite. E-L-I-T-E. Which also means, you¡¯re weaker than me and should be bowing and begging, for, my, forgiveness.¡± The mask ghost poked Winnie on the nose for each of those last few words.

    Much to Winnie¡¯s credit, he kept his temper and didn¡¯t react to Yamask¡¯s taunting. Sahara just scoffed at Yamask¡¯s words and said something under her breath.

    Golett didn¡¯t seem to like Yamask¡¯s behavior and clicked disapprovingly, stepping forward and pulling its teammate away from Winnie, who was giving Yamask his version of one of Sahara¡¯s death glares.

    Oooohh, that¡¯s where the brat¡¯s inflated ego comes from.

    ¡°That¡¯s pretty cool. But umm, could you possibly reign your Yamask? It¡¯s been pretty rude to us since we first met it back in the lab building.¡±

    ¡°Oh really? I¡¯m sorry, he¡¯s a bit spoiled.¡± She leaned forward a bit, covering the side of her face with a hand an whispering, ¡°Between you and me, he¡¯s pretty full of himself because he¡¯s never lost a battle against other Pokemon of the same level as him.¡±

    Winnie¡¯s ear twitched when he heard that and he got an big grin, ¡°Az! Why don¡¯t we battle them? I gotta test out the new thing we were doing anyways.¡±

    Yamask wriggled out of Golett¡¯s grip. ¡°Yes! A battle where I can crush you imbeciles!¡±

    ¡°It seems like Winnie and Yamask want to battle. You up for it?¡± I asked Justine, who smiled deviously,

    ¡°Sure! There¡¯s no better way to get acquainted with a fellow trainer! I¡¯m especially excited to see what tactics a ghost type species like Hisuan Zorua will use in battle!¡±

    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    Oh. If she wanted a battle in the first place she could¡¯ve just asked¡­

    We agreed to a 1 vs 1 until knockout. Golett and Sahara stood by to watch. Golett seemed pretty done with Yamask¡¯s behavior and just kinda facepalmed when the battle was announced.

    Golett automatically assigned itself the referee position and waited until we¡¯d all properly positioned ourselves before declaring the start of the battle, with a robotic sounding, ¡°Battle begin!¡± And a quick vertical hand wave.

    ¡°Usual trick tactics plus what we were just practicing Winnie, be careful to not make physical contact with Yamask cause it¡¯s ability can temporarily negate yours.¡±

    ¡°got it az!¡± Winnie crouched down, readying himself but not visibly moving from his spot. Yamask and Justine didn¡¯t notice that the Winnie they were seeing was just an illusion. I actually didn¡¯t know when he¡¯d switched from the real him to a fake version but that would just make it easier to fool the opponent.

    ¡°Oh? A trainer who actually knows a bit about ghosts? This is gonna be fun. Boost yourself Yamask.¡±

    Yamask¡¯s eyes narrowed and it grinned, it¡¯s already malicious aura darkening as it thought evil thoughts. Now that it didn¡¯t have to hold back, Yamask freely let its ghostly aura flow and I shivered from the coldness of it. It was way stronger than Winnie currently was, but I was confident that its hubris would make sure it couldn¡¯t land a single hit on Winnie.

    Yamask¡¯s energy was hella negative and just angry compared to the energy Winnie and his gang emitted, probably because they were more friendly ghosts. Yamask clearly had issues it needed to work through.

    Winnie and I waited as Yamask finished using Nasty Plot, the white fox was already working his illusion magic. Seeing that we weren¡¯t react, Yamask tried to use Nasty Plot again. Yeah no, we¡¯re not letting that happen.

    ¡°Torment then Will-O-Wisp.¡±

    Fake Winnie dove into action and growled unintelligible but obviously insulting words at Yamask, the dark type energy quickly taking effect and preventing Yamask from using Nasty Plot again.

    ¡°Crafty Shield, don¡¯t let it burn you.¡±

    A pink translucent barrier with hexagonal honeycomb patterns slowly flickered to life around Yamask. We didn¡¯t need to burn Yamask, it was already moving slower than it was before due to the burn it unknowingly had. Now we just had to wear away at its health.

    ¡°Shadow Ball, don¡¯t let it finish the move.¡±

    Fake Winnie created a Shadow Ball and shot it at Yamask, who easily dodged it and laughed.

    ¡°You call that a Shadow Ball? What a¨Cgrakpshdfg!¡± Winnie¡¯s Shadow Ball stopped midair and boomeranged back at Yamask, hitting it in the back and catching it by surprise. Critical hit!

    The golden masked ghost was sent flying due to the mini explosion from the Shadow ball¡¯s impact and did a few flips before recovering.

    ¡°Steady there Yamask, Disable!¡±

    Yamask¡¯s face contorted and it¡¯s eye glinted at fake Winnie, who shivered from the moves effect and glared back at the masked ghost.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t I show you what a real Shadow Ball looks like?¡± Yamask began to charge up a Shadow Ball between it¡¯s hands.

    ¡°Change to Dark Pulse, ghost type moves won¡¯t work on your opponent.¡± Justine shouted.

    Yamask huffed in annoyance and the swirling purple-violet ball of energy between its hands turned into an angry stream of dark type energy that Yamask shot straight at Winnie.

    There was a loud BOOM as the rays from Yamask¡¯s Dark Pulse impacted the ground where Fake Winnie just was.

    Fake Winnie reappeared from the smoke, seemingly uninjured and began to run at Yamask.

    ¡°Grab Yamask¡¯s mask with Extrasensory, then Hex!¡±

    ¡°No you won¡¯t! Protect and Double Team.¡±

    Yamask used Protect, but fake Winnie¡¯s had seemingly teleported behind Yamask, eyes glowing with Psychic type energy. Yamask¡¯s mask was nearly ripped from it¡¯s grip, distracting it from properly reacting. It quickly recovered and spun around to face fake Winnie, scattering clones of itself everywhere and creating a barrier that protected it from Winnie¡¯s Hex.

    ¡°Imprison!¡± Justine shouted with a bit of a flourish. Trying to seal our moves huh?

    Yamask cackled, its eyes glowed again with a slight magenta tinge and a red circular insignia appeared under Fake Winnie¡¯s feet and flashed brightly before disappearing.

    Fake Winnie shook himself off and continued running around to make himself a hard target for Yamask to hit.

    ¡°Catch him with Psychic!¡± The glow in Yamask¡¯s eyes turned a deeper magenta and it picked Fake Winnie up by his tail, swinging the flailing fox around in the air like a toddler swinging around a stuffed animal.

    ¡°I¡¯ve got you now you mutt! HAHAHAHA!¡± Yamask crowed victoriously, its clones from Double Team circled around Fake Winnie and made faces at him.

    ¡°Stop playing around, Dark Pulse to finish him off!¡±

    Winnie and I both grinned, ¡°Night Shade to clear the fakes. Scare tactics into Hex.¡±

    It took a moment for Justine to register what I¡¯d said. She realized too late that the Winnie they were seeing wasn¡¯t real, and Winnie began to use one of the moves that Yamask was supposed to have sealed.

    ¡°Yamask, it¡¯s an illusion! Use Dark Pulse on the entire area and look for the real Winnie!¡± Fake Winnie¡¯s illusion faded away to reveal a large chunk of dirt vaguely shaped like Winnie, and a ripple of ghost energy spread out, destroying Yamask¡¯s double team clones.

    Something massive jumped out at Yamask from behind it and the ghost swung around, the fury etched into its face turned into horror as it came face to face with an exact replica of Kaiju¡¯s mom.

    ¡°HYYYDREIGON!¡± Illusion Hydreigon roared loud enough to make my ears were ring. Despite knowing that this was fake, even I got goosebumps from how real this illusion was Winnie had improved a lot since we¡¯d first started training just a few days ago.

    I heard Justine squeak in surprised as illusion Hydreigon bore down on Yamask. To the ghosts¡¯s credit, despite its both it and its trainer losing their composure, it steeled itself and shot a Dark Pulse at Illusion Hydreigon, dissipating a large chunk of the illusion.

    Reassured that the dragon wasn¡¯t real, Yamask began to charge another Dark Pulse but wasn¡¯t able to finish the move as it suddenly fell to the ground with a clatter.

    The chip damage from the burn that Winnie had applied at the beginning of the battle plus the extra powerful Hexes Winnie had been spamming had taken their toll and finally knocked Yamask out.

    The air next to my shin rippled and Winnie reappeared, not a scratch on him. He was pretty winded from having to keep up so many accurate illusions while attacking Yamask at the same time.

    ¡°heh, i taught the brat a lesson.¡±

    I scooped Winnie up in my arms and pet his head, ¡°Yeah you sure did. Your illusions were terrific! I¡¯m so proud of you.¡±

    Justine returned Yamask to its luxury ball and walked over to talk to us, ¡°Wow! That was amazing! I didn¡¯t know that the Zoroark line could create illusions like that!¡±

    ¡°What? You never seen Leo¡¯s Zoroark do something like that?¡±

    ¡°Well, not exactly. Zoroark uses its Illusion ability to copy what others look like onto his own appearance but he¡¯s never done whatever Winnie just did. What did he do?¡±

    ¡°I just had him use Will-O-Wisp early on and use his illusions to trick Yamask into not knowing that it was taking damage from its burn. All we had to do after that was stall, use Hex, and make sure that Hex wasn¡¯t disabled by any of Yamask¡¯s other moves by preventing him from being spotted by either of you.¡±

    ¡°Hmmmm, I didn¡¯t know that was possible with just illusions! Perhaps Zoroark doesn¡¯t do it because its illusions can only affect sight and sound, or because there¡¯s a difference in the type energy that fuels their illusions.¡±

    ¡°Eh, we¡¯ll find out tomorrow.¡± Justine shrugged, ¡°I¡¯ll ask Marcus to whip out the good ol energy wave reader and we can run some tests.¡±

    ¡°Okay. Um, by the way is Yamask gonna be alright? Am I gonna have to worry about any hauntings from an angry ghost?¡±

    Justine chuckled, ¡°Oh, he¡¯ll be fine. He¡¯s a bit of a jerk, but he¡¯s not a sore loser. Yamask will have a bruised ego but it¡¯ll just make him want to train harder to surpass Winnie. ¡±

    ¡°Cool. I mean, having rivals is pretty great for getting a good challenge. You hear that Winnie? You¡¯d better not slack off in your training unless you wanna lose to Yamask.¡±

    ¡°humph, like i¡¯d neglect my duties as a leader like that stuck up brat.¡±

    ¡°Uh huh.¡±

    ¡°GRAWRR! GABITE!¡± Sahara stepped forward and roared, her eyes literally shining with battle spirit.

    ¡°You want to battle too?¡±

    ¡°Gabite bite!¡± Sahara pointed at Golett with a sharp toothed snarl that looked like her version of a grin. She didn¡¯t just want a battle, she was demanding a battle.

    Golett took a step back with raised hands and vehemently shook its head. ¡°Nononononononono. Nope.¡±

    Patting Golett reassuringly, Justine also shook her head, ¡°Yeah, Golett isn¡¯t a huge fan of battling. BUT! Ben and Collin are probably still out training, if you guys wanna go find them. Gabite will be able to get in a great battle, though I¡¯ll have to warn you guys, you¡¯re not gonna win against either of them.¡±

    Sahara¡¯s eyes gleamed and she snorted in excitement, ¡°Gabite!¡± She took Justine¡¯s words as a challenge.

    ¡°I hear you girl. Yeah that sounds great, let¡¯s go!¡±

    <hr>

    It wasn¡¯t hard to find the guys Justine told us about even though we had to hike through a section of woods in the dark using our phone flashlights.

    All we had to do was head in the direction of a giant column of fire in the distance and the sounds of multiple loud crashes that kicked out large dust clouds.

    ¡°That¡¯s them.¡±

    We came to a large battlefield lit up by a few stadium lights.

    There were two guys on each side of the field, their teams standing around and watching an Armarouge and a Mienshao fight and cheering on their teammates.

    The Armarouge¡¯s trainer was a guy with outrageously red hair and loud fire themed clothing. The Pokemon cheering Armarouge on were all fire types, Charizard, Turtonator, Talonflame, Arcanine, and a Heatran of all things.

    The guy just casually had a Heatran, a minor legendary. Wow.

    Obviously he was a fire type specialist. His hair has to be dyed that color red, right? Then again, Justine and her sister have purple hair and Celia has ice blue hair.

    Mienshao¡¯s trainer was more normal looking guy wearing some sort of martial arts outfit and a bandana with a fighting type symbol on it. The rest of his team included a Machoke, Breloom, Crabominable, Hitmonchan, and a blaze breed Tauros. Do I need to say what type of trainer he was as well?

    Armarogue was literally one with the fire and kept its distance from Mienshao to make the most of it¡¯s specialization as a special attacker. It combined its control of fire and psychic type energies to manipulate fire like it was just another part of its body and had a large coat of fire acting as an extra layer of armor.

    Despite the disadvantage it was at, Mienshao gracefully weaved and dodged through Armarogue¡¯s attacks, quickly closing the distance before disappearing in a blur and assaulting its opponent with a blindingly fast flurry of kicks and punches that flowed together like the water of river rapids constantly chipping away at a boulder in its path.

    A translucent barrier formed in front of Armarogue as the fiery knight tried to block it opponents constant blows, but Mienshao shattered Protect with ease before continuing it¡¯s assault.

    We sat by and watched the battle with occasional comments from Winnie or Justine until the match ended with Mienshao getting knocked out. Armarogue helped its opponent up and they gave each other friendly but competitive smiles as they talked to each other, probably about their fight.

    ¡°Yoohoo! Hey guys! Great battle~¡± Justine jumped up and I followed her to the center of the field.

    Redhead grinned, ¡°Hey Justine! Wassup? Who¡¯s the new girl?¡±

    ¡°This is Azalea, she¡¯s the newest member of the expedition team. This little guy here is Winnie.¡±

    I waved at Redhead and Martial arts guy, who was giving Mienshao a Rawst berry.

    ¡°AAAAYYY! Welcome! The name¡¯s Bennett, but everyone calls me Ben!¡± Redhead guy raised his hand up and I high-fived him.

    I kinda winced as my hand touched his for just a brief moment, the guy¡¯s palm was hot enough to fry an egg. Is he part fire type?

    Then Martial arts guy joined us, ¡°Since when?¡±

    ¡°Since about an hour ago.¡± Justine answered.

    ¡°Nice. Welcome to the team.¡± Martial arts guy smiled and nodded, ¡°I¡¯m Collin.¡±

    ¡°Are you guys done for the night?¡± Justine asked, ¡°Gabite here is looking for a battle, if any of your Pokemon are up for it.¡±

    Ben and Collin looked and pointed at each other.

    ¡°You wanna?¡± Collin asked.

    Ben shrugged, ¡°I mean if you¡¯re done for the night I¡¯m totally up for one more battle.¡±

    ¡°Yeah sure go ahead.¡±

    ¡°Thanks bro! Turtonator! You¡¯re up!¡±

    A massive Turtonator that was standing not too far away from us nodded and began to stomp to one side of the field.

    ¡°Hey Azalea! You take the right side, I¡¯ll take the left.¡±

    I nodded, ¡°Sahara, come on.¡± Jogging over to the outlined square box where the trainers stood in, I finally realized how big this field was compared to the ones at the Pokemon center, it was almost three times bigger! It felt a lot more professional.

    Yeah, we definitely weren¡¯t winning this battle. We were facing the same issue Winnie had with his battle against Yamask. Out repertoire of moves and overall power level were puny compared to out opponents, and this time we didn¡¯t have any obvious ways to win.

    I was still eager to see what both Sahara and Turtonator could do. I hadn¡¯t been able to properly battle with her yet so this was a great opportunity to finally see what we needed to work on. Hopefully Ben and Collin would also be willing to give some pointers after the battle.

    Collin jogged over to the side of the field, ¡°I¡¯ll ref for this one. You guys ready?¡±

    Ben and I both said yeah and Collin declared, ¡°Match start!¡±

    ¡°Set up Turts!¡± Turtonator roared and it¡¯s shell glowed before the glowing area layered on its shell shattered like glass and disappeared. Shell Smash huh? This isn¡¯t good.

    ¡°Set up too Sahara!¡±

    With her battle spirit at maxed out, Sahara roared with glee. The biggest Sandstorm she¡¯d ever created swirled to life, covering almost the entire battlefield in sand. Before she was only able to create a sandstorm big enough to cover only half that area.

    ¡°Dragon Rush! Get in close and use Dragon Claw and Tail, don¡¯t attack it¡¯s back, try to get at its front, there¡¯s a hole there that¡¯s its weak spot.¡±

    Now that Turtonator¡¯s defense was lowered, Gabite needed to get in there and deal as much damage as possible before the dragon turtle could boost its defense again.

    Sahara rushed in, dragon type energy cloaking her and boosting her speed. Turtonator expertly turned its fire covered shell whichever way Sahara tried to strike at and blew white hot Flamethrowers or powerful beams of Dragon Pulses to slow the landshark down when it couldn¡¯t move fast enough.

    The spikes on its shell glowed before bursting from the shell right at Sahara.

    ¡°Dig!¡±

    Sahara ducked and quickly burrowed underground to avoid being struck by Turtonator¡¯s Scale Shot.

    ¡°Earthquake and Heat Wave.¡± Shit.

    ¡°Get out and use Rock Tomb to shield yourself from the Heat Wave.¡± Sahara burst out of the ground, a Rock Tomb already forming and collecting together to form a barrier. I¡¯m gonna need to teach my entire team Protect sometime in the future.

    Turtonator stomped a foot into the ground, creating a shockwave that shook the entire area. I stumbled, trying to keep my footing. Sahara was able to keep her footing better than I did and braced herself for the shockwave to decrease the damage she took.

    Then Turtonator sent forward a wave of fire that quickly began to melt the rock wall Sahara was hiding behind. I shielded my eyes and felt my entire front get literally baked in the heat from the attack. I could smell my clothes getting burnt.

    Winnie, who was standing with me as support squeaked and dove into my shadow for cover.

    ¡°Fire Spin, trap them.¡± A giant swirling column of fire instantly shot up around Sahara, who roared in pain as the heat began to deal damage.

    ¡°Dig out of the Fire Spin and underneath Turtonator, try to get at its front again.¡± Sahara did as I said and burst out of the ground beneath Turtonator¡¯s front side, dealing a powerful Dragon Claw attack to it before burrowing back underground.

    Turtonator growled and raised it¡¯s foot for another Earthquake.

    ¡°Get out! Jump on Rock Tomb to stay in the air.¡±

    Sahara jumped out of the ground, creating rocks for her to jump off from to avoid the taking any damage from Earthquake.

    ¡°Hmmm. That¡¯s clever, but it won¡¯t be able to hold us back. Mega Kick on the ground straight at Gabite!¡±

    Turtonator¡¯s legs tensed and it instantly rocketed up, withdrawing into its shell in order to spin around with Rapid Spin and turning itself into a spikey projectile going straight for Sahara.

    ¡°Dragon Rush at it¡¯s weak point while it¡¯s still in the air!¡±

    ¡°Grab Gabite, Payback!¡±

    Sahara jumped off of Rock Tomb boulder and rushed at Turtonator¡¯s weak spot again. Unable to turn midair, the fire turtle grunted as it tanked damage and doggedly grabbed and held onto Sahara.

    The two struggled in the air as they plummeted down, crashing to the ground together.

    Urgh, that wasn¡¯t good. Is she still up?

    The dust cleared and Turtonator moved away from its spot to reveal a hole underneath where Sahara had burrowed away.

    The landshark reappeared from another hole a good distance away from Turtonator, but she was badly burnt and was starting to struggle to stay standing up. She wouldn¡¯t be able to tank another powerful attack.

    ¡°Hang in there! Keep your distance, hide in the sandstorm, and spam Dragon Pulse.¡±

    ¡°No more Sandstorm for you, Sunny Day and Taunt.¡±

    Sahara tried to used the waning Sandstorm for cover and began blasting Turtonator with Dragon Pulses that were weaker than what she started out with and kept on getting weaker.

    Turtonator created a ball of flames and threw it up into the sky, causing the already weak sandstorm to completely dissipate. There goes our chip damage.

    Then the fire turtle growled a challenge, tauntingly wagging a claw at Sahara, causing her to roar in anger and charge at it.

    ¡°Stone Edge and trip it, then get close with Mega Kick and Body Press.¡±

    ¡°Use Rock Tomb as stepping stones and jump up again!¡±

    ¡°Overheat.¡±

    ¡°Use Twister on Overheat!¡±

    Sahara got up high again and spun around to charge up and release a massive twister that sucked up Turtonator¡¯s Overheat, turning the twister into a huge column of fire and sparing Sahara from being hit by a boosted Sunny Day Overheat.

    ¡°Dragon Rush dive! You got this Sahara!¡±

    ¡°Protect and Mega Punch.¡±

    Aaagh, shit!

    Turtonator faced Sahara as it created a barrier to protect itself from Dragon Rush. The fire turtle grinned as Sahara hit its barrier and was blocked.

    Despite being blocked, Sahara didn¡¯t stop going and raised a claw, chopping down on the protective barrier just like how Mienshao did earlier with Armarogue and and shattering the barrier.

    Was that Brick Break? She doesn¡¯t even know any other fighting type moves, how did she just learn that?! Sheer determination?!

    With a battle crazy expression, Sahara didn¡¯t take a moment to hesitate and crashed straight into Turtonator¡¯s torso with Dragon Rush, finally getting a clean hit and pushing the turtle back a few steps.

    The two began a pushing contest, claws locked together and trying to push the other down in order to get a clean hit. Despite her failing strength, Sahara was still fired up and enjoying this fight. She was grinning like a maniac.

    So she¡¯s a huge battle junkie. Honestly, that¡¯s probably pretty good for a battling Pokemon to have, but I hope she doesn¡¯t overdo it just for the sake of battling. Will probably have to keep a closer eye on her training and battling.

    ¡°Turrr tonator.¡± The fire turtle grinned and growled in Sahara¡¯s face, making sure to use it¡¯s larger stature to try to intimidate the smaller dragon as it pushed her back, creating deep scores in the dirt from both of their feet digging into the ground.

    The fire turtle¡¯s body glowed a steel gray and seemed to shine as it used a buffing move, Iron Defense if I were to guess.

    Sahara responded by glowing a blindingly bright white. I blinked a few times and watched as Sahara¡¯s form got bigger, and bigger, and bigger, and bigger, until she absolutely towered over Turtonator.

    ¡°Rotom, how big is a Garchomp supposed to get?¡±

    ¡°Bzzt! Garchomp are around six feet on average.¡±

    No way, Sahara was way taller than that. Turtonator was almost seven feet tall, and she was just towering over him. I mean, she was big for a Gabite but I never expected her to grow this big. She hit the genetic lottery!

    ¡°GARCHOMP!¡± Sahara roared, I covered my ears and everyone on the field stepped back a bit as her eyes began to glow red. That¡¯s not good.

    ¡°Sahara!¡± I shouted, trying to snap her out of whatever battle maniac berserk mode she was going into, but she wasn¡¯t hearing anything anymore.

    My hand hovered over Sahara¡¯s ultra ball as I debated returning her, but before I could do that, she began to absolutely beat down on Turtonator in a frenzy, completely disregarding any of her own safety. The fire turtle quickly turned its back, letting Sahara hit it¡¯s shell.

    There was a huge explosion that rocked the field. I crouched down and shielded my face from the heat and waited until the temperature returned back to normal.

    As the smoke and dust cleared, I saw Sahara laying on the field with spirals in her eyes. A very relieved Turtonator stood over her.

    Still a bit shocked, I returned Sahara. ¡°Good job Sahara, get some rest.¡±

    ¡°BRROOO! That was crazy! Your Garchomp is a freaking MONSTER! Hahaha!¡± Ben ran over with a huge grin on his face and affectionately rubbed Turtonator¡¯s head that may I add, was still fresh out of the oven hot from the explosion Sahara had set off not two minutes ago.

    Justine and Collin walked over too and Winnie popped back out of my shadow once I told him the coast was clear.

    ¡°az, what the hell was that?¡± Winnie squeaked, his eyes wide with a mixture of fear and excitement.

    I gave him a frazzled smile, ¡°That, was a Pokemon battle.¡± My heart was pounding from sheer exhilaration. That was incredible! And Sahara evolved!

    ¡°Wow, Gabite looked like she was gonna evolve, but I didn¡¯t expect she would evolve this soon~¡±

    ¡°Really? How¡¯d you know?¡± I asked Justine.

    ¡°Her size and the color and texture of her scales. They were less light blue and more of a dark purple-blue. She was basically ready to evolve but just hadn¡¯t yet.¡±

    ¡°Huh, I didn¡¯t know that at all. Did she wait until she was in a battle?¡± I mean, I found her trying to fight a Hydreigon she had no match against, maybe she was trying to trigger an evolution. I think said something about that when we first talked.

    Collin nodded, ¡°Dragon¡¯s grow the fastest during battle, Kenta told me. Usually when they¡¯re ready to evolve they won¡¯t do so until they¡¯re in an actual battle. Something about risk and reward and learning new moves, though a lot of that stuff also depends on the species.¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s Kenta?¡± I asked.

    ¡°He¡¯s our resident dragon type specialist.¡± Ben said, ¡°If you need any advice on dragons, feel free to ask him. He¡¯s very helpful.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll keep that in mind.¡±

    We cleaned up the area and shut off the stadium lights before heading back. Ben, Collin, and Justine laughed and joked the whole way back about other training sessions, and they gave me pointers on the battle as I¡¯d hoped.

    It was nice having people to talk to. Of course there was Winnie and his ghost gang and they were great, but hanging out with other humans for the first time in what felt like forever was just different in a good way.

    Seeing Ben and Collin¡¯s Pokemon battling and being able to actually battle one of them with Sahara was simply awesome. Just how quickly Turtonator and Ben were able to adapt to any of our strategies, I mean, Turtonator had no trouble dealing with anything Sahara and I threw at it and it basically shrugged off an Outrage from a Garchomp.

    The power from Turtonator and Armarouge¡¯s fire, and Mienshao¡¯s martial arts were thrilling! I wanted to be able to do stuff like that with my team and be super overpowered. And we definitely would be. Well, someday.

 (11) Training Stuff 1

    ¡°Okay, great job Zoroark. Winnie, can you copy Zoroark¡¯s illusion for me? And hold it as steady as possible.¡±

    Justine leaned closer to her laptop screen, eyes squinting as she examine a bunch of intricate multicolored lines, diagrams, and numbers that were being generated by the machine her laptop was connected to.

    Marcus was originally supposed to be the guy doing these tests, but because he¡¯d literally been living off of caffeine for who knows how long, he had been banned from work until he properly recovered.

    ¡°Oh wow~ Just as I expected, they are different.¡±

    Tim looked closer at the computer screen and nodded, ¡°That explains a lot.¡±

    I raised an eyebrow. Zoroark and Winnie¡¯s illusions of a Polteageist looked identical to the naked eye, but I guess the energy reader was seeing something different.

    ¡°Mind explaining this stuff for the dummy here?¡± I asked, pointing at myself and looking over Justine¡¯s shoulder at her laptop at the completely incomprehensible nonsense of geometric shapes and constantly changing numbers being displayed on the computer screen.

    Nodding, Justine turned to me. ¡°Simply speaking, Zoroark and Winnie¡¯s illusions have similar functions but are built differently. Zoroark¡¯s illusions are made out of dark type energy and are generally more stable at the cost of being more energy consuming and therefore not sustainable for extended periods of time. Especially with mass illusions.¡±

    The purple haired girl turned back to the computer and types in a few things, changing the screen to display another set of randomized wavy lines and more numbers and she continued to explain,

    ¡°Winnie¡¯s illusions on the other hand, are less stable due to the mix of ghost and normal type energies, and are susceptible to interruption via dark type energy. But this has the benefit of being more energy efficient due to ghost type energy having less need for structure and generally being more suited for illusions.¡±

    Leo, who was standing next to me, clapped his hands together and pointed at the computer screen, ¡°Oh! I see, that¡¯s why we¡¯ve seen this sort of behavior with Hisuan Zoroarks but not with normal Zoroark, right? Zoroark and I have been trying to replicate a bit of the mass illusion what we saw last time but it just hasn¡¯t been working.¡±

    Justine leaned back from the energy reader and turned a bit more towards us with a smile, ¡°Yeah basically! There¡¯s also the caveat that ghost types are generally better at creating illusions than other types, as seen with how most ghost type species make use of them in one way or another That¡¯s not to say that Zoroark can¡¯t create mass illusions, he¡¯d just need to put in some extra work to do so.¡±

    ¡°Zoroark, zor zorark?¡± Zoroark asked Leo, who nodded as if he understood what the dark fox had just said,

    ¡°I gotcha. Then why do you think Zoroark, or just any member of my team were having trouble getting through the illusion last time if it¡¯s supposed to be susceptible to dark type energy?¡±

    ¡°It would be because of the power difference between you guys and the Pokemon who created the illusion. It would be like trying to use a small dull knife to cut through a huge block of instantly regenerating cold butter. I also suspect that said Pokemon included curses into the illusion to make it more durable, it¡¯s a trademark of ghost types.¡±

    So we¡¯ll have to watch out for dark types until Winnie gets strong enough that their dark type energy can¡¯t overwhelm his own ghost-normal combined illusions. I wonder if he¡¯ll be able to use curses later on too, though I dunno how that works at all.

    Leo nodded, ¡°Ahhh. Okay.¡±

    Zoroark crossed his arms and snorted derisively, dispelling his illusion.

    Winnie did the same and began to whine, ¡°are we done yet? we¡¯ve been here doing nothing! i wanna go do something elssseeee! this is booooorrrrring.¡±

    I sighed, ¡°Winnie¡¯s getting fussy. You guys done?¡±

    Justine nodded, ¡°Yep! I¡¯ve answered all my questions and Marcus will be apoplectic if we continue without him, so we¡¯ll wait until he¡¯s got his beauty sleep.¡±

    Hearing this, Winnie¡¯s complaining turned into a cheer and he began bouncing in circles around Zoroark. ¡°great! i wanna go train! come on zoroark! come on! lets go find weavile!¡± Winnie pulled on the dark fox¡¯s paw in an attempt to make him hurry up.

    During breakfast, Zoroark and Leo¡¯s Weavile had promised to teach Winnie some new stuff. I didn¡¯t get anymore details than that, but I was more than happy that Zoroark and Weavile were so willing to teach Winnie some tricks.

    For reference, Leo and his team had placed among the top four in multiple conferences, so their experience would be invaluable and this would be a great learning experience for Winnie, me, and the rest of the team.

    As for how I found out about Leo¡¯s accomplishments, after last nights training session while we were walking back to the lab, Justine blabbed to me all about the other members of the expedition team. These guys were some of the best trainers in the world, though she made sure to emphasize that her sister was the strongest among them.

    Bennett and Collin had also placed among the top four in multiple conferences. In Bennett¡¯s case, he won the Sinnoh Conference but lost to the Elite four.

    Speaking of the Elite four, Angela was actually strong enough to become a member. Being Agatha¡¯s best student, she was offered a position in the elite four after she swept the Indigo league with her ghost types, but she said no, citing her own irresponsibility and hatred for paperwork as reasons for declining.

    Angela¡¯s younger sister Justine, despite not being a super strong trainer was literally a 200 IQ genius who had worked with multiple regional professors and other important science people on a bunch of stuff I couldn¡¯t even begin to remember the names of. The reason why she was allowed to come along was because her older sister recommended her and would be lending Justine some of her own ghost Pokemon.

    Dragonair guy, aka Kenta, had placed top 16 in both conferences for his first two seasons and was recommended by someone from the Blackthorn clan.

    The only member of the security team whom I hadn¡¯t seen yet was a dual ice and steel type specialist from Alola called Abigail. She won her first conference in Hoenn and was recommended to the expedition recruiters by Alolan styled Professor Oak due to the strength of her team and her skills with traversing mountainous icy terrains.

    The non-security members weren¡¯t slacking off in achievements either. Tim and Marcus were accomplished and well respected researchers, and Celia had a ton of successful expeditions into dangerous territories under her belt.

    Not to mention that despite their teams not being particularly geared towards battles, they were all strong enough to be rated by the Pokemon Battle Commission as having seven crown teams, which would put them on the same level as a conference quarter-finalist as the weakest.

    The twins were brought in as the team¡¯s emergency exit plan due to their talent in teleporting long distances. Combined with the psychic powers of their Pokemon, they could teleport anywhere in the world as long as they¡¯d been to it. Extremely impressive considering the average psychic struggled to even twist a spoon or properly use telepathy.

    I kinda wished I got teleportation powers, traveling would be so convenient. Or I could just get a psychic type in the future to teleport for me.

    Last but not least, computer guy, aka Jason. He was an electric type specialist tech whiz that the team had borrowed from Volkner¡¯s gym, much to the gym leader¡¯s reluctance. Despite having retired from being a Pokemon trainer, Jason was still strong enough to occasionally sub in for Volkner against high ranking trainers whenever the gym leader felt like not doing his job, and he had won a few conferences before he retired.

    Safe to say, I was feeling rather underqualified for the job, as the only reason I was here was because I had a Hisuan Zorua on my team.

    On the bright side, because these guys were so much stronger and more experienced, I might as well take advantage of their knowledge and get all the help I could from them.

    As I said before, this was probably one of the best training and learning opportunities me and my team would ever get, and I wasn¡¯t gonna pass that up just because I felt intimidated by how accomplished everyone else was compared to my measly: You died and got Isekaiied! achievement.

    I put Rotom in charge of helping me take notes on any nuggets of useful information the others dropped either during their training session or while they were answering my questions.

    As Justine and Tim were packing up the energy reader stuff, Winnie left with Zoroark and Weavile to train in private and probably plot the most embarrassing way they can defeat Yamask.

    I didn¡¯t have to take care of Kaiju at the moment cause he was being babysat by Leo¡¯s Meowscarada and Houndoom. Kaiju had been enamored by Meowscarada¡¯s magic tricks and I guess Houndoom just felt like hanging out with them.

    That all meant that I would have plenty of time to work with Sahara. It was about time we expanded her moveset a bit more and work her new moves.

    <hr>

    ¡°So kid, are ya ready to learn?¡± Zoroark grinned as he gestured for Winnie to follow him and Weavile into the forest near the ranch.

    Winnie mirrored Zoroark¡¯s grin and jumped with excitement, ¡°of course! next time i battle that yamask brat, i¡¯m gonna beat him so badly, he¡¯ll never wanna show his face around here ever again!¡±

    Weavile ruffled the white fox¡¯s head, ¡°HA! That¡¯s the spirit! First thing you gotta do is learn a few useful tricks. One of that Marcus guy¡¯s mons told us which moves you could learn so we¡¯ll start with the easier ones.¡±

    ¡°why are you teaching me easy ones! i wanna get straight to the powerful moves!¡±

    ¡°Battles aren¡¯t just about powerful moves kid, even purely offensive Pokemon have a lot of utility moves to support them through a battle. For example, moves that increase your attack.¡±

    Zoroark flexed his claws and slashed at a nearby tree, cutting halfway through it¡¯s thick trunk.

    ¡°Now look at what happens after I use Hone Claws.¡± Zoroark swiped his claws against each other and then repeated his slashing attack on another tree that was thicker than the previous one, cutting clean through the entire thing.

    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    There was a loud creaking groan as the tree tilted and crashed to the ground.

    ¡°woooaah!¡± Winnie ran over to the downed tree and gaped at it.

    ¡°See? There are also moves that can decrease your opponents power or prevent them from using moves that increase their power. That¡¯s what we¡¯ll be teaching you.¡± Zoroark slightly puffed out his chest, the younger Pokemon¡¯s admiration was pretty flattering.

    Feeling the need to show off a bit as well, Weavile flexed her claws and slashed at the tree¡¯s downed trunk, slicing it into pieces.

    ¡°Once you get those down, they¡¯ll be basically like reflexive movements during a battle. Then you¡¯ll be ready to learn a few more advanced moves from us.¡±

    Winnie jumped up and down, ¡°well, lets get starte¨C¡± He paused and the three looked up as they heard a loud high pitched whistle from above. In the distance, a bright ball wreathed in dragon fire flew up into the sky.

    Weavile tapped Zoroark¡¯s arm with a claw, ¡°Hey, Zoroark, is that a¡­?¡±

    The fireball burst into tons of smaller fireballs and began falling back down to earth.

    ¡°A Draco Meteor. Which dumbass decided to use one in the middle of the ranch?!¡± Zoroark grumbled.

    Weavile waved her claws at Zoroark as she lead them all to a nearby overhanging boulder to take cover, ¡°Aaaahh, don¡¯t you complain. I¡¯m gonna be hearing all about this from Mandibuzz and ol¡¯ Stoutland for the next few years and about, ¡®how disrespectful young ¡®uns are these days¡¯.¡±

    <hr>

    ¡°So. What should we teach him first?¡± Meowscarada asked.

    Meowscarada, Houndoom, and Kaiju were sat under a tree in a field. The two watched the little Deino chase Houndoom¡¯s tail as they talked.

    Since Kaiju had taken a liking to the cat magician, Meowscarada was more than happy to show his new admirer around the ranch. Houndoom joined in, citing that she was bored and had nothing to do at the moment.

    They had agreed that since Kaiju would be coming with them on the expedition, they¡¯d help him prepare as much as they could for the harsh conditions in the icelands.

    Houndoom flicked her tail and smiled as Kaiju toddled after the pointed arrow of her tail tip. ¡°The basics probably. He¡¯s young but he should get the hang of simpler dark type moves easily enough cause he¡¯s a dark type like us.¡±

    Meowscarada nodded, ¡°That¡¯s fair.¡±

    Houndoom grunted as she stood up and shook herself off, ¡°Alright Kaiju, it¡¯s time for Auntie Houndoom to teach you why being a dark type is so awesome!¡±

    ¡°Yay!¡± Kaiju cheered as he ran around Meowscarada and Houndoom in circles.

    ¡°You wanna do Taunt?¡± Houndoom asked Meowscarada.

    The grass cat nodded, ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s a must have. You can do that one I¡¯ll think of what else we should teach him.¡±

    Houndoom smiled, though it looked more like a snarl, ¡°Okay, Kaiju, to use Taunt, all you have to do is say something really mean that can make your opponent angry at you and imbue a bit of dark type energy into the words. Like this,¡±

    Houndoom shouted a bunch of cusses and a challenge at an imaginary target.

    Meowscarada jumped up and batted at Houndoom¡¯s muzzle, ¡°Houndoom! Don¡¯t teach the child swears!¡±

    Houndoom rolled her eyes, and groaned,¡°Oh come on, he¡¯ll learn them eventually. Older Pokemon aren¡¯t gonna fall for the Taunt if he calls them a meanie pants instead of a¨C¡±

    ¡°Yes, I get it. But no. Lemme try.¡± Meowscarada interrupted, turning back to Kaiju, who was staring blankly at the two.

    ¡°Okay Kaiju, see that rock over there? That¡¯s your pretend enemy. Say a bunch of mean words at it that aren¡¯t what Houndoom just said.¡±

    Kaiju stared at Meowscarada for a second before smiling, ¡°Okay!¡±

    The little dragon took a deep breath. Then instead of actually saying anything, he screamed at the rock with Hyper Voice.

    Meowscarada and Houndoom fell to the ground, grimacing in pain and tightly covering their ears until Kaiju stopped screaming.

    Scrambling to get up, Meowscarada grabbed Kaiju¡¯s face, ¡°Kid!¡±

    ¡°Yesh?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t do that again. No screams while we¡¯re teaching you, okay?¡±

    ¡°Awwwww, weally?¡±

    ¡°Yes. No screaming.¡±

    ¡°Okay¡­¡±

    Pushing Meowscarada aside, Houndoom gently nudged Kaiju to look back at the rock/pretend enemy.

    ¡°Now, let¡¯s try that again. But you say what I say at a normal volume.¡±

    Kaiju perked up again. ¡°Ok!¡±

    Crouching down a bit and putting on a superior grin, Houndoom shouted, ¡°Come at me you fucking bastard I bet you couldn¡¯t¨C¡±

    A bunch of flowers popped up in Houndoom¡¯s mouth. The fire dog coughed and spit the flowers out, burning hem to ashes with Flamethrower.

    ¡°Houndoom!¡± Meowscarada chided with his arms crossed. ¡°What did I tell you literally a few minutes ago?¡±

    Still trying to get the taste of plants out of her mouth, Houndoom snorted fire out of her nose and scoffed, ¡°Ignore the pussycat and say what I just said at Meowscarada. Make sure to be as mean about it as you can.¡±

    Kaiju tilted his head, ¡°Like how mommy talks to invaders?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, sure, like how your mom talks to invaders.¡± Houndoom said.

    Kaiju took another unnecessarily deep breath and the two other dark type mons took an unconscious step back, bracing themselves for another Hyper Voice.

    ¡°GETOUTYOUSONOFAMUKLITTLEDIGLETTBRAINEDASSHOLEFUCKOFFORELSEIWILLTURNYOUINTOAPIECEOFBURNTUPSHITYOUMOTHERFUCKER!!!¡± Kaiju¡¯s voice echoed through the area.

    Meowscarada gave Houndoom and accusatory glare and Houndoom just shrugged, ¡°Well that¡¯s a start. I think I felt a bit of the effect form Taunt, did you?¡±

    Meowscarada sighed and scratched his ears, ¡°Just a bit, but I think we should switch to something else.¡±

    ¡°Naaaaah, he just got the hang of it, lets finish what we started.¡±

    And so Meowscarada and Houndoom continued to encourage Kaiju¡¯s practice with Taunt, but he was only allowed to copy what Meowscarada said.

    ¡°I think he¡¯s got it down now, and only after a few tries. We sure are great teachers, aren¡¯t we?¡± Houndoom said with a smug look.

    ¡°Sure.¡± Meowscarada sighed, he wasn¡¯t in the mood to argue with Houndoom, especially in front of Kaiju, though he didn¡¯t seem bothered by anything they did or said.

    Houndoom didn¡¯t spare him any rest time as she thought of the next thing to teach the little dragon, ¡°Okay, Nasty Plot. This one¡¯s easy, think about how you wanna hurt¨C¡±

    ¡°YEAH!¡± Kaiju roared, ¡°Huwt them weal bad! Like how mommy wipped all the limbs off that purple flying one and then she cooked the human with it so that it would be easier for us to eat!¡±

    There was a pause as the two dark types processed what Kaiju just said.

    ¡°You ate¡­humans?¡± Houndoom asked almost hesitantly. Out of all the things she expected for such an innocent little nugget to say, that was not it.

    ¡°Yeah! It tasted like that bacon Azalea cooks fow us in the mornings but moewr burnt.¡±

    A stunned Meowscarada and Houndoom glanced at each other, speechless.

    Then Meowscarada cleared his throat and clapped his hands together, ¡°Anyways! Try thinking about doing that to you opponent¨C for the record you¡¯re not allowed to actually do that¨Cand then use a long ranged attack.¡±

    Meowscarada knelt down next to Kaiju and pointed at a nearby tree, ¡°Try a Dragon Breath that tree over there.¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡± Kaiju unhinged his jaw, pointing his head at the sky.

    Grass cat and fire dog had a bad feeling about this. ¡°Uh kid, you¡¯re supposed to point at¨C¡±

    An enormous ball of dragon type energy shot out of Kaiju¡¯s mouth, pushing the Deino back a few paces from the sheer force of the move.

    The ball of dragon type energy rocketed up into the sky with a high pitched whistling sound before exploding into tons of smaller balls and falling back towards the ground at a breakneck speed.

    ¡°Holy mother of¨CSHIT TAKE COVER!¡± Houndoom shouted, going to grab Kaiju to run for it.

    Meowscarada pulled the two back closer to him and then grinded his feet into the dirt. A frenzy of massive tree roots burst out of the ground, whipping around, redirecting any stray Draco Meteors that came too close and covering the three from any damage in a dome of thick reinforced roots.

    There was a series of more high pitched whistling noises and ground shaking BOOM¡¯S that lasted for a good minute before they finally stopped.

    The tree roots retreated back into the ground and Meowscarada and Houndoom stared in disbelief at the destruction this tiny little dragon had just created.

    There were big smoking craters all around them, and a bunch of rather disgruntled looking Pokemon coming out of their hiding places.

    ¡°Yay! I hit the twee!¡± Kaiju cheered. The tree he had targeted was indeed gone.

    ¡°Urghhh.¡± Houndoom groaned, ¡°Yeah, the problem is that you hit everything else too kid. Meowscarada, let¡¯s book it.¡±

    Meowscarada nodded in agreement. ¡°Yep. I think we¡¯re done for the day.¡±

    Meowscarada grabbed Kaiju and he and Houndoom and hauled ass back to the lab before they could be confronted by a mob of angry Pokemon.

    <hr>

    Once I was free, I found Sahara sparring with Collin¡¯s Mienshao, it looked like it was giving her some martial arts lessons. I didn¡¯t really know how they could apply to the fighting style of a dragon, but it looked useful.

    Since we¡¯d be heading into cold territory where there¡¯d be an abundance of Ice types, Sahara would have to learn some extra moves to counter them. Brick break would be effective but I wanted more type coverage.

    Luckily, we had just the right person there to act as a move tutor in the form of Ben. Who better to learn fire type moves from than a fire type specialist?

    Ben was more than happy to move tutor Sahara. He and his team began teaching her Fire Fang and Flamethrower, while I sat on the side and took notes on how they taught Sahara new moves.

    It was interesting seeing the teamwork between Ben and his Charizard. Ben was able to clearly explain the move concept while Charizard demonstrated the move for Sahara.

    Instead of just explaining the move to her, Ben had Charizard use a weak version of Fire Fang on Sahara a few times to introduce her to using fire type energy. She was fine because of her resistance to fire and was eventually able to create a small flame after a few tries.

    After that, Sahara and I battled Ben and his Charizard to use battling to get her to improve her use of fire type energy. All Pokemon improved the best via battling, and dragon types were certainly the best example of improving through challenging themselves.

    Sahara¡¯s earlier training with Mienshao also began to show as her battle style was cleaner and more practical than it was before. She wasn¡¯t necessarily using any specific martial arts style, her attacks and defending moves just felt better judged.

    Anyways, Fire Fang and Flamethrower weren¡¯t too hard for Sahara to get a hold of once she could produce the necessary amount of fire type energy to use those moves. For Fire Fang, she just had to coat her teeth in fire, and for Flamethrower she just had to shoot fire at her opponents similarly to how she did with Dragon Pulse.

    ¡°Char! Charizard!¡± Charizard put up a claw to stop our current match.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Ben asked. There was no need for Charizard to answer.

    We all looked up as we heard a high pitched whistle coming from above, it was kinda like how a firework sounded while it was shooting up in the air. A bunch of bird Pokemon burst out from the surrounding area, trying to get away form the incoming dragon type move.

    In the distance, there was a bright blue-purple and yellow ball of energy flying up into the sky in a slightly arced line.

    ¡°Huh. That¡¯s weird, no one¡¯s allowed to use Draco Meteor on the ranch.¡± Ben commented, ¡°I wonder who did it.¡±

    ¡°Maybe that Kenta guy? He¡¯s a dragon specialist afterall. Or some other dragon on the ranch?¡± I suggested.

    Ben waved that suggestion away, ¡°Hell nah, that guy follows rules to a T. There¡¯s no way any of his dragons would do that without his permission, and I don¡¯t think there are any other adult dragons on the ranch at the moment besides yours and his.¡±

    Yeah but Sahara is here with us, and Kaiju¡¯s too young to learn a move like that. Guess it¡¯s not one of mine.

    We watched at the Draco Meteor broke into smaller bits and fell back to the ground, resounding booms echoing from where they impacted. It was honestly kind of pretty, and I wondered how a Pokemon coordinator would make use of a move like that.

    Not long after the meteors had stopped falling, Houndoom and Meowscarada holding Kaiju ran out of the woods and veered over to us after Houndoom spotted me.

    Grass cat and fire dog looked fine, if not a bit frazzled and Kaiju just looked confused and was drooling.

    ¡°Hey guys, what happened?¡± I asked as Meowscarada handed Kaiju to me.

    ¡°Meowscarada, meow meowscarada scar.¡±

    ¡°Houndoom! Hound.¡±

    I put Kaiju down, ¡°Umm, just a sec.¡±

    Looking back at my shadow, I asked the ghost gang, ¡°Is Shuppet here?¡± There was a small chorus of no¡¯s and nopes.

    ¡°Anyone able to translate please?¡±

    There was a pause, then a Litwick popped out of my shadow. ¡°Yes! But I want a leppa berry!¡±

    ¡°Deal.¡±

    ¡°Okay! They said that Kaiju used Draco Meteor. They didn¡¯t teach him the move, he just used it, and Houndoom is a potty mouth who taught Kaiju a lot of swear words.¡±

    ¡°Houn, doom!¡± Houndoom growled indignantly.

    ¡°Ok, I got the jist. Kaiju?¡± I knelt down to get to eye level with him.

    ¡°Dein!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s great that you learned Draco Meteor, I¡¯m really happy about that, but from now on, you¡¯re not allowed to use it unless I say so. Also, you¡¯re not allowed to swear until you¡¯re a grown up, okay?¡±

    ¡°Deino!¡± Kaiju nodded.

    ¡°Good boy.¡± I pat the little dragons head and turned to Ben,

    ¡°Am I gonna be in trouble for any of this?¡±

    The fire type specialist shrugged, ¡°Probably not. I mean, if you get in trouble for this then Collin and I are gonna be in a world of trouble.¡±

    I frowned at that, ¡°What did you guys do?¡±

    ¡°We destroyed one of the barns. Collin¡¯s Tauros smashed it down by accident so my team burned it to destroy the evidence, and no one¡¯s said anything about it since then.

    ¡°That sounds dubious.¡± I commented with a rather unamused expression on my face, ¡°Destruction of property and arson, I didn¡¯t peg you as the type of guy to so something like that.¡±

    Ben raised his hands defensively, ¡°Hey, it was an unused barn, okay? And I think we¡¯re not talking about the bigger issue.¡±

    I crossed my arms. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°You can talk to ghost Pokemon and never told any of us!¡±

    Oh yeah. I forgot to mention it to anyone.

    ¡°Yeah. And?¡±

    ¡°YOU CAN TALK TO GHOSTS!?¡± Justine popped out of nowhere and grabbed my shoulders, practically shaking with excitement. She looked like she was ready to dissect me like one of those frogs we dissected in middle school.

    I leaned back as far as I could, trying to wriggle out of Justine¡¯s grip. ¡°Yeah.¡±

    I glared at Ben as he slowly backed off, trying to sneak away. He saw this coming!

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell anyone! That¡¯s amazing! I thought only Agatha could do stuff like that!¡± Justine continued to rant with a slightly crazy look in her eyes.

    I brushed her hands off my shoulders an shrugged, ¡°I dunno I just didn¡¯t think it was important to mention that.¡±

    ¡°How long have you been able to talk to ghosts? How, are you able to talk to ghosts? Can you understand all of them or just a few?¡± Justin continued to fire away at me.

    ¡°A long time, the Great Deku Tree gave me the ability to talk to ghosts by turning a curse into a blessing, and yes form what I know, I can understand all of them.¡±

    Urhg, this isn¡¯t gonna turn into me explaining my fake backstory to her right?

    ¡°A Great Deku Tree? Is that a type of Pokemon?¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s a video game reference.¡± I backed a bit more away from Justine and gave Sahara a look that said, let¡¯s go!

    ¡°Anyways, why don¡¯t we talk later, Sahara and I have to get some more training done before dinner.¡± I said, waving bye at Justine before speedwalking away with Sahara close behind.

 (12) Training Stuff 2

    Over the next two weeks, outside of occasionally training with Winnie or Kaiju to see what they¡¯d improved on, I mostly worked with Sahara to expand her moveset. She would be the my team¡¯s only powerhouse for a while, so I needed to make sure that she¡¯d be strong enough to fight off any aggressive wild Pokemon during the expedition.

    It didn¡¯t take long for her to master Fire Fang, Flamethrower, Brick Break, and Hyper Beam. I was hesitant to train Outrage for the time being just because of how unpredictable the move was and decided to focus on something I could handle by myself. I¡¯d have to wait until Kenta had free time to ask for help on that move.

    After her evolution, Sahara¡¯s power over ground type energy had exponentially grown. Her Sandstorm had grown a ton in power and instead of simply being in a small storm that was whipping around sand rather uncomfortably, being in her Sandstorm was now the equivalent to a proper desert sandstorm where the wind felt like sandpaper violently trying to rub your skin off.

    I could attest to that considering my very raw arm. No, I totally did not stick my arm into the sandstorm without thinking about it.

    Because of her increased power over earth type energy, it wasn¡¯t hard for her to learn Earthquake with a bit of help from Turtonator. I was honestly astonished on how she didn¡¯t know Bulldoze or Earthquake before I caught her but maybe it just wasn¡¯t necessary for her to learn, or she never had the chance to.

    For some more variety to her moveset, I move tutored her on Mud Shot, and got her started on Stone Edge with a bit of help from Leo¡¯s Tyranitar. Though I literally had to beg Tyranitar to help and it refused to help until I bribed it with some absurdly expensive treats and a lot of praise about how great it was.

    I was cautious about introducing Sahara and Tyranitar to each other, as the landshark had gotten a lot more competitive after evolving, especially with anything even remotely dragon-like.

    After a tense initial introduction with the two sizing each other up, Tyranitar and Sahara seemed to tolerate each other well enough and the rock-zilla gave Sahara a few demonstrations and a short explanation on how it used Stone Edge.

    I tried to help out using some explanations of the move I found on the rock type Pokenet forums and they seemed to help a bit.

    It only took a day for Sahara to get a good grip on Stone Edge and she quickly began using it alongside her other new moves in her spars with Charizard. She was still a bit slow with creating the stones needed for Stone Edge, but speed and accuracy would come with practice.

    Sparring with other Pokemon that were more powerful than her only seemed to help with rapidly improving her growth and I was proud of her progress.

    Once I felt that Sahara had gotten a good amount of practice with her new moves, I decided it was time to introduce two final moves to her that would give her a bit more coverage against water types and fairy types.

    I borrowed Boltund from Jason to help Sahara learn Thunder Fang to counter any water types, but she was having a lot of trouble learning how to use electric type energy at all. Probably something to do with how ground resisted electric?

    Suggestions from electric type forums didn¡¯t help as much as I hoped they would and Jason was too busy doing some work for Professor Rowan. When I asked for some help when he wasn¡¯t working he simply ignored me, and his Manectric sent me the meanest look ever. I kind of just scurried away and didn¡¯t bother him anymore. If he was that busy or didn¡¯t want to be bothered he could¡¯ve just said so¡­

    Bolthund felt bad that it wasn¡¯t able to teach Thunder Fang very well so I had to reassure that it was doing a good job. Even after we tried to use similar tactics to how Ben introduced fire type energy to Sahara, she was only able to create a few sparks between her teeth.

    After an unsuccessful week of trying to get ahold of electric type energy, it was time to take a break before we both got too frustrated with the move, and I changed the goal to learning Iron Head.

    It would be important for any dragon type in my team to know at least one steel type move¨Cif they were able to learn any¨Cbecause of the dreaded fairy type. I¡¯d have to do something similar for Kaiju when he evolved due to his four times weakness against fairies.

    So I tracked Abigail to get her to tutor Sahara for the move Iron Head. Well, I tried to track her down.

    It was so hard to find this elusive ice-steel specialist that I had to enlist the help of Winnie¡¯s gang to go search for her. Turns out, she was hiding out in this huge artificial snow biome on the property which made sense considering her specialization, but that was literally the first place I looked!

    I found the girl of the hour sitting with an Alolan Sandslash and a bunch of Walrein, Sealeo, and Spheal and drawing in the snow at the edge of a large pond in the deepest section of the ice biome.

    She was dressed in some thick winter clothes and literally looked like she was born to be an ice and steel specialist with her shoulder length straight silver hair and ice blue eyes. It was hard to see the rest of her face due to the massive scarf covering the bottom half of her face.

    Man, are people in this world just born to specialize in one type if they become trainers? Red hair with Ben, the ghost purple hair with Justine and Angela, even Jason has yellow-blonde hair, it can¡¯t be a coincidence right? But Collin looks very normal besides the karate-martial arts getup¡­

    Rotom had been having a field day with all the new Pokemon to scan, it had scanned the Walrein in the ice biome the first time I came here to look for Abigail, but it had never seen an Alolan Sandslash before.

    ¡°Alolan Sandslash, the mouse Pokemon. This is Sandslash¡¯s form after adaptation to a frigid environment. The cold air emitted by its body sharpens its icy spikes. This Pok¨¦mon¡¯s steel spikes are sheathed in ice. Stabs from these spikes cause deep wounds and severe frostbite as well.¡±

    ¡°Thanks Rotom.¡±

    Abigail slowly turned to look at me, she had a completely flat poker face expression. Her Sandslash was a bit more expressive and gave us a friendly wave.

    ¡°Hi, are you Abigail?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    We awkwardly stared at each other until her Sandslash nudged her and she shyly nodded.

    ¡°Great, uh, I¡¯m Azalea, I was added to the expedition party a while ago.¡±

    ¡°Sandslash!¡± Abigail¡¯s Sandslash gave us an affable greeting to compensate for its trainers lack of a reaction, which helped with the awkwardness.

    ¡°I heard that you were an ice-steel type specialist, so I was wondering if you would be willing to help one of my Pokemon get the hang of Steel type energy to learn Iron Head.¡±

    ¡°..........Ok¡±

    We stared at each other before she went back to drawing in the snow.

    ¡°Um. So I guess I should bring my Pokemon over here?¡±

    ¡°Sandslash!¡± Again, Sandslash answered for its trainer with what sounded like a yes.

    ¡°Ok, got it, I¡¯ll be back in like, ten minutes.¡±

    Thankfully, Abigail was still there when I came back with Sahara. Her Sandslash ended up taking the initiative in teaching Sahara Iron Head. Sandslash was even nice enough to teach her what looked like Swords Dance, which I was super happy about.

    Abigail watched them for a short while and she surprisingly talked a few times to explain the moves better to Sahara when she seemed like she was struggling with some part of the move, though she had to repeat herself a few times due to how quiet her voice was.

    From the little tidbits I was able to hear from her speaking, way she talked to Sahara and Sandslash kind of reminded me of Fluttershy from My Little Pony.

    I just sat on the side and watched them, Sandslash and Abigail knew what they were doing. Too bad neither Winnie nor Shuppet were with me. They were the best at translating what other Pokemon said, so I had to rely on Rotom¡¯s notes to interpret what instructions Sandslash was telling Sahara.

    Well I got bored with watching Sandslash and Abigail explain stuff to Sahara, as Sandslash was doing most of the talking, so I kinda just sat in the snow and made a bunch of tiny snowmen while I waited.

    Listening to Abigail and Sandslash work together to teach a move, my thought turned to how Ben and Charizard taught Sahara Fire Fang and Flamethrower. Something about humans helped Pokemon learn new moves faster, and a human and Pokemon working together made that process even more efficient.

    It took a few days for Sahara to properly use Sandstorm with only my instruction, and with only Boltund¡¯s help on Thunder Fang, she was barely able to learn how to use electric type energy.

    I get how being able to demonstrate the move can help, but can¡¯t the Pokemon teaching the move explain it well too? It is something about how the human language and Pokemon language work?

    I came back to the outside world and looked up as Sahara, Sandslash, and Abigail came over.

    Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!

    ¡°Garchomp.¡± ¡°Sand, sandslash.¡± ¡°...¡±

    Sahara was done with her move tutor lesson and was eager to test out her Iron Head in battle. She gestured to the ice biome exit cause she wanted to head back out to the main field to find someone to challenge.

    I got up and stretched, reaching out to shake Abigail¡¯s hand, ¡°Thanks for teaching Sahara.¡±

    Abigail just stared at my hand and kind of hid behind her big scarf. I switched my hand to to a fist, ¡°fistbump?¡±

    At the encouragement of Sandslash, Abigail reached out a hand and barely fistbumped my hand before quickly retracting her hand and putting it back into her pocket.

    Kneeling down a bit, I took a bag of Pokepuffs that Justine and I had baked that morning and handed it to Sandslash, ¡°Thanks for helping us too Sandslash.¡±

    Sandslash¡¯s eyes lit up and it quickly took the bag with a happy honking noise.

    I stood up and turned back to Abigail, ¡°If you guys like the Pokepuffs tell me and I¡¯ll bring you guys some the next time we make them.¡±

    The ice-steel trainer simply nodded and scurried away back to the edge of the pond where Walrein was patiently waiting for her.

    Sandslash saluted us and turned to Sahara, ¡°Sandslash slash slash sand sandslash.¡± It said, which Sahara nodded to, before it walked over to join its trainer.

    I exited the ice biome with Sahara, the warm afternoon sun felt nice after the constant cold of the ice biome.

    Despite awkwardness, I had a much better impression of Abigail than Jason, that¡¯s for sure. Sandslash and Abigail as a duo kind of felt like an extrovert that adopted an introvert, which was pretty cute. Hopefully Sandslash would be able to help Abigail come out of her shell a bit more in the future.

    Anyways besides hitting a wall with Thunder Fang, I felt the Sahara had a pretty good repertoire of new moves without having too much new stuff on her plate.

    Protect was still on a list of moves to learn, but I¡¯d probably just get a TM for that because I wanted my whole team to learn the move.

    All that was left was for Sahara to refine these new moves and incorporate them into our battle strategies and perhaps find a way to work on Outrage.

    I¡¯d need help from a specialist for that, and I knew just the person to ask for advice. I didn¡¯t want Sahara to end up starting a fight with one of Kenta¡¯s dragons, so I left her to spar with Collin and his fighting types while I looked for mr dragon type specialist.

    From Collin¡¯s suggestion, I looked around Kenta¡¯s usual hangout spots and found him at this artificial rocky area of the ranch with his dragons.

    There were only two dragons with him, a Dragonite and a Kommo-o. Dragonite was sunning itself on a smooth rock while Kenta brushed out the crevices in between the scales of the biggest Kommo-o I¡¯d ever seen. I guess Dragonair evolved. Or maybe he has a Dragonite and a Dragonair.

    Dragonite yawned, opening an eye to look as me before going back to sleep. Kommo-o sized me up but quickly lost interest.

    Rotom did its self assigned duty and scanned the two dragons,

    ¡°Dragonite, the dragon Pokemon. This marine Pok¨¦mon has an impressive build that lets it freely fly over raging seas without trouble. Dragonite is capable of circling the globe in just sixteen hours. It is a kindhearted Pokemon that leads lost and foundering ships in a storm to the safety of land.¡±

    ¡°Kommo-o, the scaly Pokemon. When it spots enemies, it threatens them by jingling the scales on its tail to unnerve opponents. This Pok¨¦mon will battle only those who stand steadfast in the face of this display. It battles valiantly with its fists, which are armored in steel scales that serve as both offense and defense. Kommo-o specializes in uppercuts. In the past, its scales were processed and used to make weapons and other commodities.¡±

    Without even sparing me a glance, Kenta asked in a slightly annoyed voice, ¡°What do you want?¡±

    That was a bit rude wasn¡¯t it?

    I put a hand on my hip, ¡°I was looking for advice on dragon types cause I have two of them on my team.¡±

    Kenta glanced up at me and his eyes widened a bit.

    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re the girl with the Garchomp and Deino. Sorry, I thought you were someone else.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fine.¡±

    Kenta¡¯s prickly demeanor disappeared and was replaced with a much more professional attitude, ¡°Ok, what do you want to know about dragons?¡±

    ¡°Umm, general care for dragons, some advice on how to properly train a dragon to use Outrage, and how to handle multiple dragons in one party. My Deino and Garchomp currently have no issues with each other but I¡¯m not sure how that will be once Deino evolves.¡±

    Kenta put his brush down and gestured for me to come over as he went over to his bag and pulled out a few textbooks and notebooks.

    ¡°Here, you can take my old copy of How to Care for Dragon Types, you can use that as a reference on how to care for specific dragon type species, but also make sure to adapt your care for each individual dragon¡¯s needs.¡±

    I opened the book and flipped through it. Some of it was a bit singed but it was still in good enough condition to use. There were still a few notes written onto the book from Kenta too that I¡¯d definitely make use of.

    ¡°It should also include tips on how to maintain good relations between dragons in your party. It¡¯s not as hard as most people make it out to be.¡±

    Or maybe you¡¯re just talented and/or have connections to a clan of dragon type specialists. I bet that Kenta was at least sponsored by the Blackthorn gym, not to mention that he had a striking resemblance to Lance, minus the different eye color.

    ¡°It¡¯s not uncommon for wild dragon types to form colonies with one to two rulers, so keeping that sort of social setting for a team isn¡¯t hard as long at you¡¯re well informed. I suggest using this book,¡± He handed me a thick textbook that was also slightly singed, the title read: Social Dragons.

    Kenta continued to explain, ¡°I¡¯m not sure about how a Hydreigon will do in a social setting because I¡¯m not familiar with the species, and the book doesn¡¯t have a very long section on them, so I would suggest doing asking in dragon specialist forums and finding someone who has a Hydreigon on their team for better advice than what the book can provide.¡±

    ¡°Oh, wow thanks. Are you sure about just giving me these textbooks?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. They¡¯ve been sitting in my bag an collecting dust for while now, and I prefer that trainers of dragon types stay well informed in order to stop any preventable accidents from happening.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s valid, thanks again.¡±

    ¡°Really, it¡¯s fine. I really appreciate people who actually ask for advice from someone more experienced, especially about trying out moves like Outrage before actually trying to use them. It¡¯s not bad when the dragon is young, but it can become deadly when it¡¯s an uncontrolled fully evolved dragon going on a rampage.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t say.¡± I replied, this felt like a talk about irresponsible dog owners vs responsible dog owners, which was reasonable cause dragons were basically giant reptilian doggos who could casually destroy a town if they really wanted to.

    <hr>

    ¡°Wow Kaiju, you got a hang of Dark Pulse pretty quickly.¡± Meowscarda clapped as he gave the little dragon more words of encouragement.

    He had been having a lot of trouble properly getting ideas through to Kaiju¡¯s incredibly dense head, but once things clicked in his head, he was almost immediately able to use the move.

    The little dragon proudly puffed up his chest, ¡°I¡¯m powerful dwagon!¡±

    ¡°Yes you are dear, why don¡¯t you try out Snarl now? Let me show you first and you try to copy it. It¡¯s one of my specialties.¡± Houndoom pushed Meowscarda aside. Now it was her turn to teach Kaiju a move.

    The two had argued about the best way to teach Kaiju new moves, Meowscarda thought teaching the young dragon through an explanation like Leo did would work but Houndoom disagreed and it was time to prove her point.

    Houndoom slightly crouched down and snarled viciously at a boulder that was their new pretend target. A shockwave of dark type energy radiated out of her in ripples and hit everything in her surroundings, violently ripping through whatever the move hit.

    Meowscarda stood in front of Kaiju and used Protect to block the wave of dark type energy from hitting them.

    ¡°Houndoom, I don¡¯t think simply showing the kid Snarl is gonna teach him it. It took me the entirety of yesterday and this morning to teach him Dark Pulse.¡±

    ¡°Watch and learn pussycat. Go on kid, try it out.¡±

    ¡°Yes! I powerful dwagon!¡± Kaiju roared, sending a weaker version of Snarl cascading into his surroundings.

    Houndoom gave Meowscarda a smug grin, ¡°See? He¡¯s not dense, he just learns differently.¡±

    ¡°Maybe that was just luck. How about Protect?¡±

    ¡°Dude, you needed a TM to learn that, how¨C¡±

    ¡°I protecc!¡± Kaiju shouted. The little dragon grunted a few times as he concentrated hard on something.

    ¡°You gotta take a shit or something?¡± Houndoom quipped.

    A small translucent shield formed in front of Kaiju¡¯s nose before it flickered and disappeared. Kaiju sat back down, tired from the effort of using more than half a brain cell.

    The grass cat and hellhound¡¯s eyes widened, ¡°Oh shit. Did he just use Protect?¡± Houndoom exclaimed.

    ¡°Yes he did.¡± Meowscarda replied, ¡°How long did it take for you to learn that move?¡±

    Houndoom looked up as she tried to remember,¡°Two weeks¡­and another one after that to be able to properly use it in battle.¡±

    ¡°You know what Houndoom?¡± Meowscarda said, Houndoom raised a brow, ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve change my mind. I think this kid is a certified genius.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d say he¡¯s smart, but I dunno about calling him a genius.¡± Houndoom doubtfully said.

    ¡°He taught himself Draco Meteor last week, you know, one of the most complicated dragon type moves there is!¡± Meowscarda said, waving wildly at a somewhat confused Kaiju.

    ¡°And he copied Bolthund¡¯s Thunder Wave just by getting shocked a few times. Meanwhile that overgrown Garchomp is still struggling with getting more than a few sparks with Thunder Fang!¡±

    Houndoom pursed her lips as she considered that, ¡°What other moves can he learn?¡±

    Her contemplative expression turned into an evil grin, ¡°Hehehe! If you¡¯re right then I¡¯ll be able to make Weavile eat her head feathers.¡±

    ¡°What, did you make a bet with her again?¡±

    ¡°Maaaybbee~¡± Houndoom grinned, slyly waving her tail around.

    Meowscarda facepalmed and dragged his paws down his face, ¡°Urgh, you really should¡¯ve been born as a Liepard. Why do you have to make everything a betting competition? Whatever, if you¡¯re so eager to help Kaiju learn more moves, using a battle will probably help. If Kommo-o has hammered anything into my head it¡¯s that dragons are battle maniacs.¡±

    ¡°Hah! Yeah I remember that. You had to wear a funny ice hat for a while after that Brick Break literally broke your head!¡± Houndoom commented with a loud chuckle. ¡°And for the record, Dragonite is an absolute sweetheart, don¡¯t you dare put her in the same group as those brutes.¡±

    Meowscarda scoffed and dismissively waved a paw at Houndoom, ¡°She¡¯s only a sweetheart when she¡¯s not trying to rip you into tiny bits during a battle and laughing like a maniac about it. I swear she¡¯s related to a Hydreigon.¡±

    ¡°Hydweigon! Like mommy!¡± Kaiju helpfully added, he felt proud that he was being part of the grown ups conversation.

    ¡°Yes Kaiju. Anyways, since you¡¯re the one who made the bet, you¡¯ll be the one battling him. Have fun!¡± Meowscarda gently pushed Kaiju forward towards Houndoom, whispering something in the little dragons ear before scurrying off to the side.

    Houndoom scoffed, ¡°What a pussy. Fine, I¡¯ll do it.¡±

    ¡°I am a cat Pokemon you know.¡± Meowscarda shouted back.

    Houndoom rolled her eyes to the moon, ¡°You know what I meant.¡±

    Houndoom trotted over to Kaiju and nudged him into a fighting position, ¡°Alright Kaiju, you¡¯re gonna battle me! Show Auntie Houndoom what you¡¯ve learned in the past few days. Meowscarda, you count dow¨C¡±

    Kaiju straightened up and screamed, ¡°YEEAAAHHH!!!! I FIGHT!!!¡±

    Then the little Deino charged straight at Houndoom, slamming his entire body against the hellhound and forcing her back a step. Houndoom put her paw on the Deino¡¯s head to stop him from charging her again.

    ¡°Damn kid, chill out for a second we still nee¨CYEOWCH!¡± Houndoom shrieked as Kaiju chomped down on her paw and worked his way up crunching on every part of her arm like it was a bone chew toy.

    A stream of fire shot out from Houndoom¡¯s mouth at Kaiju, who was forced to let go and stumble back a few paces before literally flying straight back at the hellhound with a swirl of dragon type energy around him. Kind of like how a moth flies straight at a lamp with no regard for its personal wellbeing.

    Houndoom sidestepped Kaiju like a matador narrowly dodging the charge of a raging Tauros before Roaring at the little dragon, ¡°COME ON! IS THAT ALL YOU GOT?¡±

    Kaiju charged back at Houndoom again with Dragon Rush, this time with a squeaky Roar of his own, ¡°I STRONG DWAGON!!!¡±

    A pulsating stream of black and dark purple energies blasted out of Kaiju¡¯s mouth and narrowly missing Houndoom on the side.

    The hellhound smirked as she dodge the Deino¡¯s reckless attempt to charge her again, there was no way this kid would be able to win against her.

    Well, that¡¯s what she thought.

    A sudden loud shriek and an icy chill went straight through Houndoom. The ghost type energy from Astonish did little to no damage, but its sudden effect made her flinch, giving Kaiju just enough time to latch onto Houndoom¡¯s nose with a powerful Crunch.

    ¡°AAAHH! FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK GEITOFFME GAAAHH!! THAT LITTLE RAT¡¯S GOT MY FUCKING NOSE!! OWWW!¡±

    Houndoom bucked around in a panic and shot Flamethrowers in every direction as she tried to throw Kaiju off. Unbothered by the fire, Kaiju held onto her nose with the tenacity of a starving Poochyena that had just found a piece of delicious meat to eat. He was hungry, hopefully Azalea would put some of that tasty herb thing on his food today, he loved that yummy plant.

    ¡°He¡¯s not gonna let go until he wins Houndoom~¡± Meowscarda chided with a teasing finger wag, the cat magician was trying his best to hold back his laughter.

    Houndoom grunted in pain as Kaiju redoubled his efforts to tear the hellhounds nose off. ¡°Fine! You win! Let go of my fucking nose!¡±

    It took an extra few seconds for the words to register with Kaiju before he let go and was flung a few yards away, rolling a few times before getting up and shaking the dust off himself.

    ¡°I WIN! I STRONG DWAGON!¡± Kaiju roared, puffing his chest out and breathing a large plume of Dragon Breath into the air, narrowly missing a few Starly who had been watching the match from a tree above.

    Meowscarda walked over to pat the Deino on the head and watched as Houndoom rubbed her bruised and swelling nose in the grass in an attempt to get rid of the stinging.

    The cat magician patiently waited with Kaiju until Houndoom had calmed down before giving his teammate a shit eating grin, ¡°Well, well, well, the great Houndoom. Conference finalist, surrendering to a baby dragon after getting her nose hurt. Who¡¯s a pussy now?¡±

 (13) Jubilife City

    ¡°HAHAHAHA! WOOOOOOO! This is fucking awesome!¡± I shouted, letting one hand go from Sahara¡¯s saddle to feel the air rush through my fingers.

    Winnie poked his head out of my hoodie. He took a single look at the drop below us at the tiny line below us that was route 202 and gulped, increasing his death grip on the back of my shirt, ¡°do we have to be this high up az?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± ¡°Garchomp!¡± Sahara and I shouted in unison. Winnie sighed and went back into my hoodie, ¡°tell me when we get there.¡±

    Flygon and Kenta, glided over to us. Kenta grinned at us, patting Flygon¡¯s neck. The dragonfly gave Sahara a challenging roar before flapping its wings so fast that it created afterimages of its wings and then speeding ahead of us.

    The wind thrashed through my hair from the burst of air produced from Flygon¡¯s wings, I had flying goggles on, but I still shielded my face from the abruptly harsh winds. Sahara growled and her body tensed.

    ¡°You¡¯re not gonna let them leave us in the dust are you!¡± I shouted over the roaring wind.

    ¡°Garchomp!¡± Sahara roared, and I tighten my grip on the saddle handle. ¡°Dragon Rush!¡±

    A swirl of blue and purple energy encased us, temporarily muffling the sounds of everything else as Sahara leaped forward, catching up to Flygon in an instant.

    The looming buildings of Jubilife City were beginning to come into view, seeing that our race was coming to an end, the two dragons dived strained themselves even more to beat the other.

    I leaned forward, feeling the thrill, it was like one of those steep roller coaster drops, but ten times better.

    Our destination came into view, a Pokemon center on the outskirts of Jubilife with a landing area that had a big target painted on it that was zooming closer, Flygon and Sahara were neck in neck.

    ¡°Yooo hooo~ Last one there is a rotten egg!¡± We all glanced up as Dragonite sped past us with ease, Justine gave us a sly wave from Dragonite¡¯s back.

    The golden-yellow dragon skillfully dived down with a fancy spin and righted itself, slowing down at the last moment and and landing with a soft thump.

    Unwilling to be last, Sahara didn¡¯t slow down at all and landed just before Flygon did with a loud crash, skidding for twenty or so feet before we came a full stop.

    Coughing from the dust cloud Sahara kicked up, I hopped off, trying to wave the dust away from my face. A strong gust of wind from Dragonite blew the dust cloud away.

    I took off my riding gear and rubbed my hands together, they were slightly numb from the cold winds.

    Winnie popped out of my hoodie and sneezed, giving Sahara a look, ¡°do you have to make everything a competition?¡±

    ¡°Garchomp.¡± Sahara replied matter of factly.

    I pumped a fist in the air, ¡°That was awesome!¡±

    ¡°It is. I can see why people become flying type specialists.¡± Justine said, patting Dragonite¡¯s snout.

    Hearing that, Kenta rolled his eyes, ¡°Hmph! Flying with a dragon is ten times better than flying with some bird! Most of the birds aren¡¯t even big enough to ride on.¡±

    ¡°What about Altaria? It¡¯s both a dragon and a bird.¡± I asked with a raised eyebrow.

    Kenta dismissively waved a hand at me, ¡°It¡¯s fine, but I prefer Dragonite and Salamence. My Uncle has both of them, he¨C.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, yeah we came here to shop, not hear about your uncle, you can talk about him another time.¡± Justine interrupted, taking out her phone and pulling up Pokemaps..

    Kenta huffed but didn¡¯t argue any further as we unequipped from saddles and returned our dragons.

    <hr>

    A week before we were due to leave for Snowpoint City, I learned that Marcus was going to be going to Jubilife city to get some really important item.

    Marcus had been working with the Devon Corporation and Silph Co to develop a better version of the energy reading machine.

    The machine was ready to be picked up from the Jubilife Devon HQ a week before the team was due to leave.

    The twins would be accompanying Marcus there, they¡¯d be teleporting him there, actually.

    Part of the reason Chloe and Zoe had been hired months before the expedition¡¯s starting date was to teleport the scientists around so that they wouldn¡¯t be harassed by people from Galactic Corporations on the way there and back. There was supposed to be one more researcher besides Tim, Marcus, and Celia, but number four dropped out because their family was being threatened.

    I knew Team Galactic was willing to do messed up stuff, but threatening someone¡¯s family really wasn¡¯t chill. They all needed to take a chill pill.

    Since they were going to Jubilife City, I decided that it would be great to go too just for funsies. Who wouldn¡¯t want to check out Sinnoh¡¯s biggest city?

    I wouldn¡¯t have the caveat of getting to teleport over there cause the three were leaving super early in the morning, but I didn¡¯t need teleportation for travel.

    Kenta and Justine decided to tagged along with me after I told them about my plan.

    Justine just wanted to do some window shopping, while Kenta needed to restock on some dragon care stuff and was on the lookout for some unspecified battle items.

    ¡°So, where are we going?¡± I asked as we walked to the street in front of the Pokemon center.

    ¡°The shopping district. Oh my gosh, I can¡¯t wait to show you all the cool stuff there!¡± Justine chattered, pulling out her phone to take a selfie of us, ¡°Cheese!¡± The camera flashed.

    ¡°Yeah, there are a few stores I want to check out.¡± Said Kenta as he looked at his phone¡¯s map, walkin to the front of the party to lead us. ¡°There are a few battle items I¡¯ve been looking for. Hopefully they¡¯ll be in stock.¡±

    Winnie, who had disguised himself as a Unovan Zorua, gawked at all the stuff around us, ¡°wow! this place to so big! there are so many humans here!¡±

    I nodded in agreement.

    Jubilife was pretty different to the cities I was used to. Granted, I¡¯d never gone to many cities, nor lived in them so I didn¡¯t have much to compare it to besides places like New York, Boston, or Los Angeles.

    Like an ants nest, Jubilife was bustling with activity. There were massive crowds we had to weave through consisting of both humans and Pokemon from all of the regions, not just Sinnoh. I was actually a bit concerned about being pickpocketed, especially after seeing a Purrloin eyeing us from an alleyway.

    I¡¯d never really considered what the Pokemon world would look like outside of battling and contests, and despite being important and literally having holidays built around them, the Pokemon world certainly didn¡¯t revolve around them.

    It was both amazing and a bit of a culture shock to see how Pokemon were integrated with human society.

    All police officers I saw had some sort of Pokemon partner, with Growlithe and Herdier being the most popular choice among them, but I also saw a few Mightyena and Bolthund working as police dogs.

    Areas that with extremely large crowds crossing busy intersections had a few Watchogs acting as crossing guards, as did areas where a lot of schoolchildren would cross the street.

    The Pidove here were as plentiful as the fish in the sea, and there were a few Pidgey, Starly, and even a Chatot sprinkled into the flock.

    While we were waiting for a Watchog to let us cross an intersection, I saw a bunch of little kids and a Yamper accompanying them run into the flock of Pidgey, laughing together as the small bird Pokemon frantically flapped and hopped away from them, cooing in irritation at the little rascals.

    I was glad that I kept Kaiju in his Pokeball, those Pidove were basically moving chicken nuggets, he would¡¯ve eaten a bunch of Pidove by now and unintentionally traumatized those kids.

    Once we had crossed the intersection, the loud clatter of construction and people shouting caught my attention. There were people and Pokemon in high visibility vests and helmets working together to build a massive skyscraper. There were basically no construction vehicles cause Pokemon mostly filled the role of construction vehicles here.

    Fighting types like Conkledurr and Machamp lifted giant beams like they were nothing. A bunch of Braviary, Skarmory, and Bombirdier worked together to carry materials to the top, and a group of Bronzong, Reuniclus, and Swoobat combined their psychic powers to lift things into place and hold them for a few fire or fighting types to weld or hammer into place.

    We passed by a dojo near a trainer school with a Himonchan teaching some kids and younger fighting types about boxing. As we walked through an area with a bunch of restaurants, I saw through the window of a shop with a Tatsugiri sign on it, a Scyther in a chefs hat working with a human to make some really good looking sushi.

    As we got closer to the shopping district, the streets got smaller and became pedestrian only.

    Though we¡¯d still see the occasional carriage being pulled by a pair of massive Mudsdale, or a smaller taxi pulled by a Gogoat. The streets were still crowded, but it was quieter due to the lack of vehicles.

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    The buildings turned from massive structure for large businesses and corporations to smaller stores with the owner¡¯s living quarters right above the main shop.

    ¡°what are they doing with the flowers?¡± Winnie asked, pointing to the pretty flowers from a florist business with a Roselia and a Whimsicott out front helping customers pick flowers. ¡°They¡¯re selling flowers.¡± I answered.

    ¡°Why? Can¡¯t they just pick them from the forest?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s to use as gifts. They buy is from the florist because it¡¯s more convenient, and cause they¡¯ll have a bigger selection of flowers and the florist has the skills to arrange them to be pretty and compliment each other.¡±

    A sweet, mouthwatering scent turned our heads to a crowded bakery. I could see an Alcremie and a Dachsbun standing out front and ushering customers in as they covertly renewed Sweet Scent every once in a while.

    Now I was even more glad that I had kept Kaiju in his Dusk Ball, even though he¡¯d gotten better with his self control, there was no way he wouldn¡¯t been able to resist the allure of Sweet Scent.

    Winnie kept tugging on my hair and begging to go get some sweets, I replied that it wasn¡¯t time to eat, and that we could get some sweets on the way back so that he and the others could have some for desert after dinner. Winnie was disappointed, but still excited for the prospect of getting to eat something that smelled that good.

    Hearing our conversation, Kenta told us that there was a better sweets shop somewhere else. We¡¯d be meeting up with Chloe and Zoe at a nice bakery later, the cake from that one tasted better and wasn¡¯t as expensive.

    After passing a few more shops, Justine grabbed me and Kenta, squealing in excitement as she dragged us over to a somewhat fancy looking jewelry store to look at what they had. ¡°OMG, guys! Look at this! It¡¯ve been here before, it¡¯s got some great stuff! Look at its evolution stones!¡±

    The inside of the store was the same as any other jewelry store, but there was a section for evolution stones and a few battle items like those one use elemental gems.

    A Carbink that was managing the store showed Justine the stones in the evolution stone case, and we left after she bought a dusk stone and a pair of Litwick earrings.

    There were a few different battle item shops that we stopped by, but Kenta didn¡¯t find what he was looking for. He never specified the item he wanted and settled on a set of elemental gems.

    I asked what he was looking for to try to help find them and he just said it was an item specifically for a Salamence. It¡¯s pretty rare so he didn''t¡¯ expect to find it here anyways.

    The only Salamence specific item I could think of off the top of my head was the Salamencite. Man was looking for a mega stone for¡­his uncle? Cause I was pretty sure Kenta didn¡¯t have a Salamence.

    That reminds me, I have a shit ton of battle items in my bag that I should probably equip my team with.

    As we continued through the bustling shopping district, my eyes landed on a Pokemon shop with a cute Eevee and pawprint logo. Underneath the sign, there were a bunch of young Pokemon being displayed in the window.

    Most of the Pokemon being displayed were ones that were popular as pets and companions, ranging from Pikaclones, to Eevees, and a variety of small dog and cat Pokemon like Rockruff, Lillipup, Skitty, Glameow, and Kantonian Meowth.

    They were so cute, even Kenta¡¯s usually serious demeanor broke into a smile as an Eevee adorably pawed the window and looked at him with Baby-Doll Eyes. Justine and I awwed at that, I really wanted to pet all of those fluffy bois and hug them to death! But I couldn¡¯t, so I just gave Winnie his favorite head scratches to alleviate the cuteness aggression.

    ¡°heh! i¡¯m better than those brats in the window, aren¡¯t i?¡± Winnie said, puffing up his neck fur in importance.

    ¡°Mmhmm, yes you are Winnie.¡± I said, much to the displeasure of the Eevee in the window who had used Baby-Doll Eyes. It haughtily sniffed and turned its back to us, flicking its tail at us in what I guess was a rude gesture. Winnie blew a raspberry at it and I told him to cut it out as I stepped away from the window.

    None of the other stores really caught my interest, and we just browsed around before one thing caught my eye from the window of yet another battle item shop that we were in.

    It was a sign with a derpy Porygon on it called: Sid¡¯s Electronics Shop. I told Justine and Kenta I¡¯d be checking that store out while they looked around the Voodoo shop and quickly went over.

    The boring looking clerk at the counter looked up from watching a Pokemon battle and gave me said ¡°Hi¡± as I stepped in before going back to his match, I said hi back and looked around.

    The store was selling a variety of different computer parts and laptops, as well as stuff like C-Gears, Poketch¡¯s, Pokegear, Pokenavs, and Xtransceivers. It was a Pokemon tech nerd¡¯s dream come true. No Pokedexs though cause those were only given to trainers by the regional labs.

    Since Kaiju had chewed on Rotom¡¯s power bank and phone charger a week ago and broke it, I had been looking for one with better quality. I ended up settling on a Devon tech power bank cause Rotom liked that one the most.

    As I was checking out, I saw a bunch of screens displaying Porygon and Porygon2 behind the counter caught my eye.

    ¡°Does this place sell Porygons?¡± I asked the clerk.

    ¡°Yeah, you wanna take a look?¡± He answered.

    ¡°No it¡¯s fine, I¡¯d like to buy a Porygon please, and can you add in a blue Xtransceiver?¡±

    The clerk raised shrugged, ¡°Okay, that¡¯ll make your four thousand and five hundred dollars, plus another two hundred if you want to add the anti-catch software on Porygon.¡±

    I wasn¡¯t strapped for cash but I inwardly cringed at the amount of money I was spending. It¡¯ll be worth it, you¡¯re getting a Sp attack monster that has no upkeep cost, it¡¯ll be worth it.

    I nodded, prompting the clerk to add the extra software in and swiped my trainer ID on the card reader machine and it beeped, the cash register whirred and printed out a receipt.

    The clerk did some stuff on the shop¡¯s computer, registering one of the stored Porygon to my trainer ID. In a swirl of zeroes and ones, that Porygon materialized from out of the screen it was being displayed on and floated over to me once it had fully formed.

    It was pretty wacky looking. A pastel red and blue geometric duck with wide, blank eyes. It let out a monotone and robotic, ¡°Porygon.¡±

    I thanked the clerk and excited the shop with excitement, speedwalking my way over to the training field of the nearest Pokemon Center and texting Justine and Kenta to meet me there once they were done shopping.

    Porygon was not a common battling Pokemon, mostly being used in the tech industry for cybersecurity or just doing programming stuff.

    So why a Porygon?

    Well, besides not require any upkeep, they didn¡¯t need to be caught in a Pokeball.

    It was a living robot Pokemon that could be programmed with the same stuff that prevented Pokeballs from catching Pokemon that were already owned by another trainer. That function would cost a bit more, but it was worth it. The Xtransceiver I bought would be it¡¯s ¡®Pokeball¡¯ of sorts.

    Not to mention its signature abilities and moves, its monster special attack Stat, and the fact that I had the evolution items for it. Most Pokemon who evolved via items needed to wait until a certain age in order to safely evolve, Porygon was not included in that group.

    Even if Porygon ended up not being a battle Pokemon, it would still be pretty good personal protection and support due to it having access to moves like Gravity, Trick Room, and Magic Coat.

    I pulled out the Upgrade from my bag, presenting it to Porygon. Finally some of the stuff I collected is getting useful.

    Porygon robotically took the Upgrade in its beak and paused, ¡°Downloading Data.¡± Then it began to glow white, its form molding into a smoother rubber duckie shape before the white light dispersed to reveal Porygon2.

    Rotom took this chance to scan the new Pokemon, ¡°Porygon2, the virtual Pokemon. For the purposes of planetary development, Porygon was updated with the most cutting-edge technology available. The man-made Pok¨¦mon has been endowed with artificial intelligence that enables it to learn new gestures and emotions on its own.¡±

    Porygon2 let out a loud high pitched flatline beep and a spin around, before it stopped in place, waiting for any more orders.

    I felt Winnie flinch as he popped his head out of my hoodie and yawned, ¡°what¡¯s that noise?¡± He demanded, flicking his ears with irritation.

    I reached back over and pat his head reassuringly, ¡°It¡¯s a Porygon2, the newest addition to the team. I¡¯m just fine tuning it.¡±

    I pulled out the Dubious disc and presented it to Porygon2. The giant rubber duckie took the item with no hesitation and paused.

    ¡°Downloading Data. Processing. Processing. ProcessSSSsssssssssiNgGg¡­.¡± Its voice wavered and the Pokemon¡¯s entire form began glitching before it glowed an even brighter white than before and shifted, settling into a new form.

    ¡°Porygon! ZeeeeeeeEEEEeeeeEEe¡­.¡± Porygon-Z said, its voice glitching into high and low pitched tones as it squealed like a demented R2D2.

    ¡°geez louis quiet down!¡± Winnie shouted, putting a paw over one of his ears.

    Porygon-Z ignored him and kept uncannily staring at me and twitching.

    ¡°Bzzt!¡± Rotom buzzed, ¡°Error. Unidentified Pokemon or unsuccessful scan. Please try again.¡±

    I tilted my head in confusion, ¡°Error?¡±

    I grabbed Rotom and took a closer look at the Pokedex. No Porygon-Z. Then I searched it up on the Pokenet where there were a few articles about the Pokemon from almost a decade ago.

    The first article¡¯s headline read:

    Glitched Porygon2 Gone Berserk! 9 Dead!

    Another one read: Porygon-Z banned, Pokemon League Recalling Dubious Disc in Exchange for Cash Reward

    The rest of the articles said something similar. I tentatively looked at my own Porygon-Z, which was passively floating in front of us. Then I looked back at the photos of decimated city blocks that accompanied the articles I had looked at and facepalmed.

    So my dumbass just created a potentially murderous AI that I can¡¯t do much about. How could I have known about this? Well, this can¡¯t be as bad as it sounds right? Yeah¡­

    Seeing my somewhat grim expression, Winnie poked my face with his paw, ¡°what does it say az?¡±

    I sighed, ¡°it says some bad stuff about Porygon-Z as a species. Though this one seems completely fine.¡±

    Said Porygon-Z was quite docile, just peacefully floating in front of us without a care in the world. I looked around to make sure no one else was watching.

    ¡°Okay, uh Rotom, Create a new note in my personal Pokedex. Porygon-Z, the virtual Pokemon. Porygon-Z had a program installed to allow it to move between dimensions, but the program also caused instability in Porygon-Z¡¯s behavior.¡±

    ¡°Bzzt!¡± Rotom saluted.

    ¡°Porygon-Z is a mouthful. Ummmm, okay, first command Porygon-Z, you¡¯re nickname will be Glados.¡±

    ¡°POooooorrygOn weeeeeeoooooooweeeee.¡± Glados glitched in acknowledgement and spun its torso and arms while its head stayed super still. Kind of like when you move a chicken¡¯s body and it¡¯s head doesn¡¯t move with the body.

    Winnie tilted his head, ¡°i can¡¯t understand what Glados says.¡±

    ¡°Huh, that¡¯s weird.¡± I rubbed my chin as Glados and I had a staring contest, ¡°Were you able to understand it before?¡±

    ¡°yeah, but now its just not making any sense.¡± Winnie replied.

    ¡°Cool. Umm, Glados, you can use the phone to communicate then. Rotom will still be in charge of managing the phone, but you can rest in the, uh, cyberspace stuff in it.¡± I said, continuing the staring contest, my eyes were burning a bit.

    ¡°And, uh, try to learn the data from the Pokedex too, it¡¯ll be helpful.¡±

    Hopefully that would do some stuff to build the foundations for its ability, Download, cause I had no idea how to train basically any of its abilities.

    Without another beep, Glados turned into a bunch of ones and zeroes and disappeared into the screen of the Rotom phone.

    Rotom buzzed in displeasure. Glados wasn¡¯t crowding it for space ot anything like that cause it had turned itself into data, but Rotom still wasn¡¯t pleased about having a new roommate.

    ¡°Calm down Rotom, Glados will only be there for a while to get the Pokedex data. Once she¡¯s done she¡¯ll move to this,¡± I held up the Xtransceiver and attached it to my left wrist.

    Rotom gave me another disgruntled buzz but accepted my reasoning while I contemplated how fucked I¡¯d be when, not if, anyone found out about me having a Porygon-Z. Glados didn¡¯t seem very murderous at the moment though, the virtual Pokemon was a blank slate, so I¡¯d just have to put in some extra effort to make it non-murderous.

    I didn¡¯t mention the new addition to my team after rejoining Justine and Kenta. Instead, I put the problem I had created for myself at the back of my head to deal with later.

    The TM shop was our next destination. It was one of the places I were was actually looking to buy stuff. I had a bunch of TRs but they were the single use kind, and I wanted a TM of Protect cause I wanted all my current and future Pokemon to learn it. I also needed a TR for Substitute for Winnie cause I didn¡¯t have one for that move.

    Kenta got a few TRs for Dragonite while Justine got a few TMs for her team.

    <hr>

    We stopped to watch a musician and a chorus of ten Chatot perform a few songs, as well as a violinist and a Kricketune¡¯s duet.

    ¡°Guys! It¡¯s Laverre Fashion! They¡¯re stuff is super cute, we need to take a look!¡± Justine said as she ran over to view the display window of a fancy looking store with pink and purple decor.

    Kenta sighed and I raised an eyebrow. Fancy clothing really isn¡¯t my thing¡­Wait, Laverre like that Fairy type gym in Kalos?

    ¡°Does that store have anything to do with Laverre City in Kalos?¡±

    Justine nodded, ¡°Correct! The gym there creates outfits for trainers. It¡¯s the same brand that designs Diantha¡¯s outfits! They recently did some stuff for Wallace too~¡± Justine squealed as she mentioned Wallace and quickly pulled up a few pictures of Wallace modeling in some¡­slightly questionably cut outfits.

    I just nodded, ¡°Cool.¡±

    Winnie tilted his head as he examined the pictures, ¡°az, why does that human¡¯s pants look like they¡¯re going to fall off?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fashion Winnie. Different people have different tastes.¡±

    ¡°it doesn¡¯t look very practical to me.¡±

    ¡°When was fashion ever completely practical?¡±

    ¡°It totally can be practical! Tons of trainers have signature outfits to attract attention from sponsors and for job opportunities! It lets others know what type of trainer they are and helps them stand out from the crowd!¡± Justine exclaimed.

    ¡°I mean, take a look at Steven Stone! Who can¡¯t imagine him in his elegant suit? Or Cynthia in her black coat?¡±

    Kenta reached over and closed Justine¡¯s phone just she she switched to som paparazzi photos of Steven, ¡°Yeah, yeah, we get that you like fashion, but we¡¯re here to shop, you can talk about that another time.¡±

    Justine rolled her eyes as she recognized her own words behind used against her. I coughed, trying to cover up a laugh while Kenta kept a straight face.

    All the members of the security team had some sort of outfit that went with them. Leo usually wore a crisp black leather jackets and shades, Ben had his all bright red getup, Abigail had a recognizable snowy mountain explorer getup, and even Kenta wore a dragon themed outfit.

    On one hand, Justine had a point, maybe I should think about a cool outfit.

    On the other hand, I was hungry and didn¡¯t want to visit another clothing store. Winnie had the same thing on his mind, ¡°aaazzz. i¡¯m hungry.¡±

    I checked the time, it was nearing 2 PM, and we hadn¡¯t really eaten anything yet.

    ¡°Hey guys, you wanna go to lunch? Winnie and I are hungry.¡±

    Justine and Kenta agreed, they were hungry too, and we decided to take Kenta¡¯s restaurant suggestion, at a place called, ¡®The Fight Club.¡± It was a pretty intriguing name

    I trailed behind the two as Glados notified me that it was done downloading the Pokedex data.

    ¡°Good job Glados, switch over to the Xtransceiver and analyze the data for best ways to defeat each Pokemon.¡±

 (14) The Fight Club

    Kenta held up three fingers as he addressed the hostess, ¡°A table for three please, with room for four adult dragons and¡­which other Pokemon did you guys bring again?¡±

    ¡°I just brought Winnie, Kaiju, and Sahara¡± I replied. My whole team was here minus Winnie¡¯s gang, who were doing something else back at the lab. Hopefully not causing trouble.

    ¡°A small Pokemon and a medium sized one.¡± Justine said.

    The hostess quickly calculated the numbers in her head and nodded, picking up three menus and leading us deep into the restaurant and out onto a large courtyard.

    There were four large battlefields in the center with tables behind thick protective glass set all around the battlefields so that restaurant goers could watch battles while eating.

    The restaurant was called ¡®The Fight Club¡¯, and it was similar to the Battle Buffet in that people dining here could battle other diners, but this place had a fancier vibe.

    You wouldn''t have to battle someone for a meal, but betting battles were allowed, and diners could have battles where the loser had to pay for the winner¡¯s meal. That meant that if you were a good enough battler, you¡¯d never have to pay for a meal here.

    The Fight Club was one of the few places in the city outside of the battle dome, contest hall, and Pokemon centers where large and destructive Pokemon were allowed out.

    The restaurant was pretty busy and has a nice warm atmosphere, most of the people there were trainers or older folk that were there to watch the battles.

    I took out a dusk and ultra ball, letting out Kaiju and Sahara.

    Kenta took out three luxury balls and released his Dragonite, Flygon, and a goddamn Shiny Haxorus. One of the coolest looking shinies out there. How the world did he get a shiny Haxorus? Damn he¡¯s lucky.

    Justine let out Golett from a colorfully decorated Luxury ball, and a Litwick hopped out of her shadow. Yamask was back at the ranch training with Angela¡¯s Gengar so thankfully we wouldn¡¯t have to deal with him.

    Litwick was Justine¡¯s newest Pokemon, and it was currently holding Justine¡¯s pant leg and ogling at everything like a toddler seeing everything for the first time.

    Winnie jumped from my shoulder onto the table and pointed at the battlefields, ¡°ooh look! someone¡¯s gonna battle!¡±

    One of the restaurant staff lead two trainers over to one of the battlefields and said a few words before jogging over to the referee box. An Alakazam teleported right next to the referee and raised its spoons up, creating a psychic dome to protect onlookers.

    After greeting Kenta¡¯s dragons, Sahara sat down a good distance away from them to watch the fight, and Kaiju sidled up next to her and sat down, though he was facing away from the battlefield. I dunno what he thought he was watching.

    I could hear the other diners getting excited for a battle between what looked like two pretty experienced trainers.

    One was a brunette woman in her mid twenties, and the other was a man about the same age who looked like he was from Kanto or Johto.

    The referee announced a 1 vs 1 battle, the winner paid for the others meal. Both trainers grinned as the referee shouted for the match to begin. The lady sent out a battle toughened Nidoqueen, while the guy sent out a Tyranitar.

    Tyranitar roared loudly to announce its presence, its head proudly held up high. Nidoqueen on the other hand stayed silent and concentrated, eyeing its opponent and looking for weaknesses.

    ¡°That Tyranitar looks a lot smaller than Leos, doesn¡¯t it?¡± I commented.

    ¡°That¡¯s because it¡¯s newly evolved.¡± Kenta replied, pointing at Tyranitar, ¡°If you take a closer look, you can see that its hide is a fresher green, and the blue part in the middle is pretty bright. Those are signs that it¡¯s just evolved. Older Tyranitar are bigger and have darker hides.¡±

    Justine chipped in, ¡°It might also be smaller cause it¡¯s a female. Do Tyranitar have size differences between male and females?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, male Tyranitar are bigger.¡± Kenta confirmed, ¡°But there are a bunch of cases where the females are bigger. In the wild, male dragons can get pretty persistent about killing eggs and dragonlings that aren¡¯t their own, so the females need to be big and strong enough to fend them off and protect her young. Though this isn¡¯t the case for all dragon species. Male and female Kommo-o have no sexual dimorphism to differentiate them.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s interesting.¡± I said.

    The conversation paused as we watched Tyranitar and Nidoqueen engaged in combat. A sandstorm kicked up thanks to Tyranitar¡¯s ability Sand Stream. Unaffected by the sandstorm, Nidoqueen using its body as a battering ram to charge Tyranitar with Giga Impact, the spikes in its hide glowing a toxic purple from its ability Poison Point.

    Tyranitar tried to match the drill Pokemon with its own Giga Impact, but was easily overpowered and thrown back into the psychic barrier as Nidoqueen canceled out Giga Impact right before hitting Tyranitar and used Superpower instead.

    The battle went pretty quickly, and it was clear who the winner would be after a few more exchanges. Nidoqueen started strong and never let up pressure on its opponent, continually poisoning Tyranitar with each exchange using a mixture of its ability, Poison Sting, and Toxic.

    ¡°Garchomp, chomp gar garchomp.¡± Sahara commented on the match.

    Winnie looked up at her and replied, ¡°but i thought tyranitar would be more of a match against nidoqueen, regardless of experience. it looked pretty powerful.¡±

    I shrugged, ¡°Yeah I thought that too, but being able to abuse poisoning your opponent like that is pretty overpowered, regardless of power level. That¡¯s unless the opponent is a poison type, steel type, or has a status effect curing move like Aromatherapy.¡±

    Did Nidoqueen stack the poison status effect? Well I guess the more poison you get the more potent it¡¯ll be. I¡¯ll have to watch out for that in the future.

    ¡°People who abuse status conditions are fucking annoying.¡± Kenta said with a bit of passion.

    Justine scoffed, ¡°You¡¯re just complaining because you lost in you last conference to a poison type specialist.¡±

    I leaned forward, ¡°Really? What did they do?¡±

    Kenta scowled, ¡°They had a Muk and an Alolan Muk that spammed every possible poison type move under the sun while using Minimize, Protect, and Endure to stall and dodge. My Duraludon was the only one capable of dealing any damage but it was taken out by a Salazzle.¡±

    Dragonite patted Kenta on the shoulder, ¡°Dragonite, dra.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll admit they were good at dodging. Could barely land a blow on them.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s rough.¡± I said. Usually a move like Body Slam or Dragon Rush would be able to hit a Minimized Pokemon, but if they made good use of Protect or Endure it would be a huge pain in the ass to take out.

    ¡°Have you thought of any other way to deal with something like that?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yeah. Keep a safe distance, waste their Protect, and then nuke the field with an aoe move that they can¡¯t dodge.¡±

    There was a lull in the conversation as our food came out and we watched a few other battles as we ate.

    Most of the battles were just 1 vs 1¡¯s and were over pretty quick, aside from a match between an Scizor and a Mudsdale, where Mudsdale ended up tanking all of Scizor¡¯s attacks. A well placed Rock Slide and a Body Press finished the bug Pokemon off.

    ¡°Alright, I¡¯m gonna put the green flag up. You guys okay with that?¡± Kenta asked, he was basically done with his meal.

    The restaurant had a flag system for diners to let others know about their battle status. Each table had three flags attached to them that the diners could flip up or down.

    White meant that they weren¡¯t there to battle and couldn¡¯t be challenged. Yellow meant that they were going to battle but weren¡¯t ready yet because they were eating or something else. Green meant that the table was fair game for a challenge.

    Note that diners were only allowed to battle once per Pokemon on their team up to six total battles every time they came to dine. This was to prevent people from abusing the system.

    I nodded and Justine said yep. Everyone was done eating except for Litwick and Winnie, the former was just a slow eater and the latter was a glutton whom I had to make sure didn¡¯t overeat.

    As soon as Kenta flicked the green flag up, a trainer with blue highlights in her hair, and a fancy blue outfit came over.

    ¡°Who¡¯s the dragon type trainer here?¡± She asked dismissively.

    Kenta stood up and raised his hand, ¡°Me, I¡¯m Kenta. You here to challenge me?¡± He put out a hand to shake but the trainer in blue ignored his hand and laughed,

    ¡°I¡¯m here so you can pay for my lunch. One v one, loser pays up.¡±

    Kenta¡¯s smile slightly wavered and he retorted, ¡°Sure, but I¡¯m not gonna be the one paying.¡± He waved a hand at his dragons, ¡°Haxorus, you¡¯re up.¡±

    The axe dragon stretched before getting up and steadily making its way down to the field. Kenta and the trainer went to their trainer boxes. A staff member in a striped referee¡¯s outfit and an Alakazam teleported into the outlined referee¡¯s box as the center side of the field.

    ¡°Good luck Kenta! You¡¯ll need it~¡± Justine shouted and waved after Kenta, she took out her phone to snap a few photos of him and Haxorus going down to the battlefield.

    Sahara, Flygon, and Dragonite crowded the glass window to watch the battle, giving a few cries of encouragement to their fellow dragon.

    ¡°hey! move outta the way you lunks! you¡¯re blocking the view!¡± Winnie shouted, hopping up and down to try to see. Unable to get past the dragons, Winnie climbed up Sahara¡¯s back and used the top of her head as a seat.

    Seeing that everyone else wasn¡¯t eating, Kaiju took this opportunity to nibble at everyone else¡¯s meals.

    ¡°Kaiju! Leave it!¡± I sternly said. Kaiju huffed, ¡°Deino.¡± And walked over to sit next to me.

    ¡°Just because they¡¯re not eating their food doesn¡¯t mean that they don¡¯t want it. That¡¯s not polite, you need to ask for things that you want if they belong to someone else.¡±

    Kaiju looked pointedly at his empty bowl.

    I sighed, ¡°Look, okay, if you can be well behaved for the rest of this battle, I will give you some of that Herb Mystica you like. You will get more if you keep behaving. Okay?¡±

    Kaiju opened his mouth in a dopey smile, he was already drooling at the thought of the spices. I had no idea why he liked Herb Mystica, I tried eating them by themselves too but they tasted horrible.

    Anyways, back to Kenta and Haxorus¡¯s battle.

    The lady in blue took out a dive ball, and sent out a chonky Walrein and shouted a command, though the glass was too thick and the battle field was too far away for me to properly hear anyone on the battlefield.

    Haxorus stomped its feet and snorted as it analyzed its opponent.

    Justine giggled at the challenging trainers Pokemon choice, ¡°Oooooh, she thought that she could beat Kenta with just an ice type~¡±

    ¡°Type specialists usually have counters for the stuff they¡¯re weak against, right?¡±

    Justine nodded, ¡°Yeah, just watch, you¡¯re gonna enjoy this.¡±

    Walrein immediately went for a Blizzard, but Haxorus sent a ball of fire up into the sky.

    The heat from the Sunny Day was able to slow down Walrein¡¯s ability to generate Blizzard, and Haxorus dashed forward in a dancing pattern, grass type energy bursting around the dragon¡¯s feet, doubly increasing its speed.

    Walrein switched from Blizzard to Surf to move out of Haxorus¡¯s way, but it was too slow. The ice walrus¡¯s trainer shouted for it to use Sheer Cold as Haxorus got near, but it was too late.

    Haxorus¡¯s axe chompers glowed white and became huge, Kenta shouted, ¡°Guillotine!¡±

    The axe fell, and Walrein was knocked out cold.

    ¡°That was fast.¡± I commented, ¡°I didn¡¯t know that Sunny Day could be used like that.¡±

    Dragonite turned back to us, ¡°Draaa, dragonite nite.¡±

    ¡°She says that it doesn¡¯t work as well with higher level opponents, they usually use something else.¡± Winnie translated.

    I nodded, ¡°Good to know.¡±

    The trainer in blue gave Kenta a dirty look as she returned Walrein and handed the referee a card.

    There was a polite tap on my shoulder and I looked over to see a trainer who couldn¡¯t be older than fourteen wearing a styrofoam dragon skull hat. As soon as he got my attention, he waved an ultra ball in my face, ¡°Stanley the dragon master, challenges you to a battle!¡±

    Stanley the dragon master? Why is he referring to himself in the third person?

    I blinked and slowly pushed his hand away from my face, ¡°Umm, okay.¡± I said, then in a slightly sterner voice, ¡°And for the record, don¡¯t wave things in people¡¯s faces.¡±

    The kid¡¯s bravado wilted a bit, and he apologized in a slightly lower voice, ¡°Oh sorry.¡± Then he reassured himself, ¡°I mean, I see!¡±

    I stopped the kid before he could run over to the battlefield, ¡°Wait, what rules are we using?¡±

    The kid paused and thought for a second, ¡°Umm, a one v one, and whoever wins gets a hundred dollars from the loser. I¡¯m using my strongest Pokemon, so you¡¯d better use yours!¡±

    I dunno about that, there¡¯s a huge power difference between Winnie and Kaiju compared to Sahara.

    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    Sensing my doubt, the kid added, ¡°I¡¯m using a fully evolved dragon. So you¡¯d better take me seriously.¡±

    I shrugged, ¡°Okay then. Come on Sahara, it¡¯s time to work off lunch.¡±

    ¡°Garchomp!¡± Sahara rumbled, I got the feeling that she was finding it a bit hard to take the kid seriously. Well, it would be a good chance to see how much she had improved. It was hard to properly judge that improvement when you fought the same people and Pokemon everyday.

    ¡°i¡¯m coming too!¡± Winnie shouted, hopping from Sahara¡¯s head down onto mine.

    The same staff member that refereed Kenta¡¯s match was overseeing our match, ¡°This will be a one versus one battle between Stanley and Azalea, the winner will be paid a hundred dollars by the loser. Standard league rules apply.¡±

    Stanley threw the ultra ball he was holding earlier, ¡°Go, Hydreigon!¡±

    A three headed dragon appeared in a flash of light and roared ¡°HYDREIGON!¡± Barely containing its bloodlust.

    There was a ripple of astonishment from the diners watching.

    I raised my eyebrows a bit but wasn¡¯t very impressed otherwise. I don¡¯t think any Hydreigon is gonna be scarier than Kaiju¡¯s mom. I slightly shuddered at the thought of that mama bear of a dragon.

    Winnie wrinkled his nose, ¡°wow, that was a nasty thing to say.¡±

    ¡°What did it say?¡± I asked.

    Winnie waved a paw and shook his head, ¡°you don¡¯t want to know.¡±

    ¡°Are the battlers ready?¡± The ref asked, Stanley and I both declared that we were. ¡°Begin!¡±

    It wasn¡¯t noticeable before, but now that I was closer, I could see the thin and transparent, but powerful barrier that appeared around the battlefield, courtesy of the Alakazam standing next to the referee.

    ¡°Set up.¡± I ordered.

    Sahara grunted in acknowledgement and a raging sandstorm swirled to life as she moved through a dancing pattern for Swords Dance.

    Stanley dramatically pointed at Sahara and shouted, ¡°Take it down with Hyper Beam!¡±

    Hydreigon roared again and immediately launched into a triple Hyper Beam, one beam per head. Sahara ducked and weaved, neatly dodging all three attacks.

    That looks like how Mienfoo moves.

    Sahara stomped the ground, a swirling twister of sand burst up from the ground and surrounded Hydreigon, trapping the three headed dragon with Sand Tomb.

    A trio of elemental balls burst out of the swirling twister of sand straight at Sahara.

    ¡°Block them with Rock Tomb.¡±

    A myriad of boulders spawned from the sandstorm and blocked Hydreigon¡¯s Tri-Attack from hitting.

    ¡°Destroy Sand Tomb with Surf!¡± I heard Stanley shout.

    Hydreigon howled and a wall of water built up within the tornado.

    ¡°Use Dig, cover up the hole¡¯s entrance, then create a big pit and then drag Hydreigon into it.¡±

    Sahara dug into the ground as the Sand Tomb broke and a all of water rushed out of it, covering the field.

    Hydreigon flapped its wings, flying further up to try to spot its opponent.

    ¡°Use Heat Wave on the entire field! Maximum power!¡±

    The temperature instantly rose and the barrier became less translucent to block the heat. ¡°Hydreigon!¡± A wall of fire rose inside the barrier and washed over the entire field.

    The dark dragon was just wasting its energy at this point.

    As Hydreigon and Stanley were looking for Sahara in the sandstorm, a claw burst out of the ground and grabbed Hydreigon by it¡¯s tail, dragging the three headed dragon into the ground as planned.

    Howling, and thrashing, Hydreigon tried to get free and prevent itself from being buried, but Sahara wasn¡¯t letting up.

    ¡°Pin its wings with Rock Tomb, then repeated Dragon Rushes downwards to push it deeper into the pit.¡±

    ¡°No you won¡¯t! Get out with Dragon Rush!¡±

    A swirl of dragon type energy gathered around Hydreigon. At the same time, a barrage of boulders formed above the three headed dragon and fell right on top of it, burying in rocks and trapping it even more.

    Hydreigon snarled and spat what sounded like some pretty nasty swears at Sahara. I could tell just by how Winnie cringed at the dark dragon¡¯s words.

    The landshark didn¡¯t pay Hydreigon any mind as she used Stone Edge to launch herself up, and the dived down in a swirl of dragon type energy, forcing Hydreigon even further into the ground. Wash, rinse, repeat the curb stomping while Hydreigon shot increasingly desperate Dragon Pulses, Hyper Beams, and Tri Attacks at Sahara.

    ¡°Grab it with Ice Fang!¡± Stanley shouted, his bravado from earlier slowly disappearing as he realizes that Hydreigon was too angry to listen to him.

    Hydreigon screamed in rage and its eyes turned red as it used Outrage, the extra strength from the move giving the dark dragon the strength to slowly break out of its earthy prison. All the while, it was randomly shooting Hyper Beams at Sahara that went wide and missed.

    I sighed, this was disappointing. ¡°Lets finish this, Brick Break.¡±

    Sahara¡¯s claws and arm fins turned a fighting type orange and she karate chopped Hydreigon, hitting it squarely on forehead.

    Hydreigon didn¡¯t stand a chance. It was a strong Pokemon, but neither Stanley nor Hydreigon used a single utility move, and I didn¡¯t really see any strategy or plan in use. It was kind of like when I played Pokemon as a little kid and thought that any move that wasn¡¯t a super strong attacking move was useless.

    Or perhaps constantly losing to the other members of the expedition team had skewed my expectations for a Pokemon battle.

    Disappointed, Stanley returned Hydreigon and walked over to me, taking out a bunch of twenty dollar bills.

    ¡°I guess we bit off more than we could chew.¡± Stanley said with a sigh as he handed over the money.

    ¡°Hey, you guys are pretty strong.¡± I said encouragingly, ¡°You guys would¡¯ve done better if you had gone about it a bit more strategically instead of just using powerful moves. Think about how other moves can be used to your advantage or to hinder your opponent.¡±

    Stanley smiled, ¡°Thanks man, I¡¯ll think about it then.¡±

    Winnie leaned forward and whispered in my ear, ¡°and tell him about his dragon being a potty mouth.¡±

    I nodded, ¡°Oh, and you should probably ask Hydreigon to dial it back on the swears, especially when there are children watching.¡±

    Stanley gave me a confused look but nodded before jogging off the field and back to his table where what looked like his family was waiting.

    I fist bumped Sahara on the arm, ¡°Great job out there, you¡¯ve improved so much! Mienshao will be proud that about the dodging thing you did at the beginning.¡±

    Sahara snorted and held her head high, and said ¡°Garchomp.¡± As if to say, ¡®that wasn¡¯t even a challenge.¡¯

    Justine was still sitting at our table when I got back, she had pulled out a laptop and was doing some work on it while snacking on new basket of french fries.

    I sat down and took a handful of french fries, ¡°You not gonna battle?¡±

    Eyes still focused on her laptop, Justine shook her head, ¡°Nah, probably not. Litwick only knows Ember, and Golett isn¡¯t in the mood to battle. Plus, I gotta get some work done.¡±

    I nodded and gave Kaiju and Winnie each a french fry, ¡°That¡¯s fair.¡±

    Too bad, I kind of wanted to see Golett battle.

    Kenta was off with Dragonite battling another against a trainer and their Gigalith while Flygon waited for its turn and chatted with Sahara.

    I scanned the dining hall for anyone else with less powerful Pokemon that Winnie and Kaiju could have a go against.

    A few tables away, a trainer in pink and black who was sitting at a table with a green flag looked like she was thinking the same and we made eye contact.

    I got up and walked over, ¡°Hey, you wanna battle?¡±

    The trainer hesitantly nodded, glancing over at Sahara, ¡°Yeah, but I don¡¯t have Pokemon on the same level as your Garchomp.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fine, I¡¯m planning on using weaker Pokemon. Does a two v two sound good? ¡±

    ¡°Yeah, that sounds great. I¡¯m Caroline by the way.¡± She offered a hand and I shook it, ¡°Azalea.¡±

    ¡°This will be a two versus two, non-betting battle between Caroline and Azalea! No switches will be allowed, standard league rules apply. Ready your Pokemon!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll be up first Winnie.¡± I said. The white fox nodded and leaped from my shoulder onto the field.

    Caroline sent out a Sylveon who reached back with a ribbon to touch its trainers arm before the battle began.

    Ahh yes, the pink ribbon dog. It¡¯s pretty cute, well, any Eeveelution is cute. Good thing I sent out Winie first.

    ¡°Usual tactics.¡± I said. Winnie grinned and glanced back at me, ¡°already on it boss.¡±

    I tried to see if there was any visible change that indicated an illusion, there was nothing. He sure is getting good at with his illusions.

    ¡°Set up Sylveon!¡± Caroline shouted. Sylveon nodded and spread out its ribbons. A pink mist emanated from the fairy type and spread out around the field.

    ¡°Shut down its utility moves before it can use any more.¡±

    Using Agility, Winnie dashed forward and got into Sylveon¡¯s face, muttering something under his breath. Sylveon¡¯s eyes narrowed and its determined expression became one of anger.

    Caroline went along with her Sylveron¡¯s aggression, ¡°Play Rough!¡±

    ¡°Dig.¡± I said, Winnie did a small hop and burrowed into the ground.

    ¡°Grab it!¡±

    Sylveon¡¯s ran over to the hole, its ribbons reached in and felt around until it grabbed something and pulled Winnie out of the ground and wrapped around him so that he couldn¡¯t escape.

    ¡°Moonblast!¡±

    Winnie gritted his teeth as he took a Moonblast to the face. Sylveon began to prepare another attack, but froze as Winnie burst into tears and wailed.

    Looking worried Sylveon and Caroline glanced at each other and then at me. I kept a straight face and simply said, ¡°Full power Hex.¡±

    The fake Winnie trapped in Sylveon¡¯s ribbons stopped crying and cackled. He phased through the ribbons and jumping through Sylveon, giving the fairy type a nasty Leer as ghost type energy wrapped around Sylveon and snapped shut like a beartrap.

    Sylveon cried out in pain as Hex did extra damage from the burn Winnie has inflicted on the fairy type right before Misty Terrain activated.

    Winnie was able to get another Hex in before a burst of bright pink light emanated from Sylveon and it broke out of Winnie¡¯s attack.

    Once it was free, Sylveon frantically looked around for its opponent. It was heavily panting and its ribbons were drooping as it scanned the seemingly empty field.

    ¡°What was that?!¡± Caroline exclaimed, she shook her head and recollected herself, ¡°Use Swift!¡±

    Sylveon jumped and whipped its ribbons around, sending golden stars flying everywhere. The stars flew around a bit before honing in on a spot right in front of me.

    ¡°It¡¯s there! Use Draining Kiss!¡± Sylveon dashed to the spot that Swift hit in a burst

    I frowned a bit, I didn¡¯t know that Swift could do that. That¡¯s good to know.

    ¡°Get moving, and copy what Sahara did.¡±

    A bunch of fake Winnies appeared and jumped out right in front of Sylveon, who skidded to a halt as it tried to find the real Winnie. The fakes ran around Sylveon, taunting it as they ran around in confusing patterns.

    ¡°Light Screen. Then use Swift again.¡±

    A screen of psychic energy appeared in front of Sylveon, then it swung its ribbons around and used Swift.

    The golden stars flew around and dissipated each and every one of the fake Winnies until none were left.

    Then the ground cracked beneath Sylveon and caved in. Strands of ghost type energy reached out and Sylveon shrieked as it was pulled into ground and enveloped with a dark dome.

    A few seconds later, the dome dissipated and revealed an unconscious Sylveon.

    Caroline returned Sylveon to its ball and whispered reassurance to it before putting the ball back on her belt.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know that a Zorua would do stuff like that,¡± Caroline commented as she took out another Pokeball and tossed it onto the field.

    A Jigglypuff appeared in a flash of light.

    ¡°Jigglypuff!¡± The round ball of pastel pink fluff shouted, it puffed up its cheeks in an expression of pure rage. Well, about as much rage as a cute pink ball of fluff could express.

    I raised a hand and the referee gestured for me to speak, ¡°I¡¯m withdrawing Winnie from the battle.¡±

    ¡°Okay, send out your next Pokemon.¡±

    Winnie appeared out of thin air and shook the dust off of himself before he leaped up onto my shoulder.

    ¡°heh, that was a piece of cake.¡± He said. I scratched him on the cheek, ¡°It certainly looked like it.¡±

    I took out Kaiju¡¯s ultra ball and sent him out.

    ¡°Deino!¡± Kaiju roared, stomping his feet. Caroline looked a bit confused from my choice in Pokemon but shrugged it off.

    Dragon type moves were off the table cause Misty terrain was still up, and because of Jigglypuff being a fairy type.

    ¡°Sing Jigglypuff!¡±

    ¡°Astonish!¡± Kaiju rash forward and shouted over Jigglypuff¡¯s attempt to sing.

    The pink fluffball flinched from the sudden noise and the deep chill of the ghost type move and scowled.

    ¡°Taunt and Thunder Wave.¡±

    ¡°Stop it with Disarming Voice.¡±

    Kaiju screamed ¡°Deino! Deino dein deino!¡± Jigglypuff looked shocked for a second before puffing up even more and screaming back at Kaiju, sending pink soundwaves at the little dragon.

    Kaiju grunted as he took the full force of the four times effective Disarming Voice but powered forward and send a weak jolt of electricity at Jigglypuff.

    The fairy type rolled to the side, dodging the attack and scowling and sending another Disarming Voice at Kaiju, who ducked as I shouted at him to drop down, making the move narrowly miss him.

    Encouraged by the two successful hits, Caroline shouted, ¡°Hyper Voice! Keep it at a distance!¡±

    ¡°Right back at you, scream your heart out Kaiju!¡± I countered.

    Jigglypuff and Kaiju opened their mouths wide and screamed.

    The psychic barrier shook and became more visible as it muffled both Pokemon¡¯s voices. Caroline and I couldn¡¯t do much besides watch and wait for them to finish screaming at each other.

    The moment they finished, Caroline shouted, ¡°Ice punch and Play Rough!¡±

    ¡°Protect and Snarl.¡± I said.

    Kaiju created a barrier in front of him that blocked Jigglypuff¡¯s Ice Punch and part of its Play Rough. Kaiju narrowly dodge one hit from the move before Snarling and sending out a shockwave of dark type energy that made Jigglypuff flinch.

    ¡°Sweet Kiss.¡± Caroline ordered. Taunt had worn off by now so the fairy type had regained access to its utility moves, and it jumped back at Kaiju.

    I grinned as an idea came to mind, ¡°Kiss it back Kaiju, right on the mouth with Ice Fang¡±

    Kaiju struck and instantly bit down on Jigglypuff¡¯s face holding its mouth shut, continuously using Ice Fang. Jigglypuff let out a muffled cry and flailed about as the ice type energy from Ice Fang slowly began to freeze over Jigglypuff¡¯s mouth.

    Jigglypuff let out a bunch of muffled shrieks as Kaiju gleefully ragdolled it around like a dog playing with a new toy. A toy that bounced like a ball of jelly everytime it moved.

    ¡°Get away Jigglypuff!¡± Caroline shouted as she tried to think of a way to get her Pokemon away. Jigglypuff¡¯s main method of attacks weren¡¯t available, and it was currently helpless against Kaiju.

    The fairy type continuously struggled and tried to Ice Punch Kaiju, but its arms were too short to reach him.

    Then with a frustrated yell, Jigglypuff glowing bright pink as it used a weak Dazzling Gleam. The bright flash from the fairy type move and the quadruple effectiveness stunned Kaiju, making him grunt in pain and release his hold on Jigglypuff.

    Caroline looked surprised and then excited, I guess Jigglypuff learned a new move during this battle or something.

    Both Pokemon were on low health, the battle would be ending in just a few moves.

    ¡°Defense Curl and Rollout.¡± Panting, Jigglypuff grounded itself, coating itself with protective normal type energy before fully curling up into a ball and rolling around the battlefield, building up as much momentum as possible.

    ¡°Work Up until I say to stop.¡± I ordered.

    Kaiju shook himself and began to stomp his feet on the ground, working himself up and getting his blood pumping.

    Jigglypuff continued to roll around and around, until Caroline yelled, ¡°Now!¡±

    ¡°Protect.¡±

    Kaiju stopped stomping and created a protective barrier in front of him just in time to stop Jigglypuff from steamrolling over him. The sheer force from the velocity Jigglypuff had built up was enough to push the little dragon back a few inches.

    ¡°Head smash.¡±

    A thick layer of rock type energy coated Kaiju¡¯s forehead, and he karate chopped his head downwards, smashing it directly onto Jigglypuff, and hammering the pink ball into the ground.

    Kaiju stumbled back a few paces and sat down, shaking his head, and a bit dazed from the moves recoil.

    Jigglypuff was laying in a small crater, its eyes spinning.

    The referee announced me as the winner, and Caroline returned Jigglypuff before we shook hands and went back to our tables.

    I made sure to tell Winnie and Kaiju how proud of them I was for winning as we headed back to our table.

    <hr>

    ¡°So where should we go next?¡± I asked as we walked out of The Fight Club.

    ¡°The Voodoo Shop!¡± Justine exclaimed, pumping her fists in the air. Litwick who was sitting on top of Justine¡¯s head wobbled as it tried to stay balanced on her head.

    Kenta frowned and vehemently shook his head. ¡°Anywhere but there, we are not going to the Voodoo shop. That place is fucking creepy.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a store for ghost types dummy, of course it¡¯s gonna be creepy.¡± Justine retorted, ¡°If you don¡¯t want to come you can go to that music store that¡¯s not too far away. Didn¡¯t you need to get new guitar strings?¡±

    Kenta nodded, ¡°Yeah I did, and I will. Thanks for reminding me.¡±

    ¡°You play guitar?¡± I asked.

    ¡°He plays a lot of instruments. Kommo-o loves music.¡± Justine said.

    ¡°That¡¯s nice. Maybe I should¨Chmm?¡± Someone tapped me on the shoulder and I turned around.

    A trainer with a light turquoise hair in a funny bowl cut was standing there. ¡°Hey, I just wanted to tell you how powerful you Deino is. I was really impressed by how it beat a fairy type like that.¡±

    I raised an eyebrow, ¡°Oh. Thanks.¡±

    Without missing a beat, the trainer told me in a matter of fact tone, ¡°Trade that Deino to me.¡±

    My eyebrows raised another notch and I awkwardly laughed, ¡°Nice joke buddy.¡±

    Bowl cut man was serious though, and his smile wavered, ¡°I¡¯m not joking. Trade that Deino to me.¡±

    I put a hand on my, ¡°Hell no. I wouldn¡¯t trade him or any other member of my team for the world. Buzz off.¡±

    The guy¡¯s attitude did a sudden one eighty and he dropped the friendly face, ¡°No, trade that Deino to me kid. That Deino will be lost potential if it stays with a spoiled rich kid like you who doesn¡¯t even battle seriously!¡±

    Winnie jumped out of his place in my hood and onto my shoulder, hackles up and growling, ¡°who does this punk this he is?¡±

    Said punk pointed a finger in my face that I shooed away like a fly. Bowlcut man opened his mouth to say more. I began to interrupt him but was distracted as I felt my watch buzz and begin to heat up.

    I glanced at the screen, Activating emergency defense protocols. Goal: Eliminate threat.

    Nonononononono. Nope nope nope. I slapped a hand over the the Xtransceiver screen as but Kenta stepped in front of me and pushed the guy back.

    I felt a cold chill emanating from Justine¡¯s shadow as she pulled me back a bit. I spotted two red eyes in her shadow staring at the guy like he was a dead frog ready to be dissected.

    ¡°Back off dude. Leave her alone.¡± Kenta growled. I quickly whispered to Glados as Kenta confronted the guy, ¡°No need for emergency protocols, those are only to be activated in life threatening situations, this isn¡¯t one, this guy¡¯s just being an asshole.¡±

    Then I stepped forward and said to Kenta and Justine, ¡°Thanks guys, I got this.¡±

    Bowl cut man crossed his arms and calmed down again, ¡°Fine, lets do a betting battle. You trade your Deino over for free if I win, I leave you alone if you win.¡±

    Is this guy real, or is someone gonna come out with a camera and have this turn out to be some sort of bad prank? I really don¡¯t want to believe that people like this fucking exist.

    ¡°No. I¡¯m calling the cops now.¡± I replied. A few passerbys glanced curiously at us as they eavesdropped on our conversation. Maybe they could help out instead of rubbernecking.

    Bowl cut man flinched and looked around at the mention of the police and I smiled at his reaction. Oh, is he familiar with getting arrested?

    ¡°Oh, come on! You can afford it! I bet your mommy and daddy can buy you another Deino like how they bought you that Zorua. You¡¯re probably not even old enough to participate in a conference.¡±

    I just raised my eyebrow and held up my phone and began pressing numbers. Where is he making these assumptions from?

    The guy growled a few swears under his breath and hightailed it out of there, yelling something at us over his shoulders that I couldn¡¯t make out over the sound of the city traffic.

    That was a relief, I didn¡¯t actually know the emergency numbers for any region.

    Rubbing the back of my neck, I turned back the my friends and asked, ¡°What the hell was that?¡±

    Justine shrugged, Gengar¡¯s presence had disappeared, ¡°Some asshole who thought he could steal a Pokemon from an easy looking target. Should we report him to the police?¡±

    I frowned, do I really look like an easy target?! Then I though about it a bit more. Yes. Yes I do. I was a four foot nine girl who looked fresh out of middle school. I kept forgetting that I looked younger than I technically was. How old is this body again? Yeah, I should probably keep track of my physical age.

    Hopefully I¡¯d grow at least bit taller than I previously did cause I never got above five feet.

    Kenta shrugged, ¡°We¡¯ll tell an officer if we see one, if you¡¯re okay with that Az.¡±

    I shrugged, ¡°Yeah that¡¯s fine. I don¡¯t want to walk all the way to the police station anyways, they probably have other things to worry about.¡±

    ¡°Sorry you had to experience that.¡± Justine said as we began to walk in the direction of the Voodoo Shop. ¡°Maybe I shoulder send Gengar to make sure he doesn¡¯t bother anyone else~¡± She added with a glint in her eyes.

    ¡°Nah, jeez, there''s no need to go that far, and there¡¯s nothing you have to apologize for. Cities always have crazy people. We¡¯ll have a fun story to tell when we get back.¡± I said a bit frantically, the guy was an asshole, he didn¡¯t deserve to get tormented by a vengeful ghost.

    Kenta sighed and rubbed the back of his head, ¡°Yeah I guess. This stuff is uncommon but it happens more than it should, mostly to younger trainers with rare Pokemon. I had a similar problem when I was starting out, just keep your cool and don¡¯t be afraid to use Sahara to help intimidate someone into leaving you alone, even if it¡¯s in the city. Law enforcement will understand.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll keep that in mind.¡± I was skeptical about law enforcement stuff, hopefully police in the Pokemon world were more reliable or at least more competent than the ones I knew.

    ¡°Now, what were we talking about again?¡±

    <hr>

    In an alleyway near Jubilife¡¯s Devon HQ, four Team Galactic grunts sat next to a dumpster and quietly talked amongst each other. A violet haired woman dressed in a commander¡¯s outfit paced the alley, grumbling something to herself.

    The grunts nervously looked at their commander. Jupiter had a nasty temper, and even worse, she was in a bad mood, and none of them wanted to be a stress dummy for her.

    Jupiter looked up as a grunt dressed in civilian clothes jogged into the alleyway, panting.

    ¡°You¡¯re late! Where the hell have you been!¡± Jupiter yelled, throwing her hands up.

    The grunt recoiled, defensively putting his hands up, ¡°I was gathering information on the these other three kids from the expedition team! Commander Saturn said that he wanted information on the new girl!¡±

    ¡°Saturn¡¯s orders don¡¯t justify you leaving without my permission idiot! You could have alerted our target to our presence!¡± Jupiter snarled, cuffing the grunt on the head before whipping around to the other grunts, ¡°Am I clear?¡±

    There was a chorus of Yes Ma¡¯am¡¯s.

    Jupiter smiled like a Liepard ready to pounce on a Rattata, ¡°Good. Get ready to strike soon, our quarry is due to leave the Devon building shortly.¡±

 (15) Galactic Problems

    Kenta was right, the Voodoo shop was fucking creepy. It looked grape themed on the outside, and like someone took a haunted murder house and converted it into a haunted store to sell haunted objects.

    The lights inside were dim and occasionally flickered like that one street lamp at night that never seems to work right. I looked up at the chandelier hanging above, oh wait that was a Chandelure that was just chilling and providing some light for the shop.

    A few Litwick sat atop the shelves, lighting up darker corners, and a weird sweet perfumy smell that I couldn¡¯t identify permeated the place

    There were suspicious red stains all over the place, a tons of old talismans plastered on the wall. A bunch of voodoo dolls that I was pretty sure were a bunch of Banette kept turning their heads to look at us as we walked past shelves full of bottles, ceramic pots, random ghost themed knickknacks, jars of colored liquid with weird stuff floating in it, and even some Voodoo shop t-shirt merch.

    Winnie didn¡¯t seem bothered by the atmosphere and was just curiously looking around, so I deemed the place reasonably safe.

    Justine introduced me to how normal people fed their ghosts. There was a section underneath a red sign that read: Fuud.

    Food? Ghost food?

    There were large vials of this clear iridescent liquid messily labeled ¡®Liquid Lif Essense¡¯ they were thirty dollars per bottle. The instructions said that trainers could pour some of this on the food they give to their ghost types, the amount they pour will depend on the power level of the ghost. Weaker ghosts needed more, stronger ghosts didn¡¯t need as much cause they could sustain themselves better.

    My question was where the hell they got liquid life essence. Actually, better not to ask questions.

    There were also a few other things like¡ªI squinted at the labels as I tried to read them, ¡®Corpse Jewce¡¯ which smelled¡­like a corpse, and ¡®Creamated Ashes.¡¯

    Whoever¡¯s making these signs should get a few grammar lessons, unless it¡¯s intentionally being misspelled.

    ¡°What is ¡®Corpse Jewce¡¯ used for?¡± I asked.

    Justine put a hand on her chin as she looked through the products on the shelf. ¡°Dual ghost and grass types cause in the wild they liquify their prey into juice to consume the nutrients needed.¡±

    Like how a venus flytrap eats its prey, right? That¡­kind of makes sense.

    Winnie leaned forward to sniff the products and wrinkled his nose, making a grossed out face.

    Justine tapped a handful of items, and they began floating in the air and following her around as we moved to the talisman section.

    There was a showcase with different talisman designs that the customer could pick out, it was the type of product that was locked up so that only a store employee could come and help the customer take it out. Though I didn¡¯t see any employees in the store unless you counted the ghost types in it.

    ¡°Great quality as usual~ I¡¯ll take one extra stack the usual stuff, and umm, two extra stacks of the protection talismans.¡± Justine ordered.

    I tilted my head as I examined the talismans, ¡°Do those actually work? What do they even do?¡±

    The case clicked open and a few stacks of talismans floated out and added themselves to the rest of the items Justine picked out, the case closed and locked itself again.

    Justine nodded, ¡°They give protection against aggressive ghosts and prevent them from entering certain areas. We¡¯ll be using it against wild ghosts.¡±

    ¡°Huh, thats neat.¡±

    ¡°I know right?¡±

    I followed Justine to the previously empty checkout counter where a lumpy figure completely covered by a dark cloak now stood. There was a small tag hanging on the front of the figure¡¯s cloak that said ¡®Store owner.¡¯ At least they spelled that right.

    ¡°Hey there~ It¡¯s been a while!¡± Justine smiled at the store owner as the stuff she had selected placed themselves on the countertop. The ¡®Store Owner¡¯ didn¡¯t even twitch, I was starting to wonder if it was just a cloak draped on a bunch of pillows or an actual person.

    The old fashioned cash register with a sticker that said, Cash Only, showed the total price of the items, and Justine took out a wad of cash from her bag.

    A button on the register pressed itself, and it opened with a loud, Ka-ching! An invisible force took the money and placed it into the register, then some bills floated out and back onto the countertop in front of Justine.

    A white glove connected to a black lumpy sleeve slithered out from the cloak and awkwardly pulled out a paper bag with a logo featuring a Mimikyu and the name of the shop. The items floated into the bag and neatly arranged themselves to fit perfectly.

    Winnie leaned over to my ear and whispered, ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a human.¡±

    I whispered back a bit sarcastically, ¡°You think?¡±

    ¡°Thank you so much.¡± Justine smiled as she took the bag and we headed out, the store owner waved a goodbye with its floppy hand.

    Before we stepped outside, I took another glance back at the cloaked figure at the counter, but it had disappeared.

    I took a deep breath of city air as we stepped away from the front door of the Voodoo shop to clear my nose of that weird smell from the shop.

    ¡°What¡¯s the name of that store Kenta went to?¡± I asked Justine.

    ¡°Poke-Music.¡± She answered as she put her items onto her shadow. A pair of red eyes blinked up at us as two ghostly hands carefully pulled the items down into her shadow.

    That¡¯s neat.

    ¡°az, the store!¡± Winnie said.

    I glanced back at the Voodoo shop and did a double take. The store wasn¡¯t there anymore! In its place was an empty lot with an ancient yellowed ¡®For Rent¡¯ sign plastered on the front window.

    ¡°Wait, the store is gone.¡± I exclaimed, Justine looked back and shrugged, ¡°Yeah, it does that.¡±

    <hr>

    Poke-Music had a much nicer atmosphere. It was a typical music store with a variety of instruments, instrument care stuff, and music books for sale. The only difference was that almost everything was Pokemon themed, with most of the design being based on sound or music Pokemon.

    We found Kenta in the back of the store checking out a drum set.

    ¡°You got you guitar strings?¡± I asked.

    The dragon specialist looked up, ¡°Yep. I also got a message from Chloe, she and Zoe are at Alcremie Sweets, they were asking if we wanted to meet up.¡±

    Winnie instantly perked up at the mention of sweets, ¡°sweets?! are we gonna go get some?¡±

    Noticing Winnie¡¯s reaction, Justine chuckled, ¡°You can get all the sweets you want there Winnie. They specialize in cake.¡±

    I raised an eyebrow, ¡°Maybe not all the sweets, but I¡¯ll get you and the others some. You just have to make sure to share.¡±

    ¡°of course I will!¡± Winnie said, doing a mini tappy dance on my shoulder.

    ¡°Wait, aren¡¯t the twins with Marcus?¡± I asked.

    ¡°They probably got bored and went to eat. Marcus is probably still in a meeting.¡± Justine replied with a shrug.

    Kenta confirmed her statement as we began to make our way out, ¡°Yeah, he¡¯s in a meeting at the Devon building. He¡¯ll be out in about an hour.¡±

    As we got to the entrance, I stopped and looked at a case with a few different Pokeflutes on display and ended up quickly buying one, much to Winnie¡¯s dismay, he wanted to get to that bakery as fast as possible.

    ¡°what are you gonna do with that thing?¡± Winnie asked when we finally left.

    I grinned, ¡°I¡¯m gonna learn how to play it. What else would I do with a musical instrument?¡±

    ¡°Why the Pokeflute?¡± Justine asked.

    I shrugged, ¡°I used to play the flute. I miss doing music stuff, and I like the idea of playing music for my team to enjoy during our down time.¡±

    I gestured at Kenta and Justine, ¡°I got that from hearing about how Kommo-o likes the music you play and how Yamask loves opera music.¡±

    Justine laughed, ¡°Yes he does! He¡¯d never admit it though.¡±

    Kenta smiled, ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s a good way to bond with your Pokemon.¡±

    <hr>

    A bell chimed as the door to Alcremie sweets opened and we stepped in. The bakery wasn¡¯t very busy since the lunch rush was over, and there was only one group sitting at the tables, eating some cake.

    Chloe sat up and waved at us, and Zoe turned around in her seat, ¡°Hey guys! Over here!¡±

    They¡¯re still speaking at the same time.

    The Gallade and Gardevoir with them looked up, and the two meowstic I saw before popped up from behind Chloe¡¯s seat and waved too.

    Rotom hadn¡¯t met Gardevoir or Gallade yet, so it flew out of my bag and excitedly scanned them.

    ¡°Gardevoir, the embrace Pokemon. Gardevoir has the psychokinetic power to distort the dimensions and create a small black hole. This Pok¨¦mon will try to protect its Trainer even at the risk of its own life.¡±

    ¡°Bzzt!¡±

    ¡°Gallade, the blade Pokemon. True to its honorable-warrior image, it uses the blades on its elbows only in defense of something or someone. It is sharply attuned to others¡¯ wishes for help, and seeks out those in need to aid them in battle.¡±

    Gardevoir flicked a hand and three seats flew over to their table.

    Winnie jumped out from my hood and ran over to the cake display, Litwick joined him and they began talking about their favorite flavors.

    ¡°I¡¯m gonna go get some cake for them.¡± I said, walking over to the cake display. Winnie and Litwick picked out the cakes that they wanted and I bought some extra for the other members of my team to share when we got back. Thank goodness my bag had a refrigerated section.

    ¡°So, what have you guys been doing all day?¡± Zoe asked once everyone was seated.

    ¡°We just shopped around and went to the Fight Club.¡± Justine replied, ¡°How long did it take for Marcus to bore you guys?¡±

    ¡°Precisely three minutes and seventeen seconds.¡± Chloe answered, ¡°But the great thing about Teleporting Marcus around is that he doesn¡¯t care where we go while he¡¯s working.¡±

    ¡°Tim and Professor Rowan make us sit there and wait for them and Celia takes us into the meetings with her.¡± Zoe said as she took a bite of her pinap berry decorated cake.

    Chloe sighed as she fiddled with her oran berry cake, ¡°They¡¯re always so worried about us getting in trouble with the people that Galactic company sends after us.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s annoying, we can take care of ourselves!¡± Said Zoe.

    Chloe nodded, ¡°Yeah, we went to the park and some people with weird hair and outfits were following us around and telling us to give them our Pokemon. We just teleported away from them, but they followed us all the way to the Battle Cafe!¡±

    I exchanged worried glances with Kenta and Justine and Kenta asked the twins, ¡°What did you guys do then?¡±

    Zoe waved off our worry and laughed, ¡°We teleported them instead!¡±

    Chloe joined in with her sister¡¯s laugher, ¡°Right into the dumpster where they belonged!¡±

    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    The mood lightened at that statement, teleportation sure was overpowered.

    I took out a pen and a piece of paper form my bag and drew the Team Galactic symbol on it, and slide it over to the twins, ¡°Did they have this symbol on their uniforms?¡±

    Zoe took the paper and both girls spoke, ¡°Yep! How did you know?¡±

    I crossed my arms and sat back in my seat, ¡°That¡¯s the Team Galactic symbol. They¡¯re a bunch of uhh, bad guys that should be avoided. Now that I think about it, the guy who harassed me for Kaiju earlier today had the same haircut that Galactic grunts usually have.¡±

    An image of a bunch of people with turquoise bowlcuts flashed in my mind with an implied question mark.

    I blinked a few times and realizes that Gardevoir, Gallade, and the Meowstics were staring at me.

    ¡°Uh, yeah, the guy had the same haircut.¡± I said. Gardevoir nodded and went back to sipping its drink and Gallade glanced at it. I think the two were having a psychic conversation?

    Kenta slowly sat upright, his face with a sterner expression than usual, ¡°Team Galactic? I¡¯ve never heard of them. Are they like Team Rocket?¡±

    He seemed kind of worked up as soon as I mentioned Team Galactic. Right, he¡¯s from Johto. I guess he wouldn¡¯t be happy to hear about an organization similar to the one that had a huge negative impact on his home region.

    I shrugged, ¡°I think they¡¯re more like Teams Aqua and Magma, I dunno, either way they¡¯re bad news. Someone I know encountered them before and told me about it.¡±

    ¡°The name can¡¯t be a coincidence, they¡¯re definitely related to Galactic Corporations.¡± Justine said with a thoughtful frown.

    The twins nodded in sync, ¡°Yeah, especially because of how they were trying to harass us all today.¡±

    Justine sighed, ¡°Well it¡¯s not like we can prove it. We have no evidence besides similar names.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± I said, petting Winnie¡¯s head.

    There was a grim silence before Justine rubbed her face and groaned, ¡°Ugh, lets not think about this stuff, I don¡¯t know about you guys but I came here to relax, not stress out about something I can¡¯t control.¡±

    I sighed, ¡°I agree, we¡¯ll tell the others about this when we get back.¡±

    There was a Ping! from both Chloe and Zoe¡¯s phones. Zoe looked at the message, ¡°Oh, Marcus is ready for pickup.¡±

    ¡°You guys want us to teleport you back to the lab too?¡± Chloe said as she and Zoe quickly ate the last few bites of their cakes.

    I checked my watch, ¡°That would be great. It¡¯s almost four pm, and I¡¯m pretty much done for the day.¡±

    Justine and Kenta voiced their agreement, so we all cleaned up and the twins returned their Pokemon to their balls.

    I had to spend a bit of extra time wiping cake off of Winnie¡¯s Paws cause he stepped into his cake while eating it, but it just made his paw fur all sticky. He¡¯s getting a shower when we get back.

    When we were done, Chloe and Zoe told us to brace ourselves I barely had time to register what they¡¯d said.

    Suddenly we were right outside the Jubilife Devon HQ. Disoriented, I blinked a few times as my brain figured out that we weren¡¯t in the bakery anymore. Winnie shook himself, and the others also had to take a moment to recollect.

    ¡°Hmm, he said he would be standing right outside the doors.¡± Chloe said, double checking the texts on her phone.

    I frowned and looked around, ¡°Maybe he went somewhere else? Did he text you guys anything?¡±

    ¡°No, he didn¡¯t.¡± Chloe replied with a hint of worry edging into her voice while Zoe closed her eyes and focused on something.

    ¡°Marcus isn¡¯t the type of guy to do that, have you found him yet Zoe?¡± Kenta said with a worried expression.

    Eyes still closed, Zoe shook her head, ¡°There are too many people, it¡¯s like trying to find a needle in a haystack.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re not specialized in finding people either.¡± Chloe added.

    ¡°damn, maybe i should¡¯ve brought the others.¡± I heard Winnie mutter. I thought the same, but then I had a lightbulb moment.

    ¡°Can you guys call him?¡± I asked Chloe, ¡°I think I can track his phone.¡±

    Chloe nodded and called Marcus. I raised my watch to my face, ¡°Glados, can you track the person Chloe is calling?¡±

    A bunch of quiet R2D2 noises emitted from my watch as Glados worked and pulled up a map of Jubilife on the xtransceiver screen and zoomed in before opening up Pokemaps and giving us directions.

    ¡°I got it, it¡¯s an alleyway nearby. Thanks Glados.¡± I said.

    Justine snapped a finger, ¡°Gengar, go through the alleyways over there and tell us what you find. We¡¯re looking for an average height male, short wavy brunette hair, glasses, probably wearing business casual wear with a lab coat on top. He¡¯s carrying a bag with important stuff in it.¡±

    A pair of red eyes appeared in her shadow and a set of pearly white teeth grinned. ¡°Roger that mi¡¯lady.¡±

    Then a shadow separated from Justine¡¯s and shot away.

    I gestured for the others to follow and began running to where Pokemaps directed.

    Gengar reappeared and floated alongside Justine, ¡°I found the human you described in an alley. He¡¯s been cornered by some other humans with bad haircuts.¡±

    I repeated what Gengar reported to the others and they nodded.

    ¡°Sounds like those Team Galactic guys you told us about.¡± Kenta said, ¡°Are we getting close?¡±

    I nodded, ¡°Next right!¡±

    Kenta dashed in front of me and into the next alleyway, unclipping an ultra ball from his belt. The rest of us followed close behind.

    The alley was dark and narrow, with a few dumpsters lining it, and at the end of the alleyway were a six people in Team Galactic uniforms cornering Marcus, who was tightly clutching a Devon Tech bag to his chest.

    ¡°wow, they should really fire their hair stylist.¡± Winnie remarked.

    ¡°Wait till you see Team Blaze.¡± I muttered back.

    ¡°Stop right there!¡± Chloe shouted, teleporting in between Marcus and the grunts. Zoe joined her sister, and they both let out the two Meowstic from their Pokeballs who posed and growled.

    The leader of the grunts, a lady with violet hair and in a slightly different uniform from the others scowled as she saw us, ¡°Where did these brats come from?¡±

    That¡¯s one of the Team Galactic admins, they named themselves after planets right? Mars had red hair, Saturn is blue, so this one¡¯s Jupiter.

    ¡°You guys take Marcus back, we¡¯ll deal with them!¡± Justine shouted over to the twins.

    ¡°No you don¡¯t!¡± Jupiter shouted, ¡°Grab the scientist!¡±

    The grunts followed her command and sent out a horde of Pokemon.

    Chloe looked ready to fight back, but Zoe gave her twin a look and they seemed to have a short mental argument before they both nodded. Each grabbed Marcus¡¯s arms as the grunts ordered their Pokemon to attack.

    ¡°Call us when you¡¯re done!¡± Zoe shouted. Marcus shrieked in terror, and then they all vanished, narrowly missing a barrage of attacks.

    Jupiter¡¯s annoyance quickly morphed into pure unadulterated fury, and she whipped around to face us.

    ¡°You fucking bastards! I¡¯ll make you pay for what we¡¯ve lost!¡± The Team Galactic commander screamed as she took out a Pokeball.

    The grunts followed their commander¡¯s lead and directed their Pokemon at us.

    ¡°Seize all their Pokemon and beat them into the pavement!¡± Jupiter shouted as she sent out a Skuntank, her grunts sent out even more Pokemon, crowding the alleyway even more.

    What a way to treat a bunch of kids. Too bad Sahara can¡¯t fit into this shitty alleyway.

    Rotom buzzed in alarm and was about to dive into my bag for protection, but I grabbed it. ¡°Stay out and film this all, we¡¯re in the back so we¡¯ll be safer.¡±

    ¡°Bzzt!¡± Rotom buzzed again, and showed a doubtful looking Furfrou face meme before it turned on the camera app and began recording.

    Kenta sent out Haxorus, ¡°Mind the poison types.¡±

    ¡°Poison Gas!¡± Jupiter commanded, her Skuntank growled and turned its butt to Haxorus and aggressively sprayed a thick cloud of noxious fumes.

    Oh gross!

    Haxorus used Protect to shield everyone behind it. Gengar flew over the protective barrier, cackling and grinning like a madman. With a flamboyant spin, the ghost Fire Punched the cloud of gas, igniting it.

    The alleyway blew up, I shielded my face from the burst of light, and heard the Galactic grunts scream, and the sounds of bodies hitting walls.

    ¡°ha! talk about self sabotage!¡± Winnie cheered.

    A gust of wind cleared the resulting smoke, revealing Jupiter who had ducked behind one of the dumpsters and the five Galactic Pokemon and two grunts who were still standing. A Golbat, Honchkrow, and Dustox were completely unharmed, they probably flew up far enough to avoid the blast.

    Jupiter¡¯s Skuntank was still up, as well as a Toxicroak and Mightyena in the back who were only lightly singed due to their crowded teammates shielding them from the majority of the blast.

    I could hear a few people outside of the alleyway screaming and the clattering footsteps of people running away.

    The police are probably going be coming around soon. People definitely noticed that explosion.

    ¡°Gengar and I can take care of the bitch and her Skuntank, you take care of the others.¡± Justine said as Gengar gave the skunk Pokemon a menacing look.

    Kenta nodded, ¡°Got it. Haxorus, get close and use Guillotine.¡± Haxorus rumbled and dashed forward, leaping over Skuntank and Jupiter over to the remaining grunts and their Pokemon and slashing at them with it¡¯s tusks.

    Catching Jupiter and her Skuntank by surprise, the dragon type specialist ran past them and clocked the closest grunt in the face.

    Skuntank snarled and tried to chase after Kenta, but Gengar blocked the path. The ghost stuck out its tongue at the skunk and licked it on the face, leaving a slimy trail of slobber.

    ¡°Leave sky coverage to me.¡± I shouted to the others, ¡°Winnie, distract flying Pokemon with illusions.¡±

    Winnie grinned and the air around the flying Pokemon shimmered as a swarm of Zubat appeared out of nowhere and began assaulting them with bites and loud shrieks.

    ¡°Glados, you can come out.¡±

    The virtual Pokemon beep bopped and swirled out of my watch in a tornado of ones and zeroes, ¡°PREPARED. TO. ELIMINATE.¡±

    ¡°Sure, umm Rotom, tell me what moves Glados knows.¡±

    ¡°Bzzt!¡±

    ¡°Moves: Conversion, Conversion 2, Defense Curl, Magnet Rise, Nasty Plot, Recycle, Agility, Recover, Lock-on, Charge, Double Edge, Thunder Shock, Discharge, Zap Cannon, Psybeam, Tri-Attack, Hyper Beam, Swift.¡±

    ¡°Good. Glados, get ready to shoot a target when I say it, use Charge and Nasty Plot while you wait.¡±

    I heard the sound metal on rock and watched as Haxorus made us of the confined space and landed a clean Guillotine on Toxicroak before going for Mightyena and slicing clean through the alley¡¯s brick wall.

    Gengar was still toying around with Skuntank while Jupiter and Justine exchanged insults.

    My attention switched back to the swarm of illusion Zubat as Dustox began spreading a glimmering purple powder everywhere, much to the annoyance of Honchkrow and Golbat.

    ¡°Lock-On, target Dustox.¡±

    I waited as Glados¡¯s pupil turned red and a red laser focused on Dustox, ¡°TARGET. ACQUIRED.¡±

    ¡°Zap Cannon.¡±

    My hair rose as electricity crackled and a beam of concentrated electricity shot at Dustox like a railgun, I heard a loud thrumming hum from the electricity.

    I slightly gagged at the smell of burnt bug and Dustox dropped out of the air, burnt and smoking.

    ¡°Shit!¡± I heard one of the grunts shout as they returned Dustox and another one pointed at me, ordering Honchkrow and Golbat to attack right before Kenta punched the guy in the mouth.

    Golbat and Honchkrow¡¯s wings glowing light blue as they flapped and sent a salvo of Air Slashes my way.

    Rotom buzzed in alarm and dived into my bag for protection as I scrambled backwards, and I felt Winnie¡¯s claws dig into my shoulder so that he could keep his balance as. The attacks hit the ground and cut through the pavement just where I was standing.

    Honchkrow cawed in laughter and Golbat dived at me, fangs glowing purple.

    ¡°Winnie, Extrasensory on Golbat! Zap Cannon Honchkrow.¡± I yelled.

    Using my head as a launchpad, Winnie jumped up and shot a Shadow Ball straight into Golbat¡¯s mouth. Then his eyes glowed as he used Extrasensory to attack Golbat, sending it crashing into a wall before neatly landing in front of me.

    Honchkrow crowed and its wings glowed again as it prepared to send another Air Slash, only to be engulfed by a beam of electricity and turned into a roast chicken.

    There was an outbreak of screaming from Skuntank as Gengar gleefully dragged it into the shadows lining the alleyway. Jupiter had been knocked over and was sporting a nasty clawmark to the face, one of her eyes was profusely bleeding.

    I could see the commander gawking helplessly at Gengar as she watched it disappear with her Pokemon. Oh geez I do not want to know what¡¯s going to happen to the Skuntank.

    Jupiter¡¯s shock turned into rage again. She glanced over at her men, who had been beaten up by Kenta.

    Justine casually walked over to Jupiter and not so discreetly placed a hand on her Pokeball belt.

    ¡°So, what did you guys want with our friend?¡±

    Jupiter smirked at Justine, ¡°We want you idiots to stop interfering with our plans. We¡¯re working towards the creation of a glorious and perfect world.¡± Her expression darkened, ¡°You IDIOTS just HAD to interfere! You¡¯ll regret this, I¡¯ll make sure of it!¡±

    Justine leaned forward a with a hand on her hip, ¡°You¡¯ll be reflecting on your actions from a jail cell bitch~¡±

    Kicking at Justine¡¯s feet to make the ghost specialist back away, Jupiter pressed the remaining Pokeball on her belt and released a Bronzong.

    ¡°Bronzong!¡± The metal bell Pokemon echoed as it encased all the Team Galactic people and Pokemon in psychic energy.

    ¡°Shit!¡± I cursed under my breath, ¡°Glados!¡±

    Glados squealed and shot a Zap Cannon at the metal bell Pokemon. Under Kenta¡¯s command, Haxorus also attacked, shooting a Hyper Beam at Bronzong.

    Jupiter gave us the good ol middle finger as Bronzong teleported her and the grunts away and Glados and Haxorus¡¯s attacked hit the ground and exploded.

    I coughed and waved away the smoke and dust from my face, and paused as I heard the wailing of police sirens in the distance.

    ¡°awww! come on! they got away!¡± Winnie whined as he jumped back up onto my shoulder.

    ¡°Of course they come only when the battle is over.¡± I grumbled.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ve got us a ticket out.¡± Justine cheerfully said as she pulled out her phone and called the twins.

    ¡°Hey guys~ We¡¯re done, you can come fetch us. Now would be the best.¡±

    I raised an eyebrow, ¡°We¡¯re gonna run from the police?¡±

    ¡°I think that the police will believe Professor Rowan more than a bunch of unruly teens, don¡¯t you~?¡± Justine shot back.

    I sighed, ¡°I guess so.¡±

    Kenta walked back over to us after returning Haxorus with a sullen expression. The guy was sporting a few bruises and cuts on his face and his knuckles were dripping blood.

    Oh boy, did he really have to go beat up the grunts, pretty sure he could¡¯ve left Haxorus to it. It¡¯s pretty bad to get an injury on your knuckles while punching someone¡¯s teeth out in a dirty alleyway. The bacteria from the other person¡¯s mouth. And the alleyway. Ew.

    I could tell Justine didn¡¯t look very happy about Kenta getting into a fist fight either, as she shot him a look that was less 100% disapproving, and more like: You should know better but I get it.

    I guess he had some big problems with evil organizations. Not my business to ask though.

    The flashing of police lights snapped me out of my thoughts, I was starting to panic a bit, but thankfully Chloe and Zoe had great timing.

    They appeared in front of us and looked around, ¡°Where did the bad guys go?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll tell you in a second, lets go!¡± Justine hurriedly said, ushering us all together.

    The world shifted, and suddenly we were all back at the ranch.

    <hr>

    Tim and Celia were there to meet us and we explained everything to them. They surprisingly didn¡¯t scold us for avoiding the police and fleeing the scene of the crime and said that they would take care of that issue.

    We also learned from them, that Marcus told them, that the Team Galactic goons were trying to steal the tech in his bag. Jupiter also said something about killing him, which was the most concerning part.

    Celia was particularly angry in a worried way towards Marcus cause he neglected to bring any of his Pokemon with him. He was too excited to see the new tech and simply forgot. The researcher would¡¯ve been toast if we hadn¡¯t arrived on time. He had to go lay down to calm down from almost getting horribly injured at best and killed at worst.

    Poor guy just wants to do his research in peace and this evil team just had to come and try to kill him and steal his hard work.

    The rest of the team gathered to hear what happened, it wasn¡¯t everyday that such an obvious attempt to sabotage the expedition happened. They all agreed that Galactic Corporations had something to do with this.

    Abigail looked as stoic as usual. Jason just stood to the side and listened to us talk with a concerned look.

    Ben and Collin were rightfully furious about their colleagues being attacked, but they liked the part about the twins teleporting the grunts into a dumpster and joked that the grunts should¡¯ve been put into a trash compactor instead.

    After making sure her younger sister was unharmed, Angela scolded Gengar for getting too distracted with whatever it did to poor Skuntank and therefore not being able to catch any of the attackers.

    I told the others about the recording Rotom had, though the latter half only had audio since Rotom had hidden in my bag when we were attacked by Golbat and Honchkrow, which I didn¡¯t blame the electric type for.

    Professor Rowan came out of the lab after he was done checking up with Marcus and announced to the rest of the team that no one was allowed to leave the lab¡¯s property without taking their team with them, which should be obvious. Everyone was also to use a buddy system and let everyone know where we were going whenever we left the property.

    Rowan had been pretty hands off with the expedition team besides attending team meetings and despite always acting a bit stern he¡¯d always given off friendly grandpa vibes.

    Now, we were seeing a different side of him. The Professor could handle some annoying harassment, but a threat on his employee¡¯s lives was a whole other issue. He quickly obtained copy of the recording of the fight from Rotom, all he said as he left was a short, ¡°I¡¯ll handle it.¡±

    Oooo, someone¡¯s gonna get their ass whooped. I had no idea who, but I guess the professor had someone in mind.

    Once everything calmed down a bit, I went inside to change out of my dirt stained clothes and wash off the sticky cake residue from Winnie¡¯s fur. The Kaiju and the ghost gang were given their share of cake as Winnie recounted the day¡¯s events. I had Shuppet take Sahara¡¯s ultra ball so the landshark could have some free time in the ranch.

    Kaiju fell asleep after eating cake so I left him there with the ghosts to babysit and went downstairs to see what was up after I heard some shouting.

    The lounge was deserted, Justine, Kenta, Yamask, and Tim¡¯s Chansey were sitting at the kitchen table with a first aid kit.

    Chansey was patching up the dragon specialist¡¯s split lip and bruised face, his hands already had a bunch of bandages on them.

    Kenta just looked out the window and seemed a lot grumpier than he usually was, while Justine was sipping some tea. The ghost specialist¡¯s usually cheerful attitude was a bit muted as she mulled something over in her head.

    Yamask¡¯s usually prideful attitude was nowhere to be found, and the mask ghost looked worryingly between the two trainers, one of its hands was resting on Justine¡¯s shoulder.

    What¡¯s going on here?

    A slightly soggy Winnie climbed up onto my head and peered at the two as I walked over, ¡°Will your hands make it? Or are we gonna have to begin looking for prosthetics?¡± I joked.

    Kenta glanced over and sharply looked away, curtly replying, ¡°My hands will be fine.¡±

    Justine frowned and gave him a look while I raised an eyebrow. When did dragon man turn the broodiness up to ten?

    ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    ¡°What? Yeah¨C¡±

    Justine elbowed Kenta, ¡°He¡¯s got a problem with Team Rocket. A lot of people from Kanto and Johto do. We get a bit snippy around other similar organizations.¡±

    Kenta shot Justine a glare and looked away again.

    Ahhh, lemme guess, someone he cares about was hurt by Team Rocket? Wait, Justine said we¡­Curious, but that¡¯s none of my business if they don¡¯t feel like talking about it. It sounds and looks like a touchy subject.

    I shrugged, ¡°I see. And by the way,¡± I pointed at Kenta, ¡°if you¡¯re gonna throw hands with people you should really get some knuckle dusters.¡±

    ¡°Chan sey!¡± Chansey exclaimed, shooting me a disapproving look. Kenta didn¡¯t particularly acknowledge the suggestion, but he looked like he was actually considering it.

    I raised my hands defensively, ¡°Hey, it¡¯s better than splitting his knuckles open every time he fights some evil organization¡¯s goons.¡±

    Justine sipped her tea, ¡°Talismans are more effective.¡±

    Chansey finished applying what looked like a Hyper Potion to Kenta¡¯s face and began to clean up the stuff that she had taken out of the first aid kit.

    ¡°I¡¯m not dealing with your ghost shit Justine.¡± The dragon specialist sighed as he thanked Chansey and took the soft-boiled egg she offered him.

    Justine rolled her eyes and sassily flicked her purple hair, ¡°It would save you a lot of trouble. You¡¯d also be much better off if you¡¯d be willing to get a Dreepy, Dragapults are faster than Dragonites by a long shot.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re really going to bring that up again?¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡±

    Yamask shot me a relieved look and I smiled back at it as the two trainers went back to their usual light hearted bickering, the tension in the room lightening.

    I sat down and joined the debate on Dragapult.

 (16) Imagine Being a Good Liar

    I waited for Sahara, Kaiju, and Winnie to line up in front of me underneath the shade of a large tree.

    I needed to make sure the Glados knew who was a friend or enemy, so I had found a hidden corner of the ranch where I could introduce her to the rest of the team in peace.

    I put up my left hand and watched as a bunch of ones and zeroes swirled out my watch, converging into the one and only Glados.

    ¡°Alright everyone this is Glados the Porygon-Z. Winnie you¡¯ve already met Glados, everyone else say hi.¡±

    ¡°Garchomp.¡± Sahara nodded as she eyed the new addition to the team, probably wondering how much of a challenge the virtual Pokemon would be in a battle.

    Kaiju simply stared at Glados with an open mouth and drooled, I already knew what he was thinking.

    I turned back to Glados, ¡°Glados, this is the team you will be working with. Look out for them and they will look out for you.¡±

    ¡°PorryyyygoOUUuuweeeuuuuzeeeee¡­¡± Glados said, acknowledging my command.

    ¡°RUNNING. THROUGH. STRATEGIES. WITH. TEAM. TO. OPTIMIZE. ELIMINATION. OF. ENEMIES-S-S-S-S.¡±

    Winnie and I exchanged a glance and I waved my hands at Glados, ¡°Woah, woah, woah. Actually, lets clarify some stuff, yeah?¡±

    Glados¡¯s head twitched as it looked at me.

    ¡°Umm, most Pokemon battles don¡¯t require us to ¡®eliminate¡¯ opponents, just incapacitate them. No killing, okay? That can get us, more specifically me, into a lot of trouble.¡±

    ¡°AND. LIFE. THREATENING. SITUATIONS¡­?¡±

    I pursed my lips, ¡°Uh, let¡¯s create a code word for that okay? You¡¯re only allowed to do that if I tell you to uhhhhhhh¡­Go into murder mode!¡± I clapped my hands together, ¡°Yeah, murder mode. How does that sound?¡±

    ¡°ACCEPTABLE.¡±

    I gave an internal sigh of relief. Winnie tilted his head and looked at something behind me, ¡°hey, that¡¯s the old guy named after a tree!¡±

    I froze in place and then slowly turned around. It indeed was Professor Rowan, he was standing with a Staraptor perched on a tree branch behind him.

    The Professor scratched his chin and seemed mildly curious as he took a long look at Glados.

    ¡°Hmm, a Porygon-Z. Is that the one you used to defeat Team Galactic yesterday?¡±

    How did he find me here? It literally took me forever to find this place!

    ¡°Uh, yeah?¡± I hesitantly replied as Kaiju ran over to Rowan and licked his hands. The professor smiled and patted Kaiju¡¯s head, ¡°Hello boy, you¡¯re looking good.¡±

    ¡°Deino!¡±

    He looked back at me, ¡°That¡¯s good, it¡¯s been a while since I¡¯ve seen one used outside of the STEM industry.¡±

    The Professor cleared his throat, ¡°Well anyways, I¡¯m just going around and making sure that everyone involved in the incident is okay. So, how are you and your team doing Azalea?¡±

    He¡¯s not gonna mention Glados any further?

    ¡°We¡¯re doing great, I was planning on doing a training session today.¡± I replied. ¡°By the way, is Marcus okay?¡±

    I hadn¡¯t seen a hint of the guy since yesterday.

    Rowan nodded, ¡°He¡¯s still a bit shocked from yesterdays events, but he will recover. I will tell him you asked.¡±

    There was a moment of silence before Rowan continued and asked, ¡°If you don¡¯t mind me asking Azalea, how did you know about Team Galactic? Your friends told me that you knew about them.¡±

    My blood pressure exponentially rose as I tried to collect my thoughts, miserably failing to keep a straight face.

    ¡°Ummm, a friend in Sinnoh told me about a sketchy job interview that turned out to be recruitment for Team Galactic.¡±

    Rowan raised an eyebrow, ¡°Really? Who¡¯s this friend?¡±

    I scratched my head, ¡°Umm, I-I don¡¯t know their real name. They lived in Sinnoh and I¡¯ve never been outside of Unova so I¡¯ve never met them in person. Uhh, yeah they were an internet friend and I kinda stopped talking to them after a while. Yeah, so I don¡¯t know that much.¡±

    Urgh that was so bad! Even a toddler wouldn¡¯t believe me! Stupid! Stupid!

    It¡¯s not that I didn¡¯t trust Professor Rowan, it¡¯s just that I needed to organize the facts I knew about basically every villain organization and have a proper exit plan first before I spilled anything in case things got dicey.

    The last thing I needed would be be put on Team Galactic¡¯s hit list and have I dunno, Hunter J sent after me, cause I knew that she worked with Team Galactic in the anime.

    I also didn¡¯t need people questioning where the hell I got this info, cause I didn¡¯t think they were going to take, ¡®I¡¯m from another universe where I saw all of this in a kids TV show¡¯ as a convincing argument. Well, that would depend on how much the Pokemon League already knew about Ultra Wormholes.

    Much to my relief, Rowan seemed to either believe me (highly unlikely) or he picked up on the fact that I didn¡¯t want to say shit about Team Galactic.

    ¡°Hmm, that¡¯s too bad. It would be helpful to have any lead on Team Galactic.¡±

    There was an awkward pause, then Rowan spoke again, ¡°And, have you told your family about yesterday¡¯s incident yet? They must be worried.¡±

    Great now I have to talk about my family that doesn¡¯t exist. Hopefully he doesn¡¯t ask to talk to them.

    ¡°Uhhh, yeah. Yep, they know. They know that I¡¯m okay.¡± I said as nonchalantly as I could, ¡°My parents are pretty keen on me being independent and they know I can take care of myself.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± Rowan said, his expression gave nothing away. Meanwhile I was sweating bullets. He totally doesn¡¯t believe me.

    RIIIIPP! My eyes widened in surprised, ¡°Kaiju!¡± I shouted as the little dragon playful growled, running away with a piece of the Professor¡¯s lab coat, and hid behind Sahara.

    The landshark rolled her eyes and walked away, grumbling something under her breath.

    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry about that! He usually doesn¡¯t do that!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s just a run of the mill lab coat. When does a young Pokemon not get up to something mischievous?¡± Thankfully the Professor didn¡¯t seem the mind his ripped coat and changed the subject after dusting himself off, ¡°So, what do you plan to do once the expedition has ended?¡±

    I walked over to Kaiju and took the piece of drool soaked cloth from his mouth and replied, ¡°Heck if I know.¡± That¡¯s actually a good question, I¡¯ve kind of been just going with the flow ever since I got here. The invitation to the expedition was pretty perfectly timed.

    ¡°I definitely wanna challenge gyms and try to make it to a conference and travel a lot.¡±

    ¡°You have any regions in mind?¡± The Professor asked as I handed him back the soggy piece of cloth.

    I shrugged, ¡°I dunno, all of them?¡±

    I guess it would be beneficial to plan out what team I want so I can travel to those regions first and get said Pokemon before I challenge any gyms for real. I¡¯d rather spend time training and exploring cool places than scrambling to look for Pokemon to fill a team slot within a limited time frame.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay to not be sure, you have plenty of time.¡± Rowan replied, pocketing the piece of cloth.

    Not in regards to evil organizations trying to destroy or take over the world.

    Rowan¡¯s watch alarm began to beep and he glanced at it, ¡°Hmmm, sorry to cut things short. I have a meeting to get to.¡±

    He said goodbye and walked away, the Staraptor accompanying him taking off from the branch it was roosting on and gliding leisurely above the Professor.

    ¡°Yep, got it. Bye. Have a good day!¡± I waved after the Professor and Staraptor until they were out of sight waited and sighed as soon as I knew they were out of earshot.

    I rubbed my neck and sighed again, ¡°Shit.¡±

    Winnie looked at me quizzically, ¡°you need to work on your lying skills.¡±

    ¡°Deino dein!¡± Kaiju helpfully added.

    ¡°Kaiju says you lie worse than his siblings do.¡± Winnie translated.

    ¡°Good to know.¡± I sarcastically retorted.

    He was poking me for info, thank Arceus he didn¡¯t ask anymore questions.

    There was a lot of new stuff to address, first of which being: What¡¯s up with the Porygon-Z stuff?

    I sat down on a nearby rock and pulled out Rotom, ¡°Search up those articles about Porygon-Z please.¡±

    Winnie hopped onto my shoulder to get a view of Rotom¡¯s screen and Kaiju sat down next to me.

    ¡°Bzzt!¡±

    ¡°Shit.¡± I sighed as I actually took time to read through the stuff I had skimmed before. Fuck my short attention span. This would¡¯ve caused me a lot less stress if I had actually read the articles.

    If I had taken a slightly closer look, my dumbass would¡¯ve seen that the articles were from eleven years ago. Eleven. Years. Ago.

    Scrolling down a littler further revealed a few more articles from just a few years ago talking about investigations into bootleg Dubious Discs causing Porygon-Z¡¯s to malfunction after evolving.

    Eleven years ago, there was a high demand for Dubious Discs but low production due to the item being hard to make, so Team Rocket decided to line their pockets by selling bootlegs versions, which inevitably resulted in defect Porygon-Z¡¯s running about and causing mass destruction.

    Up until five years, ago there had been a ban on evolving anymore Porygon2. Then the league confirmed that they had retrieved all the bootleg copies and lifted the ban.

    The news was kept somewhat under wraps, and not many places reported on it, I guess partially to make Porygon-Z a less in-demand Pokemon and prevent another repeat of the bootleg incident. Some regions had disabled the non lab issued Pokedex apps in order to not have Porygon-Z registered on it.

    Nowadays, the Porygon line was almost exclusively used in labs and with tech stuff. That¡¯s why Professor Rowan didn¡¯t seem to care much about Glados.

    I snapped back to attention as I heard Winnie growl, and looked at a cluster of bushes to our left that he was growling at.

    ¡°What is it now?¡±

    Winnie hopped down form my shoulder and made a head gesture at the bushes, ¡°there¡¯s a brat hiding over there. why don¡¯t you stop spying and come out to face us?¡±

    The underbrush slightly rustled and Yamask floated out from them with a somewhat fed up expression on both his mask an face.

    The ghost raised his hands up in a gesture of peace as he glared back at the little fox, ¡°Hey, I¡¯m not here for a fight you mongrel.¡±

    I pulled Winnie back a bit and smoothed down his hackles. ¡°What¡¯s up Yamask?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m here to talk about Team Galactic. I¡¯ll be straight and tell you I was suspicious of you because you guys clearly knew more than you were letting off, but after witnessing how terrible of a liar you are, I¡¯m sure your the last person who would be chosen for a spy.¡±

    I rolled my eyes, ¡°Gee thanks. These guys have made it quite clear alrea¨C¡±

    ¡°You need to tell the Professor what you know.¡± Yamask interrupted.

    ¡°Really?¡± I replied with a raised eyebrow, ¡°Why do you of all Pokemon want me to blab about Team Galactic?¡±

    ¡°what, you really need help from us Yamask?¡± Winnie chipped in, using a fake tone of concern.

    Yamask¡¯s face and mask shifted to annoyance, ¡°Why? Because I don¡¯t want my family to get hurt again. They¡¯ve been through this type of shit before you know, and they were almost killed because of it.¡±

    Oh shit, really? By his family he means Justine and Angela right? Justine was so cheerful all the time and Angela was so strong that it didn¡¯t even occur to me that something bad could¡¯ve happened to them in the past.

    I frowned, ¡°And you think that Team Galactic is gonna try something similarly as bad?¡±

    Why am I asking that? If they team up with someone like Hunter J they definitely would do some messed up shit, and I know their end goal.

    Yamask growled, floating forward and pointing a finger in my face, ¡°Yes. You morons literally got attacked by those guys, and Marcus could¡¯ve been killed. You really think they¡¯re playing nice?¡±

    Winnie snapped at Yamask¡¯s hand, making the mask ghost quickly withdraw and glare back at Winnie. I put a hand on Winnie¡¯s head to silence him.

    ¡°Just wait until they begin to recruit more competent henchmen, then you¡¯ll see what they¡¯re truly willing to do for their goals. If you need any proof, just take a look at what those Aqua and Magma morons in Hoenn did when the Hoenn league left them to fester for too long.¡±

    ¡°So you want to kill the weeds before they can grow out of control.¡± I stated.

    ¡°Essentially yes.¡± Yamask affirmed with a stately nod.

    I sighed and ran a hand through my hair, ¡°Trust me I¡¯d love to tell someone about what I know, but I would also have to keep my anonymity.¡±

    Then I pointed back at Yamask, tapping it¡¯s mask, ¡°If you know what it¡¯s like to be a victim of these types of people, then you must know how important it is for a kid with no solid backing to stay off of their hit list.¡±

    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    Slightly backing up, Yamask¡¯s eyes widened a bit before he looked away, ¡°I see your point. Fine, if we can come up with a way to protect you identity and get your info to the right people, would you be willing to help?¡±

    I nodded, ¡°Absolutely.¡±

    Crossing his arms, Yamask smiled, ¡°Good, I have a plan then.¡±

    The mask ghost then turned to Winnie and pointed in the white fox¡¯s face, ¡°And you, you just wait, I¡¯ll be beating the crap outta you soon.¡±

    Winnie batted the ghosts¡¯s finger aside and growled back, ¡°i¡¯d like to see you try punk. you wanna go? we can fight now¨C¡±

    ¡°Calm down guys.¡± I picked Winnie up, much to his protest, shoving him into my hood, and pulling the hoodie strings tight to turn him into a burrito, ¡°What¡¯s your plan Yamask?¡±

    The mask ghost cackled a bit at how I handled Winnie and ¡°I know a guy in Interpol, a few guys in Interpol who can help out. All I need you to do is give me all the dirt you have on those Team Galactic punks.¡±

    I saluted, ¡°Roger that.¡±

    <hr>

    ¡°So, what have you guys found out about Azalea?¡± Celia asked, idly tapping her pen on the table.

    The ice-blue haired researcher was sat a meeting table with all the senior members of the expedition team¡ªTim, Marcus, Angela, Leo, and Jason.

    ¡°Not much besides that she knows more than what she¡¯s saying. Rowan said that she was obviously lying but he didn¡¯t want to push her any further in case it would make her more hesitant to talk about it in the future.¡± Tim reported.

    ¡°My ghosts caught her talking about the names of Team Galactic admins and the organization¡¯s goals with her Zorua. Something to do with the creation trio.¡± Angela added with a slight frown.

    Jason looked up from his laptop, ¡°And I couldn¡¯t find anything about her in the Pokemon League¡¯s systems. It¡¯s like she didn¡¯t exist until right before Professor Juniper contacted her.¡±

    ¡°But there¡¯s a record of her and her family in the Unovan system.¡± Tim pointed out.

    Jason nodded, ¡°Yes, I¡¯ll correct myself. I meant that there¡¯s been no record of her since the death of her parents. It¡¯s like she dropped off the face of the earth and then suddenly reappeared a month ago.¡±

    Leo briefly raised a hand, ¡°Did she say anything about her parents?¡±

    ¡°Nothing much. She didn¡¯t say anything about them.¡± Tim said.

    ¡°So do you guys think she has anything to do with Team Galactic?¡± Jason asked, ¡°This might be a situation like how Team Plasma used that kid with the Zekrom in their schemes, Pokemon translator and all.¡±

    Angel exhaled a breath of smoke despite not having any cigarettes and shook her head, ¡°No. I got word that my sister¡¯s Yamask spoke to Azalea about exposing Team Galactic soon after Rowan left her. She¡¯s not lying because she¡¯s affiliated with the group but because she¡¯s afraid of retaliation from them.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps she was in a similar scenario to what you and your sister experienced with Team Rocket.¡± Tim suggested.

    Celia frowned and asked, ¡°What scenario?¡±

    Angela languidly played with the smoke wafting around her, ¡°My parents were Interpol agents, they worked as undercover agents in the Team Rocket mafia.¡±

    The smoke shifted into a male and female figure dressed in Team rocket attire, ¡°They were found out as moles and killed.¡± The figures heads violently exploded as if they were shot by a gun.

    Then a two little girls formed from the smoke, with dragonite in front of them, shielding them from a group of Team Rocket grunts, ¡°The Blackthorn clan helped protect us from Team Rocket and we had to fake our deaths in order to avoid being targeted and killed.¡±

    Marcus nervously spoke up, ¡°It¡­doesn¡¯t really make sense that she¡¯d be hiding from Team Galactic though. They only recently became powerful, and they still don¡¯t have the manpower to do something on the same level as Team Rocket.¡±

    The smoke around Angela dissipated as she spoke, ¡°But Team Plasma did, not to mention Ghetsis had the Shadow Triad to assassinate people for him. They¡¯re skilled enough that even Unova¡¯s Elite four had trouble capturing them.¡±

    ¡°How did her parents die?¡± Leo asked with an expression of concern.

    ¡°They¡¯re listed as kill in action twelve years ago,¡± Jason stated, typing away at his laptop, ¡°They were rangers working in an exchange program. I couldn¡¯t find where Azalea was at the time of their death. No extended family either. I don¡¯t get it, this still doesn¡¯t explain how she knows about the admins and goal of Team Galactic.¡±

    Celia sighed, ¡°We might have a clue if we¡¯re able to contact who raised her. Did any of Unovan¡¯s childrens or protections systems have anything on her?¡±

    ¡°No, they didn¡¯t even know she existed.¡± The electric type specialist said.

    ¡°Then who the hell raised her?¡± Tim muttered, ¡°She was two when her parents died.¡±

    ¡°Maybe Pokemon?¡± Marcus suggested, ¡°I-I mean, there are cases of Pokemon raising humans right?¡± He looked at Celia, ¡°You¡¯ve found missing children who were raised by Pokemon before.¡±

    Celia shrugged and nodded, ¡°Yeah I have, but they were completely unsocialized and took years to become accustomed to human life. Azalea is having no problem fitting right in and is educated.¡±

    Angela held up a hand as she thought of something, ¡°Hold on, Marcus might be right.¡±

    Celia tilted her head, ¡°Oh yeah?¡±

    Angel took Jason¡¯s laptop, earning a ¡°Hey!¡± of protest from the electric type specialist as she began typing, ¡°Ghosts are infamous for kidnapping children.¡±

    Everyone looked to the whiteboard as the projector flickered to life and showed a trainer profile of a man that looked similar to Azalea. The ghost specialist clicked on Gengar¡¯s profile, ¡°Yeah, see? Her dad had a Gengar that disappeared after his death. It could¡¯ve taken her with it.¡±

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t anyone notice?¡± Leo asked with a frown.

    ¡°Not if Gengar hypnotized them. Even without that, she doesn¡¯t seem to have any family outside of her parents, it would¡¯ve be hard for a kid like her to slip through the cracks.¡± Angela replied.

    ¡°So you¡¯re saying that her father¡¯s Gengar raised her.¡± Tim said.

    Angela exhaled another breath of smoke that formed into tons of different ghost type Pokemon, ¡°More like a coven of ghosts. That would explain the handful of young ghost Pokemon following her around and all the money and items she has. Her parents weren¡¯t rich you know, how else would she suddenly have a high grade Devon bag and hundreds of thousands of dollars in her bank account?¡±

    ¡°The ghosts gave her the stuff they looted from previous victims.¡± Leo stated with a slightly shocked look, ¡°Wait then what about the rare Pokemon?¡±

    A giant ghost silhouette formed above the of the smoke ghosts as Angela replied, ¡°The Coven Master, probably helped her catch them. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if it taught her everything about how to be a human too.¡± She typed into the computer and pulled up a map of the world with detailed labels and zoomed into Unova.

    ¡°The ghost type community has a list of covens in each region. Azalea appeared in Humilau, there¡¯s one in the northeast of Unova. She also mentioned to my sister something about a ¡®Great Deku Tree¡¯ giving her the ability to speak to ghost Pokemon. That would be¡­¡± The map zoomed further in to show one particular red circle. ¡°This! The Haunted Forest Coven. It¡¯s ruled by a Trevenant.¡±

    The smoke around Angela formed into a massive Trevenant with malicious red eyes.

    Jason leaned back into his chair with his arms crossed, ¡°And how does this have to do with her knowing about Team Galactic?¡±

    ¡°She might¡¯ve learned about them from Trevenant or one of the other elder ghosts. Or maybe from a ghost that still had memories of its life as a human.¡± Angela replied.

    Leo tapped the table, ¡°How can we get the information from her then?¡±

    ¡°She made a plan with Yamask about organizing a list of information about them. I¡¯ll have one of my ghosts ask him and report back.¡± The ghost specialist answered.

    Tim sat back in his chair and sighed, rubbing his face, ¡°Kids these days. Why do they think they have to bet he only ones to handle these situations? Can¡¯t they leave stuff like this to adults and not get involved with criminal organizations?¡±

    Leo sat back in his chair too and chuckled, ¡°That¡¯s just how the world is. Don¡¯t you remember, Red was fifteen when he helped take down Team Rocket.¡±

    ¡°Hilda was in her teens too when she faced Ghetsis and N from what I remember.¡± Marcus added.

    ¡°Yeah and she mysteriously ended up dead not long after Ghetsis escaped with the Shadow Triad.¡± Tim snapped, ¡°Throat slit, gutted like a fish, and her Pokemon missing.¡± His voice slightly choked up.

    Marcus patted his colleague on his back, ¡°Yeah I know, it was shocking to hear. A promising trainer extinguished just like that, she was one of Juniper¡¯s favorites too.¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t need another case like Hilda¡¯s, we¡¯ll need to keep an eye out for Azalea and the other kids.¡± Tim sighed, the others voiced their agreement.

    ¡°And I still can¡¯t believe Kenta thought it was a good idea to get into a fist fight with a Pokemon.¡± Leo added with a slight chuckle.

    ¡°He¡¯s just asking to get poisoned, criminal organizations might as well specialize in poison and dark types.¡± Jason irritably said as he grabbed his laptop back from Angela.

    Leo rolled his eyes and waved at Jason, ¡°Hello, dark type specialist here.¡±

    A look from Celia made Jason sigh and apologize, ¡°Sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to offend, I was just emphasizing how much they prefer those specific types.¡±

    A loud tapping on the table got everyone¡¯s attention, Angela stood up with a Banette floating behind her, ¡°Well if we have nothing else to talk bout, I¡¯m out. I have a Yamask to interrogate.¡± The ghost specialist strode out of the room, a trail of faint, scentless smoke trailing behind her.

    Everyone looked at each other and agreed to end the meeting, they indeed had nothing else to talk about.

    <hr>

    ¡°You got this Sahara!¡± I shouted encouragement as she took another swing at Mienshao and missed.

    The landshark was struggling a lot more than usual due to the power set she had demanded that I equip her with after I explained how they worked. She¡¯d have basically every stat nerfed during her training sessions in exchange for more growth in power.

    For actual battles, Sahara would get the muscle band, and the choice band once she had mastered Outrage to the point of being able to shake herself out of it.

    I looked back over to Kaiju and Winnie, who were doing their usual hide and seek training, Winnie was hiding in his illusions and Kaiju was tasked with finding and tagging him with a few moves.

    This time Winnie got a spell tag, which was currently tucked into his tail. The ghost fox was pretty excited about his new item, and after using it a few times, told me about how it made it easier to create large illusions. He was already hard at work using the power of the spell tag to mimic Sahara and create a small illusion sandstorm.

    Kaiju on the other hand got to wear the extra Power Lens I had to train his special attack. I was originally planning on having him try out the wise glasses but he got excited and began shooting Dragon Pulses at everything.

    So no wise glasses for Kaiju, they would be going to Glados instead. The usually wacky looking Pokemon looked pretty fashionable with the wise glasses on and I told it as much.

    The glitchy duck looked pretty satisfied with its new item, though it seemed confused about the purpose of me just saying it looked good wearing the wise glasses. I had to explain to it what compliments were and I think it understood? Despite talking like in the flattest robot voice ever, I swear I could began to hear a hint of emotion in the AI¡¯s speech patterns as it told me that it liked the glasses.

    All in all, the team was happy with the new items I had forgotten about until just recently.

    In addition to the new items, I organized all the TRs in my bag to see which ones I had. I should¡¯ve been more proactive in making TRs when I was playing Violet, but there were still ones that would be useful for the team, for example, surprise surprise! I had a TR for Thunder Fang. How convenient.

    I wanna use the Terra Orb but I already told everyone that this was my first time outside of Unova. How would I explain having something exclusively from Paldea?

    I would¡¯ve preferred having access to Z-Moves or mega evolution instead, but eh, that was another problem for another time.

    Anyways, back to new moves. Using TRs and TMs was a simple enough process. The user would just have to return their Pokemon, find a into this machine thingy with a screen and a slot to inset the discs. Put the discs for the moves you wanted you Pokemon to learn in, and then tap the Pokeball¡¯s button to this round indent underneath the screen and hold until the machine chimed to indicate that the process was done.

    So bam! Thunder Fang and Protect, two new moves for Sahara to add to her list of moves to practice.

    With Glados, it could just go into the machine once I had inserted the discs and download the information for Protect.

    While the process was easy for Sahara Glados, the same couldn¡¯t be said for Winnie cause he didn¡¯t have a Pokeball. There was no other way to use a TM or TR, but we both wanted him to learn Protect and Substitute.

    With the promise of going to a fancy restaurant after the expedition had ended, he ended up agreeing to temporarily being caught in a luxury ball.

    One Protect and Substitute later, I released Winnie from the luxury ball. He shook himself off and stated, ¡°that was unpleasant. i don¡¯t see why sahara and kaiju can stand being in those things.¡±

    I just shrugged, ¡°I dunno, you can ask them later if you want.¡±

    After that, it was back to training. Kaiju and Winnie were paired off to take turns using Protect and while the other tested the strength of the move with an attack.

    Sahara went off to practice her new moves with Kenta¡¯s dragons in the ¡®Dragons only¡¯ section of the ranch, so I wouldn¡¯t have to worry about lunch for her. The ranch staff usually took care of feeding the Pokemon on the ranch who weren¡¯t with their trainers and they did a good job, though Sahara made sure that she had her bottle of extra hot chili sauce to put onto her food.

    So I was left with Glados, and we had some work to do.

    I took another look at the moves she had before coming up with a list of goals.

    ¡°Well first thing is that you don¡¯t need Thunder Shock, it¡¯s just a less powerful version of Discharge.¡±

    ¡°AFFIRMATIVE. DELETING. THUNDER. SHOCK. ?-?-?-?-?-?¡±

    I took a look at a list of moves it could learn, then whittled down the list to ones that I thought would be more important for it to learn.

    Psychic wasn¡¯t hard to teach to Glados myself just because all it had to do was use psychic type energy to move things around, and for an attack, crush them.

    Gravity wasn¡¯t as straightforward as I thought it would be. I thought having Glados force everything within a certain radius downwards would work but it wasn¡¯t as powerful as I thought it would be.

    So we went off to visit our local psychic type specialists! I asked them to help out with Zen Headbutt too if they had to time cause Glados only knew one physical move, Double Edge.

    The twins were happy to help, any excuse for them to procrastinate on their homework was a good excuse. It was actually pretty easy for them to teach Glados the moves I requested, due to their ability to communicate with Glados psychically. I guess it was easier to show the AI how the moves worked in their minds, and Glados had the basics of the moves down by lunch.

    Zen Headbutt and Gravity were still incomplete, but Glados would have a better grasp on them after a few days of training. As my old flute tutor used to say, practice makes perfect.

    <hr>

    ¡°Okay, since you know the type advantages and disadvantages, you should be able to use that to help with Conversion 2. For example, if you¡¯re facing a water type, you would move which type to the top of your list¡­?¡± I paused for Glados to answer,

    ¡°ELECTRIC.¡±

    ¡°Good yes! You¡¯d put one of your electric type moves to the front of your list and switch your type to electric for more same type attack bonus.¡±

    Glados¡¯s body and wings spun around in what seemed like pleasure as it spoke again, ¡°ACKNOWLEDGED.¡±

    I continued, ¡°Conversion 2 can also be used that way if you don¡¯t have access to a move of type needed or Conversion is disabled. You can hit yourself with one of your moves to switch types, and we¡¯re going to work on only letting the enemy¡¯s attack graze you so that you can still switch types without taking an unreasonable amount of damage.¡±

    ¡°ACKNOWLEDGED.¡± Gladoes said as it jittered around.

    ¡°Bzzt!¡± Rotom flew out of my bag and flashed the time on its screen, 2 pm.

    ¡°Ahh crap, I lost track of time again. Thanks Rotom.¡± I said before hurrying back with Glados over to where Winnie and Kaiju were training, the two would definitely be mad about the late lunch.

    Winnie and the ghosts helped out with cooking as usual, and Glados kind of helped out with Psychic. The virtual Pokemon was still far from being able to handle more delicate things with its new move, so it was assigned with tasks that didn¡¯t not require very fine movement.

    We had sandwiches and berries again. It was my go to food cause it could be customized to suit the tastes of whoever was eating it.

    Kaiju and Winnie weren¡¯t really picky eaters, but some of the ghosts were, especially Shuppet. Her sandwich took the longest to make because she kept wanting to switch ingredients out for something else cause it didn¡¯t go well the taste of (insert whatever food item).

    Besides that, it was nice having a picnic with everyone in a quiet section of the ranch. Winnie took this time to tell the other ghosts the ¡®harrowing story¡¯ of how we defeated Team Galactic and saved the day, unenthusiastic_yaaaaay.mp3, etc.

    The other ghosts listened in awe while Shuppet looked skeptical about Winnie¡¯s wild exaggerations of the fight. Me too bud, I highly doubt Winnie and Glados have the capability to fight off an army of Pokemon the size of Sahara.

    I didn¡¯t spoil their fun though. I had other stuff to worry about regarding my deal with Yamask, like the list of all the shit I had on Team Galactic and turn that into some sort of thesis to expose Team Galactic. Okay, I¡¯m exaggerating, just giving the info I knew to whoever Yamask had in mind wouldn¡¯t be the end all be all to taking down Team Galactic.

    Whoever at Interpol who was investigating the group would have to double check the facts and make sure the info I gave them was actually true, so I would have to give them info that they can double check.

    I wonder how Yamask ¡®knows some guys¡¯ as Interpol.

    I sighed, I¡¯ll do it later. I don¡¯t have enough paper or patience for this at the moment.

    My mood lightened a bit as I remembered the Pokeflute. I hadn¡¯t had the chance to try it out myself yet.

    I carefully took the instrument case out and almost reverently lifted the Pokeflute from its bed. It looked a bit funky due to the Pokeball in its lower midsection, and was a a few inches longer than a recorder.

    Kaiju slowly reached his head over and tried to lick the new object and I gently pushed his head away, ¡°No Kaiju. Dude, you literally just ate.¡±

    ¡°Dein.¡± Kaiju grunted as he plopped back down.

    I blew a note on it and was pleasantly surprised. It looked and probably was played similarly to a recorder, but it sounded more like a wood flute.

    I looked up the fingering notes for it and then immediately played a few notes from Megalovania.

    Part of the reason why I had started learning to play any instrument was purely because of video game music and some movie songs that I liked. Since this was the Pokemon world, I switched to playing a broken up version of the original Pokemon opening.

    Rotom floated in front of me, its screen had a music composition app up as I tried to record the notes to the song cause it wasn¡¯t like I could just search up sheet music to a song that didn¡¯t exist in this world.

    Shuppet floated over and curiously looked at Rotom¡¯s screen, ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°Playing music.¡± I replied, then I slightly shrugged, ¡°Well, more like practicing.¡±

    ¡°Cool.¡± Shuppet said.

    One of the Litwick waddled over and asked, ¡°Which song is it?¡±

    ¡°Ummm, Gotta catch em all.¡± Or Pokemon Theme, but the first option sounds better. ¡°There are lyrics to it too, you guys want me to teach you the song?¡±

    Misdreavus floated over and grinned, ¡°Sure!¡± The other ghosts made their way over and chattered excitedly about singing.

    Winnie looked a bit disappointed that he wouldn¡¯t get to continued his exalting tales of battling bad guys but still followed everyone over.

    I cleared my throat and put the Pokeflute down on to rest on my lap, ¡°Well it starts with, I wanna be the very best~¡­¡±

    The ghosts quickly got a hang of the song lyrics, and we quickly turned the picnic into a mini party with my rookie Pokeflute playing and the slightly unharmonized singing of the ghosts. It certainly wasn¡¯t anything professional, but we were having fun, and that was all that mattered.

    Winnie and Shuppet almost immediately got into a singing competition, trying to out-sing each other, though they never specified how they would decide the winner.

    If they were deciding who won by the loudest singer, that award would have to go to Duskull. It was usually a pretty quiet and reserved Pokemon that liked to sit in the corner and just stare, but once it felt like it had a good grip on the lyrics, it went full opera singer mode and drowned out everyone else¡¯s singing with its loud dramatic opera version of the song.

    Misdreavus was the best singer, apparently it had gotten singing lessons before, though it didn¡¯t mention where from. The dark turquoise ghost was the type to say show off and then act bashful about how good it was in order to fish for compliments.

    Most effort went to Kaiju. He was jumping and shaking his head around like this was a heavy metal concert, rocking his head back and forth like it was a hammer, and spraying bursts of Dragon Breath everywhere. The litter dragon was sadly, completely tone deaf, but no one had the heart to tell him to stop rocking it to the song.

    I had Rotom download an app where I could write the music notes down for some songs I could only remember parts of and had to slowly piece together.

    Most of them were from Legends of Zelda, and while the others liked the songs well enough, they were disappointed with the lack of lyrics. So I gave them the job of making lyrics for the the songs that they liked while I tried to remember Lugia¡¯s Song.

    It wouldn¡¯t be super useful cause I doubted that I would have to calm any legendary birds from fighting each other, and hopefully I never would have to, but it was still a beautiful song.

    I blinked as certain song came to mind. Oracion! That song from the Rise of Darkrai!

    That one might come in useful, granted, only if the same logic from the anime applied to this world, but I didn¡¯t see a reason why not.

    ¡°Hmmm, ya know guys,¡± The ghosts looked back at me from their little lyric planning session, ¡°We¡¯re gonna go visit Alamos town once we¡¯re done with the expedition.¡±

    Winnie trotted over and asked, ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°The Space-Time Towers!¡± I waved a hand in the air to try to get across how bit the towers were, ¡°Alamos town is famous for them. Rotom, you wanna pull up a picture?¡±

    ¡°Bzzt!¡± Rotom¡¯s screen changed to a picture of a massive pair of golden-bronze almost cathedral-like towers with intricate stained glass windows, looming over a small town.

    Litwick, ¡°Woah, they¡¯re so pretty!¡±

    I smiled, the Space-Time Towers were even prettier and more massive than the cathedrals I¡¯d seen in Europe, it was kind of hard to comprehend just how big they were through a picture. ¡°Yeah, they¡¯re the largest musical instruments in the world. They have this bell system inside that can play music. It¡¯s pretty cool.¡±

    ¡°why are they called the space-time towers?¡± Winnie asked.

    I pursed my lips and tapped my chin, ¡°Uhhh, I¡¯m not super sure, but I think it has to do with it having the ability to calm the gods of space and time with its music. The people of the town used the towers to play a the song Oracion in order to calm Palkia and Dialga down from a fight and save the town from being destroyed as well.¡±

    I sat back and smiled as I remembered by favorite childhood film, ¡°A mythical Pokemon called Darkrai helped out too by fighting Dialga and Palkia by itself, it sacrificed itself to give the people time to find the music disc for the song and activate the towers.¡±

    ¡°wow, darkrai must be really strong then.¡± Winnie commented.

    ¡°Deino dein.¡±

    I nodded, ¡°Yep. Its got a pretty overpowered signature move called Dark Void.¡±

    One of the Driftblim raised a ribbon, ¡°Can we hear Oracion?¡±

    I smiled and nodded, ¡°Sure, gimme a few minutes to try to remember and write down the song notes.¡±

    I wonder how effective Oracion really is. This¡¯ll be a good chance to test it out the ¡®power of song and friendship.¡¯ Heh.

    It wasn¡¯t too hard to remember most of the song, cause it liked to play it a lot on my flute back in middle and high school. Once I was done writing down what I could remember, I practiced it a few times and then got to playing that most complete part that I had.

    Despite fumbling a few notes, I could see that the song had some sort of effect. Everyone quieted down, even Kaiju stopped chewing on my shoe and listened, slightly swaying to the music.

    ¡°And that¡¯s all I have at the moment. You guys like it?¡±

    ¡°Deino!¡± Kaiju opened his mouth wide in a smile.

    ¡°it¡¯s nice to listen to. it¡¯s calming¡± Winnnie said, the other ghosts voiced their agreement.

    ¡°I can see why it was used to calm Palkia and Dialga.¡± Shuppet added, still with a dreamy smile on her face.

    Huh, I guess it did work. Kaiju went back to chewing on my shoe.

    Well, not a hundred percent, but it worked. Dunno how useful it¡¯ll be in the expedition, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be playing the Pokeflute while running away from an angry Beartic lol. And it¡¯s fucking cold there.

    Last thing I¡¯d be doing would be playing an instrument in a freezing arctic-like climate. I could still remember having to play the flute in marching band in the freezing fall rain and at late fall football matches. At least some of the band kids were smart and brought hand warmers. I did not have the foresight for that.

    It was pretty miserable and this trip would have weather worse than that, I¡¯d freeze my fingers off if I removed my gloves even once. Also, cold temperatures were not good for instruments.

    ¡°NINETY. EIGHT. MINUTES. HAVE. ELAPSED. THAT. SHOULD. BE. SUFFICIENT. FOR. A. BREAK.¡±

    I looked up at Glados floating ominously above us in the air. Its arms were spinning rapidly and it kept rotating its head. I guess it was impatient to get back to training. Oh wait, it¡¯s impatient! That¡¯s a new thing.

    I stretched and sighed, ¡°Yeah yeah, I got it.¡± I took out a cleaning kit and quickly cleaned the cleaned the Pokeflute before putting it back in its case and getting up.

    ¡°It¡¯s back to training everyone.¡± I said as I stretched my legs too, slightly shaking my chewed up and slobber covered shoe in hopes of somewhat drying it off. The ghosts groaned that their fun time was interrupted and began dispersing.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll have a jam session another time.¡± I reassured them.

    Then I turned to Winnie and Kaiju, ¡°Keep practicing Protect, Winnie you also need to keep working on Substitute, but make sure you have time to recover in between uses.¡±

    Winnie nodded and did a cat stretch before trotted away to the clearing he and Kaiju were training in before. Kaiju quickly toddled after Winnie.

    ¡°Now, Glados where were we?¡±

    ¡°USES. OF. CONVERSION. AND. CONVERSION2.¡±

    ¡°Ahh yes. So, what you do say about a few battles? I think Abigail and Sandslash are overdue for a visit.¡±

 (17) Anticipation

    RIIIIING! RIIIIING! RIIIIING! Beep *Click*

    ¡°Agent Earl, we have a new assignment for you.¡±

    ¡°Go on.¡±

    ¡°We recently received new information on Team Galactic. If you take a look at that file, you will see what our informant has told us about the organization.¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s the informant?¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t know, we got the information from someone reliable, but the informant wanted to remain anonymous. The higher ups have deemed it as semi-credible and there are some things in Sinnoh that need to be taken care of.¡±

    ¡°What about Agent Looker? I doubt he¡¯s gonna be happy about another agent butting into his case.¡±

    ¡°Agent Looker will have no choice in this matter. Besides, your objective will be securing two objects, the Adamant and Lustrous Orbs, not investigating Team Galactic.¡±

    ¡°And the Champion and Elite Four?¡±

    ¡°We have already contacted the Sinnoh Elite four and Champion and they will be cooperating with us on this. The details are in your file.¡±

    ¡°Okay. Anything else I need to know that¡¯s not in the file?¡±

    ¡°Everything relevant to your mission is in the file, we will give you updates when necessary.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    ¡°Good luck on your mission agent.¡±

    *Click*

    <hr>

    Two days before we left, we ended up having to give the police some statements about the Team Galactic incident. They were understanding about us defending a colleague from attackers, but they did not like us starting a full on fight in the middle of the city when we could¡¯ve just ran away too. Pretty reasonable request.

    We were able to get off with a stern warning thanks to Professor Rowan. The Jubilife police didn¡¯t have much of a leg to stand on considering how they had brushed off months of previous reports of researchers from or collaborating with our team being harassed and even beaten up by Team Galactic goons due to ¡®not having any proof.¡¯

    I wonder how Interpol¡¯s gonna handle this. After giving the police our statements, I wrote out a list of Team Galactic¡¯s leaders and other important personnel, their goals, their base location, what they were after, basically anything I thought could be useful and gave it to Yamask to give to his contact in Interpol.

    Hopefully that¡¯ll be one less evil organization to worry about, that¡¯s if Interpol and the Pokemon League are actually competent at their jobs in keeping the regions safe.

    I kind of doubted that considering Teams Aqua and Magma were able to summon Kyogre and Groudon a while back, and from what I heard, Team Magma Admin Courtney was still on the run from the Hoenn Government after escaping from a transport vehicle and killing the guards.

    Who the hell knows what else that crazy bitch would get up to?

    ¡°az! az! look at the window!¡± Winnie shouted and pointed out the airplane window, snapping me out of my thoughts as I turned to look where Winnie was pointing.

    ¡°isn¡¯t it pretty? that¡¯s snow right?¡±

    ¡°It sure is.¡± I answered, slightly squinting my eyes to filter out the bright reflective white that was coming off of the snow covered city below. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s snow, it¡¯s fun to play in.¡±

    ¡°i wonder what it tastes like.¡± Winnie said.

    I chuckled and remarked, ¡°You¡¯re starting to sound like Kaiju.¡±

    Winnie rolled his eyes and puts his paws and nose up against the window¡°hey, i¡¯m just saying¡­it looks tasty. like ice cream.¡±

    I rolled my eyes, ¡°From personal experience, I can tell you that it tastes like water and dirt.¡±

    Winnie stuck out a tongue, ¡°we¡¯ll see about that.¡±

    Snowpoint city reminded me of one of old European cities you¡¯d see in a movie. Medieval styled houses with steeply angled roofs and narrow streets winding in between them, all blanketed in a thick layer of snow. Snowpoint was on the smaller side for cities, but it was just as busy as Jubilife, the locals and tourists didn¡¯t see to mind the harsh, cold weather and were all walking about in thick winter wear.

    Well, obviously the locals would be used to the temperature. Snowpoint was snowy and cold for three fourths of the year, and had a brief spring that changed right into fall for the remaining third.

    We weren¡¯t going to be visiting Snowpoint city though, our destination was a ranger outpost near the mountain range that Alabaster Mountain was part of.

    ¡°Why take the plane if we have teleportation specialists with us?¡± I had asked before we left. Celia said it was because the twins had never been to Snowpoint before.

    The twins had also enthusiastically explained to me in detail all the things that could go wrong in a long distance teleport, especially to places they¡¯d never been to before.

    Psychics who wanted to teleport to a place they couldn¡¯t see usually had to work in pairs or more. One Psychic would solely focus on the teleportation aspect, the other would use clairvoyance to look into places they¡¯d been before and make sure the landing area was safe, then guide the teleportation to said location.

    Zoe was quite eager to tell me all the horror stories of psychics who had disregarded such safety measures, and she described scenes of people and Pokemon who had teleported into objects or other living beings. I didn¡¯t even want to imagine how gruesome that would be, obviously no one in those types of situations survived.

    Chloe then explains to me the second reason why they teleported in pairs, sharing the teleportation power expenditure between multiple psychics would help prevent cases of psychics not having enough power and teleporting parts of people over, leaving the rest of the body behind.

    Reason number three for sharing the burden was to preventing psychics from straining their brains too much and giving themselves a brain bleed, or at the worst, making their own head explode. Basically, it was a wonderful way to kill oneself.

    I was second guessing my thoughts on getting a psychic type to teleport me places, and the twins assured me that short distance jumps were a lot safer. That¡¯s part of the reason why they were able to regularly teleport the researchers to and from Sandgem and Jubilife.

    I asked how they¡¯d teleport the entire group away from danger, and they told me that they each had an entire team of psychics. With just the humans and one or two other Pokemon out, they¡¯d only need a total of four of their Pokemon to help out.

    ¡°Is there a way to stop teleportation? I remember someone mentioned during a meeting that we weren¡¯t able to teleport into Alabaster Mountain¡¯s illusion dome, but we could teleport out. How does that work?¡±

    Angela answered my questions. She explained that ghost and dark type energy had the ability to disturb psychic type energy. So they¡¯d just have to disturb a psychic type¡¯s formation of energy, though it was harder than it sounded. The dark or ghost type in question would have to know what they were doing and have an equal amount, or more power than the psychic type trying to teleport away.

    She then glanced at her shadow were a red pair of eyes flinched and looked away. Gengar was still in the doghouse due to it letting Team Galactic escape cause it got too distracted with sucking Jupiter¡¯s Skuntank dry of life energy.

    It was the only Pokemon with us that day that had the power and skill to prevent a teleport and it had chosen torturing and killing an enemy Pokemon over capturing people who had tried to harm the person it was assigned to guard.

    Angela had made Gengar come back to her team and assigned her Houndstone to guarding Justine instead.

    As the plane passed a flock of bird Pokemon lead by a Staraptor, Ben pointed out Snowpoint Gym as we passed over it. The fire type specialist animatedly recalled his victorious battle with the old gym gym leader, Blanche.

    The twins were quick to point out that his type advantage and the fact that his fire types almost set the gym on fire despite the psychic barrier around the battlefield.

    Candice was due to take over this season, and the Sinnoh gym forums were excited to see what this new gym leader had in store. People were hoping that the gym challenge wasn¡¯t anything like what Flannery tried to pull during her debut last season. She had decided using a complex system of wooden platforms on top of burning hot geyers as an elevator was a good idea, and tons of people got injured on the first day with burns and broken bones.

    It was later replaced with a more reasonable raft and lazy river system that had water that was about the same temperature as a hot tub.

    Snowpoint quickly disappeared from our window and was replaced with an endless green and white sea of snowy forests that got thicker, and thicker the further we flew from civilization.

    Humans inhabited a much smaller area of the world than Pokemon did, partially cause there was a much smaller population compared to my old world, and partially because the wilds had difficulty levels turned up to hell mode.

    Celia told me about her adventures into the deep wilds, and stories about her barely escaping a dragons den, a ghost infested swamp, almost getting mauled by a mama Ursaluna, constant attacks from Mightyena and Poochyena packs that wanted to eat her alive, the whole nine yards.

    The ghost swamp adventure was back when she was much younger and more rash, and her inexperience and overconfidence led to her actually losing a two members of her team to the ghosts.

    Nice to know that mother nature is as harsh here as it is back home.

    The explorer then recalled the dragons den incident in Unova. She and a ranger friend were investigating a serious of deaths in northeast Unova when they wandered into a cave and and found the biggest motherfucking Hydreigon they¡¯d ever seen.

    They were able to get out only by the skin of their teeth and immediately reported the dragon¡¯s territory to the Ranger Corps and the Pokemon League.

    That sounds suspiciously familiar.

    Lake Acuity eventually came into view, and it was absolutely gorgeous. The mountains surrounding it had that slight deep blue glimmer that only glacier ice had, and despite the temperature being cold enough to freeze water, the lake surface was untouched by ice and clear enough to be mistaken for a blue-tinged mirror.

    The were slight ripples on the lakes surface from the Pokemon swimming underneath, and I could see tiny brown dots, probably Bibarel, dragging logs from the forest to a small river that fed into the lake.

    Snowpoint Temple could be seen in the distance, its slightly deteriorated structure rested atop one of the mountains, facing west towards the city.

    A shiver ran up my back as I glanced down at the lake and spotted a ripple in the air just above the water¡¯s surface. There was a foreign presence in my mind, I felt memories flash by in my head as the mysterious force shuffled through them, kind of like how a historian would carefully flip pages of a precious old book.

    Oh? A child not of this world? How exciting¡­ Show me what you know.

    There was static in my eyes and a loud ringing in my ears, I rapidly blinked and shook my head to get rid of the effect and the presence faded as we got further from the lake.

    I felt my skull begin to pound from a headache and I rubbed the back of my head. Shit. What was that? The Lake Guardian? I forget which one is in Lake Acuity. Fuck you man, if you wanted info you can be more polite about it.

    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    I felt Winnie gently tap my lap, he was looking up at me in concern. I reassured him with a few head pats, ¡°I¡¯m good, but that Lake Guardian needs to take a chill pill.¡±

    ¡°Hey guys, we¡¯re almost there!¡± Celia shouted to everyone in the plane from the front, ¡°Look out the windows to your left, you see that mountain range in the distance? That¡¯s where we¡¯re going.¡±

    A few members of the team shifted in their seats to look out the left window. Winnie and I looked out the window at a mountain range that we could barely see in the distance.

    Squinting and wincing at the bright sunlight reflecting snow below, I realized that there was a slight waver in the air around one of the mountains. Kind of like heat wave shimmers. It was hard to notice, but impossible to ignore once I spotted it due to just how¡­uncanny of a feeling it gave me.

    There was nothing visibly wrong about the mountains, but something just felt slightly off.

    ¡°You feel something kind wrong with the mountains?¡± I asked noone in particular.

    Leo leaned over the seat behind me, ¡°Yeah. That distortion around the mountain.¡±

    Justine popped up from the seat in front like a Patrat and grinned, ¡°It¡¯s the illusion dome!¡±

    The purple haired girl excitedly took out a walkie talkie/phone-like device with a long antennae and pointed it in the direction of the dome.

    The device began to squeal and beep as Justine adjusted its dials and began to record data. I heard Kenta, who was sitting next to Justine, grunt as he was awoken by the device¡¯s squealing and try to wave her away.

    Justine high fived the dragon specialist¡¯s hand and continued her scans.

    *Ksshhk!* Ding-dong! ¡°Hello passengers, this is your pilot speaking. The seat belt sign is now on, we will be landing shortly at the Iceland''s Ranger Base Camp.¡±

    <hr>

    There was a clatter of boots crunching and squeaking through snow as the team walked from the runway to the central building of the ranger station. The ranger base was collection of decently large but low buildings closely clustered together, the biggest of which contained an indoor battlefield.

    The rangers gave us a warm greeting, and gave the team leaders a few files labeled stuff like, Weather Reports, Field Reports, and a few Pokeballs.

    We had one final briefing in the common room where we reviewed our route, potential Pokemon encounters, the reports that the rangers provided us, emergency protocols, and that everyone had their required equipment.

    Once that was done, Celia called Leo, Collin, Ben, and I over as everyone else left for dinner.

    ¡°I got your Pokeballs.¡± Celia said as she handed a dusk ball to Leo, a Pokeball to Lucario, and an ultra ball to Ben. Then she turned to me and gave me a Pokeball.

    I awkwardly held the Pokeball in my hand and Winnie leaned forward from my shoulder to sniff it.

    ¡°Uhhh, what¡¯s this again?¡± I asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s Flint¡¯s Infernape.¡± Celia nonchalantly answered as she busily collected files from the common room table and began to leave the room.

    Oh yeah. Rowan told me before we left that I¡¯d be receiving Flint¡¯s Infernape. That Fire type elite four member Flint. An Infernape from the team of an Elite Four member.

    Since I had extra Pokeball slots open, Celia had jumped on the opportunity to have extra Pokemon from our member¡¯s teams registered to my free slots in order to circumvent the six active Pokemon per trainer law.

    The law was pretty strict for trainers, no exceptions, not even for the Champion. Only civilians with a business license for that, or people who require assistance Pokemon for their special needs were allowed more than six. And I was pretty sure Rangers were given exceptions too due to something related to their job.

    Speaking over her shoulder, Celia said, ¡°Make sure to get acquainted with them, and that you know their movesets. They¡¯ll be with their trainers most of the time, but they¡¯ll be put with you so you can have a strong team in case things get dicey.¡±

    After whispering something to it, Ben tossed his ultra ball at me and I almost dropped Infernape¡¯s pokeball trying to catch it.

    ¡°Oop! Sorry!¡± Ben exclaimed, then he added, ¡°And yeah, go get acquainted with our Pokemon. I¡¯ll have to warn you, Ceruledge is a bit prickly towards strangers, but she¡¯ll, warm up to you!¡±

    Ben cackled at his lame fire type pun and patted me on the shoulder as he walked away, ¡°Word of advice, her respect is earned through battle. And she likes spicy foods.¡±

    Leo and Collin handed me the dusk ball and great ball as Leo spoke, ¡°Yeah, go introduce yourself and you team to them. Just come to us if you have any problems. I already spoke to Absol about this arrangement. You¡¯ll love him, he¡¯s a teddy bear.¡±

    Collin nodded, ¡°Same with Lucario.¡±

    ¡°Alright. Thanks guys.¡± I said, semi-smiling as Leo and Collin followed Ben out, leaving me alone in the common room.

    Someone shouted from the direction of the kitchen, ¡°Dinner will be ready at six!¡± And a few people shouted back, ¡°Okay!¡±

    It was currently 2:47 PM, so we had a while. Might as well go scope out what these guys are like.

    I got directions to the ranger station¡¯s training area and trekked to the other side of the plot. The building was empty and dark, the lights turned on as it sensed movement.

    I let out Sahara, Kaiju, and Glados first and told them about the new temporary members of the team before letting out the other three Pokemon. Sahara seemed pleased about having potential new sparring partners. Kaiju and Glados didn¡¯t have any major reaction to the news.

    ¡°i wonder what they¡¯ll look like.¡± Winnie remarked as I took out the four Pokeballs.

    Rotom flew out of my pocket and buzzed happily, it was delighted to scan the newcomers, ¡°Bzzt!¡±

    Infernape, Absol, Lucario, and Ceruledge appeared in flashes of light and looked around at their new surroundings as the Pokedex scanning jingle sounded out.

    ¡°Infernape, the flame Pokemon. It uses a special kind of martial arts involving all its limbs. Its fire never goes out. Its crown of fire is indicative of its fiery nature. It is beaten by none in terms of quickness.¡±

    ¡°Absol, the disaster Pokemon. It lives in a harsh, rugged mountain environment and very very rarely ventures down from the mountains. This Pokemon has the ability to foretell the coming of natural disasters and appears before people only to warn them of impending danger. As a result, it was mistaken as a doom bringer.¡±

    ¡°Lucario, the aura Pokemon. This Pokemon has the ability to sense the auras of all things. A well-trained one can use its aura to identify and take in the feelings of creatures over half a mile away. It concentrates its mental energy and fires off waves of aura, which can crush boulders of large size to dust.¡±

    ¡°Ceruledge, the fire blades Pokemon. An old set of armor steeped in grudges called the Malicious Armor caused this Pok¨¦mon¡¯s evolution. The fiery blades on its arms burn fiercely with the lingering resentment of a sword wielder who fell before accomplishing their goal.¡±

    ¡°Hmmph, does he really expect me to listen to a pipsqueak?¡± Ceruledge muttered just loud enough for me to hear.

    I just raised an eyebrow, giving the fire ghost the stink eye, and pulling Kaiju back from trying to use anyone as his new chew toy before turning my attention to the others.

    ¡°Hey guys, I¡¯m Azalea, I¡¯ll be in your care for the duration of the expedition.¡±

    I then gestured to my own team members, ¡°The Garchomp is Sahara, Kaiju is the Deino, The Porgyon-Z is Glados, and¨C¡±

    ¡°i¡¯m winnie!¡± Winnie finished for me, jumping off of my shoulder and then running up Sahara to use her as a podium.

    ¡°and az is not a pipsqueak.¡± ¡°Deino!¡±

    Infernape gave us a sly grin as it took a good look at who it would be working with and commented, ¡°Infernape, fern infernape fernape.¡±

    The fire monkey than pointed at me and chuckled, ¡°Infernape nape.¡±

    Twitching his ears, Winnie tilted his head and looked between me and Infernape, ¡°What¡¯s a¡­Dedenne?

    Did Infernape just call me a Dedenne?

    Lucario sighed and shook its head at Infernape and Ceruledge before turning to me and my team and giving us a respectful nod, ¡°Lucario, rio lucario luc.¡±

    Absol followed suit with Lucario and gave a head nod as well, ¡°Absol.¡±

    The dark type¡¯s tail twitch as its horn slightly vibrated, then Absol dived at me, pulling me down by the back of my hoodie and narrowly dodging a burst of fire from Ceruledge.

    My team really didn¡¯t like that. Sahara stomped forward, towering over the fire blade Pokemon and snarling, giving Ceruledge the good ol¡¯ desert glare. Glados beeped furiously and floated over to me, keeping an eye on its perceived threat as it pointed a laser at fire ghost with Lock-On. Kaiju toddled over to me and licked my hand to make sure I was alright, or perhaps to see how burnt I was.

    Infernape hopped back a few paces, giving a short hoot and grinning with wild excitement at the unfolding drama.

    ¡°what was that for punk?!¡± Winnie yelled at the fire blade Pokemon.

    Lucario quickly got in between the Sahara and Ceruledge, putting a paw on each of their chests to push them away from each other, ¡°Lu lucario lu rio!¡± The aura Pokemon growled at them both as Absol helped me up.

    ¡°Thanks Absol.¡±

    Ceruledge simply raised a blade, pointing it at Lucario¡¯s throat in a challenging gesture, ¡°I shall not parlay with weaklings.¡±

    Lucario visibly had to ground itself and push back on Sahara¡¯s chest as the landshark stepped forward with a challenging snarl.

    I ran forward, waving my hands and pulling back on Sahara¡¯s unbudging arm, ¡°Hey, hey! Guys! Take a chill pill! Seriously.¡±

    I then walked over to the fire blade Pokemon, ¡°Ceruledge, attacking me like that isn¡¯t acceptable.¡±

    Ceruledge scoffed, ¡°That wasn¡¯t an attack pipsqueak, you¡¯d be burnt to a crisp¨C¡±

    I put up a hand and interrupted, ¡°I know is wasn¡¯t a actual ¡®attack¡¯ for you, but it doesn¡¯t matter whether you meant to harm me or not. If you want a battle, just challenge me normally, you don¡¯t have to instigate one like that.¡±

    Ceruledge gave me a battle crazy grin and her eyes blazed with fire, ¡°Ehehehehehe.¡± The fire-ghost cackled, ¡°Alright then, I challenge you to a battle, pipsqueak. Choose your champion.¡±

    Then it strode over to the other side of the battlefield and turned back around with a flourish of fire from its arm blades.

    Bruh. Ben, why did you have to give me a massive battle junkie? She¡¯s like Kenpachi Zaraki from Bleach¡­

    I sighed. Great. Then looked at my team, ¡®chose your champion¡¯ huh?

    Sahara looked ready to throw hands and growled in anticipation, I put up a hand, ¡°Next time Sahara. I want you to save your energy for tomorrow. Glados, you¡¯re up.¡±

    I wanted to end this battle asap, plus this would be a good chance to use what Glados had been practicing with the twins and their psychic types.

    Sahara looked disappointed and huffed. She picked Kaiju up by the scruff and walked over to join Infernape at the side of the field where the fire monkey was lounging on its side. Winnie jumped off of Sahara and onto my shoulder before whispering in my ear, ¡°you sure about choosing glados? Sahara is stronger.¡±

    I tilted my head over to him and whispered back, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I have a plan.¡± I don¡¯t need to win, I just need to prove to Ceruledge that I¡¯m worth working with. Though winning would be a nice addition.

    After a short conversation, Absol and Lucario nodded to each other, and Lucario walked over to join the other Pokemon on the sidelines.

    Absol turned to me, ¡°Absol sol absol.¡±

    Winnie translated, ¡°He says that he¡¯ll be staying near you in case of any stray attacks, as there are no psychic barriers here.¡±

    I nodded, ¡°Alright, thanks again.¡±

    ¡°I see you have chosen a champion!¡± Ceruledge shouted over to us, ¡°I will give you the first move, pipsqueak.¡±

    I shrugged, ¡°Okay. You ready Glados?¡±

    The AI beeped affirmatively and spun its head and body in opposite directions.

    I nodded, ¡°Good. Conversion to Psychic. Then Gravity. Quarter field, max force.¡±

    The area around Ceruledge cracked and groaned as gravity instantly intensified. Caught by surprised, the blade ghost grunted as she was forced down to one knee, she dug her blades into the ground as she struggled to stay up.

    Doesn¡¯t matter whether you¡¯re a ghost or not, gravity affects everyone. Back during the week long training, I had quickly figured out that Gravity was more effective if it was concentrated on one small area, and that it was better for trapping ghost and dark types than the move Psychic because we weren¡¯t directly using the move on them.

    Ceruledge grinned and began to sink into the ground through her own shadow. Trying to use Phantom Force to escape? Not on my watch.

    ¡°Put another Gravity field from below and some on the side.¡± I added.

    Glados hummed as it used Gravity again. Ceruledge groaned as she was forced up out of the ground and trapped between multiple fields of gravity bearing down upon her. The blade ghost was suspended midair from the push of the gravity fields and unable to move any further.

    ¡°she¡¯s not getting out now!¡± Winnie cheered, hopping down onto Absol¡¯s back with his tail wagging in excitement. ¡°go get em glados!¡±

    The fire blade Pokemon spat on the ground, then her eyes glowed a violent blue.

    ¡°Get ready, it¡¯s planning something. Magnet Rise, get higher.¡± I warned Glados, who obeyed and floated higher to make itself harder to target from Ceruledge¡¯s position.

    Then a massive pillar of blue fire swirled to life right beneath Glados. The AI Pokemon spun and zipped out of the way with Agility just in time to dodge the trap. I raised a hand to shield my face and Winnie ducked behind my head to avoid the heat, Absol stepped forward and used Protect to mitigate the heat.

    As Fire Spin died down, I issued another string of orders ¡°Conversion to Electric. Prep for Zap Cannon, then fire.¡±

    Glados beeped affirmatively and zapped itself with a weak Discharge to convert to electric type. Strands of yellow and blue electricity began to crackle around the virtual Pokemon and it¡¯s eyes glinted maliciously as it used Nasty Plot and Charge.

    Still trapped in the Gravity field, Ceruledge¡¯s eyes narrowed as she stared at the massive ball of electricity charging up.

    ¡°FIRING.¡± A quiet hum of electricity turned into a roar as Glados fired a beam of electricity at Ceruledge.

    At the last moment, the blade ghost created multiple barriers in front of herself. Zap Cannon¡¯s power weakened as it went though Light Screen and then collided with Protect with a loud BOOM.

    There was an explosion of dust and static electricity, then a salvo Shadow Balls shot out from the smoke.

    ¡°Normal Conversion.¡± I commanded.

    Glados whipped around and hit itself with a star from Swift and converted itself to a normal type just before the Shadow Balls hit and took no damage.

    ¡°Zan Cannon again, same prep.¡± Protect takes up a lot of energy, lets see how long Ceruledge can keep this up.

    Glados repeated its previous actions in charging up Zap Cannon.

    As soon as Glados fired its move off, a faint aura of psychic type energy wrapped around both Ceruledge and the AI pokemon. Suddenly, they swapped places.

    Glados whirred in panic at is was suddenly trapped within its own Gravity field and facing down its own Zap Cannon. Ceruledge cackled as she neatly landed in front of me and watched as the Zap Cannon hit Glados, creating another explosion of dust and electricity.

    I blinked and gaped in surprise as the dust cleared to reveal Glados sprawled out on the ground with its eyes spinning.

    Winnie leaped onto my head and shouted, ¡°how did that happen?!¡±

    I rubbed my face and sighed as I replied, ¡°Ally Switch. Well played.¡± I was wondering why Ceruledge didn¡¯t try anything else, she was baiting us.

    Absol followed behind me I went and used a revive and max potion on Glados, praising it for its battle. The virtual Pokemon flatly said something about battle calculations before it dissipated back into my watch.

    The others who were watching came over. Sahara huffed something, probably about how she would¡¯ve won. Lucario said something reassuring and Infernape said some stuff to Winnie.

    ¡°Not a bad strategy. It would¡¯ve been a pain to get out of that Gravity field if I didn¡¯t have any teleportation moves. You guys still have a long way to go.¡± Ceruledge said, head held high as she walked over and gave us another battle crazy grin, ¡°Pleasure to be working with you.¡±

    <hr>

    High above the ranger station, a women with slate colored hair, wearing a long black trenchcoat and black tinted goggles looked out of the front airship windows down at her targets.

    The automatic door behind her whirred as a man in a black militaristic uniform walked into the command area and saluted.

    ¡°Speak.¡± Hunter J commanded, still looking out the window.

    ¡°We couldn¡¯t find the engine issue ma¡¯am. Everything is working perfectly, this isn¡¯t a mechanical or software issue.¡±

    ¡°Hmph. I knew it.¡± Hunter J muttered to herself. Her sources had informed her about the area the expedition had coined, ¡®the illusion dome.¡¯ Believed to be created by the powers a Hisuan Zoroark. Previous attempts to fly aircrafts in had all resulted in unexplainable mechanical or software failures, and her ship was no exception from that.

    The mercenary wasn¡¯t going to risk losing her ship, but she still needed the location of the sanctuary in Alabaster mountain in order to capture the rare Pokemon her cilent had promised would be in it before the mountain was destroyed for mining.

    ¡°How are we going to proceed? We won¡¯t be able to follow them unless it¡¯s on foot. Or we could get some snow mobiles.¡± The underling asked with a slight hint of nervousness.

    There was a moment of silence before his boss replied, ¡°No need to. We¡¯ll wait. They¡¯ll be worn out once they come back. It will be the perfect time to strike and take their Pokemon. Make sure the others know that we need at least one of them alive to lead us back.¡±

    ¡°Roger that ma¡¯am.¡±

    Quite a few members of the party had rare and in demand Pokemon, Hunter J was already calculating in her head how much she could sell those Pokemon for.

    The underling turned to leave and then turned back around as he remembered something. ¡°Oh, yeah, our big client just ordered another batch of Bronzor. The Bronzong we supplied them got burnt out and died from its last teleportation.¡±

    ¡°Then send some men out to capture another batch from Lake Acuity.¡± Hunter J replied, dismissively waving a hand, ¡°The same commander also lost the Skuntank we sold them, did they order another?¡±

    The underling nodded, ¡°Yes ma¡¯am, they wanted the best ones we can find for the commander, as usual. And some more for their grunts.¡±

    Hunter J nodded, ¡°Good.¡±

    One of the underlings at the command station turned in his seat, ¡°Heh. What a waste, ain¡¯t it? That Bronzong was a pretty high quality product and they wasted it only after a few teleports.¡±

    The underling near the door grinned and shook his head, ¡°They have no idea how to make the product last longer, eh? I heard they were beaten by a bunch of brats too.¡±

    ¡°Well all the better for us.¡± Hunter J said with a smile as cold as the Icelands in the depths of winter, ¡°The more product that expires, the more they¡¯ll buy from us. I¡¯d call it a win-win.¡±

    The mercenary¡¯s underlings unconsciously shuddered at their bosses expression as she spoke again, ¡°That reminds me, the expedition party has some rare human psychics and a girl who can speak to ghosts. I want them alive.¡± Hunter J said, making sure to emphasize the word ¡®alive.¡¯

    Humans with abilities as unique as that would sell for more than a rare Pokemon if she played her cards right, she already had a few buyers in mind.

 (18) The Great Adventure Begins! *Insert Indiana Jones Theme*

    The sun was just barely peaking through the horizon, and the distant calls of birds echoed through the snowy forest as the expedition team made our way up the hiking trail.

    The Base Camp trail was well traveled and well maintained by rangers on patrol due to it being the main trail they used to get back to Base Camp, pretty self explanatory. It would get more and more difficult the further we got from the ranger base.

    We were traveling in a single file line, Celia, Abigail, and Ben were in the front with Celia¡¯s Glaceon, Abigail¡¯s Alolan Sandslash, and Ben¡¯s Armarouge and Ceruledge.

    Celia, Abigail, and their Pokemon would be using their exploring and mountaineering expertise to guide us on safe route when we came to more difficult areas.

    Ben and his team were there to help dissuade any wild Pokemon from attacking from the front. Currently on duty were Armarouge and Ceruledge, a deadly duo, and Ben¡¯s main go-to team for doubles battles.

    Tim, Marcus, Justine, Jason, the twins, and I were in the middle. We were the weakest members of the team, besides the twins who were our emergency escape button, and Jason, who was carrying some important equipment.

    The twins also had Sigilyph and Xatu out to detect danger from any non-dark and ghost Pokemon or natural disasters. Smart cause Xatu can see the future. I wonder how that ability works.

    Kenta was the middle guard, his dragons were too big to be out of their pokeballs and didn¡¯t like the cold, but it was useful to have him here just because most wild Pokemon wise enough to keep away from the scent of multiple fully grown dragons.

    Dark types and ghost types were most likely to attack group from behind, because in the wild the weakest members of the group usually fell into the back of the pack. So the rear guard consisted of Collin to counter dark types, Leo to spot dark types and counter ghosts, and Angela who could detect ghosts and also counter them.

    Collin had Lucario out, Leo had Absol and Zoroark, and Angela¡¯s Aegislash floated behind them in shield form as the rearguard¡¯s rearguard.

    I pushed my hat and goggles back up as Winnie climbed onto my head for a better look at the surroundings. This was pretty exciting, I mean, after all of the time we spent preparing for this trip, I was both excited and a bit wary to see what this whole ¡®illusion dome¡¯ had in store for us.

    Rotom was even more excited to scan any new Pokemon, though it didn¡¯t stay out for too long because of how cold it was, and Winnie was just taking in the new surroundings. Last night, he and Kaiju had confirmed that snow indeed tasted like water and dirt.

    There was a sharp huff from behind and I glanced back, Absol had stopped for a second and was staring at up at the sky behind us above where the ranger base was. Leo whispered something to the dark type something before Absol shook its head and they began moving again.

    I wonder what that was about.

    Everyone¡¯s breaths literally froze in the air, I was glad I brought extra hand and foot warmers. If I ran out, I guess I¡¯d have to make do with letting Infernape out and using his head fire as a furnace. I chuckled at that thought.

    The group was rather tense as we first set out, but after an hour or so, people began to relax and I heard some of them quietly talking to each other. They were keeping their voices down because Celia had warned us not to be too loud, we didn¡¯t want to announce our presence to everything within ten miles and have a wild Pokemon take that as a challenge.

    I ended up talking with Kenta and Justine about a few random things, before they started up the Dragapult debate again.

    Justine reached behind her and took out a Dreepy out of nowhere, shoving it in Kenta¡¯s face at the tiny ghost dragon made Lillipup eyes, ¡°Come on! Just take a look at that adorable face~ Dreepy is so cute isn¡¯t it? You should totally get one, I know you can afford it, you¡¯ve been talking about getting another dragon.¡±

    Kenta pushed Dreepy away from his face and rolled his eyes, ¡°I can afford getting a Tatsugiri instead if I want something small and cute. Or a Goomy so that I can get a Goodra, or a Hisuan Goodra if I give it the right diet.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Justine asked incredulously, ¡°Hisuan Goodra doesn¡¯t fit your style, you can try a battle with my sister¡¯s Dragapult, and I¡¯m sure Angela won¡¯t mind giving you a Dreepy after everything your family has done for us.¡±

    Shaking his head Kenta refused again, ¡°Nope. It¡¯s a death wish to even try to battle your sister¡¯s ace, and I¡¯m not getting a ghost type.¡± He ducked under a tree branch.

    Justine waved a hand as she let Dreepy fly back into her shadow and she ducked under a tree branch, ¡°Oh silly, I meant you battling another Pokemon using Dragapult. And besides Dragapults are great at countering ice types, they have access to a bunch of fire type moves!¡±

    Hopping forward a few times, on less icey parts of the trail, Justine swung an arm over Kenta¡¯s shoulder and waved a hand dramatically in front of them, ¡°Angela¡¯s Dragapult is so fast that is doesn¡¯t even have to worry about being hit by any super effective moves!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d be better off with another steel-dragon type, it would be good to have a dedicated tank.¡± Kenta replied with a slight eyebrow raise.

    ¡°Uh huh.¡± Justine said as she fell back behind her friend, ¡°When have you ever not jumped for a strong offensive dragon? There¡¯s a reason why you chose Kommo-o as your starter.¡±

    The ghost specialist¡¯s turned back to me, ¡°Tell me, how much would you like a Dragapult on your team?¡±

    I shrugged, ¡°It would be cool.¡±

    Then before Justine could pull me into the debate, I changed the subject, ¡°Speaking of dragons, Kenta, how do you counter ice and fairy types?¡±

    ¡°Kommo-o is my go-to icebreaker, but I use Tyrantrum and Duraludon too.¡± The dragon specialist replied, ¡°How I take them down depends on the Pokemon species. It¡¯s the non-ice types who still have powerful ice type moves that can get kind of annoying.¡±

    ¡°What about fairy types?¡± I asked.

    Kenta took a moment to think before replying, ¡°I mostly rely on Duraludon¡¯s steel typing or Haxorus¡¯s Guillotine. Don¡¯t have a very solid strategy yet. I¡¯m just lucky that I haven¡¯t encountered a fairy type specialist yet, they¡¯re kind of rare in competitive battling.¡±

    Justine leaned back over to Kenta and surreptitiously put a hand on the side of her face, whispering, ¡°Which is why you should get a Dragapult.¡±

    Kenta just rolled his eyes.

    ¡°Or evolve Duraludon into Archaludon if you don¡¯t want to go through the effort of getting a Hisuan Goodra.¡± I added.

    ¡°I guess,¡± Kenta sighed, ¡°Metal alloys are a pain to get. It¡¯ll take a while to find one that¡¯s not a knock-off.¡±

    Don¡¯t I have a few in my bag?

    ¡°Really? Why¨Coof!¡± I walked into Justine¡¯s back, ¡°Shit, sorry.¡± I spotted her holding her portable energy detector-a-tron up in the air.

    Winnie scrambled to not fall off of my shoulder from the unexpected impact, ¡°watch it!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± I asked as she slowly began to edge forward a bit more. The others at the front stopped and waited for Justine to close the gap. I looked back and saw Marcus and Tim doing a similar thing with their own energy detector-a-tron¡¯s.

    Putting up a finger, Justine said in a softened voice, ¡°Wait a second.¡± She kept edging forward as if she was afraid of missing something with her device.

    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

    The machine¡¯s lights began to flash and the small wavy lines on its screen began to go haywire.

    Justine then put her device down and jogged forward a few paces. She turned back to us and made a grand gesture with both her hands, ¡°We¡¯ve passed into the illusion zone!¡±

    ¡°Really? I didn¡¯t feel anything.¡± I spoke too soon. Suddenly I felt a strange chill and everything flipped sideways. The world seemed to turn blue tinted, then a dark purple, red and black. The I saw our group from a bird¡¯s eye view and an eye opened up in the sky.

    Then suddenly everything was normal again. Disoriented, I put a hand on a nearby tree and steadied myself.

    Winnie sneezed a few times as if he was allergic to something. Justine looked at me with concern when she saw me leaning on a tree and holding my head. ¡°Are you okay Az?¡±

    I rubbed my eyes and blanked a few times before nodding. ¡°Yeah. Did you any of you guys see that?¡± I pointed to the sky, ¡°That uh, I dunno it felt like I was tripping balls for a second there. There was an eye in the sky and everything was different shades of colors.¡±

    Justine tilted her head, ¡°No? That¡¯s weird. Winnie, are you feeling anything?¡±

    Looking up at the sky, Winnie sneezed again, ¡°it feels like we¡¯re being watched, and there¡¯s a layer of ghost type energy on everything. i don¡¯t like it.¡±

    I repeated what Winnie said to the others. Kenta nodded and looked back at the others who were still being held up by Marcus and frowned, ¡°Angela looks a bit pale.¡±

    Justine, Winnie, and I whipped around to stare at the ghost type master. She still had her usual unfazed attitude, but her eyebrows were slightly furrowed in concern and she was speaking to a shadow behind her.

    We looked away as she glanced at us and I turned to Justine, ¡°Should we be concerned?¡±

    Justine took another look at her sister and shook her head, ¡°I think we¡¯re okay. Angela will tell us if there¡¯s anything dangerous, she won¡¯t hide that sort of stuff.¡±

    If you say so.

    Once the group reorganized itself, we continued through the trail and quickly found ourselves walking down a steep and icy slope, emerging onto an immense flat area known as Icelands Lake.

    It was frozen over for most of the year and currently the ice was thick enough for even an Avalugg to safely stomp around on, so no concerns there on falling through the ice. There were a few inches of snow covering the ice layer, so we should be fine on the slipping part too.

    The ground beneath us began to sound slightly hollow, as one by one, we stepped onto the lake surface.

    There was a huge section of open water to our left where we could see a few herds of Hisuan and Kalosian Avalugg and Walrein lounging about with their prevolutions. They regularly broke the ice apart in that section so that they could get in and out of the water with no problem.

    One particularly large Hisuan Avalugg spotted us and turned around to keep its eye on the strange group traveling across the ice, rumbling a warning to the other adult members of the herd.

    Rotom poked it¡¯s eyes out of my pocket to look at the new Pokemon but buzzed in displeasure as soon as the cold winds hit it and dived back into the warmth of my pocket.

    The Icelands was the only place in the world that still had Hisuan Avalugg in the wild. Part of the reason the ranger base was nearby was to protect them and a few other rare species from poachers.

    I wonder if it¡¯s possible for an Avalugg to grow to the size of an actual mountain like that one Noble Avalugg in Legends Arceus. That would both be terrifying and amazing.

    I mean, the red-eyed Hisuan Avalugg that was currently giving us a continuous dirty look was more than five times bigger than any of the others. It was big enough to eat Sahara in two bites. Curiously, non of the Kalosian Avalugg came anywhere near the size of the alpha Hisuan Avalugg.

    Everyone stopped and looked up as Sigilyph screeched, ¡°Si-gi-lyph!¡±

    ¡°uh-oh.¡± Winnie said.

    ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± I asked.

    The image of a Walrein bursting through the ice underneath us appeared in my mind. I frowned, ¡°Oh, that¡¯s what¡¯s going to happen.¡±

    I took a few steps back as the ice beneath us rumbled and something very, very large glided past us in the water.

    My walkie-talkie crackled to life and I heard Celia say through it, ¡°Keep moving everyone. Angela, send a ghost to deal with Walrein.¡±

    There was another KSSH! As Angela replied, ¡°Already on it.¡±

    Something threw itself against the ice beneath us and we all heard a deep cracking noise as the thick ice beneath us began to break apart.

    The attacker retreated, rumbling loud enough to reverberate through the water and layer of ice above it and through me. I heard a commotion to our left as the herd of Walrein turned their attention to us and a few more Walrein slid into the water.

    Everyone noticeably increased their pace to a jog, we would¡¯ve gone faster but everyone was careful not to slip on any exposed patches of ice.

    ¡°That¡¯s not good.¡± I muttered under my breath.

    ¡°Yeah no shit.¡± Jason said behind me as he took out a quick ball and let out a Kilowattrel who squawked and flew up into the air above us.

    There was another loud cracking sound and roar behind us as a a massive Walrein with glowing red eyes burst through the ice and landed with a loud fleshy THUNK!

    ¡°WALREEIIIIN!¡±

    A few other Walrein shaped silhouettes flitted around us underneath the ice. Alpha Walrein was about to roar again when a large crowd¡¯s worth of pitch black hands shot out of the water and wrapped around Walrein like it was wrapping a mummy and dragged the ice-walrus back into the water.

    A Cofagrigus in the water? Oh wait, I guess ghosts don¡¯t need oxygen. Then I thought about ghosts like Trevenant, scratch that, some ghosts don¡¯t need oxygen.

    Kilowattrel flew back over to the ice hole and shrieked its name as it crackled with electricity. A javelin of Thunder formed and crashed down into the water below, sending shocks of electricity into the area around the water hole.

    There was an outburst of splashing and bubbles that erupted from the ice hole as the Pokemon in the water there were electrocuted. I looked away as the entire group hurried to get off the ice, we still had a few hundred feet to go.

    An Empoleon slid past us and towards the hole in the ice as Kilowattrel dodged a few Ice Beams aimed at it and zapped away a few more Walrein who poked their heads out of the water. Another Walrein roared and rose out of the water on a surge of water and began gunning straight for us.

    The sight of that got everyone moving, I helped Justine steady herself as she almost slipped on some exposed ice. Winnie tapped on my neck, urging for me to go faster.

    The people behind us began to shout to the front about the incoming water as Empoleon Ice Beamed a U-shaped ice wall to block Walrein¡¯s Surf. Sigilyph and Xatu flew back over and created a double barrier Light Screen in front of the ice wall.

    There was another crash of lightning as Kilowattrel struck Walrein head on with Thunder, knocking the blue walrus off of its Surf and evaporating some of the water. Surf hit both Light Screens, and with it¡¯s power diminished it didn¡¯t break through Empoleon¡¯s ice wall and sploshed a few feet towards us before receding.

    A Discharge from Kilowattrel was able to hold back the other Walreins enough for Empoleon to freeze the ice hole back over, sealing it back up as a bunch of ghost type energy erupted from the water, sending the Walrein fleeing (probably for their lives).

    Now that the threats had been dealt with, Empoleon slid back up to the front where Abigail returned it.

    Kilowattrel flew back over to Jason and landed on his shoulder, preening itself as the electric type specialist praised the electric bird and returned it.

    Thankfully our hike was pretty uneventful after that, we got off the lake and quickly re-entered the forest, spending the rest of the day trying not to slip and fall on a steep section of the trail.

    Some of us sighted a few small groups of of Cryogonal, but the group of snowflake Pokemon ignored us as they floated past us, staying high up in the clouds. Cryogonal weren¡¯t dangerous in small groups, but they were deadly in large swarms. It was how Celia lost a few of her fingers during the previous expedition.

    Once it got dark, Celia and Abigail found a good place for us to camp and everyone set up our tents as Armarouge and Ceruledge set up a few campfires. Jason set up some weird looking metal poles around the camp and his electric types helped charge any electronic device that needed to be charged.

    Justine went around with him and attached talismans to the poles.

    During dinner prep, we saw flashes of Weavile and Sneasel lurking in the forest just outside of the reach of our campfire¡¯s lights, but they never came close, probably because they were wary of Collin''s fighting types.

    Glados hung out with Empoleon and Kaiju during dinner. I dunno what Glados was doing with the penguin but Kaju was there for the popsicles that Empoleon kept making for him.

    After being banished from tasting the food before it was served, Winnie joined them with a few members of the ghost gang.

    After a quick dinner around the campfire, Celia assigned night guard shifts. We would have one person and a few of their Pokemon keep watch for two hours before switching to the next night guard team starting from nine PM until seven AM. We had twelve people, so there would be nights were we could get a full nights rest.

    Leo was assigned the first shift, but I ended up staying up a bit later cause Shuppet was being picky with her food again.

    Meowscarada and Houndoom stood guard and Leo and I talked while I tried for the eleventh time to get Shuppet¡¯s food right for her. (No she is not spoiled, she simply has unique food tastes I swear.) Thankfully she liked this try and was quickly happily munching away at her bowl of food.

    It was pretty exciting to hear from Leo about his experience with his first conference. Of course I could just read about people¡¯s first conference on the Pokenet, but hearing it in person as a lot more fun.

    Conferences in this world had three main stages, elimination, preliminaries, and the finals. A trainer could skip elimination if they had proven themselves strong enough to be a seeded participant. Most of those trainers included people sponsored by a regional lab, which I guess was why Ash was never in the elimination rounds in the anime.

    Despite being a lab sponsored trainer, Leo wasn¡¯t deemed strong enough to be a seeded trainer and had to fight his way through the elimination rounds before using Absol and Meowscarada to painstakingly get his way through the preliminary doubles matches.

    Their most challenging opponent was an Incineroar and Vaporeon duo where Vaporeon focused on support and Incineroar want HAM on Meowscarada before trying to take out Absol. Thankfully, Leo had painstakingly trained Absol¡¯s Super Luck ability to its max and the dark type was able to win through constant dodging and critical hits.

    They probably used up all their luck in that battle cause his team was swept by a Hydreigon during the top 32 matches.

    I was a bit skeptical about an Absol being able to single handedly win against an Incineroar and Vaporeon duo, but this was the same world that had Ash¡¯s monster of a Pikachu and their ¡®power of friendship.¡¯

    There was also that one trainer who swept the Indigo league with a single Shuckle. Yeah, there was an entire Pokenet forum dedicated to that called One-Punch-Shuckle. The trainer kept their identity a secret and disappeared after making their way through the Elite Four and losing to Lance.

    Soooooo I guess Absol¡¯s victory wasn¡¯t super implausible. This all just made me question how to properly power rank basically anything. Cause by that logic Sahara could be taken down by a Dedenne due to the ¡®power of friendship¡¯ or ¡®protagonist plot armor.¡¯

    I dunno. I guess I¡¯ll find out when I participate in a tournament or something.

    Anyways, back to what Leo was talking about. As a dark type specialist, he was pretty interested in getting a Deino after losing to that Hydreigon, but he ended up catching a Larvitar by chance and ended up not getting the Deino cause Tyranitar wouldn¡¯t do well with another pseudo-legendary as aggressive as a Hydreigon.

    I wasn¡¯t surprised there. Back on the ranch Leo¡¯s Tyranitar would always be by itself or with Leo¡¯s Mandibuzz, other pseudo-legendaries and especially dragons avoided it.

    I looked at the time and yawned, ¡°It¡¯s getting late. I¡¯m gonna head to bed.¡± Sahara was already in her ball and sleeping, and it was a way past Kaiju¡¯s bedtime.

    Leo nodded, ¡°Yeah you probably should. Have a good night.¡±

    ¡°G¡¯night. Kaiju, Winnie, come on it¡¯s bedtime.¡± I called to the little dragon and fox, who were over with Houndoom. They got up and came over to me. I picked Kaiju up and wiped the snow off of his feet while Winnie shook off the snow from his paws before we went in and got settled.

    Man, I¡¯m gonna miss when Kaiju gets too big for me to pick up. The Deino line was pretty infamous for how long they took to evolve¨Clevel 50 into Zweilous and level 64 into Hydreigon¨Cso at least I¡¯d have a bit of time.

    I¡¯ll have to get Rotom to take extra pictures.

 (19) The Forest Lords Warning

    Everyone slept well, but the night guard had a hell of a time with Weavile packs once Leo and his dark types went to sleep. I guess they could sense other dark types and didn¡¯t think it was worth it until the guard was replaced with Pokemon they had an type advantage against.

    That was pretty smart of them. Too bad that night guard was Angela. I was awoken by an outburst of loud shrieking and wailing from a whole pack¡¯s worth of Weavile and Sneasel. There was the sound of what I could only describe as hundreds of people speaking with reverb effects, as I poked my head out to see a swirl of purple and green souls devouring a bunch of the attackers with loud and rather obnoxious OM NOM NOM sounds.

    I flinched as a limb flew past my face and I slowly retreated back into by tent, silently zipped up the door, and pretended that I didn¡¯t hear the ominous bone crunching coming from outside. Who the hell knows how Angela got her hands on a Spiritomb?

    ¡°what¡¯s happening outside?¡± Winnie sleepily asked.

    ¡°Not much.¡± I answered as I crawled back into my sleeping bag.

    Nothing looked amiss in the morning when everyone got up. I was beginning to wonder if the stuff I saw last night was just a dream when the weird looking stone on Angela¡¯s necklace burped out a few red feathers.

    I¡¯m not questioning it.

    Trouble began to brew the moment we set out. As we were climbing up a bunch of big rocks, suddenly I wasn¡¯t able to balance correctly and fell on my ass in the snow, sliding down one of the icy rocks and into Kenta, who also seemed to had lost his sense of balance.

    That set off a chain reaction as we slid into people behind us into Tim, Marcus, and Collin and landed in a pile on top of each other at the bottom of the boulder pile in front of a confused Leo and Angela.

    Winnie fell off my shoulder and couldn¡¯t stand up straight, kinda like he was drunk or something.

    Head still spinning, I looked up to see everyone above us leaning on something for support, or sat down and rubbing their head. Justine looked pretty okay, she said she was just a bit dizzy, but not so much so that she couldn¡¯t stand up or walk, and she carefully slid her way down to see if we were alright.

    ¡°AAH FUCK! Not those bastards again!¡± I heard Celia shout from the top of the boulder pile.

    The walkie talkie emitted a bunch of static and when Celia realized they weren¡¯t working, she just shouted over to us.

    ¡°Leo! Get you ass up to the front right now! Angela, spread out your ghosts!¡±

    The world was still spinning for me so I closed my eyes and waited. There was some shuffling and I heard Leo muttering ¡°Excuse me.¡± As he and Zoroark got to the front.

    The dizziness slowly disappeared after a few minutes and I was finally able to get up. I picked Winnie up and put him in my hood as he still felt a bit wobbly.

    ¡°What the hell was that?¡± I asked as Justine helped me up and I dusted off my clothes

    ¡°Stantler.¡± Justine answered as she and Angela began helping the others up.

    ¡°Stantler? You gotta be kidding me.¡± I heard Kenta mutter as he dusted himself off and shook his head to clear out the dizziness.

    ¡°What you do mean Stantler? How can a Stantler do this?¡± (Az)

    (Marcus adjusting his glasses and putting his goggles back on cause they got knocked off in the fall) ¡°Stantler have the ability to confuse the senses of other Pokemon in order escape predators. On regular routes, this is nothing more than giving others a bad sense of direction, but those who live in wild areas have stronger psychic powers, which can result in¡­well, this sort of situation.¡±

    Once everyone had regained their sense of balance, we climbed back up to the top where Celia and the others were waiting.

    Weavile, Houndoom, and Zoroark were at the very front, standing in between us and a large herd of Stantler with white-brown winter coats. The deer Pokemon were standing in the middle of our path and just¡­staring at us with unblinking eyes, the air around their horns twisting and distorting in waves that radiated outwards.

    The dark type energy being emitted from from Leo¡¯s team seemed to be enough to prevent the Stantler herd¡¯s abilities from affecting us anymore, but there was still the problem of making them leave.

    Tim took a few steps forward and peered at the unmoving deer Pokemon with an unsettled frown, ¡°That¡¯s strange. I¡¯ve never heard of any wild Stantler that behave like this.¡±

    Just as the researcher finished speaking, someone whispered in a singsong voice ¡°time to go~¡± The Stantler herd turned as one and scattered into the woods, quickly disappearing amongst the trees.

    I tilted my head and strained my ears, did I heard someone speak? That wasn¡¯t someone from out party.

    Glancing around to see where the voice came from, I noticed that no-one else seemed to notice the voice. Bruh.

    ¡°Perhaps I spoke too soon.¡± Tim said as he looked at where the Stantler disappeared.

    Ben shivered and grimaced, ¡°That was weird.¡±

    Armarouge patted its trainer¡¯s back and gave a reassuring ¡°Arma!¡± While Ceruledge silently scanned the area for more Stantler.

    ¡°More creepy than weird.¡± Kenta said, moving a hand away from his Pokeball belt where it had wandered while the Stantler were staring at us, ¡°Why were they just staring at us like that?¡±

    ¡°maybe they were messing with us.¡± Collin suggested.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know about that.¡± Celia replied as she turned away, ¡°Come on guys, I wanna get out of here asap.¡± The explorer muttered ¡°freaky ass deer¡± under her breath as she gestured for Abigail to return to her side and began to lead the party again.

    ¡°This feels like some urban legend type shit.¡± I muttered, taking another surreptitious glance at the woods.

    ¡°what¡¯s an urban legend?¡± Winnie asked.

    ¡°Folklore and legends about a certain place or creature.¡± I answered, ¡°Deer that stand in the middle of the road and stare at you for no reason are a good example.¡±

    Marcus raised a hand with his pointer finger up, ¡°Speaking of folklore about deer, there is one urban legend in Unova where Sawsbuck of all four seasons gather in one place!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t Sawsbuck change their coats depending on the season and time of the year?¡± Jason asked rather doubtfully.

    Marcus nodded, ¡°Yes, but there was a photographer who captured that very event a few decades ago¡­¡±

    I tuned Marcus out as I focused on climbing a rather icy set of boulders. Abigail¡¯s Sandslash made sure to carve footholds into the rock and ice to make things easier for those behind them to climb up, but it was still slippery.

    We continued through the forest, climbing over boulders, fallen trees, and roots that seemed to be there just to trip us. Once in a while we¡¯d see a Stantler standing a few hundred feet away and just staring at us, unmoving.

    The creepy fucks didn¡¯t even flinch at a Dark Pulse one of Leo¡¯s Pokemon shot near them.

    Slowly, it went from just a handful of Stantler, to the entire herd. Then multiple herds worth of Stantler, again, just staring. This was starting to feel like something out of a horror movie.

    ¡°Are they illusions?¡± Justine asked, waving her energy detector-a-tron at one Stantler that was just a few feet off the path, but the machine indicated that all the Stantler were indeed real.

    Honestly that just made it all the more unsettling, but they weren¡¯t doing anything, just staring, it was like they were statues carved out of ice. The only indicators that these Pokemon were even alive was the occasional puff of smoke from their warm breath being frozen in the air.

    Against my advice, Winnie even tried going up to one to speak to it, but he was ignored.

    Things went like this for a few hours, and a few Wyrdeer joined the seemingly endless crowd of Stantler as we made a beeline to the edge of the territory.

    Everyone was on edge and kept glancing at the deer Pokemon surrounding us. I kept counting the ones I could see, and the numbers went into the thousands. I was wondering how in the world so many non-illusion Stantler could survive in this one forest, though I wasn¡¯t gonna be sticking around for any answers.

    As we got closer to the exit of this part of the forest, there were enough deer to clog up the space in between the trees, and they were still just staring.

    I was tempted to let out Sahara or Glados to make them go scatter, as were a few others, but Celia forbade that. According to her, ¡°We don¡¯t want to anger the lord of the forest.¡± The lord of the forest? Don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s a noble Pokemon. That¡¯s just a mini legendary. Well, at least it¡¯s not a Hisuan Electrode.

    ¡°Almost there.¡± Celia said encouragingly, trying to keep her voice reasonably low but still loud enough for the entire group to hear. I just kept my eyes on the ground to avoid slipping or tripping on something, having to climb up while tensing my body to avoid slipping was tiring and I was constantly out of breath.

    Justine seemed to be having an easier time thanks to help from Dragapult and Dreepy occasionally pushed her up, and the twins just floated in the air during harder sections of the trail.

    The clattering of hooves on snow and ice made me look up from the ground and the Stantler were all gone again.

    Standing on in the middle of our path was a massive golden Wyrdeer that glowed with a faint aura of power. Its golden sixteen point antlers reached up towards the treetops and I could see it¡¯s taut muscles beneath its thick fur coat.

    The pressure from the golden deer Pokemon made my ears pop and I could hear Winnie growling from his hiding place in my hoodie.

    Wyrdeer took a few steps forward. Leo, Ben, and Abigail¡¯s teams stepped forward, taking defensive positions.

    The golden deer snorted, a single stomp from its hoof vibrated through the earth, forcing the frontline Pokemon to take a step back as a deep and regal voice reverberated through the area.

    Come no further travelers. Danger lurks beyond, more than you need subject yourselves to.

    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    Celia, with a hand on her Pokeball belt shook her head and replied, ¡°I¡¯m sorry but we need to keep going. We know what what danger lurks beyond.¡±

    Wyrdeer snorted again and shook its head. You may, you have been here before, the young know not. The Guardian¡¯s patience runs thin, she will not be merciful this time around. Save yourselves from misery and heartbreak by returning to human territory.

    With a determined expression on her face, Celia replied again, ¡°Thank you for your concern Lord Wyrdeer, but we know what we¡¯re getting into. Who¡¯s this guardian you¡¯re talking about?¡±

    The golden deer Pokemon simply shook its head, I see you cannot be convinced. I apologize, but this is for your own good. Know that I didn¡¯t not wish for your situation to come to this.

    The forest lord¡¯s golden aura exploded, sending a shockwave through the area. I was thrown off my feet and sent flying back, catching a brief glimpse of the others being thrown off their feet as well.

    A ghostly green and purple aura caught us and put us back on our feet and I took a few steps back to get a hold on the situation.

    There was a cry of pain from Leo from the front followed by a loud crunch and a collective snarl of rage from Zoroark, Houndoom, and Absol as the former two leaped forward to attack Noble Wyrdeer while Absol dragged their trainer back to safety.

    Ben and his team rushed forward to meet Wyrdeer in battle and Celia returned Ninetales and threw another Pokeball out, releasing an Incineroar who roared and blocked another burst of psychic energy from hitting its trainer.

    Oh so violence is the only other option Wyrdeer? How noble of you. I thought as I scrambled to get behind a tree to avoid another burst of energy from the psychic deer Pokemon

    ¡°Angela!¡± Celia shouted over the commotion of everyone ducked for cover, ¡°Take the others to the next checkpoint! Ben and I will handle this!¡±

    ¡°Yep.¡± Angela answered, grabbing the odd stone around her neck and letting Spiritomb seep out of the cracks in the rock again.

    The swirling chaotic amalgamation of spirits that was Spiritomb cackled and shrieked in rage as it bent to the ghost type master¡¯s will, enveloping everyone but Ben, Celia, and their Pokemon in a transparent dome of dark purple.

    The temperature dropped and the dome darkened until we couldn¡¯t see the outside. I felt a sense of vertigo and the others made sounds of alarm as we felt like we were moving, kind of like a rollercoaster suddenly accelerating.

    Suddenly we stopped and I lurched forward, almost falling to the ground as the the dome od darkness broke and receded back into the odd stone.

    I took a moment to adjust and looked at our new surroundings. We were stood on a snow covered tundra just outside a Wyrdeers forest. Angela staggered, putting a hand over her bleeding nose and Typhlosion let itself out of its ball to help her sit down and rest while Justine rushed over to make sure her sister was okay.

    What was that move?

    Marcus and Tim rushed over to Leo, letting out an Audino and Chansey as they took out a first aid kit. The dark type specialists foot was, to say the least, pointing in the opposite direction of what it should be.

    Absol, Houndoom, and Zoroark stood nearby, worried for their trainer.

    I whipped my head around as I heard the Chloe and Zoe shout in unison, ¡°Guys, we¡¯re not out the of woods yet!¡± The twins pointed simultaneously at the woods we had just come out of where a horde of Stantler were stampeding out at full speed.

    I hurriedly sent out Sahara, ¡°Rock Tomb wall!¡±

    Kenta caught on and quickly sent out Flygon and Tyrantrum, who roared to announce their presence, ¡°Rock Wall as well guys, help out Garchomp.¡±

    Flygon flapped its wings and summoned a flurry of rocks that neatly stacked and interlocked with Sahara¡¯s rocks. Tyrantrum stomped its feet a few times and create massive boulders that landed in front of Flygon and Sahara¡¯s wall with a loud THUMP!

    ¡°Ice Beam.¡± Abigail quietly commanded, and Sandslash began to use Ice Beam to fill in the gaps between the rock wall with ice to make them stick together.

    Muffled THUNKs of bodies being thrown against the wall began to sound from the other side of the wall and Sahara, Flygon, Tyrantrum, and Sandslash worked together to surround the entire group in a tall wall of stone and ice.

    That was only enough to stall the Stantler mob for a short moment before they began bashing themselves against the walls even harder than before with almost no regard for their own personal safety. As if possessed, the deer Pokemon kept mindlessly throwing themselves against the wall as it began to crack.

    ¡°What is this? A zombie movie?!¡± I yelled out as I noticed an ominous red beginning to seep into the snow from the other side.

    ¡°why are they doing that?!¡± Winnie hissed with alarm, ¡°they¡¯re just hurting themselves!¡±

    ¡°Light Screen and Reflect!¡± The twins commanded. With their eyes glowing, Sigilyph and Xatu began placing protective barriers around the walls to mitigate any damage made to them.

    Marcus took out a Pokeball and sent out a Mr. Mime. ¡°Barrier room p-please.¡±

    ¡°Good idea Marcus!¡± Chloe said, tossing another Pokeball and releasing her own Mr. Mime, ¡°Copy Marcus¡¯s Mime!¡±

    ¡°Mr Mime!¡± The mime Pokemon both dopily grinned at each other and raised their hands to the sky. Slowly, a double coated box of psychic energy began to envelope the area, muffling out the sounds of the outside world.

    The sounds of Stantler smashing themselves against the wall slowly began to peter out and slowly stopped, replaced by the pitter pattering sounds of hooves making their way back into the forest where we could see Ben¡¯s signature massive pillars of fire and golden light erupting from the forest.

    ¡°I guess they went back.¡± I said to the others, ¡°Are Celia and Ben gonna be okay?¡±

    Finished with Leo¡¯s first aid treatment, Tim walked over to me and stoically replied, ¡°Yeah. Ben¡¯s got a trump card afterall, and Celia¡¯s Bewear can take down a Regi. They should be fine.¡±

    ¡°why didn¡¯t they come with us?¡± Winnie whispered in my ear, that was a good question so I repeated it to Tim.

    ¡°If we all left Wyrdeer would¡¯ve chased us out of the forest. That¡¯s what happened during the our first attempt.¡± Tim replied with a grim look as he recalled some bad memories, ¡°We can¡¯t do anything now. Come rest, Celia will be eager to get out of the area when they¡¯re done.¡±

    <hr>

    Another golden shockwave radiated outwards from Wyrdeer, punching through trees and boulders like a Scyther cutting through grass.

    Celia ducked down, falling flat on her stomach behind a boulder to avoid being sliced in half before scrambling back up and running back out.

    ¡°Darkest Lariat!¡± The silver-blue haired explorer shouted. Incineroar covered its hands in dark type energy and rushed towards Wyrdeer, spinning itself like a top as it hit the golden deer and pushing the Noble Pokemon back a few paces.

    Wyrdeer responded with a lighting fast Double Kick that sent the wrestling Pokemon flying away and into a tree.

    ¡°Incineroar!¡± Celia shouted to her Pokemon as she ran over to make sure it was okay.

    Under Ben¡¯s command, Ceruledge and Armarogue took Incineroar¡¯s place. The fire ghost Pokemon swiped her blades against each other and rushed in as Armarogue hit her with Flamethrower. The blade ghost¡¯s ability activated and she quickly coated her blades with a malicious red-blue fire that she used to slice away at Wyrdeer.

    Armarouge back its ally up with Heat Wave, simultaneously boosting Ceruledge and hitting Wyrdeer with a vicious wave of fire.

    The Noble Pokemon danced backwards, creating multiple layers of Reflect and Light Screen to block Ceruledge¡¯s attacks and basically negate Armarouge¡¯s Heat Wave. Then it stomped its front hooves on the ground and charged, its horns crackling with electric type energy that spread to the rest of its body.

    ¡°Dodge! It¡¯s an electric type move, avoid being paralyzed!¡± Ben shouted.

    Jumping, Armarogue propelled himself further up with a blast of fire from his hands while Ceruledge used Shadow Sneak to phase into the ground.

    Without missing a beat, Wyrdeer switched targets to Ben, who was standing straight in its path. The red haired trainer tensed, palming something in his hand before throwing a blue ball at Wyrdeer¡¯s face and leaping to the side with only inches to spare.

    ¡°Take this!¡± The fire type specialist growled under his breath as he rolled and landed, covering his ears and closing his eyes tight.

    There was a blindingly bright flash followed by a deafening bang and an explosion of electricity.

    Another burst of aura from Noble Wyrdeer cleared the smoke and it shook its heads, twitching its ears irritably and blinking hard to clear the spots from its eyes. Ben took this chance to run to a safer location next to a boulder he could duck behind for cover.

    A flash of red and black fur caught the Wyrdeer¡¯s attention as Incineroar jumped onto Wyrdeer¡¯s back, hooking an arm around it¡¯s neck and holding the deer Pokemon in a iron chokehold.

    Grunting with effort, Wyrdeer bucked and reared back before trying to throw the wrestling Pokemon off with another blast of golden energy, but Incineroar held on tight.

    ¡°Crunch!¡± Celia shouted to Incineroar, who quickly snapped its jaws shut on the back of Wyrdeer¡¯s neck, earning a roar of pain from the Noble Pokemon.

    Seizing the chance, Ben shouted, ¡°Pincer it!¡±

    Armarogue and Ceruledge leaped in for a free attack. The fire blade Pokemon charged in, dark type energy enveloping her blades as she Night Slashed at Wyrdeer¡¯s side while her partner ducked to Wyrdeer¡¯s other side and hit the golden deer with a Calm Mind boosted Dark Pulse.

    Wyrdeer roared and slammed itself on its back, crushing Incineroar under the full weight of its body before getting up and instantly curb stomping the wrestling Pokemon with a Stomp from its hind legs.

    The Noble Pokemon went in for another Stomp, but Ceruledge appeared in Incineroar¡¯s place, unaffected by the normal type move and slashed at Wyrdeer¡¯s hind legs with another Night Slash. A shout from Ben alerted the fire ghost and she blindly threw herself to the side as an earth shattering Thunder crashed down to earth and narrowly grazed the fire ghost.

    Armarogue jumped in front of Ceruledge, pulling up a Reflect and Protect as Wyrdeer smashed a Megahorn against the barrier, instantly breaking through the Reflect and cracking Protect.

    The two fire types leaped away from Wyrdeer as it reared up and stomped its hooves into the ground. There was a second of delay before the earth erupted below everyone¡¯s feet and geothermal heat spilled out, throwing everyone off their balance.

    Ben narrowly dodged falling into a crack containing lava, and grunted in pain as a splash of molten rock hit his leg as he quickly climbed on to of the boulder he was previously standing next to.

    Celia returned Incineroar, who was too damaged to take anymore attacks as she ran around a few trees and to a spot that wasn¡¯t surrounded by lava.

    ¡°Ah shit, this again.¡± The explorer swore as she felt her hair get staticy. The cloud above began to spew rain and crackled with electricity.

    She took out a love ball with a skull sticker on it and let out the Pokemon inside.

    A cuddly pink and brown bear Pokemon raised its hands in the air and smiled adorably as it shouted, ¡°BEWEAAAR!¡±

    ¡°Get me to Ben and use Protect!¡± Celia hurriedly issued out the command, and in an instant, Bewear scooped its trainer up and leaped over to the rock Ben was standing on before raising its arm above them both and creating a protective shield above the three of them.

    ¡°Armarouge, Ceruledge! Double layer Protect above you!¡± The fire type specialist shouted.

    The fire blade and fire warrior Pokemon nodded and raised their arms, crossing them together to create a two Protects above them.

    Noble Wyrdeer¡¯s eyes glowed a bright yellow-gold and its antlers crackled. BOOM!

    A spear of Thunder struck down on Bewear¡¯s Protect, shaking the ground with its power. Then another one crashed down onto Armarouge and Ceruledge¡¯s Protects, shattering one of them.

    The Thunder continued to rain down on the group, striking mercilessly and creating massive craters in the ground where it struck.

    The rain of thunder ended in one final BOOM that completely shattered Armarouge and Ceruledge¡¯s Protect, sending the fire types flying while Bewear grunted in an effort to maintain it¡¯s slickly cracked shield.

    The two fire types landed in a smoking heap, eyes spinning. Seeing that they were knocked out, Ben returned them and took out an ultra ball.

    ¡°Time to get serious.¡± Ben growled as he threw the ultra ball. ¡°Battle ready Big Man!¡±

    A four legged Pokemon that seemed to be made out of cooled magma and steel appeared in a flash of light and roared, ¡°HEA-TRAN!¡±

    The temperature rose as Wyrdeer and Heatran stared each other down.

    ¡°Fire Spin! Max Power!¡± (Ben)

    Wyrdeer is instantly entrapped in a massive tornado of fire.

    ¡°Hyper Beam Bewear.¡± Celia added, pointing at Wyrdeer.

    The bear Pokemon charged up a beam of white hot energy in front of its mouth and shouted, ¡°BeeeeWEAAAAR!¡±

    A beam of destructive white energy hummed and seared through everything in its path, disappearing into the fire storm and exploding against Wyrdeer with a loud BOOM!

    There was a roar of pain from Wyrdeer and a retaliatory golden Hyper Beam shot out through the wall of fire back at Bewear, who put a paw out and blocked the attack with a Protect.

    Space twisted and the fire around Wyrdeer was sucked into the black orbs on Wyrdeer¡¯s glowing antlers. With another roar, space twisted around its antlers again as it sent all the fire it had just absorbed straight at Bewear.

    Bewear grabbed Celia and Ben and leaped out of the way, the rock they were standing on exploding and sending shrapnel everywhere.

    Electricity crackled, and another chain of Thunder began crashing down on their surroundings, following by a burst of golden energy every few seconds.

    Heatran grunted as it took a few hits from Thunder before Ben shouted, ¡°Sunny Day!¡± The magma Pokemon¡¯s eyes glowed as it cleared away the clouds in the sky and sent up a ball of fire that seared away any rain that was left.

    Bewear set Ben and Celia down as Wyrdeer began firing off massive Hyper Beams and salvos of Shadow Balls at Heatran.

    ¡°Cover the Shadow Balls for Heatran!¡± Celia shouted. Bewear dashed forward and blocked Wyrdeer¡¯s Shadow Balls from hitting Heatran, its normal typing preventing it from taking any damage from the ghost type moves.

    Celia and Ben then yelled together, ¡°Rock Tomb!¡±

    Bewear and Heatrean created a rain of boulders that blocked off any paths for Wyrdeer to charge at them while also giving themselves cover from the golden Pokemon¡¯s attacks.

    Turning to his fellow trainer, Ben said, ¡°Celia, give us an opening and then get Bewear out of the area.¡±

    Celia nodded, ¡°Sweep its legs Bewear!¡±

    The cuddly bear Pokemon smiled with murderous intent as it ran through a few boulders and ducked below Wyrdeer¡¯s Double Kick before sweeping the deer Pokemon¡¯s legs from underneath it with Low Sweep and punching its stomach from below with enhanced strength from Superpower, throwing the deer Pokemon into the air.

    ¡°Jump away!¡± Celia shouted.

    Once it had rolled out from under Wyrdeer, Bewear leaped backwards, almost as if it was flying and landed after a roll.

    A layer of psychic energy enveloped Wyrdeer, allowing it to float to the ground and not take fall damage, but this delay gave Heatran to charge up and release a powerful Magma Storm.

    Molten rock burst out of the ground and swirled around Wyrdeer in a fiery tornado. Despite being far away from it, Celia still had to back away as she felt her hair begin to curl and smoke from the heat.

    Ben jumped forward and shouted, ¡°Time to throw hands Big Man! Flare Blitz!¡±

    Heatran rumbled, stamping its feet as it surrounded itself with fire before charging into the storm of fire and magma that it had created.

    The entire storm twisted and stopped moving before falling back to the ground. Reality seemed to glitch and Wyrdeer was suddenly right in front of Celia and Ben, just a few feet away from them.

    The golden deer was visibly hurt, but not enough to be fainted. The two trainers tried to back away but found themselves unable to move. Heatran and Bewear didn¡¯t seem to notice Wyrdeer¡¯s presence, in fact, they didn¡¯t move at all.

    The forest lord lowered its head to eye level with the two humans.

    I see you have brought a more powerful team this time around.

    A horde of Stantler began stalking out of the surrounding forest and watched their lord, waiting for a command. Wyrdeer flicked its ear at its underlings before continuing,

    I cannot win this fight, but do not think that you will win against other any other lords, for I am the weakest among them. Do not say I did not warn you.

    Wyrdeer raised its head, space twisting around its horns, the Stantler and Wyrdeer surrounding them copied their lords action and suddenly, they were all gone. The damage done to the forest was gone as well, as if a fight had never taken place.

    Bewear and Heatran began to move again, they looked around, confused as to where Wyrdeer went.

    The magma Pokemon turned back to its trainer with a questioning look and Bewear began to walk back over to celia.

    ¡°I guess it was smart enough to back away from a fight with Big Man.¡± Ben remarked as he walked over to Heatran.

    Celia just sighed and sat down, rubbing her face.

    The fire specialist paused in his tracks, ¡°You alright Celia?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Celia nodded, ¡°But if that Wyrdeer is the weakest of the ¡®lords¡¯ we¡¯ll have to make plans to escape anymore encounters with them. We had to break out our strongest Pokemon for their weakest, what will we do against their strongest?¡±

    ¡°Bewear.¡± Bewear said matter of factly as Celia hugged it and rubbed her face against the cuddly bear¡¯s soft fur before saying a muffled thanks to it. Bewear gently patted its trainer on her back.

    Ben patted Heatran on the nose, ¡°Thanks for the carry Big Man. We¡¯re going to all your favorite restaurants when we get back to civilization.¡± Heatran rumbled in satisfaction as Ben returned it and turned back to Celia and Bewear with a hand on his hip.

    ¡°That¡¯ll depend. That Beartic you talked about was reasonable last time right? Maybe we could ask for its help.¡± The fire type specialist suggested.

    Celia leaned back from Bewear¡¯s hug and furrowed a brow as she considered the suggestion, ¡°Actually, that¡¯s a good idea. It¡¯ll take a few days to get there, but Beartic will be helpful the rest of the way, and on the way back.¡±

    The explorer gave Bewear another thanks and returned the bear Pokemon to its love ball, then she turned to Ben.

    ¡°Lets get outta here. I still feel like I¡¯m being watched.¡±

    ¡°Yeah lets.¡± Ben replied, heading back to the trail, ¡°That space twisty thing Wyrdeer does is so overpowered. Thankfully it doesn¡¯t seem like it can abuse the power very much.¡±

    ¡°Talk about it.¡±

 (20) *Ominous Background Music*

    Ben and Celia came out of the forest on Arcanine¡¯s back. They were bruised, soaked, and singed, but doing alright besides that.

    Chansey, Audino, Marcus, and Tim quickly attended to Ceruledge, Armarouge, and Incineroar while Infernape and Arcanine helped warm Ben and Celia up before they changed out of their soaked clothes.

    As Tim had predicted, Celia wanted to get out of the area asap, she wasn¡¯t going to stick around long enough to see if Noble Wyrdeer was ready for round two.

    Leo and Angela rode on Arcanine¡¯s back while they recovered, though Leo would probably be on Arcanine duty for at least the next few days while the med-tech Marcus had and Pokemon magic from Audino and Chansey did their work.

    Apparently part of the reason why his injury wouldn¡¯t take long to heal was because Psychic and normal type energy don¡¯t do lasting or hard to heal damage like some other types.

    Marcus ended up launching into an explanation of type interactions before switching to Noble Pokemon as we made our way into the next leg of our journey, a completely treeless tundra.

    Things were tense and everyone was kind of jumpy, but I really didn¡¯t know what could be creepier than an endless mob of Stantler silently staring at us in the woods. I shuddered at the thought.

    Meanwhile, I overheard Jason trying to connect to the ranger base with his modified walkie-talkie, but he got nothing but static. I wasn¡¯t surprised cause everyone else¡¯s communication devices were fried, but he kept insisting that his device was specifically made to resist any interference.

    After a few hours of traveling across this snowy wasteland, Sigilyph and Xatu spotted something in the distance and alerted us.

    A minute later, a bunch of brown dots came into view, it was a herd of Mamoswine. Justine informed me that we were going to give them a very wide berth. Mamoswine in the deep wilds were extra aggressive due to the types of predators they had to deal with.

    As predicted, a few of the larger Mamoswine turned to look at us with suspicion as we gave their herd a healthy distance while we traveled.

    Thankfully they weren¡¯t as trigger happy as the wild Walrein, so they left us alone. Our team really wasn¡¯t in a good enough condition to face a stampede from them.

    We were still on the open tundra by the time it got dark, and were forced to camp out in the open. Kenta and I had our dragons replicate the rock wall from earlier, and Abigail had her ice types froze the boulders together while Justine placed her talismans all around the area to ward of ghosts.

    While we were in the forest, the trees were able to block most of the harsh freezing winds, not out on the open tundra. The rock wall helped block out the winds, and make our camp seem just a bit warmer. I didn¡¯t envy whoever was going to have to stand guard that night.

    <hr>

    I jerked awake to the ground rumbling and quickly sat up as I tried to figure out what the rumbling was.

    Winnie and Kaiju were already awake and listening as well. Seeing that I was awake, Winnie jerked his head towards the tent door, ¡°that doesn¡¯t sound good.¡±

    ¡°Yeah no shit.¡± I replied as I scrambled to get my shit together. Even though the tents had their own heating (thank you Devon tech) I had made a habit out of sleeping in my gear, ready to get up at any moment.

    The others had made a similar habit due to Celia¡¯s advice, so it only took a minute before I returned Kaiju and got out of my tent, ready to book it if needed.

    Turns out I was slow, cause almost everyone else was already outside and scrambling around like a nest of disturbed ants under the dim light of the moon and the campfire.

    Celia ran past me and shouted over her shoulder, ¡°Get what your essentials Azalea, there¡¯s a Mamoswine stampede!¡±

    Ahh shit. Just what we needed.

    I followed Celia as she joined the others gathered around the campfire, ¡°What¡¯re we gonna do? We can¡¯t outrun them can we?¡±

    ¡°We could probably avoid the herd by flying.¡± Kenta suggested, glancing nervously in the direction of the approaching rumbling sounds.

    ¡°Not an option. That swarm of Cryogonal will either freeze us to death or make us fall to our deaths if we fly.¡± Tim said, pointing up into the sky in the direction of the rumbling.

    In the darkness of the sky, I could see a swarm of hexagonal shapes flying towards us, occasionally firing beams of ice down at the Mamoswine herd. Are they herding the Mamoswine? I didn¡¯t think Cryogonal were that smart.

    Collin grimaced and scratched the back of his head, ¡°Too bad the twins can¡¯t freely teleport around in the illusion dome.¡±

    Angela isn¡¯t in any condition to do the same stunt she pulled yesterday either.

    Crossing her arms, Celia began issuing a string of orders, ¡°Angela, I need your ghosts.¡±

    Still looking rather drained, Angela dismissively waved a hand for Celia to go ahead, the ghost type master¡¯s shadow rippled as dozens of eyes turned their attention to the team leader.

    ¡°Those who are good with Confuse Ray, use them on the Mamoswine. Convince them that there¡¯s a cliff face where out campsite is and that they should go around it to avoid crashing into a wall. Focus on the herd leaders, the others will follow.¡±

    Ahhh, herd mentality.

    A clutter of dark shaped broke free from Angela¡¯s shadow and darted away in the direction of the herd. I noticed a small shadow from Justine darted away to join the others too.

    Celia then pointed to Winnie, Zoroark, and Angela¡¯s shadow, ¡°Zorua, Zoroark, and ghosts who are good at illusions, I need an illusion of a cliff-face where we are prompto. Go!¡±

    Winnie and the others sprung into action, the white fox jumped onto one of the rock walls and began running around it, weaving an illusion as he went. Zoroark, a Mismagius, and a Chandelure joined him as they created a pretty bg illusion of a cliff face where our camp was.

    Despite not being able to see the herd stampeding, I could hear a change in the cadence of the herd¡¯s footsteps. They were close, but I didn¡¯t know how close. They could crash through our rock wall any second. This was nerve wracking.

    Keeping calm, Celia issued another string of orders, ¡°Ben, Kenta, Abigail, I need you three to work on getting rid of the Cryogonal scaring the Mamoswine.¡±

    Ben saluted and quickly sent out Charizard and Talonflame, hopping onto the former before they flew off. ¡°I call first shots!¡± The fire type specialist yelled over his shoulder as Abigail send out Corviknight and Froslass while Kenta sent out Dragonite and Flygon.

    I watched as they flew off towards the swarm, Celia turned to the rest of us, ¡°We need to get started on Plan B, Tim, get your Diggersby out. Azalea we need Garchomp¡¯s help as well. We¡¯re digging a tunnel to hide in, in case the Mamoswine don¡¯t turn enough.¡±

    I nodded and sent out Sahara while Tim sent out his Diggersby and the two began digging.

    <hr>

    The stampeding Mamoswine herd was still a little less than a mile away, but they were approaching fast.

    Dusknoir rose of the the ground, followed by multiple Banette, a Chandelure, a Gengar, a Hisuan Typhlosian, a Cofagrigus, and a Yamask.

    ¡°I¡¯ll take the one at the herd point.¡± Dusknoir told the others before flying at the herd, conjuring a ray of light between its hands and flicking it at the Mamoswine leading the charge. The Banette followed Dusknoir¡¯s lead.

    Chandelure and Cofagrigus followed suit, the lantern ghost creating Confuse Rays above each of its flames while the coffin ghost created one per hand.

    ¡°The ghost with the lowest confuse count gets night duty!¡± Chandelure shouted to the others at it fired off the Confuse rays at the herd.

    ¡°Nu uh!¡± Gengar shouted back, darting forward to confuse a few Mamoswine.

    Typhlosion stood back with Yamask and watched. It glanced behind it as a rather large and realistic looking illusion of a cliff face appeared, replacing their campsite.

    ¡°Hmm, that¡¯s an impressive illusion isn¡¯t it?¡± Typhlosion commented to Yamask. The mask ghost shrugged and crossed its arms, ¡°I bet I can do better.¡±

    ¡°Mmhmm.¡± Typhlosion hummed, it raised a paw and sharply flicked it upwards as the Mamoswine began to get a little too close for comfort.

    A myriad of ghostly fireballs flickered to life and moved around the herd. Seeing the fireballs, the lead Mamoswine squealed in anger and panic before veering sharply to the right to avoid running through this sudden wall of fireballs and the cliff face that suddenly appeared.

    This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

    It didn¡¯t remember there being a cliff face there. It blinked its eyes as another wave of dazzling lights hit it in the face. No, wait, that cliff face was always there. It made sense there there was a cliff face in the middle of the flat tundra, they should turn right a bit more to avoid crashing into the cliff face!

    The herd began to turn but were startled again by a few Ice Beams from the Cryogonal who had been attacking them. The Cryogonal wanted them to go straight, but they would crash if they went straight!

    As all this went on, a group of Pokemon flew out of the campsite, going straight for the swarm of Cryogonal.

    ¡°I can get them away from the herd! You guys focus on eliminating them!¡± Ben shouted to the others, ¡°Talonflame, Sunny Day! Charizard, Heat Wave!¡±

    Talonflame squawked, sending a ball of fire into the sky with a flap of its wings. Charizard roared and sent a wave of fire at the swarm Cryogonal, forcing the living snowflakes to scatter, else they¡¯d be evaporated.

    ¡°Hurricane!¡± Kenta shouted, Dragonite flapping its wings harder and generated a whirlwind that with a sudden gust, turned into a howling storm of wind. The Cryogonal clattered with crystalline sounds as they were blown away like leaves in the wind.

    Flygon flew in and fired off a Fire Blast at the swarm, evaporating even more Cryogonal, Abigail and her team came in with a Hyper Beam from Corvinight and a salvo of Shadow Balls from Froslass.

    Identifying the fire types as the biggest threat, a few individual Cryogonal flew straight at Ben, their bodies glowing bright white as they prepared to explode themselves.

    A red laser dot appeared on the frontmost Cryogonal. There was a baritone hum and a VWOOOOOMM as a railgun beam of electricity tore through the Cryogonal and evaporated them before they could kamikazee themselves.

    Ben looked back to the camp where a Porygon-Z, a Manectric, and a Kilowatterel were, just outside the illusion. The fire specialist waved back at them before returning to the battle at hand.

    The swarm scattered and reformed like a school of fish, swirling together and clattering angrily as they collectively gathered an insane amount of ice type energy.

    Abigails eyes widened as she recognized the move, ¡°It¡¯s preparing for a Sheer Cold!¡± She shouted to the others before saying a quiet order to Froslass. The ict ghost hummed as it raised its head flaps and created a large Light Screen in front of them.

    ¡°Overheat!¡± Ben shouted to his team. Charizard and Talonflames opened their mouths wide and shot white-hot geysers of fire straight into the center of the ice type swarm.

    ¡°Heat Wave!¡± Kenta added, Flygon and Dragonite roared as they send a double wave of fire at the swarm.

    There was a loud hiss, like water landing on hot coals. A gout of steam rushed up into the sky as the swarm was evaporated.

    The team sighed in relief.

    Kenta looked below at the herd, who had been successfully diverted and were now heading away from their camp. The illusion of the cliff face was beginning to dissipate.

    ¡°The herd¡¯s been diverted too. Lets head back.¡± Kenta said.

    <hr>

    Due to the incident with the herd, we had an early start that day. Winnie was exhausted from having to keep up an illusion that large so he was sleeping in my hood.

    I had no problem with that, plus, walking across a tundra was a lot easier than climbing up and down icy slopes in the forest.

    Everyone was in a pretty good mood after our success, though the mood went down a bit as we began seeing more Cryogonal. The snowflake Pokemon didn¡¯t mind us, as they flew past us int he same direction we were going, which was fine. The problem was that it was a constant stream of Cryogonal flying past us. It was like they were gathering for something big.

    Abigail told us that the Cryogonal were most likely gathering into a larger swarm than before, which was strange. Large swarms were not common in the wild, Cryogonal didn¡¯t have the capabilities to communicate with each other long distance in order to gather that many in such a short amount of time.

    It began to lightly snow after a while. I kinda went into the zone and didn¡¯t pay my surroundings much mind until I nearly bumped into Justine. The group had stopped.

    ¡°Whats going on?¡± I asked no one in particular.

    Justine turned and shrugged, she was fiddling with her energy detector-a-tron, but Kenta answered, ¡°We¡¯re not going anywhere. You see that dead tree?¡±

    Kenta pointed at a tree that looked like it had been struck by lightning, ¡°We¡¯ve passed that like five times already.¡±

    (Az scratches the back of her head) ¡°Shit.¡± I looked down and realized that there were footprints from previous loops we had walked around.

    ¡°It¡¯s an illusion.¡± I heard Justine mutter under her breath as she scanned the energy waves in the area. I patted my hood to wake Winnie up as I walked up to the front where Celia was talking with Tim and Marcus.

    ¡°Do we need Winnie or Zoroark to do something about this?¡± I asked the three of them. Celia. ¡°Yeah. Go get Zoroark and maybe one or two of Angela¡¯s ghosts for backup.¡±

    Yawning, Winnie hopped up onto my head and I explained the task to him as I went to fetch Zoroark and some of Angela¡¯s ghosts. He nodded with a determined look.

    We have to move a lot slower from then on, but at least we were making progress.

    Winnie and the ghosts were able to sense sections that were illusions and unweave them, then Zoroark would take control of the illusion strands and destroy them using dark type energy.

    At least that¡¯s how I thought it worked from how Shuppet explained it to me. She, some of Winnie¡¯s ghost gang, and Yamask helped out with the unweaving and destroying. The teamwork made the progress faster than it originally would¡¯ve been.

    About half an hour in, I felt a chill, the hairs on the back of my neck raised and I looked around. The others must¡¯ve sense it too. We were being watched again. Not by the steady stream of Cryogonal woh were still flying by, but something else.

    A few minutes later, we came across a massive gorge that according to our maps, shouldn¡¯t be there. The energy detection devices showed that it was an illusion, and Winnie and Zoroark helped guide us across it.

    I wasn¡¯t scared of heights, but even I was nervous to step into thin air that was supposedly actually solid ground, but surprise surprise, it really was solid ground. We walked on what looked like thin air across the illusion gorge, only to be met with a massive golden Wyrdeer.

    I swear Celia looked like she was about to have a heart attack before Zoroark and Mismagius stepped forward and deleted the illusion.

    <hr>

    I sat watching the fire dance and crackle, petting Winnie as he rested on my lap. Glados floated above, constantly scanning the tundra around us while Absol and Infernape were patrolling the perimeter of the campgrounds.

    Night duty was pretty boring without anyone to talk to. Winnie and the ghost gang were pretty tired from the day¡¯s work so they were all asleep, which felt weird cause they were usually most active at night.

    Besides the constant illusions, there hadn¡¯t been a peep from any potential attackers for a few nights. Some members of the party were relived by that, while others were even more unsettled. Celia said that she felt like the mountains were winding up for something big.

    Everyone was still a bit on edge, especially Celia and Tim. Each time the previous expeditions had failed it was right after encountering a Noble Pokemon. Number one was due to the same Wyrdeer we had faced in Creepy Stantler Forest, and number two was to a golden Braviary.

    They were worried due to Noble Wyrdeer¡¯s warning about stronger Noble Pokemon. I was worried about there being a Noble Hisuan Electrode. The last thing I wanted to face was a living exploding ball Pokemon.

    As for good news, Leo¡¯s ankle and foot had gotten better thanks to the constant healing from Audino and Chansey and he was now able to walk, though he¡¯d still sometimes have to take a break on Arcanine. I¡¯ll admit it was a really good idea to bring dedicated healing Pokemon with us. Angela had also fully recovered from the energy drain that Spiritomb sapped from her when she was controlling it thanks to Chansey¡¯s soft boiled eggs and a lot of berries. Those things worked like magic. Probably because they were kind of magic.

    Kaiju snorted as a snowflake landed on his nose, I looked up at the dusting of snow that had begun to fall. A soft breeze blew through the snow, shifting them to be diagonal for a few seconds.

    Winnie¡¯s ears twitched and he got up, sniffing the air. ¡°something¡¯s changed.¡±

    ¡°What changed?¡± I asked.

    Taking another sniff of the air, Winnie shrugged, ¡°I can¡¯t tell exactly what, but something seems different.¡±

    ¡°Driiffftloooooon~¡± We looked up at a few Driftloon floating by. They gave the campsite a wide berth due to Justine¡¯s talismans, but still eyed us greedily until we left their line of sight.

    ¡°Sol!¡±Absol shouted over to us. We hadn¡¯t bothered to put with particularly high walls this time around, so I could see a group of black shapes running towards our camp.

    I stood up and stretched, ¡°Weaviles again? This isn¡¯t the same pack as last time right?¡±

    Absol glanced back at the pack running towards us and shook its head. ¡°Thought so.¡± I replied. The last two packs that were brave enough to try a raid were either eaten by Angela¡¯s Spiritomb or beat up into pulps by Collins fighting types.

    I turned to Infernape, ¡°You wanna have a go at them?¡± Infernape had been itching for a fight ever since Ceruledge had bragged to him about fighting Noble Wyrdeer head-on.

    Infernape grinned and nodded, the fire monkey¡¯s mane of fire intensifying for a moment. With a hoot, Infernape dashed off to meet the Weavile pack in battle.

    It didn¡¯t take long for the fire monkey to disperse the dark type pack and send them packing with their tails between their legs.

    The rest of the night was rather uneventful, and Collin took the shift after mine. By morning, the light snow had switched gears into a raging blizzard, dumping another few feet of snow outside in a matter of hours.

    The wind howled and tore at our clothes and equipment as everyone got their stuff together to continue the journey.

    We weren¡¯t able to send out flying types like usual due to the vicious winds, not that they could see much. The snow was so thick that we couldn¡¯t even see our own hands in front of us. Celia quickly handed out a long rope for everyone to tie to themselves so that we wouldn¡¯t get separated from each other.

    The twins send out a Hatterene for danger detection and a Mr Mime to use Light Screen to dampen the harshness of the blizzard.

    Our progress was quickly slowed due to the blizzard continuously dumping snow on us to the point that we were wading through piles of snow up to our waist. In my case, past my waist, having a shorter stature made it harder to wade through snow.

    There were a few illusion avalanches that were so obviously fake. Seriously, an avalanche on a flat plain? Zoroark was able to get rid of those illusions by himself.

    I tucked my scarf in again as another harsh gust of wind battered at our group, and I felt Winnie snuggled deeper into my hoodie. Why does it feel like the temperature is dropping?

    ¡°Cryooooo~ Cryooooo~ Gonaaaaaal~¡± A bunch of voices like crystals ringing and grating off of one another began to chant above us.

    ¡°Urgh, not them again.¡± I grumbled to myself.

    ¡°I swear I¡¯ll be glad to never see a Cryogonal again when we¡¯re done.¡± Kenta said in agreement.

    We looked up but couldn¡¯t see much besides a few hexagonal silhouettes moving in patterns around in the sky, it was slightly reminisce to how the Unown moved.

    The temperature continued to drop and I heard Celia shout something over the storm, ¡°Ben, get rid of them!¡±

    There was a muffled affirmative sound from Ben as he directed Ceruledge and Armarouge to use Fire Spin to trap the swarm of Cryogonal. Two massive spirals of fire erupted, twisting into the sky and through the clouds to where the snowflake Pokemon floated.

    The Fire Spins were followed up by a double Heat Wave that was hot enough to temporarily warm me up and melt most of the snow in the area.

    There was a loud hiss of water evaporating, but it was to no avail.

    The temperature dropped again, but the blizzard slightly softened before coming back full force as even more Cryogonal flew to take the place of the evaporated ones, singing their tune even louder then before.

    Another few attacks from Ben dispersed even more, but it didn¡¯t seem to deter the Cryogonal from egging on the blizzard and singing their name over and over again.

    Celia eventually called it quits, we just had to ignore the Crygonal and keep going like we were before until the Cryogonal give up. Except that they didn¡¯t. They didn¡¯t attack and only kept that raging blizzard up while continuing to hum that undulating tune.

    The singing quickly began to rub on everyone¡¯s nerves. I could hear Celia in front of me grumbling about that stupid song. Abigail had put some sound canceling ear plugs in, while Collin looked like he wanted to punch something. Ben was as cheerful as ever.

    We went on like that for a few hours before we all heard Celia shout for a stop through the snow. Something was approaching, but I couldn¡¯t see shit through the snowstorm.

    Something roared, ¡°ABOMA SNOW! SNOOOOW!¡± It¡¯s voice echoing and booming strangely through the area.

    ¡°its saying that the lord of the mountain ordered for us to leave or die.¡± Winnie translated. That wasn¡¯t reassuring.

    I repeated the Abomasnow¡¯s words to the others. Celia looked annoyed and gestured for Collin and Ben to go deal with the Pokemon. She wasn¡¯t as worried because it wasn¡¯t a Noble Pokemon

    The Cryogonal¡¯s singing became more intense as I saw a few flashes of fire and felt the ground shake. The battle didn¡¯t seem to last long, cause before long we heard something large moving away

    ¡°Abomasnow aboma!¡± The Abomasnow shouted above the howl of the wind before it picked up the pace and fully fled.

    ¡°What did it say?¡± I asked Winnie.

    ¡°it said that the eyes of the guardian are always watching, intruders will now be slain without mercy.¡±

    That was even less reassuring.

    As we began moving again, the blizzard intensified even more than I thought possible and the storm became a full blown white-out. It was THE white-out.

    We suspected that it was also an illusion, but it wasn¡¯t. It was just a good ol regular white-out.

    Despite the conditions, we pushed onwards. We¡¯d be in more danger if we stopped than if we continued onwards.

    Ben¡¯s team was tasked with occasionally dispersing the Cryogonal swarm to mitigate the storm for a short while. The problem was that despite the Cryogonal being evaporated, the temperature was cold enough for them to immediately refreeze, good as new.

    Eventually, the singing changed into a more guttural chant. ¡°Translation?¡± I asked Winnie.

    ¡°They¡¯re saying Lord of Ice over and over again.¡± The fox Pokemon replied, he shook some snow off of himself.

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± I frowned, that was worrying. Hearing my hum of concern, Celia gave me a questioning look.

    ¡°The Cryogonal ware chanting Lord of Ice over and over again. You know anything about a Noble ice type Pokemon?¡±

    I was surprised when Celia looked relieved, ¡°Yes, actually I do. We¡¯re getting near his territory.¡±

    ¡°And that¡¯s good?¡± I asked skeptically.

    Celia nodded, ¡°I¡¯ve encountered him before. He¡¯s part of the reason the second expedition had no casualties. Hopefully he¡¯s doing well.¡±

    That¡¯s good to hear. A friendly Noble Pokemon. I wonder what that¡¯ll be like.

 (21) The Lord of Ice Does Not Condone Cannibalism

    ¡°No waaayyy¡­¡± I whispered with a hand over my mouth.

    ¡°Crap.¡± Celia quietly growled, placing her hands on her head in disbelief.

    Ben pointed and asked, ¡°Is that¡­?¡±

    ¡°...¡± Abigail¡¯s eyes widened a bit and she looked away.

    Collin leaned back and scratched the back of his head, ¡°Thats¡­¡±

    ¡°The Lord of Ice.¡± Celia flatly finished the sentence for Collin.

    We were all staring at a massive chunk of ice with the dried out and half decayed corpse of a larger than average golden Beartic. The most noticeably part of it was the massive bite mark in its side where something had eaten part of it.

    ¡°that things is deader than dead.¡± Winnie remarked.

    ¡°Maybe it¡¯s a different Beartic?¡± Justine suggested.

    ¡°What other Beartic is golden like that?¡± Celia snapped, ¡°This is bad news.¡±

    ¡°Does this mean that the area is under new management?¡± I asked, nervously looking around. We were in a lightly wooded area of the tundra, but there weren¡¯t any Pokemon in sight besides the ones in our party.

    The ground shook. We all looked up as the Cryogonal swarms chanting became more frenzied. Leo and Absol ran up to the front to join us, Absol was barking a warning, the disaster Pokemon¡¯s hackles were standing on end and he looked fearfully up at the Cryogonal.

    ¡°Looks like we¡¯re about to see who the new Lord of Ice is. Maybe its another Beartic.¡± Leo said, as the ground shook again, ¡°Either way something big is coming. We should get the fuck out of here.¡±

    The temperature dropped more than I thought possible, the ground shook again.

    ¡°We¡¯re too late¡­¡± Marcus whispered as he began backing away, holding onto Tim¡¯s arm to tight that his knuckles turned white.

    The white-out suddenly stopped, the falling blanket of snow parting like stage curtains, revealing the biggest motherfucking dragon I¡¯d ever seen. The weak sunlight glinted off of Baxcalibur¡¯s golden scales. The Noble dragon¡¯s shadow loomed over us, it was ten times the size of Sahara and its golden-yellow eyes were triply as murderous.

    I guess this is what looking at Godzilla would be like.

    ¡°When did a Baxcalibur population appear in Sinnoh?¡± Tim growled, backing away, his free hand hovering above his Pokeball belt.

    ¡°Cue the boss music and HP bar.¡± I muttered, hovering a hand over Sahara¡¯s ultra ball.

    A few regular Baxcalibur and Arctibaxes stalked out from behind their leader, growling at us, white steam puffing out of their nostrils.

    All hail the Lord of Creation. A deep ego voice emanated from the golden dragon.

    Be grateful intruders, for you shall be slain by the Lord of Ice. Noble Baxcalibur snarled, its golden eyes could probably freeze us to death if it stared hard enough.

    Thunk! Thunk! A flurry of small ice chunks of ice fell to the ground. It began to hail.

    ¡°Get back!¡± Celia shouted as she let out Incineroar and Bewear. The Lord of Ice roared, throwing itself straight at them in a flurry of dragon type energy that was its signature move, Glaive Rush.

    Bewear caught the dragon lord, grunting with effort as it was pushed back, leaving deep scored in the snow. The cuddly bear pokemon smiled murderously as it strengthened its body with fighting type energy and heaved Baxcalibur back before diving right into a frenzy of attacks.

    Noble Baxcalibur grunted and took a few steps back, swatting at Bewear like how one would swat a horsefly. The other ice dragons rushed at our group.

    Incineroar joined Bewear in its assault on Noble Baxcalibur, covering itself with flames and crashing into giant ice dragon¡¯s stomach.

    The Lord of Ice grunted in annoyance as Incineroar landed back on the ground and quickly stepped on Incineroar, putting the full weight of its body on the wrestling Pokemon in an attempt to squish it like a bug.

    A pale blue, four armed Pokemon jumped in and lifted Baxcalibur¡¯s foot with little effort, letting Incineroar roll out of the way before the foot came back down.

    Noble Baxcalibur clawed at Machamp and Bewear, its was surprisingly fast for its large size and was able to hit both Pokemon dead-on and send them flying.

    Ben threw an ultra ball, ¡°Ready for battle Big Man!¡± Heatran landed on the ground with a loud thump, it¡¯s metallic roar sounding out in a challenge to the Noble dragon.

    The Magma Pokemon slammed itself against the nearby group of normal Baxcalibur like a freight train, sending the dragons flying away before charging straight at Noble Baxcalibur. Heatran crashed into the golden dragon hard enough to send it stumbling backwards and continued to barrel forward as to not lose momentum.

    Heatran roared again, summoning a Magma Storm that quickly trapped the massive dragon in a hellscape of fire and magma. Noble Baxcalibur roared back and sent massive shards of out out of the storm straight at Heatren, who stoically tanked the attack.

    After they dispatched a Baxcalibur, Ceruledge and Armarouge joined in and used a joint Fire Spin to boost Magma Storm¡¯s power as Heatran charged into the storm of fire, passively gaining strength from the fire storm with its ability.

    More Baxcalibur and Arctibax charged into the battle, targeting the humans. Ben and Collin sent out Arcanine, Charizard, Mienshao, and a black Tauros to meet the incoming wave.

    Once the others and I got a safe distance back, I sent out Sahara and Infernape to take care of a few Baxcalibur that had targetted us. Sahara roared a challenge, elated to be battling other dragons. Every win would be boost her pride as a dragon.

    Infernape hooted and grinned, taunting the ice dragons as it danced around them, gracefully ducking around their clumsy attacks before retaliating with powerful fire wreathed punches and kicks.

    An Arctibax ran forward and bit at my ankles, making me jump back as Winnie leaped down from my shoulder and quickly sent the teen dragon running with an illusion of Kaiju¡¯s Mom.

    ¡°take that ya lizard punk!¡± The white fox shouted after the retreating Arctibax.

    I sent out Glados as well to support with its long range.

    Justine and Kenta joined me, sending out Yamask and Kommo-o to combat another wave of Baxcalibur and Arctibax. This was the entire colony coming at us!

    I heard a burst of sound and electricity followed by the sound of metal on metal from Jason and Abigail¡¯s teams nearby.

    The twins had teamed up with Marcus and Tim to defend themselves. I saw Angela casually walking up to the front with a dangerous gleam in her eyes. It would be a good idea to stay away from the front for the time being.

    A screeching roar like nails on a chalkboard sounded over from Leo¡¯s team as a Hyper Beam tore through a group of ice dragons, Tyranitar was out and ready to rumble.

    The group I was in was currently facing four Baxcalibur and seven Arctibax. Sahara, Kommo-o, and Infernape exchanged eye contact and charge at the fully evolved dragons together.

    ¡°Buff before attacking!¡± Kenta shouted.

    Kommo-o clattered its scaled together and roared as it charged jumping onto one Baxcalibur and pummeling it with Close Combat. Sahara crashed into another with at full force with Dragon Rush and knocked another down with a sweep of Dragon Tail.

    The fourth Baxcalibur ran past the two, leading the Arctibax in a charge towards us.

    ¡°Murder Mode Glados. Gravity, max force.¡± I ordered.

    Spinning itself in place, Glados activated Gravity. The smaller dragons were instantly forced to the ground, while Baxcalibur was able to stay standing and begin taking slow steps forward, snarling at us with murderous intent.

    ¡°Wow~ That move really is useful.¡± Justine remarked, ¡°Yamask, Golett?¡± Yamask popped out of Justine¡¯s shadow and Golett released itself from its Pokeball.

    ¡°Would you two be a dear and take care of a few of those Arctibax?¡± Justine asked her ghosts. Golett nodded and ran forward, dodging an attack from Baxcalibur and began punching an Arctibax at the edge of the gravity field in the face with Mega Punch until it fainted before throwing a barrage of Shadow Balls at the other teen dragons.

    ¡°Yeah sure, I guess.¡± Yamask scowled, ¡°Those lizards need to learn their place in the world.¡±

    Yamask cackled as he floated forward, a Shadow Ball forming in each hand. Winnie darted in front of Yamask, sticking out a tongue at the mask ghost.

    ¡°last one to beat an arctibax is a big fat loser!¡± The little fox shouted as he fired off a Dark Pulse at the group of immobilized Arctibax.

    Shuppet and a few of the ghost gang emerged from my shadow to join in on beating up the ice dragons cause they didn¡¯t want to be big fat losers.

    Justine tapped the front of her foot on her shadow and Dragapult poked its head out, ¡°Dragault, go help the others out in defeating the Noble Pokemon.¡±

    The ghost-dragon looked between Justine and Noble Baxcalibur, a bit unsure about leaving its charge alone, but Justine reassured it that she would be fine, Kenta and I were here with our teams afterall, and Yamask was much stronger than before.

    Dragapult nodded, then flew out of Justine¡¯s shadow and darted away, making a beeling towards Noble Baxcalibur, who was now surrounded by a swarm of ghosts. It reminded me of someone getting swarmed by a bunch of wasps.

    ¡°Glados, take out that Baxcalibur with the usual Zap Cannon combo.¡± I said, pointing at the Baxcalibur that was getting close to the edge of Glados¡¯s gravity field.

    ¡°TARGET. ACQUIRED.¡± Glados replied, whirring with electricity as it charged up its attack and fired off a Zap Cannon, hitting Baxcalibur straight on. The ice dragon was still standing after that attack and it shot an Ice Beam back that went wide.

    Glados hit it with another Zap Cannon, knocking it out. ¡°Good job.¡± I said as I looked over to Sahara, Infernape, and Kommo-o. They had engaged in battle with another set of Baxcalibur, while another group of Arctibax were running towards us. The smaller dragons fired off a bunch of Ice Beams than Kenta, Justine, and I had to duck under.

    The incoming problem was quickly solved when they ran straight into Glados¡¯s still active gravity field and were immediately caught in the trap.

    I was about to sent the rest of the ghost gang to clean the newcomers up when the ground shook. And I mean it really shook. I stumbled, flailing my arms around and nearly fell down. Once I had regained my balance, I looked to the source of the earthquake.

    Machamp and Incineroar had been knocked out by Noble Baxcalibur, Heatran was now grappling with it and blasting fire in the dragon¡¯s face. Ceruledge and Armarouge darted around the massive dragon like flies, blasting it with fire and slicing at its hard scales.

    Angela¡¯s ghosts were flying around the massive like a swarm of bugs and slowly chipping away at its health.

    Collin sent out Crabominable and Hitmonchan to replace Machamp while Celia replaced Incineroar with her Alolan Ninetales and a Wigglytuff.

    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    Something felt wrong. I wasn¡¯t super familiar with Baxcalibur, but I did remember using it once or twice in Pokemon Violet to try out its ability.

    What was it again? Temperature? Thermal. Thermal Exchange!

    ¡°Glados, what does the ability Thermal Exchange do again?¡±

    ¡°THERMAL. EXCHANGE. BOOSTS. THE. USERS. ATTACK. WHEN. HIT. BY. A. FIRE. TYPE. MOVE. IT. ALSO. PREVENTS. BURNS.¡±

    ¡°Shit!¡± I turned to Infernape as it sent another Baxcalibur running, ¡°Infernape! Go help out against Baxcalibur! No fire type moves, that¡¯ll only boost its attack and its immune to burns, tell the other fire tyes about this!¡±

    ¡°Infern!¡± The fire monkey shouted back before leaping away towards the raid boss battle. I saw Leo sending Weavile and Houndoom over to help out as well while Tyranitar dealt with another Baxcalibur.

    The ice dragons numbers were beginning to run out, thankfully they were less numerous than the Cryogonal. We¡¯d be dead if there was that many Baxcalibur and Arctibax. Because of that, the others were beginning to send members of their team over to help fight dragon lord.

    Jason ran over with an Electvire, Toxtricity, and Kilowatterel in tow. Justine, Kenta, and I called our Pokemon back. The other two rushed over to help out while I went back to look for the twins.

    The Lord of Ice was still going strong, actually, it was even stronger than it was before due to how many times Thermal Exchange had been activated by Ben and his fire types attacks. Despite being ganged up on by so many powerful Pokemon, Noble Baxcalibur was still going strong and showed very little damage despite taking boosted direct hits from Heatran.

    This is what we get when Arceus juices up an alpha Pokemon with its god powers.

    The Lord of Ice continuously swatted ghosts away while stomping a foot or its tail on the ground to create an Earthquake or burst of ice to send its attackers flying. What the dragon lacked in skill, it certainly made up for in sheer unadulterated power and tankiness.

    I stumbled and almost fell a few times but was able to get to the twins. I ducked down as Baxcalibur roared and sent out a burst of freezing golden energy that froze its surroundings, taking out Hitmonchan.

    The golden dragon grunted as its foot collapsed into the ground beneath it and it wobbled, trying to keep its balance. A Diggersby popped a head out of the ground nearby to view its handiwork and then dug back into the ground.

    ¡°Yo! Guys! I need your help!¡± Chloe and Zoe turned to us, as their Meowstic duo continuously threw a bunch of ice dragons around like ragdolls.

    ¡°Yeah? What do you need help with?¡± The two said in unison.

    I glanced back at the battle with Noble Baxcalubur for a second before continuing, ¡°I need you guys to use Gravity on Baxcalibur.¡±

    I turned to Glados, ¡°You go help them out with Gravity.¡±

    ¡°AFFIRMATIVE.¡±

    ¡°Go!¡± I waved for them to go as I ran back to the front, in search of Angela.

    I found the ghost type master easily enough, she was behind the frontlines, standing with her Typhlosion and Justine as they watched the battle unfold. Angela was giving orders to her ghosts.

    ¡°Angela! Justine! I have a plan.¡± The two looked over as I stopped next to them, panting. The twins landed on the ground, they had floated over.

    ¡°Good, because Curse and Toxic aren¡¯t working on that overgrown lizard.¡± Angela said with a frustrated growl.

    That was concerning. Things aren¡¯t going well if one of our team¡¯s strongest is having trouble doing any major damage.

    I briefly frowned before asking, ¡°Will confusing or illusions work? We don¡¯t have the power to damage Baxcalibur, but it definitely has the power to damage itself.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve tried Confuse Ray but it doesn¡¯t work for long.¡± Angela replied, crossing her arms, ¡°We need to weaken it more for that to work at all.¡±

    ¡°Okay, Winnie, go get Zoroark and use illusions to make it fall down.¡± I said.

    With a nod, Winnie jumped off of my shoulder and raced away to find Zoroark.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go look for Jason and get his crew on paralyzing it, if it¡¯s possible.¡± Justine added as she began to run away.

    ¡°Good idea.¡± I called after her. Angela and I ducked down again as another burst of icy golden energy swept through the area and the ground shook from the Lord of Ice stomping the ground.

    A small white shape followed by a larger black and red one darted towards the dragon and the air rippled as a massive rock pillar erupted out of the ground straight at Baxcalibur¡¯s face. The giant dragon tried to walk backwards to avoid the pillar.

    As it took a step back, the ground below the noble Pokemon completely collapsed thanks to Diggersby¡¯s work, sinking it up to its knee. The Lord of Ice grunted and looked down at the hole one foot was now stuck in.

    The twin¡¯s Meowstics and Glados floated up in front of Baxcalibur. Their eyes glowed as they increased the gravity around the massive ice dragon threefold, making the dragon stumble and begin to fall over as it found itself unable to resist the gravity field¡¯s effects. The ground further collapsed under the combined weight of the massive ice dragon and the triple gravity fields.

    There was a massive BOOM! Rocks, dirt, and snow exploded upwards as the gold dragon crashed to the ground in semi-slow motion, roaring in anger and pain as the momentum from the dragon¡¯s fall damaged it probably more than what anyone else had done so far.

    There was a blinding flash from above as Jason¡¯s team summoned a combined Thunder that fell down like a guillotine and crashed into the gold dragon with a series of BOOMs. The Lord of Ice roared in pain and flailed as it struggled to get up under the force of the triple Gravity field.

    Angela¡¯s ghosts darted forward and chanted together as they tried again to apply a Curse to the dragon, ghost type energy swirling around them and the dragon in a figure eight.

    I looked back as Marcus and Tim joined us, Marcus shielded his eyes and grinned, ¡°Hey, I think we might be winning.¡±

    I was about to punch the guy in the nose, nononononono didn¡¯t you ever hear about not tempting fate?! Dammit!

    There was a blinding burst of golden light followed by a BOOM and a shockwave as the Lord of Ice exploded like a freaking mini nuke. I ducked down, arms over my head as a massive shockwave threw me off my feet and sucked all the air out of my lungs. I felt frost form all over the exposed parts of my body.

    I heard the Meowstic pair shriek, and Glados shout, ¡°ERROR! ERRrrro¡­¡±

    Nice try pests. Noble Baxcalibur growled as it stood back up, its scales glowing a white-gold. Most of the party¡¯s Pokemon had been knocked out, with a very injured Bewear, Heatran, and Turtonator still standing.

    Sahara was laying on the ground with her eyes spinning. Coughing and wheezing as I took a big breath of freezing air, quickly returned the landshark, and scrambled back up to get a hold on the situation at hand.

    Most of the party members at the front has been knocked out from that single attack, Celia, Ben, Abigail, and Collin were all sprawled out on the ground. I couldn¡¯t see where Winnie was, and I saw Leo¡¯s boots sticking out from behind Tyranitar¡¯s prone form.

    ¡°Oh of course this thing has a second phase!¡± I growled under my breath, my heart rate was rising as I realized that we were probably fucked.

    Noble Baxcalibur stomped forward, probably intent on squishing the downed party members under its feet like bugs. Angela wasn¡¯t going to let that happen, she tore Spiritomb¡¯s keystone from her neck as she strode forward, her ghosts rallying around her. She wouldn¡¯t be able to pull an emergency exit move like she did last time, but she certainly could buy everyone time.

    Seeing the ghost type master approaching it with such confidence, Noble Baxcalibur chuckled, You think you can defeat ME all by yourself puny human? I think not. Your TOOLS will never surpass the might of the Creation Lord¡¯s blessing!

    Again with the Creation Lord. It¡¯s referring to Arceus right? I thought as I ran forward to begin helping the others get up while the dragon¡¯s attention was still on Angela.

    I started with the twins cause they were the closest, and we¡¯d probably need them to teleport us away like, asap.

    There was a boom as Dragapult careened into Baxcalibur, only to be repelled by its golden energy. I hunkered down shielding my face as another burst of golden energy exploded from the ice dragon, sending Dragapult flying back and crashing into the ground.

    I shook off the ice that had formed on my coat, shaking my hands and feet to try to get some feeling back into them as I returns the Meowstics to their Pokeballs and began to drag the twins away. One of them groaned as they came to.

    I shivered as I felt Baxcalibur¡¯s icy cold gaze alight upon me, it rumbled, stomping towards us and picking up a foot to squish us underneath it before it engaged Angela in battle. I heard Angela scream for her ghosts to get us and the Cryogonal song crescendo.

    What a way to die.

    There was a pop and a flash.

    ¡°DEINO!¡± Kaiju broke free from his dusk ball and roared, sending sound waves bouncing around as he used Astonish. The completely unexpected sound made Baxcalibur flinch and recoil. The ground shook as the giant dragon clumsily set its foot back down and cause another mini earthquake as the massive dragon took another few steps back to stare incredulously at tiny ant of a dragonling that dared to challenge it.

    Kaiju opened his mouth wide, dragon type energy gathering in his maw as he fired out his best Draco Meteor. The Lord of Ice easily swatted the attack aside with a Dragon Claw. By the time the smoke had cleared, Kaiju had already used Dragon Rush to fly forward and grapple onto the golden dragon¡¯s foot with Crunch. And Kaiju did what he does best. He began to eat.

    I couldn¡¯t fucking believe my eyes Kaiju tore off a scale and took a small chunk out of Baxcalibut¡¯s foot meat, and ate it.

    Shocked from the little dragon¡¯s audacity, Baxcalibur roared in pain and shook its foot in an attempt to throw Kaiju off, but the little dragon held on doggedly, taking another chunk out and eating it once Baxaclibur put its foot down again.

    It was an ant fighting a mountain, and the ant was winning. To be fair, if an ant had the audacity to grappling onto my foot and begin to take chunks of my foot meat out, I would freak too.

    ¡°You¡¯ve gotta be fucking kidding me.¡± I heard Celia groan from behind me as she slowly sat up and saw the insanity going on.

    I should called Kaiju back, but one distraction and he¡¯ll be roadkill.

    I felt a hard tap on my shoulder and looked back, as Celia urgently spoke to me, ¡°Quick, help me get the others.¡± I looked back at Kaiju one more time as he jumped up with Dragon Rush again to latch onto the golden dragon¡¯s throat.

    The Lord of Ice let out a rather undragonly squeal as it shook itself to try to get Kaiju off, letting out a weak burst of golden energy that was able to get Kaiju off. The little dragon soared through the air, spreading out his legs and waving them, opening and closing his mouth like a muppet as he flew by himself for the first time in his life.

    ¡°Kaiju!¡± I screamed, quickly fumbling with his dusk ball in my numb hands, returning him before he could hit the ground.

    Without a seconds delay, Kaiju popped back out again and began to run straight for Baxcalibur again. I leaped forward tackled Kaiju to the ground, ¡°I love you buddy but not this time, we¡¯re booking it.¡±

    Kaiju tried to wriggle out of my grasp but I held on tight and pulled him back, glancing nervously at Baxcalibur.

    The Lord of Ice simply watched us with a befuddled expression before rumbling, what nerve you have to let a hatchling fight in a battle.

    I paused. Wait what? Baxcalibur. The dragon who was literally just trying to kill us. Is scolding me for letting a¡­¡®hatchling¡¯ fight.

    I pulled Kaiju back a bit more and retorted as I slowly backed away, ¡°Bruh. Kaiju literally let himself out of his ball to fight you. I never let him out in the first place.¡±

    Kaiju opened his mouth and shouted, ¡°Deino dein!¡± and nearly knocked me over as he tried to get at Baxcalibur again.

    The Noble Pokemon had an actual look of concern in its eyes, you feed this hatchling its own kind? Cannibalism is not okay hatchling.

    ¡°Deino! Deino dein deino!¡±

    I looked between the two dragons and then sent a confused look back at the others who had recovered. They were just watching this scene with a confused fascination.

    Hmmm I see. I guess even humans won¡¯t go to such lengths. My apologizes for assuming.

    I raised a hand, ¡°Umm, so what the hell is going on? You were like, trying to kill us just a moment ago.¡±

    Baxcalibur snorted, I do not kill hatchlings. Tis dishonorable as a dragon to kill our young! The giant dragon leaned down to us and glared, I have standards you know.

    I think Kaiju¡¯s mom would beg to differ if she¡¯s fed him and his siblings other dragons.

    Closing my eyes, I rubbed my temples. Then I looked back at the Noble Pokemon. ¡°Okay, sooooo like what the hell are we gonna do then? You gonna let us go or what?¡±

    The giant ice dragon laughed. No. I shall not let slavers like humans live.

    I frowned and stood up with a scowl, ¡°Excuse me?! Who the hell are you calling a slaver?¡±

    You hum¨C

    ¡°NO NO NO! You listen here!¡± I shouted, pointing an indignant finger at the dragon, ¡°How dare you call us slavers! Yeah I know there are bad humans out there, but all our Pokemon joined our teams willingly and are family! You hear that?! F-A-M-I-L-Y! You really think a dragon almost triple my size like the Garchomp on my team would listen to me if I mistreated her?! NO! She¡¯d evaporate her pokeball and fucking bite my head off!¡±

    I¨C

    ¡°That Heatran could fucking kill us all with one Magma Storm if it wanted to dumbass! Jeez who the hell has been feeding you all this bullshit?! Didn¡¯t you ever learn how to think critically about something that someone tells you?!¡±

    Kaiju hopped a few times and grunted in agreement, ¡°Deino! Dein!¡±

    I felt a tapping at my ankle and looked down to see Winnie sitting there with his tail slightly wagging. He was a bit battered and scruffy, but otherwise fine, ¡°when did you get the balls to scold a noble pokemon az?¡±

    Winnie said with a grin as he climbed up my leg and hopped onto his usual place on my shoulder.

    ¡°Just now.¡± I replied.

    Baxcalibur leaned back and seemed to consider my words before thoughtfully replying, You have a point. I will do better to not do the same in the future.

    I gave the Lord of Ice a thumbs up and a sarcastic, ¡°Great.¡±

    Though, one thing I am curious about¡­

    ¡°Yeah?¡±

    I would like to try this, ¡®seasoned meat¡¯ the hatchling keeps talking about.

    ¡°Deino!¡±

    No you will not be allowed to eat my feet hatchling. You have a problem.

    <hr>

    Baxcalibur ended up giving us time to recollect ourselves and set up camp before we began making dinner.

    The Cryogonal were still there by the way, but they weren¡¯t really doing anything. The ice Pokemon weren¡¯t even singing, and seem almost disappointed as they floated above our camp and just watched while everyone ignored them.

    I was curious about how in the world large Pokemon the size of the Ice Lord was able to keep up with its needed calories considering its massive size. Pokemon magic? Or maybe that it had reptile metabolism and only needed one big meal every few months like a crocodile.

    The entire team was quite reasonably high strung about the massive gold dragon who was previously trying to kill them just chilling outside the camp with its dragon family that was also previously trying to kill us.

    A few members of the Ice Lord¡¯s colony ended up joining us, this time including some Frigibax that Kaiju ended up befriending. I assigned Winnie to babysitting duty cause the last thing I wanted was for Kaiju to end up hurting one of the Frigibax and angering the Lord of Ice.

    In the meantime, said Lord of Ice was kinda just making casual conversation with us, asking about the ingredients used and how human society worked with Pokemon. It was pretty surprised about different our explanation was from how it was told by ¡®The Guardian¡¯ aka, The Lord of the Mountain.

    Its views of the human world was consistent with what the human world was like a few hundred years ago, so I guess the Mountain Lord had been closed off from the rest of the world for a few hundred years and either didn¡¯t know or care how the world had changed outside of her borders.

    That certainly was some food for thought.

    Anyways, because Kaiju specifically praise my cooking, I was assigned to making snacks for Noble Baxcalibur and its family. We didn¡¯t have anywhere enough food to properly feed them so they brought some of their own Mamoswine meat. How thoughtful.

    Ceruledge helped chop the pieces up into cookable portions while Infernape and Armarouge helped with cooking and rotating the meat over a massive bonfire after I had seasoned it, making sure to add on my remaining store of herb mystica as Kaiju had insisted.

    While we were waiting for the meat to cook, the Ice Lord asked us what we were here for.

    Celia explained to the Noble dragon the whole thing about Galactic Corporations wanting to mine their mountain and that the company had recently developed a prototype of some new tech called the Illusion Piercer to help penetrate into the sanctuary.

    The Lord of Ice didn¡¯t seem to get what ¡®technology¡¯ really was, but at least understood that Galactic Corporations were bad and that they had a way to get to the heart of their territory. So we were here to help them somehow find a way to combat that and help them keep this place protected.

    I¡¯d never heard of ¡®Illusion Piercer¡¯ so Celia explained that early on, the team had gotten an offer from Galactic Corporations to use this tech for their expedition but they refused to work with the company and not so kindly turned down the offer. They didn¡¯t talk about the offer much after that.

    There were also rumors of Galactic Corporations making contact with Hunter J, Celia was sure that they planned on sending in the infamous poacher with the Illusion Piercer to clear out any strong Pokemon before they moved in to mine the mountain¡¯s ores. That was part of the reason why she felt such an urgent need to contact the Mountain Lord. Hunter J had a reputation for poaching Pokemon from places that she shouldn¡¯t have been able to get into.

    Marcus added that they wanted to help in the conservation of endangered species, and as a researcher it was his dream to study Hisuan variants thought to be extinct. He and Tim would like to come to an agreement with the Lord of the Mountain to be able to research their species and hopefully make this area protected so that humans wouldn¡¯t be able to freely intrude, both for the humans safety and the safety of the Pokemon living here.

    The Lord of Ice wasn¡¯t too concerned about the threat from the poacher or the tech, but still thanked us for the warning and extra knowledge. The ice dragon would need to contact the Mountain Lord about this, but it wasn¡¯t too keen on meeting it considering how it hadn¡¯t actually killed us like it should have.

    I just told the ice dragon to do its own research before it came to a conclusion.

    The conversation paused as Infernape, Armarouge, and I served the dragons their meat and they took some sniffs of the food.

    Noble Baxcalibur ate a chunk the size of Sahara in one bite and rumbled in pleasure as it savored the flavors in the meat.

    Hmmm¡­This, ¡®seasoned meat¡¯ is better than anything I¡¯ve ever eaten before! The Lord fo Ice exclaimed, the other members of its colony voice their agreement.

    It is disappointing that I won¡¯t be able to eat meat like this on a regular basis. I see why other Pokemon would want to live with the humans of this age. Free delicious food, a colony to live in, and a safe environment to grow strong. It certainly is appealing, though I do not like the rules humans impose on each other and Pokemon.

    I shrugged as I gave Kaiju a bowl of cut up meat, ¡°Hey, these types of things usually come with a few cons. Nothing¡¯s perfect.¡±

    Indeed.

    The Lord of Ice and his entourage quickly finished their seasoned Mamoswine meat before getting up to leave. The golden dragon gave us one last word of advice before it left.

    The Mountain Lord is as stubborn and as vengeful as they come, she has a long standing grudge against humans of the past. Even I wouldn¡¯t dare suggest working with humans to her.

    The last Lord of Ice did so and look what happened to him, he was made an example of.

    Perhaps she will be willing to listen if you manage to survive the first few rounds of her attacks.

    My advice would be to reach for the Guardian¡¯s heart, not her mind. May the blessing of the Creation Lord be with you humans, the meal was delicious.

    Then the Lord of Ice turned and left, disappearing amongst the light snowfall like a mirage as the Cryogonal above began to hum a new melodic tune.

 (22) Things Go Sideways

    ¡°So, what¡¯s our game plan?¡± Ben asked, breaking the silence in the tent. Everyone looked at the team leaders gathered together at one end of our little circle.

    Marcus sighed, tilting his head up and rubbing his the sides of his head, ¡°We can¡¯t beat the Mountain Lord. Even that monster of a Baxcalibur fears her¡­¡±

    ¡°yeah, we got lucky thanks to kaiju eating foot meat.¡± Winnie snickered. I held back a smile at that thought.

    Clapping her hands together to get everyone¡¯s attention on her, Celia spoke, ¡°Our plan is to brainstorm a way to prevent a fight with the Mountain Lord. I¡¯m hoping that she will be reasonable enough to speak with us, but we need a good argument and more.¡±

    ¡°Ooo! Ooo!¡± The twins raised their hands at the same time, ¡°We could do a peace offering with food considering how much the Lord of Ice liked seasoned Mamoswine meat!.¡±

    Celia snapped her fingers and pointed at the twins, ¡°That¡¯s a good idea. Anything else?¡±

    ¡°Before we do that, I want to know what the escape plan is.¡± Jason said with a hand raised, ¡°Assuming that teleportation will be completely locked down inside the mountain.¡±

    Tim nodded at that, ¡°We have a way of circumventing the psychic disruption if worst comes to worst.¡± The researcher gestured to Justine who dug into her pockets and held up a stack of red and black talismans, then he continued, ¡°The main issue will be communication between the entry and camp parties.¡±

    ¡°Entry and camp parties?¡± Justine asked with a frown, ¡°Are we splitting up? This is my first time hearing about this.¡±

    ¡°Yes, we¡¯re splitting the group into two parties.¡± Angela answered, shooting her sister a look that said, ¡®and you have no choice in that matter.¡¯

    There was a moment of silence that was broken by Collin asking, ¡°Who¡¯s going?¡±

    ¡°Marcus, Leo, Ben, Angela, Az, an Alakazam and Gardevoir from the twins, and me.¡± Celia listed out with a serious tone. ¡°Everyone else will be staying behind.¡±

    ¡°Wait, why¨C¡± Justine started but Angela cut her off. ¡°You¡¯re not going Justine. That¡¯s final.¡±

    ¡°I know, I know, jeez you didn¡¯t even let me finish my question.¡± Justine retorted with a slightly irked expression.

    ¡°Why are you letting Azalea go?¡± Jason asked pointedly, raising his hand and then pointing at me. ¡°It¡¯s pretty obvious how dangerous the inside of the mountain is at this point, there¡¯s no need for deadweight.¡±

    Shooting Jason a disapproving look, Celia answered, ¡°They won¡¯t be deadweight, we still need Winnie¡¯s help breaking through to the center of the illusion dome. Zoroark and Angela¡¯s ghosts can¡¯t unweave the illusion as fast as he can due to the barrier¡¯s type makeup.¡±

    ¡°Then just have Winnie join the entry party without Azalea.¡± Jason replied, ¡°I don¡¯t know about the rest of you, but I don¡¯t want the expedition to be slandered by the death of a young and inexperienced trainer.¡±

    ¡°hey! i¡¯m not going without az!¡± Winnie shouted at Jason, ¡°we set out together and we¡¯re going in together!¡±

    Despite not understanding exactly what Winnie was saying, Jason seemed to get the message and rolled his eyes.

    Tim didn¡¯t look particularly happy about Winnie and I going in either, but a harsh look from Celia prevented him from saying anything.

    ¡°Is there any specific reason why Az gets to go?¡± Kenta somewhat hesitantly asked.

    ¡°They¡¯re going in with us.¡± Celia said with a tone of finality. I tilted my head in confusion, Why did she avoid answering the question?

    ¡°Any more suggestions on how to deal with the Mountain Lord?¡± Celia asked the group. ¡°Alright then. Keep on thinking about it, we¡¯ll have another meeting the day before the entry party goes into the mountain for any more suggestions.¡±

    With a wave of her hand, Celia dismissed the meeting, ¡°Now go rest up, we¡¯re leaving tomorrow at six thirty on the dot.¡±

    Celia was the first to leave. As everyone began to file out after her, Angela put a hand on my shoulder and gestured for me to stay. Tim was standing behind her, arms crossed and with a worried expression.

    We waited until everyone but the three of us were left before Angela spoke. ¡°Hey, we just wanted to make sure you¡¯re okay with being part of the entry party.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, considering what we faced yesterday, we won¡¯t blame you and Winnie if you two back out. You¡¯re both still young and have your whole lives ahead of you.¡± Tim said, glancing at the tent door as if he was afraid of Celia bursting in and demanding them to stop.

    I shrugged, ¡°Hey, we¡¯ve come so far already and overcome a ton of stuff, I¡¯m not backing out now.¡±

    Angela and Tim exchanged looks, the latter sighed in defeat before he spoke, ¡°Fine, we¡¯ll respect your wishes. Just know that you can reconsider at any time.¡±

    The two ushered me out of the tent, telling Winnie and I to get some rest, we¡¯d need it.

    Once we¡¯d gotten out of earshot from the two of them I asked Winnie, ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re okay with going into the mountain with me Winnie?¡±

    ¡°of course!¡± Winnie replied, ¡°this is what we set out to do isn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± I sighed.

    I was still committed to entering with the team but I kinda doubted how much I could help out compared to the others. I mean, I¡¯d be borrowing Lucario and Infernape, and I had Sahara, but that was half of a full team. I just didn¡¯t want to be a deadweight.

    I didn¡¯t like how Jason framed the situation but he had a point about me being the weakest link in the chain aside from Justine, who had her sister¡¯s elite level ghosts at her command. I hadn¡¯t even thought about how killable I was until today when the Lord of Ice tried to squish me like an ant.

    Not to mention how weirdly apathetic I was about the whole issue of almost dying, I mean, wouldn¡¯t most people be a bit more shaken up or something? Honestly I was more scared when Kaiju was sent flying than when the Lord of Ice was about to squish me to death. It wasn¡¯t very noticeable until I started thinking about it.

    Actually, that might¡¯ve been the first time I¡¯d felt that scared since my rollercoaster ride in Ultra Space. The chase with mama Hydreigon clearly trying to kill Winnie and I probably was just as scary if not more than the fight with the Lord of Ice, but I kinda just rolled with both experiences and went on my merry way.

    It¡¯s like my sense of self preservation died with my original body, my danger sensors were kinda fucked.

    I don¡¯t know whether that¡¯s more of a blessing or a curse. I might not care much about dying but I¡¯d rather someone else not get hurt or die because of my dumbass.

    <hr>

    The weather was pretty nice when we set out, no snow and semi-cloudy skies, we had a much better time traveling compared to the previous few days. After a few hours of silent and uneventful traveling, everyone relaxed a bit and began quietly talking amongst ourselves again.

    Winnie was up with the ghost gang all night doing¡­I dunno I didn¡¯t ask. The little fox looked like he was thinking hard about something and spent most of the hike in his hoodie nook and I didn¡¯t bother him about it.

    He and Zoroark didn¡¯t have to do much today because there weren¡¯t any illusions in our way like before.

    The Cryogonal were still floating above us and singing like the annoying frosty assholes they were, but they didn¡¯t make any moves until we got to our destination, a clearing leading up to a tiny cave crack in the side of the mountain.

    There was a whistling rush of frosty wind, followed by the sounds of countless crystals clanging against each other as thousands upon of thousands of Cryogonal floated out of the clouds and swarmed together like a massive school of fish.

    The entire team tensed up, hands over our Pokeballs as we waited to see what the snowflake Pokemon were scheming this time around.

    Jason scowled, ¡°Please don¡¯t start singing again.¡±

    The swarm shifted into a ball before a line of them began streaming out and circling up towards to the top of the mountain before disappearing amongst the clouds.

    For the first time in days, there were no Cryogonal, and there was no nonstop singing. There was a collective sigh of relief from the party before Celia began directing everyone to set up a more permanent camp.

    We had the usual set up, but with the addition of an extra tough stone, dirt, and ice walls equipped with an electric fence powered by Jason¡¯s team and Justine using some talismans that looked different from before.

    After everything was set up, Celia gathered the team for a final meeting.

    ¡°Tim will be the de facto leader until the party returns. If we don¡¯t return or make contact with you guys in three days, you are to leave immediately.¡± Celia said, the group¡¯s mood turned sour at her words. I could see a few people grimacing at the thought of failure.

    Celia turned to Abigail, ¡°Abigail, you will be in charge of navigation if I am unable to do the job for any reason.¡±

    The ice-steel specialist¡¯s eyes widened slightly at the sudden responsibility and she quietly nodded.

    Turning back to the rest of the group, Celia continued, ¡°While we¡¯re gone, the camp group will work on re-establishing contact with the ranger base. Hopefully we can get someone to fly over and pick us up instead of having to teleport or hike our way back once we¡¯ve established some sort of treaty with the Mountain Lord.¡±

    The team discussed preparation for any attacks while the entry party were away and something about why we had lost contact with the ranger base halfway through despite previous expeditions having no such problems.

    I wasn¡¯t paying attention. The twins were weirdly chipper and relaxed compared to the rest of the group. They has been that way ever since we got to the camp, kinda like a burden was lifted off their shoulders, though I couldn¡¯t tell why.

    The moment the meeting ended everyone began to prepare for an early dinner, after which Celia ordered everyone on the entry team to go to bed early and get as much rest as possible, we¡¯d need it tomorrow.

    I was fine with that. Despite nothing big happening today, I was still more than ready to go to sleepyland. I was still tired from yesterday¡¯s battle, and today¡¯s hike certainly didn¡¯t help.

    Plus, most of the party wasn¡¯t really up to talking at the moment. Everyone was tense about what could happen tomorrow.

    ¡°az, celia and jason were talking about something after the meeting yesterday.¡± Winnie said as soon as we entered our tent. He¡¯d been uncharacteristically quiet the entire day, like something was on his mind.

    ¡°Yeah? What was it?¡± I asked, pulling a Pokedoll out for Kaiju.

    Shrugging, Winnie answered, ¡°manectric noticed me before i heard everything, but they said something about an oe-lim-pee-a prophecy? it had to do with the twins. and you.¡±

    There was a flash as Kaiju let himself out of his Pokeball and yoinked the Pokedoll out of my hands, growling as he began violently shaking it around. He was pretty energetic after being stuck in his dusk ball all day

    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    ¡°The twins? And o¡­Olympia? Yeah, they¡¯re Olympia¡¯s students¨C¡± I stopped in my tracks as I remembered Olymia¡¯s psychic ability. She could see the future.

    ¡°Oh. Olympia had a prophecy? About this expedition?¡± I scratched my head and I thought aloud, ¡°I get why she¡¯d do prophecy shenanigans to make sure her students are safe but what the hell did she say about me?¡±

    I pulled a blanket out of my bag and threw it over Kaiju before getting into the sleeping bag.

    Winnie jumped over and crawled into the sleeping bag with me. ¡°i dunno. celia was insistent that no one else knew about this though.¡±

    I sighed, ¡°Yeah, knowing the future can be a huge burden. That¡¯s why I hate prophecies.¡±

    ¡°Deino!¡±

    <hr>

    ¡°How are we going to get in? That¡¯s too small for even a Rattata to fit through!¡± Ben rapped his knuckles on the stone around the entrance as he examined the crack in the cliff that was the entrance to the mountain.

    ¡°I-it¡¯s actually big enough for all of us to enter. It¡¯s an illusion.¡± Marcus replied, putting a hand on his hip as if it what he had just stated was obvious.

    ¡°Of course it¡¯s another illusion.¡± The red-headed trainer sighed, stepping back from the crack in the wall.

    ¡°There¡¯s a labyrinth of illusions on the inside, also note that the only Pokemon who can possibly attack us are ghost types.¡± We looked back towards the camp as Celia joined us with Leo and Angela. Tim and Justine were trailing behind them.

    As if on cue, there was an outburst of hyena-like laughter that echoed throughout the cave.

    ¡°You two will be taking care of that.¡± Celia said to Angela and Leo. Our resident ghost and dark-type specialists looked at each other and nodded.

    ¡°What in the world was that?¡± Collin and Mienshao had come to watch just in time to hear the outburst from the ghosts. The fighting-type specialist leaned over to Tim and whispered something to the researcher who said something back.

    Yamask floated out of Justine''s shadow and floated over to rest on her shoulder. Golett and Litwick joined them. The purple haired trainer nodded at me, I reflexively put put my hand in my pocket and felt the Cleanse Tag Talisman in my pocket. We had all been given one, it wouldn¡¯t help with stronger ghosts, but it was good for weaker ones.

    Winnie jumped down from his usual place on my shoulder and ran over to the crack in the wall to poke his nose in. Zoroark and Typhlosion joined the Zorua, the ghost flame Pokemon pulled Winnie away before Zoroark slashed at the entrance with a precise Night Slash.

    There was a slight delay before the crack in the wall crumbled away like glass and shattered into nothingness, revealing a low cave entrance we could walk through.

    There was a low murmur of excitement from the others and I heard Celia begin to give orders to the entry group.

    I went up to the cave entrance and cautiously peered in, making sure to stay behind Zoroark and Typhlosion. Winnie kept sniffing the entrance. Shuppet came out of my shadow and joined Winnie, Zoroark, and Typhlosian at the cave entrance as they spoke to each other in hushed voices, as if they were afraid of disturbing something deep inside the cave.

    ¡°Find anything interesting?¡± I asked.

    Winnie turned to me and excitedly hopped a few times before jumping onto my shoulder, ¡°this is the work of an illusion master alright. the energy coming from inside is oppressive.¡±

    Shuppet floated up to eye level with me as she added, ¡°Not to mention outright murderous.¡±

    ¡°This is a multi-barrier illusion!¡± Typhlosion exclaimed, ¡°I¡¯ve never seen one with so many layers, this will be much more difficult to decipher than I thought.¡±

    I cocked my head, ¡°Why¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°Single layer illusions, like the ones we¡¯ve been dealing with before required little effort to unweave. Multi-barrier ones are essentially more fortified, can contain traps, and require more effort to create and destroy.¡±

    ¡°That sounds reassuring.¡± I sighed.

    Typhlosion¡¯s eyes glinted with anticipation as it grinned, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you will not encounter any trouble from the illusions as I will be participating in unweaving the illusion this time.¡±

    I looked back as Ben tapped my shoulder to get my attention, the others were already gathered in formation behind us and ready to go.

    Typhlosion led the way, followed by the two illusion foxes. Winnie hopped into Zoroark¡¯s mane and poked his head out resting his chin on the bigger fox¡¯s head, which I found hilariously cute.

    Behind the trio assigned to getting rid of illusions, were Celia and I, followed by Marcus, Angela with a Mimikyu on her shoulder, Ben with Armarouge, and Leo with Houndoom, Weavile, and Absol as the rearguard to deter any ghost types from attacking from behind.

    I saw Celia brush a hand over Gardevoir and Alakazam¡¯s Pokeballs on her belt before she gave a thumbs up to everyone and gestured for the Typhlosion to proceed.

    ¡°Everyone keep a firm hand on the bag of the person in front of you.¡± The team leader ordered, gesturing for me to grab the handle on the back of her bag.

    I did so the shadows of the cave slowly overtook the sunlight from outside. The cave looked relatively normal, and was more reminiscent of a man-mined cave than a natural one due to how unnaturally level and smooth it was.

    The darkness quickly became suffocating, but Typhlosian, and Armarouge both flared up the fires on their body to make it easier for us to see. Houndoom created a mini ball of fire-type energy, a modified Sunny Day to use as a light source in the back.

    Even with all three fire types lighting the area up, we could only see a small circle around us, it was as if the darkness was absorbing the light from the fires.

    The oppressing aura in the cave slowly became more tolerable as Winnie, Zoroark, and Typhlosian got to work. It was hard to make out what exactly they were doing cause they seemed to be able to see something I couldn¡¯t.

    First, Typhlosian would wave its claws around similarly to how someone would gather up a bunch of spider webs. Then Winnie¡¯s eyes would glow as he did something none of us could see, followed by Zoroark coating his claws in dark-type energy and slashing at something invisible.

    Wash rinse repeat while the group waited behind the trio until the literal air in front of us shattered like glass, and the darkness receded just a bit. Then we¡¯d move forward for a minute or two until we stopped again at another wall of darkness and the whole process would repeat.

    After a few rounds of this, I looked back to where we came from and saw the shattered holes in the illusions slowly weaving themselves back together. The process was slower the closer Leo¡¯s crew was to them, and Absol or Weavile would occasionally slash at the still-broken parts to prevent them from repairing itself as fast so that the rear guard wouldn¡¯t get caught in the illusion again.

    No sign of any aggressive ghosts yet.

    ¡°Why¡¯s this so slow compared to before?¡± I heard Ben behind us say in a slightly nervous tone.

    ¡°Well it¡¯s because¨C¡± Angela began before she was cut off by Marcus.

    ¡°Ooh! Okay, let me explain!¡± The researcher cleared his throat as he turned on lecture mode.

    ¡°Due to the unique makeup of the mixed ghost and normal type energy that makes up the illusion dome, most ghost types, even non-pure ghost types would find it hard to manipulate the strands of illusion. Zoroark¡¯s dark typing makes it even harder for him to find and manipulate this illusion because he doesn''t share a type with the maker of this illusion.¡±

    Marcus took a deep breath as he adjusted his glasses, ¡°Not to mention that the labyrinth¡¯s makeup is more complicated than what we¡¯ve encountered before. So, we have an experienced illusionist like Typhlosian find the strings needed, Winnie manipulates them into the optimal position for cutting, then Zoroark destroys those strings.¡±

    I glanced back at the others as I asked a question, ¡°Why not just destroy the entire thing?¡±

    ¡°Umm, think about it like you¡¯re trying to tear down a large building.¡± Marcus said, ¡°You certainly can have a Rhyperior go tear through it to bring the whole thing down, but that takes a lot more energy than needed. Instead, we can use less energy by damaging or completely removing the foundations and supporting structure of the building and let it collapse on its own weight.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I guess that makes a lot of sense¨CWooaah!¡± Ben shouted as Angela grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pulled him forward. A massive Shadow Ball flew through right where he just was.

    The red head looked wide eyed at where the Shadow Ball disappeared to and rubbed the back of his neck, ¡°Thanks man.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± Angela said, glancing down at her shadow, ¡°Someone go handle that.¡± There was a rustle, then a Banette flew out of her shadow with a cackle and vanished into the darkness.

    The team was on high alert after that. The ghosts continued to test our defenses with the occasional Shadow Ball or scary image jumpscare, but they didn¡¯t come near, only lurking in the shadows and waiting for an opening that never came.

    What felt like hours passed as the trio at the front worked hard to continue unweaving this particularly dense part of the illusion dome. It felt like we¡¯d never get out.

    Finally, there was a light at the end of the tunnel. I heard a few murmurs of joy from the rest of the party as our pace quickened until we all emerged into the sanctuary.

    I squinted and raised a hand to block the sudden sunlight out of my eyes, only looking around once my eyes had adjusted.

    ¡°Well, will you look at that.¡± Leo said with a wide grin, shielding his eyes from the light.

    ¡°Zor!¡± Zoroark added as Winnie hopped onto his head. The bigger fox ruffled the smaller fox¡¯s head fur.

    ¡°Lord Giratina, I didn¡¯t think it would be this big on the inside.¡± Typhlosion said to Zoroark and Winnie, the other two voiced their agreement.

    Laid out in front of us was a temperate forest paradise. The gentle sounds of wildlife greeted us as we walked out into a small clearing and stopped.

    Squinting his eyes, Ben pointed into the distance, yelling in a disbelieving voice, ¡°Is that a mountain inside a mountain?¡±

    ¡°Looks like it.¡± Someone else replied.

    There was a legit mini mountain inside this mountain in the distance. There were little gray dots moving along the cliffs, perhaps Hisuan Sneasel or Sneaseler?

    ¡°Don¡¯t let your guards down yet everyone, lets switch gears.¡± Celia shouted to us as she sent out Bewear and Alakazam.

    Marcus sent out a Mr Mime. Leo returned Houndoom and Weavile before sending out Mandibuzz, ordering the vulture to keep watch from the sky.

    Ben sent out his usual duo of Ceruledge and Armarouge while Winnie hopped out of Zoroark¡¯s mane and back onto my shoulder.

    After briefly making sure that everyone was prepared, Celia led the way into the forest, none of us really knew where to go so our best bet was to just get to the center of the sanctuary where we could hopefully find the Mountain Lord.

    As we went deeper in, our path came parallel with a gurgling river with Basculin swimming inside and leaping out of the water, scales glinting in the sunlight.

    I sharply glanced up at the sky at¡­the sun? There was a sun inside the mountain¡­

    One of the Basculin bubbled aggressively and shot a weak spray of water at us.

    ¡°By Arceus! Those are White Striped Basculin!¡± Marcus suddenly shouted, startling the group of fish Pokemon, making them scatter while the researcher scrambled to take photos of them before they disappeared.

    ¡°Basculin?¡± Ben asked skeptically, ¡°You mean those annoying fish that bite you for no reason?¡±

    ¡°These aren¡¯t just any Basucalin! White Striped Basculin!¡± Marcus repeated, emphasizing the words ¡®White Striped¡¯. ¡°They¡¯re the only Basculin subspecies known to evolve! That means there must be a¨C¡±

    Celia slapped a hand over Marcus¡¯s mouth as a few shadows flitted over us. Everyone sharply glanced up in time to see a mixed flock of Hisuan and Unovan Braviary gliding over us. The flock did a U-turn, and flew back to where they came from, calling out to each other with voices similar to what a squeaky shopping cart wheel would sound like.

    I chuckled to myself at such fierce-looking Pokemon making such silly noises.

    Nice to know that eagles in Pokemon sound just like eagles from back home.

    ¡°those are some big birds.¡± Winnie whispered to me.

    ¡°Bzzt!¡± For the first time in a while, Rotom zipped out of my pocket in a red blur. It had stayed in my jacket during most of the trip due to how cold it was.

    The possessed phone stretched its little arms as it snapped a few photos of the Braviary flock flying away.

    ¡°Braviary, the valiant Pokemon. They fight for their friends without any thought about danger to themselves and are capable of carrying a car while flying. The more scars a Braviary has on its front, the more heroic it¡¯s considered to be. Those with many scars on their back are mocked by the flock.¡±

    ¡°Nice to see you out and about again Rotom.¡± I said to the plasma ghost as it zipped around, snapping pictures of the group.

    ¡°Hey! Look!¡± Ben shouted with excitement, pointing at a Hisuan Growlithe spying on us from behind a tree. Rotom buzzed and zoomed over right up to the Growlithe¡¯s face while snapping pictures of it. With a yelp, the Growlithe jumped, tumbling over itself, and immediately ran back into the brush.

    ¡°Rotom, mind your manners.¡± I chastised the ghost, grabbing it to prevent it from zooming over to a bunch of rustling bushes.

    ¡°OOO! A Hisuan Growlithe! Make sure to send those photos to me Azalea!¡± Marcus exclaimed, ¡°They are fire-rock types with igneous rock components in their¨C¡± The researcher was cut off yet again as everyone momentarily lost their sense of balance.

    Reality shifted and the forest itself seemed to move around as. Suddenly there was a well-kept stone path where the Growlithe had just disappeared, as if it had always been there. The path we had previously been on was gone, replaced by a small clearing surrounded by a barrier of tall thorn bushes and thickly woven trees.

    Looks like someone wants us to go somewhere. Everyone looked at each other and shrugged.

    Leo scratched his head and glanced at Absol, ¡°You think it¡¯s a trap?¡±

    Absol tilted its horn towards the stone path and shook its head when it didn¡¯t receive any danger signals.

    The wall of thorns around us rattled belligerently as if they were shooing us towards the path. ¡°Hopefully not. Doesn¡¯t look like we have a choice anyhow.¡± Celia said glancing warily at the wall of thorns creeping closer to us.

    ¡°Only one way to find out.¡± Leo shrugged, gesturing towards the path, he slightly bowed towards Celia and held out a hand toward the path, ¡°Ladies first.¡±

    ¡°Pearl before swine.¡± The team leader scoffed as she walked past Leo and took the first step onto the stone path.

    We continued onwards, winding through the trees for several minutes before coming to a large clearing with a large Japanese styled shrine at the center and statues of fire and Hisuan Growlithe and Arcanine.

    The structure looked aged, but was in good condition and well taken care of. The gold layers on the upper areas of the shrine glinted in the sunlight.

    ¡°look!¡± Winnie shouted, pointing a paw at the shrine where a few Hisuan Zorua had popped their heads out of hiding places to look at us.

    With an excited gasp, Winnie did a few excited hops, ¡°they look like me!¡±

    One of the Hisuan Zorua tilted its head, looking Winnie up and down and giggled mischievously. The Zorua jumped up and poofed into a Hisuan Growlithe before running away. The other Zorua followed suit, turning into Growlithe and scampering away into the woods, giggling to each other about the newcomers and that they had to tell Meemaw about us.

    Our attention was drawn back to the shrine as the structure began to radiate heat, turning the temperature in the clearing up a few notches.

    There was a golden-red glow from inside the shrine and a red-gold Hisuan Arcanine prowled out from behind one of the walls. It yawned, giving us a show of its massive sharp teeth, and did a cat stretch, obviously having just woken up.

    Despite it being the same size as an average Arcanine, this one radiated energy like it was a living sun, kinda like how the Lord of Ice radiated the cold as if it was an avatar of winter.

    Lemme guess, this one is called the Lord of Fire.

    The Noble Hisuan Arcanine lazily strolled over to the center stage of the shrine and sat down, looking at us with a haughty and expectant expression. The temperature rose another few notches. The heat from before was nice and toasty, I felt like a chicken getting slowly roasted in an oven.

    ¡°Bow down! Don¡¯t make direct eye contact!¡± Marcus whisper-shouted to the rest of the group. ¡°Celia, where¡¯s the food offerings?¡±

    The group all knelt and bowed our heads towards the Noble Pokemon as Celia took off her bag and hurriedly took out a few large tupperware boxes of different seasoned meats.

    I glanced over as I heard Ben elbow Ceruledge and order the fire type to not make eye contact, we weren¡¯t here for a fight. Armarouge hit his partner on the back of the head, forcing her to look away from Arcanine.

    I heard a few frenetic photo-snapping sounds from Rotom. ¡°Not a good time Rotom.¡± I muttered, reaching a hand up to grab the ghost. Before I could, Winnie grabbed the phone ghost by one of its arms and pulled it down, shoving it into my hoodie where he sat on it.

    Alakazam used Psychic to place the food offerings in front of Noble Arcanine and we all waited for a reaction. I could cut the tension in the area with a butter knife.

    The golden fire type leaned down to sniff our offerings before taking a few bites. It wasn¡¯t long before all the tupperware boxes were empty.

    Licking its chops, the Noble Pokemon pushed the boxes away. Alakazam returned the boxes to Celia¡¯s bag.

    Then Arcanine finally spoke. I am pleased with your offerings peasants. Speak. What are you here for?

    After the loud rumbling voices of the previous two lords, I was caught a bit off guard by the Lord of Fire¡¯s cold and slightly echoing voice. It was more befitting of an ice type like Froslass than a fire type that was the literal embodiment of the sun.

    Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Celia shift as she spoke. ¡°This humble human greets the mighty Lord of Fire.¡±

    Ahh, going the flattery route are we? Looks like Celia made the right call though, the Lord of Fire slightly straightened its back in satisfaction as its ego inflated.

    ¡°We are here to warn you and the other esteemed lords of a human organization called Galactic Corporations that wishes to take the mountain from you all.¡±

    The Lord of Fire let out a scornful bark of laughter. Really? Humans trying to take the mountain from us? Noble Arcanine¡¯s mirth instantly turned into a vicious snarl. I would like to see them try.

    The temperature rose once more.

    ¡°That¡¯s not all,¡± Celia added, keeping a cool tone. ¡°We also would like to create friendly relations with your sanctuary to protect it from any other bad humans. There are good organizations like the Ranger corps and the Pokemon League who can help with that.¡±

    Marcus nervously tugged at the collar of his coat as he spoke up, ¡°Uh, umm. We¡¯re also here to meet the Mountain Lord. We understand that she¡¯s the boss around here. As a researcher of Hisuan Pokemon it is¨C¡±

    The Lord of Fire cut Marcus off with a flippant wave of its paw. Our sanctuary does not need to be protected by mere humans.

    Then the Noble Pokemon shot Marcus a glare, making him flinch. And we are not objects to be studied, human. The Lord of fire spat out the word human as if it was a slur.

    But don¡¯t fret. Your wasteful effort will have a reward. The Lord of Fire got to its feet. You will get to die at the claws of my esteemed guard as my entertainment~

    The Noble Arcanine grinned sadistically. You should feel honored.

    Celia shot to her feet, the rest of the group following suit, preparing for a fight. ¡°Wait just a sec¨C¡± Our team leader shouted but she was cut off.

    Reality shifted. The entire world went sideways and then upside down while gravity seemed to stop working for a second.

    I flailed around as I felt myself floating up into the sky and spinning around like clothes in a washing machine before slamming back into the ground as gravity turned back on again.

 (23) Carved In Stone

    I crawled to my feet, wincing at Winnie¡¯s claws digging into my scalp as he hung onto me.

    ¡°Bzzt!¡± Rotom buzzed, zipping out of my hood and flying around in circles to express its displeasure before buzzing what sounded like a swear word and tucking itself back into my bag.

    Yeah, I¡¯d do the same if I had the option.

    I dusted my clothes off as I looked around at our new surroundings. We were alone in a dark and claustrophobic forest similar to the haunted woods. If I were to guess, the entire group had gotten separated to make us easier to pick off.

    Celia and the others did make a plan for a scenario like this but I couldn¡¯t for the life of me remember it.

    Thanks a lot brain.

    Shaking himself, Winnie looked around and sniffed the air. ¡°we got separated from the others. i don¡¯t think they¡¯re nearby either.¡±

    ¡°No shit.¡± I muttered in reply. ¡°We can¡¯t find them from the ground, the forest is too dense.¡±

    I reached for Sahara¡¯s Pokeball. Our next best option was to get up in the sky, hopefully we¡¯d be able to find someone from a bird¡¯s eye view.

    My hand hesitated as multiple large shadows flitted over us. It was another flock of Braviary, this time led by a large golden Hisuan Braviary.

    ¡°Umm, never mind. Let¡¯s just stick to the ground.¡± I muttered to myself as I slowly backed into the shadows of the forest, hoping that we hadn¡¯t been spotted.

    There was a loud high pitched screech that made Winnie and I flinch.

    Winnie pulled a face. ¡°i think they saw us.¡±

    One of the birds, a Unovan Braviary, separated from the flock and dove down, barreling straight for us. A swirl of flying-type energy surrounded the bird Pokemon, further boosting its speed.

    I booked it straight into the densest part of the forest I could find. Braviary weren¡¯t suited for flying in enclosed spaces due to their large wingspan, so hopefully the closely knit branches and vines would slow the bird down.

    That unfortunately meant that I would be slowed down too, as I had to duck below branches and watch my step unless I wanted to snag a foot on a tree root.

    Thankfully my plan seemed to work well enough and I could hear Braviary¡¯s frustrated screeches as it tried to weave through trees but kept getting caught on something.

    ¡°az! this is an illusion! i can¡¯t unweave it like we did back in the cave cause it¡¯s too dense but i can manipulate it a bit! go straight for now!¡±

    ¡°Roger that.¡± I continued to crash through the maze of trees and bushes, the roots and branches that seemed to be snagging at my clothes at every turn became less frequent thanks to Winnie. Now that there was less need to look at the floor for any tripwire roots, I increased my speed.

    Despite my attempts to lose our pursuer behind in the forest, we could still hear the Braviary chasing us behind, letting out furious screeches whenever it got caught on something.

    A warning from Winnie also let me know that the rest of the flock was still tracking us from above. The Hisuan variants were probably using their psychic powers to let our pursuer know where we were.

    I was starting to lose steam, a Pokemon like Braviary would be able to pursue us for tens of miles, and I¡¯d rather not have to face off with a flock of them plus a Noble one.

    ¡°Winnie, is there any way we can throw them off?¡± I shouted.

    My foxy friend didn¡¯t get a chance to answer. A tree root literally leaped out of the ground and coiled around my ankle, my heart leaped in my chest at that jumpscare. I braced myself to fall on the floor but the impact never came.

    Suddenly there was a ravine in front of us where there wasn¡¯t one before. I let out a cry of surprise and Winnie yelped as we tumbled downwards and landed in a large pile of very soft and very out of place snow.

    I wriggled around like a turtle on its back and was able to right myself, bursting out of the snow pile and spitting out dirt and snow that had gotten in my mouth.

    ¡°Winnie, are you alright?¡± I asked, looking around and digging at the snow pile to find him.

    Winnie popped his head out like a mole, shaking his head to get the snow off and sneezing.

    ¡°Oh there you are.¡± Relieved, I was about to grab him to book it again when I noticed, that wasn¡¯t Winnie. It was a different Hisuan Zorua.

    It was smaller, with more rounded ears, and paler markings than Winnie.

    I stared at the newcomer. ¡°You¡¯re not Winnie.¡±

    The Zorua stared back and giggled. The real Winnie popped his head out of the snow pile next to the newcomer.

    ¡°who¡¯s this?¡± He asked as he dug himself out and shook the snow off.

    The newcomer¡¯s grin widened, ¡°You might wanna duck back down unless you want the birdbrains to find you!¡±

    With no hesitation, we ducked back down into the snow pile. I still would¡¯ve liked some clarification on who the newcomer was, but first we needed to lose the Braviary flock.

    The pile of snow instantly shifted into a large pile of leaves as we heard a bunch of screeching fly past us. It wasn¡¯t until the sounds of the flock had completely faded that the new guy told us it was safe to come out.

    I stood up and brushed all the leaves off while Winnie jumped out of the pile with the strange Zorua. The two sniffed each other¡¯s neck fluff before the newcomer playfully bounced backwards and laughed.

    ¡°We have no time to lose! Follow me!¡±

    I inwardly groaned at the prospect of having to run through even more dense forest, my legs were already burning from the previous effort. Thankfully the newcomer seemed to know how to change the illusion enough that our path was nothing but evenly packed dirt.

    ¡°Who are you again?¡± I asked the Zorua, quietly following behind at a jog.

    All I got from the little fox was, ¡°I¡¯m Mii!¡±

    I tilted my head in confusion, ¡°Yes, you are you. Do you have a name?¡±

    Mii took a second to glance back at me, ¡°No, I¡¯m not you, I¡¯m Mii!¡±

    ¡°Yes, you¡¯re you.¡± I answered.

    ¡°No, I¡¯m Mii.¡± Mii repeated. ¡°Are you perhaps hard of hearing?¡±

    ¡°az, her name is mii, not me.¡± Winnie told me as if I was missing something obvious.

    ¡°Is there something I¡¯m not getting?¡± I asked the two.

    Winnie rolled his eyes, ¡°just call her mii.¡±

    ¡°Okay she is Me. I see.¡±

    ¡°no, not me, mii.¡± Winnie corrected, putting extra emphasis on the last word.

    Mii giggled, ¡°Your human isn¡¯t the brightest is she?¡±

    I sighed in defeat. ¡°Could you tell us where we¡¯re going?¡±

    ¡°Oooo! Just wait and see! It¡¯s awesome!¡± Mii squeaked, ¡°All my friends like it! Well, I mean they would if I could show them. They wouldn¡¯t tell on me but sure they are blabbermouths.¡±

    Mii kept on chattering about her friends and siblings and Meemaw as she led us around the forest in what felt like circles. After paying more attention to how many turns we made, I realized we technically should¡¯ve been going in circles. I counted eight right turns followed by eight left turns. We should¡¯ve looped around back to where we started but the surroundings were different each time.

    Finally, I saw something that stood out from the disorganized ruggedness of the forest, a tall cylinder structure covered in vines and leaves. Hints of aged white marble peeked out from beneath the pillar¡¯s blanket of ivy.

    ¡°Is that it?¡± I asked, pointing at the pillar.

    Mii nodded, giving Winnie and I a tail flick to encourage us to take a closer look.

    Approaching the pillar, I brushed aside its foliage cover, pulling off a few vines to reveal a few carvings of what looked like Azelf and Lake Valor.

    ¡°There¡¯s more over here! Come look!¡± Mii shouted, the Zorua was standing on top of a big tablet. Winnie was already standing at the foot of the tablet.

    Past the tablet I could see two other ivy covered pillars, positioned so that all three pillars formed a triangle around the central tablet. Considering how the one I was standing next to had Azelf on it, the other two probably had Uxie and Mesprit.

    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    I hopped over a bunch of roots and a fallen log to get to the center and did a double take as I saw a familiar looking object set in the middle of the tablet.

    ¡°The Arc Phone.¡± I whispered, brushing a hand over the item. The phone was firmly wedged into an impression in the stone tablet and didn¡¯t react to my touch. ¡°What¡¯s it doing here?¡±

    ¡°arc phone? what¡¯s that?¡± Winnie asked, with a tilted head. He gingerly poked the bottom of the tablet with a paw.

    ¡°A phone given to a very important person by Arceus during the Hisui period.¡± I answered, gently tapping at the phone screen to see if it would do anything. The phone screen stayed dark.

    ¡°It¡¯s something Meemaw¡¯s friend gave to her.¡± Mii explained, ¡°She likes it a lot but it doesn¡¯t do anything.¡±

    ¡°Meemaw¡¯s friend?¡± I repeated to myself. As in the player character from Legends Arceus? What was their name? Akari or Rei? Wait, that¡¯s the name of the rival right? Since the player character was taken from the future, would it be Dawn or Lucas?

    Too bad the tablet doesn¡¯t have any writing on it.

    Right below the Arc Phone was a carving depicting what could only be Arceus, Origin form Palkia, and Origin form Dialga, and a girl in a Survey Corps outfit standing before them.

    ¡°are those pokemon?¡± Winnie asked when I stopped my hand at the carvings of the deities.

    ¡°Yes!¡± Mii answered, ¡°Those are Arceus, Palkia, Dialga.¡± The young vixen proudly listed out, kinda like a little kid in class who was reciting something they memorized to the teacher.

    I nodded, ¡°Yep. That¡¯s them.¡±

    ¡°who are they?¡± Winnie asked the two of us.

    I leaned back as I thought of a short answer. ¡°Umm, to put it simply, Arceus is the creator of the universe, Palkia is the god of space, and Dialga is the god of time.¡±

    Walking around to the back of the tablet, I immediately saw a massive carving of Giratina. There was a glowing yellow crystal embedded in the center of Giratina¡¯s chest. Winnie stood up only his hind legs, front paws resting on the tablet and touched his nose against the orb before sharply recoiling and snorting.

    ¡°it smells like that grumpy old dragon from the distortion world.¡± The white fox commented, wrinkling his nose.

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s cause it belongs to Giratina.¡± I said, ¡°I wonder what it¡¯s doing here.¡±

    ¡°Heeeyy! Over here you slowpokes!¡± Mii shouted over to us from atop a tablet that sat in front of one of the still covered pillars. I looked back at the top of the central tablet where she had just been sitting before looking back at her.

    Did she teleport? I thought as Winnie and I headed over her. I pulled the foliage off of the pillar, revealing a carving of Uxie and Lake Acuity. The ivy and vines on both structures seemed to be connected so they came off together in one clump and revealed what was on the tablet. There were even more colored carvings on Uxie¡¯s tablet, depicting a story in a slightly comic book format.

    Mii leaned down from her place on the pillar. ¡°Cool right? This isn¡¯t my favorite one though, let me show you my favorite one!¡±

    I held up a finger, ¡°Just a second, let me read this.¡±

    As I knelt down to get a closer look, Winnie hopped onto the tablet and then onto the top of the pillar with Mii, who was impatiently clawing at the side of the pillar.

    The carvings were pretty straightforward, so it wasn¡¯t hard to figure out the story. I tapped my bag to get Rotom¡¯s attention, ¡°Rotom take a photo of all the tablets and the pillars.¡±

    Rotom replied with a grumpy, ¡°Bzzt.¡± But obliged after a few seconds, flying out and snapping photos of the carvings.

    The story on Uxie¡¯s tablet started with a depiction of what looked like Unovan Zoroark and Zorua being driven out of Unova by humans.

    They traveled to a distant land and settled down, but were driven out by humans again where they came to the only place where they¡¯d be left alone by humans. The Alabaster Icelands.

    Unfortunately, the illusion foxes weren¡¯t well equipped to deal with an arctic winter, so they froze, starved, and died. The little carvings of bone-thin Zoroark huddling with Zorua were quite dreadful despite being so simple.

    Then a tendril that looked suspiciously like one of Giratina¡¯s tendrils reached out of a portal and touched the corpses of the illusion fox Pokemon, granting them new life as the Hisuan Zoroark Variant.

    After that it was just a bunch of carvings of the Hisuan variant waging war on humans, using their illusions to take revenge instead of simply defending themselves like they previously did.

    Another case of becoming the monster others see you as.

    Then the humans fought back, bringing a new Pokemon into the fray. A giant purple swirl with a ton of green human faces. Spiritomb. Using the angry mass of souls, the humans quickly repelled the Hisuan Zoroarks and forced them to flee into the deepest corners of the icelands.

    How did the Hisui people get their hands on a Spiritomb of all Pokemon?

    There was a fancy line that seemed to indicate a new chapter introducing an injured Hisuan Zorua who was cornered by a few humans and their Pokemon.

    Then two people in Survey Corps outfits, a boy with a Rowlet and a girl with a Dewott get in between the humans and the Zorua and convince them to leave.

    The Survey Corps members heal the Zorua and offer it some food before leaving, much to the Zorua¡¯s surprise.

    Then at what looks like a different time and place, the two Survey corps members. their Dartrix, and Hisuan Samurott are cornered by a pack of rather angry looking Hisuan Zoroark. The Zorua they rescued before gets in between them and saves them as well.

    The ending was a bit hard to figure out but it looked like the Zorua joined the girl¡¯s team?

    I jumped, snapping out of my thoughts as I heard a sudden click and the sound of stone sliding against stone and gears clinking.

    ¡°What? What was that?¡± I looked up at the pillar where the sound came from. Mii and Winnie were still sitting there. Well, Winnie was sitting. Mii was hopping up and down like a caffeinated toddler.

    Wow, Me is a lot smaller than Winnie. I didn¡¯t really notice until they were sitting next to each other.

    ¡°Yeah, the pillars all do that if something heavy sits on it.¡± Mii explained, ¡°Or if I hop on it a lot. You¡¯re done looking right? Come on!¡±

    The young vixen bounced off of the pillar over to the next tablet and pillar set.

    The second pillar, Azelf¡¯s Pillar from what I could see, already had most of the foliage pulled off of it, probably by Mii, who proudly began pointing to the fight scenes and talking about how cool they looked. From what I could tell, the carvings all showed that Survey Corps girl fighting a different Noble Pokemon with her team.

    Plus, they were indeed cool carvings, and despite being rather faded, I could tell they were once the most colorful part of the tablet. I could tell why Mii found these parts so cool.

    I pulled off the foliage from the parts that were still covered. It took less time to figure out what was going on in the carvings on this tablet. These were events I was familiar with.

    The Survey Corps girl, Either Akari or Dawn, seemed to have been tasked with calming the rampaging Noble Pokemon by the Survey Corps. After succeeding, she was accepted as a mediator between the quarreling Diamond and Pearl clans and she was given the Celestia Flute.

    Then the Space-time rifts got worse and she was unjustly blamed for them because of her dubious origins and banished from Jubilife village whereupon she received help from the Diamond and Pearl clans as well as Cogita.

    Then there was the mission to go to each of the three lakes and taking on the trials of the Lake Guardians and crafting the Red Chain.

    Mii then gleefully informed me that the fight with Commander Kamado was her third favorite part of the story.

    From then on the events began to deviate from what I knew. Palkia and Dialga emerged from a Space-time rift at the summit, both in their origin forms, whereupon the Red Chain was used to restrain the two enraged deities before they could start fighting each other.

    Then the leaders of the Diamond and Pearl clans came forward, each with a flute on hand similar in design to the Celestia flute, just with different colorings. They both began to play a song that calmed the angry deities down enough that they could be let go. Then the gods of space and time departed in peace.

    I straightened up, looking at Winnie sitting patiently on top of Azelf¡¯s pillar, waiting for me to finish. Mii was clawing at this pillar as well while she waited.

    ¡°I¡¯m ready to go see the next one.¡±

    Immediately, Mii jumped off of this pillar, tripping the button on the top of the pillar. I could hear the grinding of old gears working against each other as Mii ran over to the last pillar and hopped on top.

    Winnie followed along, jumping onto the tablet and using Will-O-Wisp to burn away the plants covering, Mesprit¡¯s Pillar and Tablet.

    The first thing I noticed about the story on Mesprit''s tablet was that it wasn¡¯t finished. It started with Akari/Dawn speaking to a man in a blue, white, and yellow traveling outfit who bore a similar resemblance to Cynthia.

    ¡°Volo.¡± I muttered to myself, ¡°Those look like Arceus¡¯s plates.¡±

    Winnie perked up at the mention of plates, his ears twitching. ¡°Plates? Like what we use for food?¡±

    Mii wrinkled her nose, ¡°You guys use plates for food? Meemaw says that plates are sacred and should be respected.¡±

    ¡°Huh? Why are plates sacred?¡± Winnie asked, ¡°They¡¯re for holdin¡¯ food.¡±

    Mii vehemently shook her head,¡°No, they¡¯re not.¡±

    ¡°yes they are.¡±

    ¡°Nuh uh!¡±

    ¡°yes too! back me up guys!¡± Winnie said, turning to my shadow. Shuppet grumbled something about stupid kid arguments but otherwise the ghost gang didn¡¯t react.

    I waved my hands at the two foxes. ¡°Guys you¡¯re talking about two different things. Winnie, the plates we use for food are different from the Arceus¡¯s plates.¡±

    ¡°The former is indeed used for holding food.¡± I said to Mii, then I looked at Winnie, ¡°The latter are items that can boost the holder¡¯s power.¡±

    I pointed to the part of the story where Akari and Volo were standing at the Spear Pillars with seventeen out of eighteen plates.

    ¡°Or if you collect all of them, you can use them to summon Arceus.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, in this part then Meemaw and her friends battle the Lord of the Distortion world and his friends!¡± Mii squeaked, hopping a few times. ¡°They were doing an honorable duel to see who got to go meet the Lord of Creation!¡±

    I don¡¯t think that¡¯s how it went down. I guess ¡®Meemaw¡¯ made the story more kid friendly than it originally was.

    Mii continued to talk, ¡°Then after Meemaw and her friends sent Mr Lord of Distortion and his friends running with their tails between their legs, they got to meet the Lord of Creation!¡±

    ¡°Mhhmm.¡± I said as I looked at the last parts of the story carved in stone.

    During the meeting with Arceus, it looked like Akari chose to stay in world to continue help integrate people and Pokemon together and help both sides understand each other more and work together.

    The carvings quickly became messier and more disorganized and Akari/Dawn stopped appearing in the carvings all together. Then members of her team slowly stopped showing up as well, and all that was left was a Hisuan Zoroark.

    I pointed at the lone carving of the Hisuan Zoroark bowing before the Spear Pillars and being surrounded in a golden light, ¡°That¡¯s your Meemaw right?¡±

    ¡°Yepity yep. This is when she was judged as worthy and got her blessing. All the lords travel to the Pillars to get their blessing.¡±

    ¡°is that why they¡¯re all golden and shiny?¡± Winnie asked.

    ¡°Yep!¡± Mii replied, ¡°And they get really strong. I wanna get a blessing so I can become really strong too, that way my big bro won¡¯t be able to keep stealing my berries from me, but I don¡¯t wanna be all golden and shiny. I¡¯m not the flashy type like mommy is.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing after Meemaw gets her blessing.¡± I remarked.

    There was a bunch of empty space left on the tablet after the depiction of ¡®Meemaw¡¯ getting her blessing. The story hadn¡¯t been finished, kinda like the author had just given up writing the story. Or maybe there was nothing left worth recording.

    ¡°Yeah. I think Meemaw stopped making this cause she got too busy running the sanctuary and she forgot about this place.¡± Mii shrugged, ¡°Aaanyways, what do you think?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s very interesting. I¡¯ve never seen anything quite like this before.¡± I said, glancing at the story on the tablet once more.

    ¡°The drawings are cool.¡± Winnie said.

    I looked back up at Mii and Winnie, ¡°Umm, by the way. Could you two perhaps jump on the top of this pillar too? I wanna see what happens when we get all the pillars to make the button pressing noise.¡±

    Mii jumped up. ¡°Ooo! How come I never thought of that?! Yeah let¡¯s do it!¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± Winnie shrugged, jumping up onto the pillar top to sit next to Mii. I heard a quiet photo snapping sound as Rotom sneakily took a picture of the two sitting next to each other before diving back into my bag.

    It took a few seconds, but I saw the two go down a few centimeters as the button went down under their combined weight. Then came the same mechanical noises as before.

    There was a click and a pop that came from the central tablet. I jogged over and spotted a long rectangle hole that had opened up in the tablet.

    Set inside was a purple and red spiked looking ocarina that rested on top of an aged journal and a stack of papers. Behind that was a bunch of dimly glowing red crystal shards.

    I took a step back as the Arc-Phone lit up and buzzed, a notification on the screen reading: New Message.

    I was about to tap the message icon when a shockwave rumbled through the entire forest. There was a loud SHHHHHHH as the tree branches violently ruslted against each other. A massive flock of birds took off from the forest, screeching at each other as they fled the area, leaving behind a silent forest that seemed to be devoid of sound or movement.

    Mii let out a squeak of fear, her fur poofing up as she scurried away into the woods, yelling, ¡°That¡¯s Meemaw!¡±

    A freezing gust of wind swept through the area, blowing away any sort of warmth from the surroundings and bringing in a permanent unsettling chill.

    ¡°That¡¯s not good.¡± I muttered, leaning down to let Winnie hop on.

    ¡°i say we book it too.¡± The little fox said, whipping his head around to look for any signs of danger.

    The moment I stepped away from the tablet to book it into the woods, the reality shifted.

    Our surroundings morphed into a very familiar town from Legends Arceus. I stumbled and shook my head to get rid of the disorientation and looked up. We were in Jubilife Town, right outside of the Galaxy Team¡¯s headquarters.

    Ghostly shadows of the people who once inhabited the ancient town floated around, paying no mind to us. One even walked right through me as if I wasn¡¯t even there.

    Winnie and I flinched as the gravity in the area seemed to increase, a new presence joined us soaking the area with a chilling aura that seemed to embody the work vengeance.

    I slowly turned around to face the newcomer. It was a small and wiry Hisuan Zoroark accompanied by the Lord of Fire who was standing to attention just a few feet behind the illusion fox.

    This Hisuan Zoroark was pure white like freshly fallen snow, no red or gold markings, and she was slightly transparent. Her long and wild mane lightly waved around in the cold breeze, her eyes were closed as if she were sleeping.

    I felt the chill sink even deeper into my bones as the Mountain Lord opened her faded golden eyes. Her attention lingered on Winnie before they settled on me.

    Then the Mountain Lord spoke. I see you¡¯ve found my sanctuary.

    The Lord of Fire stepped forward, growling. You do not have to speak to these lowly peasants my liege. Let me deal with these pests.

    The temperature rose and the Noble Arcanine began to glow brighter as it started to prowl towards up.

    The Mountain Lord raised a single claw, stopping the Lord of Fire in its tracks and the heat emanating from the noble fire type was immediately snuffed out. No Kogane. I am not so old that I need others fighting for me, nor I am not above taking out the trash once in a while.

    I will deal with them. You go deal with the pests outside. First the ones at our doorstep, then the ones in that flying den at the edge of the illusion dome.

    The Lord of Fire nodded and then bowed, walking backwards a few steps before turning and sprinting away, the forest swallowing the noble fire type up in only a few seconds.

    The Mountain Lord then turned her attention back to us, sauntering closer to us as she thought aloud.

    Now what should I do with you? Thieves who are foolish enough to invade the burial grounds of my dear friend.

 (24) Why Do I Hear Boss Music?

    I stared blankly at the Mountain Lord before speaking, ¡°You can have a peaceful talk with us and sort out our differences over some tea?¡± I do not want to fight her. I do not want to fight her. No fighting please. There¡¯s absolutely no way my team can beat her in a fight, we¡¯ll die to death.

    ¡°i doubt that.¡± Winnie muttered in my ear. I rolled my eyes at him and whispered, ¡°You have a better suggestion?¡± He didn¡¯t.

    There was a pause. The Mountain Lord snorted. No.

    ¡°Oh.¡± I looked down at the ground and then looked back up at the Mountain Lord.

    Any last words human?

    ¡°Umm. Yeah. You really sure you don¡¯t wanna just, ya know¡­talk things out? You don¡¯t have to solve everything with violence.¡± The name of the female player character from Legends Arceus was Akari right? Or was it Dawn? Cause Akari is the Japanese version of the name. I think. But there¡¯s probably already a Dawn in this world. Unless she later on gets sent back in time by Arceus¡­

    A no is a no human.

    Shit, I¡¯ll just go for it. I shrugged, ¡°Yeah but I don¡¯t think Akari was the type to kill people just because they disagreed with her. Didn¡¯t she work to bridge the gap between humans and Pokemon? You¡¯re kinda, uh, doing the opposite of that.¡±

    Akari was never unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of relentless hate and persecution. The Mountain Lord retorted, a hint of a snarl on her previously expressionless face.

    ¡°You¡¯re kind of doing the same thing as what you just described being a victim of.¡± I pointed out.

    I am protecting my home.

    I clapped my hands together and pointed them at the Mountain Lord. ¡°Bruh, the people who persecuted you thought they were doing the same. They saw an illusion of scary stuff and thought it was dangerous so they made the dangerous stuff go away regardless of whether it was actually dangerous or not.¡±

    The Mountain Lord¡¯s eyes flared with energy as she stepped forward with a vicious snarl. I will not allow my kind to become tools of humans once again!

    Ah. She changed the subject.

    I held my hands up, ¡°Hey, I can¡¯t claim to know a ton about the past, but I know that right now, People and Pokemon coexist super well, and it¡¯s against the law to use a Pokemon as a tool and abuse it. Not everything is perfect but it¡¯s a lot better than what you¡¯re talking about.

    Humans never could live without Pokemon, leeching off of us like parasites.

    I blinked a few times, ¡°Uh, we¡¯ve had advancements in tech that make us able to live without the protection of Pokemon. From what I¡¯ve seen people and Pokemon kinda choose to live with each other in a symbiotic relationship. Pokemon get a safe environment to grow strong in and people get friends and work partners. There are also multiple massive organizations dedicated to ensuring that Pokemon are treated well. There are faults in the system but it¡¯s a hell of an improvement from the past. ¡±

    Hmph, your kind are simply maintaining their tools so that they can work well.

    Bruh that¡¯s all you got from that?

    I put my hands on my hips and retorted, ¡°Okay, if all humans see Pokemona as tools, then what were you to Akari? And what about Rei, Professor Laventon, Cogita, all the Survey Corps members, and more? Did they see you and your fellow Pokemon as tools?¡±

    The surrounding noises went silent and the Mountain Lord took a step forward, revealing her teeth with a snarl.

    ¡°i think you hit a nerve.¡± Winnie whispered.

    ¡°No shit Sherlock.¡± I whispered back as I slowly backpedaled. Let¡¯s change the subject.

    ¡°Tell me what happened after Akari died. What changed your mind about humans?¡±

    The Mountain Lord prowled towards us and began circling me like a shark circling a lifeboat. I was blessed by the Lord of Distortion in order to better protect the Pokemon in my sanctuary. Then the humans got a new leader and the humans lost their respect for my kind and began seeing us as tools. Those that couldn¡¯t be controlled were to be feared and eradicated.

    ¡°Oh, that sucks.¡± Great response there Az.

    So I took those under my care and left for Alabaster Mountain where this sanctuary was created.

    Every time after that, whenever we let a human in and back out alive, they always came back to cause trouble, or they yapped about this place to more unsavory humans who came to plunder and kidnap those under my protection.

    The Mountain Lord stopped about a foot in front of me and gestured at Winnie with a claw. That little one is a kit of one of the ones stolen from the mountain, no?

    Winnie and I glanced at each other. Winnie shook his head. ¡°um, no. that¡¯s¨C¡±

    That is of no matter. The Mountain Lord interrupted Winnie, much to his annoyance as she began to circle me again. You will not be slain within my sanctuary little one. As for you human¡­

    I will not open up our home to the outside world. We have paid a great price every time we have done so, my kindness for your kind has dried up long since now.

    I was right before and I am right now, after all, you ingrates have led poachers right to our front door. They sit in their little flying metal den waiting for the right chance to pounce.

    I am grateful that you have warned us of this incoming threat, but humans are more defenseless than a newborn without the Pokemon they¡¯ve enslaved. We do not need weaklings guarding us when we have our own defenses.

    Lemme guess, that¡¯s Hunter J.

    ¡°Um, as I said before, people today don¡¯t have to rely on Pokemon for everything. The commander of that ship has a cannon on her arm that¡¯s capable of temporarily turning its targets into stone. That¡¯s pretty dangerous.¡±

    Tech? The Mountain Lord said the word as if it were foreign to her. Hmph, an arm cannon is no use if it is no longer attached to an arm, their ¡®tech¡¯ cannot withstand the might of a Noble Pokemon.

    I shrugged, ¡°You have a point on the arm cannon, but I¡¯d be careful about whatever else they have in store.¡±

    ¡°why don¡¯t you let us prove ourselves by getting rid of the poachers?¡± Winnie suggested, ¡°we came here to help not to start a fight with you guys.¡±

    The Mountain Lord stopped behind me, putting ice-cold claws on the back of my head as she spoke to Winnie. I frowned at that but stayed still.

    Your human here has invaded my home and tarnished the Akari¡¯s tomb. I have the right to protect it from danger.

    Aaaand we¡¯re back to square one. She¡¯s fucking insane.

    I turned around to face the Mountain Lord.

    ¡°What the fuck, are you even listening to our arguments?!¡± I pointed to the gate leading to the outside the illusion of Jubilife Town.

    ¡°Take a look at the outside world for once in a century and then make your judgment. We¡¯re here because we want to help and learn, we can deal with the poachers for you to prove our strength and worth. Yet you are insistent on killing every human that comes in! You¡¯re not protecting your sanctuary, you just hate humans. You¡¯re no better than the ignorant humans who drove your own kind out of Unova and general Sinnoh in the first place! What would Akari think of your actions?¡±

    A blinding pain exploded in my head. I reeled back, stumbling and falling hard.

    ¡°az!¡± I heard Winnie squeak as he jumped off my shoulder and placed himself in between me and the Mountain Lord. I felt the shadows beneath me roil as a few stronger members of the ghost gang emerged, glaring at the Noble Pokemon.

    At the same time, Glados whirled out of my watch, glitching furiously. ¡°HOSTILES. DETECTED.¡±

    Don¡¯t you dare try to use Akari¡¯s name against me again! The Mountain Lord snarled her mane wildly whipping around before smoothing back down. She would be pleased with me protecting my home!

    Smelling iron, I put a hand to the side of my head and felt warm blood trickling out. Gritting my teeth, I unsteadily got back up onto my feet.

    ¡°You of all Pokemon should know better than to generalize another species just because of a few bad experiences, despite having had wonderful experiences with humans before. I doubt you would¡¯ve built a literal shrine to Akari if you hadn¡¯t loved her for being a wonderful person right? Deep down inside, you don¡¯t hate all humans. Otherwise you wouldn¡¯t have let us get this far, right? You could¡¯ve killed us all yourself yet you haven¡¯t!¡±

    I will not tolerate your unreasonable words anymore. Let us see how you speak with no tongue. The Mountain Lord growled, stalking to the side before turning invisibility on and disappearing. I felt the temperature drop till I could see my breath freeze.

    Insert the Dark Souls boss music. I am so fucked.

    I grabbed Infernape and Lucario¡¯s Pokeballs and let the fighting types out.

    Damnit, Lucario and Infernape are strong but the type matchup is horrendous, half of their move pools are useless. Absol would be useful but was sent away with Leo.

    I wiped away some of the blood on my forehead so it wouldn¡¯t get into my eye. ¡°Get ready for the fight of your lives guys. We¡¯re dealing with a ghost type in the same weight class as a minor legendary.¡±

    Lucario¡¯s fists blazed with aura while Infernape¡¯s fire hair blazed as the monkey beat a fist on his chest.

    ¡°What¡¯s the plan az?¡± Shuppet asked, eyes darting around as it tried to sense any threats.

    Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

    ¡°Survive.¡± I answered, touching the injuries on my head again as the pain was replaced by an icy coldness. ¡°We need to get back to the others and run. Or find another way to convince the Mountain Lord to not kill us. Whichever works.¡±

    Eyes flashing, Lucario suddenly grabbed my arm and yanked me to the right as something flashed by. I felt a cut open up on my left cheek.

    Everyone whirled around, Infernape, Winnie, and Glados shot a Flamethrower and two Dark Pulses at the figure but it was gone before the attacks could even hit.

    ¡°Shit. Lucario, keep Detect up. Everyone else, get ready to retaliate when Lucario senses something.¡±

    I gestured for everyone to stay close as we headed for the gates of Jubilife Town. Then we were back in front of the town hall.

    There was another cut on my arm. Lucario¡¯s ears twitched and it shouted, ¡°Lucario!¡± A long blue bone appearing in its paws and it swung the bone into the empty space in front of us but seemed to miss. Glados beep bopped and shot a series of Dark Pulses into the space in front of us to no avail.

    ¡°Winnie, can you do something?¡± I asked.

    ¡°i¡¯ll try.¡± Winnie replied, hopping back to stay close to us for cover and closing his eyes as he concentrated on unweaving the Mountain Lord¡¯s illusion.

    Lucario grabbed Winnie and me, shouting a warning to the others and jumping away as the ground where we were just standing exploded, throwing up dust everywhere.

    Reality glitched as Winnie did his work, we could now see the faint outline of the Mountain Lord¡¯s shadow on the ground.

    ¡°i did it!¡± Winnie shouted victoriously as Lucario set us back down.

    Infernape didn¡¯t need any orders, with a battle cry, the fire monkey seemed to teleport over to where the Mountain Lord¡¯s shadow was. Fists burning with fire, Infernape punched and his fist connected.

    The Mountain Lord¡¯s disguise faded away as she was pushed back, unflinching at the powerful punch from the elite fire type. The Noble Pokemon''s claws blurred together, flashing a chilling purple as she retaliated with a series of Shadow Claws while a Grass Knot pinned Infernape¡¯s feet down to prevent him from escaping.

    Lucario jumped in using Extreme Speed to boost its speed and stopping the Mountain Lord¡¯s attack with Bone Rush. Infernape incinerated the Grass Knot with a Flamethrower and shouted, ¡°IN-FERN!¡±

    A pillar of fire engulfed the Mountain Lord. Lucario created a large drop of sparkling water and sprayed it over Infernape, healing most of the wounds the fire monkey had incurred from its initial bout with the Mountain lord.

    ¡°Murder Mode Glados, Dark Pulse.¡± I commanded.

    Glados¡¯s eyes began to emit a soft red glow as it pointed a wing at the Mountain Lord who was now locked in combat with Lucario and Infernape within a massive swirl of fire.

    The Mountain Lord slipped through both Lucario and Infernape¡¯s attacks, a flick of her claws completely dissipated Infernape¡¯s Fire Spin trapping her. The illusion fox then phased in and out of reality before reappearing in front of Glados. The two fighting types tried to follow but tripped, they were suddenly stuck in the ground up to their knees.

    Glados beeped frantically, trying to redirect its Dark Pulse but was hit by a devastating Brick Break that smacked the AI Pokemon down into the ground, embedding it in a crater the ground.

    The AI let out a few miserable beeps before its eyes went dark as it lost consciousness.

    ¡°Glados!¡± I scrambled back, grabbing Sahara¡¯s Ultra Ball as the Mountain Lord reached out her claws to grab me.

    A quadruple Dark Pulse from Winnie, Shuppet, Gastly, and Misdreavus hit her arm. The Mountain Lord scowled, swiping her claws at the four ghosts, picking them up, and restraining them with Psychic.

    Thankfully, the distraction from the ghosts gave just enough time for Infernape and Lucario to dig themselves out of the ground and re-engage the Mountain Lord in combat. Though the Noble Pokemon seemed to be more annoyed by the attacks than hurt, it seemed that she needed more concentration to keep their flurry of attacks away so she let the ghosts go from Psychic.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t working.¡± I turned to the ghost gang, ¡°Go find that Hisuan Zorua called Mii. I need her help.¡±

    Winnie nodded and looked at the other three. Shuppet saluted with its rag dress and zipped away with Gastly and Misdreavus close behind. A few shadows zoomed out of mine and followed them.

    Then I let Sahara out, the landshark roared and stomped the ground. ¡°Swords Dance a few times before you go in.¡± I ordered, ¡°Note that normal type moves won¡¯t work.¡±

    Sahara grunted in acknowledgment and began using Swords Dance as I ran over and retrieved Glados, letting it return to my watch. There was a strong gust of wind as Sahara sped into battle with Dragon Rush.

    Lucario was trying to distract and overwhelm the Mountain Lord with a frenzy of Extreme Speed boosted Bone Rushes, Infernape was left to deal damage with its variety of elemental punches. The Mountain Lord didn¡¯t seem very bothered by Lucario¡¯s speed and was consistently breaking through the aura Pokemon¡¯s defenses with one arm and either blocking or deflecting Infernape¡¯s punches with the other.

    Sahara barreled into the fight, aiming to knock the Mountain Lord off her feet and begin a one-sided curb stomp. Instead, the Mountain Lord ducked low, sweeping Lucario and Infernape off their feet while dodging Sahara¡¯s rush at the same time.

    Then she used Psychic to grab the fighting types and threw them against each other to trap Sahara in between before throwing them.

    The trio then hit the ground and phased through it as if they had no-clipped into the Backrooms.

    ¡°what happened?!¡± Winnie shouted.

    ¡°Oh that¡¯s just straight-up bullshit! How in the world is that fair?¡± I yelled, gesturing at what had just happened with both hands. She fucking baited me!

    Do not worry little human, your companions will not be slain. Take it as a token of my goodwill.

    ¡°That¡¯s a lot of dogshit goodwill.¡± I shouted back.

    Accept your death with grace. The Mountain Lord hissed.

    ¡°No thank you!¡± I replied as Winnie once again placed himself in between us. Shuppet and the others better get here fast.

    The Mountain Lord disappeared in a blur, completely ignoring Winnie. I threw myself to the side just in time to dodge her.

    With a snarl, Winnie raced over to the Mountain Lord and shot a Dark Pulse at her face. The Noble Pokemon simply swiped the attack away and once again grabbed Winnie with Psychic to trap him again.

    Meanwhile, I dug through my bag for something useful. The Terra Orb wasn¡¯t super useful for this predicament, changing Winnie¡¯s type wouldn¡¯t be helpful, but the Master Ball sure would be.

    I dug through the Pokeballs pocket for the Master Ball but was grabbed by Psychic and thrown away from my bag. I blindly grabbed for anything before I was out of reach, then I collided with the wall of one of the buildings and crumpled to the ground.

    Stars were flashing in my eyes as I tried to breath through the pain lancing through my back and torso. That''s gonna leave a bruise.

    I crawled to my hands and knees, only then noticing the Pokeflute I had grabbed instead of the Master Ball I needed.

    Great. Let me solve this with the power of song and friendship¡­Oh wait. That''s just Oracion.

    Those hopes were shattered alongside my Pokeflute as the Mountain Lord stomped the instrument, grinding it beneath her feet and raised her arm, claws at the ready to slice my head off.

    I blearily blinked up at her, my head was spinning. Instead of trying to run away from imminent doom, I took a page out of Kaiju¡¯s book and dove towards the Noble Pokemon¡¯s feet, grabbed, and pulled with all my might.

    That seemed to catch the illusion fox off guard and her slash went off mark, grazing my back instead of hitting my neck like she had originally intended.

    I scrambled underneath the Noble Pokemon¡¯s legs and grabbed her mane as support as I jumped onto her back.

    ¡°CHA CHA CHA CHA CHA CHA!¡±

    What the¨C

    I reached over and grabbed the Mountain Lord¡¯s nose. ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHA! I GOT YOUR NOSE!¡± Then I bit down onto the Mountain Lord¡¯s mane, getting a mouthful of fur and pulled, aiming to tear as much fur out as possible. FUCK U! If I''m going I''m leaving a bald spot!

    The Mountain Lord disappeared, phasing into out shadows and dumping me on the ground.

    I was thrown face first into the wall again by Psychic and I felt something cold slash through my back and settle there in a line, the only thing I could smell were sweaty pennies.

    There was a burst of energy from behind the Mountain Lord, I felt chills of malice sweep through the area and begin to tear through the illusion of Jubilife Town. The buildings began to melt.

    The Mountain Lord paused in surprise. Then she was knocked away as a large snarling red and white ball of fury began tearing into her.

    Lifting my head, I slightly shook my head to refocus my vision. Who dat? Winnie?

    The Hisuan Zoroark who was assaulting the Mountain Lord was Winnie!

    ¡°You got this Winnie!¡± I shouted. Using the building I had been thrown against as support, I got back up and stumbled back to where I¡¯d left my bag. I felt unusually cold, also my bag was gone. Probably no clipped into the Backrooms as well.

    Well, at least the ghost gang had good timing. A Banette flew over to me with a Gastly, Misdreavus, and Hisuan Zorua in tow.

    I blinked a few times and stared at the Banette. ¡°Wai¨CShuppet?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll explain later. We got Mii.¡± Banette said, glancing at the two Zoroarks tearing at each other like a pair of rabid cats.

    ¡°Great!¡± I stumbled as a wave of dizziness hit me. ¡°Mii! We need to go back to the place you showed us.¡±

    Mii¡¯s big yellow eyes glanced nervously at Winnie and the Mountain Lord¡¯s fight and then at the blood that was dripping from my rather disheveled form. Before she nodded, ¡°Okay.¡±

    The little vixen swiped a paw at the air, as if someone was pulling aside a curtain, a portal to the forest appeared.

    I took a step and nearly fell, but Banette helped me stay standing. ¡°Don¡¯t mind me, let¡¯s go.¡±

    With support from the ghosts, I fast walked through the portal, glancing at Winnie still locked in a fierce battle with the Mountain Lord. They seemed to be unaware of me leaving. You got this Winnie!

    Slowly but steadily, we made our way through the path in the forest. The first pillar I saw was Mesprit¡¯s pillar. The little hole in the central tablet containing what I needed had resealed itself.

    ¡°We need to open this up again.¡± I said, switching to the tablet for support so that Shuppet and the others would be free to move. ¡°There are buttons at the top of each pillar, go¨C¡±

    The whole forest shook like there was an earthquake. The ghosts¡¯s forms all wavered as a massive boom of ghost type energy swept through the forest. Mii flinched hard, retreating behind the tablet, whispering something about Meemaw. We all stared in the direction of the epicenter of the quake for a second.

    There was a pop as Kaiju let himself out of his Dusk Ball with a roar. ¡°Deino!¡±

    I fumbled for Kaiju¡¯s Dusk Ball, ¡°Not now Kaiju.¡±

    Kaiju grabbed my arm and pulled my sleeve towards where Mii was hiding. I got the message and ducked behind the tablet.

    There was a short pause and then something crashed through the upper part of the tablet, sending shards of stone everywhere and slammed into Mesprit¡¯s pillar, cracking it before sliding to the ground.

    The contents of the tablet fell to the ground in front of me.

    ¡°Winnie!¡± I shouted. I was about to get up to go check on him and felt the air pressure change and murderous presence behind me. I ducked back down.

    You DARE come back to this place! How dare you!

    What remained of the tablet was sliced clean through, Mii, Kaiju, I scrambled away as the Mountain Lord smashed through what was left of the centerpiece tablet, grabbing the contents of the tablet as I ran. Then my leg gave away as something stabbed into my thigh and I crashed to the ground.

    Banette and the other ghosts began peppering the Mountain Lord with attacks. The sky above the clearing filled with Shadow Balls that began firing back and hitting the ghost gang with insane speed and accuracy, scattering them.

    I took the momentary distraction to crawl into a sitting position.

    Kaiju roared and charged at the Mountain Lord, his form glowed with a blindingly bright light. With his two heads, Kaiju fired a double Draco Meteor into the Mountain Lord¡¯s face, the force of which was able to push her back a few feet.

    I raised the Azure flute up and paused. How the hell do I play this thing?! This isn¡¯t a fucking ocarina, it¡¯s got holes in its spikes! I can¡¯t fucking play this!

    As if it had realized the issue, Rotom came in clutch and zoomed out of my pocket.

    ¡°Bzzt!¡± Rotom¡¯s slightly cracked screen flickered to a picture of the bottom of Azelf¡¯s tablet where there was a fingering chart for the Azure Flute, I had noticed it earlier but didn¡¯t pay much attention to it since I was eager to get through all three tablets.

    Without another word, I looked through the fingerings and began sounding out the notes needed for Oracion. It wasn¡¯t how I would¡¯ve liked for it to sound, the notes came out a bit disjointed but at least it sounded like a song.

    I flinched, making the current note I was on squeak as Kaju was thrown into another pillar, partially destroying it as well. Just get through the song. Just get through the song.

    The Mountain Lord stalked towards us. Mii bravely jumped in front of her, ¡°Meemaw! Stop trying to kill my friends! You¡¯re only supposed to kill bad guys! They¡¯re not bad!¡±

    Meemaw wasn¡¯t listening, flicking her claws and teleporting the kit somewhere else. I flinched again but kept playing the last few notes as the Mountain Lord grabbed Rotom¡¯s and crushed the phone in her claws. The plasma ghost screeched and detached from the phone, zapping angrily at the Mountain Lord¡¯s arm, but it was so weak to her that she didn¡¯t even seem to notice it.

    I dropped the instrument as the Mountain Lord grabbed me by the neck and lifted me up. I coughed and gasped for breath as she squeezed and began choking me. One of my hands weakly grabbed at her claws, trying to pry them apart.

    Your silly songs and prayers won¡¯t work on me.

    I choked out a laugh, ¡°I-I¡¯m not praying to you.¡± I held up the now glowing Griseous Orb in my other hand. Oracion meant prayer for a reason, and my prayers had been answered.

    The Mountain Lord¡¯s eyes eyes widened. A giant dark portal swirled to life right next to us. Then a massive black tendril tipped with a red claw burst through, the Mountain Lord dropped me as she was bitch slapped away.

    I fell to the ground, gritting my teeth as some hella intense pain lanced through my back and thigh. My voice stopped working for a moment as I let out a silent scream. All of the icy numb feeling that had spread from my injuries to my blood seemed to momentarily stab through my veins and my vision turned black for a moment. Then the icy feeling returned and the darkness in my vision slowly receded.

    The tendril retreated, and Giratina¡¯s eye leered through the portal. A familiar deep, gravelly, and slightly annoyed voice spoke, ¡°This had better be good. I do not like my time being wasted.¡±

    ¡°Good to see you too Lord Giratina! I need a bit of help.¡± I coughed. ¡°I need someone to help mediate between the Mountain Lord and I. Thought you¡¯d be the best option considering you¡¯re her patron.¡±

    Sounding extra annoyed this time, Giratina growled, ¡°I have no need to get involved in mortal matters.¡±

    I painfully sat up. ¡°Really? Even if those matters involve a maniac who wants to create a new world by taking control of Palkia and Dialga and destroying this one?¡±

    That seemed to get Giratina¡¯s interest. The Mountain Lord stalked back over, lowering her head before Giratina.

    My Lord, I have spent centuries protecting this sanctuary without major issue. We will be fine this time. There is no need for your mighty interference.

    I wagged a finger at the Mountain Lord, ¡°Nuh uh. Nope nada. You don¡¯t know half the shit going on in the human world. You don¡¯t even know where the Adamant and Lustrous orbs are, or where the base of Team Galactic is, and no it is not the same as the Galaxy Team who were good guys.¡±

    I turned back to Giratina, ¡°Cyrus, the leader of Team Galactic is planning on mining ore from this mountain to create a new Red Chain. The crew I¡¯m with is trying to stop that and create friendly relations with the residents of the mountain and she,¡± I pointed an angry finger at the Mountain Lord, ¡°isn¡¯t hearing anything of what I¡¯m trying to say.¡±

    The Mountain Lord snarled at me. They were invading the mountain. I protected it.

    ¡°No, you were not Shiro. From what I have seen, they have been defending themselves and even brought peace offerings, of which one of your underlings accepted.¡±

    I staggered to my feet and limped over to the Mountain Lord as she began to protest. But¨C

    I grabbed the Noble Pokemon¡¯s face by the cheeks, the Mountain Lord¡¯s eyes widened in surprise. ¡°Oi. Look. I get that you¡¯ve had bad experiences with humans in the past, but that doesn¡¯t negate all the good experiences. Humans aren¡¯t perfect, there are good and bad people, but the same applies to Pokemon.¡±

    My head was spinning like I had just spun around in an office chair for too long. The Mountain Lord tried to pull away, but I had an iron grip.

    ¡°You can¡¯t keep living in the past. This path isn¡¯t a good way to honor Akari¡¯s legacy. She worked so hard to create harmony between people and Pokemon despite the cons, and here you are doing the complete opposite of what she worked for. If you won¡¯t listen to me, listen to the god that you worship. Silly fox.¡±

    I stepped back, almost falling but I just barely managed to keep my balance on the leg that was working. My veins were ice, the sides of my vision were getting dark.

    I pointed to Giratina who would¡¯ve raised an eyebrow if it had them, ¡°Thanks for the save man, I¡¯ll invite you out for dinner later, my treat, tell everyone about how awesome you are.¡±

    Then the ground flew up to meet my face.

 (25) Mothims to a Flame

    ¡°OOOMPH!¡± All the air was forced out of Ben¡¯s lungs as he landed hard on his stomach and got a face full of mud. Wiping the dirt from his eyes the red head scrambled to get back up but felt something sharply push him back down to get another face full of mud just in time to dodge a Hyper Beam that seared past right above him.

    Then he was picked up like a ragdoll and put back on his feet.

    ¡°Arma!¡± Armarouge shouted at Ben, pulling him along with him and Ceruledge to avoid being trampled by a stampeding Avalugg.

    Wiping mud off his face again with his sleeve, Ben ran alongside Armarouge and Ceruledge, dodging and weaving through trees. They didn¡¯t get far and stopped at a beach, its water teeming with Basculin, jaws eagerly snapping at each other and their prey standing on the beach.

    ¡°What the shit?¡± Ben cursed, looking around for any other way out. There wasn¡¯t any. They were on a tiny island in the middle of a lake, all by themselves. The rest of the team was nowhere in sight.

    ¡°Hell no, we¡¯re not hanging around this place anymore.¡± Ben growled, eyeing the Basculin who were hungrily staring back at him with their cold fish eyes.

    ¡°Arma.¡± Armarouge nodded, blowing a Flamethrower over the water¡¯s surface to keep any of the fish from getting any crazy ideas about leaping out to bite them. Ceruledge grunted in agreement as she deflected a few water guns with her blades.

    The trio was startled as a group of Twisters rose out of the lake, funneling water and Basculin up into the air in a fishy tornado. The wind began to whip around, rocking the previously calm lake waters into a frenzy.

    A hill of water rose up from the lake, then the water tension broke as a Gyarados reared its massive head, a Hyper Beam already forming in its jaws.

    Armarouge raised a hand up and created a Protect, blocking the beam of energy before firing back a series of Shadow Balls at the sea serpent to force it to back off and give them some room.

    There was a series of wet thuds it began to rain Basculin. Ceruledge swiped a few away from hitting Ben, the fire type then looked back to the center of the little island where the charging Avalugg before had made its way to the edge of the beach. It was angry.

    Armarouge blocked another round of Hyper Beams from Gyarados.

    There were two bursts of light as Ben let out Charizard and Talonflame shouting to them, ¡°Hey guys! We need a lift! Like, right now!¡±

    Ducking to avoid a barrage of rocks from Avalugg, Ben and Ceruledge ran and hopped onto Charizard¡¯s back.

    The fire dragon snorted and took off, shooting a burst of flames at the wild Avalugg to intercept a burst of Icy Wind before flying up high to get out of range of any attacks.

    Talonflame quickly followed suit, grabbing Armarouge by the shoulders and doing a quick loop around Gyarados¡¯s head to distract it from Charizard and dodging a Hyper Beam before flying away.

    With a furious roar, Gyarados dived down and then leaped out of the lake, propelling itself upwards with its powerful tail.

    Talonflame glanced back and with a nod from Armarouge, threw the fire warrior up into the air. Armarouge whipped around, bracing an arm as it aimed at the sea serpent rushing them down. Yellow armor formed around Armarouge¡¯s forearm and a small ball of ultra condensed fire formed in its arm cannon.

    There was a slight delay as Armarouge waited to get face-to-face with Gyarados, who was charging yet another Hyper Beam. There was a series of consecutive BOOMs followed by a powerful shockwave of heat as Armarouge shot a salvo of mini-suns straight into Gyarados¡¯s mouth, colliding with the energy from its charging Hyper Beam, setting everything off like a minefield.

    Using the recoil from Armor Cannon, Armarouge propelled himself backward and let himself be caught by Talonflame again. The two watched for a moment as Gyarados shrieked in pain from its mouth being burnt to hell and fell back into the lake.

    ¡°Good job guys!¡± Ben praised his two team members as they rejoined the group. ¡°Those Armor Cannons were phenomenal as usual Armarouge. Fantastic aerial maneuver Talonflame.¡±

    Armarouge held his head high and with a bit of flare, dusted his armor off while Talonflame gave Charizard a smug look.

    ¡°Ceruledge Ceru-ruledge.¡± Ceruledge commented. Armarouge turned his head away from his fellow knight with a pointed, ¡°Hmph!¡±

    They were now soaring over the mainland. Ben and Cerueldge were scanning the forest below for anyone else from the expedition team.

    With a bird¡¯s eye view of everything, Ben wondered how the hell the inside of this mountain was this big, it shouldn''t be physically possible for it to be so big that he couldn¡¯t see any of its sides from where they were, including the ceiling. It definitely was some sort of illusion trickery going on.

    A screech from Talonflame alerted Ben and the others, they had company. A group of mixed Unovan and Hisuan Braviary had joined them for a leisurely flight.

    Charizard and Talonflame swerved to dodge a series of Air Slashes. Okay, maybe not. Ben thought. They were at a disadvantage in an aerial battle, with both their fliers burdened with carrying the rest of the team.

    ¡°Let¡¯s land!¡± Ben shouted, ¡°Looks like there¡¯s a clearing ahead!¡± Charizard and Talonflame instantly dived down into the forest below and into the clearing that Ben had pointed out. Their pursuers followed suit, a series of Air Slashes hot on their heels.

    Ben took out a Pokeball and let out Turtonator mid-air, ¡°Shell Trap!¡±

    The fire turtle appeared with its back to their pursuers. Turtonator had an evil grin as it stored up fire in its shell. The Air Slashes hit, BOOM! There was a shockwave treetops shriveled away and began to smoke from the sheer heat from the explosion. Ben returned Turtonator before it could fall too far as the flock of Braviary were engulfed by the explosion.

    That was enough to keep the birds away for the time being.

    Charizard landed, letting Ben and Ceruledge off. Talonflame swooped down and let go of Armarouge¡¯s shoulders, the fire type neatly landed next to the others with a soft thud.

    ¡°Char!¡± Charizard growled, looking into the forest around them. They were surrounded by a horde of murderous looking Pokemon, just ready to tear them to shreds.

    ¡°Yeah, we sure are popular today.¡± Ben replied, sizing up the Pokemon they were facing. ¡°What a crowd!¡±

    There were at least forty Pokemon surrounding them. Most of their opponents were Luxray, Liepard, Bisharp, Ursaring, and members of the Machamp line. There were a few Hisuan Goodra, Toxicroak, Tangrowth, Rhydon, and an Ursaluna.

    The horde stepped into the clearing and began sizing the group up.

    ¡°Well, why don¡¯t we give them a warm welcome?¡± Ben said, pressing the buttons on Big Man, Arcanine, and Turtonator¡¯s Pokeballs, ¡°The others aren¡¯t around so we can let loose a with the heat. Just try not to set the whole forest on fire.¡±

    The temperature steadily began to rise as the remaining members of Ben¡¯s team appeared. The fire turtle heated its shell, Big Man stomped his feet on the ground for intimidation, and Arcanine howled.

    Ceruledge raised her swords into a fighting position, a battle-crazy expression forming on the fire knight¡¯s face as she madly cackled. The fire on Armarouge¡¯s head and Charizard¡¯s tail blazed, and Talonflame circled them from above, screeching a battle cry.

    The Pokemon horde hesitated as a wave of scorching heat washed over them.

    Shrugging off his jacket, Ben snapped his fingers, ¡°Let¡¯s give them the Fire Spin special.¡± A devilish grin appeared on the red-head¡¯s face. His team mirrored that smile as they collectively summoned the type energy needed for the move.

    One of the braver Ursaluna¡¯s took a few steps towards the group and roared a challenge, but was quickly cut off.

    FWOOSH!

    The ground shook as multiple blindingly bright geysers of swirling blue-white fire exploded upwards, combining and engulfing a circle around them in a raging storm of fire. The plants around them withered and burst into flames. The Pokemon who¡¯d been so eager to attack them stumbled back from the hellish wall of fire and were sent running, hairs and skin burning just from being nearby.

    This was Ben¡¯s special brand of Fire spin. Simply being a fire-type specialist wasn¡¯t enough for him, he had wanted a move that was special to him and his team only and that move was a massively improved version of Fire Spin inspired by Big Man¡¯s Magma Storm.

    It wasn¡¯t easy to use with non-heat resistance allies around or if you were trying to not cause a lot of collateral damage, else he would¡¯ve used it against the Lord of the Forest. A raging fire like this wouldn¡¯t care who was an ally or not.

    Ben on the other hand was fine with the heat. He had to be if he wanted to be able to train his team to use big moves like this. A few light screens were good enough to protect him from the worst of the heat.

    Ben raised a hand and closed it into a fist to signal his team, the combined Fire Spin slowly died down, the area around them looked like it had been bombed. A few trees and bushes were still burning. The entire Pokemon horde had fled the area.

    Arcanine howled in victory and licked Ben¡¯s face, its tail wagging furiously. Ben chuckled and patted the fluff on the fire doggo.

    ¡°Heh, looks like they couldn¡¯t handle the heat.¡± Ben quipped.

    Armarouge chuckled at the pun. Ceruledge rolled her eyes and poked both Armarouge and Ben in the side with the tips of her swords.

    <hr>

    Celia gracefully rolled with the fall before quickly getting onto her feet and taking a look at her surroundings. Bewear neatly landed right next to her and Alakazam floated onto the ground.

    They were in the middle of a dense, almost jungle-like forest. A thin layer of fog clung to the ground.

    ¡°Shit, they separated us.¡± Celia said, looking around. ¡°Alakazam, can you sense anyone nearb¨C¡±

    The three of them jumped as they heard a shrill scream in the woods to their left.

    Alakazam nodded and pointed in that direction with a spoon. That is Marcus. He seems to be in trouble.

    ¡°Yep.¡± Celia nodded at Bewear, ¡°Let¡¯s go. Bewear?¡±

    The cuddly bear picked its trainer up princess style and began sprinting in the direction of Marcus¡¯s scream, choosing to run through trees and using Protect to protect Celia from the flying splinters instead of simply running around them. Alakazam floated behind them, occasionally using its psychic power to prevent tree splinters from hitting it in the face.

    With Celia in its arms, Bewear crashed through one final tree and grabbed the trunk before hurling it like a Javelin at the Ursaluna attacking Marcus and his Mr Mime who was frantically keeping the angry bear away with a barrier.

    The Ursaluna didn¡¯t have time to dodge and was nailed in the face by the tree trunk, forcing it to stumble back a few paces.

    ¡°BeWEAR!¡± Bewear screamed with an utterly homicidal smile as it charged its opponent. Ursaluna roared back, ¡°URSALUNA!¡± Its territorial instincts kicking in at the sight of another bear and it rushed at the cuddly murder bear.

    Pink fairy-type energy coursed through Ursaluna¡¯s body, boosting its strength as it used Play Rough. The peat Pokemon reared up and began slashing and biting at Bewear, who in turn screamed and stomped its feet, shaking the ground so much that Ursaluna had to drop back to all fours, a grave mistake.

    Ursaluna¡¯s skull was instantly pounded into the ground by a powerful Hammer Arm followed by a relentless series of punches and kicks from Bewear that gave the brown bear no room to fight back.

    ¡°BEWEAR!¡± Bewear shrieked, using Superpower to massively boost its strength. The murderous bear then grabbed a dazed Ursaluna by a back leg and swung it around in a circle, gathering momentum until the others could only see a blurred tornado of brown and pink.

    Then with a final furious scream, Bewear yeeted Ursaluna into the sky. Everyone watched in silence as the peat Pokemon disappeared into the horizon as for the first time in its life, it learned what it was like to fly.

    The pack of Houndoom who had arrived in the middle of the fight flinched as Bewear set its sights on them. They weren¡¯t going to risk involuntarily taking a flight lesson as well so the pack turned tail and noped out.

    Now that the threat was gone, Bewear walked back over to where Celia, Marcus, Mr Mime, and Alakazam were waiting.

    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

    While it had been fighting, Celia had helped Marcus patch up the gash in his arm from where Ursaluna had clawed him. The researcher¡¯s clothes were stained from his blood, but besides the arm gash and the shock from being almost mauled to death by a massive bear, he was okay.

    Celia helped Marcus up and pat Bewear on the arm, ¡°Thanks for that Bewear.¡± Bewear flexed its arms, ¡°Bewear!¡±

    Smiling, Celia praised her team ace. ¡°Yes, you are indeed the strongest bear.¡±

    Still a bit pale, Marcus nodded, ¡°Yeah¡­¡± He nervously looked around, ¡°Did you guys find anyone else yet?¡±

    Celia shook her head, ¡°Nope, just you guys.¡± She gestured to Alazakam, ¡°You find anything?¡±

    A bit annoyed, Alakazam held up a finger and pointed to a spoon in one direction.

    In the distance, a brilliant flare of blue-white fire billowed up above the trees. A shockwave of heat swept through the forest.

    ¡°That¡¯s Ben.¡± Celia noted. Alakazam confirmed Celia¡¯s statement, That indeed is Ben. His teams thoughts are rather loud.

    ¡°Would it be possible to teleport if you had Gardevoir¡¯s help?¡± Celia asked.

    Alakazam shook its head, It is not possible. Teleportation has been completely locked down inside the mountain.

    Celia sighed, ¡°Damnit.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, we can walk. It¡¯s not like any of us have lost our legs.¡± Marcus said, trying to keep an optimistic tone.

    ¡°I know Marcus. I just don¡¯t want to increase the chance of us encountering a Noble Pokemon without backup from the rest of the group.

    In that case, we do not need to walk. We can fly.

    Alakazam rescinded its legs and sat floating in the air with crossed legs. It raised its spoons and lifted Celia, Marcus, Bewear, and Mr Mime into the air.

    Marcus let out a surprised yell and covered his eyes as Alakazam lifted the entire group into the air and began flying them in Ben¡¯s direction.

    <hr>

    ¡°Fros-LASS!¡± The snow land Pokemon screamed, raising its arms as it began to summon a Blizzard.

    Angela brandished Aegislash as it coated itself with dark type energy and swung it at the ice ghost, cutting through its form.

    ¡°LAAaaaaAaaSSsss!¡± Froslass shrieked as its form dissipated under Aegislash¡¯s Night Slash.

    A salvo of Icicle Spears collided against Aegislash¡¯s King¡¯s Shield with a series of metallic THUNKs. Angela swerved around an Ice Beam and pointed Aegislash at the Glalie who had shot them, firing off a series of Flash Cannons that exploded with super effective damage against the ice type, sending it flying away.

    It seems that she had been deemed a bigger threat compared to the rest of the team by the Mountain Lord. Rightfully so. Angela and her team were instantly under attack the moment they had been dropped onto that field of ice and snow. Too bad she and her team were an army in their own right.

    Off to their left, a massive purple and green cloud of spirits mowed through a small army of Pokemon, making loud and obnoxious OMNOMNOMNOM sounds and leaving the forms of unconscious Pokemon and black snow in its wake.

    The shrill panicked cries of Spiritomb¡¯s victims echoed eerily across the flat surface of the icelands.

    A herd of Rapidash¡¯s galloped past Angela in a stampede of fright. One member of the herd stopped next to her and Typhlosion hopped off its back before releasing its hold on the fire horse and letting it flee with the rest of its herd.

    ¡°I see you¡¯re having fun Typhlosion.¡± Angela remarked with a sly smile.

    Typhlosion nodded, ¡°Ty typhlosion sion typhlosion.¡± Then it gestured towards Spiritomb.

    ¡°Yes, a bit too much fun it seems. At least they listened to my orders this time.¡± Angela said with a slight hint of satisfaction that Spiritomb was finally beginning to listen to her.

    The ghost-type master put a hand on her pendant¨CSpiritomb¡¯s stone¨Cand with a bit of strain evident on her face, willed the ghost back in. Spiritomb wasn¡¯t happy but returned with less protest than it usually would have.

    A flare of blue-white fire in the distant forest to their right caught Angela and Typhlosion¡¯s attention. That¡¯s totally Ben.

    She could see a shockwave of heat sweep through the forest and eventually felt a wave of warmth blow over her.

    Gently patting Typhlosion¡¯s head, Angela spoke, ¡°Come on dear, it¡¯s time to rejoin the others.¡±

    Typhlosion looked disappointed that the festivities were over but smiled and nodded, ¡°Typhlosion!¡± The ghost flame Pokemon twirled its claws in the air, making reality seem to ripple.

    Aegislash detached itself from its trainer¡¯s arms and tilted itself as if it was considering what Typlosian had just said and it replied, ¡°Aegi aegislash slash.¡±

    ¡°Yes, the illusion is interesting. I¡¯ll borrow one of those energy reader thingies for you guys to use later.¡±

    ¡°Sion!¡± Typhlosion¡¯s smile widened.

    Suddenly, an Ursaluna came flying from the direction of the forest and crashed into the ground a few meters away from the three.

    Aegislash used King¡¯s Shield to shield the other two from any flying debris. The Ursaluna in question was completely unconscious in the crater it had just formed.

    ¡°Looks like the others are doing pretty well. I wonder who did that.¡±

    ¡°Ty typhlosion sion.¡± Typhlosion replied looking a bit worried.

    ¡°Hmm, yeah I¡¯m worried about them as well. Maybe I should¡¯ve pressed harder for Azalea to not come. Hopefully she¡¯s found the others. Ben¡¯s signature Fire Spin is a bit hard to miss.¡±

    <hr>

    Leo landed hard on his feet and winced as he felt his ankles and knees take the brunt of the impact before he completely lost his balance and nearly slipped off the edge of a cliff.

    ¡°GAHH!¡± Leo¡¯s stomach flip-flopped as he saw the steep vertical drop onto some nasty-looking ice spikes below. Absol grabbed him by the back of the jacket and pulled him backward onto a less icy part of the cliff away from the edge.

    Zoroark slashed through a series of Shadow Balls that flew towards them, causing them to explode.

    A large pack of Hisuan Sneasel and Sneaseler had them trapped at the edge of a cliff. The fighting-poison types laughed with each other, a few of them mockingly making imitations of Leo¡¯s shout of fright at the long drop.

    This wasn¡¯t the best place to battle, and he wouldn¡¯t be able to send out his ace due to how little space there was, but Leo wouldn¡¯t have a problem handling a bunch of overconfident wild Pokemon.

    Leo pressed grabbed one of the dusk balls on his belt and let out Mandibuzz. Suddenly an enormous golden Hisuan Braviary swooped out from the clouds and grabbed the vulture Pokemon in its massive claws before crushing the vulture with Crush Claw.

    Mandibuzz squawked and shrieked in pain as she struggled to get out. The vulture passed out from the crushing damage before Leo could return her.

    ¡°Shit!¡± The dark-type specialist cursed, taking a step back as the Sneaseler pack took a step forward, brandishing their sharp, poison covered claws for Leo to see.

    Shadows flitted overhead as more Hisuan and Unovan Braviary joined their leader, shrieking in impatiently for battle as they eyed Leo and his crew.

    ¡°Nevermind, I¡¯d rather take the jump.¡± Leo thought aloud.

    Leo took another step back and glanced at the edge where a few Braviary were flying under. Absol and Zoroark saw and instantly caught onto what Leo was thinking and the three slowly backed all the way to the edge.

    The Sneaseler pack crept forward, they were enjoying cornering their prey.

    Leo put a hand on his Pokeball belt and waited for Absol to give the signal.

    ¡°Sol!¡± Absol shouted, Leo pressed the button on Zoroark¡¯s dusk ball and turned, running and jumping onto the Braviary who had just passed under the cliff ledge.

    There was a shout of surprise from the Sneaseler pack and a screech of surprise from the Braviary Leo had just hitched a ride with. Absol kept the gangly weasel Pokemon from jumping after his trainer with a series of Night Slashes before Leo returned him as well.

    The trainer then held on tight to the struggling bird Pokemon¡¯s neck, almost choking it as he tried to not fall to his doom while the giant bird bucked and flew around in circles. The other Braviary circled their flock member, confused on how to help out without attacking their ally.

    Burdened by the unexpected weight, the Braviary began to fly lower and lower. Once they were low enough for Leo¡¯s standards, the trainer grabbed Meowscarada¡¯s Pokeball and let the magician Pokemon out onto one of the taller rock slabs in the boulder field below.

    ¡°Meowscarada! I could use some help here!¡± Leo said, gritting his teeth as his arms began to burn from the effort of hanging on.

    The grass cat¡¯s eyes widened for a second as he saw the predicament its trainer was in, but didn¡¯t hesitant to help out. With a twirl of his paw, a series of giant roots burst out of the ground and grabbed ahold of Leo and Braviary, gently lowering Leo to the ground and letting the Braviary fly away with a disgruntled screech.

    Panting from the exertion and stress of holding onto a giant angry bird so that he didn¡¯t fall to death, Leo had to sit down for a moment. ¡°Thanks for the save.¡±

    ¡°Scarada.¡± Meowscarada sympathetically patted Leo on the back.

    The two looked back up at the cliff as they heard Pokemon shouting to each other and the sounds of claws scraping ice.

    The pack of Sneaseler were climbing their way down the mountain towards them. The flock of now much more agitated Braviary were circling above, glaring down at Leo for his audacity to jump onto the back of one of them.

    The Noble Braviary looked rather amused.

    Leo sighed and pressed the buttons on Zoroark and Absol¡¯s Pokeballs to let them out. ¡°Let¡¯s get out of here. We need to find the others.¡±

    Absol¡¯s head snapped up and it shot out an Ice Beam from its maw at a Braviary who had dived down at them. The beam hit the eagle in the wing, coating its wing in ice, causing it to swerve off course and cancel out its Brave Bird to avoid diving into the ground.

    Above them, a few more Braviary began diving down, one after another. The Sneaseler pack joined in, jumping the last few feet from the cliff and charging the dark type specialist and his team.

    ¡°Catch them.¡± Leo said to Meowscarada.

    The magician Pokemon raised both arms with a flare and spun around in a dance as it put Frenzy Plant into overdrive. Massive roots exploded out of the ground, spraying dirt and snow everywhere. The roots whipped around like they were alive, catching the birds and lanky weasel Pokemon one by one.

    Seeing the debacle below, the golden Braviary that had hung back dove down to free the trapped wild Pokemon.

    ¡°And that¡¯s our cue to leave.¡± Leo turned and booked it, ¡°Absol, you¡¯re in front.¡±

    The disaster Pokemon nodded and took the lead, dashing ahead and leading them in a curve to the side, using its horn to sense the safest direction to run in.

    Behind them, they heard the sounds of talons easily tearing through thick roots. The screeches of Braviary and flapping of wings as they took flight once more.

    Absol looked back, and shouted, ¡°Absol!¡±

    Meowscarada jumped, turned, and began to run backward shooting a series of Dark Pulses at their pursuers before blocking the way with a maze of roots from Frenzy Plant.

    The team was forced to a sudden halt as a massive brown and gray bear Pokemon with a big red glowing circle on its forehead jumped out in front of them, roaring a challenge.

    There was an answering screech behind them from Noble Braviary.

    ¡°Hammer and anvil huh?¡± Leo muttered, grabbing the one ultra ball from his belt, ¡°Go Tyranitar!¡±

    The armor Pokemon crashed into the ground and roared, multiple sparkling gems appeared around it and began refracting beams of energy at Noble Braviary.

    ¡°Zoroark, Absol, take care of the bear! Meowscarada, hinder them all!¡±

    Leo¡¯s team jumped into action. Zoroark and Absol began tag-teaming Bloodmoon Ursaluna, Zoroark ducked low under a Hammer Arm from the bear, sweeping its legs out from underneath it.

    Absol jumped in, swiping its horn and shooting a Night Slash at the bear as it fell before Meowscarada used Frenzy Plant to entomb it in a cocoon of roots.

    Meanwhile, Tyranitar got to work throwing hands with Noble Braviary, having already taken out several members of its flock and a few of the Hisuan Sneaseler with multiple blasts from Power Gem.

    The Noble Pokemon flew up and then nose dived towards Tyranitar, orange energy surrounding it.

    Narrowing his eyes as he predicted the type of move the golden Braviary was planning to use, Leo grabbed the Terra orb from his belt and threw it at Tyranitar. He had been saving the use of his Terra orb for any dire situations since he wouldn¡¯t be able to recharge it till he went back home to Paldea.

    The Terra Orb glowed and burst with power, enveloping Tyranitar with energy. A crystalized crown of dark blue energy appeared above the armor Pokemon and added a deep ultramarine crystal effect to its scales.

    Noble Braviary looked surprised but was too committed to its move to back out now. It opened its wings to even out from the dive and lashed out with its talons as it Tyranitar in the face with Superpower.

    Tyranitar reeled from the blow, but it wasn¡¯t four times super effective like the Noble Pokemon seemed to have wanted it to be. Tyranitar on the other hand, grinned, it knew what came next after the Terra Orb was used on it and needed no prompt.

    Dragon-type energy surged through its entire body and armor Pokemon grabbed the Noble bird in its mouth by the tail feathers.

    Noble Braviary screeched, coating its wings with psychic-type energy and beating down on the armor Pokemon, who couldn''t care less. Tyranitar¡¯s eyes turned red and it threw the bird into the ground before roaring and trying to bite at the grounded eagle.

    The Noble Pokemon let out a burst of pink energy that forced Tyranitar to take a step back, giving it time to take flight again. The Noble Pokemon stayed out of reach of Tyranitar this time and began screaming Hyper Voices at it.

    Leo and the others covered their ears. Oblivious to any pain, Tyranitar roared back and began shooting Hyper Beams at its opponent, stomping in fury that the eagle wouldn¡¯t come down and physically fight it.

    Leo felt himself being pulled back once again by Zoroark. A massive black stone axe smashed down right where he just was, splitting the boulder he was just standing on.

    ¡°Kleavor!¡± The new Pokemon screamed, horizontally swinging its axe limbs at them. Meowscarada blocked the attack with Protect and tried to trap it, but the roots from Frenzy Plant were easily cut by the Kleavor¡¯s axes.

    Everyone there then felt a wave of heat wash over them. Leo spared a glance in the direction where the heat came from. There was a forest in the distance where a massive plume of blue-white fire had appeared.

    ¡°Absol!¡± Absol shouted, dodging a swipe from Kleavor and shooting a Dark Pulse back, making the axe Pokemon flinch. Meowscarada blew the bug-rock type away with Seed Bomb and Zoroark Sucker Punched the axe Pokemon, knocking it out.

    ¡°Come on!¡± Leo returned Tyranitar just as the armor Pokemon tried to bite at Noble Braviary once more and booked it, Absol took the lead once again.

    Jumping from boulder to boulder and praying that he wouldn¡¯t twist his ankle or slip, Leo and his team ran for their lives.

    Zoroark and Meowscarada would occasionally turn back to shoot attacks or create hazards so the Noble Braviary and its flock would keep their distance.

    Whenever the psychic bird tried to trap them by lifting boulders with Psychic, Absol would sense it and immediately negate Psychic with a burst of dark-type energy from Dark Pulse.

    Leo sighed in a bit of relief as he and his crew finally hit grass. The forest was less than a hundred feet away.

    A bubble of psychic energy formed in Noble Braviary¡¯s claws and burst. A wave of Psychic energy expanded rapidly booming through the area and throwing Leo off his feet.

    Unaffected by the psychic type energy, Zoroark and Meowscarada pivoted and shot a double Dark Pulse at Noble Braviary, but the eagle simply shrugged the attacks off.

    Absol caught Leo before he fell but was caught off guard by a salvo of boulders suddenly falling down onto them. The disaster Pokemon pulled Leo as they both tried to get out of the way but were unsuccessful There was a sickening crunch and Leo screamed in pain as one of the boulders landed on his shin.

    The golden eagle screeched victoriously as it dove, talons outstretched for Leo and Absol as it created another barrage of boulders to shoot at Zoroark and Meowscarada.

    Then out of nowhere, a pink and brown blur of homicidal rage came out of the forest and body slammed the Noble Pokemon before grabbing it and hurling it onto the ground with enough force to create a massive crater.

    The boulders stopped midair and dropped to the ground.

    ¡°BEEEWEAR!¡± Bewear screamed and landed on top of Braviary with a Stomp before it began stomping even more with Stomping Tantrum, like a child angrily stepping all over a toy bird.

    A psychic force grabbed Bewear and threw it up into the sky, Noble Braviary rocketed up and slammed into the murderous Bear with Brave Bird letting it fall, following up with an Esper Wing that slammed Bewear back into the ground.

    Noble Braviary flew back up wearily eyeing the motionless bear on the ground.

    Leo and the rest of his team stared. ¡°That¡¯s Celia¡¯s Bewear.¡± Leo winced and groaned as he felt another wave of pain shoot up his leg.

    They heard the sound of footsteps running towards them from the forest and looked.

    The rest of the team had found them. Celia returned Bewear while Marcus¡¯s Magnezone propelled itself upward with Magnet Rise and sent a few warning zaps of electricity in Noble Braviary¡¯s direction to keep it away.

    ¡°Leo! Thank Arceus you¡¯re¨C¡± Celia paused and her eyes widened as she got close enough to see Leo¡¯s predicament, ¡°Marcus get Audino out!¡±

    There was a flash as Audino was released from its Pokeball and it waddled over, giving Ben a stern, disapproving look. Celia jogged over after getting her first aid kid out of her bag.

    Under Audino¡¯s direction, Alakazam, and Gardevoir carefully lifted the boulder off of Leo¡¯s leg. The dark-type specialist gritted his teeth and avoided looking at his leg as Celia and Audino began working on it.

    In the sky, Magnezone was still eyeing Noble Braviary, constantly moving to keep itself in between the bird and the members of the expedition team below. The psychic bird tilted its head and seemed to be listening to something.

    The was a boom and what felt like an earthquake as a massive burst of ghost-type energy swept through the entire mountain. There was a scream of pain from Leo from below as he felt the shockwave go through his crushed leg.

    Screeching a swear, Noble Braviary flapped its wings and did a quick turn, flying away in the direction of the epicenter of the earthquake.

    ¡°Looks like something big has happened.¡± Marcus noted as he watched the golden Hisuan Braviary fly away in a hurry. ¡°It¡¯s unusual for a Braviary to run away from a fight.¡±

    The Noble Braviary¡¯s underlings were still flying overhead, waiting for an opening in Magnezone¡¯s guard to attack.

    One Braviary did a warcry and dove, out-maneuvering Magnezone and knocking off balance with boost from Superpower. The rest of the flock followed suit and dove down too, knocking Magnezone around and sending it spinning.

    ¡°Electroweb!¡± Marcus shouted to Magnezone, who quickly righted itself and threw a giant web of electricity around the bird Pokemon.

    A few Braviary were able to maneuver out of the way, but the eagle Pokemon that were caught squawked as they were trapped and zapped by the web of electricity. Magnezone then swung the net around in a circle a few times before letting goo and watching the captured group of bird Pokemon sail away and fall down somewhere deep in the forest.

    The three Braviary who weren¡¯t caught by Electroweb shrieked battlecrys and swung around for another round of attacks.

    A sudden burst of fire blasted through the eagle Pokemon. Then a small red blur ricocheted between the trio like a ball in a pinball machine, easily outmaneuvering the larger birds with a mix of Acrobatics and Flame Charge.

    With a powerful flap of its wings, Charizard generated a powerful whirlwind with Hurricane that picked up the stunned and burnt eagle Pokemon, blowing them away and ending the sky battle.

    The thuds of paws hitting the ground drew Marcus¡¯s attention to the forest where Arcanine with Ben and Angela on its back ran over. Aegislash floated next to Angela and Armarouge and Ceruledge were not far behind.

    ¡°Hey guys! We saw the giant gold bird and decided to check that out.¡± Ben said as he dismounted Arcanine and ran over with a relieved grin. ¡°Looks like everyone¡¯s here!¡±

    ¡°Azalea isn¡¯t here.¡± Angela added as she hopped off Arcanine.

    ¡°Shit! Leo, your leg! It¡¯s all twisted up!¡± Ben pointed out with wide eyes.

    ¡°Thanks, I didn¡¯t notice that until you pointed it out.¡± Leo dryly stated before wincing and muttering "owowowowowowowow" under his breath as Celia and Audino reset his leg and put it into a splint.

    ¡°Sorry man.¡± Ben awkwardly said before turning to the others. ¡°So I guess that¡¯s everyone except for Azalea and her team. You guys have any idea where she ended up?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid not.¡± Marcus replied.

    A a slight furrow in Angela¡¯s eyebrows as she considered a few worst case scenarios.

    Marcus looked especially worried, he asked the psychic types on the team, ¡°Can you guys sense her or anyone on her team around at all?¡±

    Gardevoir, Alakazam, Armarouge, and Mr Mime all shook their heads no.

    ¡°Then keep searching!¡± Celia shouted, from where she was applying a max potion to Leo¡¯s leg.

    ¡°I¡¯ll send out a search team.¡± Angela said gesturing at her shadow, ¡°Probably should¡¯ve sent a few out earlier.¡± She added in a quieter tone. A few shadows separate from hers and zoom into their surroundings and towards the epicenter of the outburst of ghost-type energy.

    Ben whistled and waved up at Talonflame and Charizard flying overhead, ¡°I¡¯ll send Charizard and Talonflame too.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡± Angela said, ¡°Make sure they watch out for that Braviary. It¡¯s weaker than the Noble Baxcalibur and Arcanine, but it¡¯s still dangerous.¡±

 (26) Trial by Combat

    ¡°XATU! XATU! XATU!¡± Xatu¡¯s frantic cuckoo clock-like alarm sounded throughout the camp. The previously quiet and unmoving camp burst into activity.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Collin asked no one in particular as he and Mienshao rushed out of his tent and ran over to the center of the camp right below where Xatu was floating in the air.

    The twins floated over, Choe was still putting on her jacket as Zoe answered, ¡°We¡¯re about to be under attack.¡±

    ¡°Sigi¡± Sigipyph said affirmatively as it and Xatu floated down to ground level beside their trainers.

    Chloe zipped up her jacket, ¡°There¡¯s gonna be a small army of Pokemon outside right about¡­¡±

    The air rippled just outside the camp¡¯s front gate and the foundations of sturdy rock wall around the camp shook.

    ¡°...now!¡± Zoe snapped her fingers as she finished her sister¡¯s sentence for her.

    The snow and ice around the camp began to melt and sizzle as the temperature suddenly jumped from ¡°flash-freezing water¡± to ¡°cooking eggs on the sidewalk¡±. A glowing golden Hisuan Arcanine stepped out into the clearing before the camp¡¯s entrance. The air further shifted like a curtain to reveal a small army of Pokemon standing behind the Lord of Fire.

    ¡°It¡¯s so hot! We should¡¯ve brought a water type specialist along.¡± Zoe complained, fanning herself and taking her coat off. Sandslash waddled over to the twins and breathed a few breaths of frost over them to cool them down, earning a thanks from the twins.

    ¡°You¡¯re kidding me. Is that another Noble Pokemon?¡± Jason complained as he strode over, Manectic and Bolthund at his heels. Manectric growled in agreement, Bolthund barked.

    The rest of the camp quickly joined them as a Hisuan Zoroark prowled to the front of the pack and stood right outside the gates.

    Listen well intruders! The Lord of Fire and her elites have been ordered to exterminate you. You can either die quickly and painlessly, or you can do this the hard way and suffer an agonizing death. You will have the courtesy of five minutes to answer.

    The illusion fox stalked back to the golden Arcanine and whispered something in the Noble Pokemon¡¯s ear before taking its place by her side.

    Kenta was the first to speak, ¡°I think we can all agree we¡¯re not going down without a fight, but how in the world are we gonna fight that?¡± He pointed at the Lord of Fire.

    The others nodded and voiced their agreement.

    ¡°This new Noble Pokemon seems to be on the same level as the Lord of Ice.¡± Collin noted as he examined who they¡¯d potentially be up against.

    ¡°Hey, I have an idea.¡± Tim waved his hands for everyone¡¯s attention.

    ¡°You¡¯d better.¡± Jason sighed. Manectric shot Tim a mean look.

    Tim nodded, ¡°Open the gates, I¡¯m gonna go out and talk to them.¡±

    ¡°Sure, don¡¯t die on us.¡± Jason took out a small remote from his pocket and pushed a button, the gates on to their camp smoothly swung open.

    Giving an assuring nod to the others, Tim walked out with Diggersby by his side.

    A few Sneaseler, Luxray, and Houndoom at the front jeered as they caught sight of Tim and Diggersby.

    The golden Arcanine, now lounging on her side like she was royalty watched the researcher and his Pokemon approach, only speaking once he had stopped at a respectful distance.

    What is your choice? The Lord of Fire asked as if she was being inconvenienced by the humans.

    ¡°We¡¯re fighting.¡± Tim answered.

    The Lord of Fire chuckled, a cruel smile spreading on her face. Good. At least I¡¯ll be getting some entertainment today.

    Tim held up a hand. ¡°Just a second, I have a proposal.¡±

    The Lord of Fire tilted her head. A proposal? Hmmm, I¡¯m in a good mood. Go ahead.

    Tim nodded. ¡°I¡¯d like to make a bet with you to decide our fate.¡±

    Oh ho? A bet?

    ¡°Yes. You said you wanted some entertainment, well you¡¯re not going to get much fun by siccing an army of your elites onto a small group. I propose a fairer and more entertaining fight, a trial by combat on which we can bet on.¡±

    Tim held up three fingers, ¡°Each side will choose three champions who will fight each other over the course of three rounds. My bet is that we can win two of those fights and that when we do, you will let us go.¡±

    HA! The Lord of Fire let out a bark of laughter. Your group couldn¡¯t even win one fight against my elites!

    But¡­ The Noble Pokemon fluffed up har tail. I will allow this trial by combat, but it will be one fight, and there will be two fighters per team. When I win, you will all be executed without protest.

    This wasn¡¯t the ideal outcome, but Tim was fine with that. ¡°Deal.¡±

    The Hisuan Zoroark who had delivered the first message tapped the golden Arcanine on her shoulder, whispering to her. ¡°My Lord, I do not advise going through with this decision. Do not take chances on something you can succeed at without taking unnecessary risks. Humans are-¡±

    The Lord of Fire rolled her eyes and lightly batted her advisor away with a paw, ¡°You worry too much Rosivda. These insects couldn¡¯t even properly fight the Lord of Ice.¡±

    ¡°Yet they were almost able to force the Lord of the Forest into retreat.¡± Rosivda argued, trying to keep her cool at her Lord¡¯s stupidity for throwing away an easy win.

    ¡°Bah! He is a disgrace to us Nobles. I do not know what our liege sees in him.¡± The Lord of Fire snarled, ¡°Stop nagging at me Rosivda! I¡¯m not in the mood for a drawn out fight anyhow, we will win this one fight, kill them intruders, and be home before sunset.¡±

    The illusion fox still wasn¡¯t happy about the Lord of Fire¡¯s choice, so the Noble Pokemon sighed.

    One more thing human. The Lord of Fire pointed at the researcher with a golden claw.

    Tim, who had been waiting for the Noble Pokemon and her Advisor to finish arguing, straightened up.

    I get to choose the fighter from your team.

    Alarmed, Tim replied, ¡°But¨C! Okay, well I will get to choose who isn¡¯t allowed to fight.¡±

    The Lord of Fire snorted, glancing at the younger members of the expedition team. Do not fret, I am not cowardly enough to make pups fight, nor will I be participating. Like I would stoop that low. No, I want the human with the two mutts to fight.

    There was a shout of opposition from Jason that was quickly cut off as Justine elbowed the electric type specialist.

    Tim began to protect, but the Lord of Fire cut him off, You either agree or you are killed now for your insolence at my offer. I will be generous and let your fighter choose whichever Pokemon he wants from his toolkit.

    There was a pause before Tim sighed and agreed, ¡°Fine.¡±

    Lazily waving a paw at Tim, the Lord of Fire ordered, Go on, send out your champion. Mine are already prepared.

    Tim and Diggersby jogged back to the others. ¡°Sorry Jason, I¨C¡±

    Jason cut Tim off, ¡°Thanks for throwing me under the bus.¡± The team tech guy angrily threw his jacket to the ground cause the Lord of Fire¡¯s continued presence had made the heat unbearable with their winter jackets on.

    ¡°Let¡¯s just get this over with.¡± Jason growled, angrily stalking over to what would be his side of the battlefield with Bolthund and Manectric flanking him, the two loyal hounds shooting death glares at the opposing side.

    An Ursaluna lumbered out of the crowd of Pokemon flanking the Lord of Fire and stopped at its side of the field. The ground next to the massive bear crumbled and an Excadrill leaped out.

    Eyeing his prospective opponents, Jason rolled his eyes as he heard the others worriedly whisper to each other about the bad type matchup. Like a few ground types would stop him. He then grabbed two Pokeballs from his belt and threw them.

    There were two pops and flashes of light. Kilowattrel squawked and shot out of its Pokeball like a bullet. Toxtricity landed and screamed like a rock star greeting a frenetic crowd of fans and strumming an imaginary guitar. The yellow electricity on the Punk Pokemon¡¯s head flared and sparked as it eyed its opponents.

    Begin. The Lord of Fire commanded.

    With a roar, Ursaluna immediately beat its paws against its chest and a Sandstorm began to pick up as Excadrill waved its claws towards the sky.

    ¡°Negate the sandstorm and set up.¡± Jason ordered.

    With a powerful flap of its wings, Kilowattrel kicked up a Hurricane. Strong winds fought for control of the weather with Excadrill¡¯s Sandstorm for a second before the drill Pokemon gave up and dove into the ground.

    Once that was done, Kilowattrel quickly set up an Electric Terrain with an explosion of electricity on the ground.

    Ursaluna, who had tried to use Rest to recover from Belly Drum¡¯s negative effects jumped as its paws were zapped by electric terrain, keeping it awake.

    Toxtricity strummed its imaginary guitar and screeched out a sound similar to multiple pieces of metal violently grinding against each other next to an amplifier. Ursaluna winced at the unpleasant sound and roared before charging Toxtricity.

    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°Spike it, keep Ursaluna occupied. Kilowattrel, keep an eye out for Excadrill.¡±

    Right before Ursaluna could slam into Toxtricity, the punk rock Pokemon jumped, scattering a handful of Toxic Spikes below it. Then the punk Pokemon screamed at the ground with Boomburst, using the force from the move to propel itself upwards while hitting Ursaluna with a powerful sound attack at the same time.

    On the sidelines, psychic barriers went up to shield the onlookers from having their eardrums blown out.

    Ursaluna roared in pain as it was assaulted by the huge burst of sound, then it roared again as it stepped on Toxtricity¡¯s Toxic Spikes.

    The peat Pokemon felt its opponent land on its back and bucked. Toxtricity jumped again and laughed mockingly at the bear Pokemon before boosting itself up with Boomburst once again. Ursaluna wasn¡¯t going to be hit again and screamed back with Hyper Voice, partially negating its opponent¡¯s sound attack with one of its own.

    Toxtricity neatly landed on the ground and the electricity in its mohawk sparked with excitement as the punk Pokemon prepared for another clash of sounds. Unfortunately, it wasn¡¯t able to because the ground suddenly caved under Toxtricity¡¯s feet.

    Excadrill drilled up from the ground and hit Toxtricity, throwing it into the air. Seeing an opening, Ursaluna charged Toxtricity with Headlong Rush.

    Kilowattrel darted in with Aerial Ace and knocked its ally out of the way of Ursaluna¡¯s attack. The peat Pokemon dug its feet into the ground and slid to a halt, a ball of searing normal type energy gathering in its maw before it shot a Hyper Beam at the two electric types.

    Toxtricity landed and ducked low while Kilowattrel darted back up into the sky. Exadrill slammed both its claws into the ground and a massive crack in the ground rapidly spiderwebbed towards Toxtricity.

    ¡°Protect.¡±

    The Punk Pokemon braced itself and used Protect just in time to shield itself from the one-hit KO move. Ursaluna shot another Hyper Beam at Toxtricity, forcing it to jump to the side to dodge.

    ¡°Get Excadrill back underground.¡±

    Kilowattrel squawked and flapped its wings, sending a salvo of Air Slashes at Excadrill, preventing the drill Pokemon from using Fissure again as it dug back into the ground to avoid the super effective attacks.

    ¡°Swagger, then flood strat into web trap.¡±

    Straightening its posture, Toxtricity puffed out its chest and made a ¡°come at me¡± motion towards Ursaluna while saying something insulting. The move took effect and Ursaluna roared, its anger building up to the point that it began to hinder the bear¡¯s reasoning.

    Kilowattrel began spamming Electrowebs from above, covering all of Exadrill¡¯s tunnel holes and hindering Ursaluna. The ground types may not have been affected by the electricity of the moves, but the webbing still stuck to them and made their movements slower.

    Toxtricity put its hands on the ground and did a spin, generating a wave of poisonous sludge that rolled over the battlefield and quickly flooded into Excadrill¡¯s tunnel system.

    It didn¡¯t matter whether Excadrill was a steel type or not, it can¡¯t breath poison.

    Even if Ursaluna wasn¡¯t such a cumbersome Pokemon, being trapped in sticky webs made it basically impossible for it to escape the incoming wave of sludge. So the bear Pokemon quickly used Rock Tomb to create a wall of stone to block the incoming wave of poison.

    Exadrill burst out of the ground through a newly created tunnel exit, gasping for air only to be caught by one of Kilowattrel¡¯s Electrowebs. The mole squealed and began to slash at the webs with its metal claws. In reply, Kilowattrel just covered the drill Pokemon with even more webs to stop it from being able to move.

    As the flood of poison died down, Ursaluna annihilated its rock wall with a Hyper Beam the Toxtricity blocked with a Protect before the peat Pokemon charged.

    The punk Pokemon grinned and scattered a bunch of Toxic Spikes in Ursaluna¡¯s pathway again, making sure that the spikes were placed in a way that would force the bear to swerve and run into some of Kilowattrel¡¯s Electroweb traps.

    ¡°Drop them.¡±

    The frigatebird Pokemon then used Electroweb once more to grab the trapped Excadrill and throw it into the air. At the same time, Toxtricity used Sludge Wave to propel Ursaluna into the sky and boost it up ever further with Boomburst, though Kilowattrel didn¡¯t appreciate being in the blast area, having to use a mix of Protect and the roaring winds from Hurricane to block out the sound.

    The two web-bound Pokemon collided with each other and stuck to each other midair.

    Trapped, no longer on the ground, and confused, Ursaluna panicked and began to Thrash around, hitting its teammate in the process. The boosted attack from its ability Guts being activated from Toxtricity¡¯s Toxic Spikes poisoning it combined with Swagger made Ursaluna¡¯s attack powerful enough to knock out its own teammate in only a few hits.

    The Electroweb began to break apart under Ursaluna¡¯s assault as the pair plummeted towards the ground. There was a BOOM and an explosion of dust as the two ground types hit the ground.

    After a moment of silence, there was no movement from Ursaluna and Excadrill. Kilowattrel cleared the dust with a gust of wind, revealing their unconscious opponents.

    Toxtricity screeched in victory, doing a wild solo on its imaginary guitar. Kilowattrel flew down a cuffed Toxtricity two wings with its wings to shut its teammate up, giving the punk Pokemon an annoyed squawk.

    Bolthund ran over to its teammates, its tail wagging as it barked excitedly and licked Kilowattrel and shoulder bumped Toxtricity. Manectric let out a ¡°Manectric¡± of approval for its teammate¡¯s victory.

    ¡°Good job guys.¡± Jason said as he returned the two before walking back to the rest of the team, picking up his jacket, and then marching back inside the camp with Manectric and Boltund at his heels to where Chansey was waiting.

    ¡°Woo!¡± Justine shouted, grabbing Kenta¡¯s arm and jumping up and down, ¡°That was awesome! Increasing Ursaluna¡¯s attack to use it against its teammate? That was smart~¡±

    ¡°Yamask yamask ya-mask.¡± Yamask crossed its arms and huffed.

    The rest of the team simply looked relieved that the worst of their ordeal was over. Kenta was still tense though.

    He detached Justine from his arm and worriedly looked at the enemy camp. ¡°Ummm, I think something¡¯s wrong.¡±

    Everyone fell silent and watched the other side. The Lord of Fire¡¯s face was expressionless, but her eyes were glowing like hot magma. The elites were anxiously looking at their leader like they were waiting for a volcano to explode.

    Tim tugged at his collar as he felt the heat rise to an almost unbearable temperature.

    The Hisuan Zoroark from earlier walked to the front and spoke, Your team won, so we will abide by what has been agreed upon. You may leave in peace, but do not overstay your welcome.

    Tim nodded, ¡°Yes, thank you for your cooperation, we will pack up and leave as soon as we can.¡±

    The Lord of Fire growled, raising her lips to show a set of massive, razor sharp teeth. NO.

    The expedition team flinched.

    The Advisor sighed resignedly as if she had expected this. My Lord, we have to honor the agreement you made¨C

    Fuck the agreement. I don¡¯t lose. I. NEVER. LOSE. The Lord of Fire stood up, and as if the temperature couldn¡¯t get higher, it rose again. The air wavered from the heat and the plants around them were beginning to steam.

    There was a pop from Abigail¡¯s Pokeballs as she let out Cetitan. Sandslash and the ice whale then made a combined Blizzard to try to keep the team from boiling alive.

    The elites backed away from their lord, creating barriers to mitigate the heat as if they had done this before.

    There was an ear rending roar as the Lord of Fire opened her maw and let loose a nuclear Overheat.

    ¡°Go!¡± The twins both shouted in sync. There were two pops and flashes from Pokeballs as the twins let out Mr Mime and Gallade. Mr Mime took point, creating a barrier that Sigilyph, Xatu, Gallade, and both Meowstics added their psychic energy in to support. The loud hum of the psychic type energy a maximum output filled the air in contrast to the roar of fire.

    The erected barrier instantly cracked and barely held as Overheat impacted. Even more cracks slowly began to spiderweb out from the larger cracks.

    Mienshao darted over to join the psychic types and there was another flash as Collin let out Machamp and shouted, ¡°Wide Guard!¡±

    ¡°Machamp!¡± ¡°Shao!¡± The two fighting types shouted, adding a wide barrier behind the psychic barrier that was only slightly able to alleviate the strain, but also protected anyone behind the barrier better from excess heat.

    The ground around the impact zone was beginning to melt into magma. The shriveled skeletons of nearby plants burst into flames before disintegrating.

    Justine groaned and put a hand to her head as she felt herself begin to get lightheaded, but she pushed through and shouted, ¡°Dragapult! Astonish!¡±

    The dart dragon was already on it. In an almost unseeable blur, Dragapult jumped out from underneath the Noble Pokemon¡¯s shadow and slammed into her head, transferring all the ghost type energy from Astonish into her opponent before frantically flying back to avoid getting badly burnt.

    The beam of energy from Overheat swept up into the sky in an arc before dissipating as the golden Arcanine closed her mouth and flinched from the sudden freezing chill that shot through her spine and into her veins.

    The moment the pressure lifted off of the barrier, Mr Mime, Mienshao, and Machamp all collapsed, having expended most of their energy to keep the barriers up for so long. The others weren¡¯t much better off.

    There were multiple flashes as Kenta and Collin threw a series of Pokeballs.

    ¡°Stand by for battle, this is a strong one.¡± Kenta ordered. He tried to keep a calm and collected facade but was betrayed by a slight waver in his voice. Kommo-o, Dragonite, Flygon, Haxorus, and Tyrantrum stomped to the front and roared a challenge to the Noble Pokemon.

    ¡°Ready for battle!¡± Collin shouted as Blaze Tauros appeared and snorted, its intertwined tails whipping as it pawed the ground, ready to charge. Tauros was the only other Pokemon he could use, letting his Breloom or Crabominable would be a death sentence for them.

    At Jason¡¯s command, Bolthund and Manectric darted to the front, barking furiously, their fangs flashing and electricity sparking off of their pelts.

    The Lord of Fire was completely unfazed by the show of aggression and simply prowled forward with a confidence that edged into the territory of pure arrogance.

    I do not lose. I am a Noble chosen by the Lord of Creation! You are just lowly pests unworthy of breathing the same air as my esteemed self.

    The Advisor shouted something over the roar of fire in an attempt to reason with the Noble, but her words were met with deaf ears.

    The Lord of Fire tilted her head up and howled, her coat glowed brighter and brighter until looking at her was like looking at the sun.

    Tim shielded his eyes from the bright light being emitted by the Lord of Fire, ¡°Chloe, Zoe! We need a teleport!¡± Meanwhile, Diggersby was frantically working on digging a tunnel they could hopefully take shelter in.

    ¡°Most of our team is exhausted from blocking that Overheat!¡± ¡°We don¡¯t have time to prepare!¡± The twins frantically replied at the same time.

    ¡°Shit.¡± Jason growled. ¡°We¡¯re dead meat.¡±

    ¡°More like cremated meat.¡± Collin joked with a grim smile.

    ¡°Fuck you.¡±

    A vortex of pure blue-ish flame swirled in the golden Arcanine¡¯s maws. The expedition team tensed, hopefully they could dodge this attack because blocking was impossible.

    A massive shadow flitted over the scene and dived. The Lord of Fire roared as she let loose another Overheat even more powerful than the last.

    A powerful gust of wind blew some of the heat away and a golden Hisuan Braviary landed in the path of the Lord of Fire¡¯s attack and swept its wing up, tilting its wing at an angle. The beam of heat hit the Lord of Wind¡¯s wing with an explosive BOOM!

    There was an explosion of smoke that was quickly blown away as the Lord of Wind dispersed it with one flap of its now slightly seared wing.

    ¡°What are you doing here Haast?!¡± The Lord of Fire roared, letting a mini shockwave of fire burst out from her and sweep through the area.

    The Lord of Wind blew away the ring of fire with a flap of his unburnt wing and gave his colleague a respectful nod. ¡°Hello Kogane. I am here on new orders pertaining to the humans, they are not to be killed, our liege wants me to escort them inside.¡±

    The golden eagle was highly doubtful that his colleague would be reasonable enough to just stop in the middle of one of her tantrums. A magenta mist of psychic type energy covertly spread out from the Lord of Wind and began to cover the battlefield.

    ¡°LIES!¡± Kogane roared, spewing fire from her mouth and nose. Her eyes and the inside of her mouth were a gold-white like molten gold.

    ¡°I am not lying, I have no reason to.¡± Haast calmly replied.

    Diggersby had finished digging its trench tunnel and Tim was ushering the others inside while Sandslash and Empoleon were lining the tunnel with ice and water. There were a few flashes as a majority of the Pokemon out before were returned.

    ¡°No, I¡¯ve seen this before.¡± The Lord of Fire growled, ¡°The same happened to that deer bastard and that stupid bear! You are betraying us!¡±

    The Lord of Fire slammed a paw onto the ground and sent an enormous blue Fire Blast at the Lord of Wind.

    Drawing power from Psychic Terrain, the Lord of Wind¡¯s eyes widened. Psychic type energy exploded outwards from him, Expanding Force and Fire Blast met and there was a moment as the two energies fought with each other. Then there was a massive explosion that shrouded the entire area in smoke and dust.

    ¡°ARGH! FUCK YOU!¡± Kogane screamed, charging at Haast as blistering bright plasma blue flames enveloped her body.

    ¡°Such foul language from a delinquent fool.¡± Haast muttered in reply. The battle cry Pokemon spread his wings, the golden tint in his feather becoming glowing and becoming more prominent as he gathered his power.

    Before Kogane could reach Haast, an icicle that could qualify as a mini-glacier dropped out of the sky and landed right in Kogane¡¯s pathway with a loud glass-like crunch. The ground shook and the two Nobles paused as the reality moved aside like a curtain.

    The Lord of Fire¡¯s Advisor stepped out from behind the curtain, having slipped away earlier, and she brought some company.

    ¡°Starting fights with the other Nobles again Kogane? I¡¯m sure our liege will be disappointed.¡± The Lord of Ice rumbled. Then he activated his ability Thermal Exchange and began absorbing the scorching heat, quickly lowering the temperature from instant heatstroke into a reasonable mid-fall chill.

    ¡°When will you begin acting like a real Lord instead of a selfish entitled brat?¡± The Lord of Ice asked, giving Kogane a disapproving dad glare.

    The temperature rose again as Kogane retorted, ¡°Says the one who let the humans bribe him.¡±

    ¡°I agreed with their reasonings.¡± The Lord of Ice calmly replied, ¡°The food was a silver lining.¡±

    ¡°Listen to me Kogane,¡± Haast said, ¡°our liege has new orders. These humans are no longer to be killed, she has changed her mind and has new orders for you.¡±

    ¡°Might I remind you, my Lord,¡± the Advisor chipped in, ¡°the Lord of the Mountain does not like to see infighting.¡±

    Kogane growled, the air around her wavered from the heat coming off of her pelt. The Lord of Fire huffed, letting the golden energy contained in her body dissipate before she huffed again, sharply turning and strutting back to the mountain entrance.

    ¡°This was a fucking waste of time.¡± The Lord of Fire growled before looking at her elites as she prowled away. ¡°Come on guys, we¡¯ve got better things to do.¡±

    The elites all sighed with relief, some of them nodding or muttering a thanks to the Advisor and the two other Nobles as they followed their leader away. A few straggled behind as they helped carry Ursaluna and Excadrill back into the mountain.

    Haast slightly bowed his head toward the Lord of Ice, ¡°Thank you for your help Glacius. It would¡¯ve been a problem if my new charges were burnt to nothing but ashes.¡±

    The ice dragon waved a clawed hand, ¡°No problem Haast.¡± Then he sighed. ¡°Though we really need to do something about that one before she gets more out of control. This is the fourth fight I¡¯ve had to break up within a few months.¡±

    Haast shrugged, ¡°I do not think Lord Sloth would care if she used him as a punching bag.¡±

    The Advisor made a loud ¡°tch!¡± before chipping in, ¡°Yes, but she nearly dried up Ladon¡¯s lake, and set fire to Ceryn¡¯s forest in three months. It¡¯s been a headache having to clean up her messes.¡±

    <hr>

    Collin poked his head out of the trench and then looked back down and gave the others a thumbs up. ¡°It¡¯s all clear.¡±

    The expedition team slowly climbed out of their shelter.

    ¡°What are they talking about?¡± Justine wondered aloud as she saw the two Nobles and the Advisor talking.

    The conversation between the Pokemon seemed to finish and the Lord of Ice turned his head to look at the humans, giving them a respectful nod before the curtain of reality shifted to conceal him and the Advisor as they left.

    The Lord of Wind then turned his attention back to the expedition team. Greetings, I am the Lord of Wind. I do apologize for the actions of my colleague. She should not have gone back on her agreement with you. She is¡­spoiled, to say the least.

    ¡°Uhh, hey.¡± Justine raised a hand, ¡°Will those elites be okay? I mean, considering, uh, the Lord of Fire¡¯s temper.¡±

    The Lord of Wind nodded, They will be fine, I see your worry but Kogane would never turn her rage on one of her own. Well, besides other Nobles as unlike normal Pokemon, we can take the heat. Literally.

    ¡°So what are you here about?¡± Tim asked.

    Your friends were able to convince my liege to join your cause and she is now willing to work out a deal. I am here to escort you into the mountain to reunite with your friends.

    ¡°How do we know it¡¯s not a trap?¡± Jason asked, arms crossed, ¡°You guys have been trying to kill us nonstop ever since we stepped foot in the illusion dome.¡±

    Ahh, as I said before, we were under orders from our liege. That was all strictly professional, please do not take our actions personally. I would not have come to your defense if we were still under orders to kill you all.

    ¡°Okay, we¡¯ll go with you, but we still need to uh, pack up.¡± Tim said, gesturing to the semi-melted remains of their camp. Someone in the group grumbled about all the ruined equipment.

    No worries, please take the time to pack up. I will wait for you. Though it would be nice if you could spare me a rawst berry¡­

 (27) Dreamland

    The sky is blue.

    My hand flew up to shield my eyes from the bright daylight. Too blue. Squinting and rubbing my aching eyes with my other hand, I slowly sat up and blinked hard, waiting for spots to stop flashing in my vision.

    I was sitting on the flat surface of an endless lake. The water lightly rippled with every moment and I stared at my slightly transparent reflection in the mirror-like surface of the water.

    ¡°Am I dead?¡±

    You technically were.

    I blinked. The Mountain Lord was suddenly standing in front of me.

    ¡°Oh hi¡­you.¡± I shot the Mountain Lord a Sahara glare. ¡°Anyways, what happened? Where are we? Where¡¯s everyone else?¡±

    We¡¯re in a dream.

    I raised an eyebrow, ¡°A dream? You can enter dreams?¡± I¡¯m pretty sure neither Zoroark Variant can use Dream Eater or any dream related move.

    I had a bit of help. As for what happened, the Lord of Distortion restarted your heart as a reward for returning his property to him.

    ¡°That¡¯s awfully nice of him.¡±

    Your allies are in the process of reuniting with each other and you, I have ordered a few messengers to guide them to the right place.

    ¡°Oh. How are they? Are they okay?¡± I asked.

    They are alive and conscious. The Mountain Lord replied, then she poked at my forehead with a claw, None of them are as badly injured as you.

    I waved her claw away and rolled my eyes, ¡°Yeah, no thanks to you.¡±

    And no thanks to your habit of throwing yourself into dangerous situations. I heard about your other adventures from the Lord of Distortion.

    ¡°Hey, I didn¡¯t ask to be chased around by a Hydreigon okay? Giratina was the one who dumped me there in the first place.¡±

    The Mountain Lord gave me a doubtful look.

    I returned the look before speaking, ¡°So. Have you finally changed your mind?¡±Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

    Yes.

    ¡°Really?¡± I asked in a slightly exaggerated tone. ¡°What¡¯s changed?¡±

    Lord Giratina is concerned about stopping certain villains and has told me that it is necessary to cooperate with humans to succeed in this task.

    ¡°That¡¯s not changing your mind, that¡¯s just doing what you¡¯re told.¡±

    There was a long pause and the illusion fox got a really guilty look on her face. She seemed to be trying to find the right words for something.

    Fine. It¡­was the look on that child¡¯s face when he saw your dead body. It reminded me of myself and my need for vengeance when Akari was killed.

    I winced and felt a pang of guilt as I imagined Winnie¡¯s devastated face looking at a dead me.

    ¡°Oh shit.¡± Fuck, how the hell will I deal with that? I suck at dealing with emotional shit.

    There¡¯s an awkward silence as the mood darkened. I sighed as I made a mental note to have a serious talk with my team when I could. Hopefully I had the equipment to deal with any issues that could arise from someone they knew dying and coming back to life via one Giratina.

    The Mountain Lord shifted awkwardly. I will admit¡­ I was in denial in order to justify what I have done in the past. With hindsight, I can see that I have become as blinded and biased as the humans I used to criticize.

    ¡°That is¡­surprisingly insightful.¡± I noted. Especially considering how unreasonable she was literally a few minutes ago. I sure am glad that killing one more human in front of their team helped open her eyes. Yep. Totally.

    The Mountain Lord sighed and bowed her head, I do apologize for what I¡¯ve put you and your companions through.

    How the heck should I react to that?

    ¡°Uhhhhhh, yeah I guess it¡¯s cool. Besides the fact that you kinda killed me.¡±

    No, it really isn¡¯t super cool cause I fucking died a second time, but there really isn¡¯t a need to antagonize her anymore. Not unless I wanna die in a dream, if that¡¯s possible.

    The Mountain Lord tilted her head and gave me a strange look. You are concerningly nonchalant about this.

    I shrugged. ¡°Eh, it¡¯s complicated, it ain¡¯t my first time being dead, et cetera.¡± I rubbed the back of my head as I wondered if I¡¯d end up getting a concussion or some sort of brain damage from oxygen deprivation from being dead.

    There was an awkward pause.

    Then I broke the silence, ¡°Sooooo what¡¯s gonna happen now?¡±

    Your friends are in the process of teleporting back to human territory. The teleportation lockdown has been temporarily removed so that they can leave.

    ¡°Wait, that was pretty fast. Didn¡¯t you just say that everyone was reuniting with each other?¡± I asked as I tried to estimate how much time must¡¯ve passed.

    Time moves differently in one¡¯s mind.

    ¡°Oh. Dream logic, gotcha.¡±

    I paused as I caught a glimpse of some blurry yellow and light pastel blue thing floating in the reflection of the lake between our reflections.

    ¡°Uhhhhh, what is¡­?¡±

    Do not worry about that ¡®Hunter J¡¯ human. She will be dealt with.

    I pointed at the third reflection in the water but the Mountain Lord didn¡¯t seem to notice. ¡°That¡¯s good, but I was, uh, talking about¨C¡±

    Oh yes, Lord Giratina also wanted me to tell you, he will decline your offer to dinner but he has accepted you as a follower and will accept regular offerings. Food and any precious material will be acceptable.

    ¡°Wait, a follower? What? Just a sec¨C¡±

    The Mountain Lord suddenly vanished.

    The mysterious blurry reflection became clearer, like a camera lens focusing. It was Uxie. The knowledge Pokemon gave me an unnerving smile and waved at me, a single eye cracked open. An invisible hand grabbed my brain like how someone would grab a big piece of Jello and my head began to tingle.

    ¡°Hello?¡±

    I grabbed my head and furiously scratched my scalp all over as the invisible hands began to massage??? my brain.

    ¡°WHAT THE¨Cwhat the fuck?! Get your grubby hands off my brain! OI! YOU!¡± I punched the reflection, but it was ineffective. The water splashed and rippled before swiftly reforming into a completely smooth surface.

    That rat bastard Uxie didn¡¯t seem to acknowledge my demands. Instead, the lake turned into a bottomless pit and I began falling.

    I sighed and crossed my arms as I plummeted and my stomach rose into my chest as gravity took the reins. Yay, I¡¯m falling again. I dunno which one is worse, Ultra Space with a hungry Nihiligo, or Dreamland where my brain gets¡­touched by a knowledge deity. Are the other Lake Guardians this fucking creepy? I hope not.

 (28) When the Hunter Becomes the Hunted

    A semi-organized line of Pokemon made their way down the mountain. Their feet crunched through the snow and ice that lined their path, their vague forms wavering blending into their surroundings as the illusion disguising them did their work.

    ¡°Why do I have to come all the way out to this dump?¡± Kogane whined, ¡°She could¡¯ve sent any other Noble to take care of these chumps.¡±

    Haast just sighed as he was forced to endure another round of complaining from the Lord of Fire. More like Lord of Entitlement.

    ¡°And Lord Sloth does nothing!¡± Kogane stomped her paw in a puddle of mud, ¡°He sleeps through everything! Why not send him to do something once in a while?¡±

    ¡°Yet he¡¯s more productive than you are in a year the few times a year he is awake.¡± Haast replied matter of factly.

    ¡°I AM productive!¡± Kogane snapped, ¡°I just take the time to take care of my appearance as well.¡± The golden Arcanine lifted one of her hind paws and grumpily shook the muddy water off it as she pouted. ¡°Now I¡¯m going to have to spend hours cleaning myself. Just look at my fur! It¡¯s all soggy and dirty!¡±

    One of the Arcanine directly behind Kogane glanced down at its own muddy coat and rolled its eyes, the Houndoom beside it stifled a scoff.

    Haast shared an annoyed glance with Kogane¡¯s advisor, ¡°You are soggy because you keep melting all the snow, and you are out here because our liege thinks you need a change in attitude.¡±

    The two kept bickering until they arrived at the edge of the forest leading onto where the ranger base was located.

    The collection of low roofed buildings looked mostly deserted except for the few heavily armed guards that stood near a few of the entrances alongside a Houndoom or Magneton.

    ¡°This should be far away enough right Haast?¡± One of the Hisuan Zoroarks accompanying the group asked.

    Haast nodded. The expedition team had been very helpful in providing information on what sort of weapons and tools the poachers had access to. The Noble had taken all that into account during his plans.

    ¡°I heard there was a flying den, where is it?¡± Kogane asked as she peered at the human settlement.

    The Advisor gestured to the sky, ¡°The human named Tim told us it that it can cloak itself in invisibility. It is probably hovering above the ranger base.¡±

    A Kadabra came up to the front with the leaders, and as Haast¡¯s instruction, it raised its glowing spoon and began to provide cover any psychic messages between their psychics.

    Once the filter was in place, Haast sent a telepathic message to the Infiltration squad. We are in place. Report in.

    He waited for a few seconds before the shadows underneath him swirled. Mismagius floated out from the ground, followed by a Sableye, who grunted and angrily swiped at the witch ghost¡¯s dress because it repeatedly hit the gem gremlin in the face.

    After shooting Mismagius a glare, Sableye cleared its throat and spoke, ¡°Reporting in, there are just under a hundred humans inside the base not including the Pokemon with them. Most of them are heavily armed. Their leader is not inside the ground dens, but their second in command is there. There is also a guarded room with nine humans from a separate group tied up inside. ¡±

    ¡°Most of the poacher¡¯s forces are on the ground.¡± Mismagius reported, ¡°Their leader is on the ship, with a few of her soldiers. One of my ghosts also found a holding area at the back of the ship with a lot of Pokemon they have snatched from the surrounding area.¡±

    Kogane growled furiously, ¡°Those scumbags!¡± The freezing air began to warm up, and the falling snow began to melt mid-air.

    The Advisor pat Kogane¡¯s shoulder, ¡°Patience, they will be rescued, and we will destroy the poachers in time.¡±

    The temperature went back down, but Kogane kept growling.

    ¡°Begin retrieving prisoners from the ship,¡± Haast ordered, ¡°and bring along an illusionist to cover your escape.¡± With a nod, Mismagius disappeared into the shadows.

    The Noble eagle turned to Sableye, ¡°Are the imprisoned humans in any shape to fight?¡±

    Sableye nodded, ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Good, find where the Pokeballs for their Pokemon are contained, as well as any medical supplies they might need and give it to them.¡± Haast ordered, ¡°They should be able to retake the main building while most of the poachers are distracted by us.¡±

    ¡°Yessir.¡± Sableye saluted and scuttled away.

    As soon as he was finished with the ghosts, Haast sent out another telepathic message to his correspondent in the Sky squad. Are you in place?

    There was a delay before he got a message back from the Hisuan Braviary leading the Sky Squad. Yes sir. We are waiting for your word to go.

    Good. Begin the operation. Haast ordered.

    As soon as he sent the last word, the sky darkened and the wind began to pick up. The temperature plummeted as a full-blown blizzard began to sweep in. The Cryogonal swarm did their work well.

    Shaking the excess water from melted snow off her pelt, Kogane began to gather energy, her coat shone brighter and brighter,

    ¡°Time to melt those bastards.¡± Kogane growled. Her golden coat shone brighter and brighter as she gathered energy, the air around her freezing as she sucked away all excess heat into her body. A small and condensed ball of pure heat like a miniature sun began to swirl to life in her jaws.

    Reporting in, the prisoners on the ship have been escorted to safety.

    Roger that. Haast replied. Alright, freeze em.

    There was a loud, high-pitched ringing of thousands of ice crystals clanging against each other as a massive swarm of Cryogonal appeared out of thin air and swirled around the invisible airship as one. There was a loud crackle as the poacher¡¯s airship was immediately encased in ice and began to sink from all the extra weight.

    Their work done, the Cryogonal scattered.

    ¡°Now it¡¯s my turn!¡± Kogane roared as she fired an Overheat. The condensed beam of pure heat energy arced out and pierced straight through the metal airship like it was melted butter.

    There was a delay as the ship started to steam, followed by a ground shaking explosion as the ship blew up, the blast sending burning bits of shrapnel everywhere.

    Sky Corps move in! Haast ordered.

    A flock of Bombirdier dove down from the clouds and began dropping loads of Foongus and Paras as mercenary soldiers began pouring out of the Ranger Base. The little spore Pokemon landed with a soft POOMF! Followed by an explosion of spores from their mushrooms before they were spirited away to somewhere safe by waiting ghost types. Within seconds, the area was completely covered in paralyzing and poisonous spores.

    The enemy began to cough and sputter as they frantically put on protection gear and ordered the Zubat and Golbat accompanying them to clear out the spores with gusts of wind.

    Melee, wait until the area is clear of spores before moving in. Ranged attackers, begin picking off any enemy commanders and anyone who has any dangerous looking weapons.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.

    Kogane continued shooting blasts of fire at any mercenary who even attempted to organize a counterattack. The fire from her attacks quickly burned up any remaining spores as the poachers and their Pokemon scrambled to get away from the explosions that seemed to be coming out of nowhere.

    Any other mercenary who seemed to have Pokemon capturing equipment or any remotely powerful looking weapons were sniped by a well-placed Dark Pulse or an Icicle Spear from one of the many Houndoom and Weavile in the vanguard.

    Sky squad reporting in, the leader was able to escape the ship, should we pursue?

    Where is she heading?

    Toward¡¯s Lake Acuity sir.

    I will pursue her, you stay behind and help the ground forces finish taking out the trash.

    Roger that.

    Haast turned to Kogane and the rest of the vanguard as he spread his wings, ¡°Go get em. I¡¯ve got something to take care of. Take out their hands or heads first.¡±

    There was a chorus of roars and howling from the vanguard, led by Kogane as they charged while Haast took to the skies and flew for Lake Acuity. He wasn¡¯t in any hurry, all he had to do was make sure the poacher went into Lord Uxie¡¯s domain.

    <hr>

    Ranger Dwayne jolted awake as he heard an explosion overhead, the building rattled from the shockwave. There were murmurs of surprise from the others as they looked to the ceiling. The little room they had been imprisoned in had no windows so they had no idea what was going on outside.

    The mercenary watching over them snorted and grunted as he was also awoken by the explosion. He grabbed his radio and groggily asked what was going on, but got nothing but static noises. Everyone could hear the frantic patter of boots as the other mercenaries rushed outside to assess the threat.

    ¡°You guys stay quiet.¡± The mercenary ordered, hoisting his rifle before running out of the room and locking the door behind him.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Allison asked, ¡°Did the league send someone to rescue us?¡±

    ¡°Fuck if I know.¡± Felicia replied, wriggling in her restraints as she tried to loosen the rope. The ranger let out a gasp of surprise as something icy cold touched her hand and her restraints suddenly came loose.

    Felicia instantly grabbed her sore wrists and rubbed them to help restore blood flow to her hands.

    The others let out murmurs of surprise and a few thanks as they were also cut free by someone. They fell silent as they heard the doorknob jiggling. There was a click and the door hinges squeaked as the door swung open.

    A small purple gremlin with blue jeweled eyes grunted as it pushed a small stack of boxes into the room and shut the door behind it with a soft click.

    The rangers all flinched as a few more explosions sounded outside, followed by a few muffled bursts of gunfire, and the shouts and screams of the mercenaries.

    Sableye awkwardly stood next to the boxes and waved at the rangers before gesturing at the box.

    Jeff was the first to get to his feet and quickly opened the top box, letting out a gleeful laugh as he saw everyone¡¯s Pokeballs and ranger equipment. The other quickly swarmed the boxes and soon all nine rangers were equipped with their gear and Pokeballs.

    ¡°Are you one of Fantina¡¯s ghosts? Or with someone from ACE or Interpol?¡± One of the rangers asked the gem gremlin.

    Sableye tilted its head in confusion and stared at them while making frog-croaking sounds.

    ¡°I guess not.¡± Felicia shrugged.

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t matter, come on! Let¡¯s get out, I swear if I spend another second in here I¡¯ll go crazy!¡± Allison shouted as she threw open the door, ready for a fight. The others followed.

    Without another word, the nine rangers split up into a group of five and four and began clearing the building they were currently in. Thankfully it was empty except for one mercenary who was frantically trying to contact someone on a comms device. The merc thankfully had the brains to know he was outnumbered and instantly surrendered, muttering something like how he wasn¡¯t paid enough to deal with this bullshit.

    All the while, the sounds of warfare continued outside. Once the building was cleared, the rangers reconvened at the main entrance and peered outside.

    ¡°Uhhh. It doesn¡¯t look like they need any help.¡± Someone quietly commented.

    The scene outside was a bloodbath. Hunter J¡¯s mercenaries were being obliterated by shining golden Hisuan Arcanine. One of the rangers gasped and looked a bit sick as the Arcanine created a barrage of boulders with Rock Slide before melting the rock into magma and flinging it over the enemy mercenaries and badly burning them before vaporizing them with a Fire Blast.

    The faint smell of burning flesh wafted into the building and a few people gagged at the scent.

    A group of Garchomp and Druddigon carved a path through mercs with guns, relying on their tough scales to deflect bullets before chopping or biting off the arms of the mercenary shooting at them.

    There was a chorus of howls as a pack of Houndoom swarmed a bunch of the mercenaries and tore them to bits. The Houndoom and Mightyena who were previously on the same side of the poachers turning on their oppressors with glee, they weren¡¯t going to pass up this opportunity to take revenge on the humans who casually treated them like disposable tools.

    A few mercenaries were quick witted enough to grab armor piercing guns, leaving a few wild Pokemon injured or dead, but they were swiftly dragged into the shadows by a chattering swarm of ghost Pokemon or pecked apart by one of the many Skarmory or Braviary hovering above the battlefield.

    Seeing the injured Pokemon and wanting to at least help out their rescuers, the rangers didn¡¯t hesitate to run out of the shelter and begin dragging the injured Pokemon away to safety.

    Meanwhile, the golden Arcanine howled. Its call was echoed by the other Pokemon around it as the dozen or so mercenaries were herded into a tight knot by a massive pack of assorted canine Pokemon.

    Knowing that they were defeated, a few of the mercenaries dropped their weapons and raised their hands in surrender. The golden Pokemon paused for a second before laughing scornfully at the poachers.

    Sicc em. The fire type snarled.

    The rangers looked away as a swarm of Houndoom, Mightyena, and Weavile closed in on the remaining poachers. The ring closed into a black dot and a red stain began leaking out from the writhing mass of bodies and dyeing the area around them crimson.

    Kogane sat down and watched with glee before realizing that she forgot something and smacked her face with her paw, ¡°Oh shit, we needed to leave a few alive.¡±

    <hr>

    Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit! Hunter J gritted her teeth, nearly cracking a molar in anger. Her ship was destroyed, her cargo was gone, and she had no soldiers. It was going to be painfully expensive to replace everything. Dammit! I¡¯m going to find whoever did this and make them pay!

    She glanced back at the trio of Skarmory chasing after her and her Salamence.

    ¡°Go faster! We need to go to the base in Snowpoint.¡± The poacher growled, digging her nails into Salamence¡¯s scales as she let out her Aradios. ¡°Electroweb!¡±

    The poisonous spider clattered its pincers and threw a salvo of well aimed webs of electricity at the birds, who dropped back and dodged the attack. One of them was clipped in the wing by a web and shocked, making it fall back even further.

    Hunter J followed up the web attack with a series of gunshots from her armor piercer, hitting one of the Skarmory square in the chest. There was a pained squawk as the metal bird¡¯s armor was pierced through by a bullet and it began to fall.

    The poacher aimed again at the other Skarmory in the front, but flinched as her gun was suddenly torn away from her grip and thrown into the forest below. Hunter J glared at the massive golden Hisuan Braviary that had just joined her pursuers and was keeping the injured Skarmory afloat with Psychic.

    The golden Pokemon screeched to two other Skarmory in the front before placing the injured bird onto the back one of its uninjured companions.

    The metal birds glared at the hunter as they turned around and headed back.

    ¡°Tch.¡± Well, one Pokemon was going to be a lot easier to handle than three.

    The poacher smiled to herself, eyeing the golden Pokemon casually flying after them as she estimated its worth and which client would buy it.

    ¡°You¡¯ll make a great reparation for the destruction of my airship.¡±

    Hunter J tapped Salamence¡¯s back, signaling for it to fly lower. Ariados began prepping a web as the Hunter aimed her petrifying cannon at the cash cow.

    The arm cannon whirred as it fired a petrifying beam at Braviary, but before the attack could hit, the eagle Pokemon disappeared.

    In a blink of an eye, Hunter J¡¯s outstretched arm was gone and the golden Braviary was flying just above the Pokemon poacher with her dismembered arm hanging in one of its claws. The poacher watched for a moment in disbelief as the eagle crushed her dismembered arm and the cannon attached to it in its bloody claws and dropped it into the forest below.

    Salamence growled in surprise and sped up to try to lose Braviary, shooting a Flamethrower at the eagle Pokemon, who easily blocked the burst of fire with Protect.

    Then Hunter J¡¯s body registered her missing arm and she screamed, keeling over. Ariados clicked its pincers at its trainer in worry and quickly began applying webs to the poacher¡¯s arm stump to stop the bleeding.

    Still doubled over and groaning in pain, Hunter J pressed the buttons on one of the Pokeballs on her belt, a Malamar appeared in a flash. Braviary fell back, cautiously eyeing the unfamiliar Pokemon.

    Hmmm, what a pickle you have gotten us into. You should¡¯ve sent me out earlier. The squid Pokemon haughtily sighed, raising its tentacles as it began sending out mind controlling waves at the Noble Pokemon while Hunter J applied a full restore to her arm.

    The squid Pokemon was unpleasantly surprised to find that its mind control power did not work on the bird as it dove back down and grabbed Malamar, easily shredding the squid into noodles and ignoring the single shriek of pain from Malamar before it went silent.

    ¡°Hmph, as if a low quality psychic would be able to best me.¡± Haast commented as he dropped what remained of Malamar into the forest below.

    By now Hunter J was able to stop the bleeding, her remaining hand hovered over her Drapion¡¯s Pokeball but her pursuer stopped midair, glaring at her one last time before it turned and flew back to where it came from.

    ¡°It must¡¯ve gotten bored of me.¡± Hunter J muttered. ¡°A foolish move to let me get away.¡± The poacher snarled even more viciously than a Mightyena. She¡¯d take revenge on those bastard Pokemon. Now that she had information, she knew quite a few clients who would pay a large fortune to obtain those golden Pokemon and previously extinct Hisuan variants.

    I will come back prepared with an army and personally see to it that¨C

    Hunter J¡¯s thoughts were cut off as Salamence unexpectedly dipped down and she nearly fell over. Regaining her balance, the mercenary looked around, she had been preoccupied with their pursuers and then her arm getting cut off to pay much attention to where they were but she could recognize this lake anywhere. Lake Acuity, it was where she regularly caught Bronzong and Bronzor to sell to Team Galactic.

    Salamence slowed down as they approached an island in the middle of the lake, hovering over the island with a bit of hesitation before it landed.

    Hunter J¡¯s simmering anger exploded at the disobedience. ¡°What are you doing? You¡¯re supposed to¨C¡± Salamence reared onto its hind legs and dumped the mercenary onto the ground.

    The poacher grunted as a jolt of pain went through her arm stump. ¡°You bastard!¡± Hunter J grabbed for Salamence¡¯s ultra ball on her belt, then stopped and felt for it again. It wasn¡¯t there. In fact, all of her tools and Pokeballs were gone. How did I not notice!?

    Salamence growled and glared at the poacher, looking her right in the eye. Hunter J was lost for words, the stupid lizard should¡¯ve lost the ability to even slightly oppose her when it was a puny Bagon. She had broken its spirit years ago, how in the world did it have the courage to stand up to her now?

    Salamence said something to Ariados, who was still perched on the dragon¡¯s back. The spider looked hesitantly between Hunter J and the dragon before clicking something in reply to the dragon.

    The dragon nodded and snorted an insult at Hunter J before turning and flying away with Ariados, leaving her stranded all alone on this island in the middle of a lake.

    ¡°Damn you! How dare you betray me! I- I¡¯ll!¡± The poacher screamed, she was at a loss for words, nothing could describe how she felt in that moment. Her ship was gone, the mercenaries she had hired were probably dead¨C

    It seems that your parents never taught you the basics on how life works, but I can teach you the rules now.

    Hunter J whipped around, glaring eyes searching for whoever just spoke.

    Firstly, what goes around comes around. Betray others and they will betray you without hesitation.

    ¡°Who are you! Show yourself you bastard! Are you the one who planned this?!¡±

    A psychic force grabbed Hunter J¡¯s face and turned her face a pale blue Pokemon with a yellow head and a red gem on its forehead. Despite having closed eyes, Hunter J still felt as if it could see into her soul. The Lake Guardian gave the Hunter J an unsettling smile as the poacher found herself unable to move her limbs but she could still slightly move her mouth.

    ¡°Fuck¨C You¨C¡± The poacher managed to choke out.

    How rude of you, but don¡¯t worry. I am not capable of teaching compassion and empathy like Mesprit, but I can certainly teach you some morals¨Csomething you seem to have to never had the opportunity to learn.

    There was a clatter, and Hunter J glanced to the side as she saw the broken pieces of Salamence¡¯s Pokeball fall to the ground. Her face was jerked again to look right into Uxie¡¯s wide open eyes.

    In return, you will give me everything you know. It is only fair.

 (29) Aftermath

    ¡°The Pokemon League and International Police have just released information about a shadow organization called Team Galactic that reportedly has ties to Galactic Corporations, the largest clean energy company in Sinnoh. The PL and Interpol worked together in a joint operation to reveal Team Galactic¡¯s illicit activities and arrest everyone involved. Here is Ramona with the details¡­¡±

    ¡°Bzzt!¡± Rotom buzzed to alert me to a new message as I walked out of Hearthome hospital, I adjusted my headphones as I looked at the messages.

    Ghost Geek: Hey Az! Just wanted to let you know that Kenta and i are planning to get some food. do you and your team want anything?

    Kenmo-o: Does Banette want the usual from the boba place?

    Zombie: Yeah get the usual for Banette, and crab rangoon from the that restaurant with the krabby sign for me pls.

    Ghost Geek: ??u out of the hospital yet?

    Zombie: Thx guys. Yeah I¡¯m out, the wait was pretty long, we¡¯re meeting back at the Pokemon center right?

    Kenmo-o: Yeah. You need someone to pick u up? I can send dragonite.

    Zombie: Nah I¡¯m gud, I don¡¯t think I¡¯m fit for flying with Dragonite just yet ?? I¡¯ll just grab a taxi. ttyl

    Rotom closed the message app and went back to the news, spinning and buzzing happily. The plasma ghost was still pretty psyched to be back in its Rotom phone. Jason was nice enough to rebuild the phone after the Mountain Lord had crushed it. I hadn¡¯t seen him since he returned the phone to me a few days ago cause he went back to Sunyshore.

    ¡°...like the recent incident in Hoenn with Teams Aqua and Magma, and the Unovan incident with Team Plasma a few years ago. Which region will be targeted by evil organizations next?¡±

    Well according to the timeline of what I had been able to find on the internet, it would be Kalos in two years is Team Neo Plasma doesn¡¯t do anything crazy. Ash should be doing the Battle Frontier around now and still has to go through Sinnoh and Unova at the very least.

    ¡°Rotom, call a taxi for us please.¡± I told Rotom, who used the Pokerides app to call a taxi. A few minutes later, a Cyclizar pulling a small carriage behind it pulled up in the parking lot. The screen on the little saddle on its back flashed my name.

    ¡°Cyclizar!¡± The dragon chirped, gesturing for me to hop on.

    ¡°Can you take us to the Amity Square Pokemon center please?¡± I asked Cyclizar as I got on.

    ¡°Zar!¡± Cyclizar nodded and took off at a pleasant trot as soon as I got myself settled in the carriage seat.

    Hearthome was an attractive city, with a more gothic theme to its architecture that fit in well with its reputation as the ghost capital of Sinnoh. A ton of Drifloon and Drifblim floated around the city like little sky decorations.

    It would¡¯ve been nice to be able to walk around it with the crew but I couldn¡¯t. Back during the fight with the Mountain Lord, the illusion fox had taken a big ol¡¯ stab at my leg with a nasty Shadow Claw.

    According to the crash course I got from some internet searches, humans didn¡¯t have enough natural type energy or enhanced healing like Pokemon that could keep them safe from the harmful effects of type energies. That made humans more susceptible to negative side effects of being hit with an attack imbued with type energy. Basically, it was better to be shot with a gun or fall off a cliff than to get mauled by an angry Pokemon.

    Well, at least I wasn¡¯t hit by a poison type attack. According to some of the nurses I talked to, poison type injuries were the worst because they caused repeated infections, and people often either died of sepsis from months of bad infections, or from the effects of the poison if they weren¡¯t treated immediately. I guess that''s why poison type specialists are so rare.

    Injuries caused by dark and ghost types were the second worst as they both massively slowed down healing. The difference was that dark types could cause chronic pain, while ghost types could cause a permanent feeling of frostbite in the area. With a big enough dose of either and the person was at risk of cardiac arrest.

    I wonder how in the world the humans here survived without Pokemon to constantly help them out before tech got so advanced. Pokemon are just built different I guess. Oooh! Wait, is that why the Pokedex says that Houndoom flames will cause burns that hurt forever?

    ¡°...and here¡¯s Kaleb with recent news on the infamous poacher known only as Hunter J.¡± I snapped back to attention as I heard the news guy mention Hunter J.

    ¡°Yes, thank you Martha. We have breaking news on the death of Pokemon poacher and trafficker Hunter J, who attempted to take over a ranger base in the Icelands Pokemon Reserve and steal the endangered Pokemon living there. The brave rangers of Icelands Reserve were able to fend off the attack long enough that Sinnoh¡¯s ACE force was able to arrive and finish the job. We are currently standing here at the shores of Lake Acuity where the body of Hunter J was recently retrieved¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah, she¡¯s dead.¡± I said aloud to myself, ¡°The Mountain Lord said something about her forces taking care of it.¡± I guess the news didn¡¯t mention it cause the Pokemon League is keeping the sanctuary a secret.

    ¡°Hmph, of course they give all of the credit to ACE. Typical League business.¡± Yamask phased out of my shadow and sat on the seat next to me. ¡°If the public knew what happened to her they¡¯d instantly blame it on wild Pokemon.¡±

    ¡°Oh, hey Yamask. What¡¯s up?¡± I smiled at the mask ghost.

    Yamask crossed his arms and gave me a smug look, ¡°You must have seen the results of my contact in interpol.¡±

    I nodded, ¡°Yeah, they work quickly. To be honest, they were a lot more competent than I thought they¡¯d be.¡± I only gave them the info like, a few weeks ago and they¡¯ve already taken down one of the big bads? Either Interpol is super competent, or Team Galactic is super incompetent. Or maybe a mix of both.

    ¡°Of course Interpol is competent!¡± Yamask replied, puffing out his chest, ¡°I can only expect that much from my top students~¡±

    I raised an eyebrow at that last statement, ¡°Your students?¡± Bruh he acts like a little kid, how in the world does he have students?

    The mask ghost made an oops face and coughed awkwardly before quickly changing the subject. ¡°Ahem! Anyways. Now that you¡¯ve seen the results, will you hand over the other information you told me you have?¡±

    ¡°Yeah sure. Give me a second¡± I took a journal out of my bag. Actually, I wonder how Yamask knows people from Interpol in the first place.

    I carefully tore a bunch of pages out and handed them to Yamask, who gave them a quick lookover. ¡°This seems decently detailed.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I wrote down a list of organizations, their goals and how they plan to achieve them, the location of their base, the names of important members, and any important miscellaneous info.¡± It wasn¡¯t like I had anything really interesting to do since I got back besides sit around or be yelled at for moving around more than the doctors said I was supposed to for the past two weeks.

    Team Neo-Plasma, Team Flare, Chairman Rose, the Aether Foundation, the time machines in the Great Crater of Paldea, it¡¯s all there. Hopefully I can just leave this all to professionals who actually get paid to put away these sort of bad guys while I go about my way with a nice PG-Rated Pokemon journey.

    Cyclizar slowed down and came to a stop in front of the Pokemon center. I got out and thanked the dragon, before asking Yamask a question that came to mind.

    ¡°By the way, how did Hunter J die? What happened to her ship?¡± Originally she would¡¯ve died with her ship crashing into one of the lakes right?

    Instead of Yamask, it was Kenta who answered, ¡°Hunter J? The Nobles took down her ship. That bratty Noble Arcanine blew it up.¡± Kenta and Justine seemed to had just gotten back to the Pokemon center on Flygon. They were carrying a few bags of takeout that they didn¡¯t want to put in their bags.

    I glanced back at the carriage. Cyclizar had already taken off to go get its next client and Yamask was gone, presumably to hand over my notes to his ¡®student¡¯ in Interpol. Who the hell would agree to be the student of an inexperienced ghost?

    I turned back to Kenta and Justine, as Kenta returned Flygon.

    Litwick, who was perched on Justine¡¯s shoulder gave me a friendly wave. ¡°Hi Azzy!¡± I waved back at the candle ghost as I joined them.

    ¡°Who were you talking to?¡± Kenta asked glancing in the direction Cyclizar went.

    ¡°Uhhh, the ghosts.¡± I replied glancing at my shadow. Well, most of them aren¡¯t with me right now.

    ¡°Oh ok. Yeah, uh Hunter J escaped to Lake Acuity and was killed there.¡± Kenta continued, ¡°From what Celia told me, a bunch of ACE trainers found her body on the lake shore. It wasn¡¯t a pretty sight.¡±

    Justine jumped in with sparkling eyes, ¡°Tim told me she had no face, it was like someone replaced it with the surface of an egg! And!¡± Justine leaned closer with a spooky smile while she pointed at her head, ¡°There wasn¡¯t any damage to her head but her brain was gone, like someone just teleported it away and left the empty head behind!¡±If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

    I made a grossed out face, ¡°You¡¯re quite excited about that.¡± Bro, did she meet Koh the face stealer or something? What Pokemon would steal faces?

    Justine and Litwick both giggled, ¡°It¡¯s the type of stuff a ghost Pokemon would do~¡± ¡°No faces~ Blank faces~¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± I said, stone-faced. The brain thing was definitely Uxie. Would Uxie steal a face though? I don¡¯t think so, that might be the work of a ghost.

    I followed Kenta and Justine to the back of the Pokemen center where a few other trainers were hanging out with the larger members of their teams. They began setting out the food they brought in, mouthwatering savory smells floated out from the takeout boxes.

    One of the trainers in the area had a Charizard so we decided to not let any of the dragons out either until they left, or until we were done eating. None of us were in the mood for a battle before being able to eat.

    Banette floated out of my shadow to grab her peach slush and sat on a bench, sipping the drink and sharing it with a few of the other ghosts.

    ¡°So, how are Angela and Marcus doing in the sanctuary?¡± I asked as I grabbed the crab rangoon box. Marcus had been insistent on staying behind and researching the variants, so Angela had stayed behind to make sure he didn¡¯t end up doing something stupid and hurting himself.

    Justine took out some poffins and gave them to Litwick to share with Golett before she took out a sandwich for herself. ¡°They¡¯re fine. Marcus is still freaking out about the new variants.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Professor Rowan, Celia, and Tim are talking with the Ranger Corps and Professors Turo and Sada about ways to keep people out.¡± Kenta added.

    That caught my interest. They both exist in this universe? Damn. ¡°Why Turo and Sada?¡± I asked.

    Kenta ate a spoonful of the curry he had ordered before replying, ¡°They¡¯ve been able to keep people out of the Great Crater for a very long time without any huge incidents, so Celia wanted some advice from them.¡±

    I shrugged. ¡°Oh, yeah that makes sense.¡±

    I slightly turned my head as I eyed a wild Drifloon ¡®sneakily¡¯ reaching for on of my crab rangoons. Banette floated over and hissed like an angry Liepard at the ballon Pokemon, scaring it away. Then she grabbed one of my rangoons and ate it.

    ¡°Oh, by the way Az,¡± Justine said, as she roughly ruffled Kenta¡¯s hair, ¡°This jerk is leaving tonight to challenge the Indigo League! He didn¡¯t bother to inform either of us until today!¡±

    I raised an eyebrow at the dragon type specialist, ¡°You ditching us for someone else? I feel betrayed.¡± I leaned back and dramatically clutched some imaginary pearls.

    I wasn¡¯t surprised he was leaving though cause everyone else had kind of already left. The twins were the first to leave and were already back in Kalos, and Leo had left from Snowpoint a week ago to go back to Paldea. Ben, Collin, and Abigail all came with us to Hearthome but they all left within a few days because the next league season was coming up soon.

    Ben and Collin made sure to throw a party with all of us the night before they left for Unova. Abigail¡¯s Sandslash had to drag her around in order to say bye to the rest of us, which I found kind of funny.

    Dodging another hair ruffle attack from Justine, Kenta shrugged, ¡°Sorry guys, I just decided on it yesterday and I kinda forgot.¡±

    ¡°Yeah that happens. Dang, well good luck on on the gym challenge man.¡± I raised a fist for a fist-bump, ¡°You¡¯ll one-shot everything with your dragons!¡±

    Litwick raised its arms and made a ¡°rawr!¡± sound like a baby dragon. Banette sipped her drink and used ghost type energy to make a few dragon-like shapes fly around Kenta¡¯s head.

    ¡°Thanks.¡± Kenta gave me a fist bump, ¡°I¡¯ll try my best, my goal is to get into the top four.¡±

    Justine leaned over and grinned like a Gengar as she looked at Kenta, ¡°You know, you¡¯d be able to win it all with a Dragapult on your team.¡±

    Kenta pushed her away by her head and replied, ¡°I¡¯d rather raise a rabid Hydreigon, no offense to Kaiju.¡±

    I chuckled, ¡°I don¡¯t think he would take any offense to that.¡±

    ¡°Tch.¡± Justine sighed in defeat before switching to another subject, ¡°By the way Az, I was wondering where Winnie is.¡±

    I sighed as she brought the illusion fox up, ¡°Heck if I know, he¡¯s out doing something with some of the ghosts.¡± That jerk has been avoiding me ever since we got to Hearthome.

    ¡°Okay, well make sure he¡¯s around tomorrow, I have a surprise for you both!¡± Justine excitedly said, clapping her hands together.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Kenta asked,

    ¡°It¡¯s a surprise dummy, and you don¡¯t get to know ¡®cause you won¡¯t be here tomorrow.¡± Justine answered.

    ¡°Well, I¡¯ll be looking forward to it.¡± I said.

    ¡°Can¡¯t you tell me after Az leaves?¡± Kenta asked, ¡°I won¡¯t spoil it for her.¡±

    ¡°Nope!¡± Justine giggled. ¡°You¡¯ll have to find out later!¡±

    ¡°And when is later?¡± Kenta sighed, ¡°Next year perhaps?¡±

    ¡°Hey Justine.¡± I interrupted the two.

    ¡°Yeah?¡±

    ¡°Since Kenta is going back to the Indigo League, what are you planning to do next?¡± I asked, ¡°You gonna help Marcus out with the Hisuan variant research?¡±

    Justine waved her hand as if to shoo the question away with a resigned expression, ¡°Ehhh, probably not. Marcus has been hogging all of the research tasks like a nesting Gabite.¡±

    ¡°Instead, I have something more exciting than Pokemon variants.¡± Justine said with excitement, ¡°Well it¡¯s not confirmed yet, but hopefully I¡¯ll be joining the twins in Kalos soon!¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah you said something about this a while back.¡± Kenta commented.

    ¡°Really? You gonna go work for Professor Sycamore?¡± I asked.

    Justine nodded, ¡°Yep! Rowan and Sycamore have a lot of overlap in their research. Sycamore said that he needed a ghost type expert to help out,¡± Justine fancily gestured at herself, ¡°Obviously the only right answer would moi.¡±

    So he needs help with something relating to ghost type mega evolutions? Man I wanna get access to mega evolution!

    Kenta snorted, ¡°So you¡¯re gonna be a stable girl for ghost types?¡±

    ¡°Heh. A bit of that, aaaand,¡± Justine grinned, putting a hand on her cheek, ¡°I¡¯m gonna be able to hang out with Sycamore~¡±

    ¡°Urgh, not again.¡± Kenta sighed, rolling his eyes sky high.

    I gave Justine a suspicious look, ¡°Umm dude, he¡¯s in his thirties.¡±

    ¡°Yeah I know,¡± Justine sighed, ¡°he¡¯s such a d¨C¡± ¡°Horny police!¡± Litwick chirped, spraying a few embers of fire at Justine.

    Justine recoiled, raising her sandwich away from Litwick to prevent it from being burnt, ¡°Oww! Okay fine.¡± Another Gengar-like grin appeared on Justine¡¯s face, ¡°Buuuut Sycamore is not as hot as my hubby Steven~¡±

    Is she trying to emulate Brock? Wait, no. One of my friends was like with her favorite celebrities too.

    Golett facepalmed and Litwick shrugged as if it couldn¡¯t disagree.

    ¡°Steven is also too old for you.¡± Kenta groaned.

    ¡°Yeah, he¡¯s like twenty five.¡± I added.

    Justine scoffed and shoved her phone in my face to show me her wallpaper of Steven Stone, ¡°That doesn¡¯t mean we can¡¯t fangirl~ Come on, isn¡¯t he handsome~?¡±

    Insert my unimpressed Saitama face. ¡°Sure.¡±

    <hr>

    The electronic clock on my nightstand blinked, 3 AM. It should be about¡­now. The curtain to the room rustled as if a wind had blown through it despite the window being closed.

    Winnie gracefully hopped out of the shadows of the room, followed by Haunter and a few other ghosts.

    I shifted in my seat on the couch directly facing the window and crossed my arms. Banette sat on the couch¡¯s backrest and mimicked my movement. ¡°Well, well, if it isn¡¯t Winnie the Pooh finally showing his face.¡±

    Winnie jumped, glancing at me before quickly averting his eyes. He began to step back towards the window. The ghosts accompanying him scattered into the shadows.

    ¡°Oi! Nu-uh.¡± I wagged my finger at the illusion fox as I put on my mom voice, ¡°We are going to speak to each other, I¡¯m tired of the avoidance and lack of communication. We are going to talk tonight.¡±

    Winnie paused and just stood there awkwardly not knowing what to say or do. Or maybe he was still considering jumping out the window.

    I sighed, patting the seat on the couch next to me and spoke in a softer tone, ¡°You can sit if you want. It would probably be more comfortable.¡±

    After a moment of hesitation, Winnie trudged over and sat on the couch next to me.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be blunt here.¡± I said, ¡°You¡¯ve been avoiding me and the rest of the team besides the other ghosts, something is obviously bothering you.¡±

    There was silence as I waited for Winnie to say something but he was stone-faced and kept avoiding eye contact.

    Finally, Banette jabbed him in the side, ¡°By Arceus above and Giratina below, stop being so stubborn and start yapping. You¡¯ll feel better once you stop bottling everything up.¡±

    Winnie looked wide-eyed at the voodoo ghost and sighed before looking directly at me. ¡°i¡¯m angry.¡±

    That¡¯s a start. I pointed to myself, ¡°At me?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Winnie shook his head.

    ¡°The Mountain Lord?¡± I asked, ¡°Someone from the expedition team?¡±

    ¡°No! I don¡¯t know! A lot of things!¡± Winnie suddenly shouted, wildly gesturing to the sky and the words began to spill out like water breaking through a dam, ¡°I don¡¯t want to be weak! I was treated like a useless ragdoll when we fought the Mountain Lord and you almost died! Sahara and the others were helpless, and I was even more helpless and I hate feeling like that! And then even when I evolved and could do something, it wasn¡¯t enough! I was terrified! I hate the idea of you guys being gone!¡±

    Tears began running down Winnie¡¯s face and he began sniffling.

    Oh boy, how do I, uh¡­? Perhaps I¡¯ve been a bit too nonchalant about almost being killed. Well, to be fair almost everyone else has been kind of nonchalant about me nearly dying too¡­I dunno. Can¡¯t forget that he¡¯s basically a kid considering he only started existing just a bit more than a month ago.

    I pulled Winnie in for a hug and patted his back, ¡°Hey, hey, it¡¯s okay.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t blame on yourself for anything that happened, I was the one who put us into a situation like that in the first place. I didn¡¯t properly consider what could¡¯ve happened.¡±

    I pulled away from the hug, using my sleeves to wipe away his icy tears, ¡°You can talk to me whenever there¡¯s something bothering you, okay? I¡¯m not exactly the wisest or smartest person in the world, but I can certainly listen and we can work stuff out together if you have a problem. No more avoiding me and the others, you got that?¡±

    Winnie sniffled and nodded.

    ¡°And if you feel weak, we will train until we¡¯re the strongest, then no one can toss us around like we¡¯re nothing. The main point is that we need to work together.¡±

    That seemed to reassure Winnie and he nodded, ¡°Alright.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps not jumping into dangerous situations headfirst anymore will help, though I don¡¯t know how much can be expected of someone with a small brain for personal safety.¡± Banette dryly added.

    ¡°Gotcha. I¡¯ll work on expanding my brain size.¡± I joked as I tapped the side of my head.

    Winnie chuckled as he wiped away some tears.

    ¡°But seriously, I¡¯ll try to be more careful from now on.¡± I continued, ¡°Let me know if I¡¯m being a dumbass.¡±

    Then I turned to the ghosts still hidden in the shadows, ¡°By the way everyone, please talk to me if you have any issues.¡± There was a quiet chorus of ¡°okay¡± and ¡°alrightie¡± from the ghosts gang. Banette nodded and saluted.

    I pointed to my nightstand were Rotom and Glados where staying in their phone and watch, ¡°That goes for you guys too.¡± I¡¯ll have to remember to tell that to Sahara and Kaiju tomorrow.

    There was a buzz from the Rotom as its screen lit up, showing a thumbs up emoji and a dopey Mr Mime smiley face. My watch showed a GIF of a Croagunk croaking and nodding. Seems like Glados is picking up some habits from Rotom.

    ¡°Ooo! Ooo! I have an issue!¡± Haunter waved its hands around to get my attention, ¡°I want to try out that yummy smelling food that Kenta was eating before he left.¡±

    Misdreavus headbutted Haunter, ¡°That¡¯s not an issue stupid.¡±

    ¡°Curry does sound nice.¡± Banette said.

    Winnie¡¯s ears perked up, ¡°what does it taste like?¡±

    Banette grinned and nearly began drooling, ¡°It¡¯s super savory and has both meat and veggies and is very yummy with rice.¡±

    ¡°that sounds good, does it go well with sweets?¡± Winnie asked, licking his lips.

    ¡°I dunno, we can try to make sweet curry,¡± I yawned and stretched, ¡°I¡¯ll order some for you guys for lunch tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°Yay! Curry!¡± The ghost gang began to cheer and chant, ¡°Cur-ry! Cur-ry! Cur-ry!¡±

    ¡°Shut up!¡± Banette flew over and smacked a few of the ghosts on their head, ¡°There are people in other rooms guys, you¡¯re gonna get us in trouble if you wake anyone up.¡±

    ¡°yeah, it¡¯s rude to be yelling where everyone else is sleeping.¡± Winnie added, patting the backs of the Litwick pair that had emerged during the talk about curry.

    One of the several roaming form Ghimmighoul pouted, ¡°But you were yelling earlier.¡±

    ¡°uh, i¡¯m allowed to yell because i¡¯m the boss.¡± Winnie pointed to himself and slightly puffed out his chest trying to exude boss energy. It didn¡¯t seem to work but the ghosts got the message.

    I smiled to myself as Winnie and Banette lectured the other ghosts on their manners. It seemed like I was successful in lifting the trouble off of Winnie¡¯s shoulders. I sighed in relief. Man, thankfully I could sort that out with talk. I¡¯m glad I don¡¯t have to do that with anyone else on the team like this I don¡¯t have the necessary emotional stamina or skill. How in the world do therapists do stuff like this for a job?

    Kaiju, Sahara, and Glados were a lot less bothered about the whole, me-nearly-dying thing. That sounded kinda bad now that I thought about it.

    To be fair, Kaiju¡¯s reasoning for not being worried was because his mom always came out of rough fights okay so obviously in his mind the same logic would apply to me. Sahara seemed more irked about not even posing a challenge to the Mountain Lord, and Glados was kind of unreadable but seemed the same as ever.

    I waved at everyone, ¡°Settle down everyone.¡± I yawned again, ¡°It¡¯s late,¡± I glanced at the clock, ¡°or early, I dunno, either way I¡¯m gonna catch some Z¡¯s. Since our current goal is to get stupid strong, we¡¯re gonna begin going all out in training beginning tomorrow.¡±

    On my nightstand, Sahara¡¯s ultra ball shook in excitement. Can she hear me from inside?

    ¡°And that will include you guys.¡± Banette added, pointing to the ghost gang, earning herself a collective groan of protest from them.

 (30) Next Up...

    Harsh grains of sand violently whipped around with a loud whoosh, grating at anything within reach like sandpaper on wood. Two Pokemon were running around in the raging sandstorm, throwing out attacks while trying to prevent themselves from being hit.

    Sahara rushed forward and bit down on Winnie¡¯s head, dispelling the illusion with dark type energy from Crunch. The landshark roared in frustration, this was the eleventh illusion she had destroyed and she had yet to land a proper hit on Winnie.

    On Winnie¡¯s end, despite having landed a few hits on the dragon, the illusion fox quickly realized that he had to avoid using physical moves too often because he kept getting cut on the sharp edges of Sahara¡¯s scales.

    ¡°Try out the Twister and Spike combo again Sahara remember to use wide ranged attacks and field hazards to deal with opponents you can¡¯t easily hit! Winnie remember you can use Psychic and Protect to deal with AOE attacks or field hazards!¡±

    Sahara grunted and slammed her tail on the ground, kicking up a bunch of Twisters that she then threw a bunch of Spikes into. Then with a swipe of an arm, she let the Twisters full of sharp metal loose on the battlefield.

    Winnie wasn¡¯t visible but I could see wavers in his illusion as he was hard pressed to avoid the Twisters throwing Spikes everywhere. A psychic force grabbed the spikes out of the tornado and began hurling them at Sahara.

    ¡°Good job guys! Keep at it!¡± I yelled from the bench on the side of the field.

    ¡°Zweilous!¡± One of Kaiju¡¯s heads shouted in encouragement. Having gone from a runt at just under two feet, to being almost six feet tall¨Ca foot taller than a normal Zweilous, he was now too big to sit on the bench without breaking it so he was forced to sit on the ground next to me. Guess he really was his mama¡¯s boy, he was gonna grow up to be a massive boi.

    Kaiju has been using my hand as a lollipop for some reason. The moment the right head shouted encouragement to Sahara and Winnie, Leftie stopped letting Righting lick my hand.

    I shook slobber off my hand as Rightie got mad at Leftie and the two began fighting, nipping at each other.

    I sighed and pushed the two heads apart as they tried to keep fighting each other. ¡°Oi, guys, stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Hey, no, no, stop, no.¡±

    I called out to the two training, ¡°Sahara! Remember to counter Dig with Earthquake! Winnie, you can¡¯t dodge everything with Dig, why don¡¯t you try combining Will-O-Wisp and Substitute as another way to avoid attacks?¡±

    I cuffed both of Kaiju¡¯s heads as they both took deep breaths, ¡°Kaiju no! No Hyper Voice!¡±

    Both heads turned to me and let out a whine in protest. While Leftie was turned away Rightie opened his mouth like a muppet and blasted Leftie with a Dragon Pulse, narrowly missing me. Leftie swiveled around and shot a Dragon Pulse back. Rightie went to bite Leftie, who ducked out of the way. RIIIIIIIP!

    I raised my right arm up to look at my now torn jacket sleeve. I sighed and looked at Kaiju who was now squabbling with himself and running around the bench as each head blamed the other for ripping my jacket.

    Kaiju was a lot harder to handle now that he was a teenager. Sahara even refused to spar with him anymore because he kept spamming Hyper Voice and Draco Meteor like a little shit despite me having banned his usage of them during spars.

    By now, Sahara and Winnie had noticed the disturbance. I exchanged a look with them and nodded.

    Winnie immediately blew an Icy Wind at Kaiju¡¯s feet, temporarily freezing him to the ground. Sahara grinned and stomped over to Kaiju before kicking him over onto his back and watching with glee as the younger dragon squealed and rolled around like an upturned turtle struggling to get back on his feet.

    ¡°Hey! Good morning guys!¡±

    I leaned back and looked at the Pokemon Center back entrance where Justine and her crew were emerging from. Cheerful as always, Litwick excitedly waved at us from atop Justine¡¯s head like a cute sentient hat. ¡°Hi Azzy! Hi foxy! Hi chompy! Hi zweizwei!¡±

    Golett and Yamask were in their usual positions right behind their trainer, Golett gave us a polite wave and the mask ghost nodded at us as he spoke, ¡°Sup losers?¡±

    Winnie grinned and replied to Yamask, ¡°Oh, just feeling¡­fully evolved ya know?¡± The illusion fox then cackled at Yamask¡¯s subsequent scowl and eye roll.

    ¡°Gooood morning.¡± I replied to Justine and Litwick.

    Justine pulled a Luxury ball out from her pocket and waved it at me, ¡°This is the surprise I was talking about yesterday!¡±

    I whistled at the luxury ball, ¡°That¡¯s pretty fancy.¡±

    ¡°Wait till you see who¡¯s inside~¡± Justine pressed the button with a flourish. There was a pop and flash.

    A Hisuan Zorua appeared and sneezed before looking directly at me and grinning, ¡°Hi human! Remember me?¡±

    It took me a second to recognize the little fox.

    Winnie scurried over and laid down in front of the smaller fox with a big smile, ¡°mii!¡±

    ¡°Hi Winnie!¡± Mii yipped, mimicking Winnie¡¯s posture and wagging her tail as they squealed at each other. It was reminiscent of those videos of squealing foxes on Youtube that I used to watch.

    I looked back up at Justine, ¡°How?¡±

    ¡°This cutie wanted to see the outside world.¡± Justine said, ¡°But since she¡¯s the Mountain Lord¡¯s great¨Csomething grandchild, Angela had to help convince her grandmother to let her come outside. She¡¯ll be traveling with me from now on!¡± Justine leaned forward, pointing at herself with a thumb.

    I smiled as I looked back at Winnie and Mii giggling at each other like little kids, ¡°That¡¯s good. It¡¯ll be nice for Winnie to have someone he can relate to nearby.¡±

    ¡°I know right?!¡± Justine beamed, ¡°And I wanna give her a nickname, you mind telling me what you think of the one I have in mind?¡±

    I nodded, ¡°Go ahead.¡±

    Justine scooted back a bit and crouched down next to Mii, ¡°I was thinking of calling her Agatha, after my sister¡¯s mentor.¡±

    I raised an eyebrow at that and exchanged a look with Mii. Mii did not look like an Agatha.

    ¡°That¡¯s a terrible name.¡± Yamask scowled, ¡°No one should be named after that old hag.¡±

    ¡°And my name is Mii! Not Agatha!¡± Mii piped up, ¡°Agatha is a weird name. Tell her that Az!¡±

    I looked between Mii and Justine, ¡°Uhhh, she says her name is Me, not Agatha, she doesn¡¯t like the name Agatha.¡±

    Justine snapped her fingers, ¡°Oh yeah! You can talk to them. Her name is Me?¡±

    Mii growled and huffed, ¡°Again, it¡¯s Mii! Not Me! Why can¡¯t you get it right?¡±

    I carefully crouched down to talk to the little fox, ¡°Hey, you keep saying your name exactly the same way, what¡¯s the difference between Me and Me?¡±

    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

    ¡°One is Mii, the other is Me.¡± Winnie helpfully added.

    Banette floated out of my shadow with an amused grin, ¡°I don¡¯t think she gets it. They¡¯re spelled differently.¡±

    ¡°What does spelled mean?¡± Mii asked Winnie, who shrugged, ¡°it has something to do with the symbols humans write.¡±

    With a dramatic sigh, Yamask floated over with a stick and began drawing in the sand, ¡°Here, I¡¯ll show you illiterates.¡±

    The mask ghost shot Winnie a superior look, probably because Winnie can¡¯t read or write like he could. ¡°One is spelled with two i¡¯s, the other is spelled with one e.¡±

    ¡°M-i-i?¡± I asked, scratching my head. Like a Mii from those Nintendo games? ¡°Okay. Yeah, I can¡¯t hear the difference between the words when you guys say it.¡±

    Justine leaned over to look at Yamask¡¯s writing in the sand with a slightly confused look. ¡°Uhh, whatcha talking about?¡±

    ¡°Uh, it looks like I¡¯m incorrectly pronouncing Me¡¯s name.¡± I replied. Oh yeah she must¡¯ve just been hearing my one sided conversation this entire time. Oops.

    ¡°It¡¯s Mii!¡± Mii indignantly squeaked. I put my hands up, ¡°Right, sorry.¡±

    ¡°Mii is a super cute name! I¡¯ll stick to that then.¡± Justine grinned then she lightly sighed in disappointment, ¡°I really thought she looked like an Agatha though.¡±

    Mii noticeably did not correct Justine¡¯s pronunciation this time. I pointed at Justine and asked the little fox, ¡°Wait, she didn¡¯t say your name wrong?¡±

    Mii shook her head, ¡°No. She said it right.¡±

    Hooowwwwwww???

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s much better than the nicknames Justine tried to give Golett and I.¡± Yamask said in a gruff tone. Golett shuddered.

    I raised my eyebrows, ¡°Really? What were they? They couldn¡¯t have been that bad right?¡±

    Yamask pointed to Golett, ¡°She was gonna name him Steven,¡± then he pointed to himself, ¡°and me, Wallace.¡±

    ¡°I see a pattern here.¡± I said.

    The mask ghost shrugged, ¡°She thankfully gave up on nicknaming us before she got Litwick.¡±

    ¡°i dunno yamask, you really look like a wallace to me.¡± Winnie said with fake enthusiasm, earning another dirty look from the mask ghost.

    ¡°Are you guys talking shit about me?¡± Justine asked with crossed arms and a raised eyebrow.

    Before I could answer, a victorious roar from Kaiju turned our heads. The tornado of terror was back on his feet. The two headed dragon quickly toddled over, mouths set on getting a taste of Mii.

    I got up, nearly tripping over myself as my right leg had gone completely numb, but I was able to grab Kaiju by one of his necks and push him back a bit. The free head tried to chomp Mii, who jumped back with a wild giggle.

    ¡°You can¡¯t catch me zweizwei!¡± Mii shouted in a singsong voice as she ran away laughing. Kaiju grunted and wriggled out of my grip before running after the tasty snack.

    ¡°Winnie, go keep an eye on them please.¡± I sighed resignedly. With a nod, Winnie ran off to join the two.

    ¡°Garchomp.¡± I looked over at Sahara, who was impatiently tapping her foot and growling. She wanted to get back to training.

    ¡°Sorry Sahara.¡± I tapped my watch, ¡°Glados, go find another field and train with Sahara. I want you to work on your new ice type moves.¡±

    Glados swirled out of my watch and flew to one of the empty battlefields with Sahara.

    ¡°Wait for us!¡± Banette shouted as she grabbed Yamask and Golett and dragged them over to join the training session.

    ¡°Everyone is quite lively today.¡± Justine commented.

    I voiced my agreement as I sat back down on the bench. Justine and Liwtick joined me.

    ¡°So, did Professor Rowan agree to let you go to Kalos?¡± I asked the researcher.

    Justine smiled and gave me a double thumbs up, ¡°Yep! I¡¯m gonna be flying to Kalos by the end of the week!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fun, you¡¯re gonna get to study mega evolution.¡±

    Justine paused for a second and blinked in surprise, ¡°Wow, you know about Mega evolution?¡±

    I frowned and returned her look of surprise, ¡°Yeah? Am I not supposed to?¡± Shit, mega evolution isn¡¯t well known until Ash goes to Kalos.

    ¡°Nah, it¡¯s just not super well known.¡± Justine waved a hand, ¡°So how¡¯d you find out about mega evolution?¡±

    ¡°Uhh, well I was interested in Diantha¡¯s Gardevoir¡¯s forme change so I did some research and found out about Mega evos. I kinda assumed that the Kalos lab would be researching the phenomena because that¡¯s where it first appeared. It¡¯s the same for the Galar and Paldea with Dynamaxing and Terrastrializing right?¡±

    That seemed to make sense to Justine and she nodded, ¡°Yep! I wanna be the first to discover a new ghost type mega evolution, they¡¯ve only found one for Sableye, but there surely are more!¡±

    A Gengar-like grin appeared on her face as she said in a lower tone, ¡°And between you and me, I¡¯m gonna obtain mega evolution before my sister and Agatha.¡±

    ¡°Nice.¡± I fist bumped Justine, ¡°I wanna get mega evolution too, but I dunno how I¡¯d get access to the materials.¡±

    ¡°Well the first step would be to go to Kalos,¡± Justine said, ¡°that¡¯s where mega stones and keystones naturally appear.¡±

    ¡°Hey, if you plan on going to Kalos next we can travel there together!¡± Justine said, clapping her hands together in excitement.

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s a good idea.¡± I said before giving Justine a serious look, ¡°Just as long as I don¡¯t get pulled into another fucking expedition.¡±

    The ghost specialist laughed, ¡°Nah. We¡¯ll be in Lumiose city, no one¡¯s sending an expedition there.¡±

    I wonder if the mega stones in the X and Y games are in the same locations here. I don¡¯t remember all of them but I think I know where I can find a Garchompite. The only issue will be obtaining a keystone and staying out of Team Flare¡¯s way, cause Interpol probably isn¡¯t gonna be taking them out within a few weeks like they did with Team Galactic. They¡¯ve got other world-ending problems like Necrozma, Guzzlord, and Eternatus to worry about.

    I smiled and tapped my pocket to let Rotom know I needed it, ¡°Have you booked your flight?¡±

    ¡°Not yet,¡± Justine replied, ¡°I was gonna wait until after I asked you. Let¡¯s book our flights now.¡±

    Rotom flew out of my pocket, yawning and stretching. I waited for it to finish waking up before I opened up the Pokenet, ¡°Oh right, I have to swing by Jubilife first to meet with Professor Rowan.¡±

    ¡°That won¡¯t be a problem, all International flights depart from Jubilife.¡± Justine said, then she scrunched up her mouth, ¡°Actually I¡¯m pretty sure most International flights depart from Jubilife besides the ones to the Indigo plateau and Hoenn. Anyways what I mean is that we¡¯ll be going there anyways.¡±

    I nodded as I looked through flights to Lumiose, ¡°That¡¯s convenient. Which airline should we pick?¡±

    <hr>

    ¡°Let¡¯s get this quickly sorted, I know you and Justine have a flight to catch.¡± Professor Rowan said as he opened a drawer in his desk and began looking through the manilla folders there.

    ¡°If you look at your account, you should be able to see the danger pay you¡¯ve been sent.¡±

    I nodded.

    ¡°Okay, here it is.¡± The Professor took out a manilla folder with a few papers inside and placed it on the desk. ¡°I¡¯ve noticed that you don¡¯t have any sponsorships.¡±

    I nodded again.

    ¡°The reason I asked you to come here was because I would like to sponsor you.¡± Professor Rowan said.

    I blinked in surprise and the only thing I could say was, ¡°Uh, really?¡±

    Rowan raised an eyebrow, ¡°Yes, really. To be frank, you¡¯ve only been a trainer for a few months and you¡¯ve already got two pseudo-legendaries, a small horde of ghost types, a battle trained Porygon-Z, and you have made notable contributions to a major expedition. If I didn¡¯t offer you a sponsorship now, another lab or organization would do so without a second thought.¡±

    I feel like more stuff goes into choosing a sponsor though. Don¡¯t people who get regional lab sponsorships usually take some sort of test beforehand? I mean, being sponsored by a regional lab sounds pretty good though. The extra money will help a lot with the food costs for Kaiju and Sahara.

    After a short moment of deliberation, I replied, ¡°Well, I certainly won¡¯t refuse a regional lab sponsorship.¡±

    ¡°Great,¡± Rowan opened up the manilla folder and slided it and a pen over to me before he began pointing at stuff on the paper, ¡°Here are the benefits, here are a duties you might be asked to carry out on behalf of the lab, here¡¯s everything else. Ask me if you have any questions.¡±

    I took a closer look at the paper, which thankfully had been mostly dumbed down from legal speak, probably for the sake of the trainers reading it.

    Basically, I would receive a stipend of money at the end of each week, and care supplies for my team would be paid for by the league.

    In exchange, I¡¯d have to represent my sponsor in any major competitions I participated in, carry out research tasks within reason, and basically help people if they¡¯re in trouble.

    It all seemed pretty straightforward, so I signed.

    ¡°Okay, now that¡¯s done.¡± Rowan put the papers away as he spoke, ¡°Regional labs usually provide a trainer with a Pokemon. The Sinnoh starters have all already been taken by our other sponsors this year, but we can provide you with any other Pokemon within reason. If you would like a Sinnoh starter, then you will have to wait a few months.¡±

    I shrugged, ¡°That¡¯s fine, I already know what I want. I would like a Rufflet.¡±

    Why a Rufflet? Because Braviary! Big bird! Big eagle! I could ride an eagle like they did in the Lord of the Rings movies! For the more practical reason, it was because I couldn¡¯t ride Sahara anymore. My weak leg would be numb for hours after a short while of being strapped into a dragon saddle, so I¡¯d have to get a Pokemon that could carry a basket instead.

    The Professor sagely nodded, ¡°That won¡¯t be a problem. Once we get a Rufflet for you, I¡¯ll have someone send it over to Sycamore¡¯s lab for you to pick up.¡±

    ¡°Bzzt!¡± Rotom buzzed in my pocket and my watch lit up as Glados put an emoji on the watch screen of a Mr Mime pointing to a watch on its wrist.

    ¡°I¡¯ll have someone teleport you back to the airport.¡± Rowan said, pressing one of the buttons on his office phone.

    We both stood up as an Alakazam opened the door and came in. ¡°Alaka-zam.¡± There was a Natu perched on its shoulder that immediately focused its intense gaze on me.

    Professor Rowan gave Alakazam a short greeting before saying to me, ¡°Thanks for coming by Azalea. One more thing before you leave,¡± He took out a small wooden box and handed it to me. ¡°There¡¯s a note inside.¡±

    I looked at the box and then turned to Alakazam as it gave me an impatient ¡°ahem.¡± I thanked the Professor and hurriedly grabbed Alakazam¡¯s hand, not wanting to test the rather grumpy looking psychic-type¡¯s patience.

    In an instant, the quiet of the Professor¡¯s office was replaced with the loud constant chatter of the airport. I blinked and looked around. Alakazam and Natu had already left.

    I spotted Justine, Litwick, Mii disguised as another Litwick, and Winnie disguised as a Herdier at one of the Pokemon item shops near our gate. She did say something about wanting to find a good dusk stone for when Litwick would eventually need it.

    They saw me as I approached them, Winnie ran over to me and followed me back to Justine, who asked, ¡°So you got the sponsorship?¡±

    I raised an eyebrow, ¡°How¡¯d you know?¡±

    ¡°I work for Rowan, duh.¡± Justine replied, ¡°Also my research group gossips like old ladies.¡±

    ¡°Ah, I see.¡± I said as I turned my attention to the wooden box.

    ¡°what¡¯s that?¡± Litwick pointed at my box. Mii hopped a few times and sniffed the box, ¡°That smells like Meemaw.¡±

    I shrugged, ¡°It¡¯s something the Professor gave me.¡± I opened the box lid. There was a note on top of a purple object with some rather messy handwriting.

    An Azure Flute as a replacement for the instrument of yours that I broke. Angela helped me obtain this one. Hopefully you will be able to play a song that sounds less like a dying Weavile¡¯s screech the next time we meet.

    I took the note out, there indeed was a brand new Azure Flute in the box.

    Bro, I sounded like a dying Weavile because I literally was dying, because of you. But okay I accept the gift.

    ¡°so, what is it?¡± Winnie asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s an Azure Flute. To replace the Pokeflute.¡± I answered as I examined the new instrument as if it would break into a million pieces just from my handling it wrong.

    I felt Justine tug my sleeve and point to our gate. People were beginning to line up to board. She headed for the end of the line and I followed her as I carefully put the box into my bag.

    Well, I guess I have a new instrument to practice.

 (31) Interlude: FBI OPEN UP!

    Location: Veilstone City, Galactic Corporations HQ

    Time: 0600 hours (Six hours before the Nobles reclaimed the Icelands Ranger Base)

    A lowly Team Galactic grunt slowly pushed a janitor¡¯s cart down the semi-empty hallway of one of the lower floors of Team Galactic¡¯s base. The carts wheels lightly squeaked and echoed down the quiet hall as they rolled, but none of the people walking by gave him a second glance. It was like he didn¡¯t exist to them. That was the best thing about being a janitor in places like this.

    Taking one last furtive look at his surroundings, the grunt stopped at the janitor¡¯s closet and casually rolled the cart inside, quietly closing the door behind him.

    The grunt quickly went to the back of the closet and pulled a shoebox out from underneath one of the many dusty shelves of cleaning equipment.

    Inside a pocket of one of the spare Team Galactic uniform shoes was a thumb-sized black Devon tech bag. The grunt double checked the contents of the bag and nodded before quickly stuffing the bag into his pocket.

    He then went around the room and added a bunch of cleaning supplies to his cart before exiting the janitor¡¯s closet. It was about time to go clean the boss¡¯s office before today¡¯s commander¡¯s meeting.

    <hr>

    Location: Veilstone City

    Time: 0900 hours

    A group of about fifteen Galactic corporation employees walked into the building on their way to work, each of them scanning their ID cards at the little machine at the front desk. The red haired man at the front gave the receptionist a polite smile and nod as the group made their way to the elevator.

    The receptionist gave the group a disinterested look and stopped paying attention to them once all the IDs cleared through the system, quickly returning his full attention to the TV show he was watching while pretending to do work on his computer.

    ¡°Switch over.¡± Flint ordered as soon as the elevator doors closed. There were a few soft beeps as the ACE trainers with him tapped their Kecleon suits, their clothes rippled as they shifted in color and shape, quickly changing into the Team Galactic grunt uniform.

    The elevator softly dinged as it reached floor B1. This floor contained the grunt barracks, where the majority of lower ranked Team Galactic members hung out when they weren¡¯t doing anything.

    Eight trainers exited and disappeared into the semi-crowded hallways of B1. Two grunts stepped into the elevator.

    As they began to go down, the faint sounds of a battle beginning from the floor above permeated the silent elevator.

    ¡°Hey, what¡¯s that sound?¡± One of the grunts asked, pointing up, ¡°Is there¨Coof!¡± One of the ACE trainers knocked him out with a solid punch to the head.

    The other grunt didn¡¯t even get a chance to react before someone else knocked her lights out as well.

    The moment the elevator doors opened to floor B2, two bodies flopped out, surprising the people waiting for the elevator.

    ¡°What the¨C¡± One of the grunts gasped before a Sawk socked him in the face and sent him flying.

    ¡°Make some room!¡± Flint shouted as he let out his Flareon and Houndoom, who both let out a short burst of fire to force the grunts back and make room for the ACE trainers and their Pokemon.

    There was a series of pops and flashes as the ACE trainers let out their own Pokemon while the Team Galactic Grunts began to send out a swarm of Zubat, Dustox, Croagunk, and Stunky.

    A Gholdengo shot forward on a golden surfboard and barreled through the poison type attacks from the enemy Pokemon, using its steel type immunity to its advantage.

    ¡°Gholden!¡± The coin ghost snapped its fingers and winked as it sent a storm of glittering gold coins at the enemy Pokemon, ricocheting the coins like bullets all around to hit its opponents multiple times.

    Hellfire spewed out of Houndoom¡¯s maw to meet a Stunky that was preparing to shoot an attack from its behind, burning the skunk into unconsciousness.

    Sawk jumped in and swiftly began knocking out the Galactic grunts with controlled punches and kicks. A Scizor flew past Sawk and used its claws to swipe away a series of Venoshocks from a few Zubat fluttering around before KO-ing them all with Metal Claw.

    ¡°Poison Powder!¡± One of the grunts shouts at two of the still conscious Dustox, who immediately began releasing glittering poisonous scales from their wings.

    ¡°Burn it up!¡± Flint countered. Flareon whipped around, using its tail to send a miniature fire spin at the incoming cloud of poison, sucking it up and burning it away. Houndoom leaped through the fire, sucking up some of the fire to boost its attacks as it shot two balls of fire at the poisonous moth Pokemon and fainted them.

    ¡°Should we use the trap?¡± One of the ACE trainers asked Flint, pointing at her Glaceon and Vaporeon.

    Flint shook his head, keeping his eyes on the hallway in front of them, ¡°Not yet, there aren¡¯t enough here yet. We¡¯ll keep waiting for them to come to us.¡±

    The fire type specialist grinned to himself. This was kinda like how he and Volkner used to train by throwing rocks at Beedrill nests to get all of the bees to swarm in one place and battle them all at once. Though this time he actually had the firepower to take his swarmed enemies out all at once.

    As if on cue, another large group of Galactic grunts turned the corner at the end of the hallway Flint was looking down and began sending out more Pokemon as they charged at the intruders, shouting commands for their Pokemon to attack.

    ¡°Discharge!¡± One of the Ace trainers shouted as their Luxray rushed to the front.

    ¡°Lux!¡± The electric type shouted, a bright web of lightning jumped from its body and caught the incoming horde of Pokemon and grunts alike and stunning them.

    The ACE Pokemon ducked as a Leavanny and Araidos in the back, shot sticky webs at their enemies, immobilizing them.

    They repeated this a few times before the number of grunts coming to confront them was almost nil.

    ¡°Do it.¡± Flint ordered.

    The ACE trainer nodded, and gave Glaceon and Vaporeon the go ahead, ¡°Ice trap, make sure to leave a path for us to get through.¡±

    The ice and water duo darted forward as Luxray, Sawk, Scizor, and Gholdengo jumped back to give them room.

    ¡°Vaporeon!¡± Vaporeon used its tail to summon a massive splash of freezing water that completely soaked the downed grunts and Pokemon. Immediately after that, Glaceon blew a gust of Icy Wind, double layering the sticky webs in ice so that they wouldn¡¯t melt.

    Flareon nodded in approval at its fellow eeveelutions before trotting through the iced hallway, melting a path that would make it safe for people to walk on.

    ¡°Make sure to secure any weapons they might have on them too.¡± Flint said he and Houndoom followed Flareon. ¡°I¡¯m gonna go finish my objective.¡±

    ¡°Yes sir.¡± A few of the ACE trainers replied, they were already in the process of disarming the Team Galactic members and returning all the fainted Pokemon, putting their Pokeballs into a secure bag.

    Flint and his Pokemon quickly made their way to the security room. It didn¡¯t take long because most of the Team Galactic grunts on this floor were trapped in ice, the those that remained were spread out and didn¡¯t dare challenge an elite four member by themselves.

    Turning the corner, Flint spotted a room with a much more heavily reinforced door than all the others. There were three grunts outside with a Croagunk, Zubat, and Stunky, one of the grunts was violently banging on the door.

    ¡°Hey! What are you guys doing in there? Open the door we need to sound the alarm!¡±

    The Croagunk croaked in alarm as it spotted Flint and his Pokemon.

    The redhead grinned and waved at them, ¡°Hey, how¡¯s your day going?¡± Then he clicked his tongue to signal Flareon and Houndoom to attack.

    Flareon crashed into Stunky with Flame Charge, knocking the skunk Pokemon away and fainting it. Houndoom blasted Dustox with a Flamethrower before biting Croagunk with Fire Fang and throwing the frog Pokemon into Dustox, sending both into the wall with enough force to leave a crater.

    Shocked that their Pokemon were taken out so quickly, the grunts barely had any time to react before Flint whipped out a taser and jabbed it into the stomach of the grunt nearest to him. The grunt let out a bunch of garbled noises as he fell to the ground.

    The second closest grunt seemed to have some of his wits about him and pulled out a baton, prompting the last grunt to pull out a can of pepper spray.

    Flint didn¡¯t need to tase them, as a Dark Pulse from Houndoom hit the pepper spray grunt in the back, knocking the wind out of her as she fell to the ground with a cry of pain from the rampant dark type energy coursing through her body. A speedy Quick Attack from Flareon knocked out the baton grunt.

    ¡°Good job guys.¡± Flint said, putting his taser away and walking over to the security door.

    Houndoom trotted over to Flint, making sure to step on all of the downed grunts and digging its claws in walked on them. Flareon followed suit and made sure to snobbily kick some imaginary sand at the grunts with its hind paws.

    Flint knocked a pattern on the frame of the thick metal security door. There was a pause, and some shuffling sounds from inside before the door opened to reveal a rather nondescript looking security guard.

    In the darkness of the security room, Flint could briefly make out the unconscious and tied up forms of the two other security guards that were supposed to be on duty.

    With a hint of a smile, the security guard briefly glanced at the fainted grunts outside as he handed Flint two keycards before quickly closing the door.

    Without another word, Flint headed straight for the lab elevators but paused and glanced at the fainted grunts in front of the security room after he saw one of them slightly move in the corner of his eye. He tapped one of the Pokeballs on his belt, letting out his Magmortar.

    ¡°Watch them until someone comes to pick them up.¡± Flint said, pointing to the grunts.

    Magmortar looked a bit disappointed that it was assigned to babysitting duty instead of getting to battle but it nodded.

    Once he was at the lab elevators, Flint checked his commlink. There was a message from the team assigned to B1 that they had cleared their floor, and another from his team that they were in the process of clearing B2 for any stragglers.

    ¡°Good, I don¡¯t have to wait.¡± The elite four trainer said as he took a small flat circular disc the size of his palm and set it on the ground.

    The device flashed and then expanded to the size of a large pizza.

    There was a flash as Lucian appeared on the circle and quickly stepped off of it. A somewhat grimm-looking Johtonian man in an Interpol uniform appeared right after Lucian and stepped off to let the rest of their joint ACE and Interpol team teleport in.

    Flint smiled and handed Lucian and the lead Interpol agent the all access keycards. ¡°Careful, there¡¯s only two of ¡®em.¡±

    Lucian nodded, ¡°Will do.¡±

    <hr>

    Location: Veilstone City, Galactic Corporations HQ, Team Galactic Head Office

    Time: 0930 hours

    ¡°Those bastards! How dare they invade our base?!¡± Jupiter threw a remote at one of the TV screens showing the security feed, cracking the screen showing ACE trainers and Interpol storming the main lobby. One of them took the time to show the panicked receptionist a piece of paper.

    ¡°How did they find headquarters without us knowing?¡± Mars asked, ¡°They shouldn¡¯t have access to enough info for them to get a search warrant for the building!¡±

    ¡°Clearly they do,¡± Saturn grimly replied, ¡°there must¡¯ve been a whistleblower or a spy that we missed.¡±This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

    ¡°Is that Cynthia?!¡± Mars exclaimed, pointing to the lobby camera showing the Sinnoh champion and her Lucario making their way to the elevator.

    ¡°What should we do boss?¡± Saturn asked Cyrus, who was silently watching the video feed.

    Cyrus was silent for a moment as he contemplated his options, ¡°This base is lost.¡± The leader of Team Galactic walked over to one of the blank walls in his office and pressed his hand against it.

    The wall slid up, revealing a warp portal. ¡°We must retrieve Charon and his research before leaving. Our plans will still be viable as long as we still have a way to create the Red Chain.¡±

    Cyrus stepped onto the device but nothing happened. The leader¡¯s frown deepened as he checked the warp portal, it had been tampered with, but that shouldn¡¯t have been possible. He was the only one who knew about this.

    Seeing the issue, Jupiter sent out a Bronzong, ¡°I¡¯ll have Bronzong teleport us down then.¡± Bronzong shuddered, ¡°Bron¡­zong¡­¡±

    ¡°I think something is wrong with Bronzong.¡± Mars commented as she noticed Bronzong shuddering as it repeatedly failed to teleport.

    Saturn scanned the room, ¡°I think I know what it is.¡±

    Cyrus knelt down and reached under the warp panel. He pulled his hand out and examined the little black domed device that he had just detached from the underside of the panel and showed it to his commanders. ¡°Someone has placed anti-teleportation tech around my office.¡±

    He crushed the object in his fist. ¡°Quick, find as many as you can, once we destroy enough we should be able to teleport.¡±

    ¡°Going somewhere hun?¡± An unfamiliar voice asked in a taunting tone.

    The Team Galactic Leader and Commanders instantly came to attention, hands hovering above their Pokeball belts as they looked around. A beep from above made them look up.

    A blonde, short haired lady in a light tan trenchcoat floated horizontally above Cyrus. She gave them a coy wave as the Elgyem who was holding her up with Psychic beeped again and flashed an Interpol badge at the criminals.

    The lady instantly dropped down, elbowing Cyrus in the temple and sending him reeling, holding his head before the Interpol agent landed with a neat roll and swept Cyrus¡¯s feet from out under him with a leg, sending him crashing to the ground. The leader of Team Galactic scrambled to get up, managing to press the buttons on one of the Pokeballs on his belt right before he was pinned to the ground with his arms harshly twisted behind his back.

    There¡¯s a pop and a flash as a Crobat lets itself loose from Cyrus¡¯s Pokeball belt and screeched in fury at its trainer being threatened by this stranger. The purple bat furiously slashed its wings through the air, sending a series of vicious Air Slashes at the Interpol Agent.

    At the same time, the Team Galactic Commanders all reached for their Pokeballs. Elgyem used Psychic to relieve Cyrus of his Pokeball belt.

    A salvo of Water Shurikens intercepted the blades of wind, creating a small explosion that Crobat cleared out with a flap from its wings just in time to see a Greninja face to face as the ninja frog punched the bat with a fist coated in ice.

    Greninja landed a rapid second Ice Punch that sent Crobat crashing to the other side of the room where it stayed, its eyes spinning. The water type neatly landed in a ninja pose between the commanders and its trainer.

    The Interpol agent grunted as Cyrus fought back, blowing her in the stomach as he struggled to get his hands free while she tried to put handcuffs onto him.

    ¡°Psybeam Bronzong! Skuntank use Poison Tail! Get your filthy hands off our glorious leader!¡± Jupiter screamed with an expression comparable to that of a rabid Grimmsnarl.

    ¡°Brick Break.¡± Saturn ordered the Toxicroak he sent out, who glared at Greninja. Another frog¡­There was only one frog allowed in that room, and that frog was Toxicroak!

    A Purugly appeared behind Toxicroak and Skuntank and meowed disdainfully. ¡°Double Team and Play Rough.¡± Mars ordered.

    Shrugging off Bronzong¡¯s Psybeam, Greninja deftly parried Skuntank¡¯s Poison Tail with a Night Slash before slamming a massive Water Shuriken into the skunk Pokemon, sending it flying and knocking it out.

    ¡°Purrr!¡± Purugly meowed as a series of clone Purugly¡¯s appeared and began running all around Greninja in a confusing pattern.

    ¡°Toxi!¡± Toxicroak croaked, darting forward and swinging a furious fighting type imbued fist at the ninja frog.

    Dodging the attack with ease, Greninja mockingly ribbeted back as it slammed its own Brick Break into Toxicroak¡¯s face, knocking the enemy frog out in one hit before throwing it into Bronzong.

    All of the Purugly duplicates eyes glinted and they pounced in unison once it saw its enemy distracted with Toxicroak. It infused its body with fairy type energy and tried body-checking the ninja frog.

    ¡°Purrr?!¡± The fat cat meowed in alarm as Greninja turned into a log with a poof, and the real Greninja appeared behind the cat in another poof of smoke.

    ¡°Greninja nin, greninja.¡± Greninja quipped as it hit Purugly with a devastating Night Slash and landed gracefully. The cat Pokemon flopped to the ground, fainted.

    ¡°No! Purugly!¡± Mars shouted, quickly returning her cat Pokemon while Saturn returned Toxicroak with gritted teeth.

    There was a ratcheting sound as the Interpol agent finally finished tightening handcuffs around Cyrus¡¯s wrists. She pressed the nest ball on her belt as she got up. A Shuckle appeared and landed in front of Cyrus and gave him a mean look as if to say, ¡°Try something and see what happens. I dare you.¡±

    Elgyem pointed up, using Psychic to levitate Cyrus so that he wouldn¡¯t be able to slip away.

    The commanders reached for their other Pokeballs again to find them gone. There was a loud cackle as a purple mist with green spots tauntingly showed them the items it had liberated from them before disappearing underneath the crack of the office door.

    Then the door burst open, kicked in by a Garchomp. Cynthia strode in after the dragon and a small group of ACE trainers poured in after them, ready for a confrontation.

    Spiritomb reformed behind its trainer and cackled again as it tauntingly juggled the Pokeballs it just stole.

    ¡°Surrender yourselves. You don¡¯t want to fight us.¡± Cynthia calmly stated, ¡°We¡¯ve already captured¨C¡±

    Jupiter let loose an ear-piercing scream, ¡°Like hell we¡¯d give up! We¡¯d rather die than give up on our great leader!¡± The violet haired commander pulled out a knife from her sleeve and ran straight at Cynthia.

    Garchomp deflected Jupiter¡¯s knife attack, breaking the weapon with her tough scales and knocked the commander out with a swift controlled strike to the face. Mars and Saturn backed up from the growling landshark only to be met by Greninja behind them.

    The Interpol agent cleared her throat as she approached the commanders, ¡°Cyrus Akagi, Rie Ortiz, Taiki Okamura, and Chinami Kinoshita, you are under arrest for multiple counts of murder, assault, inciting gang violence, grand theft, endangering Pokemon, Pokemon trafficking, murdering Pokemon, attempting to incite the anger of legendaries,¡±

    The agent sighed as she trailed off, ¡°...and, etcetera. You guys fucked up. Right now you should make the smart decision and surrender without having to force us to knock you out too.¡± The agent gestured at Jupiter¡¯s unconscious form on the floor, a small trickle of blood flowing from her nose.

    Garchomp added to the effect by giving the remaining two commanders a good show of her razor sharp teeth.

    Mars sighed and put her hands up in defeat, ¡°Fine. I surrender. Just please don¡¯t permanently take my Pokemon away from me.¡±

    Once Mars surrendered, Saturn made up his mind and followed suit, muttering an apology to Cyrus as he and Mars let themselves be handcuffed and led away by ACE trainers.

    It was then that Cyrus finally decided to speak. ¡°You¡¯ve made a grave mistake Cynthia.¡±

    Eyes narrowing, Cynthia approached her former friend. Garchomp softly snarled, she was ready to cut this bastard up the moment Cynthia said so.

    With a cold smile, Cynthia replied. ¡°A mistake? Yes you¡¯re right. I made the mistake of trusting you. I believed that you wanted to improve Sinnoh for the sake of the people and Pokemon. Clearly I was wrong.¡±

    Cyrus scowled and glared at the Champion, ¡°You will never understand. I do want to improve Sinnoh, I want to make the entire world a perfect place, and you have ruined this world¡¯s chance for paradise.¡±

    ¡°You mean your chance for paradise, Cyrus, at the cost of everyone else.¡± Cynthia retorted, before turning her back on him. ¡°Take him away.¡± She sharply ordered the ACE trainers standing by, ¡°I don¡¯t want to have to see his face again.¡±

    Two ACE trainers stepped forward and roughly grabbed Cyrus by the arms. Elgyem let them take him from its psychic hold and gave Cyrus a cheerful double middle finger as he was carted away, still glaring at the people who had completely torn down his dreams.

    Cynthia didn¡¯t spare him a glance and turned to the Interpol agent who was speaking into her commlink, ¡°This is Ginger, the leaders have all been arrested. Earl, what¡¯s your progress?¡±

    The agent listened for a moment before nodding and turning to the Champion. ¡°The team in Lab 2 are having some trouble with some rogue Pokemon. We¡¯re gonna need the rangers.¡±

    The Champion nodded and motioned for the remaining ACE trainers to go fetch a few rangers, ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go help him out then.¡±

    <hr>

    Location: Veilstone City, Galactic Corporations HQ, Lab 1

    Time: 0930 hours

    The labs were in an uproar, scientists ran around in a panic like a disturbed nest of Durant as they went about trying to teleport away only to discover that they were trapped.

    In the midst of the chaos, Head Scientist Charon stood at one of the big machines, intently typing stuff into it and reading the graphs it printed out. The multiple Magneton the machine was hooked up to groaned as massive amounts of electricity were sapped from them.

    One of the scientists stopped by Charon, ¡°Head scientist! We need help repairing the warp panels!¡±

    Charon simply waved the scientist off, ¡°We¡¯re not going to escape. Do you not know who is leading the raid?¡±

    ¡°Cynthia? She can¡¯t track¨C¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not just the Champion you fool.¡± Charon continued to type into the machine, ¡°Interpol is involved, so that means those two are involved as well.¡±

    ¡°Who? What? But¨C¡±

    Charon interrupted the scientist again with another dismissive wave. ¡°Besides, I¡¯m on the verge of a breakthrough in my research. The Interpol may not like me, but the league will find my research useful enough to allow me to continue it, so it¡¯s no big loss for me.¡±

    There was a groaning from the machine Charon was operating on, the elderly scientist straightened and adjusted his glasses as he tried to figure out what was wrong. ¡°That¡¯s not a good sound.¡± He muttered to himself.

    Suddenly, the machine imploded like a soda can crumpling, causing the head scientist to recoil and fall onto his ass while the previously trapped Magneton bounced away, suddenly free.

    The scientist Charon was talking let out a surprised squeak and turned to run but collided face-first into an invisible wall and fell down, clutching her now bleeding nose.

    ¡°Actually, the Pokemon League has agreed to let Interpol prosecute you, and I can assure you, they don¡¯t intend on making any deals.¡± Lucian said with a cold smile as he stepped over the scientist with the bleeding nose.

    In the background, Lucian¡¯s Mr Mime was herding the Team Galactic Scientists into boxes made of psychic energy using its barriers while his Alakazam and Espeon helped the ACE trainers and Interpol agents seize all of the research and equipment.

    ¡°This¨Cthis is all just a misunderstanding!¡± Charon stuttered, raising his hands as he scooted backwards, ¡°I mean Cyrus wanted to play with the very fabric of space and time, so I made sure I could supervise to make sure it wouldn¡¯t go too far!¡±

    ¡°You made sure it wouldn¡¯t go too far huh?¡± Lucian leaned down and held up a file neatly labeled in big black letters: The Chimera Project. ¡°You want to tell me what this is then?¡±

    ¡°Well, you see, that¡¯s our project on creating a Pokemon using the best parts of other Pokemon! It¡¯s¨C¡± Charon screamed in terror as a psychic force picked him up. Alakazam pointed its spoon downwards and slammed Charon into the ground, knocking the scientist out.

    Disgusting, I wish I could wash my telekinesis. Alakazam commented as it gave Charon a disdainful look.

    I¡¯ll see what I can do about that. Lucian replied as he took out his commlink and spoke into it, ¡°Lab B3 has been captured. What¡¯s the progress on the other floors?¡±

    Flint was the first to reply, ¡°Floors B1 and B2 are completely cleared, all the Team Galactic members have been arrested. We¡¯re in the process of loading them up to be transported.¡±

    ¡°This is Ginger, the leaders have all been arrested. Earl, what¡¯s your progress?¡±

    There was a pause before the Interpol agent in charge of the team clearing Lab B4 answered, ¡°We¡¯ve arrested the scientists here but a few of the Pokemon they¡¯ve experimented on are giving us some trouble. Ranger assistance is requested.¡±

    ¡°I will let them know.¡±

    <hr>

    Location: Veilstone City, Galactic Corporations HQ

    Time: 1300 hours

    A group of rangers gently coaxed a bunch of scarred and emaciated Stantler and Wyrdeer over to the temporary warp panel that had been set up to transport them out without stressing them out too much. One ranger loosely looped a capture styler cord around the boney neck of the herd leader, using a sitrus berry to keep it focused on the food instead of its surroundings.

    Seeing their leader so calm helped relax the rest of the herd, and they quickly followed suit when presented with tasty berries.

    Cynthia, Flint, Lucian, and their Pokemon silently watched the progression from the observation deck. Garchomp sniffed and looked away, it couldn¡¯t stand the sight of Pokemon in such a sorry state. Alakazam nudged Garchomp¡¯s arm, ¡°Alakazam, zam ala alakazam.¡± Then it mimed slamming someone into the ground.

    Garchomp snorted in slight amusement.

    They looked over as the elevator softly dinged. Agent Ginger and Agent Earl exited with Elgyem floating in between them.

    Ginger lightly winced as she saw the state of the Stantler being transported out. ¡°Wow, this is probably one of the worst cases I¡¯ve seen since the fall of Team Rocket.¡±

    ¡°Man, if I ever get my hands on those people.¡± Flint growled, clenching his fists. ¡°Flare!¡± Flareon barked, shooting a jet of fire into the air. Houndoom flexed its claws.

    ¡°The best thing we can do now is make sure the victims all recover and are well taken care of.¡± Earl replied to Flint¡¯s statement.

    ¡°Where¡¯s Looker?¡± Cynthia asked, glancing around, ¡°Is he okay?¡±

    ¡°Oh, Looker? He¡¯s already on his way to the next assignment.¡± Ginger answered.

    Cynthia furrowed her eyebrows in concern and she exchanged a look with Flint and Lucian. Then Flint asked, ¡°You mean there are even more organizations like¡­¡± He trailed off as he glanced at the nearby rangers and ACE trainers.

    ¡°Yes, but it doesn¡¯t have to do with Sinnoh so it¡¯s none of your concern.¡± Earl said with a tone of finality.

    ¡°Well then, please thank Looker for me when you next see him.¡± Cynthia said, then she lowered her voice, ¡°I don¡¯t even want to think about what would¡¯ve happened if Cyrus had gotten his hands on the orbs and the lake guardians.¡±

    One of the rangers waved up at the trio and shouted as the last Pokemon was sent through the warp panel, ¡°That¡¯s the last of them!¡±

    Cynthia nodded and waved back, ¡°Thank you for helping us out, I would like updates on the Pokemon rescued from this facility when possible.¡±

    The ranger nodded before disappearing through the warp panel with the rest of the rangers. Then Cynthia¡¯s commlink buzzed, ¡°Champion, the news crews are beginning to arrive.¡±

    Cynthia took a moment to collect herself. She straightened her posture and smoothed down her jacket before she responded, ¡°Direct them to the conference venue.¡±

    ¡°Well,¡± Cynthia turned to the others, ¡°I have a press conference to prepare for. See you there.¡± She and Garchomp then walked over to the warp panel and disappeared.

    ¡°I¡¯m not looking forward to the fallout of this.¡± Flint groaned as he began to head for the warp panels. The others followed suit.

    Earl mirrored Flint¡¯s scowl and grumbled under his breath, ¡°I¡¯d rather deal with terrorists than the press.¡±

    ¡°Hey, look at the bright side.¡± Ginger chirped, ¡°At least Sunyshore Energy will finally have a chance now that Galactic Corporations won¡¯t be dominating the energy market. I¡¯m excited to see what Volkner will come up with.¡±

    <hr>

    Location: Veilstone City, Temporary Interpol HQ

    Time: 2-ish Weeks After the raid on Galactic Corporation HQ

    There was a light knock on the office door. Earl looked up as Ginger and Elgyem entered, the latter levitated nine large boxes of files into the office before Ginger closed the door behind her.

    Inteleon gave Ginger and Elgyem a nod to acknowledge their presence but otherwise kept her attention on her paperwork.

    ¡°Do you need something?¡± Earl asked in a somewhat tired voice, warily eyeing the boxes of files. He had been stuck here doing paperwork all week and wasn¡¯t looking forward to more being piled on his desk.

    Ginger grinned and patted ¡°Yep, I also have some stuff that you¡¯ll find interesting.¡±

    Earl sighed and stretched, leaning back in his chair as he massaged his sore neck, ¡°Does it have to do with our anonymous informant?¡±

    Elgyem gently set the boxes down in front of Earl¡¯s desk as Ginger answered, ¡°Yep. I¡¯ve figured out who they are.¡±

    That earned another sigh from Earl, ¡°That¡¯s a breach of privacy. There¡¯s a reason why we let people stay anonymous.¡± He put extra emphasis on the word anonymous.

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t on purpose,¡± Ginger retorted, crossing her arms, ¡°It¡¯s just that I can read Mr Renato like a book.¡±

    ¡°Elg-yem!¡± Elgyem beeped, waving its arm and letting its multicolored fingers flash. Ginger nodded and gestured at the psychic type, ¡°And I had some help from Ellie. It¡¯s pretty obvious where he met the informant, so I was able to figure out who they were with a simple background check.¡±

    ¡°Cool. I don¡¯t see why this is important. He told us the informant wasn¡¯t part of any criminal groups.¡± Earl wheeled his chair back, reaching to a desk behind him to grab his mug of coffee. The agent wrinkled his nose in distaste as he took a sip, the coffee had gone cold.

    Ginger raised an eyebrow, ¡°Yeah, but he didn¡¯t mention that our informant is most likely a faller.¡±

    Earl paused and turned back to Ginger, ¡°You¡¯re kidding me right?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not the most shocking part.¡± Ginger reached into one of her inner pockets and took out a photo to show to her colleague. ¡°You remember the most recent expedition to Alabaster Mountain?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Earl reached out and took the photo that Ginger offered him, looking skeptically at the group photo of the expedition group posing outside of the Sinnoh regional lab. ¡°And?¡±

    Ginger pointed at one of the people in the photo, ¡°Take a closer look at the girl with the White Zorua. Her name is Azalea Lang. Sound familiar?¡±

    Earl thought for a moment before speaking, ¡°Yeah, I remember that name from the Y-Incident in Kalos. She was one of the victims.¡±

    Inteleon¡¯s pen paused and the sniper lizard sharply looked up from her paperwork as she heard the familiar names. Elgyem beeped curiously at the water type, who quietly began to explain the incident to the psychic type.

    The blonde agent pulled out a file from one of the boxes and flipped through the few sheets of paper in it.

    ¡°No listed family, no known background besides all the inconsistent crap she¡¯s been giving everyone, she just spontaneously appeared one day. Then she began giving us accurate information about organizations, places, and events that a normal person should not know. And she doesn¡¯t write about it like how Olympia does it with her prophecies, but more as if she¡¯d heard the sources from somewhere else as facts, like in a history book.¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯re saying that this kid is Azalea Lang, but from another dimension that¡¯s in the future.¡± Earl stated.

    ¡°Yep.¡± Ginger nodded, ¡°We won¡¯t know for sure until someone scans her for ultra wormhole energy. Just to be safe, we should make sure she doesn¡¯t go to Alola anytime soon.¡±

    ¡°Are you gonna inform the higher ups?¡± Earl asked.

    ¡°Ha! Are you serious?¡± Ginger scoffed and shook her head, ¡°Of course not. I don¡¯t need another kid being used as Ultra Beast bait.¡±

    Earl nodded in agreement, ¡°Yeah I agree with that. I guess we¡¯ll figure out what to do about her later.¡± The guy looked like he aged a few years in only a few seconds as he thought about the potential backlash from their bosses.

    ¡°That¡¯s exactly what I was thinking.¡± Ginger said with a grin, ¡°I¡¯ll pull some strings to make sure this kid doesn¡¯t get noticed by anyone else in the meantime. We¡¯ve got more important stuff to get to, courtesy of said kid.¡±

    She patted the file boxes, ¡°We just received new info from Mr. Renato and the informant, so I pulled out all the relevant files. I was right about the Aether Foundation.¡±

    Earl perked up as he heard the name of the organization, ¡°So we¡¯re hitting Alola next? I¡¯d like to put a stop to the Chimera Project asap.¡±

    ¡°Nah, sorry to disappoint.¡± Ginger replied as she began piling files onto Earl¡¯s desk, ¡°But we need more time for Looker to investigate. We¡¯re hitting Galar next.¡±

    The blonde agent dropped a final file onto Earl¡¯s desk labelled: The Darkest Day. ¡°It¡¯s gonna be a doozy, I wonder if we¡¯ll be given clearance to use Dynamax.¡± Ginger grinned as she thought of something interesting, ¡°Hey! What do you think will happen if I use both Mega Evolution and Dynamax at the same time?¡±

    ¡°Nothing good.¡± Earl growled with distaste as he picked up one of the files and began flipping through it, ¡°Arceus¡¯s asshole. I hate Galar and I hate dealing with Dynamaxed Pokemon.¡±

 (32) An Unpleasant Surprise

    The streets of Lumiose city were lined with a ridiculous amount of bushes, flowerbeds, and trees. It was like the city was part forest, which I guess was because the city wanted to cater to the fairy types who resided in the region. They were what Kalos was famous for after all.

    There were swarms of Flabebe, Cutifly, and Ribombee fluttering around the flowerbeds, and large flocks of Fletchling roosting in the trees and bushes. A few flocks of Pidove hopped around restaurants with outdoor venues, greedily pecking at any food that people dropped.

    There was a distinct lack of cars. Well, there were a few cars, emphasis on a few. Most people here seemed to prefer using their own ride Pokemon or the Gogoat taxis that clopped around. So the city streets and infrastructure seemed to be built more for pedestrians and ride Pokemon than motor vehicles.

    Justine and I were taking a ride in one of the many Gogoat taxis. We were tired from the flight to Kalos and not in the mood to walk from the airport to the places we needed to go to get supplies, and then to Sycamore¡¯s lab.

    ¡°Bzzt!¡±

    ¡°Gogoat, the mount Pokemon. It can sense the feelings of others by touching them with its horns. This species has assisted people with their work since 5,000 years ago. In the wild, these Pok¨¦mon live in herds in mountainous places. The leader of the herd is decided by a battle of clashing horns.¡±

    Rotom was flying alongside our carriage and scanning any Pokemon it found interesting, while Winnie¨Ccurrently disguised as a Manectric¨Cran alongside Gogoat and chatted with the grass type about the city.

    Litwick in between Justine and I, the candle pokemon was stooping a bit so that its candle flame wouldn¡¯t be disturbed by the wind.

    Mii on the other hand had her paws on the side of the cart and was eagerly looking around at all the stuff she¡¯d never seen before. She was also disguised, having taken the appearance of a Lillipup.

    After a short while of just looking at Lumiose City, the strange ratio of fairy types to any other type finally registered to me. There were a lot of fairy types present, like, way more than I¡¯d ever seen before in other regions. Most of the bakeries¨Cand there were a ridiculous amount of bakeries¨Chad multiple Alcremie, Slurpuff, Dachsbun, and Aromatise working alongside the bakers.

    Any shop that sold plants had multiple members of the Florges, Whimsicott, Ribombee, or Comfey lines tending to the plants and helping customers pick plants or create bouquets.

    Sylveon and Dachsbun seemed to be some of the most popular companion Pokemon in Lumiose because I lost count of how many I saw, and of course, there were a ton of Dedenne. That at least made sense, fairy type electric thieves would obviously want to live live in a fairy friendly city that also hosted an electric type gym.

    There was also a noticeably large amount of Diantha and Gardevoir merch, every single shop I saw had something related to them. Kalos sure loved its champion. That or Diantha had a good marketing team. I mean, everyone on the Pokenet joked about how Sinnoh citizens were all fanatical Cynthia fans but even they didn¡¯t have this much merch.

    I returned from my train of thought as the cart slowed and came to a stop next to the Voodoo shop, Justine needed to pick up some ghost-related supplies so I waited while she went in and got her stuff.

    It only took a few minutes until Justine came back out, stuffing the Mimikyu logo bags into her bag as she hopped back on. Gogoat seemed rather relieved to leave as it clopped away from the ghostly store, letting out a ¡°baa¡± as it took a quicker pace than it had before we stopped by the ghost shop. I stole a glance back at the store. I didn¡¯t think there¡¯d be one in Lumiose, well unless it¡¯s a chain store or something.

    I blinked in surprise. The Voodoo shop wasn¡¯t there anymore, in its place was a dark alleyway with a Trubbish eating some of the trash from the dumpster. Ah, yeah something like that happened last time. Ghosts and their ghost shenanigans.

    Our next stop was the Stone Emporium on Vernal Avenue. It was a high-end store that sold equally high quality evolution stones. I didn¡¯t really get the difference between low and high quality evolution stones, I think it had something to do with high quality ones having more uses.

    Justine wanted to get a dusk stone for Litwick even though it would probably be a while before the candle Pokemon evolved into a Lampent and would be ready to use the stone. Either way, Justine wanted to be prepared and this was kind of just an excuse to go look at a famous high end store and spend some of her own money instead of her sister¡¯s money.

    It would be a short walk from the Stone Emporium to the Kalos lab after that because the Kalos Lab was at the end of the Vernal Avenue, not far from where we were.

    We hopped off of Gogoat¡¯s cart and thanked the grass goat while Rotom scanned itself on Gogoat¡¯s little cart machine to pay for the ride. Gogoat baa-ed and nodded before clopping away to its next customer.

    Hey, didn¡¯t the Stone Emporium sell mega stones in the game? I gotta keep an eye out for those.

    I let Justine enter first, Litwick and Mii each took a place on Justine¡¯s shoulder, they were eager to look at the gems and were quietly chanting, ¡°Dusk stone, dusk stone, dusk stone.¡±

    I leaned over to Winnie, ¡°Keep an eye out for any stones with a spiral pattern and weird energy coming from it.¡±

    ¡°Got it.¡± Winnie nodded. Banette floated out of my shadow, her eyes sparkling, ¡°Oooo shinies!¡±

    Winnie grinned and nudged Banette with his nose, ¡°Are you a Sableye or something?¡±

    Banette batted Winnie¡¯s head away, ¡°No dumbass, is there something wrong with liking pretty things?¡±

    A bell chimed as we entered the store. It wasn¡¯t very busy, and there were only a few customers proudly wearing brand name clothing and accessories perusing the shinies on display.

    There was a stylishly bedazzled Claydol sitting in the middle of the store with a few pieces of expensive jewelry floating in cases around it. A Hatterene and a well-dressed woman stood behind one of the counters, they greeted us as we entered and Justine immediately went to their section to look at the evolution stones.

    Winnie and I kinda just looked around at the jewels and waited for Justine and Litwick to pick out the perfect dusk stone. It felt kind of weird to be in a super fancy place like this, plus I didn¡¯t like the look of the security Mightyena in the corner that was eyeing us down.

    I wasn¡¯t too interested in anything cause they were all out of my price range and just looked at the stuff on display with mild interest. That was before Winnie tugged on my sleeve and led me over to a display case in the front where Banette pointed to a silver necklace with a large marble-sized light steel-blue gem with a unique orange and light tan spiral in its center as its main piece.

    My eyes widened. A mega stone? It¡¯s a mega stone, right? I can¡¯t tell if it just happens to look like one and I don¡¯t know which Pokemon has a mega stone that color. The only mega stones I¡¯m really familiar with are the ones for Charizard X and Garchomp¡­

    Since it¡¯s mostly gray is it a steel type mega stone? Hopefully it is. I¡¯ll eventually need a strong fairy slayer on my team considering how Kaiju has a four times weakness.

    Banette floated closer to me, ¡°There¡¯s some sort of weird life energy coming from it. It¡¯s probably what you¡¯re looking for.¡±

    I looked back at the mega stone and checked the price tag. Ten thousand dollars?! Yeah, past me would have never thought that I¡¯d even consider buying a piece of jewelry more than like fifty bucks.

    Its design also really wasn¡¯t my style but¡­ I totally had the money for that. Aaaaand it was a mega stone that probably cost way more than ten thousand dollars. Well, there¡¯s no need to be stingy about it if it¡¯s a mega stone and I can afford it with ease.

    I looked up as I heard someone walking over. It was one of the store employees, an older man dressed in a suit who smiled and gestured at the necklace I was looking at. ¡°Would you like to take a closer look?¡±

    ¡°Actually, I¡¯d like to buy that one.¡± I replied, pointing at the mega stone necklace. Gotta yoink this while people still don¡¯t know its true value.

    The employee smiled and nodded, ¡°Sure, right this way.¡±

    A few minutes later, Justine and I exited back onto the bustling street of Vernal Avenue. Litwick was happily brandishing a box with its dusk stone inside and talking with Mii about how much it liked its new stone.

    Banette was actually able to identify one more piece of jewelry with a mega stone in it, a beautiful deep blue and black gem with the mega stone symbol that was 100% a Charizardite X, but it was also more than a million dollars, so I passed on that.

    I wonder where they got these mega stones from.

    I shaded my eyes from the sun as I tried to figure out which direction we had to go in. ¡°The Kalos lab is south of here right?¡±

    ¡°Yep.¡± Justine nodded as she put Litwick back on her head and let Mii hop into her jacket hood like how Winnie used to sit in mine.

    I caught Winnie giving the smaller fox a jealous look and smiled. Sorry bud but you¡¯re too big for the pouch.

    Then I turned to Rotom, ¡°Rotom, which direction is south?¡±

    ¡°Bzzt!¡± The phone ghost pointed to our right, and to emphasize the point, its screen flashed a big red arrow in the same direction.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    ¡°Aight, let¡¯s go. I wanna go sit on a comfy couch.¡± I stretched and rubbed my aching back muscles, that was what I got for sleeping in a weird position on the cramped airplane seats.

    ¡°Yeah I feel that.¡± Justine said with a yawn as we began walking. ¡°So, what did you get at the store?¡±

    ¡°I got one of the necklaces. It looked like a mega stone.¡± I replied. Banette was currently in charge of holding the item until we could identify which Pokemon it could mega evolve.

    ¡°Wait what?!¡± Justine¡¯s eyes widened, then she lowered her voice to more of a whisper-shout as she continued, ¡°You found a mega stone in the store? Let me see!¡±

    I waved her off, ¡°I¡¯ll show you later when we get to the lab.¡±

    ¡°Oh fine.¡± Justine sighed and put her hands on her hips, ¡°So what¡¯s on your Kalos to-do list? Are you gonna challenge any gyms?¡±

    Damn, the league season starts in like, a week right?

    ¡°Eh.¡± I shrugged, ¡°Probably not. I¡¯d rather focus on training my team for now, if I wanna have any more challenging Pokemon battles I¡¯ll go to the Battle Chateau. Other than that, I wanna go see the Glittering Cave, visit Anistar City, and Geosenge.¡±

    Justine nodded, ¡°Yeah the Battle Chateau and Geosenge are on my list too, but I¡¯ll probably end up visiting Geosenge with some other researchers. My top picks are this ghost coven on Route 6 and Laverre City.¡±

    I raised an eyebrow, ¡°Route 6 ghost coven? I¡¯ve never heard of that before.¡± I moved to the side to avoid a Smeargle and an artist painting on a massive canvas on the side of the street.

    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s this massive abandoned graveyard that only appears once in a while at night.¡± Justine waved her arms to emphasize the word massive, ¡°I want to catch a Pumpkaboo from there.¡±

    I gave my friend a concerned look, ¡°And why would you go straight into a ghost¡¯s den? I know you¡¯re a ghost type specialist and all but that doesn¡¯t seem like a good idea.¡±

    Justine shook her head with a sly Gengar smile spread on her face, ¡°Not for all covens. The Gourgeist who¡¯s the master of the coven is known to let people catch ghosts from her territory as long as she approves of them. Think about it, it¡¯s a lot safer to get stronger under the care of a trainer than in the wild. Then once the ghost¡¯s trainer dies in a few decades, they will return to their coven a lot stronger than when they left.¡±

    ¡°Ah, I see.¡± I said with a slight grimace. That feels a bit¡­morbid, but I guess it makes sense in a pragmatic way.

    Mii gave me a knowing nod, ¡°Yeah that¡¯s basically my plan.¡±

    ¡°Me too!¡± Litwick added with a few arm waves. ¡°It¡¯s hard to get a dusk stone back home.¡± Litwick put on a stern face as it mimicked someone, ¡°A few short decades of partnership for quick growth, and if you don¡¯t like them, you can just drain their life force like juice from a juice box and move on to the next one.¡±

    The candle Pokemon¡¯s face returned to its normal cute expression, ¡°That¡¯s what my pops says.¡±

    I just nodded and said, ¡°Mhm.¡± Well that¡¯s certainly uh, like how a ghost would think.

    Then I switched the subject, ¡°You looking to catch anything else besides a Pumpkaboo?¡±

    ¡°A Honedge, but they¡¯re kind of rare. I might just trade for one.¡±

    ¡°Ooo!¡± I clapped my hands together and pointed at Justine, ¡°Yeah the Aegislash line are all super freaking cool!¡±

    Justine grinned and pointed back, ¡°Yeah! It¡¯s pretty dangerous to hold them though because they are pretty aggressive about draining life energy from people, but there are cases where you can train them to be personal weapons. There¡¯s a whole sport based on people dueling each other with members of the Aegislash line!¡±

    The ghost specialist took out her phone and searched it up, showing me a few pictures of the sport.

    ¡°Huh, I didn¡¯t know that.¡± I said as I looked at the pictures. The people dueling each other even had cool knight armor inspired by different Pokemon. Some of the duels even included the duelers fighting alongside Pokemon who were also wielding weapons. They looked rad.

    ¡°Yeah! I¡¯ll send you a few of my favorite fights later.¡± Justine said, as she put her phone away.

    Our conversation paused as we both looked at the front gate of the Kalos Regional Lab. The building was a lot taller and fancier than the Unova and Sinnoh labs. The most noticeable parts were the giant glass dome buildings behind the lab with different biomes within.

    I whistled, ¡°This place looks really nice.¡±

    ¡°It is.¡± Justine said, ¡°I heard Lysandre Tech helped pay for a lot of the new stuff they have.¡±

    Oh. Good for Sycamore but also, ew.

    I hopped up the front few steps and grabbed the handle of the door to the main lobby. ¡°Well then let¡¯s see what sort of fancy new stuff they got.¡±

    Suddenly the door swung open towards me. I jumped back and nearly tripped over the steps as some really tall guy almost walked into me and took a step back in surprise.

    ¡°Gah fuck!¡± I windmilled my arms. Justine caught one of my arms and pulled me forward while Winnie pushed me from behind to make sure I didn¡¯t fall down the steps.

    ¡°Sorry young lady I didn¡¯t see you there. Are you okay?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m fine.¡± I gave the guy a thumbs up and looked up at who I almost got bowled over by. Oh you gotta be kidding me.

    I could recognize that ridiculous red Pyroar-like hairstyle anywhere. It was Lysandre. You¡¯re fucking kidding me. Seriously. Seriously?! Who did this? Why today of all days? Why?! I am NOT in the mood for this.

    ¡°That human should get a new hair dresser.¡± Mii dryly stated.

    ¡°He should FIRE his hair dresser and get a new one!¡± Litwick cheerfully added, flaring up the flame on its candlewick.

    Winnie snorted as tried to hide a chuckle, ¡°he¡¯d look better bald at this point.¡±

    Those comments helped my panicking thoughts and I almost snickered at the comments. I briefly covered my mouth, disguising my laugh as an awkward cough. Then I straightened myself and quickly scooted to the side to give Lysandre room to step outside. The leader of Team Flare slightly stooped over to avoid brushing his head on the top of the doorframe as he exited the building.

    Getting a closer look at the villain, he¡¯d look pretty normal if you took away the lion-cut. I wonder if the other villain leaders give off any sort of normal vibes. Eh, simply being around Cyrus would make me depressed, and Ghetsis probably has uber anger or control issues. Nevermind, I bet he¡¯s just hiding his villain vibes right now.

    At least the intimidation factor wasn¡¯t super turned up with Lysandre at the moment. The guy was clearly here on casual business and was in an orange button up shirt instead of his full black uber-villain outfit.

    Someone else stepped outside after Lysandre, it was a very pretty lady with short light brown-grey hair in a stylish pastel peach and white fancy coat. There was a Gardevoir with her, the glint of light off of the decorate mega stone hung around the psychic type¡¯s neck caught my eye.

    Diantha smiled at us before playfully saying to Lysandre, ¡°By Arceus, you should really watch where you¡¯re going.¡±

    I heard Justine gasp in excitement and disbelief as she recognized these two.

    Damn, the champion and the villain of the region both in the same place. I don¡¯t want to talk to either of them man that¡¯s way too much for my blood pressure, and I don¡¯t even have heart issues! Hopefully they don¡¯t wanna talk either. They¡¯re definitely really busy people who have other places to be. Yep.

    The last person to step out was a slightly sleep deprived looking dark haired middle aged man with a ruffled blue shirt and a clean white lab coat.

    And that must be Professor Sycamore. Sycamore looked slightly surprised and then brightly smiled at us, ¡°Oh! I almost forgot that you guys were arriving today!¡±

    ¡°Hello mister sleepy guy number two!¡± Litwick chirped and waved.

    Mii leaned over to Litwick and whispered, ¡°Who¡¯s mister sleepyhead number one?¡±

    ¡°Mister sleepyhead number one is the guy who stutters all the time when he¡¯s had too much yucky coffee and not enough beauty sleep.¡± Litwick answered, using its candle flame to create a brief silhouette of a slouched human.

    The professor scooted over to us and hurriedly shook Justine¡¯s hand, ¡°You must be Angela¡¯s little sister! You two look exactly alike! I¡¯ve heard great things about you from Juniper and Rowan.¡±

    One of Justine¡¯s eyes slightly twitched as she was introduced as ¡®Angela¡¯s little sister¡¯ but she ignored the statement and nodded, brightly smiling at three of the most important people in Kalos.

    Then the professor shook my hand, ¡°And you must be Rowan¡¯s newest sponsored trainer! I¡¯m Professor Sycamore, pleasure to meet you.¡±

    Justine and I both replied with polite hellos.

    The professor then gestured to Diantha and Lysandre, ¡°These two are my close friends, Diantha and Lysandre, you¡¯ve probably already heard of them.¡± Sycamore¡¯s eyes brightened as he brought up his main topic of his research, ¡°They were visiting to see some of the advancements we¡¯ve made on mega evolution research! I can¡¯t wait to show you guys!¡±

    ¡°Great¡­¡± I leaned back a bit and replied with a slightly strained smile.

    Diantha lightly pulled Sycamore back and smiled at us, ¡°Nice to meet you.¡±

    Gardevoir gave us a friendly wave, ¡°Gardevoir!¡±

    Winnie gave them all a short hello and tried his best to look like the grumpy ol¡¯ Manectric that Jason had.

    Bright as always Litwick cheerily greeted everyone. ¡°Hello!¡± Then it pointed at Diantha and Gardevoir. ¡°You guys look very pretty!¡±

    ¡°I like your necklace.¡± Mii added, pointing at Gardevoir¡¯s mega stone necklace.

    The psychic-fairy type covered her mouth and giggled, ¡°Gar gardevoir~¡±

    Then Lysandre nodded, ¡°Pleasure to meet you both. My company has been working with Sycamore on mega evolution research for a few years now, we are always in need of talented researchers to help out.¡± He held out a hand to Justine.

    ¡°The pleasure¡¯s all mine sir!¡± Justine said with a big smile as she shook his hand, ¡°I¡¯m Justine Renato, an aspiring ghost type master and researcher. I¡¯m hoping to discover a few ghost-type mega evolutions.¡±

    Lysandre nodded as he replied. ¡°Ghosts are a powerful but greatly misunderstood type, I do hope that you can achieve your goal while you¡¯re working with Augustine.¡±

    ¡°Thank you sir!¡± Justine smiled, she seemed completely oblivious to the way the villain was evaluating her.

    It felt like Lysandre was judging how useful Justine would be to him, did no one else feel that way? Maybe I was being paranoid, but you could never be paranoid about someone who was planning to basically commit genocide using a Pokemon version of a world ending nuke.

    I inwardly cringed, as that same gaze was turned on me and I got the cue that I was supposed to introduce myself. ¡°Uh, I¡¯m Azalea, I¡¯m a trainer, from uh Unova. I¡¯m just visiting Kalos.¡±

    I gave them all an awkward double thumbs up in an attempt to avoid having to touch the villain at the same time that Lysadre offered me a handshake. There was an awkward pause as I tried to compute what to do and ended up clumsily fistbumping Lysandre¡¯s hand, which generated a few chuckles from the others.

    My face reddened a bit and I just kinda avoided eye contact. I felt a chill as the ghosts in my shadow shifted. Gardevoir¡¯s eyes briefly narrowed as she glanced at the ghosts.

    Diantha tactfully brushed that aside and asked us, ¡°So, how are you ladies finding our region?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s so beautiful!¡± Justine eagerly replied, ¡°I love how Lumiose has incorporated so much plant life for the fairy types! I can¡¯t wait to see the rest of the region.¡±

    I nodded along, ¡°Yeah it¡¯s really pretty, probably the most beautiful city I¡¯ve been to so far.¡±

    Diantha chuckled as we complimented her region, then she and Gardevoir began to walk to the gates, ¡°Well, wait until you see Laverre or Anistar City, they¡¯re just as stunning in their own way.¡±

    A fancy black car pulled up to the front gate as if it knew just when to arrive.

    ¡°Well that¡¯s our ride.¡± Diantha said giving us all a nod, ¡°Have a good day, and good luck on your training and research everyone.¡±

    ¡°Gardevoir.¡± Gardevoir added, waving bye as they got into the car. Then we all watched as the car quietly drove away.

    Urgh, nooooooo. Why can¡¯t a fancy car come take away the big scary guy first? At least he¡¯s not spouting off insane idealistic villain lines¡­yet.

    Then Lysandre broke the silence, ¡°I would highly recommend Shalour City and Geosenge Town as well. Especially if you¡¯re interested in the history of mega evolution. The Tower of Mastery is a testament to Kalos¡¯s long history with the phenomena.¡±

    Cool. When can you go away? Like just go. Go away right now. Where¡¯s your fancy car?

    Having sensed my mood Winnie had begun glaring at Lysandre, who noticed and smiled. ¡°My Pyroar has a similar tendency. He tries to intimidate strangers, but is quite friendly once you get to know him.¡±

    Winnie snorted derisively. ¡°friendly my ass¡± He growled.

    ¡°Oh¡­yeah. Sorry about his attitude. He¡¯s not in a good mood right now.¡± And neither am I.

    My watch began to heat up so I shoved one hand into my pocket to prevent Glados from zapping out and with the other hand, smoothed down the fur on Winnie¡¯s head to get him to knock it off. Appreciate you bud but this isn¡¯t the time or place.

    There was a laugh from Justine as she commented, ¡°You should meet her Garchomp if you want real attitude. If a Pokemon could kill with a look, it would be her.¡±

    Bro, shut the fuck up.

    This seemed to catch both Sycamore¡¯s interest. And Lysandre¡¯s. Unfortunately.

    ¡°A Garchomp you say?¡± Lysandre commented with a slightly raised eyebrow, ¡°That¡¯s quite impressive for such a young trainer. It reminds me of Cynthia when she first appeared in the Sinnoh League.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, speaking of Cynthia,¡± The professor said, ¡°I would like to have a few Garchomps on standby for my research. Ever since Steven and Lance have obtained their Metagrossite and Salamencite, she¡¯s been quite vocal about wanting to find a mega stone for her ace.¡±

    I leaned back a bit, ¡°Ehhhhhh, I dunno about that¡­We¡¯ve still got some things to work on.¡± Sorry man, but I am not gonna come all the way back here to help you out until THAT guy is either six feet under, or behind bars.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine.¡± Sycamore said casually waving a hand, ¡°Just keep it in mind then for whenever you two feel ready for the challenge.¡±

    I gave the professor a thumbs up, ¡°Aight, thanks for letting me know.¡±

    Thankfully Justine changed the subject and began talking with the professor and Lysandre about mega evolution data and other technical jargon related to mega Pokemon. Seems like she was trying to impress them with her knowledge, and it was working.

    The only thing I could derive from their conversation was something about replicating Audinites and Keystones and the Pokemon League finally agreeing to put more funding into the Mega Evolution project to boost the effectiveness of Pokemon centers and hospitals.

    Finally, fancy car number two pulled up next to the front gate. That was Mr. should-get-a-new-hairdresser''s ride.

    ¡°I would like to see the video recordings and data of today¡¯s test as well Augustine.¡± Lysandre said to Sycamore as he walked down the steps to the gate. Then he said to Justine and I, ¡°Have a good day then. Hopefully I will see you again.¡±

    No you won¡¯t, I will make like a ghost and disappear the moment you¡¯re in the same area. If not to avoid the villainy, then to avoid the awkward handshake. ¡°Bye.¡± I politely smiled and waved until the villain got into his car and left.

    ¡°Well then, why don¡¯t I show you guys around a bit before we get to the test area?¡± The professor suggested, ¡°As Lysandre mentioned, today we¡¯re going to be recording data from a few mega evolutions.¡±

 (33) Introduction to Mega Evolution

    Professor Sycamore cheerfully ushered us into the lab saying something about showing us today¡¯s test session. Well I¡¯m glad that¡¯s over. Just my utter shit luck encountering the regional villain on my first day in Kalos.

    I finally relaxed enough to participate in Justine and Sycamore¡¯s conversation and asked as the conversation topic switched to how they¡¯d discovered certain mega evolutions, ¡°So, how many Mega Evolutions have you guys discovered so far?¡±

    ¡°Twenty one.¡± Sycamore immediately answered, ¡°The Kanto and Hoenn starters, with Charizard being an interesting outlier as the only Pokemon we know of so far to have two mega evolutions.¡±

    Yeah, it¡¯s called: being the Pokemon company¡¯s golden child.

    ¡°Sharpedo, Camerupt, Salamence, and Metagross¨Cdid you know that Champion Stone had a metagrossite and keystone in his rock collection for years before he found out what they really were?¡±

    Justine and I both shook our heads, with Justine commenting, ¡°Lol, I wonder what his expression was when he found out.¡±

    The professor grinned, ¡°Oh he was so mad. It hurt his pride that he didn¡¯t know everything about his stone collection.¡±

    Professor Sycamore then quickly listed out the remaining megas using his fingers to count them out, ¡°Then there¡¯s the Audinite, Lucarionite, Alakazite, Gardevoirite, Galladite. And the Absolite, Manectricite, Beedrillite, Gyaradosite, and Gengarite.¡±

    He was about to go on about more mega evolution related stuff when Justine pointed at me and said, ¡°Az, you said that you found a mega stone at the Stone Emporium right?¡±

    ¡°Ooh! A mega stone? Let me see!¡± The professor jumped at the prospect of a new mega stone. I quickly gestured at my shadow for Banette to show it to him.

    Taking the cue, the ragdoll ghost floated out of my shadow and showed the mega stone necklace.

    Sycamore¡¯s excitement quickly dimmed and there was a bit of disappointment in the professor¡¯s voice as he identified the mega stone, ¡°Hmmm, that is a Metagrossite.¡±

    Then he rubbed the back of his head and sighed, ¡°The Stone Emporium keeps turning up with mega stones, but the owners are so secretive about where their source is. Even Lysandre wasn¡¯t able to convince them to spill their secrets.¡±

    The professor gestured for us to continue walking through the lab. ¡°Well for future reference, both the lab and Lysandre Tech are willing to buy any unwanted mega stones for a pretty penny, though I would suggest keeping the one you have. You can trade it for a mega stone you actually want in the future.¡±

    I nodded, ¡°I¡¯ll keep that in mind.¡±

    ¡°And if you ever plan on mega evolving a Pokemon, please come to the lab to do it. It will be a lot safer for you, and we get the data we want. The test you¡¯re about to see will be a great example on how these sessions usually go.¡± The professor said as he pushed a door open and we walked back outside into an outdoor area with a series of big blue glass domes that kinda looked like high tech, futuristic greenhouses. The glass on most of the domes were tinted in a way so that I couldn¡¯t see the inside, and each door had a symbol painted on it, assumedly to indicate what type of habitats there were inside.

    ¡°Oh, these must be the habitat domes I heard about.¡± Justine commented as we walked past. ¡°They use the same tech as Devon bags and Pokeballs to be bigger in the inside!¡±

    Sycamore proudly nodded and gestured to the domes. ¡°Yep, we don¡¯t have enough space for an expansive ranch like most other labs so we¡¯ve compensated with these. It¡¯s a lot easier to keep track of the Pokemon inside too.¡±

    Then he pointed at a purple-black spooky looking dome in the back, ¡°That¡¯s the one you¡¯re going to be helping out with Justine. The ghosts keep escaping and causing trouble for other residents and people in the city so we were in dire need of someone who could handle them.¡±

    ¡°Well, you certainly called the right person.¡± Justine said, confidently gesturing to herself. Litwick and Mii voiced their agreement.

    ¡°We¡¯re gonna whip those bad ghosts into shape!¡± Mii yipped, clawing at the part of Justine¡¯s hoodie that she was sitting in with her claws.

    Litwick waved its little arms as it cheered, ¡°Yeah!¡±

    We then came to a very durable looking dome with a door labelled: Test Field 2.

    Professor Sycamore spoke as he pulled the door open and let us in, ¡°This dome was made specifically to withstand the power of a mega evolved Pokemon. It¡¯s pretty common for trainers attempting mega evolution for the first time to lose control so we need a way to contain the mega Pokemon until we can calm them down or knock them out.¡±

    The inside of the dome contained a large open space with a battlefield and some gray bleachers on each side. Plain and functional.

    A few feet behind the referee box was a researcher with bobcutted dark magenta hair. She was doing the setup on some rather expensive looking equipment.

    A Chesnaught and Gogoat stood near the researcher, holding some of the heavier equipment as they helped her get set up.

    A trio of trainers stood to one end of the battlefield. I could see the keystones each of them had, the trainer with dark turquoise hair and a Ralts-styled bowl cut had a mega necklace, the one with long dark green hair tied up in pigtails had a keystone in a flower pin, and the last trainer¨Ca girl with a spikey blonde hairdo¨Chad a mega bracelet.

    I wonder how they got those keystones.

    On the opposite side of the field from the referee box stood two other trainers, one was a guy with the Lumiose gym uniform, the other was a lady in a Lysandre Tech uniform. They were having a casual conversation and weren¡¯t really paying the rest of us any attention. I would guess that they were some sort of security, probably there to help deal with any out of control mega Pokemon.

    Noticing us, the researcher stood up and smoothed down her lab coat as we approached.

    Professor Sycamore waved to the bobcut lady before introducing her to us, ¡°This is Cosette, she is one of my assistants.¡± Then he gestured at us, ¡°Cosette, these two are Azalea and Justine. Azalea is one of Rowan¡¯s sponsored trainers and Justine is the new transfer.¡±

    ¡°sup.¡± Winnie nodded at Gogoat and Chesnaught. The grass types politely returned Winnie¡¯s greetings but kept most of their attention on being careful with the equipment they were holding.

    Cosette smiled at us, ¡°Nice to meet you guys! So you¡¯re here to see mega evolution for the first time, you guys are gonna love it!¡±

    I smiled back, ¡°Thanks, I¡¯m excited to see what you guys have in store.¡±

    Meanwhile, Justine rushed over to the machines and began examining them. ¡°O-M-G! Of course! Who wouldn¡¯t be excited about seeing a new phenomenon? Are those the new Lysandre Tech energy readers I read about?¡±

    The three researchers quickly got to talking about the equipment and I moved over to the bleachers to take a seat and wait.

    The professor and Cosette quickly got to finishing the setup of some really expensive and high tech looking cameras and some computer stuff. Cosette took the time to explain to Justine how the machines worked as they booted up the machines.

    Once everyone was ready, Sycamore took his place at the computer and Cosette pulled out a remote from her lab coat pocket.

    ¡°We¡¯re ready guys! Please move to the trainer boxes!¡± Cosette shouted to the waiting trainers.

    Spikey blonde moved off the field and went to stand near the security team. The Ralts-bowl cut trainer stayed on the left side of the field while pigtails jogged to the right side of the field. There was a short pause as pigtails caught her breath, then both trainers nodded at each other, pulling out Pokeballs and throwing them.

    A Venasaur appeared on the right side of the field and grunted as it shifted itself into a more comfortable position, it had a bracelet around one of its front legs with a Venusaurite embedded into the bracelet in the same flower pattern that the mega pin trainer had.

    On the left side fo the field stood a Gallade, who brandished its elbow blades and did a few stretches. The psychic-fighting type had a necklace that matched its trainer.

    A forcefield appeared around the field at the touch of a button from Cosette. The gym trainer and Lysandre Tech employee briefly glanced at the forcefield appearing and returned to their conversation while the blonde trainer eagerly watched.

    ¡°Whenever you¡¯re ready!¡± Professor Sycamore shouted, giving the two trainers a thumbs up.

    I tapped my pocket where Rotom was resting, ¡°Yo Rotom, can you record this?¡±

    The phone ghost zipped out, yawned, stretched, and did a quick scan of Chesnaught as Venusaur and Gallade began setting up.

    ¡°Bzzt!¡± ¡°Chesnaught, the spiny armor Pokemon. It shields its allies with armor strong enough to withstand multiple bomb blasts and is strong enough to flip a 50-ton tank with one hit.¡±

    A ball of fire sprang into the air and hovered above the battlefield, turning the sunlight harsh. Venusaur¡¯s leaves rustled and its flower seemed to expand as it began to absorb the sunlight from the Sunny Day that it had just sent out.

    Meanwhile a pulse of pink fairy type energy swirled out from Gallade and covered the field with Misty Terrain.

    There was a pause as both trainers made eye contact and grinned, reaching for their keystones. There was an immediate reaction, strands of energy shot out from both sets of keystones and mega stones, forming a connecting rope of light between both trailers and their Pokemon.

    Gallade and Venusaur began to glow with a blinding white light and their forms began to shift. It looked like a normal Pokemon evolution but with a few added tints relating to the colors of each Pokemon¡¯s mega stone.

    Venusaur roared, stomping its feet as the light around it dissolved in a flash of cyan and pink, revealing its larger and thicker frame, topped by a towering trunk and flower adorned in a thick mane of leaves.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    There was a similar flash of green and red-pink as Gallade burst out of its mega evolution in its new form, brandishing the bigger and sharper blades on its arms. The psychic-fighting type did a dramatic flourish of its cape before readying itself into a battle stance.

    Pigtails decided to try to seize the momentum, shouting, ¡°Start strong Venusaur!¡±

    The grass type roared and immediately shot a powerful Solar Beam straight at Gallade. The blade Pokemon neatly vaulted over the beam of grass type energy as it made a horizontal sweep, the beam of energy kicking up dust as it seared a line into the ground.

    ¡°Close the distance and strike fast!¡± Gallade¡¯s trainer shouted.

    Using Agility, Gallade swiftly closed the distance between itself and its opponent, moving so fast that it looked like it teleported. The blade Pokemon raised its arms and readied a Psycho Cut as it appeared right above Venusaur¡¯s head.

    ¡°Keep it away Venusaur! Sweep it!¡± Pigtails shouted as she saw their opponent closing in.

    With a big shake of its back flower, Venusaur sent out a torrent of pink petals to force Gallade to back off. The blade Pokemon brought up its arms, and a vertically long rectangular barrier popped up as it used Quick Guard to block the first wave of petals before its entire body was enveloped by a sea of pink petals.

    Suddenly Gallade was behind Venusaur, it had teleported while everyone¡¯s vision of it was blocked. The blade Pokemon slashed at the grass type with a series of Psycho Cuts.

    Venusaur tanked the first Psycho Cut, the ground underneath it turning into a crater from the force of Gallade¡¯s blow. The grass type thankfully was able to react to Gallade¡¯s follow up attacks thanks to its trainer¡¯s shout. There was a series of cracking booms as Venusaur parried the next few blows with Vine Whip.

    ¡°Power Whip!¡±

    Venusaur¡¯s Vine Whip swelled in size as grass type energy was pumped into them. The massive vine ropes hummed through the air with deadly force as they swung at Gallade.

    ¡°Dodge and Shadow Ball!¡± Ralts-cut trainer shouted, swinging an arm.

    Gallade reacted before its trainer even finished his sentence, it was probably reading its trainer¡¯s mind. With another burst of speed from Agility, Gallade did a neat flip over the first Power Whip and ducked under the second before hurling a series of Shadow Balls at the grass type machine gun style.

    Venusaur¡¯s Power Whips contracted again into Vine Whips, giving it the speed needed to swat away the first burst of Shadow Balls before blasting the others away with another searing Solar Beam.

    ¡°Trap it!¡± Pigtails shouted.

    Venusaur sent another torrent of pink petals at Gallade. The blade Pokemon tried to jump back but almost tripped due to Venusaur¡¯s Grass Knot entangling its feet.

    Gallade¡¯s trainer didn¡¯t need to issue any orders, the two seemed to be communicating telepathically.

    Gallade nodded at one such telepathic command and teleported away before Venusaur¡¯s attack could hit.

    The grass type swung around as Gallade appeared behind it again and its back flower glowed as it began shooting rapid fire Energy Balls at its opponent like a freaking gatling gun.

    In a show of hand-eye coordination, Gallade swiftly parried most of the Energy Balls with Fury Cutter, creating multiple small explosions as it retreated back to its own side of the field.

    Pigtails seemed to be getting impatient that none of Venusaur¡¯s moves were really hitting, so she shouted, ¡°Petal Dance! Drown him in flowers!¡±

    With a roar, Venusaur unleashed a swirling tsunami of pink petals that completely filled up the area inside the forcefield. The protective shield around the battlefield began to glow brightly as more energy was used up to prevent the petals from breaking the barrier.

    There was a shout of effort from Gallade and a super condensed slash of psychic type energy vertically cut clean through the raging sea of petals. A boom shook the entire building like thunder after lighting, and the ground was split open beneath where Gallade¡¯s Psycho Cut had just cleaved through Petal Dance.

    The sea of petals quickly slammed back together as Venusaur flower kept spitting out wave after wave of petals.

    A dense twister of golden stars swirled out of Gallade¡¯s cape, surrounding the psychic-fighting type, colliding with Petal Dance, and holding back the wave of petals just long enough for Gallade to fully charge up its next move.

    Gallade¡¯s entire body glowed with piercingly bright pink light and there was an eye-searing flash of pink as the blade Pokemon released a maximum output Dazzling Gleam.

    There was a chain reaction of explosions as Petal Dance was countered, followed by silence and the field being covered by dust that cleared up just in time to reveal the two mega Pokemon charging up moves Dragon Ball style.

    Gallade¡¯s arms were humming, glowing with condensed psychic type energy, the blade Pokemon¡¯s eyes were narrowed to pinpoints in pure concentration as it used Calm Mind.

    Venusaur in turn was stoically charging a Solar Beam. A massive ball of bright green energy condensed above its back flower as the grass type used the dwindling energy from Sunny Day to boost its attack.

    There was a moment¡¯s pause before both trainers shouted at the same time, ¡°Psycho Cut!¡± ¡°Solar Beam!¡±

    Both mega Pokemon fired. Gallade swinging its arms to create an X with its double Psycho Cut, and Venusaur

    The attacks collided in the center of the field and struggled against each other for a moment before they both exploded, rupturing whatever was left of the battlefield¡¯s ground. The forcefield became white as it took the brunt of the kinetic energy generated from the explosion and I felt the ground shake once again.

    I sniffed the air, something smells like sweet fruit. Winnie was sniffing the air too and was licking his chops. I clapped a hand over Kaiju¡¯s dusk ball as it shook.

    Another dust cloud was kicked up by the explosion, but it was cleared by Venusaur¡¯s Solar Beam searing through it.

    Gallade took longer than usual to react and grunted as it tanked the attack, using its forearms as a shield to prevent being thrown off its feet. The blade Pokemon grunted and was pushed back a few feet before it could throw up a Quick Guard.

    Then the Solar Beam petered out and both sides were left facing each other once again, panting from the exertion of the battle.

    Pigtails and Ralts-cut were both panting too, exhausted from the drain of mega evolution.

    The shrill cry of a whistle snapped everyone¡¯s attention to the Cosette and the professor. Sycamore clapped his hands and shouted, ¡°That¡¯s enough!¡±

    Immediately Gallade and Venusaur glowed, a bunch of iridescent rainbow energy dispersing from them as they morphed back into their normal forms and their trainers sagged in relief as the energy drain stopped.

    Cosette pressed a button on the remote control, turning the barrier off.

    The professor nodded, a satisfied smile on his face, ¡°Tiffany, Jean-Paul, Gallade, Venusaur, thank you so much for your cooperation! We¡¯ve collected some stellar data from this battle!¡±

    ¡°And just a reminder that we¡¯ve prepared a break room for you guys to rest in.¡± Cosette added, pointing to one of the side doors with a sign taped on that said, This way to break room!

    ¡°It¡¯s got snacks and a few beds if you would like to take a nap. It¡¯s also big enough for your Pokemon to stay out of their Pokeballs and has amenities for them too.¡±

    The two trainers nodded and thanked Sycamore. Pigtails returned Venusaur before walking over to Ralts-cut and Gallade, giving them both a high five as they went off to get some snacks.

    ¡°i¡¯d say they might¡¯ve been powerful enough to rival the lord of the forest.¡± Winnie said as the trainers exited stage left.

    I pursed my lips and shrugged, ¡°Ehhh, yeah probably, but that¡¯s only if they can keep the mega evolution up long enough. And even than I think they¡¯d need a bit more back up to deal with one of the more roided up Nobles.¡±

    Winnie hummed, ¡°yeah, i can see that.¡±

    Rotom buzzed in excitement at the cool new video it had for its collection. My watch beeped as Glados said something to the plasma ghost. Rotom beeped back and sent the video to Glados to analyze.

    Our attention returned to the field as the damaged battlefield rumbled and the entire platform withdrew into the ground and was quickly replaced by a new battleground.

    Dang, that¡¯s really useful.

    Then the spiky blonde haired trainer walked to the center of the new field.

    ¡°you think i¡¯ll ever be able to mega evolve?¡± Winnie asked.

    ¡°Mmmm, I doubt it.¡± I replied, watching the two security trainers pausing their conversation and coming to attention. ¡°I don¡¯t think there¡¯s a mega stone for Zoroark, and even if there was one I don¡¯t know if it would even work on a regional variant.¡±

    Winnie¡¯s ears slightly drooped in disappointment, ¡°hmm, too bad then.¡±

    I patted his back, ¡°Hey man, you¡¯d be way too overpowered with mega evolution and illusion powers combined.¡±

    The illusion fox scoffed, ¡°there¡¯s no such thing as overpowered, especially when it comes to me.¡±

    Spiky blonde sent out a Manectric that shook itself before looking around. It had a collar embedded with a Manectite that matched its trainer¡¯s mega bracelet in style.

    ¡°hey!¡± Winnie pointed at the spikey blonde trainer and her Manectric, ¡°her hair matches manectric¡¯s head like how that red guy has a haircut like a pyroar¡¯s mane! that¡¯s funny, do trainers make their hair look like their pokemon¡¯s this often?¡±

    I shrugged, ¡°Heck if I know.¡±

    Banette floated out of my shadow and whispered in my ear, ¡°Hey. Hey Az. You¡¯d look pretty good with a Banette styled haircut.¡±

    Winnie grabbed Banette by the cloth on the back of her head and yanked the voodoo ghost away, ¡°ahem, i was her first pokemon, so obviously her haircut should match me.¡±

    I rolled my eyes, ¡°Guys, I¡¯m not restyling my hair, especially if it requires me to dye it.

    Banette stretched her face, ¡°Boooooor¨Cing~¡±

    I crossed my arms and retorted. ¡°Says the literal RAG ghost with no hair.¡±

    ¡°Boooooo.¡± Winnie replied.

    Our banter was interrupted by an excited bark from Manectric. The discharge Pokemon wagged its tail in anticipation as its trainer focused on her lightly glowing keystone, she was having quite a bit of trouble making the connection.

    ¡°This is only your first attempt, so don¡¯t feel the need to rush.¡± Sycamore reassured her, ¡°Take a deep breath and focus on your memories with Manectric, Manectric, you focus on your connection with Tessa.¡±

    Following the professor¡¯s advice, the trainer closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she refocused. Manectric copied its trainer.

    It took a few moments, but a similar thing to Gallade and Venusaur¡¯s mega evos happened. The strands were slower to connect but once they did, Manectric began to glow with the colors of electricity.

    There was a crackling burst of electricity as the mega evolution finished. Mega Manectric howled as it felt a massive surge of power, releasing strands of electricity into its surroundings.

    I clamped my hands over my ears as the lightning bolt shaped dog howled again. Winnie cringed and quickly covered his ears too as Manectric¡¯s trainer shouted ecstatically about their success.

    ¡°geez, language, language!¡± Banette tutted and wagged a finger.

    ¡°The dog or the human?¡± I asked.

    Sycamore cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted over Manectric¡¯s howls, ¡°Great job! Now try to release the connection¨Coh.¡±

    The trainer staggered as the full force of the energy drain from the mega evolution hit her and she fainted, collapsing to the ground.

    Gogoat was instantly there to catch the trainer with Vine Whip and it leapt away as Manectric¡¯s eyes turned red and the electricity around it turned violent.

    There was a scream from Justine and a bunch of expletives from Yamask as a bolt of electricity struck just a few feet away from the researchers.

    The lightning bolt shaped dog howled again, this time its voice tinged with a whine of pain as it released a barrage of lightning in every direction.

    My hair rose as it got charged with static and I jumped out of my seat, ¡°Oh shit.¡±

    Glados popped out of my watch, and Winnie stood to attention, ready to jump into action.

    Cosette and the professor calmly moved Justine behind them as Chesnaught strode into the arena, its muscles bulging as it reflexively used Bulk Up.

    There was a magnetic hum and the electricity from Manectric arced away towards a Rhyperior that the Lysandre Tech employee had sent out.

    Two more flashes from pokeballs revealed a Jolteon and a Pawmot that the gym trainer sent out, both of them sending a barrage of golden stars at Manectric to get its attention on them.

    The moment all Pokemon were in the arena Cosette pressed the remote again, reinstating the forcefield.

    Blue lighting enveloped Manectric¡¯s form, violently popping and crackling, leaving scorch marks on the ground as it harshly lit up the entire place, then the mega Pokemon charged Pawmot and Jolteon.

    The two electric types ran in and narrowly dodged the mega Pokemon, getting just close enough to sap a large amount of its electricity with Volt Absorb and distract it so that Rhyperior get in its an attack. The ground type swung a powerful Hammer Arm down, beating the mega Pokemon into the ground.

    Grass sprouted around the field and a green glow emanated from the ground as Chesnaught set up Grassy Terrain.

    The spiny armor Pokemon shouted something to the others, who nodded and moved back as Rhyperior used Rock Tomb, slamming a wall of rock in between the berserk mega Pokemon and itself and the two electric types.

    Then Chesnaught shouted a Taunt at Manectric, throwing a few Mud Shots at it to aggro it. It didn¡¯t take much to get Manectric to attack, the lightning bolt shaped Pokemon charging at its new target with another ridiculously powerful Wild Charge.

    Rhyperior, Pawmot, and Jolteon activated their abilities, draining the electricity that Manectric generated.

    Chesnaught swung a Hammer Arm sideways, redirecting Manectric¡¯s charge. Then the mega Pokemon tripped from a Grass Knot that had sprung up and grappled its front legs. The grass-type steadily grabbed Manectric by the hind legs and sumo threw it to keep it winded before manhandling the electric dog into a chokehold

    Manectric snarled and snapped as it struggled to get out of Chesnaught¡¯s tenacious grip, but its electricity was constantly absorbed by Jolteon, Pawmot, and Rhyperior.

    Finally, Manectric¡¯s rabid snarling ceased as it ran out of oxygen and fainted, and iridescent light burst out of its body, turning it back into its un-mega evolved state.

    I sat back down as I watched Gogoat return Manectric to its Pokeball and carry the unconscious trainer out one of the side doors. Chesnaught smoothed down its own singed and staticy fur while the gym trainer and Lysandre Tech employee returned their Pokemon.

    Why the fuck did I never think of something like that? It¡¯s not gonna work on every Pokemon but it¡¯s sure gonna work on an electric dog. I need to keep that in mind for future battles.

    ¡°urgh, my fur¡¯s all frizzy.¡± Winnie huffed. I could hear little pops of static as he smoothed down his fur.

    Banette poked Winnie, zapping him with static and giggled. Rotom buzzed and poked both of them, zapping them.

    There was a loud burst of conversation from Cosette, Justine, and the professor as they excitedly talked about their energy reading stuff. Justine and her ghosts looked a little frazzled, but Cosette and Sycamore were completely unfazed.

    I mean, if they do this stuff regularly then taking out a rampaging mega would be pretty procedural for them.

    ¡°Man, I hope I¡¯ll be able to mega evolve Sahara soon.¡± I said, ¡°She¡¯ll be an absolute battle beast.¡±

    Winnie shuddered, ¡°i don¡¯t even wanna imagine what that she-dragon is capable of in a rampage.¡±

    ¡°I bet she could kill a legendary with a single glare if she was mega evolved.¡± Banette added.

    I shrugged, ¡°Well, it¡¯ll be a while before you have to deal with the prospect of that happening.¡± Even if I¡¯m right about the mega stone location, I have no idea where to find a keystone. And don¡¯t get me started on finding, catching, and raising a Beldum to get a Metagross.

    Once Justine and the others were done talking about the data they¡¯d gathered, the professor took the liberty to show us around the rest of the lab. Mostly just a training area for me, some research labs and equipment for Justine, the fancy ass cafeteria they had, and the rooms they had for scientists and trainers staying here.

    The rooms were super nice, like one of those luxury hotel rooms, courtesy of Lysandre¡¯s funding. Too bad I wouldn¡¯t be staying in them for too long. I didn¡¯t want to hang around the lab considering it greatly increased my chances of encountering Lysandre again.

    I¡¯d hang around long enough to get the Rufflet delivery and dip.

    According to Cosette, Route 4 this time of the year was a great place to train beginner Pokemon. League season was starting soon, so there¡¯d be plenty of trainers out and about looking to get their team into shape for upcoming gym challenges.

    It was a pretty ideal opportunity to train my team while I looked for mega stones and avoided the Kalos Lab like the plague. Ten out of ten plan.

 (34) The Battle Institute

    ¡°Oi, stop bothering them. Shoo.¡± I said in the sternest tone I could manage while making a shooing motion.

    Banette flew up to the small group of Driftloon and began shooing them away. The one that was trying to pull the electrician off of his ladder with its flimsy strings puffed up, annoyed that it had gotten caught. It let go of its victim and floated away with the rest of the ghosts.

    The electrician smiled and waved a thanks at me before continuing his work.

    I waved back and walked further into the dome to make sure no other ghosts were trying to pull ¡°pranks¡± on the people repairing the dome that they had damaged.

    At least the Trevenant and Gourgeist weren¡¯t causing any trouble. The plant ghosts had taken well to the indoor forest and were pretty docile. They preferred to just sit and gossip amongst each other while they soaked up the sunlight and absorbed nutrients from the fertile ground like a bunch of old ladies gossiping over tea and cookies.

    Most of the other ghosts housed here were just bored. They had recently decided that it would be hilarious to pull apart their habitat dome from the inside out. Thankfully Yamask found out about their little "prank" in time and informed Justine, but due to the damage, a few of the ghosts escaped into the city.

    Since I had nothing to do besides train my team and wait for Rufflet to arrive, I volunteered to babysit the ghosts while Justine went out to retrieve the escapees. The ghost type specialist had handed me a ton of talismans to paste around the dome to prevent the ghosts from getting into the wiring again. So in between dealing with ghost shenanigans, we also had to make sure the dome¡¯s inside was covered in talismans.

    My bag now had a lot of ghost related paraphernalia in it now that we were done pasting the enchanted pieces of paper everywhere.

    I guess they could come in handy in the future, but if I ever had trouble with an evil ghost it would probably be easier to just feed it to Kaiju cause I couldn¡¯t even begin to remember half of the uses of the stuff Justine used to manage ghosts.

    I sighed as I saw two Chandelure floating near the dome¡¯s ceiling and giving each other death glares as they tried to intimidate each other.

    We need to find something to occupy these guys with.

    I waved a hand for Banette to take some of her crew and go deal with the angry chandelier Pokemon and watched as the voodoo puppet tried to mediate between the angry ghosts.

    A ¡°bzzt!¡± followed by a message notification ringing sound caught my attention as a Unovan Zoroark (Winnie in disguise) and Rotom came back from dealing with a few Rotom who were arguing about who got which machine to possess.

    ¡°someone¡¯s calling you az.¡± Winnie said as Rotom zoomed over to show its screen.

    Chloe and Zoe were video calling me.

    I pressed the green button, and immediately got a close-up of a Meowstic¡¯s nose and mouth. Someone picked the psychic type up and zoomed the camera out to reveal the twins and their Meowstics. They were in some sort of break room.

    ¡°Hey guys, what¡¯s up? It¡¯s been a while.¡± I greeted the twins.

    ¡°Hi Az!¡± The twin on the left said. The twin on the right waved as she asked, ¡°How are you?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m good, just chilling at the Kalos Lab.¡± I answered, ¡°How are you guys doing?¡±

    ¡°Great!¡± They answered together, ¡°Sorry about going¡± ¡°silent for a while.¡± ¡°We were training so that Olympia would let us¡± ¡°battle trainers going for their eighth badge!¡±

    It was still kind of weird listening to them finish each other¡¯s sentences despite having heard them do the same before.

    I nodded, ¡°How¡¯d that go?¡±

    ¡°We passed!¡± Both girls smiled and gave me a thumbs up. Their Meowstics raised their arms and meowed, ¡°Meow! ¡°Stic!¡±

    ¡°Wow, congratulations!¡± I had no idea how big of a deal that was, but it sounded like a pretty big achievement considering that trainers with seven to eight badges were supposed to be pretty strong.

    Chloe and Zoe nodded, ¡°Thanks!¡± "We heard that you were in Kalos!¡± ¡°Do you wanna come visit our gym?¡± ¡°Come challenge it before it gets too crowded!¡± ¡°Can Justine come too?¡±

    I shrugged, ¡°You¡¯ll have to ask Justine, I don¡¯t know her schedule but she¡¯s busier than I am. But yeah, I¡¯m down for a gym battle. I¡¯ll tell you when I can come over, I¡¯m still waiting to get a new Pokemon from the Sinnoh Lab.¡±

    I glanced to the side as I heard a bunch of commotion from the ghosts, followed by a loud slap, and the exaggerated sound of a baby crying.

    ¡°Okay!¡± ¡°Make sure to tell us before you get here,¡± ¡°so we can book an arena.¡±

    ¡°Aight,¡± I gave them a thumbs-up as I began to walk over to the source of the commotion. ¡°Okay, yeah, I gotta go deal with ghosts causing trouble. See you soon.¡±

    ¡°Bye!¡± Rotom ended the call and I broke into a run to see what was going on. The commotion got louder as multiple ghosts began yelling at each other.

    Turns out, there was a fight between a Mimikyu and a Haunter, who had lifted the Mimikyus¡¯s disguise, which then prompted the disguise Pokemon to bitch slap Haunter.

    Then I had to explain to the offending ghost that it was not acceptable to touch people¡¯s clothes without permission, especially when it¡¯s lifting people¡¯s dresses and skirts, or in Mimikyu¡¯s case, its disguise.

    The ghost didn¡¯t seem to know beforehand that it was wrong to do so because its previous trainer had trained it to go lift up the skirts of women he pointed out. Then the trainer was arrested and his Haunter was sent around to different places before it landed here at the Kalos Lab.

    So yeah, it sure was fun dealing with the fallout of that perv¡¯s teachings and no one explaining shit to the ghost. At least Haunter seemed genuinely sorry once I explained to it why it was unacceptable to do that.

    Mimikyu even accepted its apology and they did a handshake to make up.

    Once that was sorted out, Winnie and I went outside to take a break and get some fresh air. I had never noticed until I spent an entire night in an enclosed area with them, but ghost Pokemon tended to smell stale, like a musty attic. It wasn¡¯t necessarily a bad smell, just a smell that was easy to get sick of if you smelled it too much for too long.

    I curiously raised an eyebrow when I saw Professor Sycamore, Diantha, and her Gardevoir walk out of the ice habitat and back into the lab. They were probably visiting the newly revived Amauras. I heard from the people in charge of the ice-type habitat that the fossil Pokemon were adorable but very shy, so only the caretakers and researchers were allowed to interact with them at the moment.

    Justine exited the lab with two Driftblim and a ghastly in tow. Yamask was floating behind the trio of ghosts to make sure none of them made a run for it. Litwick was still perched on Justine¡¯s head, giving the escaped ghosts the meanest look a cute candle Pokemon could give.

    Mii was trotting right below the trio, her head held high in importance.

    I pretended to tip a hat to Justine and said in a stereotypical cowboy accent, ¡°Howdy, I see you caught the wanted criminals. Good job sheriff.¡±

    The ghost specialist grinned and responded in a similar bad accent, ¡°Yep. They put up a fight but they didn¡¯t stand a chance against us.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re the awesome police!¡± Litwick chirped.

    She opened the door to the habitat and Yamask herded the ghosts into it before Justine closed the door.

    ¡°So, did you manage to put up all the ghost wards?¡± Justine asked.

    I nodded, ¡°Yeah, the repairs are almost done too.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡± Justine said as she yawned, ¡°I¡¯ll call someone in to watch the place. I need a break, we spent basically the entire night looking for those rascals.¡±

    ¡°Try babysitting them all night.¡± I said, ¡°They kept trying to push the contractors off their ladders.¡±

    ¡°Hmph,¡± Yamask huffed, ¡°those brats need more discipline.¡±

    ¡°Ooh!¡± Litwick waved its arms, ¡°I want a tiny sandwich from the snack room!¡±

    ¡°I want more of that moon shaped bread!¡± Mii chimed in, ¡°but it has to be warmed in the oven first.¡±

    ¡°You mean a croissant.¡± Litwick corrected Mii.

    ¡°Yeah, I know what I mean!¡± Mii snapped, ¡°I want a warm croissant.¡±

    Winnie licked his lips, ¡°Hmm, buttered croissants sound good. I¡¯d prefer cake though. You remember the layered crepe one with a creme brulee on top?¡±

    I flicked the illusion fox¡¯s ear, ¡°You¡¯ve had more than enough cake since we got here. Take a break or else you¡¯ll need to go on a diet.¡±

    Ears drooping, Winnie sighed longingly for his cake.

    Cosette had gotten a big catering order delivered during lunch cause she was holding an event for a bunch of trainers who had achieved mega evolution. So we yoinked a bunch of food and went to a quiet corner to eat and feed our Pokemon.

    I nearly choked on my food when I saw Alain among the trainers gathered. Well that only makes sense. He¡¯s the guy with THE Charizard X.

    Thankfully we were able to avoid any interactions with the guy, I had nothing against him except for the fact that he was working for Lysandre. Best stay away. Sahara would probably love to battle his Charizard though. The landshark had been itching for a good fight for a while.

    Since Justine had the rest of the day off, and neither of us were super tired, we decided to check out the battle institute. It would be a great way for my team to burn off some steam, and Justine wanted to get her Golett in a battle. It was showing signs of being ready to evolve, and usually the fastest way to trigger that was a battle.

    A short taxi ride later, and we were there.

    The Battle Institute was pretty crowded, there were trainers everywhere talking with each other or waiting in line for an open arena to battle in. Most of them were there to help get their teams in shape for the upcoming gym season.

    The Battle Institute was massive on the inside compared to the outside. There was a large waiting area with lockers, tables, seats, and other amenities near the entrance, all separated from the battle areas by a thick pane of glass and a protective energy shield that allowed people to view the ongoing battles.

    The arenas themselves were each separated by a waist-high black wall¨Ctransparent energy shield combo.

    We paid the entry fees and got a card that we could scan on the machines outside each arena in order to indicate that we were going to have a battle there.

    Each card would track how many battles you had paid to have, and how many battle points you earned from winning matches that could be exchanged for some pretty good prizes. The machines outside of each arena had different selection options for the type of battle we wanted in order to inform the referees stationed at each arena what the trainers wanted for their battle.

    All of the arenas were full at the moment, so we got in line and watched whatever fight looked interesting. I felt a bit of heat radiating from Sahara¡¯s ultra ball as the dragon got excited to finally battle a strong opponent instead of boring training.

    ¡°Wait a minute.¡± Justine said to herself, ¡°Is that who I think it is?¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± I looked at where my friend was looking.

    Justine was focused on a match between a Gogoat and a Flareon. Specifically, she was squinting at a trainer in his twenties with green hair tied up in a ponytail, Gogoat¡¯s trainer.

    ¡°Yeah, it is him.¡± Justine said, gesturing for me to step out of line with her.

    We waited until the green haired trainer¡¯s match was over, ending with his Gogoat demolishing its opponent with a well timed Earthquake.

    ¡°Fabian!¡± Justine shouted, waving at the green haired trainer as he returned Gogoat and walked back to the waiting area.

    The trainer¡¯s eyes widened in surprise and he smiled warmly, jogging over to us, ¡°Hey Justine! It¡¯s been a while.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know that you were gonna be in Kalos! You should¡¯ve told me, I told you I was gonna be in Lumiose.¡± Justine chided, punching the older trainer¡¯s arm.

    Mii, who was standing by behind Justine¡¯s ankles, stepped forward to sniff Fabian¡¯s shoes before wrinkling her nose and sneezing, ¡°He smells like too much grass.¡±

    ¡°Hi grass man! You smell like cut grass!¡± Litwick waved hello.

    Fabian smiled and waved back at Litwick, then scratched his head, ¡°Yeah sorry, kinda got caught up in some stuff.¡±

    Justine raised an eyebrow, ¡°What? You got lost in some ruins again?¡±

    Fabian sucked some air in through his teeth and guiltily looked away. ¡°Yeah.¡±

    The ghost specialist sighed before giving the older trainer a cheeky grin, ¡°It might help if you invite my sister next time~¡± She nudged his arm

    A bit of red rose in Fabian¡¯s cheeks as he awkwardly spluttered, ¡°Uh, um, uh, yeah I¡¯ll keep that in mind. Having her ghosts around would be pretty helpful with navigating underground portions.¡±

    ¡°Hmmm. You¡¯d better~¡± Justine said, her knowing smile getting wider.

    Yamask scoffed, ¡°Oh please, like that old hag would let a mere researcher date one of her best students.¡±

    Fabian then nervously cleared his throat and gestured to me, ¡°So Justine, who¡¯s your new friend?¡±

    I nodded and waved, ¡°I¡¯m Azalea, I¡¯m one of Professor Rowan¡¯s sponsored trainers. Nice to meet you.¡±

    This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

    Fabian nodded back at me, ¡°I¡¯m Fabian. I do research for Professor Juniper, explore ruins, and uh, other archeology stuff.¡±

    Justine jumped in, proudly announcing, ¡°He¡¯s the one who gave me Golett, aaaand he¡¯s my sister¡¯s boyfriend.¡±

    ¡°Shhhh!¡± A bit panicked, Fabian put a finger on Justine¡¯s mouth, ¡°It¡¯s not official okay? If Agatha finds out I¡¯ll be dead meat.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± I asked, ¡°It¡¯s not her business who her students date.¡±

    Justine sighed and nodded, ¡°Yeah, but she basically took my sis in as an adoptive granddaughter after our parents died, soooo, you knoooow. She has high standards for all of her students, especially my sis.¡±

    Overprotective grandma. I see. I sagely nodded, ¡°I see. Well, my lips are sealed.¡± I made a zipper motion over my mouth. Winnie grinned and copied my motion, ¡°i didn¡¯t hear anything.¡±

    I slightly furrowed my eyebrows as I processed the other part of Justine¡¯s sentence. Wait her parents are dead?! She said that so casually. Did she tell me about this before when I wasn¡¯t paying attention? Shit.

    ¡°Thanks.¡± Fabian sighed.

    I waved it off, ¡°No probs. So, what do you research?¡±

    The grass-type specialist relaxed as the topic switched to something he was more comfortable with, ¡°I research ancient ruins with a focus on the Unown, though most of the time I just go around restoring artifacts and ruins, that tends to make the most money.¡±

    ¡°Ooo, what are you here to restore?¡± Justine asked, ¡°Is it something from the Lumiose Museum?¡±

    Fabian shook his head, ¡°The owners of the Tower of Mastery want me to restore a large section of the tower that¡¯s been damaged. I have a flight to Shalour later in the afternoon, but I wanted to get in some exercise for my team before I get too busy with the restoration.¡±

    ¡°Hey, you should battle us,¡± I suggested, ¡°you guys wanna get a fourth and do a double battle?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯ll be great!¡± Justine said, before putting a finger up, ¡°Actually, you guys wanna do a free-for-all battle?¡±

    ¡°Free-for-all?¡± I asked.

    Justine nodded, ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s basically a one vee one, but with four trainers. No teams, everyone for themself.¡±

    ¡°Hell yeah, that sounds fun.¡± I said.

    Fabian nodded, ¡°Of course, I bet Serperior would love a rematch. It¡¯s been a long time since you and Golett tried your hand against us.¡±

    "Yeah it has been a long time. Serperior''s gonna get a good ass whooping this time." Justine replied with her usual Gengar-like grin.

    <hr>

    It wasn¡¯t too hard to get a fourth trainer to join our party. Once we had all four people required for a free-for-all, we were able to secure an arena for ourselves. Due to how many people there were, the amount of Pokemon we were allowed to use per battle was limited to make sure no battles took too long, so our free-for-all match would only allow each trainer to use one Pokemon.

    That was fine by us, and because only battling Pokemon were allowed in the arena so we left Winnie and Yamask in charge of Litwick and Mii in the waiting area. The candle and fox ghosts excitedly waved at us and cheered as we entered the arena.

    Once everyone was in place in their corners of the field, the referee blew their whistle, signaling us to let out our Pokemon.

    Sahara would probably be a bit overkill, I''ll save her for a later battle. For a chaotic free-for-all, who would be a better participant than the team wildcard himself? I grabbed the dusk ball off my belt and sent out Kaiju, the two-headed dragon roared to announce his presence before his heads found a reason to begin bickering and nipping each other.

    Justine sent out Golett, Fabian sent out his Serperior, and the fourth trainer sent out a blue-lobster looking Pokemon with an enormous pincer claw literally three times the size of its main body.

    ¡°What the fuck is that?¡± I muttered to myself, ¡°That¡¯s literally just a lobster with a big ass claw.¡±

    I heard Rotom beep as it sneakily took a picture of the lobster Pokemon from my pocket. The Pokedex spoke at a volume just loud enough for me to hear.

    ¡°Clawitzer, the Howitzer Pokemon. These aquatic Pokemon can move at a speed of 60 knots by water and gas inside its claw and expelling it from the nozzle in the back of its claw. It is powerful enough to pierce tanker hulls. Its pincer claw is a popular cooking ingredient.¡±

    I barely remembered this Pokemon. It was either from gen six or gen nine, no idea. It looked pretty cool too, probably just got overshadowed by Pokemon I thought looked cooler at the time.

    ¡°This will be a free-for-all battle where the last Pokemon standing will be declared the winner of the match.¡± The referee shouted from his elevated box, ¡°Each trainer will use only one Pokemon, and no switch-outs are allowed. Please stay in your trainer box until the battle has ended. Thank you.¡±

    There was a hum as a domed forcefield separated us from the arena. Then the referee blew one long whistle blow to indicate the start of the match.

    Serperior was the first to act, Coiling its serpentine body like a spring and using Growth in quick succession.

    ¡°Hone Claws!¡± Clawitzer¡¯s trainer shouted.

    There was the sound of rocks scraping as Clawitzer scraped its massive pincer claw on the ground.

    ¡°Iron Defense.¡± Golett¡¯s rocky body gained a metallic sheen from Iron Defense.

    ¡°Think bad thoughts Kaiju!¡± I said to the dragon.

    Kaiju¡¯s heads took a second to stop nipping each other. Then they both took in a deep breath and began screeching. The other three Pokemon, plus a few other Pokemon on nearby fields stopped to stare at Kaiju with a bit of concern.

    What the fuck is he saying? I glanced back at the waiting area and saw Winnie shaking his head. Both he and Yamask were covering Mii and Litwick¡¯s ears.

    ¡°Bomber run.¡± Fabian said.

    Serperior sped into action, moving across the arena in a hypnotic pattern and leaving a trail of grass as it used Swords Dance, then Trailblaze before it slammed into Clawizter, who was the serpent¡¯s nearest opponent.

    The blue lobster instantly retaliated by snapping at Serperior with Vice Grip, but it missed, making a loud snapping sound as Serperior slithered out of the away. Then the regal Pokemon brought its tail down onto Clawitzer, slamming the lobster with Dragon Tail.

    Then Golett jumped into the fray, having made its way across the arena, its arms spun and began blurring together it punched both opponents in rapid succession with Drain Punch, its ability Iron Fist visibly giving its punching attack some extra power.

    Kaiju was still in his corner shouting about I dunno, whatever would correlate to his view on bad thoughts.

    ¡°Kaiju!¡± I shouted to get the dragon¡¯s attention, ¡°Hyper Voice! Show them your beautiful voice!¡±

    Kaiju paused and stared at me for a second before flapping his wings in joy and opening both mouths wide like muppets as he took in a deep breath.

    ¡°ZWEEEEEEI!!¡± ¡°LOOOUUUUS!!¡±

    The forcefield vibrated as it dampened the sound.

    Serperior and Clawitzer recoiled, writhing in pain as the powerful soundwaves tore through them. Neither of them had appendages that could cover their ears so they could only wait for Kaiju¡¯s dreadful screaming to end.

    "Wonderful voice!" Fabian shouted from his side of the field, "It''s almost as good as a Muk''s singing!"

    I scoffed, "You just don''t have the refined hearing necessary to appreciate his style!"

    "Punch them! Fire and thunder!" Justine shouted at Golett while making punching motions. Thanks to its normal type immunity, the automaton was perfectly fine. The golem couldn''t hear Justine, but got the message. Both of its fists lit up, one with fire, the other with electricity as it jumped and landed a powerful Fire Punch on Serperior, and a Thunder Punch on Clawitzer, knocking them to the ground.

    The dreadful screaming petered out as Kaiju ran out of breath, he began taking another breath, but Clawizter used Aqua Jet and rocketed from the other side of the field to slam into the two-headed dragon to shut him up.

    Serperior dodged another Fire Punch from Golett and used Dragon Tail to simultaneously pound Golett into the ground and launch itself high into the air, whereupon it sprayed a carpet bombing of Seed Bomb all over the field.

    Golett and Clawizter used Protect, shielding themselves from the grass-type explosions that followed.

    ¡°Snarl upwards!¡± I shouted.

    Kaiju snarled, sending out a wave of dark-type energy that set off the seed bombs above him before they could reach him.

    ¡°Get to Zweilous,¡± Fabian ordered, ¡°then Dragon Tail!¡±

    ¡°Fire Fang!¡± I countered.

    Using Aerial Ace to propel itself through the air, Serperior landed in front of Kaiju and swung around, slamming the teen dragon with a Dragon Tail.

    Kaiju groaned as he was hit with the super effective move. Fire flashed in both of his mouths as he bit down on Serperior¡¯s tail, preventing him from being thrown. The grass type shrieked from the double super effective attack and began crazily wriggling around like a worm as Kaiju began chewing on the grass snake¡¯s tail with Crunch.

    ¡°Ser-peeeeer!¡± The regal Pokemon screamed, spinning around and finally throwing Kaiju off and across the field into Golett, knocking the golem down.

    ¡°Crabhammer them both! Full power!¡± Clawizter¡¯s trainer shouted. The lobster Pokemon literally Pounced on the opportunity, its giant claw glowing blue with water type energy.

    Serperior let out an indignant cry about its chewed-up tail and furiously dashed in with a Leaf Blade at the ready.

    ¡°Sneak attack Serperior! You got this Golett!¡± Justine ordered.

    Using Phantom Force, Golett melted into Kaiju¡¯s shadow before quickly reappearing behind Serperior, both of its fists ablaze with fire.

    ¡°Behind you!¡± Fabian warned his Pokemon. Serperior instantly swung around and parried Golett¡¯s Fire Punches with Leaf Blade and Bullet Seed.

    Meanwhile, Clawitzer redirected its Crabhammer attack from Golett to Kaiju.

    ¡°Catch it with Thunder Fang!¡± I shouted.

    Kaiju reacted quickly, his teeth sparking with electricity as both mouths caught Clawizter¡¯s attack. The dragon dug his feet into the ground as he was pushed back a few paces, while the lobster Pokemon seized as it was shocked by Thunder Fang.

    ¡°Get away and use Dragon Pulse!¡± Clawizter¡¯s trainer shouted with a bit of panic in their voice.

    ¡°Claw!¡± The howitzer Pokemon shot backwards using Aqua Jet in an attempt to get out of Kaiju¡¯s grapple, but the two headed dragon dug his feet in and stubbornly refused to let go.

    Then Golett crashed into them both, having been thrown due to Serperior¡¯s Vine Whip.

    The sunlight turned harsh as Serperior used Sunny Day and began charging up a powerful Solar Beam.

    ¡°Dig and reposition yourself!¡± Justine quickly ordered.

    Golett¡¯s feet came together and it spun like a drill, quickly burrowing into the ground with Dig. Serperior fired the attack. Clawizter panicked as it was still being held in the blast zone by Kaiju, they were both positioned to get hit.

    ¡°Show Clawister to Serperior!¡± I shouted.

    ¡°Hydro Pump!¡± Clawizter¡¯s trainer ordered, now with even more of a panicked edge in their voice than before.

    With a bit of effort, Kaiju pivoted and swung around, basically using the lobster as a shield.

    Clawitzer flailed its body while making panicked bubbling noises as it tried to free itself from Kaiju''s death grip. Due to the way the lobster Pokemon was positioned, its claw wasn¡¯t pointed the right way to counter Serperior¡¯s attack and it took on the full brunt of the grass-type energy laser.

    An explosion from Solar Beam hitting knocked Clawizter out of Kaiju¡¯s grapple and sent it flying and crashing into the ground, its eyes spinning.

    The fainted lobster Pokemon was quickly returned by its trainer, who seemed rather annoyed that they got almost no action.

    Time for a real bombing run. ¡°Draco Meteor!¡±

    Both of Kaiju¡¯s heads opened their mouths wide to the sky. One after the other, two massive balls of condensed dragon-type energy shot up into the sky, emitting high-pitched whistling noises. Then the balls split and it began raining burning bright meteors.

    ¡°Set them off before they hit the ground!¡± Fabian shouted at Serperior.

    ¡°Ser!¡± The grass-type began spitting Bullet Seeds at the meteors that would land near it, making them explode midair. The rest of the meteors landed and exploded, peppering the battlefield with craters.

    I shielded my eyes from the brightness of the explosions.

    While Serperior was distracted with defending itself from the meteors, Golett¡¯s fist punched out of the ground and grabbed the serpent¡¯s damaged tail, making Serperior whip around with a vicious hiss that was interrupted by a Shadow Punch from Golett.

    ¡°Block!¡± Fabian shouted, Justine instantly countered, ¡°Brick Break!¡±

    A barrier appeared in front of Serperior, but Golett broke through its Protect with Brick Break and landed another Shadow Punch.

    Fuck it, let¡¯s go wild. ¡°Jump in Kaiju! Have some fun with Outrage!¡± I said with a shit-eating grin.

    Kaiju let out an ecstatic roar as he worked himself up into a berserker mode, a huge surge of dragon type energy massively boosting his physical strength. Then he charged at Golett and Serperior.

    Fabian decided that Kaiju was the bigger threat and instantly redirected, ¡°Dodge! Dragon Pulse on Zweilous, keep your distance!¡±

    Justine seemed to have a similar thought process, ¡°Don¡¯t get hit Golett! Gravity and Mega Punch!¡±

    Serperior disappeared in a blur before Kaiju could reach it and reappeared a good distance away where it began sniping at Kaiju with Dragon Pulses, hitting him once or twice. Despite his bulky frame, the two headed dragon was a lot faster than he looked and he was able to dodge or outspeed most of Serperior''s Dragon Pulse''s thanks to Outrage.

    Kaiju stumbled as Golett used Gravity. The two headed dragon didn¡¯t seem to care about the increased weight, and surprised the automaton Pokemon with his speed as he barreled into it with another Dragon Rush and sent the golem flying and crashing into the barrier with a loud crack!

    Serperior shot another Dragon Pulse at Kaiju, redirecting his focus onto the grass-type.

    ¡°Gravity!¡± The serpent was about to move away from its spot but flinched as it felt the effects of Golett¡¯s gravity, slowing it down just enough to let Kaiju catch it by the tail again.

    ¡°ZWEIIIIII!¡± Kaiju screamed as he began violently rag dolling the snake around like an energetic puppy who had just found a new toy, slamming it into the ground and creating multiple craters.

    ¡°Wait for the right moment to get free,¡± Fabian ordered, ¡°then Giga Drain!¡±

    ¡°Drain Punch!¡±

    Golett jumped out of Kaiju¡¯s shadow ready to punch like the little boxer it was.

    The golem landed two consecutive Drain Punches on Kaiju, dealing super effective damage while also healing itself.

    Kaiju whirled around, his free head wildly snapping at Golett. Serperior took this chance to Wrap itself around Kaiju¡¯s necks. The grass-type began glowing green as it used Giga Drain to absorb energy from Kaiju and heal itself.

    Kaiju retaliated by Crunching down on Serperior while Golett landed a Fire Punch on both opponents, which made Serperior let go.

    ¡°ZWEII!!¡± Kaiju screamed again, each head making a grab for both opponents and pulling each other opposite ways.

    Too bad Outrage was beginning to wear off. Both heads snapped at each other, angry for trying to go the other way. Then they began full on fighting and viciously biting at each other. It was a toss up of whether this was confusion or just Kaiju fighting himself like always.

    Serperior dashed in while the heads were distracted and fainted Kaiju with a fast Leaf Blade.

    I sighed as I returned Kaiju, it was fun while it lasted. Now it was just Serperior vs Golett, the two stared each other down like it was a standoff in an old western movie.

    Serperior gave Golett a smug grin as tauntingly preened itself, "Ser serperior serp."

    Golett was as stoic and silent as ever, unmoving until its trainer gave it a new directive.

    Fabian wasn¡¯t gonna let Justine seize the momentum of the fight, ¡°Leaf Storm!¡±

    Serperior took the lead by sending a Leaf Storm at Golett, who with a shout from Justine, dodged the move with Dig. The regal Pokemon had grown wise to Golett¡¯s tactics by now and it quickly moved out of the way and swung at the ground beneath it with Leaf Blade.

    A fiery fist punched out of Serperior¡¯s shadow, effectively countering the grass-type¡¯s move. Serperior slithered back with dizzying speed, readying another Leaf Storm as Golett jumped out of its shadow and ran at its opponent.

    ¡°Let¡¯s do this! Activate No-Guard!¡± Justine ordered. Golett¡¯s eyes burned brighter and its body language changed.

    Serperior let out a cry as the ghost Pokemon seemingly teleported right in front of it and landed a Mega Punch, sending the regal Pokemon flying. Serperior righted itself midair and used Aerial Ace to propel itself back at Golett, who was readying another Mega Punch.

    ¡°Burrito drain!¡± Fabian shouted a command. I sharply looked at the older trainer with a raise eyebrow. Burrito? What, is Serperior''s held item a tortilla?

    Instead of meeting Golett¡¯s punch head-on, Serperior nimbly adjusted its angle so that Mega Punch would only be a glancing blow. Then the serpent speedily Wrapped its body around Golett, constricting the automaton.

    Serperior began glowing green as it sapped energy from its opponent with Giga Drain. Golett creaked and struggled to get free, it was unable to phase through the grass type to escape for some reason.

    Dang, looks like Serperior is gonna win. Well, unless Golett evolves.

    Golett suddenly glowed a bright white. I shielded my eyes from the light.

    ¡°YES! YES! You did it!¡± Justine shouted as she jumped in excitement. I could hear Litwick and Mii loudly cheering for Golett before the two began negotiating with each other on who would get to sit on Golurk''s head first.

    Called it. I loudly whistled and waved, "Yoooo! Get em Golurk! Get em!"

    Serperior¡¯s eyes widened and it loosened its grip as it tried to make a getaway.

    There was an explosion of energy that kicked up a cloud of dust and smoke. After a few seconds, a pair of glowing yellow eyes pierced through the smoke. Then a bunch of glowing runes flickered and began to glow. That''s a badass entrance there.

    ¡°Shadow Punch! Show them how strong you''ve become Golurk!¡± Justine shouted.

    Now towering at over nine feet tall, Golurk''s massive frame loomed over Serperior, who the automaton Pokemon now had gripped tightly in its massive hand. Serperior tried to wriggle free of the golem¡¯s hand, but its grip was too tight.

    ¡°Solar Beam!¡± Fabian shouted to Serperior, ¡°It can¡¯t dodge your attacks!¡±

    ¡°Ser!¡± Serperior charged up a Solar Beam and shot it in Golurk¡¯s face. The golem didn¡¯t even flinch and quickly flung Serperior to the ground before punching it with Shadow Punch and embedding the grass serpent into a crater in the ground.

    ¡°Mega Punch! Full power!¡± Justine shouted, punching the air.

    ¡°Leaf Storm! You¡¯re almost there!¡±

    Serperior sent a raging Leaf Storm right as Golurk was about to punch again. Again, Golurk didn¡¯t seem phased by the storm of leaves, but it slowly creaked to a halt mid-punch. Golurk¡¯s glowing eyes flickered and went dim as the golem¡¯s joints locked up. It had fainted.

    I sighed in disapointment, "Aiyaaaa." Damn, I was rooting for you Golurk.

    The shrill blow of a whistle indicated the end of the match. ¡°Fabian and Serperior are the winners!¡± The referee shouted, ¡°You may now leave the trainer boxes. As a reminder, you can heal your Pokemon at the restoration station near the front desk.¡±

    The Clawizter trainer quickly left to heal their Pokemon.

    Justine and Fabian returned Golurk and Serperior, both saying words of praise to their Pokemon.

    We talked about the battle a bit before Fabian realized he was gonna be late and left in a hurry to catch his flight. Then Justine and I got Kaiju and Golurk healed before we went back to battling.

    Sahara ended up hogging most of the battles. Her being a Garchomp, and a massive one at that attracted a lot of attention, which in turn, attracted a lot of challengers. So the landshark had the time of her life going up against a variety of strong opponents, and I indulged the battle junkie. Hopefully this would keep her satisfied until we eventually got to the Battle Chateau.

    After a while, people began betting on who would be able to beat the monster Garchomp. Justine took advantage of that and began earning a pretty penny betting with other trainers, and just betting on Sahara every time.

    Once Sahara was sufficiently tired out, I was able to get in one battle each with Winnie and Glados before we left for dinner.

    We ended up using some of the money that Justine earned from betting to buy a fancy cake for Golurk and went to a popular pizza place that allowed large Pokemon to celebrate Golurk¡¯s evolution. Kaiju and Sahara were not invited. One was too chaotic and guaranteed to wreck something in a crowded restaurant and the other was still sleeping off all the battling she did at the Battle Institute.

    Winnie was a bit annoyed when he realized that he never got an evolution party, but took back his complaints after being given a large piece of his favorite cake. I made a mental note to up his training for the next week.

    The restaurant staff were nice enough to provide us with a way-too-small party hat for Golurk. Rotom took a bunch of pictures for us and sent them to the group chat.

    Kenta instantly replied and said that his team would be expecting a battle the next time they met. The others replied with a mixture of congrats, and challenging Justine and Golurk to a battle.

    Once we were almost done eating, Justine decided to spill all the tea about Fabian and her sister to me. I felt kind of like she wanted an excuse to complain about Agatha essentially cockblocking the guy she would like to be her future brother-in-law.

    The elite four member was known to have high standards and expectations towards the type of people her students associated with, and she was quite unpleasant towards people she didn¡¯t approve of.

    That unpleasantness would translate into her ghosts taking that as a go-ahead to prank and scare the shit out of people she disliked.

    That would explain Angela and Fabian¡¯s reluctance to announce anything.

    ¡°Hmm, too bad for them.¡± I hummed.

    ¡°why not hire a ghost to protect him from her ghosts then?¡± Winnie suggested through a mouthful of his pizza.

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s not a bad idea. Why doesn¡¯t Fabian just get a ghost-type Pokemon of his own?¡± I asked, ¡°There are a few different grass-ghost type species out there, I¡¯m sure Agatha would be just a bit nicer towards someone who can appreciate and handle a ghost Pokemon. Cause, ya know, that¡¯s her specialty.¡±

    I looked at Yamask who was shaking his head, ¡°A single ghost isn¡¯t gonna change that old hag¡¯s mind. He¡¯s a nice kid, but I doubt he¡¯ll be able to live up to Agatha¡¯s expectations. She¡¯s got a rather traditional view on certain things.¡±

    Justine on the other hand, was actually considering Winnie¡¯s suggestion. ¡°Hmmm, it won¡¯t completely convince her but it might be a good way to get a foot in the door.¡±

    ¡°It will also be easier for the grass man to explore underground if he has a ghost around.¡± Mii added, she was edging closer to Justine¡¯s soda to sneak a few licks of the sweet bubbly liquid.

    Litwick nodded and raised a piece of Pokemon food like a trophy as it sang, ¡°Shipmaking~ Sailing the ship! We¡¯re equipping the ship! With a cannon for the ship! We¡¯re gonna use the cannon for the ship~ On the evil sea witch!¡±

    I chuckled at Litwick¡¯s song, ¡°Okay, where are we gonna get a ghost type for the grass man?¡±

    Justine raised an eyebrow, ¡°The coven on Route Six. Lol, grass man, did Litwick come up with that nickname?¡±

    I nodded, oh yeah, that¡¯s where she wanted to catch a Pumpkaboo.

    The ghost specialist chuckled, ¡°So, you wanna join the ghost hunting trip?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, why not?¡± I replied, tapping my chin as I reviewed any plans I had for the next week, ¡°Chloe and Zoe invited me to a gym battle in Anistar City, but I haven¡¯t got the date yet because I don¡¯t know when I¡¯m gonna get that Rufflet.¡±

    ¡°Yeah you can go do that first,¡± Justine said, taking a sip of her soda, ¡°it¡¯s gonna take me a while to come up with a way to convince Fabian to come along with us. Plus, I don¡¯t know what my schedule is gonna be either. We can confirm it later.¡±

    "Great." I nodded, ¡°By the way, this is a pretty nice tradition. Why not do this every time someone evolves?¡±

    Justine shrugged, "It depends on if we''re near a place that has nice food, but I wouldn''t mind doing this more often. Next time we should invite more people to make it an actual party."

    "That," I pointed at Justine, "is a great idea."

    "we can get more cake!" Winnie added. Banette wordlessly nodded, she was too busy stuffing her face with french fries.

    I pressed my lips together and hummed, "Uhhh, sure, just don''t overdo yourself. We''ll have to stop if you eat too much unhealthy stuff."

    Winnie blew a raspberry and held his precious cake away from me. I rolled my eyes.

    With a smile, Justine raised her soda cup. ¡°Cheers to Pokemon.¡± Litwick joined in with its tiny cup of life juice.

    I raised my soda and echoed Justine, "Cheers to Pokemon."

    "you mean cheers to cake." Winnie raised his now empty cake plate while licking frosting off his nose, "also, i''d like another slice."

 (35) The Mighty and Esteemed Eagle of Greatness and Awesomeness andâ€¦

    ¡°Everyone ready?¡± I asked.

    Winnie and Sahara nodded, with the landshark sitting on Kaiju to prevent him from rushing the newcomer.

    Sahara was rather disappointed that the newcomer wouldn¡¯t be a Pokemon she could freely spar with, as the rest of my team weren¡¯t exactly exactly a head-to-head fighters, well besides Kaiju who was usually more interested in testing how edible everything was.

    Glados floated next to me making curious glitching noises and Rotom had already opened up its Pokedex app, readying its scanning feature.

    Banette jumped out of my shadow and floated over to sit next to Winnie. The rest of the ghost gang giggled and replied to my question with a series of yeps and uh-huhs. I blinked a few times in surprise and looked a bit closer at the ghosts grouped in the shadows of my team and me. There seemed to be a few new faces. A lot of new faces actually.

    There were like fifteen-ish ghosts originally. Now there were about thirty, with most of the newbies being roaming form Ghimmighoul. The little possessed coins glinted and sparkled in the filtered sunlight that shone down through the test dome¡¯s glass roof as they shifted around in Sahara¡¯s shadow.

    When did they join?

    I shrugged and took out the Pokeball that had been sent over that morning from the Sinnoh Regional Lab, giving my team an excited grin, I pressed the button.

    There was a *pop!* And a very fluffy Rufflet fluttered to the ground. The little bird shook its body and fluffed up its feathers like a diva fluffing up a fancy fur scarf.

    Then it examined its new team with a very judgemental set of eyes before sizing me up as well.

    ¡°Zwei!¡± ¡°Lous!¡± Both of Kaiju¡¯s heads barked as he wriggled out from under Sahara and made a full-on bellyflop dive for the eaglet, determined to find out if he could turn Rufflet into a KFC menu item.

    ¡°GAK!¡± Kaiju choked and fell to the ground as Sahara grappled his heads into a headlock, growling at the unruly teen dragon and probably telling him something like ¡°Sit the fuck down and behave!¡±

    Winnie rolled his eyes and sighed, Banette giggled, and Glados beeped disapprovingly at Kaiju.

    I gave Sahara a nod when Kaiju continued to try to wriggling out of her grip. The landshark¡¯s eyes got a gleeful look and she exposed all of her sharp teeth in an evil grin as she slammed both of Kaiju¡¯s heads into each other. Kaiju wobbled on his feet for a second and sat down in a daze.

    Unbothered by the commotion, Rufflet surprisingly didn¡¯t even flinch at the sight of a massive two-headed dragon trying to eat him. Instead he seemed quite pleased and made a bunch of positive sounding chirps.

    ¡°Ruff rufflet ruff rufflet!¡±

    I looked at Winnie for help, ¡°What did he say?¡±

    ¡°The new kid says that he was told he would be sent to be a member of a powerful team and that his expectations were mostly met.¡± Winnie translated with a bit of pride.

    ¡°I see.¡± I smiled at Rufflet, ¡°Well, I¡¯m glad you approve.¡±

    Rufflet nodded and then ruffled his feather in disgust as he saw Kaiju lean forward, both of his mouths drooling enough to create a small pile of slobber at his feet that began slowly making its way toward the bird.

    ¡°Ruf, rufflet ruff rufflet.¡± The eaglet huffed as he hopped away from the drool puddle.

    Bannette translated this time, ¡°He says that he does expect certain members to have a bit more class, and some more cool factor.¡±

    The ghost puppet gestured towards Kaiju.

    I squatted down to speak to Rufflet. ¡°Hey man, I dunno I wouldn¡¯t peg us as being the classy type, but I¡¯d say that we can be pretty cool.¡±

    Rufflet rolled his eyes and gave me a prissy scoff, ¡°Ruff rufflet! Rufflet ruff ruff.¡±

    I glanced up as I heard a snicker from Winnie, the illusion fox was desperately trying to hide a smile, ¡°he¨C he says that with the team description he was given, he thought his new trainer would be cooler, like Cynthia or Lance, or even Lucian¡­¡±

    ¡°And less like a human with the face of a Cleffa.¡± Banette finished Winnie¡¯s sentence with a giggle.

    I frowned, ¡°A Cleffa?¡±

    ¡°An angry Cleffa right now.¡± Haunter added, Misdreavus nodded in agreement, ¡°Very intimidating.¡±

    There was an uproar of laughter from everyone. Kaiju cocked his heads, confused about what everyone was laughing about.

    ¡°Heh, alright,¡± I sighed, rolling my eyes as I stood back up and crossing my arms. ¡°I guess I look like a Cleffa now.¡±

    ¡°Rufflet.¡± Rufflet nodded.

    ¡°Hey,¡± Banette said, raising a finger, ¡°Didn¡¯t that fire monkey back when we were in Sinnoh call Az a Dedenne?¡±

    Winnie nodded, ¡°yeah he did.¡± The illusion fox then stared at my face and shrugged, ¡°Meh, I think Cleffa fits more. the kid knows his stuff.¡±

    I rolled my eyes again, ¡°Sure, whatever. Well, don¡¯t judge a book by it¡¯s cover aight? Cute doesn¡¯t mean not dangerous.¡±

    Rufflet seemed unconvinced. Heh, he sure is one to talk about cool factor. Though to be fair, Braviary does look hella cool.

    I walked over to my team, ¡°Anyways, lemme introduce you to the team.¡±

    I pointed at Winnie, ¡°The white zoroark is Winnie, he¡¯s in charge of the ghost gang.¡± I gestured at the ghosts lounging about in everyone¡¯s shadows, ¡°The ragdoll next to Winnie is Banette, she¡¯s Winnie¡¯s second in command, you can go to either of them if you have any problems with the ghosts.¡±

    ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°Uh-huh.¡± The two said.

    Then I pointed at the others, ¡°Sahara is the big Garchomp, Kaiju is the drooling two headed punk that she¡¯s currently sitting on, you might wanna stay away from Kaiju until he stops seeing you as food. The glitchy one here is Glados, and the floating phone is Rotom.¡±

    Rufflet gave us all a pompous nod and did a grand bowing wing gesture, well as grand as one could get looking like a fluffball, and began doing his own introduction, ¡°Rufflet. Rufflet ruff ruff rufflet rufflet¡­¡±

    I kinda just stood there and watched as Rufflet continued talking and looked at Banette for some translation help.

    Banette floated over to me and whispered, ¡°He¡¯s talking about his ¡®exalted¡¯ family tree.¡±

    ¡°Ah, I see.¡± I cleared my throat to get Rufflet to interrupt the eaglet¡¯s speed. The little bird looked at me with annoyance. ¡°Ruff?¡±

    ¡°So Rufflet, how would you like a, uh, noble name?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Rufflet!¡± Rufflet jumped in excitement and nodded

    I kneeled down again, ¡°Okay, uh let¡¯s see. Oh.¡± I paused as the lighting changed from the sun being obscured by some clouds. Wait a minute, its coloring is¡­off.

    My brain had kinda registered the faint orange-ish hue in Rufflet¡¯s feathers as an effect of the warm sunlight filtering through the glass of the dome we were in. Nope. His feathers were a mix of grey, brown, and orange instead of the grey-blue of a normal Rufflet.

    ¡°Oh damn, you¡¯re a shiny.¡±

    Rufflet looked at me as if I had just pointed out the most obvious thing in the world and gave me a smug shrug before lightly preening his feathers. Well I¡¯m not questioning it.

    ¡°Okay, well uh, firstly, do you know that you can evolve into two different final forms?¡±

    ¡°Ruff.¡± Rufflet nodded. Good, I don¡¯t have to explain.

    ¡°Do you know which one you wanna evolve into?¡± I held up my hands, ¡°Right hand for Unovan and left for Hisuan.¡±

    Rufflet pecked my left hand just a bit too hard. I sucked air in through my teeth and shook my hand.

    ¡°Aight, cool, so wizard instead of warrior build.¡± I said as I began brainstorming name ideas. Then one name hit me like lightning, ¡°Thorondor!¡± I exclaimed and pointed at Rufflet.

    ¡°What do you think of Thorondor for a name? Thoron for short.¡±

    Rufflet tilted his head, ¡°Ruff?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the name of the greatest Braviary to ever live!¡± I said with a bit of embellishment, ¡°He was the king of Braviaries in the first age and battled mighty dragons head-on!¡± Well, Thorondor isn¡¯t a Pokemon, but he¡¯s an eagle. Braviaries are technically eagles though, plus it¡¯s a kickass name. Thanks Tolkein.

    Rufflet ate that up and nodded, trying to hide his excitement, ¡°Rufflet.¡±

    I offered an arm for Rufflet to hop up onto, which he did. I winced as I stood back up. Despite looking like a feathery fluffball the eaglet gripped my bare arm hard, digging his claws into my skin.

    I slightly grimaced. Oooo, that¡¯s gonna leave a mark, multiple marks actually.

    ¡°Well, welcome to the team Thorondor!¡±

    I made a mental note to get myself some arm and shoulder padding in case Thoron ever wanted to use me as a perch.

    Everyone padded over to finally get a closer look. I lifted Thoron up a bit higher to prevent Kaiju from eating his tail feathers and began pushing Kaiju¡¯s head back down like a game of whack-a-mole.

    Banette patted Thorondor¡¯s fluffy head feathers, much to the eaglet¡¯s annoyance before the little bird decided that Sahara¡¯s would make for a better perch and flew over to sit on the landshark¡¯s head. Sahara didn¡¯t seem to mind.

    Rotom pushed past Banette and eagerly flew over to Thorondor to scan him, ¡°Bzzt!¡±

    ¡°Rufflet, the Eaglet Pokemon. Known as a natural-born warrior, soon after its hatching, it will challenge its parent to a fight in order to gain their acceptance. This combative Pokemon will fearlessly pick fights with anything in order to get stronger. It fights with its sharp beak and talons strong enough to crack the hard shells of Shellder.¡±

    I shook the arm that Rufflet had just been perched on and looked at my forearm, it was already beginning to bruise. Yeah no kidding, that¡¯s some good grip strength.

    Rotom flew over to me and I looked at Rufflet¡¯s abilities and known moves while my team talked with Thoron, ¡°Thanks Rotom.¡±

    Abilities: Keen Eye, Sheer Force, Hustle

    Known Moves: Agility, Leer, Roost, Zen Headbutt, Peck, Wing Attack

    Huh, he knows Zen Headbutt already? Looks like he¡¯s getting started on that psychic build early.

    Definitely gonna need to teach him a ranged move soon, but it looks like a pretty good starting moveset.

    ¡°Great.¡± I said, clapping my hands to get everyone¡¯s attention. ¡°Well, now that we have the introduction out of the way, what does everyone say about getting the fuck outta here and beating up some trainers for money?¡±

    The entire team cheered.

    <hr>

    After two more days of waiting, I was itching to go somewhere with less city stuff, and more trainers to battle.

    Plus, Justine was busy preparing the first step of her plan, now dubbed, Operation Matchmaker. She was currently making a pitch to convince Fabian to get a grass and ghost-type Pokemon, so I just sent her a text telling her an approximation of when I¡¯d be free to go ghost hunting and left for Route 4.

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    Cosette was right, Route 4 was bustling with trainers. Most of them were around fifteen to eighteen, though some were young enough to have chaperones following them around.

    I had made sure to stop by a store that tailored to bird Pokemon before leaving the city to get a shoulder pad and an arm protector thingy so that the eaglet¡¯s talons wouldn¡¯t keep digging holes into my skin. He was a bit disappointed that he wouldn¡¯t get to perch on Sahara but she wasn¡¯t really in the mood to be outside with so many trainers around, so he had to settle for my shoulder.

    And I had to settle with letting him constantly chatter in my ear, according to Winnie and Banette, about how great he is. I was honestly impressed that his body hadn¡¯t been crushed from having to carry such a big ego around all the time.

    Winnie, who was currently disguised as an Alolan Ninetales, was on the lookout for potential opponents he could test out his newest set of illusions against. He was masquerading as an Alolan Ninetales because he wanted to experiment with making damage from one type energy feel like another type.

    If he could make his usual roster of ghost, dark, and normal-type damage feel like ice and fairy-type damage, it would help make his disguises even more convincing.

    We were both decently familiar with the mannerisms and moveset of an Alolan Ninetales due to Celia¡¯s Alolan Ninetales, plus, the ice fox Pokemon just looked really pretty, so it was an easy choice.

    Right away, Thoron and I had a short battle with a trainer and her newly caught Fletchling so that I could gauge his skill level.

    The eaglet had Leer and Peck down no problem, but he was having issues keeping up with his opponent in the air. The smaller bird kept using hit and run tactics, always staying just out of reach and using Thoron¡¯s clumsiness in the air to its advantage.

    Thorondor was able to knock Fletchling to the ground with a well timed Zen Headbutt. Then he dived in with Agility to grab the smaller bird with his powerful talons. It would be pretty useful for him to learn Crush Claw, so that was definitely on my list of moves to teach him.

    The eaglet got in a bunch of good hits with Wing Attacks and Peck, whereupon our opponent forfeited the match and coughed up twenty bucks.

    Thoron was rather winded from the match, so I put him on the bench with a leppa berry (that he flung all over me while eating).

    I continued walking through Route 4 and kept an eye out for anyone who looked ready for a battle. Winnie would be up next, or Sahara if there was another Pokemon who I thought could keep up with her.

    ¡°Hey, you!¡±

    ¡°Girl with the Ninetales!¡±

    I looked over at the person yelling. It was a teen standing on the side of the road.

    We made eye contact and the boy nodded and grinned, ¡°You guys wanna battle? One vee one, winner gets two hundred bucks from the loser!¡±

    I shrugged and grinned back as I walked over, ¡°Yeah sure. I could do with a bit of pocket change.¡±

    The trainer chuckled, ¡°Right, I¡¯m the one who¡¯s gonna be getting that pocket change.¡±

    I raised an eyebrow.

    The trainer pointed to a large cleared out area on the side of the road, it was well used from countless Pokemon battles over the years.

    ¡°We can battle over there.¡± The kid smiled and held out a hand to shake, ¡°I¡¯m Louis by the way.¡± I shook his hand, ¡°Azalea.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯d better not regret this, my Pokemon are all rated at three stars.¡± He held up three fingers.

    I nodded and shrugged, ¡°Sure.¡± How strong is that again? I looked at the chart explaining this a while ago but I forget. It had to do with how many gym badges a person has right? So he¡¯s saying that his Pokemon is strong enough to be on a team that¡¯s earned him three badges?

    Winnie trotted onto the makeshift battlefield as I walked to the opposite side of the field from the kid.

    I internally shrugged, let¡¯s find out.

    ¡°Hey, can I scan your Ninetales before we start?¡± Louis asked, taking out a Pokedex, ¡°I¡¯ve never met a regional variant of Ninetales before.¡±

    I shrugged, ¡°Yeah sure, I don¡¯t mind.¡±

    A bit of concern crept through me as I watched the Pokedex scan Winnie. Oh shit, will it see through Winnie¡¯s illusion?

    Nope. The Pokedex did not see through Winnie¡¯s illusion.

    My sudden concern lifted as I heard its robotic voice begin to speak, ¡°Ninetales, the fox Pokemon. Possessing a calm demeanor, this Pok¨¦mon was revered as an incarnation of a deity of winter before it was identified as a regional variant of Ninetales. Wild Ninetales will guide travelers who get lost on a snowy mountain down to the mountain¡¯s base, though it only does so because it wants them to hurry up and leave. It creates drops of ice in its coat and showers them over its enemies to freeze them solid in an instant.¡±

    ¡°Haha! That¡¯s funny, helping people out because it wants them to leave faster.¡± Louis put his Pokedex away, ¡°Thanks, let¡¯s get to the battle then.¡±

    He grabbed a Pokeball from his belt and threw it.

    ¡°Time for another win Warlock!¡±

    ¡°Braix¨Cen!¡± Yellow-tan and white fox Pokemon appeared, drawing a branch from its fluffy tail and spinning it before pointing it at Winnie like a cowboy from an old western movie.

    Lol, fire fox versus ice fox.

    ¡°You know what to do.¡± I said to Winnie.

    The illusion fox grinned, ¡°yes indeed.¡±

    The temperature immediately dropped and frost formed on the ground as a blizzard picked up. Winnie¡¯s form shimmered as he disappeared into the snowstorm.

    ¡°Calm Mind, listen for a clue.¡± Louis instructed.

    Braixen took a deep breath and focused, its ears rotating, trying to pick up even the slightest of sounds that could indicate its opponent¡¯s location.

    ¡°Ice ¡®em.¡± I smiled, time to see what Winnie¡¯s got up his sleeve.

    A bunch of ice beams shot out from the snowstorm, freezing Braixen¡¯s feet to the ground with a crystalline crackling sound.

    ¡°Shield yourself with Fire Spin!¡± Louis shouted.

    ¡°Braix!¡± The fire fox barked as it swept its wand in a graceful upwards motion. Multiple pillars of fire burst out of the ground and engulfed Braixen in a tornado of flames just in time to shield the fire type from a barrage of icicles and melt the ice encasing its feet.

    Let¡¯s show off a bit. ¡°Freeze the fire!¡± I ordered.

    Through the snow, I saw Louis¡¯s eyes widen in disbelief as he heard my command.

    In an instant, Braixen¡¯s Fire Spin was flash-frozen, the fire quickly extinguished as Braixen was encased in a cylinder of ice. Through the ice, I could see Braixen¡¯s form flinch and step back in surprise.

    I don¡¯t know how he¡¯s doing that with an illusion but this is impressive.

    ¡°Flame Charge and Swift all around you!¡± Louis shouted.

    The fire fox braced its feet as it engulfed itself in fire before charging at the ice wall. It took a few hit from Flame Charge before it was able to break out of its icy prison.

    Then the fire type brandished its wand and spun like a Beyblade, releasing a barrage of golden stars all around it. The stars immediately targeted Winnie and began to converge on one part of the field.

    ¡°Counter with Blizzard.¡±

    There was a burst of frost and snow as Winnie created an illusionary Blizzard that destroyed all of the Swift stars targeting him. It was probably something like Night Shade disguised as an ice type move.

    Louis and Braixen didn¡¯t seem too bothered by Swift not hitting, all they needed was the location of their target.

    ¡°Machine gun tactics!¡± Louis shouted, pointing at Winnie¡¯s vague form in the snowstorm.

    I raised an eyebrow. Machine gun Tactics?

    Well I didn¡¯t have to wait long to find out what that was.

    Braixen pointed its wand at Winnie¡¯s silhouette. Multiple burning beads of fire formed around the fire fox¡¯s wand in a circle, then the circle began spinning and burning brighter.

    That looks like Ember. But like, a lot of embers.

    ¡°Braixen!¡± The fire type shouted as it began to release a stream of machine gun fire with its modified Ember attack. These were pretty powerful Embers too, each bullet created a small explosion of fire and released burning hot sparks the moment they made contact with something.

    ¡°oh that¡¯s just foul!¡± Winnie shouted as he blocked the first barrage of exploding Embers with Protect before running around to prevent himself from being hit, though I doubted the silhouette we were seeing was actually him.

    That¡¯s hella creative. I¡¯m gonna ¡°borrow¡± that idea, maybe Glados can make use of it. Or one of the ghosts could try that with Shadow Ball.

    ¡°Ruff rufflet ruff let ruff ruff!¡± Thoron commented with some excitement.

    I heard Haunter cackle behind me as it wondered aloud, ¡°I wonder if we can make a machine gun like that but use the Ghimmighoul as bullets.¡±

    There was a panicked clatter from the Ghimmighoul, followed by a small commotion as one of the other ghosts bonked him for scaring the coin ghosts.

    Winnie struggled to dodge the nonstop barrage of Braixen¡¯s Ember machine gun, but was able to escape after temporarily blinding Braixen with a gust of freezing wind and hail.

    ¡°Freeze its wand, then Hex.¡± I called out.

    Louis immediately countered, ¡°Don¡¯t let them freeze you again! Use Flamethrower!¡±

    Winnie leaped out of the snowstorm and shot an Ice Beam at Braixen¡¯s wand hand. The fire type countered with a Flamethrower, both attacks negated each other with a burst of steam.

    A circle of fiery beads began forming around Braixen¡¯s wand again as it tried starting up its machine gun attack again.

    ¡°Dazzling Gleam! Then disarm it!¡± I shouted.

    Winnie howled and used his illusion to mimic the Dazzling Gleam the Mega Gallade had used. There was a blinding flash of pink light, and Braixen yelped as it received damage from ¡°fairy type¡± energy.

    The fire fox recoiled and shielded its eyes, its machine gun attack flickering out due to being interrupted.

    Suddenly, Braixen¡¯s wand hand was frozen, and Winnie used Psychic to wrench Braixen¡¯s wand away from its paws. The fire type snarled viciously as it unleashed a powerful Psyshock, making Winnie drop the wand.

    Braixen dashed over to retrieve it¡¯s precious wand from the ground, only to have a truckload of ice and snow dumped on it from an ¡°Avalanche¡± that Winnie had generated.

    Probably Winnie using Psychic to make it feel like there¡¯s an ton of pressure on top of his opponent.

    There was a powerful blast of fire, and the snowy rubble instantly melted in a burst of steam. Braixen emerged from the melted snow pile and pointed its fiery wand at Winnie.

    That must be its ability, Blaze. Louis seemed to realize this too and he grinned like he¡¯d already won the match as he shouted, ¡°Flash blaze!¡±

    Braixen pointed its wand at Winnie and created multiple Ember circles above it in an arch. Now that its firepower was boosted, it was able to create multiple machine gun circles with ease.

    The fiery circles began to spin and sprayed a storm of explosive embers at Winnie, who countered with an Icy Wind that was enhanced to look like a full blown Blizzard attack.

    While Winnie was occupied with the machine gun fire, Braixen dashed right over to Winnie, generating a searing ball of fire at the tip of its wand.

    The fire type¡¯s eyes glowed blue as it used Psychic to throw Winnie into the air. Then the fire fox pointed the powerful fire type move it was charging at the illusion fox, a victorious grin played across its face.

    ¡°I¡¯d dodge that if I were you.¡± I said, just in case Winnie was somewhere in the blast zone.

    There was a bright burst of condensed fire as Braixen fired off an Overheat right in Winnie¡¯s face, followed by an explosion that generated a bunch of smoke and steam.

    Louis pumped a victorious fist in the air and shouted, ¡°Yeah!¡±

    Braixen grinned and relaxed, putting its wand hand down. It was getting ready to sheath the wand back into its tail.

    I smiled to myself as I saw Winnie¡¯s silhouette briefly appear behind Braixen before he disappeared into the ground. I wouldn¡¯t celebrate early if I were you.

    Our opponents paused and looked confused as the snowstorm and smoke cleared up. Winnie was nowhere in sight.

    ¡°Finish this.¡± I said.

    Winnie burst out of the ground, throwing Braixen into the air like how a cat would throw a mouse into the air. With a cackle, the illusion fox froze Braizen¡¯s arms and feet to prevent it from being able to land properly.

    The fire fox was too tired from using both its ability and Overheat and wasn¡¯t able to react as quickly as before

    ¡°take this!¡± The illusion fox shouted as he chucked two Shadow Balls at his opponent.

    The ghost type moves crackled like lighting as the spheres of dark purple energy slammed into Braixen, one after the other and exploded. Braixen cried out as it was knocked out and fell to the ground.

    Confused, Louis stood there for a second before pulling out Braixen¡¯s Pokeball.

    My opponent scratched his head and sighed as he returned his Pokemon, ¡°Dang. I know type advantages aren¡¯t everything but I thought we had that at the end.¡±

    I smiled as I walked over to him, ¡°Hey, that machine gun attack was super creative, and Braixen¡¯s Blaze and Overheat combo is really powerful.¡±

    ¡°Thanks,¡± Louis smiled, ¡°We¡¯ve been working on mastering that for a while. Your Ninetales has some killer mastery over ice.¡±

    We shook hands and Louis handed me two hundred dollars in cash before he turned to leave, waving goodbye.

    ¡°Well, thanks for humoring us. If we battle again Warlock and I will be sure to beat you guys.¡±

    I grinned, ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure it¡¯ll just cost you another two hundred bucks and another loss.¡±

    There was a bark of laughter from the other trainer.

    Then the sound of children loudly talking and screaming brought my attention over to the middle of the main road.

    It seemed that during our battle, a field trip¡¯s worth of second graders had arrived. They were all wearing brightly colored vests that said Estival Primary School.

    The kids gathered around their chaperones, which included three teachers, a Stoutland, an Indeedee, and an Orbeetle.

    Hmm, I would¡¯ve liked to go on a Pokemon field trip when I was their age.

    The teacher in the middle said something and the kids all chorused something back at the teacher before the little gremlins were set loose on the rest of us, running over to trainers in small groups with a chaperone in tow to ask questions and jot things down on their little clipboards.

    A trio of students¨Cescorted by Stoutland¨Cimmediately ran over to Winnie and I, giving Winnie admiring looks. They hesitated for a second. I leaned on one leg and waited for them to say something.

    Then the little girl with a Dedenne on her shoulder held up her clipboard and began slowly reading the script that was printed on it, ¡°Hello. I am Adrianne, and I am from¨C¡±

    Both the kid and her Dedenne squeaked as the kid on the right pushed them out of the way and shouted, ¡°I want to pet that Ninetales!¡±

    Dedenne girl shoved the pushy kid back and whined, ¡°Stop it Asher! I need to do the interview first!¡±

    ¡°But you take forever!¡± Pushy kid whined, ¡°I want to pet the Ninetales first!¡± Asher then reached for Winnie¡¯s illusionary tails.

    ¡°Hey, hey wait a moment.¡± I said as I stepped in front of the kid to prevent him from touching Winnie. Bro, did your parents never teach you about not touching strange Pokemon? ESPECIALLY a Ninetales.

    Despite Winnie not being a Ninetales, I doubted that he would''ve like some random child trying to touch him with their grimy little fingers.

    ¡°stay back you fiend!¡± Winnie growled at the rude kid.

    Thankfully Stoutland intervened and used its nose to sharply push the rude kid away, giving us an apologetic woof before shooting the kid a stern mom-glare.

    Rude kid pouted and stamped his foot, but seemed to at least know not to mess with Stoutland.

    The third kid, who was wearing a weird Sandile hat¨Cwait no he had an actual Sandile on his head, it just yawned and blinked, finally spoke up. He gave Asher an irritated look as he said in a snarky voice, ¡°This is why every Pokemon your mom gets you keeps running away.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s probably why your dad ran away too,¡± Adrianne huffed, her Dedenne squeaked and stuck a tongue out at Asher, ¡°You¡¯re such a dumb-headed Muk.¡±

    I tried to hide my surprise at the dad comment, kids do not know how to hold back.

    Tears welled up in Asher¡¯s eyes and the kid began wailing, ¡°MRS. RILEYYYYY! ADRIANNA JUST CALLED ME A DUMB-HEADED MUK!¡±

    I winced at the kid¡¯s high-pitched scream. Thoron got a bit startled and flapped his wings, slapping the side of my face with his feathers.

    Mrs. Riley was already on the way over after having helped another kid ask her interview questions, she quickened her pace to a fast jog the moment she heard rude kid start screaming.

    Said kid stomped his feet a few times and took a huge breath to scream again, but Stoutland Licked the kid¡¯s face. The paralyzing effect of the weak move was enough to stun the kid long enough for Mrs. Riley to get here before he could try to scream again.

    I shared a look with Winnie and debated if I should leave. Bruh do I really want to deal with grade school drama? Yeah, why not? I¡¯m nosy and have nothing else to do.

    ¡°Asher,¡± Mrs. Riley said in a stern teacher voice, ¡°You have to ask a Pokemon before you can pet them.¡±

    Dude, if you know that this kid is a student with a history of problematic behavior, then why did you even let him come on this field trip? Ehh, from the sound of it his mom would probably raise hell.

    Then the teacher turned to Dedenne girl, ¡°Adrianne, it¡¯s not nice to call people names okay?¡±

    ¡°But he started it first!¡± Adrianne pointed an accusing finger at Asher, ¡°He pushed me!¡±

    ¡°Yeah he pushed her.¡± Sandile kid chimed in.

    The teacher let out a tired sighed, ¡°I see, Asher, you shouldn¡¯t be pushing people, especially not your classmates.¡±

    ¡°But I wanna pet the Ninetales!¡± Asher yelled, ¡°My mommy says that I can pet any Pokemon I want!¡±

    I noticed Mrs. Riley¡¯s expression briefly flicker to irritation at the mention of this kid¡¯s mother. ¡°I¡¯m sorry Asher but you still have to listen to school rules when you¡¯re on a school field trip.¡±

    Winnie leaned over to me with a wicked grin and whispered, ¡°well if the brat¡¯s mother won¡¯t teach him better, why don¡¯t we teach him a lesson he¡¯ll never forget?¡±

    I saw Stoutland¡¯s ear twitch, it definitely heard our plan but didn¡¯t make any action to stop us. The dog Pokemon just kept using its paws to slap Asher¡¯s hands away from trying to reach for Winnie.

    The ghosts in my shadow giggle and shift and I returned Winnie¡¯s grin before walking a bit closer to the group.

    ¡°The school rules are stupid! My mommy said that I can pet whatever I want! I! Wanna! Pe¨C¡±

    ¡°Hello!¡± I interrupted, giving them all a sweet smile before making eye contact with the rude kid and leaning down to get to eye level with him, ¡°Do you know what happens to naughty children who don¡¯t respect a Pokemon¡¯s boundaries?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Asher snapped. ¡°I¨C¡±

    I sharply cut the kid off, ¡°They get cursed and turned into ghosts!¡±

    ¡°RUFFLET!¡± Thoron screeched and leaned over to Leer at the kid with an evil eye for additional intimidation factor.

    There was a shift in the air and the temperature slightly dropped as Winnie sneakily applied a weak Confuse Ray to the rude kid to only let him see whatever Winnie thought would scare the kid into at least thinking twice before touching an unfamiliar Pokemon.

    The kid went pale and looked like he almost shit his pants as he wordlessly stumbled backwards and tightly grabbed his teacher¡¯s pant leg.

    I straightened myself and smiled at Mrs. Riley, who was rather surprised at Asher¡¯s reaction. ¡°Perhaps you shouldn¡¯t let a student with boundary issues interact with unfamiliar Pokemon, something bad might happen.¡±

    Then I turned and walked away before they could say anything to me.

    There was a squeak of an apology from the rude kid, then I heard him say that he had to go to the bathroom before running away.

    The ghost gang giggled to each other about the kid¡¯s expression.

    ¡°You think that¡¯s really gonna help teach the kid a lesson?¡± Misdreavus skeptically asked.

    I shrugged, ¡°No idea, what did you show him Winnie?¡±

    Winnie chuckled, ¡°i showed him what he would look like if he had tried this with a less patient pokemon.¡±

    ¡°Ah, I see.¡± I didn¡¯t need any further explanation, ¡°Well hopefully he¡¯ll learn to at least think twice about trying to touch unfamiliar Pokemon from now on.¡±

    I knew for a fact that if that kid had tried touching Sahara, or any random dragon Pokemon like that while they were in a foul mood, then he could¡¯ve been badly hurt. Some Pokemon just don¡¯t play around, and if Winnie had actually been a Ninetales, the kid could¡¯ve been frozen or roasted just for trying to touch his tails.

    ¡°Human children sure are a handful.¡± Winnie commented.

    Banette floated out of my shadow and over to Winnie, nodding in agreement, ¡°The other chaperones sure had their hands full.¡±

    ¡°Were the other kids acting out?¡± I asked the voodoo puppet.

    Banette shook her head, ¡°Nah, just that one kid. The others were overly excited or just didn¡¯t know how to write certain words.¡±

    ¡°Ruff rufflet ruff! Rufflet rufflet let rufflet!¡± Thoron added before launching into a long droning exposition. Judging from Winnie and Banette¡¯s reactions, it was probably about his noble family bloodline and how great he was because of who he was related to.

    Winnie rolled his eyes and sighed.

    Banette facepalmed, ¡°Just kill me already.¡± Then she dived back into my shadow with her hands over her ears.

    Well I sure am grateful I can only understand ghost Pokemon.

    ¡°can we let kaiju eat him already?¡± Winnie muttered under his breath. ¡°it hasn¡¯t even been a day and i already can¡¯t stand him.¡±

 (36) Monkey Business

    ¡°Ember!¡± Fletchling spat an ember at Thorondor, who used Agility to barrel roll around the fire type attack before closing in and charging at Fletchling with a Zen Headbutt.

    The robin Pokemon met Thoron¡¯s attack with a Flame Charge. The two crashed into each other, pausing midair as each side struggled to gain ground.

    ¡°Use your claws!¡± I advised the eaglet.

    Thorondor reached out with his talons, trying to grapple the smaller bird, but Fletchling¡¯s trainer called for it to Aerial Ace away before sending a series of Air Slashes at Thoron.

    This time the eaglet wasn¡¯t able to dodge all of the attack, and there was a small puff of feathers as one of the Air Slashes hit him and sent him tumbling in the air.

    The smaller bird darted in for an attack with Flame Charge.

    ¡°Redirect it with Tailwind!¡± I ordered.

    Thoron created a gust of wind that was just strong enough to blow Fletchling off balance, giving him time to recover and get out of the way before he used Tailwind again to boost his speed. He was making good use of the move he had learned a few days ago.

    I nodded approvingly before shouting, ¡°Grapple! Get in there fast!¡±

    ¡°Get out of the way!¡± Fletchling¡¯s trainer shouted in response.

    Using Agility, Thoron swooped in before Rufflet could gather the energy for another Aerial Ace and grabbed the little robin in his claws.

    Fletchling squawked in pain as Thoron gripped it hard, making sure to dig his talons in. He still hadn¡¯t learned Crush Claw yet, but due to training during the past few days, his claws were much stronger than before and still able to deal damage.

    ¡°Burn it!¡± Fletchling¡¯s trainer motioned a ball throw.

    Fletchling spat a bunch of Embers into Thoron¡¯s face, making the eagle screech in surprise as his face was burned by hot coals, and his grip loosened enough for the smaller bird to wriggle free.

    ¡°Aerial Ace!¡±

    ¡°Zen Headbutt.¡± I countered, hoping for a flinch.

    Fletchling circled around and darted straight at Thoron. The eaglet mirrored his opponent¡¯s moves, creating a shield of psychic type energy in front of his head. The two collided and passed each other.

    Both had dealt and received damage, but it wasn¡¯t enough to create an opening for another attack. My eyes narrowed as I observed the two birds. They were both tiring out, so the next big exchange would decide the battle.

    ¡°Air Slash! Wear Rufflet down!¡±

    ¡°Fletch!¡± Fletching chirped in response to its trainer as it sent a barrage of Air Slashes at Thorondor, who was able to avoid the first two slashes before being hit.

    Thorondor squeaked as he was thrown by the hit, but quickly recovered. There was a glint in his eyes as Fletchling shot another barrage of Air Slashes at him.

    ¡°RUFF¨CLET!¡± The eaglet screeched as he copied Fletchling¡¯s wing movements and shot his own Air Slash. The newly learned move wasn¡¯t as powerful or as precise as Fletchling¡¯s, but it was enough to negate the incoming Air Slash.

    I pumped my fist in the air, ¡°Yes! Fantastic job Thoron! Look at you go!¡±

    Flethling¡¯s trainer issued another order as I shouted encouragement to Thoron. The robin Pokemon chirped as it fired up another Flame Charge. It was taking a bit longer to use the move than before in order to intensify its flames.

    Can¡¯t let them have all of the momentum. ¡°Tailwind boost! Then Zen Headbutt!¡±

    Thorondor boosted his speed before covering his head with a layer of psychic-type energy and charging.

    ¡°Rufflet!¡± Thorondor screeched a war cry. Fletching chirped in response as it charged, ¡°Fletch!¡±

    There was a small explosion midair as the two collided. Then a streak of smoke fell from the impact area and bounced after hitting the ground.

    Both birds laid on the ground in a tangle of wings and feathers, both of their eyes spinning. It was a tie.

    Fletchling¡¯s trainer and I both returned the birds to their Pokeballs before shaking hands and going on our merry ways.

    I woke Thoron with a revive, which worked kind of like those smelling salts used to wake up an unconscious person. The eaglet woke up with a snort, fluffing up his feathers and shaking himself as he tried to get the harsh smell out of his nose.

    I treated him with a potion and fed him some cut up sitrus berries that I had prepared that morning.

    Thoron eagerly devoured the berry, but began complaining about how he didn¡¯t win. Winnie (who was disguised as a Kantonian Ninetales today) reassured him, ¡°battles aren¡¯t all about winning, and besides, you learned a new move!¡±

    Rotom gave the eaglet a cheerful ¡°bzzt!¡± of support and flashed the success baby meme on its screen.

    ¡°Ruff rufflet!¡± Thorondor preened his feathers and grandly waved a wing, ¡°Ruff rufflet ruff ruff rufflet.¡±

    Rotom sighed and flew back into my pocket while Winnie rolled his eyes. After a few days with the little fella, I could tell when he was about to go on a rant about his noble lineage. I really hope he grows out of this.

    I quickly redirected the topic of conversation as I gestured for Rufflet to hop onto my shoulder.

    ¡°So Thoron, now that you¡¯ve learned a ranged move, I¡¯ll have you start training that with Glados. I also want you to keep at it with your training to learn Crush Claw, you almost have it down.¡±

    During the past few days of travelling, I had assigned Thorondor to finding and breaking down large rocks or logs with Zen Headbutt into smaller pieces. Then he¡¯d break these pieces by crushing them in his claws. He¡¯d already gotten the hang of adding a bit of normal type energy into the attack, but it wasn¡¯t nearly enough for it to be the real move.

    Other than trying to learn Crush Claw, Glados helped the eaglet improve his flying by shooting Shadow Balls at him and having him dodge them midair. The bird Pokemon¡¯s normal typing made it so that even if he got hit he wouldn¡¯t have taken any damage.

    I¡¯d have to admit, despite his tendency to brag for hours about how noble he was, he had earned the team¡¯s respect with his diligent training and knowing to shut up when Sahara began to look annoyed.

    Speaking of the landshark. Despite being eager for a battle, Sahara had scared away almost every challenger we had encountered. I didn¡¯t blame them since most of the trainers on Route Four were novice trainers, but the landshark was rather disappointed at the lack of action.

    The only other Pokemon she had battled in the past week so far were a Pyroar, who was too proud to back down from a fight despite its trainer balking at Sahara¡¯s challenge roar, and a newly evolved and overconfident wild Noivern looking to prove its own strength.

    Basically it was like taking an end game boss to the beginner area.

    Winnie had much more luck finding opponents to battle. He experimented with a few other type energies, and had found that it was easier to make the opposing Pokemon think that it had been burnt or frozen than poisoned or paralyzed. Though he could paralyze them with fear if he was able to correctly guess his opponent¡¯s fears. He and the rest of the ghost gang made a game out of psychoanalyzing people and Pokemon to try to guess what they¡¯d be most afraid of.

    They¡¯re gonna be absolute menaces in the future if they somehow learn to predict a target¡¯s fears just by observing them for a few minutes.

    Aaaaand there hadn¡¯t been anyone annoying enough for me to sicc Kaiju on them, so he had to stay in his dusk ball in busier areas of the route, lest he eat some young trainer¡¯s newly caught Fletchling and I get in trouble for being unable to control him.

    He was getting better with his impulse control, but we had a long road ahead. I had messaged a few people who worked at Opelucid Gym and they had basically told me to keep up with the discipline and that teen dragons would grow out of their wild behavior once they evolved as long as the trainer kept up with reinforcing proper behaviors.

    Zweilous were notorious for being hard to control, so as long as I was being responsible with Kaiju, I was doing a good job. That was pretty reassuring.

    Otherwise, the past week had been normal. Just walking down Route Four, training, the occasional battles, and hanging out with my crew. I got a call or two from Justine and talked with Kenta about his progress in the Indigo League. He had gotten a Bagon from his uncle and was raising it in hopes of being able to mega evolve it once it was fully evolved. Being part of Johto¡¯s most influential clan gave him almost instant access to a Keystone and Salamencite once he proved himself worthy of it.

    Lucky bastard.

    I could¡¯ve gotten through Route four a lot faster, but I wasn¡¯t in any hurry. I took my time battling other trainers and having the ghosts go out and do a sweep of the surrounding area at night to search for mega stones, but they didn¡¯t find any, which was to be expected, but it didn¡¯t hurt to look.

    Once we got to Santalune City, Glados made use of the Pokemon center¡¯s free wifi and began downloading a shit load of publicly available high ranking VS recordings to analyze. Rotom came up with the idea to analyze other Pokemon battles and using the data for future battles and was quite happy to help out its bestie.

    I had been considering challenging the Santalune Gym to get in some more battle exp for Thorondor, but all of the available sessions were completely booked out for two months, it was the most popular gym for new trainers in Kalos to stop by, so I scrapped that idea.

    Plus, I didn¡¯t want to stay in a crowded Pokemon center for the night, and I quickly realized that I really could not stand most bug types. Ones like Snom or Scizor or Vivillon were fine, but then noped out of the area once I saw a Sizzlipede scuttling by. I felt a bit bad about it, but all those scuttling legs, urgh, nope, nada.

    Santalune was a city made for and by bug types, with a lot of its buildings being incorporated with the type of structures a bug type Pokemon might make, like the trypophobia inducing pattern you¡¯d find in a Beedrill nest, because there was just a massive nest of Beedrill in the local park that the park caretakers had built into the park information center.

    The city and its inhabitants had no problem with this, and neither did the Beedrills, seriously, who would wanna live next to a hive of giant wasps with giant stingers for their hands?

    I ended up staying just long enough to restock on supplies and buying a heck ton of bug repellent before heading to route three to check out Santalune forest. I wasn¡¯t super interested in going there, but Winnie wanted to study bug-type energy and find a suitable bug-type Pokemon to copy, and it was a good place for Thorondor to train.

    Plus, I¡¯d honestly rather train somewhere in the forest rather than in the crowded city. At least Santalune Forest didn¡¯t have any Centiskorches living there.

    <hr>

    Despite its reputation for being a bug type paradise, Santalune forest looked super normal. No giant creepy crawlies scuttling around everywhere, though there were a lot more ¡°normal¡± bugs like spiders, ants, bees, moths, and beetles than I would¡¯ve found in a typical New England forest.

    That brought into question how many ¡°normal¡± animals existed in this world, but I put that question off to the side, I¡¯d go down that rabbit hole when I had the time and energy for it.

    There was a decent amount of traffic in and out of the forest, with most of the people there sporting bug-catcher outfits and giant nets.

    A few Poke-scout groups marched past me as I read the warning signs outside of the forest entrance. Judging by the nets and clipboards they were holding, as well as what the Rangers were saying to them, it seemed like they were there to catch and record the data on the Pokemon in the forest.

    I went back to reading the signs, they mostly warned about certain areas to avoid at certain times of the year.

    An area in the forest that intersected with a mountain contained a population of Talonflames that was to be avoided during spring, as they got very aggressive during mating and nesting season and would set people on fire if they got too close to their nests.

    There was a super big tree that was home to the largest Combee nest in the region, it was illegal to go within five hundred meters of the nest unless they were a registered honey collector, and it was suggested to stay a thousand meters away for safety reasons. There was a viewing area that had telescopes for the public to view the nest¡¯s activity and honey collectors from a safe distance.

    A few other areas on the map marked a few different Beedrill hives and the territories of any alpha Pokemon. A newer notice warned people not to feed any of the wild Pansage, Pansear, or Panpour, they¡¯ve been having a problem with the the young monkeys stealing stuff or even small Poke, or children and holding them hostage until they were given food. It was a problem that the rangers were working on resolving permanently.

    The last warning in bright and bold red and yellow letters warned people to refrain from using powerful fire type moves, because the forest was prone to forest fires at certain times of the year, and setting a large Beedrill nest on fire could result in the rangers evacuating the forest for a day or two while they dealt with the angry and homeless wasp Pokemon.

    I briefly shuddered as I remembered the scent of burnt wasps when I¡¯d swat them with electric fly swatters. An utterly disgusting burnt rotten rubber scent. Blegh.

    I¡¯ll ban electric-type moves too.

    Once we went into the forest, we almost immediately came to a fork in the road. The one on the right was a somewhat big road that would lead to Route Two and Aquacorde Town, and it had a steady stream of people walking through it.

    I decided to take the left path deeper into the forest and away from more populated areas. I wanted to find a place where I could let Kaiju and Sahara out to walk with us without either of them being a safety hazard to other people and Pokemon.

    So we kept taking paths with less and less people until we got down to there being no people. There were little to no bug type Pokemon in busier areas besides a bunch of Vivillon and Beautifly, the weaker or less social bug types were more prevalent in these quiet areas. I spotted a lot of Scatterbug, Spewpa, and Wurmple just chilling in the area.

    A monkey trio, a Pansage, Panpour, and Pansear had followed us and I could tell that they were eyeing Thorondor. Winnie informed me that they were chattering about snatching the eaglet. I told him to keep an eye out for any monkey business and gave my team a quiet order to take care of the three stooges if they made a move.

    Rotom gleefully played the Pokedex entries for the three monkey Pokemon.

    If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    ¡°Pansear, the high temp Pokemon. When it is angered, the temperature of its head tuft reaches 600¡ã Fahrenheit. It uses its tuft to roast berries.¡±

    ¡°Pansage, the grass monkey Pokemon. The leaves on its head provide energy, and relieves stress.¡±

    ¡°Panpour, the spray Pokemon. The water stored inside the tuft on its head is full of nutrients. It keeps itself damp by shooting water stored in its head tuft from its tail.¡±

    Shortly after, we came to a large clearing full of tall grass. There were a bunch of tween kids in Pokescout uniforms quietly weighing the Scatterbug and Wurmple that were in the area before feeding them a small treat and letting them go. It was pretty cute.

    The scouts were supervised by a few adults, probably their parents, also dressed in Pokescout uniforms. They were accompanied by three Pokemon, a Slowking, Drampa, and a Swanna.

    Slowking gave me a dignified wave as I walked through the clearing, I smiled and waved back. Despite having a rather goofy face, the water-psychic type had the aura of a king. Cool beans.

    There was a swoosh as one of the three stooges, a Pansear, made a dive for Thorondor. The eaglet hissed, ready to lash out with his claws. I flinched as the side of my face was hit a few times from Thoron¡¯s wing flapping.

    There was a loud screech from the Pansear as it was hit by a nasty Hex from Winnie and thrown to the ground, its eyes spinning.

    ¡°that¡¯s what you get when you go looking for trouble kids.¡± Winnie cackled as he looked up and leered at the other two monkeys.

    Glados zapped out of my watch, eyes glowing a horrifying red. The AI picked up the fallen Pansear, spinning it around a few times before yeeting it straight back into the forest where the monkey crashed and disappeared into a bunch of thorny bushes.

    ¡°My turn buckaroo.¡± Banette said as she formed out of my shadow. The remaining two stooges comically scrambled to get away but were caught by Banette¡¯s Psychic.

    Rotom flew out of my pocket and gleefully began playing circus music and blew a raspberry.

    The voodoo puppet snapped her fingers, tying the tails of all two remaining monkeys together before spinning them around like they were just shoved into a demented washing machine.

    Then she released them and cheerfully waved as Panpour and Pansage were also thrown into the same thorn bush that Pansear was thrown into.

    ¡°Lol, now if we could do that to everyone who annoyed us.¡± I chuckled.

    ¡°Ruff.¡± Thorondor added while he proudly preened his feathers. Winnie laughed, ¡°rotom should¡¯ve taken a video of that.¡±

    ¡°Bzzt!¡± Rotom buzzed, flashing a few blurry pictures on its screen and a short blurry video.

    Winnie wrinkled his nose, ¡°aww, everything is blurry.¡±

    I shrugged, ¡°Well that¡¯s better than nothing.¡±

    We all looked over as one of the Pokescout troop leaders, a tough looking lady with a sleeve tattoo on each arm, laughed loudly and shouted to us, ¡°Good job! Those little bastards needed an ass-whooping!¡±

    The troop leader standing near the tattoo lady gave her an annoyed look when she heard the swears.

    Then one of the Pokescout kids trotted over to me, he had a Spewpa held in one arm like it was a baby. With his free hand, he fished a ranger pamphlet out of his bag pocket and handed it to me. ¡°You should probably keep your Rufflet in its Pokeball if you don¡¯t want them to keep bothering you. They tend to target people who aren¡¯t from the area cause they know strangers aren¡¯t wise to their tricks.¡±

    ¡°Spew.¡± The Spewpa he was holding sagely nodded.

    Another Pokescout kid with a Drampa the size of a Yamper scoffed, ¡°No, you should keep your Rufflet out as bait and keep yeeting those stupid monkeys. If they won¡¯t listen to the rangers, they¡¯re gonna have to learn things the hard way.¡±

    The first Pokescout kid shrugged, ¡°Maybe, they¡¯ll probably end up escalating and getting one of the Simi¡¯s to attack.¡±

    ¡°If they try anything else I¡¯ll just feed em to my Garchomp.¡± I said with a shrug.

    ¡°or kaiju. i¡¯m pretty sure he¡¯d be more keen on eating a few unruly monkeys than sahara. she¡¯d probably bury them.¡± Winnie commented.

    I nodded and replied, ¡°Yeah, that makes sense but Sahara is more intimidating.¡±

    ¡°Wait, YOU HAVE A GARCHOMP?!¡± Tiny Drampa kid shouted in excitement, scaring the Spewpa in the first Pokescout¡¯s arms.

    ¡°Shhh!¡± Another Pokescout shushed Tiny Drampa kid with an annoyed look that was shared by a few other kids. Now they would have to coax the scared bug Pokemon out again.

    Then a few of the Pokescouts realized what Drampa kid was shouting about and then moved closer to listen in.

    ¡°Sorry!¡± Drampa kid whisper-yelled, ¡°But can we see?¡±

    Seeing my hesitance, Drampa kid looked behind at tattoo lady and the adult Drampa approaching us and asked, ¡°Mom! Do you think Minty could beat a Garchomp in a battle?¡± Drampa kid gestured at the adult Drampa.

    ¡°Probably,¡± Tattoo mom said with a grin, ¡°she¡¯s beaten a few Garchomps before during conferences.¡±

    Minty let out a happy grunt and proudly raised her head.

    I raised both of my hands and waved, ¡°Uhhhh, sorry but my Garchomp isn¡¯t particularly fond of children, and I don¡¯t think this is a good place for a battle.¡±

    Tattoo mom nodded in agreement, ¡°Yes, this young lady is correct, this isn¡¯t an appropriate place for two fully grown dragons to be fighting in an area like this. Plus,¡± Tattoo mom gave her kid and Minty a somewhat stern look, ¡°It would be pretty hard for Minty to beat a Garchomp in the shape she¡¯s in now. She¡¯s been getting rather heavy from all of the bacon you¡¯ve been feeding her.¡±

    She then pointedly poked Drampa¡¯s belly fat, making it jiggle like jello.

    Some of the kids made an ¡°ooooooo¡± sound. Drampa kid¡¯s face turned red, he¡¯d been completely caught off guard, while Minty the Drampa looked a bit offended and smooshed its face into Tattoo mom¡¯s back.

    I chuckled and then nodded at Spewpa kid, ¡°Thanks for the pamphlet.¡± I waved the pamphlet and tucked it into one of my bag pockets.

    Spewpa kid smiled and nodded, ¡°You¡¯re welcome miss!¡±

    I turned to go back onto the trail, ¡°Have fun with your Pokescout duties.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, have fun exploring the forest.¡± Spewpa kid replied.

    I glanced back at Drampa kid trying to scoot away from his mom while the tiny Drampa trailed after him like a clueless puppy. His mom was now in a pushing match with her Drampa, with the dragon easily winning the match. The other Pokescout troop leaders were cheering for Tattoo lady, and the kids were cheering for Drampa.

    Then I glanced at Winnie and teasingly poked his side, ¡°You¡¯d better watch what you eat too.¡±

    Winnie huffed, ¡°you and banette both eat sweets too. you literally ate an entire cake when we were in lumiose.¡±

    ¡°You mean the mini cake that I ate over three days?¡± I asked.

    ¡°it¡¯s a lot for a tiny human who doesn¡¯t like to exercise.¡± Winnie retorted, poking my side.

    ¡°Sure, sure.¡±

    <hr>

    The trail narrowed as we went deeper in. Glados had its scanners open for an open area similar to the area that the Pokescouts were in where we could train and for any mega stones. I was pretty sure that there are bug-type mega stones that could be found in this forest in the games, but who knew if we¡¯d be able to find any here?

    Half an hour into the hike I deemed the place deserted enough to let Kaiju and Sahara out to walk with us.

    Now that Kaiju was finally allowed out of his dusk ball, Rufflet had fluttered over to the teen dragon to perch on one of his heads. The two had somehow worked out a symbiotic relationship after Thorondor had convinced Kaiju that he was not edible. That was quite the achievement considering Kaiju was the type to consider even inorganic objects as edible material.

    Thorondor now got a free ride that didn¡¯t mind him yapping about his ¡°noble lineage¡±, he could get a PHD in yapology.

    Kaiju¡¯s boons from the deal included him getting free food in the form of whatever Thoron picked up when he would occasionally fly around. These objects ranged from one of the many non-Pokemon bugs roaming the forest, to fruit, sticks, random plant leaves, mushrooms, and even rocks.

    Yeah, thankfully I caught onto their little antics before Kaiju could gulp down a rock that Thoron had found. Winnie and Glados had to help me pry open Kaiju¡¯s mouth to get the stone. After that, I gave both of them a stern talking to about how they should not eat rocks, unidentified plants, fungi, or bugs. Just don¡¯t eat stuff that isn¡¯t familiar to you, like wtf these kids were driving me crazy.

    We hiked for almost two hours in total, spending most of the time looking for mega stones. Glados was getting signals of one coming from the west side of the forest, but according to my map that was where a massive Beedrill nest was, like hell we were going there. Sadly, we ended up not finding any other signals to follow.

    Once we found a suitable area to set up in, I got the team¡¯s attention and began giving out training tasks for everyone, this was gonna be the first day in a long while where we¡¯d gotten to do a full out training session without any distractions.

    After these past few days of battling other trainers, I had a good idea of what each member of my team should work on.

    Winnie would be training with Banette and the other ghosts. They needed to get the new recruits up to scratch, and Winnie wanted to experiment with creating convincing illusions of moves like Sticky Web and String Shot.

    He also wanted to start learning Low Kick and Low Sweep as counters against any future dark-type opponents. It would be pretty useful in future battles for tripping his opponents up while they chase a fake version of him.

    Sahara already had a pretty solid moveset, but she wanted to learn Liquidation. Its secondary effect of decreasing an opponent¡¯s defense would be super useful for taking down tanky Pokemon, or Pokemon with abilities like Stamina.

    I unfortunately didn¡¯t have the TR for the move, and Santalune didn¡¯t have it in stock, so she settled on teaching herself the move. I had no idea if she¡¯d even be able to learn Liquidation by herself considering she wasn¡¯t familiar with water type energy, nor was any member of my team a water type. But since she seemed pretty determined to learn it, so I assigned Glados and Rotom to work with her and try to come up with a solution using information from the Pokenet.

    Meanwhile, Glados had expressed its interest in upgrading Double Edge into Giga Impact and trying to learn Electroweb. Who better to try to use them against but Sahara? She was always up for a physical fight. It probably wouldn¡¯t be too hard for Glados to learn Electroweb, the AI¡¯s favorite typing was electricity afterall.

    I took Kaiju and Thorondor with me to train them myself. Kaiju needed to be supervised while Sahara was busy, and Thoron needed one-on-one coaching.

    Right now, my goal for Thoron was for him to improve Air Slash and learn Crush Claw. As for Kaiju, I just needed a way for his heads to be able to coordinate with each other a bit better during a battle. It wasn¡¯t hard to get them to work together by saying that the opponent was yummy, but his attention span was too short for that trick to work for long periods of time.

    I gave them the task of sparring each other, but with handicaps. Kaiju had to have both heads shoot an attack at Thoron at the same time. He¡¯d get a treat every time he did so as a form of positive reinforcement.

    Thoron on the other hand had to use Tailwind and Agility to help maneuver himself around Kaiju¡¯s attacks and try to use Crush Claw. He¡¯d then back away and do one attack with Air Slash, then get close again and repeat.

    The training was a bit monotonous, but Rotom helped make it less boring by blasting training montage music. I had no idea when it took the liberty of downloading its own playlist, but I appreciated it. Plus, the plasma Pokemon had a pretty good taste in music.

    We were interrupted by a sudden Flamethrower directed right at Thorondor. Thanks to his dodging practice with Glados, the eaglet had no trouble flying out of the way, though he made his displeasure at the dishonorable attack very known before he landed on Kaiju¡¯s right head.

    The Simisear who had launched the attack looked quite annoyed at the bird Pokemon¡¯s ranting and screeched while accusingly pointing between me and the three stooges who were perched on branches behind the fire monkey, ¡°Simi! Simisear sear Simisear!¡±

    Small embers began to rise from the fire monkey. Simipour lightly sprayed the area to extinguish the embers before they could light something on fire.

    Rotom scanned the fire monkey:

    ¡°Simisear, the ember Pokemon. It loves sweets because they become energy for the fire burning inside its body. It scatters embers from its head and tail to sear its opponents.¡±

    A Simipour and Simisage hopped out of the trees and perched on adjacent branches. Simisage grunted and crossed its arms, ¡°Simisage simi.¡±

    ¡°Simisage, the thorn monkey Pokemon. Simisage are known to fight by swinging their barbed tail around wildly. The leaf growing on its head is very bitter, but has revitalizing effects.¡±

    ¡°Simipour, the geyser Pokemon. This Pokemon stores water in its head tuft. When the level runs low, it replenishes the tuft by siphoning up water with its tail. The high-pressure water expelled from its tail is so powerful, it can destroy a concrete wall.¡±

    Winnie and Banette were immediately on the scene to see what the commotion was about.

    I turned to the ghosts and whispered, ¡°What are they saying?¡±

    Winnie shrugged, ¡°Something about us unfairly attacking the brats.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Banette huffed, ¡°They attacked us first!¡±

    ¡°Pansear sear!¡± Pansear huffed, the little monkey couldn¡¯t conceal its shit eating grin. Pansage looked rather bored, it was picking out thorns from its head fur while Panpour looked away and cringed from embarrassment.

    I sighed and called out to the monkey gang, ¡°Hey! I¡¯m not sure what your kids told you but they attacked us first! We threw them into a few thorn bushes so they¡¯d leave us alone!¡±

    Simisear rolled its eyes and growled, ¡°Seeeeear, seeear.¡± The fire monkey then jumped to the ground and began stomping towards us, despite Simipour and Simisage half heartedly trying to hold it back.

    Bruh, it¡¯s just looking for a fight at this point.

    The fire-type only made it a few steps before Sahara made her presence known with a deep growl as she stalked out of the trees with Glados floating behind her. They didn¡¯t notice the situation as fast as the ghosts did because they were placed further away than Winnie and the ghost gang were. Or more likely, they knew the monkeys weren¡¯t a big enough of a threat to interrupt their training and rush over here.

    Simisear¡¯s hackles raised. The fire monkey spit a short stream of fire in Sahara¡¯s general direction, then visibly gulped and backed away, hurriedly climbing back up into the trees. Simisage looked rather annoyed at its fire-type counterpart, while Simipour kept its cool.

    Kaiju unhinged his mouth like a muppet began edging towards the tree cluster that the monkey crew were perched in, undoubtedly in an attempt to get a taste of the new guys. Thorondor grabbed Kaiju¡¯s head tufts and pulled him back Ratatouille style. It surprisingly worked. I was gonna have to take a few Kaiju taming lessons from the eaglet.

    While that was going on, Pansage rolled its eyes like an angsty teen and jumped away as if this wasn¡¯t worth its time. Panpour was frozen in fear.

    I crossed my arms, ¡°Look, I have no reason to be going around and picking fights with Pokemon that are way below my team¡¯s power level. We¡¯ve been minding our business the entire time. You guys should really teach your kids to be thieves who go around taking small Pokemon hostage.¡±

    ¡°Pan! Sear!¡± Pansear spat.

    ¡°Yeah I heard you talking about snatching my friend here.¡± I gestured at Thorondor, who glared at the monkey.

    Pansear made a face at Thorondor and leaned forward to say more, but Simisage grabbed the little red monkey by its ear and began dragging it away.

    ¡°Simipour simi simipour.¡± The water-type monkey said with a slight bow of apology before grabbing Simisear and Panpour and leading them away. Simisear huffed but followed the blue monkey¡¯s lead.

    ¡°Jeez, and I thought it would be impossible to be pulled into drama in the middle of the woods.¡± I sighed.

    ¡°yeah, unbelievable.¡± Winnie agreed as he trotted away, making a head nod at Banette to continue with training the new recruits.

    Sahara looked a bit disappointed about not getting to battle Simisear, but at least she could get back to working on learning Liquidation with Glados.

    I turned back to Thorondor and Kaiju, ¡°Aight, let¡¯s get back to work fellas.¡±

    <hr>

    Training time was put on hold at noon. Kaiju let me know the know the moment the clock hit twelve by drooling all over my shoes, and Winnie was impatient to get to the Vivillon themed cookies I bought for him in Santalune City.

    Winnie helped set up the table and everyone¡¯s bowls as usual while Glados and I prepared the food. Sahara, Thoron, and a few of the ghosts wanted to keep training for a bit longer, which wasn¡¯t an issue cause they didn¡¯t have any prep tasks assigned to them.

    Thorondor was a rather picky eater, but after a taste test the first day I got him, I was able to figure out what food mixture he liked the most. He ended up requesting that I add extra, extra spice to his food, not because he liked it (birds are immune to capsaicin because they don¡¯t have the same receptors that mammals do), but to discourage Kaiju and the ghosts from stealing his food when he wasn¡¯t looking, which was quite clever of him to do.

    Once I was done making sure everyone got their food, and that Kaiju was keeping his nose in his own food bowl, I quickly got to making my own food so that I¡¯d be able to get a few bites in before someone complained about something that I would have to deal with.

    Just as I finished making my delicious prosciutto sandwich, Winnie padded over to me, trying to stifle his laughter.

    I sighed, ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°Thoron is doing it again.¡± The illusion fox said, subtly pointing at the table where Thoron was perched.

    Sighing again, I grabbed my sandwich and walked over with Winnie.

    The eaglet was standing in front of the bowl and staring at it intensely, with his mouth open as if he was expecting the food to march into his mouth. For a bird as clever as he was, it was a bit strange that he didn¡¯t have a good grasp on how to eat food.

    Sometimes he¡¯d eat food normally, he had no trouble with eating berries and would fling the berry seeds and juice around like a typical bird, but a bowl of food? That was rocket science.

    He can talk about his extended family history but can¡¯t seem to grasp the fact that food doesn''t just march into his mouth whenever he¡¯s hungry.

    I stifled a laugh and sat down at the table. Thorondor saw me trying not to smile and grumpily chirped.

    I raised an eyebrow and chided, ¡°Thoron, you¡¯re a big bird now, try eating like how I showed you the other day.¡± And every day before that.

    The eaglet huffed as if what I had suggested was atrocious, but his stomach rumbled.

    Winnie ate a mouthful of food, ¡°you gotta feed yourself kiddo, none of us are gonna feed you like mommy dearest.¡±

    I lightly elbowed the fox, ¡°And you should remember not to talk with a mouthful of food. That¡¯s gross.¡±

    Winnie gulped his food and grinned and sarcastically replied, ¡°sorry mooooom.¡±

    ¡°Rufflet!¡± Thoron chirped indignantly. The bird flapped his wings and leaned forward into his bowl just a bit too fast, faceplanting into his meal with a loud SPLAT!

    There was a pause as the eaglet tried to decide what to do next while his face was still in his food. Thoron gingerly got back up and pecked a few times at his food, trying not to show his embarrassment. Then he looked at us, ¡°Rufflet ruff.¡±

    Winnie snorted, ¡°Yes, of course you meant that.¡±

    Thorondor huffed and began eating normally, well normally for a bird so despite getting food into his stomach, he was also getting food all over the table and into Winnie¡¯s food too, much to the fox¡¯s displeasure.

    Winnie shifted his bowl away from the eaglet and shielded it with an arm.

    I had to shift away from the bird so that he wouldn¡¯t fling his food all over my sandwich. Thankfully we were outdoors, so I didn¡¯t have to place any newspaper down to prevent being charged for making a mess indoors.

    And I thought Kaiju was a messy eater. As soon as I finished thinking that, there was a commotion to my left. I didn¡¯t even have to look. Kaiju¡¯s heads were fighting eat other over their food yet again, and had flipped one of their bowls over.

    It wasn¡¯t uncommon for Kaiju to fight himself over food despite being given two bowls, and his food going to the same stomach no matter which mouth it entered through. He would just decide that one bowl was better than the other bowl and would start a petty fight over it.

    I watched resignedly as he walked over his spilled food while his two heads kept biting and nipping at each other. I stand corrected.

    I sighed, ¡°Ugh, okay, Glados, can you make him another bowl? ¡±

    ¡°PORY-ZZZZ.¡± Glados was already on it.

    I gave the AI Pokemon a thumbs up, ¡°Thanks, you¡¯re the best.¡±

    Lunch was peaceful after that, and I scrolled through the new messages Expedition Group Chat. Ben had posted a picture of the Larvesta he had recently captured, and a few more pictures of him and Collin in the Battle Subway. They looked like they were having a blast.

    There was a blurry and rather creepy picture from Abigail. Her Froslass had taken a selfie at night with its trainer sleeping in the background. The following picture was even blurrier, and showed her Corvinknight angrily pecking the ice ghost.

    Leo¡¯s Zoroark joined in with its own selfie, a few pictures of Houndoom and Meowscarda arguing, and then close up picture of Leo¡¯s mouth and nostril.

    I snapped a picture of Thorondor and Winnie to share later. Reception in the area was just bad enough that sending pictures would be slow af.

    I looked up from my phone at the surrounding forest, something was off. I tilted my head and looked around again. ¡°Hmmm.¡±

    ¡°it¡¯s quiet.¡± Winnie commented as he finished off the food in his bowl. Despite having a relaxed demeanor, his ears were rotating, ready to pick up any noises that sounded just a bit too off.

    He was right. The forest wasn¡¯t completely silent, but it had basically muted itself. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as the forest went fully silent. The everpresent Ninjask cicada hums, and scuttling of Santalune forest¡¯s inhabitants were suddenly all gone.

    There was a quiet clack of claws on the table as Rufflet shuffled closer to us. Glados beeped and began scanning the forest with its sensors, but didn¡¯t find anything dangerous in our immediate surroundings.

    That¡¯s weird. That is not a good sign. Shit, I¡¯m not even done eating.

    I sharply looked up as a large flock of Fletchlings burst out of the forest and flew into the sky, chirping warning sounds to each other.

    Rufflet let out a squeaky chirp of confusion and fluffed up his feathers. Winnie put his bowl down and jumped off of the table seat, Banette and a few other ghosts appeared out of his shadow and they began whispering amongst themselves.

    Kaiju was completely undisturbed and unaware, he was eating his spilled food instead of the new bowl that Glados had given him.

    Can¡¯t I finish my lunch in peace? ¡°What is it now?¡± I asked with an irritated grumble. ¡°Did one of the ghosts anger a Beedrill nest or something?¡± The last thing I wanted was to have to deal with an angry swarm of bugs.

    ¡°it¡¯s not one of mine. but i do sense a lot of ghost-type energy north from us.¡± Winnie said.

    I frowned, ¡°Hmmm, that¡¯s weird.¡± I don¡¯t recall Santalune Forest having any large ghost populations. Or a coven.

    ¡°It¡¯s probably just a trainer with a ghost type Pokemon.¡± I said with a shrug. Occam¡¯s razor is usually the right answer.

    ¡°Yeah, I haven¡¯t heard anything from the locals about this place having any ghost inhabitants.¡± Haunted added.

    The mood relaxed as the others were reassured by our words.

    ¡°Gar!¡± Sahara growled, ¡°Garchomp chomp!¡± She walked over and dropped her empty bowl on my table and mimed a boxer stance. She was hoping for a worthy opponent.

    ¡°I know you want a good battle Sahara,¡± I sighed as I began gulping down my meal, ¡°but lemme finish eating first. Glados, begin cleaning up.¡±

    The virtual Pokemon beeped and began collecting empty dishes.

    ¡°Gar, chomp.¡± The landshark replied with a sigh and eye roll as if to say, ¡°you eat too slowly.¡±

    ¡°I eat slowly because I like to enjoy my food Sahara.¡± I replied with a bit of attitude. The landshark scoffed and walked away to do some stretching and prep for a battle.

    ¡°I wonder what type of ghost it is.¡± Banette wondered aloud.

    ¡°It¡¯ll be a troublesome one.¡± Misdreavus replied, ¡°Who the hell disturbs an entire forest like this just for the fun of it?¡±

    ¡°someone who wants to show off.¡± Winnie answered, creating a Shadow Ball and spinning it around like a basketball.

    We all froze as we heard a scream echo through the forest. This wasn¡¯t a normal scream, it was the type of guttural, animalistic scream a prey animal would make before they were brutally killed and eaten.

    Well shit. What the fuck was that?

 (37) This Years Darwin Award Goes To...

    Multiple flashlight beams swept over the damp, dripping tunnel walls.

    The only sounds that permeated the dead silence were the slightly muffled sounds of four sets of footsteps.

    Jules shivered and pulled his jacket tighter around him, he regretted not bringing something warmer. Being at the back of the group, he nervously glanced behind himself. The Swablu perched on the teen¡¯s shoulder and puffed up its cloud-like feathers as it sensed its trainer¡¯s nervousness.

    Neither of them liked cramped tunnels, or being wet so this was setting off all the wrong alarms. Birds should not be underground, but the little bird wouldn¡¯t let its trainer go underground without it.

    Gavin wrinkled his nose and snorted at the unpleasant musty scent that permeated the place. It lightly held the scent of decay and mold, and the scent had only gotten stronger as they had gotten deeper into the catacombs.

    The second frontmost boy flinched and groaned in annoyance. He had stepped in a cold puddle that had soaked his shoe and socks.

    ¡°Shush Oliver, I¡¯m trying to get a good ambience.¡± The boy in the front murmured, he was filming their adventure with a chunky vidcorder.

    ¡°Innnk.¡± Vidcorder kid¡¯s Inkay mockingly purred, smugly looking down its beak at the others.

    ¡°Okay Antoine,¡± Oliver retorted with some attitude. ¡°I thought you would¡¯ve gotten enough ¡®ambience¡¯ in the first hour.¡±

    ¡°Yeah Antoine, are we done yet?¡± Jules asked, his voice tense as he tried to hide his unease, ¡°I wanna go home, my mom¡¯s gonna be angry at me for skipping school to come to this dumb place.¡± The boy jumped and glanced behind himself as he thought he heard some scratching noises.

    ¡°Oh don¡¯t be a wuss Jules.¡± Antoine scoffed with a casual hand wave, ¡°We haven¡¯t even gotten to the actual Catacombs.¡±

    The other two boys voiced their agreement, none of them were willing to admit that they were too chicken to explore this place.

    ¡°But, the ghosts¡­¡± Jules weakly protested. ¡°Blu.¡± Swablu softly chirped, echoing its trainer¡¯s sentiments. Birds weren¡¯t meant to be underground like this.

    ¡°That¡¯s why we brought dark types. For the hundredth time Jules, we¡¯ll be fine. No ghost is gonna be able to beat my Umbreon!¡± Oliver confidently patted the pokeball in his pocket.

    ¡°They send people in to check the tunnels every few years, it¡¯ll be fine for us to shoot a documentary.¡± Antoine said, firmly patting the tunnel walls as if to show how safe it was.

    ¡°It¡¯s illegal to be here.¡± Jules replied.

    Antoine rolled his eyes as he stopped and turned, ¡°Well maybe you should¡¯ve considered that before you came down here with us.¡±

    The boy paused, his friends were looking behind him so he turned to look at what was ahead.

    There were a few bones scattered across the floor, they were yellowed with age and were semi-sunk into the floor. Antoine used his flashlight to light up more of the hallway. The entire tunnel in front of them slowly turned from a mixture of stone, mud, and bones to purely just a tunnel of bones.

    ¡°Woah, this is sick!¡± Antoine proudly turned back to his friends with a huge grin, ¡°See? Prime Poketube material. We¡¯ll go viral in no time!¡±

    Antoine walked over to the beginning of the bone tunnel, gesturing for Inkay to film him.

    ¡°Ready?¡± He asked. The floating squid Pokemon, nodded and purred.

    Antoine put on a smile and began speaking in his ¡®influencer voice¡¯, ¡°What¡¯s up guys? It¡¯s Swag lord sixty-nine and the crew!¡±

    Inkay swivelled around to briefly film the other three boys who awkwardly waved at the camera before it turned back to their leader.

    ¡°Today, we are going to explore the Lumiose Catacombs!¡± Antoine squatted down and playfully picked up a few loose bones to show the camera.

    ¡°These are real bones guys! Creepy right?¡± Antoine tossed the bones to the side, ¡°Hey, maybe we¡¯ll find a few ghosts down here for Oliver and his Umbreon to battle!¡±

    Oliver laughed, ¡°Yeah, just like that time we beat up those Ghastlys when we were filming in the haunted house.¡±

    Antoine gestured to his friends to follow him deeper into the tunnels, making sure to emphasize the bones present by subtly kicking a few to make them rattle loudly. Oliver laughed and Gavin began humming the tune of Spooky Scary Skeletons.

    Jules cringed, they really shouldn¡¯t do that. He was a bit more careful with the bones than his friends, gingerly trying to avoid even touching the bones with his feet.

    They rounded a corner and the boys in the front let out some quiet whistles or ¡°woahs¡± at the sight before them.

    Unlike the previous hallway of randomly mixed bones crammed into the walls, this entire hallway was a work of art. The walls were in a tile pattern of skulls framed by straight bones, the ceiling looked like it was made of ribs, and the floor was an assortment of spine vertebrae arranged in grotesque flower patterns.

    There was a short pause as Antoine turned to the camcorder with an exaggerated surprised face as he made a few comments on the hallway. Then he continued walking.

    Jules lagged behind again. It felt sacrilegious to disturb these human remains let alone step on them, but he also didn¡¯t want to be left behind.

    There was a quiet rattle behind him and he jumped, his heart rate spiking. Swablu puffed up and pecked the side of Jules¡¯s head to make him move.

    Without looking back, Jules quickly caught up to his friends, rubbing his arms to get rid of the goosebumps. Jules took a deep breath to calm himself but the distinct musty smell of old bones and death just made him queasy.

    Jules covered his nose as he felt his stomach churn, then he wondered if a bunch of angry ghosts would appear if he threw up on their bones. Hopefully he wouldn¡¯t have to find out.

    Antoine talking about this place provided a nice distraction from his nausea, so he put some extra focus into listening to his friend¡¯s history lecture.

    ¡°The Lumiose Catacombs were built three thousand years ago during the Kalos-Galar War as a place for civilians to shelter in while the war raged above.¡± Antoine said to the camera, lighting his face up from below with the flashlight.

    ¡°After the war, its inhabitants moved aboveground. and the place was expanded into coal and fossil mines. Then, once those mines dried up, the entire tunnel system was completely abandoned.¡±

    Antoine gestured at a few rusty old lanterns that were sitting to the side of one of the tunnels. They had passed by a few other remnants of old mining equipment too, but the lanterns were the most recognizable.

    ¡°Then during the industrial revolution, the population of Lumiose City exploded and suddenly there wasn¡¯t enough space to bury people in Lumiose¡¯s existing graveyards.¡±

    ¡°So, the city began digging up dead people and putting their remains into the tunnels below the city to make room for people who could pay for a spot in the graveyards. Those who couldn¡¯t pay were either cremated or were tossed in the catacombs as well.¡±

    ¡°Who the hell decorated the place with bones then?¡± Gavin asked, pointing at the patterned skull walls.

    Antoine shrugged, ¡°I dunno, opinions are pretty divided on that. Some sources say that it was cults that worship the ¡®god of death¡¯,¡± Antoine made finger air quotes, ¡°others say the city paid people to keep the catacombs clean so that pestilence wouldn¡¯t spread from it and they decided to sort the bones by turning them into art.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m putting my money on the cult.¡± Oliver said with a grin.

    Jules made a face, ¡°What? Hell no! The second theory makes way more sense than a death cult.¡±

    ¡°Yeah but the death cult theory sounds spookier.¡± Oliver replied, the boy began making mock ghost noises and chanted a few nonsense phrases while he pretended to light candles.

    ¡°I shall sacrifice this Gogoat to you! O great Yveltal! Ooooooooooo!¡± Oliver wriggled his fingers as if he was casting a magic spell.

    Antoine playfully swatted Oliver and laughed, ¡°Dude, you got some balls mentioning that Pokemon in a place like this.¡±

    ¡°Bro it¡¯s just a legend.¡± Oliver replied.

    Gavin grinned rolled his eyes, ¡°Sure, let¡¯s see you call it a legend when you get disintegrated by it.¡±

    Jules smiled and was about to add in his own thoughts, but an accidental glance at the eye sockets of the wall skulls instantly changed his mood. He just couldn¡¯t shake the feeling that the skulls were staring at him.

    Then he acutely noticed his friend go quiet. Swablu puffed up its feathers and shivered, making Jules pat the bird to reassure it. Then he realized what was wrong.

    It was cold. It was already cold before, but this felt unnatural. He could see everyone¡¯s breath in the air, Gavin¡¯s glasses were getting a bit foggy from it.

    They all nervously looked at each other.

    There was a flash of light as Oliver let out his Umbreon, ¡°Stay sharp Midnight.¡±

    Midnight growled as if to say, ¡°What the hell did you get us into this time?¡± Then the dark type sniffed the air and growled as she looked at the black eye sockets of the wall skulls.

    ¡°Good idea.¡± Gavin muttered as he unclipped a pokeball from his belt, ¡°You too Lucky.¡±

    There was another flash as a Krokorok appeared between Gavin and Jules. The sand-croc sharply exhaled and wrinkled its nose at the scent of old bones before rumbling at Umbreon, Swablu, and Inkay. Midnight quietly replied in a slightly annoyed tone. Swablu chirped with a tinge of fear in its voice. Inkay huffed back, the others were being paranoid.

    Jules took a step back to give Krokorok more space and squeaked in fear as he stepped on and cracked a bone that he was very sure wasn¡¯t there a moment ago.

    ¡°Ummm¡­Guys? Can we go back now? Like seriously. I don¡¯t feel comfortable being here anymore.

    ¡°Calm down Jules, it¡¯s just colder because we¡¯re deeper underground than before.¡± Antoine took off his jacket and tossed it to Jules, ¡°Here, you can use my jacket. Next time make sure to bring your own.¡±

    Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!

    Jules mumbled a thanks to his friend and then said in a slightly louder tone as he put on the jacket, ¡°I still want to go back

    Antoine seemed a bit annoyed and rolled his eyes, ¡°Fine, you still have the copy of the map I sent you this morning right?¡±

    Jules sheepishly nodded and pulled out his phone, pulling up a map that he¡¯d saved.

    Gavin raised a hand, ¡°I¡¯ll go back with Jules cause he doesn¡¯t have a dark type Pokemon.¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± Antoine replied, ¡°Don¡¯t get lost, I made sure to pack extra power banks for you guys in case your phone batteries run out.¡±

    ¡°Thanks Ant.¡± Jules said.

    ¡°Yeah yeah.¡± Antoine dismissively waved a hand, ¡°Hey, Gavin, can you hand me some of the extra flashlight batteries from your pack then? You¡¯re not gonna be using them as long as us.¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± Gavin took off his bag and ruffled through it, producing a pack of batteries. He nearly dropped the battery pack when they all heard someone manically laughing from deeper in the tunnels.

    The group stared in the direction the laughing came from for a moment. Jules nearly shit himself. Swablu actually did shit itself, though Jules didn¡¯t notice the white splatter of bird poop on his shoulder.

    Gavin placed the battery pack in Antoine¡¯s hands as he nervously glanced down the tunnel, ¡°So, uh, you guys feel like joining us? That doesn¡¯t sound very safe.¡±

    ¡°Are you kidding me?¡± Oliver replied, ¡°This is prime Poketube content!¡±

    Antoine nodded as he put the batteries in his bag and quickly turned to go towards the now quiet hallway where the laughing originated from. ¡°Quick! We might¡¯ve missed it already! Make sure Umbreon is ready for a battle Oliver!¡±

    ¡°Roger that!¡± Oliver replied, briefly shouting to Gavin and Jules over his shoulder as he followed Antoine and Inkay, ¡°We¡¯ll have some great footage for you guys to watch when we get back!¡±

    ¡°Hey, guys!¡± Gavin reached out to try to grab the back of Oliver¡¯s bag, but the other boy was too fast. ¡°Wait a second!¡±

    But Antoine and Oliver had already disappeared around another corner.

    Jules and Gavin stared after their friends for a moment, contemplating if they should go after them.

    ¡°Are they gonna be okay?¡± Jules asked Gavin as he patted Swablu¡¯s soft wings for comfort.

    ¡°Probably¡­those assholes are just asking to get hurt.¡± Gavin half-heartedly replied as he quickly turned to retrace their steps, ¡°Let''s get out of here, I¡¯m getting some major creeps.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. I¡¯m never going into a tunnel again if I can help it.¡± Jules said as he followed Gavin and Krokorok back in the direction they came from.

    Gavin grumpily shook his feet, ¡°Ergh, I really shouldn¡¯t have let Antoine talk me into coming to this dump. My socks are all soaked.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, same here.¡± Jules vaguely gestured at his feet.

    ¡°Krok. Krokorok.¡± Lucky grunted, looking pointedly at Gavin, the ground type wasn¡¯t exactly happy to be in a cold, wet place either, and he didn¡¯t even make the decision to come here.

    ¡°Yeah, yeah, we¡¯re idiots.¡± Gavin sighed, then he muttered under his breath, ¡°We are not letting Antoine do the research next time¨Curk!¡±

    Gavin jumped and gasped as he sharply looked down. Krokorok growled in surprise and Swablu chirped, frantically flapping its wings as Jules jumped and unbalanced the blue bird.

    ¡°What the?!¡± Jules exclaimed, back peddling a few steps.

    Gavin examined his foot before shrugging, ¡°I¡­don¡¯t know. Sorry, it just felt like someone grabbed my foot with their ice fingers.¡±

    He glanced at Lucky, trying to gauge if he had sensed anything unusual, but the sand croc shook its head and shrugged.

    ¡°Maybe it¡¯s a ghost with a foot fetish.¡± Jules suggested as they began walking again at a slightly faster pace.

    Gavin snickered, ¡°Ugh, stop that¡¯s even worse than a normal ghost.¡±

    The mood lightened for a moment. Sadly, it was instantly ruined by an ominous gust of wind sweeping down the tunnel and past them with the iciness of a midnight winter chill.

    The gust was immediately followed by the faint echoes of their friends shouting, which was then followed by a few distant booms, and a roar from Umbreon. Inkay screeched with the same frequency as nails on a chalkboard and someone screamed so loud that their voice gave out.

    Then it was as quiet as a graveyard.

    Jules and Gavin stared at each other in horror. Neither wanted to even think about what that sudden silence could mean.

    The boys were jarred from their stupor when Krokorok elbowed Gavin and Swablu pecked at Jules¡¯s ear.

    ¡°Krok.¡± The crocodile grunted and gestured for the boys to move. From the deepest reaches of the tunnels came a muted swell of voices whispering that jarred the group into action. Gavin and Jules broke into a run.

    The voices became less muted as they rapidly got closer, distending into a cacophonous roar of unfamiliar voices screaming and shouting unintelligibly. It was getting closer, and closer, and closer.

    Krokorok briefly turned back and shot a Dark Pulse past Jules, there was a boom and a bunch of pained screeching from whatever was chasing them. Jules didn¡¯t want to see whatever was chasing them, but it sounded like they had been delayed by Krokorok¡¯s Dark Pulse long enough to let the group gain some ground.

    ¡°Take the right path!¡± Gavin shouted.

    The group was approaching a y-split in the tunnel. Jules glanced at his phone to try to figure out where they were, but the device had gone dark. Its screen briefly flickered and glitched out before completely dying.

    Dust and bone fragments crumbled down onto them as transparent purple bodies began worming their way through the ceiling, reaching down their emaciated hands to try to grab the boys. Gavin ducked, giving Krokorok room to fire off a weak Dark Pulse at them to make them retreat.

    Gavin and Krokorok went for the path on the right, diving underneath a series of claw-like hands that wildly grabbed for them through the ceiling. Jules tried to follow them down the right path but found himself face to face with the blood-red eyes and wide malicious grin of a Gengar.

    Swablu screeched at the ghost, spitting out pink soundwaves that crackled against Gengar¡¯s translucent purple fur. Gengar shook itself and growled indignantly as it shrugged off the attack while Jules stumbled back. Seizing this brief distraction, Jules threw himself to the left, frantically grabbing onto the bone walls for support and almost falling before he booked it down the left corridor.

    Jules just kept running and running, blindly taking turns whenever he saw a wave of purple bodies and ravenous faces rushing down a corridor towards him. Left, right, right, straight, left, left, up a bunch of bone steps, right¡­

    The sounds of the swarm of ghosts shouting at him were only drowned out by the sound of his heart beating in his ears and the occasional screech from Swablu as it used Disarming Voice to try to keep their pursuers at a reasonable distance the same way Krokorok did.

    Jules briefly thanked his mom for forcing him to be on the track team, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to run for this long this fast otherwise. The boy spared a glance behind him and was relieved to see that the ghosts were a good hundred meters behind him.

    He still needed to find an exit. Jules tried to think back to the directions on the map, but his train of thought was derailed as he ran into a tall cylindrical room and almost crashed into the wall. It was a dead end.

    ¡°Oh¡­¡± Jules panted as he looked around the room, ¡°Crap.¡± He hadn¡¯t outsped the ghosts, they had been herding him into this dead end so they wouldn¡¯t have to chase him.

    Swablu squawked and flew up to the ceiling to get Jules¡¯s attention, there was a hole that had a small beam of sunlight filtering through it. The problem was that it was too high up for him to reach, and even if he could reach it, it was too small for him to fit through, though Swablu could probably fit through it.

    Jules whipped around as he heard the voices just outside the room. The Gengar from before stalked in, flexing its claws.

    ¡°What do you want?¡± Jules asked, his voice cracked.

    The shadow Pokemon didn¡¯t answer and continued to walk towards Jules with malicious intent while Jules backed away with raised hands.

    ¡°Look, if you want me to leave I can leave. I¡¯m sorry for trespassing!¡±

    The Gengar let out a sardonic laugh as its claws extended into massive sharp curved knives of purple energy.

    Jules looked up at Swablu and shouted, ¡°Go Swablu! Get out of here!¡± He wildly waved for his Pokemon to fly through the hole, if he couldn¡¯t escape alive, at least Swablu should.

    The bird Pokemon¡¯s eyes widened before narrowing with determination.

    Gengar pounced and Jules raised his arms to try to block the ghost¡¯s Shadow Claw.

    ¡°SWABLU!¡± Swablu let out a war cry as it threw itself at Gengar, hurtling at the ghost like a fluffy blue and white cannonball. Gengar looked up at the bird and slashed at the bird instead.

    ¡°NO!¡± Jules shouted

    Then his eyes widened. The little bird dodged the attack as its body began glowing with a blinding white light. There was a burst of energy and a roar.

    ¡°AL-TARIA!¡± Gengar¡¯s eyes widened and the ghost backpedalled, but it was too late.

    There was an explosion of dazzling pink energy that shook the room. Dust and bone fragments rained down on Jules, making him cough.

    The boy¡¯s eyes watered and he tried to rub the dust out of them. He let out a short yell as he felt something hurriedly lift him up by the back of his jacket. It was Altaria.

    The cloud bird opened its beak and blasted the hole in the ceiling with a spiraling blue Dragon Pulse, making it big enough for them to fly through. Jules used his arms to shield himself from the rubble that rained down, then he had to close his eyes as they came aboveground, his eyes stinging from a combination of the sudden bright light and the dust.

    ¡°GEN-GAR!¡± Gengar howled from below.

    Something large swooshed past him, then Altaria shrieked with pain. Jules felt himself falling.

    ¡°Oomph!¡± The wind was knocked out of him as he fell flat onto the leaf-carpeted forest floor.

    ¡°Urgh.¡± Jules scrambled to his feet, ¡°Altaria! Are you okay?¡± He ran over to his companion, who was huddled on the ground.

    One of the cloud bird¡¯s wings was bent the wrong way, and there was a nasty purple coloring to it that was slowly spreading.

    ¡°Al-taria. Ria.¡± The bird cringed and whimpered at the stinging¨Cburning sensation that was spreading through its wing.

    The two turned and watched as Gengar crawled out of the hole, its angry red eyes boring into them as it growled, ¡°Gen gengar gar, gengar.¡±

    A choir of voices answered as a small army of ghosts followed their leader out into the open. Their forms were hard to identify due to how the ghosts grouped themselves together and shrouded themselves in purple energy, making them look like a school of fish.

    ¡°Altaria tar, ria!¡± Altaria shouted back as it shot a Dragon Pulse at the ghost.

    Gengar sidestepped the attack and wagged a finger at them, its other hand generating a Shadow Ball that it whipped at Altaria. The swarm of ghosts surged towards them.

    Jules pressed the button on Altaria¡¯s Pokeball, returning it just in time to dodge the attack as he backed away. He had begun shaking from the adrenaline and exhaustion. The boy turned to run, but he was thrown to the ground. A scream tore through his lips as a sharp stabbing pain exploded in his knee.

    Altaria¡¯s Pokeball was ripped out of his hand as something grabbed the hood of his jacket and began dragging him. Jules thrashed around, a new surge of adrenaline numbing the pain in his leg as he slipped out of the jacket and tried to punch whoever was dragging him.

    Jules¡¯s left hand felt like it had been plunged into liquid nitrogen as it passed through Gengar¡¯s body and began burning and turning a shade of purple. The ghost simply rolled its eyes in utter annoyance as it grabbed Jules by the wrist and kept on dragging him towards the hole in the ground.

    ¡°GET OFF ME!¡± Jules screamed, clawing at whatever he could get ahold of to prevent Gengar from being able to drag him any closer to that literal hellhole. The boy quickly grabbed onto a tree root for dear life, he gritted his teeth as he felt the ghost type jerk his other arm so hard that he felt like his shoulder would come out of its socket.

    ¡°AHHHHH! LET GO OF ME! LET! GO!¡± Jules screamed at Gengar as the ghost growled and began aggressively tugging Jules¡¯s arm, trying to get him to let go of the tree root.

    ¡°Mur krow krow krow krow krow!¡± The loud laughing caws of a small flock of Murkrow in the branches above sounded. Jules glanced up, catching sight of those damned birds and their greedy, beady eyes gleefully watching the drama unfolding below.

    ¡°Gengar!¡± Gengar cursed, gesturing at someone Jules couldn¡¯t see.

    A tattered looking Banette floated out of the cluster of ghosts encircling them, grabbing the hand that Jules was using to hold onto the tree root. The ghost puppet¡¯s nubby hand extended into a shadowy set of claws that it then used to crush Jules¡¯s hand, earning a hoarse scream from the kid.

    He felt nauseous as he felt and heard his own bones cracking and splintering, his hand went numb. There was another uproar of cawing laughter from the Murkrow as Jules was yanked away.

    Everything slowed down as the weight of his reality crashed down all at once. He was in the middle of nowhere, no one was coming to help him.

    He was going to die. Altaria was going to die because of the situation he had brought it into. They were going to be dragged into that musty, dark, cramped tunnel and eaten by ghosts. They¡¯d become one of the countless bones in the catacombs, and no one was ever going to find them. What about his mom and dad? His grandma? What were they going to think?

    Without even registering his own thoughts, Jules kicked Gengar. The ghost hadn¡¯t expected the blow and flinched, then rubbed its face where there now was a solid shoe print. The other ghosts grabbed his clothes with their hands and began helping Gengar drag him faster.

    Fear spikes down his spine as they get closer and closer to the hole in the ground, Jules lets out an animalistic screech. He claws at the ground with his mangled hand while his other limbs all flail around as he tries to loosen Gengar¡¯s iron grip on him.

    Jules¡¯s breath came in short gasps and he felt his chest tighten till it was too hard to breath. The edges of his vision begin to darken as his images of him being back in that tunnel and being torn apart by ghosts flashed in his mind.

    The faces of the ghosts crowding around him only made those images worse as his brain focused on the twisted mask of a Yamask, the sharp teeth of a Ghastly, and the witchlike cackling from a Misdreavus.

    Out of nowhere, a bunch of Shadow Balls tore through the crowd of ghosts, sending them flying as they shrieked with pain. The ghosts scattered like Rattata at the arrival of a massive dark purple figure and a roar loud enough to shake his bones.

    ¡°GAAAAAR CHOOOOOMP!¡± The biggest goddamned Garchomp that Jules had ever seen landed hard enough to cause a mini-earthquake. The ground beneath the cratered from the sheer force of the dragon¡¯s landing.

    The landshark instantly identified the ringleader, its yellow eyes narrowing as it rushed Gengar. The shadow Pokemon did what any reasonable person would do when a nine and a half foot dragon charged them, and ran for it.

    Unfortunately for Gengar, the dragon was fast. Garchomp hooked the ghost type like a fish and slammed it into the ground hard enough to create another crater. Then it began curb stomping the ghost-type into the stump of a nearby fallen tree, sending splinters flying everywhere and quickly destroying the stump in the process.

    Meanwhile, a second group of ghost Pokemon zoomed in and began picking fights with the first group of ghosts, stopping them from escaping back into the hole in the ground.

    The ragged Banette from before sneakily floated over to Jules and tried dragging him the few feet left to the hole, earning a hoarse yell from the boy. A second, less ragged Banette dropped out of the sky and bitch slapped raggedy Banette into the waiting jaws of a Zweilous. The Zweilous happily gargled and began wildly whipping the puppet ghost around like it was a pokedoll.

    Jules tried to sit up, but his vision was swimming and he felt a horrible wave of nausea pass through him. Something gently picked him up and floated him away from the hole, placing him behind a tree and away from the ongoing fights.

    A Haunter flew over and tried to offer him a sitrus berry, but Jules was too nauseous to eat anything. He had begun shivering, chills were running through his body, and a pounding headache had started to form behind his eyes.

    He looked back at the ongoing battle. The catacombs ghosts were still fighting the newcomers with an unnaturally vicious attitude despite being easily overwhelmed by the newcomers. They weren¡¯t going to give up without a fight. Gengar was still getting curb-stomped by the Garchomp, yet it still shouted curses at the dragon.

    A shadow flitted by above. There was a horrifying roar even louder than the Garchomp¡¯s roar as a battle scarred Hydreigon even bigger than the Garchomp descended from the sky.

    The clearing went quiet, and even the catacombs ghosts stopped to stare in horror at the utter beast of nightmares that had ever so kindly graced them with its presence.

    The silence was only broken by the occasional squeaky toy sounds from the Banette that the Zweilous was currently chewing on, and the sound of the Garchomp still slamming Gengar¡¯s face into the obliterated tree stump.

    Where did they come from? Jules blearily blinked his eyes as he looked for their trainer, he thought of someone big and tough like Snowbelle¡¯s gym leader Wulfric, or maybe Drasna.

    ¡°That¡¯s enough Sahara.¡± The voice of a girl ordered, Jules shifted and saw a somewhat dainty-looking Kantonian girl jogging over with a Rufflet flying just behind her.

    The Garchomp paused mid-punch before snorting and tossing the barely conscious Gengar at the girl¡¯s feet. The Gengar groaned like a balloon letting out air.

    ¡°Same for you Kaiju.¡± The girl sternly said to the Zweilous. ¡°Drop it.¡± She pointed at the ground.

    ¡°Drop. Drop it. Drop it. Kaiju!¡± She grabbed the unruly dragon¡¯s mouth, ¡°DROP. IT.¡±

    The Zweilous grunted. ¡°Mleeem.¡± It opened its mouth, and dropped a very soggy and chewed up Banette onto the forest floor.

    Nice Banette waved at the girl, ¡°Banette!¡± It pointed at Jules.

    The girl looked at them and grimaced when she saw Jules, who was still trying to keep the contents of his breakfast in his stomach.

    ¡°Oh shit that¡¯s not goo¨Cum,¡± The girl started before quickly inhaling through her teeth as she caught sight of Jules¡¯s hand. He hadn¡¯t seen it yet, he¡¯d probably projectile vomit if he did.

    The trainer looked back at the Hydreigon and pointed at the defeated ghosts. ¡°Make sure they don¡¯t try anything.¡±

    Then she ran over to Jules, who tried to wave at her, but he couldn¡¯t move his arms. It was like his body had finally registered that he was no longer in danger, so it was turning everything off.

    His vision began swimming, and the edges of his vision were getting dark again, this time due to the pain from his injuries finally registering to his brain all at once.

    Jules¡¯s head drooped, and then jolted up as he thought of Altaria, where was Altaria¡¯s Pokeball?

    ¡°Pohe..pawl, Aldaria¡­¡± Jules tried speaking to the girl as she crouched next to him. His tongue felt like lead and his head began drooping again. It was so hard to keep his eyes open.

    ¡°What?¡± She asked, ¡°Hey, hey. Stay with me.¡± She gently shook him and looked away, ¡°Rotom! Call 911!¡±

    She turned back to him, ¡°Hey, what¡¯s your¨C¡±