#So let’s check out the Pokédex so I can talk about something

[pokemonfrommemory]

Vape looking creature

[darkx-the-dragon-kn1ght]

Chapter 15- Part 1

Alright, so- Jasper Ward is still trashed, but maybe now it’ll be slightly less trashed than before. Let’s start by heading down this street for anything new.

Aha, new things! Just as I predicted!

Now, something I know we can do for a fact: go get that other police officer who was behind that one annoying vine!

There you are! Get over here so I can go get that item too!

Perfect! That’s both the Jasper Ward officers safe and sound, and that means the rest are all in Beryl Ward- as if we needed even more incentive to head over there. But what’s the super special item over there, before we get going?

That’s…y’know what, that’s still useful, I won’t complain.

Anyways, something else I want to check is- what?

Wild Pokémon can still be encountered? The heck? Get outta here, I’m trying to explore!

Like I was saying- I’m heading back to that one building with the guy freaking out over his Mareep because the one doorway was blocked by another vine. But now that the PULSE is gone, it should be open…

OH! That’s even better than what I was expecting! Which Field is this one gonna be about?

Well, it’s about time I got some info on those dang trees! I’ve only fought on that specific field about a dozen times already and can already get a decent idea of what it’s all about, but hey, better late than never. Though, given the U.I. issues, I might be better off just reading its info on the wiki…

WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT’S ONLY SPECIAL BUG MOVES THAT GET THE BOOST- 

Anyways! Let’s head to the right side of the ward now that those other vines are all cleared, see what there is to discover. Like more street signs!

Pretty sure that just loops back around? Lemme go down and check-

Well, that’s even more handy! Hard to afford a lot of those right now, so I’ll take street Potions wherever possible.

And…yeah, it does just kinda loop back around. Good, that makes navigation even easier! But actually, since we’re down here, might as well just check in on the police station- I’m curious if the rescued officers will be there, and if anything special will happen if we talk to them.

Yeah, okay, nothing special here, let’s just continue with exploring.

Let’s see- there’s a house down here and an inconspicuous rock, is there a hidden item there?

No item, but- I can see Peridot Ward down there! Those are the gates the train came in from, and that house the first Magikarp thief was in! Hello down there!! How did none of you notice the tree horrors going on like right above all of you??

Anyways, into this house now-

Ohohoho, what have we here? A Mareep, running around super fast just like a certain guy in another building? Like Pokémon like Trainer, I guess. Let’s see what we can do to calm it down.

I- I’m sorry, she obtained the Mareep? Did she just steal that guy’s Mareep??

Um…okay?? Cool? Good for us? I had a feeling we’d get the Mareep in the end, but- right now, right here? Before even returning it to the guy?

Well, uh- we have it now. Now, what to name it…

Nimbus- there we go! Cumulonimbus clouds are often the ones associated with thunderstorms, and Mareep and Flaafy have those cloud-like appearances with their wool and all- like so, in its PokéDex entry:

But now that we’ve found Mareep, I wonder if anything will happen if we put it in the party and talk to that guy again? Well, let’s do exactly that and give it a try.

…Um. The guy…is gone? He has vanished into thin air? Maybe he went into the back room, hold on-

…Ah. Well…this is awkward. Uh…guess we can just…keep Nimbus, no strings attached. Good for us…?

Next

[authorialarcanist]

Gracidea Blossom Chapter 8: The Wind and the Rain

(Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, & Platinum x Little Busters!)

Mirror Links: AO3, Pokécommunity, Spacebattles

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Previous - Next

Spoiler Warning: Starting this chapter, Gracidea Blossom will contain spoilers for Komari’s Route of Little Busters! Since this is the first such spoiler point, I’ll reiterate my general policy: I’ll be using primarily backstory spoilers and trying to leave elements of the route that people can still enjoy even if they read this story first, and marking with an author’s note like this one before any chapter that firstintroduces spoilers from that route, while considering backstory information introduced in that route fair game for the rest of the story afterwards.

---

The day after Rin started her training, Riki finds himself aimlessly wandering the streets of Jubilife. With Masato and Kengo occupied with preparing Rin for her Gym Challenge, and Kyousuke busy at Jubilife TV, Riki’s been left largely to his own devices whenever he’s not being dragged into the training himself.

The gray sky seems to press down on him as he walks. Ever since this journey started, something’s felt subtly off. Masato and Kengo always pushing their training. Kyousuke’s vague questions. As much as Riki wants to treat everything as just more of the silly games the Little Busters play together, he can’t shake the feeling that something is moving. Dragging Masato, Kengo, and Rin into these strange impetuses, and threatening to leave him behind.

Perhaps that’s why his feet take him back to the park where he and Rin had battled the previous day. Sitting with his Pokémon amidst the faded grass, he can at least feel a little less alone.

After letting Terra and Sly out of their Pokéballs, Riki leans forward to spritz his Turtwig down with a spray bottle. The soil on its head and back drinks the water up greedily, and its sprout seems to stand a little straighter. Riki scratches the Turtwig lightly under its chin.

“I guess you were getting thirsty? Alright, then. Here. Let’s get you something to eat, as well.”

He pours out some Pokémon food into a couple of bowls - one for Terra, one for Sly - and lies back on the grass while he waits for them to eat. A chilly breeze rustles his clothes and the grass beneath him. Temperatures in Sinnoh already trend cool, and with the rain cooling the city down even further, Riki is glad to have worn layers today. Still, it’s peaceful, and he just lies there for a few minutes with his eyes closed, listening to the sound of the wind.

Eventually, the sounds of crunching stop, and his Pokémon cuddle up next to him. Terra settles down on his left right by his ribs, while Sly sits by his right ear.

But…

Soon, the calm only makes Riki feel lonelier. Normally, by now he’d have been jarred back to reality by Masato and Kengo’s roughhousing, or Rin shouting at one of them, or Kyousuke coming up with some sort of game. The more time he spends alone like this, the more his thoughts drift back to the days after his parents died.

Before he can go any further, Riki pushes himself to his feet. Hopefully, doing something will be enough to distract him. But what? He’s here because he didn’t have anywhere to go.

For want of a better option, Riki beckons his Pokémon to walk with him along the wavy stone path circling the park. At least, moving should be better than not. It doesn’t do a lot… but he still starts to feel just a little better.

And then—

“YOUUUUUUUU!”

Riki’s melancholy thoughts are blown away in an instant, replaced by confusion under the sudden sonic assault. Bracing himself, he pushes forward to confront the figure responsible.

“Wait, you’re the old man from yesterday!”

“WHO’S AN OLD MAAAAAAAAAAN!?” The uproar doubles in strength.

However, Riki simply finds his frustration building. “By all accounts, you are! You shouldn’t shout at people for simply stating what’s true.”

“…Hmph.” The man quiets down at that. “At least you have some spine. That’s more than I expected, from your performance yesterday.” He fixes Riki with a flat stare.

“Eh?” Riki glares back. “What do you mean by that?”

“Simple. Kid, your battling was atrocious. What in the world possessed you not to have your Pokémon use Rock Throw at the end there? You might have been able to at least KO that girl’s cat.”

“Ah... I mean, Lennon was already getting weak. I didn’t want to hit him with an effective attack if it might injure him too badly!”

The old man fixes Riki with a flat stare. “Oh? So you know what that Pokémon can take better than it and its trainer combined?”

“I...” Riki wavers, but frustration wins out. “Why do you even care? It’s clearly not for my friend’s sake, given how you chased her away out of nowhere.”

“Bah. This and that have nothing to do with each other.” He glares at Riki. “You’ve clearly got some amount of guts, or you wouldn’t be talking back to me like this. So I just want to figure out what you’re doing insulting your Pokémon and your opponent by refusing to show them!”

“I told you. I don’t want to hurt my friend’s Pokémon.”

“Then I guess there’s nothing for it, then.” The man smirks as the trap snaps shut. “If you’re worried about being able to judge if a Pokémon will get hurt, you’ve just got to get a feel for it through experience!”

“…Seriously?” Riki suppresses a groan. Why does he always get dragged into these things?

“Alright then, kid! I, Kojirou, will teach you how to put your all into a battle!” He rolls a Pokéball out of the sleeve of his robe, and throws it. “Go, Whismur!”

What appears is a round pink mammal, around two feet in height. The Whismur has cross-shaped eyes and two nubby arms. Its feet are yellow-tipped, as are the long, curved rabbit ears jutting up from the top of its body. Each ear canal is positioned just in front of the base of its ear, so that the ears can bend down to act as plugs. “I’ll tell you what. If you beat just this one Pokémon, I’ll promise not to bother you again. I’ll even go apologize to that other kid you were with! How’s that sound?”

Riki sighs as he sends his Bonsly out to battle and tells it to use Rock Throw. A rock type against a normal type… with Sly’s defenses, wearing his opponent down shouldn’t be too hard. “Do you not have better things to do than hang around in this park harassing people about Pokémon battles?”

“Uproar!” At Kojirou’s command, the Whismur stretches its mouth wide open and lets out an ear-splitting cry. Sly stops in its tracks, vibrating a little from the sheer volume of the sound buffeting it. “What was that, kid? I couldn’t hear you!”

“Ugh… Sly, use Rock Throw again!” Riki grimaces as his Bonly sends a chunk of rock flying right into its opponent’s face, briefly cutting off the piercing wail. “I said, isn’t there anything else you should be doing right now? Don’t you have friends or family to spend time with, or something?”

“Hmph.” Kojirou brings his arms together so that his sleeves cover both hands. “Kid, you were right about one thing - I’m old. when you get to my age, you’re not gonna have friends around for much longer. As for family… Well, I’ve decided to live on my own. I don’t plan on inconveniencing them when I die, got that?”

“What - that’s horrible!” Even as the Whismur resumes making an uproar, Sly slowly advances towards it, its rocky defenses holding up well against the Normal-type attacks. It may be a little slow, but if things keep up as is, Riki’s Pokémon will be the one winning the battle of attrition. “If you’ve still got family, then you should go to them! I’m sure they want to see you!”

“Here’s some advice, kid: don’t meddle in situations you don’t understand!” Kojirou’s shout corresponds with a particularly loud blast of sound from his Pokémon as its uproar reaches a peak. Sly has to stop moving again from the sheer intensity, but it still holds firm. “And I’ll give you a two for one deal, while I’m at it.” Rather than continuing to cry, the Whismur waits for Kojirou’s command: “Don’t underestimate the versatility of Normal types! Whismur, use Water Pulse!”

Rather than sound, what emerges from the Pokémon’s mouth this time is a pulsing ring of water that travels forward with enough speed to knock Riki’s Bonsly off of its feet. Although it rises, Sly seems dizzy from the impact, and its next Rock Throw misses the target before a second pulse takes it down.

“If you’re so concerned about not holding back, then why didn’t you use that from the start?”

“Simple,” Kojirou responds. “I’m trying to teach you something. If I ended the battle from the start, I wouldn’t be able to judge how you fight.”

“I didn’t ask for that.” As Riki calls his Bonsly back to its Pokéball, Terra steps forward as though to say the battle isn’t over yet.

“Not much respect for the lessons of your elders, huh?”

“Not when those lessons amount to ‘scream at random passers-by so they’ll leave you alone’.” The battle pauses as Riki and Kojirou stare each other down, neither making the next move. Then, the old man laughs.

“Hah! Fair enough, kid! But tell me - what’re you gonna do next? How do you plan to win this?”

“I…” Riki glances at his Pokédex, checking what TMs are known to work on Whismur. Yeah… He thought so. “…I don’t. Terra, return!” Just as the turtle is about to charge its opponent, with or without its Trainer’s help, Riki reaches for its Pokéball and calls it back with a beam of red light. “If you’ve used TMs to teach that Pokémon coverage moves, then it probably knows Flamethrower, too. I’m not letting Terra get in close and risk something like that. You win.”

“…” Kojirou sighs. “Fine. Whismur, return.” He recalls his own Pokémon, but fixes Riki with a serious look. “Kid… if you’re not willing to take a chance now and then, you’re never gonna grow stronger.”

“Getting stronger…” Riki looks away. “I don’t understand why everybody keeps talking about that.”

“It’s not physical strength I’m talking about here. It’s mental. Spiritual. If you want to find happiness in life, you need to grow enough to go look for it.”

“I…” Riki shakes his head. “I’ve got what I’m looking for right here, already. I have my friends. That’s enough.” He turns to walk away. He’s done here.

Kojirou doesn’t follow him. Before he’s out of earshot, though, he gives Riki one last parting remark. “…Everything changes, kid. There’s not a single thing in life that ever stays the same. If you try to hide from that, you’ll earn nothing but regret.”

———

Once again, Riki finds himself walking through the city, caught between the gray of the streets and the gray of the sky, with no destination in mind. He shakes Kojirou’s words out of his head.

There’s nothing wrong with wishing for tomorrow to always be the same as yesterday.

He knows he should return to the Pokémon Center, so that they can start getting Sly back to full health. But… his Pokémon is safely in stasis within its ball, and he doesn’t feel like being roped into whatever training scheme Rin’s working through now.

“Hm?” For a moment, the monotony of the city is broken. Streetlights flicker on, illuminating something unusual just as it disappears around a corner. Riki rushes ahead, and turns to see a lone Pokémon floating down the road ahead of him.

It looks like a meteor hovering in place, with a spherical body covered in a cracked shell of rock. Around its perimeter are five small craters, arranged like the points of a star. Each crater is ringed with dark brown triangular impressions, and has a rounded white nub poking out from inside of it.

Not recognizing the species, Riki points the camera of his Pokédex at it. The pocket encyclopedia brings up a picture of the Pokémon’s front, which boasts two huge black circles that look almost like eyes. Each has three triangular impressions emerging from its top, and the one on its left also has a smaller brown circle the same color as the triangles overlapping it on the bottom left. Apparently it’s a Minior, a Pokémon native to the Alola region.

Definitely strange for one to be on its own here, then. Lacking anything better to do, Riki follows it.

A few turns later, it leads him to a large, plain, blocky building. A sign hanging above the entrance says “POKÉMON GYM” in faded letters. It’s shockingly plain for the place that’s making Rin act unusual. Evidently, this city’s Leader doesn’t care much about appearances.

The Minior doesn’t go inside, however. Instead, it floats around to the back, where a metal fire escape staircase leads up to the roof of the building. The Minior rises, and disappears over the lip of the roof.

Curious, Riki grips the railing and climbs the fire escape.

He emerges onto a wide, flat rooftop. Riki’s shirt flaps in the wind; it’s much stronger up here than at ground level, and it doesn’t stop. A mesh fence runs along the perimeter, preventing access to the edge of the roof except for an opening for the fire escape. Scattered across the plain in front of Riki are several long metal hangers for drying sheets. They’re rusty from disuse.

Riki advances towards the center of the area, looking around. After a moment, his eyes focus, and he recognizes a figure who had until now blended into the grey of the sky. It’s a girl, sat on the ground with her back leaning on the mesh fence. Several discarded wrappers, carelessly pinned to the ground beside her by a bag and a lunchbox, rustle in the wind. The girl herself is hugging the Minior to her chest, and gazing forward with dull eyes. The eyes are what help Riki place her - she’s the girl from the café the other day.

The girl glances up at him. “Who… are you?”

“Ah—“ Riki falters. “…My name’s Riki. I ran into your Pokémon, and, er… wound up following it. Sorry.”

“Mm.” The girl nods. “I’m Komari. I guess.. You found my secret base, huh?” She puts on a sheepish smile, but the moment of effort behind it betrays her.

“…Sorry. I can go, if you don’t want me here. I won’t tell anyone.”

“…No. It’s fine.” Komari’s face falls again, once it’s clear that the smile didn’t fool Riki. “I don’t have any special claim to this place, or anything.” She closes her eyes, and squeezes her Pokémon tighter for a moment. “I just like it, that’s all.”

Riki makes a sound of understanding. He supposes this place is as good as any other. And… after their encounter the other day, he doesn’t want to leave this girl alone here. “Then, is it alright if I sit here a while? I’ve been struggling to find a place to go to.”

“I won’t stop you.” Komari smiles weakly as Riki sits down. “To be honest… I’d be sad, if my being here kept someone else from enjoying it.”

“Ah.” Riki glances around the open roof. While not a skyscraper, it’s still one of the taller buildings in Jubilife, giving him a wide view of the city beyond the fence’s boundaries. A thought strikes him. “This must be a really nice place when it’s sunny.”

“It is. I’m glad you think so too.” Komari nods along. She continues quietly, more to herself than to Riki. “…I just wish it wouldn’t rain so much lately. I hate the rain…”

A few minutes pass in silence after that. Eventually, Komari pulls something out of her lunchbox. After fiddling with the wrapper, she breaks it in half, and offers one half to Riki. “Belgian Waffle?”

“Huh? Um, sure…?” Riki hesitantly takes the offered sweet.

“…Sorry. You probably think it’s weird.” Komari looks down at her knees. “People are made to feel what others feel, right? When the people around you are happy, you get a little happier too. So, by sharing the things I like, I figure maybe I can make myself feel a little better. You know?”

Riki makes a noise of understanding. It seems like an awfully simple philosophy… and from Komari’s listless behavior, he gets the sense that she’s trying to convince herself as much as him. Still, he takes a bite of the waffle. He’s never been a particular fan of sweets, but… “…It’s good.”

“Mm.” Komari chews on her own half of the waffle. “…Of course, I know it’s not that simple. When I’m sad, that makes the people around me sad, too. And then knowing I’m responsible just makes me feel worse…”

“…It’s kind of a vicious circle, huh.”

“Mhm.”

The wind continues to blow, as Komari carefully pins the new wrapper under her lunchbox with the rest. The conversation slows to a halt. The atmosphere grows more and more awkward, until Riki says something just to break the silence.

“So… that Pokémon. You don’t usually find Minior outside of Alola, right?”

Komari’s grip on the meteor Pokémon tightens. She speaks still without looking back towards Riki. “Mhm. This is Granny. My brother gave her to me, back when… when he went to Alola.”

Riki tilts his head. He’s pretty sure the Pokédex said Minior were genderless… but then, it’s not as though it really matters what Komari calls her Pokémon. “That was nice of him.”

“Yeah, it was. My big brother was always really nice to me.” The girl rests her chin on the Minior’s rocky shell. Her eyes cloud up a little more than usual.

Was? A pit of dread sinks into Riki’s stomach. He wishes he was wrong, but… he’s certain that he wasn’t. “…Oh. I’m sorry… You mean, he’s…?”

“That’s right.” Komari gives a small nod. “My brother… doesn’t exist, anymore. He died eight years ago.”

———

That day…

“Honestly, the hardest part of this whole expedition was just getting Irwin to turn corners. Garchomp don’t exactly have the best handling at top speed.”

As the five of them sat around their table, chatting about the day’s adventures, Riki’s thoughts had started to drift. As the rain hammered down around them, for a moment he imagined the world had shrunk down to only this one café. The low buzz of discussion through the café and the patio faded into the background, the energetic jazz - which suddenly sounded almost desperate - blurring into white noise.

Instead, what his mind focused on was the rain. The faint sounds of thunder in the distance. The flowerpots, looking like fragile markers of this tiny world’s boundary.

The rain made him think of that day, so many years ago, when his own world had been shattered. The storm pouring down on his family, the accident near the lake, and…

Kyousuke nudged Riki gently with his shoulder, pulling him back to reality. Lightly shaking his head clear of the thoughts, Riki gave his friend a small smile.

The band switched to a new song.

A few moments later-

“Wah—!”

The shout drew Riki’s attention to a girl in a beige sweater, windmilling her arms as she lost her balance. Riki rose from his seat, meaning to help her right herself.

Unbalanced from his own sudden movement, he wound up getting dragged down under her instead. The floor rose up to meet him, and he smacked against the burnished wood.

“Ow…” Riki sat up and rubbed his head. Wincing at the pain, he stood and turned to the girl. “You alright?”

“Hm?” The girl rose as well. Blue eyes met Riki’s own. “Oh. Yes, I’m fine. I’m sorry for the trouble…” She bowed and rushed out the door, but Riki barely noticed.

The moment he’d looked her in the eyes, a stabbing pain in his heart had overshadowed any concern over the pain in his head.

Even as his friends sat him back down, Riki’s gaze drifted to the door where the girl had left.

He knew that look. He knew the emptiness in those eyes.

After all…

He’d seen it in the mirror every morning, all those years ago.

[imgoingtohellsofuckit]

Ladies Man

Denki Kaminari x 2nd Year!Reader

Warnings - none

Summary - A second year decides to follow Denki’s spam it just turns out it’s his crush what happens next is pure fluff

• discountpikachu uathotpatrol requested to follow you

Denki looks curiously at the notification. Spam accounts weren't uncommon even at UA. It is a highschool after all. No matter how elite they claim to be they still feed into the same childish  stuff when they have free time. So who's this one? I mean he already has his entire class and most of 1B so who's it now? As the account pulls up he looks at it carefully.

uathotpatrol thots will be blocked out on sight. no affiliation with ua main : _ghostie

Ghostie? Oh she's a second year. He presses the button to allow the request then moves to request to follow her. 'I wonder why she followed me?' Denki thinks to himself.

"Kaminari have you seen this," Mina says shoving her phone towards him. "It's that cute second year that we saw at the movies."

"Yeah Ghostie," Sero tells him, "pretty h/c hair and rocking body."

"She's also really nice," Kirishima adds. Denki looks at the picture to see the girl sitting on a car with two other girls. She's smiling brightly. You'd hardly imagine her as the type to become a hero. Flashy pretty girl. But like Kirishima says she's really sweet. Constantly working to tutor other kids. She works with Uraraka and Tsu a lot with combat training.

"She followed my spam," Denki adds as he hands Mina back her phone, "I'm finally in with the older girls."

"Yeah you wish," Sero says shoving him lightly.

"She has a pretty fun spam," Mina says pulling up the account, "her last post made me think of you."

"Yeah how so?" He asks her. She shows him the picture. It's of Ghostie holding a pikachu plushie up. 'Gonna catch me a pikachu to finish my Pokédex."

"Oh so she's nerdy?" Bakugo says finally joining in.

"Hot nerdy," Mina says pulling her phone back, "anyways you are the Pikachu knock off Kaminari."

"Eat a dick," Denki shoots back. He looks to his phone as it buzzes.

uathotpatrol has approved your follow request

'Nice' he thinks to himself.

uathotpatrol sent you a message

uathotpatrol: Kaminari as designated thot patrol I have to inform you that you are under  thot watch

DiscountPikachu : oh damn Ghostie you've got me

uathotpatrol: ew don't use my hero name that's too formal it's Y/n here

DiscountPikachu : Ah of course.                                   And I'll have you know I'm no thot

uathotpatrol: hmmmmm you might be

DiscountPikachu: bruh

uathotpatrol: I don't make the rules my guy

DiscountPikachu: you gonna block me???

uathotpatrol: Nah you cute

DiscountPikachu: you think I'm cute huh?

"Denki? Denki?" Mina calls, "who are you texting?"

"Shinso probably," Kirishima says as he scrolls boredly through his phone. 

"No it's Ghostie," Kaminari says smirking to his friends, "she called me cute."

"No way!" Sero says diving to his side to look over Denki's shoulder. He looks at the texts and smirks. "Dude don't fuck it up because she's super hot."

"Super hot," Mina says looking at Denki. Making sure to emphasize her point.

"Yeah I didn't need help realizing that," Denki says chuckling lightly.

"Yeah? You should realize she's out of your league," Bakugo says snarkily, "I mean she's more on my level-"

"Don't insult her like that," Sero says chuckling.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY EXTRA?!"

Kirishima holds back the angry blond as the group chuckles. Denki feels his phone buzz and looks down excitedly.

uathotpatrol : don't let it get to your head, but yeah you're cute

DiscountPikachu : awe you're cute too

                                      more hot then cute

uathotpatrol : i know bb ;) 

He puts his phone away as Aizawa moves into the classroom starting class at once. Denki tries to pay attention. He really does but when his phone buzzes and he see's another message from her he knows all productivity is out the door.

uathotpatrol : are you a torch? Because you light up my world

 DiscountPikachu : nice 

uathotpatrol : I have more 

DiscountPikachu : please tell me them

uathotpatrol : You must be from nether, because you are out of this world.

        DiscountPikachu : XD I love that

uathotpatrol : you in class?

DiscountPikachu : Yep hero studies with Aizawa

uathotpatrol : yikes

DiscountPikachu : You?

uathotpatrol : All Might has us taking turns in a rescue simulation and I went first so I have the rest of the period to do jack shit

DiscountPikachu : lucky 

"Kaminari what did I just say?" Aizawa asks harshly. Denki looks up in slight horror as he shoves his phone into his pocket. 

"Uhhh something something hero," Denki says tensely. Aizawa sends the attack weapon at him. It knocks Denki back then automatically returns to the teacher. He returns to the lesson and Denki tries his best to pay attention. As class ends and they head off to lunch Denki see's the very girl that hasn't left his mind all day. 

"Hey L/n," He says smiling lightly at her. She waves him over.

"Hey Kaminari," She says brightly, "I see you survived Aizawa."

"Barely," Denki says with a nervous chuckle. Her friends watch them carefully. Amused with the situation. Denki doesn't exactly know why. 

"Wanna eat together?" She offers, "my friends are leaving for a field trip so I'm gonna be alone."

"Yeah of course," He replies. She smiles standing then waves to her friends. 

"Follow me," She tells him. He nods following her as they move past his friends. Who, rightfully so, were freaking out about the situation. As they take their seats he notices she had lead him into a sea of 2nd and third years. He see's the big three and a couple other noteable upperclassman.

"What field trip are your friends going on?" Denki asks her.

"To check out Ryuku's hero agency," She explains, "pros let the upperclassmen at hero schools tour every so often."

"You didn't want to check it out?" He asks.

"I'm commited to Mirko's agency," She admits, "I started working at her agency last year and she's invited me to stay."

"Oh thats so cool!" Denki says smiling at her. She nods.

"She's a good hero a lot of people girl her crap for her cutesy appearance," She starts. Denki can she she's passionate about the subject. "She's strong and powerful. I wanna be just like her... Gah sorry I'm rambling."

"No you're fine," Denki says smiling at her, "you're passionate. It's cute."

"You're such a charmer," She says giving him a smile, "what about you? Any heroes that stick out?"

"MT Lady is one of my favourites," Denki says, "I also really like Edgeshot and Hawks."

"Hawks was the one I did my internship with," She tells him, "he's dreamy."

"Dreamy huh?" He asks.

"Yeah- when you're older you'll have the same effect," She says giving him a wink, "I mean that little smirk. When you've fully grown into you're features you'll be one hell of a ladies man."

"Yeah you reckon?" He asks smirking.

"Yeah," She says, "now Denki I'm thinking after school we head out on a date."

"A date?" 

He's nervous but trying to keep his flirty nature.

"You wanna go on a date? With me?"

He's failing miserablly.

"I kinda think you're cute and my childhood friend Shinso really talked you up to me," She explains, "he said you have a little crush on me. So wanna go on a date?"

"Of course- I mean yeah sure babe," He says attempting to keep his cool. She smiles at him. 

"Let me give you my number," She says. He nods handing her his phone. She puts in her number then snaps a picture of her self. Once he gets her phone back he notices the cute photo. Man she's really cute. He can't help but sneak a glance at her as she sips on her drink.

He moves typing a quick message to send her. She smiles at the quirky greeting. Then hands him her phone. 

"Take a picture for your contact," She tells him. He moves posing for the selfie. Snapping it then returning her phone. "Well I'll meet you by the 1A dorms. I'm thinking pizza?"

"Sounds good to me," He tells her. She gives him a wink then moves to leave the cafeteria. Denki retreats to his friends who are yelling at him.

"WHAT HAPPENED?" Mina shouts.

"Yeah what was that?!" Sero asks.

"She asked me on a date," Denki says with a smirk. Suddenly horror hits him. "Oh god she asked me on a date. How how do I date?"

"Oh god you're hopeless."

"We have to help him," Kirishima says.

"AH come on lighting extra let's go!"

(I’ll do a part two with the date later)

[ghostly-thorn]

Behind The Writing - 3 - Castling - Entering The Game

🎵 A bit of Ambiance 🎵

Well Hello!

Here we are again with a BTW post about this 3rd Chapter. If you’re here, I’m assuming you’ve already read it so no need for a spoiler warning.

And we start off with the meaning of the Title. “Castling”. It’s a move in Chess I found quite representative of Zera’s state in here. According to Wikipedia, it goes as follow: “A simultaneous move (the only one in chess) whereby king and rook move past each other”. In this metaphor, Rose is obviously the King (♔), whereas Zera is a mere Rook (♖). A Rook doesn’t have much value until the end of the game where it can deal some serious damage, as Zera will. But that’s not all, this very move implies that both the King and the Rook move past each other, something Zera and Rose have done in this Chapter. She hasn’t laid eye on him ever since he chased her down the corridor 7 years ago. And yet here they are, running into each other after the opening session. I thought this was a clever way to staart the Chapter and I’m sure you’ll love it

Moving on to the Wild Area. As I’ve told you, I played throughout the whole game and managed to map out all my Fic. Not only did I go through the whole story, I also went as far as to write EVERY TINY DETAILS. Not gonna lie, it was long and tiring, but worth it in the end and now 50% of the work is done, I only have to perfect my WIPs. That’s the cost of a realistic Fanfic... Anyway, I tried to make the Wild Area as vivid as possible and I’m positive I succeeded at it. Every Pokémon Zera encountered I’ve encountered in the game: The Combees, Hoothoots, Tyrogues and the Vileplum (It was even female as well!) Just to show you to the lengths I would go to to please you guys...

Let’s talk about Sonia. I know some of you might not like the way I wrote the interactions with us, but I assure you in the end she and Zera will become good friends, best friends even. It’s just that we’re at the very start of the adventure and Zera has a big crush on Leon, who seems not to have noticed. And Sonia’s so pretty, so cool, she has greater chance at winning the Champion’s heart than Zee. So of course she feels jealous and she has a hard time containing her contempt for the girl

I found it would be funny to have Sonia constantly shipping Hop and Zera together, much like a running gag.

Then she started twirling her hair nervously as she tried to imitate her grandmother with her brogue accent, cracking her voice from time to time like the Professor would… She was quite successful in her endeavour you might add.

-        “Those two young trainers are setting out on a journey, but what are you doing with your life?” ⌫ Can you hear it? Can you hear it? Maggie Smith in all her glory voicing our dear Magnolia. If you haven’t already, go check out my Voice Headcanons post. It’ll help you hear the characters’ voices I chose for them

-        “It’s a Pokémon Box link. It allows you to access the storage system while you’re on the road”

-        “Storage system ?”

-        “If you’re to catch more than 6 Pokémons, they’ll automatically be transferred to one of your boxes at the Pokécenter”

-        “But why would I do that?” (You asked, genuinely curious as to why people would enslave more Pokémons than they need) ⌫ Here we have Zera caring a great deal for Pokémons. She wishes not to capture more Pokémons that she needs, that’s why she’ll never complete her Pokédex. She’s too caring my girl...

I really enjoyed writing Hop and Zera’s trip throughout the Wild Area. In fact, I was so inspired I took me only an afternoon and I had written up 4K words already!!! Hop is this young and naive boy that sometimes puts himself in danger, whereas Zera is more collected and cool. I tried to balance it as I didn’t want neither to be superior to the other. They both have their personnalities set and there’s no other way. Hoped you liked it!

Also I really had fun writing the parts with Zera’s RotomPhone. I like to think that it was flawed in its design, or rather it grew a personnality (Like R2-D2 and C3P0 in Star Wars)

I sent a draft of the texting session with Leon to a friend and she loved it! I hope you did too cause It was really fun to write. Let me know if ou like the format or if I should change it. I figure the ✉ could be handy to let the reader now it was a text.

After describing the Wild Area I got to a point where I told myself: I HAVE to write some Camping session. And immediately my brain muled over all the tracks I had listened to in the past and it chose only one: Living Death from Nicholas Hooper. If it sounds familiar it’s that you’ve watched Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. This track comes from the scene where Harry and his class are brewing potions for the first time this year. Because Harry is in the possession of Snape’s book he brewed a perfect potion and earned the Felix Felicis. Anyway, back to Camping, I thought it was a fun and uplifting track to use and you’ve got to admit, the way Zera pitched her tent is quite magical wouldn’t you say?

Also the idea where Scorbunny kicks Zera inadvertedly came from this pic i saw. Credits to the artist.

There’s a whole deal I’ve written about “Misunderstood creatures”, firstly with that poor Duskull Zera encounters. It seemed to be avoiding the tower because it was afraid of Gengar’s mood swings. Yet, it found comfort in her, even went as to hurl in her arms. I like the thought of ghost pokemons being shunned away, and Zera being the one to see them for their true worth. Think about it, most ghost types Gym Leaders are either freaks or weirdos. And I think that’s unfair. All these spooky boys deserve some loving

I wanted to write a somehwat funny/scary part with Ghosts and the Tower was the perfect excuse to. At first I chose the Old Chateau theme from Diamond and Pearl (Forever in my heart, Sinnoh Lover all the way) but it wasn’t as haunting as I wanted to, I mean, not the way I was looking for. So I kept looking and contempted myself with the Theme from Sun and Moon. It’s eerie and sizzling, exactly what i was looking for

The hand on the shoulder is a nod to the Tower episode from the first season of the Pokemon anime, where I found out Gengar was the bestest of boys <3

WARNING FOR THE NEXT GIF, IT’S SCARY

“Us and our Kin” was the perfect theme to represent the ghost community. Over years, Gengar’s memory was twisted and he did not remember Zera, hence why he attacked her. I mentioned it in the text, but in the Alolan Pokédex entry it is said that Gengar was once human and that it’s looking for a companion. At this point I’m just making up stuff, but I think all Gengars have the potential to turn humans into their kin. And who knows, maybe that tower Gengar used to be human too?

I knew I wanted Gastly to evolve before she reached Motostoke. It was her highest level Pokémon, which makes sense since she’s had him for the longest time. I loved the whole “Hands coming out of nothing” deal. As you’ve found out later on, Haunter cares a great deal about his new hands. Even goes as to play with Zera’s hair, holding her shoulders or clapping for her. What a great friend...

Also, Gengar lifts off the other Haunter’s curse. According to their Pokédex entry, Haunter’s lick is deadly and their victim will shiver until they die. So Gengar runs his hand through Zera’s body and lifts off the curse. What a swell guy

Yet again, Zera shows true justice at heart by saving that Mareanie from her comrades. Beauty is relative, whereas the others shunned her away, Zee found true beauty in that danger urchin and decided to adopt her.

Zera trying to keep her cool as Sonia is harassing her yet again

Here’s Leon’s League Card that made Zera’s knees weak

and here is Zera’s

The Card’s a good way for me to talk about something I had trouble with...: her outfit!!! I had designed her apperance long before replaying the game, and upon returning to it I realized that the Motorcycle oufit is only available in Wyndon! (Well F-ck...). So I felt really down. All the screenshots I took were worthless, but for the sake of the story we’ll say that she DID buy the Motorcycle outfit and the Ghost Uniform in Motstoke (Though in my Chapter I mentioned she bought only the Cap and the Bag. She’ll get the outfit in Turrfield next chapter)

Here’s her Outfit for the rest of the Game. Make sure you remember it, I won’t get back to it everytime

Oh yeah. I always found creepy how Nurse Joy would always wish you to come again heal your Pokémons. Maybe It’s cause I’m a Nurse myself, I don’t know, but can we agree that’s she’s wishing for our Pokémons to get injured again? That’s not very Nurse-like...

Zera when people mention how great her father is...

Zera whenever she sees Leon

I wonder why I mentioned the Libero ability... 👀

A few people were gathered at the entrance, including some weirdo disguised in a Pokeball. As you approached him, he stopped you in your tracks, rather stood in front of you (rude) and offered you a Pokeball before shouting a “Tadah!”. You gave him an annoyed look, not being in the mood and said

-        “Oh wow, a pokeball, how convenient”

He slightly moved his head, triggered, as if to “Listen here you little shit” you but then he carried on his thingie, unfazed. ⌫ Memes... They’re great. Why not use them?

You were too busy staring at the young boy. He seemed to notice as he scoffed and then said to you

-        “Didn't your parents ever teach you it's wrong to stare at people?”

Your eyes narrowed and you retorted with a dangerous voice.

-        “They taught me other things that were far more useful...” ⌫ By that, Zera meant she’s learned a great deal from her parents. From her mother, a former thief, she learned how to pick locks and fight back even in the most dire situations. And from her father, she learned that mankind is able of the worst. By answering this to Bede she’s actually telling the truth

I’m a Virgo. So Number 7 has always had a great significance for me. and since Zera and I share the zodiac sign, well I couldn’t chose any other number.

Marnie was the only girl to be decent as Zera as she entered the locker room. Whereas the other girls were gossiping about you and how you came to be endorsed by the Champion, Marnie was just sitting in a corner (you might have guessed it) listening to her older brother's new Album. Once again, if you haven't seen my Voice Headcanons post, I invite you to do so as in it Piers is voiced by Jonathan Davis, the singer of Korn.

To add further into Marnie's character, at least my depiction of it, I like to think of her as this quiet girl that doesn't speak much, but when she does, boy you better hide. We later on see what happens to those Team Yell Grunts!

The Hear Me Roar part was actually a post I made a few days ago. I wasn't sure whether I was going to keep it or not, but I ended up doing so. It would be such a waste not to use Ramin Djawadi's talent

Then you heard voices in your back. The first melted your heart, and the second instantly froze it like the Winds of Winter  ⌫ Get it? I know someone gets it...

BOY!!!!! I WAS LOOKING FORWARD TO WRITE THE FIRST "ENCOUNTER" WITH ROSE AND I DID NOT DISAPPOINT. Words came to me so easily, it was witchcraft I swear! I Hope you loved it, because man it was fun writing it. I wanted it to be some kind of psychological stand off "à la Kira vs L" from Death Note, but I didn't go much further because Rose was in a hurry. But you just wait till we reach the Hulbury Chapter "Deceiving Waters". In the game, the MC meet up with Rose at the seafood restaurant yes? Well, for your greatest please, I'm going to drag out this scene and make Rose so inquisitive you'll swear he has unmasked even you the reader. Stay Tuned friends!

Also, Rose has an old looking phone because I was thinking since he's a CEO he could fall victim to corporate espionnage. also, call me crazy, but i thought of Putin and the whole "we're being watched deal" we had a few years ago. We found out the NSA was spying on everyone, including Merkel, Macron and so on and Putin merely laughed at their faces because he had one of those old f-cking phones. Yeah... not comparing Rose to Putin, but still... fun fact.

Seeing that the silence was becoming more and more embarrassing, Leon was about to furnish the discussion when suddenly an inhuman confidence took over you. You put on your most delicate smile and extended your hand to him.

-        “Chairman… It’s, such an honour” ⌫ Zera growing so confident she makes her dead momma proud...

Zera seeing Sonia again at the Hotel being like: “aha-ha... not you again”

Zera's too tired to deal with Team Yell's sh-t, hence why she tackles them head on. I felt the Chapter was already long enough as it was, so I didn't drag out on the battle. I mean, even in the game they last like 2 minutes and then you're done. I did want to make it more realistic, that's why I had Scorbunny use an Ember that caused ACTUAL DAMAGE to the property. Also, I mentioned he used High-Jump Kick. For those who don't know, It cannot learn it on its own. It's learned only through breeding, and all my Pokémons are competetively bred.

(as mentioned earlier on, Zera has the outfit I shared, not the one on this pic)

Here’s Morpeko being cute as ever. Protec the smol rodent boi

You’ve guessed it: Marnie has a crush on Hop. Oh boy, so many love triangles...

Boy... I promised you I would give you Raihan, AND I DELIVERED! I hope you contained your orgasms (as requested from me last time). I put a tag on my AO3, but here might as well be a reminded that "My" Raihan is a cocky bastard who cares about nothing else but ladies. He's a player. He knows how to flirt, and how to make women weak for him. He has yet to do that with Zera as we'll see in further Chapters (Even dedicated Chapter 7 to him only).

To finish with this Behind The Writing, here are a bunch of pictures that inspired me to write him that way

Fiddling on his phone as Zera opens the door

Noticing that she’s here

Sitting on his lap

Flirty mode enabled. Current objective updated: make this fangirl faint.

Waltzing in, not caring at all about the fainted girl.

Changing her phone background with a selfie where he does a peace sign. What a troll

Exchanging a beer with a friend (1)

Exchanging a beer with a friend (2)

Granting her one last hug before leaving

Aaaaaand that’s it lads. This marks the end of my Behind The Writing post. I hope you enjoyed it, maybe you’ve even picked on my every references, who knows.

Y’all take care and see you for the next chapter: 4 - The Turrfield Gym - Uplifting Roots

[bard-of-worlds]

Chapter 7

“Come on guys!” Bonnie called as she ran head of the group as the party walked toward the Contest Hall. They had all been woken early and had met a mass of people who were going to the contest either to compete or watch, so after a breakfast they were now walking towards the contest hall. Lilith was smiling as she walked with them, she had released her Skorupi with orders to go to the boys shower and cocoon any black hair it could find and wait for her to get back in the vents. With some luck she would have a possible second hand DNA source to send home.

 “So have you decided on what Pokémon to use yet?” Clemont asked as they walked.

 “I’ve narrowed it down to two of them.  I think I’ll decide when I see what the competition…” Lilith trailed off as she saw the grounds in front of the Hall.   An assortment of both male and female trainers were milling about, some of them with their Pokémon out and from what she was able to see the type that was most eminent were Fairy and Bug.  Seeing what she was up against she mentally made her choices and a sinister smirk grew on her face as she before she felt a hand on her shoulder, turning to look at Serena who had a frown on her face.

 “Are you okay Lilly? You’re looking weird.”  Serena said as Ash and Clemont turned and looked at her.  She quickly brought her face back under control and sent a small smile at her friends.

 “I’m fine, I just made my choice on who to use in what round and I think I might have a good chance to win this thing.”  Lilith said as she gave a small laugh.  Ash looked like he was going to say something but a sound to their left caught their attention.

 “Watch Out!”  A voice called before someone crashed into Clemont. Clemont opened her eyes and meet aqua green eyes under green colored hair on a heart shaped girl’s face close to his own.  Clemont started to blush when he felt their legs were interwoven together and noticed the girl’s long hair was on his face.

 “Are you okay?  Here let me help you up.”  Ash said as he reached down and helped the girl to her feet. Now that Clemont could see her better the girl was around their age and was wearing a blue shirt and black tights with a helmet on her head.  She had on rollerblades and giving the hill behind her the cause of their crash was obvious.  She had a bit of blue lip gloss and looked like someone who would be at home in the wilds, but Lilith saw a hint of class in the way she held herself.  A backpack and a small purse on the ground completed her outfit and a yarn showed she had rushed to get ready and leave where she had bunked.

 “Sorry about that, you guys walked through my landing spot and I was in midair before I saw you. The name’s Nimue Mistborn, and you can call me Nim.”  She said as she leaned against a railing alongside the hill and looked at the people before her, looking right at Clemont, not noticing the look Lilith sent her. Lilith threw her hand out and shot a smile at her when she turned and looked at her.

 “Hi I’m Lilly!  Are you competing or watching the Contest?”   Lilith asked as she sent a forced smile at Nimue.

 “Competing, so I guess I might be fighting you in the finals.  And the rest of you are?”  Nimue said as she shook Lilith’s hand and saw Bonnie run to stand next to her brother.

 “I’m Clemont, this is my sister Bonnie and our friends Ash and Serena.” Clemont said as Serena bowed to her and Ash gave a wave.  While the other started to make small talk with Nimue Lilith looked at the teen before her, something about her had her on edge, some feeling she last had back Home when... Lilith’s eye’s widened when she remembered when she had felt this last, was it possible, was she? Something about her stare got through to Nimue and she rolled past them toward the doors.

 “Well it was nice talking with you all; see you on the floor and good luck with the others!”  She called as she rolled towards the doors.

 “She seems, nice I guess. Think her performance will be mobile?” Ash asked as he looked at where Nimue had been.

 “No she a bit of class about her, I’m thinking the opposite of what we expect.  She’s probably going to be trouble if I make it through the appeal round.”  Lilith said as she went over what her team could do.  A descision made she turned to Serena and Bonnie and smiled at them.

 “So you two want to help me get ready?”  Lilith asked as she smiled as she looked at them.  Bonnie perked up and Serena returned her smile.

 “So while the two of us help Lilly what will you two do?”  Serena asked as she looked at Ash and Clemont.

 “Me and Clemont will get some seats near the top or front, I’ll leave my bag and go get you two after you’re done helping her.  Good luck Lilly.”  Ash answered as he and Clemont walked toward the entrance for the audience.  

 “Be good Bonnie.” Clemont told Bonnie as he and Ash left the girls.  Unseen by all a figure had heard the crash and had gave a start when he recognized Ash among the group, slipping into shadows cast by the buildings so he wouldn’t notice him.

 The figure walked into the light, revealing a man with purple hair in green cloths with a green hat looked at Ash and his group as they walked into the building.  He had seen Ash and Clemont walk into the building and Bonnie and Serena walk after and a smile grew on his face.

 “Well, well, well. Ash Ketchum’s in Kalos!  And either May May isn’t with him or she’s inside already.  One thing’s for sure, it will be quite a championship this year.”  He said as he strolled towards registration with a spring in his steps.  Whatever he did on the circuit, he’ll probably stay around for the championship.

 Lilith smiled as she walked toward the check in station, she was traveling with the prince…no with Ash and some new friends and she was back on the Contest Circuit, this was one of her better missions ever.  Now all she needed to register and she was golden.  Bonnie and Serena walked behind her each with smile on their faces.

 “Hello, here to register for the contests?”  A woman with long black hair in a green tube top and skirt asked as she smiled with green lips.

 “Yes, I’m Lil lly. Lilly.” Lilth said as she handed over her Pokédex.  She had changed her name and deleted the data about her home, putting down her home as a small island that Chimera destroyed a few months after she had ‘left on her journey’ three years ago.  Those from the island had been relocated to the homeland so it and other locations like it were used for cover on assignments out of their lands, so it would stand up if people looked into it.

 “Well you’re registered.  Here’s a Ribbon Case you’ll need, one side is for the Regular Ribbons, the other is for the Grand Ribbons.  Your Pokédex will open the door to changing room 56, you have half an hour until the contest begins, and you need to select which of your Pokémon to use for each round, as of the rules for this Contests you can’t use the same Pokémon in both rounds.” The green woman said as she handed over a Ribbons case and Lilith’s Pokédex.  Lilith smiled as Bonnie grabbed her free hand and walked into the hall, this was going to be fun.

  OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

  Brock smiled as sipped a cup of coffee as he walked through Viridian City, he had a good talk with SandyLady last night, the weather was sunny for the next few days and today his favorite coffee shop had had a sale as part of their tenth anniversary celebration, today was looking to be a good one.  

 “Morning Doc, need a ride to the Center?”  A voice caused him to turn and see Officer Jenny on her motorcycle giving him a small smile.

 “Morning Officer Jenny, no, I think a walk is just what I need today, what about you having a good morning so far.”  Brock said as gave her a wave with his free hand.

 “Top ten on the radio, a good breakfast and the weather channel said a tornado is due to hit the region in the next few days, so same old same old.  I’m heading over to the airport to talk to them about when they’ll have to shut down.”  Officer Jenny said as she shrugged.

 “Expecting any trouble with that?”  Brock questioned as he had a troubled look on his face.

 “No more than usual when this happens.  The egg heads at the league said they have a project to migrate the force of the wind, but you know how they are with their last project in Pewter City a few months back.”  Jenny said with a sight, drawing a wince from Brock.

 “You mean when they tried to build a dam and caused a landslide that almost covered the city and caused the Pokémon in the mountains to attack the city because their food sources had been destroyed?”  Brock questioned with dread.  Sometime the League’s projects worked and sometimes they ended badly for everyone around the site.

 “Yeah so I better get to the Airport and check in on the Pallet office about a report I got about a Rattata horde that attacked two trainers, talk to you latter Doctor.”  Jenny said before she drove off.  Brock gave a small sighed and walked off with a smile on his face. Talking with Jenny was one of the good things about living in this city, that and the Poker games she, his teacher and Nurse Joy got up to every weekend.

 As he walked toward the Pokémon Center he stopped when he saw an ambulance speed past him around the corner leading to the Pokémon Center that filled him with a sense of dread. He broke into a run, dashing around the corner, seeing the Center’s parking lot already half full of cars and people running toward the building holding their Pokémon, Brock stared at the scene before him to drop his cup and run into the Center.

 Brock entered the building at a run and saw a scene of pure chaos!  Doctors and nurses ran all over, with humans looking worried of all ages around the front chamber, his fellow students mixed around checking on the Pokémon. Brock hadn’t seen such a scene of pure chaos in all his life.  The only think this resembled were plague outbreaks he had studied in the past. Was this a new plague, a viral outbreak or was it a reaction to a fungal spread?

 “Brock, thank Arceus you finally made it! I need you to handle any patients without a doctor or nurse looking over them! Once you’ve got a handle on what’s wrong with the patient send them to a room with an empty bed and move on to the next.”  His teacher’s voice called as Brock brought himself back to the present.  I can think about this later, I have to help the Pokémon first.  Brock thought to himself as he ran toward a Nidorina and her trainer.  The Nidorina was lying down on a cart and her trainer was stoking her and whispering to her, she looked at Brock with relief that almost caused him to wince.

 “When did she start to show symptoms, does she have a regular apatite when she woke up this morning?” Brock question as he started to examine the Nidorina before him.

 “She was a bit sluggish this morning and she just passed out while she was eating breakfast, so she’s been like this for about an hour, I came over as soon as I could recall her to her ball.”  The trainer told him as Brock shined a light into the Poison Pin Pokémon’s eye. Not responsive to stimulation, sleepy and the moaning shows she’s feeling some pain.  No broken bones and no blood from the mouth, so maybe no internal bleeding.  Brock thought as he felt along the Pokémon’s limbs, whatever was wrong with the Pokémon, he would try to fix it.

  OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

  Nicolas walked out of the mountain with his Teddiursa at his side.  The hunt was due to depart soon and his lord, no Good Sylvestre.  This hunt was to let him see the person Sylvestre was and decide if he want to follow him, which had already gotten him major points for his honor and beliefs.  Still the hunt would be a good chance to learn and make some allies, and talk away from the mountain.  Some of the new members, he needed to talk with someone who had been here longer as a Knight, maybe they would know anything about where they came from.

 “You must be the kid the boss said was coming with us.”  A gruff voice said to his right.  The person walking towards him was taller than him, black hair in a topknot wearing a green cloak over a green shirt and pants.

 “The names Dante, the tracker for this little jaunt.”  He said and offered his right hand.  Nicolas reached for before a giant purple hand grabbed his hand and shook it vigorously.

 “And this little prankster is my partner, Haunter.”  He continued as the Ghost type revealed itself as it laughed with a smile on its face.

 “Pleased to meet you both. This is my partner, Teddiursa.” Nicolas said as he recovered and his Teddiursa stared into the Ghost Type’s eyes, the Haunter just smirked at the Teddiursa before the Normal Type held up a paw and let dark energy flow over its claws.

 “Play nice you two, now come on, the rest of the party should be ready.  And you need this.”  Dante said as he passed Nicolas a glove with a blue gem on the back. Nicolas just took the glove and put it on his left hand.

 “So we will be using golems on the hunt?”  Nicolas asked as they moved down the mountain toward the forest.

 “We’ll be riding on Lupine Chargers, there the best thing to ride on to hunt in the forest.  And there they are.”  Dante said as he pointed forward, causing Nicolas to follow his hand.

 At the base of the mountain was Good Sylvestre standing with thirteen Squires readying four Lupine Chargers, wooden wolf like golems with jade gems for eyes and claws and teeth made out of emerald colored crystals.  It had a wooden saddle on its back with a blue gemstone just before the saddle near the neck of the neck of the golem.  Also by the forest were 12 Carrier Lizards, golems made in the shape of lizards with wooden open boxes on their back.

 “So we’ll be using the Chargers to move and the Carriers to transport our bounty?”  Nicolas said as the four of them moved toward the golems.

 “Indeed, the Carriers and Squires will hand what we kill and defend it.  With the three Chargers we will run down our prey and kill them.” Sylvestre answered as he walked over and clasped Dante’s hand.

 “Thank you for coming along old friend, it will be better with someone like you along.  And Knight Nicolas, I thank you for coming along on my punishment.”  Sylvestre continued as he led them the golems and directed them to one each.

 “But there are four Chargers?”  Nicolas asked as he put the glove on the blue gem of one of the Chargers.

 “The last one is for one of the Squires, so he has something to get us if they need us fast.  Now come, our hunt shall be in the forests along Victory road itself, let us find our prey my friends!”  Sylvestre cried out as he raised his rapier high to calls of agreement from the others as they all mounted a golem, with the squires ridding the Charger leading the other squires with the Knights in front the party set out for the hunting ground.

  OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

  Lilith smiled as she sat in the dressing room as Serena applied some lipstick to her face. Bonnie and Serena had help her get into her dress Serena had directed Bonnie in applying blush and mascara before she had gone to the bathroom.

 “Thanks for this Serena; you and Bonnie really helped me out a lot.  I have to say you have an eye for fashion and makeup.”  Lilith said as she gave herself a once over as her Pokémon’s floated next to her.  She had decided on one dress but Serena had helped her choose a necklace and earrings, and Bonnie had helped with her hair.

 “Thanks, I told you about mom’s career and well mom kind of trained me in the sport since I turned ten, and well, fashion magazines and books became an escape for me.  And sometimes when mom had parties to go to some of her friends helped her put a mask on as she would say and they taught me a little bit about it.”  Serena said as emotions flew behind her eyes.  Lilith looked at Serena with a blank face but inside she was frowning, Lady Carmila had taught her a lot about people minds and how to feel them, Serena felt had a few issues with how her mother raised her, what she was pushed towards but for all Lilith want to help her she knew that Serena had to work through it herself.

 “Still you have a gift, you should think about it when you decide on your future.”  Lilith said as she gently squeezed Serena’s shoulder who answered it with a smile.  If what Lilith thought she felt when she meet her, her future would be in the Homeland no matter what happened, and she knew a few people who could do with an apprentice.

 “Anyhow I think Clemont is going to like the way you look Lilly.” Serena teased Lilith and was rewarded with Lilith blushing.

 “And how would Ash react if you dressed up a bit Serena?” Lilith countered and laughed as Serena blushed this time.  Serena grabbed a small pillow and hit Lilith on the head with it.

 “Watch the face; I don’t want to put this stuff on again so soon!”  Lilith laughed as she grabbed for the pillow.

 Bonnie ran through the hallway, dodging people in costumes and Pokémon as she moved back towards the dressing room.  This was incredible, the costumes were so colorful and the atmosphere was amazing, she had thought that the Showcase was the only way to perform with Pokémon but this showed that there was so much more out there.  Her attention was so caught up with what was around her that she never noticed the figure who stepped in front of her until she bumped into him.

  “You should watch where you’re going kid.”  A voice said as a hand reached down and Bonnie grabbed it. The person who helped her up was a purple haired man in green cloths.

 “Sorry Mr.  I want to get back to my friends and all these people in their costumes just took my attention.”  Bonnie said as she rubbed the back of her head.

 “Just be more careful in the future kid, say weren’t you walking with Ash Ketchum outside?”  The man asked as he looked at her closely. Bonnie felt something about his look, something that felt bad, that reminded her of the feeling she got before those boys attacked her.

 “Yeah, do you know Ash?” Bonnie asked as she slowly reached for her satchel and Dedenne, ready to release him and have him shock Harley.

 “You could say that the two of us are acquainted.  Say, what’s your name?”  The man asked as he looked at her.  Bonnie looked into his eyes and she felt a twitch of fear, his stare was, there just was something wrong about it.

 “My name’s Bonnie, hello.” Bonnie said as she put her hand on her bag over Dedenne, feeling him wake up from his nap, feeling Bonnie’s fingers on him Bonnie could feel him start to tense, ready to protect her if needed.

 “It’s charming to meet you Bonnie.  When you see him tell him Harley said hi would ya sweetie?  Well it was nice talking with you but I have to get ready for my performance.”  Harley said as he walked off and waved goodbye while he whistled a tune.

 Bonnie just looked after him and walked back toward Serena and Lilith, that person seemed to be a very strange and dangerous man.  Ash had talked at supper about some characters he had met while on his journeys around the regions, but he never mentioned Harely.

 “There you are Bonnie, are you okay?” Serena’s voice caused her notice the hallway was almost empty and the people in the hallway were heading toward the far end while a few well-wishers were heading the other way.

 “Yeah, I just ran into someone who knows Ash.”  Bonnie said as she grabbed Serena’s hand and walked toward the stage area.

 “Someone who knows Ash, what were they like?”  Serena asked Bonnie as they walked out of the backstage area.

 “He said his name was Harley and I guess he was strange.  He had a look in his eyes when he looked at me, when he said he saw us walking with Ash earlier.  I didn’t like it, I felt scared for a few seconds.”  Bonnie said as Dedenne stuck his head out of her bag and looked at Bonnie in concern. Serena eyes gained a hint of worry as she heard what Bonnie had to say and looked around nervously, seeing no one looking at them she pulled Bonnie faster toward where they would meet Ash and Clemont.

 “Enjoy the show you two.” Nimue voice caused the two to turn and look toward the voice to see Nimue in her costume peering out of her dressing room.

 “You look beautiful Nimue!” Serena said as she and Bonnie looked at her.

 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 Brock staggered toward the beak room, he had finally finished with all the patients and he needed something to drink.  Entering the room he saw his teacher, Dr. Ryouta Panacelon, a man with black hair in a black smock and pants over a white doctor’s coat staring at a map of the city on the wall, next to him stood his wife Sayeko Panacelon a nurse who specialized in viral infections.  Since he had come for his residency here in Viridian those two had helped him and taught him a lot about Pokémon medicine and he hoped that the hospital would be able to handle this outbreak.

 “Your tracking where they live to find a common denominator, it started near the mountains?”  Brock said as he got a glass of water and leaned against the sink.  This was basic procedural for an outbreak, and hopeful it wouldn’t spread to the rest of the region.

 “Yeah, I think so, but I’ve consulted with trainers and only a few of them were even near the mountains within the last seventy-two hours, and not enough for all the cases we’ve seen. I sent Joy to do some blood work when the first ten cases came in, so we should have the result in a few minutes. What are the basic symptoms you’ve seen Doctor?” Dr. Ryouta asked as looked at his student.  Brock gave a small smile as his teacher’s wife sighed and shook her head, him and his teaching moments.

 “Well, all Pokémon I’ve examined generally seem to be feeling pain and all have other symptoms; all Pokémon with fangs that I’ve examined, their mouths are red and puffy, Koffings and Weezings are having trouble regulating their gases content and are stuck close to the ground.  Most Nidorino or Nidorina that I’ve examined are lethargic at best, unconscious at worst. Most Flying types are losing their feathers, Fire Types are cold and a Beedrill-” Brock began to report when a woman with pink hair in loops wearing a nurse’s outfit ran in holding a piece of paper with a shocked look on her face.

 “Ah, Joy!  Did the blood work show any common-“Ryouta started to say when Nurse Joy interrupted him.

 “It’s a spore!  What’s affecting the Pokémon is a kind of spore!” Joy cut in and slammed the paper she was holding on the table.

 “A spore?!  What kind of spore could cause these symptoms in all these Pokémon?!  And what does that do to the origin point?”  Sayeko exclaimed as she looked over the data on Joy’s paper. Brock looked over the data and started to look over the genetic data.  Brock looked at it and something about it looked familiar.

 “I don’t know.  I had the computers to look for any other changes in their biochemistry, thankfully a Seviper who had coming in for her yearly checkup was the source for one of the blood samples, so we should know any other changes soon.”  Joy said as she wrung her hands.

 “For now the best we can do is make them as comfortable as possible.  Put them on generic anti-fungal medicines as their size requires and Brock; what’s wrong?”  Ryouta said as the other people in the room turned to look at him with looks of worry on their faces.

 “This spore, I think I’ve seen something like it before but I can’t remember where or when.  It’s on the tip of my tongue but I can’t remember where.”  Brock said as he shook his head.  Ryouta shared a look with his wife and sighed.

 “Until you can remember keep yourself busy with the other patients, I’ll go and get a timeline of the last 48 hours from the trainers who are still here after I call the local stations, I’ll use my authority to have them put out a warning to tell people keep watch over their Pokémon for symptoms.  Sayeko, I need you to start giving out basic pain medicine and Joy, start trying to identify what kind of spore it is, check everything for even a partial match.”   Ryouta said as he walked toward the desk and phone.

 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 A young teenage boy with dark skin and spikey white hair in a black cloak over black pants and a red long shirt a scabbard on his back ran between white brick houses with a smile on his face, dodging people in similar cloaks and their Pokémon as he ran toward a house by a river that ran alongside the village.  An old man with a white beard, a bald head wearing a white robs sat outside a house with a staff as he watched the boats on the river.

 “Elder, Elder!”  The teen called out as he ran toward the old man who turned and smiled when he saw who was coming towards him.

 “Ahh, Bahadur, I was wondering when I would see you today.  I am sorry it took so long for your Pokémon to arrive.” He said with a smile as he led Bahadur into the house behind him. In the front room, on a red pillow was a Pokéballl which the Elder walked toward and picked up.  He walked back toward Bahadur and smiled at him.

 “You have passed the Trials of the Blade, mastering your Aura and walking with the Fire within yourself. You have done well, and you have earned the right to be a train Pokémon.  May this little one grow under your care, and may this Pokédex help you both on your journey.”  He said as he handed the ball to Bahadur.

 “Go Pokéball!” Bahadur said as he threw the ball away from him, it opened and released his chosen starter, a Magby who looked unsure of its new trainer.

 “Hello, we’re partners from now on little flame, my name is Bahadur.”  Bahadur said as he crouched down and stuck out his right hand.  The Magby looked hesitant before it smiled and grabbed its trainer’s hand with a smile.

 “I was surprised that you decided on this one to start with boy’o, I was sure you would choose the Water or the Ground, few choose the Fire in this land.”  The Elder said as he watched the two begin to bond.

 “No, young Aagha’s father said that he would arrange for his son’s first Pokémon and said that his son had a specific one in mind for his starter, but I can tell you it was of the Ground.   Now be off with you, watch yourself and enjoy the rest of your day my boy.  And here’s your new Pokédex, its scanner can tell you all you need about your Pokémon’s move, and don’t forget to link it with your Quest Scanner.”  The Elder said as he pushed the two of them out the door.

 “Come on partner, I’ll show you around your new home.  This is Sola’s Rest, a small town named for its founder.  Chief export is food for our section of the Desert Domain, that’s where we live the Desert Domain of the continent.  A land of sand and scattered towns, the river and oasis’s are our lifeblood, find a source of water in the badlands and you can sell it to the government or be set for years by making it a homestead or town.  And maybe I should see what moves you have.”  Bahadur said as opened his Pokédex as he led his Pokémon through the town.  He didn’t notice a rodent looking teen with black beady eyes in a black hooded cloak looking at them from the shadows of a nearby alley.

“Aagha gonna like this, the chance to put that one in his place again and maybe scare his Pokémon’s mind. Patrat, let’s make some money.” The teen cackled as he threw a Pokéball, releasing a Patrat wearing a collar with a blinking light on its back. Pointing at the teen and the Fire type he gave his orders.

 “Go follow those two, when they head toward the training field send me a signal.”  With his orders given the teen scuttled into the shadows of the alleys, running toward what he hoped would be a good payday for him, not noticing someone had been watching him from atop the building.  The figure was wearing a black cloak and with a nod to a Meditite hovering next to the figure they started to move toward a set of docks by the river.

 The rodent reached a walled complex, moving toward the back he climbed up a fake tree and slipped into the compound.  He ran towards a two story building near the wall and knocked on a door toward the back. A female figure with glossy skin and vibrant green hair in a maid’s uniform with black blue eyes opened the door.

 “Do you need to see the master?”  The mechanical voice from the figure coupled with the skin and eyes revealed her to a Homunculus.

 “No words for you, I wanna talk to your master Dolly.”  The teen said as he pushed past it into the building, he walked until he reached a large chamber with many teens in red cloaks over red knee-length tunics and were leaning against the walls while three teenage boys were sitting around a table with food on it, but all were watching four female homunculus with dark crimson hair wearing purple tube tops and pants dance while other homunculus in the same clothing move about the room carrying plates of drink and food to the other teens in the chamber.  The teen sitting in the middle was a red head with red eyes and wearing a golden version of the tunics the others were warring.  The two on his sides both had dark hair and wore black knee-length tunics.

 “Are you having fun playing with your dolls, great master?”  The teen’s voice rang out causing the others in the chamber barring the dancers and servants to turn to look at him

 “Rat, so do you want to offer me now?”  The voice came from the teen in the golden tunic as the others let their boss speak.

 “How about the location of your unworthy foe master Aagha; what would the location of that one and his first Pokémon be worth in coin?” the named Rat asked as he was meet with a smirk from Aagha and grins from those around the chamber.

 “The chance to beat him is worth some coin.”  Aagha answered with a wicked smirk as the others started to laugh evilly.

  “Serena, I’m over here!” Ash called to Serena and Bonnie when he saw them through the crowd.  The smile on his face slipped when he saw the frown on Serena’s face and the way she was holding Bonnie’s hand.  He looked at Pikachu who nodded at him and moved its tail toward the door.  Ash forced himself to smile at Bonnie and pointed toward the open doorway to the stands.

 “Clemont and I got some seats in the top row in the Center, why don’t you go ahead of us and Serena and I’ll go get some snacks?  Pikachu, go show her where the seats are.” Ash said, promting Pikachu to jump in font of Bonnie and walk off with her following him.  Ash turned to Serena who was looking back the way she and Bonnie had come from, when she turned back to Ash and when she saw the look on his face she sighed.

 “It’s nothing, Bonnie just went to the bathroom and she ran into someone you know on the way back. She said he felt wrong to her so I just hurried over to you and Clemont.”  Serena said as Ash looked confused for a few seconds before he gained a resigned look.

 “Someone I know? Someone who felt, it was here and near the changing rooms so they have to be a Coordinator, and it’s a he….Did she say his name was either Drew or Harley?”  Ash said as he looked worried.

 “She said his name was Harley.  Do you have a history with him?” Serena asked when she saw a scowl grow on Ash’s face.   Ash gritted his teeth as his mind boiled.  It has to be that purple haired schemer!  I just hope he doesn’t plan to mess with Lilly because she knows me.  He looked at Serena and saw the worried look on her face and adopted a small smile to put Serena’s mind at ease.

 “A Coordinator I traveled with had a rivalry with him that was all one-sided on his part, he went out of his way to attack, embarrass and sabotage her, and he might have even worked with Team Rocket once, I wasn’t sure at the end.  I just hope he doesn’t decide to attack Lilly.”  Ash said as he looked around and notice the condensation stand.

 “So I was thinking a small Popcorn for Bonnie, Clemont wanted a pretzel and you?”  Ash said as he grabbed Serena’s hand and walked toward it, not noticing the blush this generated as they walked.

 When Ash and Serena returned to where he had left Clemont, Ash saw that Bonnie had looked calm and mouthed ‘latter’ in reaction to the look Clemont shot Ash.  Clemont looked he would have said something when the lights started to darken as a spotlight shinned down on the green girl from the registration desk holding a mike in her hands.

 “Welcome one and all the first ever general Pokémon Contest!  Here in Kalos we have the Showcase, and while that well and good, it’s for girls only!  So to try something new in general, for the next year Contests will be held until the League Tournament where everyone in Kalos will vote to decide if this will keep going!  For the Contests around this area I’ll be your commenter, Leafra’s the name so don’t you forget it!   The judges for this Contest will be Santalune City;s own Nurse Joy, the vice president Pokémon Fan Club Mr. Glomong and yours truly!   And now may the Contest begin!”  She said as the speakers around the stage boomed out her words.

 After a few while Ash turned and looked at Bonnie’s face, seeing the awe and wonder the performances so far had been breath taking to the girl, to Ash who had been to two Grand Festivals it was okay.  But he looked up from his dex when he saw the lights dim, wondering who was up next.

 “Well let’s give a big hand for that performance!  Up next we have Harely!”  Leafra voice cried out as a spotlight shined on the entrance.  Harely walked out waving a folding fan imperilessly at the crowd, dressed like a Pokélantis Senator in a green toga with a crown of golden leaves, his Cacturne at his side as they walked to the center of the stage and began

 “First Spikes!” Harley commanded before his Cacturne started to spin, sending six green spikes form its body that formed a circle around the two of them.

 “Grass Knot and Growth!” The command had the Cacturne eyes grow green as plants started to grow around the spikes before it shot the plants with a white beam that caused them to grow six feet tall around the spikes.

 “Now Cotton Spore, like we practiced!”  Harley cried out as he thrust with his fan closed as his Cacturne spun and shot white puffy balls that floated above the vine towers.

 “Now finish it up with Pin Missiles!”  With this command small white pins shot from its spikes and hit the puffy balls, bursting them apart, falling around the towers, creating a scene of an ancient senator standing in a green ruin while it snowed.   The audience stared before they began cheering and applauding his performance.

 Ash had to admit that he had improved, but sadly skills and personality didn’t go hand in hand. Looking at the judges he saw.

 “Impressive, quite a show. What do you think Nurse Joy?” Mr. Glomong said as he smiled.

 “A truly beautiful combination of moves!”  Nurse Joy answered with a smile.  Harley gave an imperious bow as he walked off the stage with his Pokémon following him.

 “Let’s give it up for Harley everyone!  And up next is Miss Nimue Mistborn!”  Leafra said with a smile on her face.

 “So what do you guys think, I’m guessing she has a biker costume giving how she bumped into Clemont.” Ash said as he leaned forward with a smirk on his face.  Clemont just blushed at the teasing as Serena and Bonnie laughed lightly.

 “I have a feeling we’ll be surprised.”  Serena said as she shared a look with Bonnie and both of them smiled.

 Nimue walked onto the stage. She was dressed in a blue ballroom gown that showed the top of her breasts and shoulders, blue opera gloves and a dark pearl necklace falling toward her breasts.  Her face had a light coating of aqua green lipstick on her lips and dark blue eye-shadow on her eye lids completed the look, her hair was an aqua green and trailed down her back in a braid.  By her side walked a Golduck, while she stopped at the end of the end of the stage the Golduck walked to the center of the stage.

 “Start off with a Rain Dance around you.”  Nimue voice range out like a melody as she stood at the stage’s end.  Golduck’s eyes glowed and clouds formed with Golduck at the center with the clouds ending a few feet from Nimue.  As the rain started to fall Nimue brought the fan to her face.

 “Follow with an Aqua Jet to gather.”  She sang out. Her Golduck jumped up wards as water from the rain gathered around it.  When it reached the apex of its jump Numue gave her next command.

 “Now Psychic on water!” Golducks eye glowed blue and the water trailing behind it broke away and started to makes shapes as the Golduck started to fall.

 “Now finish it with an Ice Beam!”  The water took on its final shape before a blue beam freezing it into an ice Water symbol that the Golduck landed on with its arms folded against its chest.

 The crowed was silent for a few seconds before they exploded with applauses!  Joy had a particularly large smile on her face as she gave a standing ovation to the performance.

 “I would have to say that was a wonderful set!  A wonderful example of what training and practice can accomplish if you try!  Mr. Glomong what do you think?”  Nurse Joy asked her fellow judge as she sat down.

 “I would have to say that was amazing!  The Golduck is a wonderful specimen who has been trained to master its powers fully; I have to give full points on this!” He said as he smiled.

 “Let’s give a big hand to one of the best so far folks!  And the last performance of the Appeal’s round, give a warm welcome to Miss Lilly Nightbloom!”  Leafra said as people quitted down for next

 Lilith walked out. She was dressed in a ruby figure-hugging, ankle length dress that showed off her figure and had on pure white opera gloves.  Her face had black obsidian lipstick and red eye shadow that gave her eyes the appearance of blue gems on red velvet.  Floating next to her was her Misdreavus that slowly moved in a circle around her head. As she walked out toward the stage people were awestruck with the air of sophistication she gave off.

 Clemont stared at Lilith with his mouth hanging open, a blush on his face as he looked at her.  

 “Doesn’t she look amazing big brother?”  Bonnie’s voice snapped him out of his daze and saw that his sister had been watching Lilly closely since she walked onto the stage and hadn’t seen his reaction, a small miracle.

 “Yes she does look nice Bonnie, you and Serena helped her with it?” Clemont asked as his eyes drank in the figure Lilith made as she walked with her Pokemon.

 “Only the makeup, Serena really knows how to apply it nicely.” Bonnie answered, causing Ash to look at Serena with a question in his eyes; she sent him a look that they would talk about it later. I wonder what happened to tomboy Rena over the years?   Ash mused as his thoughts went back to their youth.

 When Lilith reached the middle of the stage she raised her right hand up and called out her first command.

 “Will-O-Wisp, far.” She called out in a silky voice. Her Misdreavus eyes glowed blue and nine blue glowing spheres of fire formed around it and started to orbit it.

 “Charge Beam, spin.” Lilith said before her Misdreavus spun counter to the orbiting spheres as yellow sparks started to form around it before a blast of electricity shot at the spheres, the fire gaining electricity and started to hover in place.

 Lilith closed her eyes and nodded her head.  She opened them when the spheres started to fall.

 “Psychic.”  As soon as the word left her mouth the spheres gained a blue glow as her Misdreavus eyes gained the same color.  The spheres flew to the top of the room and started to move about as the Misdreavus went a location at the center of the spheres.

 “Finish, Dazzling Gleam.” Lilith said as she opened her eyes and smiled.  Misdreavus whole body started to glow and a rainbow blast shot out of its body and hit the sphere, destroying them and causing a rainbow of sparks to rain down around Lilith as her Misdreavus came to float behind and above her head.

 People stared in awe, so enraptured in it they couldn’t even move for a few seconds before they gave a standing ovation to the performance.

 “MARVOULOUS! Simply breathe taking!  A Perfect showing!  What say you Nurse Joy?”  Mr. Glomong commented as he stood and applauded.

 “One of the best in the whole Contest, I will definitely be keeping an eye on her performances in the future!”  Nurse Joy said as she joined those applauding Lilith as she gave a small curtsy and walked off the stage, her ghost type following after her.

 Clemont was in awe of what he had seen, Lilly was amazing, there were just no other words for it. Bonnie smiled and clapped as Serena looked at the stage in wonder with a thoughtful look in her eyes.  Ash smiled as he looked at the performance, Lilly was a powerful Coordinator, there was no doubt about that at least.

 “Well that’s the Appeal’s round Folks, after a two hour break for lunch and we’ll announce the scoring in an hour.  After the break we’ll have the top 10 fight it out in the Battle round, so for all the people who competed I personally salute you all.”  Leafra said as she gave a bow to the crowd.  As the audience got up Ash motioned to the others to wait for the rest of the crowd to pass before they went to Lilith’s dressing room.

 Lilith smiled as she washed the makeup off her face in the sink in her room before she put her street cloths back on.  She thought she had giving a good showing, and hoped she would make it into the top ten. I wonder what Clemont thought about how I looked?  She thought with a blush as she finished putting her shirt back on when her door opened and Bonnie dashed in and hugged her legs.

 “That was amazing Lilly!   You were great out there.”  Bonnie said as she looked up at the older girl who reached down and rubbed her head.

 “Thanks kid, but next time you should knock before you enter, I was changing, wouldn’t want to catch me in my underwear would you.”  Lilith said as she looked at the smiling faces of her friends.  Her words caused Clemont to blush which caused Lilith to grow a small smirk on her face at his reaction.  Serena saw the byplay and gave Lilith a small playful smile.

 “So how about I go grab some food and we’ll eat here, it’s a good habit to protect you stuff when he’s around.”  Ash said as he and Pikachu walked off.

 “He?  He who?”  Lilith asked as she looked at Serena as Clemont looked at Bonnie in worry before his eyes hardened and he turned to Serena with a bit of anger in his eyes.

 “Is this connected to why Pikachu brought Bonnie to the seats?” Clemont demanded as Lilith looked at Bonnie.

 “Bonnie ran into someone Ash knew, a Coordinator that Ash says doesn’t mind pulling dirty tricks to get ahead.  And Bonnie…” Serena trailed off as Bonnie put her head down, prompting Lilith to stoop down and pull her into a hug.

 “I didn’t like his eyes; there was something wrong about them and his voice, it was, I can’t describe it.  I just didn’t like the feeling he gave off.”  Bonnie confided in the others as Clemont clenched his hands as he looked out the door, the anger on his face showing that he wanted to introduce this person to his axes.

 Ash moved through the hallways carrying a few cardboard boxes with food a small smile on his face as he walked with Pikachu next to him, he had gotten a bit of everything and he hoped that the others would like something, now if he could just… he stopped when a voice called out to him

 “Well, well.  Ash Ketchum, never thought I’d see you again.” The words caused him to turn and see Harley still in his costume a self-satisfied smirk on his face.

 “Harley, and here I was wondering what the stench I smelled when I got to the contest hall was.”  Ash said dryly causing Harley to jolt and stare open mouthed for a few seconds before a grin stretched across his face.

 “Well, little Ash is growing up, what a wonderful burn; do you kiss your mother with that mouth?” Harley shot back as Pikachu’s checks started to spark.  Ash merely used his foot to nudge Pikachu down the hall away from Harley.

 “And how did you find yourself here, fall off a garbage tuck?”  Ash commented with a deadpanned look on his face as he walked away leaving Harley to fume and stare after him.  

 Harley looked after Ash and snarled as he pounded back toward his dressing room.  That little Kanto brat really has changed.  I can’t wait to smash that girls little Pokémon in the Battle Round. He thought as he looked at Ash over his shoulder.

 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

  Magnus looked troubled as he walked through the hallway; he was troubled by the report he had received along with a scan of his sister yesterday and it was nothing but trouble. He had made some progress on his nephew’s sealing and he had discovered that he was a least three sets, the first he had was sure of, the next halfway and the last was the hardest to identify. He had identified the first as an abomination that held back his emotional maturity but it had started to break apart and it was almost fully gone, something had happened that had broken it. He hoped that Camilla had found something; she had said that she was looking into his journey in more detail, maybe she would know.  Delia’s was even worse, one that took her memoires and another that was unknown to him, and that raised all sorts of alarms in his head.

 Looking up he saw Camilla walk out of a room with a dazed look on her face, maybe she would know something.

 “Ah, Camilla, found out anything about my nephew?”  Camilla just walked on not reacting to his voice. Growing concerned he ran up to her and put his hand on her shoulder, causing her to turn and face him.

 “Oh, Magnus, how’s the work examining the young Princes seals?”  She said when her eyes focused onto his face.

 “Rather well, I’ve identified three arrays, one that seemed to be breaking down because of something that happened a few years ago if I’m analyzing it right.”  Magnus said, his words causing her to wince.

 “Camilla, what did you find? If it’s about what happened to him…” Magnus began before Camilla interrupted him flatly.

 “He has zero self-preservation when lives are on the line.” Camilla said as she started to walk down the hall.

 “What did he do?” Magnus asked as a headache started to form.

 “In the Rota Township he released the Lucario in the Lost Guardian’s staff, led a party to invade the Tree of Beginning, discovered why the Guardian left and almost gave all up his Aura to revitalized the Tree.”  Camilla said as Magnus stopped and went white.  He slammed his hand against his face and rubbed his forehead before he walked after her.

 “I thought that his Aura wasn’t ‘awake’?”  Magnus asked in confusion causing Camilla to turn and look at him with a haunted look.

 “It isn’t.”  She deadpanned as she walked on, stopping Magnus for a moment in shock before he moved to catch up with her.

 “Why did the apple have to fall so close to the tree?  I swear he’s probably just like his father and mother combined.”  He moaned as they walked through the halls.

 “What about Delia’s seals? Have you identified anything about them?”  Camilla question as they walked.  Magnus noticed that they were walked toward the throne room, and after a few minutes of thought he decided to wait.

 “I identified that she has two, one I’m sure of and the other I’ll tell you and the boss when we meet up for the general briefing tonight.  I only want to go over it once.”  Magnus said with a sigh as he walked.

 “No spoilers old friend?”  Camilla asked with a pout on thrown over her shoulder as they walked.

 “None for you.”  He answered; sparking a laugh from Camilla as he walked in front of her to hide his smirk, glad that she was back to normal.

 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

  The party that had sent out from Team Gaia’s Base had been moving quickly and secretly through the wild and had move a good distance, the mountain the Base was in had disappeared over the horizon a few hours back.  The time had passed with small talk and trail songs, a few times a few Flying types had flown low and gotten capture arrows shot at them, a few were brought down and one had escaped.  The squires had added them to the cargo, and already one of the Carriers was full, a good start to the hunt.

 Nicholas had mixed feelings about the traveling, it had let him learn about both Sylvestre and Dante, but the convoy’s travel had given him anytime to talk to anyone alone, but once they set up camp it might give him a chance to talk to either Sylvestre or Dante privately, and he needed to.  Going over his memories of interactions with the ‘newcomers’ he was sure something was up with them, but if his seniors were involved with it he then he might be in trouble if he brought it up.  He looked down and saw his Teddiursa looking up at him and smiled at his Pokémon, at least he would have his partner with him if he needed to run, if Sylverstre was involved in whatever it was.

 After a while of riding they reached a clearing in a forest near a mountain between them and Viridian City, and after a few minutes the camp had been set up and the Carriers had been ‘parked’ and Sylvestre started to lead Dante and Nicholas into the woods.

 “Now if we find Beedrills, try to cut off their limb stingers at least, my brother said something about a ritual he needed it for.  Dante take the kid toward the right and I’ll go to the left, we’ll do a circle and make sure the camp is secure before we go farther out.”  Sylvestre said as he melted into the trees, disappearing from sight in seconds.  Nicholas looked at where he had disappeared and shook his head, Dante smirking at his reaction.

 “Yeah, the bossman is good at that shadow stuff, now come on kid, let us see if there are any dens near our basecamp.”  Dante said with a smirk as they moved through the woods.  With a small smile on his face Nicholas moved after him, a sense of wonder at the skill his would be lord displayed, and he hoped he would be able to talk to him about his concerns soon.  He decided to take a chance, they were far enough away that if he needed to he could fight his way to freedom.

 “Say, Sir Dante, have you been around the newcomers much?”   Nicholas started as he walked slowly behind Dante.

 “Not much, I’m on guard duty more often than not at the lookout on top of the base, Haunter can slip through the base and worn people if anything happens, why?”  Dante asked as they moved through the shadows of the trees. Nicholas slowly moved his hand to his partner’s ball and continued solidly.

 “I don’t want to make trouble where there is none, but I’ve felt something off about them.  And the way some of them talk, I just wondering about how they’re found and brought in, that’s all.” Nicholas said as he moved behind his senior.

 “Off how? Wait a minute, what’s this?”   Dante said as they were suddenly engulfed in fog. Dante held up a hand and slowly moved forward until they exited the fog, entering a clearing with a large tree 50 feet high with a hollow three quarters up in the center of the clearing, all around were webs that went from the branches of the tree in the center to the trees along the edges and on the ground all around.

 “What fresh hell is this?” Dante muttered as he drew his weapon, a two sided broad axe before he released his Haunter.  

 “Up, around the clearing and immaterial buddy, let us know if you find anything.”  Dante ordered as Nicholas drew his long sword and released his own partner.

 “I don’t like this; we should have seen this from the campsite.”  Nicholas said as they slowly observed the clearing.

 “We wouldn’t, look at the trees by the edge, you can see carvings on them under the webs; I think their Aura Seals.”  Dante said grimly as his Haunter went near the outer trees before starting to check the clearing for anything hidden.

 “Who would make something like this, and why?”  Nicholas asked as his Teddiursa moved slowly to stand infront of its trainer.

 “The bossman’s brother said once that Aura Seals are the most instinctive of all Disciplines, a Pokémon or a creature might of made this to protect its lair.”  Dante said grimly as he held his arm out to keep Nicholas and his partner from moving past him, his eyes on the ground before them, paying special attention to clumps of webbing.

 “A creature? A Chimera. We’re in a Chimera’s lair, one that’s able to use Aura Seals?”  Nicholas whispered in shock as he paled before he started to look around the clearing in worry.

 “Maybe, it might just be an old temple protected by Seals that something took over as a den by something, maybe Pokémon.  But let’s wait until my partner finishes his sweep, well leave after that but keep your eyes open in the meantime and stay away from the webs; I’ve got a bad feeling about it.”  Dante said grimly as he watched his Haunter move slowly around the clearing, keeping away from the webs as it moved about, finally  it just shock it head-body and moved back towards its trainer, keeping overwatch over the others, following them as they silently left the area.

 “Haunter’s done, but that hollow is giving me a bad feeling, so let’s get out of here, now and tell the bossman what’s here.”  Dante said as he and Haunter slowly backed out of the clearing.  A few minutes after they had left the clearing a human hand reached out of the hollow in the tree and grabbed the edge of the hole and a musical laugh echoed around the clearing.

 “Come my daughters, there is new prey for us to hunt tonight; I wonder which of you will join your dear mother?”  The voice rang out as all around the clearing large clumps of webs started to move.

 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

   Brock walked through the halls with a tired smile on his face, it had been a long few hours but the patients were getting better.  Blood tests had shown that the amount of the spore was decreasing in the blood of the Pokémon as time went by, a few more tests to find out what it did, and if the majority continued healing they would be able to send the majority of them home tomorrow.  He still hadn’t remembered where he had seen it but he was sure he would be able to eventually.  I just hope that what I remember doesn’t make this worse.  Brock thought to himself as he walked toward the break room, hoping to touch base with his teacher.  When he entered the break room he saw his teacher angrily staring at the map, his wife next to him with a sorrowful look on her face as she stood with him.

 “I’m guessing that you found out something with the timeline?”  Brock said as he came to the map and stood with them, his voice causing them to jolt and turn to look at him.

 “Yes unfortunately. Whenever that spore infected them it had to have been between midnight last night to before eight this morning, when I don’t know and given how fast it’s going through them the League won’t classify this as an epidemic, just as an outbreak.”  Ryouta said bitterly as his wife tried to comfort her.

 “I don’t agree with them dear but I can see where their coming from.  So far all we know right now is that the spore causes pain and even then it doesn’t last longer than a few hours.  For a wind borne epidemic it’s not as bad as it could be.”  Sayeko words caused Brock to frown as something started to echo in his mind.

 “Wait a minute, wind borne? What did Jenny say this morning?” Brock stopped looking at the map before his face started to loose color.  He dashed toward a computer in the room and started to navigate to a weather report.

 “Brock, what’s wrong?” Sayeko said as she and her husband moved toward him and started to grow worried.

 “Oh by Arceus I was right.” He said as he held his head as he stared at the screen.  A hurricane was due to glance the region in a few days, going right alongside Cycle road going right at Mt.Moon.  When he and his wife saw what was on the monitor they both started to pale.

 “A hurricane?  I knew we should have watched the new this morning, I just knew it.”  Sayeko breathed in horror as she stared at the monitor as she started to feel faint.

 “If there’s another outbreak of this just before this hits the area, even if it doesn’t migrate to humans the potential loss of life is massive.  I need to contact Officer Jenny; she needs to be warned about this.” Ryouta said as he massaged his head.

 “If it migrates the deliberating pain and the winds, the potential loss of life I can’t even imagine the scale.”  Sayeko whispered as she stared into space.

 “Maybe the winds will cause the spore to die or be destroyed.  That’s possible right?”  Brock asked as he turned and looked at the other two people, meeting their grim looks and looked downwards and released a sigh.  

 “We have no idea the shape or makeup of the spore before it infects a host, so maybe but with the symptoms I really doubt it.  I don’t know how this can get any worse than it is.” Ryouta said as they looked at the computer, turning when the door opened and Joy came into the room, looking worried, her eyes meeting theirs and frowning when she saw their looks.

 “I’m guessing that what I discovered won’t be the worst about this thing.”  Joy said as she gave a small weak smile.

 “What is it Joy, what did you find?”  Sayeko asked with worry as they took looked at her.

 “I’m still waiting on some results for the hormones and any affects the spore is doing to the body but I was able to identify hybrid planet-animal protean as a key part of the spore, I think that this was from a Pokémon.  To be honest it reminds me of a Stun Spore I once looked at back during my school days, it was from a Paras…”  She trailed of as Brock slipped from his chair as his eyes glazed over.

 “BROCK!  Are you okay?”  Sayeko demanded as she went to her knees as her husband steadied Brock as she looked into his eyes.  His eyes had that look in them when people were remember something that terrified them.

 “That’s where I saw it before; it was an incident that happened a few years ago in Hoenn, a Chimera that used spores to hunt had attacked a Nuzleaf.”  Brock whispered as the others exchanged concerned looks.

 “A Chimera?” Joy breathed as the other three started to process Brock’s revelation.  Each starting to remember the horrors they had encountered accredited to those abominations

 “Spores released from a source able to move; that would explain everything about how our patients were infected.”  Ryouta said grimly as he shook his head as he frowned.

 “It uses the spore to disable its prey, the time limit is so they could infect an area and find food.” Sayeko said in horrified realization as she held her arms, remember the last Chimera Siege.

 “Think the League would reclassify this now?”  Brock asked as he grimaced, remember some politicians he had met when he became a Gym Leader.

 “Maybe if we bring back proof, but if this outbreak was, deliberate then I don’t know if I could even go into the mountains while preparing for the Hurricane.”  Ryouta said as he shook his head.

 “I’ll visit the local Gym on my way home maybe they’ll be able to spare a few trainers to join me on an expedition into the mountains to find the source.”  Brock promised his teacher who sighed.

 “Thank you Brock, but we have a lot of work to do and few hours to do it in.  Love, I need you to contact our suppliers, they should already be readying disaster supplies with the Hurricane coming in so arrange delivery for as soon as they can, Joy contact your sister in Pewter, we need her to send all the help she can spare, Brock I want you to keep during your rounds, check on every patient here and once your done head over to the Gym, that expedition has to happen, I’ll head over to the lab and try to find a counter poison for this thing.”  Ryouta said as he led his team out of the room to do what they had to help their patients.

  OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 Ash and Clemont had returned to their seats after eating and Lilith had gone off with Serena and Bonnie to put her makeup and outfit back on.  Bonnie and Serena had returned to the seats later, having finished helping Lilith and returned to watch the Battle Round.  After a few battles it was time for the final three battles.

 “What a competition it has been so far!  And without further ado, let’s begin the quarter finals!  First up is Mr. Harley VS Miss Nimue!”  Mr. Glomong cried out as both trainers walked on stage in their costumes.

 “Go Samurott!”  Nimue said as she threw out a Pokeball, from which her Pokémon appeared.

 “Appear, Wigglytuff!” Harley cried out as he did the same, releasing his Wigglytuff.  Behind the judges a scoreboard appeared with both trainers pictures appeared.  He smirked, he had this in the bag besides being a pretty fact this girl had reacted like she had never even battled in official tournaments before, and her Pokémon were probably trained by a relative who died or something like that.  An easy win and then I’ll crush ashy new friend. He thought as he chuckled to himself.

 “Samurott, start with a Slash!”  Nimue cried out.  Her Samurott shot forward as its claws glowed.

 “Dodge and Pound!” Harley command before his Wigglytuff dodged to the right and tried to deliver a devastating Pound attack on its horn. But Samurott dodge by moving its head back and sliced down with its horn, dropping his score by five points.

 “Disengage up and Water Gun!”  Nimue commanded.  Samurott jumped backwards and shot a spiral of water that hit and cost Harley another five points.  Harley gritted his teeth as his thoughts flew around his head.  How is she this good, she was acting like she never had any official……. Could her skills come from unofficial matches, where how?!

 “Move in with Megahorn!” Harley gritted his teeth as he tried to think of a counter.

 “Dodge it and hit it with a Double Slap!”  Harley commanded.  Wigglytuff tried to dodge backwards but Samurott jumped and landed a glancing hit with its horn before it turned its head to throw Wigglytuff away from itself.  Then Harely’s score dropped a solid tenth as he gritted his teeth, the battle was not going the way he thought it would.

 “A powerful hit.” Mr. Glomong said as he and the judges watched the battle.

 “So far that Samurott has shown to be trained to a wonderful slandered, I think if they move on we will have a wonderful final match.”  Leafra said as she leaned against the table with a grin on her face.

 “Ice Beam! Hit it!” Harley cried out before his a light blue ball formed in front of Wigglytuff mouth before a white beam shot at Samurott.

 “Samurott, counter with Razor Shell!”  Nimue called out.  Her Samurott drew both its seamitars and as they gained a blue glow before it used them to cut the beam in two, dropping Harley’s score in half while her own dropped by a fourth.  THAT’S IT! NO more Mr. NiceGuy, I am breaking this bitch so bad she quits!

 “THUNDER!”  Harley cried out in anger, causing Ash to harden his eyes as he watched from the stands, having heard that tone of voice many times before. In response yellow sparks danced around its body before a massive beam of electricity shot at its opponent.  Nimue gave no reaction as she commonly intoned a command

 “Protect.”  Nimue called before a light green glowing sphere formed around Samurott, blocking the attack, causing Harely’s score to drop by twenty points.  Harley turned to look at the board for a second and that was all Nimue needed.

 “Megahorn, then finish it Scald.”  Nimue commanded.

 “Dodge it then fire a Hyper beam!” Harley cried as he started to look unhinged.

 Samurott ran towards its opponent as its horn gained a white glow and grew bigger, but the attack missed the Fairy type by inches, Samurott was able to stop right in front of the judge’s table.  Wigglytuff spun around and opened its mouth as a yellow-orange ball formed.  Nimue’s eyes had widened at Harley’s command and made a choice, one that might cost her the match but she meet her Pokemon’s eyes from where it was standing and saw it nod at her.

 “Tank the shot and hire a Scald!”  Nimue cried out.  The Judges who had been frozen when they saw Wiggltyuff generate the glowing sphere pointed in their direction were shocked back to their sense when they heard what Nimue called out, looking at her before they wiped their heads to the battle.

 “FULL POWER WIGGLYTUFF!” Harley screamed out as the yellow-orange ball grew in size before it shot a yellow-orange beam at Samurott, Mr. Glomong reacted to the attack by grabbing Nurse Joy and pulling her down and covered her body with his own as Leafra scrambled away, running for the opposite side of the stage from Samurott.

 The Hyper beam hit and exploded, causing a cloud of dust to form that covered the entire back wall of the stage.  Harley gave a smirk right before a stream of white water blasted a hole through the dust and hit Fairy type, knocking it out before Harley could cry out a command.  

 The dust dissipated and his score was revealed Samurott to be panting with one eye closed, barely standing.  Behind it the Mr. Glomong helped Nurse Joy back to her feet and both of them turned to look right at Harley with looks of disgust and anger.  Mr. Glomong turned back to Nurse Joy and exchanged a few words before he gestured at Samurott and Joy nodded with a grimace and picked up a microphone.

 “We will be having a short recues to discuss the rules, please everyone stay where you are.”  Nurse Joy said frostily as Harley looked around and saw here and there were people looking at him with disgust over the risk he had taken with that last attack.  Nurse Joy put down the microphone and walked towards Nimue who had run to her Samurott and was bent down and talking to it softly as she rubbed its chin.  When Nurse Joy reached them she joined Nimue in a crouch and started to look over the Water Type.

 “I don’t get it what is Nurse Joy talking about, why are people so angry?”  Bonnie asked as she saw that Ash had a look of anger on his face. Bonnie looked around and saw a few others who had looks of anger and shock on their faces but most people just looked confused.  She turned toward Serena and saw the same look Ash had and turned to her brother for answers

 “There are times when you shouldn’t use an attack and times you should.  Because Samurott was right in front of the Judges table if Samurott dodged then the Judges might have gotten hurt.  What Harley just did was show the Judges he would do anything to win, even hurt someone.  And that’s the thing about Contests, you can lose points depending on what you do, not just what happens to your Pokémon.”  Ash said as he glared at Harley.  Nurse Joy had finished talking with Nimue and nodded to Mr. Glomong who sighed and shook his head and turned to Leafra and after a few words Leafra nodded and walked to the center of the stage and held up a Microphone to give the ruling.

 “After a long debate the judges have come to this ruling.  While no single rule was broken, it has been decided that the attack ordered by Harley while not illegal it was not well thought out but by the contests rules he lost the battle before the last attack hit, but for his actions he has been disqualified from this competition, I hope he shows better judgment in the future.  Because of the attack’s range Miss Nimue has forfeited her next match out of concern for her Pokémon and has been awarded second place overall, therefore the final match is between the last two trainers in the Contest to decide who will win and who will be award third place, thank you for the wait.”  Leafra said before she bowed to the audience.

 “So Lilly or her opponent will win this thing, hu?  And with Harley disqualified he won’t even get a single penny out of this and people will know how he acts, not to bad really.”  Ash said as he felt his Pokedex vibrate.  He touched one of its buttons and promised himself he would check the alert latter and looked at Harley being led away from the stage, an air of anger about him.

 “And it’s Lilly against that Beedrill’s trainer right, the guy who used a Dustox right, what was his name again?”  Serena asked as Ash looked at her for a minute

 “Xion, his name was Xion Tristo, and did you notice Joy’s face when Leafra said his last name?” Ash asked Serena who shook her head and looked at the Judge’s table, she looked back toward Ash and he could see that she hadn’t.  

 “And here it is folks, the final match!  This battle is for first and third place between Lilly and Xion!  Good luck to both trainers!”  Leafra said as pictures of both trainers appeared on the score board. Lilith walked out of one side of the stage and her opponent walked out of the other.  The figure who walked out to battle was a male teen around Ash and the others age; he had brown hair and brown eyes, his costume of choice was a medieval archer’s costume in green.  Ash looked around and noticed some on the people faces were looks of anger

 “Appear, Liepard!” Lilith cried as she released her Liepard.

 “Fly, Beedrill!  Xion commanded as a strong looking Beedrill appeared and started to hover five feet off the ground.

 “Twinneendle, full strike.” Xion cried out.  His Beedrill shot forward, both stingers ready to strike. Neither Lilith nor her Pokemon reacted as the Bug type flew straight at its target.  Suddenly right before it could hit Lilith gave her command.

 “Jump and Thunder Wave!” At the command Liepard started to run at the charging Beedrill, jumped onto its head and spun in midair before it released a shockwave of electricity that drove the Beedrill to the floor where it spasmed as electricity danced over its form.  Liepard landed and ran back toward the paralyzed Bug.  The scoreboard behind the judge’s table showed that Xion had dropped ten points while Lilith’s stayed at one hundred.

 “Beedrill!  Get back in the air!”  Xion cried in worry.  

 “Grass Knot, capture it!” Lilith said as she looked straight at her opponent.  Liepard’s eyes glowed green before ten green vines and erupted from the ground three each grabbed the stingers, one each for its legs and two around it abdomen stinger. As it continued to spasm its trainer’s score dropped in half.

 “Shadow Ball Barrage, mobile!”  Lilith commanded.  Her Liepard started to run around the trapped Bug and fired black balls of energy that drove down its trainer’s score five points with each hit.  Finally when it only had twenty points left the Beedrill stop its spasms and was able to break free and take flight, dodging the last sphere.

 “Agility, get some range!” Xion cried, the command causing Beedrill to start to fly around the stage, always keeping its body and face pointed toward its opponent.

 “Double Team, try to confuse it.” Lilith called out as she tried to keep her eyes on the flying Bug. Liepard body started to glow white as it ran and soon a pack of Liepards was running around the stage trying to catch the flying Beedrill as he weaved one in front of the other until which one was the original was.

 “Pin Missile, rapid fire! Try to hit it!”  Xion called out as he tried to figure out a new plan.

 Beedrill’s stinger glowed white and shot multiple small white needles which destroyed a Liepard when they hit until it final hit the real one, knocking it down and dropping Lilith’s score by ten.

 “Giga Impact!”  Lilith called out.  Liepard glowed white as it raced toward the Beedrill and light yellow streaks surrounded its body.

 “Try to dodge it!” Xoin cried out but before his Pokémon could move before its opponent jumped and hit the Beedrill in its chest, knocking it to the floor and winning the match.

 Xoin walked off stage and walked to his changing room quietly with a look of anger on his face.

 “Boss!”  he looked up and saw a teen with his black hair in a mohawk wearing green sunglass in white clothing with a light green jacket running toward him.

 “That little bitch had to have cheated boss, ain’t no way you would have lost in a fair fight.” Mohawk said as he fell into step behind him.  Xion let his minion prattle on as he went over what he knew about the girl he battled.

 “Wasn’t that girl with the newest challenger to the gym?”  Xion said as a smirk grew on his face.

 “Yeah, she was boss, what ya planning.”  Mohawk asked as they entered the dressing room assigned to him. Xion smirked evilly as he turned to Mohawk.

 “Just that maybe big sis would like to try the newest challenger, and maybe I could teach that little bitch some respect for her betters.”  Xion snarled as he went toward his cloths.

 “If you’re after Ashy, I think I could help you out.”  A voice from the doorway caused the two of them to turn and see Harley leaning against the doorway, a savage grin on his face.

 “What’s your angle?” Xion demanded as he looked at the purple haired Coordinator.

 “Let’s just say I always get even, each and every time.”  Harley said as he chuckled darkly.

  “Lilly Nightbloom, Nimue Mistborn, I am proud to award the both of you a General Contest Ribbon.  When you each win your next General Contest Ribbon you will be told the riddle to find out where the contest in the general area is being held, and please keep in mind that a new riddle will be handed out if you don’t find out the answer to it before the Grand Contest.   I hope I will see you both compete again at the Grand Festival.”  Mr. Glomong said to applause as he handed over a ribbon each to the teens still in their costume.

 Nimue and Lilith both bowed to the crowds with their Pokemon and walked off the stage.

 “I’m a bit sorry we weren’t able to have a match, I might have learned a lot from you.”  Nimue said to Lilly as they walked.  Lilith looked around before noticing that they in front of her dressing room and decided to take a chance.  If I’m wrong I’ll just daze her like I did to Alexa.

 “Say would you come in for a moment Nimue, I need a bit of help getting out of this.”  Lilith asked as she gestured to the room, Nimue entered before Lilith followed her in and closed and locked the door.

 “Sure, if you don’t mind helping me when…” Nimue stopped talking when a black glowing hand was put on her shoulder and she started to glow blue her eyes widening as she registered the Aura use.

 “I KNEW IT!  WHO are you working for!?”  Lilith snarled as she spun Nimue around and grabbed her arms.

 “Working for, your awake and not from the Sisterhood?!  How, all other Aura users died out because of the King’s weapon besides us!”  Nimue stammered as she met Lilith eyes in shock. The shock caused Lilith to let her go.

 “Sisterhood?  I think the both of us need to talk, tonight? Near the gym?”  Lilith said as Nimue gave a shaky nod.

 “Lilly are you in there, Bonnie and I are here to help you.”  Serena’s muffled voice called from the door.  Lilith shot Nimue a look and was met with a nod.

 “Thanks Serena, I didn’t think you two would come so I asked Nimue for help.”  Lilith said as she walked toward the door.  When she opened the door and let them in.

 “I was able to talk Clemont into it since we saw Harley leave earlier.”  Serena said as she and Bonnie entered the room

 “You were great in the Appeals Nimue, and you both battled great!”  Bonnie cheered as she looked at the both of them.

 “Say I have an idea, giving the time how about we all go eat at the center, Ash has a spice topping that you have to try Nimue.”  Lilith said as she shot her a look that Bonnie and Serena didn’t see.

 “It would give us a chance to talk more, so I guess that’s okay.”  Nimue said with a small smile as her thoughts were trying to deal with the reality that was Lilly Nightbloom.  There are still Aura users besides us out there.  I knew we should have gone out into the world more.  If sis sends hunters after me it might be something if Lilly is on my side, but how she confronted me means she’s fought other Aura users, I need to know the truth.  She thought as she looked at Lilith out of the corner of her eyes.

 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

  Bahadur smiled down at his starter as he led him over a bridge ten feet wide and thirty feet long with the sun starting to set.  He had spent the last few hours get to know his Pokémon and show him his new home. He thought a few times something might have been following the two of them but he was probably seeing things or had seen something scrounging for food.

 “And that’s our town in a nutshell.  The last place I want to show you is right across the river, .  It’s just within the field Casters setup to keep out Chimera and Pokémon swarms out, not that it works all the time so a few years ago local militia set up some lookout posts along the river on the opposite shore. It’s a field where local trainers gather to compete with each other and where the town has its annual adulthood ceremony.” Bahadur said as he led his Pokémon towards the field.

 “The only problem I have with the town is the Bloody Maulers, a gang of hooligans led by the son of the town’s biggest merchant.  The merchant is an okay person, his son was raised by his ex-wife before she died last year, and since he came to town I’ve been butting heads with him at least once a weak.  Since he’s become a trainer I’m sure he’ll be around for a battle sooner or later.” Bahadur said with a grimace before two figures his height in red cloaks with pulled hoods over their head appeared before him at the end of the bridge, a male Nidoran and a Stunky by their trainer’s sides respectively.

 “And these are the Bloody Maulers little buddy.”  Bahadur said as his right hand slowly went to the sword on his back.

 “Now normally I would fight you on my own, but with my partner here how about we put a rain check and have a battle tomorrow?”  Bahadur said as Magby started to growl, only for his words to cause smirks to erupt from on the faces of the people before him.

 “How about we have a battle right now?  Go Sandile!” A voice from behind caused Bahadur turn his head and saw Aagha throw a Pokéball that released a Sandile wearing a collar with a grey stone on it.  By his side were the twins, one had released a Phanpy and the other had a Roggenrola out. Behind them were four other wearing red cloaks each one seemed to leer at the Bahadur and his starter.

 “Aagha, didn’t the beating I give you with our weapons earlier this week give you anything to think about?”  Bahadur asked as the cloaked figures started to snicker as Aagha’s face grew red.

 “YOU SHUT IT; I WAS GOING TO BEAT YOU ON MY OWN BUT NOW!  Khadim, Charandas, send your Pokémon to help mine beat that Fire beast black and blue!  Once it’s down we’ll give Hero boy here a few scars!”  Aagha bellowed as the named trainers looked at their Pokemon and nodded at them.  Bahadur’s Magby shot it’s trainer a troubled look and was met with a weary grin.

 “This is going to be trouble partner.”  Bahadur gritted his teeth as he looked at the two trainers behind him and started to inch toward the river, hoping to jump onto a passing boat to get away or to at least gain some range.

 “Not if you got some help bro!  Poliwag; use Water Gun aimed at the Roggenrola!”  A male voice cried out as a spiral of water from the river hit the Roggenrola, stunning it and damaging it greatly.

 “We’re helping too!  Night Slash on the Phanpy, Pidove!”  A musical voice called before a gray, pigeon-like Pokémon with a black glowing wing hit the blue ground type with its wing, sending it flying at the rock type, sending the Roggenrola flying out over the river.

 “Meditite, grab that Roggenrola with Confusion and use it as a frail on the Pokemon behind Bahadur!” A female voice called out before the Roggenrola glowed blue and was thrown into the Nidoran and the Stunky.

 “YOU THREE!?” Aagha snarled as he spun and looked at three figures walking out of the alleys.  The male figure was wearing a black cloak, had blue hair in a ponytail, blue eyes and had a smirk on his face.  He wore a black cloak over a blue shirt and black pants and sneakers, on his back were two short swords.

 The first female had a voluptuous figure and dark crimson hair in waves that went down her back, jade eyes while the only makeup on her face was navy blue lipstick.  Her black cloak was over a brown tube top and brown pants and shoes, on her hands were clawed gloves with navy blue stones on the tops of them.

 The second female had a slender body with blue hair in rings on the side of her head and blue eyes with a fierce glint in them.  She wore a black cloak over a grey shirt and grey pants and boots, on her legs were black greaves.  Next to her floated a Meditite who eyes were glowing blue.

 “Good thing sissy was practicing her parkour and saw our least favorite rodent spy on you bro.” The male said as he crossed his arms as a Poliwag jumped onto the bridge and go into formation with Magby as the girl’s Pidove landed on Magby’s other side.

 “What’s the play Bahadur!” The voluptuous girl cried as winds started to gather around her hands.  Bahadur looked around, noting that the Roggenrola was knocked out and the Nidoran and Stunky looked to be near the point to take them down, while the Phanpy was standing next to Sandile while the four behind them started to release their Pokémon; two Cubone, a Gligar and a Machop.  He shot a look at his Magby and saw it nod at him with a smirk on its face.

 “Ruchika and Pidove, you two back up Etana and Meditite to take the Pokémon behind Aagha!  Farbod, you and Poliwag use range combat on the two behind me.  Me and Magby will take out the two in front of us!”  Bahadur called out as he made a plan to get out of this conscience.

 “Pidove, aim a Combined Gust at the Cubones!” Ruchika said as she thrust her hands forward, a blast of wind flying towards the cloaked trainers and their Pokémon.

 Pidove had shoot off the bridge and throw a small blast of wind at the Pokémon, the winds combined and formed a small hurricane which threw all four of the Maulers’s Pokémon a few feet off the ground.   The trainers drew cudgels and ran at the three trainers. Etana released a small laugh and smirked at their actions.

 “Catch one of the Cubones and us it as a frail!”  Etana said as she shot forward and spun around, kicking out with her right leg and hit one of the Maulers’s in the head, knocking him out.  While this happened one of the Cubone’s gained a blue outlined and floated upward before it was thrown at the Gligar and Machop, knocking out the thrown Cubone and the Gilgar.  Farbod drew his two short swords and ran towards his sister, blocking a blow of the Maulers’s sent at the back of her head, after which he was dealt a devastating kick to the side of his head, leaving only two more for the brother and sister to deal with.

 “Poliwag, stay back and Water Gun anything that moves toward the boss!”  Farbod said as he slashed at the gang member he was fighting.  Poliwag in response to the order shot a spiral of water at the other end of the bridge, forcing back the Pokémon there.

 “Let’s do this partner! Flare Blitz!” Bahadur said as he watched the battles around him.

 “Mag by Magb!”  Magby cried out with courage as flames started to form around him.

 Magby covered himself in flames and shot at the Phanpy and threw a punch at it, sending it flying at its trainer sending them both back into the trainers behind him when it hit him. Magby had turned toward the Sandile and cried out a challenge.

 “Flare Blitz? His beast knows that move!?” One of Aagha’s bookends demanded as the three stared at the Pokémon Battle.  Bahadur merely smirked as he looked around at the varies combat happening around him.  With some luck we’ll get out of this in one piece.

 “We got some more coming at us Bahadur!” Ruchika voice cut in and Bahadur turned toward her to see ten more members of the Maulers’s running toward the fight with their Pokémon out.  Bahadur merely gritted his teeth and looked

 “Breakout time guys! Magby, attack with me!”  Bahadur said as he turned away from the town and ran toward the field.  Magby shot in front of him and punched the Stunky, knocking it out and opening a path for them.

 “Breakout!?” Aagha snarled before he started to glow blue before his body was slammed to the ground.

 “Like this fatty!” Etana said as she jumped over the prone figure as her before she jumped and knocked out one of the Maulers’s at the end of the bridge as her Meditite floated after her, Ruchika meanwhile shot a blast of wind behind her to assist her in jumping over the river while her Pidove flew next to her and Farbod ran over the bridge as his Poliwag fell in behind him.

 “Magby, Smog, make it nice and big!”  Bahadur said as his friends joined on the other side of the river.  Magby released enough smoke from his mouth that

 “Pidove Gust, blow it at them!”  Ruchika command before her Flying type beet its wings and sent the smoke at Aagha who was being helped up by his minions.

 “Come on guys, we’ll make for the front of the village!” Aagha heard Bahadur shout out through the smoke.  As the smoke cleared he saw his followers gather at the bridgehead and moved back toward the town.

 “You two idiots follow me; we’ll cut them off at the town’s entrance. Five of you go after them, we’ll pincer them between us, some of you help those fools knocked out here back to the house, the rest guard here.”  Aagha commanded as he ran through the streets, his Pokémon at his heels.  Eight members and their pokemon ran across the bridge, three stopping to help their comrades up and started to help them back toward their base.  When all was said and done two gang members were left at the bridge, each with a Cubone standing guard.  After a while the one on the left turned to his comrade and asked a question.

 “Hey, did you notice the hair on that wind girl?  Looks like the boss’s dolls.”  One said to another before a blast of wind hit the person who he was talking to as a water spiral hit his friend’s Cubone.  Turning, he and his Ground type saw the people the rest were after, before he could do anything Etana shot forward and dropped an axe kick on his head and knocked him out before Poliwag shot another Water Gun at his Pokémon knocking it out.

 “He has ‘dolls’ with my hair color?!” Ruchika demanded as they walked back into town with her Pidove on her right shoulder as she fumed.  Those bastards had better have been talking about toy dolls and not the other kind. If he has a single Homunculus with my color I’ll strangle him.

 “It seems we have something to look into then, if they are those kind of ‘dolls’ where would he even get Homunculus like that anyway, there isn’t anyone with skill in Alchemy to make humanoids in town and gossip would of talked if he brought packages that size from the river barges.”  Bahadur said as they moved towards their homes.

 “No one who advertises that they have that skill anyway, no one knew that you were a Wind Auralist until you blew those people trying to grab you away, right Ruchika?” Etana said, causing Ruchika to give a silent nod.

 “Yeah Windy, we’ll tackle those brats tomorrow, see you two later, we’ll meet at our place, see you around guys.”  Farbod said as he and his sister recalled their Pokemon and ran towards their home, leaving Bahadur and Ruchika alone.  After a few minutes of silence between the two of them Bahadur decided to break the silence.

 “So thanks for the help you and the others gave me.” Bahadur said as he scratched his head as he looked away from her with a blush on his face. Ruchika looked at him before she blushed and turned her head away from him.

 “You’re a friend to us all, when Etana and her brother came across me and said that the Rat was up to his usual tricks I knew I had to help.  And I realized you would end at the training field since you gave me the same tour when I moved here a few months ago, so we bear feet to the bridge.”  Ruchika said as they walked toward the residential district.  Eventual they stopped at an intersection and just stood there for a few minutes/

 “So I’m over here and you’re over there, I guess we’ll meet at the twins place tomorrow to decide what to do.” Bahadur said as he started to walk toward his home.  Ruchika looked conflicted for a second before she decided to do something.

 “Wait a second.” Ruchika said as she darted after him and grabbed his arm.

 “Yes…” Bahadur trailed off when Ruchika darted forward and gave him a kiss on the check.

 “Goodnight Bahadur.” Ruchika said with a blushed before she ran off toward her home.

 Bahadur just stood there and rubbed the check she kissed for a few seconds and didn’t move until she was out of sight.

 “Yes!”  He said quietly with a goofy grin on his face as he threw an arm up and ran toward his family’s house, his Magby by his side as he ran.  He didn’t notice a 3 foot tall black bird with no beck and a single ruby in the center of its head had watched the kiss and flew off when he went to his home, not noticing the spy.

 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

   “…And that’s it my Lord.  The shoreline patrol has discovered nothing and lookout ships have seen nothing like what the specimens retrieved.  Giving where the things were discovered I personally think we should keep up the new actions for at least a few more months at the least.  I heard Lady Joy is trying to find out where the corpse were born and if that can be found a team could be inserted to try and track down the maker.”  A blond man with green eyes in black full plate armor said as he gestured to a holographic map of their lands.

 “What composition of the team would you suggest Mordred?”  Dracula said as he sat upon his throne as his inner court stood around the room.

 “I would prefer to wait and see what Joy discovers, the location would affect what team and the tactical situation on the ground is first.” Mordred said as he looked at his master.

 “Thank you for the report Knight Commander, and finally Magnus, what have you discovered about the problem to return my son and Queen to our shores?” Magnus winced at the hope in his friend’s voice; this was going to be bad.

 “On the subject of my Nephew, he has three chains of seals on him.” Magnus started, stopping when he felt Dracula’s Aura spike and pressure start as he saw cracks form on the arms of his throne.

 “One has started to be destroyed, the result of an Aura surge during a life threatening event he was involved with, it was to restrict his emotional maturity.  Another is holding back his ability to use Aura, and the final one I am unsure of, but I think part is holding back his heritage as your son.”  Magnus said as he braced himself as the others around the room did the same.

 The eruption of Aura from their master destroyed his throne as he stood up, a piece of it flew by Magnus and cut his right check.  Given the reaction he had when they were first taken and the fact that the anniversary is almost here, it was better than he feared.

 “And Delia?  What has been used on her then?”  Dracula asked as his eyes started to glow black as the pressure seemed to increase.

 “I have identified two sets on her.  One holds back all her memories of the Homeland.  And I don’t understand the last one, but her abilities are fighting back against them.  If our agents in Pallet could find a way to cut on seal, I think over a year she would destroy them on her own.  Then we would just need to spark her memories and she would be as she once was.” Magnus said as Dracula walked to stare at the painting of him and Delia.  He just stood there, thinking before he finally came to a decision.

 “Camilla, you are to send a courier to join the team, a strong trainer, one who could be inserted into their cover easily.  Someone skilled in battle able to hold their own, and could get Delia out of danger in a hurry.  Magnus, spare no resource in finding out what the seals are, even check the Forbidden Archives if you must.”  Dracula commanded

 “I will need a few days to go over who to send my lord, but it will be done.” Camilla said with a curtsey as Magnus bowed.

 “By my oath my lord, I will find out what we need to know to get my sister home, I will use anything and anyone I must.”  Magnus promised as the briefing ended.

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  Albia put her backpack down on the bed in the room Delia had said she could use.  When Delia had heard that she had been staying at the Center she had called Joy and cursed her out for a few minutes for not telling her where her new hire was staying.  She had been infuriated that Joy had let the girl stay there without letting Delia know about it. Albia just looked around the room and was soon lost in her thoughts. A whole room for myself, I’ve never ever had a place just for me back at the orphanage.  Maybe I can make a home for myself here after all.

 “Well welcome to Casa de Ketchum, we hope you enjoy your stay.”  A voice broke Albia out of her thoughts and she saw Delia watching her with a small smile on her face.

 “I can’t thank you enough for letting me stay here Ms. Ketchum, really I can’t.” Albia said as she looked at her boss.

 “Don’t worry about it, I can tell you’re a good kid no matter what your running from, and yes I know that you’re running form something.”  Delia said as she met Albia’s eyes, only for the younger girl to look away.   Delia looked at her and sighed.

 “The only thing I need you to tell me is if you think you lost what was after you.”  Delia said and was met with a nod from Albia.  Delia smiled at that, if Albia trusted her enough to tell her that then there was hop that she would trust Delia enough to tell her story when she was ready.

 “Well then I’m making pizza, do you want any toppings on it?”  Delia said as she grabbed Albia’s hand and pulled her toward the kitchen.

 “No, I prefer plain pizza to tell the truth.”  Albia said as they walked toward the kitchen.

 “Well the kitchen is over here on the ground floor, the laundry room is in the basement and my room is up there on the second floor with my son’s room.”  Delia told her as they walked.

 “This place started to feel empty when Ash started to travel, even when Mimmy came it’s still pretty lonely at night and during the bad winters being so far out of town so having others here is kind of nice.  And please Albia, call me Delia.” Delia said with smile as she opened the door to the kitchen.

 “Still, thanks again for letting us stay with you and Mimmy, Ms. Ket… Delia.” Albia said as she smiled before walking into the kitchen, Delia following behind her.

 “Like I said I appreciate the company.  Now the dishes for Pokémon in that cabinet there and the Pokémon Pellets are in that cabinet.”  Delia said as she moved about the room, Albia following in her wake like when Delia had shown her the kitchen in Pallet House.

 Later after Delia and Albia were done eating, Albia had offered to do the dishes and her Pinser was finishing up its own meal.  The Mr. Mime that Delia had sent looks at Albia when the humans were looking at the TV or each other in a way that Pinser didn’t like.  Flaaffy was standing by its trainer, having picked up that its teammate didn’t trust the Fairy type for some reason and shared a look with the Bug, come nightfall they would be ready if it tried anything.

  OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 A boy with brown grey hair in a blue karate gi block a Lucario with a scar on its left check punch with an open fist and grabbed its arm with his other hand and threw the Steel type down the field, as soon as he let go he shot after it and drew back a fist that started to glow blue.  The Lucario rolled when it hit the floor and jumped to the side when it got back to its feet, dodging the boy’s fist which hit the ground and formed a small crater, sending shards flying from the point his fist hit the ground.  The Lucario threw a kick at him which he blocked with a gauntlet on his right forarm before he shot forward with his left arm hitting below the Lucario chest spike.

 “That’s enough you two! Cameron that was a good use of your Aura to power that punch and on the shoulder throw, and Lucario good recovery, but next time try to dodge backwards, not to the sides.”  A voice called out and both human and Pokémon stopped, drew back and bowed to each other.

 “You sure master, I think me and my partner here can go a bit longer today.” Cameron said with a smirk on his face as he looked as he looked toward the voice.  A figure in a blue gi walked next to a strong looking Lucario wearing a bracelet with a stone in it.  As the Lucario that had spared with Cameron bowed to its elder the man reached and patted Cameron on his shoulder.

 “I’m proud of you Cameron, since I found you last year you’ve learned how to use your Aura and understood the philosophy of our order faster than I did when I was in training.” He praised his student who blushed and looked away.

 “Aahh, Master Riley, don’t say that, you’ll give me a big head.”  Cameron said in embarrassment, prompting a laugh from his teacher.

 “Come on, the stew should be ready so come on.”  Riley said as he walked back towards their home.  Riley had found Carmon a few months ago when he had come across the boy and his team battling a particular tough Dark type Chimera.  Cameron’s weapon, a hammer had been broken and before Riley could attack with an Aura Art Cameron had struck the Chimera with an unfocused Aura Punch that rocked it back and stunned it long enough for Riley to get behind and cut its head off.  Riley and his team had gotten Cameron and his team to safety and he had told him about the Power of Aura, of the Aura Guardians.  He had offered Cameron a chance to train as a Guardian and the boy had jumped at it, he had even said he had been looking for a purpose for his life. And the boy had flourished; he had taken to the teachings like he had been born for them.  

 Riley smiled as they entered the base built in the southeastern section of Mt. Coronet near Oreburgh City.  The Aura Guardians had set this place up back when the order was more numerous but when they were attacked fifty years ago; a lot of Guardians and their families had died, his master had been the only survivor, escaping to this place were copies of most of the knowledge they held, training mostly with a bit of the order’s history.  He knew the knowledge was missing something important but he had no idea what.

 Heading toward the kitchen he passed one of the chambers holding relics, he was so deep in thought that he needed a minute to notice that his student and their Pokémon weren’t following him.

 “Master isn’t a blinking light in this room a sign a Seal was broken?” Cameron said hoarsely as he stared into the room, the words caused Riley to pale and dash to the doorway, looking into the room and saw the flashing light illuminate the darkness. Walking into the room he reached a shelf and picked up a small pyramid and feed some of his aura into it, which lite up with the same four symbols on all sides.  He frowned as he read the symbols; ‘horde, spore, pain, plague’, these was going to be a problem.

 “Well sensei?  Does it say where the seal is?”  Cameron asked from the doorway.

 “The only thing the symbols do is to describe what was sealed; and one of the words used is ‘horde’ which is going to be a problem.  Sadly I think the knowledge about where the seal is was lost during the attack.” Riley said to his apprentice with a sigh.

 “Damn those scum! What the fuck were they thinking, attacking the Aura Guardians!?  We stay out conflicts between regions; we only attack Chimera and criminals who are a danger to humans or Pokémon!  What reason could they have had to do it?!”  Cameron said with rage as he punched the wall in anger.

 “If I knew who was behind the attack I would question them very severely about it.”  Riley said as he scowled at the memories of finding the old headquarters in ruins, the corpses and how his teacher had passed on before passing him directions to this place and warning him about “Those who hide in the Light”, he still didn’t know who they were but he had tried.

 “Come on student, let’s eat our dinner and I’ll plan what to do after.”  Riley said as he led his student and their Pokémon towards the bases dining room/ ketchen.

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  Shadow reached the outskirts of Lavender Town as the sun started to set and moved through the slums by jumping from building to building until he reached a building overlooking a ruined staircase going into the earth.  Outside stairs was a heavily muscular man next to a Machamp with sunglass and iron knuckles in each of its hands.  As Shadow dropped the Machamp looked at him and nudged the man next to it. The man looked at shadow and reached for his pocket slowly as he looked at Shadow as he walked toward the stairs.

 “Hey man I don’t want any trouble ya hear me.”  The Bouncer said to Shadow as the Machamp started to pose.   Shadow didn’t break his stride and when he was right before the stairs he stopped.  The Bouncer had a knife half drawn and looked at him with a concern, was this a raid?

 “In Shadow and Darkness does the real money Flow.”  Shadow said before he walked past the Bouncer who relaxed at the password Shadow had given. He sent a small frown at the Machamp and was met with a confident smirk in return.

 “Hey, next time come here on the ground so I can see ya sooner, ya hear me Merc?”  The Bouncer called down to Shadow who walked into the Den; Ghost Station.  When he reached the bottom he walked to a wall at the end of a small hallway and opened a door, entering a saloon full of rough looking trainers of both genders, a few Team Rocket grunts sat around a table playing poker and a few women dressed in tube tops and short skirts grouped near an open doorway along one of the walls, a TV behind the bar with a man with slick black hair in a bartender’s uniform watching it with a Granbull, both of their backs to the doorway.

 The noise dropped when one of the people facing the doorway fell out of his chair causing people to turn and some to go pale and caused everyone there to slowly reach for their Pokéballs or weapons until the man behind the counter slammed his hand against the bar.

 “I don’t need to remind anyone here that any violence not in self-defense results in being banned from this Den and its services for a year, do I?”  His gruff voice cut through the tension like a knife through butter.

 “But it’s Shadow! He’s one of the strongest bounty hunters out there!  We have to strike first to even have a chance to keep walking free…” One of the Rocket grunts choked out before Shadow raised both his hands, each empty.

 “Not here on a hunt, I’m here for information.  I acknowledge and respect the neutrality of the Dens.” Shadow cut in as he walked towards the bar.  

 “See you idiots; he’s here to use the Den.  Granbull watch the bar, you, Shadow?  Come with me.”  The man said as he got walked toward a door next to the bar and entered an office with a large mainframe, a computer on the desk behind which the man sat.

 “Information, so what is it you’re after.  Chimera bounties, a new Black Lister came out near Pewter, normal bounty, got a new one near Dark City; the Yaz expelled a student who tried a coup, might get something for him if the League wants to know any Yaz secrets.”  The man began before Shadow put his hand on the table.

 “Karen of the Elite Four, I need everything you have on her Joey.”  Shadow said as his face locked on the man’s who went still.

 “Karen of the Elite, what’s brought her to your attention?  People who enter the League usually have everything known about them from where they went to school to what they ate the day they left home as a trainer. And to the public she is a friend to all worthwhile charities, someone who helps the helpless and a patron of those who hunt Chimera.   But…”  Joey trailed off as he started to look sheepish.

 “Joey, but what?” Shadow said as he crossed his arms.

 “She’s a specter.  She came out of nowhere and went through the gyms like a bullet, she moved faster than she could with the help of any Pokémon she’s known to have or with a boat or car and qualified for the league within the last month before the tournament for a new member of the Elites.“ Joey said with a sigh as he leaned back.

 “So do the Dens have anything not available to the public?”  Shadow questioned as Joey found Shadow’s masked and leaned forward.

 “Just a few observations we’ve made. Her team is interesting, at least according to my bro in Viridian.  He thinks her team’s compositing is telling, her Murkrow isn’t evolved but her Vileplum is, which is surprising since both need a stone to do so and she’s supposedly a Dark type specialist and then there’s her vocabulary, she uses some phasing that is from Unova so she spent a lot of time in the more populated areas there. She knows people consider her a beauty and knows how to use it, so she grew up around people not related to her, so she wasn’t homeschooled but there no school records with her name on it anywhere in Unova.”  Joey said as he scratched his chin.

 “Would he have anything you don’t know, in his private files?”  Shadow inquired, causing Joey to stare at him.  The private files were unique to each Den, and to get at them was as unique as the Dens themselves, sometimes the trouble wasn’t worth the effort.

 “Anything you want you’ll have to trade for, and he only accepts info about the target you want on. So if you have anything we don’t know about her, I’m afraid that that is the only way he’d let you into his files.”  Joey finished before Shadow nodded at him and turned and walked to the door, stopping before it.

 “Let your brother know I’m coming to talk with him, that I have a photo that proves Karen isn’t all her public persona shows her to be.”  Shadow said as he opened the door, Joey standing up sending his chair scrapping back.

 “You know something about her we don’t!?”  Joey cried out in shock, not caring that his voice carried through the room.  Shadow merely waved his hand before he left the office.  As he walked through the bar to the door the TV was finishing the nightly news.

 “…And now an announcement form the Pokémon Center in Viridian City for all towns, homesteads or travelers in the Hurricanes path, keep your Pokémon in their balls tonight or close your windows if your indoors.  A wind born epidemic has hit the Viridian area that started either early this morning or late last night, affecting all Pokémon.  Be advised that all Pokémon types are affected by this and if your Pokémon seems to be in pain call the or take them to the nearest Pokémon Center.  Coming up the play season for the Celadon Theater has been announced, what will they perform on opening day?”  Shadow stop at the door when Viridian City was mentioned, leaving the bar once the report was done, not noticing someone had noticed and figured out why he had stopped.

 A man with a beard all over his face in a torn shirt and pants sat in the corner finishing up his food and got up after Shadow had been gone for an hour, leaving just before Joey came back to start to close up for the night.  He shot the Bouncer a wave as he walked out of the underground, stumbling and leaning against one of the buildings before stumbling off.  After a while he left the area where the Bouncer could see him, started to walk normally and a Croagunk wearing a high tech-collar holding a folded dark brown overcoat dropped down and walked next to him, handing over the overcoat.

 “Shadow left the city already?  And he’s after a woman.”  The man muttered as he ripped his beard from his face, revealing a clean shaving face and brown eyes.  Seeing his Pokémon nod at his question he sighed as he put his coat on and closed it, covering up the rips and walked toward the main part of town.

 “I think we should head to our room and depart in the morning; it’s going to take a while to get to Viridian from here with that hurricane coming in.”  He said as he and his partner walked toward the Center.

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   “…Theater has been announced, what will they perform on opening day?”  Riley turned off the TV and turned to his student with a bitter smile. So he was going to Kanto.

 “Well’ it seems I know where to I need to go.”  Riley said as he walked toward a phone on a table.

 “What’s this ‘I’ Sensei? If you think I’m letting you go alone your so slow a Slowbro will evolve before you think something else.” Cameron said as he came back into the room with an ancient looking tome.  

 “And like one of our predecessor wrote, don’t fight a Fire Chimera without a Water Type.  So let’s find out which seal is busted and what they did to fight it and seal it away.”  Cameron said as he put the book onto their table as their Pokemon came into room carrying the soup they would have for dinner.  Riley just shook his head and walked over towards the table and started to look over the entries, each one a threat the Aura Guardians had forced behind seals, wondering what was threating Kanto and if they would be able to handle it alone.

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  As the full moon rose in the dark of the night illuminating the desert, the five red cloaks of the Bloody Maulers members were obvious as they dashed over the sands.  Their boss had ordered them to do a circlet of the area then head back if they didn’t find their targets before they reached the bridge he had walked off muttering about getting a way to communicate better.   They passed a pack of Cacnea coming back from the river, and saw a flock of Doduo led by a Dodrio head toward the front of the town. The mission leader merely looked an out over the sands as they ran, their Equipment letting them move as easily over the loose sands as he scowled, their boss vendetta against Bahadur was against all reason.  Why the hell did we have to go this way, I mean that brat had to have escaped from us already.  I mean if we didn’t find them by now they had to have made it to their homes by now.  He thought as he looked at the desert nightscape.

“Leader, we’re almost back to the bridge so maybe they doubled back when they got out of our sight?” One of the grunts said, he ignored them, the grunt was probably right but they had to get to the bridge and then they would be able to go home and sleep. Coming to a decision he signaled his team to slow down and turned and

 “Okay gents, the targets are probably in their homes in their beds; so let’s make hast to the nearest bridge back into town and tell anyone who asks that we couldn’t find them and….” The leader began before he was interrupted.

 “Is that them over there? Over by that abandoned lookout hut near the hills?”  One of the grunts asked as he pointed toward a nearby lookout hut, turning rapidly the leader saw a form in the shade cast by said lookout hut on top of a nearby dune.  Signaling his team to follow him, they moved silently toward another dune to get a better view of what was in the shadow.  Lying down on the sand they were able to get a better view and saw that the figure was taller than any of their targets.

 “It’s just one, and the figure is wrong, it’s not them.  Still any tribute we could bring back to the boss might make his night, what say you gents?” His question was met with grins as the others around him started to chuckle.

 “One of you stay back and hide in case this one’s too strong and beats us, you two of you hit ‘em from behind after me and this one hits him from the front.  And remember, all but the hider release you Pokémon.” He said as he released his Pokémon, a Machop as the rest released their Pokemon; a Cubone, and two Stunky as he led one of them toward the lookout hut.  When the two of them and their Pokémon were within ten feet of the shadow he decided to call out to their target.

 “Okay bloke here’s how it’s gonna be, you drop your valuables you got and run back to town, move fast and we might not take any of your Pokémon.”  He sneered as he and his men moved to attack.  The figure in the shadow said nothing as the gangers stated to get angry at the silence from their victim.

 “I said drop your valuables NOW! A wiseguy hu, Machop; fire a Focus Blast at the punk!” His Machop cupped its hands and formed a sparking light yellow orb of energy and shot it at their victim.  Before the sphere hit its target the figure raised a hand and a brown energy blast destroyed the sphere.

 “An Auralist?”  He stammered as he and his team drew their weapons, cutlass as they moved apart from each other, their Pokemon taking point before them.  The Cubone had taken a step forward before a golden rope flashed out and wrapped around it, and before it could start to struggle a brown glow formed around it and was drained into the rope, drawing a cry of pain that ended with it limp in the rope before the rope uncoiled and dropped the Pokémon to the ground.

 “What the hell, what did that thing do to my Cubone?!”  One of the Maulers’s cried in shock as he stared, so caught up that he didn’t notice another golden rope shoot out and wrap around him.  As soon as it wrapped around him a blue glow formed and drained away, so fast he couldn’t even cry out in pain.

 “What the Fuck!”  One of the Stunky trainers said as the gangers backed away from the outpost in horror.  

 “I thought all the Devourers and the lore about their training were destroyed years ago!?”  A voice croaked out in terror as the Leader starred in horror at what they had run into, a horror that parents used to scare kids to behave, this just couldn’t be real.

 “This can’t be happening man, this can’t be happening!”  He spared a glance at one of others who looked like he was having a nervous breakdown. He needed to find a way to either get his people away from here or pull off a win soon.

 “Pull yourselves back together!  We got to buy some time, poison the fucker!” The Leader ordered as his Machop

 “Got it Leader, Stunky use Poison Gas.”   The Maulers who had managed to keep calm while being terrified ordered his Poison type which released a green fog from its mouth at the figure which was quickly engulfed in the fog.  The trainers grinned; even a Drainer would be affected, unless it had eaten a Poison Pokémon.

 “Good work; shoot a Focus Blast at the fog Machop!”  The Leader command his Pokemon, who sent a blue sphere which caused an explosion that engulfed the figure and the hut.

 “That had to have gotten the bastard leader!  Nothing living would have…”  The Maulers member trailed off as the fire from the explosion caused the figure to be revealed.  The figure that was revealed wasn’t human at all, nor was it a Pokémon.  It was a golem 5 feet tall humanoid figure made of a golden stone with blocky limbs, the ropes that had drained the were but two of eight on the arms of the golem that moved back and forth like they were alive. On its chests were 20 clear stones, two were lite up, one brown and the other blue.  Its face had two blue gems for eyes and a painted frown.

 “What is this thing?” The trainer who had started to lose it started to back away before two of the golden ropes wrapped around him and his Pokémon and drained them of the outline that appeared, the golem’s chest gaining a blue and purple glow from two of the clear gems.

 “Machop, fire another Focus Blast!  We have to force it back!”  The leader cried out as his Machop formed a blue sphere between its hands and thrust its hands at the golem.

 “Back’em up Stunky; fire a Toxic at the thing!”  The remaining Stunky shot a purple liquid from its mouth from the golem’s other side. The golem raised its hands to catch both attacks and while the Focus Blast was drained away, the Toxic melted the arm to the elbow.

 “We have a chance, we…..” The ganger trailed of when the arm flashed brown and its arm was regenerated before their eyes.  He just stood there before two of the golden ropes wrapped around both him and his Pokémon, draining them of the glow that formed around them.  While that was happening he noticed that the golem’s chest didn’t have a brown glow on its chest.  It’s using the drained Aura to heal itself, maybe I have a chance.

 “The gems on its chest, that’s where it keeps the Aura it steals, aim for its dammed chest!”  The leader called out before a rope wrapped around his Mahop, causing a ruby glow to form before it was drained away.  He had a bare second to think about it before a golden rope coiled around him and drained him of a blue glow.  The golem scanned the area before it started to walk off into the night away from the town, farther in the direction of the mountains their unexplored slops and peaks.

The lookout had stared in total shock at the battle that erupted before his eyes, total shock that four trainers and four Pokémon had been defeated by a golem so fast.  He heard a noise behind him and saw lights over the river in town; people had seen the explosion and were coming to investigate.   He moved towards his comrades, he had to get rid of their cloaks; they would be a few friends out for an evening run, not members of the Bloody Maulers.  And he could blame it on the Cacnea they had seen, a Leech Seed did the same damage as that golem’s ropes did so he might be able to sell it.  He was in such a hurry that he never noticed black bird like shadow against the moon had been watching them since they had confronted Bahadur, a silent observer that had seen the whole battle.

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  Mr. Mime walked through the house silently, a frown on its faces as it thought about how it would have to deal with having another person in the house.  When that woman’s brat was around it had to act the part of a happy house keeper, with him gone a simple command and she did the house work and treated it like a king when they were alone.  Now a new trainer was here he was back to being a servant, he was looking forward to the seeing the tainted bitch in her proper place again.   He walked to the phone and dialed his trainer’s number quickly; she had to know about the girl.

 “Delia what is it? Why did you call so late?” Ginny’s voice asked worriedly when someone answered the phone.

 “Mime mime mime”  Mr. Mime answered

 “Mime, what the fuck is the matter, what happened……oh no, that bleeding heart took someone in again didn’t she?”  Ginny snarled as her voice turned vicious.

 “Mime.”  Mr. Mime said as he nodded.

 “That new girl, right? The wanna be cook.  Start to carry a recorder with you and drop it at the exchange point behind the house when you water the berries.   Act like a fucking servant, don’t do anything that would let the brat figure out anything about you, got it?!  Now let me sleep you stupid Fairy.”  Ginny said before she slammed down her phone.  Mr. Mime just looked at phone with a scowl and marched back toward where it slept, so much for that.

 He was in such a state that he didn’t notice that one of the girl’s Pokemon hiding in the kitchen stand up and look toward the phone, a hard look on its brown face.  It looks like that bitch Oak was involved with Delia’s blackouts and was the one who really controlled the Fairy Type.  Looking down at a recorder Flaaffy had giving it, it had to play it back for its trainer tomorrow, and let Amanda hear this too.

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 P A treon.com/bardofworlds for special rewards for all patrons

  Trial of the Blade: Homeland term for the Defense Treaty, a test to prove they have mastered the use of their chosen weapon

Homunculus:  Creation made by Alchemy which can be design to any shape, though a basic limit of 10 feet tall, controllable by artifact in shape of anything from a ring to a statue, limit of ten per control artifact

 Alchemy: Aura Practice of infusing Aura into chemical mixtures and molds to create potions or Homunculus

 Devourer:  Forbidden Style of Auralists; drains others of Aura to power their abilities, higher tiers need to kill others to advanced their abilities, and kill Pokémon to gain their element.  Has become a horror story for the Homeland

[casual-quill-dragon]

Greetings From Galar Chapter One

Author’s Note: This is my first time writing a fan fic as well as my first time posting my writing anywhere. I'm super scared to put my baby out into the wild but i know it's something i need to do. This story was written as part of a group of in universe stories with people from my art department. It's how I think they would be or what they would do in the given universe. Pokemon has always had a special place in my heart, so, i hope with all my heart you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it. Thank you for reading - Quill

Luke woke from his peaceful slumber to a soft buzzing & as soon as some semblance of consciousness inserted itself into his brain, he was up & getting dressed. Today was the day, the day that every kid dreams of & even at 16, he couldn’t be more excited. His hoodie & jeans, thrown on with almost professional speed but about as much grace as a primape putting on lipstick. Grabbing his backpack, Luke started stuffing it with everything he thought he’d need for his journey ahead. Cloths, throw those in there. Food, it is a long journey after all. “Entertainment”, what’s he gonna do talk to people? And finally his medication, eyepatch & bracket, stuff that he literally can’t live with out. Then, one last look at the clock, 11:55, before bolting out the door.

“Took ya long enough!” Yelled someone, a foot below Luke. “Says the one still in their PJ’s!”. The small child that stood before Luke in her personally made Pikachu onesie, was in face his close friend Hannah. Although being small in stature & having the appearance of a very lost child, she was in fact older than Luke. “Hey, don’t mock the onesie! They’re practical yet comfortable” “Ya know the professors gonna be bored waiting, right?” Inquired another figure. Wearing pastel pinks & blues head to toe but with a face stern with uninterest, was Luke’s neighbour & childhood friend Evie. Despite that cute outerwear of her’s, she has enough edge she needs no HM’s. Looking to their hips (stop it now you perverts) Luke noticed spheres attached to both their waist. “No way! You guys got your partners!? Who’d you pick!?” Luke excitedly asked. “Oh yea! Come out here bud” Hannah replied, before grabbing the ball & throwing it into the air “Right, I think you’ll like my pick” Evie smiled & mirrored Hannah’s action. With a flash of warm light, two small forms appeared & fell into the pair’s arms. “This cutie right here is blue” Hannah gleefully exclaimed as the form began to come into focus. It was a small, blue, amphibian with orange spots covering bits of its adorable body. “He’s a mudkip & my new best friend...besides ya know, you guys.” “& this is Astrid, a buneary & she’ll kick your ass harder than my dad beat mine!”. After a short silence Hannah replied “...Well someone’s got daddy issues” “AT LEAST I CAN REACH THE TOP SHELF, YOU MUNCHKIN B****!” "HEY IM COMPACT SIZE! It’s not my fault you people are freakish tall!” “If you wanna, go let’s go!” “Guys...” Luke interrupted “If you’re gonna battle at least wait till I can too, like damn”. Almost in unison the pair whipped their heads toward him. Luke realising his mistake slowly edged away from the two & towards the lab. The place where he’d finally take his first steps to what he’d always imagined. His own adventure.

As Luke reached the lab, distant screeching of insults could still be heard, like an extremely spiteful echo. Grabbing the handle, he flung the doors open & stood excitedly in the doorway. Only to be greeted with a near empty lab. He stepped in, a sense of confusion still stuck to him. He was late, sure, but for there to be no one there? It just felt off, then it hit him. A large cranium to the face to be precise. The impact knocked him to the ground, knocking the wind out of him. But, before he could comprehend what just happened the researchers jumped out, capturing whatever attack him. “Sorry ‘bout that kiddo. We weren’t expecting you to barge in so soon!” A hefty old man loomed over Luke chuckling heartily before offering him a hand. “Well, I was excited, so I woke up early. The early bird gets the worm isn’t that right, Alder?” Luke snickered back & grabbed the man’s hand. After being helped up & brushing himself off, Luke turned to look at the thing that attacked him. Although his vision was still fuzzy & slightly obscured, his face instantly lit up at the blurred sight of the Pokemon. It was a small, reptile-like Pokemon & it was currently trying to escape the corner the researchers had put it in. Luke shakily ran over, pushing past the researchers & knelt down to eye level. “I DONT THINK YOU SHO-“ But before Alder could finish his sentence, it was already running at Luke. It sprinted towards him, leaping up, right into Luke’s arms & butting it’s head right into his forehead. “See, this guy must really like me if he’s giving such affectionate head boops” Luke said though his wide grin. “Y-you sure you’re ok, we were just asked to coral that little guy. We’ve got a few starters left if yo-“ Luke stopped Alder “He’s perfect! I think I’ll call you...Hex!” Alder sighed but quickly changed to a smirk. “Then I guess you’ve got the partner you’ve always dreamt about”. Picking up Hex, with surprising difficulty, Luke walked with the Alder over to his desk. Clearing his throat, Alder spoke “Today, you have chosen your partner! The one who will walk with you no matter where you may find yourself. But the path ahead of you is still unknown, unmarked & only you may find it for yourself. But with your Pokemon by your side, you’ll never be lost!” He paused, as if flipping the page over in his head. “Your pokeball maybe be nothing than a metal ball to you, but it’s your Pokemon’s home. So, keep them safe. & here is your Pokédex. Your encyclopaedia of anything & everything you need to know about the creatures & world around you. Make sure to check & update it cause, between you & me, us professors get a commission for every entry uploaded. Though you didn’t hear that from me”. The professor winked, then patted Luke on the back “Now, scan your new buddy & get out there. Show them what you’re made of!” Picking up his new handy, dandy Pokédex. Luke pointing the device towards Hex, it whired into action. “Axew, the tusk Pokemon” blasted the now awoken Pokédex “They use their tusks to crush the berries they eat. Its large tusks have a tendency to break, but each time they grow back, they grow in harder and sturdier.“ Luke grinned & fist bumped Alder “This is unreal, my very own Pokemon. Thank you, for everything professor. Don’t you go dying before you see me at the top! Got it?” & with that, Luke ran out of the lab, to rejoin his bickering friends & embark on their first steps towards the journey they had always dreamed of.

[gothchic6]

Silver’s Skater Girl Chapter 17: The Golden Adventure Part 2: Dusk’s Revenge

While all of this drama has been going on, I've hardly had anytime for the Egg that Professor Elm has me carrying. I take it out of my backpack, the red and blue pattern distinct. I rub my hand over it, and it shakes a bit! I'm happy to see it's still doing okay. I put it back in my bag, and make sure to secure it from possible damage.

Spirit, Dusk and I go to leave the Pokémon Center, when all of a sudden, my PokéGear starts ringing again. I grab it to see who's calling, and I'm pleasantly surprised to see JC's number. I answer it almost immediately while stopping to sit at the booth again.

"Hey Calypso! It's JC! I haven't talked to you in a day or two, and JP left me a crazy voicemail saying a bunch of stuff happened with your Gran or something? I couldn't really tell what exactly she was saying in the message, so I was hoping you could clear some stuff up. And tell me how your journey is going," JC exclaims in a flurry of excitement.

"I have so much to tell you, JC," I say as I look at the clock again. 7:20pm. I have ten minutes to talk, so why not tell her everything?

"Okay, so the last time you called me, I was in Azalea Town about to go kick Team Rocket out of Slowpoke Well. Since then in the last two days, I beat all the Rocket Grunts, punched Team Rocket Executive Proton in the face, won against Azalea Gym Leader Bugsy, made friends with Kurt and his granddaughter, Maizie, travelled Ilex Forest, befriended a girl named Lyra, found out Gran was accused of domestic abuse, explored Goldenrod City, and saw and barely escaped from Gran on the sixth floor of the Goldenrod Department Store.

The Goldenrod Police found and arrested her at the Goldenrod Game Corner, playing Voltorb Flip earlier today. Now, about five minutes ago, JP called me and told me that someone paid Gran's 75,000 bail. So I have a fight to pick with whoever paid her bail. I'm pissed, JC."

It takes JC a few seconds to process all of this information, but she sputters out, "Well, I'd be too. JP and the Goldenrod City Police did their part to get a violent criminal off the streets, and someone goes and posts her bail? That is just pure evil."

"Yeah, so I have to watch out for her again, and I'm not happy. Also, I found out some interesting information," I reply, grabbing her interest.

"And what information would that be," She questions curiously.

"Okay, so Monica is actually a Gym Trainer at the Goldenrod City Gym. She tattled to the Gym Leader, Whitney, about me stealing Dusk, formerly, 'Jessica.' So Whitney banned me from challenging her Gym.

Later, I found out that Whitney is hosting a birthday party for Monica tonight in the Gym at 8pm. So I'm going to go crash Monica's birthday when we get off the phone," I relay to her.

I can hear JC trying to stifle some giggles, but she's not doing a very good job at it. "Hey, you let me know how that goes, okay? That sounds like so much fun right now."

"I'm hoping for it to be a success," I say determinedly, "Besides, I need that Goldenrod Gym Badge, and I'm not letting Monica get in my way. Anything new going on with you?"

"Yeah, kind of," JC starts out, "You know how I thought that JP wouldn't stop by my Pokémon Center as often after the whole incident three days ago?"

"Yeah, I thought she backed off? What's going on," I ask concernedly.

"Oh, don't worry, she's not being mean to me or anything like she was," JC assures me, "It's just the opposite, really. She comes at least twice a day to check up on me now even though Jenny Anne is actually the one assigned to Route 32.

I always catch her staring at me weirdly whenever she comes in to heal her Pokémon. Sometimes, if she's in a good mood, she'll bring me food from Violet City.

And she's always complimenting something about me! Yesterday, it was how my hair was in perfect loops, and today was how I healed her Aipom, Pomskey, 'awesomely.'"

My eyebrow twitches at this interesting development. "That is weird," I comment, "She's been sounding normal on the phone lately, and I haven't noticed anything weird about her. Maybe she just wants to be a good friend in order to make up for your guys' past. Unless she like-likes you. I don't know if you swing that way, but it's a possibility."

"...I've never really thought about it before, to be honest. I spent all of my childhood and adolescence studying for my Officer and Nurse positions that I never really had the time for romance," JC says awkwardly.

"Hey, don't feel bad," I comfort her, "I recently developed my first crush, and I'm seventeen. We don't all figure out things in our lives at the same rate."

"Thanks, Calypso," JC says quietly after a brief moment, "Is your first crush that Silver guy with the red hair?"

"…Shut up, JC," I say monotone.

"I knew it! I don't blame you, he's handsome in a menacing kind of way. But anyway, what should I do about JP, Calypso? The whole situation is so confusing."

"Well, I suppose you have to figure out two things," I speculate, "One, figure out whether JP is acting super nice because she wants to be your friend, or if she likes you romantically. Two, if she likes you romantically, you have to figure out if you are in a position to reciprocate her feelings back."

"Ugh, Calypso, you're right. I've got to figure this out," JC groans. "Oh, wait, Calypso! JP is calling me right now! I'll call you later, okay? I'll let know what happens either later tonight, or in the morning. Bye!"

"Bye," I say just as quickly before hanging up the phone.

Spirit and Dusk have been talking among themselves while patiently waiting for me to get off the phone. Spirit resumes her place on my left shoulder, while Dusk floats on my right side.

"So much drama, so little time, you guys," I comment as we finally leave the Pokémon at 7:30pm.

It's late enough that the street lights of Goldenrod are shining bright golden yellow to illuminate the city. I ride the loaner board all the way north up to the Gym.

We hide underneath the Magnet Train Track above us while surveying the entrance of the Gym.

First, we see just one Beauty guarding the Gym. After about two minutes, a small group of Beauties and Lasses come strolling up to the entrance. The original Beauty chats with them amicably before they all file into the Gym, one by one. I'm guessing that Whitney and Monica are already inside considering that I didn't see them.

The Gym doors close, and I can hear the Beauty locking the doors. That won't stop us, though.

We notice windows on either side of the front of the Gym. The one on our left is slightly cracked open.

"Hey, Spirit," I whisper, "Do you think you could fly up and open that window some more without being too loud? If you can do that, I think I can climb up the side of this fence so I can reach the window."

'I'll try,' Spirit says as she flies silently up to the window. She perches on the edge of the open window, nudging the bottom glass with her beak. After applying a tiny bit of pressure, the window opens enough to where I'm confident I can fit my body through it.

"Thanks, Spirit," I murmur up to her almost inaudibly. Sneakiness level up 100%!

Dusk floats up to where Spirit is waiting for me near the window. I get a footing on the concrete block fencing to my left, slowly standing up on it to try to reach the window. I wobble a few times due to my klutziness, but I manage to hold on. I stretch up to my full height of 5'7", and I get my right hand up on the metal ledge of the window. With all my strength, I swing myself back and forth until I hook one of my feet on the ledge, pulling myself up and through the window.

I do a somersault into the Gym from the window. I actually land on my feet for once.

The Gym itself is a multi-pink pattern with green ledges. It's also heavily decorated for Monica's Birthday Party, banners and streamers hanging almost everywhere.

The Gym Guru who is usually at the front of the Gym isn't here; I'm guessing he went home after the Gym closed. Just another person I don't have to sneak by.

There's a path up to the north of us. When we walk up a few feet, we notice a flight of stairs directly to the right of us, leading up on the ledges.

We decide to explore the north path first, but I find that it's a dead end. We go back to the stairs, walking up them, only to realize that a Beauty is hanging up streamers directly to left of us. I try to walk to the right quietly, but my curse strikes again. I trip and fall, causing the Beauty to hear the noise and come running over.

"Hey, you're not supposed to be in here! This is a private birthday party—Wait, you're that girl who stole Jessica! I'm afraid I'll have to kick you out, battle style," Beauty Victoria states confidently as she sends out the first of her three Pokémon, a Level 9 Sentret.

I send in Spirit, hoping to conserve Dusk's energy for a certain later battle. One of Spirit's Faint Attacks is all it takes to take her down. Beauty Victoria recalls her frustratedly.

Beauty Victoria sends in a Level 13 Sentret in her place. The Level 13 Sentret manages to get two minimal hits from her Fury Swipes, but ultimately gets steamrollered by Spirit's Faint Attack/Wing Attack combo.

Beauty Victoria's face is now red in anger. She recalls the Level 13, and then sends out her strongest Pokémon—you guessed it—a Level 16 Sentret.

She instructs this Sentret to use Defense Curl, hoping to heighten her Defense so Spirit can't knock her out instantly. Smart Move. But it won't work forever.

It takes 2 Faint Attacks and 3 Wing Attacks, but Spirit finally knocks her out after five turns of Defense Curl.

"Spirit grew to Level 19," the Pokédex announces.

Beauty Victoria grudgingly pays me 896 before allowing to continue past her. I heal Spirit with a Potion before we continue further.

We see another staircase further over to the right. We descend down it, leading to a hallway with trees on the left side, and the wall on the other. Further down, there's an opening to the left, and a hallway straight ahead.

We decide to go through the opening on the left, not realizing that we're putting ourselves in view of Beauty Samantha. Apparently, she was organizing Monica's gift table.

"Hey, you're that girl who stole Jessica from Monica! How dare you break in here and crash Monica's party," Beauty Samantha declares, sending out the first of two Pokémon, a Level 16 Meowth.

"Who wants to battle," I ask the two spooky Pokémon on my shoulders.

'I'll battle the Gym Trainers, and I'll leave Monica and Whitney to you and Dusk,' Spirit says as she flies forward to face the Meowth on the battlefield.

"Meowth, use your Fury Swipes," Beauty Samantha shouts.

"Spirit, dodge it and use your Wing Attack!"

Spirit soars up into the air, trying to dodge Meowth's Fury Swipes, but to our surprise, Meowth can leap really high. She gets one hit on Spirit for an eighth of her HP in damage.

Spirit immediately retaliates with her Wing Attack, cutting Meowth's HP down to a third.

"Spirit, finish this with Faint Attack!"

"Meowth, let's go! Use your Fake Out to stop it from attacking!"

Meowth's Fake Out hits first, the hit leaving Spirit with 3/4ths of her HP left. Unfortunately, she also flinches in response.

"Meowth, keep going at it! Use Bite to make her flinch again!"

"Spirit, dodge and use your Faint Attack!"

Spirit is faster than Meowth, disappearing into her cloud of darkness. Meowth keeps looking around, searching for Spirit, but she is too well hidden. Then, after a second of suspense, she strikes Meowth from behind.

Meowth faints from the unescapable attack. Beauty Samantha recalls her, before sending out a second Level 16 Meowth that's a twin of the first one.

'Let's get this over with,' Spirit comments as we start out with a Faint Attack.

"Meowth, use Growl!"

Meowth starts growling at Spirit aggressively, startling Spirit, and lowering her attack. Spirit stills hits Meowth with her Faint Attack, but it only reduces her HP by half.

"Meowth, use your Fury Swipes!"

"Spirit, dodge it, and use Wing Attack!"

Meowth goes in a frenzy, hitting Spirit 4 out of 5 times with her Fury Swipes. It reduces Spirit's HP to a little less than half.

Spirit still has enough strength to soar into the air, and plough into Meowth at high speed with her wings. It makes Meowth faint, to Beauty Samantha's dismay. She recalls Meowth, and pays me 896.

We realize that we can't get through to the left, so we pass Beauty Samantha on the right, going up a path and to the right. It leads us to a bigger hallway with a staircase on the left, where I see that the other path to the other hallway connects to it.

We walk up and to the left, finding another entrance to the area that was blocked off by Beauty Samantha. I look around, and see no one, so I heal Spirit with a Super Potion.

Spirit looks like she's tired, so I ask her if she wants to switch out. She accepts my offer for a nap, so I switch her out with Cyndi as my first Pokémon.

Cyndi and I sneak further down the hallway, where we see a Lass on our right, facing that direction. We go further down and to the right to avoid her, only to find another Lass guarding the other side.

Lass Carrie sees my sneak attempt, and comes to challenge me. She only has one Pokémon, a Level 17 Snubbull.

"Snubbull, we gotta take down this party crasher! Use Bite!"

"Cyndi, dodge it, and gain some speed with your Quick Attack!"

Cyndi dashes past Snubbull, who isn't able to keep up. Cyndi sprints in a circle around her, making her dizzy, before actually attacking. It reduces her HP by a third.

"Snubbull, don't let her take you down! Use Charm!"

Snubbull tries to Charm Cyndi, who succumbs to it, reducing her Attack two levels.

"Cyndi, don't sweat it! Use your Ember attack!"

Cyndi charges a fireball to blue, flinging it directly to Snubbull's face. It reduces her HP to almost none.

"Come on, Snubbull, you can do it! Use Lick!"

"Cyndi, take her out with your Headbutt!"

Cyndi and Snubbull charge each other, but Cyndi is faster. She head-butts Snubbull straight on the forehead, causing her to fly back and hit the wall, knocking her out instantly.

Lass Carrie recalls Snubbull whilst swearing under her breath. She pays me 272 in winnings.

We walk past her, and finally see the first glimpses of Whitney and Monica. They are joined by the other Lass that I snuck by earlier. They are standing around a large table with a multilayered cake in the middle. Whitney is about to cut the cake when we stumble upon the scene.

Dusk instantly puffs up in anger at seeing Monica again. I can't help but feel a little nauseous at seeing her again too. She's such a terrible person.

"See, Whitney, I told you this punk wannabe freak would try to crash my birthday party," Monica complains loudly to Whitney.

"Hey, you're the girl from the Radio Tower! I can't believe I didn't realize that it was you earlier! How dare you break into MY Gym and crash Monica's birthday party? I should call the Police Department to come pick you up, but I think I'll let Cathy escort you out instead," Whitney threatens.

Lass Cathy steps towards me, sending out the first of three Pokémon, a Level 15 Jigglypuff.

"Jigglypuff, use Defense Curl!"

"Cyndi, use Headbutt to make her flinch, and then use Flame Wheel!"

Jigglypuff curls up her body to raise her Defense by a level. Cyndi sends her flying with a Headbutt, but she's puffed herself up to the point where she's floating in the air. Cyndi turns her dashes into the start of a Flame Wheel, rolling towards Jigglypuff. However, when she makes contact, she bounces into Jigglypuff, causing both of them to bounce violently in opposite directions, causing damage to both parties.

Cyndi's HP reduces by a fifth, while Jigglypuff is a little bit worse for wear, losing a third of her HP in damage.

"Jigglypuff, use Disable on Quilava's Flame Wheel!"

Jigglypuff snaps her fingers, and Cyndi is unable to use her Flame Wheel attack.

"Cyndi, do what you did before and use Ember!"

"Jigglypuff, use Sing," Lass Cathy calls out as Cyndi blasts Jigglypuff with a small fireball.

The Ember hits Jigglypuff just as she starts singing her song. Cyndi starts getting drowsy, but her Ember ultimately knocks Jigglypuff out.

Lass Cathy recalls Jigglypuff, only to replace her with another one of the same level and gender. For some reason, Trainers at this Gym feel the need to train several of the same Pokémon.

Now that the previous Jigglypuff has been defeated, Cyndi can use her Flame Wheel again! Unfortunately, Cyndi has fallen asleep, to my annoyance. The last Jigglypuff barely got any song out. I call bullshit. Anyway…

"Jigglypuff, use Pound on the sleeping Quilava!"

"Come on, Cyndi, quit your snoozin! We need to do some bruisin'," I shout obnoxiously.

Monica, Whitney, and Cathy all groan at my terrible rhyme.

Cyndi is hit with both Jigglypuff's Pound and my terrible rhyme, and I honestly think the rhyme did more damage. The Pound decreases her HP by a tiny bit, but both of them instantly rouse her.

"Yay, Cyndi! My obnoxoius rhyme worked! Now use your Flame Wheel!"

Cyndi rolls into a flame-covered wheel, being so fast that Jigglypuff has no time to move even if Cathy issues a command.

Cyndi slams Jigglypuff into the nearest wall, almost flattening her. It's only due to her large amount of HP that she survives the hit with a tiny bit of HP left.

"Jigglypuff, I know you can do it! Use Pound again!"

"Cyndi, finish this with your Quick Attack!"

Cyndi's Quick Attack has first priority, and she throws Jigglypuff into the wall again, knocking her out.

"Come on, Cathy, don't lose to this freak," Monica shouts from the sideline.

"Shut the fuck up, Monica," I reply harshly.

"Make me, FREAK!"

Cathy doesn't respond to Monica or I's bickering, recalling her Jigglypuff, and once again replacing it with the last clone of itself.

"Jigglypuff, we gotta take Quilava down! Use Sing!"

"Cyndi, cover your ears!"

Jigglypuff starts singing again, and I immediately plug my ears because I know if I listen to her song, I'll fall asleep. Cyndi thankfully does the same thing.

Unfortunately for Monica and Whitney, they were too busy talking shit about me to notice that Jigglypuff used Sing, so they're both asleep now. Haha.

Jigglypuff's Song ends, and she notices everyone around her are either sleeping, or plugging their ears. Jigglypuff puffs up in anger, and takes apart the microphone she's holding to reveal a black marker.

To everyone's surprise, she proceeds to draw on Whitney and Monica's faces, mad that they fell asleep during her song.

"Jigglypuff, no, don't do that! You're supposed to do that to the enemy! Now use Pound!"

"Cyndi, dodge it and use Flame Wheel!"

Jigglypuff puts the rest of her anger to use in her Pound attack. To my astonishment, not only is she able to rush Cyndi, but she also hits her in the face, reducing her HP to 2/3rds. That is one angry, yet adorable, Jigglypuff.

But Cyndi refuses to let her get away with it. She comes barreling towards Jigglypuff in her Flame Wheel, knocking her into the wall again, reducing her HP to a fourth.

"Jigglypuff, use Disable again!"

"Cyndi, finish this off with your Headbutt!"

Jigglypuff snaps her fingers again, but it doesn't matter as Cyndi rushes her again, headbutting her in the forehead with enough force to make her faint.

"Jigglypuff, no," Lass Cathy cries out as she recalls her worryingly. While Monica and Whitney are still asleep, I heal Cyndi with a Potion and switch her out with Dusk as my first Pokémon.

"Whitney! Monica! Wake up! She beat me and I don't have any Revives!"

Cathy is able to wake up Whitney and Monica, who are still woozy from Jigglypuff's song.

Monica immediately looks at her reflection in the screen of her PokéGear. What she sees makes her scream.

"Waaah! I told you that this freak would ruin my birthday! Now I have this marker all over my face, ruining my makeup! You'll pay for this, you freak," Monica screams at me hysterically.

Whitney grabs Monica by the shoulder, and says soothingly, "Don't worry, Moni, I'll take care of her. As the Gym Leader of Goldenrod Gym, I promised you that I would protect your birthday party at all costs. And I'm fulfilling that promise."

Monica looks at her in disbelief, replying, "That's sweet, Whitney, but this freak has made things personal. I'm not giving her the satisfaction of getting to battle you until after I rip her limb from limb. Let me do my thing. I got this."

Whitney let's go of Monica's shoulder, allowing her to step forward to challenge me.

My eyebrows raise at her brazen threats. "Is that a threat or a promise, Moni?"

Monica's face instantly goes red at my use of her personal nickname. "You're not allowed to call me that. You're on now, you punk wannabe loser freak!"

The first Pokémon she sends out I recognize as an Level 15 Azurill.

Dusk floats from my shoulder to face Monica and Azurill.

"Jessica! My sweet baby, why are you working for the enemy? Come back to mommy right now!"

"Her name isn't Jessica," I growl menacingly, "Her name is DUSK!"

'Yeah,' Dusk yells at her.

"I can't believe you! You brainwashed Jessica into thinking I'm the bad guy here!"

Her total lack of responsibility infuriates me.

"You ARE the bad guy here, Monica! You verbally abused a Pokémon Center Nurse, cried about it to the manager, and made it look like you were the victim!

Not only that, but you totally don't know how to take care of Dusk! You insulted her because she played tricks on you guys all the time, but I bet none of you know that Misdreavus feed off of fear!

So don't claim to care about a Pokémon you had no interest about learning to care for, and that you verbally abused for two years! Just admit you don't care about her like you said, and cut the bullshit!"

Monica is speechless at my rant, and she glances between the matching stern expressions of Dusk and I. Seeing that we're both not backing down, she scowls sinisterly.

"So I see how it is. Well, then, 'Dusk' if you want to stay with this punk wannabe freak, then go. You don't belong here with me anyway. You don't fit the Gym's aesthetic, and you don't fit mine either."

Everyone in the room gasps dramatically. I guess Dusk and I are going to have wipe the floor clean with Monica. That's the only option I see right now.

"Come on, Dusk, let's wreck her!"

*Dusk's POV*

This tiny adorable Azurill is definitely a new addition to Monica's team, because I don't remember her. I feel bad for her, but she's exactly the type of Pokémon that Monica would want to train anyway. Hopefully, she'll take care of her as well as she takes care of her other Pokémon, Honey Bear.

"Sapphire, use your Charm!"

Sapphire's Charm makes my Attack stat go down. But it's a stupid move, because I can't even hit her with physical moves.

"Dusk, use your Confuse Ray," Calypso calls out to me. I oblige.

"Take this, bitches," I shout as I send out a Confusion Ray.

I confuse the Azurill with the ray, and she starts stumbling over in confusion. After a second of stumbling, she accidentally rolls onto her head, causing an eighth of damage to her HP.

"Sapphire, use your Bubble!"

"Dusk, use Psywave to pop the bubbles!"

Azurill blows a few little bubbles, so I, of course, start screaming to disrupt said bubbles. The Psywave is powerful enough that it destroys the bubbles before they can hit me. It's also powerful enough to reduce Azurill's HP by half.

Monica starts screaming, and calling Calypso and I freaks again. I hate her so much.

"Don't worry about her, Dusk! You got this! Use Spite!"

I yell a bunch of things at Monica that I've been holding back for a while. It reduces Azurill's PP for the move Bubble by 5. It also makes me feel extremely good to do so, even though she has no clue what I said. Calypso hears it, and starts laughing hysterically. Monica yells at Calypso for laughing at her before issuing another command,

"Sapphire, use Slam!"

Azurill charges at me, attempting to slam me, but these idiots clearly forgot that I'm a Ghost Type. She goes straight through me.

Calypso starts laughing at Monica's idiocy, and I can't help but giggle too.

"Dusk," Calypso says through the giggles, "Use Psywave again!"

I unleash another Psywave of hell from my mouth. It's even louder than the last one, and it instantly makes Azurill faint.

"Motherfucking bitch," Monica starts cursing while recalling Azurill, "You did not just make my little Sapphire faint! Well, Honey Bear will take care of you," She says as she sends out her last Pokémon, and my nemesis, Honey Bear. She appears to be at Level 16. Ha, I'm at Level 18. Loser.

I haven't rolled with Monica and her crew for a while so I don't know what kind of moves Honey Bear has learned. We'll see.

"Dusk, let's finish this," Calypso shouts to me. I can't help but agree with her.

"Oh, it's not over yet, freak! Honey Bear, use your Lick attack," Monica screeches.

"Dusk, dodge it, and use Confuse Ray!"

Honey Bear comes dashing towards me, her tongue outstretched. That's a super-effective move, so I fly as high up as possible, trying to avoid her.

Once I'm high up enough that she can't reach me, I send a Confuse Ray towards her. It almost misses its mark, but thankfully it hits her directly on the ear. She starts thrashing around in confusion. Her HP reduces by an eighth.

"Dusk, hit her with a Psywave and confuse her more!"

I hit Honey Bear with a sonic wave, reducing her HP to half.

"Come on, Honey Bear, let's go! Use Leer!"

Snapping out of her confusion, Honey Bear leers at me from the ground, lowering my Defense by one level.

Honey Bear has retreated further back, so I have to float down closer if I want to hit her with any attacks. There's also the problem of my lowered Defense. If she hits me with Lick, I know it won't be good. I wonder what Calypso's going to do…?

"Dusk, float closer and use Psywave again!"

"Honey Bear, use Lick! And make sure you get her this time!"

Honey Bear tries her hardest to jump up and Lick me, but as she does, I start screaming in her face, blowing her away with the Psywave. Her HP reduces to a fifth.

"Honey Bear, no! Grrr..." Monica growls exasperatedly, "Use Lick one more time!"

"Dusk, use Psywave! Whoever hits the other first is the winner!"

I float down to where Honey Bear is attempting to lick me one more time. When she's about 4ft (1.2 M) from me, I start screaming again, right in her face, about how much of a bitch she and Monica were to me.

I scream so loud that the Psywave sends her flying into the wall. After a few seconds, all of us see that Honey Bear isn't unable to battle.

Calypso looks to me, her mouth dropped wide open. "We did it, Dusk," she whisper-screams, "We motherfucking did it!"

*Calypso's POV*

"NOOO! How could this have happened to me on my birthday! WHY?!"

Monica starts crying hysterically while recalling Honey Bear, so Whitney goes to comfort her.

While Whitney's distracted, I take a few seconds to switch Dusk out with Cyndi for my battling Pokémon so Dusk can rest and watch the final battle by my shoulder.

Cyndi, Dusk and I walk up to where Monica and Whitney are sitting on the floor behind the cake table. Whitney's got her arms wrapped around a sobbing Monica, and when I approach them, Whitney glares at me.

"What do you want? You've already done enough damage here tonight. If you don't leave, I'll call the Goldenrod City Police Department!"

"First off, Monica didn't pay me. Second, if I'm not mistaken, you told Monica that you would 'take care of me' because I wrecked her birthday. I just wrecked Monica, and now you're not going to do anything about it? If you're anything like the Gym Leader you're supposed to be, I know you'll get up, and kick me out of your Gym, battle style! Either you kick me out, or I leave here with a Plain Badge!"

Whitney is stoic for a second before standing up and eyeing me sharply.

"You know what, you're right. Moni, I told you I'd take care of this, and I'm going to. Calypso Aspen Primrose, you are going to regret ever messing with any of us!"

To my surprise, Whitney only has two Pokémon on her team. The first she sends out is a Level 17 female Clefairy.

Cyndi goes to take her on. Whitney issues the first command,

"Clefairy, use Doubleslap!"

"Cyndi, dodge it, and use your Flame Wheel attack," I call out.

Cyndi out speeds Clefairy, hitting her with a Flame Wheel for half of her HP in damage.

Clefairy got covered in soot as a result of the Flame Wheel, and she is not happy. She runs up and hits Cyndi in the face with her Doubleslap 3 out of 5 times for a fifth of her HP in damage.

"Cyndi, use Headbutt to make Clefairy flinch!"

"Clefairy, use Metronome!

Clefairy starts waggling one of her fingers, while Cyndi charges her. Cyndi hits her with Headbutt, reducing her HP to almost none. Clefairy retaliates, her Metronome turning into Slash, and she reduces Cyndi's HP to a little under half.

"Clefairy, use Doubleslap," Whitney tries, but my next move makes it not matter,

"Cyndi, use your Quick Attack!"

Cyndi's Quick Attack hits first, making Clefairy faint instantly.

"Cyndi grew to Level 21," The Pokédex congratulates.

"H-hey! Just one left? But… I ain't losin, you hear?"

"We'll see about that," I say as I recall Cyndi for some rest. I send out Dusk in her place.

Whitney's last Pokémon is a Level 19 Miltank. The worst thing about Normal Type Pokémon is that they usually have an obscene amount of HP. I'm hoping that status problems might be able to help me with this battle.

"Miltank, use Rollout," Whitney starts the battle off.

"Dusk, dodge it and use Confuse Ray!"

Miltank rolls into an extremely fast wheel of muscle, bouncing around the room. Dusk tries to avoid it by flying upward, but Miltank is able to gain enough air bouncing to hit her. It reduces her HP by a third.

Despite being hit with an attack, Dusk is still able to accurately hit Miltank with her Confuse Ray. To our annoyance, Miltank pulls out a Lum Berry and eats it, eliminating her status problems. I growl frustratedly.

"Ha, you never expected that, did you," Whitney taunts me.

"That was a smart move, but it'll take more than that to trip us up," I reply back confidently.

"LOSE! FUCKING LOSE, YOU FREAK! GO WHITNEY," Monica starts screaming.

I want to tell Monica to shut the fuck up, but I hold my tongue and opt for, "Dusk, use Spite on Miltank's Rollout!"

Dusk reduces Miltank's PP for Rollout by 5, but it doesn't stop Whitney and Miltank from using it, however. Miltank hits Dusk with another round of Rollout, with more power this time, leaving her with an eighth of HP left.

"Come on, Dusk, you can do it! Use Confuse Ray one more time!"

Dusk sends another Confuse Ray to Miltank, who actually stays confused this time. She stumbles around, accidentally hitting her head against the wall in confusion for a fifth of her HP in damage.

"Come on, Miltank, you got this! Use Stomp!"

I start to laugh because Stomp is a Normal Type move, so it can't hit Dusk. But to my astonishment, it does! She faints from the impact.

"How did your Miltank use a Normal Type move on Dusk," I question as I sadly recall Dusk. She put up a good fight.

"Miltank has the ability, Scrappy! She can hit Ghost Type Pokémon with Normal and Fighting Type moves."

"GO WHITNEY! YOU AND MILTANK CAN DO THIS," Monica starts screaming again.

"Monica, shut the fuck up!"

It might be a risk, but I think I might let Forest have a go at it.

"Go, Forest, use your Poisonpowder!"

"Miltank, use Rollout again!"

Miltank almost flattens Forest, but he swiftly sidesteps her, throwing his Poisonpowder on her.

She starts losing HP due to the poison, reducing her HP to 3/4ths.

"Miltank, use Attract on Bellsprout," Whitney instructs her.

Miltank sends Forest a seductive look, and that's all it takes for him for him to be head over heels, infatuated.

"Forest, come on, use your Vine Whip attack!"

Forest is too immobilized by love to make any moves, to my frustration.

"Miltank, use your Stomp!"

Miltank runs up to Forest, stomping his lower body with her hoof, reducing his HP to a fourth.

"Forest, no! Are you okay?" He manages to get up, thankfully.

"Forest, stay strong! Use your Vine Whip!"

"Miltank, use Stomp to end it!"

"Dodge it, Forest!"

Forest is too in love with Miltank to make any moves. Miltank starts approaching to make the final blow. In my desperation, I shout out,

"Forest, don't do this! She doesn't actually love you! Use your Vine Whip!"

Forest finally snaps out of his infatuation, barely able to dodge Miltank's Stomp.

Forest is able to grab one of Miltank's legs with his vines. With all the strength, he can muster, Forest makes Miltank trip and fall on her face, reducing her HP to half. Then, another round of poison reduces it a couple more points.

"Miltank, take him out with your Rollout," Whitney continues the onslaught.

"Come on, Forest, you can dodge it!"

Forest tries his hardest to avoid Miltank's massive wheel of destruction, but she's too fast, and crashes into him. The hit sends him flying against the wall, making him faint.

"Oh, Forest, you did so well," I give him praise as I recall him back into his Poké Ball.

"You've already got two fainted Pokémon, and one of your other ones is injured! Why don't you just give up now," Whitney taunts me. I don't fall for it.

"YEAH, FREAK! GIVE UP SO I CAN FINALLY CELEBRATE MY FUCKING BIRTHDAY," Monica screeches in conjunction with Whitney's taunt.

I point to Monica, "First, I don't give a shit, so shut the fuck up," and then I turn to Whitney, "And you're one to talk. You only have two Pokémon, one of them is fainted, and the other has half it's health left, along with poison status. I'm not worried."

"We'll see about that! Send out your next Pokémon!"

I know that Cyndi is hurting with less than half HP, and Miltank's Rollout is super-effective against Spirit, so I decide to let Zellie have a shot. Her Sonicboom could come in handy.

"Zellie, use your Sonicboom!"

"Miltank, finish this before it starts with your Rollout!"

"Zellie, flip over it!"

Miltank comes speeding towards Zellie, who doesn't even blink at the faster Pokémon's wheel of destruction. Once Miltank comes within two feet of her, Zellie flips entirely over Miltank, and shoots a Sonicboom that stuns her. Miltank's HP goes to down less than a fourth. Then, the poison reduces it to almost nothing.

"Oh, poor me," Whitney cries out sarcastically, "Whatever shall I do? Oh, wait, I know! Miltank, use your Milk Drink!"

Miltank heals her HP to a little more than half. I grind my teeth in frustration, but I'm hoping that Zellie's Sonicboom will get the job done.

"Zellie, don't stop! Use Sonicboom as much as you can!"

Zellie starts spitting out continuous Sonicbooms, most of them missing the fast Miltank, but one of them hit for 20 points in HP damage. It reduces her HP to a fourth.

"Miltank, we can't tolerate this! Use Stomp to knock these intruders out of here!"

"Zellie, dodge it!"

Miltank goes to Stomp Zellie's face in, but the moment she goes to stomp down, Zellie zips out of the way.

"How is she doing that," Whitney calls out, "My Miltank is faster than her!"

"Faster, yes, but not more evasive. Besides, Zellie is more accurate with her attacks. And you're using physical moves while we're using special moves from a distance. That's why ours are more likely to hit."

Miltank's HP reduces to almost nothing from another turn with poison status.

"Miltank, come on, you got this! Use Milk Drink!"

"Zellie, stop her, and finish this with your Quick Attack!"

Zellie's Quick Attack has priority over Miltank's Milk Drink, and she knocks Miltank out before she's able to heal herself.

"Zellie grew to Level 13. Zellie grew to Level 14," The Pokédex announces.

"Ugh…," Whitney sighs as she recalls Miltank. Then, all of a sudden, she starts bawling, "Waaaaah! Waaaaah! ...Snivel… Hic. ….You meanie!"

"Umm, I literally just won a Pokémon battle against you in your own Gym. You owe me a Plain Badge," I say harshly.

Monica wraps her arms around a sobbing Whitney now, snarling, "You literally broke in here to ruin my birthday and you think Whitney is going to give you a Gym Badge? She doesn't owe you shit."

"Calypso, get lost! Get out of here before I call the Police Department," Whitney cries out childishly.

I start getting a little angry. "We had a deal. Either I lost and you kicked me out, or I won, and got a Plain Badge."

"Whitney, she did technically beat you in your Gym in Gym Operation Hours," I'm surprised to hear Cathy speak, "We did close early for Monica's Birthday Party, and by law, we were supposed to be open to receive Gym challengers. I'd just give her the Badge, Whitney."

"CATHY?! WHY ARE YOU STANDING UP FOR THIS FREAK," Monica screeches again.

Whitney growls, "If I give you this badge, will you get out and never come back? Also, you can never harass Monica again."

"Deal, but if Monica fucks with me again, the second part of the deal is invalid."

Monica looks like she's about to protest this, but Whitney gives her a silencing glance.

"Deal," Whitney says as she places a small square shaped golden badge in my hand.

"I guess you did beat me fair and square. Even if you broke in here to do it. But that doesn't mean I want you anywhere in my sight. If I ever catch you harassing any of my Gym Trainers again, I'll make sure you get creamed next time."

"Duly noted," I say as I walk past them, and slowly walk my way out of the Gym, a tired Zellie by my side.

"Boy, are you a trooper, Zellie. Thank you so much for toughing it out and finishing what Dusk started, and Forest continued," I congratulate her.

'No problem. I thought Miltank was gonna knock me out so many times, but you got us through it. I'm so happy I'm getting stronger!'

"Yeah, and you grew two levels from that battle," I continue, "I'm really proud of you, Zellie."

Zellie swishes her tails back and forth in happiness. I notice her start to tire as we finally get to the entrance of the Gym. I offer her to return to her Poké Ball so she can rest on the way home. She obliges.

I go to ride on the loaner board when Spirit surprises me by popping out of her Poké Ball, and perching on my shoulder.

"Hey, what's up, Spirit? You feeling okay from earlier?"

'I just wanted to tell you how well I think you did in there. You went in there, took charge, and didn't take no for an answer. You're becoming everything your Gran feared you'd be. But at least you're you.'

I can't help but smile at Spirit's compliment.

"Aww, thanks, Spirit. I think I just really wanted this for Dusk and for myself too. And the Team. You guys mean everything to me."

Spirit caws in contentedness, and we ride silently to the Pokémon Center.

I heal all of my Pokémon before Cyndi and I completely crash on the Pokémon Center booth. As we doze off, I can hear the ring of my PokéGear going off. But I'm too tired too answer it…

*Third Person POV* (An hour and a half ago)

"Hello, welcome to the Goldenrod City Jail, I'm Officer Jenny Marie. How can I help you today?"

"Yes, I've come to post the bail of an inmate in your facility," Poké Maniac Donald says as he walks closer to the front desk.

"Okay," Officer Jenny Marie says cheerfully, "Which inmate's bail did you want to post?"

"I want to post the bail of Ruth Marken."

"Okay, I'm looking up Ruth Marken in the system… Found her! Okay, so her bail is set for 75,000. Did you still want to post it?"

"Yes," Poké Maniac Donald confirms.

"Okay, so how did you want to pay for that? Cash, check, or credit?"

"It'll be cash," Poké Maniac Donald says as he pulls out the wad of cash that Monica gifted to him for this purpose.

"Okay, let me count this… Okay, this is indeed 75,000. Let me process this transaction, and I'll bring your inmate out to you shortly. I have to let you know however, that there are conditions of releasing her from incarceration. She has a restraining order put on her from her granddaughter, and she must not come within 100 yards of Calypso Aspen Primrose. If she does, she'll break her restraining order, and she'll be brought back here. Understand?"

"Yes," Poké Maniac confirms again.

"All right, we're done! I'll be right back with your inmate!"

After about a minute, Officer Jenny Marie comes back with a large disheveled woman following behind her. Incarceration doesn't look good on Ruth Marken.

"Here she is! Well, I hope you two have a great day! And keep out of trouble," Officer Jenny Marie says farewell while sitting back behind her desk again.

Ruth Marken stares at the random person who posted her bail. Hell, she should've been able to pay her own bail, but she lost thousands gambling and much more was stolen from her ungrateful bitch of a granddaughter.

Poké Maniac Donald beckons her to follow to him outside. They exit the Jail, Ruth easily being able to keep pace with Donald.

"Who are you? Or what are you? Some kind of Pokémon furry?"

Poké Maniac Donald blushes instantly at this question, replying furiously, "I am a man dedicated to Pokémon, Madam, and in order to know about Pokémon, I dress like a Pokémon. Anyway, you should be nicer to the person who just posted your bail."

"I don't even know you. Why did you pay massive amounts of money to post my bail," Ruth questions him.

"Oh, it's not just me. You, me, and another person all have one common enemy, my dear Ruth," Poké Maniac Donald says sinisterly.

Ruth matches her grin to Poké Maniac Donald's tone. "Let me guess, it's my lovely ungrateful bitch of a granddaughter, Calypso. She's always causing trouble."

"Yeah, she beat me in battle and gloated about to several people, and she stole the Pokémon of the person who paid to get you out of jail. If you want to help us, we want to take her down."

Ruth thinks about this for a few moments before replying, "You've got yourself a deal. Here, if you hold on to me, Fafnir can fly us to Cianwood City, where I live. We can plan things out there. Of course, it's a little messed up right now because lovely Calypso got into some trouble."

"Nah, I'd rather stay in Goldenrod if that all right with you. I live in one of the houses over by the Underpass Tunnel. We can plan from there."

"Humph... fine. Lead the way," Ruth says grumpily, while following Poké Maniac Donald down the Goldenrod Main Street. Officer Jenny Marie told them not to get into trouble, so they went searching for it.

[marawis]

Pokémon Villain-Champion Switch Scenarios

There were some sort of prompts in a thread that go like this:

Switching the champion and the villain in most generations can lead to some interesting stories.

Cyrus is similar to nanu as a champion, gets his thrills out of battle Cynthia wants to see the world burn for shit and giggles and wants giratina specifically

Actually in the case of XY Sycamore swapping with Lysandre would be more compelling

So of course I had to let my mind go wild on the concepts and think of some scenarios for Hoenn, Sinnoh and Kalos (with some liberties taken, mostly for Sinnoh). I kinda feel bad about leaving them on an anonymous board so I may as well share them here just for memory’s sake. 

They all began to get longer with each gen, so this is a very long post. Sorry if I have some spelling errors. I still hope you all like it. (Check out an Alola scenario here)

Hoenn

While going through the first gyms you hear word from some NPCs saying the League is having issues because the Champion seems to have left.

At first everything is played kinda straight, with Maxie and Archie looking as bad guys that are also opposing each other, while Steven is a cool guy who likes rocks and helps us fight them.

The more you advance in the story things start to get suspicious.

Turns out Steven is actually a really corrupt businessman alongside his father, and they are trying to wake up Groudon and Kyogre for their own ends.

Archie and Maxie were trying to stop Devon's advances to protect the sea and land respectively, but they acted as enemies because their interests and egos made them disagree even though they had the same endgoal.

By the climax they already solve their differences and work together with you to stop the legendaries.

You save the world and finally go to finish your Pokémon challenge, since it seems the Champion issue has been solved and they have returned.

Wait "they"?

Surprise surprise double battle for the Championship against Archie and Maxie.

Sinnoh

You first meet Cyrus in Lake Verity, he acts kinda creepy still but his monologue is about wanting to understand how the universe works.

You start your Pokémon journey and meet Cynthia, who talks to you about all these cool mythos of Sinnoh and the legendaries tied to them.

You keep encountering Cyrus and interacting with him. He seems to want to be left alone but still talks to you about legends and myths too, and how he wants to investigate about them.

Cynthia follows you closely and starts to feed you misinformation about what Cyrus is on about, he is quite the antisocial guy so it's easy to make him look like he could be a lunatic cult leader after all.

Turns out she has been doing the same with Looker, the Interpol guy sent to investigate some criminal activity in the region. 

You two then leave to check what Cyrus is doing, and letting Cynthia act freely.

Let's be honest, Cyrus' labs look like what a mad scientist would have, and seems his machines are indeed working with portals and experiments on the fabric of time and space.

You confront Cyrus on the matter, but turns out he wasn't trying to destroy the world or anything, he was trying to save it.

Wait what?

Cyrus is actually the Sinnoh Champion, and while doing usual walks on the region (since it seems Champions like to do that) he noticed there were some anomalies going around in the region, with time and space flowing in weird ways. He was leading an investigation to try to solve the issue and if possible track the origin of it.

You remember all the stuff Cynthia talked with you and realize she has been lying to you.

Saturn informs us that weird lectures have showed up in the Spear Pillar.

You all rush there.

There is Cynthia in control of Palkia and Dialga.

She then reveals her plans to us. She wants to use the Time and Space pokémon not to try to reshape the universe, but to summon Giratina.

Giratina indeed shows up, but before Cynthia can do anything they all get into the Distortion World.

There you search for Cynthia, who took some advantage to try and fight the Antimatter pokémon.

You find her before she manages tho.

You interrogate her again on her motives.

She tells you that after studying so much about the myths and legends, she realized something.

Palkia and Dialga aren't really such a big deal. Giratina is far more interesting.

She wanted to summon Giratina to capture it and THEN use it to get to the actual big deal: Arceus.

Cyrus calls nonsense. Maybe Giratina had some basis to exist (and indeed it does), but Arceus is just a fairytale that people made up to avoid thinking about where the world comes from.

Cynthia is adamant on her believes tho, and begins a rant about how Arceus is indeed real.

You all still don't understand why exactly she wants Arceus, if she isn't interested in making changes to the world.

Cynthia laughs at you.

"Because if I capture the Creator, then I will be the strongest trainer in all the world!"

All of this just for some stupid trainer title?

Cynthia rants again while throwing more backstory to us.

She and Cyrus had a battle similar to the one Hau and the MC had in USUM, one to decide who would become the Champion. And Cyrus won.

Cynthia didn't take defeat quite well. Her reputation as a strong trainer was tarnished. Her social status and villas in every region were lost. All because this weirdo "got lucky"!

Cyrus apologizes.

"Hu?"

Cyrus had no idea the title meant so much for her. Sure, he wanted the title, but it was just because it was a promise he did to "an old friend" back on his early childhood. If he had known the Championship meant way more to her, he would have surrendered.

Cynthia thinks he is looking at her as so inferior she needs his pity, and gets even angrier.

A pokémon battle for the fate of the worlds starts!

You defeat Cynthia.

Cynthia doesn't understand. She just can't understand. Losing to Cyrus on a Champion battle was one thing, but you haven't even finished the Gyms, how could you defeat her?!

Now with all her pokémon fainted and no revives to spare, she can't even try to fight Giratina.

"Fine! Whatever! May all as well rot in this place! No way none of us gets out now!"

You spot Giratina nearby.

Cyrus thinks you may have a chance against it, if your battle against Cynthia just now was proof enough of the strong bonds you can make with pokémon. Sure Giratina will see both that and your strenght as a trainer.

You go and fight Giratina and win. This is a lineal plot now so you have to capture it and it gets added to your party.

Cynthia can't fucking believe it.

She finally loses her marbles and tries to take away from you the pokéball Giratina is on. After all she did all the hard work to find it, what business you have with it except being a kid with a pokédex?

Cyrus has to intervene and pushes her away from you.

Cynthia takes a bad step because of it and Distortion World dynamics screw her up, making her fall to an uncertain fate.

There is no time to waste though, so you use Giratina to get back to your own world.

Cyrus gives a small speech about spirit and emotions, and how they lead to Cynthia's demise.

"They are quite frightening, and can be ugly sometimes. But I guess without those ugly emotions, we wouldn't be able to experience the beautiful ones. That must be what means to be human after all."

You part ways, with Cyrus wishing you luck on your challenge and saying he waits for you at the League.

You go and have the Champion battle against him.

You win, and he says he is proud of your progress.

He almost tells you he is happy to have met you, but stops himself before he can say it all out loud. He isn't quite ready for that stuff, not yet.

Hall of Fame and credits roll.

Kalos (well this one is actually a bit different)

You start your journey just fine. Meet with this cool young professor who wants you to help him study Mega Evolution.

You then meet Lysandre, who after seeing your pokédex realizes you are working with his good friend Sycamore. He is also helping him on his research. He gives you a cool Holo Caster update to stay in touch and so you can send Mega Evolution data to them.

The encounter with Lysandre and Diantha in the Café Soleil still happens, but is a more amicable chat about how a movie star can get roles in different niches if she just ages normally instead of remaining "young" forever, and how that is beautiful in it's own way. First clue that Lysandre isn't batshit insane here.

Lysandre tells you his lineage's story and the Ultimate Weapon on his café, but instead of using it as a "THEY ARE FILTH" monologue he uses it as a moral about current events.

The Ultimate Weapon "cleaned" the region from the "undesirable" back then, but he thinks that is a coward path.

He wants to believe Kalos is beautiful, but the truth is, it isn't.

The glamorous Kalos we know is because the region is making it's best to hide away the poor and homeless people and pokémon from tourists and visitors, just to preserve this fake image of Kalos being all nice.

Lysandre doesn't agree with this, and wants to help everyone so there is only happiness and real beauty in Kalos. 

Well that was motivational and sad, but you have no time for this, you have to go around collecting some stones!

You go around getting your Key Stone and Mega Stones just as normal.

With the updated Holo Caster you send every piece of data you get everytime you Mega Evolve your pokémon, and Sycamore is happy. If you don't use too much Mega Evolution -or at all- Sycamore at first tries to encourage you to use it, but later starts to get annoyed by your lack of cooperation.

Eitherway, Sycamore is doing progress with his research with or without your help, and he shares some stuff with you.

He sometimes calls to just tell you about his own standards on beauty tho. It is all Holo Caster and chill until he slips some bigoted small remarks, like how creepy it was that some kid on rags approached a woman near a café. Stuff like that that may not be anything but still triggers some red lights.

On your way on Route 15 Lysandre calls you, and asks you to meet him in the Lost Hotel up north.

There he tells you he is a bit worried about Sycamore. He is noticing him acting strange ever since he began to make actual progress with his research on Mega Evolution. He has noticed some weird movements on his businesses too ever since.

You tell him about what you have noticed on his calls too, and Lysandre for a moment begins to connect some dots, but dismisses them almost immediately. No way his friend would be capable of such things, he says.

You continue your travels to Anistar City, when a Holo Caster call reached every single trainer in the region.

The figure on the Holo Caster can't be seen due to some noise in the signal, but the message is quite clear: The Ultimate Weapon will be revived and used to erase from existence all those pariahs that ruin Kalos' beautiful image.

Immediately after that call ends, Lysandre calls you. Looks like someone took over his Labs and he asks you to come help him since there are too many grunts guarding the place and he can't fight everyone in there while trying to get back in.

You manage to get in, and there you find Sycamore. 

Sycamore notices Lysandre isn't as shocked as he thought he would be. Lysandre admits that he did know what was going one after talking with you at the Lost Hotel, but he didn't want to believe it. He didn't want to believe his dear friend was using him and a bunch of kids for such an ugly goal.

Sycamore is actually hurt by those words. 

He reminds Lysandre of what he would always talk about, about how ugly Kalos actually is because of all that people who can't contribute anything to society.

He saw his dear friend suffering over this, and he wished he could help him somehow.

His research on Mega Evolution was totally scientific at the start, but then he started to notice some links it had to the Ultimate Weapon.

It all made sense after all. It was fate™, you could even say.

Mega Evolution was the product of the remnants of the Ultimate Weapon, which is why it is only found in Kalos. What a beautiful region Kalos is indeed. And yet, not every pokémon was able to reach such a state.

If Sycamore can get his hands on the Ultimate Weapon, he can both liberate even more energy to make every single species reach Mega Evolution, all while killing all the unproductive people that are the source of his friend's suffering.

This isn't what Lysandre wanted at all, and he is mad that Sycamore would think such an idea, knowing his hatred for the Ultimate Weapon and what it did to his ancestors.

Sycamore of course believes everything will be worth it in the end, and he will find a way to forgive him.

But for now the chat must end. He already got what he was looking for in the labs, and now he had to leave to his real destination: Geosenge Town.

The professor calls on two masked guys to make up time for him to leave.

You defeat these guys who look similar to Dexio and Sina (totally not them, right?), and Lysandre wonders what could Sycamore be looking for in his lab.

He then remembers about the suspicious movements he found some days ago, and goes to check out.

You find AZ in the usual place as in XY. Seems Sycamore was paying way too much attention to Lysandre's ocassional history lessons, and was searching for the immortal king too. AZ tells us Sycamore already took the key for the Ultimate Weapon, and asks you to stop him.

You all leave to Geosenge Town.

You go down the base where everything where everything is already in motion.

Sycamore is a more practical man, he doesn't waste time with buttons.

Lysandre tries to reason with him. The weapon takes energy from a Legendary pokémon, yes, but for the scale Sycamore wants, it also takes away the life energy of pokémon near the place. Part of his plan could backfire on him if he keeps going.

"Well I think we can live without Bunnelby and Diggersby"

Lysandre challenges him to a fight to distract him, so you can go to where the Legendary is and hopefully stop the weapon.

You go and catch your Legendary, only for Sycamore to show up immediately after.

He doesn't need a Dr. Octopus outfit, he is a more practical man and can beat the shit out of champion level trainers by himself, being a professor and all.

The pokémon battle for the destiny of the world starts!

You win the battle. But that doesn't really mean you have stopped him, does it?

Lysandre shows up, still beaten up from the fight, and still tries to talk Sycamore out of this. It isn't too late to stop this nonsense. He will forgive him. Just leave the Ultimate Weapon alone and let's work together to make a beautiful world where nobody needs to be sacrificed.

Sycamore for a moment thinks about the offer, but realizes there isn't any future left for him after all what he has done. Lysandre and the protagonist may forgive him, but the world surely won't.

"You have a minute"

He activates the Ultimate Weapon. It doesn't really have much energy left, but is enough to destroy the whole place.

You have to take Lysandre out by force, since he didn't want to leave without Sycamore.

You manage to get out, but Geosenge Town is a mess.

Lucky thing everyone managed to evacuate those box houses and make it to safety.

Lysandre doesn't say anything. He doesn't even move from his place. It has been too much to process for just one day.

Oh yeah you get a parade. Yay!

Without a professor, things are quite messy in the whole region, but please don't let that stop you from continuing your pokémon adventure.

You defeat the E4 and make it to the Champion's room.

It is empty.

But there is a note for you.

It asks you to go to Lysandre Café.

You go there and meet Lysandre.

He asks you to forgive him, but he didn't really feel like going to the League after all what happened.

He gives you a long talk about his friendship with Sycamore. How they both met when they were younger and studying. Sycamore would become the regional Pokémon Professor while he would go and invent gadgets at his own company to help improve the life of humans and pokémon.

If he was told at that time what would have happened a few days ago, he wouldn't believe it. In fact, he still can't.

This is all a bad dream and he will wake up at any moment, with papers all around him and Sycamore mocking him for not getting proper sleep.

But he knows very well that's not the case.

It can't be helped. What's done is done and there is no going back.

But you don't want to keep listening to the sorrows of a sad man, do you? You are here for your final challenge.

You have your battle for the Championship and win.

After getting an extravagant parade for saving the region, this is quite an unceremonious event. Not that it bothers you tho. There is some beauty on keeping things simple.

You still get registered in the Hall of Fame, and Lysandre asks you to hold the Champion title with respect.

Credits roll.

Honorary mention to Johto, which was just the idea of Lance being like his manga counterpart and Giovanni taking the 3 years timeskip to become a researcher and the champion too.

Thanks for reading!

[ch-ar-mi-ng]

Happy #MagmarCommunityDay! Here's a photoshoot I did with #Magmar. Five photos, and each one will have a portion of our adventure. The Adventures of Mala'Kai and *Charming* No Match For Magmar Part 1 One morning, Mala'Kai and I were taking a walk and we ended up near the Professor's lab. We decided to stop in and see what he was up to. "Ah, Mala'Kai! Perfect timing. I've just encountered something strange! I've been feeling a bit warm lately, so I walked to a nearby clearing to enjoy the cool breeze - but the temperature seemed to rise as I arrived! Curious, isn't it? I suspect it's the work of a certain Pokémon. There's one that's known to dislike cold areas so much, it'll blow scorching flames to heat up its surroundings. I believe there are large groups of this particular Pokémon appearing all over the place right now. Ah, you're wondering which Pokémon I'm talking about? I think I'll keep that to myself for now. But here - I'll write it on this piece of paper, and we can check later to see if I was right! Can you go investigate and let me know what you find? Thanks, Trainer!" So, after getting the directions to the clearing he had gone to,we set off in the same direction. The Professor was right, as we headed the clearing it was getting warmer. It's a good thing I'm a Fire-Type Pokémon and not an Ice-Type Pokémon. That would've been uncomfortable. But when we actually got there, there wasn't a Pokémon to be seen! Mala'Kai pulled out his Pokédex and searched for increased sightings of Pokémon in the area. The only one that met the criteria was Magmar! So, off we went in search of some Magmar. #Charmander #PokemonGoBuddy #PokemonGo #GoSnapshot #MagmarPhotoBomb https://www.instagram.com/p/CH4K9QsAqsf/?igshid=1imfyk2mnfggn

[aldreaoakley]

Kissed by the Baddest Trainer! [KBTBB Pokemon!AU]

(Based off a lot of @maidofstars’ and @catchthespade’s posts. Just a warning, I will be jumping back and forth in time. I'll denote that when it happens.)

MEETINGS OF FATE PART 2

Mamoru grumbles as he takes a soda from a vending machine. The cases relating to the Pokémon poachers, Pokémon hunters, and Pokémon Hunter F with his gang are more of a pain than when he was assigned to dealing with the elusive Lupin and the antics of Team KōriRyu with some crazy plans. That day when he walk into Ichinomiya Corp. building, he had to sigh while draining his can. He really wasn't expecting it at all. ~Five Years Ago~ Mamoru heads inside the front doors to Ichinomiya Corp. to talk with the head of the company. With the CEO's personal assistant guiding him to the man's office, Mamoru scans his surroundings. There was nothing unusual so far in the company... so why is there a level of unease in his gut? The feeling didn't turn out to be wrong when he sees the leader of Team KōriRyu meeting with Eisuke in his office along with Lupin himself, in the mask and flesh. "Ah. I was wondering when you'd show up," Eisuke chuckles from a window. "Why the hell that guy's here," Mamoru growls while the door clicks shut behind him. "It was an important meeting regarding the recent increase in Pokémon poaching and hunting," he hears Eisuke smirk. The man turns to him. "I believe the police would have more on their plate than any of Team KōriRyu's or Lupin's activities," the CEO chuckles in a somewhat sinister manner. Mamoru didn't like the situation he was in. At all. The CEO is in cahoots with an evil organization and a thief running his own show but he can tell that the men have standards that make them different. That however doesn't make it easier for him. The leader of Team KōriRyu is giving him a really ugly look while Lupin is acting like the situation is a picnic. Somehow, Mamoru wishes he can smash that face in with his gun and cuff Lupin. The situation though didn't require either. It requires his sound judgement on what case to pick. He can deal with elusive Lupin, the dark Team KōriRyu, or target their common foe. ~Present~ "Just why did I stick with the damned hunters and poachers," he grumbles while scoring a shot worthy of a basketball three pointer with his empty can. "But Ichinomiya had a point then." Mamoru didn't like that it didn't bring justice to anything or solve any problems within a week or two. But then he can't complain. He knows that Detective Ayase was more than happy to pick up the Lupin case while Hayami takes the Team KōriRyu one with some reluctance. A relief for him but what he doesn't like is that he has to work with a team with a shady reputation and a CEO who thinks the world revolves around him. Why couldn't he have picked one that was more quieter than any of the current ones? "What a pain," he mutters while whipping out his pipe and starts chewing on it. "I can't believe that those guys are so demented to even consider Pokémon like tools or items..." As he vents under his breath, he feels something head butt him and he turns to see his Arcanine. The large dog-like Pokémon whimpers before Mamoru sighs and walks over to a park where Arcanine runs around. He pulls out his Pokégear and studies it. The map now sports new locations transmitted to him personally from Eisuke regarding the poachers and hunters. So far nothing from Baba. Standing up, he whistles to Arcanine in order to get a ride to a location that was nearby. A series of suspicious activities around a once successful factory that's now long abandoned. Mamoru hits a switch on his Pokégear to radio for back up. He waits until Hayami and Ayase appear with several others and their Poké Balls ready. Mamoru hops off and pulls out another Poké Ball. This is going to get rough fast and he would like to get it done and over with fast. It's an unsaid rule in their division that whomever wins the informal Pokémon battles while on the job gets a free meal. Not that Mamoru would admit to wanting it on a daily basis as he can't cook a full meal that doesn't require a lot of work. ~*~ Eisuke sits in the back seat of his car when he sees something that isn't usual. A young trainer with a Minccino on her shoulder. He orders the driver to stop so he can step out. He notices that the girl is looking at a display window. He might as well enlighten himself to the si- oh hello! The girl's reflection in the window is that of a simple young woman wearing less than high quality clothing. Not that it matters as he is going to fix up that appearance. "You," he calls out to her, causing her to spin around. "Come with me." "What," she yelps while the Minccino on her shoulder starts hissing at him. Okay... nothing new with the Pokémon not liking him. He hears Persian as he walks out of the car to sit next to him. The Minccino stops and cowers behind the girl's head at the sight of Persian. Interesting. The Pokémon and its trainer are both scared but neither are backing down. First off, he needs to get her outfit fixed up. There is no way he's letting those ratty things on her feet stay on any longer. "You're taking too long," he frowns then slings her over his shoulder. "Hey," she protests. Neither notices Minccino scurries into her bag to check the egg. "Shut up and come with me," he scowls. He ignores the chatter on the street as well as the glares and squeals. These plebeians are way below him. Once inside, he sets her roughly on a well cushioned seat with Persian jumping on seconds later. He orders the driver to take them to the company grounds. En route, he watches the girl from a corner of his eye. She takes off her backpack and feeds the Minccino an Oran berry while checking on something. It was an egg in a bad condition case. Where ever she got her egg from, the case is terrible. He sends Luke a message over his Pokétch to meet him within half an hour. He doesn't mind the protesting response as he can't help but feel intrigue over the girl. The girl clearly is more worried about her Pokémon than her. Then he notices her lanyard has only a Poké Ball on it. That's odd... only one when she clearly has two? He was about to ask when the driver announces that they arrived. He watches her zip her bag up again but open enough for her Minccino to breathe. She must be really worried about that egg... The door opens and he steps out with Persian hopping after him. He turns to see the young woman rather reluctant before she steps out. A typical girl in his sphere would be more than happy to be on the grounds of Ichinomiya Corp. yet this one doesn't seem to be so excited. She's looking around like her Minccino under Persian's stare. Seeing as it would take longer than he likes, Eisuke grabs her wrist and drags her with him, ignoring her protests. Once inside his office, he sees that she's eyeing the open tank holding his Kingdra. "Um..." she whispers. "What," he snaps. "... may I let my Magikarp in there," she whispers in a timid voice. That's what must be in her Poké Ball... He glances at Kingdra who is glaring at her. He knows that his Kingdra isn't the friendliest about sharing his space. He recalls Kingdra back to his Poké Ball. He watches as confusion dances across her face. Then it dawns on him. Whenever he has business meetings with others who have water-type Pokémon, he orders for individual tanks to be brought in. He'll have to ask a janitor later to clean the tank after. "What? You need someplace to put your Magikarp," he frowns. The confusion gets replaced with a big heartfelt smile that Eisuke wonders how much energy she has to even do all this. ~*~ ___ walks out of Ichinomiya Corp with her new clothes, bag, and running shoes on. Her egg now rests comfortably inside the bike basket in a new and well insulated case for comfort. Her new bag contains a fresh off the line PokéNav, her sticker-decorated Pokédex, various Poké Balls and some new change of clothes. Minccino rests on her head with a relieved smile. ___ knows that Minccino was so nervous while inside that she refuses to even leave her when Mr. Ichinomiya asks her to change clothes. That day was something for sure. ~Two Days Ago~ "A-Are you serious," ___ stutters while taking Magikarp's ball off her lanyard. "Is that fish going in? If not I'm going to put Kingdra back," Mr. Ichinomiya sighs. ___ sends Magikarp in and the Fish Pokémon swims with happy movements all while ignoring the smell of Kingdra. ___ smiles as she feeds Magikarp his favorite kibble. At the sound of the door opening she hears "The wild Minccino?!" in a surprised voice. ___ and Minccino both turn to see- "Professor Foster," she whines in confusion. The Pokémon professor teeters in with his Marowak and Audino supporting him. "Luke-senpai... you know this girl," she hears Mr. Ichinomiya whisper. "I got her started and allowed the Minccino on her shoulder as her starter... Where'd you get that Magikarp?" ___ should've figure it out that the professor is super perceptive about any Pokémon, wild or captured. "Rescued him from a Magikarp seller," ___ sighs while Professor Foster studies her latest Pokémon. "A what," Mr. Ichinomiya questions. ___ explains how when she was on her way to start her journey, she sees a man carrying a very poor condition Magikarp that she orders Minccino to attack the man. "And while Minccino used tickle and attract, I threw a Poké Ball at it," ___ finishes. The look on both men's faces tells her that what she said wasn't good. "Just be more careful and not to rescue every Magikarp you see," Mr. Ichinomiya sighs. "But I will report this to the police." "You are very quick to get this one to safety," Professor Foster adds while standing up. "That Magikarp suffered from severe dehydration and malnutrition. I'll give you some medication and additives to help him recover faster." "Thanks Professor- Minccino," ___ yelps. Minccino hides herself in ____'s shirt and ___ sees that Persian is looking rather disappointed that ___ nearly falls into the tank. She is happy that Luke got her upright in time. That's all except for the fact that Kingdra made an entrance and got her and her bag sopping wet all while doing everything to get her Magikarp out of the water. Enough that ___ physically hugs the Pokémon from the water with Minccino at her back. "Come on," Mr. Ichinomiya orders while dragging her again. "Let's get you some dry ones..." While he did pick out the ones that were necessary, with a female employee helping to pick out any necessary feminine ones, ___ had a hard time getting Minccino out of her clothes while Persian was around. After using her old bag with her old clothes as a thing to hit and get Persian out the room, only then was ___ able to get dressed and dry off Minccino. ~Present~ "That was really something," ___ mutters while continuing to remember what happened. "And just why did Mr. Ichinomiya had to argue with me about how many Poké Balls I needed?" The bag contains a few more Poké Balls then when she first started and the bag had also a luggage feature that made it perfect for travel though... "He didn't have to give me that wallet," ___ frowns as Minccino makes annoyed twitters. Mr. Ichinomiya also hand her a wallet filled with enough money that it was almost enough to pay for her parents house twice... A lot of money despite that Ichinomiya Corp. products can be at a low price. "I think he's spoiling me," ___ whines as she pedals to her next destination.

Author's Note: I will admit that I don't like the smell of cigarette smoke. The only alternative I could think off was taking a leaf from a HALO book I've read once. A character has a pipe that he didn't smoke but only chewed on. So I used that instead of the usual cigarette. And I have enough experience with the smell of it off of people who do smoke it that it's a smell that doesn't wash off right away. The free meal... I can't remember which blog I read it from that gave me the idea... maybe it was from @smutmylifeup... or was it @redpantychan?... I can't remember too well but then again I haven't been able to play MPD:CTY either so I used those and other  MPD:CTY blogs as my best materials for that. I want to keep alcohol to more fitting settings than the near everyday Pokémon battles that the police may get engaged with and formal party settings.

For me personally, I don't drink alcohol unless it's cooked.

[atrytxne]

Athena’s Journal, Day 1-2 Entry 1

I guess it’s time to get started with everything, isn’t it? I got my first Pokémon yesterday, but so much happened that I couldn’t really write.

Sorry, everyone.

A very nice lady has been letting me stay at her house the past few days. At first I felt really bad, but she’s always talking about how she’s always wanted a girl around the house. Yesterday, she told me she heard from Professor Kukui, and that I need to get to Iki Town. She even showed me the best way to go!

Except, on the way...I almost got attacked by a Yungoos! It was...pretty scary...

But then this Rowlet showed up out of nowhere and scared it off, and then just sat on my head. The professor and the other two starter Pokémon, Litten and Popplio, weren’t that far behind, but I think my choice was made for me by then.

So now I’ve got this sweet girl with my. Her name is Noctua.

After that, we all walked up to Iki Town together, and it wasn’t long before I met another kid named Hau. He’s...a lot younger than me, but I guess he still counts as my rival? It’s a little weird being 17 and having and 11 year-old rival...He said he was excited to get his partner, Popplio, and then challenged me to my first real trainer battle! I feel a little bad, though, because I had the type advantage.

Noctua was checking up on Popplio after the battle, though. She seems very supportive and...motherly, I guess.

Hau ran off, but it turns out the Island Kahuna wasn’t waiting for us like he said he was going to be. So, since I’m new to the island, the professor suggested I go up to the Ruins of Conflict just north of town. That’s where the island deity lives, he said. And-oh, oh yeah.

I’m...I’m not really supposed to talk about what happened after but...it should be okay, right? No one in Alola sees these...

Up on the trail, I saw this really pretty girl being dragged by her duffel bag. Not by anything holding the bag, but the bag itself. And since we were going the same way, I followed.

When we got to the bridge outside the ruins, a Pokémon popped out of the bag! or, I think it was a Pokémon I think. I’ve never seen anything like it before. Before I could get a good look at it though, it was attacked by some wild Spearow. And that’s when the girl saw me and Noctua, and asked us to save ‘Nebby’.

Honestly, it was really, really scary. The Spearow were pretty tough, and I actually had to walk out on the bridge-which actually gave way! So I was falling, holding ‘Nebby’, while Noctua was clutching my jacket like she could try to carry us.

The only reason I can write this is because we were saved by the island deity, Tapu Koko.

I don’t know...how to explain what happened. But it felt familiar. But that doesn’t make any sense, does it?

But yeah, we were saved, and then the girl, Lillie, thanked me, and handed me something Tapu Koko dropped, and we walked back to Iki Town together. Thankfully the professor was there, and the Kahuna, Hala, not long after. They seemed really happy and...impressed, I guess? I didn’t really do anything. Just the right thing...right? But they invited me to join in a festival that was happening later. To get me ready, Professor Kukui gave me some pokéballs and encouraged me to go try to catch some stuff. He gave me a ‘dex, too.

I actually caught a bunch of Pokémon, but the only ones that I think are really of note are Nubbin, my Grubbin, and Lapin, my Buneary. Along with Noctua, the three of them make a pretty good team. We got a lot of training in before the festival.

On my way over, though...I ran into some really, really weird people. For the longest time, they just kept looking at me, like they thought I couldn’t see them or something. And then they didn’t even introduce themselves; they just...said some weird stuff and walked away. Mostly about how I wasn’t ‘from here’. I mean...I’m not. I’m from Kalos, but...that didn’t sound like what they were saying.

I didn’t get much time to think on it, because the festival started. Apparently, since Tapu Koko loves Pokémon battles, one of the events is having two newbie trainers face off. That happened to be Hau and me.

I really wanted Lapin to get in some battling, but Noctua really had no trouble against his Pichu and Popplio. Maybe next time.

Afterwards, Kahuna Hala gave me a bracelet called a Z-ring, along with an Island Challenge symbol. So...I guess I’m officially a trainer now.

I found the lady I’m staying with and we went home for the night. But the whole time I felt like something was watching me...not those people, either.

--

Lille came and got me this morning; apparently the professor wanted to see me. So I followed her there. The lab is...kind of a mess. It looks nothing like Professor Sycamore’s lab back in Lumiose. But Professor Kukui was happy to see me, and even happier to mess around with my PokéDex, which...now has a Rotom in it?

I know Rotom can possess machines, but I hadn’t heard about specifically building hardware for Rotom. But that’s apparently what my ‘dex is. And Rotom can talk, too! But right now he’s kinda shy, so we haven’t said much to each other.

Hau came over, and the four of us had lunch and talked about what Hau and I are going to be doing. Professor Kukui wants me to head over to the Trainer’s School before anything else, even though I told him I’ve already had enough school...but I’ll go. Won’t be the same without my favorite teacher, though...

So I’m heading over there soon. I thought I might see what kind of Pokémon are around here. I battled a trainer who had an Inkay. Maman really, really doens’t like Inkay, but I kinda want to see what they’re like.

It’s okay as long as Maman doesn’t have to meet it, right?

[jumpchain-drop]

Interlude 3.5

“….aaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-”

CRASH!

I landed in a face-down belly flop. It hurt, but somehow I don’t think I was injured. Still took a minute to get up.

“Home sweet home...” I muttered.

My shout was soon mirrored by Terra, Manaphy, and Bitbit as they arrived near identically. At least one of them mentioned that’s how they arrived on the Isle o’ Hags ten years ago.

Everyone else was waiting for us: Bolt, Cody, Anita, and Maria. I found a moment to check the roster board and, as I hoped, Tooty’s name had been the first to grace the right side of the list. We got her out, everyone was introduced. It took three days to catch everyone up and explain the shelves filled with nothing but jars of honey.

Not much could be said about the week of downtime we had. We got Tooty oriented with basic nerd-me Earth culture, we made out a lot, everyone didn’t kill each other. There were only three major things that came up.

The first was Bolt being disappointed he and Cody and Anita missed out on so much. Anita was still aloof; even though she had listened to me in the last battle against the Zubat, the fact of the matter was I had yet to prove myself her equal, something I hadn’t recognized until now thanks to Terra’s speech being fresh in my memory. It really wasn’t quite fair, as according to the stat displays of the Pokédex, those three were literally the only ones that had not reached level 100, as they were not part of the constant battles that came with being in an exploration team.

“Can Bolt, Cody, and Anita be imported next?” I wrote into the notebook.

“Very well,” it replied. “When an import option is next available, I will prioritize them.”

I mean, I would do that myself if it would let me. As it was, I felt like a four-year-old asking a grown-up for a peppermint.

The second was we found Tooty could only understand Terra, Manaphy, and Bitbit. As to be expected, the other Pokémon could still only speak Pokémon. It left her the only one that couldn’t understand everyone else. I asked Terra and the others she could understand to try and give her a basic rundown, just in case it would be awhile before they could be imported. Terra mentioned that the last world apparently had an ability option that allowed for fast and easy teaching of anything, she couldn’t remember the details, but none of them had selected it and it didn’t seem I’d been given it.

As such I asked the notebook to also prioritize Shadow and Maria, the other two Pokémon with no human language, and it agreed.

The third was Tooty managed to point out something I had completely overlooked. See, whenever I use a door to enter the warehouse, that door appears inside on the short end of the room near the housing. It had never occurred to me to see if there was a door there during these times between worlds.

So I looked.

It looked like an elevator door.

I immediately tried to forget and failed.

Fucking flawless memory...

“….aaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-”

CRASH!

I landed in a face-down belly flop. It hurt, but somehow I don’t think I was injured. Still took a minute to get up.

“You know,” I said to the elevator, “if there’s a door to here in my warehouse between worlds, you really don’t have to do this.”

“There are many things that I really have or really don’t have to do,” replied the asshole voice. “Dropping everyone everywhere like they fell off the edge in Bastion is how I cope.”

“Your way of coping stinks.”

“Perspective is important. I would’ve thought learning the Way of the Mob would teach you that.”

“Fuck you.”

“You are very rude, you know, even to someone who smudged a good few details for you this time.”

“...What are you talking about?”

“On the companion import option for the Banjo-Kazooie jump document, it explicitly states that the points they get are for, and I quote, ‘an origin and abilities.’ Not items; they should have only gotten their freebies, which would be the banjo and the zap stick. However, to compensate for your continuing Zubat issue in the Pokémon worlds, I allowed them item purchases, giving you the giant Feathers, the Turbo Trainers, and the first Glowbo on top of the Wading Boots, backpack import, and a collection of glass bottles. You’re welcome.”

“...I appreciate it, but I’m not going to say thank you to my captor.”

“It’s really quite sad you see it like that. Hopefully, the world you choose next will open your mind a little more.”

The panels swerved to in front of me, each with different inkblots. I studied them carefully.

The top panel made… my mouth water? Weird.

The middle panel gave the impression of wind sweeping across my face.

The bottom panel made me think of the open ocean.

I considered my options carefully before choosing the bottom one. “This one.” I wasn’t scared of the ocean before all this, but two years as a land-based critter had made me far too wary. I clearly needed to readjust. I remember Tooty wanting to go sailing. Terra probably wouldn’t, though… I’d have to help with that.

“World selected. Now making choices.”

The blinking lights are starting to get old-hat by now, which is very worrisome. While I’m starting to appreciate the positives of being dragged around like this – I mean, I was regularly smooching one of my earliest waifus – it was still being dragged around. Would I never be able to fight it…?

“Your selections have been made,” the voice cut me off. “Have a good decade!”

“Here we go again..>” I muttered as I was dropped into the void.

[recentanimenews]

Who's That Pokémon? We Rate 9 of Detective Pikachu's Monster Makeovers!

At last, Detective Pikachu is out in the US! Now we can see our favorite fluffy ball of electricity test his deductive powers in the first-ever live-action Pokémon film. But, as we've seen, he's not the only video game critter in this film.

  Ryme City is full of Pokémon from all across the generations, from Snorlaxes to Snubbulls. Spotting them all in the trailers and ads alone has been an adventure—so much so that when we decided to take a closer look at the Pokémon featured in the film, we knew there was no way we were going to catch them all! So we picked nine prominent 'mons who show up in the movie and pitted them against their earlier versions.

  How close did the film iterations get? We think they're pretty good as a whole, but we're rating them one by one below. How do our insights fare against yours? Any others you think nailed it? Let us know in the comments!

     So, without further ado, let's get this Poké-party started!

  Charizard

  The final form of Gen I starter Charmander (at least until the Mega X and Y versions rolled around), Charizard has always been a force to be reckoned with. Various Pokédex entries tell us all the things that make its searing fire even hotter: its bond with its trainer, its mood, and whether or not it's been through especially difficult battles.

  It looks like Detective Pikachu's Charizard is just as much of a beast as its predecessors, with the added detail of reptilian scales and many more tiny teeth than its usually visible four. The progression seems like a natural one design-wise, and there was never any question who this brute was when he first appeared in the trailers.

  Verdict: A mighty lizard indeed.

  Psyduck

  When we were kids, Psyduck was hilarious. As adults, Psyduck is a mood. Seriously, if I were confused all the time and had a constant headache, I wouldn't want to clear a path for a bunch of ten-year-olds, either.

  Movie Psyduck has gotten a bit of attention in the trailers as Pikachu's sidekick, requiring smooth elevator music on car trips so its head doesn't explode and generally being in the way. So we've gotten to see a bit of this particular critter in action. And... yep. Psyduck definitelly looks like a duck with a migraine, from the ruffled anxiety feathers to the beady, exhausted eyes. Psy-ai-ai.

  Verdict: Get this poor kid some Excedrin, I can feel the migraine from here.

  Flareon

  Eevees and their eeveelutions have one major job in the Pokémon world: be cute. Well, and have specific skill sets that work wonders in battle, but "be cute" is the primary one. Jolteon? Cute zappy boy. Leafeon? Cute leafy boy.

  So all we need from Flareon is a cute fiery boy. Not sure about they eyes yet—maybe they'll chill out once its eeveelution is over—but the rest of the critter looks extremely fluffy and huggable. Which, again, is pretty much all we ask of an Eevee.

  Verdict: Not sure about the eyes, but would still pet.

  Jigglypuff

  Speaking of a Mood, here's this little karaoke star.

  If you've watched the Pokémon anime, you know all too well that this weird little creampuff's temper is heavily reliant on whether or not you stay awake through its performance. But considering one of its skills is singing opponents to sleep, your odds aren't good... and it looks like the movie's Jigglypuff has that same microphone/marker from the anime, so that dude napping nearby can probably expect to wake up to a scribbled-on face.

  Jigglypuff is our first reminder on this list that Pokémon are weird. Some of them are just downright unsettling. Jigglypuff may be a pink fluffy sphere, but it inflates. Like, inflates. And gets super passive-aggressive. So the Ryme City version may look a little creepier than the anime one, but we're calling that completely understandable.

  Verdict: A good round weird child.

  Mewtwo

  Whoa. This Legendary turned out looking super cool.

  Mewtwo's almost alien look brought a dose of sci-fi to the Pokémon world. Where most of its creatures can be realted to something of this world, this big guy is unmatched... well, almost. There's those Mega-Evolutions to reckon with, after all.

He loooks awesome in Detective Pikachu, sporting those familiar determined eyes and almost amphibian-looking hands. Plus, in the midst of the Pro-Fluffy/Anti-Fluffy Pokémon Discourse, the choice to make him alien smooth was a no-brainer. We can't wait to see what kind of trouble he causes.

  Verdict: He's back and as cool as ever!

  Lickitung

  Oh, yikes. Oh, big yikes.

  Usually when a CG creature looks uncanny and slightly terrifying in a film, it's not on purpose. But this interpretation of Lickitung is pretty much exactly what it's supposed to be, and that just happens to be uncanny and slightly terrifying. From its massive human-looking tongue to its beady little eyes to that bald pink turtle... thing... face.

  Congratulations, movie. You nailed it. And it's horrifying.

  Verdict: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.

Mr. Mime

  Can we all just agree on one thing going forward? Mr. Mime is, like, a guy. That's an actual small dude sitting there. Look at him. He's just a small, weird-looking dude. And to the movie's credit, it looks like they just went along with that briefing.

  His Pokédex entry has two major points about him. The first is that he's really good at mime, which we can guess from the name. The second is that, if you interrupt him in the middle of a bit, he'll slap you. Guys, this is just a small, angry mime pretending to be a Pokémon so he can beat people up. Why is no one bringing this up?

  Wait, what was I talking about? Oh, right. He looks spot on in the movie.

  Verdict: Tiny angry man.

  Ludicolo

  To behind-the-times Pokémon fans, this little dude probably looked like Psyduck in deep cover when it first showed up in the trailer. But that's Gen III's Ludicolo, a sort of duck/pineapple thing that loves to dance. Known as the "Carefree Pokémon," it's also been known to appear when laughing children are near.

  Its Grass/Water origins are evident in the way the film has chosen to interpret the brim of its hat, making it look especially leafy. The choice to render the pineapple-shaped beard as—well—a beard is pretty interesting, too. The top of the hat also goes with full pineapple leaves, driving the look home.

  Verdict: Creative and a little crazy. We hope Ludicolo is having a nice day.

  Pikachu

  We can't close out this list without addressing the movie's star, Detective Pikachu himself! Since Detective Pikachu is a specific member of his species, we went ahead and made comparison images for both hat and no-hat iterations.

  Then again, reference pictues almost aren't necessary; Pikachu has become one of the world's most recognizable anime and video game characters. The zappy rodent is a mascot for the brand, and one of Nintendo's most popular characters. There's been a bit of Pro-Fluffy/Anti-Fluffy debate online since the reveal, though—for the record, the author is definitely Pro-Fluffy, since it mimics that look a lot of pudgy real-world rodents have of wearing puffy pantaloons over their tiny legs.

  Whether or not you like the fluff, the little star is undeniably Pikachu through and through. He's got the zigzaggy tail, the emotive ears, and those teeny-tiny little paws. Even having the voice of actual Deadpool doesn't compromise the cuteness. As an added bonus, our little detective looks extra adorable when attempting to navigate a giant coffee mug.

  Verdict: We love him. But that's a given.

  How do you feel about the various Pokémon designs in the film? Any you think deserve a shout-out? Let us know in the comments! And don't forget to check out Detective Pikachu in theaters!

    -----

  Kara Dennison is a writer, editor, and interviewer with bylines at VRV, We Are Cult, Fanbyte, and many more. She is also the co-founder of Altrix Books and co-creator of the OEL light novel series Owl's Flower. Kara blogs at karadennison.com and tweets @RubyCosmos.

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!   

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[need-a-gardevoirite]

Should be self explanatory.

I missed/didn’t realize the event for Sun/Moon, and would like a Gardevoirite for both Moon and Ultra Moon. I can give good trades, legendaries, shinys. Send me an ask if you’re interested (this is a side or whatever blog, so no chat on this, and I’m not giving my main) and we can hopefully work out a deal. Once I have my TWO (2) then this page will be deleted.

If you are interested and send an ask, it can be anonymous or with an account. If anonymous include a name in the ask. It can be made up, a number sequence, anything, just something that I can put in response posts so you know who I’m talking to/I know who I’m talking to.

I can get most legendaries from OR/AS/XY and earlier, shinys are harder, some impossible, especially now. Shinys I can get that are legendaries (or close enough) are Rotom, Lucario, Spiritomb, the green and blue storm guys from Black and White, and a level 100 shiny Japanese Genesect. I can also get non shiny Genesects, level 15 and 50, as well as non shiny Keldeo and Meloetta ( I hack White with an AR to generate events). I can also get any non legendary Pokémon, Pokédex #649 or below, and can deliver it at any level, gender, and shiny or regular (also by hacking White).

I have a good number of limitations I’ll admit, but what I can do I can do well. If be willing to trade more than one Pokémon for the Gardevoirite, but the first trade MUST give me the stone, too many people have screwed me out of multiple trades because they don’t give me the agreed upon trade after I give hem 5 times the shinys they asked for. I can no longer trust anyone. I can use Pokégen to fine tune a Pokemon for you if I MUST, but it must fall under my rule of below #649, and if it’s not one of the ones I mentioned above I can’t make it shiny. It won’t port over in the transporter. If you want me to Pokégen you a trade let me know, we can work out the details. If I do this though it’s the only one I’ll trade, after all the work it takes I’m not getting 4 more for you.

I don’t care what Pokémon is holding the Gardevoirite, go next to your house in the game and catch a level 3 whatever for all I care. In some cases I might ask you to do that anyway, as I’m not totally comfortable giving out my friend code I might have you coordinate with me on the GTS.

Lastly this was hastily thrown together at after 1am on mobile. Found some random pictures, can’t really clean it up on mobile, so try to bear with it, at least for now.

All this being said I do hope to hear from somebody soon. Don’t hesitate to send asks, and don’t forget to check back for responses.

(P.s. I’m fairly certain I read about being able to get them as rewards from the post game battle tower or whatever in Ultra Moon. I’m on the second island in UM and the tower is freaking rigged, or it was in Moon at least. So please, I don’t want to hear about it. Relevant asks only.)

(Also, I’ve been after a shiny Celebi and shiny Meloetta for the collection for over a year now. I’d prefer one in OR/AS/XY generation, but if you only have if in S/M/US/UM I’ll take it. If you have one in that generation I’ll bump up what I’m willing to trade by a lot, if you give them the Gardevoirite.)

[bard-of-worlds]

Darkening Dawn Chapter 3

 Lilith walked out of the bathroom of the room in the hotel she checked into dressed in a bathrobe, her hair flowing down her back, having finished a shower before she would order a meal.  Her target was at the region’s Professors lab and after the excitement earlier she had slipped away to rest and finalizes her plans. She had released her Pokémon to feed them, taken her clothes from her one of her Item Cubes and was currently deciding on what to wear when she meets up with the prince.  

 “Nido nid rina.”  Her Nidorina said as she bumped her legs as her other Pokémon looked up from their bowls as she sat on the rooms bed.

 “Don’t worry girls I order something in a few minutes.  I’m still worried about the seals on the ‘Prince’.  I mean I wasn’t able to see much from so far away and I will be the first one to say I don’t know much on the subject.  But if they weren’t a prototype, then who or what was the experimental subject.”  Lilith wondered as her Pokémon adopted looks of concern.

 “Yeah I know where would they get a test subject like the prince but that’s only if they care if he survived.   These are the Crusaders we’re talking about but really, are they that dedicated to protecting humanity?”  Lilith said as she and team exchanged looks of concern she sighed and she shook her head.

 “Come on girls let’s stop with all the doom talk.  Let’s see what’s on the local news channel, maybe they’ll have the Baccer results, and then I’ll order something.”  Lilith said as she reached for the remote control.    she turned the room’s tv on and changed the channel…TO HER PRINCE ON THE NEWS FOR SAVING A POKEMON BY RISKING HIS LIFE?!?  Lilith just starred in shock, not moving a single inch or reacting before her Nidorina bumped the bed and she exploded.

 “TWO HOURS!  I LEFT HIM FOR JUST TWO HOURS!  How can he get into something where he risked his life how, just how?”  Lilith said as she hugged her legs to her chest as she rocked back and forth on the bed. She perked up when she felt something rub against her legs, looking up she saw her Liepard on the bed while her Nidorina looked at her from the floor with her Skorupi on her, both given her a look of worry.  Reaching she scratched her Liepard under her chin and sighed.

 “I’m good girls. Teacher said the boss was quite the dare devil when they were teens, so I guess the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.  Once I find a way to make contact with the prince, get a feel on where he’s going and what to use as a cover for being here in the region.  I’d bet you gals would like it if we hit a few of the contests around here, hu?”  She smiled when she saw her Pokémon smile and start to cheer, back home their teacher had sent them into the Contests to teach her humility, she had learned that and taken to the arts of training Pokémon to use their moves differently like a bat to the night.  Her Nidorina had even evolved during one contest battle, scoring them the trophy! Hearing a beep from her phone she smiled as she connected it to her laptop, she had the prince’s history of his journey now, all the competitions he had ever been in, now all she had to do was find a style to hit Kalos with and she was golden.  Looking through the data she smiled, a way to have heard of him and maybe a reason to have come here, just what she needed.

 “Well girls get ready to the Lovely Lilith is back on the circuit!  So lets’ eat girls, tomorrow it’s time to meet and greet!”   Lilith proclaimed as her Pokémon cheered around her, a smile on her face as her shadow on the wall behind her grew wings from her shoulders.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 Serena stared at the TV in shock, she couldn’t believe her eyes.  Ash, that was Ash!  He’s in Kalos, in Lumo City!  He’s in the region, I can’t believe it he……… he almost died! How the heck did that happen, what was he doing to have fallen off the Tower like that?! Serena thought as she stared at the screen, her mind blue screening as

   OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 A teenage girl in a black shirt with a v neck that exposed the top of her large cleavage under a black well-traveled coat and black pants leaned against the wall of the Pokémon Center. Her face was bare except for a bit of black lip gloss and a pair of glasses. She smiled as she saw Bonnie, Clemont and Ash talk with Nurse Joy.  She walked toward them as Ash started to speak and reached for his backpack

.

“Can you register my Quest Scanner here too Nurse Joy?”  Ash trailed off as Nurse Joy adopted a look of confusion which worried Ash.

 “Quest Scanner?” Bonnie asked Clemont as she turned to her brother.  Ash turned to them and let his thoughts fly.  Come on!  I know some countries don’t follow the Treaty but not to give out Quests too?! How do they expect Trainers to earn money, part time jobs that take weeks to earn anything?!

 “I believe they call them Task Trackers here in Kalos.  The Alola Reg call them Job Watchers.”  A voice said behind them, turning Ash saw a girl his age dressed in black with black lips and sunglasses.

 “Sorry to cut in but I figured I should help out before everyone spends too much time trying to figure out the terms a fellow Old Worlder used.  You can call me Lilly and…say aren’t you Ash Ketchum?”  The girl said as she gave a start as he turned to face her.

 “I’m Ash Ketchum, do we know each other.” Ash asked as he tried to remember if he ever met the girl before him.

 “No we’ve never met but a teacher I had showed me your performance at the Wallace Cup, and a friend of mine stumbled across what you did in Crown City while looking into a company the League took over.”  Lilly said dryly as Ash rubbed the back of his head.

 “A teacher?”  Bonnie asked as she gazed at the girl.

 “Ya, back home I’m a Pokémon Coordinator of some small fame and student of someone pretty famous locally and after the end of the season last year she said it might be good if I tried something differently after coming in the top 4 and then the runner-up the year after.”  Lilly said as she beamed with pride.

 “Wow!  You’re a keeper!  Please take care of my brother.” Bonnie said as she looked upon the girl.

 “Bonnie, I thought we talked about this!”  Clemont cried as a mechanical hand grabbed his sister and picked her up.

 “Sorry little girl but I never date anyone I don’t know, so what your name blondie?”  Lilly purred as she looked at Clemont who went red at Bonnie’s and her words and started to stammer.  

 “What did you do in Crown City Ash?”  Clemont said as he turned to look at Ash, trying and succeeding to make Ash the center of attention.

 “Ehhh, nothing much really. Just reunited a mother and with her child, exposed a prominent Businessman as the worst Eco-Criminal in the region with a crime 20 years old that he almost got away with and got the scum to confess on live TV.  And this is Bonnie and her brother Clemont”  Ash said as Bonnie and Clemont starred at him.

 “Your Task…er Quest Scanner can be registered with Officer Jenny, her office handles all Tasks and handles payment after the person who issues one send a notification that it was completed.  And how can I help you Ms. Lilly?”  Nurse Joy interrupted.

 “Since Kalos usually only does the Showcase I was wondering if I had to register as a Coordinator here or not.”  Lilly said as she brought out a Pokédex.

 “No but the Professor has a list of where and when the Contests will be held, you’ll have to talk to him for that information and with the damage to his lab you might have to wait a bit, and a new trainer is coming for her first Pokémon today.”  Joy said as Lilly stared at Ash for a bit.  She shook her head before anyone noticed her look and smiled at the three of them.

 “So where are you guys going, from what Nurse Joy said I have to wait a while before I can get the info I need.”  Lilly said as the four of them walked out of the Pokémon center

 “Bonnie and I decided to travel with Ash for a bit; we need a change of pace for a while.”  Clemont said as he rubbed the back of his head and looked toward the Prism Tower.  And when I’m back, I’ll be stronger and more powerful.

 “So it’s straight on to Santalune City and the Gym.  Maybe we’ll run into you again.”  Ash said as he gave Lilly a smile.

 “Maybe, it’ll depend on where and when the contests are.  So see you.” Lilly said as she walked off.  Her faces showed nothing but inside her thoughts were going a mile a minute. An Aura Link!  The prince already has a soul-mate?!  Just what kind of life has he been living and what affect are those seals having on him! To block it an Aura spark from joining with its chosen Aura, something like this is just NOT done!!

 Lilith’s glass showed a spark of a humans Aura dissipating when it met the seals.  Just what hell did the seal-maker create if it could block a soul-mate bond.  She went dead still when the thoughts hit her, did it happen with others, did Ash have more than one soul-mate?  Gotta stop thinking about it, I need to find this girl, if I’m lucky then I’ll meet her at the Professor’s lab.  I’ll make up a report on what I saw and my actions and mail it to teach, she’ll get it to the boss.

  Jenny snarled to herself as she slammed the phone down into its cradle.  The international police had laughed off her concerns that the Kanto criminal group was expanding into her region.  Something about the Rockets she describe as being the bottom of the barrel, to call back if the Tooth Fairy joined them with the Easter Lopunny.   Those criminals almost cause the death of a trainer and when she brought it up it caused the person answering to laugh even harder when she described the person in question.  The bastard said something about sending her a file once he calmed down and hung up on her.  A noise at the door caused her to glare at two trainers and a little girl who jumped a bit at her expression.

 “Can I help you kids?” Jenny asked as she got her emotions back under control.  She identified the gym leader and his sister and the black haired trainer looked somewhat familiar but she couldn’t place him, a flaw she had when her emotions were agitated.

 “Nurse Joy at the Pokémon Center said I could register my Task Tracker here?”  The black haired trainer said as he handed over a Task Tracker. Connecting it to her computer she loaded it with the regions security passcode and grabbed the Trackers serial number before handing it back to him. A chime from her computer pulled her back toward it, the file the international police was going to send her, maybe she would get some answers, and she absently handed the Tracker back to the boy and waved him off.

 “Thank you Officer Jenny.” The boy said as he and the others left her office.

 “All part of the job, have a good day.”  Jenny said robotically as she opened the file.  The first few pages were about the Rocket members she had described and the pages after were about when and where they had committed criminal acts.  After a while next few page she noticed that the same trainer ID kept coming up as both victim and stopper.  Then another chime and an email entitled ‘Protector’ appeared.  

 “Didn’t my cousin in Unova mention that a trainer had earned a title from the Pokémon Rangers and the International Police?”  She muttered to herself as she opened the file, to no surprise it was a trainer bio, the kind of files the government kept of trainers that caught their eye. As she started to read accommodations for valor, for saving people and Pokémon, for defeating criminal gangs she recognized the ID as the same one in the previous file.  The final page was the photo ID and when she saw it she shot up from her chair.

 “THAT’S THE KID FROM LAST NIGHT, WAIT HE WAS JUST HERE!!”  Jenny cried out as she looked into the hallway in shock.

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  “Frankenmons attacked a courier in the Wind Road?”  The speaker was a tall man in a purple tuxedo and a black cape with an Eevee on his shoulder who lead two pale attractive women in maid uniforms down a hallway. The woman on his right had blue hair in a pageboy style, her blue eyes had black eye shadow above and her blue lips were set in a frown, in her ears were two white gems and by her side walked a Glaceon with a collar with four white gems. The maid on his left had flowing red hair that reached her waist, the only makeup she had was red lipstick and blush with two red gems in her ears, a Flareon was by her side whose front legs had clawed boots on.

 “Yes Master Alex, Lady Joy ordered all off duty morticians to assist in retrieving all parts from within the corpses post haste.  She entered the castle two hours ago according to a local agent so this is likely a briefing about them to quell the rumors.  Though a few days ago Lady Camilla sent her apprentice out on a mission and the same night the Elites were summoned for a meeting, so there is that which I am sure one of them will bring up. ” The blue haired woman spoke with a cold tone as she followed .

 “One of Morg’a’s little temptresses is dating one of the security staff called to transport the materials harvested, the bitch probably bugged the poor sap with a seal.  So she’s probably the source of most of the rummors. Hope the fool she’s using had a good time with the little tramp at least, but given what I had when one tried to use me, I really, really doubt it master. And like sister Sarah said, one of them will bring it up.”  The redhead’s voice was full of passion as she strutted down the hallway.

 Alex smiled as he thought of the meeting a month ahead of schedule, a summit of the Elites and now Frankenmon, the times were getting quite exciting, what next, did they find the Queen and Prince?  He gave a chuckled at that thought, he had probably taunted murphy, but if that happened, those harpies would die of shock.

 Turning a corner he stopped cold as he saw what was guarding the door to the meeting chamber.  Two humanoids in full plate armor holding lances with two Haxorus with black body armor stood sentinel.

 “Master, those are Highguard.”  Sarah said as she reached Alex and stared with him at the door guards.  Alex slowly gained a grin on his face that as he eyes twinkled.

 “My dear cold Sarah, my passionate Ellie, this is going to be explosive.” Alex proclaimed as he walked down the hallway as his two maids looked at each other and sighed.

 “Tell me again why do we love that man-child sister?” Ellie said as he followed after him.

 “The sex, definitely the sex.”  Sarah answered bluntly as the two of them followed their lover down the hallway while Alex only gave a small smirk at the words his followers exchanged.

 Walking into the throne room he moved toward the left side and gazed around the room.  A few people in clocks were debating Aura casting by the window, representatives from the School of Aura, they only came when there was an important announcement, were the Frankenmons were made by someone they expelled and escaped the law.  The last Chimera breeder supposedly caused the procedures to change, but there are geniuses out there.

A few of the Families had a few more members then just their heirs with them, more girls than boys again, were they trying the catch the bosses eye with a pretty face?  He nodded his head at his allies among the Lords as they passed each other as he led his party toward windows, and saw with no surprise that saw that the Lady Morg’a was dressed to the nines in the middle of a small crowd of ladies, was she trying to draw in others with her beauty.  And she was striking today.  Her long black hair flowed down her back to her thighs; her jade dress stopped at the middle of her breasts, with a cut show the inner sides with a green gem in the shape of the Grass-Type symbol resting between her breasts.  Her dress went to the floor with a slit that revealed white stocking clad legs in green high heels.  Her lips were painted a vibrant green, while eye shadow of an aqua green shade brought out her green eyes.  Her Roselia was next to her with a grass symbol around its neck.  He noticed her eyes never left a target across from her and saw who Morg’a was watching; the newest of the Highlords, the Lady Cleo Ro Clor of the Desert Realm was talking with a few lords who, if he remembered their homes locations right, bordered her territory.  She cut a striking figure with her dark skin in a form fitting white robe dress that showed off her figure while still giving off a classy feel.  All the makeup she wore was a simple black lipstick, while her black hair was in a simple pageboy style. Her Krokorok was standing next to her, a simple Ground symbol around its neck, showing that the simple things had a class all its own.

 “So you made it to this thing youngster?”  A gruff voice said as a heavy hand landed on his other shoulder.  Turning he saw an older man with a beard in a white shirt and black pants next to an Ursaring.  

 “Sir Viktor, how are you old man?  How was that Chimera hunt you went on a few weeks back, it was an Ice Fire mix that was the pack leader?”  Alex said as he smiled at his friend and ally among the Lords.

 “Me and mine handled it, but I gotta talk to you about it afterwards.  You’ll never guess whose territory it they never even sent a scout towards.”  Vicktor said darkly as he glared toward Morg’a group.  

 “I’ve dealt with such things in my own lands my friend, after the meeting let me track down the last two members of my old team to have a talk for old times, you can join us.” Alex said with a sigh as memoires of days long gone pasted behind his eyes.

 A commotion near the front caused them to turn and saw three of the Elites walk into the room, each shadowed by one of their Pokemon.  Lady Camilla was followed by her Zoroark, the brown haired robed form of Magnus walked next to his Golurk while Mordred was dressed in a simple smock and pants was walked next to his Chesnaught.   Following after them was their lord walked with his Mightyena with Lady Joy walking after him in a black gown with a white Crobat on her shoulder.  So a briefing by Joy was part of this after all, but why were both Camilla and Magnus here? Why were the Highguard outside?  I think this might be bigger than I thought. Alex thought as he looked over the gathering.

 Morg’a smiled and gave off an air of sophistication looking at the Elites entering the room but she let her thoughts tell her true feelings, confident that the Psi-Changer she wore around her neck kept them to herself.  So that bitch Camilla is taking part in this after all.  So whatever reason she pulled that brat from the party is important. Damn that idiotic little tramp for not getting closer to the slut!  It probably was her little beast that was attacked after all.  But she’s only been gone a few days, and in Kalos of all place!

 As Dracula sat upon his thrown, all before bowed and curtsied to show respect for their liege lord. Before anyone could speak up about the nature of the gather he raised his hand for silence.

 “My loyal subjects let me cut away all the rumors you’ve heard.  Approximately two hours ago the Lady Joyce briefed me upon the 8 Frankenmon that tried to intercept a courier using the Wind Road.  Lady Joy, if you would care to take over?”  Dracula said as he gestured at Joy who curtsied as a holo projector appeared before the throne.

 “Thank you my lord. As per my orders when I was informed what had entered my morgue, all personal were recalled and all machines were removed from the bodies before all but two were incinerated.  This decision”    Joy began before Morg’a stepped forward and interrupted her.

 “Two of the bodies were kept from the final peace Lady Joy?  Forgive my impudence but aren’t all Frankenmon bodies supposed to be incinerated after the foul machines which move them are taken from their corpses by rule of law?”  Morg’a melodious voice interrupted, causing murmurs to spread among the crowd at this seemingly breach of law.  Joy gained a small frown before she continued.

 “Normally, yes that is the law.  But the bodies were reanimated by an unknown process and power source.  As the bodies were inspected, it became apparent that the machines were split in two different configurations.  From what my limited mechanical knowledge told me, one type had a receiver of some kind while the other had a transceiver.  The bodies saved were the ones most intact with detailed notes were made on where each machine was removed from the individual corpse. However both types had a few similar parts, this one we are having the most trouble identifying the components purpose.”  As Joy spoke the projector glowed, showing a diagram of a machine connected to two broken crystals with the crystals each connected to one side of a hexagon stone.

 “The gems aren’t like anything we’ve seen before.  The hexagon seems to be artificial and seems to be the main power source, one of my people theorized that the gems act like a kind of converter.   The fact that they were able to use attacks is a cause for concern, but the most distressing thing we’ve discovered is that there is no way for an external power source to connect to the stone, we have no idea how these things receive power at all.” Joy finished as murmurs started back up.

 “This is troubling, tovarish.”  Victor whispered to Alex as thoughts raced through his head.  One of the only ways Frankenmons were found was the massive electrical power drain they used to recharge.  And with the fact they were able to use Pokémon attacks…Wait, what were the attacks used elemental propertiess? Could there be a connection? Alex thought as his mind raced, signaling his group that he was doing this alone he started to walk through the crowd toward the throne. Alex exited the crowd until he was next to Morg’a and bowed to Lady Joy.

 “Lady Joy, do we know what attacks were used by the subjects.”  Alex said as he saw the scowl Morg’a sent him, curious.  Did she want to score a point with that or keep people from asking? Just what is your end goal you Grass bitch

 “As the witness was a Pokémon, a psychic copy of the incident was made.  From what Lord Magnus divined, the moves used were Flash Cannon and Arial Ace.”  Joy trailed off as she looked at the hologram.

 “So moves of two elements and two gems.  Were any gems recovered intact?”  Alex continued as Joy called up data.

 “All gems were found shattered.  A failsafe or the result of battle…” Joy trailed off as she turned and shared a look with Magnus.  Mordred stepped forward as a hologram of the Homeland appeared.

“Thank you Headmistress for your report, Lord Alex, Lady Morg’a for your points I give you my thanks. As of 1 hour ago our lord has issued orders that the patrols groups along our shore are be increased in size. The remains are to be turned over to the School of Aura as soon as the masters exit this chamber for a period of one weak for a detailed examination.  All lords are to take any action they believe is necessary in their territories its security, all suspicious events are to be investigated by local authorities.”  Mordred began as a map of the Homeland sprang from the holo-project identifying the various territories

 “Wait one minute Commander Mordred!  How was a single courier identified by those monsters and from where did the courier come from? What was its cargo?  These facts would affect any plans we make to protect our citizens.”  Morg’a interrupted with a smirk.  Joy had a look of worry on her face while Camilla had a sever frown

 “From the machine’s localization before we removed them, some of them were hooked up to the eyes of the corpse, so a possible Aura sensor is possible.  The cargo….”  Mordred began until the person behind him interrupted and spoke loudly.

 “Was an Aura scan of my son.”  Dracula declared as he stood up from his throne.

 Alex blinked, their lord couldn’t have said what he thought he’d heard, did he?

 “I Declare this for all within this chamber to know!  After years of not knowing their fate, my Queen and my son have been Found!  Even as we speak, measures are being undertaking to return them to our shores!”  Dracula proclaimed as the chamber exploded in conversations.

 Morg’a had a wide smile on her face while on the inside her thoughts were complete anarchy. Arceus Damn it!  With that old slug found she’ll be back and warming his bed within the next year!  All my plans to find and influence her replacement just went up in smoke!  I should have known that those stupid Crusaders wouldn’t kill them!

 “My lord may I be the first to offer my congratulations on such wonderful news!  If there is anything that any of us could do to help I’m sure my fellows would jump at the chance!” Morg’a said with cheer in her voice. Alex merely looked at her and let his eyes grow hard. So they did find D, and I think my people needs to spend a little time making sure that that tart doesn’t try to send anyone after little whoever go the scan or the kid

 “I can only say that in this matter the Lady Morg’a speaks for me as will my lord.  If there is anything my people and I can do to help you have but to command it.”  Alex said as he bowed to his liege lord as the other Lords and Highlords copied him.

 “Thank you but as I said measures are being done to return my beloved to me.  May our people stand forever against all who would threaten us!” Dracula declared as he got up from his throne and his Pokemon followed him out the door.  Alex looked at Camilla and fixed the right side of his collar and saw her and Magnus clench their right hands before he walked back to Victor and his maids.  He grinned to himself as he walked.  Time for an old friend and her son to come home at last, but how did they find them?  And who better to ask then her brother and her best friend?  He thought with a grin as he walked away with his two maids to ‘celebrate’.

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  Cleo sighed as she and her Krokorok walked into her inner apartment.  That meeting had been as nerve wracking as the rumors that had been swirling around the local net.  The reality was even worse, Frankenmon powered by unknown means, and able to use attacks!  That wasn’t even touch the fact that the Queen to be was alive with the Prince, that changed everything! When she returned she had given orders that all local wild Pokémon dens were to have surveillance equipment set up, if anything came to harvest fresh corpse, they would see them if they hit the dens.  Why did she ever have to be chosen as the High Lord’s successor anyway?  It was supposed to be just a simple Quest, why did her predecessor have to use it to choose replacement before he died, she was just an orphan who had to play peacekeeper at the orphanage.  She didn’t like to fight, and his will that said she had to build her household herself without any of the previous staff, thank Arceus that Marshall Asim and his crew had stayed on and the homunculi maids. But things were hard; she had her pen pal to chat with!  With a smile on her face she walked toward her computer, her Krokorok pulled out the chair to let her sit down and signed into a chat room.  She had meet her friend on a message board about the impact Pokémon and human settlements had on each other, and since then the two of them had had conversations about care and feeding, exchanged recipes and helped each other deal with problems.  She did feel a bit bad that he thought she was a middle management in a company who got promoted after her superior left, but the rest of the world wasn’t like her home, they didn’t have Lords and High Lords and to burden a doctor with her political problems just wasn’t the right thing to do.

SandyLady:  You online Doc?

RockDoc: Hey Lady, how was your meeting.

SandyLady:   The boss’s wife woke up from her coma, she’s going to return to the company but the medicine that helped wake her was almost stolen by thieves so security of all divisions were raised, and two people on my level are fighting with each other, I’ve had to issue a few orders that might get people hurt in the name of said security, what about you?

RockDoc:  I have a bit of a problem myself; the mother of one of my old friends sent a quite inquiry about a girl she’s worried about, wants to double check something and my job says I should make it official, but everything I feel screams me to keep quit, I’m a bit conflicted.

SandyLady:   So keep quiet and look into what might happen if you don’t, you might find something you don’t know you know about would happen. But why do you feel what you that way?

RockDoc:  Thanks for the advice Lady, it’s a supervisor who would receive the report just rubs me the wrong way, something about them feels wrong to me.

 Cleo went cold as she rereads the last message; some people Aura’s were able to ‘sense’ the nature of people, when they were hurt and needed help.  Most of them became public servants, doctors or police if Doc felt something wrong about his supervisor, then they might be trouble if he went official on this.  One piece of advice old man Victor had told her when she was sworn in was to trust her instincts about people and Pokémon.  Said instincts said the Lady Morg’a was a trustworthy as a coin left in the sun was cold, so she trusted the advice.

 SandyLady: Doc, one bit of advice I think I can pass on to you; always trust your instincts.  Your hindbrain might be seeing what your forebrain can’t.

 “Lady Ro Clor!  We have a situation!”  A voice called from her door.  That was Marshall Asim, but he should be out along the dunes, helping set up the observation cameras.  If he was back then there might be a rather large problem that needs the local High Lords authority.

 “I’ll be right there!” Cleo called back as she typed one last message and walked toward her door, her Krokorok falling in step behind her.   The duties of a desert High Lord never ended, but she was ready to meet them.  Opening the door she was met with Marshall Asim, a hard faced black haired man wearing a black cloak over black clothes with a Braviary wearing a Searcher’s Gem next to him.

 “What happened Marshal?” Cleo demand as he would only have his Braviary with him if he was searching for something before he came to see her.  Gesturing for her and her Pokémon to follow him he led them down the hallway. His Braviary took flight and flew ahead and out a window.

 “Everything was going like clockwork M’lady, we had finished setting up most of them when we hit the Northern Mountain, one of the caves is or was used by a herd of Trapinch as their nest, it was empty and it showed signs of a battle.  Thankfully we found the herd at an oasis, but the herd defenders were all injured. The team I sent into the cave discovered a hole in the floor that led into a chamber; it looks like an early Ritual chamber. The battle damage in the cave looks like the herd was attack from the cave mouth and then who ever made the hole was attacked by something inside.  The problem is a sand storm swept the region after this all happened, at least we think so.” Asim as he led her into a room with a map of her territory, marked with symbols for her towns, cities and Pokémon dens.

 “Send word to all towns nearby to be on alert, anything or anyone out of the ordinary is to be reported at once.  Once night falls patrols are to be run between the cities for the next week. The Trapinch are to be relocated to a territory where they can prosper, send word to the School of Aura, I want an archeological team to be sent to study those ruins as soon as possible. And put the Gates on full alert for the next 2 weeks, if people broke into that chamber I don’t want it to be easy for them to escape.” Cleo Ro Clor, Highlord of the Inner Desert commanded as she gazed upon a map of her lands.  What happened when the chamber was breeched, what did they wake up and who were they?  I always knew I would face a trial by fire, this has to be it. Cleo thought as she walked through the palace to the situation room.

  SandyLady: Sorry Doc, duty calls.  Good luck with your problem.

 Brock sighed as he read the last message SandyLady had sent him.  For a corporate manager she always had the right thing to say to help him. Maybe it was wrong to let her think he was only a doctor, but the problems of a Gym Leader, even one who was away from their gym weren’t for the faint of heart.  Just last week he had helped to take down a pack of Houndor and the alpha Houndom to relocate them to stop a swarm of Paras from raiding the city, thankfully his Marshtomp had evolved and defeated the alpha.  The Pokemon Rangers had a nice valley far enough away that was perfect for the Dark Fire types, and there was supposedly a river full of water types between the valley and the habitat of the Paras, so there was no way for them to go after them or return to their old habitat.

 Getting up from his computer he thought back to Delia’s message.  She had sent a text that she was worried about a new hire at her restaurant, and was that a surprise when he and Misty first visited Pallet Town!  To think Ash had grown up in around a commercial restaurant, and that it was famous!  But the girl was the problem or had a problem.  She had been settling in fine but all of a sudden she had started to jump at anything and seemed to have closed off from people.  Delia had contacted him because she had a Johto accident and he currently was at learning about medicine in Viridian City and was wondering if he heard anything from Johto from either the towm or his position as a Gym Leader.  He had sent back that he hadn’t heard anything, but he didn’t tell her that a few days ago he had run into Karen, a member of the Elite Four, while his party was hunting the pack in the mountains.  Sure she had said something about a monstrous creature she was tracking but Brock didn’t think a Chimera was connected to the girl, but like he told SandyLady, something about Karen was just wrong.  He couldn’t describe it but he’ll trust it for now and contact a few of the gym leaders in Johto through couriers, maybe one of them had heard something.  

 As Brock walk out of his room he never thought that maybe the monstrous creature Karen was hunting was really the girl in question, never thought that maybe others were watching people like him who would help her without question.  Brock never saw the glint of light a pair of binoculars gave off as a silent watcher cataloged his activities.

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  Lilith was able to identify the Aura from the sparks and had tracked her to and from a bus stop and was able to finally catch her and was currently tailing her toward the Professor’s lab.  When she saw the girl in question she was able to get a general read of her Aura, this girl was someone with a good heart and a bit of creativity, and watching the interactions she had when she interacted with people and Pokémon between her and the lab she seemed to be a pleasant person.  A good fashion sense, natural beauty and what looked like a great personality and a bit of creativity, the prince had a good one after him.

 Lilith let a smirk grace her lips before she walked a tiny bit faster; she had to time this just right, she reached for a button on a crossing post and hit Serena’s hand.

 “Sorry about that, you need to cross too?”  Lilith asked the honey haired girl.  

 “Yeah, I’m heading toward Professor Sycamore lab, what about you.” Serena asked as she looked at the black clothed girl.  There was something that seemed to pull Serena out of the shell she had around herself.

 “The same, he has some information that I need for my journey.  Oh, sorry I forgot to introduce myself, the names’ Lilly and you are?”  Lilly said she offered Serena a hand.

 “Serena Yvonne, nice to meet you Lilly.”  Serena said as they both walked toward the Professors lab.

 “Nice to meet you too Serena, so have you decided on a goal for your journey?” Lilly asked as the walked toward the lab’s door.

 Serena only blushed and walked faster, opening the door, pretending that she hadn’t heard anything.

“Hello? Is Professor Sycamore around?”  Serena called out as they walked into the building

 “That’s me. I’m up here.” A voice called out from atop a set of stairs opposite the doorway

 “Huh? Hello there. I’m Serena and this is Lilly.”

 “I bet you two are here to become Pokémon Trainers.”  Sycamore said as he smiled at the two girls as he walked down the stairs.

 “She is, I’m here for the information you have on when the Pokémon Contests happen.” Lilly said as she held up a Pokéball.

 “Yup. Also, Professor, I saw this Trainer on the news. The report was all about how he had saved a Garchomp.” Serena said as she went a bit red in the face.

 “Oh, you're talking about Ash.” Sycamore said as Serena smiled. Ash, I knew it!

 “I ran into him at the Pokemon Center.  He said he was heading for the Santalune Gym.” Lilly said, causing Serena to turn and look at her.

 “Santalune Gym? Hmm. Professor, may I choose a Pokémon?” Serena said turning back to the Professor.

 “Of course. And do you have any idea which Pokémon you'd like?” Sycamore asked. Lilly stood back and watch with a smile. A trainers first Pokémon was a mystical moment that only happen once for anyone, and only after a while did people understand what happened to them.

 “Yup.”

 “All right. Everybody out!”  Sycamore called to the right before a woman in a white lab coat led three forms into the room.

 “These are the Kalos Pokémon new Trainers may choose from, Fennekin, Chespin and Froakie. Which Pokémon will you choose as your partner?” Sycamore asked as he turned back to Serena with a smile.

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 Crusaders: Knights who launched attack on Homeland and kidnapped Ash and Delia

Aura Link:  The result of two or more auras connecting, the people must meet and spend time with each other first, but when entering an area of 50 miles area sparks seemingly flow between auras unless something is blocking connection

Psi-Changer: Aura Equipment: Gemstone Type Special.  A Gem that creates a false ‘mind’ that is the opposite of what the wearer is thinking, a convert defense against mind readers