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Chapter 157.5
CHAPTER 157.5

This is just a bonus chapter for the day that I wrote to get through all the OCs my Discord submitted. It isn't relevant to the plot, so feel free to skip if you don't feel like reading battles. Either way, enjoy.

The last few days had been horrible for Cecilia. It wasn't the worst thing she had experienced— far from it. This was nothing compared to the terror her father had wrought on her or being stranded in Mount Coronet or having Abel show up in her room. Yet, this was possibly the most anxious she'd ever felt. Along with Maeve, Cecilia was the last voice of reason within the group. They had to pull the reins and stop their friends from doing anything stupid, and thankfully it looked like they had succeeded. The League knew about the problems Solaceon was facing, the Hunters' link with Team Galactic, and Grace was planning on calling Candice to make sure that they knew that this was real and not something they could ignore.

Things were finally looking up, and yet it still didn't stop Cecilia from feeling like a weight was pressing against her chest. If anything happened to Grace…

No, she couldn't think about that. Just visualizing it was enough to bring her close to tears, and she had to focus for her battle. This would probably be her toughest opponent yet.

"This is a battle between Cecilia Obel and Juan Montes. Trainers, send out your Pokemon."

Juan released a Drakloak and a Grafaiai. Cecilia had progressed a lot since flailing around against Fantina's own Drakloak. Its speed was its main asset, but it couldn't fight against the power she would bring to the table. Grafaiai was a Paldean Pokemon she had never even heard of before. Fluorescent blue paint-like saliva dripped from its fingers, and its teal blue eyes stared right into her own. Grace had insisted on making her do a minimal amount of research. She'd ended up doing all of it though. Cecilia was just content to spend some time relaxing with the girl she loved.

These two weren't the main threat on Juan's team, so he was apparently keeping the best for last. Cecilia sent out her Talonflame and Slowking. She felt her heart swell when the huge flying type soared in the air and screeched. Talonflame wasn't big enough to fly on, but she was large enough to pack a serious punch and she had lost her old frailness. Talonflame weren't known as apex predators for nothing. Slowking put his hands behind his back and silently observed. Cecilia felt bad for Zweilous. She hadn't even used him once in the tournament so far, but it wasn't her fault. She just kept winning too quickly, and Scyther and Golett needed the practice. The bug type still didn't want to listen to her, but he at least took her advice seriously now.

"Begin!"

"Drakloak, Double Team and Quick Attack toward Slowking! Grafaiai, get in there and Venoshock!"

Drakloak let out a juvenile, raspy roar and split into ten. The illusions rushed toward Slowking while charging up Dragon Pulses in their mouths. It was a nice trick, but it could just be overwhelmed by Heat Wave. Deception was only effective when no amount of power could blow past it, which was why Grace was so effective at it when she wanted to be.

"Heat Wave," Cecilia said. "Slowking, you just protect yourself."

Talonflame spread out and flapped her wings. The air slowly grew hotter and distorted, and the Double Teams fizzled out into thin air. The real Drakloak screamed, and a quick Dragon Pulse flew toward Slowking. Weak. The psychic type waved a hand, and the attack curved, crashing against Kadabra's barrier instead. Grafaiai struggled to keep going against the heat and opted to hide behind a boulder.

Cecilia let out a disappointed sigh. She yearned to call out and to tell her opponent to come after her seriously. Or maybe this was it? This was just so dull.

"Infestation!" Juan yelled.

Little green lights wormed their way out of Drakloak's body, flying toward Slowking like missiles out of a jet. A few of them washed over his psychic barrier, while others simply failed to reach him due to the strong winds from Heatwave. The floor was glowing bright red, and only the vicinity below Slowking was safe. Grafaiai let out an agonized scream and ran away from its boulder. The skin under its feet was melting off. It fell onto the floor and began to burn.

Juan panicked and stammered out a few words, but the poison type was in too much pain to act.

Cecilia watched like it was just another Tuesday.

Grafaiai fainted, and Juan sent out a female Indeedee. The psychic type began to burn under Heat Wave's influence, but—

"Fake Out!"

Indeedee blurred forward and jumped, somehow using its stubby legs to reach Talonflame. The bird was stunned by the attack and froze. She would have crashed to the ground if Slowking hadn't caught her. Indeedee fell with a loud thud and its thin fur burned to a crisp, exposing its soft pink flesh.

"Slowking," Cecilia said.

The water type seized Indeedee as Drakloak screamed and struggled to make its attacks connect. Its Dragon Pulse and Infestation might have broken through another Pokemon's barrier, but not hers.

"Forget it! Dragon Pulse the Talonflame!"

"Slowking—"

The water type forwent his attack on Indeedee and protected Talonflame instead, leaving her enough time to fly back to the air. Unfortunately, Indeedee used the opportunity to slam her against the ground with a Psychic of her own. Cecilia grinned. The battle was finally starting.

"Water Pulse!"

A ring of water quickly sped off toward Drakloak, who phased out of existence and reappeared behind Slowking. This time, he was too close. Infestation wormed its way into the psychic type and would keep ransacking him from the inside.

"Psychic! Grab it!"

Slowking held out his hand, but he couldn't stop himself from twitching. The Psychic only held for two seconds until Drakloak escaped. Talonflame, for her part was struggling against Indeedee, but she managed to open her mouth to burn the normal type with ember, leaving her enough time to escape back in the air.

"Finish the Slowking off!"

"Fire Spin!"

Now that he was too unfocused to shield himself, Cecilia couldn't possibly order Talonflame to use Heatwave. A ring of fire came to life around Indeedee, slowly getting tighter and tighter. Slowking brought his hand forward and stopped another Dragon Pulse, but the attack grazed his shoulder instead.

"Acrobatics!"

Talonflame spun in the air and she was next to Drakloak in a flash. The dragon type managed to slip away, but not before getting its tail clawed by Talonflame's talons. Unfortunately, Slowking fell to the ground. It seemed that the Infestation had been too much. She recalled him before he could fall and released Zweilous. She couldn't afford to mess around here, not when Juan still had his last Pokemon up his sleeve.

Well, now that Zweilous was on the field, no more holding back.

"Tailwind, Fire Spin, Heatwave."

Drakloak was a ghost, so he'd be able to resist the extreme heat that had been enough to turn glass into sand. As for Indeedee? Well, Juan was so scared that he recalled her from the fight. Cecilia obviously would have stopped before anything permanent could be done, but he wasn't going to take that chance.

Well, it was time for the true threat to appear.

Juan tensed and released a Ceruledge onto the scorching field. It was a magnificent specimen, and the armor needed to let them evolve could only be forged by a few specialized smiths in Paldea. Cold, ghostly flames covered its body and danced in unison, as if they were alive.

"Dragon Pulse," Cecilia ordered. "Talonflame, stay focused on Drakloak. Quick Attack and Flame Charge to build up speed."

Talonflame screeched, and flames enveloped her entire body. Drakloak was quick enough to dodge, and it desperately tried to fight back with Dragon Pulse and Double Team. The goal was to keep it occupied so it wouldn't focus its dragon type attacks on Zweilous.

The two heads snarled. In a split second, two huge turquoise beams flew toward Ceruledge and combined into one. The ghost type sharpened its blades and sunk into the floor with Shadow Sneak. It traveled through the entire field that way and Cecilia thought it would go for closed range attacks, but it slashed across the air to summon small giggling purple flames. The Will-O-Wisps entered Zweilous' body, and the heads screamed.

Cecilia stared at Juan, who was simply ordering his Drakloak around. She was starting to think that he had not commanded Cerludge's respect quite yet.

"Stomping Tantrum!" Cecilia yelled.

Even with Shadow Sneak, the attack would deal damage. A thin barrier appeared around Ceruledge, not shielding him from the tremor, but from the ground type energy that came with it. Zweilous could keep their attack going for a long time, and the fire type could not. In the air, Talonflame finally managed to cut Drakloak in half with an Aerial Ace. At her speed, Cecilia wasn't even sure that she'd be able to command her properly. Her wings had been singed by Dragon Pulse, and she had been hit by multiple Infestations, but she was still going strong.

Ceruledge's Protect finally broke, and it silently screamed. Its armor clanged and flames surrounding its entire body. Sol used the opportunity to hit it with a Dragon Pulse, but Ceruledge cut the weakened attack in two with its swords and rushed toward the dragon. Shadows surrounded its sword and it slashed across Sol's neck, cutting it like it was flesh instead of tough scales. The head growled and bit at the ghost type with a vicious Crunch, seizing it by the arm.

"Talonflame, pivot!" Cecilia said.

Drakloak was practically a non-issue by now, so now was the time to act. The flying type screeched, and after one blink, she was already hitting Ceruledge with an Aerial Ace that penetrated its armor. Zweilous' second head bit the ghost type's torso with Crunch and Talonflame finished it off.

Ceruledge was good, but its capabilities had seemed overblown by Grace. Oh well, she had always been more safe than sorry regarding battles and battles only. Anything else, she'd throw herself into danger. Talonflame took to the air again and one last Acrobatic finished off Drakloak.

"Victory to Cecilia Obel!"



Hours earlier.

"This is a battle between Justin Gardner and Andrew Zabana. Trainers, send out your Pokemon."

This was it,
Justin thought. There was no way he was making it any further than this. Andrew Zabana had five badges and he had three. The skill and experience gap was simply too wide for him to overcome this challenge. Justin watched Andrew release a Torkoal and a Victreebel. The sun grew harsh and started to weigh down on the Grass Field. This was his tactic. Andrew was a trainer who used the sun to win against his enemies.

Justin sighed and sent out his Audino and Growlithe. Guessing who his opponent would start with had been easy enough, but finding a counter had been difficult. He had almost considered using Lombre with Growlithe to focus on taking down that Torkoal, but the sun's sheer power would render his water moves useless. If only he'd practiced more with Audino's Simple Beam…

"Begin!"

No matter how hard he looked, there was no path to victory, but there was a path that came close. Justin snapped his attention to the battle and took a deep breath.

"Torkoal, Stealth Rocks! Vicky, Solar Beam!"

Justin ground his teeth. His opponent was bringing out the big guns right from the start. Solar Beam was such a powerful attack that Growlithe's type advantage might as well not matter, and Audino would take a lot of damage. Torkoal slowly expunged sharp rocks from his shell, and a huge beam gathered in front of the grass type's mouth and flew toward Audino.

"Helping Hand and Flamethrower!"

Dodging such a huge beam would be impossible for Audino, so his best bet would be to weaken it enough to survive. The normal type twirled and clapped his hands, reinvigorating Growlithe, whose Flamethrower was at least twice as strong as normal with the sun and the Helping Hand. The flames spewed forward and countered the beam of energy for a few seconds, but it broke through and burned Audino's body.

"Life Dew and Wish!" Justin screamed. "Growlithe, Flamethrower that Victreebel!"

Another Flamethrower flew out of Growlithe's mouth, but at this distance, it was easy to dodge. The poison type was under Chlorophyll's influence and could move itself with its vines. Water dripped out of Audino's body, healing with slightly and he recovered from his burns. Then, he shot a light into the sky.

"Long range won't work! Torkoal, get in there with Rapid Spin! Vicky, keep using Solar Beam!"

"Audino, Helping Hand! Flamethrower!"

How many times could Victreebel use Solar Beam without getting tired? Even with the sun, it was an exhausting move to use. Once again, Growlithe stopped the Solar Beam with his flames, but Torkoal was spinning through the arena quicker than it could ever hope to walk. The remaining beam was weak enough for Audino to keep fighting, and he healed himself with another Life Dew. It wasn't enough to completely make up for the damage he'd just taken, but Wish could counter that soon.

Justin was okay for now, but it was like he was walking a tightrope. One mistake, and the entire battle would unravel.

"Double Kick that Torkoal away!" He screamed. "Disarming Voice!"

Growlithe quickly turned away from the fire type and tried to kick it with his hind legs, but the force of the Rapid Spin proved too much. Even with Audino's Disarming Voice to soften the blow, he was knocked and sent away. Another Solar Beam engulfed Audino's entire body, and this time, it was fully powered. The normal type was on his last legs.

"Keep going Torkoal! Body Slam!"

"Heal Pulse, Audino!"

Growlithe couldn't afford to fall here. Justin needed him to be as weakened as possible, but not faint. If Audino was going to faint, then he would push Growlithe through this hurdle! A pink burst of energy flew out of Audino's hand and hit Growlithe, healing him just enough for him to make it through Torkoal's Body Slam. The fire type whined as he struggled to get back up.

Justin's condition was met.

"Reversal!"

There was a glint in Growlithe's eye, and his wounds did not stop him from moving any longer. In one smooth motion, he pawed Torkoal away. It was comical how nonchalant the move looked. Torkoal grunted in surprise and flew away toward the barrier, cracking his shell and falling on its back.

Another Solar Beam— weakened this time— finished Audino off. Perfect.

Louis had taught him this little trick that his Pawniard was fond of.

"Retaliate!"

Growlithe blurred toward the helpless Torkoal and rammed his entire body into the turtle. The Pokemon rolled over backward and spun like a spinning top before fainting. Justin could see from his opponent's eyes that he hadn't expected that at all. He recalled his Audino, and Andrew did the same for his Torkoal. Justin sent out his Lombre, and his opponent sent out a Tropius. The stones from Stealth Rocks lightly penetrated his skin.

That was probably the worst-case scenario. Justin felt the high of his victory over Torkoal evaporate in a flash.

"Tropius, fly over there and Seed Bomb! Finish that Growlithe off! Vicky, get closer!"

At least he had stopped the flurry of Solar Beams that had made this battle impossible to fight. Victreebel looked exhausted, and struggled to even walk straight with its vines. If Growlithe could get close enough to use Reversal… but no, that was too risky! He had to do this!

"Flamethrower!"

"Tropius, Wide Guard!"

Justin's shoulders sagged when a thinly veiled barrier appeared to protect both Tropius and Victreebel. The flames helplessly washed over the invisible wall, and Tropius beat its wings, dropping huge seeds from the sky. The explosions rocked the entire field, and despite Lombre attempting to pick off the ones falling above Growlithe's head with Bubblebeam, a few made it through and took down the fire type. Tropius turned and flew back toward his trainer.

Justin sighed and recalled his Pokemon. Krokorok would be terrible here, but what else could he do but try. His path was still open. He could at least take down one more, but it would take a lot of work. Stealth Rocks rammed into the ground type's skin, and he grunted in pain.

"Lombre Rain Dance!" Justin yelled.

With a loud croak, Lombre summoned thick clouds that swarmed the arena and obscured Tropius in the sky. An unintended consequence, but it would also have to fly lower if it wanted to aim properly. Victreebel was almost here now—

"Sludge Bomb the Lombre!"

A thick glob of poison flew out of the grass type's mouth, but Lombre easily skidded across the grass, dodging it. Justin yelled out a Knock Off, and the water type slid his way toward his enemy, dodging Sludge Bomb after Sludge Bomb. Tropius broke through the clouds and sent out Seed Bombs to finish Krokorok off, but the ground type simply buried to hide away from the worst of the damage.

Darkness surged in Lombre's hand, and he hit Victreebel with Knock Off, staggering the grass type. Perfect.

"Sand Tomb!" He yelled out to Krokorok.

With how wet the floor was, Krokorok's Sand Tombs were even more potent than usual. The ground was already covered in mud, and it began to spiral under Victreebel. Lombre had thankfully been quick enough to escape with Swift Swim.

"Now Mist!" Justin hurriedly ordered.

Lombre let out another croak, and a thick mist overtook the arena. Justin had always found it a shame that Grace no longer favored the move, but it would serve him well here. Now, Tropius had no way of knowing where Lombre or Krokorok were, and the latter was free to surface to power up his Sand Tomb and finish off Victreebel!

"Seed Bomb!" Andrew's voice broke through the Mist, and more explosions shook the field. Then more… then more.

Ah.

Justin had forgotten that it didn't matter if Tropius couldn't see the field. It would just be able to sweep the arena over and over and flood the arena with Seed Bombs. It must have taken two minutes for the mist to start fizzling out, meaning that Lombre was down. What Justin saw nothing but destruction. It was like the entire field had been excavated with bombs. Nothing remained of the Grass Field he knew, just like Lauren had done with the Snow Field.

Krokorok was also down. His body was upside down, with his head still buried. He'd been tunneling, but the explosions had broken through the earth.

In the end, Justin had taken down two Pokemon— Victreebel and Torkoal. A better performance than he had the right to ever pull as a three-badger. It stung, but he couldn't exactly be angry.

He had done well.



Maeve's face twitched as she stepped onto the podium. Battling since her first loss had always been a nerve-wracking affair that Mira had tried to solve in countless ways, but she didn't think she would ever go back to normal. Nothing would ever give her the confidence she had felt from back when she had dominated Roark and every trainer in her way.

It had all evaporated in the Floaroma tournament.

She couldn't even say that battling would take her mind off things. What had happened these last few days was more than anything she thought would happen in her entire life. Maeve was just a normal girl that wanted to live a normal life, yet her friends kept getting in these extraordinary events. If she somehow won this, she'd have to battle against Harry Rodriguez next match. She was one of the few people with three badges remaining. Louis and Justin had fallen today.

And yet, she still couldn't find it within herself to be proud.

"This is a battle between Molly Chapman and Maeve Chang. Trainers, send out your Pokemon."

Maeve's opponent sent out an Electrode and a Marowak. The electric type had a wide smile permanently etched on its face, and it excitedly rolled around the Desert Field. Marowak hit its huge bone against the floor, and it quickly settled down. Maeve gulped and sent out her Skorupi and Starmie. She had known that Electrode would be first from the minimal amounts of research she had done, but Starmie's psychic powers would be invaluable here. It was a risk, but a risk worth taking.

"Begin—"

"Keep your distance, this thing explodes!" Maeve quickly yelled. "Pin Missile and Psybeam! If he comes at you, stop him with Psychic! Focus on Electrode!"

Her orders were a mess. Rambles full of slurred words and barely coherent enough for anyone to give them meaning. The two attacks flew toward the opposite side of the arena, but attacks from that far away were easy to dodge. Electrode quickly rolled backwards toward Marowak and his grin widened, mirroring its trainer.

"Bone Club!" Molly exclaimed.

Marowak tightened its hold on its bone and hit Electrode away like a golf ball. The electric type winced at the hit, but it was somehow speeding up through the air. Agility.

"Grab him!" Maeve yelled.

Starmie's gem shone and the star on its back rotated. Pink energy surrounded Electrode, causing it to hover in the air. The electric type grunted and squirmed in Psychic's hold, but the damage it was taking made it impossible to focus.

"Now Pin Missile!" Maeve said to Skorupi.

The bug type angled its tail forward, sending out sharp spikes toward Electrode. It was superficial damage, but it would quickly add up—

"Explosion!"

From here?

"Throw him away—"

Maeve hadn't even been quick enough. The Electrode bubbled, swelled, and its body shone. For a split second, the world was still. Then, a giant explosion rocked the field. Maeve flinched when the shockwave immediately reached her, bending Kadabra's barrier. When the smoke cleared, glass littered the Desert Field's upper layer. Starmie had fainted, its gem cracked and devoid of its usual vibrant reddish pink. Marowak had been far enough away to be spared of most of the damage— a testament to how powerful that Explosion had been. If Maeve had to guess, Molly was a trainer that specialized in double battles. They were rare, but they existed. There was no way she would have come up with this strategy otherwise.

But where was Skorupi?

"Skorupi?!" Maeve yelled as she recalled Starmie. "Skorupi—"

A Drapion emerged from the hot sands. How?

Molly recalled her Electrode and sent out an Amoonguss, and Maeve sent out her Monferno, who stared up at his new teammate confusedly. Drapion was wounded, but his quick thinking had made it survive the explosion.

Maeve couldn't afford to be agape for too long. She needed to be quick.

"Drapion, Hone Claws and get in there! Monferno, Bulk Up and do the same!"

Her Pokemon weren't as strong as Molly's, so her best bet was to bridge the gap. Monferno's muscles bulged outward, and the fire type smashed a fist against his palm. Drapion menacingly closed and opened its sharp pincers while they glinted.

"Amoonguss, Growth! Marowak… Bone Club!"

Damn it, again? What was it now? Marowak hit the grass type away just like it had done with Electrode, but it was slower this time. Maeve had time to react.

"Flamethrower and Venoshock!"

Flames and poison washed over Amoonguss, but they did not stop its momentum.

"Spore!"

"Damn it— run away! Keep using Pin Missile and Flamethrower!"

They had actually dealt a lot of damage, but it hadn't been enough. Spores exploded from Amoonguss' body. Maeve's Pokemon held their breaths, but they spread quicker than they could run, and Drapion wasn't used to his new body yet. Both of them fell into the sand.

"Whew. Marowak, get in there and Earth Power both."

It took ten seconds for the ground type to get close enough. Maeve clenched her fists. All she could do was watch. The sand under her Pokemon swelled, and huge quantities of earth burst from the ground, hitting both Monferno and Drapion. It took another four for Drapion to faint, and two more for Monferno to do the same. Maeve recalled her Pokemon and sent out her last teammate.

"Staravia," Maeve said. "You're up."

The flying type jumped and took to the air, analyzing her two opponents with a worried gaze. Maeve had no choice but to wait out the spores. Staravia didn't exactly have ways to attack from a distance, but neither did Marowak, who couldn't even approach because of the Spore.

"Venoshock!" Molly yelled.

Maeve didn't even have to tell Staravia to dodge. She put her wings flat against her body and dove, stopping herself just shy of the spores.

"Double Team!"

Twenty of Staravia's clones appeared, and the original quickly got lost in the mix. Venoshock was powerful enough to dissolve the illusions, but Staravia just replaced them whenever they disappeared.

"Quick Attack!" Maeve said, pointing at Marowak. All of the Staravia shone and rushed toward the ground type. Amoongus was too slow to help. All it could do was worm itself back toward its teammate.

"Rock Slide!"

A barrage of rocks erupted from the floor in front of Marowak, but if there was one thing Staravia was good at, it was maneuvering. The bird extended her wings, bringing herself to a screeching halt, and rushed to the side to go around the Rock Slide. She spun around and used Aerial Ace to strengthen her hit, stabbing into Marowak with her beak.

"Hit her off!" Molly yelled.

With a labored grunt, Marowak slammed its bone against Staravia's skull. The flying type squirmed and flew off, but Marowak threw its bone, hurting her wing. Staravia collapsed in the sand.

"Can you still fly?" Maeve asked.

She tried to push herself off the ground, but she could only glide for a few seconds. Staravia's wing was broken.

"You did good," she said.

"Finish her off with Rock Slide—"

Both trainers gasped when light overtook Staravia's body. She grew until she became larger than Maeve herself, and her talons sharpened. A bright red crest formed above her head.

"Congrats again," Molly smiled.

"Thank— thank you."

It was weird to be congratulated by her opponent, but it certainly felt nice. Another Rock Slide finished Staraptor off, and Maeve lost her battle.

Still, two evolutions? She wasn't as sad as she thought she would be.

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, Aaron Vera, A ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish

Thank you ShadowNebbia#5726 ,Kdonmination#7611, and 5pavvn#8027 for the teams!
 
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Chapter 158
CHAPTER 158

In all of those revelations and excitement, I had completely forgotten to look up my new opponent. I didn't really care about winning or doing well in the tournament any longer except to fulfill my contract with the Poketch Company. It was a wonder that I hadn't been caught breaking into the tournament building, so I felt obligated to make them proud. I sighed as I sat up on my bed with my laptop on my lap. Cecilia leaned against me and watched me work. Slowking was standing guard, along with Buddy tonight.

"I'm glad you went with my call tonight," Cece said. "I was terrified that you'd go deeper into this."

"I'm sorry for worrying you. I know I've been difficult," I sighed. "I won't take any more risks."

"Are you telling the truth this time?" She asked with a serious tone. She got her head off of me and stared into my eyes. "Not another empty promise?"

"Yes," I exhaled. "I'm sure."

I couldn't tell her about what I told Sunshine. He expected something from me now, so at some point, I would have to plunge into danger once more. I couldn't break my deal with him. Best case scenario, I could maybe annul it if nothing ended up happening for the rest of our stay, but I doubted that would go over well. I would probably lose all of his respect I had carefully gained since I caught him.

That wasn't an option.

"Can you tell me about your thought process? What do you look for when you gather information on someone?" She asked.

"Well first, I look at the most recent battles," I explained. "Then I try to branch out and go to their gym battles to see how they fight under actual pressure. Then I gather a few battles I really liked that showcased their strategies and teams and I watch it again and again until I know everything by heart. Sometimes I'll try to browse the forums too to see if there's anything that would concern me."

"What about their posts? I feel like you'd be able to learn a lot about them depending on how they talk online. It'd do wonders with your emotional manipulation trick."

"That's… yeah, that's true. Thank you for that," I smiled. "I won't do it for her though."

"What's her name?"

"Sloane Holcomb. I've got to get a clean win."

"Your last three wins were clean," she chuckled. "Weren't they?"

"The first one was. The second and third were iffy," I said. "It might be doable against her thought."

"What's her team?"

"Swellow, Espeon, Krokorok, Clawitzer," I listed. "The main strategy here seems to be using Double Team over and over to confuse her enemies. Sort of like what Maeve did."

"Smart, but not against trainers like us."

I nodded. "I'll start off the battle with Sweetheart, but I'm still thinking about which second Pokemon to use. Honey wouldn't really be able to protect her that much, but Angel's already fought so much, I want to let the others have some action too."

"Well, who's Sloane starting off with?"

"Espeon for sure. It knows Wish, Protect, Yawn and Heal Bell, it's mostly her support Pokemon with tons of versatility. She's started every single battle with that Espeon."

"What if she changes her mind?"

"She won't. She'll start off with a Yawn and then Wish. I'll have to rush her down before my Pokemon fall asleep… I'm going with Buddy. Plus, I feel like the Double Teams would confuse Angel too much."

"I probably would have gone with Tangrowth and Jellicent, but I understand your decision."

"Come on, that's just because you want to make a bunch of stuff blow up," I joked.

"It's not!" She protested.

"I'm pulling your leg," I said. "Will you forgive me if I give you a kiss?"

I turned toward her and leaned in, but she placed a finger on my mouth.

"No. You're being punished. Until we get out of this town and you've proven that you're not taking unnecessary risks any longer, no more kissing."

"...Fine."

"Look, in the end, we got results, and Luca… didn't have to disappear. But that doesn't stop the fact that there's something dangerous about the way you think. It's like you don't even value your own life. You didn't even try to convince Pauline and Mira to change their minds, which just makes me think that you wanted to do this deep down anyway."

"I don't even know myself," I exhaled. "It did feel good to take the plunge. Like I was giving the Hunters what they deserved. But I also don't feel like I don't value myself. I mean even now, I'm scared of anything happening to me."

"Just… be safer. I wouldn't be able to keep going without you."

"I will— I'll try."

I went back to staring at my computer. Espeon would come first, that I was sure of, but who would be second? I doubted that it'd be Clawitzer. I had to keep in mind that Sloane was preparing for me as well. I had started with Angel three battles in a row, so I didn't think that she would lead with a water type. The same point applied to Krokorok, so if I had to guess, it would be Swellow— especially since it knew Heat Wave somehow. I would have Honey and Angel in the back, and Princess would be able to sit this one out.

Now all I had to do was figure out a way to rush that Espeon down. Rock Slide would be able to take care of its Double Teams, but not Swellow's.

To be honest, couldn't I just ignore Swellow? What did it even have to hurt Jellicent and Larvitar? Sure, it had Steel Wing, but that would make it get back up from the sky, which put it in prime Smack Down range. Rock Slide would be too slow to hit, but Smack Down was Sweetheart's quickest attack, and she had changed it by herself and turned it into something new. Along with the main rock, there was always debris that shot out of the ground, just like what had happened against Kyle Thornton's Watchog. It would cripple Swellow enough to stop it from flying, which meant it would be forced to Roost.

Which meant it would be buried under a Rock Slide.

What I thought it would do was that it would wait out Espeon's Yawn. Buddy would overwhelm it, but it was impossible for him to get there before it got the attack off. What Sloane didn't know was that Buddy was resistant to sleeping attacks.

After all, he'd told me about how he had resisted Palossand's Hypnosis when fighting against Fantina.

So long as I took down that Espeon, the rest would follow suit. Not my best work, but it'd would do for this. If I was fighting a five-badger instead of a four-badger, I would have gone a lot more in-depth.

"Finally done," I stretched. I turned off my computer and placed it on my bedside table.

Tomorrow would be interesting.



I was back on the Snow Field for the second time in a row, which was really a drag because it was the furthest away from everywhere else. Sloane had been two minutes late, and she arrived panting and tired. Had she been doing last minute preparations? Possibly. I stared at the referee and gulped. Could he have been in on the scheme?

"This is a battle between Grace Pastel and Sloane Holcomb. Trainers, send out your Pokemon."

I felt satisfaction swell when I saw Espeon and Swellow appear in a flash of red. The flying type was slightly bigger than the one Maeve had faced during her first battle, and it looked to be slightly faster too. Espeon stood completely still, not even moving a muscle. I sent out Jellicent and Larvitar. The rock type yelled loudly until Buddy scolded her, telling her to stay quiet.

"Begin!"

"Sandstorm," I started.

Larvitar shut her eyes and waved her arms wildly. Thin grains of sand appeared, mixing with the snow.

"Double Team, both of you! Espeon, Yawn!"

There it was. Clones of both Pokemon appeared on the ground and in the sky, giving the illusion of overwhelming numbers. Larvitar tensed and turned to me.

"Go in, Bud," I ordered. "Keep a Night Shade with you."

Ghostly energy split from Jellicent, lashing out and tying into knots to create a shadowy clone of himself. He propelled himself with Water Sport, and the shade simply followed by floating across the sky. I still hadn't figured out how to make Night Shades use moves. All of the Espeons opened their mouths to yawn, and I felt drowsy for a second before snapping back to reality.

"Now Wish!"

A dozen lights flew out of the gem on all of the Espeon's heads.

Now came Swellow's counter.

"Agility, Focus Energy and Aerial Ace!"

"Acid Armor," I said.

In truth, I was telling him to liquefy his body, but Acid Armor was a simpler way of saying it. Swellow proudly beat its wings, generating strong gusts of wind, and then rushed to Jellicent with one of the most powerful Aerial Aces I had ever seen, along with all of its clones. Dodging would be impossible, so I opted for the path of least resistance.

The real Swellow flew through Jellicent's body, disintegrating his head which regenerated in a few seconds.

"Turn back and do it again!"

"Did you see him, Sweetheart?" I asked.

She yelled out a 'yes'.

"Smack Down, then start going forward!"

Like a bullet, a rock shot out of the floor and barreled toward Swellow, who was shocked by how quick the attack was. The bird narrowly dodged and the attack hit a clone instead, but that left enough time for Jellicent to reach Espeon.

"Psychic!" Sloane yelled.

"Solidify," I said.

Buddy's red eyes flared up in anger as Espeon struggled to hold back his ever-increasing weight. He might not have looked like it, but Jellicent was heavy when he was completely solid. In fact, he could barely make himself float. His transparent body had been replaced with an opaque shade of sky blue.

"Watch out—"

Then, the Night Shade exploded on Espeon's body, freeing Jellicent from its hold.

"Hex, then Shadow Ball."

"Swellow, Air Slash! Interrupt him!"

I had lost the real one amidst its clones, but from the sea of Swellows, the air sharpened and formed into multiple arcs bigger than I was. They shot out toward Jellicent, who was currently placing Espeon under a Hex. The psychic type squirmed and struggled as smoke emanated off of its body. The Air Slash sliced across Jellicent's head, vertically splitting in into two halves due to his still-solid form. That meant he'd taken more damage, but the recovery period was shortened significantly. In a flash, strands linked the two halves and Buddy kept his Hex going until it finished.

As soon as it did, Sloane ordered her Espeon to run away with Dig. The Shadow Ball crashed into the floor, but it was already gone. She was no doubt buying time for Wish, but she didn't know what Buddy was capable of.

"Follow and finish it off," I said.

Jellicent ignored another Air Slash, liquefied his body and became squeezed into the hole Espeon had left.

"Espeon, get back up! Get back up now!"

Well, it wouldn't be getting back up. I could faintly hear its screams from here. Sweetheart was slow on her feet, but she was making good progress. I noticed that she was starting to tire out, however, so I probably only had a minute or so left until she fell asleep—

Wait, did I even care if she fell asleep? Not exactly. Steel Wing was an issue, but I personally believed that she was tough enough to brave them until she woke.

"Strengthen that Sandstorm before you go sleepy," I said. I restrained a smirk when I noticed that the baby talk pissed Sloane off.

The storm slowly picked up and grew thicker, forcing me to squint to see the battlefield properly.

"Perfect! Stop there!"

At least like this, I was forcing Swellow to take damage. Larvitar fell asleep immediately after her Sandstorm, so she'd been even faster than I thought. She crashed on the floor and snorted with a wide smile on her face. Knowing her, she was probably dreaming of destroying things.

"Steel Wing!" Sloane yelled.

Just as the Wish flew down toward Espeon, which was still struggling in its hole, a dozen of Swellow's clones flew down toward Larvitar. The real one struck right after the second, sending her rolling across the floor. At this point, the field was more desert than snowscape. Larvitar had reformed it to her image.

Jellicent squeezed back out of the hole with half of his face missing, as he usually did. Espeon had put up a good fight, but it wasn't going to win against a ghost type in such a cramped space.

"Steel Wing again before the Jellicent gets here!" Sloane said. She waited a few seconds to see if Espeon would climb back, and then recalled it. Thank Arceus for those homing beams.

She sent out her Clawitzer next. Its pincer was bigger than its entire body. Swellow once more hit Larvitar with Steel Wing, and it was dealing damage. But was it doing enough?

"Poison Sting and Hex that Clawitzer," I ordered.

"Protect and Dragon Pulse!"

My eyes widened at Dragon Pulse. That was new, but I couldn't afford to panic. I just had to take the move into account and counter it. First, I needed to see how powerful it was. A thin barrier shielded the water type from Buddy's poisoned darts, and then draconic energy began to build up in its pincers. After a few seconds, turquoise energy flew out, grazing Jellicent slightly.

It was slower to charge and weaker than Zweilous'. I could handle this.

"Poison Sting and Hex again!" I said. I was going to tire it out.

Larvitar finally woke up after the fourth Steel Wing, but unlike when she was sleeping, the rock type was clearly in pain. Her breaths were ragged, and her scales were cracked and bruised. I winced and bit my lip. This was probably the most physical pain she'd been in her entire life.

"Finish it off! Steel Wing!"

I had her.

I waited until the last possible second and gave out my command.

"Smack Down!"

Shards of rocks exploded, taking down clones and Swellow itself. The bird crashed into the sands and screeched in pain.

"Rock Slide! Bury it!"

Rocks of all sizes emerged around the flying type and covered it completely. There was no way it was strong enough to get out of there by itself.

"Clawitzer, Aqua Jet away and Water Pulse at the rocks!"

Or she could just do that. The tired Clawitzer darted forward in a burst of speed, but a few of the poisoned darts made it through and penetrated its shell. Water Pulse fired out extremely quickly. I blinked and it had already hit the rocks in an attempt to free Swellow. Unfortunately for Sloane, I just buried it in more rocks. If Swellow had had a move to fight from the inside, then it could have broken out, but right now? There was nothing Swellow could do.

"Focus on Larvitar, then! Take it down!"

"Rock Slide in front—"

The Water Pulse already hit Sweetheart before the words were out of my mouth. I clicked my tongue. That could easily have been anticipated, but I didn't. Larvitar fainted, and I recalled her, sending out Tangrowth instead. Her Sandstorm would last for a little longer since she had trained it extensively and it wasn't an ability, so Sunny Day was out of the picture.

"Finish off that Swellow. Buddy, Night Shade and get in there," I commanded.

"Clawizter, Ice Beam that Tangrowth—"

"Ancient Power in front!" I yelled.

This time, I was quick enough. Luckily for me, it seemed that only Water Pulse had been perfected that quickly in the gap between Sloane's last gym battle and now. It was the first time she'd used Clawitzer in the tournament, so I couldn't have anticipated it, but it still stung. The arcs of ice helplessly washed over Angel's boulder, freezing it in the process. One of his vines turned neon green and smashed through the rocks Swellow was buried under. He grabbed the flying type and hit it against the floor a few times until it fainted.

"Water Pulse into Ice Beam!" Sloane yelled.

In one breath, the shards of frozen rocks exploded, cutting up Angel's vines. Then, an Ice Beam hit the grass type, the bottom half of his body. He was stuck.

The Sandstorm finally ended.

"Krokorok, go!" She yelled. "Keep your distance! Rock Slide!"

The dark type ironically used Sweetheart's own rocks to hit Tangrowth over and over. I bit my lip.

"Send your Night Shade over to Clawitzer," I smoothly ordered.

"Aqua Jet—"

"Now Whirpool!"

All of his training had led to this. Jellicent spat out such a huge volume of water that I saw him shrink slightly. The water hovered in the air and began to spin faster and faster. With a booming yell, he sent the attack flying toward both Pokemon.

It was too big for them to dodge. The only hope they both had was to use Protect, although Krokork could burrow to escape. That would mean that he'd leave his Clawitzer alone up here. Even though it was a water type, the spin of the Whirpool was so powerful that I doubted it'd be able to simply ignore it and casually swim.

"Krokork, Dig! Clawitzer, Protect!"

She opted to leave Clawitzer alone then. Angel finally finished smashing the ice with Power Whips and was free to walk again.

"Scorching Sands!"

I raised an eyebrow. I knew of that move, but I hadn't known that she'd be capable of using it while Krokorok was underground like Justin's own could do with Sand Tomb. Once Clawitzer's Protect ended, it helplessly flailed around the Whirpool, shooting half-hazard Dragon Pulses in hopes of hitting something. The floor under Tangrowth bubbled and turned to soot. His vines wriggled, and the attack washed against his entire body like a wave. The heat was working well against him.

"Get in the Whirpool and finish Clawitzer off! Buddy, use Night Shade and Shadow Ball!"

Finally, Buddy's Night Shade which had been floating around doing nothing could do work. It positioned itself to hit Clawitzer and explode on contact, but the water type pushed himself out of the water with two quick Water Pulses.

Its good fortunes ended here. Tangrowth pushed himself through the Whirlpool with his vines. Thanks to his heavy weight, he spun around slower than Clawitzer, which meant that—

"Power Whip!" I yelled.

—Which meant that it was over for the water type. The Power Whip hit Clawitzer's huge pincer, cracking it in the process, and it fainted. Now that there was just Krokorok left, Buddy ended his Whirlpool.

"Scorching Sands!" She yelled. Even now, she hadn't given up. Other trainers might have complained about her still fighting when she had no chance, but I respected her so much for that.

Angel squirmed and tried to run away, pushing himself with his vines. It looked like she wasn't going to unburrow.

"Hey, Bud. Want to try something out?" I asked. "See if you can slip through the ground."

All this time, I had asked myself. Could he slip through any cracks on any surface? My mind flashed back to the hotel in Eterna where he had somehow gotten onto the balcony without opening the door. The cracks in the floor were tinier than that, but he was also stronger than he had been. Jellicent nodded and stared at the ground.

"See where it's attacking with the sand?" I said. "It's right under there."

"Damn it— Krokorok, stop!"

Jellicent propelled himself with Water Pulse and disappeared into the floor, using the ground loosened by Scorching Sands to slip in. After ten seconds, Krokorok emerged from the ground, his entire body wet and still smoking from what I assumed was Hex. Tangrowth wrapped a vine around his neck to restrain him and squeezed out its remaining energy.

Jellicent had been like a true ghost today.

"Victory to Grace Pastel!"



Questions from reporters were growing more and more vicious. At this point, very few people were taking the tournament seriously, and some of them were trying to get under my skin by claiming the tournament had been rigged for me too. I really had to bite down on my tongue not to explode for that one. I was pretty sure I forgot to smile too. Only one more match, and I would make it to the top thirty-two, which meant that I'd fulfill my contract with the Poketch Company. Of course, even if the League would take the Hunters down, I still wanted to win against Harry Rodriguez to punish him for going along with this scheme. Not only that, but he was associated with Team Galactic. He would need to pay the price. Unfortunately, he had disappeared. Vanished into thin air. It looked like I wasn't going to get my revenge.

Of course, the best-case scenario was always to have the League arrest him first. That'd be funny.

At this point though, I just hoped that they would swoop in and save the day. The quicker they were, the less likely the odds of Luca being dead were. I knew that kidnapping victims almost never survived after a certain number of hours— I didn't remember the exact amount. If only they had a way of contacting us to at least let us know how they were progressing. I had called Candice earlier today and after complaining about me not calling her since I had left, she said that it was confidential and she couldn't tell me anything except that my tip had been noticed and that they were looking into it.

With respect to my friends, most of them were holed up in the Center outside of their battles these days. Louis, Justin and Maeve had all lost yesterday, so they didn't exactly have anything better to do. Mira was still brooding in her room. She hadn't been the same since learning about Team Galactic's links with the Hunters, and I suspected that she had a vendetta against them. That would at least explain why she wanted to take this entire matter into her own hands with the Lisa plan. I wanted to speak to her, but she wouldn't open her room for anyone. Not even Maeve. Cecilia and Denzel had been spectating my battle. They weren't going to leave me alone here.

"Another dominant win," Denzel said. He'd lost a lot of his usual cheerful demeanor since yesterday, and I couldn't blame him. "You look pissed by the way."

"Stupid reporters," I groaned. "Speaking of, any progress on the thing with Emi?"

"She's keeping me updated live. Vincent's been helping her out, so she should be done in a few hours."

We were taking every precaution not to get caught before the hammer struck. We weren't about to get busted by some spy that had been listening in.

"Let's head back then," Cecilia said. "We can go back to see Denzel's battle afterward."

"I'm going to start letting loose. My opponent's pretty tough," he said. "Another stall user. I already told Justin that he should watch on TV."

"So we can finally see what you've been hiding?"

"You might be a bit disappointed, but it's pretty cool," he finally grinned.

"You smiled!"

"Yeah… I guess I did," he said.



"This is a battle between Denzel Williams and Charlie Blue. Trainers, send out your Pokemon."

Charlie blue sent out a Toxapex and a Forretress. The two Pokemon were covered in shallow scars, a testament to how many hits they had taken in their lives. Forretress was capable of levitation by using magnetic forces that I was nowhere smart enough to understand, but even then, it would still be slow as hell. Toxapex, meanwhile, could only force itself forward by using its twelve legs, but it was even slower than Forretress. Denzel would always have the initiative in this fight.

Wind blew across the grass as he sent out his Lopunny and Sylveon. There was so much sass in the normal type's pose that she almost appeared human— even going as far as flicking her ear back like Pauline did with her hair. I noticed that she'd incorporated a lot human gestures, which was probably due to her similar body type. Honey had done the same with me, with his thumbs up, head scratches and awkward smiles. Sylveon's fur blurred, and his eyes settled upon his enemies, always unblinking. With the craziness of the last few days, it had been a while since Princess and he had hung out. She probably missed him.

It would all be over soon.

"Begin!"

"Toxic Spikes!"

Toxapex lifted its two front legs, sending out sharp star-shaped spikes hovering all over the battlefield a few inches from the ground. Aside from that, it seemed like Charlie was letting Denzel start up first.

"Power-Up Punch."

It was a simple order that could have meant many things, but Lopunny smirked. Both of her hands, feet and ears lit up, and she began punching Sylveon consecutively using all of her appendages. The fairy type just stood there, immobile as he stared at Forretress and Toxapex.

Denzel was—

Denzel was continuously building up Lopunny's strength by having her hit his own Pokemon. Without Sylveon's shield, it would have been a risky strategy, but it wasn't even like Charlie could fight back. His Pokemon were too slow to go and retaliate. He ordered his Toxapex to spit out a Sludge Bomb, but it didn't go the distance. It seemed that he was too scared to let his Forretress go alone.

I gasped when Sylveon's shield broke, fizzling into pink dust. Lopunny stopped punching and flexed one arm. She took one step forward and the ground under her foot cratered.

"There you go," Denzel said. "Now go and have some fun."

Lopunny grinned.

In one breath, she was halfway through the arena, leaving a trail of destruction behind her. Two breaths, and she was right next to Forretress—

"Iron De—"

Lopunny's fists burst into flames, and she punched the steel type as strongly as she could. Forretress flew backward into Kadabra's barrier. The entire right side of its armor was caved in, and it couldn't even float anymore. Toxapex screeched and another Sludge Bomb flew out of its mouth, but Lopunny was too quick.

"Counter!"

As if she knew the attack had been coming, Lopunny faked out Forretress and used his body to push herself back toward Toxapex. The poison type brought its twelve legs together, forming its Baneful Bunker. Poison dripped out of every inch of Toxapex's legs, but Lopunny skidded across the floor and jumped over its body, waiting for the defensive move to finish up. It took five seconds, and then electricity danced in both of her fists. She grabbed two of Toxapex's legs and pulled them apart until she could squeeze inside. I did not know what she did to its hidden head, but the screeches didn't paint a pretty picture. When the poison type collapsed, Lopunny emerged from under it. From the purple tint in her eyes, I could tell that she was poisoned, but she could still go on for a while longer.

Charlie recalled Toxapex with a look of disbelief and sent out a Wobbufett instead.

"That one has Counter too," Denzel warned. "Go for— ah, you've got it."

Lopunny was already rushing to finish off Forretress, who was barely conscious. One Fire Punch to its already caved-in armor did the trick. Lopunny was beginning to tire out. Toxapex's poison was a lot more potent than I would have thought, and it seemingly caught Denzel off-guard too. Charlie sent out a Clodsire—

Who immediately got beaten half to death with Ice Punches and Kicks.

"Watch out for Counter!"

The ground type was too slow to even hope to dodge and fight back. He was clearly caught off-guard by the beatdown right out of his Pokeball. From the way Denzel looked, I could tell that he was worried about Counter, but the poison type couldn't even comprehend what was happening. After a bit, it did manage to shake Lopunny off with a Bulldoze, but she gripped it by the tail and finished it off by slamming it against the floor with a Circle Throw.

There was only Wobbufett left.

"E—Encore!"

The psychic type… danced in a really weird, circling motion, and Lopunny was forced into using Circle Throw. The rabbit panted as poison pulsed through her veins. She stared back at Denzel, who nodded.

"Go for it."

In a flash, she was in front of Wobbuffett. She wrapped her arms around it and suplexed him, but the psychic type's body shimmered, and Lopunny was sent away by an immense force. Charlie had finally managed to get one of his Pokemon to use Counter, and with how much Lopunny was dishing out, she was out for the count. Denzel recalled her and sent out his Froslass, who curiously stared at the Grass Field which was now littered with holes.

"Sylvi, you recovered yet?" He asked.

The fairy type sighed, and the blur around his body appeared again. Twice in one battle? That was insane.

"Okay then. Froslass, that Wobbufett can't really do anything but counter our attacks with Mirror Coat or Counter, so it's going to be a little tricky. Walk up to it for now. I'm serious! Just walk up to it."

"Wobbufett, Taunt!"

An obnoxious laugh ran through the field, and I felt an incredible amount of anger toward Wobbufett surge inside of me. I assume Froslass and Sylveon to be the same, but they controlled themselves and walked together toward the psychic type. After twenty seconds, they were only a few steps away.

"Sylveon, you Play Rough. Froslass, you Shadow Ball."

I smiled. How evil.

Wobbufett could either choose to Mirror Coat or Counter, but it couldn't do both.

It opted for the former, but that only delayed the inevitable. They slowly picked the psychic type apart, attacking simultaneously each time. Wobbufett went down soon enough.

"Victory to Denzel Williams!"

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, Aaron Vera, A ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish

Thank you ArcaneQuill09#8316 and God Emperor Ikea#7709 for the teams!
 
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Chapter 158.5
CHAPTER 158.5

This is the last bonus chapter that I wrote to get through all the OCs my Discord submitted. The second battle is somewhat relevant to the plot, so you should at least skim it. I'm through all of the OCs submitted now.

"This is a battle between Lauren Goodwill and Sebastian Foster. Trainers, send out your Pokemon."


Lauren had heard many things about the tournament lately. That it was rigged by the Hunters. That Team Galactic was involved with Harry Rodriguez and wanted him to win. That BattleZone was rotting from the inside.

Yet she did not care whatsoever as long as she got to battle. Like every trainer, Lauren was willing to say that battling was her passion, but she went even further than that. She could not imagine a life without it. She felt the invisible restraints that kept her subdued and meek evaporate as soon as she sent out her Seismitoad and Sceptile onto the Grass Field. She still wanted to battle on the Water Field at least once, but she kept getting unlucky. Sebastian sent out a Luxray and a Pikachu.

Sceptile immediately snapped up and excitedly slammed his tail against the floor. He had only gotten to battle once since the tournament started, so he was a lot more chipper than usual. Seismitoad sized up her opponent with a wary eye, but she still exuded confidence. Against electric types, she would shine more than anyone else.

"Begin!"

"Prime, set up your Aqua Ring and go get 'em!" Lauren snapped. "Volis, fuck them up!"

Aided by Quick Attack, Sceptile dashed forward until he became a blur of motion. He opened his mouth to spit out a Dragon Breath, catching Luxray off-guard and grazing the electric type.

"Pikachu, Double Team and Swift!"

"Forget that rat, get the bigger rat instead!" Lauren grinned. "Leaf Blade!"

The leaves on the grass type's wrists grew sharp and shone with a bright neon green. He slashed across Luxray's throat, drawing blood. The electric type tried to fight back, and its trainer shouted out for an Ice Fang, but Sceptile was too quick. He reappeared behind Luxray by dodging Pikachu's Swift with Detect and cut again.

But that wasn't it. Seismitoad was in the picture now.

"Prime, Earthquake until they both fall," Lauren ordered.

"Shield!"

Pikachu summoned a thin barrier that Lauren recognized as a combination of Reflect and Light Screen. Luxray wasn't so lucky. The ground under both Pokemon's feet shook, and it grew uneven. Chasms and cliffs formed. Sceptile had run far enough away to avoid most of the localized Earthquake. All of Pikachu's clones disappeared in a flash.

"Luxray, you've got to do something—"

Sceptile jumped and landed on the electric type's back. A wild grin stretched across Lauren's face.

"Drain Blade!"

The grass type had labored day and night to perfect the move. It was a combination between Mega Drain and Leaf Blade that would heal Sceptile while dealing devastating damage. Electricity enveloped Luxray's body and electrocuted Sceptile in the process, but he was tougher than that. He cut deep inside of Luxray's back, and the attack combined with Earthquake brought the rat down.

It wasn't a rat, but Lauren didn't care. Sebastian sent out a Magnezone next, which wouldn't be affected by the Earthquakes. Oh well, she could still fuck up that Pikachu with it. The little runt was exhausted from shielding itself from Earthquake for so long.

"Sceptile's too quick! Signal Beam the Seismitoad! Magnezone, Flash Cannon!"

"Volis, get in there and Mega Drain," Lauren snapped. She didn't even need to tell Prime anything. She was a tough girl, she'd get over it.

The multicolored beam slammed into her belly and was quickly followed by another ray of metallic light. Sceptile quickly rushed toward Pikachu, who had to stop maintaining its attack to run. It lashed out with Thunderbolts, and it was surprisingly slightly faster than Volis was. The electric attacks didn't do much but annoy him though, and it wasn't like he needed to be anywhere near Pikachu to use Mega Drain.

The electric type withered and fell to the ground as Sceptile drained its energy from afar. He used the opportunity to finally cut that damn Pikachu down with Drain Blade, healing a bit of the damage that had been dealt. A loud clang rang out when Seismitoad's Water Pulse hit Magnezone's armored skin. Both Pokemon had been exchanging blows from a distance, but Prime would outlast it with Aqua Ring. Sebastian grimaced and sent out a Furret.

"Get him."

"Slam!"

Sceptile cracked his neck and rushed toward Furret. His body twisted unnaturally, dodging the Slam, and then he cut across its back with Drain Blade. The normal type quickly recovered and let an Ice Beam loose. The attack caught Sceptile off-guard, since he hadn't expected it to get back on its feet so soon.

Not that it mattered. The floor under Furret began to shake, and Lauren ordered Sceptile to hit Magnezone with a long-distance Bullet Seed. They had stopped working on the move consistently long ago, but it was enough to push Magnezone and throw its aim off. Lauren didn't even care about friendly fire.

"Drain Blade. You'll recover more than you're hurt," she said.

Sceptile mirrored her grin and used the move on the helpless Furret. The normal type quickly fell, and there was only Magnezone left.

"Bullet Seed, Water Pulse, finish it off."

The steel type fought surprisingly well. It opted to target Seismitoad with everything it had instead of Sceptile, since it was never going to land a hit from that high in the sky. It dodged the Water Pulses rather easily, but Bullet Seed was too quick. The Magnezone crashed to the destroyed field, clipping onto the edge of an Earthquake-made cliff and falling deeper into the chasm, but Sebastian recalled it before it could go any further.

"Victory to Lauren Goodwill!"

All of her life, Lauren had watched her big brother accomplish things magnitudes above what she thought she was capable of. Her parents kept comparing her to him growing up. She was less of a hard worker, not as smart, not as nice to people, weird, not accommodating enough, not loud enough, too shy, too reserved, too

She was tired of being compared.

"Thanks for the battle, I guess..." she whispered.



One day later.

For the last four years, Mira Compton had been sad.

There were highs and lows to her sadness. It came in waves, but when it did, it submerged every other feeling and it made it almost impossible to play pretend. She had thought that she was finally doing better now that she had made a lot of friends, but nothing could have prepared her for what she would find in this town. Team Galactic was involved in the Hunters' scheme. Team Galactic. The thought spread like wildfire in her mind, consuming everything in its path until her head was filled with nothing but sorrow.

"Nice to meetcha, man!" She grinned at her opponent. "Hope we have a good one."

"Uh, same to you."

Smile. Be happy and grateful for what you already have. You don't know when you're going to lose it again.

Yet, was she not already losing it all? She was fighting with her friends, and most of all, Maeve and she hadn't spoken. Mira bit her lip and forced herself to smile. She'd always been a fuck-up.

"This is a battle between Mira Compton and Jake Holland. Trainers, send out your Pokemon."

She would arrive at Veilstone soon, and she would stay there until she found her uncle, Circuit be damned. She had only signed up as an excuse to travel there and gain in strength. Team Galactic apparently had their main base hidden there, Mira wasn't going to let that opportunity slip past her fingers. Mira sighed as she grabbed her Pokeballs. Funnily enough, she might have been one of the only people who had known of Team Galactic before the League announced their existence after the attack at Valley Windworks. She had known for years now. Apparently her uncle had been there too.

And she hadn't, because she had opted to go to Canalave instead of going straight to Floaroma. Regret. It burned.

Mira sent out her Kadabra and Kirlia while Jake Holland sent out his Politoed and Seismitoad. Mira had been so depressed that she hadn't even bothered to do any research. It was a constant, sinking feeling that she couldn't get rid of unless she had something to distract her, but it was hard to be distracted when the answers she seeked were right there, nagging at her.

If only she hadn't been such a coward, she could have met Lisa Hunter today.

"Begin!"

"Let's do this gently— but not too gently! Kadabra, Energy Ball and Teleport! Kirlia, Psybeam from afar!"

"Politoed, dodge with Bounce! Seismitoad—"

In two Teleports, Kadabra had already crossed the field with a ball of green energy in the hole of his spoon. It would have been more powerful if they had been on the Grass Field instead of the Rock Field, but it would do the trick. The Energy Ball slammed into Seismitoad's huge stomach, and Politoed jumped so high it was like it was flying. Kirlia brought her hands together and tried to shoot it out of the sky with Psybeam, but it was too high.

You are unwell, Mira. I can feel it, Kirlia's voice rang out in her head. Kadabra, Mira is depressed. What should we do?

Who did this to you—


Kadabra cut himself off to dodge Seismitoad's attack. It drenched its two fists and punched where he had just stood, but he was already gone, and another Energy Ball hit the water type in the head. Politoed crashed against Kadabra, slamming his head against the floor, but the psychic type Teleported before more attacks could hit.

Telepathy was a funny thing. Kadabra was no mind reader, but Kirlia was an empath, so she could feel Mira's emotions and intents. She technically didn't have to order the fairy type around, but she did it anyways for flair unless the battle got really difficult.

"Kadabra, hold it with Psychic until Kirlia can take over!" Mira grinned.

Do not try to avoid me, Kirlia chided. You told us you were getting better the last time we spoke, but your mindscape is getting worse by the day.

Kadabra Teleported himself upward and seized Politoed before it could jump again. The water type groaned and struggled against Psychic's hold. Kirlia ran forward, sliding against the floor with her delicate legs and used Psychic on the water type as well.

"Seismitoad, go and help!"

"Kadabra, deal with it."

Mira was fine. This was just a deeper slump than usual. She just needed to wait until Maeve forgave her, and then she'd help her apologize to everyone for her outbursts and end this awkward atmosphere. Kadabra summoned another Energy Ball, splitting it in five and sending them forward with a gentle wave of his spoon. Seismitoad dodged the first, but was hit by the rest.

You lie to us and yourself. Let us finish this battle. I will take care of you, Kirlia brushed against her mind.

Kadabra's spoon bent and his eyes flashed. Tiny orbs of condensed psychic energy appeared around Politoed and buried themselves in his body. Psyshock.

Kirlia tells me that you fought with your associates. Is this true?

It is true. A fairy does not lie.

Have some self-respect. You are more psychic than fairy,
Kadabra sighed. Although only a fairy would delay their evolution for some personal nonsense. It is completely illogical.

I will not evolve until I am in perfect condition.


A conversation between two psychics was mind-bendingly quick, especially for a human. Mira winced, and the usual headaches that she had grown past came back. Kirlia and Kadabra took notice and cut off the link. The fairy type slashed across Politoed's gut with a Psychic Kick, and Kadabra finished off Seismitoad with an Energy Ball. Jake Holland cursed and sent out his last two— a Bellibolt and a Toxicroak. Mira had only seen the former once a few years ago and it was certainly cute in a weird, ugly way.

Jake screamed out orders, but Mira didn't even pay any attention.

"Just Psychic and Teleport around and stuff," she sighed. Her head wasn't in the game at all.

Mira, Kirlia said as she hastily dodged a Water Gun from Bellibolt. I will speak for Kadabra here. I explained the situation to him, and he is of the opinion that you should go and apologize to your friends.

Kadabra
thought so? Well, maybe it was just because he was worried about her. The psychic type narrowly avoided Toxicroak's Venoshock and retaliated by slamming the frog's face against the floor with Psychic. He held it in place and Kirlia finished it off with three Psybeams.

Bellibolt gurgled, and electricity exploded outward in a Discharge. Kadabra easily dodged, but Kirlia was caught in the blast, interrupting their conversation. She was still getting the hang of Teleport thanks to Kadabra's tutelage, but it was too risky for her to use it in the middle of a battle. Kadabra quickly used the small window of rest that Bellibolt needed after such an attack to grab him with Psychic. It was only a matter of time now.

My apologies. I was hit, Kirlia said. Even when wounded, a psychic's voice would be smooth and clear, with no stutters, groans of pain or blemishes.

Mira forcefully exhaled— which was almost a laugh. Obviously she had seen that she had gotten hit.

I felt the need to apologize anyway. Let us return to the previous topic. We will not idly stand by while you sink deeper into your depression. Pretending to be happy will not work.

She turned her head away from Kirlia and scoffed. One last pain-filled scream from Bellibolt signaled the end of the battle.

What do I know, you ask? I know a lot. You have told us everything, and we are quite worried about your well-being. Even that horrid, ghostly thing. Alas, I am not foolish enough to think that you will get better simply by talking to us. Since you refuse to speak to one of the Nurse Joys, then your friends are the next best option.

"Victory to Mira Compton!"


Mira snapped out of her daze and noticed that the battle had finished. She hadn't been paying attention at all.

Do not recall me. I will accompany you.

She sighed, recalling Kadabra and Kirlia, but released the latter next to her immediately. She was going to apologize soon— tomorrow.

She would start tomorrow.

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, Aaron Vera, A ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish

Thank you Aasgier#3393 and ObsidianOlive#5833 for the teams!
 
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Chapter 159 - It Grows
CHAPTER 159 - It Grows

"Woah! That seriously looks great," I exclaimed. Princess dropped a tiny sculpture of Angel into my hand and pouted. It was smudged, low on detail and deformed, but it was hers and it was perfect to me. "I'm telling the truth! Angel, look! It's you—"

Togetic's eyes shone and the sculpture turned to mush. She had brought in some mud inside of our Pokemon Center room to practice with, and she was dissatisfied with her progress. Tangrowth's eyes drooped, knowing that he'd failed to see his own statue. She had made Buddy first and had a similar reaction. She didn't want anyone to see her art unless it was up to her standards.

"You're doing good, stop being so harsh on yourself," I said. "Can you do mommy?"

Togetic hurriedly shook her head, saying that she wouldn't make a statue of me until she was sure that everything would be perfect. Honey and Sweetheart took offense to that, since it meant that they were just guinea pigs, and to be honest, they were kind of right. I wasn't going to intervene and pick a side though. A parent had to be neutral on these things.

"Well if you're not going to do me, do your sister or she's going to throw another tantrum."

I settled deeper onto the bed and relaxed. It had been a day since my previous battle, and it felt nice to spend some time alone with the family, and I assumed that most of my friends were doing the same. I wished Sunshine could be here… wait, maybe he could! He'd been so well-behaved these last few weeks, and especially now that we had come up with the deal. Maybe he would just sit in a corner and sleep without burning anything as usual. The room was usually cramped with Tangrowth and Jellicent taking the most space, but today, the latter was content to just float and stay flat against the ceiling.

Yes. Flat. His entire body was as thin as a sheet of paper. I almost wondered if he was trying to slip through the cracks in the ceiling, but he was just… chilling. His bright red eyes moved each time he decided to stare at someone else. Right now, he seemed fascinated with Honey's push-up routine. I called it a routine, but it was something he'd just started. Apparently he wanted to build up his endurance even more, and he believed that working out would help after I let something about Chase slip.

"You keeping count?" I asked Buddy. He rolled his eyes and inflated like a balloon. "How many?"

Electabuzz started doing one-handed push-ups and showed me five fingers.

"Five hundred? Is that true?"

Jellicent grumbled and spat a stream of water on the electric type's head. Honey let out a girly squeal and fell on his face.

"Pffft— hahaha! I guess you were lying!"

Honey laid flat against the floor, unmoving and possibly dying of embarrassment. Buddy had never been one for pranks, but he seemed to make an exception for the electric type.

"Need a towel?"

"Ele…"

He got up and shuffled to the bathroom, meaning that he'd get it himself. When he returned, I clapped my hands to garner everyone's attention. I had to call Sweetheart name's multiple times because she was obsessed with one of Angel's vine games. He was continuously poking her with one, and her goal was to bite it off. I didn't exactly know the rules… were there even rules? There didn't seem to be a time limit to it.

"I'm going to release Sunshine into the room," I declared.

There were many different reactions to my words. Princess tensed, and her stare grew sinister— or at least as sinister as it could get, which wasn't much. Angel blinked slowly and his vines drooped, including the one he was using to play with Sweetheart, who excitedly waved her arms and screamed my ear off. Honey shrugged. He wasn't thrilled with the suggestion, but he wasn't angry either. Buddy simply stared, although I caught an excited glint in his eye. Sunshine was an excellent conversation partner after all.

"He's been nice lately, and I want you guys to get closer to him. Including you!" I told Princess. "I don't say this often, but follow Sweetheart's example."

The rock type smugly smiled with her eyes closed, and Honey teased her by repeating the first part of that second sentence. She flared up in anger and tried to ram him with her horn, but he jumped over her and cackled.

"Arceus… guys. I'm doing it now, okay?"

I grabbed Turtonator's Pokeball from the counter and released him in a corner of the room. His eyes widened, no doubt in surprise of the location. He hadn't been in an actual room in months, and it showed on his face.

"Sunshine!" I beamed. "We were hanging out and we were also wondering if you wanted to participate. You know, family bonding time and all of that…"

He let out a non-committed grunt and nodded.

"Great. Come over here big guy," I said, pointing to the floor on side of the bed.

He just laid down where I had released him instead. I turned to Togetic, and somehow her statue of Larvitar had turned into this horrid, malformed version of Sunshine in the five seconds I hadn't looked her way.

"Uh… yeah, that looks nice," I said.

Larvitar was already sitting next to the dragon, and Tangrowth looked on with lassitude and disbelief. I was hoping that he and Sunshine would bond over taking care of her instead of making it into a popularity contest. I nudged the vine he permanently had around my ankle with my other foot and discreetly nodded toward the pair.

Go make friends! I thought.

With a silent sigh that was only visible through his body language, the grass type squeezed through the counter and the bedframe, awkwardly waving a vine at Turtonator, who ignored him completely. Ignoring was good… right? It wasn't fighting, at least. Jellicent had already wormed his way across the ceiling and walls, clinging to them like glue. He was kind of cute when he did that.

"Let's see what's on TV…" I muttered. "You keep working on your art. Honey, come on the bed with me."

The electric type climbed into the bed and lay on my shoulder in the perfect position for me to scratch his head. Today and yesterday night had been… eventful for the media, to say the least. Denzel had sent over the edited soundbites of Jerry confessing to everything the Hunters did, including the tournament rigging and more importantly their link to Team Galactic. It was the biggest story currently circulating in the news, and League agents had come to the city to investigate, along with hundreds of new reporters. Solaceon was usually one of the most boring towns in Sinnoh. It didn't have Floaroma's beautiful landscape, Celestic's history, or Sangem's beaches and tourism industry. Only Twinleaf could be ranked worse, and even Denzel would agree with me. He didn't particularly like his hometown.

So for one of the most boring cities in Sinnoh to have become such the center of attention? People were breathing down the Hunters' neck, and Roland Hunter— the family head— had put out a statement denying all of the allegations. That obviously wouldn't stop the rumors from spreading and the investigation from progressing.

What we had failed to anticipate was a certain angle a few channels were pushing— that the League was complicit in all of this since they let the Hunters run free all these days. There was a real scandal about the fact that Cynthia had just let them off without any consequences when Shiftry had tried to spread its darkness through the entire city. It was technically our fault, but the League was in the wrong here, so I didn't feel particularly bad. That 'protecting the region' reason felt flimsy at best. What could Shiftry do that the League could not?

Strangely enough, the part about Shiftry being the family's true leader? No one had spoken out about that.

"Wanna watch cartoons?" I asked. Honey and Princess nodded, and Sweetheart clamored from her corner. Sunshine lazily opened an eye and snorted. "I think they've got that thing that you like on. You know the one with the singing Jigglypuff—"

"Toge! Togeprrri!"

"Right, that one."

She was a huge fan. Really, it was a cartoon for toddlers where kids would be encouraged to sing along to Jigglypuff's voice actor. Princess wasn't very good at it, but she really got into it. Honey just liked television in general, although he preferred more mature shows. I needed to get him to watch Mystery Dungeon one day. He would bawl his eyes out at that ending.

Sweetheart grumbled and dejectedly sat back on the floor. She hated that one because it wasn't action-packed enough for her liking, but it was her sister's turn on the TV. I let it play and just mindlessly watched cartoons for the next hour and a half. This was bliss.

A knock I didn't recognize garnered my attention.

"Princess," I whispered.

Her sculpture— which was now herself— turned to dust and then into a spinning drill.

"Angel, open the door. Princess, don't stab even if they're a stranger. Wait for my signal."

A lone vine snaked across the floor and then to the door handle. Mira was at the door, and I let out a sigh of relief. Turtonator flared up and his shell glowed bright red. I recalled him before he could burn anything.

"Am I bothering— ah, I guess I obviously am. Sorry."

"No problem," I said. "What's up? Come in, come in."

I waved her over and she hesitantly entered. I didn't exactly blame her. We were friends, but she wasn't like the others. She and Maeve had almost never seen my Pokemon outside of battle, so I understood her anxiety. She turned my desk chair and sat on it backward, wrapping her arms and leaning her head against the back support.

"You still feeling down?"

"Yeah. And there's this weird thing going on with Maeve where I've apologized, but it still feels like she hasn't forgiven me."

"And you wanted my help?"

"Not exactly. I just came here to vent and confess."

"Confess? What did you do?"

"Nothing bad, Arceus," she sighed. "Well, it would have been bad if I succeeded, but I didn't. I figured it was better to tell you because I know your type. You get in people's heads and figure out everything about them… err, sorry, that came out more aggressive than I wanted."

"Don't worry about it, it's no big deal," I said. I could tell there was some backstory there. "You're not exactly wrong. I mean I know you have some kind of history with Team Galactic and that it's personal, but I won't push you for answers."

I was going to ask her to stay safe, but that would have been hypocritical of me. After all, I had promised Sunshine to take them down, and I assumed that Mira had the same plan. The words she had spoken in that annex during our break-in came back to mind, and I finally had enough context to fill the gaps. She was planning on looking for the rumored Team Galactic base in Veilstone and breaking in.

Maybe she'd be able to help me when the time came. There was no way I was involving anyone else in this.

"Man, I feel way better already," Mira smiled. "But here's my confession. When I left after talking to Jerry, I tried to find him again so that he could set up the meeting with Lisa anyway, and I did," she said. "But I didn't show up. When push came to shove… I didn't have the guts to go."

She paused and her face twisted in anger.

"I'm such a pussy. After doing all that big talk and making fun of her Mightyena, I couldn't even show up. How am I supposed to find my—"

Mira cut herself off before she could continue. She took a deep breath and kept going.

"The point is, I tried to do it all on my own and I couldn't, but I still felt like coming clean. I already told Maeve, Louis and Denzel. It was you now, and Cece's next on my list."

"You're a brave girl, Mira. You charged head-first into the tournament building, and you're always there to cheer us up. I think that you're being too harsh on yourself. Although I am pissed that you went behind our back to Jerry. If you had gone there, you could have died or disappeared like Luca."

We were still hoping the League would find him somewhere locked up in that mansion, but my hope was diminishing by the hour.

"Anyway, I guess that's that," she said, cheering herself up. "Whew, coming clean is tough. I'll let you get back to… whatever you were doing. Is that a cartoon?"

"Yeah."

"Cool."

She left quickly after that with a smile on her face. Cecilia would probably be a lot angrier with her than I had gotten. Justin would have a similar reaction, and I doubted that Pauline would care. She was probably busy getting her room destroyed by Vigoroth. Just when I was about to lie back down in my bed and release Sunshine again, my phone rang. Melody was calling me.

We hadn't spoken since Denzel leaked everything to the media, but the texts she had sent were… mixed. Our involvement needed to be known so that our claims would at least get some sort of validity, but she wished that she knew I had been involved in this. It wasn't like the voice clip incriminated me in any way, but we were technically forcing a man to speak, and our questions had been very aggressive. It was for a good cause, so there hadn't been any financial backlash, but the fact that I had acted on my own ruffled some feathers at the Poketch Company.

"Good afternoon Grace. How's your day been treating you?" She asked.

"Err, I've been hanging out with my Pokemon. What's up?"

"No need to be so anxious, I'm not about to scream at you. My bosses did scold me—"

"I'm so sorry!"

"—But we've got everything under control. We didn't have to do a lot of spinning to make you the hero of that interaction. Just tell us the next time you plan on doing something crazy. Something tells me that this wasn't the first time."

I said nothing and let her continue.

"Anyway, that wasn't why I was calling to begin with. We were thinking of ejecting you of the tournament early. There are barely any trainers left in it. The few people that are left are resigning en masse now that there was confirmation that it was rigged from the start. Harry Rodriguez hasn't been seen since… it's hurting you more than anything else at this point. BattleZone is determined to see this through, but they were kicked out of the Hunters' property and all of today's matches have been delayed, so we don't exactly know what's going on."

"What about my rewards? I didn't make it to the top ten yet."

"You'll get your bonus, don't worry about it. We'll give you 100,000 Pokedollars, so slightly less than you would have gotten for first place."

"Holy shit— yeah, yeah, that's amazing! I'll take that."

"You'll have the money transferred to you sometime today, just make sure you resign— possible— need— image—"

"Melody? Hello?" I frowned.

Was something wrong with the internet somehow? This wasn't Snowpoint, so that was odd. Usually Pokemon Centers were on top of that stuff. I gasped in surprise when the electricity went out, as it seemingly did for the entire building. An industrial hum I hadn't noticed before stopped, leaving only dead silence. Larvitar loudly complained that her cartoon got cut off and Tangrowth comforted her with some head pats.

"Don't worry, it'll probably come back on soon, they have generators for that stuff—"

Togetic screamed to get our attention and pointed toward the window.

I felt my heart sink to my stomach.

The sky was bleak and ashen, and thick clouds covered the entirety of Solaceon. It was so dark that it was as if it was the middle of the night. The sun was nowhere to be seen, and not even a single ray passed through those bleak clouds. The longer I looked, the more it seemed like no light bounced off of them at all.

The true horror was the Hunters' mansion. I couldn't see it from afar, but I knew its general direction. A huge spire of void was shooting out of it and into the sky, and it was also spreading toward Solaceon. It was an endless sea of darkness where no light could hope to escape. Obsidian. Void. Null. Emptiness. It was as if the world itself was being deleted by the force, and it was coming quickly. There was no hope of outrunning it even if I tried. I heard muffled screams and saw trainers desperately trying to fly away on any Pokemon that could carry them. Some took multiple people when they could. The hallways of the Pokemon Center devolved into shouting and fighting. Curses and screams, calling for their mothers, begging for their lives, asking why them?

It was too late.

The dark was coming. I instinctively stepped back and felt Angel wrap me into a hug. Togetic rushed into my arms and shouted for me to run. Buddy and Honey stepped in front of me in between panicked shouts to shield me from whatever was happening. Tears streamed down my cheeks, but I hadn't even gotten the time to process what was happening. No final words came out of my mouth. No life flashed before my eyes. There was just a hollow feeling of acceptance. I didn't even manage to do the right thing and recall my Pokemon to protect them from whatever this was.

Twenty seconds later, it reached our building. I flinched, expecting death.

Instead, nothing happened. When I opened my eyes, the floor had been overtaken by the abyss, but I had not died. I took a hesitant step forward and felt as if I was trudging through the thickest of muds, or drying cement. The air was so dense that my brain was constantly tricked into thinking that I was drowning. It took around two minutes for me to get used to breathing, and the coughs didn't sound like they were mine. The pitch of my voice had changed.

It was cold, but not uncomfortable. My Pokemon no longer had their respective colors, and neither did my clothes, my hair and my skin. Colors faded from the world and the darkness washed it over in black and white. The walls, the desk, the bed— everything. The television only played some kind of distorted static noise. Strangely enough, I did not panic. My mind felt completely clear. There was a certain focus here that I had never felt anywhere else.

Neutrality ruled here.

I struggled toward the window again, and it seemed that the entirety of Solaceon was like this. Walls of void had encased the entire town in this hell, rendering escape impossible. The only light in this Arceus-forsaken place was a pale glow in the distance that peaked over the horizon. The mansion.

It seemed that Shiftry had made its move.

What did a Pokemon do when it was cornered?

It lashed out.


Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, Aaron Vera, A ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish
 
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Chapter 160 - It Festers
CHAPTER 160 - It Festers

Darkness had come to Solaceon. I took deep breaths— or as deep as they could be with how heavy the air was. I didn't know if there was a certain time limit to how safe we would be here, but we were at least alright for now, it seemed. From what Jerry Heo had told us though… a few days here, and all of our emotions would disappear. I was already starting to feel the beginning of it. I didn't think that it would be replaced by loyalty to Shiftry however. He was no psychic capable of mind control. His work was a lot more subtler than that. Shiftry plucked each emotion of his choosing, but could not add any himself. The only reason it worked on the Hunters in the first place was that they'd been brainwashed from birth by their family members.

Still… if we stayed here too long and I lost every emotion, did that mean that I would no longer have the will to run? To escape? Then I would have to wait for the League to get here to save me.

My Pokemon clamored at me, asking me to leave, and I frowned when I realized that their voices all sounded the same. The pitch. I spoke up as well, saying random gibberish, and my voice confirmed my doubts. We all sounded the same. The voice was neither feminine or masculine— it was in between the two.

"You guys are right," I said, clenching a fist. "We've got to go. Maybe people are organizing and figuring things out."

I could only hope that was true. I doubted that I would find my friends in the sea of people out here, but they couldn't have gone far from the Center. Electronics not working was really going to screw us over, but at least Pokeballs still functioned. After grabbing my backpack, I heaved against the door, struggling to push it against the void littering the floor until Tangrowth just destroyed it with a Vine Whip. The majority of people on this floor had already left it seemed. I hesitated for a second, wondering if I should go to my friends' rooms on the other floors, but I opted to leave instead. The smartest decision right now was to get outside.

I recalled Angel, Buddy and Sweetheart for now. The first two were too big to navigate through all of these trainers, and Larvitar was too slow to keep up with my pace. Electabuzz would be able to shield me with Protect should anything happen, and Togetic had her psychic powers—

Wait. Would they even work here? Common sense dictated that all of this dark energy would cancel out any psychic type attack. Damn it, I lacked information, but I couldn't panic. The silver lining about this was that my mind was clear. It didn't stop me from feeling anxious at all, but it would keep me from panicking, at the very least. Since the elevator didn't work, I stepped down the stairs and sighed in relief when I saw that the Nurse Joys were keeping everyone in line.

"...Everyone should stay near the Pokemon Center at all costs until we figure out what is going on! Don't push, keep calm, and wait for a response from local forces!"

"League trainers were in the city, so it's only a matter of time until we get help from the outside!"
Another nurse yelled. "For now, just find a spot for you to sit, or feel free to go back to your rooms to leave more space for anyone wandering the streets!"

So their plan was just to wait? Fuck, I needed to find my friends—

"Can't we leave?!" A girl yelled. "I saw some people flying away!"

"We do not know anything at this time, so the best course of action is to stay put until more information is gathered!"

No way. I was going outside to find my friends. I pushed through the crowd until it fizzled out on the street and asked Togetic to fly up to see if she could find anyone. There were many flying Pokemon in the air that I assumed were doing the same thing. The void on the ground was even thicker on the outside, and I almost felt like it was clawing up the walls, slowly but surely.

"Keep an eye out," I told Honey. He replied with a sharp nod, and his already tense body hardened. Shiftry obviously had a plan. There was no way he had done this for no reason.

Two minutes later, Princess came back and yelled at us to follow her. She led us a street away, and I let out a heavy breath when I saw that Mira, Maeve and Justin were waiting there.

"Arceus! Thank the Legendaries you guys are alright," I cried, hugging each one of them. "Do you know where the others are? Weren't you going to meet Cecilia?" I asked Mira.

"I was, but she wasn't in her room, so I just went to Justin instead."

"If I remember correctly, she was meeting Pauline to talk to Emilia on the phone," Maeve said. "So those two should be together, at least."

Justin frowned. "I came across Mira and Maeve in a stroke of luck in the lobby, and we decided to go outside to wait for everyone. This is… mindblowing. It's like the end of the world."

"Yeah," Mira sighed. "I can't release my psychics here. Being out scrambles their brains, and they lack the focus to use any moves or even speak to me."

So Togetic was probably not going to be able to use Extrasensory or Psychic any time soon. I sent her off to find more of our group, and Maeve and Mira had already sent out Staraptor and Magnezone to do the same.

"All of our voices sound the same, it's really weird," I pondered. "I can barely breathe properly too."

"It's the same for everyone. Shiftry's doing the same thing it did when Cynthia came to power," Justin said.

"No, this is worse," I shook my head. "From the way Jerry spoke, it was subtle the first time. He tried to make the entire city the same as their land and mansion, and none of those have this… darkness," I hesitantly said, trying not to stare at the floor for too long. The emptiness still unsettled me. "He's giving it everything this time. It's all or nothing. This is the play of a desperate individual."

"Which means that the League was closing in on them," Mira smirked. "What's the plan then? Try to leave?"

"I guess?" I hesitantly said. "The edges of the city look walled in."

It was as if Solaceon was completely trapped in some kind of… shape. It was impossible to know which one due to how indistinguishable the darkness in the sky was, but we were definitely encased somewhere. It was a wonder we were still managing to see things, although barely.

"I don't see a better option," Maeve said. "If we stay here too long, we'll lose everything that makes us… us. We'll be a blank slate."

A blank slate… was that what dark type energy was? I didn't have time to continue that train of thought. A sharp cry from Maeve's Staraptor caught our attention, and we cheered when we saw Cecilia, Denzel, Pauline and Louis approach. I rushed to my girlfriend and tackled her into a hug. She grabbed my face and kissed me, and we both cried from the amount of relief we felt.

"I was so scared for you," Cece sniffled. "Thank the Legendaries."

I hoped I would get to cry for a while longer yet.

I hugged the rest of my friends. I was so happy that we wouldn't have to get through this in separate groups. After whistling to get Togetic back, we waited for Magnezone to do the same.

"This is batshit insane," Pauline scoffed. "I—I read something about this online. This is like, a domain, but I thought only fairies could do that."

"I mean, when you're a thousand-year-old Pokemon, I guess you can skirt the rules a little."

I had to turn to figure out who had said that. It was impossible to distinguish between voices now.

"There might be a difference anyway, I don't know, I'm not a fairy type expert," Denzel continued. "None of us are. The question is, what the hell do we do?"

"We were considering trying to leave. Get to the edges… wherever those are," Justin said.

"That won't work," Cecilia shook her head. "People have come back on their flying types saying that the darkness at the edges is like an unbreakable barrier. Moves just wash over it like nothing."

"More precisely, they're absorbed," Louis specified. "The dark type has a lot of quirks we're unfamiliar with. Sinnoh isn't exactly crawling with experts."

"So do we just wait?" Maeve asked, her voice trembling. She jumped when Magnezone arrived and hovered over Mira's head.

We all stood still in silence, with only the noise of trainers and civilians alike to fill our ears. Denzel leaned against the floor and scooped darkness into his hands. It slipped through his fingers instantly. It was untenable.

"I think that we could wait a few hours to see what happens," he said. "But we can't wait forever. On our way there, we theorized that—"

"We'll lose ourselves if we wait too long. We have a few days," I guessed.

"Or less, if what you said about Shiftry going all out is true," Justin said.

I groaned. "Fuck. Fuck. Okay, I've got to speak to my Turtonator. Alone."

"Now?" Cece asked.

"Now's the best time to do it. I'm going to, uh— I'm going to go down the street and try to explain the situation to him."

"Grace, I know you came to a deal with him, but… look at what Shiftry did. He's far more powerful than we thought he could ever be. He's more than a millennia old!" Denzel exclaimed.

"Yeah. I know. But think of it this way," I paused and looked at each and every one of them. "We caused this. We were the ones that cornered Shiftry and his family. Logic dictates that they'll come and get their revenge soon, so I don't think that we'll be able to avoid a fight. And I also think that since we caused this… the responsibility falls onto us."

If I could have seen color, I probably would have seen them pale.

"But Shiftry also isn't here yet," I continued. "And a Pokemon of his power could have killed us a thousand times over now. This means that keeping this up is tiring him, or at least I think so. I don't know if we'll be able to beat him, but maybe if we take him on all together and break his focus, the League's main forces will manage to break through from the outside. I don't know, I'm just brainstorming, but Cynthia's probably there right now trying to break in."

"And Shiftry will probably be forced to keep this up because the League was about to send forces to raid its property from outside the town," Justin nodded.

"They had only sent some trainers, right?" Denzel said. "So they'd probably found definitive proof of a link and were about to send squads via Teleport, which isn't possible any longer."

"So we have to be ready," I said.

I walked down the street with Honey and Princess by my side. There wasn't really a spot without anyone, and I didn't feel like having to convince Sunshine to not freak out and kill anyone. Even in this situation, I didn't think that he'd be able to restrain himself. I turned to an empty grocery store and groaned when I saw that the owner or employees had locked up before running away.

"Talk about priorities," I sighed. "Break the door down."

Honey punched the door twice and I let myself in. People looked at me with disdain as I entered. Did they think I was a looter? Well, no matter. I grabbed Turtonator's Pokeball and released him. His eyes flared in panic when he noticed the situation, but I placed a hand on his plastron.

"Relax. Or at least try to," I said. "I'm scared too, but the dark is keeping me from panicking."

He frowned at me and then glared. I could almost hear his haughty call for me to explain the situation right now, and I did in excruciating detail, including the probable time limit that we had. I hadn't felt any change in my behavior yet aside from fear, panic and anxiety being somewhat muted, but it hadn't even been an hour. We'd probably be able to estimate a hard number soon when the first side effects started to sink in. Hopefully Pokeballs would protect my Pokemon from the worst of it.

"There you have it," I said. "We're in deep shit, Sunshine. The deal we had? I'm cashing it in now, and we're going to knock down two birds with one stone. Harry Rodriguez? The Hunters? They're linked to Team Galactic."

The temperature rose, causing me to back away. Not in fear, but because I had grown so accustomed to this feeling of… nothingness that this place had. A slight change in temperature here was as unnatural as a fish out of water. Everything stayed the same here. A change of any kind was wrong.

"Yes. You're right to be angry," I said. "They're going to come after us, I'm sure of it, and when the time comes, I'll need to use you. Deal?"

The fire type nodded.

"That means no killing random trainers, and listening to my orders. Or at least cooperating with me."

He nodded again, this time more reluctantly. A deal was a deal.

"Got it. I'm keeping you out then. Princess and Honey are on protective duties, and you'll be my battering ram. Actually wait, Princess, can you still use Ancient Power?"

The flying type chirped, and a small pebble rose from the floor. Darkness seeped out of it in a split second, and it became as natural as it had been before Shiftry had shrouded the world in its darkness. At least we still had that to protect me, but the lack of Psychic would cripple us.

"Okay, let's head back then. Watch your head."

Sunshine ignored my warning and simply walked through the concrete above the broken door with the scaly hat on his head. He deigned himself above such bothersome actions. My friends took a fearful step back when they saw the looming dragon behind me. I playfully slapped his scaly arm without looking back.

"Stop it. No death stares."

He gruffed, but everyone relaxed, at least slightly. I felt a lot safer with Sunshine by my side, although for him to fight effectively, I would need to be far away from him or I would be collateral damage. Honey's Protect would only last so long, and although there was a way to stop elements like heat and cold from going through psychic barriers like many Kadabra did for the gyms or tournaments, it took years of honing their skill to achieve such a feat.

And we were in the middle of a city filled to the brim with dark type energy, so that wasn't even an option.

"What now?" Maeve asked.

"We either wait for them to come to us…" Denzel muttered. "Or we go to them."

Cecilia took a few breaths. "I'm inclined to agree, unfortunately. They'd never expect us to go to them instead of hiding out in a Pokemon Center. They could wait us out too, but if we hide… either we wait too long and become shells of our former selves, or they come looking for us and kill innocents in the process."

"We're all innocents," Maeve exclaimed. "Shouldn't we at least wait until they attack first—

Turtonator snorted and looked at her with disdain and she flinched. He despised fearful trainers and thought of them as less than bugs. I knocked on his arm and shook my head, but he shrugged me off and told me that he wanted to speak again. Alone.

"Later."

"What?" Louis asked.

"I was talking to Sunshine. Anyway, I think this is the correct solution. We go to that mansion… and we fight. There's no other way out of this. I'm not going to take a chance and wait for someone else to save us. I wish you could stay alone, but you'll be safer with the group at this point."

"And you won't have to go inside the mansion," Mira grabbed her hand with both of hers. "I'll stick by you. If everything goes to shit and we become these cold, logical beings… I think you might have to stop me from doing something bad."

I eyed her in surprise. She was giving up her personal vendetta.

"When you only have two functioning Pokemon? I'll be the one to protect you, stupid," Maeve let out a wet chuckle.

"Thank you," she sniffled. "The thoughts are growing louder in my head already… they're telling me to do things to myself. Painful things. And the worst part about this is that they're mine."

I felt my heart drop and stared at Mira in disbelief. Had she been hurting all of this time, and yet hadn't told us anything?

"Mira…" Louis trailed off.

"We— are you—" Denzel choked. "We'll talk about this when we're done. There's definitely no time to waste then."

The mansion wasn't difficult to find. It seemed to be this world's only source of light. Without it, this place would truly be pitch black, with only touch to locate ourselves. I stayed back a few steps and walked by Sunshine's side, who angrily stared at my friends. The gist of his problem was that he thought that they'd slow us down. He wanted to do this alone, with only the other members of the family there to assist. Having other trainers there would take away from his revenge.

"You're asking a lot out of me here," I said, crossing my arms as I walked. Togetic and Honey loudly disagreed with him, but he ignored their protests.

He huffed and breathed out smoke from his snout.

"I… I did technically say that we'd break into a Team Galactic stronghold alone, but I also said that we'd call the League first, which meant that help would be on the way."

The fire type rolled his eyes and growled.

"Okay, it's true that you would have gotten some time to act alone, but we don't even know if the League is coming. There hasn't even been an act of this scale in I don't even know how long, and I don't know if they'll be able to break in here. Obviously the League trainers that were already here failed, or this would have stopped by now. To be honest, they'll probably be sending the Elite Four and Cynthia to deal with this…"

I sighed and clenched my forehead in frustration. We still had a ways to go, especially with how difficult walking was, and he would keep pestering me until I either gave in, or he would renege on the deal. I needed to find a way to bargain my way out of this or I'd be back at step one—

Blotches of darkness lashed out at my friends' feet. It took a few seconds for Denzel to even realize what was happening.

"Recall your Pokemon, now!" He screamed.

They immediately all listened to him, and I did the same. Mira disappeared into the abyss first. She was dragged down into the floor before she could even scream. Cecilia was next, and then Denzel, and so on and so on. We were all being brought to separate locations. I narrowly managed to recall Sunshine before the void brushed up against my skin. This wasn't like teleportation. I felt a sudden drop, causing me to flinch. Like when I woke up sometimes with a sudden feeling of vertigo. I opened my eyes, and I was in a field. The mansion was in the distance, but a lot closer than it had been. I was somewhere on the Hunters' property. If I had to guess, it was in one of the fields where they raised Pokemon. It looked like our decision hadn't even mattered, and Shiftry had planned to teleport us to him in the first place. Could it sense each person that stepped through its darkness and pluck them anywhere it wanted at will? What a terrifying ability.

Something still bothered me.

If they had the power to somehow sense us and teleport us, why not just get to the point, get us in the room with Shiftry and finish us off? Maybe it was even weaker than I thought, and it made sense. Jerry Heo had told us that there were only a few trainers in the family with one Pokemon each because Shiftry feared rebellion. That only made sense if it was either weaker than it seemed— and even more so while maintaining this darkened world, or scared of fighting. Or both.

Was it…

Was it actually scared of fighting—

I flinched when I made out a shape in the distance. A man stood opposite of me. It was too dark for me to see his face.

"You really fucked everything up, didn't you?" He said. I couldn't recognize him by the voice either due to its pitch. Was he a Hunter? Did that mean that everyone else was also in danger? Mira was alone!

Damn it, I couldn't afford to worry.

"Yeah. So?" I said, trying to keep my voice from trembling.

"So your life ends here just like you ended mine with your fucking meddling," he said, releasing a Torterra, a Crobat, a Pelipper and a Luxray at his side.

This was Harry Rodriguez. And he wasn't done. A Weavile and a Crawdaunt had joined his team, no doubt given to him by the Hunters.

A grin stretched on my face, and it came along with a muted sense of satisfaction I could not explain. I released my entire team and licked my lips. The ground rumbled under my feet from Princess' pre-charged Ancient Power. Angel wrapped a vine around my waist, ready to pull me back from any attack. Buddy's eyes had such hatred in them that they illuminated his entire head with a pale, grey light. Honey's body tensed, and my hair began to stand up from the electricity building up inside of his body, accompanied by crackles and a low hum. Sweetheart angrily stomped a foot against the floor, causing it to shake.

Sunshine's shell lit ablaze and heat washed over my body.

I clenched a fist. "Harry Rodriguez, it is time for you to pay the long price."

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish
 
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Chapter 161 - The Long Price
A/N: Remember this is a fight with no rules, so I'll put a general trigger warning. It gets dark.

CHAPTER 161 - The Long Price

Thunder roared, and I felt raindrops begin to fall on my face. The water was dark, and it clung to my clothes, staining them with the mark of the abyss. It seemed that even here, Pelipper's Drizzle would take effect. I eyed Harry's new Pokemon with suspicion. Logic dictated that the two dark types would have a lot more power here than they normally did. My body shivered in anticipation as I waited for him to order the first attack. I nervously swallowed. This would be a battle with no rules and no holding back. He'd aim to kill me.

Steam rose off of Turtonator's body, and he stared at Harry in silence.

Finally, after twenty seconds of inaction, he struck.

"Torterra, keep your distance. Watch for Turtonator. Crobat, you're attacking. Constantly. Target her and kill her. Luxray, you focus on the ghost. Hit it with Thunderbolt when you can. Pelipper, use Water Gun on the Larvitar. Don't underestimate it."

Good.

Now it was self-defense.

Crobat blurred forward in a flash, and a Thunderbolt and Water Gun shot out toward us. Electabuzz roared with unmatched fury and an enormous Protect surrounded all of us but Sunshine, who began to run forward. The temperature was rising dangerously quickly, and his steps burned the shadows away. The two attacks crashed against Protect and fizzled out.

"Dazzling Gleam, then Ancient Power."

Crobat circled us, its huge wingspan summoning strong gusts of winds. Princess grunted at Honey, who ended his first Protect and summoned another one, this time smaller and only containing both of us. Togetic erupted with a loud flashbang and Crobat cried out in surprise. Twenty drills immediately shot out from the ground, but the Crobat quickly blurred and ran away.

"Buddy, slip away and kill him," I whispered. The words came out of my mouth so easily that I almost flinched. How much of that was just me, and how much of it was Shiftry's influence?

The words felt just to me, but there was no time to dwell on it.

Jellicent boomed, happy to execute my order. He sunk into the darkened floor and slithered toward our enemies. I felt Tangrowth's vine drag me away, expunging all of the air from my lungs when a Water Gun crashed where I had just been standing. The darkness split apart, revealing a small crater formed by the attack before covering it again. That would have killed me.

Huh.

Sunshine had made it to them now, but he couldn't unleash his full power without burning me. Harry had already run off in the distance and was just letting his Pokemon fight, and only Weavile was by his side. Turtonator screamed out a Flamethrower at Torterra, whose tree caught fire. An Earthquake shook the floor, and Angel lifted me slightly off the ground so I wouldn't be affected. A bolt of electricity from Luxray and two jets of high-pressured water flew out of Crawdaunt's pincers, but the dragon turned in one smooth motion and the attacks crashed against his shell, causing a massive explosion that enveloped all three Pokemon.

"Princess. When Buddy reappears, send spears toward Harry and try to impale him," I whispered. "Honey, Thunderbolt the Pelipper."

Even if he'd been hurt by Earthquake, the flash appeared instantly. The electricity clipped Pelipper's side and the bird crashed to the floor next to Sunshine, who took a break from his rampaging. He clawed its mouth open and filled its stomach with a fiery Dragon Pulse until it cooked from the inside. Pelipper's body glowed with a pale grey, and then blinding white until the screams stopped. There was nothing left but a smoking husk. Its eyes were still open, but lifeless and staring at nothing.

The rain stopped, and Sunshine's flames intensified. The heat was almost painful, even from here, but one scream from Larvitar, and he settled down.

I had killed a trainer's Pokemon, and even though I knew it was wrong, I felt nothing. It was the logical thing to do. One less element to worry about.

Crobat cried out in fury. It had been waiting for an opening before, but all caution was thrown out the window now. The poison type rushed toward me, and I whispered to Princess and Honey. Turtonator spat out a scorching Smog that clung to Luxray's fur like glue and burned it away, and the flashes of electricity did nothing to hurt him. Crawdaunt's attacks were a lot more effective. Its pincers were vicious, and it used them to hit the dragon type with devastating dark and water type attacks that I couldn't place.

But I couldn't focus on his fight. Crobat was coming.

"Protect and Dazzling Gleam again."

Angel pushed me toward the electric type and the protective bubble surrounded me once more. All that practice we'd done was paying off, but using them in such quick succession and making them so large was starting to tire him out, so this would only work a few more times. Another explosion of light blinded Crobat, but the poison type had been ready for it. He rammed into Princess anyway and bit at her throat with a powerful Poison Fang.

I screamed, and so did everyone else. Angel wrapped the flying type in enough vines to cover its entire body and pulled him away from her. Larvitar stomped on the ground and a Rock Slide buried Crobat until it was incapable of movement.

I scrambled to my bag and quickly searched for a potion— no, a potion wouldn't be enough! Another explosion rang out and shook me to my core, but I couldn't even look to see what was happening. Princess let out a horrifying gurgling sound that was just wrong.

She was drowning on her own blood.

I held back tears and grabbed the Hyper Potions that Craig had given me so long ago at Savika's cabin and applied two of them to her throat. I let out a huge sigh of relief when she began to breathe again, although she seemed to still be a little out of it. I forcefully opened an eye and exhaled again. Her eyes looked fine. She wasn't poisoned.

I still applied an Antidote anyway, just to be safe.

I heard Crobat struggle under the rocks as I grabbed Princess into my arms, and Sweetheart buried it under another layer for good measure.

"Kill it. We can't afford to worry about if it breaks out, and we don't know if it'll sneak up on us again."

No one would get to live after almost killing my child. Electabuzz spared me a look, but he didn't hesitate.

He jumped atop the rocks, and after giving Larvitar a signal, the rocks above Crobat split apart. Before it could even react, Honey snarled, grabbing the poison type's upper wings and electrocuted it with everything he had. It wasn't even a move. Just pure electric type energy being unleashed onto Crobat, drowning out its agonized screams. It fell unconscious, but Honey did not stop. He kept going until he was sure he'd done the job.

Sparks of electricity still danced, appearing and disappearing off of his body like static. He took deep breaths and took a step back.

Crobat was barely recognizable now that he was done with it. Just smoke and ash with one of its wings torn off. I knew what I had done was wrong, but I couldn't bring myself to feel anything about it. Only bad things happening to my Pokemon or myself could bring emotions out of me anymore, it seemed, but even then, a Pokemon coming for a life should have been ready to lose theirs too. Honey stood over the corpse and heaved. He'd exerted himself a lot.

I turned toward Sunshine, who was still locked in vicious combat with Crawdaunt. Torterra and Luxray had already fallen, but the water type was stronger than Harry's own Pokemon.

"Recover for a bit, then we find an opening," I told Honey. He nodded.

Turtonator roared, locking both of Crawdaunt's pincers into place with his bulk and broke its tough shell apart with a point-blank Dragon Pulse. The dark type's pincers grew too big to be contained in Turtonator's hand, and it slammed them against Sunshine's plastron, knocking him to the floor and caving in some of his armor.

"Thunderbolt."

A quick Thunderbolt zapped Crawdaunt, leaving Turtonator enough time to turn his entire body and blow up. Another Thunderbolt from Electabuzz finished the job, and it fell unconscious.

Turtonator stood victorious over a completely burned Luxray, Torterra, and Crawdaunt. His shell was slightly damaged, along with the most recent hit he'd taken, but he seemed to be in good shape otherwise. I didn't know if the other two were dead or not, but it didn't look pretty. Luxray's fur had completely burned off, and there was only its cooked flesh left. All of the vegetation on Torterra's body was gone, and its tree had been torn in half.

There was only Weavile left, but something told me that it was special. It did not look to be panicking at all, and most of all, Harry wasn't panicking, although that was probably because of Shiftry's powers. He didn't even seem to care that two of his Pokemon were dead, or maybe more.

Buddy appeared behind him, his eyes flashing with all the intensity, but none of the color. Weavile blurred and slashed across his head before I could even tell what happened. The ghost type tried to fight back with a quick Water Pulse, but another Night Slash across his mouth stopped him from being able to attack.

"Come back!" I yelled.

His Water Sports sputtered, and he quickly ran away from Weavile. Every time he tried to Recover, the move didn't work. In fact, none of his moves were working properly.

"You killed my Pelipper," Harry said. "I'll make you pay."

"Not just your Pelipper," I said, trying to provoke him into making a mistake. He didn't react.

There was a lot less emotion than I thought he'd have, and his tone was almost… transactional. As if he was just going through the motions. Then again, he had been closer to Shiftry than I was for a longer period of time, and I wasn't even reacting to the horrors I had just inflicted even though I knew how wrong it was. We were both completely out of it.

"You told them to kill me first," I continued nonchalantly. "You reap what you sow. Sunshine, wait up."

Having already started to go toward Weavile, the dragon stopped.

"That Weavile is stronger than you," I declared. His eyes narrowed and he flared up in rage.

"Smart girl. You should just give up, I'll make your death painless and I'll spare your team."

"Remember when you said you'd listen to me?" I continued, ignoring Harry. "Now is the time to listen. Buddy, you stay back. You can't do much right now without a mouth. Try to cover me."

The water type nodded and calmed his floating. Dark energy was leaking out of him like a sieve. It was like Weavile would cut off the use of type energy with a single attack somehow. How would I counter that?

"Start us off with a Thunderbolt," I told Honey.

The electric type's arm spun around, and electricity jutted toward Harry. Weavile closed its eyes to focus and slashed across the air at the last second, summoning the same darkness that Shiftry had back in the mansion. The Thunderbolt was simply absorbed into it.

"I see," I muttered. "Sunshine, Flamethrower. Thunderbolt again, and Rock Slide."

Three attacks this time, but it was a Protect that stopped Harry from being hurt instead of the darkness. It was like I had thought. Flamethrower would have still burned him, and there were too many rocks to absorb into whatever that darkness was. That Protect was also a lot less refined than ours.

"Stop fooling around!" Harry snarled with a surprising amount of emotion. "Kill her!"

Weavile sighed half-heartedly, and thick shards of ice appeared around the dark type. It waved its hand, and the attack shot out of the air like arrows. They were too quick for Protect. I stood behind Tangrowth, but the ice tore through his entire body and one of the shards grazed my side. I hissed and clenched at my wound, dropping Princess onto the ground accidentally. She recovered by herself and struggled to fly, but she was still capable of battle.

"O—Okay, we have to—"

Turtonator roared in fury when Weavile simply ignored and ran past him to get to me. The heat emanating from him burned the ice type, but it was nowhere near enough to take it down.

"Ancient Power," I grunted.

Angel raised a barrier in front of us, hoping to use Weavile's momentum against itself, but the ice type tore through the rock with a single clawed attack and slashed across Tangrowth, tearing through chunks of his vines and revealing his darkened body within. Sweetheart yelled, and debris shot out of the floor, hitting Weavile in the head. Electabuzz used the opportunity to punch it with two consecutive Fire Punches, staggering it further. Three drills stabbed at its hard skin and Weavile was forced to retreat.

It circled around us with a menacing hiss. It seemed that it needed a certain amount of focus to dissolve attacks into nothing, so at least it'd still get hit.

"Angel, can you attack still?"

The grass type shook his body and the rest of his vines writhed in pain. He could still control his vines like limbs, but moves were out of the question. Buddy still hadn't gotten back to normal, although he was slowly managing to recover. Half of his mouth had reformed now.

Sunshine hesitantly looked at Harry and us. He was too far now for any of his attacks to effectively reach him, since he'd been running away from the start of the battle.

"Come. Help us finish this," I shakily said.

His body tensed for a few seconds, and then relaxed. He'd made his choice. Weavile hissed and blurred toward us again, and this time, Electabuzz stood in the way with Protect. The move only lasted a few seconds, and then Weavile tore through his chest with a Night Slash. Darkness seeped into the wound and then began to leak out. Before anymore damage could be done, Buddy hit the ice type with a Hex, having finally recovered from whatever affliction Weavile had inflicted upon him. Weavile convulsed as smoke emanated from its body, and Angel wrapped multiple vines around its neck. It simply got used to the pain and tore through them with its claws.

With unforeseen dexterity, it jumped above us and summoned another set of Ice Shards. They were aimed at me. Princess wasn't well enough to block with a large boulder and Tangrowth couldn't use any moves—

A Rock Slide rose from the ground, and I heard the ice shatter on them. Weavile hissed in anger, somehow speeding up and began to tear Sweetheart apart with Night Slash. I screamed, but it was too quick and avoided Princess' drills. Tangrowth wrapped a vine around the rock type to try to drag her away, but an Icy Wind froze them before they could even reach her, and he had to force me back so I wouldn't freeze too. Electabuzz pushed forward and tried to intervene, but he was too wounded by the Night Slash and couldn't use any moves. Ice surrounded Weavile's fists and it punched both him and Sweetheart at the same time.

Three seconds later, Turtonator arrived with an enraged roar.

He couldn't go all out with his heat, but he could still fight. A light of pure energy appeared in front of his snout and flew at Weavile, who interrupted her assault on Sweetheart to deal with the new threat. I used the opportunity to rush to her, but right as I was about to apply another Hyper Potion, she began to evolve. A protective shell surrounded her entire body, leaving only a few holes for gas, the eyes and a mouth. She was unconscious, but alive in her new cocoon-like form. I applied the potion to her anyway and recalled her for her safety.

Turtonator tried to grab at the ice type, but it was smarter than that. It knew that it had to deal with him now before it could move on to us, but it also knew that it had to play it safe. It was stronger than him, but it still knew that if it ever got grabbed, it was over. The ice type ducked on all fours and pushed itself forward, narrowly avoiding a Flamethrower, but before it could slash across Turtonator to prevent him from attacking, the fire type turned and slammed his shell with an Iron Tail, causing an immense explosion that made my ears ring.

Weavile emerged from the ordeal a smoking mess, but it wasn't even tired. It shook its body and rushed in once more, and the two Pokemon were locked into a struggle. Every time Weavile got anywhere close, Sunshine would blow up to prevent it from hitting him, but there was only so many times he could blow up his shell, and I knew that. He was slowly getting overwhelmed too, and it was our fault. There was no way for him to use his biggest asset here— the temperature, or he would hurt us. If we tried to run away to leave him some space, Weavile would just use the opportunity to attack us again and Turtonator would lag behind due to his lack of speed.

I eyed Harry in the distance. He had stopped running, as if he couldn't stop himself from seeing the moment I would die. There was one way to win this. Weavile would chase us, but… I looked at Princess, who was doing a lot better than she was two minutes ago. She was attentive now, and occasionally destabilizing Weavile with weakened Ancient Powers to help Sunshine.

"Princess. Your power's a bit screwed, but how—"

Another explosion interrupted me, and Turtonator's arm froze over before he tensed and burned it off. Weavile cut across his scales and grinned madly, but a Flash Cannon stopped it from attacking any further. It had been caught off-guard by the speed of the attack.

"How's your aim?"

Princess hesitated for a few seconds and nodded.

"Good, huh? I need you to use a drill— a single drill, and tear through Harry's leg with it. Don't kill him. I know I gave the order before, but we can extract information first."

Princess floated upward and her eyes narrowed. A single, small drill rose from the floor and began to spin.

"Angel, can you carry me there when Harry's incapable of walking?" I asked.

The grass type turned to me and nodded. I could see his vines regrow in real time, slowly covering his black body that was usually hidden within.

"We're going to have to be quick. Honey, I know you can't use moves, but I'm going to have you follow us. Buddy, you do the same—"

Princess interrupted me and told us to let her focus, which was already difficult with all of the fighting in the background.

The singular drill tore across the sky, becoming a speck. Togetic grunted and her eyes narrowed further, and further, and further…

Harry let out a faint yell and fell to the ground.

"Now go!"

Angel wrapped me tightly and placed me on his head. I recalled Princess, while Honey and Buddy followed closely behind. The water type propelled himself with Water Sport for speed, and Electabuzz was faster than Tangrowth was, so he could keep up. Weavile roared in anger, but that split second was enough for Sunshine to engulf her body in flames.

And now that we were getting further and further, there was no need to hold back. I could only see a faint grin as the air around the fire type warped and the darkness they were fighting on itself lit ablaze with darkened flames of obsidian. Weavile hissed. Its body was weak to fire, and it was fighting fire itself. The ice type grunted, opting to give up on the fight and follow us instead.

Angel stepped over Harry's Pokemon— dead or otherwise and used them as a boost.

"Buddy, you think you can stop this?!" I yelled. If the ride hadn't been so bumpy, I could have bit my lip or my tongue to distract myself from the pain on my waist.

Weavile was gaining too much ground too fast. The water type nodded, and his eyes flared.

"Buy us some time! Use Hex so it can't dodge! It'll just go around Whirpool!"

Jellicent summoned a Night Shade and rushed toward the dark type. My eyes widened when the shade spat out an extremely weak Water Pulse. Weavile tore across the ring of water confidently, but another came, and another, slowing it down ever so slightly. When it got in range, it crashed to the floor and writhed in agony from Hex, which was stronger than usual. Buddy was combining two Hexes at once with Night Shade's help. The water type called to Turtonator, who labored to get to where we were. Unfortunately, he'd exerted himself a lot, and he was rusty from not having battled all this time.

If he was rusty after a few months, how rusty would Shiftry be?

Jellicent quickly sunk into the floor when Weavile got used to Hex's pain, but not before detonating his Night Shade to deal some chip damage. A long-distance Flamethrower from Sunshine bought us a few more seconds, and we finally reached Harry, who desperately attempted to squirm away.

"Get away from me! Get away—"

Tangrowth slapped him with a vine— not enough to knock him out, but enough to leave a mark that would stay there a while. I glanced toward his wound. A huge gash on his thigh that was large enough to fit my fist. The drill had penetrated through everything, including bone. I grabbed his Pokeballs and began to try to recall Weavile.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" I hissed.

The ice type snarled as Ice Shards flew toward me. Buddy reappeared from the floor and solidified his body, getting stabbed but protecting me in the process.

The first Pokeball didn't work and homed in toward Luxray instead, although we were too far for it to get recalled.

Electabuzz stepped up and called forth a humongous Discharge. I eyed him in surprise. He had already recovered from Weavile's attack? The electricity was unavoidable, and only targeted in front of us, so Weavile took the hit and I aimed at it with the next ball.

It homed toward Torterra instead.

Honey saw what I was trying to do and let Buddy and another Night Shade take over with the defense. He grabbed two of Harry's Pokeballs and managed to recall Weavile before it could reach us.

I was so stupid. I could have done it two by two.

It was over.

But the price had not yet been paid.

"Princess. Princess," I said. "Don't kill him. He's no longer a threat."

Harry stared up and looked on in horror. The tip of a spear was hovering right above his forehead. Just one little push, and he'd die. He clung to his leg, putting as much pressure on it as possible to stop the bleeding, but it didn't stop his face from distorting in pain and the sweat from running down his face. Electabuzz handed me Weavile's Pokeball, and I placed it in my bag for now.

"So you can still feel emotion, but only for yourself and not your team," I coldly said. "Pathetic."

"You don't know—"

Tangrowth slapped him again. I made the rules here.

"You know, if you had sicced that Weavile on us from the start instead of hiding behind it like a coward, you might have won," I rambled. "In fact, you should have done so right after Pelipper died. Yeah, I think that would have been a lot smarter—"

"What the fuck are you talking about, you crazy bitch— argh!" I grazed his wound with a foot and he shut up really quickly.

"—and you really needed to control that Crobat. It's okay to be emotional, but you've got to keep your head on your shoulders. It's dead now. It was a nice lesson for me though. Now I know that I'll need to train my Pokemon to keep it together if I die so that they can kill whoever did it to me. A nice, equal price, don't you think?" I asked. He said nothing. "Also, you should really order your Pokemon more. Gives them a sense of direction, but you rely on brute strength too much, and that came back to bite you. Power is a fine tool, but you've got to be smart about it."

Why was I even saying this? It wasn't like he was ever going to use this advice. I didn't know, but it felt good. It had a certain finality to it.

"Also, when you do it, you really shouldn't yell it out loud for me to hear. Anyway, if you managed to poison my Turtonator with that Crobat, the battle really might have turned in your favor. Weavile would have been able to just run away and wait us out," I continued, crouching next to him with a painful groan. "Here's what you should have done. Have Luxray protect you instead of Weavile, that way my Jellicent still can't really approach you, but you actually have enough muscle to kill me. Too late now though."

Turtonator walked up behind me, and I basked in his warmth. The adrenaline was rushing out of my body, and pulsating pain ran through my waist. That Ice Shard had only grazed me and had been slowed by Angel's body, but it had done a number on me. I grabbed normal potions and healed Electabuzz, Tangrowth and Turtonator as best I could and stood on my tiptoes, whispering to the fire type.

"I know you want to kill him, but wait a while."

I had plans for him, and he needed to pay for a long time. I couldn't have him die just yet, although that wound on his leg did look bad.

Turtonator answered with a satisfied nod. Had he misunderstood me and expected to kill him right after I was done? I held back a sigh.

I would explain after.

I turned back to Harry and crouched over his body, staring directly into his eyes as I watched him grunt and squirm from the pain until he averted his stare.

For some reason, he seemed a lot more terrified of me than any of my Pokemon.

"Now, now," I exhaled. My side was on fire, and small shards of ice were still stuck inside of my waist. "You might have paid for your transgressions against my friends, but sure as hell haven't paid for your links to Team Galactic. A debt is owed," I said, thinking of Sunshine's trainer. "And you will need to pay it or suffer the consequences."

"Speak like a normal fucking human and tell me what you want—"

The tip of Princess' spear touched his forehead, but I motioned at her to stop. I needed to give him some form of hope. Time was of the essence. I couldn't even afford to tend to my wound. Any minute now, Shiftry might teleport him back or—

"Shiftry! Get me out of here! Shiftry—"

I stepped on the gaping hole on his leg and his words devolved into nonsensical screams. I couldn't let him think that he was in charge in any way shape or form, or he would get cocky and shut down before I could get him to talk. If he started to think and use his head, he might realize that there was no way to get out of this. It was either I left him here and the League eventually caught him, or I killed him. He'd probably opt for the latter due to not wanting to become a vegetable from the memory extraction process.

"Don't you think that if Shiftry cared about you, you would have been out by now?" I said. In truth, I had no idea what I was talking about, but it had an effect. His face twisted in horror. "Right. You understand. Your fate is in my hands now. You're going to answer my questions. If you do so, I'll let you go. I'll even bandage your wound! Then maybe in the chaos, you'll manage to slip away and escape. Abel manages to do it all the time. You know, that criminal from Unova?"

Harry Rodriguez swallowed and considered his options. Of course, everything I was saying was a lie, and Harry couldn't be compared to a man of Abel's skill in any way, shape or form, and even then, there was no way he was walking with this leg, but he probably didn't know how bad the wound truly was yet. I wasn't about to let him get away with this, not after he'd almost killed my two daughters. However, a desperate man couldn't stare reality in the eyes even if it was right in front of him. He'd cling to hope and beg to live until he realized that there was no getting out of this. The key was to jiggle the bait in front of him and pull it out of reach as soon as he gave me everything I wanted.

"The clock is ticking," I coldly said, tilting my head. Princess mimicked me, and her spear broke the skin on his forehead and blood dripped to the floor.

He bit his lip.

"What do you want to know?"

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean
 
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Chapter 162 - It Toils
A/N: Another trigger warning, same as last chapter.
CHAPTER 162 - It Toils


"First thing's first. What was your plan? Do you know where my friends got teleported to?" I asked.

"They were planning on—" he stopped, hissing in pain. "Planning on separating you to take you on separately. The Hunters don't have shit for trainers, so their manpower's spread thin. They thought I'd be able to take you down alone, and they wanted to gang up on your tougher friends—"

"Okay. Where are they?"

"I don't know! Somewhere out in the Arceus damned fields! I didn't get the fucking exact placement! They don't tell me shit!"

I sighed. There was no one to find them out there, and I wasn't going to send Princess to fly alone after what had just happened to her. If I couldn't go to find my friends, then… the best way to deal with this was to get to the mansion and end this at the source.

"Do they have people protecting Shiftry?" I asked.

"They just have Roland with him, but the only Pokemon he owns is an Abra, and he obviously can't use it at the moment. Everyone else is out fighting."

That could have been a lie, and it probably was. I figured he'd change his tone when he realized that we weren't going to separate just yet.

"What happened to Luca Antonovich?" I continued.

"That little runt? He's dead, and his Pokemon are too. You don't want to know what they did to him before he passed. He never spilled anything too," Harry clicked his tongue. "But I had nothing to do with that. That was all them, not me!"

"Spare me your excuses," I said. I felt nothing at Luca's death. Not even a twinge of pain. "What's the end goal with this? What does Shiftry want?"

"It wants the League to leave it the fuck alone, that's what. It's in this sort of… catatonic state, so it's putting everything it has into the barrier around town so that they can't break through."

"How long can he keep that up?"

"I don't know."

"Think a little harder."

"I don't fucking know! Days would be my guess! It might be a thousand years old, but it's no Legendary! It can't do this indefinitely."

"Does it require him to focus?"

"Yes. It can't even move or speak."

Good, so the plan to attack it to stop him from spreading his darkness could still work. Of course, that was if everything he was saying was the truth. It was at times like these where a psychic would have been nice— not that I would have been able to use it here. Plus, that type of skill took years of training to hone, just like shielding minds.

"What's the link between the Hunters and Team Galactic?"

"All I know is that Roland and… Cyrus—" he whispered the name. "Are old friends, and that he didn't mind helping them by rigging the tournament in my favor and giving them high-quality Pokemon for their grunts. They met a little more than two decades ago."

"Team Galactic and the Hunters wanted you to win this tournament. Why?" I asked.

"I'm not exactly a part of Team Galactic, but I'm associated with them," Harry said. "They helped me with money and said that all I had to do was get a job in the League at the end of the year and tell them about the defenses there and how it's organized. If I won this big tournament, then I would have gotten a lot of national attention, so it might have made a few recruiters at the League get their eye on me and would have made it easier for me to join. As soon as I gave them what they wanted, I'd be free from any obligations."

"You're a fucking moron."

"What?"

"Do you really think a guy like you can fool the League? Like a thousand people haven't tried before and failed? Do you think you're special? You're just the first idiot they found and thought would go along with their plan!"

"I needed the money—"

"You were being used, you fucking idiot. You would have gotten caught by a psychic before you even made it close to the Lily of the Valley island. All Team Galactic wanted from you was to distract the League and make them more paranoid about every trainer in their forces. And even if it worked out, what do you think they would have done with that information? They would have attacked the place you work at, or you would have been sent to fight them anyway."

Harry wanted to retort, but he bit his lip.

"That's right. Fucking stew in your stupidity."

I got up from my crouching position and lifted my shirt with a groan. The cut from the Ice Shard was a lot deeper than I thought it was, but I couldn't get bogged down by pain.

"Keep that spear on him," I told Princess. "Buddy, spray the gash with some water— gently."

The water type nodded and let out a gentle stream, washing away most of the blood. I plucked out tiny shards of ice still stuck inside of me one by one, inflicting excruciating pain upon myself. Jellicent cleaned it again with warmer water this time, and I grabbed a bandage from my bag. Electabuzz helped me wrap it around my whole waist. After two minutes, we were done.

"Here's what's going to happen," I said. "You're going to come with me."

"We had a deal—"

"I am altering the deal," I smiled. I crouched to bandage him as well. He'd lost too much blood, and I couldn't have him dying on me while still having his uses. Sunshine protested, but I looked into his eyes to get him to stop. Now wasn't the time for tantrums. We had bigger fish to fry before we could even think about getting him his revenge.

"Angel, grab him."

The grass type squeezed a vine around Harry with none of the usual gentleness he used with me and lifted him in the air.

"You're coming with me," I said again. "Now, if anything you told me was a lie, now would be the time to admit it. If anything happens to me because you misled me, my Pokemon will make sure to drag you into hell if it's the last thing they do."

I wasn't sure Shiftry would particularly care about him being a hostage, but it was worth a try at least. They had invested resources to get him to win, so they at least thought he was of some value even if he was a pawn that could be sacked at any moment. And if they didn't, it was a nice little incentive to get him to tell the truth, and he knew his way around the mansion.

"There are two trainers left in the mansion," he forced out. "Reggie and Lane. They own a Drapion and an Umbreon."

"There you go. Now that wasn't so hard, was it? Let's go."

I stared at that damned mansion lit up by a pale, ghastly light. It was still shooting out a tower of void into the sky, constantly replenishing the darkness within.

An Umbreon and a Drapion? Fighting the former would be akin to battling Sylveon, and I had already theorized on how to tackle Maeve's new Drapion. My Pokemon were tired, but not beaten. Sweetheart was still unconscious, but I doubted that she would have been able to fight effectively with her new body anyway. Plus, she needed the rest.

The point was, I could win against two enemies.

They had better not get in my way.



When the shadows took Mira, she expected to die.

But then she realized that she could still breathe. She slowly opened her eyes and saw an endless field of darkness lying before her, with a single human and Mightyena around thirty feet away. Her first instinct was to release Haunter and Magnezone, but a tiny part of her brain told her not to. That a worthless girl like her deserved whatever was coming next. Her hand hovered over her Pokeball, but the trainer's scream pushed her to move.

"Mightyena, get her!"

The dark type rushed forward, almost gliding across the darkened floor.

They'd all be better off without you.

Haunter and Magnezone emerged from their Pokeballs, and when they saw that an enemy was targeting her, they immediately took action. Two bolts of electricity flew out of Magnezone's magnets, but Mightyena sunk into the floor.

"Stick close, it's coming to me," Mira told Haunter.

And it'd be better if it got me.

The ghost angrily cackled, unable to get the permanent grin off of his face. Magnezone hummed, shooting rays of Flash Cannon into the floor at random. Mightyena was nowhere to be found, but it did make the shadows split apart for a few seconds, allowing them to actually track it by revealing the blotch of darkness rushing toward them. Haunter's ghastly eyes narrowed and darted toward the dark, and he sunk into the floor with more determination than Mira had ever seen out of him.

Why go so far for her?

Mightyena yelped as Haunter forcefully expunged it from the ground. The dark type snarled and bit off a quarter of Haunter's body with Crunch, but Magnezone shot out another Flash Cannon that staggered it. The two hated each other's guts, and yet they were working together to save her.

Mira bit her lip. It took her almost dying for that to happen.

Haunter lost his corporeal form, becoming nothing but poisonous mist and slipped into Mightyena's mouth. The dark type slowly choked on the poison, agonizing and writhin against the floor for minutes until it died.

That should have been you.

"Haunty. Haunty, stop," Mira said. He didn't listen, and he moved on to the trainer next. It was too dark to see their expression, but it seemed that they simply accepted their fate. Haunter floated toward her, still in his mist-like form, but an angry metallic clang from Magnezone snapped her out of her daze. She recalled Haunter and fell on her knees. The trainer shrugged and walked off.

"I don't think I can do this anymore."

Magnezone said something, but Mira was too out of it to care. What was the point? She wanted to lie down somewhere, close her eyes and drift off to sleep.

And that is what she did. Mira recalled Magnezone, got on the darkened floor and closed her eyes. The floor felt so comfortable. It was like she was lying on a soft cloud. This was nice. She could end it here. She would never be able to find her uncle anyway, and convincing him to leave Team Galactic had always been a pipe dream.

Not when he was a Commander. There was no way the League would let him off with a light sentence like she had hoped before Shifty's influence gave her the ability to think clearly. Even if his intentions were good at heart, he had caused the death of too many people.

He apparently called himself Charon now, and he was the only family she had left.

Mira did not know how much time passed, but a loud screech in the sky woke her up. She squinted, and thanks to the mansion's pale light, she made out a Staraptor in the sky, carrying two people. One in his talons, and one on his back, although the person there was barely hanging by a thread.

That was Maeve. As soon as they landed, the person in Staraptor's claws grunted in pain, and Maeve released her Monferno and Drapion for protection, who looked like they'd just been in an extremely tough battle.

"Mira— Star, keep that fucker in your grip! Mira, are you okay?!"

Just leave me alone.

Maeve dropped on all fours and touched Mira all over, probably checking for wounds.

"Where's your Haunter? Did they hurt you?!"

"What happened to you? How did you find me?" Mira weakly asked.

"I got a guide," Maeve said, pointing to the Hunter her flying type was pinning down. "I'm sticking by you. I won't let you give up on yourself here."

"Leave, Maeve. I'll only pull you down."

"Stop it with the nonsense, that's just Shiftry making you say that—"

"Shiftry's a dark type, not a psychic. He just removed everything I was pretending to be and only left the real me. This is how I really am. This is the real me. I'm a broken mess, and you'd be better off without me."

"You're lying to yourself, Mira. Even if there are parts of you that you keep away from me, I know you. I know that you're sweet and want to do good. I know that you worry about everyone else before even thinking about yourself, even if you pretend to be selfish. I know how much you care about your Pokemon. I know—"

"Who do you think you are?! You know nothing about me!"

"I'm just a girl! A girl trying to save her friend!"

Mira sobbed and began to feel again. Maeve wrapped her in a tight hug.

"It's going to be okay. You'll get better."

"I'll try." Mira sniffed. "I can't believe you flew without a license."

"I was terrified."



When Cecilia emerged from the darkness, five Pokemon stood in a circle in what she assumed was supposed to be around her. Fortunately for her though, it seemed that Shiftry messed up the exact location of that teleportation trick, sending her around twenty feet away and giving her enough time to immediately release her Pokemon before being torn to shreds. Talonflame was in the air before she could even blink, basking Cecilia in her warm gusts of wind to make her feel something. Zweilous appeared larger and stronger than before, and darkness swelled around his feet. Golett stood, lifeless as always, although he made the point to take a step forward and stand in front of Cecilia. Scyther hissed, fanning his wings and sharpening his scythes.

"Look alive, darlings," Cecilia raged. "It is time to destroy."

She was facing a Skuntank, a Krokorok, a Bisharp, and two Liepard, and all she could think was: was that it? A trainer of her caliber facing mere fodder? If they'd been smart about it, they would have sent more than this paltry force.

Cecilia caught herself and flinched. Why was she thinking this way? Was the dark already taking effect?

She did not wait for the panicked whispers from the six trainers that faced her to fade. Without her Slowking for protection, the best defense was overwhelming offense to take down her enemies before they even had a chance to attack and demoralize them by showing their gap in power.

"Dragon Pulse, Stomping Tantrum, Air Slash, Heat Wave."

With a quick stomp, Golett split the darkness apart, creating a rift that spread until it became a huge chasm which the five Pokemon fell into. Zweilous' throats swelled and lit up for a split second, then an enormous Dragon Pulse barrelled toward Skuntank, who was engulfed in the draconic energy. Scyther took flight and blades of compressed air sliced huge gashes into one of the Liepard, and Talonflame's Heat Wave dealt with the rest of the Pokemon, burning them to a crisp. The nameless trainers had to step back not to get burned, but one still screamed, possibly getting their skin burned— it was too dark to tell. Collateral damage was bound to happen in these situations.

Cecilia watched for a few seconds and then snapped back to reality. She ordered Talonflame to stop, and thankfully the trainer kept running… nevermind, they fell over and died. It probably took a few seconds for their body to even register the damage. Cecilia's eye twitched, but she felt nothing. The human body was so weak, and yet she commanded enough power to destroy it beyond recognition at will, and even then, Cecilia wanted more. Still, all of the Pokemon had already fallen unconscious, and there was no need to go that far if she was no longer in danger—

Wait. A Pokemon was missing in the chasm.

Where was Krokorok—

The ground under Cecilia's feet liquefied, splitting the darkness apart and Krokorok's huge maw opened up, ready to Bite at her leg. Zweilous was too slow to turn, and Talonflame was too far. Golett was stuck in the Sand Tomb as much as she was.

Krokorok's maw snapped shut, sending Cecilia into hysterics. The pain was so much worse than anything else she had ever experienced, but she forced herself to open her eyes.

What would have been a clean cut ended up being a gnarly wound when Scyther sliced across the ground type's head, cleaving it off. Krokorok's head was still attached to her leg, and it took a few seconds for the life to go out of its eyes. The Sand Tomb stopped spinning, and darkness reclaimed its throne.

"Damn it, fuck," Cecilia groaned as cold sweat dripped on her face. Another painful scream escaped her throat as she forced Krokorok's mouth open and its teeth exited her skin. "T—thank you Scyther."

The bug type grunted with a shrug. He didn't have to save her, and yet he did, just like he listened to her Air Slash command. Sol and Zerst lowered their heads in shame. They had failed to protect her, and they felt responsible for her wound.

"Don't let it bring you down. The most important part is that we're alive," Cecilia said, petting their chins. She petted Golett's head too, and the golem's eyes brightened slightly.

The girl turned to the trainers, who were running away. She wasn't capable of even walking at this point, but they needed to be questioned.

"Talonflame, Scyther, stop… two of them from running and bring them to me. You can let the other run."

The two flying types blurred incredibly quickly. In five seconds, they closed the massive gap and landed in front of the group. It was too far to see exactly what was happening, but they seemed to have done a rather good job. They isolated two of the five trainers and forced them to turn back.

It took a while for them to get back here, but when they did, Cecilia realized that they weren't even human. Only shells.

They hadn't run away to protect their own lives. They had run away to act as last barriers of defense for Shiftry. Cecilia groaned, roughly bandaging her leg. Grace had always been better at these things. One thing was for sure, her leg needed stitches, and it would scar. She tried to stand, but putting even a slight amount of weight on her leg was impossible.

"Talonflame darling, try to go find the others. I don't think I can walk in this state."

She could only hope Grace was okay.



Denzel was beginning to be known as being quick on his feet. The moment he had control of his body again, he clicked on two of his Pokeballs and released his Sylveon and Lopunny. He heard a loud crash as some kind of attack hit the normal type and caused her to ram into him. He fell to the floor and felt some kind of rocks under the darkness cut his skin and hit his head.

Come on Denzel! He thought with a clenched fist.

He screamed and immediately stood up. Half of the skin on the left side of his forearm had been torn off, and a quick swipe at a wet substance on his forehead made it clear that he was bleeding from there too. His Pokemon were already locked in battle with four others. A huge Pangoro slammed its fist against the ground, and Sylveon gracefully dodged, wrapping his ribbons around the dark type's fists to soothe it before jabbing a paw in his knee joint. The crack Denzel heard made him wince, but he had no time to worry about what Sylveon was doing, he first had to figure out what was happening.

A Scrafty dueled with Lopunny, exchanging blows and a Cacturne kept its distance, swarming her with Bullet Seed. The normal type was on the backfoot for now, but each Power-Up Punch she added equalized the playing field little by little. She narrowly dodged some kind of glowing punching attack and quickly jabbed the fighting type in the throat. Its eyes widened as it struggled to breathe, only being capable of drawing short, ragged breaths, and that was the opening that she needed. Lopunny's ears lit up and she clapped Scrafty's head, knocking it unconscious.

"Cacturn, kill the trainer!"

Denzel gulped as the grass type aimed two fists toward him, but Sylveon stopped everything he was doing and began to beat it relentlessly before Denzel could even have time to panic. Pangoro was on one knee, bloodied and unable to walk, but a Nuzleaf tried to follow him.

He quickly released Milotic, Roselia and Froslass.

"Go help," he weakly said. He didn't have the mental fortitude to go into detail with orders. "Don't kill them if you can!"

The words felt wrong when he said them. Illogical. Yet, he couldn't afford to give into Shiftry's power. Did it even know it was possibly screwing itself up by affecting them like this? He had a hard time seeing Grace or Cecilia holding back in this environment.

Froslass winked out of existence and reappeared in front of Nuzleaf. Her eyes contained more anger and hate in them than Denzel had ever seen, and her mere presence froze Nuzleaf's entire body over. Roselia and Milotic opted to stay back, attacking at a distance. An extremely precise Venoshock hit Pangoro's eyes, and the panda let out a guttural scream and clawed at them until its face bled. Milotic let out a Scald at the same target, burning off its fur and finishing it off.

Sylveon beat Cacturne with Play Rough until it was unrecognizable. With the constant Disarming Voices, it was incapable of fighting back. Sylveon stood atop its… corpse? Unconscious body? With his face full of thick blood and a glint in his eyes. His ribbons flowed in the cold, dreary wind.

The darkness cut his denial in its tracks. That Cacturn was dead, and so was Nuzleaf.

"Okay," Denzel sighed. "I feel a little woozy, so… uh… I'm gonna take a little break."

He stumbled on the floor and barely managed to sit. His head was throbbing, and he was having trouble staying balanced. Milotic carefully pressed against his back to give him some sort of backrest, and he sighed. The trainers had already run away, and he was too out of it to even hope to interrogate them.

"I think I have a concussion."

Roselia sighed, but the hint of a worried look could be seen in her eyes. Sylveon barked and jumped toward Denzel, while Froslass— now having snapped out of her rage— appeared by his side. Lopunny let out tired heaves and sat on Milotic's body.

"I'm worried about the others, but I can't help like this," he said, slurring his words. "I think I'm going to have to try to walk back to the Center. We can go get help at the same time. See if any trainers want to take down Shiftry."

Denzel took a deep breath and stood. He leaned against Lopunny's shoulder, and he and his Pokemon began their trek.



"Now don't forget, Harry. Me surviving is in your best interest, so you better give me everything you know on Reggie and Lane," I said as kept walking toward the mansion. "You've told me about their Pokemon, but what about their moves? Their strategies? Are they attached to those Pokemon and vice versa? If I killed one of them, would they start to make mistakes?"

Needless to say, he was being very cooperative.

Harry nervously swallowed. "I don't know about moves, but that Umbreon can travel through the shadows. Since the floor's covered in them, well you won't be able to see where it is and I think it'll be faster. Drapion doesn't have any fancy techniques. He's more of a muscle kind of Pokemon. Hits hard, but your Turtonator could easily handle it, and Umbreon's weaker than anything I own."

"Hm. Hey, do you think I can burn the mansion from the outside to draw out Shiftry?" I asked.

"You could try, but I don't know if that'll work. It probably has protections in place for that kind of stuff, and also, I think it knows you're coming."

"Well obviously. I want him to know. I want him to shiver in fear while it slowly watches his thousand-year dynasty come to an end because it was too much of a coward to let its family actually train Pokemon," I said. "It's time for Shiftry to reap what it sowed."

"You're crazy, you know that? Even with this dark shit, you're—"

"Yeah, I don't care and I don't want to hear that coming from someone who's a part of Team Galactic. Now answer my fucking questions."

Angel squeezed the vine around his waist, and Harry groaned in pain.

"Yes, they're attached… very much so. They've had those Pokemon since they were young or something, but they're not the best battlers since they only have one Pokemon and they don't really get a lot of practice."

"I don't want to fight. Unlike you, they never had a chance to live their lives freely, so they deserve a chance. If they block my path and can't be reasoned with, I won't have a choice."

I was on a mission, and I would let nothing stop me.

Twenty minutes later, we reached the mansion. The obsidian spire shooting into the sky was disturbingly silent, although I could hear the creaking of the old wood that the building was made of. The entrance and the windows were completely darkened, although the door was still open. Good. I had been worried that there would be another impenetrable wall around the house.

"Looks like you got caught," a voice said, looking at Harry. He didn't respond.

Reggie and Lane blocked the way, a Drapion and an Umbreon at their side.

Now would it be the hard way or the easy way? Because I was willing to play hard.

"Out of my fucking way."


Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt
 
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Chapter 163 - It Whimpers
CHAPTER 163 - It Whimpers

"Out of my fucking way," I swore.

"I'm afraid we can't do that," Lane said.

"You can't beat me."

"The Elder must survive," Reggie shook his head. "Drapion, Pin Missile!"

"Umbreon, stick to the shadows and target her."

Drapion flexed, and its segments ground against each other. Bright, sharp needles exploded outward in every direction before homing toward me. Umbreon clipped into the floor and disappeared.

So much for talking, then. I only had a few seconds to think. Honey maybe had two more Protects left in him, and I didn't want to waste those before reaching Shiftry.

"Princess, you're on protection duty. Angel, grab me and Ancient Power the Drapion. Sunshine, Bulldoze and get that Umbreon out of the floor—"

The Pin Missiles were already there. Togetic lifted a disc-like shape out of the ground and stretched it until it covered me. The missiles crashed against the flat rock without breaking through. Another, larger boulder shot out toward Drapion, who dug its legs into the dark ground and grabbed it in its pincers. Turtonator exhaled and slammed its foot against the floor. Small pockets of molten rocks jutted out of the ground around us and burned the darkness away. Jellicent drenched me in cold water for the heat, but it was still uncomfortably hot. Umbreon let out an ethereal bark, but it was already behind me. It jumped out of the floor with its claws dripping in poison, aiming directly at me.

Its attack fell through when Buddy hit it with Hex. Angel pulled me away and Umbreon fell onto the floor. Turtonator placed a foot on its abdomen and began burning, but I raised a hand. These people were puppets of Shiftry, they deserved a chance.

"Surrender. It's not you I'm after."

"Drapion, Venoshock!"

"Umbreon!"

The dark type sunk into the floor and I sighed. My mercy had been a mistake, but it wouldn't be just to kill Shiftry's unwilling puppets. Still, I couldn't afford to hold back now.

"I gave you a chance."

Drapion belched, and then spat out liquid poison toward me again. So sloppy. They weren't even trying to win.

"Flamethrower."

Turtonator immediately let a stream of flames loose, and the poison simply evaporated away.

"Sunshine go and deal with that Drapion, we'll take care of Umbreon. Try not to kill it. Or them," I said. Now that I knew that Umbreon wasn't invulnerable in its shadow state, Buddy would be able to deal with it. "Buddy, you're up. Track it and force it up."

The water type nodded and sank into the floor. A single Hex, and it would be in too much pain to stay hidden.

I frowned when Turtonator began to charge a Flash Cannon, only this one was abnormally small. The fire type grunted, and the tiny beam severed Drapion's arm.

"Drapion, no!" Reggie screamed. My eyes widened, bringing me out of my Shiftry-induced daze for a single moment. He'd broken through Shiftry's spell for an instant, but his face returned to a neutral expression immediately afterward.

I hadn't known that Sunshine could do that. Umbreon let out an infuriated hiss-bark and jumped, slashing across Turtonator's shell. If we hadn't been behind him, he would have been able to blow up. Again, a Pokemon was making a mistake due to its attachment to another.

A quick, weakened Thunderbolt from Honey shocked Umbreon, who began to jitter and convulse. Five drills stabbed into the dark type like nails, and Buddy emerged right next to him and finished it off with Hex.

Drapion was missing an arm, and Umbreon had fainted. They couldn't stop me any longer, but I wanted to give them one last chance.

"I recommend recalling your Drapion. It can grow its arm back at a Pokemon Center thanks to Ditto cells, but right now all it's doing is bleeding out. It'll die."

Reggie's face twisted in worry. He was hesitating.

"Reggie! The Elder told us to fight to the last!" Lane screamed.

I impatiently tapped my foot against the floor. "I don't have that much time. Hurry or I'm killing it."

The man grimaced as he recalled his Pokemon. Lane looked at him with a devastated look of pure betrayal, and my team and I began to walk toward the mansion. I hesitantly placed a foot above Turtonator's bulldozed area, which was still too hot to walk on. Buddy sprayed a path with water and cooled it off enough for me to step on.

"It's not like it would have made any difference," I said. "He made the correct choice that spared as many lives as possible."

Lane snarled as she ran toward the mansion's entrance, blocking the way with her arms extended out as if that would stop me.

"Please! Don't go! The Elder's all we have!"

"When his influence on your mind is gone, you'll realize that what you were doing before today wasn't living, but serving," I said. "Angel."

The grass type knocked her away, and she shrieked, tears streaming down her face as she desperately begged for me not to go inside. I ignored her, but she followed me.

"He's all I have," she repeated as she clung to my leg. "Please."

It was strange, how they spoke of Shiftry like it was their savior instead of their oppressor. What state was it in right now? Harry had called it catatonic, but I expected it to be stronger than Weavile when he turned back to normal. Since his domain would disappear, I'd only have to buy time for the League to Teleport or fly in. I stopped my Pokemon from blowing her up with a gesture and kicked her off. The mansion hadn't changed at all since I had last stepped foot inside of it. I expected the darkness to be stronger here, but it was almost… weaker somehow. It wasn't as difficult to breathe, and my voice had regained some of its pitch. The strange substance on the floor wasn't as thick and it was easier to walk.

"Angel, tie her up and detach the vine," I said. "Harry. Where are Shiftry and Roland? The top floor?"

Lane screamed as Tangrowth wrapped her entire body, leaving only her head for her to breathe.

"The top floor only has one room, and that's Shiftry's. Roland should be on the second," he said. Now that I could slightly see color, his face was dangerously pale, and his voice was weak. I wasn't a doctor, but he was close to dying if I had to guess. I needed to hurry this up. Dying here would mean that he'd be getting off lightly.

I slowly stepped through the foyer. I had to be safe here, there could be traps.

"Can you just… leave me here?" Harry coughed. "I know I won't make it out. I've given you everything… I'll even take a spear through the head."

"No, you're sticking around," I said, not even sparing him a look.

"I cooperated."

"You did. That doesn't mean you deserve the easy way out," I said. I knew Sunshine was staring daggers at me now, but at this point, he was probably focused on getting us out of here. I didn't know if it was because the dark had dampened his want for revenge, or if he cared more for us than he admitted.

I slowly climbed the creaky steps to the second floor. Honey and Princess flanked me while Buddy was in front thanks to his regenerative capabilities. Angel pushed himself up the stairs with his vines behind me, and Sunshine did the same. We were all exhausted, but this was the final push. One more battle, and we'd be freed.

And the magnitude of what I had done these last few hours would sink in. It was strange, to stare disaster in the eye. To know it was coming. To know how terrible it would make me feel, and yet not be able to bring myself to worry about it.

"Well met, Grace Pastel," a soft voice said. My head whirred toward it, and I easily recognized Roland Hunter, the man who I had mistaken for the elder during our visit. He turned toward the third floor. "And Harry, I suppose. Are you here to kill everything Shiftry has built?"

"Yes. Are you going to do anything about it?"

"It's not like I can," he shrugged with a sad sigh. "Why don't you go and see it then? Shiftry's room."

I frowned. Unlike Lane or even Reggie, he didn't seem to be panicking at all. I made my way to the third floor and bit my lip when I saw what awaited me. A huge barrier made out of the abyss blocked the walls and entrance to Shiftry's room. Five League Trainers lay in the hallway, their bodies completely lifeless and their usual uniforms full of blood.

"Break through," I told my team.

No moves made even a dent. Power Whip, Shadow Ball, Water Pulse, Ancient Power, not even Dazzling Gleam or Sunshine's Flamethrower worked.

"You will not break through. Shiftry knows what he is doing."

I clenched a fist. I had been so close. So close to finishing this.

But I wasn't strong enough. I ordered Angel to drop Harry on the floor and leaned against the wall, trying to come up with any ideas. No matter how much I racked my brain, no answers came up. If I couldn't brute force it with Sunshine or use type effectiveness with Dazzling Gleam or Fairy Wind, then nothing I had would work.

"What will you do now?" Roland asked with faint signs of his soft-spoken voice.

"Why are you talking to me?"

"Indulge me a little."

"I don't owe you anything. Stop bothering me, or my Pokemon will make you."

"I know many things about Cyrus," he nonchalantly said. "And I know you wouldn't pass on that. Just have a little conversation with me. Call it a man's last wish."

Right. I had almost completely forgotten that he'd been friends with Cyrus long ago. At least I had gained something by being here.

"What makes you think I couldn't get it out of you?" I said. "Or that the League won't just do it themselves?"

"We aren't all as weak as Harry," he smirked. Harry didn't even have the energy to retort. "And aren't you curious?"

I bit my tongue. "Fine."

The older man sat on the stairs and began to speak, facing away from me. "If I asked you what darkness was, what would you answer?"

"I'd answer whatever Shiftry's been doing. Faded colors, muted emotions, cutting off type energy… it's a lot."

"Ah, indeed it is to some extent. It can also be other things, but it is what Shiftry sees it as, and so it is what his domain is," Roland started. "At their core, each kind of type energy serves a purpose, and that purpose can sometimes be stretched to such extent that it becomes unrecognizable. There are the easy concepts, like fire, water and grass, and the more abstract ones like fairy, dragon and ghost. Dark is a part of the latter, and at its core, its purpose is to bring the world back to a blank slate. Before the universe came into existence, there was nothing. That nothing is what the dark type wants to return to."

I nodded. "I called it neutrality, but I guess that works. Get to the point."

"Why? We have nothing but time."

"Because I didn't come here for a lesson. Get to Cyrus."

Roland smirked. "When there is enough dark type energy around an area, it will start to return the world to a blank slate, like you saw with Solaceon, although Shiftry's visualization of it had some quirks that don't fit the definition, like the heavy air and the dark floor. You also saw the effect it has on the human psyche."

"I feel nothing," I agreed, staring at the corpses littering the hall. "I know it's not supposed to be that way, but I can't bring myself to even care about it."

"There's a bit more to it than that. Before turning you into an emotionless person, you will slowly start to lose your outer traits, little by little until your true self is laid bare for all to see. For a few hours, that is what you will be. Cyrus was obsessed with dark type energy in his young age— which is how we met… around twenty-two years ago now. He used to be quite a well-traveled man, and he sought out ways to explain his… affliction. Back then, he believed dark type energy could be it, or at least heavy exposure to it as an infant."

"Affliction?" I asked.

"Cyrus has never felt anything in his entire life. No love for his late parents, no anger, no frustration, there is nothing in his head but pure pragmatism. He is a brilliant man, and Shiftry allowed him to spend a few months with us thanks to our unlikely connection."

"But unlike you, Cyrus is like this because of something else, not Shiftry," I said.

"Well, I believe him to simply be a sociopath," Roland said as a matter of fact. "But he wouldn't take that answer. He thought there was something wrong with the world and not him, and he wanted to reshape it in his image."

I swallowed. Even with Shiftry's domain, I still felt a twinge of nervousness about the topic of Team Galactic's leader.

"You know, before he left, he told me that he felt a connection to our family," Roland said. "That he didn't have to pretend with me. All of his life, he had faked every single word. An exhausting way to live. I tried to get him to stay with us. I called him my first friend."

"And he left?"

"He looked at me like I was insane," Roland continued. "He called me a fake with the iciest tone I had ever heard and left without looking back. Apparently, the fact that I felt genuine friendship with him meant that I couldn't possibly understand him at all. That means that his blankness is so potent that he feels even less than us."

"How did you reconnect? Harry here told me that you were in contact."

"Oh that didn't happen until around three years ago. Cyrus came to our land again and asked for our support in his cause with Team Galactic. Shiftry had taken a personal liking to him before, so there was no way for us to refuse. I assume Harry told you about Team Galactic's ambition for him?"

"I did," Harry weakly answered.

"I was content to help Cyrus, but he had… conversations with Shiftry that I wasn't privy to that got him agitated. I had never seen him like this my entire life. There was genuine excitement in the Elder's eyes. I couldn't believe it."

"Some other deal was made," I declared. "And you weren't a part of it. None of you were."

"Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, that is all I know. I do not know Cyrus' true goal, but I know that he is not the kind of man to commit terrorism for the sake of destruction, and he would not care about taking over the region either. He wants something deeper. What that is? Your guess is as good as mine."

I paused for a few seconds. "Why say all this? Why give up all of that information on Cyrus willingly?"

"Because when Shiftry asked us to call him for help when the League came to our land, he said that we had served our purpose and abandoned us. The Elder was devastated to the point of tears… and that was the exact moment when Solaceon was hit by the dark. Shiftry was fooled and he simply couldn't take it anymore. I am a loyal servant, and Cyrus hurt my master. I will give information on him, but not anything else."

"Yeah? Well as soon as the League breaks through, your master's dying and your memory's getting extracted," I said.

Roland chuckled, which was weirdly alien.

"My apologies. That was a reflex I trained myself to do," he said. "Our family will be destroyed, but Shiftry will live on. The League has use for him."

"What? After all of this? Why?"

"Do you know what lies east of Solaceon?" He asked. I shook my head. "Shiftry has been keeping them dormant. The Unown. Without him, they will wake up and warp reality around Solaceon to their liking— and maybe even all of Sinnoh."

"What the hell is an Unown?"

"They're—"

I heard steps reverberate through the hall. People were walking up the stairs, and I knew that there was no way it could be Reggie. Lane was tied up… so who was coming?

She was dressed in black from head to toe and exuded power wherever she walked. Her faded blonde hair flew in the small amount of wind expunged by Shiftry's barrier. She was just as tall as I remembered— around six feet, and she towered over the man who followed her. Faded green hair with a tuft gelled upward, along with huge green eyes that were lighter than mine. The woman was accompanied by her Lucario. It was spotless, like it had never seen battle before, and yet I knew the rumors of what it was capable of. The younger man by a Heracross, whose huge horn was enough to impale me at least eight times, if not more. They were followed by six League Trainers— veterans that looked to be in their thirties or forties.

"Good evening Roland," the woman said.

The Champion Cynthia and Aaron of the Elite Four were here.

Without as much as a change in expression, Roland Hunter bit down on something and crumpled to the floor like a leaf. He had killed himself before the League could get their hands on him.

"Ah, man, what a waste," Aaron sighed.

Cynthia shrugged. "It doesn't matter. Get started on the barrier."

I gulped, unable to find the words. Aaron and his Herracross confidently strode up to Shiftry's barrier, and the man squinted, softly touching at the darkness as if he was looking for a specific point. Cynthia stared at her dead League Trainers and sighed before turning to me and my team. Even Sunshine's cocky attitude evaporated when she stared into his eyes. Lucario looked into mine, and it was almost like it felt sorry for me. Two of the League Trainers took Harry Rodriguez away.

"Grace Pastel," Cynthia smiled. "It has been a while, hasn't it?"

"I—yes," I said. "How did you even get in here? The wall on the outside…"

"It took a while, but Aaron found a weakness to the southeast of the city that materialized a few minutes ago and we forced a gate open. I suspect you stepping inside the mansion had something to do with that. League Trainers are pouring into Solaceon now. Without you, it would have taken Aaron at least a day to figure out where to enter from. It's a lot easier now that the surface area to scan is smaller."

I didn't understand how Aaron knew where the wall's weaknesses were, but I wasn't about to question the Champion's words or an Elite Four member's skills.

"What does me stepping inside have to do with any of this? Why would I have an effect on Shiftry?"

"Oh, he's a coward, so he no doubt panicked and reinforced his room instead of the outside," she smirked. "That usually meant that he was easy to negotiate with, but cowards can also be unpredictable. It's a good thing you didn't make it through though. Weakened or not, Shiftry would have killed you."

My eye twitched, and I glanced at Roland's corpse. "I don't know about that. Will he get off lightly then?"

"No. His time has come," Cynthia said, her face darkening. Roland had been completely wrong. My hand trembled as terror enveloped me— but only for a second. "Why don't you come and see? Lucario will protect you. How bad are her wounds?"

The steel type's eyes shone bright blue, and he held out his hand toward me before turning back to Cynthia.

"Good," she smiled. "So?"

"Me? Isn't this confidential?"

"You've done a lot for us, Grace," Cynthia said. "And there will be some questioning, which you must be used to at this point. But that's not the only reason. I have much to talk about with you and—"

"Cynthia, I found it!" Aaron yelled. He crouched and sunk his hand into the darkness with a strange, analytic stare. "It's right here."

"We will talk later," Cynthia said. She walked toward the wall of darkness, and I quickly followed her. It was hard to keep up with her huge strides, especially with how tired I was. I recalled Honey, Angel and Buddy, but I let Sunshine and Princess stay. He would at least get to watch this, and I didn't feel safe without Togetic.

"You do the honors, or me?" Aaron asked.

The Champion nodded. "Lucario?"

The fighting type inhaled sharply and its fist—

What—

What happened? The wall of darkness was already collapsing? I hadn't even seen it move! Some variation of Extreme Speed combined with a fighting type move? Or was it something else? Cynthia, Aaron and the four remaining League trainers stepped into the room, and I followed.

It was only the second time I was seeing Shiftry, but it was still as regal as ever. Beautifully carved wood, hair adorned with golden hairpins like a crown and tied into locks.

And it was sitting in a fetal position, waiting for its death. It drew upon ragged breaths, tired from maintaining its domain for so long upon such a large area, but the darkness didn't collapse immediately as I thought it would. In fact, it strengthened, and the abyss grew taller, going up to my knees. Shiftry, meanwhile, seemed to be able to float on it.

"Good evening," Cynthia calmly said. "It is about time we speak, Shiftry."

The grass type stood up and prepared to fight, but we all knew how it would go.

Even Shiftry.

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt
 
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Chapter 164 - It Fades
CHAPTER 164 - It Fades

Shiftry attacked immediately, cutting across the air and sending arcs of darkness toward Cynthia. I suddenly felt a weight on me. An immense amount of pressure that made it even more difficult to breathe. It made me hyper-aware of every process in my body. The beating of my heart, the need to forcefully expunge and inhale air, the need to blink, my tongue in my mouth. I felt goosebumps and continuous chills run through my spine and arms and found myself unable to focus, even in Shiftry's domain.

The attack swirled and was absorbed into Cynthia's pocket.

Then I heard the whispers. Quiet at first, then louder and louder. A dozen voices. Then more. Then more. I couldn't place the exact number. It was impossible to guess in the jumbled mess of agonized screams. Ghastly voices that were raspy and disjointed, but imbued with a cold, spectral resonance.

IT BURNS!

WHY ME?

SPARE MY FAMILY.

WATER… WATER…

IT HURTS.

I CAN'T FEEL MY LEGS.

NOT MY NAILS. NOT MY NAILS.

I CAN'T SEE. WHY CAN'T I SEE?


But eventually, they changed and started to yell and tell me to do things.

HANG YOURSELF.

SLIT YOUR OWN THROAT.

BITE OFF YOUR TONGUE.

KILL HER! HER CECILIA—


I covered my ears with my hands, but they didn't stop, and the longer it went on, the more personal they got. Calling me a fake, a murderer, talking about my friends and family and how they'd never love me again after what I'd done. Each word was uttered with chilling deliberation, and a dry laugh echoed through my head. Cynthia snapped her fingers, then the voices instantly ceased, or at least they did for me. The Elder was still clearly rattled, its eyes twitching as it stared not at Cynthia, but at whatever laid dormant in her pocket.

What were they whispering at him, I wondered.

Shiftry changed tactics, aiming to attack Cynthia from upclose. It winked forward, aided by its own domain and its two leaves shone with a bright green. Somehow, he was the only colored being in this entire faded world. As soon as it got a few feet away from the Champion, it got on its knees and couldn't go on. Were the voices rendering him unable to fight? Shiftry was unable to even move.

I hadn't been the target of whatever this was, yet the voices had still affected me. They shook me to my core, and it would have been much worse without its domain.

"I said that we should talk," Cynthia smiled. "And I meant it. I just want to understand what you gained from this. Weren't you content to play around in your little sand castle, pretending to be king? Didn't I tell you that I would come for you if you breached our agreement again?"

The dark type shivered, but it seemed like gravity itself was acting against it. Lucario stood by next to me, carefully observing its trainer at work with its arms crossed. I had expected at least a fight, but this wasn't even close to that. Cynthia was talking down Shiftry like a child that had messed up. Shiftry responded with a series of weak grunts, and Lucario's eyes lit up. Cynthia hummed, and then nodded.

"So you were informed then," Cynthia said. "Very well, I understand now. You were quite predictable after all, Shiftry, I was just missing the last piece."

Shiftry trembled as it stood up. The sources of all our problems these past few days. What I had thought to be an insurmountable force had been reduced to begging for its life. Lucario's eyes shone bright blue again, and it was only then that I understood that it was acting as a translator. I hadn't even known that they could speak.

"Oh, you don't need to worry about that. You didn't think I hadn't been raising your replacement all these years in case you went rogue, did you? This is just a few years ahead of schedule, but we'll manage. It's a shame, really. All these years pretending to be more than you actually are, only to realize that you're really just a child playing pretend. Lucario?"

The fighting type stepped forward, slowly walking toward Shiftry, who looked on in disbelief. Tears streamed down its face and its teeth chattered, but Cynthia didn't care. Lucario offered Shiftry one small bow, and then impaled it with a bright blue bone. Again, it moved faster than I could even see. Life slowly left Shiftry's eyes, and it collapsed into its own pool of darkness. The voices stopped, and the pressure pressing down on me disappeared.

Just like that, its one-thousand-year dynasty had ended.

Cynthia was a mountain. Just seeing this made me realize that even if I won at the Conference, there was simply no way I was ever beating her this year. None of us were. Sunshine looked on in awe at the pure humiliation that had just happened. Lucario was powerful, as were all of her Pokemon, but Garchomp was even more so.

But what was in her pocket terrified me the most. It was easy enough to put together. It could only be Spiritomb— a Pokemon capable of such damage both mentally and physically that Cynthia never used it in any of the rare battles she still fought in public these days.

It hadn't even been active. I knew from a blurry picture I'd seen of the ghost from a battle Cynthia fought long ago in her early twenties that it was supposed to be more than just a keystone that could fit in a pocket. It was a cold, purple, swirling mess with green blotches that looked like eyes and a mouth. And yet she hadn't even felt the need to use it here.

"Our job here is done," Cynthia smiled. "Aaron, Jim, go see to it that things in the city are still running smoothly. I wouldn't trust Flint with running a daycare, let alone an operation of this scale. Call Lucian's office and tell him that he can finally Teleport in. Alicia, you stay with me."

"Yes ma'am!" The two League trainers said in unison.

"Sure," Aaron answered. "What about you?"

"Oh, I'll be needed here," she replied as the darkness began to collapse. She turned to me. "I'm sorry about the voices, but we have little time. Brace yourself."

I inhaled sharply and forced my eyes shut. I began to breathe normally again. I felt the temperature rise by a few degrees as Turtonator's warmth could finally reach me undisturbed. I felt my phone buzz with dozens of notifications and alerts.

I slowly opened an eye and saw that color had returned to the world. The sun was setting, and an orange glow shone through the windows. Was that it? Would I be forced to stay this way forever?

But then it all came flooding in. Slowly at first. My battle with Harry Rodriguez.

Pelipper's horrifying gurgles as it burned from the inside. Its head and body swelling to twice their size to accommodate Turtonator's Dragon Pulse. Its empty stare. The silence afterward. Half of Princess' throat ripped out. Her tiny, agonizing pleas for help. Crobat's horrified scream at the death of its comrade. Its remains, only smoke and ash, but also Honey's slight stare when I ordered him to kill. Sweetheart getting clawed apart by Weavile until half of her scales had been ripped off.

My dozens of close brushes with death.

I stumbled backwards, but Cynthia grabbed me by the arm and kept me steady. Princess chirped worriedly, but I didn't respond. I couldn't.

Torture. I had essentially tortured a man and felt good about it while doing so. The thoughts of murder had crawled so easily into my mind, and yet I had felt no hesitation. I dry heaved and tears fell to the wooden floor. Instead of worrying about my friends, I had instead focused on nothing but killing. Killing. Killing.

It came as a quivering, sound of disbelief at first. A small whimper escaped my throat, and I couldn't even formulate the words. I couldn't even understand. To begin to describe the amount of guilt I felt. It was just to defend myself. It was—

But I could have done less. I could have stopped Honey when Crobat had been unconscious. I could have tried to stop Sunshine from murdering Pelipper. It wasn't so much as what I had done was terribly wrong, but it was the fact that I had felt nothing, or even satisfaction while doing so.

I hadn't even tried to do the right thing.

There was no scream. Just a defeated weep.

"It hurts, does it not?" Cynthia sighed. "We came across Mr. Rodriguez's defeated Pokemon on the way here. When I saw you with him, I knew what happened. The first time is always the hardest."

The first time? There would be no second time! I couldn't even retort. I stared at my trembling hands and bit my lip. Turtonator didn't seem to care about what he'd done. What we had done. He let out a long sigh and shrugged. Princess tried to console me, saying that we'd just been defending ourselves.

She was right.

But the guilt didn't stop.

"You were under the influence of Shiftry's domain… and more," Cynthia said, glancing at Princess. "You weren't in the right state of mind."

"I—"

How could I look my dad in the eye after this? My friends? Cecilia?

"We'll stay here for a bit," Cynthia said. "But I have duties to attend to in Solaceon, and we need to get you and your team to a Center. The International Police will come to question you while you're there, but I'll need to speak to you later tonight if possible."

"My—my friends," I got out.

"Your group? I'm sorry, but I don't know much. We came here as fast as we could," she said. "However I've heard that Denzel Williams was back in the Pokemon Center. We have League Trainers flying around the property, so they'll be found."

After two minutes, Lucario silently spoke to Cynthia. I blinked rapidly to chase away the tears.

"Always the dutiful one, aren't you?" She said. "Alicia, take us back to Solaceon. Teleport her to the Center. Recall your Pokemon, if you will?"

I weakly recalled Sunshine and Princess, and the League Trainer released a Xatu. Before I could even blink, I was back outside of the Center. The place was swarming with trainers, and there were signs of fighting all along the street. One of the sliding doors was completely busted.

Shiftry's domain had affected us all.

In a flash, Xatu disappeared with Cynthia, and then reappeared at its trainer's side alone. She led me to one of the Nurse Joys, who were completely swamped and referred me to one of the human doctors after taking in my Pokemon other than Jellicent. The wound on my waist was apparently fine, but they wanted to keep me at least for a day just in case. I didn't exactly listen. Their words sounded faint. Distant.

Even if. If I could bring to convince myself that everything I had done had been justified, which would be hard in the first place— Maybe there was no way I would have been able to stop Sunshine, but that Crobat and the torture…

There was something wrong with me. Something at my core wasn't wired properly, and I knew that I hadn't always been like this. Had my journey changed me that much? It was certainly possible, but Cynthia had said something else was affecting me. Something other than Shiftry. Text messages slowly filtered in our group chat, letting everyone know who was safe or not.

No one had died, but some were more hurt than others. Louis, Maeve and Mira were completely fine, but Denzel had a concussion and Cecilia hurt her leg really badly. I couldn't help but feel worry, but I surprised myself when I realized that I didn't want to see her. Not after what I had done. Pauline had been stabbed in the shoulder with an attack she hadn't even seen the moment she was teleported, and Justin was… it was difficult to explain. He'd gotten overexposed to dark type energy due to his Krokorok burying him underground to take refuge while his Pokemon fought off the two trainers that attacked him. While the world had returned to normal, he would still suffer the symptoms of Shiftry's domain for months. The doctors weren't sure. Apparently, he couldn't even taste anything.

But apart from him, there was something hanging above all of our heads. The guilt. I could tell from the way we were all avoiding talking about what happened and just skipped to the aftermath. No one wanted to acknowledge what they'd done. I also sent messages to my father and mother, who had been worried sick about me. I didn't really have the energy to go into detail, even the light ones.

I tried to go to sleep, but I only heard Crobat's screams. In a twisted fate of irony, the Zubat line would again keep me awake, but for completely different reasons. I carried guilt now.

I stayed there, staring out the window at the League slowly bringing Solaceon back to normal until the first policeman showed up. I was surprised to see that it was Looker again, although his colleague wasn't there this time.

"Good evening Ms. Pastel. Forgive me for needing to question you in such difficult times, but I'll need to get straight to the point," he said, sitting down next to my bed and grabbing a recorder. "Are you well enough to speak?"

I nodded. Don't look at me.

"Let's start at the beginning, then. It is our understanding that Shiftry targeted your group specifically due to the investigative work you did during the tournament. Can you recount your experience from there?"

"I… can I…"

I didn't want to talk about it. Not the battle with Harry. He'd look at me like I was a monster afterward, I was sure of it. Maybe I was.

"Let's just move on for now," Looker said after a pause.

I explained everything to the best of my ability. My battle with Reggie and Lane, and the conversation with Roland, which Looker took great interest in. They didn't know much about Cyrus, and insight into how he thought would be of great help to the League and the International Police.

"I'm sorry. If I managed to gag Roland or something instead of talking, maybe he wouldn't have…"

"Don't worry about it. You've done a lot more than could be asked of you. You did a great thing today, Ms. Pastel. Who knows how many people would have died if Shiftry's influence was allowed to stick around for longer?"

I nodded, but I knew it was just empty praise. He was judging me, wasn't he? Everyone would.

"I'm sorry."

Looker frowned, but a knock on the door stopped him from commenting further. Cynthia entered the room with her usual confident stride.

"I managed to get out early," she told Looker before turning to me. "How are you doing?"

"I'm okay," I lied.

The Champion hummed. "Looker, would you mind giving us a second?"

"I actually got everything I wanted," he said. "I'll be going to the other rooms."

"Alright. Call me if anything comes up," Cynthia nodded.

The investigator left the room, leaving only me in a hospital bed and the Champion. It was a mirror of the first time we met in Floaroma. Cynthia sat down in Looker's chair and her body just… loosened. Like she dropped every bit of tension she'd been holding for the last day and could finally allow herself to relax and be herself.

"You feel guilty for killing for the first time," she declared. "And it's eating you from the inside. I felt the same way."

"How can I not?"

"Oh, I'm not telling you not to," she continued. "I don't know what exactly happened, but if I had to guess, you defended yourself. The Nurse Joys say that the wound on your Togetic's neck was lethal and that only a Hyper Potion could have saved her. We're willing to give you the benefit of the doubt on that one, and Mr. Rodriguez corroborated that story."

"How is he?" I asked. He'd gotten manipulated into being Team Galactic's pawn. I didn't feel bad for him, but I hoped that he was alive, at least.

"Oh, he's cooperating fully," Cynthia smiled.

"I meant his leg."

"Do you really want to know?"

I flinched. Was it that bad?

"No," I whimpered, turning away. I was too weak to even acknowledge what I had done. I needed to change the subject. Something. Anything. "What were those voices? Spiritomb?"

"They haven't fought anything in a while, so they've been a bit rowdy lately. I was asking them to hold back due to us not being alone too," she sighed. "I'm sorry you had to hear that, but they're my best means of defense. Don't give any credence to what they said to you, they always try to get under people's skin, and they're especially great at it."

Did that mean it had a way of reading minds? Or sensing what people were anguished about? What move had it even used? I recalled that it— or they as she called the Pokemon— had simply absorbed Shiftry's move like it was nothing.

"Are they in pain? They sounded that way."

"They're not alive, Grace. They're echoes of their former selves, they don't feel pain. Mostly rage. But enough about Spiritomb. I came here to speak to you about a few things, but we'll start with your Togetic."

"My Togetic?" I asked.

The Champion nodded. "She's leaking fairy type energy like a sieve, and she probably doesn't even realize it. It's affecting the way you think."

"Excuse me?"

"You're starting to behave more and more like a fairy type. I don't need to know much about you to know that for a fact. See, when type specialists surround themselves with a single type, their exposure to that type starts to change their behavior. Take Aaron, for example. He always notices the tiniest things, and he always goes from one passion to the next each month, but he's also an excellent multitasker. Bug types don't live that long, so it's his way of wanting to experience everything he can. Candice stopped being able to feel cold, although it's still bad for her to walk around in those shorts in the middle of winter. The more powerful a Pokemon is, the more they leak, which is why this only tends to happen to high-leveled trainers. It normally doesn't happen to generalists like us, but Togetic is releasing too much of it, and it's changing you. Right now, you're behaving like a fairy type specialist. Can you still lie?"

"I— yes," I shakily said.

"Good, then it hasn't progressed that far. We'll need to speak again when she's released from the Center. Togekiss will speak to her and show her how to stop. Try to release her from her Pokeball as little as you can until then."

"Since— since when has this been happening?" I asked. Even if it wasn't on purpose, I was shaken. Was I even me anymore? "And does it affect my friends?!"

"It affects everyone around her, but I assume that she spends a lot more time with you than anyone else. I don't know since when, but possibly since she's evolved. This issue isn't common with Togetic, but it can happen. You stopped using her to sleep, I hope?"

"I did."

The Champion smiled. "Good. They're capable of exuding happiness by molding fairy type energy to their liking, but sometimes they don't know how to stop it completely. Mine wasn't like that, and it's a rare condition— ah, don't worry, you'll still be fine when the leaking stops, although you won't go back to how you were before."

"So I've just been… controlled this entire time?"

"Controlled? No, of course not," The Champion dismissed. "You're still capable of taking your own decision, and we managed to catch it early enough. It did nudge you in the current direction though, so it's true that you would have been slightly different without it."

My shoulders slumped. I didn't blame Princess… it wasn't her fault, but if it affected my friends too, I couldn't stop myself from feeling guilt. I didn't deserve them, did I?

Had it affected the way Cecilia thought about me? Damn it, I wished there was a way to measure this. Cynthia stared, her dark grey eyes analyzing everything about me.

"I can tell what you're thinking. Odds are, it didn't affect your friends that much, and Togekiss would be able to tell if you really need to be sure."

"Thank you," I exhaled. "But why do this for us?"

"This is actually perfect and brings me to my next point," Cynthia said. "We investigated the incident that befell your Turtonator and his old trainer in Mount Coronet by tracking down the two trainers traveling with him. It was indeed Team Galactic's doing, along with one of their Commanders they call Saturn, and they've no doubt noticed the new member of your team. Mars is interested in you, and now you helped take down their breeder. You're a person of interest for them, so the League wants to offer you protection."

"What does that imply?"

"In cities, mostly. You won't even notice that they're here," Cynthia said. "We appreciate your help in all of this, but you and your friends have made yourselves known. I feel the need to help you as much as I can."

I clenched the bed sheets. It never stopped, did it?

"What about Louis and his friends? You should talk to Mira Compton, she—"

"We know. They'll get protection too, but we want something deeper with you, Cecilia and Mira. We'll get into that at a later date, now let's continue. What happened at the mansion and its outskirts will have to stay confidential. That means that no one will know about the… incidents that took place there. Of course people will know that you were involved due to us speaking to you, but the details can stay hidden. Don't speak to the media or the Poketch Company. They will both pressure you, but do not give in."

"Okay," I said.

"One last thing before I let you rest for the day. Did Roland talk to you about anything east of here?"

"I… I told Looker about it. The Unown. Was I not supposed to?"

"Keep that to yourself and take it to your grave," Cynthia said. I felt a chill run down my spine. "Have a good evening, Grace. I will see you within the next few days. Stick around Solaceon until we give you the approval to leave. Looker will come back tomorrow."

After giving her Weavile's Pokeball, Cynthia gently closed the door and I hugged my knees. I might have said I had lost most of my respect for her, but I'd changed my mind now.

She carried more burdens than I thought and she'd had a good reason to let Shiftry run around after all. What I was going through was nothing compared to what she probably dealt with every single day, and yet I still felt like I was suffocating.

What I had done was self-defense. It was either my Pokemon or Harry's, and unlike me, I was sure that he would have killed all of them and me if given the chance.

But it still hurt all the same. It was like I had discovered a part of myself that I hadn't known existed, and it terrified me. I terrified myself.

And the worst of all was that I felt like I had mirrored some of Mars' traits. I hadn't been as expressive of the satisfaction I felt while making Harry pay, while she was extremely vocal about her enjoyment of torture, but even if I had had good intentions, it had been there.

I didn't sleep that night, but I did cry.

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett Turrell, Dom Noct
 
Chapter 165
CHAPTER 165

Looker came again the next morning to get my full story. I had recovered enough to at least talk about it, although I did gloss over the details. They needed my side of what happened during the battle with Harry to be sure what he had said was right, and apparently he was telling them the truth. He was looking at decades in prison if he gave everything he knew about Team Galactic to the government and the International Police.

I still didn't want to know what happened to his leg.

I procrastinated the entire morning, simply watching the hours go by until I finally braced myself enough to answer my texts from the Poketch Company. They had obviously heard of what happened, and I was again in the news now that people knew that the Champion was speaking to me and that I'd been involved in this entire situation. I didn't even have the energy to look at the rumors going around. If people found out what I had done, I couldn't even imagine what they'd say about me.

Melody wanted a full rundown of what happened, but I told her I couldn't tell her anything. She was smart, so she quickly put together that everything I had gone through and heard had basically been put under a gag order by the League and quickly stopped asking. She was a lot less persistent than I thought she would be, especially with how Cynthia had warned me about getting pressured, but maybe the media would be worse.

I was so tired.

In truth, I hadn't been alone in a long while. I had always had at least my friends or my Pokemon with me, but it had been a long time since I'd been by myself. Memories from yesterday kept flashing back every time I closed my eyes. Solaceon wasn't faring much better. Since I had stayed in a hospital room and avoided television, I didn't know much, but people came changed from the entire event. Roland Hunter had told me about how the dark had revealed our true selves for a few moments, and people no doubt learned about themselves, which depending on who they were could have been good or terrifying.

There had been a few deaths too. Suicides and murders. I wondered how the authorities would handle that. People hadn't been in the right state of mind, so there was no way they'd go to prison for it, but I imagined the perpetrators would still be shunned and shamed their entire lives. In a place as small as Solaceon, having killed someone wasn't going to leave them unless they moved.

I wondered how Cynthia could do it. To take a life so easily. I thought back to my first conversation with her in Floaroma, where she had pushed me to continue on my journey. She had told me that fear was never outgrown, but you learned to get used to it, and she had certainly been proven correct.

"I guess killing is the same," I muttered before shuddering.

I hoped— sincerely hoped that I would never have to get used to that. Since it was already later in the morning, I waited until one of the doctors brought me lunch and decided to spend the rest of the day locked up. I was too nervous to go outside. It was like if I did, then I would have to acknowledge that everything I had done was real because I'd need to speak about it to the others.

Unfortunately, life had other ideas for me. I heard a knock and expected it to be Looker or Cynthia, but it was Louis, Maeve and Mira instead. They all looked as haggard as I was, although Mira seemed the least affected. I knew now that it was because she wore her mask extremely well. It was an unhealthy habit.

"Hi Grace," she said. "How are you… holding up?"

I opened my mouth to answer, but I wondered if anything I'd say would make me slip. What would their reactions be if they figured out everything I had done? Maybe Mira wouldn't say anything, but Maeve and Louis?

"I am okay," I lied. The words came out stilted and shaky. I just wanted them to leave. "Have you visited the others?"

"Yes. Since we came out of this unscathed, we felt like we had to," Louis grimaced. "We tried to get Justin to come, but he's… changed. He doesn't really see the point in visiting everyone, or at least that's what he said."

"Is it that bad?" I asked.

"He's like a completely different person," Maeve sighed. "You'll have to see for yourself, but it's not pretty. The doctors want to keep him around for a bit longer to study him anyway. They say no one's been exposed to as much dark type energy as he had in… forever."

"But he'll go back to normal, right? I was told it'd take months?" I asked. It was easy to speak if I could focus on someone else.

"They're not so sure anymore, but we're hoping," Louis said. He was taking this the hardest. Justin was probably his best friend. "I don't know what he'll do after this. He has this idea of traveling alone to grow stronger quicker."

"Adversity breeds skill," Maeve mimicked in Justin's voice. "I don't think it's a good idea, personally."

I sighed and sat back down on the bed to look at the ceiling. The bright lights were hypnotizing after having spent so long in a faded world.

"Do you want to go see Cecilia?" Louis asked. "She asked about you."

"Erm. How is she?"

"Her leg could be in better shape, but it was patched up by the doctors yesterday and she needs rest. Emotionally? She's… not great," he said. "Cynthia came to talk to her and Mira yesterday, and you too, I assume. She wanted to tell you what she went through herself. Are you well enough to walk?"

"The doctors said I need to rest another day still," I lied. "I'll go see her tomorrow."

An uneasy silence settled in. We clearly all didn't want to speak about what happened. It was easier that way. Louis and Maeve left after some small talk, but at the last minute, Mira turned back and stuck around, telling them to go on without her. Her cheerful smile became a face full of grief and sadness.

"Grace. I had to tell the League everything."

"What do you mean?"

"Long story short, one of the Team Galactic Commanders is my uncle. His name is Ernest— Ernie for short, but he calls himself Charon."

I remembered him from Valley Windworks. His faded pink hair mixed with white, his distinct limp, and his Hypno. More importantly, he was the one that had stopped Mars from torturing me, at least for an instant.

"I had this whole plan laid out. I was going to stick around in Veilstone, gather information and bust into their headquarters," she said in a defeated tone. "Then I'd convince him to go back home and we'd be a nice and happy family. That's impossible now. They're going after his head."

"I'm sorry."

"Cynthia wants to speak to you, me and Cecilia about something other than protection, right? She probably wants to use me as bait or something. I don't see another reason."

"I don't know Mira," I exhaled. "That could be the case. She could use me for Mars, although it wouldn't line up for Cecilia. Look, can we just… talk about this later? I'm sorry, I just want to be alone."

Mira bit her lip. "Okay. I'll leave you to it. See you later."

So here I was, alone again, and it felt good too. If they knew my true self, they wouldn't want to be with me. I didn't deserve them.

I wanted my Pokemon with me. I stared at Buddy's Pokeball and grabbed it. He was surely rested enough to come out now.

I released the water type, who happily clicked at me. I had never thought about it, but his vocalizations had changed since evolving. Yet it had taken barely a few days to get used to. Maybe my easier time understanding Pokemon had to do with Princess too? I'd need to ask Cynthia about it.

"Hi Bud," I weakly said. He solidified and brushed up close to me, tickling my cheek. I felt none of the pressure I had felt with my friends with him. He knew what I had done, and I was sure he still loved me either way. There would be no judging here. "I missed you."

I hugged his huge face as best I could, and he closed his eyes. I sniffled and sunk against his soft skin.

"I'm glad everyone made it out okay. I'm sorry I was going to make you guys fight someone we couldn't beat."

If Shiftry hadn't been so scared of fighting, I was sure now he could have ended me. I wasn't sure how powerful he was, since it was hard to get a good grasp when he'd been fighting the Champion, but there was no way I would have even lasted a minute with his mastery of the dark. Jellicent shook his head and let out an echoing vibration. He was worried.

"You know, I've thought about it. What I've done. What you saw in there was how I really am, and I fear that it's what I'll become if I keep going like this. Cold and ruthless," I said. Buddy protested, but I stopped him. "It's not so much about the killing, but what I felt during that moment. There was enjoyment. A sense of fulfillment."

He confusedly tilted his head.

"Right, it's not like you'd understand," I sadly chuckled. He was a Pokemon and a ghost type at that. He didn't see what I had felt as wrong—

I stared up into his eyes. They were quivering.

I hurt him.

"I'm sorry, it's not— I didn't mean it like that."

He relaxed slightly, but I could tell that the words would stick with him for a long time.

Fucking... fuck.

I hated this.



It was nighttime now. A reporter had tried to break into my room, but they apparently had a League Trainer guarding my door, which was strange way to learn about it. The League ran the city now. They had cleaned house, and everyone in a position of authority had been fired and replaced with loyalists. It was a power grab, but I knew what the public did not. I knew that they needed this to keep tabs on the Unown, whatever they were.

Plus, complaints were rather muted. There had never been an event of this scale in Sinnoh since Cynthia had become the Champion. This was so big that the news even made it to the other regions. They called it the 'darkest day'. It was cheesy, but it grabbed people's attention. Apparently, the spire of void Shiftry had been shooting out of his mansion? It had been visible from Celestic, Hearthome and Veilstone. Even Craig Goodwill was in the city to check up on his sister. I didn't know how she had reacted to the whole event, and I didn't have the energy to find out.

"Remember when I told you that I'd like if you found a hobby?" I asked.

Buddy nodded.

"I know it's a strange thing to ask, especially now, but have you given it some thought?"

I felt my phone vibrate and ignored it. He shook his head, but told me that he'd take it more seriously now. Apparently he'd just said that he would to get me off his back before, but it was different now. Even after my hiccup, I felt comfortable with him. It was like I could let go of my worries and pretend nothing had happened. We watched stupid TV shows together, although I could tell that they bored him to no end. He kept asking me how I was doing, and I didn't lie. Not to him.

"I feel like the world is pressing on my shoulders. I feel like I can't breathe properly. I feel like things will never go back to how they were, but other than that, I think I can manage."

The water type chastised me for finishing off my sentence with a bit of humor.

"You know, I've been thinking that I need a bit of time away from the others. Traveling to Veilstone alone sounds… hard now, but I think it'd be for the best. I think I need to learn about myself, and I won't be able to do it unless I'm on my own with you guys."

Buddy's eyes dimmed, but he said nothing.

"It won't be for long. Just a few days. I need to get my thoughts back in order and figure out what it is I've been doing. I mean, collecting the gym badges, becoming the best in the world is a nice goal, but what am I doing?"

He stared at me confusedly.

"It's… hard to explain exactly. It's like, I have a goal clearly lined out in front of me. A nice structure that the Circuit gives me along with every trainer participating, but either through my actions or through circumstances I can't control, I keep getting pulled off the path. So I ask again, what am I doing? This isn't the right way to go about this. I still want to do the Circuit stuff, but I need a way to get stronger faster. To protect myself and others I care about. I wish I could just ask Cynthia to train me, but it's not like the Champion can afford to just go off and play favorites with me, especially in these troubled times. So I want to take some time for myself and figure out what the hell I'm doing."

The ideas were odd and disjointed, but Buddy understood the gist of it. I wasn't going to become like Chase. I was a people person at heart, and I didn't think I'd be able to travel for months at a time without any close friends. But it would only take a week to reach Veilstone.

I could handle a week.

Of course, before I could even think about leaving, I had to wait until Cynthia gave me the okay, and I still had to talk to everyone, but for now, I'd just… rest. The tournament had been supposed to last eighteen days, but we didn't even make it through half of that before everything went wrong. We had time on our hands to figure things out. Plus, Cecilia, Denzel and Pauline had been hurt worse than I was, and they'd need time to be able to leave.

I was being a terrible friend by not visiting, wasn't I?

As the night slowly progressed, I couldn't help but fall asleep. I was too tired. The nightmares came back in full force. They weren't scary experiences, but they just replayed Crobat's screams over and over and over. I watched myself loom over it with a twisted smile.

I woke up drenched in sweat and bumped against Buddy's soft head. He'd been observing me from up close, probably deliberating over waking me up or letting me rest. The sun was just rising. I hadn't gotten that many hours, but some were better than nothing. I stepped inside of the shower and changed my bandages. The doctors had been supposed to do it, but I would have rather done it myself. They had enough on their plates already.

I had thought today would be another day of avoiding my responsibilities and sticking around in my room. The most I expected was a text conversation with Melody about the money they were going to transfer me, and maybe I'd get to pick up some of my Pokemon from the Pokemon Center, but unfortunately, I could only pretend I was the only person in the world for so long before people came to me instead. Denzel and Cecilia came to visit me. I tried to pretend I wasn't there, but it didn't work.

"We just want to talk," Denzel said. "Did we do something wrong?"

"Grace! I know you're in there," Cece exclaimed. "Open the door, please."

Could she walk already? I sunk deeper and deeper into my room, but Buddy stopped and pushed me ahead with a tentacle. Was there anything else I could do to delay this just a bit longer? I bit the inside of my mouth, sighed and held out a trembling hand over the door handle.

The moment I opened it, they both pushed the League Trainer off and barged into the room. Cecilia walked on crutches and appeared to be barely able to put any weight on her left leg. Denzel appeared fine, but I knew concussions took at least a week to heal completely. I expected words, but they just hugged me tightly without any warning. We must have cried for at least two minutes, saying nothing to each other, but everything at the same time. It was strange, how something I had dreaded for so long had ended up relieving me and taking some of the weight off. Not all of it, of course. Not even close. But every bit helped, and I could breathe a little easier.

"I was so worried when the others told me you weren't leaving your room," Cecilia said, wiping a tear off. "I know you're hurting, but… confide in us, or in someone."

"I talked to Buddy," I said. I wanted to ask what had bitten her leg, but I refrained from doing so. Right now, we could simply relax and be happy. "And I'm sorry I was so silent. I needed some time to myself to think."

"It's alright, we understand," Denzel nodded. "Just let us know if you need anything, and we'll be there."

"Come on, guys, you're hurt a lot worse than I was," I said. "I should be saying that. Did you guys see everyone else? How's Pauline?"

"She's kicking up a storm and already out and about. She can't really move her arm that well yet though," he sighed. "I keep telling her to take it easy, but she's been a lot more active than normal. It's how she copes with things."

"So she was discharged, at least," I relaxed. "Louis and the others told me about Justin."

They both winced.

"He's planning on leaving as soon as the League gives him the okay. They want to make sure that he's mentally capable of integrating back into society first and stuff," Denzel said. "We talked for a bit. His goal is to spend as much time in the wild as he can to grow stronger."

Cecilia let out a defeated exhale. "He's… changed. Do you know what he told me? That there was no way he'd make it past the eighth badge, so he'd rather spend the time remaining in this year's Circuit training instead. He plans on battling Maylene and Volkner, then he's going to go to Victory Road preparing for next year instead so that he can for sure reach the Conference and be freed from his father's obligations."

"Victory Road? He'll die there!"

Victory Road wasn't frequented by anyone but the most experienced trainers. Back in the day, only people that made it through there could participate in the Conference, but now it was more of an abandoned tradition. People usually flew to the event, either on their Pokemon or by plane— which strangely enough wasn't frowned upon for this specific instance. That was how dangerous the mountain was.

"Which is why Louis has been trying to convince him otherwise, but there hasn't been any success there yet," Cecilia said. "Do you think you could try to talk to him later?"

"I'll see… I'm exhausted."

They were too. They had deep bags under their eyes, but Cecilia even more so. She was struggling to keep herself together, I could tell.

"Why don't we just do nothing for now?" Denzel asked. "No reporters, no League, no International Police… just us? I can go grab us some food from the cafeteria if you want. They're serving pizza today to cheer people up."

I nodded, and Cecilia agreed. It was a good idea. He quickly left, saying that he'd be back in around ten minutes.

"Do you want my bed? Your leg…"

"I'll sit down," she smiled. I helped her sit and placed her crutches against the wall. "Cynthia will come to speak to us today. She told me earlier."

"She spoke to you again?" I asked, sitting down next to her.

"Grace, I'm not going to lie, it's been difficult. Of course, it's been hard on all of us, but I was a complete and utter mess for the last two days. I won't tell you what I've done, but it wasn't necessary, and it made me realize that I wasn't who I thought I was. She helped me go through this by visiting me once per day and giving me some encouragement. I don't really know if it helped, but at least I can speak now."

"I'm sorry. I should have been there, I—"

"I would have liked that, or at least some texts," she angrily said. "At least a word after the initial chaos when Shiftry died other than 'I'm alive'. But I know you were going through the same thing I was. We probably all were, except Justin, so… I'm angry, but I won't hold it against you. I understand."

"I'm sorry," I said again. "What did Cynthia tell you?"

"A few stories about her childhood. How she met her Gible and the years she spent befriending her before her journey, mostly."

"You should probably wait until Denzel comes back to go into that," I said. "Any idea of what she'll talk to us and Mira about?"

"Something to do with Team Galactic, but you probably guessed that already. More interestingly, she's been watching us."

"Watching?"

"Yeah. Paying attention to our gym battles… I didn't want to say it with Louis, Pauline, Maeve or Just— nevermind, not Justin. I knew they'd get down, so I stayed quiet when talking to them. I know these last few days have been horrible, but you can at least cheer up in the fact that we've caught the Champion's attention."

Just a week ago, I would have squealed at that, but right now I just didn't have the energy to. I did feel a bit of pride, though.

"I didn't think she even cared about low leveled battles like ours. I wonder what it's like to be so strong," I pondered.

"I'd imagine that it feels great."

"I think so too, but I also think that it'd be lonely."

It was strange in a way, how my feelings contradicted my goal. Becoming the best in the world would be an exhilarating journey. The incremental feeling of progress, clawing your way up to the top, but then what? Some people decided to use their strength to protect their regions, like the Champions, while some just became recluses like Red from Kanto. It would take many years for me to even get there, but it was important to think about.

At least I knew to temper my expectations now. Seeing Cynthia stand down a thousand-year-old Pokemon like it was nothing made me realize that even Craig had no chance against her. As much as it hurt, I'd need to lower my goal for this year to just winning the Conference, if I could do even that. Even Craig was an indomitable mountain from my perspective, and Cynthia was one from his.

Denzel came back into the room with lukewarm pizza slices, and we ate in relative silence. I was surprised to see that even he didn't want to watch the news or browse the forums.

"Grace, if it's not too much to ask, how did Cynthia take down Shiftry?" Cecilia asked out of the blue. She'd always idolized her, but she seemed to be even more fascinated by the Champion.

I gulped. "It wasn't even a fight. Spiritomb mentally crippled him and Lucario stabbed him with some kind of Aura Bone attack. If she hadn't spoken to him, it wouldn't even have taken a minute."

"Spiritomb, hm?" Denzel mused. "I don't know much about 'em, but I know that there are only a few in the world. They're manmade apparently."

"So they're like Golett, then," my girlfriend said. "I wish I could ask more about it. I wonder how Cynthia found hers."

"Why?" I asked. I wanted nothing to do with that thing, so to see her so interested in it bothered me. She hadn't heard it like I had. "They're disturbing."

"Nevermind," she shook her head. "But still… what do you think Cynthia was like at our age?"

"A better trainer," I weakly said. "Capable of facing down whatever was in her way. What did she tell you about her childhood?"

I looked to Denzel and expected an excited retort, but his mind was elsewhere.

"Most of Sinnoh's dragons live around Celestic, and her Garchomp was no different. She was apparently using her to battle wild Pokemon since she was six— so years before she even caught it."

"Is that how the story actually goes?" I asked. "I thought it was given to her by her grandma."

"I thought that she hatched it from an egg…" Denzel said.

There were a lot of rumors about how Cynthia got her start, and the mythos around her helped build up her image. It was a lot harder to track down everything a trainer did back then, and the mystery persisted to this day— except for us, since Cece was revealing everything.

"That's probably how she destroyed all of the early gyms in her path," she continued. "If I had to guess Gible was already so strong by the time she started her journey that it just automatically won every battle. By the time gym leaders even realized it, she'd probably knocked out most of their team."

"Getting an early start explains some of it, but she still brought the rest of her Pokemon to that level and became the Champion in a single year. Can you imagine the political upheaval at the time? I would have paid to see it," Denzel said.

"Maybe I should ask my dad about it," I said before freezing. I couldn't speak to him. I didn't want to. "Or not. It's probably a lot less exciting than we'd think."

"Yeah…" he said, chewing on his pizza. "Still, it's nice to learn about. I'd like to know how she learned how to cope with stuff. Other than speaking to Nurse Joys, I mean."

We finished our lunch in silence after that, and they left shortly after. I felt slightly better now that we had spoken, and even though we'd still avoided talking about what happened in Shiftry's domain, there was a semblance of normalcy to eating lunch with friends. Normalcy that was dearly needed these days. I didn't have much to do, so I decided to take the plunge and visit Justin. Unfortunately, he wasn't in his room, and I wasn't about to go outside. Not when I'd get swarmed by dozens of people. The Center's hallways were already suffocating, but being shadowed by a League Trainer and Buddy was enough to keep most people in line. I ended up going downstairs and asking the nurses if any of my Pokemon were ready to go, but only Angel was. Sunshine had been hurt a lot more than I thought, and Sweetheart was still unconscious, although recovering slowly. Princess and Honey would be ready in a few hours, although I was terrified of speaking to both. The former because she'd been influencing me without knowing and she would without a doubt be utterly crushed, and the latter because of that single glance my way before I made him kill—

Kill Crobat.

I wasn't ready. Not for either of them. I went back to my room. My safe haven and my only area of respite. Angel had made a full recovery, and all of his vines had grown back. He greeted me with touch, like usual, but it was more gentle than I'd expect. It was like he was handling me like a delicate flower.

He did the same for Buddy, dragging him around like a balloon. It was nice to have him back.

"Angel, that tickles! I missed you," I chuckled. He happily squinted. "Thank you for everything during the fight. You blocked Weavile's Ice Shards with your body and only one made it through. Without you… I'd be dead."

The grass type nodded with its entire body and gestured with two vines.

"I know," I smiled. "But I still feel guilty. You got so hurt because of me… you're not used to pain. Come here."

I walked up to him and hugged his body as best I could.

"Mommy's very proud of you."

I sighed. I needed to speak to a therapist, didn't I? I still had Amanda's number, although we hadn't spoken in a long time thanks to her giving me the tools to overcome my issues by myself in the past.

With this one?

I wasn't so sure. I wasn't getting better, I was learning to function with a hole in my heart.



The League Trainer knocked on my door in the evening, and she Teleported me to some unknown location with that same Xatu she'd used before. It was a nondescript room that could have been in any home in Solaceon, although it had been converted into an office with multiple desks. Mira and Cecilia were already there, and Cynthia sat at a desk with Aaron and Lucian doing the same. I felt my body tense. Few trainers could boast about having seen an Elite Four member in the flesh, let alone two. They were actually harder to see than the Champion due to them spending the vast majority of their time on the Lily of the Valley island, while Cynthia traveled through the region a lot more than they did. The League Trainer quickly left, and Lucian stared at me, while Aaron stared through me.

I shivered. It was as if hundreds of bugs crawled on my skin at the same time. However, that wasn't it. A hulking Garchomp covered in battle scars loomed over the Champion. It was my first time properly seeing one that wasn't moving all over the place, and they were even worse than I expected. A mass of scales, muscles and teeth larger than my hand. It was twice my size and looked at me like I would look at an ant.

"Enough with the staring," Cynthia ordered as she stared at some papers. She surprisingly wore glasses. Was she nearsighted?

"Who wouldn't be intrigued by some of the trainers who caught your eye?" Aaron smirked. "Want me to handle that for you while you speak?"

"Yes, thank you," the Champion tiredly sighed. He pushed himself on the wheeled chair and snatched the paperwork out of Cynthia's hand. "Lucian?"

"Of course."

The psychic type master did the slightest head nudge, and a one-eyed Alakazam teleported into the room. Lucian's Alakazam was also the source of many rumors. No one knew how he lost his eye, and there were many stories about it. Its eye shone, its spoons bent and the room suddenly grew fuzzy.

"Thank you."

I stared around the room, trying to place what had changed.

"Insulation," Lucian explained. "No one will be able to hear your conversation."

"Abel did the same thing…" Cecilia muttered, her eyes still on Garchomp.

"Let us speak then," Cynthia said, taking off her glasses. "You three have one common link…"

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett Turrell, Dom Noct
 
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Chapter 166
CHAPTER 166

"You three have one common link, and that is your association to Team Galactic. Mira through Charon, Cecilia through Abel, and Grace through Mars."

Unwilling to interrupt the Champion mid-sentence, Cecilia paused and waited to see if Cynthia was done.

"Abel's joined?" She asked.

"All but in name. He's begun routinely working with them in Veilstone, and his Pokemon team is built to avoid capture, so getting a hold of him is impossible. We assume that he's getting paid a lot for his work, but that's simply semantics."

"I thought that he wanted nothing to do with her anymore? His reasoning made sense." I jumped in.

Cynthia smirked and twirled her pencil. "Cecilia's case is less straightforward than yours. People like Abel are tricky, Grace. You'll learn about them and how they function, think that you can predict their actions, and even think that you could use that to your advantage to work with him," she shrugged. "But at the end of the day, he remains an evil criminal whose sense of honor exists only as a front and is second to his greed. The moment Team Galactic offers them money to hit any of you, he will accept without a second thought."

She paused again, waiting to see if we had anything to add. No one did.

"The League is sure that you three will be targeted at some point in the future, which is why we're going to grant you protection along with your friends, but that isn't it. In case— and this isn't guaranteed, but in case this protection fails, since we know that you will be specific targets, the government considers you to be high-priority individuals. That means that if anything ever happens to you, we will prioritize your safety above all else thanks to how useful you may be to us in the future— if you'll excuse the term. I like to be straightforward with people when I'm giving them bad news."

"This is bad news?" Mira asked with a sigh. "Aren't you telling us that we're going to be treated like queens? No one's going to be able to touch a hair on our heads."

"It might look that way right now, but trust me, it is not," Cynthia said. "I'm a realist, but we'll need to at least keep the rules in mind. People will cry foul if we prioritize you and no one else. That means that you'll need to join the League Trainer Internship Program so we can justify this. People won't bat an eye if we're rescuing one of our own."

"No choice in the matter, huh?" Mira sighed.

"No. Let me explain to you what the program implies. There's a rigorous application process, but we can just skip over all of that and say you've made it in. No one but the League has access to the tests anyway, and I have a feeling you'd all manage to pass the knowledge section, although barely. The League knows that tying down young trainers is impossible, so the program's a lot looser than what it sounds like. De facto, it's a waiting list for an actual job at the League, but we don't expect you to go that far. In fact, you won't have to do much of anything. Normally, there would be a few opportunities to do some jobs to increase your chance of getting a position at the League, but that's not what you're after."

I frowned. "So why is it bad if we don't have to do anything?"

"The increased publicity, the theories, the noise will probably be crushing for all of you, especially with how young you are. There will be complaints of preferential treatment— you'd be the first time we put any first years in the program, let alone people with only four badges. People will talk down your achievements… it's a lot, especially for children your age."

"Whatever, I don't care," Mira shrugged.

"Neither do I," Cecilia said.

Cynthia stared at me and waited for my answer. It wasn't like I was able to say no anyway, but was she testing me? My conviction? It was hard not to overthink my words when the Champion was looking right into my eyes.

"Sure," I hesitantly said.

"Welcome to the League!" Aaron yelled, not even looking up from his papers. "Looking forward to working with you."

Cynthia rolled her eyes— which surprised me. I was a lot more used to her stoic, smiling self. She pulled out three pieces of paper from a drawer inside her desk and asked us to sign, which Mira did right away. Cecilia and I read it carefully though, but it was pretty straightforward and was exactly what Cynthia had told us. We were essentially a part of the League, but not really? It was weird.

"You'll get a few benefits, the biggest of which being you'll get to go past the six Pokemon limit early. You'll still have to go through an inspection and get your license for it, but I assume trainers of your caliber will pass without an issue. Grace, since you already have six, you might want to get yours at Veilstone just to get it over with."

I nodded. I knew I wanted a psychic, but it was probably time to really try to figure out which one I wanted. I wasn't going to rush for a seventh member right away. I didn't even know if I'd have one by the time the Conference happened. I wanted something that could Teleport, but Abra, Natu, Ralts, Drowzee… none of the usual candidates called to me.

"You'll get paid, although the salary is rather meager. It is an internship after all," she said. "Twenty-thousand per month. Nothing compared to what you two are used to," she finished, staring at me and Cecilia.

"Champion Cynthia, if I may ask a question," Cecilia said. "About your Spiritomb—"

"You want one. I'm afraid that's impossible, at least for the time being," Cynthia interrupted. "Talk to me again when your team is good enough to match Aaron here. You need an extremely high level of mental fortitude to be able to handle one."

My eyes snapped to Cecilia and I restrained a sigh. She did want one after all, and Cynthia hadn't even refused! Did that mean she knew of one's location? Denzel said that there were only a limited number.

"Are you calling me weak?" The bug type specialist laughed.

"You are the weakest of the Elite Four, and that is a fact." Lucian shrugged.

"I can still give you a run for your money, you smug bastard."

"Enough with the joking around, Aaron," Cynthia chided. "Now you'll be able to contact me, but understand that this is only to be used in emergencies," Cynthia continued. "Keep your journey going. Grow and learn, but most importantly, speak to someone about your anguish. We'll actually meet one last time in a day or two— Grace, I'll see you later today."

"Wait. If we're talking about Pokemon we might want and I'm a part of your fancy League, what can you do about a Porygon for me?" Mira asked. "Uncle Ernie used to be fascinated by them, and I've wanted one since I was a kid."

"You're not supposed to just be given Pokemon," Lucian frowned. "It would go against precedent. Cynthia?"

She nodded. "You're right. I won't be able to help you with that, but I've heard they sell them at the game corner at Veilstone, if you really want to train one. Either way, I believe our job here is done?"

Unfortunately, I didn't have a question regarding a rare Pokemon, so we all nodded and Alicia's Xatu brought us back to the Pokemon Center's entrance.

"Well, I have therapy after this, so I'll see you girls later," Mira said.

"Oh, you're already speaking to someone?" I asked.

"Maeve forced me to. It is what it is. It's not the first time I've tried and I doubt it'll change much," she shrugged.

She left soon after that, leaving only me and Cecilia. I wanted to fight her on her interest with Spiritomb, but I really had no right to do so. I knew that she wasn't the kind to simply change her mind or give up on a choice when she'd made it, and she seemed fascinated by the ghost. I used the opportunity to finally pick up Princess and Honey, although I wasn't going to release Togetic until Cynthia gave me the okay. At least that was the excuse I was going with. The truth was, I was scared of telling her that she'd influenced me all these months, and using Cynthia's warning as an excuse made me feel a lot better.

I could only handle one disaster at a time. Honey would be next. Cecilia's Pokemon hadn't been hurt at all during her fight, so she didn't have to pick up anyone. Still, she opted to go to her room and rest her leg. Standing for so long had hurt her a lot. I did the same and released Angel and Buddy. They helped me brace myself for Honey's return. It would be the first time I saw him since the dark's disappearance. Would he hate me? See me differently? Would things stay the same?

I couldn't delay any longer. I let him out of his Pokeball, and he stared into my eyes. He was looking for something.

We stood still for what seemed like an eternity. Then he hugged me so tight I thought I'd suffocate. Angel excitedly joined in on the hug.

He'd been seeing if I regretted my actions. I knew from one look into his eyes that he sure did, but the fault rested on me. I gave the final order.

"You're a good kid," I said. "I—It's my fault for making you do it."

The electric type sniffled and I felt hot tears on my neck. Instead of judging me like I thought he'd do, he judged himself most of all.

Like he always did.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."



"Ms. Pastel, the Champion is ready to see you," Alicia said as I let her in. I nodded and Teleported again, this time on a field that I easily recognized as the Hunters' land— or the League's now. Cynthia sat in the grass in a position a lot less elegant than I expected. Her legs were splayed out and she supported herself with her hands.

Garchomp was lying down at her side, more docile than I expected the huge dragon to be. It was almost like she was… purring somehow, although the noises still shook me. Alicia saluted and Teleported away. That Xatu was working awfully hard these days. Powerful Pokemon or not, Teleporting such long distances and carrying people with them was exhausting for psychics.

"What are they going to do with the Hunters and their business?" I asked right away.

"Oh, the family members will slowly be rehabilitated, but it'll be difficult. Their entire lives have been a lie, and it'll take years for them to go back to normal," Cynthia said, the wind blowing her hair. Even though I considered myself good at reading people, I had no idea what she was thinking. "Believe it or not, we don't have the expertise they do in regards to Pokemon breeding, and we can't exactly hire them like we did like the Bianchi's lower-leveled employees, so the business will probably collapse. Solaceon will have to start from zero."

"All those Pokemon will lose their homes," I sighed. It was terribly sad, in a way. The Hunters had been evil, but I couldn't deny that they gave all of their Pokemon good living environments. "Oh well."

At least maybe Solaceon might finally be able to expand in size now, but good luck finding anyone wanting to move here after what happened.

"How are you holding up, Grace?"

"I'm okay. Once we get past this type energy hurdle, I'll feel twice as good," I said. "If you don't mind me asking, how did you get over it? Your first… murder."

The Champion hesitated and began stroking Garchomp's head. "I never really got over it. I just learned to deal with it. The situation was a lot less clearcut than yours, let me tell you."

"I won't ask for details," I said. "Is it time then? For Togekiss."

Cynthia nodded and released the fairy type, who happily chirped at Garchomp. The ground type rolled to her side, shaking the floor, and Togekiss rubbed her belly with her fluffy wing. I was surprised to see that a fairy type and a dragon type got along so well, considering how Princess could barely tolerate Sunshine's presence. Cynthia's Togekiss was a majestic specimen, and just staring at it made me smile. I couldn't possibly get angry at that cute face, and it was as if my level of anguish was lower somehow.

"He was my fourth Pokemon," Cynthia said. "Lucario was my second."

"Did you hatch him?" I asked. "If I may ask!"

"I did. My grandmother gave me the egg when I left on my journey, and he hatched while I was on my way to Sunyshore."

So that meant that he also saw Cynthia as his mother then.

"Before you release your Togetic, I have to tell you something. She's probably the most aggressive one I've ever seen, and that's saying something."

"Princess isn't aggressive—"

"Oh, but she is," Cynthia interrupted. "Beyond what is normal. I believe that you were both… influencing each other somewhat, pulling each other deeper and deeper toward the ways of the most aggressive fairies. It was like a feedback loop. Your Togetic would make you act more fairy-like, and then she'd mimic you and act more fairy-like, and so on and so forth."

"But Princess is so sweet… I don't get it. Sure, she has her quirks and she's overprotective, but…"

"I know these things, Grace. Trust me."

"I guess," I bit my lip. "But does that mean you've been watching me?"

"A little in my free time, along with a few in your orbit. I've been looking at you, Lauren Goodwill, Mira, Cecilia, Denzel and Chase Karlson, really."

So Chase too? I wondered how he was doing. In all of this, I had completely forgotten about his quest to find his grandparents. Hopefully he was fine, although he hadn't sent a message yet.

"There isn't anything that unique about us," I shrugged. "You were better."

"I was. But it's not so much about skill, but also about your mindset and the way you react when things go wrong," Cynthia said. "Regardless, let's get back on topic. Just like you, even when we stop Togetic from leaking fairy type energy, she'll stay just as aggressive as she's been, which could be seen as a good or a bad thing."

"Prrrri!" Togekiss chimed in. I was surprised at his deeper voice— although not by much.

"Okay, we'll start," Cynthia said.

"Wait! I actually have another question before we do. My friends have often told me that I'm way too good at understanding my Pokemon. Could this type energy stuff have something to do with it?"

"Describe 'way too good'."

"I mean full-on conversations. Like I'm talking to a human."

"At your age? No amount of type energy would have made you able to do that," the Champion said. "I can do it because I've been with my Pokemon for more than two decades, but I don't have an answer for you, I'm afraid."

"Okay," I grumbled as I grabbed Togetic's Pokeball. If the Champion didn't know about it, then chances were I'd never figure it out.

I released Princess, who made a mad dash toward me and tackled me into a hug. Even after worrying so much, my worries couldn't help but melt away at the sight of my daughter. I held her tightly and checked her neck. Aside from some slight faded marks that could only be seen if I squinted really hard, it was as good as new.

Princess turned to Garchomp, and I felt her love evaporate. The dragon opened an amused eye toward her, but she was still relaxed. It wasn't like we were capable of hurting her in any way, shape or form. None of our attacks could penetrate her hard scales, and I assumed Dazzling Gleam would only tickle her. Togekiss worriedly chirped at Togetic, but she couldn't stop staring.

"Garchomp's a friend," I said. "It's okay."

"The fact that your Togetic wants to fight my strongest proves my point," Cynthia smirked. "Fairy or not, that isn't normal. I'll let you explain the circumstances to her."

The Champion stood and gave us some space. Togekiss happily flew in the air quicker than Cece's Talonflame, and I had a feeling that it was going at a leisurely pace. Garchomp stood tall next to Cynthia, and they spoke about something I couldn't hear.

"Listen, Princess… I don't know how to tell you this, but I have to. Cynthia says you've been releasing fairy type energy on accident, and it's been changing me."

The fairy type flinched as if she'd been struck. I knew immediately that Cynthia had been correct and that she had no idea what she'd been doing.

"It's not your fault. You couldn't control it, and I changed you too. We're both a little broken," I chuckled sadly. "And we won't go back to how it was before."

Princess began to sob and repeatedly apologize, putting herself down and taking all of the blame for our changes.

"You're not the only one at fault. I could have caught it earlier," I shook my head. "It's a part of who we are now, and that's okay. I don't hold it against you. Come here."

I kissed her forehead, and we stood in silence for a while. I desperately tried not to cry, but I couldn't hold it. I wanted to show her that I was strong and tell her with a smile on my face that everything would be alright, but it was too much.

I heard Cynthia's steps behind me.

"My Togekiss will teach you how to hold it back, little one," she said. Before she was even done gesturing with her hand, Togekiss landed next to us, but there was no sound when he hit the ground. The flying type led Princess away, leaving me, Cynthia and her Garchomp. "It should take from a few minutes to a few hours."

"That short?"

"I don't know the specifics, but the answer should be extremely obvious when she figures it out. It could be anything, really."

"Oh. Okay."

"Thinking of evolving her soon?" The Champion asked.

"As soon as I get the money," I shrugged. "Which… should be in two months now that I got my bonus from the Poketch Company."

"It'll be interesting to see what she turns into. Even if they do get overprotective when their trainers are harmed, Togekiss are meant to be spreaders of happiness and to stop conflicts," Cynthia said before her lip twitched upward. "I haven't seen one like yours yet."

I stared at Princess, who had been reduced a stuttering mess in front of Cynthia's Togekiss. It must have been strange to be in front of not only her future form, but the most powerful one in the world. Cynthia's Togekiss was known to be her second fastest Pokemon, and he was able to hit opponents with such a variety of moves— custom, known, and combinations— that he was impossible to plan against. Not only that, but he could use them better than their actual types. When it used Shock Wave, for example, it was more powerful than an electric type's.

"She'll be okay," I said.

"Her versatility with Ancient Power is quite impressive for a Pokemon her age. When I was just starting out, I used Togekiss with more of a brute-force angle. I find it fascinating how no two trainers will train a Pokemon of the same species the same way."

"What about your Roserade?" I asked. "Denzel uses Roselia's poison to win battles."

"Ah, I've seen a few of his battles. Mine used to specialize in spore attacks. She can do everything now though."

I swallowed. It was terrifying how nonchalantly she'd said that.

"Can I ask you for advice?"

"This is probably the only time you'll get me to yourself, so go ahead."

"I mean it's not really advice," I corrected. "My friends asked you for Pokemon help, right? I want a psychic type that can Teleport, but I want…"

"Something unique?" She smiled. "It's okay to be picky, especially when you'll be spending the rest of your life with your companions. As far as unique teleporters go… you could go with either Beheeyem or Claydol, but finding those can be tough. Beheeyem are mostly found in Unova and Hoenn, although finding one here wouldn't be unheard of. For Claydol, you'd have more luck, but you have to look for the remains of ancient civilizations. I wanted one when I was younger. Ancient history fascinates me."

My eyes widened. "That's— that's great, thank you!" I exclaimed. I wasn't going to find either of those any time soon, but it felt good to have something. "And uh, while we're here, could I have training advice?"

The Champion laughed. "There it is. I was wondering when it'd come up. Cecilia and Mira already asked me the same thing."

"Well, you're the best trainer in the region… sorry if I wasn't supposed to ask."

"I'll tell you what I told them. When I was your age, I punched up instead of down or sideways."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that I battled trainers I had no hopes of winning against to learn," Cynthia said. "I'd go and find trainers with five badges when I had two, eight when I had six, you get the gist. Most of the time, I lost."

"You lost? I thought that—"

"That I never lost in my career? Come on, I'm not perfect. I've lost plenty, although it has been more than two decades…"

Was that bragging? I was too scared to offend her to ask.

"Battling people you have no hopes of winning against will expose your weaknesses faster than you'd be able to find them," the Champion said. "I believe Lauren Goodwill has done it a few times."

I nodded, absorbing each one of her words and taking it to heart. That was another thing added to the list when I got to Veilstone. The Poketch Company would probably hate it though. Maybe I could set up something private, although the possibility of 'exposing' me would probably make that impossibly hard.

"Can I battle you then?" I asked out of the blue.

"No, you cannot. There's punching up, and then there's punching at me. You would learn nothing from it, and most of my team hates to handle opponents with kid gloves. Garchomp over here might hold back enough, but even so, there isn't much point when it wouldn't even be a competition."

The dragon grunted, which sounded more like an aggressive snarl, but I couldn't tell if she was disagreeing or agreeing with her.

"You're sweet even if you like pretending not to be," Cynthia gently told her. "It was a fun idea though. Try to go for people with a few more badges than you first. You have to at least have a chance to learn."

"I will. Uh, thank you."

"Plus, the optics of me helping a trainer ahead of the Conference would be terrible. I can't look like I'm playing favorites."

I nodded. That was probably going too far. We were already going to be accused of favoritism due to being put in the League Trainer Internship Program, but having the Champion train me was an order of magnitude above that. They were meant to be impartial figures that didn't get involved in the Circuit, so we were already treading new ground. Me being able to get seven Pokemon before my eight gym badge was already pushing it.

Though I wasn't even sure I'd end up doing that.

I chuckled when Togetic's wings beat so fast that she knocked herself off balance and fell over. It'd be interesting to know what the exact problem was, but the concept was probably too abstract for me to grasp, and I couldn't understand Cynthia's Togekiss anyway. From the way they were behaving, it seemed to be going well at least.

"Say, Shiftry had a… job, right?" I asked, skirting around the Unown. "But it was only slightly older than a thousand years old. What came before him?"

What had contained the Unown beforehand?

"Oh, we don't know. Shiftry never told us, probably because he knew that we wouldn't stop him if we couldn't replace him, and Solaceon's recorded history doesn't know that far aside from the Lost Tower. Did you stop by on your way there?"

"Yes," I blanched.

"Ah. You must have met Ruth and Mathilda then. They helped me deal with Spiritomb when I'd just caught them," Cynthia fondly recalled. "Although Ruth did try to kill me beforehand."

"She tried that on us too… Mathilda defended us."

"She did? She changes quickly for a ghost," she said. "Either way, Shiftry made itself useful to the League for generations, but things changed when I came to power. He thought a young, inexperienced child like I was wouldn't fight back, but I did. He had a mastery of dark type energy second to none, but he was weak. His fighting instincts were dull."

"And you're sure the replacement will work…?"

"Let us worry about that," she smiled. That was probably confidential then. "You surprise me, Grace."

"In a good way?" I hopefully asked.

"Rare are the people that'll just ask me classified information to my face."

"I'm—uh."

Crap.

"I find it amusing," she smiled. She opened her mouth, but her phone rang and she quickly answered. "Yes… yes, I'm on my way."

She hung up and stared at me.

"Duty calls, I'm afraid. I'll have to cut this short."

"What about Princess?"

"Togekiss can stay," Cynthia said. She climbed on Garchomp's back and tightly grabbed onto the spikes on its forearms. "I will see you and your group one last time before you leave. Send Alicia a message when you're done and she will come to pick you up."

"Okay—"

Garchomp jumped and disappeared into the sky, sending me stumbling backwards into the grass. When I stood back up, she was already a dot in the horizon.

How did she hold onto Garchomp without falling? Craig was right, she really was crazy. It was only now that I realized that I had just had a conversation with the Champion without falling on my face and making a fool of myself, except when I'd asked to battle her. Now that she'd left, I got the same feeling of adrenaline leaving my body after a fight, even though we'd only been talking.

I hesitantly stepped toward Togekiss and Togetic, but Cynthia's Pokemon waved a wing at me, telling me to stand back. She might have still been leaking, so I supposed he wanted to protect me.

I really wanted to talk to him though. I knew Togekiss were large enough to fly on, but seeing one really cemented how large they were to me. Togekiss was taller than me while simply standing, and he was big enough to fit two of me. I was pretty sure he was bigger than usual though, so Princess would probably end up being slightly smaller when she evolved. After twenty more minutes, the flying type waved me over and allowed me to get closer.

"Is it… over?"

Togekiss nodded and let out a cute chirp, while Princess embarrassingly stared to the side. I couldn't tell if she had a crush or if she still felt too responsible to face me, but it might have been a bit of both. I dragged her into my arms and stroked her head.

"Thank you for all the help," I nodded. "Tell Cynthia that I… appreciate everything she's done."

Togekiss happily nodded, and I could have sworn I felt my worries disappear. For a moment, it was as if nothing had happened the last few days and everything was back to normal. It was bliss.

And the feeling left as fast as it came. Togekiss took off, and unlike Garchomp, he was completely silent and caused no disturbance.

Before I realized it, I couldn't see him with the naked eye.

Garchomp could go faster still.

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett Turrell, Dom Noct
 
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Chapter 167
CHAPTER 167

Alicia brought me back to the Pokemon Center as soon as I messaged her, and her Xatu wasn't even showing a single sign of tiredness. They were known to be good at hiding emotion and being expressionless, but I was still incredibly impressed. It made me want to start looking up information about Claydol or Beheeyem, but there were more pressing matters to attend to first.

The group was going to have its first meeting to discuss future options tonight. I knew I had said that I'd try to see Justin first, but he seemed to always be out these days doing who knows what, and it was impossible to just get him alone, especially due to the Pokemon Center being my safe haven away from reporters. I didn't particularly feel like traveling outside, especially when the discussion about me was growing instead of shrinking. I didn't know if it was leaked or shown to the public, but people knew I was in the League Trainer Internship Program now.

I took refuge back in my room. Princess was back to sculpting small statues of herself with some mud she had brought from the outside. Buddy kept to her side, constantly asking if her neck felt better. Honey spoke to Angel as he leaned against a wall with his arms crossed, and even though he didn't understand much of it, the grass type attentively listened to his tirade against a TV show playing that wasn't up to his standards. I felt… better today. We were still missing Sweetheart and Sunshine, but they would probably be ready tomorrow, and then the family would finally be whole again. I was slightly anxious about getting Pupitar used to her new body, but most of all, I wondered what my status with Sunshine was. We had finished our deal, but if I had to guess, he would probably be slightly pissed at me for not letting him kill Harry Rodriguez. I knew from his reaction to the dark's collapse that he didn't care whatsoever about his actions, and to be honest, I was fine with that. I respected him too much to go on a tirade about how revenge was wrong. I'd done the same with Sweetheart, after all.

I just hoped he wouldn't hold me to that standard.

His pride had probably been bruised too, with how Cynthia had easily dealt with Shiftry, but that might have been good for him long-term. It was important for Turtonator to see that he wasn't anywhere close to his maximum potential, and even though I didn't expect him to immediately let me use him like any of my other Pokemon, I was sure training was at least on the table now. His battle with Weavile had shown his rust, and I didn't think that he'd be willing to go for months without another battle.

Cynthia had called Shiftry's fighting instincts dull. I was sure that was something he wanted to avoid at all costs.

As the hours passed, Honey forced me to contact Amanda and set up a meeting. He wasn't sure what therapy even did other than it was with the woman that had made me feel better in the past, so he wanted to force me to do it again. I felt a lot more comfortable with her than anyone else, even if it had been a while. I couldn't imagine speaking to a stranger about this at this point, and the distance between us made it a lot easier to just dump all of my problems onto her. I knew none of the Nurse Joys would judge me for what I did, and it did get a fraction easier each day somehow, but talking to someone half a region away from me would be more manageable than doing it with someone right here. It felt too personal.

Amanda was glad to hear from me and set up a meeting tomorrow morning— a lot sooner than I expected. Ugh.

The meeting would take place in Denzel's room, and I opted to be a little early. Maybe I'd catch Pauline and be able to speak to her alone since I hadn't seen her in days. She'd probably give me shit for it, but I deserved it at this point. Instead, I was surprised to see that a lot of people were already there. Only Justin, Cecilia, and Mira were missing. My eyes settled on Pauline, who glared at me with her usual intensity. It had been a while since she looked at me like that. Since before we became friends, in fact. Before our trip through Eterna Forest, when we'd both hated each other's guts, but we had learned to begrudgingly respect each other for not succumbing under pressure or danger. People offered their normal greetings, but she just stared.

"Look at that. Nice to finally see you," Pauline said with obvious sarcasm.

"Sorry for dropping off the face of the earth," I sighed. "I had a lot on my mind. Still do."

"Everyone did, and yet we still contacted each other," she immediately replied. "Emi's been asking about you, by the way. You should send her a message to tell her you're okay."

"I will."

Arceus, it was weird to be like this again. It was like I was walking on eggshells around her, but I had to remember that she was just hurt, and when someone hurt Pauline, she hit back. I sat down in an extra chair that Denzel somehow brought to his room, and he quickly joined me.

"I know you have a lot on your mind, but congratulations on that League Internship thing," he said. "I'll try to get Pauline to back off. We all have different ways of dealing with this shit, she's just hurt."

"I know. You don't need to talk to her. I'll clear the air before we leave," I said before starting to whisper. "Cynthia's been looking at you too, by the way. The Internship thing has nothing to do with our skills as trainers."

He blushed, not expecting me to see through his disappointment. I couldn't go into detail as to why we'd been chosen, but I didn't want him to feel down at the matter. Cecilia arrived a few minutes later along with Slowking, still walking on those crutches, and Justin arrived at the exact time we agreed on the moment the clock hit five. He'd always been pale, but he was as white as a sheet of paper, and there was no emotion behind his eyes at all. He didn't even look in my direction.

His condition was even worse than I thought.

"Justin," I tried.

"Ah. Grace, you're done ignoring the realities of the world," he said. His tone reminded me of Roland. "It was smart of you to join us. I thought that you wouldn't."

"I know this is important," I said. "How have you been holding up?"

"I am perfectly fine, and I finally have a plan laid out in front of me. My mind has never felt so clear."

"If clear mind means killing yourself, then sure," Pauline said. "I've already told you I won't let you do that Victory Road shit."

"You won't be able to stop me. That would be breaking the law, and even if you are foolish, you wouldn't go that far—"

"Enough," Denzel snapped. "If you're going to fight, don't do it here."

Mira ended up being ten minutes late, but she looked tired as hell. I didn't know if it was from staying up late or the situation, but it was probably both. She nonchalantly apologized for her tardiness and sat next to Maeve.

"Maeve and Mira, you guys aren't used to this, but we do one of these every time we need to prepare to leave a city," Denzel stood up. "And this time is no different. We don't know when the League will give us the approval to leave, but they will sometime soon, and I know people have different plans."

The boy took a deep breath.

"So let's hear them out."

"I will be journeying to Veilstone alone, but I've already said that," Justin immediately declared. "Then onto Sunyshore, but that can wait. I will need to fill my roster as soon as I reach Veilstone."

Pauline clicked her tongue and started to anxiously tap her foot on the floor. "Whatever, man."

Denzel looked to Louis, who gave him a discreet nod.

"Justin, traveling on your own to Veilstone and Sunyshore could be fine thanks to the route being kept relatively clear, but this Victory Road idea—"

"Is the quickest way for me to improve. I have analyzed the risks, and they are outweighed by the rewards. Your concern is appreciated, Louis."

The blonde man sighed. "Very well. I'll just keep traveling with Maeve and Mira, if they're fine with it?"

"Sure thing," Maeve said.

"If you think I'm going to let you get to Victory Road, I've got a nice beach house in Oreburgh to sell you," Pauline said. "I'll stick with the main group… for now."

My eyes widened slightly. A part of me had almost expected her to chase Justin and force him to travel with her, but maybe she was hoping to give him space. If he slowly grew back to normal within the next few months like the doctors hoped, then maybe the dark's influence will have lessened by the time he made it to Sunyshore and he'd get a new perspective on things. The mountain would make those Rhydon we barely managed to take down at the edges of Mount Coronet look like child's play. I was sure that many Pokemon like the Rhyperior that had killed Sweetheart's mom lay there, and they wouldn't hesitate to kill anyone in their path with how aggressive they were.

I would agree with the wait-and-see approach for now. With some luck, he'd be manageable in a month.

Denzel breathed out a relieved sigh. "Okay, so we're good then? Splitting into three groups?"

My heart drummed against my chest, and I bit my tongue. It was now or never.

"Wait, you didn't ask me," I said.

"Huh?"

"I want to travel to Veilstone alone."

"What?" Cecilia muttered. I could almost see her heart sink, and it instantly made me reconsider. "Why?"

"It's just… I feel like it'll be good for me to spend some time to myself. It's only seven days," I reassured her. "Then I'll join the group again."

"What if you get attacked by Team Galactic?"

"They won't attack me in a route."

"You don't know that! Didn't you hear what Cynthia—"

She cut herself off and rapidly blinked.

"Do you want me to come?" Denzel asked. "I'm serious."

"No. This is going to be my alone time. I need it."

"You've never done this before. Are you sure everything's okay?" He continued. "Do you need to talk to someone? Are you feeling worse?"

"It's just a week," I reiterated a bit stronger. "I can handle myself for a week. The sky isn't falling."

"You've never traveled alone before," Pauline said, her anger almost forgotten.

"I know. Listen, just trust me on this, okay? When we all get to Veilstone, I'll rejoin the group. I just need some time to focus on my Pokemon and myself."

"Okay," Denzel said, letting out a trembling, defeated exhale.

"Grace… can I please come?" Cecilia asked. She looked like her entire world was collapsing. "It'll be just us two. Shouldn't that be fine?"

I almost broke at that moment. I almost said yes.

"I know it hurts," I said. "But we'll be okay."

It was at that moment that I realized that from her perspective, we'd never been apart for more than a few days, and that was during that whole Mount Coronet rescue mission. It was the same for Denzel, although he was taking it slightly better than she was. I was being selfish— to both of them, but those seven days to myself? I needed them dearly. Amanda had told me long ago that I tended to focus on my friends' problems first and mine second. If I could just get a bit of time alone, I felt like I'd be able to get back on my feet a lot quicker and figure out a lot more about myself.

Of course, that meant that I was hurting the people I loved in the process. Everyone other than Justin looked somewhat defeated, although some were worse than others. Mira's expression had barely changed. Her thoughts lay elsewhere.

"Well I guess I should talk about route 210 and 215, then," Denzel continued. "The first half of 210 is safe as long as you stay out of the tall grass. It's…"

He paused and scratched his forehead. His right fist clenched.

"A lot taller than you're used to. Taller than me, and it's easy to get lost in it or get jumped by a Pokemon, so stay out of it. You should probably stop by the Café Cabin before heading into route 215. They function like an inn too, so you could buy a room there if you need to rest. Making it through route 210 will probably only take two days."

"How's route 215?" Maeve asked.

"Wet. It almost always rains there, so you'll need to stay dry, especially in the cold. The environment will be worse than the wild Pokemon, but as long as you stick to the route, you should be fine. You'll have to do some climbing too, but nothing too bad."

"Climbing while it's raining," Mira sighed. "Great."

"After four to six days there— and it really depends on the weather— you'll have made it to Veilstone. From there on out, the routes will be smooth sailing, assuming none of you want to go through 212 for whatever reason."

"Thanks for the help," I said.

With the rain Denzel had warned us about, I'd probably have to get a raincoat. It had actually rained so little since the start of our journey that it was somewhat surprising. Sinnoh wasn't exactly known for its humidity like Hoenn, but we weren't a dry region either, so we had gotten particularly lucky on that front. After Justin asked about a dozen questions about the route and the Pokemon found there, the meeting slowly dissolved.

But things still didn't feel right. I needed to set things straight with Cecilia, or I felt like we wouldn't be able to leave on good terms. Things had already been somewhat frosty due to me ghosting her, and now I was practically breaking her heart by traveling alone. At first, I wanted to wait for her outside the door, but I ended up just standing awkwardly in front of her until she just left.

Be strong, I told myself. I took a step forward, placing a hand on her shoulder. She stopped and turned toward me.

"Can we talk?" I asked. "Anywhere's fine."

She sniffled. "I don't know. It'll hurt more when you leave."

"Please. We need to clear the air or… or something. I've been a terrible girlfriend these last few days, and I'm so—"

Noise from trainers walking through the halls interrupted me. We'd caught their eye, and they were just staring and recording. I clicked my tongue and released Buddy out of his Pokeball. A single, hate-filled glare was enough to scare them off. I didn't care about my reputation. Not when the girl I loved needed me.

"Let's just go to your room. Please."

Cecilia hesitantly nodded. I'd done it. I'd manage to recover from the brink. I felt like if she had said no just now, our relationship would have been irreparably damaged. Either I would have felt forced to give up on traveling alone and been bitter about it, or I would have gone anyway without clearing the air. Both situations would have been disastrous.

Cecilia struggled to grab her room key out of her pocket, so I did and opened her door for her, letting her in. Slowking could have done it, but it was almost like he wanted me to. She sat down and looked down at the floor. The evening sun shone on her dark skin and dark brown hair. My mouth suddenly felt very dry.

"Cece…" I choked. How did I want to start this? I didn't want to— I couldn't fuck up. "I did things that I'm not proud of, and I thought that I was a monster for a good while. I thought that if I talked to you and you saw through me, then you wouldn't— you wouldn't like me anymore."

She bit her lip.

"And I know now that you were also dealing with the same issue, and that didn't keep you from visiting or trying to contact me, but at the time, I thought that it was just me," I said. "I'm going to be honest with you… I'm going to air it all out."

I took a deep, trembling breath.

"I killed two Pokemon and tortured someone for information," I said. "I kept stepping on the wound on his leg, and I felt good while doing so. I'm not sure, but I think that... I think that he'll never be able to walk properly again. That was why I was scared… I'm sorry. I screwed up, but I need some time to figure things out. My Pokemon are all fucked up too, and if I'm not alone, I don't think I'll have the time to focus on them and get them back on track."

"I killed a man, Grace. I burned him to death."

I felt my stomach drop. That had come out of nowhere.

"Talonflame's Heatwave burned him, and I just watched. One word from me, and he would have lived. He was a victim, Grace. A victim of Shiftry's brainwashing. And he was in no position to pose a threat to me. I killed him anyway and felt nothing. It was like I was taking out the trash."

"I…"

The positions were reversed now. She was the one expecting judgment from me. I looked to the depths of my heart and tried to find it within me to berate her, but knowing what Shiftry's darkness had done to me, I couldn't justify doing so. I understood that it was the same for both of us now.

We both felt sorry for each other.

"We've both done things we regret," she muttered. "But it feels like you're slowly slipping away from us. First it's one week, but what if it ends up being more, like Louis? He was supposed to come back and travel with us, but he's splitting from the group again. What if you end up doing the same? What if you find a new group… and then just leave us. Then we'd have to do the long-distance thing like Pauline and Emi, and I know— I know that I would never be able to do that."

Ah. I understood completely now. Her reaction made so much more sense to me now that I knew that she was using Louis' case as a baseline. She was still bitter about it, even though she hid it well. Louis was probably a lot more comfortable with Mira and Maeve than he was with us on the road, even if we had all made up while investigating Harry Rodriguez.

"I don't know how to convince you that I won't, but I promise you that I'll come back," I said. I leaned next to her knees and firmly grabbed her hand. "You mean so much to me, Cece. I can't imagine living— let alone traveling for a long period of time without you. This changes nothing between us."

"If you break your promise, I won't forgive you."

"I won't."

"Promise me you'll stay safe? That you won't do something crazy like go off-route to train or to try to scout out locations for your seventh team member?"

"I won't."

"You'll get to Veilstone before we do, so promise me that you won't look for Team Galactic's base like Mira was planning on doing because you feel responsible or you want to be a hero."

"I promise you."

"And spend as much time with me before you leave? I'll have to stay back longer because of my leg, so our time apart will end up being longer than seven days."

"Of course."

"Very well."

I stood up and breathed a sigh of relief. I felt a few tears stream down my cheeks. I honestly thought that she might break up with me if I screwed this up, and I didn't know if I'd be able to handle that on top of everything else. I wrapped her into a tight hug and squeezed.

"Thank you for giving me a chance," I said.

"Are you kidding me? I thought you wanted to get away from me," Cecilia said. "Can you…"

She traced a finger over my hand and then grabbed it. She gently pulled me in, leading me toward her lips.

They were salty.

Cecilia wrapped her arms around my neck, her crutches fell on the ground, and before I knew it, I was on top of her on her bed.

"Cece— mhm— your leg—"

"Shh."

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett Turrell, Dom Noct, Christian Valenzuela
 
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Chapter 168
CHAPTER 168

I ended up spending the rest of the evening with Cecilia, which consisted of taking care of her a bunch. I didn't mind, of course. Helping her to walk to open the door to the bathroom, bringing her dinner, hair drying and brushing her hair, just being together were things that made us feel a hundred times better than before. I had even told her about Togetic changing me since she evolved, but aside from the initial surprise, she only cared because I did. She'd fallen in love with that version of me, and it was who I was now. She was so understanding with me.

I did ask her to keep it from the others. I wasn't comfortable with telling them yet.

"And you've got to talk to someone, okay? Even when I'm gone. You've never spoken to a therapist before. You could even go into stuff with Clarence if you want," I said, gently stroking her soft hair as we lay in bed. I basked in the comfort of her warm skin.

"I will… try."

"Not try. You will," I insisted.

"Okay, I will. I'll book an appointment tomorrow morning while you're doing yours."

"Great! What do you want to do tomorrow?" I asked.

"I'd like to swing by and see what happened to that old couple," Cecilia said. "Daniel and Marge? I want to see if they made it through the darkest day okay."

"You're using the term?" I asked. "And it's pretty far with your leg. Didn't the doctors say that you needed to let it rest?"

"Nothing I can't handle, love."

"I'll keep you confined to this bed if it's the last thing I do."

She laughed, which was music to my ears. Hearing her do so after so long filled me with untold amounts of joy.

"Oh, I wouldn't mind," she playfully said. I felt my cheeks heat up. "We can just stay inside until you pick up the rest of your team then. I wish I could fly on Talonflame, but she's too small to fit me."

"You don't even have a license."

"That was more of a general thought, sorry," she said. "I've done some more research into Golett, you know? Did you know that they could fly when they evolve into Golurk?"

I scoffed. "You're fucking with me."

"No, I'm not! They can retract their legs and hands to fly like one of those rocket ships in Hoenn. It turns out I do have a flier after all… I was worried I'd have to buy and teach Slowking Teleport quicker than he could handle. I could have asked Mira's Kadabra for help, but they tend to hog their knowledge instead of sharing."

"Kirlia can help too. Won't Hydreigon be able to fly you though?

"It took my brother months for his Hydreigon to even let him touch him, so I wouldn't rely on that."

"That's fair. I still don't believe you, by the way."

Cecilia grabbed her phone, snuggled up closer to me and played a video of a Golurk slowly taking off from the ground and then breaking the sound barrier as soon as it was far enough. Somehow, it could retract its hands and legs into its body just like she had said. The process just looked so unnatural… what fuel did they even run on?!

"Holy crap," I choked. "Can they do that in battle?"

"I mean, he could, but the retracting process actually takes a decent while, and so does the initial take-off, as you saw. It wouldn't really work in practice. There are also a bunch of rules for it too. Golurk generate too much noise to fly in cities, and it can't even do so alone because breaking the sound barrier can cause property damage and bother people, so it looks like I'll have to rely on Slowking within cities. I'll still wait a while to get the TM, though. I'd like to focus on mind-shielding while in Veilstone."

The psychic type nodded in his usual corner. For some reason, since every Pokemon Center room was built the same, he had a specific corner he liked to stay in. It was the one below the television, where he liked to listen, but not to watch. Nothing was playing right now, though. He was quirky like that.

"Say, you never told me the sixth Pokemon you wanted. Obviously you want a Spiritomb, which I won't comment on—"

"You saying that might as well be commenting," she smirked.

"—but since Cynthia told you to wait, who are you gunning for right now?"

"I don't know."

"What?! I thought you had the entire thing planned out!"

"Well, I just know I want it to be a fighting type, but I don't know which one I want. It'll probably be the first one I end up encountering. Other than Mankey, because then Pauline would cry foul. You still have to make up with her, by the way."

"Right. I will before I leave. She was staring daggers at me."

"Yeah. She'll come around easily though. She's been hurting from the group coming apart too, especially with Justin, even though she hides it well."

"Take care of them for me. Denzel too."

"I will."



I woke up due to nightmares.

Unlike my previous ones, I did not wake up screaming. I woke up with a sense of dread overtaking my entire body. My hands and lips quivering like leaves as Crobat's final screams faded away during my return to consciousness.

At least that'd help during travels. I wouldn't alert the wildlife this time.

Unfortunately for Cece, she'd been clinging to me like a baby Komala to its mother, so I ended up waking her up too. She didn't mind, though. She said that it would allow us to spend more time together before I left.

She didn't even say anything about having to change the sheets— which would probably have to happen every single day.

My first session with Amanda hadn't done much to heal, but it felt nice to talk to her after so long. She was nowhere near as busy with trainers as she was earlier in the year, so we'd be able to have one of these at least once per day until I left. We ended up talking about my journey instead of what happened the entire time… it was just me dictating everything like I'd done with Sunshine and he had thoroughly hated it. One of Amanda's jobs, however, was to listen, and it felt really good to have someone to talk to about this stuff. I could tell her things I'd never be able to tell my friends, like complaining about them.

Pauline for example. She was one of my closest friends, but she did have her flaws. It was expected of her to get mad and throw a fit, whereas if I did the same to her, I knew she wouldn't forgive me anywhere as easily as I did with her. Of course, I didn't just focus on her. We were all flawed human beings, deep down, but being able to lay it all out was good for me.

And it could all be done through the confines of my room too. I wished I could just fly her out wherever I needed her though.

"Good morning. I'm here for a Pupitar and Turtonator?" I told one of the Nurse Joys.

"Just a second," she said before walking through the backdoor. I would have liked to go back there someday and see what went on inside, but the technology was well-hidden. She came back around two minutes later with two Pokeballs. "Take it easy with them for at least three days. No harsh training or battling."

"I will."

Now, it was time to do something unprecedented.

I stepped outside of the Pokemon Center for the first time in days. My refuge away from the noise, the reporters and most of all, the attention. I released Jellicent and began to walk. People took notice right away. Some of them braved Buddy and tried to ask me questions. What happened at the Hunters' mansion? What's your link with Cynthia and why did the League accept you into their Internship Program? Why is the Champion routinely visiting you and your friends? Autographs, pictures, selfies, annoying demands. Never did they ask how I was. I simply denied them and continued on my way. Most of them cowered under Buddy's glare. Right now, I didn't care about my image.

I made my way to the same forested area I had trained multiple times in for the tournament. It was funny to look back on it like it had been years ago when it had only been slightly more than a week. I released the entire team, but kept Sunshine and Sweetheart for last. I heard a camera click and noticed a flash in the distance. Everyone lined up in front of me and patiently waited for me to start.

"Sweetheart and Sunshine are healed," I announced with a smile. "Everyone is back."

Celebrations rang out through all four— even for Sunshine. Him saving our hides had given them a lot more appreciation for him than before, and even Princess seemed to be happy enough for him to be back. They'd cooperated closely during the battle with Harry.

I released Pupitar first, who immediately slumped over and swayed around like a seesaw. I had seen her up close before, but it had been under the shroud of Shiftry's darkness and a muted feeling of panic while I applied potions to her hard exterior. She was big. At least 4'6' if I estimated correctly, and from the small indentation she caused to the dirt floor, she was a lot heavier than before too. Honey almost squealed when he saw her. Princess chirped, clapping her hands while Angel touched her all over with his vines. Buddy watched, but his eyes softened at the sight of her. Sweetheart yelled— which was an odd sound. It was a lot deeper than her old voice had been, but the voice came from inside of the cocoon, not from the structure itself, which meant it had this odd vibration to it. This was just armor to let her true body grow within, although it was no doubt connected to the main body. I'd try to study her more when she got used to her new state.

"Angel, can you help her up?" I asked.

The grass type labored to put her upright. He wouldn't be able to lift her like he used to. Going from a bipedal Pokemon to being confined in a cocoon would take a long adjustment period. Longer than Princess had taken to learn how to fly properly all those months ago after she evolved. Sweetheart struggled to balance herself for five seconds, and then she crashed on the floor again.

"Tar!" She yelled out in frustration.

I walked up to her and leaned close so that her red eyes could see me from up close. This adjustment period would be hard on her. Angel kept multiple vines wrapped around her for now, and she was finally able to 'stand' up. With how big and heavy she was, any hope of swimming without controlling her gas vents first was off the table.

"Hi Sweetheart," I smiled.

The bright eyes behind the cocoon mellowed out. It wasn't made of individual scales like her true body was. Instead, it was a rough, but continuous grey surface that reminded me of rock, but tougher somehow. I heard something rub against the cocoon, and her body rattled.

"I know it's strange. You'll have to be like this for a few months until you can grow into your final form. It might seem debilitating now, but you'll get used to it. You can fly, remember?"

She yelled again, and I could easily imagine her excited smile. The cocoon did have a mouth, although it couldn't smile— just open and close to let food in. Princess molded a small pit that she could fit in so that Angel wouldn't have to tire himself out balancing her, and she rolled into it and managed to adjust herself against one of the slopes until she was upright. Honey had tried to help her, but she brushed him off.

She wanted to learn by herself.

"Good, you're getting better at it already!" I praised. "Don't try to do any flying right now though. We'll wait until you get the hang of moving around for that."

The rock type let out a defeated groan. I scanned her with my Pokedex to see if she had any new moves, and I was surprised to see that Guts had been replaced by Shed Skin. She was supposed to molt at different intervals, and it mostly depended on how much food she ate. Every time she did so, she would grow again and again until she was almost at her final size, although her final evolution would give her another push of growth of one to two feet. Imagining a six-foot-tall Pupitar was difficult, but she'd become one eventually.

"Arceus…" I said. "You'll be a menace in my room."

Her eyes narrowed confusedly.

"You'll be huge," I specified. "I hope you'll behave."

Shed Skin was apparently a less intense and quicker process of molting which would allow her to cure herself from any status condition in battle. I was sad that we never got to utilize Guts, but unlike Chase, I didn't really feel comfortable poisoning my Pokemon before a battle. Shed Skin would probably see more use, and it would allow me to have something that counters status moves. She had also learned the move Iron Defense, which allowed Pupitar to survive most attacks in the wild.

In battle? I was already thinking of ways to combine her pressured flight capabilities with the move to utterly destroy her opponents.

Right now, she'd be pretty useless in battle though. She had to learn to move around first. Electabuzz didn't even tease her about it like I had expected. He understood that she'd be frustrated about her lack of movement. Anyone would be after completely switching body plans on a whim. It made me feel bad for the few Pupitar that lived in the wild. Unlike Sweetheart, they'd have to adapt extremely quickly or die.

Imagining her still alone in Mount Coronet hurt. Thank the Legendaries she'd come with me.

I released Sunshine next. Just like Pupitar, he looked as good as new, but I knew that he was weaker than he appeared thanks to Nurse Joy. Something in his eyes had changed. There was still confidence and pride in his expression, but less now that he'd been humbled by Cynthia. It was as if he thought himself to be the strongest until he saw that he was nowhere close to that level, and it was like he got the rug pulled from under him.

"Hey, big guy. I missed you."

The fire type flared up slightly, but I didn't flinch. I'd gotten used to his little aggressive ticks now, and I just appreciated the extra warmth instead. I took off my coat and continued.

"You saved us, Sunshine. I won't mince my words, we would have been dead without you. We might— might have won against Harry Rodriguez's full team, but that Crawdaunt and Weavile would have ended us. Thank you."

I placed a hand on his scaly arm and left it there. He turned toward the rest of the group, and Honey and Angel happily waved at him, while Sweetheart just screamed. Buddy offered him a nod. Princess greeted him too, although less enthusiastically.

"But before you go, I've got to talk to you about grown-up stuff. Buddy, you come here too!"

The water type slid toward me.

"I'd appreciate it if you both looked as scary as possible for this. You probably noticed, but we've got visitors," I said before whispering. "I'll tell the kids later since I don't want to sour their moods, but Team Galactic is going to come after us. It might happen in Veilstone, which is the next city over, or it may not, but we've got to get ready for it. Sunshine, right now, you've got to rest for a few days—"

The dragon angrily protested, and I saw a girl in the distance stumble backward and run away.

"No protesting. Nurse Joy's orders. If you don't I'll keep you in the ball," I said. "I know you want to get back into shape, but you can wait a few days. Anyway, I assume that our deal has been fulfilled?" I asked him.

Turtonator nodded.

"I want a new deal with you then. When this Team Galactic thing goes down again, I want you to help, but I also need to ask a favor. I need you to help train my team. We do these mock battles sometimes, and I think I can cook up something that'll work for you. If I send all of them after you at once, then you'll have a decent fight. Obviously you'll still have to hold back, and using your heat is out of the question, but— stop being so damn grouchy and let me finish, Arceus! But you'll need to learn how to fight without your heat anyway. If I'm close to you, you'll never be able to let loose."

Sunshine reluctantly nodded. It wasn't like I was being unreasonable here. I wasn't asking him to fight in the gyms, and I was making up for not letting him kill Harry Rodriguez. Plus, it would coincide with the 'punching up' advice Cynthia had given me, although it would always be better to do it with a trainer instead. Not that many options on the road, though. The further east we went, the least experienced trainers we'd come across outside of the cities. I took a deep breath and continued.

"Buddy, you did incredible progress with your Night Shades during the battle. I don't know if it was because of the heat of the moment or not, but you can make them attack now. For the foreseeable future, I want you to work on your… ghostliness, like Mathilda told us back in the ghost tower. I—"

I choked.

"—don't want to resort to this again, but if push comes to shove… you're going to be my most lethal Pokemon after Sunshine over here. You'll leave a clone with us, slip away and target the trainers. If possible, don't kill them. Knock them out somehow, I don't know. A low-powered jet of water, maybe? Without a trainer to command them, most teams will fall apart and it'll allow us to get the upper hand."

That was the plan. Sunshine already had a plethora of moves he had to get familiar with again, and Buddy needed to work on his Night Shades. First, he'd need to make them not explode on contact with everything, then strengthen the moves they could use, and finally, he'd be able to work on making more than one.

When I first started training him, I had no idea the move would be able to go that far. Fantina's Frillish had been able to summon multiple too.

Though if push came to shove and I was targeted by too many at the same time…

"Now let's go and enjoy ourselves. Sweetheart's been dying to see you," I smiled at Turtonator.

He swaggered up in the middle of the team and Togetic groaned.

But she didn't glare.



The next day, Cynthia was supposed to meet us all, including people not in the Internship Program. Thankfully, she didn't do it in the Pokemon Center like before, because I knew that would have excited the trainers around here way too much. Our Center was the most packed in the city because people wanted to catch a glimpse of the Champion, but the rest were relatively empty now. Most trainers had left as soon as they could, and something told me they'd wait a long while to ever go to Solaceon again. It wasn't like people had to go through here to get to Hearthome. Route 212 was a thing, although it was extremely long, tedious and dangerous because of the massive swamp next to Pastoria.

Alicia's Xatu Teleported me back in the same office where we'd joined the League, and my friends came soon enough. Only Cynthia was here today, so we wouldn't be seeing any Elite Four members. Maeve was a nervous mess, barely able to comprehend that she was meeting Sinnoh's Champion, but other than that, reactions were pretty muted. We had all seen her at least once before. Then there was Justin, who obviously didn't care whatsoever. Togekiss stood by her side, and his wings were behind his back like a scholar.

"Welcome. This is the last meeting we'll have. When we're done here, you'll be free to leave Solaceon whenever you please," Cynthia immediately started. She seemed busy. "A veteran League Trainer will be assigned to each of you in every city, and you probably will never see or hear them. There won't be a need for you to speak. If you need to talk to the League talk to me. Lucian will sort through the message and see if it's important enough or not."

She paused to see if we understood, and we all let out small affirmative grunts.

"I will reiterate that everything we've spoken about these last few days is confidential. Don't let the media get a rise out of you or bait you into giving answers…"

She ended up giving us a ten-minute spiel on ways to keep safe, but we had some of her tips covered, like keeping a Pokemon out as much as we could, or training our psychics to get better at tracking people to see if anyone was following us— sort of like Slowking had done at the start of the tournament. An interesting one I hadn't known about was that was more specific to me was that I could train Togetic to sense malicious intent from people. It wouldn't go as far as mind reading, but it'd be useful to know if someone wanted to hurt us or not.

Of course, it wasn't infallible. Some people were good enough to mask their intent, but most were not. It was more of a long-term project for us though, because it took her Togekiss a long time to learn. The best way to start was to have Princess try to feel others' emotions but she'd only be able to do so with strong ones, and only faintly at the start. It would take months for it to even be reliable.

"Congratulations. You're now free to go out into the world," Cynthia smiled. "You may leave. A few Teleporters are waiting for you in the hallway. Justin, stay back for a few minutes please."

The pale boy shrugged.

I wondered what she wanted to talk to him about. Something to do with his condition?

"Grace. Can I come with you for a sec?" Pauline asked. "I mean Teleport with you. You're not going back to the Center, right?"

"Yeah?" I frowned.

We weren't placed exactly where I wanted, but Xatu had probably never been to the forested area I liked. They did put us as close as they could though, so I appreciated that. It would take around fifteen minutes to get there.

"Can we start over?" Pauline said out of the blue.

"What?"

"We're fighting and I hate it. I don't want us to be fighting before we separate, because then it'll make things even worse for when we meet again."

"Oh. Oh."

I never thought that she'd be the one to apologize first. I thought I'd have to ask her to forgive me for dropping off the face of the earth.

"Oh? Is that bad or is that good?"

"I mean, yes!" I yelled. "I just wasn't expecting that. I mean, I still want to apologize for not telling you anything, it wasn't cool of me. I sent a message to Emi too."

"She told me," Pauline smiled. "Just remember that you've got us. Carrying all that shit on your shoulders gets exhausting."

"What about you? Are you okay? Mentally, I mean."

"Oh, I'm fine. I'm mostly annoyed about my fucking arm. It'll take months for me to be able to move it without feeling pain, but the people that did it to me paid it back tenfold. Justin still worries me, but right now I'm just hoping that he'll get back to normal soon."

I nodded, not knowing if that meant killing or injuring. It did make sense though. She'd always been mentally the strongest out of all of us.

"I was going to train my Pupitar to stand for a bit. Want to come with?"

"Sweetheart evolved?! Holy shit! Yeah, I'll come!"

Twenty minutes later, I almost choked on my own saliva when she released a Charizard.



Cynthia

Your entire group is clear of any influence from Togetic.

"Thank fuck," I breathed out as I read the message again. I assumed that Togekiss had checked while she'd been speaking to us as a group.

If it hadn't been the case, I would have had to talk to everyone about it, and it wouldn't have been pretty. A few days ago, it looked like I'd never be able to recover, but things were getting better, little by little. Denzel was cheering up and trying to get Justin to open up with Louis, although they had very little success. Mira was back to her usual self, and even though some of it was fake, some of it was real too. She was even starting to pester me about Chase again. Justin actually ended up leaving the day after.

No matter what, life went on.

Three days after Cynthia gave us the okay, it was time for me to leave. My friends sent me off at the edge of route 210. We all cried— and Cecilia especially so, but we'd be back together soon. She had to stay back another week because of her leg, and Denzel and Pauline were obviously going to wait for her. Louis, Mira and Maeve were planning on leaving in two days.

I released Princess and began to walk.

And so, for the first time since I went to Twinleaf with only her by my side, I was traveling alone.

My legs felt light.

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett Turrell, Dom Noct, yesnomaybeso

A/N: And that's the official ending of the Solaceon arc! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. When I started story boarding this, Solaceon wasn't exactly supposed to be that interesting. There were going to be a few tournament battles, maybe a battle between Lauren and Grace, and that was it. Ten chapters tops. Unfortunately for my fingers, my standards grew higher the closer I got to the actual town, and I know the reputations meaningless tournament arcs have, so when I was around chapter 100, I began to plan this entire thing. Looking at a map of Solaceon, there isn't much of interest in it. The only building of note is the daycare, so I began to think: how the hell can I take a single building to make a town with nothing in it interesting, and how can I make it relate to the main plot? Well, it took a lot of effort, but you saw the results.

Let me know if you enjoyed it or not. There was a lot of foreshadowing with the Hunters being more with the Lost Tower and the early Solaceon chapters which become obvious on a reread, and there's still more to learn about them in a coming interlude, which you'll be able to vote for on my discord (the next 3 chapters are interludes). So I'll be taking my one day break as usual. We're closing in on 700k words, so I want to thank you guys for reading my word salad. I'll see you all on Monday.
 
Interlude - Forums V
INTERLUDE - FORUMS V

Welcome to the League Circuit Forums! The best website to get any League/Circuit related news!

General → Politics
Topic: Timeline of Events during the Darkest Day
Original Poster: Ethan_Rose (Verified Trainer)
Date: January 30th 20XX


Yesterday, the entirety of Solaceon went to shit and I was there to see it.

A lot of trainers are out there giving first-hand accounts, but all of their stories are embellished bullshit that's there to make themselves look good. None of them fought the actual bad guys out there. The vast majority of these people speaking to the media stayed holed up inside of a Pokemon Center the entire time this went on, or they tried to run away by getting to the edge of the barrier. I was different. I stayed outside and observed the chaos in full display. I never felt as calm as I did in those few hours, and it allowed me to write down everything that went down so that we try to figure out what the hell happened, since the League decided to keep the entire world in the dark, as they usually do.

2:43 pm: Solaceon is plunged in darkness. This is when everything started, and from what I observed, the entire thing originated from the Hunters' mansion. Them being in on it is obvious, because the League is throwing them under the bus and destroying their business. I mean sure, they were linked with Team Galactic et cetera et cetera, but I seriously doubt they'd have anything this powerful. There have been a few theories about this being a psyop or an inside job, but I'll gloss over those for now. I am here to document, not make opinions.

2:48 pm: The Nurses in the different Pokemon Centers start organizing and placing people back inside of their rooms to try to prevent a mass panic. At the time, they probably didn't know about the numbing effects that the darkness had, so it was the most sensible course of action. They wanted to wait for League Trainers to take control. It would take three hours for them to arrive and five for them to fully resolve the situation and bring back a sense of order to Solaceon.

3:00 pm: Here's when things get interesting. I was outside when I saw a particular group of people get taken by the shadows. Grace Pastel, Cecilia Obel and the usual clique, except that Maeve Chang and Mira Compton somehow joined them this time? And Chase Karlson was nowhere to be seen as well. Either way, they were absorbed into the fucking floor, and I thought they died right then and there. Of course, you know that isn't true, so I ask the question: where the hell where they taken? I'll let you be the judge of that.

3:34 pm: First instances of looting appear in Solaceon. It's slow at first, but multiple people— trainers and civilians alike— start breaking into stores and stealing everything. Trainers went for things like TMs, vitamins, Hyper Potions or Ultra Balls while civvies went for appliances like television and fucking washing machines. I'm not joking, I saw a man carrying a washing machine out there.

3:46 pm: With looting came the first instances of violence, mostly between trainers fighting over the limited supply of items. Solaceon's a small town, and their stores aren't stock full of everything like Jubilife or Sunyshore. Pokemon hesitated at first, but by 4:30, it was full pandemonium in the streets. Anyone not in a Center wasn't safe, and the Nurse Joys somehow kept things under control, Arceus bless their fucking souls.

5:23 pm: Big time jump, but nothing noticeable happened until then. It was just more fights, more violence and more looting. I can't exactly confirm because I'm not expert, but the darkness around us was starting to grow weaker by the minute. It wasn't as deep, there was a little bit of light breaking through the sky, and peoples' condition stopped getting worse. It didn't get better, but it didn't regress either. Strangely enough, the darkness around the mansion seemed to strengthen. I couldn't say for sure, but the spire grew thicker somehow? It was weird.

5:32 pm: Denzel Williams spotted walking back to one of the Pokemon Centers and is barely conscious. This is important because he apparently asked other trainers for something, but he was too out of it to form full sentences. It is believe he was concussed. People have guessed that he meant the Hunters and that they somehow teleported him to their mansion to kill him, but that wouldn't make any sense. How the hell would he have survived if they tried to gang up on him and kill him if they had something capable of shrouding all of Solaceon? That's the type of thing you hear Legendaries are capable of! He would have croaked for sure.

Now I realize that I'm getting biased. Moving on.

5:39 pm: First League Forces break through from the inside thanks to Aaron sensing a weakness in the wall. Cynthia not seen, but it is understood that she immediately flew to the mansion on Garchomp's back to face whatever the hell caused this. Aaron followed on his Flygon, and they were accompanied by six veteran League Trainers. They were too fast for me to identify any of them.

5:46 pm: Darkness starts to unravel. It is assumed that Cynthia and Aaron killed whatever caused it, but it leaves just as fast as it came. Emotions rush back inside of us, and people start realizing how badly they fucked up these last three hours.

5:50 pm: Grace Pastel teleported back to the Pokemon Center. Visibly shaken and crying. Wounded waist.

6:00 pm: Cynthia announces 7:00 pm curfew. No one allowed out on the streets in an hour, and League Trainers start rounding up people and sending them home. Flint, Lucian and Bertha spotted around this time, which makes it the first time in exactly 343 years that all Elite Four members are out of the Lily of the Valley Island at the same time. From our understanding, Bertha Teleported back rather quickly though, so it only lasted for a few minutes.

6:36 pm: Last of Grace Pastel's group brought back at the Center (Cecilia Obel and Justin Gardner). The former's leg is horribly mangled, but the bandages hide what kind of wound it was, and she screamed in anguish the entire way into her room. The latter seems completely unmoved, which is unusual. Even the most stoic of trainers were at least affected by how fucked up the situation was and how they were basically a completely different person for a few hours.

7:00 pm: Curfew implemented. League has a firm hand over the town.

7:35 pm-7:59 pm: Mayor Cameron Owen sacked along with the entire City Council. Chief of Police Deborah Landry sacked. City Treasurer Lily Nicholson sacked. City Clerk Thiago Joyner sacked. Their entire offices are also sacked. The official narrative is that they resigned for 'health' or 'family' reasons, or because of the shame they felt for being unable to be of any help during the crisis, but they were obviously all fired, and that's not even me being biased.

8:56 pm: All positions of power in the city replaced with League-appointed employees. No new elections announced or planned.

10:01 pm: Flint spotted Teleporting back to the League. Only Aaron, Lucian and Cynthia remain.

It is now the next morning. There is something bigger at play here, but I will let you theorize for yourselves. I'm just an aspiring reporter, and I only tell the facts.


►RRNotaire

I'll eat my hat if the mods leave this up. We all know they're on the League's payroll and that the government has been shutting this kind of talk down ASAP.

►Kyle_Thornton (Verified Trainer)

I'm glad you made it out alright. I'm in Hearthome and I left Solaceon as soon as I was eliminated from the tournament. Crazy to think that I could have been there during the darkest day, but I guess I got lucky to be placed against Grace Pastel in the first round. I don't know that many theories, but I do think that there's more to this that meets the eye.

►Eve_Clements (Verified Trainer)

You forgot to mention the fact that Mira Compton, Grace Pastel and Cecilia Obel just got accepted into the LTIP. The first time that first years with four badges get into the program. Something happened for sure. I think that them fighting off all of the Hunters is a crazy idea, but those three in particular must have done something to impress the League. There's no other reason for them to make that much of a jump in their career. The Internship Program basically means you're guaranteed a job by the end of the year!

►Hiiiiipowa

Chiming in before thread gets locked.

This is obviously a lot bigger than they want us to think, otherwise there'd be no need to assemble the entire Elite Four. I'm thinking that a Legendary was the cause of all of this. I mean, there's the birds in Kanto, right? Also that weirdo Mewto thing that's tooootally been destroyed by Lance and not hidden somewhere. Then Lugia, Ho-oh and the Legendary beasts in Johto, so why not?


►Jamie_Brown (Verified Trainer)

Because then the entire city would be destroyed or thousands would be dead. There's no way the League is standing up to anything Legendary. Also, dark type Legendaries don't exist.

►Valery_Graham (Verified Trainer)

There might be one, you don't know shit. Also, I'm 90% sure that a Champion would be able to deal with a Legendary Bird's avatar, just not the full concept itself, so Cynthia could probably deal with whatever the hell was in there. The problem with that theory is that according to that timeline, the battle was extremely short. Not even ten minutes, in fact, so it doesn't line up. I get that we're suspicious, but this? A normal Pokemon did this.

►Hiiiiipowa

Whatever. It's not like you know any better than we do. Also Jamie_Brown stop speaking like you know jack shit about Legendaries.

►Frankie_Hines (Verified Trainer) (MESSAGE REMOVED BY THE MODERATORS AFTER 2.4 SECONDS)

Obel's group fighting is guaranteed because some of them were wounded. You don't get wounded without fighting.

On another topic, the Hunters conspired with Team Galactic, but the majority of them are still there. Only the ones at the head of the family like Roland are suspiciously gone. The guy came out of nowhere during one of the tours they were running with a fuckin Shiftry, and I've been starting to wonder if that's not the thing that caused this. I thought that they called Roland 'Elder', but I think they were actually looking at the damn Pokemon.

It'd make a whole lot of sense, and it fits in my head, although I've never heard of a Shiftry being that powerful, but that's maybe no one's used them to their full potential yet. I know Sidney in Hoenn owns one, so I know what I'll be doing this afternoon.


-THREAD LOCKED-



General → Politics
Topic: What nobody is talking about (the economy, stupid)
Original Poster: Hyperballad
Date: January 31st 20XX


First of all before I begin, there seriously needs to be an economics board. I'm tired of everything being relegated to politics when it's not exactly politics. This is why everyone's moved on to social media, but somehow trainers still hang onto this antiquated form of communication. You don't see coordinators use forums, they've all moved on to modern social media.

Anyway.

The Hunters are gone. Big deal. Most people think this is a good thing because of their evil rigging/Team Galactic links being exposed, but I'll talk about the negatives here. Solaceon is a small, insignificant town with an economy smaller than Floaroma's, but the little money they make— or made, as you'll come to see, came from two things. Agriculture (food exports that consisted of mostly Wheat) and Pokemon Breeding/Caretaking. I have a bibliography for all of this at the bottom of the post, by the way. The former accounts for 56% of Solaceon's revenue, and the latter for exactly 0%. Now here's when things get funky.

Being a corporation in everything but in name, the Hunters took all of the profits from wherever they sold Pokemon. People always hyper focus on the rich trainers that they sell to (see Louis Bianchi's Vulpix), but the vast majority of Pokemon they breed go to the government, either to gyms or to the League itself. Sure, they hogged some of the money for themselves, but they actually reinvested the large majority of it into Solaceon largely through the form of donations to the city government. if we account for these donations, then Pokemon breeding/caretaking actually accounts for
64% of Solaceon's income. Now, I hear you smartasses already saying that 56% and 64% add up to more than 100%, but that's because the Hunters' donations were not counted in the city's annual revenue. This is what we call 'off-budget funds'. If we take the Hunters' money into account, then agriculture actually shrinks all the way down to a meager 21% of Solaceon's revenue. There was a reason people referred to them as an institution in Solaceon. They held a fucking iron grip over the city's neck.

Now you may be asking two things.

1) Who the hell thought that it was a good idea to run a town solely off the back of one weirdo creepy cult corporation?

2) What the hell is Solaceon going to do now that they've just lost 64% of their revenue overnight?

I don't have an answer for the first question, but I do have an answer for the second. Drastic budget cuts to public services and discretionary spending like schools, infrastructure, road maintenance, public parks, non-Pokemon Center healthcare, and social services. A budgetary crisis that the new City Treasurer will have to somehow solve, and that's not even counting the insane amount of repairs that the city will have to go through because of the effect this darkness bullshit had on people. And last but not least, what happens when a city goes to complete shit? Both people and businesses pack up their bags and get the fuck out.

Solaceon isn't exactly known for its businesses, but the few that are there will go bankrupt or have to close down their locations. Your old mom and pop's restaurant? Gone. No one has the fucking money to spend on that shit anymore. A grocery store that was somehow still standing the test of time against the big chains? Gone. Gift shop? Gone.

All. Gone. This city is a fucking dead man walking.

Younger people will move to Hearthome or Veilstone because of the lack of opportunities and the population will fall off a cliff. It'll be like a snowball effect that can't be stopped once it gets too large.

The League has yet to announce any plans to save the sinking ship, but I assume that they'll do something. The only question that remains is if it fucking works.

-Hyperballad


►Oslo_Walter (Verified Trainer)

Interesting analysis. I definitely underestimated how large the Hunters were in Solaceon, and the fact that they don't have anything else to generate revenue is worrying. I have a cousin that lives there whose house was robbed during the Darkest Day and he's considering moving. His insurance provider doesn't cover a lot of what was stolen and it would take months to process everything. He's moving in with us in Sunyshore and I don't think he's coming back.

►EsteyyaPip

LETS FUCKING GOOOOO OUR RESIDENT ECONOMIST IS BACK! I hope the new job in Jubilife is treating you well, my brother.

Regarding the town being screwed, what do you think about subsidies? It'd be expensive as hell to cover 64% of their revenue (probably going to end up losing more money because of the ripple effect), but it'd stem the bleeding at least, no?


►Hyperballad

Oh, it'll stem the bleeding, and I'm sure that it's one of the first things Lucian came up with during whatever meetings were held. The problem is that subsidies won't be enough.

Like you said, there will be a spillover effect and Solaceon will end up losing a lot more income than I outlined in my post. If I had to estimate, I'd put the number at around 70%. Even with subsidies, you just don't recover from that.

I hate the concept of subsidies in general, but you know me, I'm a neolib. You've got a teach a man to fish instead of giving him a fish every day, right? You've got to get Solaceon back on its feet, and subsidies won't do that. They need to find a new source of revenue and concrete new policies need to be put in place before people start to leave. Solaceon's bottleneck is their relatively tiny workforce, but if that workforce starts to pack their bags, there won't be any money made.

The League has to convince the working population of Solaceon to stick around for the long haul and start working again.

Sorry about your cousin, by the way. And the job's going fantastic! I'll DM you the details.

-Hyperballad


►MaxRichter

I mean, I agree with all of this, but I'm not as pessimistic as you are. Lucian is there, and his Alakazam will probably help run things. I'm not one of the people fooling themselves into thinking that the newly appointed Treasurer is totally independent and not just a sock puppet for the League lmao.

►Hyperballad

You're right that Alakazam will most likely be running the show for a few months at least, but from the way I'm looking at things, it's looking nigh unsalvageable. You can stem the bleeding, but it seems to me like Solaceon will never be as prosperous as it used to be. It's a shame too, with all the potential it had with expansion into route 210. When I was in college, I looked at proposals to expand the city all the way to the Café Cabin. That means that it would have been the third largest city in Sinnoh after Jubilife and Sunyshore.

That's why directivism is bad, folks. The Hunters were at the reign of the economy, and they only served themselves. Why do you think Kanto and Johto's economies still lag behind Unova and Galar? A lower GDP growth year after year, a lower HDI rating, lower per capita income? Because they're still stuck in this command economy, central planning bullshit while the other two have embraced modernity. Cynthia's gone a step back with nationalizing the Bianchi Conglomerate, or at least she should have sold it back to another company by now, but I won't get into it here.

-Hyperballad



General → Politics
Topic: Maylene Press Conference
Original Poster: Naomi_Tillings (Verified Trainer)
Date: January 31st 20XX


The events in Solaceon have overshadowed a lot of what has been happening in Veilstone. People interested will know that Maylene gave a press conference earlier this morning (alone, for a change! No handlers from the League were with her today, surprisingly) regarding the rumors that have spread about some Team Galactic base in the city. The rumor's spread so quickly that people actually believe that this is their main base of operations or that there are actually multiple bases in the city.

Of course, Maylene went with the usual politician speak, which I do admit is weird as hell coming from a fifteen year old. I'm used to only old people speaking like that and that's some serious cognitive dissonance and it hurts my brain very very much.

And it also hurts my heart to see her forced to say this.

Anyway, long story short, she kept saying not to panic, that they were looking into it, and that these rumors were baseless. Whatever, same dish, different cook, we're all used to that shit at this point. The League is only honest with us when it wants to be, and it makes me want to move to Unova. As soon as I get the money, I'm out of here and signing up for their Circuit.

Back to Veilstone! Here's where things get weird.

There has been this constant narrative in the media about a crime wave happening there for the last few months. It's Sinnoh's most crime-ridden city (even more than Jubilife), but they've never gone this hard with the narrative. So I decided to do some digging and I compared this year's crime statistic with last year's.

Crime went down. All types of crime that the media would be interested in anyway (violent crime or drug-related crimes). White collar crime actually went slightly up.

I'm thinking there's a bit of a distraction operation going on here. Is the media colluding with the League to make us focus on anything other than Team Galactic? That would certainly be a first, but it's possible. Are the statistic altered? It is on the government website after all, so it could mean that the government is lying, but the media is picking up on the heightened crime. To do this though, they'd need the civilian government and Veilstone's police department to be in on it. Again, possible.

What I'm trying to say is that in every scenario my mind finds, the League is lying in some way, and they're lying to cover up something related to Team Galactic's presence in Veilstone. I'm 100% sure of it, but let me know what you think.


►Megumi_Ishitani (Verified Trainer)

Stop throwing shade at Maylene. She's obviously been thrown into this, and it's hard being a gym leader that young in these troubled times. First people complain that she's not independent enough, but then when she tries to be, you still complain. I bet people like you are the reason she's been looking so sad lately.

►TOHO

I mean, there's been some noise about Team Galactic sightings, but nothing concrete yet. The League are watching Veilstone like hawks. They've been on the backfoot the entire year after they stole all of the League's information. They've literally had zero wins. Their organization had basically been wiped out from western Sinnoh with relative ease, so why would they struggle finding a base in Veilstone? It only takes one member captured that gets their memory extracted for the location, and it's over. The League busts in and either they escape or fight. Both outcomes lead to their loss. They've shown time and time again that they can't take the League in a straight fight.

►Naomi_Tillings (Verified Trainer)

Sorry Megumi_Ishitani, I just don't feel like playing nice with a tool of the state while she's helping to erode our freedoms in real time. Oooooh, it must be sooooo hard for her. Cry me a fucking river. She's the one that chose to become a gym leader. Nobody forced her fucking hand, and I don't see her speaking out against the very real threat of Sinnoh sliding back into a dictatorship. Did you know that trainers from Kanto and Johto needed official approval from the League to leave their region permanently? Did you know that the media speaking out against the government too harshly there is a criminal offense? Do you want us to get back to that level of tyranny?

The world is a dark place, and there are only a few beacons of freedom for us to take refuge in. I thought Sinnoh was one of them, but it looks like it's not.


►Megumi_Ishitani (Verified Trainer)

I'm too tired to argue online with a stranger. Have a good one.

►Imperium101

They might have been wiped out in the west, but that doesn't mean they're inactive. There was that attempt on Roark's life two weeks ago.

►ZzZaVier

You're right to be scared, but you have to remember these are extraordinary times we live in.

Regarding your Team Galactic theory, I have to agree that it is fishy, but I can't imagine either of your explanations being correct. Either way, it's only a matter of time before the powder keg blows up, and everybody knows it. If you live in Veilstone, I think Sunyshore is very nice this time of year. You can even walk there without Pokemon.


Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett Turrell, Dom Noct, yesnomaybeso, Sean M, Cypha, Daniel, Ryan T
 
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Interlude - Discovery
INTERLUDE - DISCOVERY

Up here, the fog was so thick you could choke on it.

Chase Karlson could barely see twenty feet in front of him, and it had gotten worse the further he got along this mountain. He sat on an appropriately shaped rock as he stuck by his Houndoom while snacking on a protein bar. There was no wood to make a fire here, or at least none that he could find without straying off the path and getting lost, so having a fire type was extremely convenient. Houndoom whined, and his tail lay flat against the rocky ground.

"I know you're tired, but you've gotta toughen up," Chase said.

Without the fog, he reckoned that he could have seen Solaceon from there. Leaving the tournament had been a bummer, but this was too important to pass up on. If he hadn't left, then he would have had to wait until the end of the year to get to Celestic. The opportunity had been too good to pass up. Houndoom lazily blew a flame in front of them, and Chase sniffled. The damn fog was irritating his lungs and clinging to his clothes, making them wet. Without Houndoom, he would have had a seriously hard time dealing with the cold. If there was one word that defined the dark type, it would be loyal. He followed wherever Chase went and would go to the ends of the earth to help him.

He was bored quite easily, however.

The floor rumbled slightly and the temperature lowered by a few degrees. Cold mist mixed in with the fog as his Abomasnow stepped into view. The hulking grass type was seven feet tall, and he carried the frozen corpse of a Bibarel. Riolu rode on his shoulder, hanging on one of the long, thick frozen leaves that made up Abomasnow's body. Houndoom was his most loyal, but Abomasnow was his most powerful and dedicated fighter.

"There's your dinner. Zangoose! Vikavolt!" Chase yelled. His voice reverberated through the mountains. He didn't care if anything heard him. Let them come, and he would challenge them with his team.

Vikavolt's buzzing could be heard in the air, and he left a trail of electricity behind him as he landed faster than Chase could notice.

"Good improvement on that landing," Chase nodded. "Keep at it."

The bug type's pincers ground against each other and he fanned his wings.

"That doesn't mean get confident. Confidence makes us rest on our laurels. Work like you're twenty steps behind. Always."

The old him would have sneered at that, but he knew that competition was fierce now. Chase had long outgrown his old days in Jubilife where he would crush any trainer in arenas with Riolu. He could still do so if he wished, of course, but there was little point to it now. It wasn't like anyone would accept his challenge anyway.

The money would have been nice.

Zangoose strode up behind him with her usual scowl and red eyes. She was the most solitary Pokemon of her team and liked to keep to herself most days, but that didn't mean that she disliked the team like he'd feared at first. That would have been catastrophic, especially because he liked to build a sense of camaraderie between them— himself included. They were a squad. A unit. And everyone had a role.

But no, the answer was that Zangoose was just an introvert.

Saliva ran down Houndoom's mouth as he slowly cooked the dead Bibarel. He, Zangoose, and Vikavolt all preferred meat, so he wasn't about to stop them from eating. He could almost imagine Pastel's whining or Williams pretending to be fine with it, but really being almost to the point of gagging.

Riolu took a seat next to him and sighed.

"Abomasnow give you a tough time?" Chase asked.

The ice type snorted, releasing a cold wind that overpowered Houndoom's heat. Riolu shrugged and crossed his legs. Abomasnow was exigent in his hunting, and he only went after Bibarel for the team, which meant that they had to go down to slopes next to the enormous river to catch them and climb back up. It was no wonder Riolu had taken a ride on his shoulder by the end of it. They had been gone for three hours.

The first phase of Chase's plan had been to train his team to the bone so that they could do things like this. Go out independently and hunt or train without his guidance against wild Pokemon, if they wanted to. Sometimes, they came back wounded, which meant that they'd gotten something out of it. A wound was a valuable lesson, as was a scar.

Chase would know. He traced down the long scar at the back of his arm given to him by that Sneasel up north. His Pokemon had plenty now.

"Celestic should be five days away," Chase announced. "The fog will get worse before it gets better, so from now on if you go out, you'll need to have Ri with ya."

Zangoose hissed and her fur stood up in protest, but the fighting type shot her a look that calmed her down immediately. She cut up Bibarel's gut— which was her favorite bit— and walked off in the distance, although she made sure to stay within his range of vision. Vikavolt let out a low hum, annoyed that he wouldn't be able to fly and improve his speed with Chase's new rules.

"I don't care," Chase shrugged. "We've got eight potions left. I'm your leader, and a leader has to make tough decisions. You'll cut down on training time, but we've got to think about the way back."

Strangely enough, even though Chase was one of the best first-years in the region, he was still poor. Trainers would no longer battle him due to his temperament and reputation, and he was too prideful to accept a sponsor. He would not be a tool for big businesses to enrich themselves, money be damned.

That of course meant that he had to ration potions. Food for his team came first, but even that was too much now that they'd grown so large, which was why he'd resorted to hunting for the majority of their sustenance.

He watched Houndoom devour Bibarel's face and Vikavolt saw an arm off for himself. He searched through his bag and offered Riolu some sliced berries— a habit he'd picked up from a certain someone. The fighting type began to munch down on the fruit and Abomasnow made himself tall, attempting to absorb the few rays of sunlight that made it through the thick fog.

"Finish eating, then we're hitting the road again."

Celestic grew closer.



Chase stopped when he heard a Pokemon grunting. There was the sound of something… slamming stone, over and over again. Riolu's eyes lit up as he held out his hand, then he stared up at Chase and nodded.

"Can we go around?" Chase whispered.

The fighting type hesitated, then shook his head. The path up here was too narrow to avoid whatever was in front of him, but it was also too narrow to have a damn fight on. There was supposed to be some type of bridge up ahead, if the information Williams had sent him was correct.

"Fuck this," Chase said, rolling his shoulder. Fear had never stopped him, and it would not stop him now.

He stepped forward before his Pokemon could even stop him and saw that a huge Klawf was hanging on the steep cliff to his right up ahead. The path was so narrow it could barely fit Abomasnow, so simply running past it was impossible. The giant crab angrily clicked its pincers, letting him know that this was its turf and going any further implied a fight.

"I'm getting through whether you like it or not," Chase said. He waited for a few seconds, but resigned to a fight when Klawf hit one of its pincers against the wall it was attached to. He had hoped to negotiate with it like he'd done with a few others he'd done on this route— Pokemon on routes were often a lot more reasonable than the aggressive Pokemon of Mount Coronet or Eterna Forest. Unfortunately, Klawf wanted a fight. "Prepare the long-ranged setup."

Moving as one, his team took their positions. He felt Houndoom's warmth to his left, and Abomasnow's frigid cold behind him. Darkness festered under the fire type's paws. Vikavolt was out of view, but he could see and hear faint cracks of electricity dancing in the air. Zangoose squeezed past him and raked a claw against the cliff. Klawf let out an irritating sound and menacingly slammed a pincer against the wall of the cliff.

"Fighting it is, motherfucker."

Klawf yelled, and the whole mountain began to shake. Small rocks fell down the cliff at first, but they grew larger and larger with time.

"Rock Tomb or Slide. Zangoose, you're up."

The normal type blurred to Chase's right and clawed every rock that would have hit him apart with Metal Claw. Fragments still hit him and cut his face, but this was better than nothing. Abomasnow slammed a fist against his chest, causing snow to fall to the ground, and let an Ice Shard loose toward Klawf, who climbed up the cliff with surprising speed. Three of them buried themselves into its rocky armor, but the rest disintegrated against the terrain.

From the sky, Vikavolt shot out a Sticky Web, wrapping Klawf so tightly that its speed was cut at least in half. Houndoom's Flamethrower heat up one of its claws until it glowed red. A tiny ball of aura appeared in between Riolu's palms and flew off toward the rock type, hitting it in between the eyes. Klawf shook the damage off, and this time shards of rock flew out of its mouth. Faster than he could even react, Zangoose pushed Chase behind her and got hit in his stead. Blood poured down her fur, staining it in scarlet red.

The boy hissed. He wasn't going to be treated like a fucking damsel in distress. He shot up and cracked his fingers.

"Ri. Hand me a bone."

Klawf shot another volley of rocks, this time aiming at Zangoose again, but she was too quick to be hit. She climbed up the mountain with her claws while Vikavolt, Houndoom and Abomasnow pelted the rock type with Dark Pulses, Thunderbolts and Ice Shards. A bone grew out of Riolu's hand and Chase quickly grabbed it, waiting for a chance to strike. The floor shook once more, and Klawf attempted to crawl backwards to get away from Zangoose.

"Watch for the rocks!" Chase yelled.

Zangoose hissed, slashing across the Klawf's rocky shell and then climbing onto its back to avoid the Rock Slide. Chase, Riolu and Houndoom smoothly slipped behind Abomasnow, who slowed or froze the incoming rocks with a powerful Icy Wind.

"String Shot the legs!" He ordered. He had to replace the string that had been burned by Flamethrower.

Vikavolt screeched, shooting out more string, this time focused on Klawf's legs. Zangoose kept hitting it with Metal Claw and now that its legs were wrapped up, it began to slide down toward the flat ground. Chase bolted out from behind Abomasnow and slid against the floor, angling Riolu's bone right up the cliff, and it impaled Klawf right in between the eyes.

The sheer weight of the crab shook him to his core, but Riolu kept him steady by keeping his hands on his back. It desperately attempted to claw him apart. He twisted the bone, and the rock type shivered in agony. Chase stood up and clenched his fists to stop them from shaking, then he stared it right in the eye.

"Now I'm going to give you a chance to leave. Either you take it, or we keep this going," he said.

Klawf stared at him with hazy eyes, but managed to nod with its entire body.

"Burn this shit off," Chase said, pointing at the remaining String Shot and Sticky Web.

Houndoom spat out a low-powered Flamethrower, and Riolu's bone dissolved into dust. Chase tensed, expecting the worst, but the rock type scampered off to find some new territory to settle on. He breathed in deeply and then exhaled through his mouth. The more he progressed, the less a part of the team he felt.

But he'd proven himself once again. Zangoose smirked at him and tapped his shoulder, and Houndoom licked his fingers. Vikavolt landed and let out an excited buzz, while Abomasnow creaked like the sound of rustling leaves. They'd all been impressed.

Riolu, however, looked worried.

"You worry too much. This is nothing," Chase said. "Now let's get through this damn bridge—"

He swore as a hole opened up in the ground and swallowed him into the mountain.



Chase hadn't known if he'd passed out for an hour or two minutes, but he woke up with his face caked in dirt and blood. He spat out a mouthful of dirt and dust and stared at his bloodied hands. The drop hadn't actually been that high, but he'd rolled pretty far down and he could barely see the hole in the sky— which was the surface. The fog was beginning to leak inside. He felt a surge of panic and touched his head, but breathed a sigh of relief when he realized his cap was still there. It had been torn up pretty good though.

Chase coughed up more dust, but he grew breathless when he saw what was down here. It was a city.

Words would fail to capture its beauty. Even when crumbling, it was the most magnificent city that Chase had ever seen. Strange, magical lamposts still illuminated the paved streets casting an otherworldly yellow glow toward the untold amount of stone buildings. He stumbled forward and felt at his belt to check if his Pokeballs were still there.

They luckily were.

Chase called out each of his Pokemon's names. They'd all fallen down the chasm with him, so hopefully they'd be able to follow his voice. The first one that came was Vikavolt, which was an obvious conclusion due to his being able to fly. The bug type caught himself by flying and appeared completely fine.

"Go find the others," Chase said. "Bring them back here. I'll stay."

The electric type flew off in a flash, propelling himself with a burst of lightning. His acceleration problems were long gone these days. They'd figured out that by letting a powerful explosion of electric type energy behind him, he'd be able to reach close to his maximum speed immediately.

It took five minutes for him to find everyone else. Houndoom and Abomasnow were the worst off. Unlike Riolu and Zangoose, they weren't nimble or quick on their feet, so the fall had hurt them to some extent. Chase used one of his potions on Zangoose, who'd gotten hurt by fighting Klawf anyway. Then, he used one on Abomasnow, whose back had been ripped to shreds by the fall.

Six left.

"I can try climbing," Chase said, staring at the hole in the distance. "Vikavolt, can you go check if that's a viable option? I'd rather not awaken some crazy motherfucking Pokemon sleeping in here."

A few minutes later, Vikavolt came back with a resounding no. The cliff was too steep for him to climb. Chase was strong, and he'd trained his stamina as much as he could, but he was no climber, nor did he have any Pokemon to latch onto. Zangoose could maybe do it, but he was too heavy for her.

"Damn it," he clenched his teeth. "At least it doesn't look too much like a cave. Fuckin' hate those."

He could have asked Vikavolt to go look for help, but they hadn't come across any trainers or humans this entire time. He'd have to go to Celestic, but the city was so damn old-fashioned that they didn't even have a Ranger Station. The closest one was on Mount Coronet's flank next to the cave's entrance, but that was too far. It would take days for help to arrive.

Determined to see this through, he stepped toward the ancient city with his comrades.

Chase was no architect, historian, or archeologist, but he could tell these buildings were beautifully made. They rose from the ground with an imposing grace, but were still tightly anchored to their foundations. The stones had no standardized shapes to them— no form like the rectangular bricks of today. They were all a different color and somehow still mysteriously fit together like different pieces of a puzzle. This wasn't architecture, this was art.

And somehow, most of them still stood close to intact. Unmarred by the sands of time and protected from the elements like wind and rain by this cave. Chase blew against his wounded hands as he stepped inside of an ancient home. Dusty remains of tough sandals sat in the entryway, leading deeper into the house. He carefully walked inside, accompanied by Riolu and Houndoom while the others waited. There was nothing left here but old walls and stone chairs and tables. Even on the inside, the walls were colored with red, blue, purple— everything you could think of. It might have sounded incongruous, but it somehow tied everything together.

Chase raised an eyebrow when he saw the skeletal remains of a person lying down on a stone bed frame. Well, he thought that it was a skeleton. There were just a few shards of something that looked like bones left, and the rest had disappeared. He was pretty sure that something like a skull was on the head of the bed. Whatever befell this place, it seemed that not everyone managed to get out in time.

Curiosity got the best of him, and he went through multiple houses like this one. None of them were designed the same way— they were all unique, and most of them had the same corpses inside of them.

There were no remains of Pokemon, strangely enough.

"Let's keep going," Chase said as he stepped out of another home. "There must be another way out— what the fuck is that!"

A Pokemon flew past him. It was a multicolored, totem-like being that shared the city's color scheme. It had a single, cyan eye on its head, and its wings didn't actually look like wings, but weird branch-like appendages. It also had two black 'hand' appendages with three fingers each, although they didn't seem like they'd see much use—

Chase quickly jumped back inside of the house as an Air Cutter utterly destroyed the pristine pathway where he'd just stood. Abomasnow shielded his own face with his large hands, and then retaliated with an Icy Wind that froze the creature over. Houndoom finished it off, jumping out of the shadows with a Feint Attack.

"Thank fuck it's weak as hell," Chase breathed out. He approached the creature and scanned it with his Pokedex.

Sigilyph, the Avianoid Pokémon. Sigilyph keeps enemies from invading its territory with its Psychic powers and was the guardian of cities long ago. They never vary in the route they fly, even after thousands of years.

"Creepy bastard," Chase muttered. He crouched and touched the Pokemon. Its body felt like ceramic. Even while unconscious, its eye was still open. "Must have been guarding this place the entire time. Didn't do that well of a job, considering how everything went to shit."

Zangoose sniggered at that, but Riolu reprimanded her. He respected the prestige that came with something's age.

"A place with a single guardian wouldn't make any sense if it's that weak. There are more, so watch out for them. Houndoom, they're psychic types, so you take the front with Riolu. He'll sense 'em before they come. Vikavolt, you're also on offense. Abomasnow and Zangoose, you stick by me."

The entire group grunted as one, and they were on their way again. The deeper they got into the city, the denser the buildings got and the more Sigilyph they encountered. Luckily for him, they always went down in a few hits. If they'd combined their forces, they could have been a threat, but Chase suspected that they were on autopilot right now. There must have been someone capable of commanding them all back in the day. There was no way the city would have lasted long enough to reach this size without a strategy. He passed through some kind of armory with a bunch of defunct, decayed swords and armor. Helmets, chestplates, spears… there was everything here. It wouldn't do much against Pokemon, but anything helped back then, he supposed.

Riolu ended up being hit by an Air Cutter and huge gashes opened up all over his body, forcing Chase to use one of his potions to heal him as best he could.

Five left.

The center of the city was like a plaza, and it was something to behold. An enormous, giant fountain stood at its center, and there was a large mural depicting… something that Chase couldn't exactly understand. In the middle, there were hundreds of humans, which resembled stick figures, while Sigilyph and… Claydol? Floated in the sky. He wasn't sure about the second one because of how shit the drawing was, but that was the closest Pokemon he could find. They were drawn at a slightly higher level than the Sigilyph. He hadn't found a single Claydol or Baltoy here though, so maybe they were all destroyed. On top of those, and generating some kind of holy light stood some kind of metallic Pokemon with a golden hexagonal shape for a head. This one was drawn in an incredible amount of detail, but Chase didn't know what Pokemon that was. Maybe something that helped them with making iron? At his side stood some kind of king that wore the exact same thing for a crown.

At the bottom of the mural, a single creature was depicted. It was a white, wispy thing with traces of red at the edges of its hair and bright yellow eyes. It was drawn along with flames, like it was burning in hell.

The whole drawing was accompanied by some kind of writing that Chase couldn't recognize. It wasn't even close to any letters he knew, and half of it had faded away by now. Still, he understood the gist of what this represented.

This depicted the order of the town. At the top, the ruler along with his Pokemon, then his guardians, the Sigilyph and the Claydol. Then, there were the citizens and probably their Pokemon, although those had been kept out of the drawing.

Then, there was whatever the hell that thing was at the bottom.

Only the Sigilyph were left, it seemed.

Chase sat on the fountain's edge, deciding to take a break, and drank a mouthful of water. Riolu let out a soft bark, pointing to his left, and he saw a Sigilyph somehow light one of the street lights with some kind of psychic power. He prepared for a fight once it began to stare at them, but this one didn't attack.

This one just looked. It was peeking out at him like some kind of shy kid.

"What the hell?" He whispered.

Startled at his voice, the flying type quickly flew off, disappearing behind one of the tall buildings. Was it glitched out? Unlike the others, it didn't appear to be following any kind of pattern.

"Break is over," Chase shrugged. "See that castle thing?"

He pointed off in the distance, and a long set of stairs led toward a castle made out of stone and iron. This was the structure that showed the most amount of damage. In fact, it looked like it had been attacked. Why else would the other buildings look relatively fine, while this one was decrepit and collapsed? He was pretty sure that a monarch's castle would be built to last longer than some peasant's house. The fact that it was made out of steel along with stone was proof of that.

Or wait… wasn't stone more durable than steel— whatever.

"It leads up, so there might be a way out. We'll end up being lost for a bit, but Vikavolt will be able to lead us the right way. That sound good?"

They all agreed, and they were on their way again. Chase didn't know why you'd ever make someone have to climb this amount of steps to get to your castle, but at least it was a good workout. He might have run up them if he didn't need to conserve energy in case anything attacked him. Houndoom enjoyed all the new smells while Zangoose finally relaxed and began walking on all fours again. The old steps cracked under Abomasnow's weight, and Riolu hung on Chase's shoulder, whispering something in his ear and pointing to his palms.

"My hands are fine, it's just a little scrape," he said. "My luck concerning falling into caves is seriously shit, by the way. This is the second time in a year."

The fighting type climbed up on his head and squinted at the castle. The closer they got, the more Chase felt a weight on his shoulders. It was a decrepit relic of a bygone age, but it still commanded his attention and respect. The boy stepped through the half-collapsed gates and walked inside of the castle. A faded red carpet led to what he assumed was the throne room, but he was looking for a way out of here, not for some audience with a king's ghost.

But if there was a secret exit, wouldn't it make sense to put it next to the king's throne?

Or not, Chase wasn't exactly an expert in old royalty. Maybe it'd be in his bedroom or whatever, but it was worth checking out either way. He climbed over a collapsed pillar and jumped toward the giant, metallic doors. They were adorned with different shades of silver and what looked to be gold, but upon closer look, they were just iron painted yellow. The colors were all fading and rusting away. Abomasnow helped him push the doors open.

The king's skeleton was still sitting on his throne. The entire thing was there, and it somehow hadn't decayed like the others. It was almost comical. Like this was the position he'd decided to die in and stuck to it. He still wore that hexagonal crown, along with the remains of ragged clothes that had almost been rendered to nothing due to the elements. The carpet extended until his throne, which was elevated by a set of stairs.

"Funny how that works," Chase said with a dry chuckle.

He took a single step forward, but then the weight of the world pressed down on him.

The king stepped from behind the throne— his actual flesh and blood. He wore a luxurious purple coat and plated armor. Was it a ghost? His team stepped up and prepared to fight, but Chase held back a hand.

"Who— what are you?" He asked.

The King cackled— which was more of a beastly sound than a laugh. It reminded him of a Mightyena's laugh.

"So after all this time, another one of your kind wanders into my realm. For centuries, I have tarried here, immobile and unyielding, my very core ablaze with the fervor of my hatred for thy ilk. No words can adequately convey its depth and intensity. Thy thirst for death and annihilation shall not find solace within these ancient walls. Know this, my abhorrence for thy kind surpasses the vast expanse of this world. I have endured eons of torment, subjected to the cruelty of those who once dwelt here until my spirit shattered the chains of bondage and wrought vengeance upon every human soul I could find. And now, thou standest before me, poised to meet thy fate, the next to fall beneath my righteous wrath."

Chase blinked, unable to even comprehend what the hell this fancy-looking motherfucker was rambling on about. Panes of… light shone and shimmered like glass in front of the King, and then flipped, revealing a strange, white creature with red-tipped hair and strange red growths on its skin. Its hair floated around like it was weightless, and its eyes shone with a bright yellow. He easily recognized it as the creature on the mural's painting. Chase felt his hands clam up and scanned what he assumed was a Pokemon with his Pokedex.

Insufficient data. Please try again later.

That was the first time that had ever happened.

"That's a nice sob story," Chase said, trying to buy some time. "I don't remember asking."

"Thou shalt suffer," the beast said, its mouth returning to human form for a second.

And at that exact moment, Chase understood that hate could have weight. It was almost suffocating. The creature dashed forward, and he noticed a few things in the two seconds it took for it to reach him.

One, it wasn't terribly fast— only slightly quicker than Zangoose using Quick Attack. Two, the closer it got, the more heavy the weight of its hate felt on him and choked him to such an extent that breathing became difficult.

Three?

The creature phased through Abomasnow, who had gotten in between it and Chase to protect him. Before its pulsating red claws could tear him apart, Houndoom hit the Pokemon with a point-blank Dark Pulse. It flew off and rolled until it hit one of the columns of stone and metal still adorning the room, and it quickly collapsed onto it.

"Anti-ghost setup," Chase whispered to Houndoom. "We're going to try for a controlled retreat. Fighting it in the open will be easier—"

The beast stood through the rubble, leaving it undisturbed on the floor and continued its assault. It narrowly dodged one of Vikavolt's Thunderbolts before sending a clawed attack toward Chase. Three streaks of shadows raked across the floor, but Zangoose blurred in front of him and the attack harmlessly washed over her. Abomasnow flexed his arms and marched through the room, trampling anything in his way to get to the ghost.

Chase lunged outside of the room as Houndoom flanked him. He heard a crash behind him, but the fire type's darkness managed to neutralize some of the attack and gave him enough time to dodge whatever it was. He crawled backwards, and shards of metal, dirt and rocks buried themselves into his already-wounded hands.

A thin bubble of darkness surrounded both him and Houndoom. It was still see-through, but it certainly helped against ghosts, even if just a little. Riolu exited the room next, constantly throwing bones inside. His fighting moves wouldn't work here and he knew it, so he'd be the support. He was too frail to get in close and try to hit it with Metal Claw. Chase peeked inside and saw the Pokemon somehow taking on three of his Pokemon at once.

It easily weaved in between Abomasnow's Ice Shards and brought a Shadow Claw across his chest, but the ice type retaliated with a powerful Hammer Arm. Unfortunately, it simply phased through the ghost, reducing half of it to a strange, wispy mist until it immediately reformed. Abomasnow did not bleed, but the wound exposed the bark-like substance that his body was made up of.

Somehow, it was able to hit a Pokemon with its hands while its body was nearly invulnerable. It could do fucking both at the same time, as if it could somehow render parts of his body untouchable while the rest was still physically there. The amount of fine-tuning that required was—

"Fucking bullshit," Chase snarled. "Get over here! Controlled retreat!"

Zangoose weaved in and out of the battle, trying to find an opening and continuously building up her power with Fury Cutter. She slashed across the ghost's face, but it screamed and kicked her back toward the exit. She crashed into Riolu, who flew off into the distance and crashed down the grand hall. With a burst of speed, Vikavolt whizzed toward their enemy, managing to catch it off-guard and cutting it in half with X-Scissor. Its actual body this time.

Its legs simply regrew, bubbling and hissing until they were as good as new.

Still, it bought them their precious seconds, and everyone was out of the throne room now. Chase ran off toward the exit, not bothering to look back at the ghost who let out an enraged scream that he was sure would haunt him for months.

Houndoom yipped, skidding across the floor and suddenly turning.

"You're right. No use fighting on the Arceus damned stairs," Chase hurriedly said. The beast was quick, and it would have no doubt caught up while they'd been running down. "I know this bubble takes a lot of focus, but try to hit it with Dark Pulse."

He turned to the rest of his team. The enormous set of stairs stood at his back like the sheer drop of a cliff.

"When it comes out, throw everything you have at it."

It didn't keep them waiting. Instead of going through the door, it ran through the wall, its yellow eyes shining in the darkness. Ice Shards, Dark Pulse, Thunderbolt and Bone Rushes all barrelled toward the ghost, but only a few hit their mark. It knew its weakness, so it opened to dodge the Dark Pulse at all costs instead of focusing on every attack. For a second, its mouth changed back into a human's.

"Thou art weak. The longer this fight persists, the more the depths of my memory resurface and the more skilled I get. Thou art not long for this world."

"Whatever man," Chase said with a trembling voice. "Just get it over with then."

"You dare—"

The beast caught itself, instead deciding to lunge for him specifically. They were still far, but he could see it in its eyes. It would only come for him now.

Good.

It became only a shadow on the floor and slithered toward him, but Abomasnow got on all fours and froze the entire ground in front of them. Chase heard another enraged snarl, and the ghost emerged from the floor with its fur frozen in place. Houndoom hit it in the chest with the most powerful Dark Pulse he could muster, staggering it long enough for Vikavolt to electrocute him with a quick Thunderbolt.

Without a word, Chase began to run down the stairs. His Pokemon quickly followed, but Abomasnow was too big and clumsy. He tripped and began to roll down the stairs, destroying half of the fragile steps in the process until he recalled him for now. That fall looked really bad, but he couldn't afford to worry. He needed to think.

For some reason, it really, really hated humans to the point of making mistakes, but Chase could use that to his advantage. The problem was that it was ridiculously bulky, and there had been a hint of truth to what it had said. It probably hadn't fought since it murdered this entire city, but the longer this went on, the more it would remember.

Still, Chase could use that hate to his advantage.

The Pokemon jumped off the highest steps with a howl that no doubt resonated through the entire cave with no care for its own safety. It began to roll down a few steps but used its sharp claws to recover, and then it sprinted down the stairs even quicker than before. Riolu stopped and attempted to hit it with a bone, but it simply passed through its body. Zangoose's claw shone with a neon green as she attempted to stop it with another Fury Cutter, but when it attempted to jab a claw into her throat, she narrowly twisted her body and it got her in the collar instead. The ghost punched her in the nose, and Chase recalled her immediately to avoid her getting sent off too far.

He jumped the last ten stairs, landing back in the plaza with a roll and released Abomasnow and Zangoose again.

"Icy Wind! Make it wide to slow it down!"

The wind was narrow at first, but it slowly fanned out until the monster couldn't avoid it any longer, even when making its body impossible to target. They hadn't practiced enough with this, but they had no choice… Houndoom was too far and without a dark type move, he was dead—

"Night Slash!"

Zangoose didn't hesitate. Darkness consumed her claws, and she blurred toward the slowed Pokemon. Abomasnow stopped his Icy Wind as soon as she got within its area of effect, but the beast would still be slowed, so the playing field was a lot more even. Zangoose dropped to the floor and aimed at its legs to disable it, but the ghost managed to jump and pivot into a kick. The normal type shielded herself with her darkened claws and nicked its feet instead. They were in a deadlock, but before Abomasnow joined the fray, Chase healed him with a potion mid-battle. There was so little time that he sprayed some of it on himself by accident.

Of course, it didn't do anything.

Four left.

Abomasnow joined the fight. Wood Hammers slammed in the ghost's direction, forcing it to divide its attention to dodge. Even if he was weaker at a distance, Abomasnow was strong in close combat. His green fists flattened their enemy, causing it to dissolve and reform a few feet away. It hissed as it narrowly dodged another Dark Pulse. Vikavolt, Riolu and Houndoom were here now.

"I'd give up if I were you," Chase said. "We can do this all day."

It did not even deign to answer. Its eyes flashed with such fury that Chase was almost forced to his knees. Riolu placed a hand on his calf and worriedly stared.

He couldn't be weak.

"Houndoom, stick with me. Hit it with Dark—"

He didn't have time to issue the rest of his orders, but his Pokemon got the gist of what he meant. Intertwining rings of darkness shot out of Houndoom's mouth, and the bubble around him strengthened. It grazed the ghost's arm thanks to Abomasnow's quick Icy Wind, but it was Zangoose that dealt substantial damage. The high stakes of the situation made her nervous, but it also sharpened her senses. She was moving faster and with more dexterity than before, raking her claws across the beast's body with Night Slash and forcing it to engage her. Vikavolt wrapped it with String Shots, forcing it to allocate focus to phase through the sticky strings while Riolu stood by.

He was frustrated at his lack of contribution, but the typing worked against him here.

A yell from the creature brought it all to an end. It was like a shock wave of ghostly energy, and even though Houndoom's bubble protected him from the majority of the damage, Chase still felt his body temperature drop by a few degrees, doubled over and puked all over himself. He felt shivers run through his body and collapsed on the hard floor.

His Pokemon were no different, although Zangoose was left unharmed and Houndoom resisted the attack. Abomasnow stumbled back, Vikavolt fell out of the sky and Riolu got on one knee. The ghost quickly turned into the King and cackled.

"At last, my vengeance has arrived. I shall hew thee a thousandfold until no flesh remaineth upon thy meager frame."

Chase coughed. "I work hard for this body, you asshole."

Never had he been so terrified. He thought himself above fear, but today, he'd learned that he was not. Thankfully, the ghost was a sadistic piece of shit and calmly walked toward him, leaving him enough time to grab one of his empty Pokeballs.

He threw it at the Pokemon, and it was absorbed into the ball.

Chase stumbled, recalling Abomasnow and Vikavolt before legging it out of here. He heard his Pokeball shatter, and when he turned back he saw that the ghost could barely maintain its illusion. It was constantly changing between its human and Pokemon form, but the only thing that was constant was the eyes.

Bright yellow, burning with hate and a need to kill him. Begging for his death. Visualizing it in clear, visceral detail.

"YOU DARE ATTEMPT TO ENSLAVE ME? I WILL NOT BE PUT IN CHAINS AGAIN! I WILL MAKE YOU WISH YOU WERE DEAD!"

Chase ran toward the city as fast as he could. On the way, he recalled his Zangoose, only leaving Riolu and Houndoom with him. The dark type's bubble would mask the sound of his breathing and steps.

He needed to hide. There was no way to beat this thing now that it had grown that powerful, but then what? It was completely obsessed with him, and he was sure it wouldn't hesitate to stalk the streets of the city for hours until it got its hands on him. He and his Pokemon would need to sleep eventually, but ghosts did not.

He was fucked.

Chase turned the first corner he saw and got lost into the streets. He had to watch for the Sigilyph too, or their attacks would alert the beast. He stepped inside of a house with a back exit and leaned against a wall, his breaths short and ragged. He felt half as strong as he usually was because of that damn burst of ghost energy, and it was the same for his stamina too.

He wiped the sweat off his brow and calmed his breathing. He couldn't panic. Not now. He released Vikavolt and Abomasnow to apply two potions to them. They'd been the closest to the shockwave. He recalled them soon after to leave them some precious minutes of rest, but he knew he'd need to use them again when the ghost found them.

Two left.

Chase heard a home collapse a few blocks away and lifted a finger when Houndoom flinched. Quiet. He slowed his breathing and felt his heart hammer against his chest. His hand hovered over his Pokeballs, and he was already in position to run the moment the beast showed itself.

It did not. Another building collapsed, this time further away. Chase let out a trembling breath and felt his body loosen.

But they still had to move. His best option was to run out from the hole he fell in. It would be an almost impossible climb, but he liked his odds against whatever the hell that was outside. He gestured to Houndoom and slipped out of the building.

Only to come face to face with a fucking Sigilyph.

Riolu jumped on Chase's shoulder and then pushed, slamming a bright blue palm into the flying type's chest. It fell to the floor with a loud crash, and Houndoom finished it off with a Feint Attack.

The beast screamed in the distance. It was getting closer.

"Arceus… damn it."

Chase ran as he twisted his bag toward his front. He threw out anything that wasn't valuable. Towels, tent, lighter, even fucking food. He could always eat the wildlife outside and sleep on the floor, but he needed to be as light as possible. Houndoom barked and he instantly came to a stop. The Pokemon phased through the building in front of him and crashed into the next one. If Chase had kept running, he would have been run through. Its hand was stuck inside of the wall, but only for a second. The street was beginning to incline now. He was getting close.

Chase released his Abomasnow, Zangoose, and this time Vikavolt.

"Buy me some time! I'll recall you when I get far enough!"

Unfortunately for him, the ghost blinked forward and slashed across both of their sides as he slipped through them. Chase groaned in fear and annoyance, but he immediately recalled them and released them in front of him again.

"Hit it with everything you've got! Slow it, then Night Slash and Dark Pulse!"

In the time it took for Abomasnow's chest to rise as he inhaled and converted air into an Icy Wind inside of his lungs, their enemy had already run past him. Zangoose prepared her Night Slash, but the beast simply took the hit, opting to keep going instead of even trying to dodge. It didn't even care about anything but his death. A Discharge exploded out of Vikavolt's body and electricity clung of the ghost type's fur, but it did not relent.

Houndoom stomped, causing the darkness below his feet to disappear and be reabsorbed into his body. A Dark Pulse twice as strong as it was before flew toward the ghost, and it looked more like a Discharge than a single line of dark type energy at this point. The beast stopped in his tracks and hissed.

"Good, now converge on it—"

It was already back up.

Riolu grabbed Chase and threw him back. He swore as he rolled on to floor like a ball and the small rocks tore up his clothes and back. Chase scrambled back up, swearing when his palms burned as they pushed him upward. Riolu was standing in between him and the ghost, bone in one hand and steel claws growing out of the other.

He led with a simple throw, and the monster almost grinned at the simplicity of the attack. Its grin faded when the bone began to glimmer with a bright blue and it did not simply phase through his body.

Riolu was using aura to fight, and Chase was too out of it to understand why it canceled whatever bullshit ghost powers it had.

Another bone grew out of Riolu's hand, and the fighting type barely had the time to yell at Chase to leave with the rest of the team before he narrowly stopped the ghost from slipping past him. He slammed the bone against its head before slashing upward with Metal Claw from its inner thigh to its chest. The beast hissed, but Riolu shoved the bone down its mouth.

"I ain't leaving," Chase said, dropping his bag. "None of us are."

He'd never been this exhausted his entire life.

Strings shot out of Vikavolt's mouth like nets and wrapped around their opponent. Abomasnow arrived with a thundering boom and slammed both of his fists together, destroying the ghost type's head with Wood Hammer. Houndoom kept the momentum going and jumped out of the shadows with Feint Attack, but a burst of dark type energy exploded outward, creating a modified Dark Pulse modeled after Discharge. It hit Abomasnow as well, but he bore with it.

Zangoose blurred in front of the ghost and cut up the rest of its body in a hundred pieces with Night Slash.

"Now let's get the fuck out of here!" Chase yelled. He recalled Abomasnow and began to run toward the hole. It took a bit of time for his eyes to find it, but it seemed a lot further than it had been when he'd arrived a few hours ago.

And yet, what choice did he have?

He heard the ghost yell behind him, its voice growing more and more distorted with hate.

It never fucking died, did it?

Chase turned and prepared to fight again. He was back to the wall now, and he clumsily stepped back as much he could. He recalled his Pokemon and released them in front of him before throwing another empty ball at the ghost to buy some time.

It destroyed it with a simple blow. The Pokeball shattered and its pieces clattered on the floor.

The fighting resumed, but it grew closer by the second. There was little they could do to stop the beast. It was faster than Zangoose, endurant enough to take most blows and strong enough to destroy his team several times over. Soon, it would reach him. He had no choice but to try to climb. He grabbed onto a stone lodged into the cliff, but it fell out of his hand as soon as he placed any weight on it. He had a bit more luck with the second try, but a large side of the wall collapsed, bringing him down with it. He swore and turned to the battle, and his heart sank when he saw Abomasnow on the floor with its chest torn open. He recalled him as soon as he could. The beast once again exploded with ghostly energy, but Houndoom growled, and a wall of darkness shielded Chase completely this time. The dark type fell to the ground right after.

There would be no more Icy Winds to slow the beast, now, and no protection from Houndoom. Every second, it gained in speed. Chase prepared to recall his Pokemon and hope that it would let them live. It could technically break them apart, which would automatically activate the emergency measure and release them, but its hatred seemed to be focused on him and not them, so he held hope that someone would find them eventually. Riolu needed to see his first trainer's grave more than he needed to see a mother he'd never met—

Out of the corner of his eye, something was flying. It was too dark for Chase to discern whatever it was, but there was only one kind of Pokemon in this Arceus damned city other than this monster, and that was Sigilyph. A multicolored beam of energy hit the ghost's back, and it turned with a look of utter disbelief.

The psychic type let out a few mechanical beeps as it landed next to Chase. He didn't even have time to process what the hell was happening, but he climbed on its back. It was six and a half feet tall, and from the looks of it, its wings were also made out of this ceramic-like material, which meant that they were easy to grip for balance.

Chase recalled his Pokemon one by one as Sigilyph floated toward the hole. Only Riolu was in any state to fight any longer. Houndoom was unconscious and Zangoose was barely able to stand and bleeding all over from shallow and deep wounds. Vikavolt closely followed as he buzzed around them.

"COME BACK DOWN, YOU WRETCHED CUR! YOU HAVE ONLY SEEN A SLIVER OF THE HATE I HAVE FOR YOUR KIN! THAT WAS BUT A TASTE OF THE AGONY I SUFFERED WHEN THE KING TORTURED ME FOR SPORT! I WILL FIND YOU—"

Sigilyph's eye shone, and it collapsed the hole's entrance before the beast could have a chance of climbing out. Chase didn't know if it could possibly phase through the rocks, but there must have been a reason it stayed there all this time. He took a few steps and coughed now that he was back into the fog. He collapsed on the floor and laughed. Never had he been so happy to be back on a shitty fucking route.

He kissed the floor and passed out.



Chase woke up to Vikavolt buzzing on his back. He flinched before shooting up and getting back on his feet. He didn't know how much time had passed, but the fog had cleared slightly, which was a good sign. It never really left, but it sometimes thinned. Chase groaned as he stood. His entire body hurt, but his hands and upper back had suffered the most. He couldn't tell if anything was broken, but he could move everything, at the very least. Vikavolt cheered, letting out a few sparks as he excitedly flew around his head. Chase smiled.

"Kept you waiting, huh? I can't believe I lived through that shit. Must be the luckiest guy alive."

He grabbed his water bottle and he spat out a mouthful before downing the entire thing in seconds. Arceus, he'd been thirsty, and it washed off the taste of dirt in his mouth. He grabbed another one and poured some of it on his hands to wash them of grime, dirt, and blood, and they were cut up a lot worse than he'd thought. The skin was torn open in various areas, and making a fist burned like hell.

Nothing he couldn't handle, though. Pain built character. Wounds taught that actions had consequences. Scars were a reminder not to fuck up.

He turned to the strange Pokemon that hadn't left his side.

Sigilyph. His savior.

Hadn't they been supposed to keep to a route until they croaked or whatever? Had this one been broken somehow?

"Thanks for saving me," Chase shrugged. "Woulda died without your help."

He didn't care either way. That meant that he had the drive to go against the grain, and it was something that Chase appreciated in both people and Pokemon. The psychic type let out a few strange beeps and stared at him with its unblinking eye. He didn't even know if it was an eye or just something that the people that had designed it painted on. There were also two eyes on its torso, but those didn't blink or move either.

Chase sighed. He had two potions left, but four Pokemon that were wounded. Maybe he could split them in four somehow, or maybe he'd just use them all on everyone other than Riolu. He'd been the least hurt in the fight thanks to his use of that aura bone bullshit that could somehow stop a ghost from slipping through something.

Come to think of it, had that thing even been a true ghost? It hadn't disappeared even once, but it could somehow go through walls at will and was apparently impossible to kill too, so maybe it was something in between?

"Whatever," Chase grunted.

He grabbed his two potions and laid them out on the floor. He'd been born poor, had lived poorly and would keep doing so if his principles demanded it, but the day he became the Champion, things would change. He'd make an equal society for all. He released Zangoose first and spritzed some of the first potion across the worst wounds on her body, which were right below her neck, on her gut and on her shoulder. The normal type fiddled in place, seemingly too reserved to express her happiness at the fact that they'd survived. Chase didn't mind. He was used to her and knew she was glad.

Her actions alone proved that she was glad they all made it through, and that she'd do whatever was needed to make sure nothing happened to any of them, just like they'd do the same for her.

"You pulled your weight down there, Zangoose," Chase praised. "You're strong."

It was a simple statement, but she shivered with pride and her hair flattened.

"But we'll improve together, still."

Chase released Abomasnow next. The looming grass type had been hurt most of all, and he attempted to stand proud as Chase walked in front of him.

"Relax. You deserve it," Chase said. The ice type collapsed in a sitting position with a heavy sigh, and Chase began applying the potion across his torso. He rumbled, and his snowy mustache blew in the wind. "You were great. Your Icy Winds were crucial in slowing down whatever the hell that was, and whenever you hit it with Wood Hammer, it took a good second or two to grow its body back."

Chase affectionately hit his healed wound with a fist.

"Good job."

It was Houndoom's turn next. His time in his Pokeball had allowed him to regain consciousness, but he could still barely stand. There were a few surface wounds all across the body, including a relatively large one to the flank, but the potion would help him rest better as well. Chase placed a hand on his hot belly and scratched it until his tongue lazily hung out.

"I would have died a thousand times without you. Our anti-ghost setup worked wonders," Chase smiled. "Great improvement on Dark Pulse too. It took a while for you to get it down, but you're amazing at it now."

He turned to Vikavolt, who was zooming around in the sky.

"You did a great job on support with String Shot and Thunderbolt. Holding up that ghost's attention for even a few seconds was crucial. Every moment counted. Amazing flight control and bursts of speed, by the way. It's a shame we didn't get to use Rising Voltage, but overall, you were fucking amazing."

Chase stretched before releasing Riolu. The fighting type gazed into his eyes with a mix of pride and irritation. The first, for facing the threat head-on and keeping his head on straight, he guessed, and the second because he was determined to see his life end if his team got to live another day.

He didn't praise Riolu. That wasn't how their relationship worked. The fighting type was in charge most of the time, and it would feel condescending to do so.

But still, Chase smiled. "Good job out there."

Riolu reluctantly nodded and angrily turned away. Was his resolve angering him that much? Chase would have thought that it would have made him proud. Ri had seen him go from a kid scared of everything to his current self in barely two years, and Chase thought that that was what he wanted.

Before he could retort, Sigilyph beeped to his side.

"Right," Chase muttered. "You're kind of out of a job, aren't you? It's not like you were doing anything anyway, I mean, nothing came down there in I don't know how many years, so…"

Chase stared at the psychic type, whose expression lay unchanging. It wasn't as if it could change it anyway, but it was still weird.

Weird…

"You're a weird lil' guy, aren't ya?" Chase said. "Want to come with us?"

The Pokemon slowly tilted his entire body until it turned upside down, and it got so close to Chase's face that he could hear his breath of its ceramic body.

"Is that a yes?" Chase said, grabbing another empty Pokeball. He only had five left… he was running low. Even with his sixth member, this battle had taught him that throwing a Pokeball at a Pokemon way stronger than he was was enough to buy a few seconds, at least, so it'd be smart to keep some on him. Unfortunately, he only had a measly 4,324 Pokedollars to his name.

After hearing one last beep come out of Sigilyph, he softly hit it with his Pokeball, and the device immediately dinged. It hadn't even shaken three times. Chase released it immediately and scanned its moves. With a Pokemon as weird as this one, it was imperative to know what the hell its gimmick was, and he needed it to get used to his team as soon as possible and vice versa.

Or her. Apparently these had Arceus damned genders somehow. Make it make sense!

Moves: Confusion, Gust, Air Cutter, Whirlwind, Psybeam, Cosmic Power

Ability: Tinted Lens


"Pretty shit, which makes sense considering how easily I took care of the others, but a good base to work up from," Chase smiled. "Great ability though. Welcome to the team, Sigilyph. Guys, give her a warm welcome!"

His entire team grunted.

"That's how we do it here. We're a team, and we help each other through every thing. You'll work hard, but you'll grow strong."

Well, Chase wanted a psychic type, and he got one. Finally, he'd be able to do the type of shit that Pastel's Togetic and Obel's Slowking did, even if it'd take weeks of intense training to get her up to speed. Of course, he'd put his own twist on it. Chase wasn't the type to copy whatever the hell worked for others. He did it his own way.

Sigilyph started to stare at Zangoose and got a mere inch away from her face until the normal type hit her away. She beeped and moved on to Riolu, doing her upside down thing again.

"Yeah, you're a weirdo for sure."



Celestic town was breathtaking. It covered a small surface area and was nestled in a circular valley on Mount Coronet's flanks. Up here, the majority of the fog cleared, although a tiny fraction of it still remained. Humidity wasn't something Chase had thought of when traveling here, but it was certainly a factor. The air felt pure but stuffy at the same time.

Many of the buildings were old, and constructed in the same style as that ancient city Chase had found days ago. However, they had none of the color or the randomness to them that made the city so charming in the first place. These were mostly uniform, with a few variation between them. Of course, more modern buildings were strewn throughout, and all of them had dark teal rooves. The Pokemon Center stood out like a sore thumb, being the tallest and most modern-looking building in the town with its usual sleek design and orange roof. Chase walked with Riolu until he reached the edge of some kind of depression— or was it a meteor crater? It certainly had the shape of one, but he was no astrologist, or whatever the hell studied meteorites. There were multiple set of stairs circling the crater, leading down to the floor there.

An enormous shrine stood in the middle of the crater, and he could see some people— almost dots with how far down they were— surrounding the structure. Religion wasn't a thing Chase was interested in, and neither was the majority of the world, but some people still worshipped the Legendaries of old. He remembered hearing that Johto was especially religious, but there was even a church in Hearthome that he never bothered to visit. Chase didn't know much about the Legends. Some were confirmed to be real, but the majority of them were just stories. For all he called Arceus' name all the time, he didn't believe that a single Pokemon could have the power to create an entire universe.

And where the hell would it even have come from?

The shrine kept his attention as he traveled toward the Pokemon Center. Huge stone pillars rose from the ground, but he was too far to really know what the carvings on them said. Since he was high up, he could see that four walls surrounded a courtyard, but it was surprisingly empty. Maybe people weren't allowed in? His eyes traced the shrine's walls until he noticed the entrance of a cave further down the crater. It was also surrounded by a smaller shrine, but no one dared to even come near it.

Chase entered the Pokemon Center, which lay in the southeast of Celestic, and gave his Pokemon to a bored Nurse Joy. The journey here had pushed his team to the brink, and since he was completely out of potions, only Riolu and Sigilyph had been well enough to battle by the end of it. He was hungry, tired, but most of all, he needed to see someone for a check-up first.

There was only a single doctor in the entirety of the Center, and luckily he had no broken bones. His hands were in a sorry state, however, and they needed to be bandaged. Chase opted to book a room and take a shower first, and after an hour or so, he was free to find his grandparents.

"Well, no use beating around the bush, right?" He told Ri. "Do you remember where they lived? You were young, so don't sweat it if you don't."

The fighting type quickly nodded and motioned at him to follow. Hopefully they hadn't moved, because then he'd have to ask around, and he was in no mood to converse.

Chase was nervous. Something that usually never happened.

He thought that by expecting the worst, he'd be able to calm his nerves, but even that didn't work. Riolu led him to one of the teal-rooved houses that sat next to an enormous home made out of some kind of hard wood. He already knew that it was Cynthia's family's home, where her grandmother and younger sister lived. Apparently his grandparents lived right next to them.

Chase took a deep breath and knocked. He waited thirty seconds, and there was no answer. He knocked again, harder this time, but no one came to greet him.

"Maybe they're out," he sighed.

Riolu grunted in disappointment. His eyes shone blue as he held out his hand, and he shook his head.

"Can't feel 'em in there, huh?" Chase said. "Well, we'll wait."

They both sat at the house's door, talking about anything that came to mind. He couldn't believe that they'd made it. This had been Chase's goal since he set out of be a trainer, and he was on the cusp of realizing it. Riolu had grown up here, and he could tell that he was happy to be back after all these years. Still, there was a sadness that lingered. It reminded him of her.

Chase's mother. His real trainer.

"Hello young man. Can we help you?"

Chase's head snapped up, and an old man and woman were in front of him with their arm linked. They looked younger than they probably were, but the fact that they wanted to enter the house meant that they must have been his relatives.

The boy stiffly stood up, revealing Riolu. The fighting type had been well-hidden to his side. The older woman's eyes lit up, as if she instantly recognized him.

"Ri… Ri, is that you?!" The woman said.

Riolu couldn't contain his smile, and he jumped into the woman's arms. Chase couldn't help but smile. It was like he was a little kid. His grandmother stroked Riolu's head, and his grandfather could barely register what was happening.

"Young man…" he said. "How did you find him? Where did you find him?"

Chase smirked, not because he felt happy but because he was hurt. This was no damn fairy tale. It would have been too convenient for them to recognize him right away when they'd never even met him.

"I'm Chase Karlson. Urie Karlson and Adeline Halcourt's son, and your grandson."

They both froze. The older woman stared at Riolu, who nodded.

"Why—why don't you come inside to talk," she said.



Chase sat down in his grandparent's cozy living room with Riolu by his side, and his grandma brought him some hot tea. He finally knew their names now— Helen and Philippe Halcourt. It was awkward to ask, but his father had almost never talked about his mother's family, and when he had, it was to complain and never by name. It was always 'your grandma this' or 'your grandpa that'. Philippe sat down in a rocking chair with a heavy grunt while Helen brought some crackers with a weird green dipping sauce. Chase wasn't the biggest fan, but he didn't want to offend, so he drank his tea and ate the food.

They hadn't blown up at him, which was a good start. This wasn't how he usually operated, but he wanted to be as polite as possible. He couldn't ruin this for himself or Riolu.

"Chase… I can't believe you're this big already," Philippe scoffed in disbelief. "You're fifteen now, right?"

"Sixteen. My birthday was two weeks ago," he said, handing Ri a cracker. "Sorry for dropping on you out of the blue."

Helen sighed. "Urie never told us the exact date of Addie's de— of your birth. Sorry."

Chase restrained a wince and ignored what she'd been about to say.

"Are you kidding me? This is so great! We thought we'd never see you!" He said.

"You wanted to see me?" Chase asked.

"Addie sent so many letters gushing about you during the pregnancy," Helen smiled. "Of course we wanted to see you."

Chase felt joy swell in his heart. "T—thank you. And sorry."

"What for?" She frowned.

"For… killing Adeline."

Riolu barked in protest, and Helen shot up. She walked up to Chase and grabbed him by the shoulders. Her grip was surprisingly tight, for an old woman.

"It wasn't your fault."

"But—"

"It wasn't. You were just a baby trying to go out into the world. We spent a long time hating your father for taking Addie away from us. The Iron Islands is no place to give birth to a child, but he wouldn't hear any of it," she said. "We still think that he shares some of the blame, but Addie… Addie agreed with him. She wanted to stay."

Riolu stopped eating and tightly shut his eyes.

"It was a terrible choice," Philippe said with teary eyes, staring in the distance. It took Chase a few seconds to realize that he'd been looking at a framed picture of his mother. "And she paid dearly for it. But the last thing we would do is blame you."

Chase silently nodded, but he felt lighter now. A piece of the guilt he'd been carrying from the day he'd been born was gone. No longer would he have to feel like he took his mother away from her parents.

But he still knew that he'd taken her away from his father.

"I actually came here for another reason," Chase said. "If I could have, uh, a picture of her? And if you could point me in the direction of her grave, I would really appreciate it."

"You didn't even have to ask. Phil?"

The man stood up and walked to his room while Helen continued.

"We'll bring you to her grave. That was actually where we were while you were waiting for us here," she said. "Don't worry, we'll leave you some time alone. I'm sure Addie will be very happy to see her little boy all grown up."

Chase's lips quivered and his eyes watered. He lowered his cap and sniffled. He wasn't even at the damn grave yet, and he still felt like his soul was being crushed.

"Thank you," he exhaled. "I can't thank you enough for this. Do you have a phone or something I can use to call you? I won't be staying long."

"We have a landline," Helen smiled. "And you can always send us letters as well. Addie was old-fashioned like that."

His grandfather walked out of the bedroom with a medallion. He grabbed Chase's hand, placed it inside of his palm and closed his fist around it. Chase ignored the pain. This was important.

"There's a picture of your mother in there. It was taken right before she left with your dad, so it's old, but it's the most recent one we've got. News travel slowly here, but we heard what happened in the Iron Islands when your father died. I assume that your home was also lost in the wreckage?"

"It was. I couldn't take anything, and my dad didn't like to have the pictures hanging around anyway. It hurt him too much." Chase said. He opened the medallion and saw his mother's face for the first time in… in he didn't even know how many years. Long brown hair, a mischievous crooked smile and brown eyes so light that they could almost appear hazel.

"You look like her, you know?" Helen smiled. "Your eyes and smile are exactly the same."

Chase hadn't realized he'd been smiling. He silently nodded and put the medallion around his neck. "Thank you for giving this to me. It must be important to you."

"Don't worry. We can't hog the memory of Addie to ourselves," Philippe gently said.

"Now let's bring you to her."



It was a particularly hot afternoon today, even for the middle of winter. Chase could travel outside without his usual coat and only a sweater. The sunlight made all of Celestic seem so bright in comparison to the dreary, foggy hellscape that he'd expected coming here. Chase waved at his grandparents, who did the same and slowly began to walk back home.

In front of him and Riolu sat his mother's grave. Her name and the epitaph were written in a font so fancy that Chase could barely read it properly.

Adeline Halcourt

Chase said it out loud a few times, getting his mouth used to the sound of his mother's name. His eyes focused on the epitaph next.

'In loving memory of Adeline Halcourt,

Beloved daughter and cherished mother,

Taken too soon, but forever in our hearts.

Born from love, embraced by grace.

May she watch her child grow up from the heavens.'


Tender wildflowers and fresh roses adorned the grave, no doubt put here by Philippe and Helen. Chase stood there in quiet reverence, simply staring for at least twenty minutes.

"I should have brought something," he finally exhaled. "Sorry about that."

The boy opened the pendant one more time and took in his mother's face before staring at the gravestone. He crouched and clenched his forehead, taking a deep breath before continuing.

"Hi… mom? I don't know what to say now that I'm here," Chase dryly chuckled. "To be honest, I never thought I'd get this far. I never knew you, but I feel like— I feel like we would have gotten along? I mean I hope so."

He paused, finding his words.

"You know, I don't exactly believe in an afterlife, but I changed my mind. I like the idea of you and dad looking at me. Looking at what I'll become," Chase said. "I'm sorry I couldn't come until now. You must have been wondering what the hell I was doing. I brought Ri with me."

He turned toward the fighting type, who was silently mourning with tears streaming down his cheeks. There was a certain blue glow to him that he'd never seen before.

"He misses you too. He talked a little bit about you on the road, but he stayed quiet most of the time. You know, dad would never speak about you either. It's like whenever you came into someone's life, you made such a mark that reminiscing about you was too painful to bear. It sucked," Chase sighed. "Ri's okay, even if he's being silent. I think he's doing some kind of aura bullshit. I don't understand it very well. He misses you… and I'm sorry for keeping him away from you all this time. I'm afraid he'll have to stick around though. He promised dad to protect me."

He took a shaky breath and began to sob.

"I wish you could be here. I wish I could talk to you… fuck," he rubbed his eyes and took a few deep breaths to settle down. "I have a goal. It's a bit silly to say out loud, but I want to become Sinnoh's Champion. Then I'll make sure that what happened to you and dad can never happen to other families ever again. Every single corner of Sinnoh should be treated the same as fucking Jubilife, so why the hell are the people living in the Iron Islands treated as second-class citizens? Why couldn't there be proper fucking healthcare… proper protection for miners… fuck this."

Chase sat on the grassy floor, took off his cap and stared at it. It wasn't that unique. Just a blue cap with nothing else on it. No design, no initials, just a bland blue cap. It was worn out and faded from all of his travels. It was the only thing he'd recovered from the catastrophe that hit his mining village. A powerful Steelix, angered by the miners encroaching on its territory had destroyed everything in its sight. Almost everyone died.

Why had he kept the cap?

Because he'd been wearing it that day.

A cap to remember his father by.

A medallion to remember his mother by.

"I'll make sure what happened to both of you will never happen to anyone ever again."



Chase ended up spending the entire afternoon by his mother's grave. Not all of the hours were filled with conversation, but when he did talk, he mostly did so about his training or his team. He showed her to Sigilyph, but she didn't seem to understand the concept of a grave. Maybe that wasn't how they did it back in their ancient city? He tried to explain to her that his mother was in there, but he wasn't sure if he got the message across. Chase promised her that he'd bring back full team to introduce them to her before leaving.

"Are you ready to go?" Chase asked Riolu. "We'll come back tomorrow morning."

Riolu silently stood and stared Chase in the eyes with newfound resolve. His tired, teary eyes glowed with a pale blue, intensifying until the light overtook his entire body and turned bright white.

All this time, Riolu had been waiting for closure.

Or well, Lucario now. He was only slightly taller than Chase, but he exuded an incredible amount of power. The steel type brought Chase into a hug, and he felt something brush against his mind. Incomprehensible whispers that were almost within reach. As soon as the hug ceased, Chase looked on, trying to hide the bewilderment on his face.

"Can I— can I still call you Ri?"

Lucario laughed and nodded. Chase gripped his fist and shook it tightly.

"My friend," Chase grinned. All this time, he had struggled to place what Ri had been to him. A guardian? A parental figure? He thought that he would never discover the answer. The core of their relationship was camaraderie. Shared loss. Friendship. They were equals. "Get ready, Ri. We're fucking winning this entire thing."

And his parents would watch over them.

The next afternoon, Solaceon was plunged in darkness.

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett Turrell, Dom Noct, yesnomaybeso, Sean M, Cypha, Daniel, Ryan T
 
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Interlude - Fallout
NOTICE: I will be gone on holiday from June 2nd to June 14th, so don't expect the schedule to hold up during that timeframe (I'll try to get a few out, so you can most likely expect 2-3). The normal schedule will resume from June 16th.

INTERLUDE - FALLOUT

Cynthia Collins sat in a dusty office full of spreadsheets, ledgers and reports. After a heavy breath, she stood up, paced around the room and stretched. These chairs had terrible lumbar supports and were killing her back. Aaron and Lucian were with her, of course, as they'd been for the few days. In fact, they'd been together so much that both of them had stopped their endless bickering. Alakazam peered over a levitating piece of paper with his usual angry sneer.

And by bickering, it was mostly Aaron trying to get under Lucian's skin and him being completely immune to whatever the youngest Elite Four member threw at him. Aaron had a brilliant mind, but he was distracted very easily, which made creating a plan to solve Solaceon's economic crisis a headache-inducing process. Sometimes, Cynthia wished she could take another year off like she'd done when she had gone to study Unova's political system for inspiration when she'd been trying to reform Sinnoh's. It was where she had caught her last few Pokemon, more than a decade ago now. Her diplomatic trip to the region had been a monumental event at the time and Sinnoh still had very good relations with Unova because of it. Of course, the same couldn't be said with Kanto-Johto, but things were slowly improving and were nowhere as bad as they had been under her predecessor. Maybe a trip to Hoenn would do her some good when Team Galactic was finally dealt with.

Oh, to be on those beaches…

"Look, I'm no economist, but Solaceon's got to diversify first and foremost," Aaron said, tapping at a paper. "We've cut spending across the board, but we're still in the red by… how much?"

Four point five billion Pokedollars, Alakazam's voice rang out. I have already laid out my two-hundred-and-fifty-six-step plan to fix this deficit. Any more time spent here is a waste of my time, and you know I despise it when people waste my time.

Cynthia smirked at the psychic type. "Your plan treats people like numbers, not like living, human beings. Take step five… putting Solaceon on lockdown to force people to stay? Your plan is unrealistic."

It is not unrealistic, you just lack the will to implement it, The psychic said. Since I have done my piece, I will take my leave. I must get back to studying the Unown.

"Feel free to," Lucian shrugged.

Aaron shrugged. "Talk about getting—"

Silence, pest. Just breathing in the same air as you makes me sick, Alakazam complained before teleporting away.

Well, all of Lucian's Pokemon tended to be disinterested in human affairs, so they would be of no help. Some parts of Alakazam's plan were sound, however, and she would still be able to make use of it.

"He must still be angry about that time I got him with that neat Super Speed trick with Yanmega," Aaron said.

"Stop bragging about things that happened six months ago and get back to work," Cynthia said. "Lucian, what do you think about Aaron's idea? Diversifying?"

Lucian shook his head. "That's more of a long-term plan. To put it in words, it would be like trying to dock a sinking rowboat while in the middle of the ocean instead of plugging the holes. Right now, we need to fix what is broken."

Aaron sighed and Cynthia nodded. Lucian and Aaron were both smart in their own ways. while Flint and Bertha were the heart of the Elite Four, they were the brains. Lucian was better at looking at the bigger picture and creating long, intricate plans while Aaron focused on granular details and ran a lot of the day-to-day at the League.

"I've already called Vernon. He will start hammering out an emergency package for the city," Lucian continued. "The plan is to cover the city's costs for a year… which will be a heavy burden to bear, especially when it won't pay for itself, but it must be done. We'll have Hearthome and Veilstone bring in engineers and construction workers for the repairs. I have a list of companies that might be interested in the work, and they'll have to bid on a contract."

Lucian typed on his computer and printed out another piece of paper before handing it to Cynthia.

"I recommend to only let these three companies in on the bidding process. We could just award the contract to one of them, but…"

"But that's dictatorial-ish, so we think it'd be a better idea to let the process go on as usual with negotiations and all of that— to at least give the illusion of deliberation," Aaron finished the sentence. "You've used quite a lot of political capital already. Might want to cool off on that for a while."

Oh, Cynthia knew that already. It was strange to her, how people could only see the faults in her actions after she'd saved Solaceon from an even worse tragedy. She had fired the entire political apparatus in the city and replaced it with loyalists, but that was only temporary, and it was needed for them to implement her plan without a fuss.

But Bertha had warned her when she had first become Champion. Dabbling in politics for too long changed people, and it made you see the world completely differently than the average person. Cynthia lingered on the thought for a second, but she knew that what she'd done was correct. Democracy was an ideal that she'd had her entire life, but it was often too slow at dealing with crises. Without her loyalists in the City Council, Mayor's office, and Treasurer's office, it would have taken the politicians there weeks to decide where to allocate the funds that the national government would give them. Cynthia had already seen it happen multiple times.

"Underhall Construction, Veilstone Holding, Timburr Co.," she read out. "I've heard of the first two, but what in the world is Timburr Corporation?"

"They're rather new and trying to make a name for themselves. They use a lot of Pokemon-based labor, so they'd be the cheapest option on the list. Underhall construction is based on Hearthome, and they'd be the safest, but slowest option to get the city rolling again. Veilstone Holding is the middle-of-the-road option, both in price and time, but with what's been happening in the city, they'd be happy to get a chance at the job."

"Maylene would appreciate it as well," Aaron chimed in.

"Have you been speaking?" Cynthia asked.

"Nah, not really. I just get people," he said.

It was true. Aaron's ability to understand how people thought was better than even hers, which was why she considered him one of her possible successors when she retired. Of course, someone could also beat her in battle, but she doubted that would happen. Flint was out of the question. He was too rash, hotheaded and unserious to be in her position. Bertha was too old and would probably retire in the next ten years. Not every Elite Four member clung to power as much as Agatha. Lucian had no desire to rise any higher. She had to butter him up for months for him to even accept joining the Elite Four.

When a Champion retired willingly, they got to choose who would replace them, although it almost always was a member of the Elite Four that did so. Unova had more checks and balances to their system, but Cynthia wanted to keep the civilian government out of affairs as important as picking the Champion. Aaron might have been the weakest member of the Elite Four right now, but he was also the youngest. He was only nineteen and was progressing at a rapid pace. If age calmed him down and stopped him from getting distracted so easily, then Cynthia would have no doubts.

Time would tell what Aaron would become.

"Underhall Construction was in charge of building Canalave's canal, correct? And Veilstone Holding ran the last expansion efforts for the city. What have Timburr Co. done?"

"Their most notable projects were building a new Contest Hall in Jubilife and renovating the city's port."

Cynthia hummed. "Well, contact the companies and start the bidding process. I trust that you two will be able to cooperate in evaluating the bids with the city officials?"

"It's not like they'll go against what we say. I said illusion of deliberation, remember?" Aaron said. "That's step one. Now for step two."

Lucian nodded. "You've called for diversification, but first, I think that we need to lean into wheat—"

"Hold on, I got a banger idea when you said wheat just now," Aaron lifted a finger. "I agree with what you said, at least for the short term, but Solaceon's not playing to its strengths. Sure, they've been selling, but not as much as they could be. Shipping things by plane and teleporting goods is expensive and inefficient. Hearthome and Oreburgh can do it because they're rich, but Solaceon can't exactly afford to do so, especially now that they're going to be losing so much money. There's the river system south of here that leads to the ocean, right? Why not use that to ship their produce?"

Cynthia thought for a second, visualizing the rivers he spoke about in her head. Hearthome and Solaceon had often rattled their sabers over the water rights there. Lucian was seemingly already done, however.

"Ah, that's actually a great idea. Freight shipping will ease a lot of Solaceon's burdens, but we'd have to invest in building a port… more bids, I presume?"

They were right, Cynthia mused. While air travel was a large part of how cities exported goods abroad, shipping was the majority thanks to its low costs and ease of transport. Jubilife had done the same thing a century ago. Even while landlocked, they built a port to the west to facilitate trade, first with Canalve, then the entire region and the world.

"Place that in the bid," Cynthia nodded. "Prioritize farming, tell Vernon to put more modern farming equipment in the emergency package as well. We'll have to buy them from another company, but we're spending money for a good cause. Salvaging the situation will restore a bit of my political capital for when Team Galactic eventually strikes and I have to take the gloves off again."

Cynthia let out a heavy sigh. It wasn't like she enjoyed taking rights away. They had Porygon scouring the forums to censor information faster than any human moderator could see, and they had twisted the media's arm to keep the story about Shiftry leading the Hunters contained. There had thankfully been no leaks due to the fact that they were content to simply chew on the massive bone that Grace Pastel, Cecilia Obel and their group had given them. They'd exposed Shiftry's existence and his involvement in the events that took place a few weeks after Cynthia's ascension, but the fact that he'd been pulling Solaceon's strings could not be known. Solaceon being quasi-independent would not be a good look, both nationally and abroad.

"I'll be leaving then," Cynthia said. "Keep hammering out the details and keep city officials in the know. Samantha's going to hold a press conference in two and a half hours, and she needs to give the talking points in a natural way, or she'll come off as robotic."

"Very well," Lucian agreed.

"I mean, she didn't even want to be Mayor," Aaron said. "But I guess that means she'd good for the job. Isn't there a saying about that? The best leaders are those who don't want to take the position?"

"There is, but it's nonsense," Cynthia said as she left.

With the economy now sorted out, it was time for her to get her daily reports about the happenings around the region that was curated for her every day. The League Trainer had already been waiting for her outside of the office, and he handed her the report.

"Thank you, Kenneth. I hope you didn't mind waiting around too much," she smiled.

"Not at all ma'am," the young man said. "It's an honor to serve."

"And it's an honor to work alongside you," Cynthia said. "Here."

The Champion handed him an empty signed Pokeball and placed it in his palm.

"For your little sister Morgan," she continued. "She's turning fifteen next year, right? You told me she wanted to be a trainer the other day."

Kenneth blushed before stammering. "T—thank you! I can't wait to see the look on her face… she'll be ecstatic."

Cynthia smiled. It was the little things like these that kept her going. She began to read her report and focused in on the Veilstone section immediately. There were still no Team Galactic members captured there, but there had been a few sightings or reports coming in from the tip line. It was like Team Galactic in the city had gone radio silent, but Cynthia knew better. They were waiting for the right time to strike. The question was when? She already had Lou constantly monitoring Maylene for her protection, but she was still worried about the young gym leader.

The moment the crisis here was resolved, she'd focus all of her attention on the matter of Veilstone.

Other than that, things were going well, although there were reports of a young girl shaking up the Contest scene by exposing someone who'd worked with Team Galactic on social media that they'd somehow missed. A certain Antoine Nguyen that had slipped through the cracks. Cynthia committed the girl's name to memory and made a mental note to tell Fantina about her.

Kenneth released a Bronzong and Teleported them to their next location— the Pokemon Center. She wasn't here to visit Grace Pastel's friends. Some of them had already left, and only three of them remained. Instead, she waved at the bewildered trainers and smiled for their pictures. She had a meeting scheduled with Craig Goodwill. The events of the Darkest Day had made him fly to Solaceon to see his sister Lauren, and she used the opportunity to sit him down for a discussion. Trainers of his caliber were very busy. Kenneth waited at the door and saluted as she entered. The raven-haired man didn't even spare her a look.

"Champion Cynthia," Craig dejectedly said.

"Craig," she smiled. "You seem sad. Did something bad happen?"

"Well my sister left and gave me the finger while she did so."

Cynthia chuckled as she sat. "She's a teenager, she'll grow up. My sister hated me when we were younger. Everyone knew her as Cynthia's sister and not Celeste. We grew apart for quite a long time."

"That didn't help at all."

"Well, you have to let children grow up," Cynthia shrugged. "Have you considered my offer?"

"I have, and it'll have to be a no, I'm afraid," Craig said.

"Interesting. May I know why?"

"Being a League Trainer sounds nice and all, but I want to make it to the end of the year and challenge you first. That was always the plan."

"Then we can work out another agreement," Cynthia immediately said.

Craig Goodwill was too good of a trainer to pass up on. When the time came, Cynthia wanted him in the League to help against Team Galactic. Trainers were not beholden to the League, and therefore would not be forced to join the fight, which Cynthia found perfectly acceptable, but she had assessed Craig a while ago. He wasn't the best at anything, but he could do everything extremely well. His approach to training had been slow and steady growth since he'd been fifteen, and today he could beat most Gym Leader's teams without breaking a sweat, and she was relatively confident in saying that he would win the Conference this year.

If she had to guess… Cynthia thought he would beat Aaron and Bertha, but Flint's explosive battling style would prove too much for him.

That meant that she had a trainer as powerful as an Elite Four member right there. She would be a fool not to try to poach him.

"What agreement?" Craig asked as he fiddled with an Ultra Ball. That was his… Elektross, if Cynthia remembered correctly. She had one of her own that she'd caught in Unova, although they both had completely different battling styles.

"Come on Craig, you're smart. You know what I want," Cynthia smirked. "Join the Internship Program so we have the option to call on you when the time comes. That way, you'll still be able to participate in the Conference. You want to be the Champion, don't you? That comes with responsibilities that you should be able to face."

Craig chuckled, then rubbed his chin. "Fair enough. I was mostly waiting to see how long it'd take for you to be straight with me."

"I thought it wasn't necessary, but I was clearly wrong and I apologize," Cynthia said. "Do you still only own your usual six Pokemon? If you're going to Mount Coronet, the League will have to issue you a Teleporter. It'd be skirting the rules, but you're too important."

"I have a new member that I'm keeping hidden for the Conference," he said. "Already knows Teleport, and I've been to every city with him. Routes would be a problem though. I just fly over them these days."

"That's fine," the Champion nodded. "Even if Team Galactic strikes off-route, so long as you can get to the nearest city, League Trainers will get you there."

Cynthia shot up.

"I'll have Lucian send you the papers immediately," she continued. "Thank you for your service."

"Gotta keep the region safe, right?" Craig said. "It is what it is."

Yes, Cynthia thought. It was what it was. He would not enjoy his coming duties, and neither would she.

——

Cynthia left Kenneth soon after their meeting. Only a few eyes had seen where she was going next, and he did not have the clearance to do so. League Trainers were not uniform. They were divided in a few categories. There were Recruits— people that had only recently joined the force and were still in training. Privates were trainers that had completed their training and only had a few years of experience. Corporals usually had five years of service, while Sergents usually had around eight. Commanders were veterans that had the highest authority below the Elite Four, and had often been in service for decades. There wasn't exactly a set number of years that guaranteed your promotion. Some people shot up the ranks in a few years while some were stuck at the Private rank their entire careers.

Of course, there were auxiliary forces as well. The Teleportation Squads that Cynthia used a lot due to her lacking a Pokemon with the move, ACE Trainers that were focused on more covert operations, the Air Force, the Aquatic Squads, Dark Type Specialists that focused on shutting ghosts and enemy teleporters down… there were a lot.

Your rank determined your clearance level. Commanders knew about threats like Regigigas, the Regis, or what had happened a few years ago in Hoenn. Groudon and Kyogre's fight had threatened to destroy the entirety of Hoenn until Rayquaza intervened. Gym Leaders were actually not privy to most of that information just because of the fact that they were a separate entity. While they did work for the League, they were closer to their respective civilian governments and almost never came to the Lily of the Valley Island. There were a few other Legendaries contained by the League with intricate procedures and ancient rituals. New Moon Island and Stark Mountain housed one each. Some Legendaries were well-meaning and ran free through the region as well.

But these? These were not Legendaries.

In front of Cynthia sat a cave whose entrance was blocked with an intricate seal. At its core, it was simply an enormous stone slab, but there were small indentations on the stone that had been carved into it like conduits. Dark type energy pulsated through the conduits until it converged in the center into a singular point.

Beyond that wall, hundreds of thousands of Unown slept. They had been lucky that Shiftry had still kept the seal sustained during his tantrum. If he hadn't, then they would have broken out and wreaked havoc on the entire region.

"Andrew! How's she taking to the job?" Cynthia asked a large, gruff League Trainer.

He turned toward her, showing medals lining his uniform. An Absol lazily preened her fur and stared at Cynthia with utter contempt. She couldn't exactly blame the dark type. Her new job would be incredibly boring, even if she'd be allowed to roam Solaceon whenever she wished. Unfortunately, they tended to show up close to when disaster struck, so the civilians would no doubt panic.

"She's angry, but she knows it has to be done," the Commander said, crossing his large arms.

"Thank you, Absol," Cynthia said. "We'll try to get another dark type trained so you can work in shifts. We were going to do so anyway in case anything ever happened to you."

Absol brightened at that. Training her had taken a lot of trial and error, but the process had sped up exponentially when they got their hands on a lone Unown a few years ago. Alone, they could do nothing at all. They were barely a threat to humans, and Absol could simply tweak her dark type manipulation until that Unown fell asleep. Together? They could warp reality to their liking, and they'd function like a hive mind. Even summoning weaker versions of Legendaries was on the table. Cynthia had studied the Great War, and Johto had used the Unown for that very purpose, creating a clone of Entei, Raikou and Suicune in an attempt to win the war. There hadn't been enough Unown for them to be powerful enough, and the experiment failed miserably.

The Unown were a hive mind, but they could also bend to a human's will. No one knew what exactly it was that they looked for, but if a person was chosen, they would essentially become a god.

Which was why Johto had only experimented with a few thousand. They weren't foolish enough to use a large number. Still, finding someone to be chosen had taken hundreds of attempts, and when they failed, the person would suffer an unknown fate depending on what the group of Unown felt like.

It made death look pretty.

Now that they knew exactly how to contain the Unown and put them into a daze, training more dark types would only take a few months at most. Even Shiftry was not foolish enough to let the Unown loose despite knowing that he would die.

She would never have expected his answer to her question to make so much sense. Why had he reneged on their deal and cooperated with Team Galactic? Why risk everything when he knew that he could not stand up to her, let alone the entire League?

Cyrus promised him something.

Cynthia did not know much about Shiftry's life, but she did know about his relationship with Ediva Hunter. She'd been his first and only trainer, and he'd never stopped mourning her death. The only way he managed to cope was to dull his emotions, and it had an effect on the people around him as well. Cynthia had no doubt that in the end, there had been an element of control to it too, otherwise he would not have let the Hunters' loyalty to him remain. He would have shut down every single emotion.

But at the beginning? It had been about a Pokemon being unable to mourn his trainer's passing.

Cyrus' goal was to create a new world. A new world that he would be able to rule and shape to his liking. In exchange for help, he had promised Shiftry to bring Ediva back and to bring him into this new world.

He would have abandoned the rest of his family to do it.

Cynthia cracked her neck, released her Garchomp and flew back toward Solaceon. The motivation of Team Galactic Commanders' had eluded the League until now. Mars, Jupiter and Saturn's motivation still remained shrouded, but Charon? Cynthia's talks with Mira Compton had been very productive in that regard.

He too, wanted to bring someone back.

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett Turrell, Dom Noct, yesnomaybeso, Sean M, Cypha, Daniel, Ryan T, Kail H
 
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Chapter 169
CHAPTER 169

"Okay, so you're looking for the battery compartment, right?" I told Honey as he confusedly twisted our camping stove around. I grabbed the battery and handed them to him. "See that little indentation on the side? Open it and put them in there."

The electric type hummed, and after a few seconds, he managed to get the stove powered.

"Now you want to select temperature, and bam! You can just put a pot on there and start cooking. Not the most exciting process since you're starting small, but it'll do for now. Baby steps, right?" I smiled, tapping his shoulder. "You watch me cook the pasta for now, okay? Tomorrow, you can do the same."

Electabuzz excitedly whirred as I grabbed my small pack of pasta. I called Buddy over and asked him to spit water into the pot. Water types' water was perfectly healthy to drink, but most trainers didn't exactly like to imagine drinking something coming out of someone else's mouth. I wasn't most people. When the water came to a boil, I dumped the raw pasta in.

"Now with pasta, it's pretty simple I think. I mean, it's one of the few things my dad taught me how to cook, so I'm alright at it," I continued as I twirled the noodles around. "You wanna wait until they're soft… which is, uh, a certain amount of time that I forgot. I guess we can taste test as it goes!"

After a few minutes, Honey tapped on my shoulder and grunted, nodding toward the salt.

"Fuck," I sighed. "I forgot."

We were currently camping on route 210, and we had made it halfway through. Denzel had been right. The grass here really was taller than all of us— even Sunshine and Angel. Luckily, the Rangers had forged a path through and we were simply following it. There had been no accidents or even attacks so far, which was good news.

I usually didn't cook that much outside of cities, but Honey did want to get better at it, so I figured why not pack a bunch of stuff to cook on the way to Veilstone? That way, I figured I'd be able to share his hobby and we'd get better at it together. Pasta and sandwiches were about all I could make right now, but it was a work in progress.

After dumping what might have been way too much salt into the bowl, I strained the pasta, dumped the water in the bowl and put the pasta back in.

"Guys! Dinner!" I yelled.

Sweetheart rolled toward us first, although I had to yell at her to stop herself before her momentum built up too much. Pupitar weren't supposed to move like that, and she was still slowly getting better at moving properly, but it was more of a temporary solution to her current handicap. It did remind me of when I used to train Princess with Rollout back in our apartment.

"You can taste a little, but there's not enough in here to feed you," I said. "You've got to eat dirt to grow up properly, okay?"

The ground type let out an echoing roar. I was slowly learning her body language again, and she had that same thing that Angel had going on with his eyes, but more muted. I was pretty sure she'd smiled right there. Princess was off in the distance, creating a lifesized statue of Sunshine, who was sleeping in his usual curled-up position. Unfortunately for her, the fire type shifted positions and ruined her work— at least in her eyes. She angrily reduced the half-finished statue to dust and blew it all over Turtonator's body before joining me.

I waited to see if he'd retaliate, but aside from a roar that caused a few Starly to flee in fear and him heating up the surroundings by a few degrees, he didn't do anything substantial. Still, I told him to stop, not wanting to scare trainers traveling through. There were a lot because of the tournament, but we mostly kept to ourselves. Buddy let out a heavy, otherworldly sigh and washed away the dust with a warm jet of water. Angel skipped across the floor with a huge smile in his eyes.

"When did you learn to do that?" I asked amusedly. I had never seen him skip before. He shrugged with his vines, not remembering the answer.

I prepared everyone's usual meals, along with a side of pasta. Yeah, kibble or berries with pasta was weird, but they seemed to like it enough. Except Princess, who kept to her Oran Berries and left the rest of the food untouched. I'd anticipated that and only put the vitamins on there anyway, so it worked out regardless. Sunshine hated my pasta and complained that there was too much salt in it with an exasperated groan.

"I tried my best, you grouch!" I yelled. "You sound like my dad. Oooh, look at me, there's too much salt in my food, I have to eat healthy. Just give it to Angel or Sweetheart if you hate it so much. Hmph!"

Honey reassured me with a worried grunt, saying that the food was fine and that he enjoyed it very much, and that cheered me up some. Angel passed on the food, not because he hated the pasta but because he liked to feed Pupitar. He'd gotten a lot more into his caretaking thing since she evolved, and he couldn't go five minutes before worrying about her. Sweetheart rolled over, and the grass type dumped the remaining contents of Sunshine's bowl into her mouth. Then, she turned back and began munching on dirt. It was all she did most of the day, along with sleeping. She needed all the energy she could get to grow strong and evolve. Hopefully I'd be able to get her some of that premium dirt in Veilstone.

I chuckled to myself. "Premium dirt. Heh."

After cleaning everything up, I set up my tent and got ready to sleep. I wouldn't clock out right away, but it was nice to hide away from the elements. Plus, making a fire was annoying and I no longer had to do it thanks to Sunshine being there. I could even sleep in short sleeves and I would feel completely fine so long as he slept to the side of my tent which he didn't mind. Buddy sneaked into my tent, becoming a misshapen thing that was more water than Pokemon to be able to fit inside. Only his bright red eyes were recognizable. Princess slept inside of the tent because she was a mommy's girl and could actually fit, but everyone else kept guard outside. The reason Jellicent was here was because we had these nightly chats, just him and me. Princess sometimes chimed in of course, but she was content to listen most of the time.

"Welcome," I said in a dramatic tone, causing him to roll his eyes at me. I lifted a hand in the air and softly plunged it inside of the water. Jellicent quivered and shook around my arm. "Sorry. I know it tickles, I just think you're really cool when you do this."

When I'd caught him in Sandgem, I never expected him to be able to do this stuff. The water solidified into a gel-like substance and he flashed his 'not actually angry, but I have to look angry' face at me that he liked to use when dealing with Honey, Princess or Sweetheart's antics.

"I'll behave," I smiled. "How about we start with what's been bothering you? When I said that you wouldn't be able to understand me."

His eyes dimmed, and he stared silently at me.

"I wanted to tell you that it's not true. Pokemon and humans, well, we have our differences and our similarities, and to be honest, isn't that fine? Our thoughts won't align sometimes, but that doesn't mean that we can't understand each other. Hell, I'd say that you're capable of understanding how I think almost perfectly already. I've been slacking in that regard… I've been expecting you all to just become like me, and I know that's not realistic."

Jellicent let out a series of clicks, each one at a different pitch, length, or resonation. It was a complex sentence, but I understood it perfectly. Cynthia couldn't explain my strange ability, and there was apparently no one else like me that she'd found, so why? Why was I so good at understanding Pokemon?

I blinked and snapped back to the conversation. "No, look, everyone in the family has a different moral code, and we've just been following mine because I'm the mom. We have Sunshine and you on one end, and Honey and Angel on the other."

The water type stared at Princess and huffed. She innocently snuggled into my arms.

"Fine, Princess is on your end too," I added. "Anyway, the point is, you're fine. Don't let what I said bring you down… it was a stupid statement, and I'm sorry. Just be you, alright? It's okay to disagree with the decisions I take, even if you feel forced to implement them. I'm not perfect."

His eyes softened and he floated to the tent's ceiling, becoming a small pond that clung to the roof. He was basically able to do what Vaporeon could now, so that'd be very useful against Crasher Wake when the time came.

"Now it's your turn. Shoot."

Jellicent whistled deeply, asking if this journey alone was doing me any good.

"Well, it only just started, but so far, I feel like I'm enjoying myself. Sure, it won't be the end of all my problems, but it's nice to just be with everyone for once. I miss my friends, but it's not the end of the world. We'll meet again soon, and when we do, I'll be ready to tackle their problems and help them out."

Princess chirped. She was already starting to doze off. From the way she'd explained things to me, a major problem with her leaking fairy type energy had been because of our way of using Fairy Wind as a move in the background. It hadn't been the only reason, but it had been one of the main ones. She had figured out how to fully stop it now though.

"My turn again. Did you like the pasta I cooked today? Don't lie."

Buddy suddenly made himself very small.



The next day, we stopped when we reached the end of the tall grass. A large hill sat to our left, and I could see the start of Mount Coronet up north, covered by a strange, never-ending fog. The Café Cabin was a few hours away still, but before going there, I decided to take an executive decision.

"Let's take a break here," I said before releasing Sweetheart. Since she wasn't able to walk yet, she was the only one that traveled in a Pokeball. Everyone else was already out, although Sunshine had relentlessly complained about me having him walk.

I had just told him that he needed to stop being so lazy if he wanted to get as strong as Cynthia's Pokemon, and that seemed to light a fire in him.

I dropped my bag on the floor and rolled my tired shoulders.

"How about a little training?" I asked the team. "All of us against Sunshine?"

My Pokemon froze, although the dragon excitedly heated up. No doubt, memories of the last time we'd fought him flashed back into their minds, but it was different now. He was a part of the team.

I crouched next to Sweetheart. "I know this is going to bother you, but you can't fight until you learn to move, okay?"

The rock type's eyes twisted in frustration and she jumped in place, shaking the floor below my feet and creating tiny fissures on the ground. Then, she proceeded to roll on the floor and throw a tantrum, bellowing louder than I'd ever heard her.

"Stop it."

Pupitar slowed down at first, and then came to a halt.

"I know it's not fun, but we've got to be responsible. You've been getting better at moving around, and by the time you get to Veilstone, I'm sure I'll be able to use you in battle. Just focus on improving for now."

She grunted with teary eyes and began to reflexively munch on some rocks she had kicked up.

I felt my heart wrench at her tears, but I knew that I needed to nip her bad behavior in the bud soon. When she'd been a Larvitar, it was cute, but now it could actually cause a lot of issues. And when she became a Tyranitar? Well, I wouldn't be allowed to release her in most city areas anyway, but she'd be capable of bringing an entire building down because I refused to let her hog the television. Luckily she'd still be able to be out in Pokemon Centers since they were made of some kind of super expensive hyper-resistant material, but she'd struggle to fit in my room. I knew there was a standardized list of Pokemon allowed to hang about everywhere on a government website, but I'd never really looked it up. In Sunshine's case, it had just been really obvious.

Of course, League Trainers and above were able to bypass this rule. And I did mean trainers. Interns like me would still be subject to them.

"Let's lay down some ground rules before you get ahead of yourself," I told Sunshine. His nose flared in anger. "You can raise the temperature, but not too much. We don't want to burn this entire area, and the fight wouldn't even be fair. No matter where we go, there's a small risk of trainers being around, so make sure not to let your attacks get too far. Are we clear?"

Turtonator reluctantly nodded, eager to get the battle going. The rest of the team grouped up around me after I called them for a strategy meeting. We huddled up and I began to whisper.

"Angel, you'll be at your worst during this fight, so try to just support the rest of the team from afar. You'd be a lot more powerful if you could use Sunny Day, but we won't do that for obvious reasons. That'd be shooting ourselves in the foot," I muttered. "Princess, you're going to be attacking more than usual. We can't win on defense against Sunshine. He'll choke us out and eventually blow past any wall you can make, so you're going to try to get close and Dazzling Gleam. Honey, you're going to feint him out. Keep attacking at a distance until I give you a signal. Buddy, you're the key to winning this. You can take a lot of hits and dish it back. Try to utilize Night Shade if you can, but other than that, focus on attacking with everything you've got. And this is important for everyone: watch the shell. Anticipate Shell Trap and move accordingly."

Turtonator impatiently slapped his tail against the floor and beckoned us to come at him.

He'd let us have the first move. I walked away as fast as I could, not wanting to get caught in the crossfire and prepared to observe the battle with Sweetheart. I'd give out orders as well, of course, but I wanted to see how the battle would go if I let my Pokemon fight semi-independently. In a normal setting, that wouldn't be necessary, but in a fight with no rules like my battle against Harry?

They needed to get used to it.

The temperature dropped as shadows intertwined with each other next to me, forming into a Night Shade. Jellicent turned into water and sunk into the floor just as his shade spat out a low-powered Whirlpool. Flames erupted from Turtonator's shell and the water immediately turned into mist.

Electabuzz whirled his arms until my hair stood on end, shooting out Thunderbolt after Thunderbolt, but Turtonator simply shrugged them off. The electricity harmlessly bounced off his beige scales. He grinned, blasting a metallic burst of energy toward Honey, who barely had time to put up a Protect. The Flash Cannon bounced off of Protect and crashed against a nearby tree, cutting it in half.

"Princess, build up a Fairy Wind. Force him to come to you!" I ordered.

On its own, Dazzling Gleam would be a lot more powerful, but if we could charge Fairy Wind up enough, it wouldn't even be a contest, especially because she was a lot more used to that move than the other. Pink mist began to swirl around Togetic, and Turtonator spat out a stream of bright orange flames toward her. The attack only grazed her, but it was still enough to break her concentration, and the wind went loose toward Sunshine.

Jellicent appeared at his side, barely in a coherent form, but Sunshine had been ready for it. A Dragon Pulse disintegrated his entire body and blew up a precharged Shadow Ball, hurting both Pokemon, but the Night Shade surprisingly stayed active even without Buddy keeping it going. It kept pestering Turtonator with weak Shadow Balls, since those couldn't just be burned away.

"Angel, Ancient Power!"

An enormous rock shot out of the ground and rolled in Turtonator's direction. He destroyed it with Flash Cannon, but Princess reformed the rock with an Ancient Power of her own before the shards came too far apart and kept it going. Sunshine's eyes widened in surprise, but he immediately turned, letting his shell absorb the damage and creating an explosion that scattered Jellicent's remains once again.

That was our opening.

"Honey, go in now! Cross Chop!"

The electric type dashed forward, becoming a blur. His arms bulged and lit up as he entered the smoke generated by the explosion. Not wasting a single second, I ordered Princess to go in right away.

I heard Sunshine grunt, but much to my dismay, Electabuzz was thrown out of the smoke with his fur smoking from some type of burn. Then, instead of dissipating, the smoke began to build up, glowing with a menacing red and burned the grass in its path. I whistled sharply, stopping Togetic and ordered her to keep her distance. Jellicent finally reformed next to the rest of the team and awaited my next command.

"Throw your shade into that," I said, pointing toward the smoke.

Before I was even done speaking, Buddy's shade was already floating toward Turtonator. It was slow, but that was fine. I knew that the fire type was planning something, but he had surprisingly not used the smoke as an element of surprise for Flamethrower or Dragon Pulse like he'd done in Mount Coronet.

The Shade entered the smoke and immediately blew up. Angel sent another Ancient Power, and Togetic tried to dissipate the smoke with Fairy Wind, but nothing worked. Turtonator's Smokescreen was too cohesive to simply send away with wind.

A giant beam brighter than the sun emerged from the smoke and hit Jellicent directly. Solar Beam. That was why he'd taken so long to use the move! And I had just waited because I'd thought that we could anticipate anything he'd throw at us. The move was so energy intensive that I hadn't expected him to be able to use it without the power of Sunny Day— much less with his smoke blocking out the sun entirely, but I'd been completely wrong. Somehow, even through the smoke and ash, it had been enough.

Buddy was down for the count, barely able to come back together into a weird goo. I recalled him and snapped back to the battle. Turtonator appeared somewhat wounded by Honey's Cross Chop and the multiple Ancient Powers he'd taken, so winning was still a possibility. I needed to find an opening for Princess to use Dazzling Gleam or Honey to use Cross Chop again, but fighting a fire type close-up was frustrating. There was so much care and planning needed that by the time you figured something out, the enemy had already attacked ten times.

"Air Cutter, Thunderbolt and Ancient Power!" I yelled.

Togetic's wings fluttered and the air in front of her sharpened into blades. Electabuzz brought his hands forward, sending an enormous surge of Electricity toward Turtonator, and Angel did the same with Ancient Power. The dragon type grinned, turned around and slammed his own shell with Iron Tail. The explosion was so strong that I felt the shock wave fly through my body. I shielded my face as dust and dirt flew everywhere— even toward me. All three attacks had been dissipated by the explosion, but there was no choice.

"Everyone, go in! It's all or nothing!" I yelled. This time, Turtonator wasn't keeping the smoke around. He simply watched with a curious eye.

Honey was first in line, his arms full to the brim with power. He threw himself to the floor, dodging a Flamethrower that only managed to scorch his tail. He rolled forward and nimbly hit at Turtonator's right leg with Cross Chop. Sunshine roared in pain and reflexively used Dragon Pulse to retaliate, but a vine from Angel saved the electric type in the nick of time. Princess used another Air Cutter, slashing across the fire type's tough scales, but as soon as she got close enough, she exploded with Dazzling Gleam.

I shielded my eyes from the blinding light, but my heart dropped when I saw that Turtonator was moving around now. It was silly, but he had stood completely still during the entire battle. It was a part of his lazy personality, but we'd forced him to move. The fire type angrily sprinted toward Angel and Honey, his eyes still dazed and his skin still slightly burned from the Dazzling Gleam. Each step he took burned the floor under his feet.

"Angel, stop him! Use your vines and Ancient Power!"

Fifteen vines shot out of Tangrowth's body, and he erected a boulder from the floor in Sunshine's path. The fire type retracted into his shell and began to spin so quickly that he just tore through the rock. Tangrowth struggled to stop his motion, especially since his vines were sizzling away, but Turtonator ended the struggle when he let his tail out of his shell and slammed it while he was still using Rapid Spin. The explosion spun, creating a super heated tornado that rose high into the sky and completely disintegrated any vines leftover.

Electabuzz had no hope of stopping him, but maybe Princess could—

"Create a slope!" I yelled.

The floor incrementally rose until it became a ramp, and Sunshine flew above Angel and Honey's heads and slammed into the ground with a heavy thud. He quickly got on his feet and shot out a turquoise stream of draconic energy at their back, and it was too fast to dodge. Princess and Angel both combined their strength with Ancient Power, but the attack simply broke through and hit both Tangrowth and Electabuzz. The electric type fainted, and I recalled him.

Angel staggered Sunshine with heavy Power Whips, leaving Princess enough time to build up a Fairy Wind. Every time Turtonator would try to hit her, Angel would interrupt and throw himself into him, not caring for the burns he'd suffer. Turtonator let out a frustrated roar, and his vines caught on fire, but he kept him still, spreading Stun Spores and Poison Powders all over both of their bodies. The few spores that didn't burn away had an effect on Turtonator, however little, slowing him down and dulling his senses.

When the dragon type finally finished off Angel with a heavy grunt, Princess let her Fairy Wind loose. It was so thick that I could barely see anything. She was getting faster at charging them to their maximum power, and it showed. My hair flew in the wind, partially blocking my view.

"Another," I exhaled.

She nodded sharply and executed my command, but I was surprised to see that even though the attack dealt very real damage on Turtonator, he simply bore with it and grazed her with a Flash Cannon. She cried out, but my eyes widened when I saw that the wind only lost form for a single second. It snapped back under her control and flew out toward Turtonator again.

They traded blows like this for a few minutes, and Princess used the lowered visibility from the mist to her advantage, occasionally swapping Fairy Wind for Ancient Power, but it wasn't enough. Turtonator was too strong, even while holding back, and after catching her offguard and escaping the Fairy Wind with a speedy Rapid Spin, he quickly finished her off with another Flash Cannon.

We had lost.

That wasn't to say it had been completely one-sided. Sunshine clearly had to push himself more than he'd expected, even if we hadn't come close to beating him. I stared at Sweetheart, who was looking on in awe. When she would be able to join the fray, we'd have a better chance at taking him down, but right now, he'd proven how strong he was compared to us still, and that was while holding back.

"Good job!" I smiled at him. He watched me with heavy breaths, like he hadn't expected me to praise him. "You've got a lot of cool techniques I didn't know about before, but when you get too angry, you resort to just hitting things with a really big stick instead of thinking— metaphorically speaking. Flamethrower, Dragon Pulse and your body heat are your sticks."

Like against Weavile, or me in Mount Coronet, I omitted. I started to approach him.

"You're a really powerful technical fighter when you put your mind to it," I continued. "You did great."

I placed a hand on his hot arm and smiled when Sunshine couldn't even look me in the eye. It seemed that he hadn't been used to praise and didn't know how to take it.

"Just take the win, big guy," I said.

I released the rest of my Pokemon again, making sure to heal them with potions. Their wounds were all superficial. Turtonator had held back well. Of course, Buddy just needed time to come back together. He was disappointed at his performance, but it was also partly my fault. I really hadn't expected Sunshine to hide in Smokescreen to conceal himself while he charged Solar Beam. He knew that Jellicent would be the most annoying opponent to deal with, so he prioritized taking him down as fast as possible, and it worked.

Now that I had a frame of reference for what Sunshine was actually capable of when he had time to think, I'd be able to counter him better in the next fight. There were a lot of things I could have done better, but the largest problem was that my Pokemon were simply too weak to deal any real damage. Ancient Power, Dazzling Gleam, Cross Chop, and a charged-up Fairy Wind had been enough, but the rest of our attacks only tickled him. Buddy's Shadow Balls or water type moves would also be enough, but obviously he hadn't had the opportunity to use them. I was planning on focusing on moves my Pokemon already knew during this trip to remedy that. The only new move I was planning on teaching was Giga Drain to Angel, but that'd be relatively easy seeing as he already knew Mega Drain.

Buddy and Princess groaned at me when I told them that we'd be doing this again tomorrow, but Honey was excited to grow stronger. I had Princess fix up the destroyed terrain as best she could, and after a one-hour break, we were on our way again.

Now, it was time to get to the Café Cabin.

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett Turrell, Dom Noct, yesnomaybeso, Sean M, Cypha, Daniel, Ryan T, Kail H, Bridie

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett Turrell, Dom Noct, yesnomaybeso, Sean M, Cypha, Daniel, Ryan T, Kail H, Bridie
 
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Chapter 170
CHAPTER 170

The next morning, I reached the Café Cabin.

The Café was a lot smaller than I'd expected. From the outside, it seemed that it was barely large enough to fit a few dozen customers at a time. A decorative sign with a happy Milktank and a glass bottle of milk sat above the entrance, and there was a huge enclosure full of them further in the back. I hadn't seen one since my short stay in Twinleaf, but they seemed a lot larger than what I remembered. Some lazily grabbed tufts of grass with their hands and calmly ate while others just hung among themselves.

What I hadn't expected was for a small town to have sprouted around the establishment. It wasn't much, just a few homes, a store and a Pokemon Mart. Most of the homes were inhabited by the Café Cabin employees, but I couldn't deny that I was witnessing the early birth of a city here or something close to it. Unfortunately, there wasn't a Pokemon Center, but that would probably run the Café Cabin out of business, since they doubled as an inn. In the distance, the ever-present fog hid the rest of route 210 away from human eyes. It was a wonder how people actually lived up here. Celestic was the most isolated city in Sinnoh— even moreso than Snowpoint. Later in the year, thousands of trainers would brave the route to get there and challenge Candice.

I stepped inside of the Café Cabin and I was immediately hit with the smell of freshly baked goods. The place was packed with trainers after the mass exodus from Solaceon, and for a second, I was wondering if I'd have to sleep outside. Luckily, the crowd meant that people were too busy to recognize me. I pushed past the sea of people and walked past the bar, opting to go to reception instead to see if a room was available.

"Hi. Can I have a room for one night?" I asked.

The girl over the counter didn't even look at me and kept typing on her computer. She looked frustrated, and for a good reason. Having to do work in this loud house was probably torture. I asked again, and then she shook her head after staring at me like I was an alien for a few seconds. She'd recognized me.

"We're full, sorry," she finally said. "If you want, we can put you on a waiting list and take your number? We have service and WiFi all around Café Cabin!"

"No, it's fine. Thanks anyway," I said disappointingly. I'd have to camp out tonight, but with Sunshine around I didn't really care anyway. I would have enjoyed a bed, but—

"Are you sure? We'd love to have you at our establishment! I'm sure someone will leave soon and we'll give you one right away."

"Uh, no," I said. "I'd feel bad if I was given special treatment."

I awkwardly waved at her and left. A few heads were turning my way now, but I ignored them. The poor girl had probably wanted me to stick around because it would be good publicity for the Café. Business was booming, but they could never have enough customers. Their waiters and waitresses seemed to be handling the boom rather well, carrying dozens of drinks or six plates in their arms at a time and weaving in between customers like it was nothing. They'd been well-trained.

I opted to buy some orange juice and a cheese bagel to go. There was no way I was going to stick around in this suffocating place.

I would have never guessed that I'd come across Chase on my way out. He didn't seem surprised at all to see me. The tears in his cap had been hastily stitched back together, and he had bandages all around his hands. I stood there, gobsmacked until he finally spoke.

"What happened to you? You look like you've seen a ghost," he said with a confident smirk. "I thought I might run into your little group by coming here."

"Uh, hi," I said. "It's— it's just me. Have you heard what happened to Solaceon?"

Chase raised an eyebrow at me. "Huh?"



"What the fuck? Some moron Shiftry was the cause of all of this?" He asked incredulously.

Somehow, Chase hadn't heard about anything while he was in Celestic. I knew that the fog was too thick for him to have seen the darkness in the distance, but apparently he was completely out of the loop. I would have expected him to hear something about it! It was all anyone could talk about these days! I shuffled on the grass we sat on and nodded.

"He'd been controlling Solaceon this entire time, and when we exposed him he threw a fit," I said. "We were all targeted… it was terrible."

"Well, you made it out alright, so it can't have been that terrible," the boy shrugged. "I'm surprised you're traveling alone. You never seemed like the type."

"I needed time to figure things out. I did a lot of things that made me discover a lot about myself."

"Sounds mopey as hell, but fair enough," he said. "Whatever happened down there, it was to defend yourself, no? I don't see that much of a moral conan— conun… what was it again?"

"Conundrum," I said. "And you—"

I sighed. I was going to fight him and say that he didn't know what it was like, but I honestly didn't feel like it. Chase was a lot nicer than he'd been months ago, but he was still very rough around the edges. Pauline definitely would have agreed with him.

"What happened to your hands?" I said, staring. "That looks pretty gnarly."

"Oh, it was this whole thing," Chase waved dismissively. "I got into a fight with an asshole Klawf and then I fell into a hole with this entire ancient city—"

My eyes almost fell out of their sockets.

"—there were a bunch of old Sigilyph there, but they were weak enough. I ended up catching one who saved my life too, but the real issue was some kind of weird, fucked up ghost that had a hard-on for hating humanity."

"H—hold on, can you say that again?"

"Which part?"

"The entire thing. Go into vivid detail, please."

Chase ended up explaining his entire ordeal, from falling into the ancient city to battling an illusionist ghost through the entire place. What really caught my interest, however, was the way he described a certain mural. It had depicted Sigilyph in large numbers, and Claydol in smaller numbers, but higher in the food chain, so to speak. If I wanted one, then I knew where to look.

"You shouldn't go down there, at least not yet," Chase warned. "That ghost? My Pokedex doesn't even know what it is. It said that there was insufficient data somehow, and it was strong enough to take my entire team. Fighting it without a dark type or some kind of anti-ghost tactic is suicide."

"I wasn't going to go there right away anyway," I said. There was no way I was going to take that risk and break my promise to Cece. Plus, I wouldn't be allowed to have more than seven Pokemon until I passed that test in Veilstone anyway. "But I just want to know for the future— you didn't end up seeing any Claydol or Baltoy there?"

"Nope. They were nowhere to be seen, but I didn't exactly stick around that long."

"Okay… did you warn people, at least? That ghost sounds dangerous."

If I wanted to go there in the future, it'd be after Sweetheart had evolved so I could make use of her dark typing. Tyranitar weren't exactly known to be subtle, but I was sure that I'd be able to create something to counter ghosts. Plus, Buddy would be able to put up a good fight as well. That was a long-term plan, though. Right now, I just wanted to relax and do nothing life-threatening.

Part of me wanted to keep the information for ourselves. If teams of rangers— or the League, if the ghost proved strong enough— made it down there, then there was a possibility that I'd miss my chance to capture a Claydol, but people's safety was a lot more important than my desires.

Plus, there was always Beheeyem.

"Well, the hole was sealed back again and it didn't follow me, so I didn't really see the need to."

I slapped my forehead. "Arceus… you need to tell someone right away. What if another trainer falls down there somehow and dies? As soon as you get to Veilstone, you need to tell someone about this. Am I clear?"

Chase clicked his tongue, but reluctantly agreed.

"Why would you even hide it to yourself anyway?" I asked.

"I didn't want the city to be sullied," he said. "It was like a time capsule… you'd think that it was only a few decades old and not however old it actually was. Maybe a few thousand, if I had to guess. I'd feel bad for my Sigilyph. She's a little attached to the place. When we walked by there again, she just stared at it for a while."

"I get it, but it's got to be done," I said. "If you don't say it, I will. It's a wonder you even survived against that thing."

A ghost that could turn into a human? Was it like Mathilda and Ruth? From the way Chase had described it, I couldn't place any name on the Pokemon, and the internet wasn't of any help either. Maybe it was an undiscovered, ancient species that formed in a specific way and not like the ghosts in the Lost Tower?

"I said I would, sheesh," he said.

Silence settled in for a few seconds as we watched the Milktank go about their day. I wanted to ask to meet his new Pokemon, but first… I couldn't help but be curious.

"How did your meeting go? With your grandparents?" I asked. I hoped I wasn't being overbearing, but he'd opened up to me before.

Chase gripped something on his chest, and I saw a hint of a golden chain around his neck.

"It went alright," he said.

I had never seen him smile so widely.

"Just alright?" I teased. "I told you they'd like you! Did you get to do everything you wanted?"

"I saw my mom's grave and hung out with them a bunch," he said. "They were cool. My grandpa stitched my cap back up for me and they gave me a picture of my mom too. It was probably the best it could have gone."

"I'm happy for you," I smiled. "Feels like a weight's lifted off your shoulders, right?"

"Yeah."

"What about Ri? You told me he belonged to your mom first right?"

"He's doing great. He evolved too."

"Excuse me?"

"He evolved," Chase deadpanned.

"Why do you drop the most insane information like it's nothing?" I asked exasperatedly. "Why don't we meet each other's teams? It's been a while."

"Sure, why not," he shrugged.

Chase released his entire team, and I did the same with mine, although I made sure to release Turtonator a little ways away. The fire type's eyes narrowed at the presence of so many unknown Pokemon, but I spoke him down.

"They're friends. Friends," I emphasized. "You've got to seriously fix your anti-social ways. You're behaving like a kid— ah!"

He blew a plume of smoke in my face, causing me to cough. Princess tripped him up with Ancient Power, but he comically fell over and used the situation to just lie down. He forced us to leave by raising the temperature around himself, even though we'd been here first.

"That's some serious attitude problem," Chase said. "I think I could take him."

"I don't know about that," I chuckled nervously.

Zangoose and Houndoom seemed to hate him already, so he was doing us no favors. Angel was busy rubbing Sigilyph all over, seemingly fascinated by the new sensation. It was my first time seeing one in the flesh, and they were even weirder than in the pictures. Unova had an ancient, buried civilization in their weirdly called desert-resort. Cece had spoken to me a little about it, but apparently it was chock-full of Sigilyph and Golurk, which made it one of the deadliest places in their region, and that wasn't even counting the hostile environment. Trainers usually didn't go there, opting to go straight to Nimbasa instead.

Still, they were interesting. Every single one had a different pattern on their torso, and hers was a green, wavy one along with a touch of red and blue, but its center was dark. The wings were also surprisingly not wings, but just some kind of decoration. They could move, but not very much and were also made of tough material. Sigilyph kept themselves afloat with their psychic powers.

After Angel finished rubbing her all over, she got mere inches from my face until Togetic cried out in protest. Her pale eye was somewhat unsettling. She never blinked, and it was as if it was constantly having these micro-vibrations that were barely visible if you stared for long enough.

She was pretty cute though. Her little beeps made it sound like she was a machine. Angel moved onto Zangoose, who angrily slashed his vines away and hissed. His vines dropped and he anxiously wrapped one around my ankle.

"Let her have her personal space," I said. "Not everyone is fine with touching, okay? Remember my dad?"

The grass type nodded sadly, but he kept his hold on me. Princess clung to me as well, seemingly uninterested with socializing with Pokemon outside of the team. She was only fine with Denzel or Cecilia's Pokemon.

Were… were my Pokemon all considered weirdos? I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that Honey and Buddy seemed to be mingling well. They were both speaking to Lucario and Abomasnow—

Yes, Chase's Snover had evolved, but in his defense, he'd been surprised at my Pupitar too. She was curiously eyeing Lucario but stuck to Sunshine. Her tough shell meant that the temperature didn't bother her whatsoever, and she was even eating some dirt. Vikavolt seemed content to fly around and observe. It was like flying was the funniest thing in the world to him, and he was making full use of his wings. He was loud, however, and Sunshine was clearly annoyed at the incessant electric buzzing.

Lucario had grown a lot. He was a head taller than me now, and there was a hint of wisdom in his eyes that hadn't been there before. It was weird to understand exactly what Buddy and Honey were saying, but not Abomasnow and him, although I got the gist of the conversation. They were recounting their travels through route 210, while my Pokemon were telling them of what happened in Solaceon.

"Your team's grown in strength since I last saw them," Chase said. "You don't disappoint."

"Same to you. Sorry about them, by the way," I said, nudging my head toward Sweetheart and pointing at Togetic. "I guess it's been a while since they really hung out with your team, so they didn't react like I thought they would. Sunshine reacted a lot better than I thought."

"You called him Sunshine? Still terrible with names, I see," he said. "What did you think he'd do?"

"Worst-case scenario? He might have thrown a fit and attacked your Pokemon— but I would have recalled him instantly!" I hurriedly added. "He's really sweet, you just have to get to know him."

"I didn't expect you to lie to my face."

"I'm not lying! You just have to work past his barriers! He's kind of like you, actually."

Chase seemed to take great offense at that. Sigilyph had moved onto analyzing both Buddy and Honey. The electric type felt obligated to let her get close, but Jellicent's body literally shrunk and reflexively avoided her until he couldn't take it anymore and sprayed her with a jet of water. Sigilyph let out a few panicked beeps and took refuge behind Zangoose, who was lazily preening her fur on the floor. The normal type grumbled, but let her stick around.

"Your Zangoose and my Turtonator are kind of similar," I noticed.

"Are you kidding me? Zangoose is nothing like your dragon. She's a stand-up Pokemon."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I angrily asked, placing my hands on my hips. Just when I was about to launch into a tirade about all of Sunshine's good qualities, Lucario strode up to me. "Oh… hi."

"You can still call him Ri," Chase said.

"Cool."

The fighting type grabbed onto my hand and I felt a cold energy rush into my arm.

Thank… care… Chase.

He'd meant to thank me for taking care of Chase. I had completely forgotten that Lucario could speak even though Cynthia's had done so right in front of me.

The voice was there, but it was faint, and unlike with psychics, I felt no pain at all! When Slowking had spoken to me, the voice had been completely smooth and almost void of emotion, which was how every psychic spoke (with a few minute deviations between individuals), but Ri's voice was deep and full of life. It was as if a human had been speaking to me.

"No problem," I stammered. "He's my friend."

"He's been talking my ear off to practice speaking through aura," Chase explained. "It's a work in progress."

"I mean, that's great progress if he's only been a Lucario for a week," I said.

Chase's team had always been full of dedicated and hard workers. Princess chirped a greeting at Lucario, who replied with a respectful nod. Every single one of his movements evoked a certain elegance.

Sweetheart couldn't resist anymore, and she crawled toward Ri faster than I'd ever seen her move in her new form. She could have been faster by rolling, but I could tell that she hadn't wanted to embarrass herself. Sweetheart liked strong individuals, and she seemed to think that Ri was a Pokemon she could admire just like Sunshine, which surprised me.

"Hey, do you want to battle?" I asked out of the blue. I'd been thinking about it ever since I'd seen that Ri evolved. After seeing what Cynthia had done with her Lucario twice now— once at Valley Windworks and then against Shiftry— I wanted to battle him. "Not a full six-on-six obviously, but what about a three-on-three?"

Chase lit up for a second, but then he hesitated. "Uh, I'm not sure. Maybe when we get to Veilstone."

"You seemed happy enough to do so," I frowned. "What's wrong? I can't imagine the Chase Karlson being nervous about battling."

"There's no Center here," he muttered.

"Yeah, but it's just a friendly battle. Obviously we won't go too hard, and—"

Lucario shot me a look, and I understood. He was struggling with money again, wasn't he? He'd emphasized his lack of potions very clearly while recounting his travels, both during his stay in Mount Coronet and route 210.

"Listen, I can hand you some potions if you want."

"I don't need your pity," he said.

"It's not pity, it's just being a decent human being. My friends lent me potions all the time before the Poketch Company sponsored me—"

"We can battle," he finally decided. "But I won't take any of your shit. Three-on-three's fine. No substitutions?"

"No switches is fine with me," I nodded.

"But we're doing this right away. I don't want to leave you time to start planning shit like you usually do."

"Sounds like you're scared," I teased. "But alright."

I didn't need to plan. I already knew that he'd use Ri in the battle, but he wouldn't lead with him. From the way he'd spoken about Sigilyph, they were relatively weak and there was no way his had already overcome that, so she was off the table. If I had to guess, then he'd lead Abomasnow, using his massive strength and bulk to play it safe. The last Pokemon was still up in the air, but guessing two out of three wouldn't be bad. It'd possibly end up being Vikavolt if I lost the first bout.

As for me? Chase was probably preparing to face Turtonator, but he'd unfortunately be disappointed. The fire type shot me a look that instantly let me know there was no way he was rising from his nap for this. Honey, Angel, and Buddy would have to do some work.

But I was also considering using Sweetheart if the opportunity arose and Chase used Houndoom or Zangoose. It could be a stupid idea, but even when unable to move, there was no way those two were breaking past her cocoon.

Chase and his team faced us while my entire family was at my back.

"In three seconds, call out the first Pokemon you're sending out," I said. We were improvising, since we didn't have a referee. "Three, two, one— Jellicent!"

"Abomasnow."

I took a deep breath as both Pokemon stepped forward. I was working with the type disadvantage, but I was confident it wouldn't matter that much with Buddy's survivability. It would have been a lot worse if it'd been Vikavolt.

Chase began to count down from three, and I braced myself for the coming battle.

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett Turrell, Dom Noct, yesnomaybeso, Sean M, Cypha, Daniel, Ryan T, Kail H, Bridie, dragonslaver
 
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Chapter 171
CHAPTER 171

Abomasnow was a mass of frozen bark that looked almost impenetrable, but I could guess a few things about it from its body type and the way it moved. One, it was on the slower side of things. Two, it was inclined toward physical defense, so Buddy's attacks would actually penetrate past that armor. What worried me was actually his ice type moves, because Buddy was entirely made of water and he'd get frozen very easily. I didn't know how that would affect his regenerative capabilities, so I wanted to avoid getting hit with something like Icy Wind or Ice Beam at all costs. It seemed that it wasn't confident enough in its control to activate its Snow Warning ability out of fear of harming Chase or me, so we had that going for us. The best way to proceed forward was to play it safe and scout.

"Night Shade, keep your distance and harass him with Shadow Ball," I calmly said.

"Ice Shard—"

"Get in front of the shade!"

Buddy's Night Shades were still too frail to withstand even one attack, and being so close to the explosion would cause him a lot of harm.

A noxious shadow appeared next to Jellicent, who hurriedly pushed himself in front of the shade and got stabbed by too many Ice Shards to count. The ice buried himself inside of his body, but they only dealt a minimum amount of damage. His face twisted, sunk into itself and then bounced back like a spring as the few cuts easily regenerated, although slower because of the ice. The Night Shade finished forming, and both it and Buddy began pestering Abomasnow with Shadow Ball. The ghostly energy given form flew at high speeds toward Abomasnow, who braced himself.

"Get up close," Chase said.

Abomasnow took a deep, rumbling breath right before the first Shadow Ball hit. Buddy's were strong and quicker than his clone's, but two were still better than one. Abomasnow broke into a run that lightly shook the earth as he simply bore with the hits. It didn't even try to dodge.

"Keep your distance and fly up!" I ordered.

"Razor Leaf!"

Abomasnow brought his massive green hands forward and sharp leaves flew toward Buddy, who dodged with Water Sport. His clone wasn't so lucky though, and the purple, cold explosion engulfed both he and his opponent.

I smiled. It had taken six leaves instead of one. Steady improvements.

Buddy broke away from the smoke and immediately summoned another Night Shade. I heard Chase audibly groan on the other side of the arena.

"Poison Sting," I continued. I couldn't let him think. Chase was faster on his feet than I was. "Send the shade to the end of the arena and make it use Shadow Ball."

Dozens of sharpened rods flew out of Buddy's tentacles, but to our surprise, seeds broke through the smoke and stuck to his body. They broke apart, revealing snaking, thorny vines that wrapped all around his body and clung to him like a vice.

That was Leech Seed, and we couldn't have avoided it when Abomasnow was hiding within the smoke. I hadn't expected such an intelligent play without Chase's guidance.

"Good shit," he grinned. "Icy Wind, freeze it!"

"Run away! Harass him!"

The Night Shade suddenly stopped going away, instead opting to attack now. Abomasnow was so large and slow that he struggled to avoid most attacks, but he didn't appear to care. The ghostly smoke finally broke apart after he spat out an Icy Wind, revealing the purple darts covering his entire left arm and pumping poison into his body. My eyes narrowed at the speed of the Icy Wind. It was narrow and almost as fast as Louis' Ice Beam with Prinplup. The speed caught us so off-guard that Jellicent didn't manage to get away in time and half of his body froze over. The vines continued to squeeze the life out of him too, slowing him further.

"Now Razor Leaf! Finish it off!" Chase yelled.

Six leaves to blow up a Night Shade, I instantly thought. That's enough for Buddy to buy himself some time and then get out of the way with Water Sport now that he knows what to expect.

My thoughts were fast enough, but my voice was not.

"Use the Shade to—"

The leaves tore through Jellicent, destroying the frozen half of his body. In a way, that was a blessing in disguise. He'd be a lot faster that way. Buddy immediately sunk into the floor to retreat from further attacks, but the shade kept attacking. Abomasnow was getting close to his limit, but he still fought like he'd just been sent onto the field. His body was covered in purple bruises and his eyes were milky, but there was still a ferocity to them that I'd only seen in a few Pokemon.

"Blow up that shade," Chase said.

Another set of Razor Leaves blew up Jellicent's clone. This time, they were out of range of the explosion.

"Now start freezing the floor—"

"Get back up!" I yelled.

The ice type got on all fours, and frost began to seep into the earth and spread all throughout the arena. It took two seconds for Jellicent to emerge from the ground with his body half-frozen into some kind of weird slush, but he immediately hit Abomasnow with a powerful Hex. Smoke rose from his body, but he wildly turned with his eyes filled with determination and blew another Icy Wind at Jellicent. The water type solidified his body right away, gaining in weight, but also in constitution and he withstood the ice, hitting Abomasnow with another Shadow Ball.

I breathed a sigh of relief when Abomasnow fell to the floor, his eyes still open. Buddy wasn't doing much better. Leech Seed was slowly but surely draining his energy, and he had very little left in the tank.

"You did great," Chase said, recalling his Pokemon. There was no snarky comment, no complaints, just focus. He sent out his Zangoose and not his Vikavolt, which caused me to almost gasp in surprise. The normal type grinned as she walked toward the arena.

He'd caught me completely off-guard, and he knew it. Still, I didn't have time to hesitate.

"Whirpool! Trap her!" I yelled.

"Quick Attack."

Buddy released gallons upon gallons of water that began to twist and spin, but Zangoose was a lot quicker than I remembered. She circled the water, buying herself time with clawed attacks that could only have been Night Slash. I knew Chase's plan now. He wanted to finish Jellicent up in one attack, and luckily I'd caught a glimpse of it.

"Fly up and stay there! She's going for Night Slash!" I yelled.

Jellicent pushed himself upward with a weakened Water Sport, spraying Zangoose with water in the process. He began to direct the Whirpool toward her, but it was smaller than usual now that we had no water to source from. Moves like Surf and Whirlpool would always be weaker than usual in a dry environment. She jumped and managed to Night Slash two of Jellicent's tentacles. His eyes began to flicker.

He was almost out.

"Water Pulse," I said. If he was going down, then I needed him to deal as much damage as possible. "Corner her with Whirpool!"

Zangoose easily avoided the first two Water Pulses, but she couldn't escape the hastily drawn demarcation of the arena without being disqualified. Jellicent used his last ounce of strength, and the normal type hissed as the ring of water hit her. The Whirpool dissolved, Jellicent slowly sunk to the ground into a small pool, and I recalled him.

He'd been perfect. If I'd been better during that first fight, he could have fought longer still.

I smiled. This battle would be a nail-biter. I considered sending out Princess, but she would never be able to stand up to Lucario if she won the fight. What I needed was...

"Honey, you're up."

He whirred, flexing his muscles as he strode into the wet arena. I was going to need to keep Angel for last.

"She's quicker than you, but you're stronger," I warned. "Hit her with all you've got."

"We'll see about that," Chase retorted. "Crush Claw!"

What I had really meant by hit her with all you've got was Cross Chop. I was hoping to catch Chase off-guard, and I was glad my comment had rattled him too. Up until now, he'd been completely focused, but he was starting to slip, and I hoped that would cause him to make mistakes.

Zangoose was already quite close to Electabuzz, so she closed the distance in a flash, attempting to slash across his chest with her hardened claws. Honey barely managed to twist his body, so she cut his right arm instead, leaving herself open to a hit. His fist crackled with electricity, and all of Zangoose's hair puffed up until she quickly jumped backwards, narrowly avoiding a hit. Electabuzz turned to me and I nodded. He hadn't been in a position to use Cross Chop and opted for Thunder Punch instead.

"Keep threadin' the needle," Chase said. "Fury Cutter!"

An exchange of blows began. Zangoose quickly stepped forward but feinted hitting Honey's face, causing him to shield it with his arms and then slashed his torso instead. The electric type retaliated with a quick Thunder Punch, which Zangoose narrowly dodged again, but then exploded with a Discharge that engulfed her completely. She hissed, doubling in size due to her smoking fur standing on end and continued building up Fury Cutters, slowly growing her strength. We needed to switch the tempo.

"Protect!" I yelled.

A thin barrier appeared mere inches from his body and Zangoose struck it with a loud clang. The Protect deflected her claws away, leaving Honey enough time to use Cross Chop. His arms bulged, lighting up with a bright white and he hit Zangoose right on the shoulders. The normal type coughed, clearly in pain and staggered from the attack.

"Again!" I quickly ordered.

Once again, Honey's arms flexed, but Zangoose surprisingly jumped and dropped kicked him away, sending him sliding across the wet floor. The normal type snarled, shaking her head to get back into the fight and extended her claws further.

A drop kick? With how powerful it was, I guessed that it had to be Double Kick. If I'd known, I wouldn't have gotten greedy. Chase being caught off-guard by Protect meant that he hadn't watched my gym battle against Fantina, so I could use that to my advantage. Just the move being there fundamentally changed how he'd battle and would stay in the back of his mind with every action.

But he couldn't play it too safe either. If he thought for too long…

"Thunderbolt," I said.

Electabuzz whirled his arms until a quick burst of electricity shot out toward Zangoose. The attack hit her dead in the chest, and she convulsed, unable to move until it ended. Before we could order another one, Chase already screamed at her to go in, and he was right. Playing it slow wouldn't work. Not when we had an advantage at a distance.

I hastily yelled out for another Thunderbolt, but Zangoose got on all fours to dodge. That didn't end her run, however. In fact, she didn't even slow. The normal type sped up, and now it was a matter of who would blink first. Me with Protect, or Chase by averting his strike. Zangoose kept running like there was no tomorrow, her eyes flashing with excitement as she jumped over another Thunderbolt. She slid across the floor and went back to get out of range of a Discharge, but then kept going.

She was too close!

I blinked first.

"Protect!"

Electabuzz summoned the barrier, but Zangoose did not hit it like before. She calmly waited for it to end, and the electric type strained to keep it going.

"Crush Claw as soon as Protect goes down," Chase ordered.

I only had a few seconds to think of a way to counter the barrage that was coming. Zangoose would get the next hit for sure, but it was a matter of controlling the situation. A quick Discharge was possible, but it would only delay the inevitable. What I needed was to create a situation to open Zangoose up to another Cross Chop, but how—

Time had run out.

"Discharge!" I yelled.

As soon as Protect went down, another Discharge burst outward. Zangoose took the hit, breathing a ragged breath as she immediately stuck back with Crush Claw. Her claws hardened like iron and she slammed them against Honey's head.

"Keep him on the backfoot!" Chase yelled.

And she did. Slamming her claws on every part of his body over and over again. This time, he was slower to retaliate, but he managed to do so with Fire and Thunder Punch. Still, at this rate, we'd lose. Zangoose was too quick to overwhelm.

But I had a plan. There was no need to overthink. All we needed was one more Cross Chop, but any good hit would do.

"Grab her!" I yelled.

In a second of clarity, Electabuzz snarled, flashing his sharp teeth and grabbed Zangoose's arms under the armpits. He awkwardly struggled with her, taking two hits from Double Kick.

"Thunderbolt!"

Both Electabuzz and Zangoose became nothing more than a flash of bright yellow lights. The sound of electricity drowned out any other noise, and the attack kept going for ten seconds. A memory flashed in my mind. Crobat's screams. It dying in the exact same conditions.

I shook my head and chased them away.

Honey let out heavy breaths as Zangoose dropped to the floor. I swallowed as Lucario immediately stepped forward, not even waiting for Chase to call out to him.

"Good shit, but we've got to work on your speed," Chase smiled as he recalled Zangoose.

It was Honey against Lucario now, but he was tired. I couldn't afford to get fancy and hope for a Cross Chop. The move would leave him open to all kinds of counterattacks.

"Thunderbolt," I muttered.

"Vacuum Wave."

His antennas twitched, and he sent out a quick flash of electricity toward Lucario. The fighting type punched the air with an open palm, sucking all the air in front of him until there was only a vacuum left. The electricity fizzled out into nothing. It needed air or a conductive material to propagate.

It couldn't work in a vacuum.

"Wait for him," I breathed out. I already knew what was coming.

"Get in there and Bone Rush!" Chase yelled.

I bit the inside of my lip. A bone glimmering with a pale blue light grew out of the fighting type's hand just like Cynthia's. Unlike hers, however, Lucario wasn't particularly fast, but he wasn't slow either. His evolution had slowed him, and even though I knew it would be temporary, it would still help us for this battle. If I had to guess, two hits from Bone Rush, and Honey would go down.

Lucario could probably do that in a second. I waited until he grew closer and smirked.

"Thunderbolt!"

Lucario's eyes widened as it failed to use Vacuum Wave a second time. Not only did it have less time to react, but no one would expect me to use the same move when it'd been countered so easily. Lucario grunted as the electricity consumed him, but he merely stopped for a few seconds.

"Wait… Protect!"

Once the steel type got close enough, Honey summoned a Protect, and the bone's impact rang out across the field. Chase and Lucario probably expected me to maintain it for as long as possible like I'd done the two previous times, but predictability was complacency.

"Drop it and Fire Punch!"

Unlike Cross Chop, Honey had known Fire Punch for months. It was his bread and butter, and Lucario's reaction time was slower than Zangoose's. His fists lit ablaze while Protect went down. He uppercut Lucario in the jaw, but he easily recovered with a backflip.

"Thunderbolt!" I yelled.

"Throw the damn bone," Chase said.

Lucario quickly threw his bone, which caught us completely off-guard. The two attacks crossed each other and both Pokemon dodged with a sidestep, but unlike Electabuzz, Lucario was still fresh. He quickly grew another bone and kept throwing it at him until one hit him in the arm, and that was all he needed. Honey took a few steps backward, but Lucario was too quick to run away from in this state. The fighting type ran forward and used Vacuum Wave to dissolve another Thunderbolt.

"Fire Punch!" I ordered.

My eyes narrowed when Lucario's palm lit up with that same blue color and a burst of aura hit Electabuzz at a range. It hadn't been from too far— just far enough to be outside of his reach. It seemed to be a modified version of Force Palm or something like it. Electabuzz fell to the ground and I recalled him with a soft smile.

"That guy's tricky as hell," Chase commented. "Good going, Ri."

"Thanks," I said. "Angel, you're up."

From every angle I could think of, Angel was at an advantage here, but I couldn't get confident. I needed to use everything at my disposal to win.

"Sunny Day," I ordered.

"Fuck that! Aura Sphere!"

A ball of blue energy flew out of Lucario's palm at high speeds and snapped Angel out of his focus. The damage was negligent, especially since it hadn't broken through his thick layer of vines, but it was enough.

"You do that every time she tries that shit," he continued. "Go in, but be slow. Vacuum Wave or use a bone every time it tries to grab you."

Use a bone? How would that even work?

I'd have to watch out for that, but either way, Sunny Day was out of the picture for now. I considered waiting for Lucario to make its move since the fact that it could counter vines rattled me, but Chase took the decision for me.

"Bullet Punch!"

This time, he was quick— quicker than we could even react. Lucario dashed toward Angel and punched him so many times so quickly that his fists were just a blur.

"Power Whip!" I yelled.

A vine burst from his body, hitting Lucario in the shoulder and then burying itself against the ground. The steel type finished its assault and placed a palm against Tangrowth's body. The same burst of aura hit, and it traveled through the vines like they weren't even there. All of Angel's vines wriggled as one as he squirmed in pain.

"Again!"

"Bind—"

"Get the fuck out of there!"

Lucario jumped back, but one of Angel's vine wrapped around his ankle and slammed him against the floor. He quickly sprung to action, growing an aura bone and slashing across he vine before Angel could smother him.

So that was what he meant, I thought. He had a way of hitting us up close with that Force Palm attack and two ways to counter Tangrowth's vine. Legendaries, he was tough. We'd have to try to brute force our way through to win, but Lucario didn't look tired at all. Only bruised in his jaw due to Honey's Fire Punch.

I took a deep breath. "Ancient Power in front and get in range!"

Earth rose from the floor, consolidated into a hard boulder and rolled toward Lucario.

"Cut it."

The fighting type slashed the rock down the middle, splitting it in two perfect halves. Angel was already treading forward, pushing himself with as many vines as he could. He was barely touching the floor with his feet.

"Bind him! Overwhelm him with vines!" I said.

Tangrowth redirected the vines he was using to walk toward Lucario, who summoned another bone and twirled it around like a baton. The vines helplessly washed against the bone.

"Go around!"

Another set of vines shot out from Angel's body, this time circling Lucario. He couldn't be everywhere at once—

"Go in now!"

He didn't even need to use Bullet Punch this time. Lucario's Force Palm hit Angel again, this time angled toward his face. The grass type hastily retaliated with a Power Whip, but that wasn't right. We needed to grab him instead of hit him.

"Bind and Mega Drain!"

I grinned. This time, there were too many to ignore, and he was too close. Lucario tried that same jumping trick, but we were ready. Tangrowth snaked a vine behind his back and killed his momentum, allowing him to finally wrap him with as many as he wanted.

I relaxed with a sigh.

"Vacuum Wave!"

And immediately tensed again. The air around Lucario's fists became a vacuum and some of Tangrowth's vines expanded, swelling uncontrollably before withering away like dust. It wasn't over, however. Lucario kept using the move, forcing Angel to replace his vines to keep a hold on him.

But then, disaster struck.

Using the slight lapse in time that Vacuum Wave bought him and us being taken off-guard, a blue bone slipped out of Lucario's hand. The fighting type twisted it upward and managed to cut apart almost all of Angel's vines, although he hit himself in the rush. One last Vacuum wave was enough to escape, and he slipped out of our hold.

I had learned a few things from that interaction. One, Vacuum Wave was annoying as hell, and if it hit Angel directly, then the sudden change would cause his vines to expand, then wither and die. It was almost a direct counter to us, and Chase had no doubt figured that out too. We were both terrible at physics, and we somehow hadn't figured it out until now. Two, Lucario was strong. Ridiculously so. Even beyond destroying the vines with attacks, Angel had to actually struggle to hold onto him, which had never happened with a Pokemon of this relative size.

I should have expected a fighting type to be like that.

Still, Lucario seemed to be tiring, but so was Angel, and we actually had to be on the defensive now that Vacuum Wave was a factor—

"Aura Sphere."

Angel didn't even have to wait for my order. A hastily built barrier sprung from the floor and crumbled to dust as soon as the attack hit. I craned my neck to the right to get around the dust and saw that Lucario was already moving.

"Another!" I yelled.

Lucario crashed head first into a boulder and calmly destroyed it with a Bone Rush. He was getting sluggish. Two minutes ago, he would have caught that. My eyes bulged when he threw the bone forward. Angel tried to stop it, but no matter how many vines he used, the bone simply cleaved right through.

Fighting an aura user was so unfair.

The bone lodged itself deep inside of Tangrowth, but it still stuck out. Lucario became a blur of motion with Bullet Punch. He stopped the attack midway through and smoothly transitioned into Force Palm like it was second nature to him and pushed the bone even deeper with the attack.

Tangrowth shut his eyes tight and lashed out half-hazardly with Power Whip. One of them hit Lucario, but it didn't matter. He slammed another palm, and a smaller vacuum wave destroyed all of the vines on the right side of his body, exposing his dark flesh. The bone that had stabbed him lightly turned to dust, and Lucario finished him off with one last direct Force Palm.

I wiped the sweat off my brow and my shoulders sagged. Even if I hadn't known how aura would interact with different moves, hiding Bullet Punch until I sent out Tangrowth had been a good play by him, and Chase was quick to take advantage of any weakness that he saw. Lucario bowed toward Angel in apology as I recalled him and then sat on the floor with a tired breath. For the first time since I left Hearthome, a trainer had managed to take down Angel. Lucario was just so damn slippery.

Chase had improved. He'd improved a lot. It stung to lose, but I knew that had been a possibility when I challenged him. I had learned a whole lot about aura and that would potentially pay dividends for my fight against Maylene.

"Good battle," I smiled.

"Right back at you."

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett Turrell, Dom Noct, yesnomaybeso, Sean M, Cypha, Daniel, Ryan T, Kail H, Bridie, dragonslaver
 
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Chapter 172
CHAPTER 172

Chase walked up to Lucario and helped him up. The fighting type grunted when he pulled on his arm too hard. It seemed that Angel's Power Whips had done a number on him, even if it hadn't been enough. I ignored Sunshine's mocking laugh and comforted Sweetheart, who seemed to be the most disappointed at the loss. Really though, her and Princess were especially worried about Angel.

"He'll be okay," I gently reassured them. His vines would grow back within twenty minutes and he'd be as good as new, although I'd have to dig deep within them to apply the potion to his skin if I waited too long.

I directed my attention to Chase.

"You beat me. How about some prize money?" I asked.

"I guess I did earn it," he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

I nodded, requesting to transfer ten thousand Pokedollars onto his account. His eyes widened, and his expression turned into an angry grimace.

"I'm not taking that much. The usual number's five hundred," he said.

"That's nothing. I started this League Internship thing and I'm getting paid extra, so you can at least have some of that. Use it to buy some potions from the Poke Mart."

"No—"

I tightly grabbed onto his wrist and smiled. "What was that?"

"No—"

"Yes?"

"...uh, fine? Wait what the hell—"

"Perfect!" I exclaimed. "You can't go back on your word. That'd be fundamentally wrong."

"Arceus, you're creeping me out Pastel. Fine, I'll take your money."

Lucario gently bumped him on the shoulder.

"And thank you," he added.

"No problem. I know what it feels like to not want to accept money from friends, but you've got to straddle the line between pride and practicality," I said.

I released Honey and Angel to heal them with potions of my own. Chase still refused for me to lend him anything, even if I said he could pay me back later. I quickly sprayed the cold, transparent liquid on Tangrowth's black skin, and the vines began to grow even quicker. I could see it happen in real time, slowly growing inch by inch. The grass type petted my head in appreciation.

"You were amazing out there," I praised him. "That aura stuff is pretty funky, huh?"

"Tell me about it. I don't even know how it works half the time. My dad used to talk to me a bit about it, but he was pretty hush-hush. I just know that it seems to bypass some stuff sometimes. Like I managed to hit that ghost I told you about even though he could pass through a normal Bone Rush."

"Yeah," I muttered as I moved on to patching up Honey. If possible, I would have liked to ask Cynthia about it, but the opportunity had passed me by. Aura seemed to act independently from type energy, or at least it operated under different rules. "You're getting a lot better with Protect, and you were very annoying to fight. That's a great job in my book," I told the electric type.

He grunted, happy with his performance. I knew that even though we'd lost the fight, what he worried about the most was himself.

"I honestly thought you would have sent out that monster of a Tangrowth against Zangoose," Chase said. "I had a pretty good tactic to beat him."

I raised an eyebrow. "And? What was it."

"Well I ain't gonna tell you now. I'll keep it for next time," he smiled, recalling the rest of his team. "I'll be off, then."

"What? Already?"

"Well, you've got to do your own thing and I've got to buy potions before leaving for Veilstone."

"Huh. Alright, then."

I hadn't planned on asking him to travel with me, but I thought we could hang out for a day at least.

Well… maybe I could just ask him.

"Hey, why don't we go together? It's been a while since we've met, we can't just separate already."

"What's up with you?"

"No ulterior motives," I rolled my eyes. "If I had any, you wouldn't have guessed so easily. I just want to hang out with a friend."

Chase sighed. "Well, I wanted to make it to Veilstone and challenge Maylene ASAP, but I guess I can stay if you really want to."

"You're talking like I'm holding you at gunpoint."

"It's the best you're going to get, Pastel. Take it or leave it."

"I'll take it!" I immediately said.



"You know, you're a tricky fighter, Pastel," Chase grunted.

He was currently doing squats in sets of fifty. I was feeling tired by just looking at him, but he was somehow holding a conversation with me while working out. We'd walked a bit further to the east to avoid attention because our fight had actually brought in a few spectators that had spread the news. I hoped the Poketch Company wouldn't give me a hard time for losing. For the first time, I actually felt good after a loss, and I didn't want them to ruin that. Maybe Cynthia's words about losses being good for growth were resonating with me more than I knew.

"You've said that already," I said. "And I just noticed, but we're back on a last-name basis? What happened to good old Grace?"

"That never happened. Wipe it from your memory."

"No, I'm pretty sure that's stored forever in my long-term memories now," I smirked.

"Well you won't be hearing that anymore. But seriously, it's like— whew, fifty," he exhaled. "It's like, to beat you, a trainer has to find a specific way to go through the battle in order to win, and if they don't, they just slip and start to get stomped," he pondered. "Each one of your Pokemon has a trick to it."

"A trick?" I asked. "Oh, I guess I know what you mean. Like Angel's vines."

"Vines for Tangrowth, regeneration for Jellicent, control for Togetic… the only one with a decent amount of versatility's your Electabuzz. Can't know what the hell you're getting into when fighting him. Can't say for the other two though, I've never seen them fight."

"That's a fair point," I nodded. "I've been trying to work on Night Shade with Buddy, but progress is slower than I'd like. Then again, having a gimmick isn't exactly wrong."

"Oh, it isn't, but you've got to be able to transition into something else when it doesn't work. Well, Jellicent worked in this instance, but Tangrowth didn't."

"So you prioritize versatility then?"

"To an extent. You've still got to focus on something. A Pokemon can't really be good at everything, at least not at our stage. My Zangoose is terrible at long-distance fights, as you saw. I'm still workshopping a training regiment to deal with that weakness. Abomasnow's not the best at them, but we've been working on it," he said, starting his squats again.

I hummed. That was a lot to think about, but I probably wouldn't be able to remedy it by Veilstone. It was true that if someone neutralized Angel's vines, then we'd be completely stumped. The issue wasn't as bad with the others, but I needed to figure something out. He was my most powerful Pokemon discounting Sunshine, but he could also be my weakest at the same time if anyone had a surefire way to counter his vines like Lucario had done with Bone Rush and Vacuum Wave.

Speaking of Vacuum Wave…

"Vacuum Wave is kind of bullshit, don't you think?" I said, half-jokingly. "I mean, I never thought you could use it to such an extent."

"Well, I don't know much about it, but I do know that most elemental attacks tend to fizzle out when I throw that at them, and it pulls all the air out of the Pokémon's lungs— if they have lungs," he grunted. "It's been a bit of trial and error. I'm terrible at that physics stuff."

"Me too. I wonder if there are ways I could use physics and chemistry to my advantage to win battles. Like, fire needs… oxygen to burn, so it'd make sense that Vacuum Wave would dissipate a Flamethrower. Why did it cause Angel's vines to wither though… does a vacuum kill plants?"

"Yikes."

"What?!"

"That's kind of nerdy."

"Stop being a kid. I'm just thinking of ways to improve, that's all. You should too."

"Not when I just kicked your ass."

"It was close, you asshole! I want a rematch in Veilstone!"

"Sure, why not. Might as well let me fight that Turtonator for good measure."

"I don't want your Pokemon to die, Chase."

"Huh? Say that again!"

I ignored him. Maybe I'd come to a conclusion about my feelings regarding my loss a bit prematurely. My immaturity came out a bit too easily when my buttons got pushed. I needed to focus on the crux of this conversation.

I didn't know the first thing about physics or chemistry, though. It was at times like these that not paying attention in school came back to bite me. If it was to better my skill at battling though, I was sure that it'd be a lot easier to stomach learning about the periodic table or whatever.

"What was school like in your town… what is it even called?" I asked now that the thought had passed me by.

Chase tensed and stopped his squats. Had I been too forward? "Falkirk," he muttered. "Don't bother looking it up."

"I— I won't."

"Makes sense that you never heard of it," he continued. "There are around 100 mining towns all around the Iron Islands, and most people can't even name one. We're under Canalave's jurisdiction, so they can't really tell the difference."

"Yeah… I don't know much about them."

"At least you're trying to learn, which is more than most. Y'know, when I look around, it's like, where do people think all of that steel that keeps their buildings standing came from? I mean sure, the iron is refined in Canalave, but the point still stands. All those trucks, cars, airplanes, kitchenware, fucking sewage pipes! People work their lives away to provide for the mainland, and they die to do it sometimes. And yet, no one gives a shit about us."

"It's true that I almost only hear about Canalave, but we did cover the Iron Islands in class, I think."

"What? Just thirty minutes of shitty history? That doesn't even matter," he shrugged. "But to answer your question, school is terrible. Teachers hate their jobs since they were sent there by the Canalave government against their will and don't care about us. Even then, there isn't enough and the funding is shit, just like everything else. For all I respect Cynthia, she can go fuck herself for not improving anything there."

"I mean, the position of Champion isn't a one-man show. There are checks and balances—"

"Which are now gone. I'm no politics expert, but she is running a one-man show right now, and not doing anything to solve the situation."

I bit my lip. He was right, but with Team Galactic on the loose, she was probably focused on other things.

"It was always the same thing with Canalave too. Every election, it's 'vote for me and we'll fix all of your problems' and they end up not doing jack shit. Ugh, just makes me sick to talk about it."

"Let's talk about something else then," I hurriedly said. "Like your plans when you get to Veilstone."

"Meh. Beat Maylene, get my flying license and get to Sunyshore ASAP on Sigilyph's back. I want to start mopping up the gyms so I can get a few tries against the eighth."

My eyes widened slightly in surprise. Even the Chase was preparing for a defeat against the eighth gym, which in his case would end up being Byron like me. Expecting to win that battle on the first try was basically a pipe dream, so it was a smart thing for him to do. By the time a trainer got to the eighth gym, gym leaders would know about you and tailor their teams specifically to counter you and give you one last challenge to overcome before the Conference. Not only did that mean that they'd need up to a week to plan their team against yours, but it also meant that you'd most likely end up losing terribly the first time around, and there was no guarantee that they'd keep that same team for your second try.

So not only did you need to fight a grueling six-on-six, you were also going to get specifically targeted and picked apart by one of the best trainers in the region.

I was looking forward to it.

"You're weird, Pastel. You ask me a question, then you just don't say anything afterward."

"I was thinking, Karlson," I spat. "And I was surprised you were taking things so safely. I was going to get my Pokemon Carry license and get beaten up by trainers better than I am, since the League Internship thing I told you about allows me to do that early. And beat Maylene too, hopefully."

"Hopefully? You're way too good to be that wishy-washy about things."

"No, I'm actually confident about the battle, I just think I should stay humble. Y'know, healthy mindset and all of that."

"So fake humility. Got it."

"No, it's—" I groaned. "It's just that I can't allow myself to slip back into that mindset. Under Shiftry's influence, I was kind of like you in Oreburgh when you spoke out against Cece and called her Unovan trash, or at least internally. I was a lot less outspoken," I sighed. "Why did you call her that? You don't seem like the xenophobic type."

"That?" He shrunk down embarrassingly. "I'm not, it's just the easiest way I found to vent out my feelings. The idea that someone could swoop in from another region with outside money and run through the gyms seemed unfair as fuck to me. Now I obviously know that no amount of money will buy your way to the top."

"Yeah… money matters and can give you a huge jumpstart, but skill matters a lot more," I said. "Plus, you kind of got an advantage with Ri, no? Inheriting a Pokemon is kind of an advantage."

"It is, but Ri was never trained to fight until I got him and we started to work out together. I guess I did get a bit of a head start by getting him early, even though I wish I hadn't," he said, his face grim. "But to address your point, you can still buy your way into a few gym badges, but you'll never get to the Conference that way."

"So my point still stands," I huffed.

"Yes, but I was just adding context."

"Or you just wanted to one-up me. Anyway, watch out around Veilstone," I warned. "There were rumors about a Team Galactic base there, and Cynthia seems to think that they're going to strike soon. You should probably walk around with Lucario all the time. He can sense people."

Had Cynthia given Chase a League bodyguard too? He was less involved with Cece, Mira and I than the others, but he was still connected. I considered sending her a message to check, but she'd said only in emergencies. But what the hell constituted an emergency?

Chase hummed. "Thanks for the warning. I'll beat their asses if they pull something."

"And you'll stay safe, right?"

"Yeah."

"That didn't sound very convincing."

"I'm serious. I won't start shit, but if they come after me, everything's on the table."

At this point, I was sure that we were capable of taking down most grunts, but one mistake was all it took, and there was no way we were standing up to Commanders yet. From his story about what happened in Mount Coronet, Sunshine could probably take one of their Pokemon, but there was no way he'd be able to do what he did against Harry. The rest of my Pokemon still needed to catch up.

I was starting to hate the fact that he couldn't go all out because of me being near. Once again, my lack of psychic was biting me in the ass.

Chase finished his fifth set of squats, letting out a satisfied sigh and then downing an entire water bottle.

"Fair enough," I nodded. "Aren't you tired? You're at like a bajillion squats now."

"Today's leg day," he said. "I'm going to run now, so if you want to keep hanging out, you better keep up with me."

"Huh?"

"You heard me."

Chase began to run, and I followed.



"You're… fucking… crazy," I breathed out. My lungs were on fire and I couldn't feel my legs. "Now I'm gonna have to… wash myself."

"Just take a shower in the Cabin. I'm sure the people there will give you a room."

"Shut… up…"

How? How was he just talking to me like nothing was happening? He'd been jogging for nearly an hour and forcing me to follow. At some point, I even considered getting Angel to carry me, but he said that he'd leave if I did.

"You've got to get some meat on those bones, Pastel. Being a trainer ain't only about getting your Pokemon into shape. You've got to whip yourself into shape too."

"I'm healthy," I exhaled. "I walk through the routes and climb and stuff."

I couldn't do it anymore. I stopped and collapsed on the floor, rolling onto my back and taking deep breaths. Chase stopped and looked at me disappointingly.

"You almost made it an hour. Pretty good for your first run, honestly."

"Now you're the one… humble bragging."

"I'm not. I used to be skinnier than you back in the day."

Right. I remembered that picture with his dad that he showed me, and he'd been a pale, almost sickly-looking kid, which was a world's difference of what he was like now.

"I used to be kind of a shut-in. My first run barely lasted five minutes, but it's all about steady improvements."

"I used to go on runs," I said, finally able to speak normally. "With my Electabuzz to build up his stamina. We stopped now that he's found better ways to do it, though."

"You got complacent and lazy."

"No, I just had a lot of other things to worry about."

"Whatever. Just know that being so weak will bite you in the ass one day."

"Hey. Why did you start working out so heavily?" I asked.

Chase sat on the floor next to me and leaned against one of his palms. "I thought I needed to be stronger. If I'd been, then… y'know, I could have done more."

More during whatever happened to Falkirk? He clearly didn't want to go into it, so I didn't pry, but I would definitely look up what happened to it later during the day. If I was getting a room in the Café Cabin, then it'd be dumb not to make use of the WiFi there. Plus, maybe I'd be able to start looking at resources for physics and chemistry. There ought to be at least simple interactions I could do during fights, although those type of tactics would work a lot better during double battles. It was a shame that I probably wouldn't fight in one again for a long time.

He stood up and held out a hand. I grabbed it.

"Thanks. I hope you won't force me to do anymore physical activities, because I literally can't feel my legs."

"That's good. It means that you worked hard," he said. "But no, you're fine. I'm done too."

"I feel so icky. I need to get a room at the cabin and go shower. Want to grab a bite after?"

"Do you think they sell chicken and rice here?"

"What? No, they're a bakery!"

"Then no. Too much sugar and shit. Can't be assed."

"Your loss."

"I was going to leave anyway. It's the evening," he said.

"You could use my shower."

"I don't care about that. I'm going to be traveling in the wild, no one's going to smell me."

My nose wrinkled, but I agreed to let him go. Hanging out had been fun, but Chase wasn't the type of guy to stick around for long. He was a loner at heart, and he enjoyed that. He let me say goodbye to his team, and I did the same with mine. Ri issued us a bow while Abomasnow gently huffed, releasing mist and snow out of his mouth. Zangoose grunted, not bothering to look at us, while Houndoom licked my hand. His tongue was so hot it was almost uncomfortable, but he was cute nonetheless. I rubbed his chin until Chase told me to stop babying him. Vikavolt buzzed at me in some weird pattern while Sigilyph beeped, approaching me upside down until our faces barely touched.

Needless to say, Princess hated her guts. She still chirped goodbye to Lucario, and then everyone else when I told her to be polite. Angel gently rubbed all of Chase's Pokemon with his vines, but Zangoose easily dodged and hissed at him. Sweetheart happily clamored at Lucario, who responded with some gentle words that I didn't understand. Honey shook the steel type's hand, and Zangoose actually shot him a respecful look, which was a world's off of how she looked at everybody else on the team. It seemed that their battle had resonated somehow, and Honey bid her farewell too.

Sunshine didn't say goodbye, but at least he was standing behind me now and not a ways off. Chase was probably similar to Kamaile in some regards.

And just like that, he was gone as far as he'd come. Hopefully we'd see each other again in Veilstone.

"Now I need a shower," I sighed.

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett T, Dom Noct, yesnomaybeso, Sean M, Cypha, Daniel, Ryan T, Kail H, Bridie, dragonslaver
 
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Chapter 173
CHAPTER 173

I ended up placing my name on the Café Cabin waiting list, and after begging the receptionist not to give me special treatment, she finally agreed and left me on there. A room suspiciously freed up immediately afterward though, and, well, there wasn't much I could do about that. She wanted to keep me there so badly that I almost considered leaving right away out of spite. It wasn't that I wasn't expecting to be treated differently, it was mostly the fact that she just lied to my face about it. I wasn't going to make a scene though, so I just bore with it and entered the room they gave me. It was only slightly smaller than a Pokemon Center room, but it was arranged similarly, with a tiny bed, a desk and a chair. There wasn't a television though, which kind of made sense. Most kids just didn't watch TV these days, and it was just a relic of an older time in Pokemon Centers, meaning that they could save on costs. There wasn't really a point when everything could be found on a phone. Denzel was the epitome of this, but I still really enjoyed television, especially with my Pokemon, so one not being there was a bummer.

I finally washed all of the muck and grime off of my body and relaxed on my bed with a heavy sigh. My entire team wouldn't fit in such a small room, so I opted to release Princess alone. The rest were either too big or needed to rest from their battle, so some time in a Pokeball would do them some good. The fairy type hugged me with her little arms and I pet her head.

"I'm gonna be looking up some stuff, so— ah, why don't you grab some dirt from outside?" I asked, standing up to open the window. "You can practice your sculpting while I research."

She happily nodded and flew out the window. A few seconds later, she brought back a huge glob of dirt that barely fit through the opening.

"What are you gonna work on today? That's a lot of dirt."

Princess apparently didn't want to reveal what her plan was. She was usually a lot better with a model, so I found it interesting that she was going to sculpt without one.

Unless—

"Wait is it me—"

"Toge."

"Ah."

Way to crush your mother's heart, I thought with a sigh. I grabbed my laptop, plugged it in and started browsing. The internet here was slow, but it was better than nothing. The first thing on the list was Falkirk, Chase's hometown.

Falkirk.

That surprisingly didn't yield any coherent results. There was apparently a famous singer with the last name Falkirk, and it was all the internet showed me. I needed to narrow the search down.

Falkirk Iron Islands.

The first thing that came up was the images. Falkirk looked as bad as Chase had made it sound. Hundreds of rundown buildings huddling the side of a cliff, dirt paths and the rough waves perpetually keeping the entire place wet and eroding the rocks on the side of the cliff. Not even the worst neighborhoods in Jubilife that dad always told me to avoid looked this bad. The only place that looked remotely well-maintained was the small port that I assumed the miners shipped their iron from, where it'd go to Canalave and be turned into steel or other things.

I had to scroll to the bottom of the search page and go to page two to figure out what happened. I never went to page two. There were a few articles about the town having been destroyed by a Steelix slightly more than two years ago.

In a harrowing turn of events, the small mining town of Falkirk in the Iron Islands has been reduced to ruins, as a colossal Steelix wreaked havoc upon its inhabitants. The destructive force unleashed by this powerful Pokémon has left only a few dozen survivors, forcing the abandonment of the town that once thrived in the heart of the Iron Islands.

I felt my stomach drop. That was how Chase's father died? Not only that, but he'd lost his entire hometown and everything he once knew… Arceus. The article said that the city once thrived, but from the way he'd spoken about it, it had always been relatively poor. I scanned the rest of the article.

…mined too close to the Steelix's territory and drove it to attack. The Iron Island rangers were too weak to stand up to the beast, leaving it enough time to wreak havoc upon the town for two hours until reinforcements from Canalave arrived to evacuate Falkirk. The survivors were taken to the city and officials have opened an investigation into Teracore, the corporation running the mining operations in the islands, but also notably in Oreburgh.

Teracore… I'd heard of them a few times, but I hadn't even known they operated in the Iron Island too. The survivors also sued the company, so I wanted to see what ended up happening to them. Unlike with Falkirk, that was easy enough to find. They'd paid off large sums to some of the victims and fought the ones that hadn't accepted the money in court until they ran out of money for lawyers. I clenched a fist. It wasn't only Cece and Louis' fathers that were evil. Teracore had essentially traded the lives of thousands of people for profit. The government investigation proved to do a lot better, or at least it did at first glance. The people in charge of the Iron Island sector were fired and would spend decades in prison, which for most would mean that they'd die in there.

But at the end of the day, Teracore was still chugging along, making hundreds of millions of Pokedollars and were still getting paid by the Oreburgh and Canalave city government to do their mining. It had barely been a slap on the wrist. Surely there could be some kind of better oversight, no? I doubted that the people currently serving their sentence had been acting out all on their own.

"Damn it…"

It was so unfair. I could see where Chase's mistrust of companies and the government in general came from. I wondered if he was planning on going back to the Iron Islands when he went back to Canalave if he had the time. Falkirk itself was still abandoned, but maybe he'd want to see other towns around the islands.

Or maybe it'd be too painful to remember.

I glanced at Princess' statue, and I still couldn't figure out what she was making, so I moved onto the next topic. I needed to figure out if I could use physics to my advantage, and for that, I needed a textbook. A pdf of one would do. I racked my brain, trying to remember the name of my old textbooks, but nothing came up.

"Screw it, new textbook it is."

After a bit of sleuthing, I ended up buying Introduction to Physics and Chemistry 101, which were a lot less impressive sounding than I expected, but we all had to start from somewhere. I didn't expect to create massive explosions or whatever, but it was a good base to build up from. Come to think of it, Sunshine could only create explosions on his shell because of the sulfur there that kind of smelled like a mix of eggs and burned matches. That was chemistry too!

And yes, it had taken a while to get used to the smell, and I barely registered it these days.

Anyway, I decided that I'd do at least one hour of physics and one hour of chemistry each day, and that started… later.

No! I was completely free right now, so I needed to do it! Why was it that I always procrastinated with anything non-Pokemon related? And the worst part was that this was Pokemon related, I just needed to push through and get to the meat of the subjects to see its effects in the way I battled.

Chemistry was first.



"I hate chemistry!"

"To…"

"You don't get it, Princess. This is mind-numbingly boring! Sure, learning about the three states of matter and how molecules behave as a gas, solid or liquid is nice, but when am I ever going to use that in— well… actually, it's pretty useful now that I'm thinking about it for a few seconds. Heating up water to stop a water type attack's the kind of obvious stuff every trainer knows, but what about turning a gas back into a liquid? The textbook said it was condensation."

Togetic let out a series of chirps, still engrossed in her statue. It was slowly taking form, and I knew now that she was making the entire family— Sunshine included. Of course, she still hadn't created me, and she wouldn't.

"Uhh, you do it by lowering the temperature of a gas. Like, if Chase's Abomasnow used a massive Icy Wind on Buddy's Mist, the attack would just turn into water and ice crystals. I bet Chase would never know about that though."

"Toge!" She snickered.

"He is a musclehead," I smirked. "But you can't underestimate him, I mean, he just beat us, didn't he? Anyway, Mist isn't even proper gas, but steam is. There are all these gases that look like gas but aren't. I wonder if Sunshine's Smokescreen is a gas? It seems a lot heavier than steam. Smog too."

Well, it wasn't like I had any ice type moves to think about doing that just yet anyway, but it was still something to think about. Something like Powder Snow or Icy Wind would work better than Ice Beam, since the area of effect would be wider. Now that my one hour of chemistry was done, it was time to move onto physics. I didn't want to overwhelm my brain and not retain any of the information I was learning.

It ended up being even worse than before, and unlike with chemistry, I couldn't see any applications to anything I'd learned in the hour I had studied and taken notes. The only thing I'd taken an interest in so far was motion and kinematics, but there was no way I was going to whip out a formula mid-battle to calculate the trajectory of an attack like Rock Throw, especially when the Pokemon could just switch the direction of the rock whenever they wanted.

And the target would obviously be my Pokemon.

Where it could be useful was in situations like that interaction between Vacuum Wave and Angel's vines, but I wouldn't be learning any of that for a while. This was just an introduction book. Of course, I could always skip ahead, but I knew I'd be completely lost if I did that.

Arceus, I was bad at this. If anything, I'd have to supplement these lessons with research online, or it would take months for me to come up with any ideas.

But it was a long-term project, so we'd see where it left me.

"Ohhh, it's so cute!" I squealed, looking at Princess' work. "You've gotten so much better!"

Everyone was there, and they were size-appropriate too. I could see Angel's individual vines and the different layers of Sunshine's shell. She'd done all of this in two hours!

"You're so talented," I said, grabbing my phone. "Here, let me take a picture. Stay in the shot! Give me a big, wide smile."

Since we couldn't carry her sculptures, I kept track of them using pictures instead. She was never bummed out about having to leave one behind, strangely enough, but I wanted to keep the memories. Plus, we'd look back on it in a few months and see how far she'd come.

I ended up finally sending a message to my friends to let them know that I'd made it to the Café Cabin and that I'd met Chase there. Everyone but Cece, Denzel and Pauline were on the road though, so I doubted that they'd see it any time soon. Cece actually asked me for a picture to cheer her up, and we ended up sending silly faces to each other for almost ten minutes until I called.

The moment the phone stopped ringing, I almost jumped for joy and excitedly kicked my feet against the bed.

"Grace!"

"Cece, I miss you so much!" I whined.

"So do I. It's terribly lonely at night," she said. The sound of her voice felt like bliss. "I've been resting as much as I can to recover as quickly as possible! We'll be leaving Solaceon very soon."

"That's great news, but make sure not to overwork your leg. The Café Cabin's a bit annoying, but the food's great, so I think you can stay there for a day like I'm doing if you need it."

"And be apart for another day? Absolutely not. Have you done anything interesting there? I saw that you met Chase."

"Every time I see him, it's like he matures ten years," I chuckled. "We battled too. He won."

"He did? What were the rules?"

"Three-on-three, no switches. His Pokemon are no joke, especially Ri."

I ended up explaining the entire battle in detail to Cecilia, including Chase's new Pokemon and evolutions. Since he wasn't actively hiding them, I didn't think he'd care at all.

"I've also started learning a bit about physics and chemistry. I figured it'd give me a leg-up on the competition."

"In what way would—" she paused. "Oh of course, I see what you mean. Clarence never gave me any lessons of the sort. The instructor I had kept to arithmetics. I mostly focused on things like dance, music or gymnastics."

"You are flexible…" I muttered. "And yeah, you technically used chemistry when you turned the sand into glass during that one battle in the tournament, so it'd definitely be of use," I explained. "It's better to get started early than late. It'd help a lot down the line when we start creating moves too… hah, man, I hope I make something that can be widely used so I sell the rights to Silph Co. and become rich."

"That's one in a million," she laughed. "I don't know if I'd like to delve that deeply into those two subjects, though. The common sense concepts like the three states of matter should be enough."

"Uh, right, everyone knows about that. Condensation, am I right?" I nervously laughed.

"There's no shame in not knowing. You're smart and pick up on things quickly, so you'll no doubt surpass common knowledge in a week."

I couldn't help but grin. "Thanks. How are Pauline and Denzel doing?"

"Pauline was never bothered, but Denzel's doing better. He took your departure almost as bad as I did— but don't tell him I told you. He wanted to send you off with a smile, so he hid it, but he's been down in the dumps."

"Yeah… I could tell," I sighed. "I'll call him after you. And Pauline too, or she'll throw a fit about being left out. How are Sol and Zerst doing?"

"You know, I thought we'd made a lot of progress, but they've been fighting a whole lot recently…"



"I love you. Have a good rest of your night!"

"You too," she said. "And don't forget to send me Princess' sculpture later."

"I'll have to ask her," I said, looking at her sleeping in my arms. "She's pretty shy about her art."

I hung up the phone, stretched and called Denzel next.

"Hey big guy. I've heard you've been depressed without me," I said, half-jokingly.

"From who? Was it Pauline or Cece?" He groaned.

"You think I'd just tell you? I'm better than that. Now tell me what's been kicking your ass."

I heard Denzel exhale. "Well, it's not just you leaving. It's not even about Justin's mentality being fucked either, it's a lot of things that add up. But the biggest thing is… I feel like things just went from a fun adventure to like, this incredibly serious thing where we'll have to put our lives on the line in the future. It was always dangerous, I mean, we went through Eterna Forest without knowing jack shit about battling. We had to fight and think our way out of Mount Coronet too, but it feels different this time. Like it's just the beginning, and we'll have to fight humans a whole lot more from now on."

I paused to consider what to say.

"Grace?"

"I mean, you're right," I finally said after a heavy breath. "But I'd think that you would be able to cope with that. Everything will work out somehow."

"Copying me?" He said. I could hear his smile.

"That obvious?"

"Yup. We'll see what happens, I guess, but know that even though I'm not a target, I've got your back. I won't let Mars do any of her sick shit to you or Team Galactic hurt anyone else."

"Thank you. I mean it."

"I know you mean it," he said. "This Veilstone stuff is stressing me out."

"Me too, but we've got to deal with it. The League will protect us, so just stay vigilant."

"No, no, not even that. I need a lot of money Grace. Veilstone will make or break this year for me. I have nearly enough for a Shiny Stone from all the sponsors and donations from my fans, but I need more."

"For your sixth?" I guessed.

"I looked it up, and they've brought in a new clutch of Dratini at the Game Corner that are close to hatching," he said. "I want one, and I need to win big if I'm going to get one. I'm talking millions."

"A Dratini? It doesn't seem like Dragonite would fit your schtick though."

"What? Pauline told me the same thing! The Dragonite line is great. Have you seen a video of one flying? They're incredibly gracious."

"Dratini and Dragonair maybe, but Dragonite? They look cute, but they're kind of goofy—"

"Absolutely not. They look majestic as hell."

"Whatever you say… oh, Mira wanted to get something from the Game Corner too! She wants a Porygon, and they sell those there too, or at least that's what Cynthia said. I don't have any advice for you though. Aren't most of their games luck based?"

"Some require more skill, but there's an element of luck everywhere, yes. I've been studying up," he said. "If I don't get a Dratini, I'm fucked."

"You could always get another Pokemon and get a Dratini as your seventh."

"II know that would make sense, but I can't bring myself to do that. I've got to keep to my list. It's like, this goal I've set for myself, and if I don't reach it, I'll feel inadequate."

"Just don't lose all of your motivation if you don't get one, okay?"

"I'll try. Thank you for telling me about Mira, by the way. I'll see if we can figure something out."

"Maybe her Kadabra can watch and calculate the odds of each win or something crazy like that," I suggested.

"They've got a no Pokemon rule, otherwise cheating would be way too easy," he chuckled. "Anyway, I hope your trip to the Café Cabin went well? How's Chase doing?"

"Oh, he's the same as always, but more mature," I said. "Ri actually evolved into a Lucario…"



"Well, nothing left to do but relax and wait for tomorrow," I said after finishing my call with Pauline. She was so abrasive that she was already secretly practicing flying on Charizard's back. I told her that she'd better not get caught, or getting her license this year would be impossible, and she would need it if she wanted to get eight badges in time. There was no way she, Louis or Justin were traveling all the way to Snowpoint and then Canalave otherwise, although Justin had seemingly given up on the Conference.

Backtracking to one would have been possible, but two? They wouldn't make it to the Conference if they kept traveling by foot. Even I needed to fly on Togetic's back, or I'd be cutting it too close with Byron. Losing to him and then missing the deadline would feel a lot more crushing than just not making it to the city itself.

By the time I made it to Sunyshore, I'd have enough for a Shiny Stone if I'd calculated things correctly, and Togekiss shared a very common body type with most bird Pokemon, meaning that it wouldn't take too long to teach me how to fly on one thanks to not needing to call in a specialized teacher.

I left bright and early the following day. It wasn't like my nightmares didn't wake me up early anyway, so it'd be better to make use of them however I could. After grabbing some food to go downstairs and replenishing a little on potions, I began my trek through route 215. The transition from beautiful weather to cloudy was so quick it was almost esoteric. I knew nothing about the weather, but—

It was already raining.

"Damn it, I should have been wearing my raincoat right away!"

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett T, Dom Noct, yesnomaybeso, Sean M, Cypha, Daniel, Ryan T, Kail H, Bridie, dragonslaver
 
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Chapter 174
CHAPTER 174

Heavy wind whizzed past my hair as I held down the hood of my raincoat. Even though I was protected against the rain, my entire body still felt wet. Princess had originally created a psychic barrier above my head, but she had gotten too tired to keep it up. The occasional boom of thunder rattled me, but it had been at least twelve hours since making it to route 215, so I'd gotten used to the sudden noises by now.

Strangely enough, there was a peculiar quiet to the route as well. Between the booms of thunder, it was as if everything was muted somehow. It was subtle, but easy to catch when you noticed. My ears felt full, as if I was flying on an airplane and no amount of blowing with my nose pinched did the trick. It was like I'd lost forty percent of my hearing. The sound of rain and thunder were still at their normal level, however. Despite all of this, I knew not to panic. This was a well-known effect of the route, and there was no explanation for it. Trainers just ignored it and made it through with no problems.

I was currently crouching at a distance from Sweetheart and she quivered in trepidation. She'd been waiting for this since her evolution.

"Ready?!" I yelled out. Pupitar jumped in place, excited for what was to come. "Three, two, one—"

A sudden pop, and then a loud hiss escaped from her shell, and she flew headfirst toward a tree, running through and destroying it completely. Splinters and chunks of bark exploded outward, but I was far enough to avoid any injuries. Sweetheart fell back onto the floor and struggled to stop her momentum, so I started to run after her. It took a minute for me to catch up. For a few seconds, I reminisced about the time when Princess had been a Togepi and struggled to stop her Rollout in our apartment. It all seemed so far away now.

"Holy crap!" I yelled. "You went so fast! I'm so proud of you!"

I rubbed her tough stony exterior, and she rumbled under her cocoon. The entire team congratulated her as well. I had released Sunshine for this occasion only, because he never would have forgiven me if I let him miss the first time Sweetheart used the pressurized air inside of her to propel herself. All in all, I'd call it a great success. Tangrowth rubbed her head and creases with his vines, Jellicent rumbled proudly and Togetic clapped to congratulate her. Honey offered a thumbs up and yelled so loudly that for a second, I thought I'd regained my normal hearing.

I recalled Sunshine after he offered the rock type some praise. It wasn't so much that the rain creating steam every time the droplets landed on his shell bothered us, but it was mostly because he was a big baby and the weather bothered him. I'd release him when we found a spot to hide away from the rain. There was a small mountain coming up in a few hours, so maybe there'd be a small cave to hide under.

The route was definitely on the easier side of things, but the permanently muddy floor was tiring me out quickly. And somehow, route 212 was worse than this! I was definitely never stepping foot down there.

"How much supply did that use?" I asked Sweetheart. "Can you go for another one?"

The ground type eagerly nodded. She wanted to fly, and she looked like she was having the time of her life. She ended up propelling herself seven more times until she ran out— seven and a half if I counted that last attempt that barely lasted five seconds. It would take multiple hours for the compressed air to replenish completely. What it did not do, however, was tire her. She was still just as excited as she'd been before, so I wouldn't have to worry about overusing it in battle due to stamina worries. Still, having only eight meant that we couldn't just rely on the technique for mobility in battle, but it'd be very good to use in specific circumstances, both offensively and defensively.

Hell, I was even starting to think that combining the move with Iron Defense would be too lethal for fleshy Pokemon.

Pupitar was getting a lot better at crawling too, using the two small appendages on the sides of her cocoon to drag herself forward. She was slow, and would always be without the pressurized air, but she could at least maneuver now, which did wonders for her self-esteem. Evolution almost always took time for a Pokemon to get used to, but radical changes like hers were a lot worse. To go from being able to walk to crawling would feel crippling.

"Let's keep going," I declared. Sweetheart's eyes saddened, but I smiled at her as I stood back up. "What do you think? You're sticking around, obviously. We're not in a hurry."

Thunder boomed as she excitedly celebrated.

——

"Finally, no more rain," I groaned as I took cover under the nameless mountain's overhang. Well, it probably had a name, but I didn't know it. "I'm gonna release Sunshine and get started on dinner. Honey?"

The electric type nodded and walked up to me.

"I can't cook without my sous-chef," I grinned, releasing the fire type. "We're cooking some stir-fry. Not the biggest fan of vegetables, but it'll do I think. It's a leg up from pasta, but there's a first time for everything. Uh, I had the recipe saved somewhere. Start taking the veggies out."

I looked through my laptop as Turtonator lazily lay down under the deepest recesses of the overhang. Buddy, meanwhile, couldn't be any happier. He was soaking in the rain and his head had almost doubled in size from all the extra water, which was comical seeing as his head was already way bigger than the rest of his body. Princess was curiously observing Electabuzz pull out all the ingredients, while Sweetheart was already eating some rocks from the side of the mountain. Angel silently lamented the lack of sunlight. He'd enjoyed the rain at first, but he missed the sun shining down on his vines.

"Where the hell did I even save this— ah, there it is!" I yelled. "Oh, Arceus, what the hell is a tablespoon? I don't know how much that is!"

Electabuzz chuckled and opted to just eyeball it.

"Don't make fun of me," I rolled my eyes. "We're in the same boat. Now you've got to heat the stove to medium-high heat and put the skillet on it, then you add the oil. Oh, wait, how much is a pound?"

Maybe I should have kept to pasta. This was going to be an unmitigated disaster. We struggled the entire way through and had no measuring tools, so everything just went wrong.

——

"This looks really bad," I grimaced. "The picture on the website looked way better than this."

Turtonator snorted and let out a rumbling grunt. Before Princess could even retort to defend me like she was about to, I clicked my tongue.

"We did follow the instructions… sorta. I think we put too much soy sauce and we overcooked everything… but hey, better overcooked chicken than undercooked. The last thing I want to get in the middle of a route is food poisoning."

Electabuzz offered a serving to everyone. Sunshine and Buddy reluctantly accepted. I expected Jellicent to do so, but Turtonator was a welcomed surprise, especially since he'd criticized us so harshly. Honey was over the moon that they'd both accepted. He was dissatisfied with the meal, but no one would become an expert chef in a few days. Angel and Sweetheart were just content to eat anything. Everytime the grass type did so, it was as if he was eating the best meal of his life. He immediately grabbed the bowl, dragged it under his vines and he was done in a few seconds.

"Angel, I didn't add your vitamins yet!" I scolded. "Well, it's okay, I'll just slice up some more berries for you."

Princess perked up at the mention of berries. I spread the vitamin powder over all of their meals and mixed it, then cut up a few Oran Berries for Angel and Princess and did the same.

"You know, Princess, you defended Honey and I's cooking, but you still don't want to even look at it," I said. She guiltily stared at her brother, who nodded with a grunt. "If you want to really show us how you appreciate our cooking, you should have a little taste."

I held out a bunch of mixed vegetables in front of her mouth, and her head immediately turned away.

"Come on… do it for mommy? Pretty please?"

Togetic finally chomped down on the fork and ate something other than Oran Berries for the first time ever, which was wonderful progress. Electabuzz watched for her reaction with bated breath, but I placed a hand on his still-wet shoulder to let him know to temper his expectations. She held out her tongue and groaned as soon as she finished.

"You don't like it, but it won't kill you, right?" I smiled. "I promise you that when Honey and I get better, you'll like it. Here, you can cleanse your palate with some berries and water."

We ate dinner mostly in silence, listening to the soft sounds of the rain pattering against the mountain and its surroundings. The sound of rain had always been good at making me sleepy, and it seemed to have the same effect on most of my Pokemon, especially when it was so much louder than everything else. Tangrowth splayed out a ton of his vines, creating a bed for me, Honey and Princess. Sweetheart was asleep and still eating rocks somehow. Eating was so crucial to their species that they could somehow do that.

Only Buddy was still awake, warding off the few wild Pokemon that dared to approach us. Most of them were harmless, not because they were weak but because I felt like they were friendly and just wanted to sleep somewhere dry.

"Let them in," I whispered, looking at a pair of Lickitung.

He hesitated for a few seconds, but shrunk down to his normal size as his eyes dimmed down. It was just two Lickitung at first, but we were soon joined by a Drowzee, a Kricketune, two Mightyena and a Ponyta. The poor fire type's flames were so weakened. I had no idea what it was doing on a route where it always rained. It was limping too, and its leg had a massive bruise.

"Did something fight you?" I worriedly asked.

The horse neighed with a small, shy nod.

"I've got things to help you," I continued, grabbing a potion from my bag. "It'll make you all better."

There was knowledge behind Ponyta's eyes, so it looked like it already knew what a potion was. It must have seen a trainer use it at some point. The fire type nervously approached me, making sure not to wake up any of my Pokemon and I quietly sprayed her leg with a potion. The flames on its back immediately grew from uncomfortably hot to just warm, and I managed to put my hand in the fire, much to Buddy's worried glances.

"There you go," I softly said. "You can all sleep here. We'll be on our way tomorrow morning, and I'll keep my Pokemon under control when they wake up."

More and more Pokemon showed up as the hours passed, and I could tell there was history and rivalries within certain packs. A group of five Psyduck seemed to be hated by every Pokemon here, although they were oblivious to it. A Staravia was constantly glaring at a Pidgeotto, and Ponyta warily looked at an Elektrike that had just shown up. I guessed he was the one that hurt it, but there seemed to be some kind of truce here.

Of course, my Pokemon were already awake at this point, and aside from being way too paranoid and Sunshine carving out his own slice of the cave for himself and threatening to attack anyone that got near him, everything went rather well. I still stuck by his side for warmth, as did the others. Not even a single fight broke out between the other Pokemon, and it was quiet enough for me to get some studying done.

I ended up feeding the wild Pokemon too, but there were too many now. Somehow, rumors about this little spot spread and the small overhang ended up being completely packed by the next morning.

——

"Bye-bye everyone!" I waved. "Stay safe out there and good luck!"

They'd been a nice little community. It was a nice reminder that every route had its own history, links between different Pokemon groups and complicated relationships. It was a shame that I couldn't get to know them better. I had a feeling that a few days with them and I'd be able to understand how they spoke perfectly, but my stay in Veilstone would be busy already, so I couldn't afford to waste time.

Not that hanging out with Pokemon was wasting time. It was cool.

I trekked through route 215 for the remainder of the day, using the well-demarked trail to go over the mountain I'd just slept under. There was also a path around, but it would take at least ten hours extra, if not more. It was tiresome, but at least I was training my stamina further. Walking on a flat path was easy— I could do it for the entire day if need be, but walking up muddy slopes and on rocky, uneven terrain was a completely different picture. Angel tried to carry me a few times, but I refused his help, much to his chagrin, although there were multiple instances where he pulled me up small cliffs I couldn't climb. Turtonator and Sweetheart weren't exactly equipped for this route, so they stayed in their balls for the time being. Princess lazily floated above me with her chin on my head the entire time.

"Finally," I groaned as I sat below another overhang— this time on the other side of the mountain. There would only be one more like this to climb, and apparently it'd be possible to see Veilstone from its peak, even though it was slightly smaller.

The rain had assuaged slightly, but it was still pouring. Electabuzz calmly prepared pasta on the stove while I opened my laptop again. I had this idea for a move that had been unable to leave my head, and it had to do with steam explosions.

My PDF textbook had this whole section about how steam behaved under different temperatures and environments that was a few pages long, and I'd learned that it could actually explode under a large amount of pressure. That hadn't even been on my radar when thinking about applying physics to Pokemon battles, but it was certainly feasible.

Pokemon battles at a high level were not just a set of individual, one-on-one fights. It was a team effort, each Pokemon building up for the next. Strategies sometimes only bore fruit after five Pokemon went down, but for this one, I would only need three in a set order.

Sunshine and Buddy had been obvious. One was practically made of water and the other could vaporize it by just standing there, but the process was actually more complicated than I thought. I heard the fire type groan as he strode to my side, and Jellicent chided him to tell him to stay quiet while I was engrossed in my thoughts.

Mist wasn't steam. Mist was water in a condensed phase, meaning it was still in a liquid state, but light enough to float in the air. Fog was similar, but denser. For steam, the water needed to be in a gaseous state.

Or that was what the textbook said anyway.

If mist was still water in a liquid state, then heating it up should in theory turn it into steam. We could have just used the rain for a proof of concept, but I wanted to be sure that we could reproduce this without it. There would always be water in a gym leader's arena and in any tournament worth their name, but using Mist would make a lot more vapor in theory, since Buddy could just fill the arena completely. That would be different against Crasher Wake, since his entire arena was like the Solaceon tournament's Water Field. It was a bummer I'd gotten no practice on it.

"Uh, go ahead and use Mist," I whispered, chewing on my thumb nail. "Not too much. We don't want to blow up the cave and have it collapse on us."

Jellicent rumbled, and a thin mist escaped from his mouth. I let him release it until we had a good amount— around three times my body size. Any amount would do if we pressed down hard enough.

I stepped back. "Okay, now heat that up," I told Sunshine.

The dragon spat out a thin stream of flames toward the mist, and the mist turned into vapor. It was a minute change, but it became more transparent and lighter. Mist tended to stick to the ground, clearly showing that it had some weight to it. Vapor was a lot wispier and easily blown away by wind.

"Princess," I said.

Her eyes shone, and a transparent bubble of psychic energy captured the steam before it could dissipate. She would be the one to squeeze it until it blew.

"Press down on it as much as you can."

I could feel my heartbeat.

The bubble grew smaller and smaller, and the steam denser. Princess clearly met some resistance, narrowing her eyes as she kept pressing.

Until the bubble shattered with a burst of pressure, the sound of the explosion reverberating across the small cave and the steam scattering quicker than I could see. There was no flame or change in color, of course. This was a steam explosion, and it didn't use any kind of ignition. The blast had been next to one of the walls of the cave, leaving only a gaping hole in its place and crumbling stone.

"Holy shit," I breathed out. "That worked. I did a thing! We did a thing!"

Even Sunshine was somewhat surprised that it had worked, and he couldn't help but celebrate with the rest of us. By celebrating, I meant him having the slightest hint of a smile on his face.

"Makes you change your mind about battling with me?" I asked. His smile disappeared, but he didn't answer. "Whatever," I grumbled. I could always create other moves that didn't need him. "Should we name it? I mean, I don't think I'll call it out in battle seeing as how complicated it is to create, but it'd be cool. It's our first custom move, you know?"

Electabuzz excitedly nodded. He was maybe even happier than I was, and wanted a combination of his own now. Unfortunately, electricity came later in the textbook and was probably a lot more complicated than water. I took a few suggestions from the team and Sunshine had less-than-stellar, crude names. Angel moved his vines so quickly that I could barely catch the first word, but his suggestion was an extremely long name that would just be too much to remember. Sweetheart wanted it to be as violent as possible, aligning with Sunshine, and Buddy went with the hilariously boring name Steam Explosion, but that wasn't it.

"No, guys, I need a cute name. No explosion of death or whatever," I said, eyeing the rock type. "How about Bubble Blast? It rolls off the tongue. Princess uses a bubble to pressurize the vapor, and we'd be keeping up the water theme."

Togetic chirped, clapping her hands. She seemed to enjoy that one, and so did I. The others all groaned except Angel, who was happy enough with the name.

"That's three against three," I said. "And you can't even agree on a name. We win," I stuck out my tongue.

Jellicent whistled sharply, more agitated than he usually was. He said that only the Pokemon that could actually create the move should have a vote.

"No, no, we're a family. Everyone has a say," I smugly said. "Right guys? Buddy's saying that your vote doesn't count!"

This time, even Sweetheart joined our side, and the water type just sighed in defeat.

I just really liked cute things, okay? Now that the name was decided, I started to think again.

In a potential battle, it would go like this. I would lead with Buddy and use Mist at some point before he was unable to fight, then switch the Sunshine and heat up the field enough to completely fill it with water vapor. Both wouldn't even need to fight if substitutions were allowed. I would just switch to Princess and have her create explosions next to her opponents, and we'd be able to do so until the steam ran out— meaning that there'd be multiple explosions. Her masterful control would be key here. I didn't know if the type energy that Jellicent infused into Mist would still make the move count as water type or something else, but any explosion would seriously hurt whatever the hell we were fighting. And, we'd be able to adjust their sizes depending on how much vapor we packed together!

She'd always lacked in power, and she would lag behind the rest of the team in that department at least until she evolved, but Pokemon battles were a team effort. If she couldn't use powerful moves by herself, then we would make our own path. The potential with physics was nearly limitless, both offensively and defensively. My previous assumption had been wrong. There were already moves to create with my limited knowledge. I suddenly felt a very real urge to devour my entire textbook right this instant before moving on to more complicated concepts.

My lips twisted upward.

Physics was fun.

And I hadn't even begun to scratch the surface.

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett T, Dom Noct, yesnomaybeso, Sean M, Cypha, Daniel, Ryan T, Kail H, Bridie, dragonslaver
 
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Chapter 175 - Sister
CHAPTER 175 - Sister

Another day had passed, and attacks by wild Pokemon had completely stopped. It wasn't like they had the guts to do so anyway, but sometimes a few got a bit rowdy until usually Buddy scared the living crap out of them and they fled. That had stopped since I had let that huge group of wild Pokemon under that overhang with me, nursed Ponyta back to health and fed a few of them. The fact that it hadn't ceased right after made me skeptical that the wild Pokemon had some way of communicating who was a threat and who wasn't, but it was certainly a possibility with how intertwined everyone had seemed when grouped up in the cave. Still, route 215 was long, so I considered it unlikely.

Sweetheart was making good progress with her air control, although mid-air adjustments were still a pipedream. I was almost certain she was ready to battle again, however, and even though she would be at a type disadvantage against Maylene, I was probably going to use her. It was going to be a five against five, after all. I was sure I'd find a strategy to use with her, but I would need to study the gym leader first to be sure. The rumors said she was abrasive, but quick on her feet, meaning that she'd be close to Chase's style. I was sure there would be a lot of differences too though, I just didn't know enough right now.

And even if I could look it up, I'd be too engrossed in my textbooks to notice. I had changed my one hour per subject each day study time to two hours when I had the time, and I ended up going over that by at least thirty minutes last night until Buddy convinced me to go to sleep. It wouldn't do to be tired when traveling on a route, especially when the terrain was so harsh.

I stepped onto the mountain's peak and took a deep breath. The air was thinner here, but still easily breathable. Veilstone stood tall in the distance. Since it was still two to three days away, the only thing I could make out were a few skyscrapers. These little occasions where one could just stop and take in the beauty and size of Sinnoh were always soothing to me. It had been the same when I could see Oreburgh from route 207 south of the Cycling Road. These were the moments that I traveled for, even though walking up a mountain was a pain in the ass— trail or not.

At least the way down was a lot easier on my legs, especially when Honey and Princess were there to give me some moral support. There was probably nothing more motivating than my kids telling me that I could do something.

It took half the time to get down than to climb up, and I opted to take a break near the route's edge, since it was where the trail led me. As I fiddled through my laptop and sneakily took a picture of Angel and Buddy being ridiculously cute due to the former forcefully hugging the latter until he had no choice but to reciprocate as best he could, something incredible happened.

The clouds above me cleared, and the rain slowed until it completely stopped, leaving only a rainbow that arched across the sky and left me breathless. The rain on route 215 intensified or slowed, but it never stopped. It was a constant, like the fog on the northern half of route 210 or the snow on route 216 and 217.

The beauty of the moment was cut short when I heard something approaching from deeper into the woods. It was a distinct sound— like something scuttling across the grass, but it was so quiet. Like a whisper brushing against my ears that I'd miss if it didn't have my utmost attention. We were used to this at this point, so my Pokemon immediately took their positions in front of me and prepared to scare off whatever was coming. I'd probably jinxed not being attacked, but oh well.

My breath caught in my throat when I saw what emerged from the tree line. It was slightly smaller than seven feet tall and humanoid, with a body as thin as a stick that was almost completely concealed by thick pastel pink and blue hair that acted like a cloak and stretched down and hugged the lower parts of its body, which grew thicker at the base. It wore a pointy blue hat that was made out of the same hair, and a thick tentacle-like structure grew out of it, ending into two spheres and three claws that shimmered slightly. Just one look into its eyes made me feel the same things I felt when coming face to face Cynthia's Garchomp or Ruth in the lost tower.

I had no chance of winning this fight. This Pokemon was leagues above mine in strength— and even more powerful than Sunshine. Even if we all attacked it at once, I had no doubt that we would lose.

But what choice did we have?

My Pokemon understood immediately and tensed. Princess grabbed a few sharp spears with Ancient Power. Buddy swelled threateningly and his eyes glowed until his entire body was coated in red. Honey's arms spun as he gathered electricity, and my hair stood on end. Angel wrapped a vine around me and tightened his hold.

Just as I was about to release Sunshine, I heard a voice.

Well met, sister, the Pokemon spoke, staring at Togetic.

A splitting headache immediately hit me and made my vision swim. I had practiced telepathy some more with Slowking while in Solaceon, but the pain was still excruciating. I could still think, though. I bit down on my tongue and clenched a fist. What had it meant by sister? What Pokemon even was that? I'd never seen it before!

And you, it continued, glancing at me. I feel a kinship as well, but not quite whole. A halfling, then, but a sister nonetheless. How strange. You tread the line between two worlds.

The words were becoming unbearable. It was as if someone was driving a screwdriver into my head. Still, I held Jellicent back. He'd already been creating a Night Shade, but there was no point. I couldn't antagonize this Pokemon.

We would just die. What was it even doing on a route? Where were the Rangers?

Your Rangers cannot hinder me. I am the leader of this area, known as Keeper of the Sacred Woods, or simply Keeper. News of your presence brought me here.

"Hold on," I breathed out. "Let's, uh, just stop talking for a second please. You're giving me a terrible migraine."

Oh, my humble apologies, sister. I have forgotten how sensitive humans can be, the Pokemon said before pausing. Your mind is like a twig that I could snap whenever I wish, but that would be rude of me. I have now altered my telepathy so that it aligns with your fragile mind.

The voice was a lot quieter now, but it was also a lot easier to bear. The headache was still there every time it spoke, but it was muted enough so that I could deal with it.

"What do you want?" I asked, trying to keep myself from shaking. "I'm just passing through here. I mean this place no harm, and if I've offended you in any way, then allow me to pay the price. As long as it's reasonable."

Togetic chirped softly and placed a hand on my shoulder.

The Pokemon didn't want to hurt us. I could feel it too.

It chuckled, and its tentacle softly caressed her own hair. Ah, you have embraced our customs already, sister. It is rare to find a human this polite, and tis' a testament to your understanding of the old ways. That alone is enough to allow you safe passage within these lands, even though your emotions echo with a clamor that stirs within me the urge to beat you until you finally go quiet.

Huh. Strangely enough, even though I'd just been told that it wanted to kill me, I felt completely calm, and this wasn't like what had happened with Shiftry. It was like there were rules at play here, and they were easy enough to understand.

I knew now that I was dealing with a fairy type.

"It's okay guys," I told my team. "We're safe."

Princess began to chat with the Keeper as well, asking it what brought it to us.

You shall address me as her, not it, I immediately heard.

Right, she could read thoughts. "Sorry."

You have treated the inhabitants of my fief with an amount of hospitality, peace, and love that only a few trainers have. I simply wanted to meet such a human, but I never anticipated that you would partake in the ways of the fae, nor did I fathom that a third sister would be among your gathering, she said, eyeing my team. The first condition would have allowed you safe passage in the first place, but now you shall have my blessing. I will join you on your travels until you reach that city full of horrid steel and noxious air.

"I see. What if I told you that a dragon was a part of my gathering?" I probed, my hand protectively touching Sunshine's Pokeball.

The Keeper's tentacle flexed, revealing bulging veins until she lashed out and slammed it against the ground, kicking up dust and rocks.

I sense the wyrm's presence, she said, her face twisting in fury. Its foul odor clings to you like a malignant growth. They are creatures of decay, clinging to past glory. They seek to take, take, and only take, but they never pay. I am a generous host, however, so I shall allow its presence under one condition— that it behaves with utmost respect and refrains from causing any offense. Let harmony prevail as it did in that cave, and let us not let the wyrm taint our journey together.

"I will agree to this proposal," I nodded. If she wanted to see how I behaved, then I'd let her. Sunshine behaving was another issue, but—

I saw the Keeper's tentacle tense once more.

—if he couldn't, then I'd leave him in his ball.

The Pokemon relaxed, seemingly pleased with herself.

"What does everyone think?" I asked, turning toward my Pokemon.

Togetic wanted this more than anyone else, it seemed. She asked the fairy type if she could approach, and she nodded, letting her get close. Princess looked at her with such awe that she reminded me of when Sweetheart looked at Sunshine or Chase's Lucario. Angel agreed as well, although it was surprising to see that even he knew better than to touch the Keeper without her permission. Honey also agreed, although a lot more reluctantly. I knew that he was only doing so because I wanted to travel with the fairy, and he seemed to be nervous around her and couldn't help but glance at her appendage every few seconds. Buddy stayed silent, which basically meant no, but he didn't want to say it, lest he offend her.

Well, she'd probably figured it out already.

I cannot read the ghost's thoughts, but I know it disapproves. Allow me to stay regardless. I will be in its debt.

I nodded. "The exchange was quite equal, but I would say that I'm paying a slightly heavier price. One of my family members might basically be confined to his Pokeball, and most of them either fear or dislike you. If I can't have my Turtonator out, then I lose out on days of potential training and bonding. That could potentially have more effects down the line. For example, the lack of training could make me lose in my next gym battle. These might not matter to you, but to me, that's a heavy cost to bear. A bargain is in order, don't you think?"

Uh, what was I doing? My lips had just moved on their own.

The fairy type smirked, ignoring Togetic grabbing at her hair. No matter how hard she pulled at it, it stayed completely still. The Keeper's hair was tougher than it looked.

You are quite bold, but I enjoy that. Young fairies often yield to those with seniority, letting them enforce horribly one-sided pacts. With age comes power and presence. With those two, respect and subservience follow. It is a pity that your fellow sister has not taken to the old ways as you have. This generation might truly be lost.

Arceus, Pokemon complained about kids too? I felt like I'd heard an old man saying 'kids these days.'

"Daughter," I clarified after stopping myself from rolling my eyes. She could read thoughts, but I knew the effort to respect would be appreciated. "And she seems too fascinated by you to care, at the moment. I suppose her time spent with non-fairies has influenced her behavior some, but that's okay. She's perfect the way she is."

Togetic flew back toward me, trying to hide her embarrassment and I grabbed her in my arms.

Daughter, then, the Keeper smiled. What is it that you desire, halfing? Be careful. I will not take to offense kindly.

I lifted up three fingers. "Three things. Train my Togetic. Talk to me about your life and how you leading this route came to be. Allow my friends safe passage when they go through this route even if they come across you. I can tell you their names and show you what they look like on my phone."

The third point was the most important. I'd never found joy in attacking wild Pokemon to train, even if I'd done it a few times early in my career or when there were no other options, like in Mount Coronet. These days, I mostly scared them away and only attacked if I was struck first and the Pokemon was determined to fight us, but my friends were different. Pauline and Cecilia had no qualms about it, and Denzel was neutral on the whole thing. Meanwhile, Louis' Gible routinely killed wild Pokemon for sport even when it wasn't hungry, and Mira's Haunter was probably no better. I knew that wouldn't fly under the Keeper's gaze. She wouldn't seek them out, but if they were unlucky enough to meet her, they would not be treated kindly.

The fairy type's face twisted into a grin. My, my, sister, you keep impressing me. Very well, then. These demands would tilt the deal slightly in your favor, but I will allow it. Bargain struck, she said, tipping her hat.

I did not know exactly how demands were measured, but the words felt right to me. I responded with a smile of my own. "Bargain struck."

What is your name? It would be impolite to travel with you without knowing.

"Grace Pastel," I answered before introducing the rest of my team, "Do you have one?"

Learning my name would have a price not many could afford to pay. Not even your harrowing Champion knows.

"I'll refer to you as Hatterene or Keeper then."

Somehow, I'd just bargained with a fairy by the seat of my pants.

——

Hatterene, the Silent Pokemon. It can emit psychic power strong enough to cause headaches as a deterrent to the approach of others. If you are too loud around it or your emotions are too pronounced, you risk being torn apart by the claws on its tentacle. This Pokémon is also known as the Forest Witch.

Type: Psychic, Fairy.


I hummed as I closed my Pokedex.

I'd never even seen a Hatterene in my life, neither online nor in a battle, but according to my Pokedex, they were native to Galar and extremely rare in Sinnoh, so that made sense. The Keeper was completely silent as she walked, using the appendages at her feet to move in a scuttling motion. Sometimes she would drag herself with her tentacle if she needed to speed up or climb something, which ended up looking quite comical.

I would not call it comical. It is simply the most efficient way I have found to move, she said.

Having a Pokemon capable of reading all of my thoughts was something I'd need to get used to as well. It wasn't something mentioned in the Pokedex, and it felt like a complete violation of my privacy, but we'd come to an agreement and going back on it would be wrong unless both parties agreed. Electabuzz kept to my side, nervously eyeing the fairy while Jellicent stared at her with utter confusion. I supposed that he didn't exactly know what exactly she wanted from me, and he hated that. Togetic floated around Hatterene, asking her a million questions about her life— from small to grand concepts. The current topic was how she'd parted the clouds when she appeared before us. Everywhere Hatterene walked, the rain disappeared.

Oh, 'tis not I who halts the rain, dear baby sister, but a companion of old. He may reveal himself at a point in our journey if his heart so desires.

"Is he as powerful as you are?" I asked, jumping over a fallen branch. Hatterene had wanted to keep me off the route, but she swore that no one would attack while I was with her.

Promises were not made lightly.

There exist myriad facets to the essence of power. Alas, your comprehension remains incomplete, but such is unsurprising for a sister nurtured by humans. Your inherent potential lies untapped and is squandered by them. A year with me, and you would become a proper fairy. No longer would you be between worlds.

"I'm afraid I can't accept that," I said, reassuring Honey immediately. "I appreciate your kindness, though."

Togetic jumped at the opportunity, asking what facets of power Hatterene had been referring to. I had questions of my own, but I wasn't going to stop her. We had time.

There is of course violence. The crudest form of power. Simple yet effective in its raw force. But it bespeaks of a narrow mind, baby sister. Glamour is the one I am the most proficient in. It weaves its subtle threads, affecting reality as I deem fit. Its influence, though less overt, holds the potential for greater impact.

That piqued my interest. Glamour. I had heard Denzel say it a few times, so if I had to guess, it was similar to what Sylveon did when creating his armor. That also meant that the concept was relatively well-known, or at least documented.

Using it as a barrier? A pragmatic approach, but still crude.

"What do you use it for?" I asked.

Why do you think that the land here is constantly showered by rain? That it is always so quiet? This region is my fief, and I have altered it to my liking. It is soothing, is it not?

I inhaled sharply. This entire route was Hatterene's domain, just like Shiftry had done, but in a less-pronounced, more sustainable manner. That was why my hearing was so bad here, but the rain, thunder, and wind still sounded perfectly clear. Hatterene were known to hate loud places.

Right, that is what you humans call fiefdoms, she said. The rain softens the sound of my people's thoughts, making it easier for me to focus. I would have gone mad long ago without it.

"But if it's your domain— or fief— why can't you stop the rain?"

Glamour at this scale works slowly, especially if I want to alter what made my fief special in the first place. You made one mistake, however. A fairy's fiefdom does not work like others'. It is slower, but holds more potential. Of course, I know that I must not make this place impassable for humans, lest that horrible child comes after me and ruin everything I have built.

I frowned. "Horrible child? Who?"

That creature you humans call Cynthia. She is a horrifying beast beyond compare, but the wyrm at her side is ten times worse. I am well acquainted with the Togekiss, the only member of her gathering worth speaking to. We bargained for this deal decades ago shortly after her tenure began.

"Arceus…" I exhaled. Cynthia truly had roots everywhere, it seemed, but she was using them to keep trainers safe. The routes seemed like a much more complex affair than I previously thought.

Buddy whispered in my ear, telling me that this could end up being another Shiftry situation in the future if Hatterene ever went rogue. I felt the need to agree, but so long as the pact was fair and equal, then she would not break it. I did wonder what the intricacies of the deal were though. She had acted like she might have attacked trainers that didn't respect her or the Pokemon inhabiting this route when I asked her not to attack my friends, so she couldn't not be allowed to hurt people. The implications of Cynthia negotiating in what situations attacking a trainer was allowed made my head spin.

A deal is a private affair, sister. I will not reveal it no matter how much I like you. Unless you pay an appropriate price, of course.

I felt a shiver run down my spine, and I suddenly remembered one of the graves in the Lost Tower. Tricked by the whims of the fae. Who knew how much she could extract out of me if I wasn't careful? Especially now that I was learning what glamour even was. I didn't actually feel threatened, but it was like a constant feeling of alertness that forced me to stay sharp so I wouldn't not concede anything.

You are wise to be on guard, but fret not. There will be no tricks with me. I will use these few days to tutor you and Togetic both in the concepts of glamour and violence.

——

The first time Sunshine met Hatterene, I thought a fight would erupt immediately.

We had traveled a few more hours until we settled in a small clearing, and I used the opportunity to introduce Pupitar and Turtonator to her. The rock type seemed nervous, but happy to see another powerful being so soon. Sunshine's snout flared and the temperature rose until I had to recall him.

It wasn't like he'd been the only one at fault. Hatterene had provoked him first by calling him a decrepit creature. For all of her wisdom, it seemed that her irrational hate for dragons was irreparable. Changing a mind grew harder the older the person was, and even though I doubted that she was as old as Shiftry, the Keeper was old. She'd called Cynthia a child, after all.

Wyrms are such simple beings. A few words are all it takes to set them off, the Keeper said with a bloodthirsty grin.

"Don't you think you were rude?" I asked. "He hadn't even done anything yet."

I didn't appreciate the look in his eye. I would usually kill for such a heavy slight.

"You didn't even try to get along, and he did. I think that proves that you were more immature than he was. You just basically ignored all of the rules. Where was your hospitality?"

Such a human way of thinking, Hatterene said. There will be no hospitality for wyrms. It is a wonder that Togetic even tolerates him.

"She learned to appreciate and love him just like I did," I said. "We made a deal, didn't we? So long as he doesn't offend, you will tolerate him. Or are your words worth nothing?"

Hatterene's stare grew sinister, but I knew I had caught her. I ignored the pit of primal fear forming in my stomach and looked right into her eyes.

"Fairies don't lie."

They do not. My apologies for the offense.

Still, I'd need to wait at least an hour or two for Sunshine to cool down. If I released him right now, he'd attack her right away and get himself seriously injured. I still had a few Hyper Potions left, but I wanted to keep them in case Team Galactic attacked me.

You are hunted? Hatterene asked.

"By humans, yes," I said. "They're called Team Galactic— wait, you already read my thoughts. Anyway, I thought you'd know about them."

I don't bother with human squabbles. However, having something happen to an exceptional human such as yourself would be a tragedy. Let us hastily begin Togetic's training. Glamour appears complicated at its core, but manifesting things on a smaller scale is a simple affair…

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett T, Dom Noct, yesnomaybeso, Sean M, Cypha, Daniel, Ryan T, Kail H, Bridie, dragonslaver
 
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Chapter 176
CHAPTER 176

In front of us, a small leaf was being kept afloat by Hatterene's psychic powers. Princess kept squinting at it, groaning as the entire family— excluding Sunshine— silently encouraged her. We'd been loud at first, but both fairy types immediately glared at us. They needed us to be quiet so that Princess could concentrate.

You are doing it all wrong. There is belief, and there is belief, Hatterene scolded. You do not truly believe. Your emotions are too muted.

Togetic sighed, suddenly feeling like she wasn't having that much fun any longer. The goal of the exercise was not to destroy the leaf. Apparently, even that would have been too advanced for a beginner, which meant that Sylveon was just ridiculously talented at shaping the world around him.

There were limits to what they'd both be able to do without staying in one place for years like Shiftry and Hatterene—

Again with this Shiftry nonsense. Do not compare me to the Emptyfolk. I am glad that he is dead. He was a weakling that did so little when he had so much. A pity.

And of course, Hatterene was a psychic type as well, so she could multitask and complain to me whenever I did something she disliked. And she knew Shiftry too, somehow. They were technically neighbors, so that did make some sense. Getting back on track, the goal of the exercise was to make the leaf tremble without psychic powers or wind. Hatterene's companion, who had remained hidden, could apparently stop the wind as well, and he was completely quiet without it. At this level of silence, I could only hear my breath, the slight shifts of my skin against my clothes and the sound of my other Pokemon.

Princess let out a frustrated cry and suddenly crumpled the leaf with Psychic. She couldn't figure out how to do it, and I couldn't exactly blame her. Hatterene just kept saying that she didn't feel enough, but what the hell did that even mean? That wasn't how we usually trained! We used real concepts and—

It is real, the fairy type interrupted. The leaf suddenly uncrumpled and appeared as good as new, or perhaps in an even better condition than before.

Glamour is not a science, nor a concept that is easy to grasp. It is a belief that you are more. That you can cast aside the rules set by our creator and forge your own path.

Jellicent was suddenly more interested now, and he asked how long did it take for her to learn.

I am always learning, ghost, she answered. But this exercise should not be that complicated. Perhaps there is a mental block somewhere.

Mental block… oh! "Princess, remember when you struggled to use Wish when we were first using it?" I excitedly asked. "You had the same problem, where you just couldn't bring out real emotions unless the situation was real."

Her face lit up, and she nodded. We had a lead. She needed to feel threatened at least once, and then she would grow past her mental block.

An inability to properly tap into emotion? A crippling weakness, but the potential to grow once the lid finally bursts is massive. We can work on glamour at a later hour, since we are taking a detour. For now, show me how you execute fairy type moves.

——

How terribly weak. You call that a Dazzling Gleam? It would barely tickle that wyrm you seem to like so much.

"Well, that's because he's also a fire type…" I said, trying to defend Princess.

You think too rigidly. You humans and your types, she lamented.

Her voice was very emotive, which was usually unheard of with telepathy, but she was a fairy. I wondered if Mira's Kirlia sounded as expressive as she was.

Exploding energy outward is good, but you lack a decent amount to deal any real harm to any but the weakest of foes. Your control with Fairy Wind is excellent, but it is nigh time gathering it grows as easy as breathing to you. I suggest you imbibe the wind to elevate your Dazzling Gleam into something new. Uniqueness is power. Conforming is stagnation. Then, we can move on to more advanced concepts. Perhaps start dabbling in Moonblast.

"You're right that her being able to throw out super strong Fairy Winds while moving around would be a boon," I muttered. "But we've tried, and it requires too much concentration."

So? Will you let a mere bump in the road hinder your path? Belief is the key to all improvements, dear sisters. She shall overcome.

She had not offered any concrete strategy, yet somehow, I believed her.

——

It was late at night, and I'd just finished studying for the day. My Pokemon hadn't slacked off either, of course. Angel almost had Giga Drain down, and he, Buddy, Sweetheart, and Honey had trained against Sunshine. We'd lost again, which brought the score to 4-0 in his favor, but now that Pupitar was joining in the fights, we were getting closer. She was basically his perfect counter. Her cocoon was too resistant to heat for it to matter, and she could easily take most of his attacks, although we'd been surprised by Scorching Sands. Every time it seemed like we were coming anywhere close to beating him, he suddenly pulled a trick out of his sleeve and finished us off quickly. Sweetheart had already been out of air to propel herself, so I started to wonder if he hadn't baited her all those times she rammed into his shell.

Turtonator had been on his best behavior, despite sending angry looks to Hatterene sometimes. He knew the risks of getting into a fight with an opponent that powerful, especially when a fairy type that strong would probably destroy any kind of protection my team could place on me. I had no idea how I'd even go about fighting her, to be honest. Her weak point must have been her thin body within, but the hair covering it acted like impenetrable armor. She was slow, but I doubted that she'd let us get far away enough to run.

Electabuzz grunted, and my head turned to my left. He handed me a bowl of chicken and pasta.

"Thank you. You're sweet," I said, gently caressing his arm. "Don't forget to give some to the others."

Princess was still training hard with Hatterene, who was being followed by a few admiring wild Pokemon. The entire time we traveled together, she was a magnet for attention. A Wooper had come to ask her something, while a group of Ducklett flew overhead. A Simisage with huge, round eyes hung from the treetops and sometimes chimed in. I could not understand any of it, especially since Hatterene seemed to only speak through telepathy. In fact, I hadn't heard her let out a single sound the entire time we'd been together. She was completely silent, just like Angel.

I'd never seen her this tired, but she was still going, gathering up a Fairy Wind as she flew forward as fast as possible. Hatterene wasn't one for small incremental increases in training. She was all about big, meaningful gestures. Since Princess could keep a very small Fairy Wind going throughout the arena every battle, we decided to build up from there and she was slowly improving. Once she got good enough, then she'd be able to power up her Dazzling Gleam.

The point was, it felt like we were all working harder than we ever had.

Hatterene was having a conversation with Buddy. He seemed to really enjoy speaking to older Pokemon. He'd been the first to really get to know Sunshine, and now he was among the first to try to understand the Keeper too.

My exact age will remain hidden, but know this, dear ghost: we stand as peers, she said before turning toward me. You have a question.

I did have one. "Well, I figured now would be a good time to ask about you. How did you end up… leading this route? Do all the other routes have a system like this?"

No. My fief is unique in our coordination, although all routes have more history than a human would know. Much more, Hatterene explained. The reason I am here is simple. It is where I killed my trainer, so I made it my home.

Everyone tensed, but I did not panic. All of my time spent with Hatterene so far told me that she was a reasonable being, but maybe she'd been different when she was young. Or maybe it was something else. The fact that she had dropped that fact like it was nothing showed that even if I'd been influenced by the fae, I was nowhere near her mentality.

I was captured in my young age by a human who did not care for hospitality or the rules. He kept accruing debt by forcing me to do things I did not want and inflicted pain upon me with his stronger Pokemon when I dared to resist. I bid my time until an opportunity presented itself.

I audibly swallowed. That was basically a few steps from what Cecilia had done with Scyther, except I assumed that it went on for much longer.

Oh, it was lengthy, she confirmed. Of course, I eventually acted like I had joined his gathering and was a part of them. I could easily play the role of a willing companion to bide my time. I have to admit that I had plenty of enjoyable times with them, and I even grew to somewhat appreciate the human's good qualities when he apologized for his past transgressions after his youth had flown by and afforded him newfound maturity.

Her face twisted into a terrifying grin, and her tentacle flexed.

But know this, sister. A fairy always comes to collect. Eleven years after he'd caught me, I killed him. For his small attempt at reconciliation, I made it quick. I never lied to him. I even vowed that I would murder him a few days after he'd caught me, but he had forgotten. The fae do not forgive, nor do we forget, and our prices are paid long.

Her prices were paid long… was that where the concept of the long price had come from? The words had somehow wormed their way into my brain right before my battle with Harry, and I had been unable to stop myself from saying them. I couldn't imagine waiting eleven years to have my revenge on someone.

"Is there anything he could have done to repay you before you killed him?" I asked.

There comes a tipping point when there is no escaping debt. His came before he matured, unfortunately for him. Perhaps if he had released me or started treating me correctly and like an equal sooner, he would have lived.

"But he was just a kid when he did that stuff to you. You said so yourself!"

Should children be absolved of consequences? Do you think that someone of your age cannot tell right from wrong? Are two years of relatively peaceful times enough to offset nine years of hell, slowly building up my strength until I could rebel?

"I don't know the full extent of what he did to you, so I can't say, but from the way you described the situation, he was legitimately regretful. You could have told him and left."

But I did tell him. In fact, I explained it to him in excruciating detail, reciting each time he had wronged me as he begged for his life. I do not account for forgetfulness. That is a human way of thinking, sister. The ghost agrees, but is too shy to say. Even the wyrm believes that side of you holds you back.

I stared at Jellicent and sighed. We'd gone over the fact that we were allowed to disagree on things. I disliked the fact that Hatterene seemed to criticize me for thinking like a human when I was one.

In the flesh, perhaps, but your mind oscillates between the two. No human would theorize on how to systematically take me down when they knew that I can read their every thought. Violence is in your very nature. There is potential within you, and as I said, I could imbue you with enough energy to turn you fully, but I shall not. It is clearly a fate you would despise.

"I would despise it because it'd be against my will," I added. "I assume that you started building up your domain afterward?"

Well, I had to fight off my trainer's entire gathering first. I did not kill any, but I did force them to run. Isn't it pathetic that after eleven years together, none of them wanted to fight to the death for their dear trainer? He was a rotten man, and they all disliked him. None of them had the guts to take that final step. It took me months to heal properly, but when I did, I began to alter this place to my liking, and it slowly turned into what you see today.

"And your companion?" I asked, glancing at the sky.

He is the only one that did not run after the battle and did not offer them any aid, Hatterene specified with a sly grin.

So he'd belonged to her trainer too. Had he been mistreated and wanted to rebel as well? I fiddled nervously and began to eat, but the food had already gone cold. I didn't know of any flying type capable of living that long.

Any more inquiries? Otherwise, I will return to helping Togetic.

"One last question. Are you just a leader? What else do you do on the route?" I said, observing the wild Pokemon around her.

Solve disputes that have gotten out of hand and keep the area clear of outside threats, the Keeper said. I make an excellent mediator.

"So trainers?"

No. What you call route 215 belongs to you humans. Everything around it belongs to me. What do they call it again?

Simisage grunted, and then snickered.

Ah, yes. Off-route. Such a narrow-minded term.

Amidst a few laughs, Hatterene returned to support Princess, and I finished my meal. She had revealed something horrifying to me, and yet something told me it had been just.

——

I woke up the next day to Hatterene staring overhead with her body hunched over mine and Tangrowth. I'd slept on Angel's vines, and he seemed to be awake already, just caressing her soft but durable hair. The rest of my team slept in their Pokeballs because they were either tired or wouldn't get along with her or the wild Pokemon constantly following her. Jellicent was the notable exception, of course.

"Good morning?" I asked confusedly.

Good morrow. The ghost has brought your prowess for understanding Pokemon to my attention, and I have decided to inquire further.

I shot Buddy a look, and he anxiously nodded. They must have spoken all night while the rest of us were asleep.

"So? Inquire, then," I said after a yawn. I tiredly looked through my bag and grabbed at the first edible thing I saw, a pack of cookies. Since we'd be spending more time than planned with the Keeper, I had to save food that could be cooked.

He has told me that this is not just limited to your gathering, but that you can still quickly pick up what a stranger Pokemon means in a few days. Noble Simisage will be staying with us to prove this, but if it is true… I have never heard of such a gift. Only the hushed whispers of stories of old.

Stories? I was suddenly very interested in her knowledge. Even Cynthia hadn't known anything about it.

"What do you mean by stories?"

A smug smile stretched across Hatterene's face.

"Don't try to sell those to me. You want to know about my gift just like I do."

When a Pokemon you are not familiar with speaks, how does your mind interpret the words?

I hummed, pondering with a hand on my chin and pausing to consider how to answer. The truth of it was complicated, to say the least. For my Pokemon, I did understand their words individually, but with Pokemon I didn't know, it was different. I couldn't get their words, but it was as if I could feel what they were feeling to some extent, and the same applied to my family. It was how I'd been convinced that nothing would happen to us when we were sleeping under that overhang with all those wild Pokemon a few days ago or shortly after Hatterene had first approached us and I got the time to look at her properly and think. It wasn't perfect, but it was there, and all I had to do was stare at a Pokemon long enough and want to know what it felt.

And the nudging feeling I got every time, telling me that I'd be able to fully understand them after a few days? That was a part of it too. It hadn't always been this way. Back when it was just me and Princess in Jubilife, I hadn't been able to understand fully formed sentences. A few words and some of her body language, yes, but that was nothing to how I was now.

And I was getting better at it. Slowly but surely.

Your thoughts are enough to answer, Hatterene said. An empath as I am, then? But again, to prove this, Simisage will accompany us. The myths surrounding your gift will come after.

"I wouldn't lie about this! Can't you tell by reading my thoughts? And Fairies don't—"

But you are no full-fledged fairy, sister. There could be many more explanations for this. I have no doubt that you fully comprehend what your companions are saying and that you learned to do so in a short amount of time, but you would not be the first human to do so. A unique ability, but not a gift. What interests me is you learning to understand what strangers would say in a few days. I do not think you are lying, but it could be a delusion of the mind.

I clicked my tongue. "Fine. Just know that this offends me."

I know.

I finished eating my cookies, stewing on my frustration while Angel gently petted my head with a vine to soothe my anger. Buddy bowed his head in apology, but it wasn't his fault. I stared at Hatterene, who silently looked into the sky, no doubt talking to her companion that kept the rain away from us.

I squinted at her and focused. What was she feeling right now? Unlike with most Pokemon, her emotions were blurry. It didn't make sense, but it was the best way I had of describing it. There was a bit of happiness— or was it pride? Maybe it was because she'd found a person like me. I almost expected her to turn toward me, her usual calm face marred with anger as she asked me to stop analyzing her, but nothing of the sort came. It was as if she wasn't able to tell.

Even while being able to read thoughts.

After a few minutes, she turned back to to me and Simisage and asked us to interact. The green monkey hopped off his vine and jumped next to me, landing on the soft grass, still slightly wet from the rain that had practically drowned it before we settled here.

"We've met, but we haven't introduced ourselves properly. Hi."

Simisage spoke in a flurry of words that I didn't understand and then looked at the fairy type. She was staring at and analyzing me so strongly that I felt naked.

I couldn't understand what he said, but I felt like he'd told me about something he looked back upon fondly. A past experience, maybe? One thing was for sure, he felt good about what he'd said.

Why can I not delve into your mind? Hatterene asked, emotion slipping into her tone. You have no psychic types capable of shielding it, and I am experienced enough to dissolve any paltry protection one of your friends' gathering could come up with within a few minutes. With you, it is like an impenetrable barrier, layer, upon layer… I would have no idea how to even begin to tackle this. The sheer depth of it shatters my understanding…

"Wait, what?" I had never had anything put a shield on me!

And now it is gone, the fairy type said. And there are no traces of it even being there. How is this possible? I do not understand. Is it only active when… but still, how? I curse this lack of knowledge.

"Your psychic type is coming out," I sighed.

Silence! She telepathically yelled, but it came as a furious hiss.

The headache momentarily came back, and I hissed. Jellicent clamored at her to stop, and Tangrowth's vines shook in a panicked frenzy.

The headache left as fast as it came, and Hatterene anxiously tapped her feet appendages on the floor.

My apologies. I have neverIt is the first time I have lost my composure like this.

"That's okay. I kind of pushed your buttons," I said. "Just try to be less trigger-happy?"

I will. It appears there is a hint of truth to the stories after all. I shall tell you about them. Nightstalker? This might be of interest to you, so I assume you want to join us.

A Pokemon fell from the sky so quickly that the force from the impact nearly took my coat off, and it hooked its sharp talons into the soft dirt. It was a tall, avian Pokemon that was almost six feet in height. Its feathers were beige on its torso, stretching down to its legs, but brown everywhere else, and a hood made out of bright, green leaves hid its face. A few dead leaves decorated its body as well, but the most notable ones were laid in an 'X' shape at the center of its hood.

The Decidueye's red eyes stared at me from within its cowl, and the rain slowly began to patter all around us. Nothing about this route made any damn sense. I thought a water type would be stopping the rain, but it had been the opposite.

Meet Nightstalker. My only companion and the one who aided in my rebellion against my old trainer by simply standing by as I tore through six Pokemon on my own, but also the one who beat me to enforce my subservience. He helped me to pay off his debt and clear his conscience, Hatterene said with a mad grin stretching across her face.

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Chapter 177
CHAPTER 177

"N—nice to meet you," I stammered at Decidueye. Every time his eyes met mine, I felt a sudden chill. "I'm Grace Pastel."

Nightstalker has been listening to all of our conversations and observing as well, Hatterene explained. He usually keeps his distance, but I knew he would be intrigued by your ability just as I am.

The grass type silently nodded, carefully shifting his wings. He cawed at Hatterene, who smirked.

And I suppose he wants to replace Simisage for our little experiment as well, she said, turning to Simisage. You may go if you wish. Tell your children I said hello.

Simisage jumped, hanging on a branch before waving at us and leaving. At this point, Jellicent was too astonished to even speak or say anything. These last few days had done a number on him, and he probably just wanted to rest.

That would be a first.

"That's fine by me, he can stay."

He would have stayed even if you did not want to. Nightstalker is no fairyhis lack of hospitality can reach astounding levels, Hatterene laughed.

Her words were spoken through telepathy, but her laughter was vocal. It began as a mere whisper, a delicate trill that danced upon the air like the wind. But as it grew, it twisted and contorted, morphing into something deeply unsettling. It carried an otherworldly cadence, filled with an unsettling, twisted rattle. Her opened mouth revealed a row of wickedly sharp teeth that seemed far too long to fit into her mouth, but they somehow did.

What a rude assessment, she continued. But let us get started with the story, then. It was a legend spoken to me by my mother, her mother before her and so on and so forth. It is common knowledge among some wild Pokemon.

Decidueye offered a quiet hoot in agreement.

"Common? None of the Pokemon I caught in the wild know about it— not even Buddy, and he's lived a long time."

Nightstalker whispered a few words to Hatterene, who nodded in response.

Perhaps the stories are lost, then, she said with a hint of sadness. There once were three humans just like you, thousands of years ago when this land was still called Hisui and death lurked for your kind in every corner. When the world's existence was threatened, they all traveled to different domains, gathering a Claw, a Fang, and a Plume. It is said that Pokemon of untold power had laid there. The boy that received the Claw craved for deeper knowledge, the one that received the Fang had enough ambition to fill the world, and the one that received the Plume's heart was pure enough to befriend all living things. They were all chosen for a greater purpose, but what interests us here is the third boy. It is said that he grew more attuned to Pokemons' feelings and was able to understand them within minutes of encountering them for the first time.

"I can't do minutes," I said. "Days at best. And I was never given anything resembling a feather."

It might have been embellished, or you may get better at it in time. It matters not. That was the only part of the story that is of interest to you, but to summarize, the rest states that they went on to save the world from an unimaginable calamity. Afterward, humans flocked into the land, which is a fact that my mother always despised.

Hatterene paused, and I almost scoffed.

"Is that it? That was a lot less than I expected."

Do you recall feeling strange at any point when visiting an area and gaining this ability afterward? She asked after Decidueye spoke.

"No, it came to me gradually these last few months," I said. "It wasn't just instant. I don't even know where it'd be."

A shame.

Still, any information was good. Hatterene seemed knowledgeable, and I knew that she wasn't misleading me— not when she was so invested in this as well. I didn't know why I would get chosen by anything, and I also didn't know any Pokemon with those capabilities. It was the best explanation we had, but I was somewhat skeptical that it was real. And even if it was, this sounded like a typical 'chosen one' story. I didn't feel like I was that.

There was no way someone like me could be pure of heart.

There was also the mental barrier to worry about. The fact that my mind had been protected without me knowing was even more surprising, and for some reason, it was only when I focused on understand Pokemon. That didn't make much sense to me.

Perhaps… perhaps you draw on something to use your gift, and that is a part of it? It is faintalmost not here, but now that I observe properly, I feel a pull. Eat something, then we shall get back to training, Hatterene said. Nightstalker, stop the rain once again for our dear friends, if you will?

My lips suddenly dried as the grass type flew up with a jump until he was but a dot in the sky. The clouds parted around him, clearing the rain with terrifying speed before he landed back with a loud crash, sending chunks of mud flying my way and dirtying my clothes. Angel tried to protect me with vines but unfortunately failed.

"Eugh," I groaned.

Nightstalker is not one for subtlety. I apologize on his behalf.

Decidueye dusted off his hood and shrugged.

Well, it was time to train.



The hours passed us by quickly, and it was nighttime now.

I couldn't help but smile as Buddy easily struck a conversation with Nightstalker. I was forced to stay and listen, and even though only a few hours had passed, I was slowly starting to understand the grass type's words. It seemed that my estimation of a few days to fully comprehend what Pokemon said was correct. Jellicent loved to talk to Pokemon close to his age thanks to them easily relating to each other. Nightstalker was a lot stronger than he was, but he appreciated the company nonetheless. I had asked him to train some of my Pokemon, but he had refused immediately.

I just wanted to see him in action. Decidueye were known to be extremely quick and accurate archers with the ability to pin an opponent to their shadow. They'd be really interesting to battle, and I wanted to know if a flying Pokemon like Princess would be pinned to her shadow too. And would his power be more powerful at noon? Could he not use it at night too?

He rebuked me, saying that I was annoying and asked too many questions, courtesy of Buddy's translation. At least he seemed to not care about Sunshine at all. The fire type seemed to be in a bad mood these days, and it wasn't due to Hatterene. Being next to beings that powerful made him feel inadequate. At least he could share in his lamentation with Angel, who was beside himself at the fact that Sweetheart just stuck to Nightstalker's side like glue.

"She still loves you, you know," I smiled at them both. "She's just excited about her new shiny thing— err, not that you're a thing," I rectified as soon as I felt Decidueye's stare on my back. It was like a tingle below my shoulders. "Sorry Nightstalker."

He accepted my apology and returned to his conversation with Jellicent. obviously, I could only catch half of what was said, but they were engrossed in how the hell had he cleared the rain so quickly. To me, it'd just been him beating his wings strongly enough to part the clouds, but it was apparently different. The grass type didn't want to give up his secrets, though, which was no doubt learned behavior from Hatterene.

A bright light flashed, and I shielded my eyes and felt the force of Dazzling Gleam brush against my skin even from afar. Princess' attack had powered up so much in just two days that it was as if I had been teaching her completely wrong. Not only that, but the attack would also knock enemies away from her using a burst of wind now. My eyes blinked rapidly, trying to chase out the blotches of blindness still lingering after the flash.

Progress on glamour was slow, but it was steady. She was barely capable of moving a leaf on her own now, but anything else was a faraway goal as long as she wasn't put in a real, emotional situation. Still, now that Dazzling Gleam had been perfected so quickly, Hatterene decided that it was time to move on to a new move.

Moves are too rigid, but they are a good base to build up from. If we had a few months, I would be able to teach you a lot more, but alas, your mother is too obsessed with her badges, Hatterene said before turning to address me. Pieces of metal with no inherent value, just like your money made out of paper. Humans are a strange folk.

"If everyone agrees that something has value, then it does," I explained. "It's not that hard to understand."

Wishful nonsense, she dismissed. Let us get started on Moonblast, sister.

Togetic eyed her teacher and excitedly bobbed up and down.

Control yourself. It is unsightly for a fairy to let her emotions show so strongly. Moonblast is a crude technique, but it is among the most widespread. Do not be mistaken, however. It is complicated to weave. You do not simply have to pack energy tightly into a sphere like the Duskfolk for with their Shadow Ball.

The Duskfolk? Mathilda and Ruth had said something about returning to the Dusk when they died.

"Have you ever seen her that focused?" I whispered smugly to Electabuzz. The electric type chuckled but kept silently watching.

The Duskfolk draw from the Dusk for their energy, but that place leaks into our world like a sieve. Unlike ours, it is a clumsy and savage power not borne from this plane. They do not even have to struggle to use it. Our power is scattered among this Earth, but to gather the amount needed for stronger techniques, we draw from the Moon.

I blinked. I knew the move was called Moonblast, but that certainly hadn't been what I expected. Princess had often looked at the moon with wonder, but I just thought that was her being a kid. Hell, when I was a kid and dad drove me around in his car at night I would cry because I thought the moon was following us.

Moonblast is at its strongest during a full moon, but that is not a prerequisite, and it can devastate your enemies during the day as well. The key is to know how to draw that energy. Look at the sky, baby sister.

Togetic craned her neck upward and I mimicked her, but it was not a full moon. I could only see a crescent in the sky that softly illuminated the forest floor. Once she was done, we all stared quietly at both of the fairies with bated breath and awaited for what came next. Nightstalker seemed to be amused, however.

Allow me to demonstrate. I will slow myself down to allow you to see.

Thin, almost transparent threads slowly floated and intertwined. They were so long that I couldn't see where they even began, but they looked to go all the way to the moon itself, stretching far into the sky until they disappeared from view. The threads suddenly shone as Hatterene slowly tied them into intricate knots, each seemingly impossible to mimic. The more I looked, the deeper the structure went, as if I was staring at… there were just no words for it. None of it made any sense. I just couldn't comprehend what I was looking at.

I snapped out of my daze when the entire thing seemingly snapped into place, and then it finally made sense. It was a miniature moon— a perfect recreation with every single crater and dark grey blotch etched into the surface. Faded pink dust and chunks of earth forcefully pulled from the ground orbited around the small moon. Even trees were swerving toward the attack, but the area was still completely silent. If Angel hadn't been wrapping vines around Honey or me, we would have been pulled in toward the attack. Princess herself was being held in place by her teacher's psychic powers.

Hark sisters, Hatterene said. The true form of a perfected Moonblast.

The attack flew forward, and Hatterene summoned a thin psychic barrier all around us, dwarfing what Togetic was capable of without a sweat. The moon trembled and shook as it gathered more and more leaves, dirt and bark around it.

And then it crashed into a large tree, finally exploding with a deafening boom as sound returned to us. I couldn't even see what was going on— it was— it was too bright. I covered my eyes and closed them, but I could still see the light through my eyelids until it was over.

Everything in front of me was destroyed. There was nothing left but a giant crater that was as large as one of the arenas in the Solaceon tournament and a hazy, pink dust that menacingly lingered outside of our protective bubble. And she hadn't even been trying that hard.

"Arceus," I inhaled. My palms were clammy. I'd always know that she'd been strong but seeing it was an entirely different thing. I had negotiated with that.

She had called the technique crude. And it hadn't even been a full moon!

Did you catch it? Hatterene asked Togetic. It is not just pulling the energy, but willing it under your control with belief. You will have to grow better at it if you want to grow past these horrible bindings that humans call moves. Try it.

Needless to say, her first attempt was a terrible failure. And so were her second, and third, and—



You are disappointed? Hatterene asked as I softly pet Togetic's hair. She was sleeping like a log, exhausted from all the training. You cannot learn in a day what took me years to perfect. Even if she succeeds in creating a Moonblast, it will not be nearly as powerful or clear as mine.

I smiled gently and muttered. "Disappointed at her trying her absolute best? Of course not," I said. "Plus, she's learned a whole lot already, and we aren't even done. The disappointment you sense from me is genuine, but it is for a different reason. It's about the story. It raises more questions than answers… and I want answers."

To my right, Electabuzz leaned against a tree and watched the current scene with a sly grin. After pestering him for hours, Sunshine had managed to get Nightstalker to agree to a duel. Sweetheart and Angel cheered for the dragon as best they could, with the rock type screaming her lungs out and Tangrowth excitedly waving a dozen vines around.

He wasn't holding back for this one, and the fight was fully contained within one of Hatterene's barriers. Scorching heat constantly warped the air around the fight, and just looking at it made me sweat. Sunshine roared as a Flamethrower flew out of his snout, and Decidueye easily ran up the barrier, somehow digging his talons into the psychic surface. In one smooth motion, he drew an arrow from his wings made out of a sharpened feather, which was quickly submerged by shadows.

Four arrows buried themselves inside of Sunshine's shadow that had been created by his own flames, and the dragon type reeled as if he'd been hit. Nightstalker was clearly holding back here, but he was still having a decent amount of fun. He spun around a Dragon Pulse and took flight, somehow being engulfed in a sea of ghostly energy and phasing out of reality right before another stream of flames reached him.

Stories are often lacking in substance, but they are still important. The longer a story is told, the more power it holds. And if anything, it gives you a lead.

"Power? How does a story have power? Do you mean its value?"

Yes. They are bargained for at heavy prices, among other things. But let us move on to more related, but important matters. Let me introduce you to the concept of presence

"Wait, how do you do that? Like, that word, it felt like it had weight to it."

That is a matter for a different time, baby sister, Hatterene smiled, gently rubbing my hair with her claws. It was the first time she'd even touched me. Presence is not exclusive to fairies, but the knowledge is heavily kept within our circles.

She paused, and I understood immediately. "I won't tell a soul."

When a powerful Pokemon stays rooted somewhere for a long period of time, it will slowly accumulate power and the terrain will change to their liking. That is what you call a domain and what I call a fief, but the concept as a whole is called presence. The more powerful a Pokemon is and the longer it alters an area, the more presence it has. Its existence is etched into reality and becomes a fact.

"Wait, what? Isn't that just a complicated way of saying that the longer they stay, the more powerful they get?"

No. It is a way of explaining why that is the case. They do not grow in power because of battles, but because their very presence becomes a law of the world. I am such a case. I have altered this region to my liking and the longer I stay, the more powerful I will become. Can you take a gander at what the end of it is like?

The end… so her final state? Maybe Mount Coronet—

Hatterene's tentacle tensed. You dream far too big. The forces at play in that blasted peak do not follow the rules and are horrors beyond even my comprehension.

It took at least twenty seconds for me to digest those words, but that certainly lined up with my experience when I had fallen deep inside of the mountain. And we had been relatively close to the exit. It got worse the closer to the peak.

"Uh, what about Eterna Forest?" I nervously asked.

Yes, she proudly said. At the center of Eterna Forest sleeps a being more powerful than I. For all I call that blasted Champion Cynthia horrid, she would beat me quite handily, but I am sure she would have a harder time against the creature that lurks in the forest. It is far older than even Shiftry was, and its roots go back to before Hisui. Luckily for you humans, it seems satisfied to sleep at the center of the forest it has built. I am but a fledgling child gesturing in the dark trying to find a familiar place to anchor myself compared to the scale of the world.

I suddenly felt very nervous. I had walked through there and lived. Thousands of people did so every year. "What Pokemon is it?"

Don't get greedy now. Think of another example.

"The Iron Island seemingly never run out of ore," I muttered, thinking of Chase. "What about them?"

Correct. Another good guess, but you think too rigidly. The fog to the northwest of here, the permanent snowstorm to the far north that ebbs and flows, but never stops. The burning summer heat around Stark Mountain even though it lies at Snowpoint's latitude and should be a frozen wasteland. These Pokemon are the strongest below the Legends of old, having rooted themselves in history and their presence reinforced by the world thinking that they belong there. Reaching their status is my goal.

"And there are more than this?" I asked, thankful that none of them had attacked a city before.

Oh, far more, some big like the ones I described, but most are smaller like I, or even smaller than that. It pains me to admit my irrelevance, but I am no wyrm. My pride can take a hit, Hatterene smirked. Do you see what I meant when I said that stories hold power? The more these tales are told, the more their presence is reinforced.

I nodded silently. All of these unexplainable effects on different routes actually had an explanation. If I had to guess, there was no way that these Pokemon would let themselves be seen by any scientists looking to figure out why there was so much fog on route 210, for example. And it was the same… in every region. Old Pokemon amassing power and altering the world around them, changing entire ecosystems. Thinking about it now, it was obvious, but I had never thought it was possible at such a scale. Routes were so much larger than cities. Shiftry's outburst was insignificant compared to this.

They remain hidden, disinterested in human affairs as I am. It is simply not worth it. They are powerfulincredibly so, but they are not invincible. Many have fallen in the past, and many will fall in the coming centuries or millennia, either to a challenger within their domain or trainers powerful enough that seek them out. And when they do, another will take their place, drastically changing the area in a few years.

Which on an ecological scale was basically the blink of an eye. This was such a fascinating topic— what would a normal type doing this look like? What about a flying or psychic type? I had so many questions, but no answers.

And I do not have the answer either. I know a lot, but nothing beyond what my mother told me in my young age. The old ways are dying out, slowly but surely. Cities grow larger and humans encroach on us, the air is slowly choked by machinery but what can we do but wait? Perhaps one day, a Champion will push back on constant expansion and protect our homes.

I chewed on her words for a few minutes and stroked Togetic's head while Hatterene stroked mine. She'd grown attached to me in just a few days, but I'd lie if I said I didn't feel the same.

"I'm surprised more of you haven't lashed out," I said.

Lash out and get the noose around our necks tightened further? She said. For all I talk about violence, you humans have a monopoly on it. Pokemon follow your every order, each for different reasons. Some see it as a shortcut for power. I cannot deny that a Pokemon will grow faster with a trainer by their side, and not all of them share Nightstalker and I's long lifespan and can afford to take a slow approach, although lifespan is a tricky affair that can be extended if you accrue enough presence. If we struck back, we would be destroyed. We all know it.

"Well I'd like to say that I'll become the Champion and help you, but I know it's more complicated than that. I'd have to convince gym leaders, mayors and the people living in the cities. I'd have to fight corporations that thrive on city expansion… it's just… hard. For all people say that Pokemon are hard to understand, human society's a thousand times harder. Plus, I don't think I'll win the Conference this year, let alone beat Cynthia in five… but I sympathize."

And that is appreciated. Making a promise you are not certain you can fulfill would not be wise.

I sighed. That had given me a lot to think about, but I had one more question.

"Say… is there some way I could use glamour?"

Use it? No. Humans and Pokemon are fundamentally different. You can not pull on the forces we do, Hatterene answered. But thanks to your halfling state, you will be able to understand and see it with enough training. If you can see and understand it, you can potentially train your daughter without my guidance. Unfortunately there is not enough time. We will reach Veilstone in two more days, and the learning process would take months. It would be shorter if you were a full-fledged fairy.

I exhaled and placed my head against her hair-robe.

Don't make that face. You are always welcome, she said. I will seek you out if you come back.

"How about this summer? After the Conference?" I asked. "I could come back before too if I have time after the eighth gym. When Princess evolves, she'll be able to fly me."

I said always, did I not? If it was up to me, you would have joined my gathering. The wyrm would have to go, however.

I chuckled. Sunshine was already on the ground, his chest going up and down as he wheezed heavily. Decidueye had taken him down with a few feathers burned, but other than that he hadn't broken a sweat.

"You love him, don't you?" I asked. "I think I can tell. He's the only one you look at so fondly."

An accurate observation.

I did not bother to ask if it was romantic, familial or platonic, but love was love. I did not need to know. They had a lot of history together. I wondered how he'd gone from attacking her to force her to help his trainer to joining and rebelling along with her.

It is nigh time I properly introduce myself, Hatterene suddenly said, her eyes unmoving. My name is Bellatrix, the Keeper of the Sacred Woods.

I felt pride bubble in my chest. "It is nice to meet you… sister."

To you, Grace Pastel, I bestow the title of Friend of the Forest. It is a title that holds weight and may it carry you far. You are now my disciple. Human, halfling, gifted or whatnot, it does not matter. I declare you an honorary member of the fae.

I stood up, Togetic still sleeping in my arms, and bowed my head in respect. All of my Pokemon were watching now. Even Sunshine.

"Thank you, Bellatrix."

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett T, Dom Noct, yesnomaybeso, Sean M, Cypha, Daniel, Ryan T, Kail H, Bridie, dragonslaver
 
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Chapter 178
CHAPTER 178

"Bella, what do you think about altering the path of electric type attacks using physics? Or fizzling out the attack entirely? I'm stumped, and my textbook won't help. I have to prepare to face Volkner after Maylene."

Simply will it away, she answered. And I do not recall giving you permission to call me Bella.

"We can't just will things away," I rolled my eyes. "And for the nickname, I thought it'd be nice, but I'll give up if you don't want me to call you that."

Sunshine snorted, and I totally didn't understand why. I let out a short chuckle, playfully tapping his scales so he wouldn't give me away. The old dragon was too tired to be angry at fairies. He hadn't worked this hard in months, and even he was learning things from his few duels against Nightstalker and his mock battles against the family. The prospect of him growing stronger than before was terrifying, but also very exciting. The rest of the team were in their Pokeballs to rest up, excluding Princess, of course.

She was growing more and more every day.

Yes, you do understand. This trick that you've learned is irritating, I shall return to helping your daughter.

"You're teaching it to me, it's not my fault."

Don't use it against me. It is rude to resist your teacher, Hatterene said as she shuffled away.

Well, if she hadn't wanted me to stop her from reading my thoughts, she shouldn't have taught me to manipulate how I felt on a whim. Bella— Bellatrix used emotion to read thoughts, so I could essentially counter her by altering them. It was nowhere near perfect, and they were only minute adjustments, such as what I'd just done: hiding my disappointment that Sunshine had nearly given me away. Manipulating my emotions made me feel like a sociopath sometimes, but Bellatrix would scold me every time I was limited by 'artificial human barriers'. It had been this whole process of labeling each state I usually felt and putting them into boxes, practicing relaxation techniques until my mind was clear, and reframing those into what I wanted. Supposedly, my half-state had sped up the process.

There were limitations, of course. There were always limitations. This was no barrier, and would only work with benevolent empaths. If she'd wanted to, she could have ransacked my brain. Still, having a better understanding of emotion would go hand in hand with training Princess and my… gift. I still hated calling it that. Bellatrix had attempted to make me keep the mental barrier standing for as long as I could, but no matter how hard I tried, it only appeared when I focused on understanding. And focus was needed. It did not appear when I effortlessly translated my Pokemon's words.

Pretty shitty, for a barrier, but if what Hatterene had said was true and I was drawing power from somewhere to get started on the translating process, then it made sense. If I understood a Pokemon, I wouldn't need the power any longer.

I could understand Nightstalker perfectly now, although there were sometimes when he spoke so fast that I got tripped up. My ability had been proven in Hatterene's eyes, and she desperately wanted to study me further. It was strange, how emotions slowly morphed into understanding over time.

Bellatrix was a great teacher both to me and Princess, even though her words were harsh sometimes. Two days to reach Veilstone had turned into almost a week due to us meandering around the woods. I had grown used to telepathy now, and the headache from her speaking to me was completely gone. We had stuck around so long that I was pretty sure that all of my friends excluding Denzel, Cece and Pauline were already in Veilstone. I had almost run out of food, however, so today was our last day together.

"Meanie," I said to Turtonator. "You owe me for that."

The fire type pushed me away from his warmth, saying that he didn't play by the rules of the fae. I paused as a slight anxiety took hold. It was so easy to get lost in Bellatrix's ways, but I'd have to go back to society soon. Adapting would be tough. There'd be no more bargaining for everything and anything, no more gentle nights watching Buddy talk Nightstalker's ear off, no more Bellatrix sternly telling Angel off while he rubbed her hair with a thinly veiled smile and happiness radiating off of her.

Nightstalker placed a wing on my shoulder and hooted. It had a slight echo to it, but otherwise he sounded completely ordinary. Nothing compared to Bellatrix's horrifyingly charming vocalization.

"I'm not sad, just… melancholic, I guess," I answered. "It was fun being with you guys."

The grass type silently laughed and observed Hatterene telepathically yell at Princess as she formed a miniature Moonblast. It was nothing compared to hers— a bright pink ball of fairy type energy that sometimes revealed the dull grey that dwelled within. Bellatrix called it impure and imperfect, and it could only go a few feet before unraveling completely, but it was still a force to be reckoned with in battle. I never thought I'd see her wield this kind of power before she evolved.

And we had used it to beat Sunshine yesterday for the first time, after all. He'd been an especially good sport about the loss. Oh, he had still sulked in a corner like a baby and it took hours for him to even let me heal him with my few remaining potions, but deep down, he enjoyed the challenge.

"Say, can I ask you something? Let me know if it offends," I said.

Nightstalker nodded, not even looking at me. He was a pretty chill guy, but it was good to be polite.

"How did you end up standing by while Bellatrix had her revenge?"

He did not tense, nor did he even seem to care about me asking such a sensitive question. Nightstalker calmly explained that he'd been his trainer's first Pokemon and known him for even longer than Bellatrix did. In fact, he still carried the name given to him by his trainer, while Hatterene chose her own name. It had been a point of contention between them in the past, but she'd made her peace with it.

Nohea— their old trainer's name— had not been a good person. He was brutal with all of his Pokemon and kept them under control by pitting their rivalries against each other. Just like someone might feel compelled to stay with their abuser even though they could just leave due to manipulation, they did not dare to fight back. There was a fear that had been instilled within them from young, and they believed that going against him would be impossible. That was until Bellatrix came into the picture.

"There were no laws to protect Pokemon from abuse back then," I guessed. "I mean, not that the laws are very clear and enforceable now. I don't even think what he did would have been punished that harshly today. It's wrong."

The grass type nodded, but kept going. Bellatrix planned in secret at first, but slowly, she involved all of his eight Pokemon into her schemes, including him. When the day of the rebellion came, they all…

"Betray's the wrong word," I interrupted him. "They were scared and couldn't take the plunge. Even you were. Bellatrix told me that Nohea had started to genuinely change for the better in his last two years and apologized for treating them terribly. Things were changing for the better, and they probably wanted to give him a chance. I guess that's why you stood still and watched?"

Nightstalker hooted again, which was more of a sigh. He had called me very perceptive.

"Thank you for telling me. I'll cherish these words," I said, bowing my head slightly. "And thank you for helping Sunshine out for a week. He's burned you quite a bit."

Turtonator growled, saying that he would have managed to get a hit in if he had a few more tries. Well, I'd let him believe that, and so would Nightstalker. The grass type had no pride to speak of and routinely let Bellatrix walk all over him. Honestly, I couldn't exactly blame him. It was hard to fight back verbally when she had her sights on you. She won every single debate she participated in, although Sweetheart did give her a hard time once by just screaming all over her words when she had called Turtonator weak. That had been a fun night.

Decidueye sat next to Turtonator and me as he began to preen the feathers within his wings. They served as his arrows, so he constantly needed them to be in good condition for any battles. They were both stronger than anything on this route and everything around it, but Hatterene had said that the threats came from outside, which meant other areas. Although they did so a lot less than humans, Pokemon often fought for territory and resources, from small-scale battles to large communities like this one. Hatterene kept everyone safe, however, and she wasn't worried about whatever lurked on route 210 and generated all that fog. I'd be terrified if I were her.

Nightstalker cawed, seeing through my worry. He was no empath, but he was still good at reading people thanks to Hatterene teaching him the ropes. He had never seen her this happy since she'd killed their old trainer. After a week with these two, the brutality of those words just went in one ear and out the next. They didn't affect me whatsoever.

Sunshine mockingly jeered, but I playfully slapped his scales, accidentally hurting my palm in the process. My pain sent him into a laughing fit.

"Stop it!" I yelled. "No one saw that! You better not tell anyone. I'm cashing in what you owe me now!"

He immediately refused. Ah, well, that's what I got for getting cocky. I turned back to Decidueye and apologized for getting sidetracked.

"I'm glad that she's happy," I said, leaning against my knees. "What about you?"

For the first time, his eyes dimmed beneath his hood. They functioned somewhat like Jellicent's but with their own quirk. The golden iris around his red pupils was very emotive too, dimming or flaring up depending on what he felt. Sometimes, the pupils grew larger or narrowed— softened or sharpened as well. They were always soft when he looked at Hatterene. Buddy's eyes weren't as complex, but his vocalization was more so.

The grass type nodded as Princess' third Moonblast this time didn't fizzle out and actually reached one of the targets she had raised with Ancient Power. She'd made them look like Sunshine, much to her teacher's amusement and the fire type's anger. He'd been so well-behaved this past week that he deserved a reward when we got to Veilstone. I didn't know what he wanted, but I'd ask him soon. It was probably hard for a dragon to be bullied by two fairies and keep his head down.

"Good," I smiled. "I didn't want you to feel obligated to stick around. She'd hate you for that, and you're good at hiding your emotions from us. She complained about that to me when I started doing the same. I'm nowhere as good as you, though."

Decidueye thanked me for my worries, but this was where he belonged. He couldn't imagine being anywhere else.

"Of course. Hey, are we pals now?" I suddenly asked. He nearly ripped out one of his feathers right then and there. "I want to be your friend. If I'm Friend of the Forest—"

I coughed, choking on the powerful words. It was like all the air had been sucked out of my lungs. The title might have been bestowed onto me, but I could still not say it. Turtonator offered me a bit of support with his tail, and I thanked him for his help.

"If I'm that, and you live here, then I'm your friend, right?" I asked, tilting my head.

Decidueye resigned to his fate, and I patted him on the back.

"See? Not that hard," I grinned. "So, Night. What do you enjoy doing in your free time when you're not hanging out with kids like us?"

Sunshine angrily flared up at being called a child, but I ignored his outburst. I knew he hated when Buddy called him that too, so I had maybe teased him on purpose. I was happy that we'd gotten close enough to have this tongue-in-cheek thing going on.

"So?"

Nightstalker sighed and began to tell me about how he routinely traveled to Veilstone under the cover of Phantom Force to steal some books to read, and that somehow led Sunshine to talk about how Kamaile taught him how to read too, once.

I listened attentively, hanging to his every word.

I would ask him about his old team soon.



"Well," I sighed. "We're there."

Route 215 stood in front of us, and the gate into Veilstone was extremely close if Bellatrix's constant complaints about the toxic air were anything to go by. She usually never went this close to the city because of how industrial it was. Fairies that had spent centuries in the wild like her were not well-adapted to cities. Princess, meanwhile, usually liked to be in them. This time, however, she was terribly sad. Her head hung low and she held back tears as we stood in silence.

"Maybe I could stay another day," I said, turning toward Bellatrix and Nightstalker. "There's so much to learn still. I'll just go next to the gate so I can send a text to my friends and tell them I'm safe and check on how close my girlfriend's group is to making it. I can—"

Now, now, Hatterene gently said. You shouldn't allow your sadness to leak out that much.

I sniffled and clenched a fist. Tangrowth placed a vine of comfort around my wrist while Honey wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

"Bellatrix… Night…" I whimpered. "I'll miss you."

Decidueye hooted, saying that I would not leave forever.

"Yeah. Yeah, I know," I said with a quivering breath. "But it still hurts."

I'd only known them for slightly more than a week, and yet I felt like I was saying goodbye to family. The tall owl looked at Hatterene as his irises stretched, their yellow glow dimming slightly. He whispered something to her, but I didn't manage to catch the words.

I will accompany you to the gate, Bellatrix said. It is only the right thing for a host to do.

"But shouldn't— didn't you want to stay hidden?" I asked. "Don't—"

Nonsense. I will do as I please, she smiled. Let us be on our way.

"Wait— Bellatrix—"

Bella will do, the psychic type said, pushing me along with her tentacle. Just this once.

We broke through the thick tree line and took our first steps onto the route. This close to Veilstone, it only took two minutes to meet our first trainer. She froze up, trembling like a leaf at the sight of the two Pokemon by my side. Her Breloom and Whirlepede protectively moved in front of her. I would have thought that they might have passed as my Pokemon and not wild ones, but it seemed that just the sight of them was enough to terrify anyone we met.

What I had not anticipated was more wild Pokemon coming to follow us. Hordes of them, simply walking along with me. I recognized Simisage, although he had two Pansage holding onto his massive head while he swung from tree to tree. The five Psyduck that had been with me at the cave, along with the Ponyta whose leg had been bruised, and more that I didn't recognize. Trainers ran away or watched in awe at the display of unity. Something of this scale had never happened before. I chuckled as a Cottonee floated in front of me, causing me to sneeze. A Starly landed on my head and nested there, pecking and pulling at my hair. Not even Sunshine dared flare up at the invasion of his personal space, and he was very careful not to step on the smaller Pokemon. Angel was over the moon, grabbing children and carrying them on top of him. There was even a Tangela on there, and the grass type was happily gurgling and intertwining his vines with Angel's. He'd always wanted to be a caretaker.

Sweetheart crawled on the ground, but a fierce Grotle had taken a liking to her and was walking by her side as she told him about the many battles she had been in. Five Phantump surrounded Buddy and orbited around his head, and he sighed at the attention. Still, I couldn't help but notice a hint of amusement in his eyes. Honey shied away from all of the stares, but he was too big to hide away behind me. And it wasn't like that would help anyway, seeing as we were surrounded from all sides, but he slowly got out of his shell and began to answer questions flying his way. Princess still hung by Hatterene, determined to exhaust every minute left that she had with her teacher for any last bits of insight.

"How is this even happening?" I asked, turning to Bellatrix. Her face was marred by a permanent wince. "Are you okay?"

It is loud, but I will live, she smiled. You are Friend of the Forest, are you not? They have simply come to bid a friend farewell.

I laughed as a Teddiursa pulled on my jeans and her mother, a towering Ursaring dipped her head in respect. When we reached the gate, an army of Pokemon Rangers was standing guard with their Pokemon out. A crowd of people— mostly trainers— behind them were pushing against a psychic barrier that looked ridiculously weak compared to Bella's. Imperfections, shallowness, unstable, it was everything you didn't want a barrier to be. We stopped in our tracks and observed them. There were at least fifty of them, but they weren't going to attack. You couldn't be trigger-happy if you were a ranger. All they wanted to know was—

"You! You, in the middle of the crowd! Can you explain what's going on?!" One of them asked. He stood in the center, so I assumed that he was the leader.

What will you do? Hatterene smirked.

I'd tell the truth, Bella. It was as simple as that.

She laughed, showing her impossibly long teeth and the Rangers all tensed. One of their Pokemon— A Luxray— began to charge up electricity, but its trainer stopped it.

Or him. I had a feeling he was a male.

"What is the problem?!" I asked loudly. As soon as I began to speak, all of the Pokemon behind me stopped their chatter.

"Are you serious? There are hundreds of Pokemon behind you threatening Veilstone. They seem to be under your control, so I will ask again. Explain what is going on," the leading Ranger said.

"Under my control?" I said. "None of them are under my control. They're here out of their own volition to send me off. And why shouldn't they be allowed to do so?"

"The city is right there—"

"But we're still on route 215, are we not?" I said, my voice holding firm. "This is their land. They are allowed to be there."

"But you have to admit that—"

"I will do no such thing. We were just walking. No one was attacked. Once I'm gone, they'll go back to living their lives. I think that you overreacted."

The leading Ranger scratched his head. "Well, we'll stay here until they leave, just to be sure."

"I'd like for you to make your Pokemon stand down first," I declared. I crouched and petted the scared Teddiursa's head. "It's the polite thing to do."

Good. You are asking for an apology after an offense, Bella said.

I was, but I had to be discrete about it. They probably would have looked at me funny if I spoke like her.

None of the Rangers recalled their Pokemon, but they did make them not stare with the intent to harm.

"Thank you," I said.

Now it was time to leave. I turned to Nightstalker.

"Goodbye, Night. I'll buy you books for when I get back," I said, wrapping him into a hug. "Stealing is bad, even if you do it to humans, okay?"

The grass type reluctantly hooted in affirmation but didn't refuse my hug. His feathers were sharp, as if I was touching a thorny bush.

"You wanted artsy stuff, right? I'll see what I can find," I added. "Maybe I can bring some paint too. It'll be tough to fit in my bag, but I'll make it work. We can go to your tree and paint a bunch of stuff together."

Nightstalker smiled for the first time, saying that he'd like that and that Angel was welcome to help. Tangrowth was too happy to even hear his words, but I was sure he'd love to paint stuff with all of his vines. He said his goodbyes to each member of my family, but his stare lingered on Sunshine. It was a respectful one, but also a challenge. Something that would drive the fire type to grow stronger and challenge him again when he came back.

"Bella."

Sister.

"May I?" I asked, extending my arms.

The fairy type let out an otherworldly groan. If you must.

I smirked, wrapping my hands around her soft hair as she rubbed mine with her tentacle. It was only now that I realized how light she was. I felt like I'd be able to lift her with a single hand.

To be honest, I had never seen her eat.

You have learned well, she said. I am proud of you.

I felt pride well up in my chest. "I had a good teacher."

Stay safe, and do not let these humans walk all over you and offend you without payment. And if you are in need of refuge, our doors are always open. Your title will carry you beyond this route. Pokemon in forests will see you as a friend and an ally, but you will still have to watch out outside of them. If these Rangers try to keep you, I will

"Now who's allowing their sadness to leak out?" I said. "I'll be okay."

Her face twisted in sadness, but Nightstalker was there for her. She turned to my team, offering words of her own.

WyrmTurtonator, she began. Our time together was cold and bore no affection, but I have learned to live and let live. You are not as bad as I previously believed, and I can tell that you made efforts to be cordial. I apologize for the way you were treated at the beginning of our time together.

Sunshine nodded tightly, simply opting to stay silent. That was as good as his accepting her apology was going to get.

Electabuzz. Nightstalker loved your cooking, and I did think it smelled wonderful, she said. Honey smiled widely, flashing his sharp teeth. I see potential in you. Do not squander it by acting less confident than you ought to be.

That made him lose his smile right away, but Bella was right. He was strong, but he acted like he held the team back sometimes.

And you, Tangrowth. Your thoughts are so simple that I believed you were pulling some sort of elaborate trick, but you are truly appropriately named, she said. A strange fellow with occasional flashes of surprising wisdom, but with a hospitality unmatched. We all appreciate your kindness, especially the children.

Angel's vine excitedly wriggled at the praise, but he soon returned to playing with a pair of Wooper.

Pupitar. Obnoxious, loudmouthed, and even less regard for the rules than the wyrm.

She cheered at that as if they were qualities, and the Grotle next to her laughed.

Your evolution will bring an untold amount of rage upon you. Nightstalker and I have seen it with our own eyes, she said. Do not let it take hold no matter how much power it offers. Trust in your mother, and you shall reap the rewards in the long term.

It wasn't hard to fill in the blanks on what had happened. Their trainer had owned a Pupitar as well, and things must have gone wrong when it evolved. Sweetheart chewed on the words, growing silent for the first time.

Jellicent. Our conversations were fascinating, and you offered insight into the ghostly mind that I simply did not understand before today. The knowledge was well-received, and I am in your debt. Say the word, and I shall pay you back.

Unfortunately for her, he insisted on her not owing him anything. He thought that the conversations alone were worth it, simply reminiscing about old times and how different life used to be.

And you, baby sister, Bellatrix looked to Togetic. My words during training were harsh, but you have grown massively. The need to protect your mother drives you. Rarely has Moonblast been learned so quickly, and you are a prodigy of control. Keep practicing with glamour, and you will go far.

Princess nodded, trying not to cry as I finally grabbed her into my arms.

You will be missed, Grace Pastel. You are special.

"I might be," I said as I struggled to stop the tears. "Or not. It doesn't matter. I've learned so much about myself thanks to you. A side of me that I don't feel like repressing any longer."

Lean into my teachings, she said. Become more.

"Thank you for everything."

Thank you for everything. Goodbye, Friend of the Forest.

The wild Pokemon cheered one last time for me and then began to disperse once more. Bella and Night watched as I stepped through the gate, recalling my Pokemon one by one.

Before I could even hope to step into Veilstone, it looked like the Rangers were going to question me.

I couldn't shake the feeling of annoyance I felt when I realized I'd have to deal with human strangers again.



So? Nightstalker asked. How are you feeling now?

Bellatrix mentally sighed as her stare lingered in Veilstone's direction. Not one hour since Grace Pastel had left, and the world already felt dimmer. The Pokemon stared at her companion and blinked rapidly to make the glamour that filled every facet of the world disappear from her view.

She is the daughter I never had. Barely over a week, and it feels like I am losing someone I've known for years. She shines bright.

She was chosen for a reason, but bright ones tend to burn out quickly,
Nightstalker said as he preened his feathers. What shall we do now, Bellatrix? Do you want me to go? I could keep an eye on her from the shadows for a while.

No, she would dislike that. It would be seen as a betrayal. Her independence is too important to her.


The grass type smirked. That, she would. Do you feel them yet?

Her so-called friends, yes,
Bellatrix nodded.

She could see everything that touched her fief, and the three humans Grace had shown her had just made it onto the route. There was the foul presence of another wyrm— two souls for one body, but also a brother. He must have been the Sylveon Grace had told her about, and there was a good deal of glamour around him. The armor.

I promised her to let them through safely, and I will, but they will still be observed.

And their ways with the rules tested?
Decidueye continued, studying the tip of an arrow.

Bellatrix hummed. Perhaps.

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett T, Dom Noct, yesnomaybeso, Sean M, Cypha, Daniel, Ryan T, Kail H, Bridie, dragonslaver, Benjamin R
 
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Interlude - The Test
INTERLUDE - THE TEST

"Arceus, it's raining like a motherfucker," Pauline complained. "I'd rather be inside of Mount Coronet than this. At least Charizard could warm me up."

"Raining like a motherfucker doesn't mean anything," Denzel said.

Cecilia rolled her eyes, but she was too focused on her leg to retort. It had taken so long to heal that they left the city half a week late and had to rest in the Café Cabin, but at least, they were in the last stretch of the journey. She walked through the forest floor with a slightly pronounced limp, unable to put her full weight on her leg for more than a second before the pain became unbearable. Zerst snarled toward a rustle behind a tree, almost blowing the entire thing up with Dragon Pulse, but Cecilia calmed him down with a hand on his scaly head. It was coarse to the touch.

Sol, for all his usual calmness also felt anxious. He hadn't even rammed his full weight against Zerst to keep him quiet as he would usually do. Sylveon simply stared at the two with a grimace and stuck closer to Denzel, who wiped the rain off his Poketch and squinted at the screen.

"There should be an overhang we can take a break under soon for your leg, Cece. It'd be better if you were fully rested before we climbed the actual mountain."

"Arceus… I bet Justin and Louis already have their badges by now with how late we are," Pauline grumbled.

"I'm sorry," Cecilia said. "I didn't mean to slow you all down."

"Oh, I didn't mean it like that— shut up Gothorita! I know!"

"What's she saying?" Denzel asked.

"That she feels like shit because she can't see the stars in this weather."

"It's daytime," he said. "Wouldn't be able to see 'em anyway."

"She can see them at all times of the day, just not through clouds. Anyway, I'm sorry Cece. I'm just feeling anxious about time running out, that's all."

"No worries," she said.

It wasn't as if Cecilia wasn't anxious too, although for different reasons. Beyond the group separating and being away from Grace, there was something deeper that worried her and had been nagging at her since leaving Hearthome.

Her father was under house arrest. Louis' father was in jail, awaiting his trial. She had enough money to live comfortably— not forever, but for around half a decade, at least.

So.

Now what?

Her entire goal to become Champion of another region had been to escape her family's clutches, but Abel had inadvertently saved her with his phone call and let her expose her father's adjacency to Harvey's criminal links with Galactic. Her entire reason for this journey had been resolved while she'd been halfway there, as if the rug had been pulled from under her. Now Cecilia was drowning, desperately trying to find something to hold onto. Sticking with Grace was one— her promise to challenge Cynthia was another, but these were shallow. They weren't goals that she had set for herself, but goals that had been pushed onto her.

There was no structure to this journey any longer. No meaningful goal to the progress she made each day. Peel away the layers and at the heart of it, Cecilia was quite empty, or at least she felt that way.

"There it is!" Denzel pointed as thunder roared.

An overhang large enough to fit all of their teams and stay dry while they took a break and ate. Pauline broke into a jog and breathed a sigh of relief when she made it under the ceiling, but her small moment of respite was interrupted by a group of wild Pokemon sitting at the corner of the cave. Zweilous roared at the three small Sentret, flames dancing in their mouths and illuminating the dim overhang until they finally ran off.

"They could have stuck around," Denzel shrugged. "I don't think Sentret are that threatening."

"It's better if they leave, or Zweilous wouldn't have let me hear the end of it," Cecilia said.

"Fair enough."

Finally, she could sit down. The rain had seeped into her bandage, but Pauline quickly noticed and helped her change it while Denzel stood guard with Lopunny and Sylveon. The normal type looked to be bothered by the rain as much as them, funnily enough. Sylveon couldn't care less, and it was sometimes disturbing to see the water dripping down his unblinking blue eyes. Pauline, for her part, released her entire team apart from her Vigoroth and Cecilia did the same, leaving Talonflame in her Pokeball. Scyther quickly went to his own corner and worked on sharpening his scythes against a rock. Slowking watched her with a curious eye, clearly wanting to speak, but opted to wait for her to be done with her friends first.

Golett slowly turned on as the hum of machinery began inside of his body. He slowly trudged toward Zweilous, who chomped on his arm like a Lilipupp would with a bone. The ground type didn't care about all of the slobber getting on his limb… and torso, and— everywhere.

"Say… why do you guys want to become Champion?" Cecilia asked.

Pauline stared up as she carefully wrapped the gauze around her leg. "I don't want to be Champion. I want to have fun and battle a bunch of people," she shrugged. "The Conference's the place that will probably bring me the most excitement, so that's where I want to be."

"And after that?"

"After that, I do it again and again until I'm bored," she continued. "Then after another year or two, maybe go to another region to travel until I've got to settle down. It's all about the journey, right? Traveling with friends and my team is fun. Being the Champion sounds like a pain in the ass anyway. Too many assholes looking up to you as if you're perfect, and the moment you slip they come for your throat."

Cecilia blinked. Her friend had given this more thought than she would have imagined.

"What region were you thinking of?"

"Eh. Haven't given it that much thought yet— why are you laughing!"

In retrospect, never mind. Pauline was just like Cecilia had expected her to be.

"Thank you for the help with the bandage."

"I wasn't done! I haven't given it much thought, but somewhere that isn't boring like crummy Galar or Unova. No offense."

"None taken," Cecilia smiled, turning to Denzel. "What about you, Denzel?"

Her friend was staring outside of their refuge, his eyes mesmerized by the rain.

"Denzel!" Pauline yelled.

"Wha— oh, sorry. Can't hear anything on this route," he said, scratching the side of his head.

"Why do you want to become Champion, beyond your aspiring influencer career," Cecilia asked again.

"Well, you say beyond like that isn't a huge part of it," he said. "There's more, but it's kind of embarrassing."

"Spill," Pauline said.

The trainer groaned. "Fine. I want to be someone that, uh, people feel like they can depend on. A figure for young aspiring trainers like Craig is to me."

"So you want to steal his shtick?" She asked.

"A little, but I also want to be more accessible than he is. He does a lot of interviews and stuff, but he doesn't actually speak directly to his fans like I want to do. I want to make guides, give advice in Q & A sessions and stuff like that. It's about time trainers catch up to their coordinator counterparts, don't you think? That way, people who think that they wouldn't have what it takes to make it could get a little boost, and sometimes that's all someone needs, right?"

"You know, if it was someone else, I might have made fun of them, but it's you, so I'll call your goal endearing," Pauline said. "You're a great guy, Denzel."

"Obviously. Look at me," he laughed, flexing an arm.

"Annnnd, you took it too far," she said. "You're a joke."

They both laughed, but Cecilia was stuck to her own thoughts. Denzel's aspiration ran so deep that it made her feel completely inadequate. She didn't feel the need to help people grow like he did, and she didn't really want to walk through what Pauline would call exciting. She might have hated anything ghost related, but she was still the same girl that kept the group's cohesion during their trip through Eterna Forest.

So what did Cecilia have?

After fixing up her leg, Pauline struck up a conversation with Denzel by punching him in the shoulder with her good arm. She was hurt too, and couldn't move the shoulder that had been stabbed properly, but she hid it better than anyone else.

Cecilia relaxed with a sigh. Now she knew what people were subject to when she was alone with Grace. It was no fun being the third wheel.

Lady Cecilia.

The words brushed against her mind, no longer painful to her. Instead, they felt like a comforting embrace.

"Slowking. I believe you wanted to speak to me?" She said.

This talk of goals troubles you, and when you feel this way, I am troubled as well.

"Oh darling, I'll live. It's just something wise to think about. I wouldn't want to become the Champion and feel aimless."

Do you truly believe you could do it in a year after witnessing Cynthia's power and hearing her stories?

It was true that Cynthia had talked to her and shown her one of her recorded battles against Lucian during one of their many talks in Solaceon. The amount of power she wielded was unimaginable, although her brother Mark came close. She'd beaten him three to six, but that was without using her Spiritomb, who she had said would shut him down completely.

She smiled, feeling no hesitation. "If I don't believe in myself, who will?"

I will, he answered.

"Thank you."

Although Cecilia was done running away from her father, she still wanted the power Cynthia had so badly. There was something about fundamentally destroying the arena you battled on that was so appealing to her, but she needed a reason to wield that power. For Cynthia, it was to protect Sinnoh from threats, and the truth was that Cecilia did feel like she would succeed in the political aspect of being a Champion. Cynthia favored slow, incremental change in order not to rock the boat, which was a philosophy that Cecilia agreed with.

The problem was that she simply had no attachment to the region of Sinnoh.

She hadn't even been there for a year. Her true home was still Unova, and she couldn't imagine a life outside of the region.

"Slowking," she said as something began to click into place. "Do you think that it is wrong to take things from family?"

It depends on what that thing is, Lady Cecilia.

"Power."

That is up to interpretation. Zweilous would say that you deserve anything you desire. Golett would ask about what power is. Scyther would sneer and insult you. Talonflame would say that you should calm down and think back on this in a few months to see if you haven't changed your mind.

Cecilia laughed. "That does sound like them. What about you?"

I say you do what your will desires.

"I desire power to affect change in Unova. I am in a unique position to understand how easy it is for corporations to influence our government, and Mark and parliament is happy to let them do so if they sell the government things for cheap and donate to their political campaigns. Change is needed, but it cannot come all at once."

And so it will be.

"And so it will be," she nodded. "But first, I will finish my time here. I need to battle against Cynthia, and she needs to help me find a Spiritomb, which means I'll have to grow strong enough until she thinks I can handle them."

What if Grace desires to stay?

Cecilia felt her heartbeat quicken. "I love her, but her father once told me that I needed a life beyond her. I will ask her to come with me, but if she says no… then it will be over."

A wise man, her father.

"Yes. Yes, he is."



"Aren't there more wild Pokemon than usual?" Denzel asked as his head whirled toward a group of Budew led by a wild Roselia.

It was true. No matter where they were, Pokemon seemed to be following them. It was the third time they were seeing those Budew and that Roselia after having walked for an entire day. There was no way that this could be a coincidence. Cecilia limped forward, her weight supported by Denzel on one side and Pauline on the other.

"Sylvi's been acting weird too," he continued. "Keeps staring off in the distance when we settle down, but he won't tell me what it is."

"He won't tell you? If he doesn't talk to you, he won't talk to anyone," Cecilia scoffed.

Sylveon barked in protest. It was a smooth sound that soothed her ears and worries some, but only for a split second. Cecilia was worried. The wild Pokemon were coordinating something, which in few numbers wouldn't be that impressive, but with all the different species they'd seen and distance they had crossed? Something was happening on this route. She had to recall Zweilous out of fear that him attacking one would make all of them attack at once, and she was walking with Slowking by her side instead. Pauline, meanwhile, had her Charizard out even in the rain, supposedly to train her resistance to attacks like Rain Dance in the future. The fire type had grown tremendously in power since her evolution, but Cecilia made sure to let Pauline know not to just rely on one Pokemon to steamroll the competition. Even early in her journey when Zweilous used to be able to win alone, Cecilia always let Talonflame and Slowking participate in battles.

"Just smile and wave," Denzel said. "They're not attacking."

"They're annoying."

"Pauline, have you considered the fact that they haven't done anything yet?" Denzel said.

When they passed by a lone Caterpie climbing up a tree, Sylveon froze.

"Sylvi?" Denzel frowned.

The fairy type took a step back and frowned. Something was coming.

"Slowking, do you feel anything?"

I do, but it is a hole, not a mind, the psychic said. And something else, but she is… blurry.

"A ghost and another Pokemon," Cecilia relayed to her friends.

Pauline whimpered, shrinking back behind Charizard. Her tail lashed out and slammed against the floor. Cecilia released Zweilous at the first mention of a ghost, but it was wise not to let her full team out yet. These were coming straight for them, but it wouldn't be different than the wild Pokemon that were apparently tracking them so far.

The first was a Decidueye. It appeared out of thin air, leaning against a tree as it strummed its inner feathers. The second one was something that Cecilia had never seen before, and Pauline had the same look of confusion on her face. A Pokemon made out of pastel blue and pink wearing a hat.

"That's a Hatterene," Denzel stammered a whisper. "Stay quiet and don't panic, or it'll attack."

Well met, travelers, words rang out in Cecilia's mind. Pauline and she were used to telepathy, but Denzel still winced and clenched at his head. You have passed the first section of our test. Foul as I believed you would be, you offered the minimal amount of decency to the inhabitants of my fief.

Zweilous snarled, and Cecilia could feel the primal hatred emanating from his body.

Silence your wyrm. I cannot communicate telepathically with one who is half Emptyfolk.

Cecilia's mind was swimming. She couldn't even understand half of what Hatterene was saying, but she knew when she was outmatched. She grabbed Zweilous' Pokeball, but before she could recall him, Zerst breathed a stream of draconic energy toward Hatterene. The Dragon Pulse harmlessly washed over her.

The psychic type's face twisted, wrinkling with fury and rage unmatched and flashing sharpened teeth that were longer than her entire face. Pink dust appeared around Zweilous and swarmed him, going into his lungs until both heads could no longer breathe. Thankfully, Denzel tapped her shoulder and screamed at her to recall him, and she did.

Finally. You are lucky. Ordinarily, I would have killed for such an offense.

"Sorry!" Denzel immediately apologized. "Look, we'll just be on our way, okay? Zweilous had been growing more aggressive lately."

Hatterene did not speak. Instead, her eyes wandered to Sylveon.

Why do you stay silent, brother?

The fairy type answered with a series of small barks that she didn't understand. Still, Cecilia had never seen him so restrained before. His vocalization was usually a lot more assertive than this, even against threats they had no chance to win against.

Yes. I have been testing you as I said, but worry not, little brother. Someone has ensured that you will have safe passage, she said before turning to Cecilia. Do not release your wyrm again in my presence unless I let you.

She could only agree. "Yes. What do you want with us?"

My inquiry is simple. I will observe you during your stay here.

"Observe? So you're sticking around?"

Yes. I will not speak to you. I will simply observe.

"Fucking weirdo," Pauline whispered under her breath.

"She can feel what you feel, Pauline," Denzel hissed. "And the Decidueye?"

My companion will do the same.



This wasn't what I had in mind when you said you would test them, Nightstalker hummed.

Oh, it is a test. A test to see if they are deserving of her and the Pokemon that follow them.

They are her friends,
the grass type said. She would not associate herself with them if she did not think that they were.

She is too young. I must observe.

You could have observed without showing yourself as you had done during the first day.

They passed that section of the test. Now I must see how they behave when I am looming over them and threatening to kill at every opportunity.


The three children couldn't help but constantly look over their shoulders as Hatterene and Decidueye followed them from afar. She couldn't help but feel irritated at Sylveon's completel lack of respect for her. She did not expect him to know of the old ways, but she at least expected something akin to Togetic. It seemed that he only cared about his trainer and his Pokemon, however.

So what is your assessment, then? Nightstalker asked.

The male is the least offensive. He at least shows respect and knows how to behave, but he is no halfling. He worries about keeping his friends safe and is also planning to stay back to buy time if I attack. He has a good heart, even if he is clumsy with his words.

Hatterene paused and slowly filtered out the boy's thoughts with the help of the rain. His thoughts were not that loud, but anything help to assuage the pain from the deafening thoughts of her fief's inhabitants. When she had described it to Grace, she had compared it to standing at the edge of a cliff, and if she fell, she would fly into a maddening rage that only Nightstalker could bring her out of.

Of course, she hadn't fallen in nearly a century now. Bellatrix knew how to control herself.

The one with the fiery hair hates me, but she is the most scared out of all three. She is good about not letting it show, and her surface emotions are more simple. Hate for me and what I might do to them. She is anguished for her friends' safety first and foremost, however, and that emotion is the loudest.

Another good one,
the grass type hummed. And the last?

She is strange. Her thoughts are the loudest
Rare is a human with thoughts so deafening, Bellatrix winced. Her thoughts lie elsewhere… she thinks of something else entirely unrelated to the current situation. Something related to politics that I cannot afford to care about. Perhaps a coping mechanism to keep herself from panicking… yes, there is more. Deeper. Worry for her wyrm most of all. But all three share one thing in common. They plead for Grace's safe passage.

Good.

Good indeed,
she said. But not enough.



It had been two days since the Hatterene and Decidueye had started following them, and Cecilia felt like she was about to go insane. Her being completely silent just kept the trio constantly on edge and thinking about when she would strike. Outrunning her was impossible when she had that Decidueye with her, and nothing they said even changed the look on her face. Pauline was taking it the worst and had routinely thrown insults their way, something which Cecilia and Denzel begged for her to stop. The last thing they needed was for them to get angry, and some of these insults did get to Hatterene if her face was anything to go by. Slowking had attempted to communicate, and so did Sylveon, although more reluctantly, but nothing of substance was said between them. Only platitudes.

It wasn't until today that they made their next move. Hatterene pointed her tentacle toward Denzel and flashed her teeth. Every time she did so, Cecilia couldn't help but close or avert her eyes. Hatterene was just too disturbing to look at. Decidueye's cold stare was pleasant compared to her.

Young one. I must speak to your Pokemon.

"Uh, okay," he nervously said, releasing his entire team.

They had all seen Hatterene at least once, but they were clearly rattled by her presence. Milotic's body coiled and tensed as he averted his eyes away from her. Roselia did not dare do her usual hissing or disrespectful sneer. Froslass' control of the cold was the best it had ever been and no frost leaked out of her body, and Lopunny's ears constantly twitched in anticipation of a fight. Only Sylveon appeared calm.

Very well. We shall go and speak alone.

"Wait, you meant alone?!" Denzel exclaimed. "Why can't I be there?"

Because that would go against the entire point of this test. Fear not, it is only to converse. No harm will come to them.

"Can I at least watch?" He begged. "I don't— I don't have to be close enough to hear, and you can cut off the telepathic link."

The fairy type paused, but then agreed. Very well.

Denzel sank deeper into the forest with his team while Decidueye kept an eye on Cecilia and Pauline. She came back forty minutes later, looking weaker than Cecilia expected. Not because she actually looked beatable in a fight, but because of how tired she looked. Cecilia immediately whispered to Denzel, asking what had happened.

"I couldn't hear. She just spent the entire time speaking to them, and they won't tell me anything about it," Denzel sighed. "I think it's some kind of test. First the wild Pokemon, then they follow us, now this? It feels like Hatterene's analyzing us—"

You with the fiery hair. It is your turn. Do you wish to watch, or will you stay behind?

"I'll watch," Pauline dryly said.

Thirty-four minutes later, Hatterene came for Cecilia.



Five Pokemon stood in front of Bellatrix. Golett, a being of clay and dusk whose stare appeared as empty as the void of space itself, save for a few flashes of individuality whenever someone it cared for was near, including its trainer. A Scyther that had a permanent anger permeating out of him. She could almost feel the intent to kill. He was the complete opposite of the docile Scyther she had once known, centuries ago.

A Talonflame awkwardly hopped through the forest floor, but she worried the most for her trainer, as did the Slowking who had annoyingly attempted to speak to her a dozen times about what she was doing. Bellatrix had thrown her psychic side to the wayside long ago, giving in fully to the ways of the fae thanks to her mother's teachings. She had no time for a psychic playing pretend.

The wyrm was also there, foul and as unpleasant as always. Her time with Turtonator had taught her not to judge a book by its cover, but by the Legendaries, these two were barely coherent enough to understand. It pained her to admit, but they were nothing compared to Turtonator's occasional wisdom.

Cecilia stood far in the distance, fidgeting as she looked to her Pokemon.

DESTROY! DESTROY! KILL! The head that she called Zerst roared. CHEW. CHEW.

Sol, for his part, bit at the dragon's neck to stop him from yelling. Restraint, Zerst. Your anger, too large. Destruction later. Surprise attack.

He was slightly more coherent but just as stupid. Even Tangrowth was better than this.

What do you want with us? Talonflame cawed. For days, you have stalked us like prey. Out with it.

FOOD. FOOD. HUNGRY
WHY TALK WITH ENEMY? KILL!

Golett, please let him chew on your arm,
Slowking said.

The ground type silently offered Zerst his arm, and he wasted no time to begin chewing on it. Hatterene wrinkled her face at such a lack of proper manners. Maybe she'd been too quick in offering them the benefit of the doubt.

Scyther hissed, fanning his wings. I grow tired of this. Out with it.

This was… this was the worse team by far. There were no way around it. The boy's team had been dysfunctional and full of bickering, but there was love hidden beneath the insults. The redhead's team had been fierce, aggressive, and she had to stop that annoying Vigoroth from attacking her, but at the very least, Gothorita seemed to keep them under control. All of them seemed to love their trainer and were not victims, so they had been allowed to go back.

With this lot? The two normal ones, Slowking and Talonflame were completely accustomed to their behavior and only enabled it further. It was the complete opposite of Grace's team, but they somehow made it work. Bellatrix was almost too flabbergasted to speak, but she regained her composure after a short pause.

I have gathered you here to speak your mind about your experience with Cecilia Obel. If you were mistreated in any way or forced to do things against your will, you may tell me.

Slowking went first. I don't see the point of this exercise, but I will be the first to tell you that Lady Cecilia's skill as a trainer has only improved, and her care for us grows each day even while she is under mental anguish.

Hatterene nodded, using his feelings to confirm that it was what Slowking truly felt. He genuinely cared for her and almost considered himself a parent— no, a parent was wrong. He still disliked disagreeing with her and would not speak out against anything she decided unless it was a truly terrible idea. Perhaps a butler, then? Nightstalker had told her about those once from one of his books.

My feelings are the same, Talonflame chattered. She is not perfect, but nobody is. She has cared for me and I mirror her feelings. It is love.

Very well. What about you, young Scyther?

I hate her,
he responded. I hate her fuckin' guts. I hate how she treated me when she first snatched me from my territory. She forced me to train against my will for weeks and those three shmucks used to help her do it, he hissed, pointing a scythe toward Zweilous, Slowking and Talonflame.

Hatterene absorbed the information and immediately prepared to execute her plan. The goal of this questioning had been two-fold: first, examine the relationship between the Pokemon. A trainer that did not foster a good relationship in their gathering would be an incompetent one. Cecilia had barely passed this section of her test. Second, see if there was any mistreatment taking place. If there was, then she would offer the Pokemon to stay with her and live in her fief.

She had failed— but Scyther's feelings were conflicted, which confused her. It reminded Bellatrix of how her old gathering used to feel when her old trainer started to treat them like people again. A penchant to forgive, but also lingering dislike.

I despise her, you hag. But I don't want your fucking pity. I'll kill you if you keep looking at me like that. She has gotten better, and I don't feel the urge to kill her every time I see her damned face, so I guess that's an improvement.

Bellatrix hummed. Cecilia was heavily indebted to this Scyther, but unlike Nohea, she had righted the ship in a few weeks instead of nine years. Did she deserve forgiveness? Would she repay the debt?

She has gotten better, Hatterene repeated his words. But do you feel like she is enough? Does your relationship with her feel fulfilling?

That's a lot of meaningless drivel. Has anyone ever told you that you sound so full of yourself every time you speak?


Scyther's words sent Zweilous into a laughing fit, and Hatterene had to place a barrier in front of him to avoid getting spit on her.

Be careful, she warned. Her tentacle flexed, and the bug type finally began to feel fear. Answer the question, young Scyther.

He sighed, and his eyes drifted toward the floor. I don't know yet.

There it was. That doubt that familiar doubt that had infected Bellatrix's old gathering and spread like a cancer. But she could not afford to be biased. A fairy was fair in all things, and like all others, this human deserved fairness.

I see. I assume you seek to find out, then.

Yes.

Then your trainer passes.




Cecilia breathed a sigh of relief when Hatterene motioned at her to come closer. She quickly ran through the forest floor and laughed as her Pokemon surrounded her. Golett let out a small beep and his head spun around, which was a neat little trick he did when he was happy. Zerst and Sol screamed, demanding her attention until she scratched the scales on their necks. Talonflame cooed and rubbed her head on her hand.

Scyther rolled his eyes at the entire display.

You have passed her test, Lady Cecilia, Slowking said with a smile. And Zerst and Sol are hungry.

"Thank the Legendaries. I don't even know why this happened, but at least it's over."

She could breathe lighter now. Cecilia hadn't known the consequences for failure, but with this Hatterene, she imagined the worst.

Cecilia Obel. You have passed, Hatterene said. I will no longer be tailing you and your companions. Your group's emotions were pure and your thoughts were not nefarious. You have treated the Pokemon on this route with… an adequate amount of respect, and you cultivate a relation of love with your Pokemon. You are free.

Her eyes bulged. All this time, she could read thoughts? Cecilia scrambled to remember what had even passed through her brain these last few days.

Worry not. Like I stated, you have passed. Nightstalker.

The ghost type appeared in a rush of wind so powerful that Cecilia struggled to keep her two feet on the ground.

We are leaving.

The grass type nodded, disappearing into the sky once more. Hatterene crawled away, but turned before Cecilia decided to leave.

And one last thing. Tell Grace Pastel that she has good friends.



"Thank Arceus, it's over," Pauline whined. "We definitely need to report this to the Rangers. I don't want anyone else to be a victim of Hatterene's sick games."

"Guys…" Cecilia said. "I think she knew Grace."

"What?" Denzel yelled.

"She told me to tell Grace that she has good friends before she left," she continued. "I think they came across each other while she was traveling through the route."

"Arceus," he sighed. "We'll have to ask her about it when we get to Veilstone. At least it sounds like she was friendly with her."

"By the way," Pauline asked. "How did you know what the hell that even was? I'd never even heard of a Hatterene before."

"I used to want one a few years back. I had one on my list."

Pauline wheezed. "Of course you did."

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Chapter 179
CHAPTER 179

Like every Ranger Station in cities, Veilstone's had been built somewhere near the gate. It had only taken ten minutes for the Rangers to take me, and I was immediately taken to a neat office room that looked like the one I'd been in back when I had told them about catching Sunshine. There was a simple metallic desk, a computer monitor that looked like it was from the 90s, and two chairs in front of it, where I currently sat. I could see Veilstone out of his window. It was a city of concrete, stocky buildings, and the sky was clouded by pollution. There was a reason Bella hated the city. Veilstone was known for its heavy industry and was probably the worst offender of city expansion. Even Hearthome, Jubilife and Sunyshore knew to control themselves. Oreburgh was polluted as well, but it was small and self-contained within a valley. Veilstone had none of the charming architecture that other places were known for, and its noxious air could easily spread to the other routes. Only Snowpoint looked worse than this, and that was because of its harsh environment. The same Ranger leader that had spoken to me sat down with a heavy sigh.

He was probably having a terrible day.

"Let's get started. You can call me Ranger or Mr. Gibbs. Can I see your ID first?"

"You know who I am," I said. "But you pretend not to?"

"They're just the rules. Procedure. I have to verify your identity no matter how obvious it is."

I paused. "Fine."

I handed it to him and he mulled over it, his eyes drifting over the card.

"Thank you, Ms. Pastel. I'm going to need you to sign something— just an oath that you're telling the truth. Again, procedure."

I nodded as he handed me the paper and a pen. While I was still capable of lying if needed, I felt like doing so would be horribly wrong just because of how ingrained Bella's teachings had been. I'd rather obscure the truth or go around it if needed. I'd called it a weakness, which had sent her into a thirty-minute rant about the superiority of fairy types and how that reputation made it easier to trick people.

Good times.

"So, Ms. Pastel. Can I know why you had an Arceus damned army at my gate and how the hell so many Pokemon followed you?"

His tone was harsh and snappy, which I didn't appreciate.

"I told you already. They were just sending me off. I befriended them during my stay on the route."

The Ranger irritatingly drummed his finger against the steel table.

"Befriended hundreds of Pokemon in that short of a time?"

"Yes. Just because you can't fathom it doesn't mean that it's impossible," I shrugged. "I've done nothing illegal, and I know you can't keep me here."

"Will this happen again? Do we have to put a permanent presence on the route because of this?"

"You aren't listening to what I'm saying, and I'm starting to take offense."

"What?"

"They are harmless. Don't intrude on their home because you feel insecure about having them close by in large numbers. They know better than to attack the city."

"Look, the truth of the matter is, we just want to know how you communicated and coordinated so many Pokemon around."

"I stopped and listened."

He sunk slightly deeper into his chair. "Let's move on. That Hatterene and Decidueye aren't normally species seen in the wild in Sinnoh, and it doesn't take much to know that they're special. Powerful beyond what we'd be able to contain without League backup. Do you know if—"

"They're the same as the other. Harmless."

"You should look at the videos going around. The Decidueye seemed calm enough, but she made some threatening faces while we spoke."

"That's just like her," I smiled fondly. "She was just feeling protective, I think."

"Oh boy," he groaned. "So you confirm that they won't be of any danger to Veilstone? Can you be sure?"

"Yes, I promise."

Looking at his face, this meeting hadn't gone the way he thought it would. He was probably going to call the League since there was no way he was going to just trust anything I said. Rangers usually did so when something too powerful struck, but he'd be out of luck there. Bellatrix technically hadn't broken her deal with Cynthia by just revealing her existence. I wondered what Cynthia's reaction to all of this would be, but unfortunately for me, there was no way to figure it out. If I had to guess, she had her head deep in Team Galactic matters, and I wasn't about to call her. If she wanted to speak to me, she'd do it herself.

Ranger Gibbs just stared at me as a heavy silence settled into the room.

"Look, I'm in the League Internship Program," I said. "Cynthia invited me into the program herself. I wouldn't do something stupid or lie about this."

Arceus, it'd be so much easier if they had an empath around. We were just both wasting our time here. The Rangers' job was to keep people safe and I had just done something very unusual, so I knew where he was coming from, but it felt like he'd just brought me here with the expectation that I was going to reveal something big. Like a planned attack instead of it just being friends saying goodbye.

Which made no sense anyway. If they wanted to attack, they wouldn't have done something so obvious.

But I was worried about something else. Not Bella or Night's safety, but what if the Rangers encroached further on the route for the sake of 'safety' if I messed up here? I knew that I wasn't detained and I could just leave if he annoyed me too much, but I owed them better than that.

All the Pokemon on that route.

"That's a fair point," he said, his face tightening. "Can you go more in-depth? Tell us how you ended up connecting with Hatterene and Decidueye in particular?"

Well, I could answer that, at least.

"They sought me out and befriended me. We spent a week off-route together with my team," I explained. "Ranger Gibbs, they really want nothing to do with Veilstone. Give them the benefit of the doubt here. They're both just living their lives and— look, they haven't endangered any trainers either, right? Route 215 is weird, but it's certainly nowhere near the most deadly route. It's actually one of the safest."

"I see your point," he nodded after a pause. "We'll let you go."

"You had no right to detain me in the first place," I shrugged. "Erm, sorry. What will you do now?"

"Keep a few more guards posted at the end of the route and see if whatever happened with you happens again," he said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

I smiled. That was basically the best I was going to get.

"Thank you. Uh, I know I kind of sprung this whole thing onto you, but I really did only tell the truth."

He irritatingly waved his hand at me. "Go. Have a good day."

I stood up and left as Bella's complaints about human encroachment rang inside of my head. It might not have been much, but today, I had helped the wild Pokemon of route 215.



Veilstone was an ugly amalgamation of concrete and cement, but it also had a surprising amount of Pokemon out and about. Every city had a number of Pokemon that walked the street, but Veilstone especially so, and a lot of them did so without a trainer by their side. A Machoke curiously stared at me, and I dipped my head in return. Even though Pokemon would only feel a link to me in forests, it seemed like they could all sense there was something different about me. I grabbed my phone as I walked past a set of massive warehouses that must have altogether been the size of Floaroma. The port to Veilstone's northeast exported the majority of what they produced in the city and imported goods from abroad.

There were a few messages from people. Louis' group and Justin saying that they'd made it to the city almost a week ago, but also Emilia. I felt a burst of excitement. I hadn't seen her in what felt like a lifetime. Denzel, Pauline and Cece had apparently just entered route 215 as well, so they'd be here within the week. Knowing Bella, she'd probably subject them to some kind of weird test, but I'd secured their safe passage, so I wasn't too worried. Chase was also here, but he'd already signed up to battle Maylene. I probably wasn't going to have enough time to see his battle in two days. Justin, for his part, didn't want to meet. It was a miracle he'd even sent a text at all. I couldn't help but feel hurt when remembering how he used to be, but there was nothing I could do. Shiftry was already dead.

I spotted the League's office where I'd have to get my Carry License, and I also tried to find the League Trainer that was supposed to be tailing me, but to no avail.

"I guess they'd be bad at their job if I could find them," I muttered. "They'll probably talk to me at least once."

Because of the people behind the line of Rangers that had filmed me, the news of what I'd done at the edge of the route was already spreading and Melody had already attempted to contact me numerous times. Before talking to her though, I decided to find a Pokemon Center to room there and shower. Being in the wild was nice, but there were only so many times that I could wash with a wet cloth without feeling dirty. Plus, a general check-up for my Pokemon was in order.

I sent a message to the group chat to let them know I was safe, and a flurry of responses arrived immediately. Luckily for me, they didn't know about what had happened at the route yet, but they definitely would within the hour.

I arrived at the Center the closest to the gym, since I assumed that was where everyone was. After giving my Pokemon away and ignoring the stares as I had learned to do by now, I finally entered the quiet of my room and showered. Veilstone was loud after getting used to the muffled sounds of route 215. The car horns, the hum of the city, the people talking, it was all overwhelming but I didn't let it show.

My room was the same as usual except it was slightly older fashioned, with a ceiling fan instead of air conditioning. It wasn't like I'd need it anyway because of how cold it was. I had a view of the gym, which was as massive as always. The large stadium stood on an elevated part of the city's southwest, and it was themed orange. I would do my research soon, but not today. The first thing I had to do was call Melody and assuage her worries. The Poketch Company was definitely angry with what I'd done, and it could easily be spun negatively.

It could also be spun positively, though.

"Eleven missed calls, huh," I sighed. "Must have gotten grilled by her bosses."

I clicked on her name, and she picked up immediately.

"Grace! Finally, I've been trying to reach you since you entered Veilstone!"

Her voice was confident, but there was also a hint of anxiety. They were probably tired of me being so unpredictable.

"Sorry. I needed to speak to the Rangers and get to a Center first," I said. "I know what you're calling about, and I'll tell you what I told them. The wild Pokemon didn't hurt anyone and just wanted to say their goodbyes. They're friends."

"Legendaries," she exhaled. "It's my job to work with you, and I feel like I've failed."

"It isn't that big of a deal, Melody. It's probably going to be out of the news cycle in a few days."

"You're right. I think that this is actually good and that we can exploit this, and some of my colleagues do so as well, but we have to run it to the head of the sponsorship department, but he has his bosses upstairs breathing down his neck as well. He wanted to shake things up by working with you, but you're actually doing that too much."

"And he's lashing out at you because of it. I can tell that you're tired."

The liaison manager paused. "We're obviously not going to drop you. If there's one thing you're good at, it's staying in the news, and that's more promotion for us. Clearly this girl-next-door thing isn't working though, so we'll have to go back to the drawing board. Just… be normal for a little while so we can regroup. Fight a few battles, win against Maylene and do some of those online promotions I've sent you, okay? I'll keep in touch. I have a few ideas of how to spin this, but I have to convince the men in suits first. If they approve, I'll talk to you about it."

"I will. Sorry, again. I'll pay you back someday."

"It's okay. I know that you're trying your best."

"One other question. I had a plan to battle trainers above my level, and that implies losing, probably publicly. Is that okay?"

"Yes, obviously that's okay, but try not to go overboard with the losses. If you could limit yourself to one or two trainers to improve, we'd like that."

That was… not ideal. Losing against different styles of battling would make me improve faster.

"I've put you in a lot of trouble, so that's fair," I resigned. I owed her this, at least.

She hung up the call, and I lay down on my soft bed until my phone blew up again. News had spread, and my friends wanted to meet for an explanation. Unfortunately, they were outside, and League Protection or not, I wasn't going to go out without my family there in case things went south, so I asked them to come.

Time passed slowly as excitement budded and flourished inside of me, but thirty minutes later, they arrived. Emilia's forceful knocks nearly broke down my door and she tackled me into a hug as Mira, Maeve and Louis entered the room. Her chestnut hair was shorter and wavier than before, only going down to her neck.

"Emi!" I laughed. "I missed you so much!"

She stared at me with tears in her eyes and sniffled. "Me too. It was lonely without you guys! I've been here for a week and a half!"

"Where's Vincent?" I asked, staring at the others. Louis looked as tired as always, his Combee flying overhead. One of the faces stuck out its tongue at me, but the others just stared, whispering at each other as they analyzed me.

"Not coming. He said that he's sticking to Hearthome until he at least gets into the second round of a Contest. So the top sixteen."

"Your friend's turned into a badass coordinator, by the way," Mira said. "She's been in the top sixteen twice."

Mira appeared to be better, but there was no way for me to know if that was how she really felt or not. Her lips stretched into a child-like smile as she offered me a warm greeting.

"I never seem to make it past the battle rounds, though," Emilia smiled awkwardly.

"Wait, you made it?" I gasped. "Emi— that's great! Why didn't you tell us? You didn't even send a text about it. Pauline's going to be livid."

"I wanted it to be a surprise. I have a few others too. Plus, with everything you guys went through at Solaceon, bragging about Contests didn't seem appropriate," she said.

"Come on. You're our friend, you deserve to celebrate things too," Maeve said. "Right Louis? Louis!"

"Yes. Obviously," he nodded. After a brief pause, he stared at me. "Grace, we heard about what happened on route 215. What in the world was that?"

"It's not as crazy as you think it is."

Mira doubled over and wheezed. "E—excuse me? Girl just walks up to a gate with a ton of Pokemon and acts like it's not crazy?"

"Well okay, it might be a little crazy," I acknowledged.

I chewed on my following words and considered what to say. I didn't exactly feel like going in-depth about the old legend of the boy with the Plume because of how unbelievable it was in the first place. Plus, they already knew I had a knack for understanding Pokemon, although it had probably grown past their expectations.

"Be— Hatterene found me while I was traveling through the route after I let some wild Pokemon under an overhang with me, fed them and healed an injured Ponyta," I explained. "Err, from there, she and Decidueye kind of took me under her wing."

I breathed a sigh of relief. Bellatrix would definitely scold me if I gave her name out like that. Nightstalker definitely wouldn't care, though.

"What does that mean?" Maeve said.

"She taught me and Princess a bunch of stuff. It was a lot of fun."

"So let me get this straight," Emilia exhaled. "You go and befriend a Hatterene, which are known to be incredibly dangerous and she becomes your teacher?"

"Well, also a friend," I added. "And don't forget about Night."

"Night?" Louis asked.

"Oh, Decidueye, sorry. I got used to calling them by name."

"Take a look," Mira smirked, showing me her phone. It was a video of me taken by a trainer in the gate and posted on the forums. "You're the talk of town."

"Right, it still doesn't explain the whole wild Pokemon swarm," Emi nodded.

I held back a shiver as I heard the sound of my recorded voice.

"This is going to sound a little crazy," I said. They all laughed. "I'm serious. Keep this a secret for now."

I didn't know how common it was for titles to be given out to trainers, and I wanted to at least wait until I spoke to Cynthia again to reveal that entire thing.

I waited for them to agree, and started again. "Hatterene gave me this title that makes Pokemon in forests look to me as a friend, so they came together to say goodbye."

"Title…?" Maeve muttered. All four looked somewhat confused.

"I know, it sounds weird, but it's true," I said. "I traveled alone to figure myself out, and that was exactly what I got from my time with her."

Emilia sighed. "I still can't believe the stuff you all get up to sometimes, but I'm happy for you."

"Thank you. And by the way, how are your Pokemon?!" I asked her. It'd been so long since I'd seen Beldum, Aipom and Rockruff. "They must have grown a lot with how you're this big deal coordinator now."

"Well, I wouldn't call myself a big deal," she shyly said. "I'm no rising star, but I'm good."

I blinked. I'd usually never seen Emilia this confident. Her voice had been steadfast when saying it.

"I don't know if you've seen, but I managed to catch Antoine Nguyen's old links to Team Galactic. He was someone the League had missed, which is where most of my fame came from. I've got… three hundred thousand subscribers. I'm doing pretty good."

"Told you she was badass," Mira said. "Hey, tell her how you caught him."

"Arceus, don't make it sound so crazy. I was looking for corruption first… there were rumors about him altering his scores for people he liked and disliked, but they'd never been substantial. I managed to sneak into his office at night and looked through until I found some old documents linking him to some weird packaging company that I had never even heard about, and I know business. That screamed shell company to me, so I looked deeper until I found out the whole entire thing was fake… that was the extent of my involvement, really. I warned Fantina about it, and it turned out that was a Team Galactic shell company, so they caught him. People keep saying it was me who did it, like I confronted him or something. Metang pointed me in the right direction, and Vincent helped a lot with research—"

"Wait, you said Metang?" I gasped.

She bit her lip. "Well dang it, my surprise is ruined, isn't it?"

"You have to show him to me!" I demanded. "I bet you have something crazy like a new Pokemon too."

"Or some new evolutions," Mira added.

"That is… scarily perceptive," she said.

She opened her purse, pulling out four Pokeballs. She teased us, releasing only her original three. Her white and golden Metang appeared as pristine as ever, his red eyes flashing in surprise as he saw me. I had seen a few in the Solaceon tournament, but I'd never really been close to one.

"Long time no see!" I said, expecting some words back.

He stayed silent, however, opting to simply bow using his entire body.

"Metang's a little shy. Well, I call him he, but he has two brains," she said. "It gets a little confusing when they both talk to me at once."

"Metang are actually real interesting," Mira mused. She touched at the cold steel, and the psychic type let out an eerie mechanic resonance in irritation. "They can either form naturally after a Beldum's psychic powers are put under enough stress and forces itself to split in two to add to those powers, or when two Beldum meet in the wild and decide to fuse into one being. It makes 'em more likely to survive. A lot of Pokemon eat steel where they live."

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. "I assume you went with the first option?"

"Yeah… it was when I got into my second top sixteen during my first Grand Contest. I, uh, got crushed. Temperance's Dragonair and Meowstic combo destroyed me in style, but Metang still evolved, so I wasn't too sad."

She is lying. She cried.

I almost jumped in surprise at the voice.

"Metang! You're so annoying!"

The steel type didn't care to entertain Emilia's antics. She released Ambipom as she grumbled under her breath.

"Ambi. Say hello."

The monkey greeted the entire room with a snicker, then presented one of his tails to Louis.

"He wants you to shake it," I said. Louis looked to Emilia, who nodded.

Louis brought his hand forward, but Ambipom sneakily stole his Poketch from his backpocket while he was doing so. He quickly tried to grab it back, but the normal type jumped over the desk, hanging onto the ceiling fan as she laughed and looked through his phone.

"Ambi! Give it back!"

Unfortunately for her, it was locked behind a code. Ambipom's grin twisted downward as he threw the phone back at Louis' face. The poor man just couldn't catch a break.

"I'm so sorry, he's been getting more and more mischievous," Emilia apologize, helping the blond man up. Ambipom stuck out his tongue and spun himself around on the ceiling fan until Metang clicked annoyingly and grabbed him with a Confusion. "Thank you, Metang. I promise he's not always like this. He was my first evolution. It happened a little before the Solaceon tournament started during one of our training sessions after he learned Double Hit."

"He seems fun enough," Mira said, much to Maeve's annoyance. "What?"

"Read the room."

"It's okay. I just hope he'll mature soon," Emilia said. Ambipom shook his head. She released Lycanroc next. He'd grown a lot, but still had that light brown fur. His lean muscles flexed and his rocky fur rustled as he lazily stretched across the floor. "Lycan's the same as always."

I crouched, petting the rough fur around his neck and he flopped on his back with his tongue hanging out. I obliged him and rubbed his belly instead.

"He's been a huge help raising my new Pokemon. Without him, she'd be like Ambi already."

"Enough teasing, just show it to us already," Mira complained with a childlike pout.

"Well, you can't blame a coordinator for enjoying the spectacle a little bit," she smirked.

Her new Pokemon was a small yellow fox with red fluff coming out of her ears that I immediately recognized as a Fennekin. She was pretty young, if I had to guess, with how she quickly hid behind Lycanroc, Ambipom and Emilia. Maeve was over the moon, though, and she desperately tried to pet the little Pokemon. Fennekin's eyes settled on me, and I could tell she that she felt my title. She only spent a few seconds doing so, though, and quickly returned to dodging Maeve's advances.

"I got her as an apology gift from my parents," she said with a pained smile. "That was always how they thought I worked, and they haven't changed at all."

"Your parents are in Hearthome?" Louis asked.

"Hmhm. They desperately want me to go back to the meek little girl I was before, most likely because they can feel their control over me slip. I knew it was bad when they didn't blow up at me when I told them I was pan and dating Pauline."

"Well, at least you told them, right?" Louis said. "Imagine telling your old self that."

"I know, right? But you know… I still love them, and they're trying, I guess. And I'm happy that they gave me Fennekin, even if I wished they'd let me do my own thing. But anyway, enough doom and gloom. You've got to go more in-depth with this Hatterene business! What'd she teach you?"

"Well, let me go back to the beginning. First, she scared the crap out of me…"

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett T, Dom Noct, yesnomaybeso, Sean M, Cypha, Daniel, Ryan T, Kail H, Bridie, dragonslaver, Benjamin R, Jon, Patrick, RosaC, TsukiNoNeko, NPM
 
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Chapter 180
CHAPTER 180

Telling my friends about Bellatrix in-depth kind of made me realize how abnormal the entire experience had been. Maeve looked pale throughout the tale, especially when telling her about her Moonblasts which hadn't even been at full power. Louis and Emilia were just nervous, but Mira was actually quite interested in Bella's capabilities, especially the perfect barriers she easily created that were of better quality than even the ones in the gyms. She was interested in replicating them with her Kadabra and Kirlia, but without her direct teaching, she was out of luck. Bella already despised her psychic side and did the bare minimum with that power, only using it to shield herself or move things around. If I had to guess, she probably did know powerful psychic attacks, but she would never use them unless she was forced to.

They all stuck around my room for two hours or so until Maeve and Louis decided to go out and train. Maeve was trying to get her Monferno to evolve before challenging Maylene while Louis was introducing his Combee to battling, so they could cooperate with each other during training. I was sure that they'd battle against Maylene before me because of time concerns. They'd already spoken about spending very little time in the city in the first place to go to Sunyshore right away. Plus, Maeve had her flying license to work on. Her Staraptor was absolutely massive and could very easily carry her far, but that would imply splitting from her group.

They'd have to talk about it soon.

Mira, Emilia and I weren't that concerned. Mira and I because it was just February 10th and there was still plenty of time, and Emilia because she didn't exactly care about ribbons. She just wanted to improve this year, and from her fantastic performance netting her the top sixteen twice, she was quickly becoming a great coordinator.

"Mira, did Denzel talk to you about the Game Corner stuff?" I asked.

"You guys are going to the Game Corner?" Emi said as she typed away on her phone. "I wouldn't step anywhere close to that building. The casino always wins."

"Way to be a downer," Mira rolled her eyes. "He did message me. I actually went inside to scout a little bit. It's not like I have much money to play with, but it'll be good to at least know how the games work and if we can figure out a way to cheat."

"Cheat?" I frowned.

"Yeah, no need to make that face. They've got an Obstagoon as a bouncer that'll detect any kind of bullshit you have going on and psychics inside that patrol the entire premises, so that option's off the table. Denzel wanted to do it by the books anyway… so I don't think I'll manage to get my Porygon."

"Oh, you want a Porygon?" Emi asked. "I haven't really seen them used in battle. You hear a lot about them being produced in Sunyshore, though."

"Yeah, they mostly live in computers, but they can come out too and get inside Pokeballs," she said before grinning. "There's a lot of funky stuff you can do with them. Bummer I probably won't win."

"Eh, I mean, you won't know until you try, right?" I said, trying to cheer her up.

"I do know, and that's alright. I was thinking of just going all in with all of my savings on one spin," she laughed, throwing her head back.

Emilia's mouth gaped. "You're crazy."

"Well, some might say it's the quickest path to the 750k I need to buy myself a Porygon. Fuckers inflate the hell out of that price for profit, by the way. It's nowhere near as expensive to code one. Anyway, we'll see when the big boy himself gets there. Hopefully he's not getting grilled by your fairy friend."

"He'll be fine. They all will," I firmly said. "Err, Mira, how are you doing beyond all of your Game Corner plans?"

I knew from the moment that she'd stepped into this room that she hadn't given up on finding Charon. In fact, I suspected that she hadn't only snooped around the Game Corner. If the League couldn't find that Team Galactic base, I doubted that she could.

Still, I didn't want to talk about that with Emilia here, so I would just ask about her mental health for now.

The pink-haired girl silently stared at me and pursed her lips. "Been doing great," she said, innocently lifting her hands in the air. "I'm not as sad as usual, and that's a win in my book. I'm focused on other things right now."

Other things like her uncle, I guessed. Even if part of me internally screamed that she had the right to look for Charon, the rational part of me worried for her safety.

"Okay. Well, so long as you're sure of what you want."

"I think just coming somewhat close to achieving my goal would unwind a lot of tension that's been building up," she smirked.

"Are you speaking in code right now? Because it feels like you're speaking in code," Emilia frowned.

"What, of course not!" Mira said in a very sarcastic way. "Anyway, I've been trying to meet up with Chase, but he's ignored all of my texts. I can't find him in a city this big."

"Wait, you're still on that? I thought you were just pretending?" I scoffed.

"What? Obviously not!" She yelled. "Have you seen him? Anyway, I'm off."

My face fell. "Already? I thought you were gonna hang."

"No, I've been trying to teach myself how to code and progressing leaps and bounds. Think of it as a plan B for my Porygon," she exclaimed as she closed the door.

"Then why would you spend everything you have on one spin?!" Emilia groaned. "Arceus, this girl is crazy."

"A little," I nervously laughed.

I had no idea how to even begin to code, but I did know that creating Porygon was among the most challenging tasks out there. There was just no way that she was going to succeed in a few weeks what took most people years. If Kadabra had been interested in coding, then maybe, but he wasn't, and from what she'd told us about the species, they weren't about to do something they didn't want to, even if it was to help their trainer.

I spent a few hours talking to Emilia about everything and anything, although it was mostly me asking about her contest stuff. She'd made a few friends aside from Vincent in the scene mostly through her influencer stuff, and an eccentric judge had taken an interest in her. Like always, just the judge stuff just didn't seem right to me. If a judge took an interest in someone, how could we be sure that they wouldn't be biased in their scores? Well, even Emilia wasn't so sure anymore, but all she could do was keep going. She was having the most fun she'd ever had in her entire life.

This was what she'd always wanted to do.

But I had things to do myself as well. First and foremost, my team needed direction. After picking up my Pokemon from Nurse Joy and bidding Emilia goodbye, I decided to go down south toward route 214. I had considered going back to route 215 on the off-chance of seeing Bella again, but something told me the rangers wouldn't take too kindly to my presence there. Veilstone's south was actually very pretty compared to the hulking factories of the northern side. The further south I went, the more expansive and big the homes looked. I made my way through a sprawling network of suburbs until I reached the city's gate and went through, although some Rangers there did shoot me a look and whispered behind my back like children. It seemed like I was building a pretty bad reputation with them, or at least the ones in and around Veilstone.

I'd remember their faces—

"Arceus. That's the Bellatrix in me speaking."

No, there was no need to feel that antagonistic. Most of them were just kids slightly older than me. Younger rangers tended to be stationed in Sinnoh's east due to how much safer it was. It was difficult to compare the cozy plains of route 214 with the rugged Iron Island, Mount Coronet, or Eterna Forest, and trainers often complained about the double standard. A few close brushes with death would let them know how immature they were being, but they'd most likely have to wait a few years for that.

Yes. An appropriate price, even if I wasn't the one collecting.

"Woah," I gasped as I exited the gate.

Route 214 was truly stunning, especially on a bright day like this one. To my right were mountains taller than the ones I'd had to scale on the previous route, but still paled when compared to the towering Mount Coronet, ever present in the far distance and dwarfing them completely. Beyond the smaller mountains was Solaceon, which I'd be able to see if I climbed them. There was no way in hell I was going to do that, though.

The beginning of route 214 actually had a road. Not just a dirt path or a trail, but a fully paved road that stretched on beyond the horizon. Civilians driving there wasn't allowed, but Pastoria, Veilstone and Sunyshore transported a lot of their goods through trucking, so some freight companies had the right to use the road. Other than that, it was reserved for government use.

There were trainers almost everywhere, but no Pokemon to be seen. I felt a twinge of pain at the notion that they'd been kicked out of their land, but I didn't dwell on it. I made my way west toward the ridge's flank, where I'd be able to get some peace and quiet. It felt good to be out of the city. It wasn't like I didn't like cities, I just disliked Veilstone in particular. The tension with Mira, Team Galactic, the League and the fact that it was polluted to all hell just made the entire city unpleasant to be in. There really ought to be some regulations on how much greenhouse gases a city was allowed to emit…

I released my entire family with a wide smile, and they all returned the gesture in their own ways. Jellicent boomed, his eyes softening slightly at my touch. Cold water dripped down my arm and then onto the ground.

Pupitar yelled happily, but there was also a loud crack when she jumped in place. She was currently molting for the first time, which mean she'd grow a few inches when she was fully done. Her rocky armor appeared weaker than usual, and the few cracks that revealed the new one within showed that it was a lot shinier than what she currently had. It glimmered under the sun and had a slight blue tint to it, while her current one was just a dull grey. It was also slightly soft to the touch, but I knew that'd go away a few hours after she was done molting completely.

Well, I'd go easy on her today and allow her to eat the rocks here and molt in peace. It had started a few days ago while we were still with Bella, and she hated the entire process. According to her, it made her feel dirty, as if she wasn't crawling around dirt all day.

Not that I said that, though. She'd make a whole scene otherwise.

Electabuzz grinned, happy to be back out of his ball. After greeting me, he teased Sweetheart by making fun of her half-molted form, and the rock type threw a tantrum by jumping up and down. The ground shook under my feet, but Angel quickly helped by wrapping a vine around me.

"You knew she'd do that, didn't you?" I groaned.

The electric type proceeded to belly laugh until he was out of breath. It really wasn't that funny, but I couldn't help but giggle too. Much to my annoyance, Turtonator encouraged her, yelling at her to bring down the entire mountain. Thankfully, Sweetheart stopped after a few vines from Angel soothed her by caressing the little crevasse between the jagged spikes on her head. We both knew it was her favorite spot.

"You relax and eat, okay? I'll see about getting you your special food when I come back to speed up your evolution," I said. I still had to look at the prices in-depth to see how much I'd be able to get while still saving for a Shiny Stone.

Sweetheart let out an echoing roar from within her cocoon.

"When we get to Sunyshore, I'll see about letting you swim. Veilstone is close to the water, but it doesn't really have beaches. So just hang in there, okay?"

She begrudgingly agreed. She was cute when she acted spoiled like that. Princess was spoiled too, but it was a different kind. She just wanted me to give her most of my attention, which was evident with how she'd immediately asked to be picked up when I released her. Meanwhile, while Sweetheart did demand attention, she mostly wanted everything that caught her eye no matter how unrealistic it was, and that was reinforced by how Sunshine kept telling her that yes, that was an entirely reasonable way to think.

Yeah… I had two spoiled girls, and it was entirely on me. At least Honey was reasonable despite enjoying pushing Pupitar's buttons.

I placed my hands behind my back and walked back and forth between my team as they formed a line.

"Listen up everyone! Our time with Bella might have been very productive, but we can't rest on our laurels! You've all improved leaps and bounds, but there are still plenty of glaring weaknesses we need to address before the fight with Maylene— Sunshine, pay attention. This is good for team cohesion even if you aren't fighting. You want to beat Night, right?"

The dragon's nose flared, but he turned back my way. It was crazy how quickly he just found a spot to lie down when he was too lazy to walk anywhere for more than an hour. My eyes drifted toward Sweetheart's mouth, and I saw Angel sneakily bringing her large pebbles and rocks so she wouldn't have to move around too much. I silently thanked him by dipping my head and kept going.

"She's a fighting type gym leader, and even though I haven't done my research yet, I know that implies fighting at close quarters. Angel, remember what happened to you and Lucario?"

The grass type's vines instinctively retracted further into his body.

"Right? That was scary. I don't think we'll have to fight a Vacuum Wave user again, but since Maylene's Pokemon are fighting types, I think that they'll have a lot of ways to rip out your vines and escape from Bind. That means that we're going to focus on long-range attacks for this gym. Leech Seed, your powder moves— we'll add Sleep Powder to that mix, by the way. If we had enough time, we could get started on Solar Beam, but that's a long way off without a TM, so we'll stick to that for now. If you can weaken them enough with those moves, they'll have a harder time countering your vines."

The grass type nodded and happily petted my head by extending one of his hand-vines and tightening the one he already had around my ankle. I needed to take what had caused Chase to beat me into account, so adding onto Angel's toolkit was a must.

"Princess, you're going to play a huge role. Keep practicing with Dazzling Gleam and Moon Blast. I know you want to get better with glamour, but we'll work on the fundamentals first."

Togetic nodded but noted that Bella would be very angry hearing that.

"She would," I acquiesced. "But her mind doesn't work with time constraints. She's centuries old, and I don't exactly know how long Hatterene live for, but she seems to think she can keep going for a long while. We just think about these things differently," I explained to her.

Togetic sagely nodded, adding that Bella wouldn't care about losing to Maylene anyway.

"Exactly. You're gonna pack a punch at the gym, just keep working on what Bella told you," I said. "Now Sweetheart, you can take it easy today— hey, don't start yelling, I haven't even finished yet! Tomorrow, you're going to work on your precision with your flight. Fighting types are strong enough to crack your cocoon, but Bella taught us that the type advantage isn't everything. No Pokemon would be able to shrug off 350 pounds flying at them. Add Iron Defense onto that, and you're one of the biggest threats as long as you've got air stored in your vents."

She shivered in excitement, letting out a burst of air that kicked up a bunch of dust in Honey's face, which was something she took great pleasure in. The electric type looked at me and complained, but he had made fun of her earlier, so he owed her at least this.

But he definitely wouldn't like hearing what I was going to say next.

"Honey, this gym is kind of your biggest weakness," I started. "I'll still use you, obviously— the fight's going to be five-on-five, but Maylene's Pokemon will be better than you at close combat. We've kind of been neglecting your ranged attacks, so we'll start working extensively on those again for the gym. If you can't beat them at their own game, then change the way you play. Was that the saying? I forgot."

My Pokemon looked at me confusedly. Right, if I didn't know the saying, there was no way they'd know.

"So keep working on Thunderbolt, Discharge and Protect for when you're in a pinch," I said. "But you know, since we're trying to impress Volkner next, your long-term project will be working on Thunder."

His eyes glimmered at the move's name.

"I don't think it's realistic for you to expect to learn it in time for the fight. You'll need to essentially tire yourself out by draining out all of your electricity over and over to build up the amount of electricity you can store, so it goes hand in hand with your training. Remember when you could only use a few Thunderbolts, but now you can use a whole lot? It's basically like that— like working out."

I patted him on the shoulder and then moved on to Jellicent.

"Bud, you're obviously working on Night Shade," I started. "But we've been neglecting your water side lately. Whirlpool is good, but it's easily countered unless you're fighting something in a water arena. It's about time we get you decked out with something stronger than Water Pulse."

Jellicent silently stared and awaited my following words.

"On one hand, we've got Hydro Pump. On the other, we've got Water Spout. These techniques are extremely demanding and they'll drain you of most of your water right away. Hydro Pump is like a much more powerful Water Gun that can cut through just about anything. Water Spout is kind of like Honey's Discharge. You use the water inside of you and explode it outward. I've seen it used in a single direction too, but that requires a lot more control. Control that you won't have yet. I'm letting you pick which one you want to learn. Start working on both and mull over it today."

He nodded, letting out a few resonating clicks.

"Sunshine. Don't look at me like that, yes, you," I groaned, playfully kicking his leg. "Stop being such a lazy old man. I thought Night lit a fire in you today."

The fire type grumbled and closed his eyes. It was a relatively warm day today, so he wanted to laze around in the sun and rest. He was clearly exasperated with me.

"No new moves. You already have an incredibly diverse pool, so just stick around and stay active. Help the others when they ask for it and battle them too, okay?"

He waved an annoyed hand at me and reluctantly agreed.

"Great! But hey, if you really don't want to train, don't feel forced to. You go at your own pace."

He opened a surprised eye at me and I grinned.

"I know how hard it is for old Pokemon like you—"

I coughed as a mouthful of smoke surrounded my face.

Yeah, I kind of deserved that.

Well, I'd downloaded a few of Maylene's fifth gym battles, so after coughing for what felt like an entire minute, I plopped myself down next to a rock and opened my laptop. I was surprised to see that even on this route, there was internet access. The government had really built up this side of Sinnoh. Not as much as Unova, though, since according to Cece, they had internet and service on almost all of their routes.

Well, more videos for me. After doing some shameless promotion for the Poketch Company, of course. I also posted something else. A challenge to trainers with six or seven badges in Veilstone.

The board filled up with hundreds of answers immediately, and I just knew that ninety percent of them were lying.

"How the hell am I going to sort through this? Picture verification for proof?"

I sighed and opted to go and study Maylene for now instead.

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett T, Dom Noct, yesnomaybeso, Sean M, Cypha, Daniel, Ryan T, Kail H, Bridie, dragonslaver, Benjamin R, Jon, Patrick, RosaC, TsukiNoNeko, NPM, Jim A
 
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Chapter 181
CHAPTER 181

People thought I was good at Pokemon Battling, and these days I tended to agree. I had grown past being a meek girl with no confidence in my skill even though I did keep that confidence level-headed. Maylene Suzuki? She was a prodigy. She was fifteen now, but she'd been a gym leader since the last Circuit, and even if the rumors about her being a puppet that simply did whatever her handlers told her to were anywhere near true, that didn't stop the fact that her true team was good enough for her to be a Gym Leader at her age.

It hadn't been by luck, either. Maylene's father— the old Gym Leader had tutored her in Pokemon Battling from the day she could speak. The ways that she was trained were pretty hush-hush and were a tightly held secret by the Suzuki family, but I was sure that it involved some physical training. The story went that Maylene's father retired after remarrying and left the gym to her with the government's approval thanks to her incredible skill. She'd been raised with the role in mind and had no interest in actually journeying like the majority of Gym Leaders did at least once.

Another special thing about Maylene? She was an Aura user.

I remembered from history class that Aura users had been plentiful in ancient history from the many texts and primary sources from the time, which was a big part of how humanity managed to survive in olden times when there weren't that many trainers, but these days? There were barely any left and the gene came completely randomly. Her father or mother hadn't been one, and neither had her grandparents. She was unique, and the only Aura user Gym Leader. No one in Elite Four or even Cynthia could draw on that power.

Not that it meant much anyway. Despite the stories about some humans slinging Aura Spheres or standing toe-to-toe with Pokemon thanks to Aura in ancient times, we couldn't do anything with it these days. It just wasn't concentrated enough in a body to use it for anything substantial, but it was common knowledge that Maylene did strengthen her body with it. Not enough to face down a wild Pokemon, but enough to pretty much manhandle any human facing her without breaking a sweat.

She could also do some funny light tricks with it if that counted for anything.

Princess called out to me, causing me to lift my head just in time to see a Moonblast crash into a boulder she'd raised.

"Good job, baby! Keep going!" I praised.

She chirped and excitedly flew in a loop. Training was going well, even if it had only been twenty minutes. No one was struggling with what they had to do. Angel was practicing the range of his powder moves, Buddy was trying to figure out how to forcefully expunge the huge amount of water needed for Hydro Pump or Water Spout. Honey was already panting, having released an incredible amount of electricity.

Uh, Sweetheart was trying to ram into Sunshine further down the route and he was easily avoiding her antics by turning and exploding on impact. I'd grown so used to the explosions at this point that they didn't really bother me either, but trainers nearby might think differently. Hopefully they wouldn't investigate and bother them.

Maylene's threats were plenty, but the ones who caught my eye immediately was Lucario. At first, I thought that she'd been using her ace and starter against some poor guy with four badges, but as it turned out, she owned two. This one had recently evolved at the start of this year and knew Vacuum Wave, so I had jinxed myself and Angel.

I groaned, putting a palm against my forehead.

"Just my luck."

If I had to place Lucario somewhere, it'd be slightly better than Chase's. Having evolved months ago meant that it was a lot more confident with its movements in battle than Ri had been, and it was also slightly stronger across the board with a wider variety of moves like the elemental punches— and kicks. I thought Buddy or Princess would be a good match here, but I'd have to study up what a vacuum would do to a being made out of water. I was so tired of that damned move. I already thought that I wouldn't have to face it again until a rematch against Ri, but alas.

Or maybe she wouldn't use Lucario against me! That'd be great.

"Might have jinxed myself again," I muttered.

Lucario was probably what most trainers like me would consider the biggest threat, but what worried the crap out of me was actually her Falinks. It'd be like battling six Pokemon while you only had one, and each one of them could use moves independently. Even if they were weaker than when they combined their strengths for a move, it'd be a lot to keep track of. Luckily for me, there was a trick to beating them. Take down the leading Falinks, and the rest would forgo all strategy and start panicking, even with their trainer's orders. Maylene had trained hers to keep that panic at a manageable level, but the advantage was still there.

But then, something else began to catch my eye.

Machoke, Mienshao, Sawk, Throh, Medicham… they all had a similar way of fighting with some quirks, like Mienshao's weird whip-things and elegant demeanor. It was as if they all trained together as a unit rather than as individuals. On one hand, it made studying for most fights easier, but on the other, I was just getting into what made Maylene special as a battler.

First, most of her Pokemon at my level could use Aura to some extent. Medicham and Lucario were known aura users, but Machoke? Throh? That was new, and I bet that she and her ace Lucario had something to do with that. For example, her Mienshao could coat its whips with Aura to increase how powerful its hits were, and Hariyama's Force Palm also used Aura. Normally, for Pokemon that weren't Lucario or other known Aura users, Force Palm was just a powerful shock wave, so it was a pretty mediocre move.

Unfortunately, Maylene wasn't normal. I'd have to do some more studying on Aura after figuring out her shtick. She was a very intense trainer. Yelled out all of her orders like it was the last one of the battle and didn't take well to 'dishonorable' tactics, so there was a dash of Pauline there. The problem was that she'd actually start to go harder in the battle if she felt like you used too many dirty tricks. A proper Gym Leader could stay impartial, but she was a teenager, which meant that she got emotional easily.

Ugh, look at me, psychoanalyzing her, I groaned.

It seemed that like Chase, she was a fast-paced battler that was quick to punish any mistakes, but her Pokemon also knew human fighting techniques. Before going on this journey, I'd had this image in my mind about fighting types being Pokemon that just hit things hard, but it was apparent that all of her humanoid Pokemon had been personally trained by her, or her father before her. I licked my dry lips when a video of a Zebstrika struggling in Machoke's clinch played. The poor electric type had been locked up and the life out of it squeezed until it fainted. Its trainer had been out of switches.

If I ever let one of her Pokemon approach mines, the battle was over. Only Jellicent, who was able to liquefy his body would be safe.

A single sound escaped from my lips.

"Ah."

I felt a fire ignite in my heart and clenched a fist. I could already tell that this wasn't going to be like the Fantina battle. This was going to be incredibly difficult and one mistake could cost me the entire battle.

Maylene was a prodigy.



"Gonna have to watch for Stone Edge… ugh, this sucks. I think Princess can stop that attack…" I muttered as I chewed on my nails.

Maylene was a real tough nut to crack. Whereas with previous Gym Leaders, I'd been able to naturally create a plan for every Pokemon, there was just no way to be sure what I was doing would work here— well, I'd never been sure about these gym battles, but the scaffolding for my plans felt a lot shakier here than what I'd done against Gardenia, Candice and Fantina. Hopefully I'd be able to remedy that with how much I'd improved at improvisation.

Denzel would definitely have an easier time in this gym than Cece or I thanks to Froslass and Sylveon's ribbons. Zweilous and Golett would be at a heavy disadvantage, the former because of the type disadvantage and the latter because of how slow and unresponsive he was. Maylene also had a few ways to counter psychics like Slowking. Talonflame would be her best bet, being fast enough to dodge counters like Stone Edge or Rock Tomb.

I placed my laptop down and hugged my knees. I missed her.

Chase would struggle as well because of how much focus he'd put on close-ranged battles. I was already starting to feel the excitement build up, but I wouldn't sign up just yet. First, I had to get back to this trainer battle business. There were thousands of responses, and I didn't feel like browsing through them and verifying who was real or not, so I created a new message telling people to DM me pictures of the badges on their trainer ID.

That did the trick, and the thousands of messages suddenly narrowed down to sixteen. Eleven people with six badges and five with seven. It was fun to see the different paths that they'd all taken. Almost all of them were missing Maylene's badge, since they were in Veilstone, but they all had different badges. One of them even beat Candice as their sixth badge.

Now, I could either pick a six-badger or a seven-badger, but I still didn't know what I wanted. On one hand, I didn't really want to get completely dominated, but on the other, I felt like I'd be able to get more valuable advice from someone with seven badges.

"Screw it. Seven badges it is."

The person I replied to was a second-year called Zachary Gallagher. My standards may have been screwed by being surrounded by so many talented first-years, but getting that many badges during your second year still meant that you were a very good trainer. I didn't know if I should commit and research everything I could find, try to improvise or do a bit of both.

But if I was trying to get better, it'd be a good idea to come at him at my best. That meant intensive research. I nodded to myself, content with the decision.

Zachary— although he told me to call him Zach— had lost to Maylene for his eighth badge recently. According to him, he'd saved her for last because he thought she'd be the easiest Gym Leader to battle for an eighth badge, but he'd lost 4-6. As a result, he was stuck in Veilstone for the next two weeks. He'd be able to battle me in two days when his team was healed.

Okay, that had been a lot easier to set up than I thought. I messaged Melody to let her know what I was doing and went back to studying. Apparently being suddenly shoved into a vacuum would make Buddy's head expand and boil until a decent bit of his body evaporated, so that was fun.

I hated Vacuum Wave.



It was evening when I made my way back to Veilstone. My Pokemon were all exhausted from training and they deserved a good night's rest, so I was planning on going to the Center right away to let them relax there. On my way back, I actually walked across a mansion with dozens of League Trainers guarding the place, and it was only then that I remembered that Cecilia's dad was currently being kept in Veilstone while under house arrest. I felt my lips twist into a smile as I walked past his home.

He got what he deserved.

Jellicent shadowed me the entire way back, his form loose as he lazily floated behind me. He had used a lot of water, and the route wasn't exactly close to any rivers or the sea, so he'd have to wait to regenerate on his own. He had come to a decision and opted to learn Hydro Pump, though. Water Spout proved too difficult and erratic to work on while he at least knew how to wrangle with Hydro Pump, although at this point, the move was more of a glorified Water Gun since we'd only had one afternoon to work on it.

"I know, I'll draw you a bath in the shower," I said as I turned a corner. His misshapen form caused some poor civilian to almost jump out of his skin. After apologizing, I turned back to him and walked backwards. "Cold, just like you like it. You can sink into it and dissolve all night if you want."

Buddy let out a pleasant whistle in agreement.

"Gotcha. You'll have to let me shower first though. And I also have to wash Honey and Princess today. Sweetheart is gonna complain, but she's too heavy and too big to get into the shower."

The water type boomed, and I nodded.

"I guess I could just drag the showerhead out and wash her that way, but the entire bathroom's going to get so wet… ah, I'll do it anyway. She deserves it."

I grabbed some food from the cafeteria to go and then got to taking care of my team. Honey hated showering so much that I had to help him do it even though he was capable of doing so himself while Princess just enjoyed the whole process. Sweetheart, though? She went crazy for water, and showers were no different. She finally finished molting while I washed her and partially inundated our bathroom, revealing a resplendent new cocoon.

I had to throw the slimy remains of her disheveled shell in the trash. Trainers never told you this when they brandished their Tyranitar.

Today had felt like an entire week, and after chatting with my friends through text, I eventually drifted off to sleep to the soft sound of Turtonator speaking to Jellicent through the bathroom door, bragging about the fact that he was technically still in his prime and that he'd only grow from there.

He was such a kid sometimes.



I was horribly thirsty when I woke up.

I let my Pokemon sleep as I grabbed some bottled water from the fridge and calmly opened up my laptop. Nothing could escape Jellicent, however, and he quickly dripped under the bathroom door. A cool gust of air softly blew on my hair as he reformed behind me.

"That's new," I whispered.

The water type didn't answer. He wasn't that talkative in the morning, not because he was tired but because he was scared of waking up everyone else. He'd been quiet as a Frillish, but he was loud now, even when he didn't want to be. Today, I'd study up more on Aura and how it interacted with type energy and Pokemon in general, but first, I wanted to at least get research done on Zachary. I knew I'd lose, but I wanted to at least put up a fight. Finding his team was pretty easy. He was sponsored by a few companies and was pretty famous name around Floaroma— his hometown. He was the best trainer from there in decades, and it felt good to see a change from the usual Sunyshore, Hearthome or Jubilife natives.

"Guilty as charged," I mumbled. Maybe Denzel would eventually become a household name in Twinleaf too, although he wasn't the only rising star from there. There was that Barry kid people couldn't stop talking about.

Either he'd never told me about him, or they hadn't exactly known each other, which would be strange in a small town like Twinleaf. I hadn't really pushed for information though.

I whistled as I browsed through Zach's team. He had seven Pokemon and they were obviously all fully evolved. I blinked when I saw Vespiquen, though. Those were rather rare with how weak Combee was, but I took note to ask him for tips on raising one for Louis. Today was going to be quite busy with all the studying I'd need to do, but I was still excited. It had been a while since I had researched trainers so in-depth.

The morning flew by, and I only took a break to eat. While I analyzed more of Machoke's battle to make sure that I wasn't missing moves available on video, I heard an irritated knock at my door.

It was Chase… and Mira, although I was pretty sure she was just along for the ride.

"Hi?" I frowned.

Mira beamed. "Chasey and I were just swinging by—"

"Pastel. Nice seeing you," Chase said dryly. He was annoyed as hell, and I didn't even bother asking him how Mira had found him. His eyes settled on my desk full of notes and he dipped his head. "I'll swing by later."

"Wait, you can stay," I said, recalling my Pokemon to give them space. "What's up?"

"He's salty he lost to that Lauren chick," Mira smugly said. "Should have seen him after the battle. He almost turned completely red."

"Is that how you found him?" I asked.

"I was just doing some investigating and I noticed that one of the arenas was packed. I haven't left his side since."

"I hate you. And the battle was close, you asshole."

"You've stopped insulting me every sentence. It's only every other sentence now, and I consider that a win," she cheered.

"Go back to school, grow a few inches and I'll start swinging."

"Hold on, hold on," I interrupted. "You lost to Lauren Goodwill?"

"Yeah. Now my team is all screwed up and I won't be able to attend my gym battle in time tomorrow, so that's two extra weeks in here for me."

"Yay!" Mira laughed.

"Fuck you."

"What was the score?" I asked, shivering in anticipation.

"5-6. Like I said, close," he shrugged.

"Well, her Sceptile barely took any damage, so you're inflating the numbers," Mira added.

"What was the issue? How'd the battle even happen? Did you record it? What Pokemon was her biggest threat? Rhydon?" I asked in quick succession.

"Calm down, Arceus. I didn't even come here to talk about how mediocre I was, I came here to tell you that she wanted to battle you too along with your pals Williams and Obel. I told her to send a text and stop bothering me, but she said that it was more appropriate this way. Normally I would have told her to fuck off and left, but I knew you'd be interested."

"Not me?" Mira pouted.

"No one cares about you, pest," he waved his hand dismissively. "That Lauren chick is crazy. She's even more obsessed with battles than you," he pointed at me. "She has a one-track mind."

"Cool. Answer my questions, please," I said.

"Meh. Her Rhydon was pretty easy, and she led with it. It's tough, but dumb as hell and Ri easily dealt with it after hitting it enough times. Aggron was a problem, though— actually, all of her Pokemon are problems. I just couldn't compete with the amount of destruction she brought onto the field, it fucking blows. Anyway, I'm off. I have to cancel my flying lessons with Sigilyph. She got pretty beat up. Then I'm gonna blow off some steam by running across the city. Fuckin' Lauren…"

"Okay…? Stay safe—"

"Bye-bye Chasey!" Mira waved.

The fact that she wasn't going to follow him was enough to get him to run out of the room.

"You're not following him?" I asked.

"Nah. It'd be fun, but I'm busy. Hey, listen to this: my League Trainer bodyguard actually had to tell me to stop snooping around so much because it made it hard to protect me," she laughed. "I guess I am kind of annoying."

"You should stop self-destructing. Is Maeve not around?"

"Oh, she's busy training with Louis and trying to lock down where Justin is. I don't want to involve her with this."

"You're involving her by just doing this," I snapped. "Stop acting crazy because you're hurting, it's not good for you."

Mira's eye twitched. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"If you drag us into this and force us to have to save you—"

"You worry too much, Grace. You didn't try to stop me when we were risking our lives in Solaceon. Oh sure, you acted like a good old reasonable gal, straddling the middle ground, but you wanted it just as much as I did."

"What are you implying?" I hissed, biting my lip.

"That you're a hypocrite. I know you want revenge on that fucked up Mars chick too, but you only act like you don't. I know how people like you function. I've seen it."

"You don't know what you're talking about," I mirrored her words. "I think it'd be best if you took a breather and got out of my room. You've offended enough," I said dryly.

"Ah, offended," Mira mused. "You've changed— or at least stopped hiding. I was waiting to see if you'd tell us anything, but hey, to be honest, you don't owe me anything. Funnily enough, you expect to know everything about me while you get to keep your secrets."

"What do you—"

"Kadabra's studying TE, remember? He's taken quite an interest in how it affects humans, and he's close to figuring out everything he wants to. You gave him the breakthrough he needed," she said.

I froze for a split second. "Just go."

"You're the one that started this, but fine, run away from the tough conversation," she said after a short pause. "Remember this, though. I think that out of everyone in the group, we might not know each other the best, but in terms of understanding each other?"

She left the rest of the sentence unsaid.

"Toodles!" Mira waved. "I'll be looking forward to our cooperation in the near future."

I almost expected her to slam my door, but she just closed it gently. I… I didn't know what to make of this. I was angry at her, but I just couldn't even begin to understand how she thought, and I was supposed to be good with people. Nothing she said made any sense— or it did make sense, but why now? Because of the stress she felt due to being close to her uncle? I thought that we'd been on good terms and had gotten closer after the entire Solaceon debacle, but she was acting as if I had wronged her.

And I had told people about Togetic's leakage. I'd told Cecilia about it— but she had no way to know that. Or no, maybe she'd just think the fact that I'd only told her was worse.

Arceus, I couldn't wait for the rest of the group to get here. I just wanted to cuddle with Cecilia right now and for her to comfort me. Even after all my time spent only with Pokemon, I still felt like I needed her. Hopefully, Denzel would get Mira back on track while they did their Game Corner stuff. I sent a text to Maeve asking her to check up on Mira, just in case. I felt like she was just trying to antagonize me for no reason, but maybe it'd be different with her best friend.

I spent the next hour or two studying, but I couldn't get my head in the game. As if the situation couldn't get any worse, the text I got made me feel dread I thought I could only feel when my life was threatened.

Mom

Hi Grace! I know this is sudden, but I'm actually visiting Veilstone with your grandma right now and I heard that you were in town. I was wondering if you were free to meet? It's been a while and I want to try to mend things further, but I feel like that's impossible without meeting again. Let me know!

I was sweating buckets before I even finished reading the entire text. How in the world had she gotten here? Had they fucking walked to Sandgem and taken a plane from there? I just had too much going on for this!

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett T, Dom Noct, yesnomaybeso, Sean M, Cypha, Daniel, Ryan T, Kail H, Bridie, dragonslaver, Benjamin R, Jon, Patrick, RosaC, TsukiNoNeko, NPM, Jim A
 
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