The Type Specialist Extra Chapter 6 - Memories of Magearna (Part 2)

The train’s whistle blew, and Magearna all but bounced around the cabin. Her metal legs clicked against the wood floor to bring her along to inspect every possible inch. Her eyes were red glass lenses that failed to shift or hint at any possible feeling. For her mouth, it was nothing more than the smallest of openings. Nothing about her face changed—nor could it change—but her body language was all that was needed to reveal her excitement as the train began to rumble south.

Given Magearna’s status as a mythical Pokémon, I’d elected to splurge in favor of privacy—this wasn’t the shortest train ride in the world, and I had the cash to spare after helping Marty with his growing sponsorship-slash-merchandising company. This enclosed cabin was entirely for us, and Magearna distinctly appreciated that freedom of movement. From where Ninetales lay on the seats across from me, she chuffed in amusement as she watched, and Magearna eventually ran up to the window to stare outside, her unblinking eyes taking in every foot of rolling hills that passed us by.

Magearna’s excitement and wonder were relieving to see, but there her underlying lack of familiarity stood out to me. Magearna was not meant to be a new Pokémon. I knew that the gears and mechanisms that made up her body had been created a long, long time ago. To be acting like this? To be treating the entire world as if it were something she’d never seen before?

We hadn’t woken her up properly, or there was something else that had gone wrong. Regardless, Magearna deserved to remember more than just what she’d experienced since waking up.

We were heading south to fix this.

“Magearna,” I eventually spoke, and the mechanical Pokémon’s metal ears twitched when she shifted around to look at me. “How much do you actually remember?”

Her face remained expressionless, but her movements revealed everything. Even with her child-like excitement, she tended to hold herself upright, standing very prim and proper. Now, it was like the steam had left her body. Pieces of her mechanical exterior pressed down, almost deflating.

She couldn’t bring herself to answer, but she also couldn’t bring herself to lie.

Magearna didn’t remember anything, and she knew that those memories were missing.

“I know we talked about this before heading south, but I just want to say...” I rubbed my chin. “Well, I just hope this works. I know this sounds pretty dumb, but I believe memories are important.”

Ninetales barked out a laugh at my blunt statement.

“Memories are... our records of what we’ve experienced, and what we’ve experienced defines who we are,” I said, shifting my gaze to stare out at the passing terrain. “I can’t imagine what I’d do if I forgot everything. Everyone. If I couldn’t remember my team, or if I forgot everything we’ve been through... Magearna, I promise you that I’ll do everything in my power to ensure your memories come back to you.”

I looked back over to Magearna only to realize she was staring, and I awkwardly coughed into my hand, turning away when I felt the heat enter my face. As I tried to get comfortable in my seat once, the metal Pokémon walked back across the room to approach me.

“Anyway, all of that is good, but a promise is just words until you actually go through with it,” I said quickly. “We’ll reach the Crown Tundra pretty soon, but if you feel uncomfortable at any point—”

She ignored what I was saying, hopping up to sit on the cushioned seat next to where I sat.

The rest of the ride was quieter. Magearna would kick her legs at times, but she would otherwise stay seated and stare out the window. Ninetales eventually fell asleep to doze, and I had no choice but to get my thoughts in order.

This wasn’t just a random, southward trip, but it was probably one of the most important and directed trips of my life. We needed to find a Legendary Pokémon, one I wasn’t really familiar with. We needed to approach it and somehow find a way to convince it to help Magearna get her memories back.

I had no idea how we would or even could convince it, but I also knew we wouldn’t be able to force it, either. If this didn’t work, I had no idea where else we could go, as I could only think of one or maybe two Legendary Pokémon that dealt with memories, but those species usually dealt with removing them—

For some reason, thinking about that made me shiver.

“Chairman Rose brought up this Pokémon for a reason,” I mumbled under my breath. “It’s our quickest and best option. We have nowhere else to go but south.”

Eventually, Ninetales woke back up from her nap, and the overall vibe of the trip changed. For as quiet as we were for the first half of this ride, she ended up starting her own conversation, and the last bit of the trip was spent with her barking and miming out stories of her experiences, much to the wonder of Magearna.

At several points, I may or may not have had to chime in to issue corrections.

When we finally got off the train, we exited onto a small station set just north of the town of Freezington. My jacket had been designed with Sinnoh in mind, but here, south of Galar, I could still feel the cold.

Ninetales, however, was right at home among the frost, and Magearna’s metal body meant she otherwise went unbothered. She instead brought her gaze up to a point far behind us, and I followed the direction she stared to take in a mountain that stretched past the clouds.

The train’s horn howled around to mark its upcoming departure, and even as I looked up—and up, and up—I realized I could not see the peak of the mountain in the distance. However, what I could see was its steep slopes and the climb needed to reach that hidden peak. The sheer grandness of its size meant it framed every location here, but this mountain was still nowhere near as tall as the mountain that was Coronet.

This was just a location—an important one—but nothing more than a location suggested to us by Chairman Rose. He had learned about it through rumors and quiet messages, and now we were here to see if those rumors were true and could actually work well for us.

A Legendary Pokémon was not an easy Pokémon to find. Although this was meant to be our “fast” option, I expected us to be here for far longer than just a few days.

Yet, as I stared at that hidden peak, a strange feeling began to push against the back of my mind.

From nowhere, an understanding hit me.

“It knows we’re here,” I said.

When I spoke, the words were not mine. It was as if my body was being puppeted beneath me, and I was unconsciously translating someone else’s voice into my own speech.

“It felt us. It’s... waiting for us. It’s looking at us right now. It knows what we want. So it’s reaching out. And if we want a favor from it, we need to...”

I shook to break myself free, collapsing from feeling as though some invisible strings holding me up had just been cut. Before I hit the ground, however, Ninetales rushed over to catch me.

The pressure was gone, but the knowledge and message were still there.

“It answered my questions before I asked,” I realized. “It sees itself as king, and it sees us as supplicants. Whatever this Pokémon is, we don’t have a way to bribe or convince it. If we want to get Magearna’s memories back...”

Slowly, I brought myself back to my feet.

“It’s still a Pokémon. It wants a fight. It wants us to beat it.”

Magearna’s empty gaze stared at the mountain, and Ninetales exposed her teeth in a grin.

Staring up at where our destination waited, something new settled into my heart:

If this Pokémon’s influence could extend out all this way, a simple strategy wasn’t going to cut it.

“I think... we head to Freezington first,” I said to my team quietly. “We won’t beat it as we are right now. We aren’t strong enough. But, if I make some calls... If I prepare properly for this fight...”

I nodded to myself, reaffirming my decision.

“Both it and I agree,” I said. “If we want this Pokémon to recognize us, we’ll need the power of our entire team.”

_______________________________________________________________________

We climbed.

The path toward the peak saw us enter lowlands, and then those lowlands gave way to snowy slopes and then steep cliffs and caves. This was no mere simple march forward; this was a concerted effort. A challenge. Every Pokémon with me had to work together to fight for every foot we ascended. This was a group of over a dozen Pokémon, and every one of those Pokémon did their part.

(I was breaking so many laws right now that it wasn’t even funny, but saying “a Legendary told me to do it” was a surprisingly permissible excuse.)

At times, Ninetales worked with Rapidash to gather piles of snow, and her cryokinesis let her harden the surface to provide us with short walls of cover or carefully solidified footholds. When we rested, shared uses of Mystical Fire would light a flame at the center of wherever we camped, and the warmth of all of the nearby bodies let us maintain a certain level of comfort.

Harsh slopes were defeated by teamwork. Caves were delved with the expertise we had gained together. Whenever we found ourselves inside the mountain, Mawile always had a sense of which direction to take to head back outside, and Azumarill had the raw power needed to smash through any walls that blocked our way forward.

Wild Pokémon would occasionally approach, enraged at such a large group passing through their territory and desiring a chance to demonstrate their strength. Unfortunately for them, it generally took only a few bright flashes to scare them away. Barraging them with Charm was another great way to destroy a willingness to fight.

Every step was earned. Every step had to be earned. The mountain itself was testing us, but we had our shared journeys together pushing us forward at our backs. Our goal here was not so simple as merely reaching the peak, and for this mountain, there was no divine message waiting to be passed on. There was one purpose and one purpose alone for us to be here. Our ascent was to reach and defeat the sole Pokémon that could help Magearna.

Through its authority, it knew we were coming.

Slowly, we climbed, and we approached the Crown.

A ruined church sat at the very peak of the mountain. The barest bit of stone continued up into cliffs surrounding it. However, the true highest point was not this area or even the mountain top itself. Rather, a white tree larger than a skyscraper grew out of the back of the church, framed and painted by the snow that defined the environment around us.

As we stepped into this uppermost clearing, no Pokémon on my team remained in their ball. All fifteen of my core Pokémon—plus one— were out and present. Ninetales growled, Mimikyu flexed his claws, and Sylveon’s ribbons vibrated. Ahead, a sole figure awaited us in the center of this open area, and the only sound that needed to be made ended up being made.

“Tch.”

Azumarill clicked her tongue for one final time.

“Calyrex,” I said, and I watched the unmoving Pokémon that was waiting for us in the center. “It’s already prepared to fight. And it’s not alone—It has a mount.”

Its reins looked new.

There was a presence to both the Legendary Pokémon and the mount it rode on, one that spoke of a pride and regalness innate to its nature. Calyrex itself was a Pokémon that looked like a deer, but it was only a deer if a deer were bipedal with long, hanging legs and a large head that was both a bulb and a crown.

Its mount, meanwhile, seemed to be formed from both night and shadows. Fog coalesced around the rider and steed. I did not miss how the horse it rode was likely a Ghost Type. However, I was long past the point of being afraid. This was just another Pokémon in the end.

“I guess I could give a big speech. I could go on and on and speak about strategy for ages. I could go through a bunch of different plans, but would any of that be necessary?” I said to my Pokémon. “We know what we can do. We’ve fought together countless times. So at this point, the only thing left is for us to apply all of that.”

I looked over to where Magearna stood at my side. Her gaze flicked between me, my team, and where Calyrex stood in the center.

“Trust us,” I said. “I promise you that we’ll win.”

Though her mouth could not move, with her nod, I could tell she wore a smile.

There was no more waiting; the Legendary Pokémon and I locked eyes. The air itself became so thick that it felt as though it could stop any movement. All of my Pokémon tensed as they prepared to battle, lowering themselves closer to the ground.

A single snowflake drifted toward the earth.

Someone twitched.

I whispered a short phrase to start everything off.

“Let’s do this.”

The battle began.

Immediately, a blast of snow entered the air—the water that came from Azumarill’s Aqua Jet kicked up the powder under her into a cloud. It took her no time at all to arrive at her target. She was on Calyrex in less time than it took to blink.

When she punched, a shockwave of water burst out in every direction. The earth and air became stained by the moisture carried along by her fist. Yet, despite this attempt at a Liquidation, no change came to Calyrex.

Nobody moved. The Legendary Pokémon didn’t even react.

Azumarill’s attack had been stopped in a single instant. Some kind of Psychic barrier protected Calyrex from the damage.

Flicking its eyes over, the Legendary Pokémon casually inspected where Azumarill’s fist still hung in the air. Azumarill’s scowl might have been immense, but Calyrex’s disinterest was greater:

This fight was meant to be a test, and a Pokémon attacking on its own was never going to work in the first place.

“Sylveon, Togekiss, Altaria—harass!” I shouted, beginning my orders. “Dedenne, try to get it from its back! And, Florges, Gardevoir? You two are on support! Everyone else, strike when able, but leave room for others!”

Azumarill was thrown back by a sudden telekinetic blast, but she disappeared from the air only to be replaced by Florges, and another Ally Switch saw Florges be replaced by Sylveon. Sylveon didn’t hesitate to let loose a scream that Altaria joined in on as well—although Altaria was not Mega-Evolved with the Pixilate ability, his Hyper Voice still resonated with Sylveon’s Pixilate-enhanced one. The vibrations of the moves combined to become a greater blow, and they left a visibly pink ring that shook the ground around where Calyrex stood.

Togekiss swooped in after that, flying by with blades of wind raining down onto the earth. They scraped against their target and left grooves in the snow-covered soil, but they otherwise left no marks on Calyrex’s defensive screens.

Any other Pokémon here would have buckled under this combined assault, but Calyrex was not a random opponent. It hadn’t moved—it hadn’t even blinked. It merely stood there, protected and unbothered due to its ongoing Psychic shield. It hadn’t even needed to expend any effort yet. It was still in the process of just watching.

But, behind it, a shadow crept out. Dedenne tried to take advantage of Calyrex’s disinterest by emerging from that darkness, having been carried along by Mimikyu underneath. The overweight bundle of a rodent leaped up to release everything he had in an enormous Discharge, but just like all the previous attacks, his electricity failed to do anything to the Legendary Pokémon.

However, Calyrex’s gaze did shift to watch Dedenne fall back to the earth beneath him.

“Gardevoir!” I yelled.

With a Teleport, Gardevoir just barely managed to get there in time, conjuring a screen to withstand the worst of Calyrex’s casual Psyshock. Even though this attack was ultimately minor, Gardevoir’s defense wasn’t perfect—some damage pierced through. However, he was able to grab Dedenne and Mimikyu before teleporting back. Florges already had a Wish prepared for him when he returned to let him recover that missing health.

“We need to smash Calyrex’s shield,” I said as Whimsicott tossed a useless sphere at our unmoving target. “Our attacks aren’t getting past it. Our best odds are if we pierce through with a powerful blow.”

I could already tell that a mass attack wouldn’t work with how Sylveon and Altaria’s wide-ranged screams failed to do anything. Once in a while, Ninetales would throw out an Icy Wind from where she hid off to the side, but even just a bare change in temperature failed to reach Calyrex through its shield.

It took me only a second to piece together a plan, and I made eye contact with two Pokémon waiting at our back lines. A single nod communicated my intentions to them, and both of them replied with a salute.

I looked to the air.

“Togekiss, Altaria!” I then shouted to a different pair. “Come back! Drop these two from above!”

Altaria swooped down to grab Mawile, and Tinkaton hooked onto Togekiss with her hammer. Ninetales temporarily took over the assault with a quickly conjured Blizzard, but Calyrex still didn’t attack.

It had no reason to do so, given how no moves were getting through.

The pair of Flying Types rocketed across this clearing, bringing themselves to their full speed as they soared through the air. They flew over Calyrex once, then twice, then thrice—and all of this was just to build momentum.

Once I judged they were moving fast enough, I went and gave the command.

“Now!” I shouted, watching Altaria and Togekiss simultaneously release their payloads. “Mawile, together! And Tinkaton, full force, hit her!”

Mawile was already itching to strike, and Tinkaton’s hammer arms twitched. When released from the sky, the momentum of the pair of Flying Types’ flight meant these two hurtled downward with a speed greater than terminal velocity, and I waited no time at all to bring up my arm for an assist.

A light flashed. Mawile glowed. We had a shared objective here: pierce through this shield, shatter it, and utterly devastate our foe. Her form shifted as her jaws split into two, and her body rippled outward with strength as she grew in height.

Her Mega Evolution was still ongoing when Tinkaton drew back her hammer.

It was only right when the light broke did Tinkaton unleash her most powerful blow.

Like a meteor, Mawile was sent blazing toward the ground through the power of Tinkaton’s Gigaton Hammer. The lingering glow of Mawile’s Mega Evolution made it so she resembled nothing more than a vertical stream of light. She was momentum in the purest form, a being solely dedicated to delivering this one moment of force.

She had only an instant to angle herself for this attack, but she did so perfectly. With a spin, her two jaws struck together, and the combination of all of this momentum, her Huge Power, and the Sheer Force of this dual Iron Head meant even Calyrex had no way of withstanding this blow.

It might have been a Legendary Pokémon, but Mawile had Mega Evolved. The gap between them had minimized, and Mawile had the support of her entire team at her back.

Calyrex’s shield did not crack.

It shattered.

Pieces of reality itself broke apart and splintered away as Calyrex’s defense vanished.

Momentarily dropping its proud regalness, this Legendary Pokémon’s eyes widened. This was the first moment of any sort of reaction, and its reaction was one of pure surprise as Mawile’s jaws continued downward to slam right through the head of Calyrex’s mount.

It should have fainted here, but Calyrex’s steed was no mundane horse. It took the damage, but it stayed up, its head temporarily turning into some kind of hazy gas to let Mawile’s strike pass right through.

Still, the pain left it stumbling.

“GO!” I roared.

At my side, Magearna stared, visibly emotionless but physically awed. Just about every one of my Pokémon proceeded to release a move to take advantage of the absence of Calyrex’s shield. We could have celebrated, but there was no sense in allowing that distraction. All that mattered right now was getting the hits in while we could before this Legendary Pokémon got over its surprise.

Once more, Dedenne jumped out of a shadow, blasting out electricity after chewing on some helpful berries stored in his cheeks. Mimikyu became a darkened monster behind him, claws reaching out for a shadow-imbued slash. Above, Altaria exhaled a Dragon Pulse, and Sylveon had quite literally never stopped screaming. Even Ribombee was joining in on this massive group attack, wings beating for a Bug Buzz that was carried alongside by streams of both Water and Ice.

Everything hit, and Calyrex’s mount cried out in pain. I heard a grunt from Calyrex itself, and I thought we had done it.

It was at this point that the Legendary Pokémon pulsed to prove that thought wrong. All of the attacks actively damaging it were pushed back at once.

This might not have been a trainer’s Pokémon, but it was a Legendary Pokémon, and it had lived for an immeasurable amount of time. It had centuries of experience to apply here. Even with this massive amount of damage, there was no way it would be beaten as simply as that.

In an instant, Dedenne was caught off guard when Calyrex suddenly appeared right next to him. On its mount’s back, it snapped out an arm, and a use of Psychic turned telekinetic force into a blade that sent the rodent flying far back.

Florges tried to teleport in to save him, but Calyrex appeared next to her before she could. Halfway through focusing for an Ally Switch, she was stopped when a Shadow Ball slammed into her from above and sent her crashing right into the snow-covered ground.

Mawile sustained a burning Hex that crept over her form. Sylveon and Togekiss were together in the air when an Energy Ball knocked them out of the sky. Azumarill tried to stop this assault, and she almost did—briefly. A hand snapped out to grab her throat, subjecting her to a Mega Drain, but she ate away at that energy with her Sap Sipper ability.

Unfortunately for her, she was still vulnerable to the Psychic that undid all that effort and crumpled the space around her.

From where I stood, I couldn’t even see Calyrex’s movements between these blows. Its steed didn’t even run; it simply appeared wherever it needed to be. Its movements were the shadows themselves, and it was like these two only existed where they needed to exist. All attacks launched their way were avoided or stopped. In return, my group of fighting Pokémon were decimated.

At one point, all Calyrex had to do was snap its head to the side, and Ninetales froze where she had been building a move. Rather than continue to do so and suffer a punishment, she dropped her attack of her own accord and slunk back into an area of falling snow, choosing to hide instead of risking one of this Legendary Pokémon’s moves.

Calyrex and its ghostly steed truly fought As One. In battle, they perfectly covered one another’s weaknesses. The Psychic Type likely lacked great movement abilities, but its predictions let it perfectly strategize. Meanwhile, its horse was honestly just a really neat horse, but Calyrex wielded it with surprising effectiveness.

Together, the two Pokémon had taken control of this battle the very second they had deigned to fight, but even with their overwhelming assault, we weren’t out of this fight just yet. Almost everyone was taking damage, but that was only almost everyone.

I continued to stand in the back, watching and waiting. After all, even with all of this, I still had other Pokémon yet to move in.

“Rapidash,” I said quietly. The unicorn Pokémon had been keeping far off to the side, watching and analysing the battle from a far distance. “Order it when ready.”

His eyes glimmered. In this case, I didn’t need to give a further command. Rapidash waited until right when Calyrex shifted positions to avoid a shout from the exhausted Sylveon, and Rapidash let out a huff to give a signal.

There, a single beam, a simple Power Gem, shot out from what could have been a boulder half-hidden in the snow. Carbink’s single strike was weak and would have amounted to nothing, but it was still an unexpected attack. 

And its purpose was not to cause damage.

This move was entirely for Whimsicott’s benefit instead.

Not considering Carbink’s Power Gem to be a major threat, Calyrex simply put up a weak barrier to block this blow, and that was when Whimsicott struck. Calyrex had momentarily shifted its focus to defense between its attacks thanks to Carbink’s attempt. Thus, when Whimsicott cheered, his technique worked; a proud smile crossed the Legendary Pokémon’s face.

Calyrex was not a Dark Type. Even a Pokémon as skilled as it could be tricked into uselessness after a single use of Encore.

“There we go. It’s open!” I shouted as Calyrex proudly kept his head raised and weak barriers forming. “Ninetales, set up a Snowscape! And Florges, Misty Terrain! Make sure the environment is ready. And I’m... going to take a risk.”

My team’s attacks continued, but they were lighter now. They were only present to ensure Calyrex continued with its singular defense, encouraged on by Encore. A snowstorm built above everyone’s heads, and a pink mist began to drift off the ground beneath their feet.

At my side, Magearna shook. Due to her nature, she could feel everything going on here, both the pain of the battling Pokémon as well as their shared, burning desire to win.

“Gardevoir,” I said, already preparing myself for a certain drain. “You and Rapidash. Together, now. We’ll be relying on you two.”

Heavy thumps echoed out as Mawile jumped toward Calyrex alongside Azumarill for a beating. That pair worked together to keep Calyrex focused on maintaining its screens, and they were helped along by Tinkaton, who jumped at irregular intervals to swing down with her hammer from above their heads.

They provided ample distraction to give Gardevoir the chance to appear at Rapidash’s side. Carbink nodded to them in support from where they waited off to the side. Our objective right now was simple: we needed a better way to attack if we were to win. Feeling an exhaustion suddenly spike in my chest, I grit my teeth to fight through it as Gardevoir also changed form.

Calyrex might have an “impossible” foe, but those kinds of opponents were only impossible if you lacked the right strategy. We were already bending the rules for this battle, so why not bend them a bit further? 

What better way to fight a Legendary Pokémon than with two Mega Evolutions at once?

The snow and mist that now cloaked the battlefield hid the pair’s initial movements. Gardevoir glowed a brilliant white, but that glow could have come from any special move. The change in his form was hidden, and he hopped up onto Rapidash’s back.

For this, Calyrex would not be the only one on a mount for this fight.

“Psychic,” I said to order both of them.

Determination and exhaustion burned in equal parts within my chest.

When it came to the pair of Gardevoir and Rapidash, these two were the perfect combination. Gardevoir had trained himself with a focus on power, and Rapidash had trained himself with a focus on skill. With his Mega Evolution, Gardevoir was an endless pool of piercing, Psychic Type potential. He needed only to supply that strength for Rapidash to wield it like a jackhammer capable of serving as a surgeon’s scalpel.

And, due to the Encore, Calyrex could only sustain the barest defense.

Rapidash moved across this empty space, a trot becoming a canter, and a canter becoming a gallop. His horn glowed as Gardevoir brought up both of his arms. Next to Calyrex, a screen flickered into existence as if in test, but Rapidash and Gardevoir were able to rip that away, fold it up, and tear it into uselessness.

“Good,” I said, seeing the proof that this would work. “Now, don't wait. Strike.”

Calyrex took a spike of mental energy straight to its chest. Damage to both it and its horse saw the pair of them stumble straight back.

And then, the blows rained down, once again going one by one, but this time, they mostly came from the mounted pair. The two Psychic Types' purpose was to be overwhelming, and everyone else was here to sneak in the occasional, extra hit..

A Psychic struck. A screen barely deflected it. But a punch from Azumarill hit Calyrex in the back.

A Psychic struck. A screen barely deflected it. But Mawile flicked her jaws for a Stone Edge that stabbed into the steed's side.

More and more moves rained onto the pair, and after enough time passed, it seemed as though Calyrex was about to use a different technique.

That was when Whimsicott struck.

He just laughed, encouraging Calyrex to keep up its “impressive” defense, and the Encore was maintained, ensuring the Legendary duo would not suddenly act with a second wind.

(Technically, Taunt could have been used here as well, but I did not want to risk the chaos these two’s Struggle could cause.)

Move after move struck Calyrex, and all it could do was defend. Eventually, the overwhelming assault let Mawile's jaws clamp down on it. Mimikyu's claw held onto it. Dedenne wrapped himself around the base of one of the steed's hooves, and everyone collapsed down to pin this Legendary Pokémon.

Rapidash and Gardevoir's eyes glowed with a telekinetic force. Ninetales finally made her re-appearance here, creeping out of the ice to position herself at the back.

“Watch, Magearna,” I said. “We're reaching the end. Calyrex is just wounded enough for us to  pull off this one, final attack.”

Though Calyrex might have unleashed quite the assault in the middle of this battle, its offense had been stopped in its tracks through Whimsicott’s efforts, and one of my Pokémon had stayed hidden, avoiding it:

Currently, Ninetales was at perfect health.

Slowly, the storm that she had created moved to swirl around her. The falling snow and ice slowed, joining together. Her influence made it so that even just exhaling saw crystals form and fall to the earth.

This was far past freezing.

This was Sheer Cold.

“Do it,” I said, and Ninetales's hair stood up on all ends. Ice like lightning crackled out, and my team stayed still around Calyrex until Gardevoir and Rapidash worked together to pull everyone away all at once.

There was no time for Calyrex to create a new defense; icy blue tendrils consumed the Legendary Pokémon, and frost zapped across its form. My team rushed away to escape this powerful move, but the injured Calyrex and its steed took the full force of Ninetales’s attack.

It was horrific. It was beautiful. It was everything Ninetales had ever done to train.

In the end, the blue was temporarily overwhelming, but when the snow and ice finally returned to previous levels, the sight was incredible:

Calyrex sat perfectly motionless on its mount, rearing back.

Covered in ice, the Legendary Pokémon did not move, and the entire area fell into perfect silence as we waited to see if this had truly worked. There was no telling if the battle was over or if Calyrex was just biding its time. There was no hint of movement to its form, but that could have meant there was just no movement yet.

The seconds ticked by.

“Is it over?” I asked.

Mawile rolled her shoulders and let the light fade away, letting herself no longer be Mega Evolved. The reduced drain brought me more time to keep standing, and we continued to wait.

The Legendary Pokémon still did not move.

The Misty Terrain eventually faded. Ninetales’s snow stopped. Gardevoir’s Mega Evolution faded as well, and he hopped off of Rapidash’s back, looking exhausted to have willingly let someone else wield his power like that.

“I think...” I eventually said. “I think we did it.”

That was when something finally broke. 

It started as a thin line, but cracks formed in the ice. Dark lines spiderwebbed around the crystalline form of the Legendary Pokémon. For all Ninetales's Sheer Cold was powerful, we'd missed something here:

For all that she had technically been stronger than Calyrex in that moment, Calyrex was a Legendary Pokémon. Ultimately, it had always been holding back.

“Get away!” I roared.

It was as if all light was sucked into this one move. The stars in the sky shone brightly through the daytime sun, and a potent weight behind them was grabbed and thrown downwards.

It was a barrage of spiraling wisps, living shadows, and darkened stars that wrapped around one another and hurtled toward my team. The hooves of Calyrex’s mount hit the ground, and it was as if the entire mountain shook.

We had thought the Legendary Pokémon beaten, but this Astral Barrage proved that not to be the case.

Sylveon was consumed, blasted back by a loose shadow. Altaria tried to rush over to protect Dedenne with his wings, but the two of them were struck just the same. Florges tried her best to withstand the assault, but this was Calyrex’s ultimate move.

It was as if it had saved this attack just to prove a point.

Star after star impacted the earth, and my team was consumed one by one at the peak of this mountaintop. The attack was not stopping, and I could see every falling point getting closer and closer to where I stood.

There was a solemnness in Calyrex’s eyes, and the world itself seemed to slow.

This was it.

But just like so many other times before, a Pokémon moved into action, but it wasn’t Ninetales this time around.

Magearna’s expression was blank, and she took a step forward to move in front of me. A clicking noise rang out from her body, and she lifted her arms to point them at the incoming barrage.

For this whole fight, she had been watching, both awed and horrified at the level of fighting taking place. Now, however, everyone she knew and had traveled with up this mountain was being faced by such an overwhelming attack.

So it was up to her to stop it.

With her arms raised, their metal exterior expanded, and tubes opened up within them as a glow came from her chest. Calyrex’s Astral Barrage was hitting the earth only feet away at this point, but that was when Magearna’s glow hit its peak, and a beam blasted out of her hands.

I’d seen a similar move once before, but back then, it had been my team that’d egged it on. It had been as if the moon itself had unleashed its full power to sear through my team due to Xerneas’s Fairy Type influence. However, back then, there had been no true intention to fight, only an intention to test. Here and now, this beam was a refusal.

Magearna had witnessed the full extent to which my Pokémon were willing to fight, and she refused to let Calyrex end the battle here so unfairly.

Her attack was an attack meant to be an end.

A permanent one, if needed.

The move pierced right through the Astral Barrage. Everything was stained pink. The raw power contained in this blast represented the full force of Magearna’s soul. And, I recognized it. I knew this attack’s name.

“Fleur Cannon,” I whispered.

Calyrex’s assault became nothing more than fading motes of shadows, and then the Legendary Pokémon itself was consumed as well. The world turned into bright nothingness as the laser claimed this mountaintop—

Then, everything flashed white.

The battle suddenly ended, just like that.

_______________________________________________________________________

My head hurt. My body hurt. Everything about me ached as if I’d just run a marathon.

I’d only felt this way twice before:

Once when I woke up in a certain alley.

Then once again when I woke up in a dream at the peak of reality itself.

Now? This feeling had a different quality to it; it was only a memory. Or, it was only a remembered haze. I was not lying down, nor was I actually feeling anything. This was all happening across an instant, and the pressure was both a reminder and a direction to which to equate this situation.

 A voice spoke up.

“You’re going to be amazing, little one.”

I was somewhere else. An old man sat hunched over a desk. His eyes were focused, and his hands hard at work.

His fingers moved with an expert’s dexterity, and his tools were wielded with a skill I had never seen. His actions were inexplicable, yet he was able to engrave and assemble an artificial sphere all the same. Pieces, parts, and blueprints littered the desk in front of him, and enormous metal spheres covered the walls of his study.

I was with him in that memory of a room for only a second, but I could tell that this was an effort that took him the span of years. 

This man was the epitome of an inventor.

He was a creator.

He was the person responsible for the entirety of Magearna’s existence.

“Welcome to our world,” came his voice. “It’s so wonderful to meet you, friend.”

Later, he held the hand of a metal Pokémon, and he guided her into the entrance of a grand castle.

I watched the scenes change—Magearna played with a little girl, and that little girl grew. As a princess became queen, Magearna changed just as much. From initially just a playmate, she started to cook, clean, and assist with work.

However, she always found time to entertain.

Through flashes, I could tell that the old man was still around, and Magearna had an entire family around her. She lived in this ancient castle until—

Things shifted.

The world changed.

Flame consumed it, and screams echoed through the halls. Someone grabbed Magearna to drag her away as her entire world was sealed behind her.

She never visited that place again.

A lack of proper maintenance soon saw her fall into a slumber, and the years passed her by. Her eyes dim, she waited, unconscious, until she was woken up once more.

There, a new inventor beheld her in wonder.

More scenes proceeded to flash by, and the world around Magearna continued to change. The people she was with would vanish, being replaced by others. At first, I thought she was being taken, passed around like a curiosity, but I quickly realized that was not the case. Every face was someone new she could meet.

When awoken, she would greet them with an energy to her, and she would work with them and not for them. Even with all of the loss she had experienced, whenever she woke up, she would somehow make a new friend.

Though not everyone she partnered with was an inventor, her mechanical body was often the source of tinkering. Quite frequently, someone would work on her—painting her, modifying her, and altogether ensuring she’d be improved. Though it might have started that way, Magearna was not just the product of one inventor, but the product of years and years of development. She stood as an accumulation of knowledge and skill that had been built over what had to be centuries.

And there were times she wasn’t the only Magearna there, either. I couldn’t tell if she shared an origin or if she had copies. Whether the other Magearna were also created by that first old man or were created by inventors inspired by her, I could not say.

“So, all these people...” I said, watching Magearna live her life alongside so many countless faces. “These were your friends. Families. Partners. Do you miss them?”

At my side, a presence nodded. Magearna was here with me in her memories.

Time continued to pass, and Magearna went on to meet more and more people. Some were content to just exist alongside her, and others used her as inspiration.

Almost every time, however, her partners would grow old despite her best efforts, and she’d always find herself eventually sitting next to their beds.

When their eyes closed, her eyes would close as well. Friends and family would visit, but the constant march of time meant she was almost always eventually put away.

It was a cycle—her cycle. Periods of activity followed by periods of silence.

But it was nothing Magearna resented.

For every person she lost, she gained more. Though the people she met would never leave the past, they still existed within the memories in her head.

“I’m glad you’re seeing this,” I said quietly.

Magearna wiped her face.

I hadn’t realized a machine could cry.

This wasn’t the first time she had lost her memories upon waking up, but this was the first time she had gotten everything back, all at once.

These scenes were Calyrex’s doing. With its sight, it was projecting history into our minds. It was not directly returning Magearna’s memories, but it was letting her re-experience them. And, with that experience came long-lost familiarity.

Familiarity bore recognition bore memory.

Magearna was remembering everything.

Scenes shifted and passed, but in the background of all of these experiences, small things changed. Architecture and amenities became more and more modern, and then we were someone else for one final time.

For this memory, we were in an antique shop. An old one, yet one that was the newest place Magearna had emerged. After her last partner had passed, she had somehow been placed in a store, on sale as if nothing more than a mechanical doll.

I expected to see Lusamine or some member of the Aether Foundation enter the store and find her, but when Magearna’s next partner stepped into the shop, I felt my breath hitch in my throat. 

I’d never seen this man before, but he was familiar, almost resembling a heavier Gladion.

That detail meant only one thing:

“That’s Mohn,” I whispered. “Lillie’s missing father.”

The man who had fallen into an Ultra Wormhole and disappeared ever since stepped into this store. He looked around with an idle curiosity until his gaze settled on where the deactivated Magearna rested on a rocking chair.

Upon seeing her, a soft smile crossed his face as he carefully picked her up. With ease, he purchased her from the vendor, and then he brought her deactivated form to his lab.

Mohn had a single objective on his mind as he tinkered with her: he wanted to make a friend for his daughter. He applied a fresh coat of paint, greased Magearna’s gears, and did everything he could to make sure she was in tip-top shape just so he could activate her—

But he never could.

One day, Mohn stepped outside, and then he failed to return, just like that.

His lab went unexplored for years and years and years until a smarmy little face poked its way in. With a smirk, Faba strode straight inside to pluck Magearna away and present his newest “discovery” to Lusamine.

While Lusamine did demonstrate some interest in fixing Magearna, her focus ultimately shifted as more “interesting” information came to light. That meant we finally reached the very end of Magearna’s experiences: a door to a closet opened up, a pair of Ace Trainers exchanged a look, and a shout was called out to gather the attention of a Champion looking through a neighboring room.

“...Wow,” I mumbled.

Magearna wiped her eyes.

The scene faded away around us, and we were back on that mountain. Calyrex and its mount had completely vanished. Nearby, my backpack lay open and bare, currently bereft of healing supplies due to the way my team had been treating themselves to the best they could within reason.

“Are you doing okay?” I asked, looking down to my side at the metal Pokémon.

Magearna had been staring out into the distance, but upon hearing that question, she turned her head up toward me.

Though she could not smile, the way she nodded made it feel as though she did.

“This is why I was so motivated to help you. Because I knew you were forgetting more than just some basic details about the rest of your life,” I said softly. “Memories are more than just a way to store information. They’re treasured reminders of your family and friends. No matter how much time passes, they’ll always be there. Eventually, they become all that you have left, but that just makes it all the more important to never forget them.”

I glanced around at my team. Everyone was slowly getting back in shape. They’d been struggling with the potion bottles—a bit too much had been dumped out onto Florges—but Ribombee’s healing Pollen Puff had ensured everyone had the energy to stand, and, weirdly, Dedenne had been the one to ensure enough medicine was used properly to be spread around.

Looking at all of them, I felt a warmth build in my chest, and I could picture everything we’d been through together—every battle we’d faced, and every challenge we’d overcome.

Never had I thought I’d get to experience a world as amazing as this.

I would never give it up for anything else.

As I watched my team, ever so slowly, Magearna brought up her hand to grab my own.

“So!” I said, and my entire team jerked up, going onto full alert until they realized it was me who had just spoken up. “We did it. We won.”

Even if Calyrex had broken free of the ice, we had managed to freeze it in the first place. And, it hadn’t escaped immediately. We had all the time in the world to continue our attacks. We could have knocked it out if we kept going.

But we didn’t.

Therefore, the battle had ended before its final attack.

We had won.

“So... That means we just beat another Legendary Pokémon. If we ignore Ash, that has to be a record. Pretty neat, right?” 

Rapidash blinked, looking around. Everyone let the words settle in.

Out of all of the Pokémon here, it was Carbink who let out the first cheer.

Only now did they realize they had reason to celebrate.

I laughed, and most of my team did as well.

Though my backpack had already been raided, there were still a few berries left, and I made sure everyone got their share. For a while, we rested at the peak of that mountain, talking and chatting and bragging about every little bit we did to win that battle.

Magearna listened in, and she tried to live up to her role as a maid, but that was hard to do when my Pokémon kept crowding her to ask her questions, and whenever she tried to go off and clean, a different Pokémon would show up to grab what she was moving toward, smirking, and then running away to force her to relax.

She ended up telling her own stories, as well. Magearna had been in her own fair share of fights. I hid my amusement when I saw Ninetales’s reaction to a lot of what Magearna was saying—the mythical Pokémon’s stories almost put her stories from the train ride to shame.

Almost.

At a certain point, Dedenne climbed onto Magearna and scrambled over her body, inspecting the mechanical bits but likely just looking for hidden compartments that could contain food. Magearna mostly just giggled at the feeling, and that went on until Dedenne accidentally hit a half-hidden button.

Magearna beeped.

Most of my Pokémon blinked at the surprise functionality, but Magearna looked just as surprised as them. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, part of her chest opened up, and a short beam of light extended out, pointing southwards regardless of where she looked.

Once again, she beeped. It seemed to be happening at a regular occurrence.

“What is that?”

Whimsicott drifted down to wave his hand through the light, but nothing happened other than a brief interruption in the beam. Magearna herself looked extremely confused—she wasn’t familiar with this. Whatever this was, this had to be something that was new.

“...Wait. Hold on,” I started, standing up from where I’d been sharing a berry with Florges. “The last person to tinker with you was Mohn, right?”

Magearna nodded. She’d seen the memory, too.

“So then, if he was trying to fix you up for his daughter, he might have installed one or two new things. And if he was maybe installing one or two safety precautions...”

My eyes widened. Ninetales put the pieces together. She started to bark out orders before I could, and everyone rushed to begin cleaning up.

“That’s a signal. It’s pointing because it’s a pointer! That means... Magearna!” I realized. “This might be the key to finding Lillie’s missing dad!”

Magearna didn’t quite understand the excitement—she hadn’t exactly met Lillie before—but chatter started up all around my team. We were rushing, cleaning, and picking up everything we could. After pouring so much energy into his attacks, Gardevoir wasn’t in a state to teleport us back, but Rapidash?

He stood up, and I hopped onto his back.

“So, wanna come with us, Magearna? Our adventure isn’t over just yet. We still have so many more things to see and experience in this world, and now, because of you, we already know our next steps.”

From where I sat on Rapidash’s back, I held out my hand, and Magearna looked at it.

Her red eyes bore into me, and she replied with a firm nod.

The very second she accepted my hand, I didn’t wait to haul her metal body up onto Rapidash’s back.

“Follow the pointing light!” I shouted.

Somehow, Mohn was close.

I returned the rest of my team, and Rapidash took off running.

Though this stage of our journey was ending, it was bringing us right into the next one. Like so many times before, one adventure was inevitably leading to another.

And I loved every bit of it.

=======================================================================
Author Note:

Magearna holding the key to Mohn’s location is canon to the anime, though I did slightly change the details. And, yes, Mohn is in the Crown Tundra, for some reason. If you want to learn more about his fate, you can read about it here.