Incarnated Whisp

Chapter 12

Metang’s claws twitched. His arms moved imperceptibly. His red eyes never left the forms of the Pokémon before him, but he wasn’t involved in this battle.

An electric, gliding rodent—and Emolga—flew circles around a Gothitelle standing stock-still. The Psychic type almost seemed as though it was merely a model showing off its tiered dress, but that was just because it was locked into intense focus, trying to lock down its highly mobile opponent.

Though nothing was visibly happening in this battle, it was an intense show of agility and skill. This battle was exactly the kind of fight that Metang would have jumped in on within the Giant Chasm, but fighting a certain Iron Valiant had all but beaten patience into him.

However, I could tell Metang wasn’t truly impressed. Not really. Not with this. These two Pokémon might have been battling at a level that was above his own, but they didn’t hold a candle to that Metagross.

And that Metagross certainly didn’t hold a candle to what Metang had experienced against Kyurem.

We needed to have that battle. Kyurem set an expectation. We know the heights we need to reach, and now Metang has a proper goal to chase after.

The Battle Club’s main battlefield had been built to take over an old plaza set between buildings. Trainers battled in the middle, and casual observers as well as trainers waiting for their turn could watch from the stands built at the battlefield’s sides. 

“You ever fight a Gym Leader before?” Dianne asked from where she was sitting next to me. The Battle Club limited just how many Pokémon a trainer could have out at once—otherwise, this place would be packed with countless teams—but right now, Liepard was pretending to be “her” Pokémon for that limit. He was lying down with his head in her lap, eyes closed and relaxed.

“I’ve battled a few. Not to earn any badges, but just for some casual battles,” I answered, turning back toward the field. “Some of them, I wasn’t interested in facing, but they challenged me. Honestly, I’ll never forget facing a team of Ghost types while my opponent rapped at their back.”

It was the strangest form of psychoanalysis I’d ever seen.

Dianne was watching me, but I was more focused on the battle taking place. The pair of trainers below us were skilled—more skilled than most trainers I’d battled so far—but they weren’t active trainers. They were a pair of old men who had retired long ago, having come to the Battle Club to have a friendly and casual match during their downtime.

They weren’t anyone I could challenge as part of the World Coronation Series, but I could at least appreciate what they were showing off in the match. No moves were being exchanged, but this fight was pushing the Emolga’s agility to its limits, and while the Gothitelle was unable to secure a telekinetic grasp, it never once dropped its focus.

“So... did you win?” Dianne asked.

“Only in about half,” I replied idly. “A lot of those battles were more about teaching me a lesson. The second Gym Leader I faced had us fight in a double battle, and she focused down Farigiraf to have her team battle Valiant two-on-one. Even though Valiant was stronger than all of her Pokémon individually, we still lost.”

“Let me guess,” Dianne said, “you were so focused on training Valiant that you weren’t spending enough time with Farigiraf.”

That lesson had been beaten into my head so harshly that I didn’t even wince.

“Yeah. I changed how I was treating my team after that. Farigiraf got a lot more of the attention she deserved. And that battle—would you believe me that it was against the Gym Leader considered to be the weakest in all of Paldea?”

Dianne laughed, but I didn’t. I smiled at the memory even though it had been a tough lesson to learn. Ever since that experience, I’d always made sure all of my Pokémon received time for focused practice. While directing my efforts on a single team member might have resulted in Valiant getting even stronger than they were initially, it wasn’t fair to Farigiraf, and even then, strong, single Pokémon could be overwhelmed with the right strategy.

Unless, of course, that single Pokémon was a Pokémon like Kyurem.

“And that’s the level of strength my team needs to reach,” I whispered.

“The Gym Leader’s?” Dianne asked.

“Sure,” I said, leaning back in my seat and sending a glance to Metang. I knew we needed to head out sooner rather than later, but it wasn’t even lunch yet, and I could tell Metang would despise me if we didn’t get into at least one battle.

“Anyway, I think that battle is why I like Bug-type moves a bit more than other trainers,” I said. “Someone else might have ignored Fury Cutter, but Valiant and I both know the power that can be found in that move.”

Below us, Metang’s twitches started to grow—he was picturing himself using his attacks more and more in his head. I was still here because I knew Metang needed to watch these battles. As much as I appreciated Liepard being able to stop any crazy strategies from going on, there needed to be thought behind having a Pokémon reach its maximum level of strength.

Metang’s default strategy wasn’t something that worked. He had developed a bad habit of constantly throwing himself forward with wild abandon, and he needed to work that out of his system.

But his impatience was growing, both here right now and in general. At times, I could tell he was only just tolerating me—he wanted to get stronger, and he only listened to me because we were his best current path toward that.

However, that just means both of our goals perfectly align. I’ll make him as strong as he wants if he helps me win that one fight.

“Gym Leaders sure can be helpful, huh?” Dianne said, and I realized I had totally lost track of our current conversation. “But hearing all of that does make me wonder why Marlon accepted your fight.”

“Gym Leaders are still trainers. They want to battle and get stronger, too.”

“But at Great Rank?” Dianne said.

I didn’t have an answer to that. Gym Leaders generally stood as challenges for a trainer to overcome, purposefully raising teams with the sole purpose of testing others at every level, but they still tended to have strong, personal teams.

In a tournament like the World Coronation Series, it was practically unheard of for a Gym Leader’s core team to only see them be at the Great Rank.

“Anyway, you need to head out soon,” Dianne said. “It’s almost lunch.”

“Yeah. We need to get far enough down Route 13 to let us locate a decent campsite.”

Dianne nodded along, and looking over, I realized she had on what was basically an enormous smile.

“I get that, but... I might have signed up for a go on the battlefield while you were distracted with Don George,” she said, her eyes flicking over to lock with mine. “I’ve never been good with goodbyes, so before you, how about we properly part ways as trainers?”

She might not have been a part of the Coronation Series, but there was no way I could avoid that kind of challenge.

_______________________________________________________________________

Just like with the previous matches, people were watching from the stands when Dianne and I took the field. They were almost all trainers waiting for their turn, but really, they were here to watch a few battles as a way to pass the time.

When it came to battling in public areas, some trainers were always paranoid about revealing too much of their strategy. According to them, giving someone the chance to figure out a counter could be a tournament-losing move. Honestly, I considered those people crazy. If one counter-strategy meant your team would lose, then you never had a good strategy in the first place. It was better to give it your all, no matter what.

And, for my team, people could make all of the counters they wanted; we were always going to break through and win regardless.

“Metang,” I said, looking over to the floating Pokémon that had moved with me to the field. His entire body was twitching as if he wanted to jump into a fight right now, but he also knew that doing something like that would just see Valiant release themself to unleash a far-too-powerful strike against him.

“You want to battle, right?” I asked, and Metang's eyes bore down on me. “We're going to have one, but I need you to listen to me. Dianne is tough. She’s not just any trainer—she’s a trainer that earned seven badges, and she only didn’t earn her eighth because she ran out of time in her season.”

There was an archaic way of estimating a trainer’s strength that had fallen out of use in recent years. Trainers used to be rated by “stars,” with each star representing the approximate strength needed to earn that many Gym Badges. However, with so many people taking on the Gym Challenge nowadays, that system had fallen out of use. The number of Gym Badges earned could just be stated instead. After all, theoretical power was not equivalent to actual power.

But that system was still decent for estimation, and in Dianne’s case, she would have been rated at just under eight stars.

My team, however? Our level of strength was a bit more unclear due to the variability of my Pokémon’s power, but even just being able to last through one attack from Kyurem meant we were higher than that.

Still, Dianne was a trainer, and even if she was no longer an “active” trainer, she still carried the instincts of one. She stood inside a marked box that designated the space for a trainer.

With a wide grin on her face, she cupped a hand around her mouth to better let her voice carry.

“If you haven’t forgotten, I took today off!” she called out to me from across the field. “That means my Pokémon can fight as hard as they want! Any injuries we take, we’ll just sleep it off, so don’t even think about holding back!”

“Don’t worry,” I said. “We never do.”

I nodded to Metang, and he practically shot onto the field. I had to shout to tell him to stop on my half since he looked as though he was about to rush Dianne herself. When it came to these battles, the field was divided into two. Pokémon could only start on the half closest to their participating trainer, and trainers could only release Pokémon onto that half when sending out a new team member via Pokéball.

“Alright! The rules!” Dianne called out. Even with Metang looking so aggressive, she didn’t even blink, and she planted her hands on her hips. “I have four Pokémon, but one’s still growing, so we’ll just use three for this match! Single battle, no switching. And that works out pretty well—whoever gets the most knock-outs wins!”

“Oh?” I said, gaining a purposeful smirk. “So you’re telling me that this match ends when I knock out two of your Pokémon in a row?”

“C’mon, Nick!” Dianne said after sticking her tongue out. “We both know how this is going to go—we each get one knock-out before sealing it all in a dramatic, third battle finish!”

“Sure, sure.” I waved a hand. “Keep in mind that does mean you’d have to get at least one knock-out, first.”

Dianne grinned at me, holding back her laughter. It was basically tradition for every Pokémon battle to involve an exchange of taunts at the front. You couldn’t go into a battle expecting to lose, after all. Taunts were a way to make sure both trainers were motivated.

Also, coming up with clever taunts was fun.

Dianne drew a Pokéball from her belt, and she kissed it before flinging it into the air. There, an insectoid Pokémon came out. However, this Pokémon was no insect; it might have almost resembled a large dragonfly, but Vibrava was a true dragon—just one in its mid-stage form.

“Before we begin,” Dianne started. “How about a bet?”

“You want to pay me cash?” I asked.

“Nah, this is more out of concern for you. I know you’re poor and can’t afford much of a payment if you lose, so... How about the loser buys the winner lunch?”

I nodded.

“I can do that.”

The Battle Club owned this central plaza, and it didn’t just exist to serve as a mere public battlefield. This place employed a technician-slash-referee, and he had a small electric table off to the side. I had already been forced to chide Rotom to not approach it—he always wanted to possess new technology.

But with that technician there, Dianne sent him a thumbs up, and on a large screen attached to the wall above his head, images of our faces appeared. Additionally, beneath those, pictures of our current Pokémon had been set up to face each other. The screen would grey out those images as Pokémon fainted, serving as an easy way to track who wins.

“Almost like being part of an official tournament,” I mumbled. “I can see why Battle Clubs are so popular.”

The technician hit a button, and a trio of beeps played for a countdown.

When a horn blared to denote the start of the battle, I was so impressed by the setup that I almost didn’t realize that we had begun.

“Vibrava, Dig strats! Avoid everything, and strike with Earth Power!”

Metang rushed forward immediately; he was not one to hold back and wait. Though I had told him to listen to me, I hadn’t told him he couldn’t act on his own.

My other Pokémon tended to make quick choices in battle because we had fought together enough to know how we preferred to fight. In the case of Metang, he didn’t have that experience, but he’d also only ever seen really tough trainers fight like that. He likely assumed that was just how battles worked.

As a result, I didn’t get the chance to give him any proper commands before he had already thrown himself forward. An arm glowed a silvery grey for a Metal Claw, but Vibrava shoved its head into the ground opposite him, and it dug into the smooth dirt floor of this pseudo-official battlefield.

“Metang!” I called out quickly. “Get ready to defend yourself! Earth Power is an explosion!”

Arm still glowing, Metang looked around in search of Vibrava, only partially listening to what I said. However, the antlion-dragonfly was already deep underground.

He had no way to predict his opponent's actions, so he was forced to cross his arms in some rough form of defense. Seeing that, I couldn't help but wince. For all of our effort to catch him up, he was still fighting how he had fought in the crater:

He had only ever practiced his offense.

Due to that, he wasn’t ready for the ground to begin to glow a bright orange beneath him, and he reacted far too late when I shouted in warning.

The dirt exploded. Earth Power erupted with burning rubble. Metang might have been able to float in the air, but he carried no immunity to this earth-based move.

“I’m telling you, Nick,” Dianne called out. “We’re going to go one-to-one and then settle this in the third round.”

“What,” I countered, “you’re expecting to lose your next matchup, next?”

“Not really, but it’s a funnier taunt this way,”

She laughed, and I didn’t bother to hold back my snort.

I knew Metang had been capable of reaching a great speed in the crater, but that was due to how he relied on the location’s magnetic fields. He was much slower out here, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t picked up on a way to fight.

When the Vibrava appeared again, emerging a distance away from the ground, Metang immediately tried to rush it, but he failed. It just dug back down underground once again.

Vibrava’s amused chittering was pretty obvious. Likely, it was enjoying this battle as a form of punishment for all the times Metang’s practice had disturbed its nest.

“Alright,” I said, coming up with a plan as Dianne shouted for another Earth Power. “You aren’t going to catch it, but you do need to defend yourself. So, new strategy, Metang: wait for an Earth Power, and then smash an Iron Head right into it! Turn your offense into your defense!”

Other than pure damage, this was my favorite way for my Pokémon to fight. People always thought defensive moves had to be limited to something like Protect or Iron Defense, but why couldn’t attacks themselves be used to counteract and even deflect?

Valiant had used this idea with their Fury Cutter defense against Jack’s Reuniclus. Rotom had lowered the strength of Kyurem’s move by blasting out his Overheat.

Here, as the earth turned orange, Metang rotated to face straight down. That same, silvery sheen that would coat his arms now coated his stocky body.

Right as the ground began to bulge, he rushed straight into the attack.

The Earth Power did hit. However, it hit Metang while he charged. The Iron Head enhanced his defense and allowed him to tear right through. A Ground-type move was super effective against a Steel type like him, but he was able to minimize the damage he actually took by using this one attack.

Metang was already learning.

“Yes! Just like that! Now, get ready for Vibrava to come back up!” I shouted.

However, Dianne just sighed.

“Nick...” she said morosely.

I blinked, taking another look at Metang.

Despite how good his Iron Head had been, the sheer power of his move and the way the Earth Power had exploded the ground meant Metang had somehow managed to lodge himself in the floor.

“Vibrava, just... use Earthquake,” Dianne said. 

No matter what I shouted or what he did, Metang was unable to get free.

Vibrava pulled itself out of its hole, stabilized itself on the ground, and then it jumped up with loudly humming wings just to slam back down. The impact sent a shockwave right to where Metang was stuck in the earth.

Due to being surrounded by the dirt, Vibrava’s Earthquake hit with increased effectiveness as if Metang was stuck in a Dig underground.

“Told ya I’d get a knock-out,” Dianne said as Metang went completely still.

“...He just needs more practice,” I mumbled.

Metang was the weakest member of my team, after all.

Still, it wasn’t like he wasn’t strong. One solid hit would have caught Vibrava off-guard, and I knew Metang’s ferocity would have ensured that a follow-up was enough to take Dianne’s Pokémon out.

But not every match-up was fair. Vibrava’s agility far surpassed Metang’s. Metang would eventually be able to both take and deal physical hits, but getting attacked from range like that was definitely where he currently struggled the most.

I’ll need to keep that in mind.

The screen above the field tinted Metang’s image grey, and a buzzer rang out to signal that a Pokémon had fainted in the match.

That was one point in Dianne’s favor. Now, I needed two to win.

“Quick question,” she said. “You using Valiant?”

“Not planning on it.”

“So you’re going easy on me?”

I blinked at the sudden question.

“What? No. Why would I? I just wanted my other Pokémon to battle, and besides, I think both of us are waiting for a certain match-up at the end.”

I didn’t send my next Pokémon forward right away. Instead, with Metang fainted, I recalled him just to release him right next to me, where I crouched and leaned back to reach into a side pocket on my backpack.

There, I had easy access to a Potion, which I sprayed on Metang’s dents. The medicine would act quickly to give him the energy needed to return to consciousness. I would need to use something like the dust from a Revive if I wanted to get him back in battle right away, but right now, I just wanted him to be conscious enough to watch the upcoming exchanges. His natural recovery would be enough to get him back into a proper state.

“I know you’ve watched Valiant fight a lot, but I want you to pay close attention to how my next two Pokémon fight," I said, staring Metang straight in the eye. “Watch how we battle together. Think about their choices. This is something we’ve developed over the course of an entire year, and we are strong when we fight together. Just because Valiant might be stronger doesn’t mean everyone else deserves to be disregarded.”

Metang didn’t have the energy to hover, but he could sit on the ground and open his eyes. It was hard to tell exactly how he was feeling sometimes with how his stare often tended to be a red glow. Right now, with how motionless he was, I couldn’t tell exactly how he was feeling, but I could at least tell I had his entire focus.

As I stood back up to face Dianne, my watch crackled, and something slipped into my backpack just to slip back out, possessing a much larger form.

“Flareon!”

“Rotom!”

This was an interesting matchup, especially with Rotom’s choice of form. He had left the additional pieces of his fan behind in my pack, and he now hovered over the field in his electric-flying form.

“Alright, Flareon! Let’s wake up and do this!”

Dianne’s red-furred Flareon just yawned and arched its back. For all the time I had stayed with her, this was the Pokémon I’d seen the least. Not because she tried to hide it or because it hid from me.

No, Flareon was just lazy.

It preferred to spend its time sleeping inside its Pokéball more often than not.

“Air Slash!” I shouted, wanting to take advantage of Flareon’s drowsiness before Dianne could call for anything smart.

Rotom forced the blades of his fan to accelerate to an incredible rate, and with an audible buzz, they churned the air to launch forward a visible blade of wind.

“Detect!” Dianne ordered, throwing an arm to the side. “Into Flame Charge! Run and build up speed.”

Despite how it lazily smacked its lips, Flareon’s eyes suddenly flashed. It jumped to roll, perfectly moving out of the way thanks to the foresight provided by Detect, and flames sparked up around its body as it returned to wakefulness, using Flame Charge to begin increasing its speed.

“Keep it up,” I said to Rotom.

Flareon circled him, and for some reason, I started to get flashbacks to one of my recent battles.

Much like how Liepard would fight, Dianne’s Flareon circled around to dodge. Rotom didn’t move, staying in place to unleash his blades of wind, and Flareon ran faster and faster and faster, a growing fire consuming it thanks to its ever-growing Flame Charge.

“I can see where Liepard got this strategy,” I said.

Dianne grinned.

“You should know he helped me train Flareon, and Flareon’s that much stronger for it!”

Rotom turned ever so slightly to face me. Specifically, still aiming at his opponent, his face shifted around on the surface of his fan to send me a look.

I nodded.

“Go ahead and prepare,” I said quietly.

Flareon continued to build more and more speed as Rotom unleashed Air Slash after Air Slash. However, his attacks started to slow as electricity crackled around him. Sparks would appear, but those sparks would just get sucked in.

The pauses between his moves meant Flareon had plenty of time to accelerate. Eventually, it was almost moving faster than Valiant on an Electric Terrain. Flame Charge had all but maximized its speed at this point, and Dianne planned to translate all of that momentum into pure offense.

With an incredible grin, she pointed right at Rotom.

“Flare Blitz!”

The fire that had already consumed Flareon now erupted into a blistering inferno.

This attack threatened to take Rotom out in one move; there was no way he’d last through an attack that powerful. 

However, Dianne’s strategy had been flawed since the beginning; her strategy was one we had seen Liepard use countless times before.

“Wait,” Dianne said, seeing the sparks crackle around Rotom once more. “Oh, shoot.”

The very second Flareon got within range, he exploded with electricity, releasing every ounce of voltage he had built with Charge in between his Air Slash attacks. He basically squeezed himself dry for this one move—his Discharge came out with such force that the electricity threatened to put out Flareon’s flames.

In fact, it did.

As Rotom slipped under the falling Pokémon to avoid being touched by its rapidly fading move, I looked over to Dianne and then sent a glance to Metang.

“Dianne, I’m going to say something. Please don’t take it as an insult.”

“...Sure, but you didn’t need to preface it like that?”

“Dianne is retired,” I said. “We aren’t. We train as much as we can, but she works to patrol routes. She still gets into battles sometimes, but I imagine a lot of her free time is spent in rest—right?”

“Basically, yeah,” she replied, taking my words at face value. “We might do a few exercises every so often, but really all of our training is just when we get into the occasional fight.”

“Rotom took out Flareon in a single hit because we’ve trained. We’ve put all of his focus into his special attack, and that’s why he was able to win in one move.”

Flareon was returned; the Pokémon was unconscious. Rotom, meanwhile, was only lightly singed due to proximity more than anything else.

Within his fan, he zipped over to come back to me with a proud smile. However, that smile turned into a smirk as he looked over to Metang.

It was cocky, and he was bragging.

Metang looked incensed.

But as the blue, metal Pokémon entered the air in an attempt to make himself look big, Rotom disappeared. He turned to electricity, snapping back into my watch, and I had to lunge to catch his fan before it hit the floor.

“Really?” I asked.

Snickering came from my wrist. I ignored it. The battle was briefly put on hold as I shoved the fan back in my pack.

“One Pokémon left, Nick,” Dianne said. “You ready for this?”

“When you first challenged me to a battle, I kind of expected this match-up.”

We didn’t need to say anything else; we were both in agreement.

This would be a match between traded Pokémon.

Fargiraf versus Liepard.

Liepard fought differently than every other Pokémon on my team, and I wanted Metang to see that. Meanwhile, a similar fact was almost true for Dianne—Farigiraf had once trained under me.

The two Pokémon appeared on the field, released from their Pokéballs. We were supposed to wait for the technician to give a signal, but neither Dianne nor I waited to start shouting commands.

“Trick Room!”

“Taunt.”

“Signal Beam.”

“Night Slash!”

“Use Reflect!”

“That's a bluff—charge right through!”

Farigiraf wasn't a fast Pokémon. Trick Room was a field effect that would invert a Pokémon's speed. In other words, setting it up would make Farigiraf speedy, and Liepard would find himself drastically slowing down.

But Trick Room was not an attack; it was vulnerable to the effects of Taunt, and Liepard’s species meant he had this little ability called Prankster. He could use status moves in almost an instant, and before Farigiraf could pull off anything at all, a sharp, taunting growl goaded the giraffe into not bothering with anything but attacks.

So, instead, both sets of Farigiraf's eyes glowed, and a dual Signal Beam shot out, combining and spiraling and shaking the air. The move hummed like a raging swarm of insects, and its Bug-type damage threatened to be twice as effective against Liepard's Dark-type.

But just like Flareon, Liepard ran to avoid it, and a line was carved into the earth behind him. Farigiraf dragged her move after him, with Liepard practically turning into a blur.

Soon, the Signal Beam stopped due to the shout for “Reflect,” and Liepard changed directions. However, Farigiraf's eyes never stopped glowing, and as Liepard got close, it almost seemed like Dianne’s bluff was about to work.

When the second use of Signal Beam tore out of Farigiraf, I almost thought my Pokémon had been consumed by the blast. Instead, with incredible grace, Liepard slid under the beam to reach the space beneath Farigiraf's legs.

There, he had room to attack.

He used Night Slash.

Against a Psychic-type, the darkened swipe dealt super effective damage, and he had slashed into such a vulnerable part of Farigiraf’s body that he landed a critical hit.

“Stomp!” Dianne shouted.

“Get back. Encore,” I said.

Liepard got clipped, but Farigiraf was left swaying. And now, due to that hasty shout for Stomp, Farigiraf would be unable to use anything but that melee strike.

Easily, Liepard could stay away and outpace.

So Liepard had free rein to finish this match, listening to my call for “Assist.” He conjured a paw-shaped glow in front of his head, drawing in light from where my team rested.

Assist “borrowed” a random move from the user’s allies, and in this case, Liepard began to crackle with electricity.

Dianne returned Farigiraf before the move could be unleashed.

“...That was fast. I don’t think I’ve ever had a battle quite like that.”

“Well, you’ve never had a Pokémon quite like Liepard, have you?”

She laughed, and smugly, Liepard lifted a paw just to give it a casual lick.

It was only then that I realized Dianne’s true plan—by winning this battle, I would be staying in Lacunosa Town for a bit longer.

Before I left, she had to buy me lunch.

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

I think it’s really funny that in this fiction, “retirement” means working a full-time job.

This is the chapter in which I want to start including the full team summary! However, I’ve been focused on getting out the Royal Road release and writing this chapter (this post is already delayed as is), so the attachment won’t be up until tomorrow or alongside Friday’s update.

Pokémon mentioned in this chapter:
Emolga
Farigiraf
Flareon
Gothitelle
Kyurem
Vibrava

Nick’s Team:
Iron Valiant
Liepard
Metang
Rotom

Next Chapter
Previous Chapter

The Tech Specialist is out on Royal Road!

Link here.

The first two chapters have been posted, and the release schedule will follow a similar schedule to the initial one here. Daily weekday chapters for the next two weeks, with only next Thursday off due to Thanksgiving.

Additionally, I’ve been going back to edit some earlier chapters, primarily trying to make them flow better while also giving Nick a more consistent goal. Chapters 1 and 2 have undergone some heavy edits, and I’ll be looking at some later chapters (primarily Chapter 3 and 8) to touch them up and better portray the character I want to portray.

Chapter 12 tomorrow!

Chapter 11.5, Interlude - A Step Into The Past

Almost a year ago.

I was poor.

I was still getting used to being a Pokémon trainer, but I was getting money that helped. Every week, a notice came of a payment from my sponsor that gave just enough to get by. Combining that with the earnings from odd jobs and the occasional battle win, I was able to profit just enough to save up a decent sum.

And that decent sum had all but disappeared into a single, big purchase.

“But look! It was worth it! This watch can do anything!” I said, excitedly holding up my hand. “It can make a call, connect to the internet, download apps... It's like a phone you can wear on your wrist!”

Despite my exaggerated motions, Valiant failed to look impressed. The robotic Pokémon just shifted their gaze and returned to keeping an eye out as we walked through Paldea’s Levincia.

This town was one of the more modern-looking places I'd seen so far, built right on the waterfront. Despite its high-rises and all of its glowing lights, I still couldn't say this place had the highest tech I'd seen yet.

“I know, I know,” I said as Valiant looked away to return to being on guard. “I know it’s still just a watch, but it's a neat watch. It’s pretty close to the smartwatches from where I’m from, but that’s kind of why it’s special, isn’t it? It’s like buying a piece of home.”

Valiant’s gaze softened, but they didn’t drop their alertness. I didn’t know what it was about me, but it was like my Pokémon always needed to be on guard.

Whatever their motivation was, we continued to walk—this watch hadn’t been cheap. While it didn’t perfectly match the smartwatches from my old world, the difference came in it being faster and how it possessed an advertised interconnectivity that put most other devices to shame.

Of course, this watch meant I was out of money. I may or may not have lacked the funds to even just buy dinner tonight.

“Anyway, we need to take on a job,” I told my Pokémon. “That’s why I grabbed that notice in the Pokémon Center.”

When it came to earning cash as a trainer, most people took on odd jobs for money. Wild Pokémon often caused problems, and those problems usually required trained Pokémon to solve them. Pokémon Centers primarily existed for treatment and rest, but trainers served a societal purpose that was for more than just battle. Nine times out of ten, Pokémon Centers also had job boards set up for trainers to take on requests in exchange for payment.

The job I had taken was bringing us directly to the edge of the city. The paper I held in one hand provided an address, and my newly acquired watch provided the location services that let me use it as a map.

“Come on,” I said, nudging Valiant’s arm. “Even you have to be impressed with that.”

For some reason, they ignored me, but I knew they enjoyed the chaos I brought.

As we walked over the cobbled streets, the town changed somewhat. Instead of buildings pressed tight against each other, alleys opened up, and the surrounding structures grew to become more places akin to warehouses.

When we neared our destination, I didn't even need to properly approach. Rather, a person in a bright purple suit came running straight up.

“Oh, you came!” he all but shouted, tears in his eyes. “I've been waiting!”

Before I knew it, I found my hand being dragged up and down for a violent handshake. I might have tried to resist, but I was far too distracted by the longest and twistiest mustache that I'd ever seen in my life.

“It's been ages,” the well-dressed man said, putting a wild enunciation on every word. “Almost a full day at this point! Please tell me you brought a solution! We’ve had to dip into our emergency reserves to meet shipment quotas, and dipping into our emergency reserves means that this is truly an emergency!”

He let me go just to dab at his eyes with a handkerchief. He was almost inconsolable, but he was also weirdly in control. Before he next spoke, he almost tried to grab at my shirt, but Valiant just took a step to stand between us, stopping the strange man right in his tracks.

“Um, yeah,” I said quickly. “We’re here to help. I picked up the job at the Pokémon Center. But it was kind of nonspecific? What’s going on?”

The man tried to keep a serious look on his face, but his expression began to wobble—his mustache began to twitch.

Soon, a loud honking noise rang out as he blew his nose directly into his handkerchief.

He was able to right himself once again to look serious immediately after that.

“I own the local Pokéball factory here in Levincia,” he said, carefully adjusting his tie. “We produce and ship Pokéballs to markets all across the region. We’re one of the largest manufacturers on this side of the world! But the problem started when—” 

Once more, his eyes watered.

“The problem started with that awful ghost!” he ended up crying out.

“A ghost?” I hadn’t seen any ghosts yet. “You’re telling me your factory is haunted?”

For some reason, Valiant didn’t seem to appreciate my smile.

“Hm? Oh, no. Ghosts don’t exist. This is a Ghost-type Pokémon. It all started when a shipment got messed up, and we were delivered a crate with a single Rotom Phone in it! And that Rotom is a menace! It escaped to start possessing all of our machinery!”

I nodded along to his story; Rotom were capable of turning into raw electricity and taking over any electrical device. With a Pokémon like that running around, it was no wonder that the factory’s production had been stalled.

“That’s why,” the man said, and any sense of sadness was suddenly gone from his face. “I need you to fix this. I need you to capture and send back that... pest responsible for this mess, and I’ll do everything in my power to make sure that thing gets the punishment it deserves!”

When he finished speaking, I exchanged a look with Valiant. There had been a palpable heat to the factory owner’s voice.

“Sure, man,” I said. “We’ll deal with your Rotom problem. But you are going to pay us, right?”

“Of course, of course!” He clapped his hands. “All good deeds deserve their reward!”

The finely-dressed, mustachioed man brought us to the side of one of those warehouse-like buildings. A massive garage door protected its front, but we were just told to enter through a small door set in the wall next to it, instead.

“I’ll be waiting out here with news of your success!” the man called out as we walked in.

“Sure,” I replied. “Shouldn’t take too long.”

A click came from the door as it closed, signalling that we had been locked inside.

Properly stepping into this factory, Valiant was with me, and I could see this place’s enormous, open floor. Machinery with thin arms that wouldn’t have been out of place on a car assembly line had been built throughout this room, and they all sat next to motionless conveyor belts that were covered with red, white, and grey pieces of partially assembled Pokéballs.

“Okay,” I said, and even just that one word echoed despite my attempt to be quiet. “We need to find that Rotom and force it out of whatever it’s possessing, so... Farigiraf. We’ll need your help for this.”

Tossing a Pokéball up, I released the only other Pokémon with me.

Farigiraf easily appeared between the rows of mechanical conveyor belts. The giraffe had been listening from inside her Pokéball, and she already knew what she needed to do. I didn’t need to give her any order before a clack signaled her exterior mouth closing to protect her main head. From there, her still-visible pair of eyes turned to glowing spirals. Focusing her senses, she began to carefully walk forward.

“Follow her,” I whispered.

Valiant was next, and I was after them. The only light in this room came from small, rectangular windows built into the top of this building’s walls. With how quiet it was in here, it was kind of amazing just how far even the slightest of sounds echoed. We could see no signs of movement whatsoever, which was why we needed to rely on Farigiraf’s Psychic-type senses to let us locate our target.

“Thanks for your help, Farigiraf,” I said as we slowly walked along. “I can’t even see the other side of the room. We’d be lost without you.”

She held her head a little higher after that, and we stalked forward, doing whatever we could to keep an eye out for the Rotom that was apparently here. I was a bit wary of the threat it could pose; I had picked up this job because it paid well, but that generally meant it’d be tougher with more riding on its success, too.

But I had complete faith in my Pokémon. I had yet to encounter anything that could beat Valiant in a fight, and Farigiraf was extremely skilled.

Still, there was a tension in the air as we moved deeper and deeper in, and the dim light caused the machinery around us to curve into unnatural shapes that formed silhouettes in the air.

“Maybe...” I said quietly, “Maybe I should have asked that guy to turn on the lights.”

Unfortunately, that was the wrong time to speak. A flash of movement came from the corner of my eye, and Valiant drew their polearm within a single second.

The loud “CLANG!” that rang out almost made me go deaf in one ear. Next to my head, something fell to the floor, having been blocked by the flat of Valiant’s polearm blade.

“A red half of a Pokéball?” I said, looking at the object now sitting on the ground. “Do we think that was Rotom?”

Farigiraf opened her exterior mouth to get a better look around. Her yelp was the only noise that signalled the other projectiles coming our way from a distance.

“Block them!” I yelled.

Valiant moved. Machines shifted. The faint sound of electricity crackled through the air. Machinery began to whir in activation as mechanical arms grabbed whatever had been left on the conveyors to chuck the Pokéball pieces our way.

Valiant’s defense was a flurry, a rapid spinning of their polearm back and forth to deflect every incoming projectile. They could not be everywhere at once, however, and that’s why I gave another command.

“Screens, Farigiraf!”

Though briefly stunned, her eyes flashed, and it took almost no time at all for her to form a Psychic barrier behind us. The Pokéball parts coming from another angle were all blocked, allowing Valiant to only need to focus on a single direction.

But that was when the factory started to rumble.

Whatever this Rotom was doing, it was turning everything on.

“Defend us! Don’t get hit! Focus on battling, and I’ll look for wherever this is!”

As more and more machines began to activate, the handful of broken Pokéballs being thrown at us turned into a barrage. Both of my Pokémon were forced to work together as I furiously scanned through the room.

It was almost overwhelming. We only had our group of three, but this single Rotom had the entire factory at its disposal.

Arms meant for assembly bent in unnatural ways to grab and fling parts of Pokéballs. Large, square openings that almost resembled mouths poured out pieces that became nothing more than ammunition. The movement was regular, but more and more arms turned on to make this assault come in frequent waves. I could hear the sounds of pistons slamming and hydraulics hissing as these machines defied their intended usage to fling dozens upon dozens of Pokéballs our way.

Mounds began to build at our feet; this entire factory had entered operation in what felt like seconds. The barrage almost threatened to bury us, but when looking for an escape, that’s when I saw our target.

It came as only a flicker, but I saw an unnatural source of light in the catwalks that hung above the machinery. For a brief moment, it struck down like a bolt of lightning to activate a new set of arms, but it was visible, appearing almost like a thin, yellow string.

“The Rotom is up there!” I shouted. “It’s using the catwalks to get around—and it’s zipping down to activate the machinery before returning!”

I heard a surprised squeak; it had heard my shout. The assault began to become even more furious from there.

“We need to get to the catwalk,” I said, no longer yelling. “That means...”

Looking around, I was able to locate a ladder on the back wall.

“There!” I shouted to my team. “Protect me! I’m going to climb up!”

With that yell, I immediately took off into a dash. I was forced to leap over a pile of half-made Pokéballs that had built up after being deflected. Surprised by my sudden movement, Farigiraf scrambled to chase after me, and Valiant did not let down their guard, easily keeping in pace at our backs.

The setup of this factory meant there were easy paths between the lines of Pokéballs placed to be assembled. We had what was essentially a straight line between us and the ladder. That gave us an easy path to follow, but it also gave us an obvious route for the Rotom to predict.

Somehow, the Pokéball assault became even more furious, and my Pokémon started to struggle to keep up.

“Valiant!” I cried out. We were only halfway there. “It’s worth the risk, but do it! And Farigiraf, do everything you can to protect them!”

As we ran, the concrete floor gained a new hole in it that day when Valiant’s blade pierced the earth. Static from an Electric Terrain rushed out in all directions. Thanks to their Quark Drive, Valiant’s speed was boosted to new levels, and they gained the speed needed to practically flash from place to place.

Although the machines around us seemed to become energized as well, Valiant actually knew how to make proper use of this supercharge. With their speed, two balls being thrown from opposite directions could be blocked at almost the same time. Anything that threatened to slip past Farigiraf’s hastily made barriers was hit and launched far away.

Valiant’s efforts gave us the freedom to run, and the ladder was just up ahead. We would only need to climb up to the catwalk to escape this assault. But, right as we reached the ladder, all of the projectiles suddenly stopped.

A deep rumble echoed out from behind us.

Machinery whirred with a newfound volume. Whatever setting they’d been set to had all but doubled.

Slowly, my team and I turned to see whatever this new attack was.

At my side, Farigiraf let out a nervous laugh.

She hadn’t joined my team expecting to see an entire tidal wave of Pokéballs building up and threatening to crash down our way.

“...I’m going up,” I said. Our best option was to keep moving. “I can outclimb this. Do you two want to be returned?”

I could protect my team by bringing them back into their Pokéballs, but the problem was that without their defense, I’d risk the tidal wave crashing into me.

As one of my hands rested on a rung of the ladder, my other hand was already reaching for my pocket. However, there was no need to; Valiant answered my question by taking a single step away, turning to face the wave.

Farigiraf desperately didn’t want to do this, but she also knew she was needed. She sent me a single, supportive nod before closing her exterior jaw and turning to join Valiant as well.

“Thank you,” I said.

Both of my Pokémon were prepared to defend me against this wave.

Moving quickly, I began to climb, and a Farigiraf shouted beneath me. She expended all of her effort to make as many barriers as she could, forming a tube around this ladder that’d protect me from projectiles.

As she focused, Valiant spun their blade, getting ready to defend her from this massive, incoming attack.

Then, all light was blocked out as the wave came crashing down. Protected, I ignored it, continuing to climb, and all of the countless, metal semi-spheres behaved more like a liquid as the wave spread out in every direction.

My Pokémon were consumed.

The warehouse became silent. The machinery no longer whirred. As I reached the top of the ladder, I pulled myself onto the catwalk, and I could see that the entire warehouse had been consumed by a metallic sea of red, white, and grey.

From up here, I could not see any movement from my team, but I wasn’t worried. I knew their strength; they were okay.

But I had climbed up here to finish this job, and I took my step along this hanging path. From my side, I unclipped what was basically a metal stick. After all, with my team still below, I would need to fight the Rotom myself.

Thankfully, I didn’t need to call out or search or do anything to find it. This catwalk was the only open area left in the room. Every footstep caused an echo, but the space up here was otherwise empty and silent. That meant I could both see and hear the static of a tiny, electric Pokémon circling back and forth.

This Rotom had no clue what to do. It had been using the machinery to attack us, but that final wave meant it no longer had such a course. With half-made Pokéballs covering the entire factory, everything was hidden. It could no longer reach any machine to possess it, nor would those machines have been capable of any help.

It was stuck up here with me, and I just needed to make sure this Pokémon was forced out of the building. It was causing trouble for everyone involved, but most importantly, succeeding here meant I was going to be paid.

“We can do this the easy way,” I said, stalking forward with my fancy metal stick in hand, “Or we can do this the hard way.”

Of course, I couldn’t resist using a line like that, but I didn’t expect the result that it’d bring.

This Rotom didn’t flee. It didn’t even try to attack. As flighty as its species tended to be, the palm-sized lightbulb Pokémon saw me coming and froze in place, eyes wide in fear.

I stopped approaching halfway there.

Rotom were meant to be smiling. Every member of the species was known to be mischievous. The classic “Rotom smile” was present on every single possessed device and dedicated Rotom-phone.

This Rotom lacked that expression, and seeing its genuine fear made me completely freeze up. For once in my life, I wasn’t able to take the most direct path forward.

I actually had to stop and think.

“You... were sent here in a shipment,” I said to it, working out my thoughts. “You got out and started to possess the machines, disrupting the entire factory. But that’s just what that guy told me. The story... doesn’t make sense. I mean, what kind of shipment contains only a single Rotom-phone?”

Neither of us moved, and the tiny Pokémon stared. It looked terrified for its life.

“You weren’t attacking us,” I realized, lowering my arm. “You were trying to defend yourself. You found yourself in a brand new place, and that shipment... how much of a mess-up was it actually? Did your phone get delivered improperly, or did it...”

I looked the Rotom in the eye.

“Or did you personally mess with things and slip into a delivery to somewhere else?” I asked.

Nervous, practically shaking, the Rotom nodded once, confirming my thoughts.

This Pokémon wasn’t in its phone. It was floating in the air, possessing nothing at all. However, the man had said he had received a Rotom phone, which meant its phone should have been here.

All of those clues put together, I realized that the Rotom hadn’t actually been sent here as part of a mix-up.

No, this was intentional. The Rotom had been trying to escape.

“Oh,” I said.

I let myself fall, sitting on the catwalk and swinging my legs around to let my feet hang off the side. I grabbed the support bar of the railing just in case, and I looked out over the unmoving sea that filled the factory below.

“Rotom-phones are getting pretty popular,” I said. “They’re devices made specifically for members of your species to possess. They’re advertised—and proven—to be something Rotom tend to like. How often do ghosts get custom-built objects made just for them? How often do Pokémon get such an easy way to find a partner and live a comfortable life?”

Using my free arm, I rubbed the side of my head. For some reason, this felt incredibly awkward.

“But you... left that. You didn’t just leave wherever the phone was made; you left the phone itself. And if you came here like that... you didn’t want to be stuck as a phone, did you? That’s the only explanation I can think of for why you’re here. And that’s why you fought us so furiously.”

“You wanted us to be scared away,” I said. “You didn’t want to be brought back to wherever you came from.”

Briefly, the Rotom looked away, down at the sea of Pokéballs. It still wasn’t smiling, and it didn’t have a response to my words. However, from the way it was reacting, I knew what I was saying was right.

“I think I understand,” I said, gazing out. “Being inside a single phone like that... It’d kind of mean you’re stuck, right? You would always have to be in a single device. Whoever you’re partnered with might buy a more updated one, but that’d just be jumping into the same kind of device.”

“There’d be no exploration. No freedom. No form of choice,” I continued, my words soft. “You’d have a partner, but you’d only ever be in a phone. You’d be trapped, and that isn’t what you want.”

I ended up letting out a laugh.

Looking back over, I saw that the Rotom was inching closer to me. My words were making a point.

“Yeah. I get it,” I said with a sigh. “It’s scary to be in a new place, and it’s not nice to have everyone tell you what to do.”

There were expectations. Beliefs. Direct orders, in some cases. For me, I wasn’t from this world, and that meant I hadn’t come here with any support. As much as sponsorships were supposed to exist with “no strings attached,” there were still some expectations. I technically had the freedom to choose to do whatever I wanted to do, but if I ever did something my sponsor didn’t like...

My support structure could be removed, just like that.

“I know you don’t want to go back, but there is a difference between doing your own thing and causing trouble for a lot of people involved,” I said, looking back toward the Rotom. “Sure, you’re costing the factory owner a bunch of money, but who cares about him? The real problem is what happens when this place stops being able to produce more Pokéballs.”

There was an entire ocean of them that could be salvaged from beneath us, but all of those parts were a limited amount. This factory was important; without Pokéballs, Pokémon could no longer be captured. People wouldn’t be able to meet their partners, and Pokémon wouldn’t be able to find comfortable homes.

“I won’t send you back,” I told this Rotom, “but we can’t have you stay. So, how about this—I’ll help you find a new place, instead. Not this factory, but not just one phone, either. Somewhere that you can be happy, and somewhere that you won’t have to feel so trapped.”

The Rotom looked focused. It no longer looked so scared, but its mouth had been pressed into an even line. It briefly gazed out at the factory and all of the destruction it had caused, and then it looked right back at me with a certain glint appearing in its eyes.

Before I could even realize what was going on, the tiny lightbulb Pokémon regained its smile. It charged me, causing me to fall back in surprise, but nothing about this was an attack or a move—it had simply been rushing right at my arm.

Or, specifically, it had been rushing right at my wrist.

I blinked, and the Rotom was gone, but the screen of my smartwatch had changed to display that classic Rotom smile. As I looked at it, words briefly failing me, the Rotom snickered, having already found a comfortable place to stay.

“Oh,” I said. “You want to come with me?”

Its face nodded on the screen, and I let out a laugh, finding myself matching its smile.

_____________________________________________________________________

Valiant and Farigiraf were safe; Farigiraf formed a barrier around them, and then Valiant had the chance to dig a path out. They were able to get help, and I escaped by climbing out of the window.

Unfortunately, though I had technically completed the job, this Rotom had decided to join my team. As a result, I was considered its trainer, and every dollar of damage that occurred was immediately attributed to me.

The sheer amount of debt that accumulated meant I could work every day of the rest of my life and still not have enough to pay. The damages far exceeded the “acceptable” amount of damage an irresponsible trainer could cause, and I was on deck to pay it all back.

But that was when my sponsor came in. A single flex of her influence, and I didn’t need to worry about any of that. It was completely unfair to put that cost onto me—and illegal—especially since the damage happened before I “caught” Rotom, and especially since Rotom would have fought like that against anyone who came in.

I didn’t need to pay anything. Neither did my sponsor. Instead, an unhappy man very reluctantly wrote me a check.

I walked away debt-free.

Of course, I still had the additional “debt” that came from my sponsor stepping in on my behalf, but that was a problem I didn’t need to worry about until later.

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

Next chapter on Wednesday! The next post should be about the Royal Road release!

Nick’s Team:
Farigiraf
Iron Valiant
Rotom

Previous Chapter
Next Chapter

Chapter 11 + Upcoming Schedule Notes

Author Note:

Hello! Here’s the upcoming schedule for this fiction:

Tentatively, chapters will come out twice a week on Wednesdays and Fridays. If that schedule ends up being too compacted, I might shift things around.

I’m aiming to have the Royal Road release of this fiction be on Tuesday, November 18th. However, I still need to get the cover art in order, and the current WIP title needs to be changed—it’s misleading for what I want this story to be.

Once this story is out on Royal Road, I’m planning to release one more thing. Either the week of the 24th or at the start of December, I will be posting my old stories on two other sites (Fanfiction.net, Ao3), with one or two chapters coming out each day.

I’ll be touching up those old chapters to remove some minor grammatical and spelling errors in them, but I’ll otherwise be leaving them the same. So, if you want to join in on a re-read or just see new reactions to the Type Specialist and the Ghost Specialist, I’ll be making an announcement post with the links included here.

=======================================================================

Rotom flitted around me as I sat hunched on Dianne’s couch. He basically flickered from position to position, his movements causing him to resemble blurred lightning bolts that stretched through the air. At my side, Liepard lifted his head to watch Rotom for a little bit, but being the big cat he was, he soon let his head fall back down as he drifted off into sleep, his fur pressed against my side.

For what I was doing, I didn’t quite have the proper tools, but at least the tools in this world tended to be more sturdy. When a Pokémon could take a ten-thousand-pound punch and walk away just fine, the materials scientists here were able to make some crazy things, but a single screwdriver was still not enough to break through the ice.

“Sorry, buddy. Your microwave might have met its end,” I said, sighing and sitting back to let my hand run through Liepard’s fur. “Whatever Kyurem did to freeze it means the ice isn’t melting. I could salvage some parts, but using it in battle...”

I could only shake my head.

Rotom’s microwave lay in pieces on a short coffee table in front of me. Several of its orange chunks were mostly fine, but ice had crept into it in a way neither Rotom nor I had expected. Key parts of its functionality were completely frozen over, and that ice didn’t seem like it was going to melt soon, if ever.

“But at least,” I said, picking up one frozen piece and looking it over. “This might be an opportunity.”

The ice on this chunk was completely dry; it didn’t even drip to hint at melting. Rotom flashed over with a burst of lightning to look at the frozen metal. Even when he poked at it with his crackling arms, nothing changed, but that just proved my theory to be even more correct.

“Never-Melt Ice,” I said. “A held item that increases the power of Ice-type moves. Not sure if that’s exactly what this is, but fighting Kyurem might have just earned us a bunch of money. Held items are rare—with battle-rated held items being even rarer—and if we can sell this to the right person, that should be able to earn us a nice amount of profit.”

Despite the loss of his microwave oven, a grin almost immediately stretched across Rotom’s face. The specifics of money and its uses tended to be lost on him, but at least when it came to profit, earning money usually meant more things for him to possess as well as more items for me to tinker with.

The sound of metallic clangs came from outside while I inspected the frozen remains of Rotom’s microwave. Even with the ongoing tiredness from our last major battle, Metang had not wanted to sit and let his weakness last. He was already out back, using his claws to spar against Valiant.

That Kyurem battle had been good for us. It was necessary, in my opinion. We needed to not just know but experience the strength of those who sat at the top of this world. The battle had been less about us proving our strength and more about us setting the right expectations.

But for now, my team deserved to rest. The sun might have been setting, but there was no reason to keep climbing through the ranks tonight. I continued to work on Rotom’s microwave, Liepard continued to nap, and the other half of my team sparred outside.

All the while, the television played the nightly news in front of us.

“...and workers in that Castelia lab have stated that their data was left untouched,” a newscaster's voice announced. “However, several have expressed concern that their evolution-based data was copied. As proprietary work, that research is the cornerstone of their business, but the real loss has been the theft of their rare stones and metal, which—”

The television suddenly turned off.

I looked up.

Frowning at the person stepping into the room, I let out a purposeful whine.

“I was watching that!”

Dianne just threw her head back and laughed, placing the television’s remote back on the table next to the couch. She was still dressed in her bright red vest that marked her as a Pokémon Ranger. From outside, the sounds of sparring began to quiet down as Farigiraf stepped into that backyard, having returned to rest for the night.

“You’re still here?” Dianne asked. “I would have expected you to have headed out and be competing in more battles right now.”

“Not tonight,” I said, adjusting how I was sitting on the couch when Liepard jumped up to rub against Dianne’s legs. “With how hard I’ve been pushing everyone, I think my team deserves a bit of a break.”

“Huh.” Dianne started to walk away. “So, no point-gathering tonight? No trying to climb the ranks?”

She took off her vest and let it hang on a rack, and her voice became slightly more muffled as she moved to her kitchen to start fixing herself dinner.

“I guess I could, but I think I have a better option when it comes to making some money. And the points I’ve been getting per battle haven’t been... that much, honestly.”

After a few weeks of nightly battles, I was sitting at just under three hundred points, which wasn’t much for all of the weeks of battling that my team and I had been doing. With how most of the trainers in Lacunosa being people toward the bottom of Normal Rank, the matches we’d been having hadn’t been a challenge—and they hadn’t earned us that many points on a win, as a result.

“So you’re struggling to earn enough to climb higher,” Dianne mused as her own, still-intact microwave began to hum. “I guess Lacunosa Town doesn’t have that much to offer.”

“No, no. It does,” I said quickly. “It’s just that most of the trainers that are still around aren’t...”

“Aren’t that strong?” she finished for me.

She walked out carrying a steaming bowl of some kind of leftover stew, letting herself plop down into a cushioned chair. Liepard immediately jumped into her lap, and it took all her effort not to have her food spill over both of them.

“The problem is, I think most of the tougher trainers have moved on to big cities,” I said as I watched Rotom possess the disconnected keypad of the microwave oven. All he managed to do was have it hop around. “It’s either that, or they’re training on Routes. Everyone still here is someone who isn’t necessarily trying to make it as a professional trainer. Or, they’re like you and Daryl—”

“Please don’t compare me to Daryl.”

“Or, they’re like you,” I quickly corrected, “where they could technically compete but are too attached to their ongoing jobs.”

Dianne hummed as she spooned some of her food into her mouth. From where he sat, I could hear Liepard purring from here.

That little traitor.

Dianne ate a few more bites and petted that big cat. She soon nodded once as if coming to a decision.

“Alright. I get it. With how you’ve been relaxing all day, I take it that you plan to move on pretty soon, right?”

“Probably,” I answered. “I figured I could head to Opelucoid. The Dragon-type trainers there should be of a higher rank and be pretty strong.”

“But!” Dianne sat up, and Liepard was forced to jump out of her lap. She looked me straight in the eye. “Let me ask you this: If they’re so strong, why would they ever want to fight a Normal Rank trainer like you?”

I blinked at her, trying to process the question.

“For experience?” I offered. “To... make money when they defeat me?”

“But...” Dianne said, letting the word drag out, “Would they defeat you, and would they recognize that inevitable loss?”

I opened my mouth to try to deny her, but I knew I couldn’t. The reality of my situation was settling in.

“Oh no,” I said, letting my head fall into my hands. “They would. They totally would. They would have nothing to gain from accepting a battle, and since they’re at a higher rank, they would be allowed to turn down my challenge.”

I was totally screwed.

I needed more points to be assigned a promotion battle and rank up, but we weren’t earning enough in our battles against Normal Rank trainers. We would be able to rank up eventually, but only eventually. These matches were only really earning us money and not experience. Being forced to keep this up for even longer meant we’d be unlikely to reach Master Rank by the end of the year.

“This system sucks,” I grumbled. “It’s super flawed. So just because my team is strong, we’re going to be trapped at the bottom?”

Despite my morose tone, Dianne was smiling. She put her bowl down just to waggle her finger at me.

“Ah, but my dear friend, you’re forgetting something: I live in Unova, and I know some tricks. There’s a reason the World Coronation Series is being held here instead of Galar. So tell me, Nick, have you ever heard of a little place called the Battle Club?”

_______________________________________________________________________

The next day, Dianne brought me toward the main street of town. Embarrassingly, this was basically the first time I’d been around here. Most of the battles I’d participated in happened in the side streets, and the only time I’d gotten close to Lacunosa’s main street was to go to the Pokémon Center, but that saw me arriving immediately after turning a single corner.

Here, Dianne walked on the sidewalk alongside me, forgoing the option of riding on Farigiraf’s back. While she could get away with that as a Pokémon Ranger, it was a bit of a faux pas to send out a big Pokémon like that in the middle of a populated town.

No, the only Pokémon out with us was Liepard—ignoring Rotom in my watch—who happily followed along at our backs. If someone was a trainer, it wasn’t uncommon to have at least one Pokémon out walking with them. Even with Liepard’s strength, his species was commonly kept as a household pet, so no one blinked an eye at the Pokémon that possessed the power to sweep through almost any of their teams.

“Battle Clubs are unique to Unova,” Dianne said as we walked through town, and there was an audible level of excitement to her voice. “I used to go to this one a bunch—they’re places made to give trainers a chance to connect and set up big battles. Some of them run regular tournaments, but usually only in the bigger cities. Otherwise, they’re buildings attached to a big communication network with dedicated battlefields.”

“Huh,” I said. “So I didn’t need to go around and ambush people at night?”

To that, Dianne laughed. On her face was a full-blown smile.

“No, no! Don’t get me wrong, after seeing what you did to Daryl? That was completely necessary,” she said, her smile more akin to a predator’s grin. “But Battle Clubs are more for... scheduled matches. They’ll connect you to the right kind of opponent, but they also tend to take longer. During any other year, relying on them might have resulted in your team getting in more battles overall, but right now, most people are out. Going to one won’t get you anywhere near as many battles as you tend to get at night.”

Lacunosa’s Battle Club was only a block away from the city’s Pokémon Center, and now that I knew to look for it, I could already see one trainer moving between the two buildings. Dianne said that Battle Clubs did have their own treatment centers, but they were never as advanced or in-depth as a Pokémon Center, so many trainers preferred that other building.

Here, the Lacunosa Battle Club blended in with the other structures constructed of worn, tan stone. It looked like any other place in this ancient town, but there was the barest hint of a more modern structure peeking up in the book.

The roof of its battlefield, most likely, I realized.

Dianne brought me to the building’s entrance.

There was no automatic glass door to slide open when we approached, but stepping inside, I did find us entering a more modern style of lobby, complete with a tiled floor, various seating areas, an electronic screen displaying dozens of names and images of trainers looking to battle, and a long counter situated in the very back.

“Dianne!” came a merry shout from an older, heavyset man standing behind that counter. I couldn’t tell if he was muscular or just overweight. “It’s been a while since you’ve shown up here. It’s good to see you after so long!”

Smiling brightly, Dianne approached the man and met him at the side of the counter. Being pulled into a hug, his arms practically dwarfed hers.

“It’s good to see you again, Don George. I would have come more often, but my work as a Pokémon Ranger tends to see me pretty busy during the day.”

The man laughed proudly, but his smile was almost completely covered by a thick, bushy mustache. However, with the way his eyes curved up, I could tell his hidden expression was genuine.

“Well, you’re welcome anytime,” he said in a baritone voice. “And who’s this?”

Dianne waved me over as the man moved back to his position behind the counter.

“Don George, this is Nick, Liepard’s current trainer and a competitor in the World Coronation Series. Nick, this is Don George. His family runs Unova’s Battle Clubs.”

When we shook hands in greeting, Don George’s hand was large enough that it felt like it was going to swallow mine, but there was not a single ounce of hostility on his face. He just grinned at me from under his mustache, and he looked over me with sharp, discerning eyes.

“You carry yourself like a powerful trainer,” the heavy man said. “Hm. If Dianne brought you here... You’ve trapped yourself, haven’t you?”

“You already know?” I asked, blinking.

He walked over to deposit himself on a stool that he pulled to roll over and position himself behind a computer. The device almost looked comically small when compared to him, but he was able to type on it just fine.

“As the owner of a Battle Club, I’ve been assisting with some of the Series’s set-up. Ranks and points are earned based on an algorithm devised by some very skilled thinkers assisted by smart Pokémon like Gothitelle and Alakazam. However...”

His mustache twitched. He looked slightly uncomfortable.

“Nobody’s perfect,” Don George said. “They wanted to encourage quality over quantity, but they went about it the wrong way. Since the points you earn are determined by performance rather than outright victory, strong trainers incapable of participating in challenging battles tend to earn fewer points than they should.”

“So...” I began slowly, “if I didn’t come here, I would have never gotten enough points to rank up.”

“My understanding is that they’re devising a new algorithm to determine the points earned,” Don George said, “but it’s still in development, and they’re still trying to find a way to implement it without harming the integrity of an ongoing tournament.”

He started to type on his keyboard, but then he looked up, flicking his gaze over to me from underneath his thick, bushy eyebrows.

“Can I see your trainer ID?” he asked.

I passed over the card containing my unique identifying number as a trainer, and he looked over it before beginning to fill the information in.

“Thankfully, you should be able to qualify for a promotion battle now instead of later,” he said. “There’s a bit of leniency given to me for that because of the mistakes, so I have the authority to approve them on a case-by-case basis.”

As he started to maneuver through whatever was being displayed on his computer screen, Dianne quietly nudged me on the arm.

“See? I told you this was a good idea,” she whispered.

“Thanks,” I said. “Would have sucked to be stuck in the Normal Rank, but now we should be able to keep climbing properly.”

With Don George helping me, Dianne walked off to look at the wall-sized screen that displayed a bunch of trainers’ names. Several of them had changed; a few trainers had walked in and out of the room, and it seemed they had managed to organize and secure themself a fight.

“Let’s see here,” Don George mumbled. “Nicholas. No badges. A trainer from Paldea. Three— No, four Pokémon on your team. You’ve been traveling for just over a year, and...  There’s a note from the Pokémon League itself? Your sponsor—”

Don George froze. I felt the need to cover my face.

“Just... ignore that, please.”

“Will do,” he said quickly. “I just didn’t expect to encounter someone sponsored by such a big shot here today.”

Humming to himself, he went on to look through his system. It was taking him a while, and for some reason, it carried the same vibes of being in the middle of a medical appointment.

“Hm. It’s clear that you should be eligible for a promotion match to reach the Great Rank, but it’s one I’ll need to approve rather than one that happens automatically,” he said. “It won’t be official, so your potential opponent will have the choice whether or not to accept. But once a battle is scheduled, all you need to do to rank up is defeat the opposing trainer in a battle.”

“Got it,” I said.

“The problem is...” Although I couldn’t see the man’s mouth, I could tell he was frowning. “There’s no one in town able to accept your challenge.”

“Seriously? Not even a single Great Rank trainer?”

“There are a few of them, but I know them all personally, and they aren’t the kind of people to accept this kind of challenge.”

The man hummed, rubbing a stubble-covered chin as he looked at the screen, but at least I could think of an easy solution.

“The Battle Club here is connected to all other Battle Clubs, right? I don’t care about fighting in town. If you expand the search to include any towns nearby, I’m fine with needing to travel as long as I get the chance to be promoted.”

After all, even if I traveled, being promoted then would still be faster than needing to wait in the Normal Rank until the algorithm was changed.

Don George nodded and went back to typing. Dianne returned from where she had been looking over the board.

“So you’ll be heading out basically tomorrow,” she said.

“Honestly, maybe even later today,” I said.

“Man. I knew you were planning on leaving, I just thought... I don’t know. It was nice to see Liepard again.”

The big cat walked up from where he had been sitting behind me, and he didn’t hesitate to press himself against Dianne’s legs. Even though he didn’t speak, the message was clear.

He liked seeing her again soon, but he needed to head out with me to continue chasing after his dream. But that distance didn’t mean they wouldn’t be friends.

“We only have so much time,” I said quietly. “Can’t afford to fall behind when we need to reach Master Rank by the end of the year.”

I must not have been speaking that quietly, because Don George looked up to meet me in the eye.

“Master Rank in just six months,” he said, essentially repeating my words. “That’d be an impressive feat.”

“Maybe for someone else who doesn’t already have a strong team,” I said. “It looks like we’re coming out of nowhere, but we’re strong. I’m willing to take on anyone if it means we get promoted. And I know that we’ll win.”

“That’s the spirit!” The large man dramatically hit the enter button on his keyboard, and a short ding rang out from his computer. “And there we go! The message has been sent! All nearby Battle Clubs in other cities will be notified of your request, but just be aware that it might be a while before someone sees your situation and chooses to—”

A second ding almost immediately rang out, and his speech was interrupted.

Don George flicked his eyes down to see the source of that notification. Sweat started to form on his brow.

“Wait, was that it?” Dianne asked, speaking up.

“Do I already have an opponent already?” I asked, chiming in.

Eyes wide, Don George stared at his computer, and he took out a white cloth to wipe his forehead.

“You... do,” he said slowly. “Which is a surprise. And it’s more of a surprise that... Hmph. I just assumed a trainer like him would be at Ultra Rank, instead.”

Dianne’s eyebrows shot up. I was unable to look away from where Don George sat.

“So, Nick got some kind of super-impressive opponent?” Dianne asked.

“Indeed,” Don George replied. “One I didn’t quite expect.”

Annoyed at how long this was taking, I leaned forward, pressing my arms against the counter.

“Please get on with it. I don’t want to wait.”

Amused, Don George exchanged a look with Dianne, and the heavyset man let out a chuckling laugh.

“Well, he’s a Humilau trainer. A Water-type specialist,” he said. “A trainer that probably shouldn’t be at the Great Rank.”

Dianne breathed out, mouth opening slightly.

“No way,” she said, making the connection before me.

“You’re dragging it out on purpose at this point,” I grumbled.

Don George gained a slight smile. However, he also looked at me, his gaze appraising. It was as if he wanted to see for himself if I was someone who could actually live up to my stated goal.

Then, finally, he spoke, and Dianne looked genuinely shocked.

“Your opponent for your promotion battle will be Marlon,” Don George finally said. “As in the Marlon, the Leader of Humilau City’s Gym.”

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

Don George is a canon character from the anime. Battle Clubs are also canon.

In addition to the upcoming releases, I’m also in the process of touching up some of the initial chapters of this story. These chapters were written over a month ago at this point, but I edited them one last time before posting them here. Since going through with daily releases resulted in a tight schedule, I’m just looking through them to make sure everything is okay. So, if there have been any egregious sections that need to be modified, please tell me and I will give them a change!

Next chapter, a step into the past for a short interlude.

Pokémon mentioned in this chapter:
Alakazam
Gothitelle
Kyurem

Nick’s Team:
Iron Valiant
Liepard
Metang
Rotom

Previous Chapter
Next Chapter

Chapter 10

Author Note:

When I end a chapter with a major cliffhanger, I want that cliffhanger to last by choice and not because a shift in schedule forced it.

This is Wednesday’s chapter. We’ll pick back up on Thursday. This time around, there is no cliffhanger at the end.

=======================================================================

Something about Kyurem felt off.

It appeared as I expected it to—but significantly more intimidating in person, in fact. Grey scales covered its dense muscles as it slept, and ice had frozen like armor around its body and head. Kyurem’s wings resembled broken, melted-together shard glass that stuck up out of its back, and if I had been lying down, even just three or four of me placed in a line would not match this Pokémon’s total length.

Even just looking at it caused my heart to pound in my chest, and it was apparent that this was a true Legendary Pokémon: one of the most powerful Pokémon to exist. As Kyurem was intrinsically tied to the history of Unova, this Pokémon carried a weight to it that stemmed from both its power and past.

But that was where its pressure stopped. This Pokémon was wrong. Something about it was broken.

It was hollow. It wasn’t breathing. Its very presence dragged. Even just standing nearby, I was almost overwhelmed with a feeling of loss. Yet all of that was natural to Kyurem; this Legendary Pokémon was missing something crucial to its existence, but it still managed to persist.

As was its nature, Kyurem was both empty and bound. It possessed an impossible power, but due to its origin, it could never fully unleash what it once was. 

In the past, there had been a Legendary Dragon, but that dragon was split. Two beings core to its identity split off, and everything that was left?

Kyurem was that empty shell.

But it was still a Legendary Pokémon. It was still a Pokémon stronger than anything else in this crater. My team needed that experience, but really, we wanted it. Every Pokémon on my team was itching to start this fight, and Liepard sent me a look.

More of a sharp stare, really. I was kind of just standing in place, taking in the entirety of this sleeping beast.

“Yes. I’ll... Let’s start,” I told him.

Forcing a grin back onto my face, I began to walk forward. Every step I took echoed around me, and I inched toward this Legendary Pokémon.

“K-Kyurem!” I shouted, stopping a dozen yards away and trying to push back the freezing chill that caused my teeth to chatter. “W-we’re here to ch-challenge you! Give us the blessing of a fight!”

Behind me, Liepard lowered his head, both showing respect and positioning himself for a lunge. The screen displaying Valiant’s eyes showed them as being closed, and the metal Pokémon crossed their blade over their chest.

That was about it for what my team was doing that could be considered showing respect. Electricity flickered off of Rotom’s body as he prepared himself to move, and Metang looked like he wasn’t sure whether he wanted to flee or punch this creature across its face.

Honestly, I don’t think he realized just how strong Kyurem would be.

Even though the shout of my challenge had been short, the faintest wisps of my voice continued to echo around the cavern. No movement came from the Legendary Pokémon, and the entire world remained perfectly still.

Kyurem continued to sleep.

We waited for its approval.

As much as we wanted to fight this thing, attacking it outright would only be a mistake.

It felt as though minutes had passed even though it had only been seconds. So many nervous questions passed through my head—such as one major one: is this really how it works? Respect was critical to properly deal with any Pokémon, and against a Legendary Pokémon, a lack of respect would be fatal. We had challenged this creature, but we had kind of marched straight into its home. Kyurem could choose to battle us, or it could choose to “deal” with us.

Plus, there were all of those legends about it stalking through Lacunosa’s streets.

Staring at this Legendary Pokémon, I really hoped we didn’t make a mistake.

But several more stretched-out seconds passed within this room. And then, finally, there was a reaction.

The Legendary Pokémon snapped open its eyes and let out a cavern-shaking roar.

“HAAAHRAAN!”

The noise was like a pressurized tank letting out a rumbling hiss.

Though it had accepted our challenge, my Pokémon moved before Kyurem could use any attack whatsoever. I was already running, dashing straight to the cavern’s side. My Pokémon all lunged and split apart; against a Dragon, it made no sense to stick together and be caught by the same one move all at once.

“Liepard, support!” I shouted as Kyurem’s heavy feet shook the earth as it brought itself up out of its rest. “Valiant, get in there and block its claws! And Rotom, help them! Weaken its attacks with your heat! As for you, Metang...”

I then realized I hadn’t properly planned for Metang’s inclusion.

“Crash into it whenever you can!” I ended up settling on.

As my Pokémon moved to encircle Kyurem, the Legendary Pokémon let out another roar, and streams of frost blasted out in every direction. This cavern might as well have been an extension of its own body with how it rumbled alongside its movements, but not a single pebble of ice or stone fell; this was Kyurem’s lair. It would not have created its den if fighting in it was going to be a problem.

Valiant tried to block the frost that washed out of the Legendary Pokémon, but their blade became coated in icicles that streamed backwards. Liepard was able to jump and dive through the worst of it, and though frost formed on Rotom’s body, the warmth of his oven stopped the chill from consuming him.

Metang, however, had no such prepared defense, but his Steel-type helped him move, and a spiral of motion from his arms saw him shatter through most of it.

“Metang!” I shouted. I had found a frozen rock to hide behind, and my coat helped to ward off the worst of the cold. “Help Valiant!”

The floating Pokémon seemed surprised to receive a new order so soon, but even just the past few days of working with me meant he was willing to move.

Especially now, when Metang was here and fighting against what was essentially a minor god.

Who cared about that Metagross anymore?

Against Kyurem, Metang was properly ready to fight.

But he didn’t attack. Metang charged Valiant to slam into the blade-wielder’s back. He used no move; he simply charged, and that basic impact was enough to snap Valiant’s weapon free from where it had frozen into their arm.

Here and now, there was no time for any other supporting moves; my Pokémon were only trying to recover after taking this Legendary Pokémon’s roar. Valiant wasted no time to flash forward, putting their full speed to use, and they twirled their polearm in two hands to build momentum to swing it down and land an explosive, strike-based Dazzling Gleam straight to Kyurem’s side.

Metang followed them, sliding through the air to flank Kyurem opposite to Valiant. As he slid, he used that momentum to slice the Legendary Pokémon with claws glowing with Steel. The Metal Claw carved channels into Kyurem’s ice, dealing super effective damage, and that hardening Steel Type energy strengthened Metang’s claws to further increase the power of any future attack.

That combination of strikes would have been devastating against anything else, but the only result here was that the surface layer of ice on Kyurem’s body cracked. The Legendary dragon itself didn’t even blink at that incoming damage. Once more, it just roared, frost pulsing out in every direction. With Valiant and Metang right there, they were poised to take the worst of it, but Rotom reacted, opening his oven door to explode with heat.

That attempt barely helped.

Once again, frost covered Valiant’s attempt to block, leaving icicles on their crystal polearm, and Metang looked to be almost completely frozen over. However, both coverings of ice dripped away thanks to Rotom’s Overheat minimizing just how much frost could stick to their bodies. The only problem was that both my Pokémon had taken the full damage, and one of Metang’s arms remained frozen solid.

Thankfully, Liepard remained completely safe thanks to how he kept to the back. He jumped between boulders and newly-formed icicle stalagmites, using them as cover to get close.

The three Pokémon in the center of this den continued to unleash their moves, but the only thing getting damaged was the ice Kyurem used as armor. 

Realizing that Liepard was our key to finally dealing true damage here, I didn’t hesitate to call for a move that was essentially his species’s specialty.

“Liepard!” I shouted, gathering his attention. “Use Foul Play!”

The Legendary Pokémon’s empty eyes watched my three Pokémon lay into it, and Liepard took full advantage of that distraction. The feline was already prepared and filled with Dark-type energy, so, running forward, he purposefully slid across the ground to pass beneath Kyurem’s feet and land an intentionally-placed slash to the back of the Pokémon’s legs.

He wanted the dragon to trip.

Foul Play was not just any Dark-type move; it was a move that specifically used a Pokémon’s strength against them. Here, Liepard didn’t need to be powerful to deal damage; he could use the strength of his opponent to have it deal damage to itself.

As he came out the other side and returned to his feet, darting away from the front of Kyurem, the Legendary Pokémon found its own weight had betrayed it, and it entered a sudden fall.

Immediately, Valiant struck down at where Kyurem had collapsed, their blade aiming at where the Legendary Pokémon’s head had hit the earth. On Kyurem’s opposite side, Metang didn’t hesitate to use his one free arm to land another Metal Claw. A distance away from Kyurem's face, heat washed out of Rotom in an attempt to weaken the ice that protected Kyurem, and Liepard returned to circling around, already trying to reposition himself for another slide-and-slash.

My team didn’t let a single second pass without effort. They beat on the fallen Legendary Pokémon to try for the most damage they possibly could.

“YES!” I shouted at them. “KEEP GOING! SECURE THE WIN!”

Except, my interpretation of this situation was completely off. Kyurem had fallen, but it was now staying on the ground for a reason:

My team and I had shown up unexpectedly, and though it had accepted our challenge, the Dragon-type was still half-asleep.

Everyone was trying to take advantage of Kyurem’s fallen state and the easy target that was its massive body, and both of Kyurem’s eyes had closed when it hit the earth. I tried to search that motionless form for any sign of obvious damage, but doing so let me realize far too late that, at the very best, my team was only causing nicks in the Legendary Pokémon’s ice.

And then, once again, Kyurem's eyes snapped open.

The blast that came out of it this time around was so much worse than the last.

A single roar left Kyurem’s throat, but calling it a mere “roar” would not have been giving the sound credit. It was a declaration, but even that was too weak a description.

Kyurem made a demand, and the world relented.

The ice that had left Legendary’s body before could only be called the faint gasps of a Pokémon just beginning to move. Now, pure cold exploded off of it. It was as if a gaseous glacier was being thrown through the air.

Every single one of my Pokémon were hit, and I had to pull myself down, tugging my coat over me to not be chilled to the bone. Compared to every other one of Kyurem’s cries, this had to be the first move that it wasn’t holding back.

Even as far away as he was, Liepard was sent flying into the wall, fur covered by frost, and Rotom became an oven-shaped cube of ice, blinking inside that layer of frost but unable to escape even with his heat.

Metang was sent bouncing across the floor, sliding away from Kyurem, and even Valiant was launched far back. When I tried to push back up from where I had crouched behind a boulder, I could see that icicles had formed at perfect horizontal angles around it.

My heart raced.

This was the toughest opponent we’d faced yet.

Except, as I looked around at my team, I realized most of my Pokémon were not able to move. A little voice whispered in the back of my head.

Did we mess up by challenging a Legendary Pokémon to a fight?

“Kyurem wasn’t this strong in the games,” I whispered to myself. “Was it always meant to be this powerful? There was a point where it was used to freeze a city, but...”

But I thought that had happened only because Kyurem had been abused.

Here, I had truly thought my team carried a chance.

Unfortunately, Kyurem was starting to properly wake up, and its pure yellow eyes glowed in a growing anger. All Dragon-types had a certain arrogance to them, and here, we had challenged this Pokémon, a true dragon, yet this was all we had to offer?

Despite how we had approached it with respect, our failure to deal any significant damage was beginning to anger this Pokémon. There was no telling what Kyurem would do from here, but it was as if my thoughts were just as frozen as the world around us. I could already see that basically every member of my team had been consumed by frost.

All except one.

The cracking of ice echoed out. A polearm stabbed into the floor. A pink blade pierced through the ice, and using that as support, Valiant returned to their feet, shaking ever so slightly.

As they stood, I could see that their body had been stained blue by ice. The gaps and bends in their limbs that allowed them to move looked to be all filled with frost.

Kyurem’s gaze turned toward Valiant, and even just that stare seemed to be enough to cause Valiant to stumble. Kyurem stood at the very top of the very top; it was an apex predator. It had no true opponents, but Valiant’s eyes blazed with a refusal to give up.

Valiant was injured, half-frozen, and almost out of energy.

However, this was where they thrived.

An Iron Valiant was a Fairy and Fighting-type. They excelled in certain, specific conditions. Their stature and skill in battle combined with the advantages that their types gave them. All of that meant they could act as an epitome of a knight.

To an Iron Valiant, slaying a dragon was something core to their nature.

“Valiant...” I heard myself whisper, but I shook my head before I could get lost in awe. Now wasn’t the time to get distracted; we were still in a fight.

Off to the side, Liepard had been just barely far enough away not to immediately be knocked out. Though injured, he was able to creep over and grab the frozen Rotom to begin dragging him away with a furious dash. Metang wasn’t as lucky—he was currently frozen to the floor—but he was still just conscious enough to begin using his claws to scrape away at the ice while watching the ongoing fight.

“GO ALL OUT!” I shouted at the top of my lungs, and my cry was almost as much of a declaration as Kyurem's roar had been before. “USE ELECTRIC TERRAIN! GIVE IT YOUR ALL! CHARGE KYUREM, AND HIT IT WITH CLOSE COMBAT!”

Valiant’s grip on their polearm tightened. A forceful energy coursed through their body. Bringing up their blade, they stabbed it right back into the earth, and arcs of electricity leaped off that edge to spread out in all directions, properly dying the earth.

A hum came from within Valiant; for all of their exhaustion, their Quark Drive was still able to supercharge them from inside their chest.

Tensing and flexing, Valiant lunged to charge forward. The force of their legs behind them cracked the icy earth.

In retaliation upon seeing that dash, Kyurem reared up, intending to use its full body weight as added force to its incoming swipe.

Kyurem’s front claws might have been small, but they were no less deadly than the rest of it. Yet, as Valiant all but flew forward, their crystal blade glowed with an impossible force.

Even if Valiant wanted to, there was no defending against Kyurem’s move. So, they gave up all and any sense of defense just so they could land this one attack.

Within a single second, Valiant was there, and Kyurem’s claws swung down. Without any issue, they carved into Valiant’s body, but Valiant pushed through that pain, ignoring it and swinging their polearm like a baseball bat to deliver this single blow to the direct center of Kyurem’s chest.

“GO!” I screamed.

Valiant collapsed, but the strike had landed. A glass-like layer of ice on Kyurem’s chest broke apart and shattered, sending a fine dust down around where Valiant kneeled in pain and exposing the Legendary Pokémon’s throbbing, grey flesh.

Kyurem’s eyes widened; though it had delivered its move, it had felt that attack. Electricity crackled under its feet. Even with its impossible strength, the Close Combat had been a single payload of everything Valiant had. And, because it had reared back, something else happened:

It wobbled, and a lack of balance caused Kyurem to shift on its feet.

Valiant’s strike meant the Legendary dragon took a single step back.

As I took in that sight and as the rest of my team went stock-still, I couldn’t help but let out a single laugh. Its echo made the sound quite haunting, especially since Kyurem was beginning to recover from that attack.

“All of that,” I mumbled to myself, “and this is the first time Kyurem has been forced to move, huh?”

It had barely even taken any damage, but at least it had been damaged, albeit slightly.

However, Kyurem was still able to battle, and Valiant was kneeling right before it. Still reared back on its feet, Kyurem twisted its neck around to face its jaw directly down, opened its mouth, and built a certain light in its throat.

When its next move came out, Valiant looked so impossibly small in comparison before being consumed by that blast.

_______________________________________________________________________

Liepard was barely conscious. Rotom was struggling to thaw his oven. Valiant would need days to recover. With how much ice covered him, just to move, Metang had to use his one free arm to drag himself over the floor.

We had failed.

We didn’t defeat Kyurem.

All of our practice, and the only thing we’d managed to do was have Valiant force Kyurem to take a single step back.

“We didn’t win. We didn’t knock it out,” I said as my remaining conscious Pokémon gathered around me. “We didn’t even deal any significant damage. But what we achieved? We surprised it, if only for an instant. I mean, Liepard, you made it fall. Metang, you carved through its ice. Rotom, you actually managed to weaken some of its attacks! But, most importantly, we got to experience the toughest fight in our lives. Everything will seem easy now that we have this battle at our backs.”

At the far end of the cavern behind us, Kyurem looked exhausted, but that wasn’t because of anything we had done. That Legendary Pokémon was far more interested in its rest than anything else, and even this barest amount of effort was enough to tire it out.

Truthfully, this hadn’t been without risk—if we had enraged Kyurem enough, I had been a little worried that the Legendary Pokémon would start some kind of rampage (or eat us as a punishment), but I had rated that risk as minor altogether. From everything I’d seen and read about Legendary Pokémon, those kinds of consequences only came from not giving the Pokémon the respect they deserved. Most of the time, Legendary Pokémon kept to themselves—they didn’t want to rampage. We weren’t trying to capture Kyurem, and we only attacked once it had accepted our challenge. Its only annoyance came from our weakness, but Valiant had saved us by delivering that powerful blow.

Even though my entire team had been defeated, none of us had given up, and that had earned us at least a modicum of respect.

Once we left this place, I knew that no one would ever believe us about this story, but it would be a memory that’d stick with us for a long time. We had our strength, but there was no reason to ever get cocky. Every opponent we’d faced in Unova so far had been a Normal Rank trainer. We were yet to face anyone with a greater amount of experience, nor had we faced anyone truly attempting to climb to the very top.

But Kyurem stood outside all of that. It possessed a true level of strength. Even compared to trainers of the Great and Ultra Rank, Kyurem would be able to dominate any of them in a fight.

No one we faced would be able to live up to this battle, but no one was going to make us face this same kind of defeat. Even if we fought some trainer’s impossibly strong, ace Pokémon, we would be able to look at it and think, “That’s no big deal.”

Because we would know it wasn’t Kyurem.

“I told you there was more than just that Metagross,” I said as Metang tried to bring himself up from the ground, but the heaviness of the ice prevented his body from entering the air. “There’s an entire world out there with Pokémon and trainers that can easily defeat it—and that includes just about everyone who has reached Master Rank. But we don’t need to use them to define where we stand. We know how strong Pokémon can be, so we set those goals ourselves. We’ll fight because we want to, and that means we choose how we approach things on our own. I mean, you kept facing that Metagross again and again, but now that you’ve fought Kyurem, do you really think this challenge would be worth repeating?”

Metang’s look was flat.

He absolutely did.

He really wanted to have another battle against Kyurem—just maybe not until he was a bit stronger.

“Yeah,” I said, finding myself letting out a laugh. “Once we get strong enough, it’d be pretty neat to see if this becomes a winnable battle. Except, that’s us challenging it again to see if we can win, not a battle to make Kyurem recognize our strength, yeah?”

Silently, a certain determination burned in Metang’s eyes.

But I knew something that Metang didn’t know: Kyurem was only one of many. If we tried hard enough, we could find other impossible Pokémon. Kyurem wasn’t the only Legendary opponent we could potentially hunt down and challenge to a fight.

(Although, it was probably more than enough for now.)

With the battle over and our desired challenge achieved, a need to leave Kyurem’s den began to properly settle in. I knew we should have walked out the second this Legendary Pokémon finished off Valiant, but there was still one other thing I really needed to do.

So many people wanted me to be a hero. I didn’t want to be a hero. However, I could at least recognize there were some things yet to happen from the games, and if I wanted to have the freedom to explore the world as I pleased, it’d be in both my and everyone else’s best interest for me to take at least some steps to prevent that.

Bringing my gaze away from my team, I took a deep breath in, tasting the chill in the air. Once again, I took a step forward, and I approached where the Legendary Pokémon attempted to rest on the ground.

“Kyurem!” I shouted, and the Legendary Pokémon was a mountain I had yet to truly climb. “Thank you for the battle! We’re never going to forget this. This was a fight that’s going to stick with us for a long time.”

Letting out an exhale, I threw myself into a bow, bending myself into what was essentially a perfect right angle.

No reaction came from the dragon—in its rest, it was nearly impossible to tell if it was asleep or even alive.

Though I was definitely pushing it, I didn’t walk away just yet. Standing there, still in that bow, I took a long moment to carefully choose my next words. While fighting had been a selfish choice, I knew I needed to deliver this message. Even just a few words could save an entire city, and, if anything, it could result in an even larger change than just that.

“I.... have a warning for you,” I said, speaking every word carefully and deliberately. “A... warning of a potential future. Because even as strong as you are now, no defense is impenetrable. Both Liepard and Valiant proved that.”

I stiffened when Kyurem opened a single eye.

“There are schemers out there,” I said quickly. “Schemers that are capable of coming here just the same as I did. All I have to say is, do not underestimate them. They’re led by someone who’s truly evil, and with the technology they might have... You’ll lose yourself if they manage to do what they’re planning to do to you.”

Every region had its own criminal organization. At least, that was true in the games. Stuff had happened in the past for the criminals’ plans to fail in other regions, but Unova hadn’t succeeded in its defense.

Its Pokémon League had been attacked. The criminals had escaped. They were still at large, hiding underground, biding their time until they were ready to strike next.

I, of course, had the story of the video games to fall back on, but I had no clue if they would hold true or not. However, I could at least do one thing to help.

And if anyone wanted me to do anything else, I’d say no. Someone else could handle it—this warning was me doing my part.

As I brought myself back up, I almost felt like I was being stabbed by flakes of ice, and I could feel Kyurem’s gaze persist on my back. Its solid yellow eyes pierced into me, and though this Pokémon was but a shell, it was still the shell of a Pokémon that overpowered even it.

Even though Kyurem stared, there was no response for a long time. I didn’t move, and it was as if it was inspecting me. Every single ounce of its weight was being pushed against my chest.

And then, eventually, finally, truly, Kyurem’s gaze fell away.

Letting its eyes close, it allowed me to leave.

“Okay. Hurry up, everyone. Follow me.”

Speaking as fast as I could as I returned to my team, I didn’t hesitate to walk away, rushing straight out of Kyurem’s cave.

_______________________________________________________________________

When we left the Legendary Pokémon’s twisted spire, a rumble came from behind us. Like vicious tendrils creeping out of the ground, icicles stabbed out of the open entrance to cover it with ice. 

This was no normal ice—this was ice made by Kyurem. Entering the mountain den would now be an impossible challenge.

Unfortunately, there was no way to tell if my warning could work. Kyurem could have sealed itself off due to my words, or it could have sealed itself off just to ensure we wouldn’t be able to bother it again.

“Let’s leave,” I said, my voice feeling hoarse. “Let’s get out of this crater and get back to some more classic training, huh? We’ve got to win some fights. Earn some points. Start climbing through the World Coronation Series. But maybe...”

Valiant was unconscious in their Pokéball. The rest of my team was either horribly injured or mostly frozen.

Kyurem had taken everything we had, but we still had the challenge of leaving the crater itself.

“But maybe...” I continued, letting out a sigh. “Maybe we go and find an Audino to get some healing, first.”

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

This is the end of the first arc. Now, we can properly focus on the tournament.

Pokémon mentioned in this chapter:
Audino
Kyurem

Nick’s Team:
Iron Valiant
Liepard
Metang
Rotom

Previous Chapter
Next Chapter

Chapter 9

Author Note:

(I forgot to update the next chapter links for Chapter 8, so if you missed it yesterday, it was posted here.)

Cliffhanger Warning for this chapter!

=======================================================================

“You... actually caught a Metang?”

Dianne’s apartment had a small yard behind it. It wasn’t large enough for more than a handful of creatures to stand in it, but two of her Pokémon used it as their home. One corner was taken up by a mound of dirt that served as an entrance to her Vibrava’s underground nest, and the other corner contained what was an exceptionally large dog house, a small wooden home for Farigiraf to rest in given that the Pokémon couldn’t exactly fit inside Dianne’s building.

Though the limited space out here meant there was only a few feet of grass, there was just enough room to move around, at least a little bit. The back door of her apartment was wide open for us to stand within and look out, and just down a short flight of stairs, we could see Metang doing his best to “fight” Farigiraf.

His body was polished. Only the barest of dents and grooves remained. He practically shone in the late-afternoon sun now that the local Pokémon Center had done its best to treat him up. 

I could tell he was feeling better as he actually looked more powerful. When he attacked, his claws gleamed with Steel-type energy and seemed to slice the very air itself.

Unfortunately for him, Farigiraf was no slouch. She had been trained by two different trainers, and she had practiced with Valiant far in the past. To her, Metang’s movements might as well have been those of a Slugma. 

Whenever the Steel type swung, she just casually stepped to the side. Metang’s expression grew more and more frustrated, but Farigiraf just laughed.

“Yeah, I did catch a Metang,” I said, watching the pair dance below. “But his species isn’t as important as his drive. Look! I mean, he’s trying to fight even now.”

“Trying to fight is a pretty apt way to put it,” Dianne said, amusement clear in her voice.

“Yeah, he’s a bit... motivated,” I said, scratching the back of my head. “He needs a bit of work, but with the right practice, he’ll be a pain to put down in a fight.”

All of the injuries he had been fighting through meant one thing: this Metang had trained himself to keep fighting no matter how injured he got. He tended to use his arms quite a bit when releasing attacks, meaning he had the range needed to practice against Valiant quite well. While he wasn’t a dedicated wall, he was a powerful attacker that could take a hit, and when compared to the rest of my team, that meant he fought just differently enough to be a surprise to anyone we faced.

“So Metang is one of those battle-hungry Pokémon, huh?” Dianne mused. “A Pokémon that’s hardheaded, stubborn, and doesn’t back away from a fight.”

She laughed again as Farigiraf side-stepped another swipe, but she wasn’t laughing at what she saw.

“Honestly, it makes a lot of sense,” Dianne continued. “Metang sure sounds a lot like someone else I know.”

“Who?” I asked.

For some reason, that just made her laugh again.

“So, anyway,” Dianne started, turning away from the fight below us to look right at me. “Now that you got the capture you were looking for, do you plan on heading back? Or, are you satisfied enough with your current team to not return to the Giant Chasm?”

I hummed, but I had already made up my mind.

“As much as I like having a small team, having five Pokémon wouldn’t hurt. We’ll be heading back, and I’ll be keeping an eye open for a fifth, but that doesn’t mean I’ll be trying as hard to search one out,” I said. “So, yeah, we’ll be heading back there, but it’s mainly just to train. We still need to hone our skills to make sure we do well in the tournament, and Metang needs more time to catch up.”

Nodding along, Dianne’s gaze flicked to the fight below. There, Farigiraf moved a little too far to the right, and one of her hooves dug into that mound of dirt.

Almost immediately, a bug-like head stuck itself out to chitter and complain. Farigiraf quickly bowed and tried her best to apologize furiously. Doing so, however, gave Metang a free moment to strike. But, yet again, his attack failed as a quick flash of Psychic-type energy saw him be pushed into the ground.

That was the second time I’d seen a telekinetic grip pin him to the earth. But he didn’t get angry; if anything, it only further encouraged his pursuit of strength. After all, once he evolved into a Metagross, he’d have the legs needed to resist being slammed into the earth.

“It’s been getting kind of expensive to hand over so many berries each day, so the sooner we stop entering the crater, the better,” I said, watching as Farigiraf released Metang to allow him to continue his attempts at strikes. “We just need to push a bit further in to get the kind of practice I want, so I’m thinking I'll spend the sum I’ve saved up to grab an insulated tent and stay—”

“Stay the night?” Dianne interrupted, finishing the statement for me while snapping her head over. “Nuh-uh. Hard veto. I’ll actually use my authority as a Pokémon Ranger and arrest you right now if you even think to try.”

“...I can’t convince you?” I squeaked out.

“Please,” she replied, crossing her arms. “At least when we talked the first time, it was clear you had a plan and a specific goal. But staying the night in the Giant Chasm isn’t just insane for your team; it’s likely also fatal.”

I wanted to reach the furthest edge of the crater for one last goal, but the amount of distance we could cover was limited by how much energy we had to expend in a day. Camping out meant we could recover within the crater and make further traveling trivial, but with the look on Dianne’s face, I could tell she’d accept no arguments on my part.

“Can I ask why?” I said.

She smiled as if that was the first smart thing I’d said all day.

“You can, and you may, but I’m just going to tell you outright to make sure you understand,” she said. “Look, Nick, you know that I’m not happy with you entering the Giant Chasm, but in this case, staying the night is dangerous. And in this case, it isn’t just due to the Pokémon. It’s also due to the environment itself.”

At night, the Chasm’s temperatures would drop to even further below freezing, and nighttime was also when the truly dangerous Pokémon came out to hunt. We would need a reliable source of heat just to survive, but that source of heat would also lure in any Ice-types from nearby.

“While the temperatures are survivable with the right preparation, the problem is that camping wouldn’t actually help you,” Dianne said. “Resting is meant to let you recover the energy needed to take on the next day, but you’d face constant battles that’d keep you up, and then that would lead to exhaustion, and exhaustion means mistakes.”

“And out there, mistakes can be deadly,” I said for her.

Grimly, Dianne nodded her head.

Weirdly, the one type of Pokémon that could make my plan somewhat viable was an Ice-type Pokémon. Rather than sleeping in a tent or using something that’d make us obvious but warm, the best way to camp out in an icy environment was to build an igloo or some kind of icy pit. The freezing exterior would help to hide the campsite’s presence, and igloos excelled at keeping in heat. I didn’t have an Ice-type with me, but I could purchase a battle-ready refrigerator for Rotom to possess. However, that wouldn’t give him the fine control over snow that we needed, and even with the refrigerator’s ability to fold up into a backpack, they remained large enough to be cumbersome. They were also effectively useless as folding them up prevented them from storing any food. At least with the oven and washing machine, those were helpful when traveling. A refrigerator would do nothing for us.

Plus, I couldn’t exactly afford it with my current level of cash.

“So no matter what, we’ll only be able to train in the crater during the day,” I mused. “One day to push as deep as possible, and one day to... fight the Pokémon we need to fight.”

Dianne was frowning, but she was looking away from my face. If she got a hint of what I was planning, she didn’t allow that to show.

“I can tell this training has helped your team, but you need to be careful,” Dianne said. “It’s been working out for you so far, but you shouldn’t push your luck.”

“We’ll be careful. We’re all working together, of course,” I said. “We also have Metang now, and Metang is—”

Farigiraf accidentally stepped on Vibrava’s nest once again, and the insect-like Dragon type launched itself out of its hole, landing on Metang. He tried to attack, but he only ended up hitting his own face.

“Metang can be strong,” I said. “He just needs a bit more training.”

“Maybe you do need to spend more time in the crater,” Dianne said with a slight laugh.

We ran down to pull our Pokémon apart, but Dianne’s Vibrava hissed at Metang in annoyance from within her arms. Metang didn’t exactly look pleased to be challenged like that, but he let me hold him back.

Pushing through the Giant Chasm in only one day was going to be limited, but if anything, my team was motivated.

And it was going to be interesting.

This kind of challenge was almost like a game. We just needed to keep trying until we gained the skill needed to find and defeat the final “boss.”

_______________________________________________________________________

The next time we entered the Giant Chasm was a day later. Metang needed time to rest and adjust to being a part of a trainer’s team. I really had to get it into his metal head that he needed to wait to attack unless instructed. What finally convinced him that listening to me was worth it was having him fight Valiant twice—once on his own, and then once following my commands.

While Pokémon always knew how to use their moves better than their trainer, they were more effective in battle when they had a trainer overseeing the entire match. By staying to the side, trainers could see the entire battle at once, and they assisted by using what they knew by issuing the best strategic commands they could make.

As we returned, berries were handed over to the Tangela in exchange for safe passage, and then I was quick to learn the qualitative difference that having a fourth Pokémon made. I had more flexibility to choose just who would fight in battle, and Metang’s presence was essentially an extra pool of stamina. Just being able to have him participate meant I could rotate my team members even more, giving everyone extra time to rest. Even in battles in which everyone had to participate, having one more body with us made those kinds of encounters less difficult. 

Metang was honestly strange when he fought. The rest of my team battled by avoiding damage, either through dodging or deflection. Metang, however, purposefully took strikes to open up opportunities for himself. When fighting something like, say, a Sneasel, Metang would purposefully run into its slashes to better slam his arms into its sides.

Even with the existence of wild Audino, most wild Pokémon didn’t want to take so much damage. Metang’s style of no-holds-barred battling saw Pokémon back off sooner rather than later, and it helped me understand just how he managed to get as strong as he was.

Of course, Metang’s strategy wasn’t the best strategy to have out here—every fight saw him take damage, and every fight tested his defense. But, where the rest of my team had focused on power and speed, Metang focused on his power and health.

So, together, we pushed. The initial edges of the Giant Chasm were easy. With our days of practice behind us, it was almost trivial to locate the common species and change directions, avoiding needless fights. Deeper in, however, Pokémon almost became more territorial, and I didn’t treat the groups we encountered like the Tangela from before. There was no sense in bribing them—they were too angered by our presence.

The only method we had available was to fight.

On our first day of pushing in, we had to fall back due to a Probopass. That floating, stone Pokémon possessed an incredible innate magnetic field, and its presence meant two of my team members could not escape. Metang almost became stuck to its side, and Valiant had trouble moving around when facing it. Ultimately, we only managed to escape thanks to a blast of lightning from Rotom disrupting the Probopass’s usual functions. That let us pull back to return and rest.

But we weren’t going to give up there.

We headed back the next day.

An Aggron tore out trees just to throw them at us like car-sized projectiles. A Poliwrath shattered the surface of a frozen pond to unleash its practiced punches as a punishment for getting too close. Swarms of Emolga would dive from the branches above us, intending to paralyze us and steal our stuff. And then, there was the true threat:

Delibird.

That wild Ice type would merrily approach just to give us a present. The Delibird were never aggressive, making fighting them not an option, but half the time, their gifts would explode. Unfortunately, there was little we could do to avoid that. A Delibird’s smile would trap us due to social pressure and its friendly demeanor.

Though we would receive an occasional rare berry, the blasts we suffered were not worth the risk.

However, even with the increased difficulty of these deeper-in encounters, every day got a little easier as we learned from our mistakes. Aggron were obvious and could be avoided by taking a wider route. We could figure out where the Probopass were by using a compass and changing directions when the needle suddenly locked onto a certain path. Emolga would flee at the slightest amount of damage, and the Delibird’s given Presents?

Present was a Normal-type move. If we sent Rotom forward to accept it, even if the gift exploded, not possessing anything made him a Ghost type, rendering him immune to that damage.

We pushed deeper and deeper in. We learned more about how to avoid unnecessary encounters and win the necessary fights. Through the trees, I started to be able to see the mountains that framed the back half of the chasm. And, within them, I was able to make out our ultimate goal.

“There,” I would whisper to my team. “I can’t explain why I’m so sure of it, but I know we have to get there.”

Because, at the very furthest reaches of the Giant Chasm was a twisted spire of ice and stone. If there was any place that whispered-of monster lurked, it had to be within that strange, unnatural structure.

_______________________________________________________________________

The day of our final push, there must have been a certain look in my eye. That Tangrowth had been there to accept “payment” every time we passed through the Tangela’s territory, but today, it declined those berries.

It acted as though it thought we’d need them.

We avoided all battles. We’d learned the signs, and as much as Metang disliked it, we could avoid the less obvious encounters due to his skill at recognizing distant fights. Twice before, we had made it this far in, but we had been too tired and too damaged to bother continuing. Now, we were in perfect health to complete our push.

We were one battle away from finishing our time in this enormous crater.

“Before we go in, I want to say thank you,” I said, looking at an open cave at the base of that enormous, twisted spire. “We need to get stronger, and this is the hardest possible battle for us to achieve that. This is going to be the most difficult battle we’ve ever faced, and it’s also going to be one of the most dangerous. I know none of you needed to take this risk with me, but I appreciate it so, so much.”

Out of all reactions, I didn’t expect to hear Liepard scoff. The big cat looked annoyed at my short speech, especially since I was almost implying that my Pokémon wouldn’t have been here if I didn’t bring them otherwise. However, they weren’t here because I was telling them to be here; they were here because they wanted this, the same as me.

There was a reason I had wanted to catch Metang so badly. He fit well; every Pokémon on my team wanted these kinds of fights.

“Thank you,” I said, speaking genuinely. “Then, is everyone ready?”

I got a round of acknowledgements, and even Valiant joined in. Valiant was always on edge when it came to securing our safety, but when it came to this cave—

Even they were staring in, ready to test their power in an impossible fight.

“I guess there’s no sense in waiting. Time to go in,” I said.

We stuck close together, and we moved forward as a group, leaving the cover of the trees.

The temperature dropped as soon as we entered the thin tundra that surrounded the spire. Here, it was as if the air itself had somehow become frozen. The world was perfectly still, and all noise was absent save for our footsteps.

I had once thought the sound of the forest was muffled, but walking through this empty, open terrain, it was so quiet that I could hear the blood pumping in my chest.

Every footstep crunched against frost and gravel. Every footstep brought us closer to that towering monolith of a mountain. Natural light from the interior of the structure meant the cave was not pitch black. And, as we carefully passed through that entrance, I was able to see exactly why.

This place was a mountain, but it wasn’t really. It was an entirely hollow structure, all the way up to its very top. Ice spiraled up the walls to create a twisted, pointed peak, and chunks of earth and stone had joined that frozen material, having somehow built up over the years. Everything was spotted by patches of ice, and they served as enormous windows that let in the sun and gave this place a consistent, unearthly glow.

This internal, empty space was mostly smooth, undisturbed stone, but at certain points, I had to fight to regain my balance and not slip on patches of dark ice. Rotom would zip over in the air to help me stay upright. For this fight, he was possessing his oven, and that gave me an easy thing to grab onto for support.

Though the inside of this faux-mountain was devoid of any structures, the back wall opened up and continued down into what had to be another cave.

Or, it continued down into a den.

“Careful,” I whispered, and though I kept my voice low, even that quiet of a sound echoed all around us. “This is where we’re going to make our challenge. We need to make sure we show respect. Only attack when I say to attack, and whatever you do, do not offend the Pokémon in there.”

To my surprise, even Metang nodded. I’d only known him for a few days at this point, but I had a feeling he had never been this focused in his entire life.

As we passed beneath the very tip of this mountain so far above our heads, a chill crept into me. I had felt so confident about this for so very long, but now that we were, the cold was creeping in and threatening to freeze the confidence I had in my chest.

But we kept going, and compared to the rest of this hollow structure, the den in the back was dim but still lit up by that previous space’s consistent light. And, the room actually possessed signs of life, but every sign of life was far too large. There were grooves carved into the ground made by claws the size of my arms.

Whenever I breathed out, my breath would become mist, and ice crystals would fall to the floor.

It was not a natural cold.

But we soon found its source deep asleep in the back of its den.

Laying my eyes on it, I knew I could not call this creature a mere Pokémon.

This was a dragon.

A true dragon.

A Legendary being. A creature intrinsically tied to the history of Unova. One of the strongest Pokémon in the region.

“There it is,” I whispered. “That’s Kyurem.”

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

Due to a schedule change, there will be no chapter tomorrow.

The next chapter caps off this arc.

Pokémon mentioned in this chapter:
Aggron
Delibird
Emolga
Farigiraf
Probopass
Vibrava

Nick’s Team:
Iron Valiant
Liepard
Metang
Rotom

Previous Chapter
Next Chapter

Chapter 8

A Pokémon’s evolution was almost like filling a water balloon—the energy inside them would slowly fill and build pressure up to a certain point, and then it would “burst,” spreading out and inspiring a rapid, extreme change. Different species had different ways to achieve this sudden change, with the vast majority of species only needing the base prerequisite of a certain level of strength. A Pokémon like Beldum had two ways to evolve, one of which was becoming strong enough, and the other was to “merge” with another individual of its kind.

All that being said, I kept this in mind due to a certain fact I knew about a Metang’s brain. The species was essentially the equivalent of two Beldum put together. That might have seemed to imply that a Metang was twice as smart as its pre-evolved form, but that wasn’t the case. The increased brain power only served to increase Psychic-type potential.

In other words, a Metang wasn’t smarter. It only had its usual thoughts, just twice as fast.

When this Metang finally awoke in that Hyper Beam crater, we were waiting nearby, still hidden by the surrounding trees. The blue Pokémon creaked its eyes open to drag itself out of and off the ground. It took several long seconds for it to regain its bearings, and then it shook, causing lingering ash from the Hyper Beam to drift off its floating form.

The Metang stared into the darkness of the Metagross cave, looking as if it were debating the value of another challenge. However, it quickly came to a decision and turned around, rushing back into the forest instead.

“You’re kidding,” I whispered to my team. “Metang still isn’t giving up. It thinks that if it gets a few more wins in, it’ll be strong enough to try again.”

Rotom snickered at that harebrained plan.

Continuing where we left off, Liepard took the lead, and we followed. The Metang didn’t notice us; it flew with a furious mission, not caring about the branches and bushes that blocked its path. Splinters were sent flying as it crashed through the woods, but even with all of its injuries, its Steel type gave it enough sturdiness to ignore all of that.

In the distance, the faint clang of metal rang out, and the Metang’s interest was immediately piqued by the presence of an ongoing battle. From where it was sliding through the air beneath the trees, it changed directions to curve toward wherever the battle was taking place, wanting to gather even more experience for itself.

Unfortunately, as we hurried after it toward the ongoing fight, I couldn’t help but feel a little bad for the pair of Pokémon the Metang discovered. A lone Aron, a little, hard-shelled Steel type, growled at a small Beldum, attempting to taunt the floating into coming lower so that it could eat its metal carapace.

These two Pokémon were the most basic of the basic. They were managing to last in the Giant Chasm by not being a threat. Truly, their only real opponents could be found in each other.

But now, this Metang had arrived.

Honestly, it was a menace.

“Let’s fix this,” I said, tilting my head toward the floating Pokémon to signal for my Pokémon to ready an attack. “Night Slash, Valiant. Liepard and Rotom, reposition.”

Claws gleaming with the start of a Metal Claw, this Metang never got the chance to fully use its move. Before it could realize it, Valiant was already there.

Blade turning pitch-black, an upwards swing struck the Metang’s steel underbelly with a loud, ringing gong. The darkness of this Night Slash, a move inspired by Liepard, practically ate away at the Metang due to how its secondary Psychic type had imbued it with a Dark-type weakness.

Still, the Metang took the blow, eyes going wide, and the two lower-level Pokémon didn’t hesitate to take this moment to flee. Valiant continued their slash as the pair darted off, and Metang was sent careening forward.

Entering a small grove within this forest, it just barely managed to catch itself before it hit the earth.

“Again,” I commanded from within the trees. At the sides of this small grove, Liepard and Rotom took up position to ensure the Metang couldn’t flee.

Once more, the Steel type’s claws gleamed with metallic energy, but as injured as it still was, it wasn’t able to move fast enough to stop a second blow.

This time around, Valiant’s blade came from above, and before the Metang’s claws could reach near them, a blade had already slammed into the Metang’s head. The impact caused a new groove to be formed in the Steel type, and the power of the blow slammed Metang straight into the earth.

Valiant was not finished. I didn’t need to give them any more commands for them to understand my plan. Just to make sure, they jabbed down with their polearm, using both hands. Alongside that stab came a weak Dazzling Gleam that hit the Metang and pushed it down just a bit further to ensure it was fully and truly stuck.

Finally, I walked forward.

“I’m not going to lie about what I want to do here,” I said, stepping out of the surrounding woods. “I’m a Pokémon trainer. I catch and train Pokémon. A few days ago, you caught my attention, and now I want you to join my team.”

Metang’s red eyes twisted into sharp angles as it glared at me in defiance, but the Pokémon couldn’t leave the ground with how Valiant had ensured it was lodged deep into the earth. That, and Valiant was right there and capable of retaliation. That constant threat loomed even as Valiant took several steps back to give me space.

“So,” I continued, walking over. To ensure it didn’t try to escape, I planted my foot in the center of the Metang’s head. “My Pokémon beat you. You’re heavily injured. Most trainers would throw a Pokéball here. According to how things usually work, I have the right to try for a capture, but a capture like that isn’t why I’m here.”

I leaned into my stance, putting pressure on the Metang. Doing so slightly tilted the Pokémon back, ensuring it could see my face.

“I need to ask you a question,” I said to it. “Before anything else happens, just tell me— Why?”

Blinking, the Metang seemed genuinely bewildered at my question. I couldn’t lie and say I hadn’t been trying to appear intimidating, but I was here to have a chat first and give a recruitment pitch. Metang was supposed to join my team. There was no way I’d just toss a Pokéball and bring it with us without at least talking to it, first.

“Why throw yourself into so many battles?” I asked, continuing my questions. “Why risk it and push yourself to that kind of an extreme? And just... why challenge the Metagross in the first place? I mean, both of us know you weren’t going to win.”

I was not familiar enough with this Metang to get a strong read on it, but when it came to Pokémon, they primarily communicated through body language rather than any particular noise. However, I had plenty of experience interpreting the actions of my team as well as the glow in Valiant’s eyes to at least get the gist of what Metang was feeling here.

It was defiance. It was determination. It was so many different things at once. But, by bringing up that Metagross, one emotion pushed past all others.

The Metang was filled with awe. 

For it, the awe it felt about that Metagross was an intense, almost desperate sense of awe. That fully evolved Pokémon was a goal Metang wanted to surpass. It had seen the Metagross in battle, and it desired that same kind of potential for itself.

But while there was nothing wrong with being inspired, what had stuck with me was the way that the Metang had acted when it gave its challenge. And, with this look, it didn’t even need to properly respond to me to give me an answer.

However, as I stared at it, I realized I could only bring myself to frown.

“So I was right,” I mumbled, still watching the Metang for further reaction. “The Metagross wasn’t just another opponent. It is your opponent. It’s your goal—your objective. You want to be just as strong as it, except...”

All I could think about was the disappointed look on the Metagross’s face and how that had compared to the desperation that had filled the Metang's eyes.

“I see,” I said, and I looked the Metang over. “You do know that at this point you’re just letting that Metagross make your decisions for you, right?”

At first, the Metang blinked at me, not understanding the blunt statement in my words. Then, meaning started to settle in, and it shook where it was trapped as if it wanted to fight back against what I said. However, it didn’t have the energy to escape just yet, and it had no choice but to back down.

Trapped due to its level of physical damage, this Metang was forced to consider and think.

“Look,” I said, pulling my foot back so I could crouch and look the Metang in the eye. “It’s fine to use another Pokémon as an inspiration. It’s fine to use someone stronger as a goal you want to reach and surpass. But the way you’re going about it? You’re going up to that Metagross and challenging it all the time. You aren’t giving yourself a chance to define and understand your power. You’re forcing that Metagross to define your level of strength for you.”

The Metang’s red gaze practically stabbed into me, and I stood up, sighing as I walked a few steps back. Valiant tensed as I stepped away from the trapped Pokémon, aware that the Metang could try to escape now that it had space, but the wild Pokémon didn’t move.

It was too busy watching my every movement and listening to my every word, stuck both in place and deep in thought.

“I just... You can’t live with someone else controlling your decisions,” I said, turning away and running my hand through my hair. “Everyone has their own wants and dreams. It’s up to you to actually see those come true, and having that Metagross be the one to judge your efforts... Gah. I just hate it because I’m in a similar position as you.”

Checking over my shoulder, I saw the Metang blinking again, and I gained a soft smile. Memories filled me, but they weren’t happy memories. However, they were memories of the actions I took to bring myself to where I was right now.

“I’m not throwing myself into battle like you,” I said to it. “I am battling with my team, but we aren’t trying to prove ourselves to anyone else. But for me, I’m kind of trapped. Not necessarily because of what I’m doing, but just because of... expectations.”

I properly turned back around.

“I’m not the first person to be in my position,” I continued. “I kind of know a bunch of things I shouldn’t. But the last person to be in that same spot ended up doing a lot, so they set a standard that’s way too high. People expect the same of me, so now?”

“Now, I have to live with that,” I said.

I walked back over to the Metang, and I didn’t turn away. With how it was positioned inside the earth, the Metang had no choice but to watch me, but after what I had said, I could tell it would have been watching me regardless of its current state.

“I want you to know that even with everything hanging over my head, I live for myself, just like how my Pokémon live for themselves, too. I wanted to catch you because of your drive, but I also want your drive to be your own rather than some desperate attempt to live up to whatever standards that Metagross may or may not have.

“Look,” I continued, “you’re a strong Pokémon, and I’d lie if I said that wasn’t a big part of why I want you on my team. But that’s just it—I don’t just want you to be my Pokémon, I want you to be on my team, and that means I need to make sure you understand what you’re getting into, so...”

I crouched before the Metang once more.

“Wanna hear a secret?”

Leaning in, I pulled out my secret weapon.

“That Metagross isn’t even the strongest thing in the crater,” I whispered. “There’s an actual monster out there, and my team and I are here to defeat it.”

Pulling back, I smiled, and my smile wasn’t meant to be any show of joy. My smile was the weapon I used in my day-to-day life. Contracts could be restrictive, and financial support could be turned into strings. Yes, I had come here to take on the World Coronation Series, but that decision hadn’t just been my own.

But my smile served as proof that no matter what other people wanted of me, I would keep going and keep living a life according to myself and not just them. And, in this moment, my smile was my way of showing this Metang that there was more than just trying to impress someone else.

With my speech—probably a bit closer to a rant, in all honesty—finished, Metang took a while to process everything I had just said. However, when it came to a realization, it came to more than one realization. I had spoken for long enough that it now had the energy to pull itself out from the ground.

Without anything holding it back, the wild Pokémon broke free from the earth, sending dirt and torn-up grass raining down around it. The injured form of that battle-hungry Metang floated above me, and its red gaze bore down at where I crouched.

“So?” I asked it. “What are you going to do?”

Valiant was frozen—they could make no sudden movements. With how close this wild Metang was to me, it could unleash an attack before my team could even hope to get close.

But it didn’t. The wild Metang didn’t attack. It shifted back through the air to move to the other side of the grove. There, its gaze purposefully met my eyes, and it looked at me with an unspoken question.

“So my words didn’t really get through to you. You still just want to be strong,” I said, standing up and stretching my arms. “That’s a bit of a disappointment, but I get it. If we’re going to be challenging the strongest Pokémon in this crater, you want us to prove our strength in a fight.”

There was a reason most Pokémon were caught after a battle. Battles proved a trainer’s skill and demonstrated the strength of their team. No Pokémon wanted to be caught by an undeserving trainer, and for this Metang, no battle we had before now had counted for this capture attack.

“Alright. We’ll fight you. Valiant, I want you to—”

A resonating cry left the Metang’s body; Valiant wasn’t the Pokémon it needed to see in a fight.

Though my words had been spoken from the heart, they had also been spoken in an attempt to convince it. Back when I had first entered this open space, I had told the Metang of how trainers trained Pokémon, and now it wanted to see if I could live up to that promise.

It knew Valiant was strong. Valiant was the strongest member on my team by far. So, the Metang didn’t need to see Valiant’s strength. It needed evidence that if it joined us, I wouldn’t ignore it and just cause it to be left behind.

Understanding its request to meet a different Pokémon in a fight, I looked to the woods and nodded at someone else. Quickly, Rotom zipped over, not in any machine form. He was just a tiny little lightbulb, or a living electric bolt. It was almost humorous how small he was when he wasn’t possessing anything, but he floated in place regardless of his diminutive size, willing to meet any opponent head-on.

“Your move first,” I told the wild Pokémon. Rotom chirped out his name in support.

Across from us, Metang brought up its arms just to lock them to its sides, and they were almost like a glider’s wings as the tip of the horn glowed a brilliant blue. It went on to rush at us like a rocket, intended to stab into Rotom with a Zen Headbutt.

But Rotom didn’t move. I said nothing.

Metang approached regardless.

When it was only a split-second away from reaching my Pokémon, I gave a single command.

“Thunder Wave.”

Rotom turned to pure electricity and flickered off to the side. Metang slammed its head forward, trying to stab its move into him, but Rotom was no longer there.

Instead, next to Metang, static crackled out of my tiny Pokémon’s form, and it pierced into the Metang like needles. The electricity crackled through the Steel type, coursing through its body and causing it to go tense in pain.

“Paralysis. You’ll struggle to move,” I said to the Metang.

Fighting through the pulsating currents, the Metang tore an arm away from its body in an attempt to swipe for a Metal Claw.

Unfortunately for it, Rotom was an extremely annoying Pokémon to hit when he wasn’t possessing anything. He easily zipped away to make as much room as possible within this small grove. The Metal Claw went wide by a dozen feet, and the Metang tried to go after him.

However, the Thunder Wave’s paralysis meant Metang could barely move before it tensed, locked in place, unable to do anything to pursue any attacks.

“Rotom,” I said to gather my Pokémon’s attention, knowing that with the Metang’s injuries, there was no sense in delaying the outcome of this fight. “Use Shadow Ball.”

Arms made of plasma stretched out, and Rotom focused to create a darkened ball of energy in front of their floating form. His Shadow Ball seemed to draw in the shade from the trees, the darkness fueling the move’s power to create a concentrated sphere of pure, spiritual energy.

When he finally let it fly, I reached into my pocket to pull out a spare sphere, myself.

As the Shadow Ball hit the paralyzed Metang, the darkened energy burst out just to creep back into the Metang’s body. Somewhat similar to Valiant’s previous use of Night Slash, the move hit with increased effectiveness to deal super effective damage.

The sheer number of injuries it had sustained, combined with the pain of this Shadow Ball, left the wild Pokémon stunned and dazed. Still paralyzed, the Metang could do nothing as I let my own projectile fly through the air.

Then, that yellow-and-black sphere struck the center of its head, and for the second time in the past few days, this Metang was turned to light and sucked into an Ultra Ball.

Holding my breath, I carefully watched the outcome. Quickly, the ball began to move.

One shake, and the Metang didn’t escape.

A second shake, and the Steel type tried its best to snap the ball open.

A third shake occurred, and the Metang had no more energy left.

Paralyzed and injured to a concerning level, the wild Pokémon was unable to break free, and a click echoed out of the unmoving Pokéball.

The sound signalled that Metang had been caught.

“YES!”

For more reasons than one, I was ecstatic. It was rare to find a species like Metang, but it was even rarer to find a Pokémon with a drive that’d so fit the motivation of my team.

“That’s Metang caught! A Metang’s been added to our team! And that means we have a fourth team member, which means we can finally start heading toward—”

A hand placed on my shoulder told me I should stop.

With an even gaze, Valiant sent me a simple stare, and that flat look was enough for a realization that hit me like cold water.

“Oh. Yeah. We need to leave—and probably as soon as we can, at that,” I said, looking up from the now-occupied Ultra Ball. “Metang’s a part of our team now, and that means I’m responsible for them. After all of their battles and all of their injuries... We really need to head to the Pokémon Center. Metang needs to be treated, and I think...”

I smiled.

“I think we all deserve a bit of time to rest before we make our final push.”

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

It’s hard to overstate just how much this chapter and the last chapter fought me. But at least the upcoming chapters will be fun. We’re about to reach the motivating reason behind why I wrote this initial arc.

Don't forget, there's no post on Friday! After Thursday's chapter, updates will pick back up next week!

Pokémon mentioned in this chapter:
Metang / Metagross

Nick’s Team:
Iron Valiant
Liepard
Metang
Rotom

Previous Chapter
Next Chapter

Chapter 7

Our goal had changed; we were no longer trying to catch any possible Pokémon. Now, we had a specific Pokémon in mind that we sought to add to our team. While I wasn’t insane—if we ran into an Excadrill or another strong Steel type, I’d still try to catch it—my entire focus and energy was spent searching for that one Metang. In a way, doing so was a form of training in itself.

Every day, we’d pay the “toll” needed to pass through the Tangela’s territory, dipping into the funds earned by battling the previous night. From there, we’d search the crater, hunting down all potential signs of this Metang. And we did find some signs. It just took effort.

Rotom was unable to help—the magnetic fields were throwing off his internal compass, and while it wasn’t an issue for him to follow along, he’d often struggle to identify previously used paths. Valiant, meanwhile, was our stalwart defender against any would-be attackers. Therefore, it was Liepard who took the lead.

He was not a hound, and he did not have a nose trained for following scents. However, Liepard was a big cat, a feline, a predator that all but stood at the top of the pack. His instincts and senses were primed for searching out prey. And, sure, his prey this time around might have been a big chunk of floating metal, but he was adept at locating and pointing out the equivalent of tracks.

Paths of broken branches. Trees with grooves carved into them by rending claws. Shadows cast into the ground where floating Pokémon hovered by, the rare glint of blue metal serving as a hint toward the magnetic field’s most frequently used routes.

Because of Liepard, the uncommon Beldum became common. I supposed I could have caught one of those, but that specific Metang never left my mind.

We did happen upon other Pokémon in this crater, as expected, but any battles always ended up in our win—or our calculated retreat. However, there was at least one surprise; we ended up finding that same group of Sneasel from the other day. Liepard accidentally led us to the base of an ancient, evergreen tree while following familiar claw marks. When we emerged into the space beneath the tree’s branches, countless red eyes surrounded by dark fur all stared down at us.

Faced with this gang of Sneasel, we were prepared to go on a fighting retreat, but any potential violence was put on hold as a pudgy, pink Pokémon all but stomped our way.

“Alright, alright!” I shouted quickly as its tiny fists uselessly battered my side. “We’ll go! Sorry!”

Because of that Pokémon’s influence, no battle was entertained.

The group of Sneasel used the towering tree’s heavy branches as their base, and they had retreated here after getting injured in a completely unrelated fight. This pink Pokémon had arrived to assist with that recovery, completely unbothered by Sneasel’s mischievous presence, and when my team and I walked away, I could already see the Pokémon’s hands begin to glow for the start of a Heal Pulse.

Audino were naturally kind Pokémon like that, wild or not, and the species’s willingness to heal any injuries was likely why they had become so widespread in Unova. No wild Pokémon ever wanted to prevent an Audino from entering its territory. They were instinctual healers, and having access to such common healing by roaming Audino was probably why the wild Pokémon in Unova were a bit tougher than the wild Pokémon in other regions.

That level of “easy” healing was likely another reason why the Pokémon in the Giant Chasm were so willing to fight. However, as we walked away from the Sneasel’s tree, a certain detail about what we saw stuck out to me.

“The Metang was already injured when it attacked us,” I said quietly to my team. “Except, an Audino should have been able to heal it. There’s no reason for it to have entered a fight so damaged, unless...”

I frowned, remembering just how Valiant and I used to take things back when I was still adapting to this world.

“Unless it’s so focused on battling, the Metang isn’t caring about its wellbeing,” I said softly, absentmindedly rubbing some faded marks on the back of my hand. “To it, Audino might just be yet another species to attack.”

At my side, Valiant uncomfortably rolled their shoulders. The glow in their eyes dimmed at the reminder of how we used to act.

Liepard continued to lead our group from there. His strategy changed somewhat—he now looked for familiar details while also hunting down active battles.

A Solrock crashed against a half-asleep Lunatone. A Mamoswine led a group of Piloswine in a territory dispute against a Weavile and its Sneasel. A lone Excadrill dug through the earth to slip out and steal some berries from a tree that a few Taillow nested in.

I almost wanted to catch the Excadrill we saw, but once again, that wild species took one look at us, grunted, and then dove straight back into the earth.

I’d only ever been so offended one other time in my life.

Spending days in the Giant Chasm did lead to a noticeable increase in strength. The battles became easier, and the freezing environment became more tolerable. Charges from Mamoswine that Valiant would be forced to avoid became moves that Valiant could now deflect. The Psychic-type attacks of Solrock and Lunatone became less of an overwhelming threat and more of a technique Rotom could disrupt with Shadow Balls. The straggler species, the lone individuals searching for loose items to take, were dealt with quickly and efficiently by Liepard’s Night Slash. With those improvements came added time in each day. The less energy we spent in battle, the more energy we had to continue our search.

And then, over two weeks since our initial steps into the crater, we finally found exactly what we were looking for.

Increasing the radius of his search, Liepard brought us to the very edge of the Giant Chasm. There, a cliff extended far above us, and at its base, a cave opened up.

“Shh,” I said, crouching and lowering my voice. “The Metang is right there. Finally. But... It’s just floating. It’s doing... something. What’s it waiting for?”

We had found the Metang, but I couldn’t bring myself to approach; my curiosity was getting the best of me. This Metang looked worse now than it did even just a few days ago—even its magnetic levitation saw it hovering closer to the earth. Scrapes and dents littered what should have been its nearly impervious body. The darkness around its eyes made them seem even more sunken than before. And, on its right arm, one of its metal claws had a noticeable chip.

But yet, even with all of that building damage, this Pokémon had not given up.

Creeping around to get a better look at it, I managed to catch a glimpse of the Metang’s expression from where I crouched behind the trees. Its species had a metal, almost emotionless face like an Iron Valiant’s, but its eyes revealed everything.

It might have just been floating there, but this Metang was staring straight into the depths of the cave with undeniable determination.

Then, the Metang vibrated. A shout echoed out from deep inside the Pokémon’s body.

“It’s... calling out its name,” I whispered as the Pokémon’s call echoed around us. “By the sound of it, it’s like... it’s challenging something to a fight?”

Behind me, Valiant suddenly snapped their hand up to better grip their blade. At my side, all of Liepard’s fur suddenly stood on its ends.

Something shifted from inside the darkness of the cave. Lumbering out was a brand new Pokémon; where Metang was two-limbed and floating, this Pokémon walked across the earth with four independent legs. Its body was made out of that same, silvery blue, and a metal cross covered its face.

The newcomer’s red eyes were completely emotionless as it brought its gaze over toward the challenger that floated outside its home.

“A Metagross.” My words were so quiet that they could barely be described as a whisper. “The evolution of Metang. A pseudo-Legendary Pokéemon. Finding one is difficult. Evolution is a struggle for even the most experienced of trainers. A Metang was already a rare species, but to see a Metagross that managed to fully evolve in the wild?”

There was no doubting it; for a trainerless Pokémon, this thing had to be strong.

To the Metang, however, the Metagross was another opponent, but calling it “just” another opponent would have been wrong. Based on the look in the Metang’s eyes, this Metagross was the opponent. It was the challenge that the Metang had been striving for. There was such dogged determination, such a drive to this mid-stage Pokémon’s eyes that it was almost a wonder that it didn’t immediately throw itself forward.

The Metang vibrated once again as it let out another cry, and the Metagross didn’t react at all to the repeated challenge. The fully evolved Pokémon’s red gaze simply flicked over the Metang, and the Metang floated higher in expectation.

But if the Metagross noticed the excitement, it didn’t show it. Rather, the first emotion it had displayed across this entire encounter finally crossed its face:

Disappointment.

Turning around in a silent dismissal, the heavy legs of the Metagross shook the earth as it moved to return to its cave. Behind it, the Metang started to shake, and I could see how its own eyes shifted to display so many different emotions at once—but, primarily, rage.

It happened almost faster than I could process; the Metang flung itself through the air. It used the Giant Chasm’s magnetic field to accelerate to an incredible speed.

But, even faster than it had moved, the Metang hit the earth. Blue, telekinetic energy held it down as it struggled to free itself from the Metagross’s distant grip.

Now properly annoyed, the Metagross finally looked back. Perhaps to deal with an ongoing annoyance, or perhaps just to settle the Metang’s persistent challenges, the metal of the fully evolved Pokémon’s lower body creaked open.

A glow built in the Metagross’s mouth.

“That’s—”

Valiant lunged, grabbing me and pulling me away to hide behind a tree. Briefly, this entire space beneath the cliffside became solely defined by heat and light. Dirt entered the air, and I didn’t get to see the attack. Yet, I could tell what it was.

A Hyper Beam.

A laser attack.

The ultimate Normal-type move.

Given that Metang was a Steel type, it should have resisted this attack. However, the Metagross possessed such an insane level of power that this resisted move had utterly taken the Metang out. From where it had been pinned by Psychic energy, there was now a small crater in the earth. The Metang was utterly unconscious, half-buried in the dirt.

But the Metagross was still there.

Standing outside its cave.

Its deep red eyes flicked our way, and I felt my breath catch in my throat.

When it came to obtaining true power, that power could only come from countless moments of personal experience. Here, this Metagross stood at the very peak of what the average wild Pokémon could become. My team and I didn’t just recognize that—we could feel that.

However, all the Metagross did was flick its eyes over us and express its disinterest. The moment its gaze fell away, I felt as though I could breathe once more.

As the Metagross disappeared back into its darkened, stony home, Rotom’s washing machine hit the dirt with a thump as he abandoned it to hide within my smart watch. Meanwhile, I had never seen Liepard stand with a back so arched or a tail so puffed up. Valiant was my team member most in control, but they had still drawn their blade just in case.

As we stood now, we could only maybe beat that Metagross in a fight. Valiant could likely keep it occupied, but we would also need to heavily rely on Liepard’s tricks. However, following that strategy would just force Liepard to become our weakest link. One well-placed move, and our entire side of the battle would collapse.

“But it’s pretty neat, right?” I said to my team. “To see something that strong and know that you have so much farther to go.”

Liepard sat down and began to lick a paw, acting casually as if to suggest that he had understood that from the start. Next to me, Valiant carefully lowered their blade, but I had a feeling that their alertness would be at its max for the next several days.

However, in all honesty, that Metagross didn’t matter. It was a chance encounter at best—no capture attempt aimed at it would ever work.

As I collected Rotom’s fallen washing machine, my gaze flicked back over to the newly formed crater in the center of this clearing. There, our target lay unconscious, but I didn’t grab one of my spare Ultra Balls.

No.

As much as I wanted to catch this Metang, we weren’t here to force it to fight for us. Capturing it now would only go against everything my Pokémon and I stood for. Instead, we would wait. We would fight it properly. We would give it a pitch.

By the end of the day, this Metang would be part of our team.

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

Pokémon mentioned in this chapter:
Audino
Excadrill
Metang / Metagross
Sneasel

Nick’s Team:
Iron Valiant
Liepard
Rotom

Previous Chapter
Next Chapter

Chapter 6

We were surrounded. Dark figures lurked in the trees, and long claws dragged grooves into the bark while knocking away thin, surface-level layers of snow. Red eyes gleamed within the shadows, and even Liepard wasn’t able to hide. Every Pokémon species had a special ability innate to it, and the group that surrounded us had an especially Keen Eye.

Valiant brought up their polearm, readying their stance with their weapon in hand. Rotom let the inside of his washing machine churn, building pressure to release in an instant. His location discovered, Liepard was at my side with an arched back. There was no sense for him to continue to stalk about as our preliminary scout—it was better to be prepared for this fight.

A sound echoed around us; the attacking swarm snickered. The wild Pokémon’s shared gaze did not leave the items we carried.

Valiant’s crystal weapon. My enormous backpack. And Rotom’s... well, Rotom’s everything.

The swarm that surrounded was an entire group of unevolved Pokémon—and that was not a good thing. Their continued presence in the Giant Chasm spoke of their skill in mass combat. They were all the same species, and they all shared the same types: Ice and Dark. They resisted the freezing temperature that defined the air, and as Dark-types, they naturally excelled at more “sneaky” behaviors.

Their goal was clear: to take our stuff. We were “visitors” to this crater, and that means we were a delivery of items that the Pokémon here wouldn’t normally find. This wasn’t just an attack to defend their territory; this was an attack to take everything we had.

These Sneasel would not allow us to leave without some kind of “repayment” for this fight.

“Rotom,” I said quietly. “I’ll need you to protect Liepard.”

He understood what I meant immediately, but the Sneasel weren’t willing to give me time to say any more commands. The second my sentence ended, the dark-furred Pokémon leaped from the trees. Red feathers on their head vibrated from the force of the wind, and I only had a second to duck close to Valiant’s legs while Rotom rushed to place himself before Liepard and protect the feline from the attack.

“GLEAM!” I shouted.

Only one Pokémon and one Pokémon alone on my team was capable of using any such attack.

Valiant was by far the fastest Pokémon here, and they stabbed their weapon straight up over their head. I pulled my coat up to protect myself, and Rotom braced themselves for this damage. As so many Sneasel sailed through the air, claws shining, a slight gleam appeared in Valiant’s weapon.

Then, that gleam grew until it became a full-on blast.

The Dazzling Gleam consumed this small area beneath the trees of the Giant Chasm’s forests. Its pink light seared into the bodies of the Sneasel, dealing super effective Fairy-type damage to the swarm of Dark types. Several of the Sneasel hit the ground, unable to continue battling, but healthy allies jumped in just to drag them away. Some, the more determined ones, kept moving, and there were still plenty of other Sneasel that hadn’t been caught in the blast.

Thus, we fought.

“Hydro Pump, sweep it around!” I shouted to Rotom, who was shaking off the damage he had taken on Liepard’s behalf. “Liepard, Slash anything that stands out! And Valiant—”

A blast of water was already tearing around us. Despite taking Valiant’s Dazzling Gleam up close to protect Liepard, Rotom pushed through the damage to open his washing machine and have its roaring water tear through the trees.

“Valiant,” I continued, standing up and retrieving my baton from inside my coat. “We’re not holding back. Go ahead and use Electric Terrain.”

Cries and hisses from the Sneasel echoed out from around us; Rotom and Liepard’s combined assault was working. However, there were too many Sneasel, and they wouldn’t be able to fight forever. Hydro Pump only had so many uses before Rotom had to close his washing machine and let all of the water build back up. Liepard, meanwhile, only truly excelled through fighting one Pokémon at a time—which he was doing by carving through any Sneasel that strayed too close in its attacks.

Valiant had bought time for their assault by using his Dazzling Gleam, and now everyone was buying time for Valiant in return.

Just like how the Sneasel had trained their Keen Eye as an ability, Valiant was an Iron Valiant, a Pokémon that belonged to a special classification of rare Pokémon. Their ability was not unique, but that didn’t mean that it wasn’t powerful. Due to an Iron Valiant’s robotic nature, they had an engine in their chest—an engine that constantly ran and fueled all of their movements.

An engine capable of bringing them to the next level if properly supercharged.

Once again stabbing their blade into the air, the edge of Valiant’s weapon crackled with yellow electricity. Bolts broke off of it to hit the east, but Valiant used both hands to stab it into the forest floor, sending that lightning spreading out in all directions.

The world became stained by electricity as this move, Electric Terrain, temporarily changed our forest battlefield. Static was a constant needling feeling under our feet, and the world itself was a battery that could fuel and empower any Electric-type move.

Or, the world could fuel and empower the engine in Valiant’s chest.

Liepard had been caught out of place, and three Sneasel jumped in an attempt to strike back now that they had surrounded him. However, those Sneasel never fully realized just how screwed they were. Valiant disappeared from the center of our group just to reappear behind the jumping Pokémon’s attacks.

With a slash, all three Sneasel were hit and sent flying into the woods, and Liepard sent Valiant a nod before returning to his more targeted fights. Behind, thanks to the ongoing Electric terrain, Rotom switched moves to start striking with Thunderbolts, making the most of the charge they had access to while its temporary effects remained.

Our battlefield became something closer to a blender, as almost every Sneasel attempt to steal our stuff became subject to Valiant’s overpowered onslaught. The thing about their Quark Drive was that it enhanced their best attribute, and as skilled and powerful as Valiant’s strikes were, what made Valiant a threat in combat was their speed.

So, they moved at a double pace, using their increased momentum to deliver lightning-fast blows and constantly reposition themselves. Though the Sneasel seemed endless, they were only part of a single swarm. We were tearing through them—all of us.

Occasionally, one would get too close, and I would have to knock it far back with a swing of my baton.

“Just a bit more! They’ll leave before too long!”

We were winning. Electric Terrain was our trump card. The static even helped with exhaustion, somewhat. The constant static under our feet meant no one could fall asleep or even feel that tired.

Of course, this didn’t end easily.

This was the moment the newcomer arrived.

“Liepard, get the Sneasel on the left!” I shouted, and when I turned my head to check on everyone else, something blue crashed through the trees just to slam straight into Valiant’s back.

This was a being made of metal, a thick, silver-blue disc with two arms that hung off its sides. Claws just as sharp as the Sneasel’s gleamed at the end of those metal limbs, and red eyes sunken into the carapace of this species targeted Valiant with a focus that screamed it was searching for a fight.

Not expecting this sudden, alien species to arrive, Valiant was sent stumbling forward. For all that the Electric Terrain enhanced them, it did nothing for their defense.

Two Sneasel jumped, carving thin lines across the metal of Valiant’s chest before clanging off the crystal that poked out of their chest’s center. Two more clawed at Valiant’s legs, attempting to hamstring them, but they couldn’t get past Valiant’s lightweight defenses.

Still, even with these “weak” attacks, Valiant took damage.

Behind them, that newcomer threw itself forward, sliding right through the air. I thought they were about to attack Valiant again, but the Sneasel surrounding my friend and Pokémon were subjected to a highly aggressive attack.

It was a blend of moves, a flurry of movement. The new Pokémon used both its body and its limbs to attack everything around it at once. The Sneasel were struck—but so was Valiant.

“It’s a Metang!” I shouted, Liepard running over to stand at my side. “This is getting complicated. We can’t brute force this. The Sneasel aren’t backing off, and the Matang looks like it’s attacking everyone.”

This battle turned from a two-sided match to a three-sided frenzy, and I could already tell my Pokémon were flagging. We were going to win, but this wasn’t our first battle today. We’d need to leave the crater soon, and we needed at least something left to support us on our climb back out.

But I couldn’t forget just why we were here, and that memory carried with it an answer:

Though battling was an option, there was a different solution I could follow to quickly end this fight.

“With me, Liepard,” I said. “Protect the backpack. We need to make the Sneasel leave first, and they look just weak enough that I should be able to join in on the fight.”

Liepard replied with a single nod of his head, but his gaze was slightly off. I could tell that as much as he wanted to continue this battle, he kept sending looks to Valiant.

There was something about seeing the stronger Pokémon be struck so easily that was throwing him off.

Still, he stayed by my side as I ran toward the trees, charging at the end of the clearing. Rotom’s joyous cackles bounced through the air, and the wild Metang stuck close to the opposite trees, fighting Valiant as well as all of the Sneasel around it.

Right now, this fight was three-way, but as soon as the Sneasel left, the Metang was likely to turn solely toward us.

I had a basic plan at least, and I really hoped my idea would “encourage” all of the Sneasel to flee.

“There!” I shouted, identifying where two healthy-looking Sneasel crouched in a bush. Neither of these two Pokémon seemed intent on joining the fight, serving as weaker members of their tribe that’d only jump in to drag away any allies that got too hurt.

Their eyes widened when they realized Liepard and I were charging directly toward them, and both of them cried out to call for help.

“Liepard, Assist!” I shouted.

In this case, my shout was more explicit than it seemed.

Liepard growled, and the sound of his cry caused light to flash around Rotom behind us. That light turned to motes that were drawn into a paw-shaped glow that hovered in front of Liepard’s face. Two Sneasel—two Sneasel other than the pair in the bushes—leaped to defend. Liepard let his growl turn into a full-on Snarl, and his glowing paw-shape burst.

This was a move exclusive to feline species. Assist let him draw in and “borrow” moves from the party.

Though he didn’t have fine control over what move was used, this case still worked out well. The paw-shape exploded outwards into shadows, and the Shadow Ball stolen from Rotom let Liepard take these two Sneasel out.

“Great! And now—”

I was right there on the two undefended Sneasel, and my baton swung.

I wasn’t a Pokémon. I was a human. I could only hit with the strength of a moderately trained person. However, my “attack” was the equivalent of an unevolved Pokémon’s Tackle—or, given how a switch let electricity crackle at the end of my baton’s end—it was close to the Thundershock of one of the many different kinds of electric rodents.

Whatever my swing was comparable to, it hit one Sneasel in the side, and the follow-up blow let me jab the other in the chest. Both of them grunted in pain and leaped back. Though not an impressive blow, my and Liepard’s charge represented a change in the status quo:

We were no longer on defense. We were now on offense.

“Three in the tree on the left,” I said, speaking as fast as I could, loud enough so that everything nearby could hear. “One looking down above us. Two more off in that direction. And then there are a few more over there that we might want to—”

A whistle echoed through the woods.

We had already been doing well in this fight, but my and Liepard’s push had completely turned it around on this group of Sneasel. They wanted to take our items. They didn’t want to get taken out, themselves. Some fights just weren’t worth continuing, and with them now on the back foot, the whistle had been a signal for all of the Sneasel to escape.

“Great!” I made sure my smile was as close to a smirk as possible—I wanted to project confidence to ensure the fleeing Sneasel didn’t turn around. “And now, we need to help.”

With a quick shout of “hurry,” Liepard and I ran back toward the rest of the fight.

The Sneasel were gone, but so was the Electric Terrain. As a result, Valiant’s Quark Drive was no longer provided them with a super-charge. Their speed was back to normal, and they could barely bring up their weapon in time to block each of the Metang’s blows. If it were earlier in the day, they might have had a better chance, but they were flagging and could only focus on defense.

I had but a single second to put together a plan, but I did have this chance to take a better look at this Metang. Just like Valiant, it had suffered dozens of scratch marks from all of the weak Sneasel together, but this wild Pokémon had plenty of injuries beyond that.

Scuff marks discolored its blue metal, and worn dents and grooves hinted at blows it had taken in the past. When it attacked, it favored one arm over the other, and I wasn’t sure if that was due to a bad habit or a lingering injury. The sharp spike that almost resembled a nose in the center of Metang’s face was dented at the very end. Likely, at one point or another, a charge from this Pokémon had been blocked, resulting in that damage.

This Metang was not just a random Pokémon lured in by the noise of a battle. This was a Pokémon that sought out and joined in on battles all the time.

However, though damaged, all of the Metang’s injuries hinted at the experience it had gathered in this crater. With its determined focus, taking it out via fighting would not be easy.

But all we needed to do was end this battle, not finish this Metang off. Given my goals in this crater, sometimes the easiest way to achieve something was to take the most direct route.

“Valiant!” I shouted, tearing my pack off my back to dig through a side pocket. “Overwhelm it! Close Combat!”

The Metang barely had time to prepare a defense before Valiant was immediately on it.

Though Valiant was injured as well, they had complete faith in my commands. A Metal Claw tore at one of their arms, but they were able to throw their entire body into this attack. Forsaking all forms of defense, they unleashed a furious assault. The wild Pokémon’s metal body limited just how well this attack could dig into it, but Valiant’s furious attack did, in fact, start pushing the Metang back.

“Now, fall back!” I shouted toward Valiant, who immediately stopped their assault and jumped backward to make room. “Liepard, your turn!”

This whole time, Liepard had been stalking toward the pair of battlers, and he leaped from where he had positioned himself in a bush to carve through the Metang, utilizing a claw the color of night.

Liepard’s Night Slash landed critically. Metang’s red eyes widened in both pain and surprise. A brand new groove was left on the bottom of its body, and I finally found just what I was looking for in my pack.

“Now you, Rotom!” I shouted next, drawing back my arm.

For this, the metal of Metang’s body almost served as a conductor. The Thunderbolt hit it as soon as I let my payload fly.

As soon as the lightning stopped, a new projectile hit the center of the Metang’s face.

The wild Pokémon was dazed after everything it had just taken, and it wasn’t prepared to suddenly be sucked up and turned into light by the yellow-and-black sphere of an Ultra Ball.

With Metang’s disappearance, the Ultra Ball closed. And, as soon as it hit the earth, the capture device began to shake.

“Okay,” I said, breathing in and out, doing my best to gather my breath. “Everyone, reposition. I remember Metang having a low catch rate. It’s probably going to break free, but I have three more Ultra Balls on me, and we should have a few moments to prepare.”

The difference between Pokéballs in the games and real life was how they explicitly functioned. Classically, it took three shakes for a Pokémon to be captured, but that was just a representation of a Pokémon fighting back. Here, the Metang didn’t fight right away—after all that damage, it needed a second to recover before it could gather enough energy to try to escape. That meant the ball had more time to “secure” this capture, but it didn’t finish before the Metang started to unleash its attacks.

After several seconds, the initial shake came.

From there, I breathed in, and Valiant rested slightly while bringing their blade back up.

A second shake happened. I breathed out. Liepard moved to hide in the bushes once again.

Then, a third shake, and I almost thought that was it, but a fourth shake followed almost immediately after.

Then, there was a fifth shake after that. And then a sixth.

This Metang did not want to give up, and it was a Pokémon that wanted to continue its fight.

At least, that’s how I interpreted it.

When the Ultra Ball finally broke open, snapping in half and releasing the Metang, each and every member of my team was prepared to continue this battle. However, as the Metang’s metal body vibrated to release the equivalent of a roar—

The wild Pokémon turned around and immediately used the Giant Chasm’s magnetic fields to slide through the air, disappearing back into the woods at a lightning-quick pace.

This space between the trees became silent, and the dozens of Pokémon that had once been battling here were now all absent. The ever-present muffling of noise in this crater resumed, and the sheer weight of nothing at all almost threatened to make me collapse.

“Okay. New plan,” I said to my team, allowing myself to fall back and lean against a tree. “We’re leaving this crater. We need to rest. But, once we’re back here tomorrow, we’ll have a new goal.”

No matter what, I needed to catch at least a fourth Pokémon, and I had many species on my list. Metang was right at the top of desired potential captures, and this individual hit practically every check mark in the book.

It was strong. Experienced. And capable of taking a hit. It could act defensively while delivering strong blows, and the way it had kept up with Valiant—albeit an exhausted Valiant—meant we wouldn’t need to train it anywhere near as much to have it match everyone else.

But the real reason I wanted to catch that Metang was because of the focus I saw in its eyes. While any Pokémon could train to become a strong battler, very few Pokémon could so wholly throw themselves into a fight just like it had.

“We’re catching that Metang,” I said, breathing out to steady myself. “We’re catching that Metang, and then we’re pushing deeper in. A Pokémon that strong and that willing to battle? Yeah. We want it to join us. After all, there’s no way we encounter a Pokémon as determined as it was and then not add it to our team.”

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

A change in plans caught me off guard over the weekend, so I need to slightly adjust the upcoming schedule. These initial daily chapters will only last until Thursday this week, instead of Friday. However, to make up for that missing chapter, I won’t slow down next week and will pick back up as soon as I’m able to. Though there won’t be chapters next Monday or Tuesday, expect daily releases again on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

Chapter 7 tomorrow!

Pokémon mentioned in this chapter:
Metang
Sneasel

Nick’s Team:
Iron Valiant
Liepard
Rotom

Previous Chapter
Next Chapter

Chapter 5

Author Note:

Early chapter due to the holiday!

Happy Halloween!

=======================================================================

My team had a pretty clear ranking when it came to power and skill in battle, but it was a ranking for power and skill individually rather than both at once.

No one could argue that Valiant stood at the top of two lists; their overall capability with their weapon meant they could beat anyone else in a fight.

For sheer power, Rotom was close behind them, but there was still a noticeable gap in raw strength. However, the power of the moves Rotom could gain through possession almost let him match Valiant’s strikes.

Meanwhile, Liepard didn’t quite have that same level of strength, but he did have his tricks. With the right plan, he could shut down an opponent even above Valiant’s level. Although his various slashing moves weren’t necessarily as strong an attack as one delivered by Valiant’s blades, he was adept at ensuring his moves landed critically, and those critical hits were much like Rotom’s best attacks: they almost let Liepard match Valiant’s strength.

So Valiant was at the top, and in terms of raw power, Rotom was right behind them. However, when it came to skill in battle, it was Liepard who was firmly in second place.

I explained all of this to Dianne on that same, first night as we walked through Lacunosa Town after I got back from the Giant Chasm. The sun had long since set, and her work had already seen her return from her day on the Route. Most people here in Lacunosa were asleep at this point, but there were plenty of those who were up and wide awake.

After all, it was the World Coronation Series. For the trainers competing in it, night was the perfect time to search out battles.

“Psycho-Cut, Valiant,” I ordered.

Ahead of us, Valiant swiped with the flat edge of their blade to deflect a glob of embers. A monkey with flaming red hair then tried its best to leap back to avoid the follow-through strike.

It failed.

“So for power, it’s Valiant, then Rotom, and then Liepard,” I said to Dianne while carefully watching the ongoing battle. “But for ranking the skill behind their moves, it’s Valiant, then Liepard, and then Rotom after him.”

“Wow,” Dianne said, paying attention but needing to force back a yawn. “So Liepard’s not in last?”

“Yup!” I answered cheerfully. “If anything, he’s firmly tied for second place.”

Ahead of us, Valiant finished the current battle, bringing down their weapon with a single glowing slash. Their opponent, a bright red Simisear, was no longer able to push through the devastating damage it had sustained, and the Pokémon finally collapsed.

“Good to know he’s doing so well. I was worried he wouldn’t keep up in a team like yours,” Dianne said, pulling her arms back in an effort to stretch and maintain the level of energy needed to get through the night. “And, if he’s comparable to even part of what I’ve seen your Iron Valiant get up to...”

The Simisear’s trainer looked crestfallen. In the street between us, Valiant flicked their polearm to the side as if to clean it off. Breaking it apart and clicking the two individual blades back into place, Valiant marched to my side to stand at attention, returning to their default position of standing guard.

Their metal face rarely displayed any form of emotion—at times, it almost felt like they were proud of how serious they were. However, there were subtle tells that they themself weren’t aware of.

With this battle finished, the glow in the electronic screen that displayed Valiant’s eyes had brightened ever so slightly. I didn’t need to guess what they were feeling after seeing that—the increase in brightness told me they were quite pleased with their performance.

“Good job,” I said quietly to them. And then, to our opponent, I shouted, “And your Simisear was no joke! Its Overheat was almost as strong as my Rotom’s!”

“Almost as strong, but not as strong or stronger...” my opponent said.

He let out a quiet laugh as I tried not to wince.

The battles I’d had so far... hadn’t really been that fair.

As far as I could tell, only Normal Rank trainers were active in Lacunosa. With months left in the Series, not everyone was bothering to compete just yet, and not everyone had gathered the requisite points to reach a higher tier. However, it was more that the vast majority of Series-related battles were happening in major cities. The strongest trainers had left; only the trainers with a more casual approach had stayed behind.

Here and now, almost as if to add insult to injury, the trainer that Valiant had just defeated walked over to pass me prize money after his loss. While it would have been “kind” for me to turn it down, this trainer had been the one to challenge me in the first place, and... I kind of needed the cash after spending every last bit I had left on the berries I’d given to the Tangela earlier today.

These battles were helping me with more than just the five-or-so Series points I’d earn after a win.

Especially since, with the thousands of trainers competing, it’d take several hundred points before I could earn the right to test myself in a promotion match.

“I knew it was the right decision to come along with you tonight,” Dianne said as she watched the other trainer hurry off toward the town’s sole Pokémon Center. “I don’t think I understood just how strong your team was until now.”

“You’re not tired?” I asked.

She yawned, but it felt more like a joke.

“I am a bit, but it’s Farigiraf that had to do all of the running, and this tiredness is worth it. Now I know that you’ll be able to ward off any robbers, and it’s nice to see that you’re so confident about the Giant Chasm for a reason.”

We started to walk down the empty, nighttime street. The occasional lamp lit up the road, but they were never frequent enough to provide consistent light. Rotom kept to the sky above us, but I had him flying up there without any additional drones. We didn’t need to make that much noise this late at night, and this was more of a casual hunt for battles more than anything else.

For our purposes, a single camera was enough to give me a view of our surroundings on my tablet. Rotom meant we had an advantage when it came to finding other trainers to battle, and he could also record all of our fights.

“You mentioned robbers,” I said, looking over to Dianne. “I thought this place was pretty peaceful. Lacunosa gets robbers?”

“Not really.” Dianne shrugged. “But everyone’s still on edge. It might have happened over a year ago at this point, but you would be paranoid too after what happened at the Pokémon League.”

I could tell this wasn’t a topic Dianne wanted to discuss, so I just hummed, and Rotom flew one block over to send an image of the opposite street. There, another battle was actively taking place, and a deer with foliage growing from its horns furiously battered a fiery anteater that refused to go down.

“How was Giant Chasm, by the way?” Dianne asked quietly as we moved on to search for anyone else who might be out here.

“It was... weird,” I said. “It’s quiet, but the Pokémon there are strong.”

“You actually got into a battle?” she asked.

“Not really. We had a tough one before we entered, so I returned everyone but Liepard and focused more on stealth. It was just me and him out there, and we only bothered with a preliminary push. I don’t know if we were noticed or not, but I got to see a lot of the Chasm’s different species.”

“And?” Dianne asked, waving a hand to gesture for me to continue.

“And... there were a lot more Ice types and far fewer Steel types than I had hoped,” I finished, speaking with a grumble.

Still, the lack of easily accessible, desired species didn't mean the Chasm itself was any less impressive.

“It was... foggy,” I continued, bringing my thoughts back to earlier today. “It was hard to see that far into the distance, even with all of the gaps between the trees. But I could see shapes moving beneath the branches, and any open space was claimed by these massive herds.”

Great numbers of shuffling, brown mounds of fur would wander about and sniff for food. Among all of those tall-backed Piloswine and Swinub, I’d see the squashed mammoths that were Mamoswine somehow present to walk between them.

Other wild Pokémon would float around far off into the distance, but I’d never see anything more than a flash as they zipped by. I had to pull back before we got too deep in, but I could already tell:

The further into the Giant Chasm we pushed, the stronger the Pokémon we encountered would be.

“So,” Dianne said, letting out a slight chuckle. “You going back?”

She tried to speak with levity, but her voice became a bit quieter when she asked her question.

“I am,” I told her, speaking with the utmost confidence. “While I know my team and I could be following a bunch of different strategies to get stronger, I really need to expand our team, and the Giant Chasm is our best bet for that.”

Dianne nodded, but the act wasn’t directed at me—it was more of an absentminded shake of the head that hinted at deep thought rather than explicit agreement. I could tell she still wasn’t comfortable with the idea of me entering the Giant Chasm, but being able to return unharmed had helped.

And it had helped even more to see the level of strength my team demonstrated in our battles tonight.

“I’m guessing you have some spare Pokéballs on you,” she said.

“Ultra Balls,” I replied. “Not many, but enough that I should be able to catch one or two things after getting into a fight. The real issue is, however, that I can’t catch just any Pokémon. I need to catch a Pokémon that I can actually connect with. I can’t imagine taking on Champions with a team member I can’t befriend.”

Once again, Dianne nodded, but this time, the nod was far more intentional. As silly as it sounded, the power of friendship was essentially a real, measurable force in this world, to the point that there were entire phenomena that revolved directly around it.

For example, whatever “Mega Evolution” truly was, it was common knowledge that it only worked when a true bond was formed between a trainer and their Pokémon. Otherwise, all that temporary transformation did was cause their Pokémon a lot of pain and forced them to mindlessly lash out.

“At least you have a plan,” Dianne mused. “And, at least you— Hold on, can I see that?”

Handing over my tablet, Dianne’s eyes widened in surprise, but then a sneaky grin replaced that expression on her face.

“I knew he was competing!” she all but hissed. “That’s Daryl—he’s a Pokémon Ranger with me. He’s not supposed to be competing, but... Did you know he pulled my hair in school?”

“As a child?” I asked.

“Nope! Back in Ranger School, just a few months ago, he walked up to me after class one day, complimented my curly hair, and then just kind of... grabbed it?”

“Messed up,” I said.

“Yup.” Dianne sent me another nod, but I could tell she had already come up with a plan of her own. “Anyway, since that guy’s here, and since Liepard’s been resting in his Pokéball, I wouldn’t mind if you brought him out and...”

“Beat that guy up?” I offered.

“In a battle, of course,” Dianne said quickly.

The fight was easy—Daryl was just another Normal Rank trainer that my team outmatched and beat. By the end of the night, we were able to defeat three more trainers.

That put my current ranking somewhere in the mid eight-thousands, and we earned a bit more cash, too. With all of that experience, and with everything we had earned from our battles, we took our first few steps toward climbing toward Master Rank.

Of course, we were only able to gather a total of twenty-five points.

Six months felt like a long time, but it was also far too short.

_______________________________________________________________________

The world inside the Giant Chasm was calmer. The uneven rows of trees, the thick fog, and the occasional patch of snow muffled everything that wasn’t a nearby voice. Sounds that might have alerted something at a distance only gathered attention if they happened up close. That meant that few Pokémon ever saw where Liepard helped me stalk about, but that also meant we were at the same disadvantage when it came to discovering interesting Pokémon in return.

Out here, Pokémon didn’t necessarily claim a territory and then forbid all other species from entering it. Rather, a Pokémon or a group of Pokémon would lay claim to an area, and then, as long as those who entered it respected their presence and didn’t go after their specific home, there was no issue with walking around.

Mostly.

I took advantage of that lenience by not needing to bribe anything but the Tangela on my way in, but I also made sure to take wide and careful paths, too. I didn’t want to stomp about, infuriate the wild Pokémon, and outright attack anything we could see. That kind of behavior would only see otherwise opposing species band together just to push us out.

So, instead, I focused my efforts on staying quiet while searching for a new team member to catch. Our practice would come from defending ourselves against anything that attacked us instead of us attacking them.

“Close Combat, Valiant.”

Valiant’s Fighting-type moves excelled at breaking through things like the hardened ice of any charging Mamoswine.

“Rotom, Thunderbolt.”

Species like Drifblim and Golbat were easily shocked and scared away whenever they would swoop down to try to steal our stuff.

“Slash, Liepard!”

And sometimes, an exceptionally clever species would try to sneak up on us—usually something like a Ditto or Weavile. Pokémon that tried to use stealth to their advantage would only ever find themselves on the wrong end of Liepard’s claws.

We spent days trying to explore the crater, and the battles weren’t too frequent, but they were just common enough that my team had to be constantly on edge to avoid the worst when getting into fights. The freezing temperatures sapped their energy, and the stamina they lost in one battle would carry over to the next. However, few fights would last until a knockout. Most wild Pokémon didn’t want to risk that level of injury and tended to flee long before they collapsed.

“But we’re also in a tough spot. We want to push in deeper every day, but we can’t accidentally trap ourselves here,” I whispered to my team, a day in, as we took a break beneath one large evergreen tree. “Yeah, we can go really far into the Chasm by taking the most direct route and running past everything we see, but what happens when we encounter something we can’t avoid? Then, we might get hurt in that fight, and the commotion might cause all the other Pokémon to come running to investigate. Or, the Pokémon we bypassed might stand in our way when we’re tired and trying to get out.”

Just like how a wild Pokémon didn’t want its health to get too low, we couldn’t afford to take too much damage, either. That meant the Giant Chasm wasn’t just training for my team; it also pushed me to make the correct strategic decisions. I had to know what fights to take, when to call for us to fall back, and then I also had to decide when to leave for the day.

It’d be a waste of time and energy if we left too early, but it’d also be dangerous if I had us stay for too long.

I couldn’t even cheat with technology. Rotom’s drones didn’t work in this magnetic field. Video feeds would come out warped, and even something as simple as a compass would have its needle be lost to a chaotic spin.

Even as the days passed, we kept coming back regardless of the difficulty—because of it, in all honesty. The environment and the encounters imbued a need to improve that was even greater than I wanted. This place was everything that I had hoped for, and I planned to make a true, final push once we fully adapted to these conditions.

But, really, I wanted to wait until we had more than just three members of our team.

Every morning, we’d pass berries to the Tangela in exchange for passage, and then we’d explore the freezing temperatures of the chasm. Usually around noon to mid-afternoon, we’d return, handing over a few more berries, and then we’d rest until we had more Series matches that night.

Our search let us find plenty of species, and we encountered quite a collection. Pokémon like Swellow, Delibird, and Piloswine were common, but we’d also see others that were almost impossible to find almost anywhere else.

Pink, chubby Clefairy would still be present whenever we arrived too early in the morning. That fairy-like species would sometimes still be awake after whatever rituals they had performed during the night.

Lunatone and Solrock would float around as mystical, stone representations of the moon and sun. While their passive wanderings would mostly see them exist almost as harmless background noise, whenever the two Pokémon encountered one another, a fight would break out, and the Psychic-types would not hesitate to turn their attention on any intruders that got too close.

Once in a while, wild Absol would directly approach our group, and that species was sharp—especially with the bladed horn that grew from their head. Valiant was the source of that attention, and instead of serving as a grim omen, the white-furred species would appear solely intent on challenging a fellow blade-wielder to a fight.

And then, I’d see the species that I was truly interested in:

The Steel types.

They were nowhere near as common as I’d expected, but they were certainly present.

Occasionally, I’d see a streak of blue, and small groups of Beldum would rush by beneath the trees. That metallic species could already float normally, but whatever electromagnetic field existed in this area let them slide through the air with incredible speed.

We found a tree toward the edge of the crater that had been struck by lightning. Around it, a group of Electric-types floated about. Magnemite and Magneton flashed and crackled with ambient energy, and the leader of that group, a Magnezone, practically used the tree’s charred branches as if they were a throne.

In the few cave entrances we poked our heads into, we ignored the swarms of Zubat to search for dust clouds. In almost every one, we would find a digging Drillbur, a mole Pokémon with sharp claws capable of evolving into Excadrill.

But even with all of those encounters, no captures happened. The Beldum were too rare and would fly by too fast. The Magnemite and Magneton were too weak to bother to catch, and I couldn’t exactly just take away their leading Magnezone so suddenly like that.

As for the creatures we found in the caves, I did try to challenge them to fights. Unfortunately, they would always dig away out of fear.

The single time we encountered a wild Excadrill, it took one look at us, scoffed, and then dove deep into the earth.

I’d never been more offended in my life.

But I wasn’t one to give up. Spite was a great motivator, and every day, my team and I entered the crater. And, for every failure, the more we pushed.

We fought, we searched, and we explored. I might not have been able to make much use of my electronics, but I was at least able to get a general sense of a map.

And then, it happened.

It finally happened.

After almost a full week of just exploration and searching for something to catch, I finally found a viable target:

A Metang.

The evolution of Beldum and the pre-evolution of Metagross, a member of an evolutionary line with a final form so strong that some even referred to it as a “pseudo-Legend.” It was incredibly rare, but it would fit perfectly on our team. And the Giant Chasm was one of the few places in the entire world where wild Metang were available to catch.

I just wished our encounter with it would have been easier. As much as I wanted to catch a Metang, it wasn’t exactly great to experience one attacking us while we were already in the middle of a fight.

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

Pokémon mentioned in this chapter:
Absol
Beldum / Metang / Metagross
Delibird
Drifblim
Drilbur / Excradrill
Magnemite / Magneton / Magnezone
Simisear
Solrock / Lunatone
Swellow
Swinub / Piloswine / Mamoswine
Tangela
Zubat / Golbat

Nick’s Team:
Iron Valiant
Liepard
Rotom

Previous Chapter
Next Chapter

Chapter 4

“Rotom! Come back down!” I shouted up into a gap in the trees. “The magnetic fields are already messing with everything—the feeds are warped! We’re going to have to do this the hard way.”

I was thankful that I was able to recognize the distortions before they got too bad; when Rotom flew back down in his drone, the other drones with him were already at lopsided distances. They were the worst kind of usable: technically usable. While I could still use their cameras to map out a path forward, keeping them in the air would run the risk of one of them suddenly becoming randomly disabled or shooting off while we were otherwise occupied by a battle.

And then, there was an additional risk: not many Pokémon risked flying over the trees out here, so Rotom stood out a bit too much and would likely be attacked.

“In my old world, the worst you had to worry about in a forest was getting attacked by a bear or something,” I said, catching the drone as Rotom pulled himself out of it as if taking off a sweater. “Here, if a Pokémon is strong enough, it’s not hard for them to gather raw power and vomit it out in a Hyper Beam. So instead of being mauled by a bear, we’re at risk of getting laser-beamed by a bear.”

I looked Rotom in the eye.

“Please be careful,” I told him. “Whenever you possess something, you lose the Ghost type. We’re trying to find a path forward, but I don’t want to risk you. You won’t be immune to Normal-type attacks like Hyper Beam, and I bet a lot of Pokémon know Hyper Beam out here.”

Rotom saluted with an arm made of plasma. I heard a short snicker from a patch of nearby shadows as Liepard stalked at a distance to serve as a preliminary scout. Valiant, meanwhile, was on a higher alert than I’d ever seen them be on before, standing right behind me with their blade already at the ready. Their mechanical face rarely showed any emotion, but the electronic display that mimicked eyes showed them to be narrowed and entirely focused.

“Your fan’s off-limits,” I told Rotom. “So for this, wash, heat, or none?”

He dove into my backpack, answering my question with action, and I collected the rest of the drones while waiting for him to come back out. I didn’t actually have all the possible forms for a Rotom on me; it didn’t make sense to buy something like a lawnmower, and a refrigerator was next to useless with how it folded up and prevented the storage of food. I only had three of those devices—a washing machine, a microwave oven, and his modified fan. Purchasing those alongside every other piece of technology I owned had been ludicrously expensive, and then there was also the constant maintenance I had to do for all of those devices. With what we had, just existing took money, and I was incredibly thankful that Liepard was the only Pokémon with me that had to eat “real” food.

Catching another Pokémon was going to make food costs skyrocket, especially since a lot of Steel types needed a diet that was extremely high in iron—and, in some cases, included metal outright. However, more Pokémon meant a stronger team, and a stronger team meant more opportunities. There was almost a direct correlation between team strength and wealth in this world, and it was about time we pushed to reach those greater heights.

Pretty soon, the rustling stopped in my backpack, and an orange cube popped out of the top flap. Pieces shifted on its surface, and it slowly unfolded itself into a half-sized washing machine that gained eyes and levitated into the air.

“Wash? And not heat?” I asked.

With how cold it was out here, whenever I exhaled, mist left my throat.

“Water won’t have an advantage against Ice and Steel types,” I mused, “but then again...”

Rotom had made a smart decision; if we brought too much heat, then after getting in a battle, there was a decent chance we’d stand out too much and lure other wild Pokémon to our position.

Possessing the washing machine and giving himself the Water type made the most sense when it came to general safety. A microwave oven’s Fire type would have made him more effective in a fight out here, but we needed to prioritize safety over raw power, strangely enough.

“Alright, stick close, everyone,” I said, slightly raising my voice. “We need to find a reliable path to get into this crater on foot. But this place is pretty big—it might take us some time.”

Beams of light peeked through the needles of the evergreen trees, and every so often, I could catch the barest hint of the mountains that framed everything in the distance. The air had a dense chill to it, one that hadn’t been present in the rest of Unova so far. There was no snow on the ground, but that was only because we hadn’t entered the Chasm itself just yet.

The closer someone came to entering that Chasm and the deeper someone pushed into that crater-like area, the more the freezing temperatures built, and the more intense the passive magnetic field became.

Those cold-to-freezing temperatures were what had pushed so many wild Pokémon to build their endurance, and that endurance was part of why so many of them possessed such a high level of strength. Even a slight advantage built off of itself, because strong Pokémon fighting strong Pokémon meant more experience for everyone involved. The Giant Chasm was one of the most dangerous places in Unova for a reason, even when compared to the near-elite wild Pokémon of Victory Road. There, high-level trainers were so prevalent that wild Pokémon had learned not to bother with attacking humans most of the time.

But here, it was rare for someone to tackle these wilds, and the Pokémon were territorial—they’d attack even someone who was just passing through. That constant threat would force me and my team to be constantly on high alert, but it’d also provide us with plenty of challenges to overcome.

Still, our biggest problem was just finding a consistent way into the Giant Chasm. I didn’t want to get bogged down in fights when trying to enter it. I expected that finding a path to the deepest portion of the crater wouldn’t be something that I could complete in one day, so I wanted to be able to return and reach the more difficult areas without much issue.

Thus, this preliminary scouting, and thus, this need to secure a safe path.

“But it is a bit strange,” I mumbled as we trekked upwards. “Why is this place called the ‘Giant Chasm,’ anyway? The legends state that this place was formed when something fell from the sky, so shouldn’t it be the ‘Giant Crater,’ instead?”

I looked around at my team. They didn’t have an answer. Even Valiant didn’t have a response, but behind me, their stare lingered.

It wasn’t doubt, frustration, or any sense of nervousness. Their stare simply contained a question; what I had said about going after that beast had stuck with them, and Valiant wanted to know my reasoning.

“Because,” I said, turning back around to take in our path beneath the trees, “both of us know that we need to get stronger, and there’s no better way to do it than an impossibly tough fight. No one else in the entire world would ever even think to do this—and I know you. You have that drive, that itch to get stronger. C’mon, Valiant, you wouldn’t have come with me if you didn’t want to experience these kinds of fights!”

With a laugh, I fell back so I could nudge their arm, and Valiant lightly shook their head. Notably, they didn’t move to make any distance between us or do anything to signal I was wrong.

They just moved closer to where I walked, instead. At this point, I was getting pretty adept at recognizing their fond exasperation, and I knew we would always have each other’s backs.

We kept going, with Valiant returning to their previous state of high alert. At least for this initial bit of scouting, I wasn’t nervous. The Giant Chasm wasn’t anywhere near as large as the last crater I’d explored.

Whatever geographical formation this place really was, I had to trudge just to bring myself up the crater’s exterior, sharp incline. The evergreen trees around us grew more and more dense, and even with their needles blocking out most of the sky, the first signs of snow on the ground slowly began to appear.

I kept my gaze up and my attention on our surroundings. I was prepared for anything that came our way; I had one pocket in my backpack dedicated to storing food, and it carried a bag full of recently-purchased berries. They were necessary for my goal for today, but the only way they’d be useful was if we managed to find any aggressors before they found us.

Valiant continued to scan the forest. Liepard scouted... somewhere nearby. Rotom was grinning from inside his washing machine.

And I looked around the best I could.

We never stopped creeping forward.

That is, we never stopped until I froze upon finding something that stood out.

I caught it on the barest glance—red eyes and white fur that stood out from beneath the trees. A black blade glinted in a thin beam of midday sun that slipped through a gap in the branches above it.

It was as though I could see myself in the reflection of that red gaze, but the eyes blinked to break my trance, and that brief moment of enchantment was over.

The Pokémon’s white fur allowed it to blend in with the snow as it ran off, but it had succeeded in providing a warning with its presence.

“An Absol,” I whispered, staring at the empty spot it’d once been in. “A Dark type. A rare Pokémon. A species that people hate because they think it causes natural disasters, but that isn’t true. Absol are only harbingers. Their appearance serves as a warning of them, and that means—”

I snapped my head up, immediately seeing writhing vines and glaring eyes in the branches above us.

A metal arm wrapped around my midsection as Valiant suddenly jumped to drag me back.

Whips lashed out right where I was standing, and I was only capable of a single shout.

“They’re in the trees!”

Unfortunately, a group of wild Pokémon had found us first.

Right away, a violent churning started up in the middle of our group, and Rotom slammed open his washing machine door to blast out a massive flood of water. The countless branches above us broke and shattered from that swirling impact, and some of the wild Pokémon fell while others jumped down.

Now that I could see them, I could see that each of these Pokémon were masses of living vines that hid everything but their eyes due to the darkness of that growth. There had to be at least a dozen of them, an entire tribe of Pokémon lifting their thick tendrils to prepare whips that’d beat us back and scare us off.

Except, if they were trying to scare us off, they were doing it improperly.

We were surrounded.

Valiant placed me back on the ground, and Rotom zipped over to float by my side.

I looked around at all of the wild Pokémon that wanted to punish us for invading their territory, and I knew there would be no avoiding this fight.

“They’re Tangela,” I said quickly, naming the species for my team. “Pure Grass types. Looks like our first fight is upon us.”

Slowly, I reached into my coat to grab something that hung at my side.

With a click, the metal rod’s end sparked with light.

“It’s almost funny, too,” I said. “We’re already about to have a battle, and we aren’t even in the crater just yet.”

Vines lashed out as countless whips swung at everyone in our little group. Rotom hit my back to push me forward, and Valiant was suddenly ahead of me, lifting their weapon to block the attacks and provide a bar for some of the vines to wrap around.

Three Tangela managed to grab onto the pole of Valiant’s bladed weapon, and they strained in an attempt to tear it away. However, Valiant massively overpowered them, and as smacks from vines around us sent dirt and snow up into the air, Valiant pulled, yanking the Tangela forward. Liepard used this moment to lunge from the shadows, using his claws to slice right through the extended vines before vanishing once again.

The severed tendrils squirmed on the ground, but the Tangela were natural regenerators—as Grass types, they were already growing more vines back.

“Fight!” I shouted.

Countless whips were flung our way as the group of Tangela tried to batter us into a defeat. Rotom cracked with electricity, sending shocks through anything that got too close, and the swipes of Valiant’s blade caused fallen vines to litter the forest floor.

Liepard, as a Dark type, stuck to the shadows, but he couldn’t control them or conceptually enter the darkness; he was just adept at using it to hide his form. Even if the Tangela wanted to track him, they couldn’t. The only visible part of him was two glowing eyes, as he would only ever expose himself to land a devastating Slash, picking off any isolated Tangela before running back to return to hiding beneath the trees.

Some of Tangela tried to toss a Stun Spore out, swinging their vines to spread clouds of allergenic pollen. Rotom would move into action whenever that happened, opening his washing machine door. A Hydro Pump would then tear out of him, blasting most of those spores away.

Yet, the Stun Spore was never perfectly canceled, and by moving forward to attack it, some of the spores would linger just long enough to cover him. Thankfully, Stun Spore was meant to paralyze its target, and as an Electric Type, Rotom was immune. Hydro Pump was used to protect the rest of us.

We were in this as a group.

And that meant I was involved, as well.

Though I would shout the occasional order, I mostly stayed in the middle, standing on high alert between my Pokémon. However, with such a great mass of Tangela and with only two Pokémon next to me, my team just didn’t have the spatial coverage to defend me perfectly.

Several times, I could feel the impact of a vine or another move slamming into my back, but I had enhanced this coat intentionally—thick, protective padding had been sewn to the inside, underneath. With my current outfit, those whips might have well been friendly pats to the back in support after a baseball game.

And then I would swing. I was no Pokémon, but I was no fool—in this world, I needed to be able to defend myself. While I had learned the hard way that jumping into a fight against a Pokémon myself would only lead to defeat, I could punish and dissuade any Pokémon that went after me.

The baton I wielded wasn’t capable of a charge stronger than Rotom’s weakest move, but an unexpected zap was always enough to send any lashing vine reeling back.

Unfortunately, even as much as we were holding our ground in this fight, these Tangela were constantly regenerating, an aspect of their species that they’d likely developed due to the need to recover between constant fights. Even though I knew we could win, we would only win eventually due to the sheer level of determination these Tangela were demonstrating.

That level of exhaustion would only make heading back difficult, so I gripped my baton and looked around, taking in the current state of the fight.

“This way!” I called out. “ We’re falling back for now!”

Liepard jumped from the woods to grab a Tangela with his claws, rolling with it close to his stomach before hitting his back and throwing it far away. Before it hit the ground, vines lashed out for it to grab a branch and return to the trees, but its removal had made an opening in the encirclement, and Valiant charged into that space with two swipes of the blade to knock two more Tangela away.

We fled through that hastily created gap, and we could hear the victorious cries of the Tangela behind us. The tribe thought that it had won when we disappeared, but I just found a big tree to hide behind, located not too far away, instead.

“Alright,” I breathed, making sure to clip my baton back to where I kept it hidden under my coat. I wasn’t the biggest fan of using it. “So, that proves the Pokémon here are pretty strong.”

Rotom sent me a single look and then burst into cackling laughter.

“But now we know where there’s one group of Pokémon, at least. And no matter what path we take to get into the crater itself, something like this was going to happen eventually,” I said, catching my breath. “So, what are our thoughts? Do we go with these guys? Or do we avoid them? Make our play now, or maybe push to find one of those entrance caves?”

Valiant rolled their mechanical shoulders, emphasizing the ease with which they could continue to fight. Liepard responded similarly, casually licking a paw to signal that these Tangela were no big deal.

Then, Rotom floated an inch closer. The little, possessed washing machine had a determined look on his face.

There was no telling how a group of Pokémon would respond, but at least for these Tangela, we knew we could beat them if needed.

“These guys, then,” I said in agreement.

The big problem, of course, was the Tangela’s boundless stamina—fighting them until a complete victory would only see us become exhausted, and, if exhausted, then we wouldn’t have the energy to last through any other fights.

Thus, I had a plan to both handle these Tangela and secure us a safe path through their territory, therefore into the crater. If this all worked out, then on later days, we could conserve our energy for the truly tough Pokémon that we wanted to fight.

“We’ll make a deal,” I said, placing my backpack down and reaching into that pocket filled with berries. “That means we just need to win one more fight, so Valiant—”

Something heavy hit the ground with a thud; Rotom left his washing machine. He looked me right in the eye and gave me a static-y squeak.

“You want to do it?” I asked.

He nodded profusely.

“Alright. Come on, then,” I said. “Help me get your washing machine back into my backpack, and then we’ll return to present our challenge.”

The next time we stepped beneath the Tangela’s trees, we stopped at just the edge of them, and we looked different than just a group of travelers idly heading forward. Valiant was on edge, showing we weren’t to be messed with, and Rotom was now in his microwave oven at my side.

However, I was slightly different as well; I now held a certain cloth bag already stained by the juices of what was kept inside. The wild Tangela glared and hissed at us, shaking the plant matter on their bodies, but no one with me was scared or bothered by them to take a step back.

“We challenge you.” There was not even a single ounce of fear in my voice. “Not for your territory. Not for your supplies. Just for the right to pass through. We have absolutely no interest in taking anything of yours—we only want to reach the chasm behind you.”

There was a difference between getting into a fight with a Pokémon and challenging a Pokémon to a fight. One was a necessity borne from instinct, and the other was a form of respect.

I took the bag I held in my hands and tossed it forward, letting a few of the berries scatter onto the ground. The hissing in the trees above us stopped, and the forest went perfectly quiet.

Everything might have been tense, but I couldn’t suppress my smile.

I could tell what the Tangela were thinking—were we for real? Were we just lying? Were those berries just bait, or were we truly just trying to pass through after proving ourselves in battle?

Silently, I watched, and I waited, and the Tangela did the same right back.

But then, it was like the trees themselves bent to make way. As if fading into being from the shadows, a brand new Pokémon came into view.

This creature was just like the Tangela, but where each Tangela was no bigger than a bush, this one was large enough to swallow an entire car. It was a mass of blue-green vines that shook with every step, and a pair of long, swinging arms were formed out of parallel tendrils that grew from its sides.

“I knew they had a leader,” I whispered to my team, already feeling victorious.

The evolved form of Tangela, Tangrowth, took another step.

Its dinner-plate-sized eyes locked onto the berries, and two Tangela hopped out of the trees in an attempt to retrieve them. They started to run over, but a blade hit the ground.

Valiant stopped them with a warning.

“You’ll get the berries after our battle, and after you let us through,” I said. “And, as a show of good faith, I’ll even give you more when we come back to leave.”

The entire point of this endeavor was to secure ourselves a safe and regular path into the crater. We didn’t want to have to brave the caves or risk facing any other species.

Though a short pause persisted before I spoke, the Tangrowth soon bothered to respond. I couldn’t tell if it was angry or if it was just accepting our challenge, but either way—

Every one of its vines vibrated alongside a roar.

With that signal, our battle had begun.

“Rotom. Overheat,” I ordered.

He zipped forward to float at the front of our group.

The Tangrowth built speed in a lumbering charge, the earth itself shaking under its bulk. It was big enough to blot out the sun in trees behind it, but Rotom was not afraid in the slightest.

As it ran closer and closer, the door to his microwave oven opened up. Inside, metal bars turned red-hot. He waited until the Tangrowth was right upon him—right when he could fully see the whites of its eyes.

The hulking Pokémon lifted its arms.

And then, Rotom released it all, letting his oven’s heat sear out in a blast. 

This move, Overheat, brought Rotom to the highest temperature he could go and then released all of that in a maximally powerful attack. It would mean all future moves after its use would be weakened due to the sheer amount of power expended, but sometimes, an initial blast of incomparable heat was all that was needed.

The force of this move immediately dried out the Tangrowth’s exterior vines and caused them to blacken and wither. Several sections of its body outright turned to ash, disintegrated by the raw energy of Rotom’s attack. As a Grass type, the Tangrowth was especially vulnerable to this Fire-type move, and it never finished swinging its arms.

Instead, it stumbled back.

“Again,” I ordered.

The heat turned up once more, but it didn’t quite reach the same level as that initial blast. However, that first use of Overheat had already done its job, and this Tangrowth had been weakened enough that this second use felt just as bad.

“And again,” I ordered next.

Future uses of this move would now deal minimal damage. Rotom would barely be able to produce any heat after this.

But the Tangrowth had already suffered through a constant onslaught of damage. Even with this little bit of remaining temperature, that was enough, and the evolved Pokémon fell back.

It groaned, its vines scorched but already beginning to grow back. Although it would recover, it was clear that Rotom’s overwhelming damage had all but taken the Tangrowth out of the fight.

The clearing was silent. The Tangela’s leader had fallen in seconds. The only noise in the forest came from Valiant pulling back their blade.

I took a step forward, and none of the Tangela moved. The Tangrowth remained where it lay on the ground.

“Thanks, everyone!” I said to both my team and the group of wild Pokémon. “We’ll be back, but we’ll bring more berries each time, alright? I think we proved ourselves—we aren’t going to attack anymore. Help yourselves to the berries as an apology! And next time, if you want to fight, just ask first, okay?”

Almost panicked, the pair of Tangela from before ran forward to grab the bribe, and they then scurried off with that selection of berries. I could see the Tangrowth bring up its eyes to glare at Rotom.

But then it collapsed, allowing us to continue moving forward.

It didn’t try to get up again; Rotom had earned its respect.

“Good job, little guy!”

Patting the back of the microwave oven, I could see Rotom’s tired smile stretch across its front.

Thanks to him, we had an easy way forward. Other Pokémon wouldn’t attack us within the Tangela’s territory, and on this very first day, he had already secured us free passage to face the true challenge of the Giant Chasm’s depths.

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

Pokémon mentioned in this chapter:
Absol
Tangela / Tangrowth

Nick’s Team:
Iron Valiant
Liepard
Rotom

Previous Chapter
Next Chapter

Chapter 3

The bus maintained a low rumble that brought us eastward along a consistent path. What started as mountainous cliffs turned into a low-lying moor, and then evergreen forests began to flank the road.

Despite the untamed nature around us, this road was the most well-paved road I’d seen so far. Most of the time, travel in the Pokémon world was not something done lightly. Even if Routes were actively maintained as “safe” paths between cities, they could only be patrolled by Pokémon Rangers so often. Aggressive wild Pokémon always had a presence, and a small threat would always remain.

But here in Unova, this paved road meant there was an actual stream of cars. Though I could not claim the bus was always near another vehicle, there were just enough other cars that I would see at least one pass every few minutes. A few of those cars would have a Pokémon in the back or seated on the roof, ready to fight if needed. My guess was that their frequent presence let these roads persist thanks to something akin to herd immunity—if enough travelers were present and ready to defend themselves, then wild Pokémon were less likely to bother with any attacks.

The bus that I had bought a ticket for traveled through the night, and buses like it existed all over to bring people between cities. Technically, they were primarily meant for infrequent travelers—trainers, really—but strangely, they were rarely used when compared to slower forms of travel.

After all, walking down a Route yourself would result in encounters with wild Pokémon and other trainers. So, what better way to gain that experience than to travel on foot?

Taking a bus meant my team and I skipped all of those encounters, but I was in a rush.

This trip took three full days of constant driving to travel across all of northern Unova. There were a few stops along the way to pick up and drop off passengers, but those stops never lasted long. At most, I would have the chance to stretch my legs, but there was never enough time to practice any moves or get into any battles.

However, I was able to stare in awe at the feathered raptor that had made a nest for itself between the luggage on the bus’s roof. I had never thought that a resurrected fossil Pokémon like Archeops would be used for something as mundane as a vehicle’s protection.

But for most of this travel time, I just sat there and stared out the window. Every so often, Liepard would join me just to have something to do, but he only really came out to eat and receive a few pets; it was far less cramped within his Pokéball.

I sat in that bus for hours on end, experiencing travel that really only had the sights going for it. Time continued to pass, and the northern Unovan chill faded slightly the closer we got to the coast. The ride caused such a daze that it almost came as a surprise when we neared our destination.

Honestly, it felt as though Lacunosa Town had appeared in an instant.

“Look at that wall!” I had to press my face to the window’s glass just to get a good view, but I could see the ancient, quarried stone that had protected Lacunosa for centuries. “I can’t even see any of the buildings in the town past it! It’s probably why this place is still a town and not a city.”

A permanently rusted-open gate allowed the bus to enter Lacunosa, and I could see that the square buildings that filled this place were made from the same quarried material as the walls. There was no dirt or pavement; everything was covered in stone. A rare tree poked up through a dedicated patch of gravel, but this place was truly created solely due to human ingenuity—just human ingenuity from centuries in the past.

“Never seen anywhere like this,” I said, looking around as I hopped off the bus. Valiant was already out and on high alert at my side. “Cascarrafa, maybe? Except, that place felt a bit more modern and definitely more polished.”

The stone around me had cracked with age, and there were plenty of places where moss actively grew. Still, this town was plenty populated, as I could see dozens of people walking around and going about their daily lives.

Before the bus left for its next stop, I made sure I had all of my possessions with me. My monstrous backpack remained on my back, my team’s Pokéballs were snug in my coat pocket, and my watch was still tight on my wrist. I had to nag Rotom a bit to encourage him out of one of the bus’s ceiling lights, but he very much didn’t want to be left behind, zipping right out of it and back into my watch when it became clear the bus was about to set off once again.

With Valiant already out, standing guard and staying alert, their glowing gaze watching the surrounding crowds, I pulled out the Pokéball that contained the last member of my team.

“Liepard,” I named, releasing the big cat before me.

Even with Liepard’s release, nearby trainers were already eyeing us; Valiant was a new and unknown species. For most people who lived a life defined by battling, the best way to learn about something new was to meet it in a fight.

Too bad for them, I was busy right now.

“If we’re fast enough, we might be able to get to the place we’re staying at before it’s locked up. Otherwise, we’ll do some initial scouting toward the Giant Chasm today,” I said, ignoring the other trainers while making sure my backpack was on properly. “We got here a bit earlier than I expected, so we might be able to stop by before she leaves for work? I’m not too familiar with the town, but I do have the address written on—”

Liepard had arched his back to stretch, but out of nowhere, he snapped his head up when he realized just where he was.

Blinking, he sniffed the air, tail whipping back and forth. I could see his thin, feline pupils begin to widen, and before I could do or say anything at all, Liepard had already taken off in a dash.

“Hold on, wait for us!” I shouted, rushing to chase after him. With how much stuff I had in my backpack, it was a fight to even just try to keep up. “Liepard, we don’t know this place as well as you! If you don’t slow down, you’ll leave us behind!”

Though I was scrambling to run after Liepard as fast as I could, it took no effort for Valiant to keep up with me. Rotom snickered at the situation from where he was at rest inside my watch. Behind me, I heard the faint sound of metal ringing against metal—Valiant connected the blades on their arms to ready their polearm just in case I called for them to strike.

“...No. Let’s be smart about this,” I said, slowing down, and Valiant came to a stop at my side. “Liepard knows where he’s going. He’s just excited. So... Rotom, we need you! Track. That. Cat!”

Rotom gladly turned to electricity and slipped into my backpack. As Liepard turned a corner and disappeared into the distance, I was reminded of a fact about this world that I had encountered countless times in the past:

As a human, I was never going to catch up.

It didn’t matter how skilled or strong or well-practiced I was. No matter what, a trained Pokémon was always going to outmatch me.

However, humans had their own strength, and that was why I had started to rely on technology instead.

From within my backpack, static crackled out as Rotom dug around. The countless metal parts that had been shoved in there clanged against each other as he searched for the device that I had requested. Finding something else, he left for a short moment to deposit my tablet into my hands before returning to my backpack’s interior just as fast.

While he was occupied, I turned on the tablet and launched a certain program.

Then, behind me, the top flap of my pack snapped open, and an orange blur shot high into the air.

“Searching pattern, Rotom!” I shouted.

It took only a single tap on the touchscreen to send three more blurs up after Rotom. They formed a triangle shape around the fan he possessed, and Rotom kept high in the sky while beginning to zip around above the town.

When I had caught Rotom, he had been a welcome member of the team due to the nature of what his species could do as a Pokémon. Where most electronics were limited by their structure and programming, a Rotom had the freedom to manipulate all of that.

In battle, that meant he could use the devices he possessed to utilize new and powerful moves. Outside of battle, regions like Paldea, Galar, and a few others made great use of Rotom as a species to have access to hyper-advanced smartphones.

But my Rotom? The Rotom on my team? He didn’t exactly enjoy the concept of sticking to one device, and he didn’t like being restricted to such simple forms. He constantly helped me out when it came to utilizing the devices I wanted to use, and here, his fan drone served as a guide for the three other, less important drones that I had purchased for support.

Thanks to him, all I needed to do was have them automatically follow Rotom himself, and he could guide them around in irregular patterns for a sky-high search.

After making sure all of the settings were correct, the screen of my tablet changed to display a four-part view of the streets. Sending me a stream of everything beneath him, Rotom decided where to fly, and the three other drones tracked his position while keeping to a specific distance at his sides.

“Okay. There’s Liepard. He’s running through some alleys, but his path is pretty chaotic. Lacunosa feels like a maze.” I held up my tablet so Valiant could see the screen as well. “I’m pretty sure the place’s address means it’s over this way, so...”

I zoomed out, looking over the real-time map of our surroundings. Valiant clicked their blades back into place and then pointed at a spot on the screen.

I hummed to agree.

“Yeah, I think so, too. It’s a bit out of the way, but if we take that street, we should have a straight shot over.” I brought my gaze back to the sky. “Rotom! We’re heading that way! Follow from above!”

Liepard might have been familiar with this town and knew about all of the secret paths a Pokémon could follow, but my devices meant I didn’t even need to think. I basically got to cheat for this and immediately identify a better route. There was a reason I was so willing to rely on these kinds of devices.

...Then again, my willingness to splurge on them was probably why my wallet was empty so much.

But it all worked out—taking the side street meant we got there first, running down a stone road and turning a corner to dash toward a row of apartments. We got there just in time, too. Our host was still present outside of her home, just starting the process of affixing a saddle onto a tall Pokémon’s back.

“Wait, Nick?” Her voice was surprised, but a smile grew on her face as she saw me. “You’re here already?”

I ran right up to her, and at her back, the Pokémon she was with bellowed out an excited greeting.

“Yup. Hi, Dianne!” I said. “Nice to finally meet you in person. But, uh, you should brace yourself. Liepard’s not with me. He should be catching up pretty—”

A howl echoed from down the road.

“...Soon,” I finished.

I’d never seen Liepard run so fast. His legs were practically thrown over each other, and he all but galloped down the road. Dianne, the curly-haired trainer standing in front of me, only had a single moment to process his arrival before Liepard suddenly lunged.

There was no hesitation; he pounced right at her chest.

Hit by the full weight of the three-foot-tall cat, Dianne wasn’t prepared for the impact, getting knocked straight to the ground.

“Liepard!” she cried out, but despite being pinned, she gained a bright smile. “It’s so, so good to see you again!”

Liepard’s purring was loud enough to hear from even where I stood a few feet away. The big cat could not stop rubbing his head against Dianne’s cheek, and she could not stop petting him back.

“You missed me that much? Aw, I missed you, too!” she said, hugging him tight.

Behind the pair, a taller Pokémon lowered its head to better look me in the eye.

“Yeah,” I laughed, greeting them, “I missed you too, Farigiraf.”

A thick tongue swiped against my cheek.

_______________________________________________________________________

“Tea or coffee?” came a shout from the kitchen. 

“Coffee, please! I need the caffeine—today’s going to be busy.”

“I’ll bring it out in a minute!” Dianne shouted. “I hope instant is fine!”

Her apartment’s small living room was bare but livable. I could tell that Dianne had only recently moved in by how little furniture she had prepared. Still, the couch looked comfortable, and Rotom had already secured himself a home within a hanging ceiling light. Its illumination flickered as he settled in, but I was still able to view a wall full of photos that Dianne had of her team.

Her and an Eevee. Her and a Trapinch. Her standing next to a man with brilliant red hair as she smiled brightly and held a white-and-orange egg in her hands. And, there was a picture of her at a young age, crouched next to a certain, unevolved Pokémon.

Liepard actually looked pretty cute from back when he was a Purrloin.

“How are you doing, Farigiraf?” I asked, looking over after seeing one picture of Dianne in her red Pokémon Ranger uniform, sitting on a saddle placed onto a large giraffe’s back.

From an open window, a merry cry came out. Farigiraf poked her head into the room from where she was standing in the apartment’s small back garden. A towel had been placed on the lower frame of the window to give her neck a more comfortable place to rest, and she looked pretty happy about it. Given she couldn’t fit into the building, she likely checked in on Dianne like that a lot.

For a Pokémon, Farigiraf was a bit strange. She resembled a giraffe with two heads. However, she didn’t have two separate heads; rather, a giraffe-like head sat inside of a larger and simpler, sphere-shaped jaw.

“I’m glad you’re doing well,” I said, smiling at her. “I knew Dianne would treat you right. Trading you away was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but I’m glad everything worked out.”

“Yeah, Farigiraf’s been great!” Dianne suddenly added, marching into the room while holding a tray. “I’ve never seen a Pokémon so determined to help! And she makes my job way easier by letting me ride on her back!”

A loud “CLACK!” rang out from the window—Farigiraf slammed closed the sharp teeth of her larger head to hide her blush. Dianne laughed at the sight of the embarrassed Pokémon, and she placed the tray down on a small table while depositing herself onto a big, cushioned chair.

It looked like she had salvaged that seat from the side of a road.

I sat on a ragged couch placed across from her, and I watched as Dianne was immediately joined by Liepard. She grunted from the big cat’s impact, but her expression softened as Liepard laid down and immediately began to purr.

“I know. I know. It’s been a while,” she said softly, beginning to run her hand down his back. “You don’t need to act so desperately. You already know that I missed you.”

“Liepard’s been great, too,” I said, speaking while putting in what was probably way too much sugar into my drink. “He’s a big part of why my team does so well. I don’t like having to get too clever in battle, and it’s really nice to have a Pokémon that can shut down tricks.”

“I’m glad he fits in,” Dianne said, but her smile turned more bittersweet. “Trading was... hard.”

“Yeah,” I said, pausing where I was scooping the sugar. “I know what you mean.”

Farigiraf was my second Pokémon, caught before even Rotom. We traveled together for a while, but...

Sometimes, partnerships didn’t work out.

She left her herd to join me because she wanted to experience more of the world than just the small grove her group of giraffes commanded. However, my definition of “seeing the world” turned out to be far more action-packed than she had hoped. 

While we had fought and worked well together, the problem was that our desired destinations didn’t exactly align. But, due to the influence of my sponsor, I was able to access the Pokémon League’s trading service even though I didn’t directly work for the Pokémon League itself. With that access, I didn’t have to deal with the risk of the public global trade service, and I was able to work with experts to find a trainer who better fit what Farigiraf wanted.

As a result, I was connected to Dianne, who was getting ready to retire from her Pokémon journey and settle down into a more structured work life. Although she was taking on a job as a Pokémon Ranger, that kind of life was too “quiet” for Liepard. He didn’t want to stop chasing a greater and greater strength.

“So you’ve been working as a Pokémon Ranger?” I asked. I was legitimately curious—Dianne had been a trainer longer than I had, but she was only a year or two older in age. 

“I have! It’s nice to be back home, and it’s even nicer to be working to keep it safe. I mostly just patrol Route 13 to the east. We make sure no wild Pokémon gets too aggressive, and we resolve fights while making sure anything too powerful stays off-route.”

“Just Route 13?” I asked.

“Yeah. It’s kind of why... Well, it’s a pretty relaxed job,” Dianne said, briefly closing her eyes. “Even though we have to walk all of Route 13 every few days, we don’t have to go anywhere other than that. Pokémon Rangers are expected to have a pretty good lay of the land, so it doesn’t make sense for us to constantly change where we’re based.”

“Checks out,” I said, commenting idly before taking a sip of the coffee. While it was alright, I put it down and then added some cream.

“Anyway, you said you wanted to stay here for a bit, right?” Dianne asked, and I hummed to confirm. “I like having my own place—and I like not being that far from my parents—but I do get worried about leaving so much behind. Most days, I’ll be out to check one location or another before heading back, so it’ll be nice to have someone around here just in case.”

“Well, you won’t need to worry about that while I’m here! I’ll keep it occupied every morning!” I said, gaining a grin and pointing at my chin with my thumb. “But... I’ll probably be out exploring during the day, and then I’ll be out battling whoever I can at night.”

Still petting Liepard, Dianne let out a short laugh. Technically speaking, she was no longer an “active” Pokémon trainer like me. Due to her job as a Ranger, she was maintaining a team of Pokémon, but she wasn’t competing in tournaments, searching for sponsorships, or taking on any of Unova’s Gyms.

She had gone on an impressive seven-badge Gym run, but now, she had her job.

“If you’re here for the Series, you should know that Lacunosa Town doesn’t get too many trainers,” Dianne said, giving me a moment to sup my now much more tolerable coffee. “We don’t have a Gym, so most trainers don’t bother to stop here. I know that some lower-ranked battles happen at night, but I don’t think I’ve heard about any higher-ranked trainers staying here. Lacunosa has been pretty peaceful.”

“Huh. Really?” I asked, looking up from my drink. “With all the people I saw in Mistralton, I’d think there’d be more trainers here.”

“Well, Opelucid City tends to draw everyone important away,” Dianne said, her tone briefly turning sharp. “Really, Lacunosa Town is a town, not a city. There might not be too many people around here to fight, but we’re probably better off for it—I mean, the news keeps talking about how all the big-name places are absolutely filled with trainers. I’ve even seen reports that foreign companies are stepping in to help with management. Something about needing to set up nightly battle zones?”

She shook her head, and then she took a sip of her own coffee. With how black it was, I almost gagged from the bitterness that came from just the sight alone.

Liepard even jumped out of Dianne’s lap when he sniffed it, and she giggled at the sight of the cat’s scrunched-up nose.

“Anyway, this whole World Coronation Series business has been way bigger than anyone thought,” Dianne said, putting her cup back down. “Even though it’s been pretty uneventful here in Lacunosa, we’ve still been getting some trainers, and I’ve been seeing way more people traveling down Route 13.”

“Causing problems?” I asked.

“Not yet, thankfully,” she replied, “but all of these new people around means it’s hard to keep track of them. I’ve already been warned about the crowds. They could easily serve as cover for... Well. Other actors.”

Briefly, her expression darkened, but she was quick to push away those thoughts and brighten back up.

“But it is neat to see how many different people and companies are getting involved,” she quickly continued. “Sponsorships are getting pretty big. That one Galarian company that was broken up recently—what was it called?”

“Macro Cosmos?”

“Yeah, Macros Cosmos,” she said. “Apparently, they’ve set a record for total number of trainers sponsored, and then you’ve even got big names like Silph. Co and the Devon Corporation stepping in to sponsor people, too.”

“Huh. I guess a tournament that only happens every five years would cause something like that,” I mumbled.

“Yeah,” Dianne added. “Excitement’s through the roof.”

As we briefly quieted down, I took a sip of my drink, and then I added another scoop of sugar to that far-too-bitter liquid.

If I had to liken the World Coronation Series to anything I was familiar with, it’d be like the Olympics crossed with the World Cup—except, far more open. Instead of just the best of the best competing, everyone was allowed to compete. However, only the best of the best would be the ones to compete in the final tournament happening at the end of the year.

“But while all of that is going on,” Dianne suddenly said, “I am curious about why you’re here in town. Not because I want to know when you’re leaving—my place is open to you for as long as you want—but I just don’t understand why you rushed to Lacunosa, of all places.”

“Oh, that’s because I want to explore the Giant Chasm.”.

And Dianne’s face immediately went pale.

“The Pokémon there are pretty strong, so it’s the best place for us to train and expand our team,” I continued, idly stirring my coffee. “I’ve already looked up the species that live there, and some of them—”

“You can’t!”

After a rush of motion, Dianne and I blinked at each other.

Neither of us seemed to have expected her to suddenly stand up.

“Um, I mean, well...” Hurriedly, she sat back down, clearing her throat as her face turned red. Liepard sent her a worried look. “It’s just... the Giant Chasm is dangerous. More so than you think. You know how Pokémon Rangers patrol Routes to keep them safe?”

“...Yeah?” I offered.

Dianne sucked in a breath.

“We don’t patrol the Giant Chasm,” she said, her speech perfectly level. “We only ever step in when a Pokémon ends up getting pushed out. And whenever that happens, it’s a battle. We have to fight to make sure they go off-route. Just about every Pokémon there is strong.”

Despite Dianne’s grim demeanor, I found my smile widening. Nothing she said sounded bad.

“That’s perfect,” I said, already picturing it. “That’s exactly what we need—tough wild Pokémon to practice against, and even tougher wild Pokémon to catch.”

“No, Nick. You don’t get it.” Dianne’s voice was ice cold. “The temperatures in that crater are freezing. The Pokémon there are extremely territorial. There’s a magnetic field in it that messes with technology. And...”

She stopped herself, turning away. She looked as though she had to visibly bite her tongue. 

In an attempt to comfort her, Farigiraf let out a soft whine from the window, and Liepard stood up to rub against Dianne’s legs.

As she leaned forward to give Liepard an affectionate scratch, she did seem to slightly calm down.

“I grew up here,” Dianne said quietly, unable to look at me. “That means I heard all of the stories and myths. You ever wonder why Lacunosa Town has that wall? You don’t need to. It’s because years ago—centuries at this point—a monster would stalk the town at night and take people and Pokémon away. Those walls were built to keep that monster out.”

I could tell that there was more she wanted to say, but she stopped herself again, once more biting her tongue. It was as if there was something she knew that she desperately wanted to warn me about, but she couldn’t speak of it for one reason or another—probably due to some level of secrecy that came with her job.

Still.

I maintained my casual smile, taking another sip of the coffee and letting that sweet caffeine energize me.

Despite all of her worries, I wasn’t bothered.

I had a feeling that I already knew what she wasn’t allowed to say.

“A big part of heading into the Giant Chasm is training, but I also really need to expand my team,” I told her, putting my coffee cup down. “I don’t have much of a choice. I’m trying to reach the top, and I have a lot riding on my shoulders.”

“Due to your sponsor?” Dianne asked, looking up.

I felt my smile waver.

“...Yeah,” I said quietly.

Rubbing the space between my eyes, I sat up, wanting to make sure I was properly upright for when I spoke about this.

“Every Pokémon on my team has a role.” I was basically in lecture-mode, at this point. Sometimes, it was just fun to talk. “Everyone has a specific purpose in battle. For example, Rotom? He’s my dedicated special attacker. Valiant? They’re extremely flexible, but they’re otherwise best in melee. And Liepard? I like to call him our technician—he’s the reason everyone else can fight as freely as they can. He shuts down any tricks so we don’t have to worry about them, and then his claws can deliver quite the slash when they land just right.”

Liepard brought up his head, closing his eyes in a cat-like smile of pride.

“But that’s not a complete team. That’s only three Pokémon,” I continued. “But the Giant Chasm is filled with species that can fill our missing roles. I need a Pokémon that can take hits—something that can act as a wall. Meanwhile, I know Valiant can break a wall if properly set up, but Valiant is a bit too flexible. I want them to have the freedom to adapt, so I also want to have a dedicated wallbreaker that can always be able to live up to the task.”

Dianne breathed out, and her breath was shaky. I could tell that she still wasn’t comfortable with my plan, but sharing specifics was continuing to help her calm down.

“A wall and a wallbreaker. Okay,” she said, nodding. “And, for your last?”

“Eh. Flex slot, I guess,” I said, letting myself fall back as I wiggled a hand. “I need four Pokémon minimum, but five is preferred. For my sixth, I guess it’s more about getting a species that can help with transportation. Riding a bus was nice, but having a Pokémon fly me around would make travel way better.”

But notably, I needed to have every Pokémon I catch fit well on what would eventually become a Master-ranked team.

Dianne took a few moments to digest my words, rocking her jaw back and forth. Liepard ended up jumping back into her lap, and she eventually let out a sigh as she came to a state of reluctant acceptance.

“So... You already know what Pokémon you want to catch?” she asked. “In the Giant Chasm?”

“We have options, but... strong Pokémon,” I answered, half-joking, “Something like an Excadrill would be great for its powerful attacks and battlefield effects. And, if I’m lucky enough to find one, a Metagross would be able to take a hit and deal massive damage.”

“...Pretty rare, but pretty strong,” Dianne mumbled.

There were also other species in the crater, too. Uncommon ones that didn’t live there in great numbers. The magnetic fields there would sometimes lure in Magnezone, and Lairon would sometimes wander in from way off in Victory Road.

I had also heard comments from people online talking about finding Ferroseed in nearby trees, but that was a species that could technically be found anywhere in Unova.

Explaining all of that, I told Dianne my plans, and she eventually seemed convinced that I wasn’t going to go into the Chasm and immediately make a horrible mistake.

“Lotsa Steel types you’re bringing up,” she said, some of her humor returning.

“Hey, Steel types are defensive and strong. It’s not my fault they fit so well in my team—and it’s not my fault that they’re so neat, too.”

Dianne looked me right in the eye, and I looked right back. Her stare was piercing, and it was as if she was trying to see right through my words.

But I kept on the most serious expression possible, forcing myself not to smile. That staring contest lasted for a full minute, stopping when Dianne eventually blinked.

Doing so saw her let out a sudden snort.

“Alright, alright! I guess I won’t worry,” she said, waving a hand. “Just promise me that if you enter the Giant Chasm, you won’t go too deep in.”

I didn’t like lying.

“I can promise you that I’ll never go deep enough that I won’t be able to return to Lacunosa in the same night,” I said.

“That’s... good enough, I guess,” she mumbled. “But be careful, Nick. I don’t want to see you or Liepard get seriously hurt.”

When she parted to start her work day, she left me a spare house key—she wouldn’t always be here to let me in. I waved goodbye to her as she rode down the road on Farigiraf’s back, but I stayed back to deposit a few items and leave the non-essentials behind.

My team waited around me: Valiant, Liepard, and then Rotom, who was still in the ceiling lamp. They watched me as I looked through my backpack and inventoried all of my stuff.

“We’re going to the Giant Chasm to train and catch at least one new team member,” I told them now that we were alone. “But Dianne might have been right to worry. Our ultimate goal is to fight against Master Rank trainers—as in, trainers comparable to Champions. I know she warned us, but I do have a plan to go really deep in. The best way to develop a team’s strength is to face as tough a fight as possible, and that monster she talked about?”

I paused for dramatic effect.

“It still exists,” I said, looking around to take in my Pokémon. “We’re going to the Giant Chasm to train, but once I judge us to be ready, we’ll be seeking that beast out. Then, to truly push ourselves, we’re going to challenge it to a battle and have a proper fight.”

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

If you missed it, Valiant is the prequel story for this fiction, but I don’t consider it required. I wrote it as an experiment, and I doubt that it’s for everyone. I’m writing this fiction with the assumption that it hasn’t been read, but there will still be a handful of references to it. Explicit details about some of its events aren’t necessary, and there are some things from that story that won’t be brought up until later.

And just as a clarification on publishing, these chapters will be out on Royal Road once this initial two-week rush is completed.

Pokémon mentioned in this chapter:
Eevee
Excadrill
Farigiraf
Ferroseed
Lairon
Magnezone
Metagross
Purrloin
Trapinch

Nick’s Team:
Iron Valiant
Liepard
Rotom

Previous Chapter
Next Chapter

Master List of The Tech Specialist Chapters

(Working Title)

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 11.5 - Interlude
Chapter 12

Prequel Story Chapters:
Valiant Chapter List

Other Story Chapters:
The Ghost Specialist Chapter List
The Type Specialist Chapter List

Chapter 2

Author Note:

Read Chapter 1 here.

=======================================================================

Jack stood across from me, his hi-vis vest standing out in the shade between hangars. He lowered his stance so he could better focus on the upcoming battle, preparing himself to shout out commands to the Pokémon he’d choose to use.

From his shoulder, his Swoobat jumped down to land on the concrete between us, designating that space as our makeshift battlefield floor. The bat tried its best to look intimidating, but it struggled to do so given its sky-blue fluff and its pink, heart-shaped nose.

“The rules for our match?” I asked. Due to Jack’s challenge, this was going to be an official World Coronation Series battle. Trainers tended to have casual Pokémon battles all the time, but when it came to earning points based on performance and moving up in the ranks, more discussion needed to happen before the battle, first. 

“We have a choice,” Jack answered, a confident smile on his face. “Official placement matches tend to be double battles—you choose four Pokémon from your team and battle with that set, using two of them at once. But less organized matches are allowed to be more flexible. As long as both trainers agree, we can shift the rules around to have one-on-one fights.”

“Hm. A single battle? Works for me,” I replied, my tone light. “I only have three Pokémon on my team, anyway.”

Despite the humor in my voice, Jack’s smile faltered. He flicked his eyes over to look me up and down in what could only be visible disbelief.

“Kid, you entered a worldwide tournament with only half a team?”

“Hey, there’s over six months left,” I said, replying with a shrug. “That’s plenty of time to catch and train a new Pokémon—and don’t call me a kid. I’ve been to college.”

“...Graduated?”

“Dropped out on a technicality.”

After all, it was hard to keep attending classes when you suddenly found yourself in another world.

Unfortunately, Jack didn’t look like he believed me.

“Man, you sure you’re not a kid? I’m sorry, but you look like you’re twelve.”

I felt one of my eyes twitch in response; my face might have been perfectly smooth, but that didn’t mean I was a child.

“Rotom, help me out,” I said, speaking to where my watch crackled on my wrist. “I want to record this match, but my pack’s with the rest of the luggage. Mind sitting this one out? If you get your drone, we can tape this from above.”

That faint feeling of static vanished from around my arm. A miniature streak of lightning zipped out of my watch and into the air at my side. There, a bolt-shaped arm of plasma pressed to the head of a tiny, orange lightbulb. Alongside a grin, Rotom responded to me with a salute and then flashed away to zig-zag toward where all the luggage was being pushed.

Jack looked on with a raised eyebrow.

“Seriously? You’re sending away a Pokémon just like that?”

“Hey,” I said. “To beat you, I’ll only need two.”

“Whatever!” Jack barked. “Just... send out your Pokémon!”

“I will, but I need a moment.”

Jack let out a growl at that, but there was nothing he could do. As much as he had lured me into a dark alley, he wasn’t going to randomly attack me, and I was going to participate in this battle—I was just waiting for Rotom to return before we could begin.

It didn’t take long at all for my Pokémon to return, as Rotom reappeared with his ghostly body possessing a flying orange fan. Due to the amorphous electricity of his species, he could take over any electric device that he willed. His fan was a bright orange, battle-ready fan made standard for any Rotom to use in a fight. However, I had modified it to better serve our purposes. Now, it resembled a horizontal, orange disc with a bit of extra machinery attached to its top.

Within his fan-drone, Rotom flew down to drop off a white tablet, which I easily caught in my hands. He then returned to hover high in the air, making sure all of the fan’s attachments pointed downwards. The tablet’s screen was already displaying a view of our temporary battlefield from above.

“And since this is a World Coronation Series battle, we’ll need to submit a record of our match,” I pointed out.

Jack grumbled, pulling out a thick smartwatch from his pocket. For all he had done to get the spacing of this battle set up just right, we had to walk to meet in the middle, where he tapped his device against mine.

Both items beeped, signalling that a notice had been sent off.

Now, Jack couldn’t pretend that this battle never happened if he ended up with a loss.

Or, when he ends up with a loss, I thought to myself.

“I’m ready,” I said as I returned to my previous position, placing the tablet under my arm and pulling a Pokéball from my pocket. “You said a one-on-one fight, so...”

As I tossed the Pokéball into the air, the red-and-white sphere opened up to send out a flash of light. For this Pokémon, as much as I liked sticking to a theme, I possessed the same weakness as everyone else interested in technology:

Anyone involved with electronics always had to have a cat.

Within this concrete, alleyway field, the Pokéball’s light coalesced into a sleek, purple-furred feline. Standing at half my height, the cat crouched, its fur decorated in yellow spots and a singularly-colored stomach. The leopard’s ears pressed down in threat on his head, and his scythe-like tail flicked back and forth in preparation for this fight.

“A Liepard,” Jack named blandly, casually sending a glance to the screen of his watch as tournament officials confirmed the existence of our match. “Makes sense to choose a Dark-type Pokémon against a Psychic-type, but immunity isn’t worth using a species from Route 1!”

The jab was pretty blatant; Route 1 was where the weakest Pokémon in a region could usually be found.

With Jack’s taunt, I could see Liepard narrow his green eyes out of indignation. I knew my Pokémon, and I knew he had worked hard to surpass any expectation of weakness. However, here, he didn’t bother to hiss or try to respond.

Against a jerk like Jack, Liepard didn’t need to do anything. It was better to personally prove just how wrong Jack was than to waste his time with any useless retorts.

“Just so you know, one of the strongest trainers in Unova uses a Liepard,” I said idly, rocking back and forth on my feet. “You know you just implied that the ace Pokémon of one of Unova’s Elite Four is weak, right?”

Jack ignored me—he was already annoyed, and he just wanted this battle to get started. As both of our Pokémon were out on this field, he didn’t bother with any countdown and just dramatically threw his arm out to the side to issue a command.

“Swoobat!” he shouted. “Psychic-type moves aren’t gonna work, so hit it with an Air Cutter!”

As our battle began, a single flap of Swoobat’s bat-like wings saw it shoot into the sky, and that continued flapping went on to churn the air. Tiny tornadoes formed in front of the flying Pokémon, and the spiraling wind broke apart to hurtle downwards, taking the form of white, crescent blades.

“Encore. Hone Claws. Night Slash,” I spoke, watching the attack sail toward Liepard.

I gave three commands for three moves; I knew I didn’t need to say anything more than that.

Swoobat’s Air Cutter chipped the concrete as Liepard lunged to the side to dodge. He landed on his paws, back arched, and finally let out a hiss at his opponent, but this noise wasn’t aggressive. Rather, it was tinged with praise.

The sound grew Swoobat’s confidence, causing the bat to fall victim to Liepard’s Encore. Thanks to that move, there was no need to change tactics; Liepard had goaded Swoobat into repeatedly using the same attack.

Liepard proceeded to circle Swoobat from below, bursting into a dash. Jack tried to shout for an Assurance, but Swoobat ignored him, releasing Air Cutter after Air Cutter that Liepard easily outpaced.

As he ran, his claws glowed, and it took him little effort to channel energy into his nails to enhance his next attack with Hone Claws. Once he reached the other side of the alley, he jumped up to brace himself on a hangar wall, and dust from the bricks fell to the ground when he flipped over one last Air Cutter sent his way.

From there, Liepard sailed right toward his foe.

Against Liepard’s attack, Swoobat had no answer; Encore had limited its options. No matter what Jack shouted, Liepard had already sealed the outcome of this battle when he used his first move.

His claws swept right through Swoobat, landing a devastating slash colored with the same darkness as night itself.

That single swipe took less than a moment, and Liepard touched down back on the earth without even the slightest noise. He sat, beginning to confidently lick a paw.

Eye spinning in an unconscious daze, the Swoobat hit the earth behind him.

“That’s Liepard’s win,” I said. “Swoobat fainted.”

Casually, the big cat sent Jack a smirk.

“You—!” Jack ran a hand down his face, gritting his teeth, but he breathed out in an attempt to get himself to calm down. “Gah. You weren’t kidding. You’re a lot stronger than you look.”

He pulled out Swoobat’s Pokéball to recall the bat in a flash of red light. With his first Pokémon having disappeared from the field, he had plenty of space to send out his next choice for this battle.

However, he didn’t release his next team member just yet.

“How strong are you?” he asked, looking me in the eye.

“I’ve been a trainer for about a year, but I never bothered to take on any Gyms or enter any tournaments,” I said, answering truthfully. “We mostly trained through exploration and getting into a bunch of life-or-death fights. But we’ve still fought plenty of other trainers. We’ve had our share of tough battles. Except, our experience hasn’t come through wanting to get stronger. Rather, to do what we wanted to do, we’ve needed to get stronger.”

I could see Jack frowning as I spoke; my experiences stood at odds with almost every other trainer out there. Prospective trainers usually went on a “Pokémon journey” to build their team, traveling through a region to take on its Pokémon Gyms and defeat Gym Leaders in fights.

Usually, defeating a Gym Leader would earn a trainer a Gym Badge, which served as physical proof of that trainer’s victory. Stating the number of earned Gym Badges was an easy way for a trainer to represent their strength, but I didn’t have any of that. I only had me and my team.

Jack didn’t seem to understand. He watched me, continuing to frown.

“But why?” he asked. “Why bother training like that?”

“Because I want to see the world, and because I want to see it my way rather than follow an expected path,” I answered. “There’s no point in following someone else’s footsteps when you can just make your own, and it’s more exciting to not know where you’re going, as well.”

“But you’re... still entering this tournament?” Jack said.

I smiled, but it was a mixed smile. I was here for so many reasons. Yes, I had come here to compete, but I couldn’t claim it was entirely my decision.

Still, I planned to reach the top. I planned to gather the strength needed to see the entire world the way I wanted to see it. There were so many restricted areas out there that the people in charge didn’t let trainers visit, and to see them myself, I would need to prove that my team and I had the strength and reliability to be trusted with access.

At least, that was what I told people when asked what motivated me.

Though I had been “encouraged” to enter the World Coronation Series, I planned to win it no matter what and on my own terms. Placing first would require my team and me to reach a level of strength that few other trainers could ever reach.

And we needed that strength. It was the only way we’d be able to defeat the one trainer we so desperately needed to beat.

“I guess that’s an answer,” came a grumble from Jack.

I simply continued to smile as he released his next Pokémon.

Where Swoobat might have been considered “cute,” this Pokémon looked grotesque and grey with muscles that throbbed with bulging, pink veins. A bright red nose sat front and center on the Pokémon’s face, and the sheer strength that this creature wielded was on full display due to the thick, metal beam that it carried in its hands.

“A Gurdurr, huh?” I said, naming the species. “So you’re using a Fighting type to have the advantage over my Dark type, but I have a question.”

“What?” Jack all but snapped.

“Don’t you think it’s a bit stereotypical to be a construction worker battling alongside a Gurdurr?”

“Gurdurr are used by construction workers for a reason!” Jack shouted, his face turning red. “I’d like to see you carry a thousand pounds of metal at once!”

“...You know what? Fair point.”

Looking over the Gurdurr standing on the field, I knew Liepard could take it on. Night Slash wasn’t his only move—given his weakness to the Fighting type, we had made sure he had a counter—but as much as I was sure he’d win, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to drag this out.

“Second question,” I asked next, “how many Pokémon do you have left on your team?”

“Two after this. Got me four Pokémon total.”

“I see,” I said. “And how many Gym Badges?”

Jack looked more than willing to brag.

“Me and my team? When we traveled on our journey, I managed to earn almost six!” he shouted.

Proudly, he thumped his chest.

So, he earned almost six. Not actually six. Gyms get more difficult the more you manage to defeat, and he only managed to win against five.

“Alright.” With that reveal, I confirmed my decision. “Then, we’re gonna speedrun the rest of this fight.”

“What?”

Jack looked visibly ticked off.

I gestured for Liepard to pull back—rather than returning him, I recalled him to permanently remove him from the battle. I planned to use my final team member to sweep to the end, and if Jack somehow managed to win against them, then there was nothing Liepard or Rotom could have done, anyway.

A vein on Jack’s head throbbed almost as much as one of his Gurdurr’s as he watched Liepard casually walk off the field.

Once the feline was off and sitting at my side, I didn’t wait; I pulled out one final Pokéball and tossed it forward.

“I want you to know that this is my strongest team member,” I said to Jack. “Between everyone with me, I can solidly say that this Pokémon is my ace.”

When I first entered this world, I had woken up in a cave. It had been a wondrous cave filled with strange species and towering, glowing crystals, but it hadn’t been a place I had the personal skill to leave.

So, I asked for help.

And then, that help decided to stick around.

My strongest team member, my closest companion, and my very best friend appeared on the battlefield, coalescing from a flash of light that extended out of their ball.

A second of silence passed.

“...The heck is that?” Jack asked.

“What? They’re not familiar?”

“Look, kid, I know Pokémon, but I’ve never seen any species that looks like that!”

The Pokémon I released carried the traits of the ever-famous Gardevoir, but they also carried plenty of elements from that evolutionary line’s alternative final form, Gallade. My Pokémon stood on two legs, wore a dress-like robe that protected their back half, possessed a helmet of green hair, and even had a large spike coming out of their head past that.

However, Gardevoir and Gallade were fleshy, biological Pokémon, and the Pokémon I had just released was made completely out of metal. Their entire body was robotic, looking as if they were made out of white aluminium, and their eyes glowed a dark, neon pink.

Their very form was a threat in and of itself; from the bend in my Pokémon’s arms, crystalline blades of that same pink extended out. However, those blades did not stay in place. By slamming their fists together, my Pokémon caused them to pop out. However, those crystal edges telescoped out to connect, and by the end of it, they had formed a weapon.

Taking up a fighting stance, my Pokémon readied themself to fight, wielding a dual-sided polearm that they held in one hand.

“This is Iron Valiant,” I said to Jack. “I call them ‘Valiant’ for short.”

Jack was left momentarily speechless before a scowl overtook his face.

“Doesn’t matter what kind of Pokémon you send out!” he snapped. “Gurdurr and I are still gonna win—use Hammer Arm!”

The arms of Jack’s Pokémon visibly inflated. With rippling muscles, the Gurdurr charged, bringing its metal beam back above its head to prepare a powerful swing.

Valiant, meanwhile, just crouched to bring their stance lower toward the ground, readying their sharpened polearm in one hand. Without me needing to say anything, Valiant casually waited as the Gurdurr crossed the field.

Then, right when Jack’s Pokémon arrived, I spoke a single command.

“Dazzling Gleam.”

Almost in an instant, Valiant moved with such speed that it was like they disappeared just to reappear right behind the Gurdurr. The Gurdurr was nowhere near as quick enough to respond in time, and it had already started to bring its metal beam down, locking itself in place due to the momentum of its weapon.

That meant Valiant had free rein to swing, and the blade of their polearm slammed right into Gurdurr’s lower back. However, that impact was not their attack; rather, the crystal edge of their weapon exploded with pink, searing into the Fighting type, and blasting the Gurdurr far away to skid over the concrete.

It quickly came to a stop, completely unconscious.

“Bisharp!” Jack shouted next, not hesitating to recall his fainted Pokémon and send out his third team member.

Bisharp was not robotic, but its arms were a pair of metal blades that almost matched Valiant’s. However, Jack had made a horrible mistake by sending it out.

“Poor choice,” I said. “Bisharp is a Steel and Dark type, and Valiant is Fairy and Fighting."

Jack’s eyes widened; due to type effectiveness, a single Fighting-type move from my Pokémon would deal four times damage against his Bisharp.

“Get back!” he shouted quickly.

Unfortunately for him, Valiant was already charging.

Jack’s Bisharp brought up its bladed arms in an attempt to deflect, but nothing like that was ever going to work against a fighter as skilled as Valiant. Before the Bisharp could even process what was going on, Valiant was right there, positioned as close as possible to forsake all forms of defense. That raw offense caused their crystalline blade to gain an orange-red hue from the Fighting-type energy channeled into it for this move, and Jack’s Pokémon was struck.

A visible groove was carved into the Bisharp’s chest, and the Pokémon immediately collapsed.

“One Pokémon left,” I said as Jack let out a pained cry.

Truly snarling at this point, Jack pulled his fainted Bisharp back into its Pokéball. As rough as its injury looked, it was nothing that a Pokémon Center wouldn’t be able to treat and fix—without a cost, most importantly. For multiple reasons, the Pokémon world’s medicine was truly impressive.

“...Fine, then. I have a team of four, but mine’s just as unbalanced as yours,” Jack said, speaking with an acid to his words as he retrieved a new Pokéball. “My last Pokémon is also my ace! They’re my strongest. So it doesn't matter how powerful your ‘Iron Valiant’ is—I still have faith that my Pokémon can win!”

“Good.” Even now, I found myself smiling. “I’ve been enjoying our battle so far. Don’t let us down.”

Staring at his last Pokéball, Jack sent it a nod of his head, and he drew his arm back just to throw the sphere forward. In a flash of light, a brand new Pokémon appeared in the air above the field. This one lacked wings like Jack’s Swoobat, but it hovered due to a strong, telekinetic force.

“Reuniclus!” Jack named.

This was a creature that resembled a cell, a developed zygote with a small creature inside a green membrane. A transparent, jelly-like substance let its interior be visible, and I could see the fragmented bones that supported the Reuniclus’s massive pair of arms.

“Reuniclus, you know what to do!” Jack shouted, confidence returning to his voice. “Take it out with Hammer Arm! This guy pulled all his other Pokémon out of the fight! We only need to beat this thing, and then we’ll win!”

Almost alongside his shout, his Pokémon let out a piercing cry as it used its telekinesis to fling itself forward.

Meanwhile, my own command was much simpler.

“Valiant, use Fury Cutter,” I said.

Equidistant between the two trainers here, the pair of Pokémon collided at the exact center of this makeshift field.

Despite telekinesis being its specialty, Jack’s Reuniclus didn’t bother to utilize any Psychic-type moves. Instead, it swung its arms with wild abandon, and the sheer power it wielded meant it actually put up a decent fight.

But Fury Cutter was not a strong move.

In this clash, Valiant’s blade turned an off-yellow that hinted at the Bug-type energy being channeled through it. They swung it as hard as they could, but all it managed to do was hit one of Reuniculus’s swinging arms. The attempt to strike failed, but both weapon and limb were bounced back.

Then, that clash happened again.

And again.

And again.

Valiant used both hands to wield their weapon, spinning and bouncing it to hit and match every possible blow while Reuniclus swung its arms to do the same. At first, Reuniclus’s Hammer Arm onslaught saw Valiant struggle with their Fury Cutter defense, but every bounce backwards was translated into a building momentum. Every use of Fury Cutter saw its power build.

Like a growing swarm of insects, Fury Cutter became that much more biting. A strength built behind Valiant’s blows.

It might have started weak, but Valiant was skilled, and Fury Cutter was special. It might be the weakest move Valiant had access to, but the more a Pokémon repeatedly used it, the more powerful Fury Cutter would become.

“R-Reuniclus!” Jack suddenly shouted when Reuniclus’s arm was knocked back significantly further than before. He’d seemed to realize just what was going on. “Throw it away with a Psychic! Quick!”

Unfortunately, he’d picked up on Valiant’s building momentum far too late. It was a good choice for him to try to break the ongoing chain, but Valiant had already gathered the power needed to secure us this win.

“Strike,” I commanded.

Reuniclus pulled back its arms to focus its attention, and its entire body gained a blue, Psychic-type glow.

That same glow formed around Valiant, and space itself almost threatened to collapse. However, rather than let themself be thrown back so easily, Valiant pushed through for a single jab.

And that jab was what ended this match.

Filled with Bug-type energy, Valiant’s blade ate right through Reuniclus’s telekinetic focus. The blue glow vanished from around them as their blade stabbed right at Reuniclus’s chest. Upon landing that strike, the floating, cell-like Pokémon gained a look of utter shock. Its spongy exterior bent inwards from the blow, and though not truly pierced, Bug-type energy continued inwards, creeping through and eating away at the vitality contained within.

Reuniclus let out a horrible cry—I couldn’t imagine that this was comfortable, and the Bug-type move was super effective against a Psychic-type Pokémon like it. Squirming from the damage, the Reuniclus dropped from the air just to hit the ground. There, it began to roll, but nothing else needed to be done.

Before too long, Reuniclus was exhausted, fainted, and unable to get up.

In short, for our very first battle within Unova, we had won.

_______________________________________________________________________

Later, I sat in a small Mistralton café with my team. One comfortable fact about trainer battles was that the loser was expected to pay the winner. Prize money was how many trainers supported themselves, but when the average person had a rough 50-50 win-lose ratio, winnings and losses tended to balance out. Truthfully, most trainers needed to earn funds through taking on odd jobs with their Pokémon or accepting money from a sponsor.

My sponsor was the only reason I’d been able to afford all my neat electronics. And, in all honesty, that need for money was likely why a trainer like Jack was working for a construction company.

But even with that spare bit of extra cash, my team and I tended to quickly burn through every dollar we’d get. Thankfully, it wasn’t often that we lost our matches, especially when challenged by a trainer far under our level—but I wouldn’t have called Jack weak. We were just stronger. After all, when it came to battling, my entire life philosophy revolved around the same idea behind how I had played through the Pokémon games:

Power begot freedom.

Strategy wasn’t as important if you massively outleveled your opponents. Battles were made simple when you could overwhelm and then overcome.

“It’s nice to start with this bit of extra cash,” I said to my team as we reclined and relaxed. “I hope this is a good way to begin our time in Unova—and consider this my apology for needing to keep you in your Pokéballs for the entire flight here.”

My team made noises of approval around me. All of them were easily bribed with food. Liepard lapped at a saucer of milk and cream, and Rotom was letting the plasma of his arms soak in a cup full of bright green battery acid. Valiant, meanwhile, didn’t technically need to eat—their robotic body meant they could passively gather energy from the environment around them. However, just because they didn’t need to eat didn’t mean they didn’t have a mouth.

Due to their eyes being a display on a screen rather than actual, physical eyes, Valiant’s expression did not change. They were awake and on high alert, serving as a guard as they always tended to do, but they were still occasionally bringing up tiny spoonfuls of berry sorbet.

“While I do want us to relax, I kind of need to talk about our plans,” I said to everyone, sitting up. “Unlike our time in Paldea, we aren’t exactly here just to casually explore. We were ‘encouraged’ to participate for a reason—there’s a lot riding on the World Coronation Series. If you remember, there's going to be a tournament between everyone in the Master Rank at the end of the year, and that means the Champions, the toughest trainers in the world, are probably going to be the ones to compete.”

Every region had a Champion, and the World Coronation Series was the World Coronation Series for a reason. The toughest trainers around the entire world were involved in ranking up to try to reach that tournament, and just about everyone from every walk of life would be fighting to see how high they could place.

But I needed it to be me who stood at the top alongside all of those other, impossibly strong trainers. If my team and I could win this tournament, then we could beat anyone. It didn’t matter who we faced; my team would be able to win.

“Except... we might have a problem,” I continued, the volume of my voice lowering so much. “As much as I hate to say it, we currently don’t have much of a chance of making it to the top.”

Liepard looked up from his bowl of milk out of annoyance, an ear flicking to the side. Not looking pleased, he let out a sharp “mrow,” but he didn’t do anything more than that.

Unfortunately, I could tell that he knew I was right. Valiant’s strength surpassed even his own, and there had been times in which Valiant had lost in the past.

“We need to get stronger,” I said to everyone, and the full attention of my Pokémon was on me. “That means we need to train and expand our team. Competing in the Series itself is a decent way to get experience, but climbing up the ranks will eventually see us hit a wall that we won’t be able to beat.”

Looking over all of my Pokémon here, I eventually locked eyes with the smallest being at this table.

Rotom was only about as big as my palm.

“Rotom, if you will?” I asked.

With a grin, he disappeared from his spot above his cup just to zap himself into my backpack. However, calling it just a “backpack” was a bit of a misnomer given how it was half the size of my body.

A bit of rustling came from within that canvas monstrosity until Rotom came back out, looking a bit different.

A white tablet shot onto the table with Rotom’s smiling expression prominent on its screen.

“The map, please,” I asked.

Using his electronic control, he changed the display to show a topological view of Unova.

“Right now, we’re here, all the way on the western edge of the region. But our target is here, way closer to the region’s eastern side,” I said, making sure to tap both locations. “We have six months until that Master Rank tournament comes up, and that means we have six months to rank up and train. As much as I want to travel, we need to get stronger sooner rather than later—So you see this whole chunk?”

I circled most of northern Unova, sending my team a grin as I paused for dramatic effect.

“We’re skipping it,” I said outright. “I already have bus tickets purchased for tomorrow. Mainly, we need to head somewhere with strong Pokémon that we can train against and catch, so that means our first goal is to head straight to Lacunosa Town.”

Liepard’s ears perked up at the familiar name.

“Specifically, we’re heading to this area just to the north of it,” I said, tapping one last location. “It’s going to be freezing, difficult, and full of tough Pokémon. In other words, it’s the perfect location to train.

“So, ready yourselves, everyone,” I continued. “Together, we’re going to take on Unova’s Giant Chasm. There, we’ll practice and expand our team, but most importantly, we’re going to face a certain challenge while we’re there. And believe me, I plan for us to win.”

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

Flying drones within a major airport is extremely illegal. However, the rules get blurrier when that drone is being possessed by a Pokémon.

The team summary is still a work in progress—I’m debating how much information to include when Nick is starting with an experienced team. 

Schedule-wise, a chapter will be posted every weekday until the end of next week. After that Friday, I’ll be taking a step back to figure out the best, most manageable schedule from there.

Pokémon mentioned in this chapter:
Bisharp
Excadrill
Gurdurr
Metagross
Reuniclus
Swoobat

Nick’s Team:
Iron Valiant
Liepard
Rotom

Previous Chapter
Next Chapter

[New Fiction] The Tech Specialist - Chapter 1

Author Note:

Welcome!

=======================================================================

I’d ridden a plane exactly once before—twice, technically, since I’d needed to take a return flight home. I had only been a child back then, so my memories of it weren’t great. They mostly consisted of staring down at a tablet’s screen and walking through the airport itself.

Now, I was actually aware enough to look out the window. It was as if I could see the entire world from where I was, miles up into the sky. For hours, there was nothing but water, but the ocean flowed through shades of blues as we flew west over different underwater environments. Once we hit land, I could see how the terrain itself shifted from an enormous desert into rolling hills and swamps.

The engines on the plane’s wings rumbled with a constant thrum, and the occasional blowing wind sent vibrations through the cabin. The trees beneath us grew to be taller and taller, and I soon became able to see the distant, cleared-out tarmac of our landing site.

A short chime rang out.

“Please remain seated. We will be landing shortly.”

The sound of the pilot’s voice made me sit up straighter. I felt like bouncing around, but that kind of reaction would have been immature. Still, I was filled with energy; I could not contain the excitement building in my chest.

It wasn't every day that I got to visit a brand new region, even with all of the travel I’d experienced recently. The moment the plane landed, I stood up, and then I was forced to suffer and wait for everyone around me to sluggishly retrieve their luggage and begin shuffling out.

Though I wasn't moving any faster than anyone else, I still felt like I was running, but it took a short time to reach the door and step out onto a rolled-over staircase. Standing there, I knew I was ready.

As I breathed in, I could taste the chill in the air. Even with all of the nearby planes, there was a qualitative lack of pollution. 

Everything was fresh.

“Welcome to Mistralton,” I whispered to myself.

Of course, it was my very first step into this new region when everything went wrong. Someone shouted at me from way off to my left, and I turned far too late to see a mass of blue, black, and pink careening directly my way.

“Watch out!”

A big ball of fluff with wings slammed straight into my face. A wet heart shape stamped right into my forehead. That impact sent me stumbling back into the side of the airplane, and then that hit saw me bounce off the metal and fall forward.

I also bounced off every step on the way down.

“Are you okay?!” that same voice yelled in panic. “I knew this would happen—I shouldn’t have sent him into a crowd!”

A squeaking whine came from my side, and the world felt like it was spinning. An ache in my face told me that part of my skin had definitely been stamped bright red.

But I couldn't help it. I laughed. I rolled onto my back and stared up at the clear blue sky. Far above me, I could see a metal bird gliding over the airport. I couldn’t tell if there was anyone on its back or not, but its mere presence was enough for me to smile.

Even now, a full year after entering this world, it was hard to avoid the wonder I would feel at times. I might have had no idea how I got here in the first place, but I didn’t really care. What mattered was that I was here now and that I had the chance to fully explore what this world had to offer.

After all, almost everyone’s childhood dream was to enter a world filled with Pokémon.

The creature that had slammed into my face was a Swoobat. The metal bird in the sky was a Skarmory. Pushing a cart full of luggage was a multi-armed Machamp. A Drillbur used its wide claws to flatten the earth alongside some construction workers digging off to the side.

All of those fancily-named creatures were Pokémon, beings that I once thought existed only in video games. They were little monsters that could be sucked into shrinking spheres for easy capture and transport. They were creatures that rewrote the rules of reality itself just to engage in friendly battles.

“...Okay, seriously,” that voice from before said, “I've asked if you're okay three times now, and you've just laid on your back and giggled.”

Blinking, I sat up.

“Sorry. I’ve been told I get distracted pretty easily. Didn’t mean to worry you—a few bounces off the stairs aren’t going to do much to me. I’ve taken worse falls before.”

Proudly, I patted the chest of my coat—thick, cushioned, and warm enough to keep out the chill. It covered my arms and stretched almost to my knees, giving me enough of a resistance to hits to ensure I was fine as long as I remembered to tuck my head and roll.

“Glad it’s nothing worse,” the person standing above me said.

The young man sending me a concerned-yet-amused look was one of the construction workers, and he spoke in good humor as he offered me a hand. I clasped it to let him pull me up, taking a moment to brush some loose dirt off the tan fabric of my outfit. With the way my hair had fallen, I also had to push back some stray, blonde strands to make sure they didn’t block my vision.

The construction worker looked me over to make sure I was really okay before continuing to speak.

“Name’s Jack,” he said. Right away, I could tell he was younger than most of the other construction workers here, probably someone not too far out of high school. “I’ve been helping with the work to expand Mistralton Airport. And this little pest here is Swoobat. He was supposed to be off retrieving something for me.”

The creature that had crashed into my face let out another whine.

“Did he not?” I asked as I shook Jack’s hand when he offered it again. “Or, did he drop whatever it was when he hit me? And—oh, wait. The name’s Nicholas, but most people just call me Nick.”

“Nick, then,” Jack said. “And, yeah, Mac left his toolbox in the hangar. I asked Swoobat to get it, but what I didn’t expect was for a plane to pull in, and when it comes to big crowds...”

“Swoobat gets easily distracted?” I provided.

On Jack’s shoulder, a fluffy blue bat with ears larger than his head used one of its wings to try to hide its embarrassment.

“Swoobat is part Psychic-type. He’s pretty in-tune with thoughts and emotions,” Jack said. “A plane's worth of people can really throw him off. There’s a reason his species tends to live in caves.”

The Swoobat perched on Jack’s shoulder was yet another reminder of the world I now lived in—a world where people and Pokémon partnered together. That partnership tended to be for far more than just fighting: Pokémon were friends, family, and close companions. They were used to assist with work all the time to the point that society and Pokémon were intrinsically linked.

It was a connection that I loved to see, but of course, Pokémon were still primarily used for battling.

“You a Pokémon trainer?” Jack suddenly asked.

“Huh? What?”

It took me a second to realize I’d been looking at his Swoobat a bit too intensely.

“You don’t seem that bothered by Swoobat hitting you, so you must take hits like that pretty often,” Jack said. “You also don’t seem to be nervous about being around an evolved Pokémon?”

“Well, yeah,” I admitted, gaining a cheeky smile as I rubbed the back of my head. “I have a few Pokémon with me. Not many, but enough to be a decent threat in battle.”

As I brought my hand back down, I could feel the slight weight of two shrunken Pokéballs within one of my coat pockets, and I could also feel the additional weight of the electronic watch on my wrist, the device still in a deep slumber.

“I see,” Jack said, eyes flicking over the crowd of people descending the plane’s staircase and sending a glance to a cart of luggage being pushed toward a small building set to the side. “Well, I think I owe you an apology. I can take a few minutes off work. I’ll walk you to the terminal—a couple words from me, and you’ll get your bags back faster than waiting in line!”

“That’d be great. Thanks!”

Jack turned on a heel and started to lead me away, the Swoobat on his shoulder leaning against his head and using Jack’s hard hat as support.

For an airport, Mistalton's was somehow both excessively large and excessively small. Outside of a single, compact building, it lacked any major terminals that could support large groups of travelers, but this place likely had more runways than most cities' airports. Dozens of hangars had been built to support how this place managed most of Unova’s cargo, and I could tell that these runways were primarily used by shipping companies and amateur pilots.

A passenger plane landing here wasn’t too common, but with the current events going on—and with all the construction taking place—things were likely shifting so that more and more people would be entering Mistralton shortly.

“So what brings you to Unova, anyway?” Jack asked as he brought me across the airport.

“Same thing as most other trainers, I’d think,” I said. “Work, technically, but mostly just personal interest.”

“Ah. You sponsored?”

“In a way,” I replied quickly, doing my best not to think about it. “I get some money on the side to help pay for taking care of my team, but I don’t have to push a product or show up in commercials or anything like that.”

Jack went on to ask me where I was from, and I answered with a technicality—Paldea. In truth, I was from another world, but that origin was from over a year ago at this point, and I didn’t need to go out of my way to reveal that.

So, my impromptu guide just hummed as he led me further and further away from where the plane landed.

It didn’t miss me that no one else was walking the same way.

But I maintained my casual smile, despite that.

“So if you're a trainer from another region coming here due to work, then that means you’re here for the tournament,” Jack eventually said.

“The World Coronation Series?” I asked. “I mean, yeah, it only happens every five years or so. I’d think being in it is pretty obvious—it’s the biggest tournament in the world.”

“And you’ve registered?”

“I did.”

“And now you’re seeking to climb the ranks, just like every other trainer who signed up to compete.”

I could already tell where this was going, and I rolled my shoulders to loosen up.

Jack continued to lead me forward, bringing me to a short space set between two hangars. Within that alleyway, he then turned around with a sharp glint in his eyes.

“Yeah, you’ve already put the pieces together, huh? Didn’t bring you this way just to help you out,” he said, pushing an arm to the side to stretch. “You’re a trainer. You’re competing. You’re trying to make it to the top just like everyone else. And, if you’ve just arrived, then you haven’t had the time to win and gain any points!” 

Jack gained a cocky smile.

“All of that means you have to be in the Normal Rank, same as me!” he said. “And we both know that being in the same rank means you won’t be allowed to run from this battle.”

The Pokémon trainer moonlighting as a construction worker grinned, using his thumb to push up the edge of his hard hat. On his shoulder, his Swoobat dramatically brought out its wings to make itself look like a threat.

Despite my own smile, I did let out a short sigh. Already, I was retrieving a Pokéball from my pocket. Getting into a battle like this was a bit of a detour, but it was nothing I wouldn’t have searched out myself.

“You’re right,” I said to Jack. “Since I signed up before heading over, I was placed in the Normal Rank just like every other new registree. And, since I only just got here, you're also right that I have no recorded battles.”

“Knew it!” Jack said with a deepening grin.

“Except,” I continued, taking the interruption lightly, “you’re very wrong about something else: My team and I don’t just try to win our battles; we win our battles outright.”

Locking eyes with Jack, I could already feel the Pokéballs in my pocket shake slightly as my team started to wake up. On my wrist, my smartwatch crackled with static.

Jack had challenged me expecting to face a trainer not ready to battle on such short notice. Unfortunately for him, he had picked the wrong opponent. My team was stronger than he realized, and we were always prepared to take on any fight.

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

Welcome to the new long fiction! Chapter two should already be up, and if it’s not, it’ll be up shortly.

If you read the update from a few weeks back, you read an entirely alternative version of this chapter that’s no longer canon. After getting some feedback, I went and rewrote the entire first chapter. So, that old version is now truly an “old” version. The current style and version is what’s going to be published going forward.

Pokémon mentioned in this chapter:
Drillbur
Machamp
Skarmory
Swoobat

Next Chapter

The Type Specialist Extra Chapter 7 - A True Epilogue [END]

Author Note:

The sixth extra chapter came out before this one. Make sure to read it here.

==========================================================================

The world was changing. The stories that were once fated to become reality had now become nothing more than fantastical tales. Paths were redirected toward new myths and legends. Humans and their technology maintained their unceasing march forward. People and Pokémon kept growing, but the newest generation, the boldest generation, had yet to gather the time in this world needed to recognize all of that.

“Over here!” a young voice called out. “It can't be that far! I swear that it's just up ahead!”

“M-my mom says not to swear,” came another voice from behind. “She says that swearing too much will make your teeth fall out.”

A tongue was stuck out in reply, and a creature giggled from where it hung off that person’s shoulder. Gravel crunched underfoot, and leaves rustled in the wind. Only the barest beams of light peaked out through the canopy of the trees, and the two boys kept going. The Pokémon on the lead boy’s shoulder tightened its grip.

“Hey, Claude? I checked the history books,” the boy in the back said, pushing his glasses up his nose with a moderately shaking hand. “The pictures of this forest are different, and those were taken just a few years ago! There weren’t this many glowing mushrooms. And the trees weren’t this thick.”

“So what?” Claude said, barely glancing over his shoulder alongside his shout. “There were different Pokémon here back then! The TV mentioned it—it’s all due to ‘balancing the environment,’ or whatever it’s called. Something about needing to correct the mistakes of the past?”

“But the Flabébé—”

“Well, it doesn’t matter now,” Claude said, shrugging as he kept going. “What matters is that this forest isn’t empty. There’s someone really cool out here, and you need to stop peeing your pants so much, Quentin!”

Quentin gulped.

“But I’ve never peed my pants.”

“And both of us know that’s a lie,” Claude answered, tapping his nose.

His grin was bright, and a Whismur loudly giggled on his shoulder. Claude continued to march up the road, and Quentin hurried after him, mumbling something about wanting to keep an eye out for any wild Flabébé.

In Verdanturf, the rumors were persistent. Everyone knew about the mysterious figure that lived in the forest just outside of town. Both Claude and Quentin had tried to ask, but whenever they brought up their questions, their parents would just look amused and shake their heads, refusing to share any details in the slightest.

“Lizzie came here with her Minun,” Claude said as he hiked forward. “She said it was super spooky but super cool. I asked around after class, and everyone agreed—this place belongs to some sort of weirdo!”

“A weirdo?” Quentin repeated.

“Yup. A weirdo. Anyone who lives this deep in a forest has to be a weirdo,” Claude replied far too casually. “I mean, can they even be anything else with all of these mushrooms around?”

Though the sun’s light had been reduced to a dim glow, the forest itself was lit with hues of green, cyan, and pink. It was a mystical set of colors as much as it was an otherworldly set of colors. Honestly, Quentin himself almost felt as though they had somehow entered another plane of existence.

The foliage thickened, and the shadows grew, yet the path continued to wind through the forest, unabating.

Then, something rustled behind them, and both boys froze. However, when they checked to see what was there, all they found was an empty path stretching into the darkness.

“Th-there.” Claude brought up an arm to point ahead as he turned around, even though he had to fight to keep standing tall. “Can you see it?”

“More mushroom lights?”

“No. Those aren’t mushrooms. That’s light from windows.”

Reinvigorated, he ran, and Quentin was forced to run as well. They followed the path right to where the forest opened into a small grove, and there, they found what had to be a hidden home.

Specifically, a hidden home that had gone through dozens of different additions to become quite the eclectic structure. It was three stories tall and looked like an improperly assembled puzzle. All of the extra rooms seemed to have been constructed with different architectural styles. There was even a pond in front, but that pond was half-frozen over with ice. A field of flowers sat next to it, somehow having been maintained despite the lack of sun, and there was even a strange and exposed electric box that sat at the home’s side.

It was a complete mess, but it was a well-maintained mess, and it was something neither boy had ever seen before. Yet, neither Claude nor Quentin took a step forward.

Instead, the faint sound of cloth rustled at their back.

“You two plan to keep going, or are you just going to freeze out here, then run home?”

It took all of Claude’s courage not to scream. Quentin didn’t have enough courage to prevent himself from doing that.

“Y-you!” Claude accused, snapping himself around to point. “Y-you’re the weirdo! You’re the person who lives here and—”

His shouts were interrupted by a belly-deep laugh.

“Me? Sorry, you have the wrong person. I just decided to go for a walk after visiting a friend, and that’s when I noticed you two outside.”

Quentin managed to recover enough to trade a look with Claude, and Whismur’s ears twitched with nerves from where it hung off of Claude’s shoulder. The man behind them was confident and wouldn’t be out of place in any city. Claude didn’t hide how he thought the man’s dark trench coat was a bit much, however.

“O-okay...” Quentin stuttered. “Then, who are you, exactly?

The coat-wearing man simply smiled, and he shook his head as if amused.

“Ah, I suppose I’m someone who’s about to learn a lot more about wandering, pretty soon. But most people just call me by my name—which is Thomas, by the way.”

“Thomas, then,” Claude said to himself, nodding as if that mundane answer had been expected all along.

“S-so...” Quentin continued. “W-what are you doing here?”

“I was advising a friend to take what Hope they have and hold onto it for as long as they can,” Thomas replied, still sounding distinctly amused. “But really, I already told you: I was going for a walk, and then I just happened to stumble upon you two.”

He crouched down.

“Why are you here, anyway?” the man with a dark disposition asked.

“We—”

“We’re here to fight the weirdo!” Claude yelled at the top of his lungs.

The second Claude said that, Quentin felt as though he was about to vomit, and it looked as though Thomas had to fight for his life not to laugh.

“Oh? The weirdo, huh?” Thomas said through a slight smile. “That’s interesting. Tell me, what exactly do you know about this... weirdo?”

“I know that they live in the forest and that no one ever tells us anything,” Claude huffed.

“They like battling?” Quentin offered. “Like he said, we don’t know that much.”

“Hm.” Thomas stroked his chin and looked both boys up and down. “Have you ever stopped to consider that, maybe, they just like their privacy?”

Quentin didn’t have an answer, and Claude looked like he didn’t want to respond. Thomas, however, merely laughed, and he rustled the hair on both boys’ heads.

Claude really hated that.

“Well, if you want to know a bit more about the weirdo that lives here, you should probably know that they aren’t someone to be messed with,” Thomas said. “Do you know the Trick Master?”

“The guy on Route 110?” Quentin asked.

“Yup. Him. Think of this place as Verdanturf’s own little challenge room.”

Quentin turned back toward the eclectic structure with awe, and Claude turned to face it with re-ignited fire in his eyes.

“People come from all over to challenge the person who lives within,” Thomas continued. “That person isn’t always here to accept those battles, but whenever they are, some even equate this place as Hoenn’s secret ‘ninth’ Gym.”

“A Gym, huh?” Claude mumbled. He could feel Whismur hanging off his shoulder. He had yet to start his journey—he had only caught Whismur last month—but he knew he and his partner Pokémon would take the world by storm once they properly started out.

“...Do they ever get bothered by that?” Quentin asked, voice quiet. “Facing constant challenges, I mean.”

“Not really. They welcome it,” came Thomas’s answer as he stood back up. “All trainers like to be challenged, but they have to be challenged first. That means you have to present them with a proper battle. You can’t just do what you were planning and storm ahead to barge your way inside.”

Thomas looked between the two boys, but Claude was already taking a step forward, and Quentin’s eyes were still on the house.

“Good luck,” the man said.

Claude began to stride toward the door, and Quentin turned around to give his thanks to the stranger, but when he checked, Thomas was no longer there. It was as if the shadows themselves had somehow swallowed him up, but ultimately, Quentin didn’t have time to react, given how Claude was currently running straight toward the front door.

“HEY WEIRDO!” Claude shouted, bringing up his fist and slamming it against the building’s wooden entrance. “I’M CHALLENGING YOU TO A BATTLE! AND SINCE WE’RE BOTH TRAINERS, YOU HAVE TO ACCEPT IT!”

“U-um,” Quentin stuttered, just barely catching up. “I don’t think this is what Thomas—”

The door creaked open.

“Meant!” Quentin finished.

Claude sent Quentin a single, flat look—one which Whismur shared—and then he strode straight into the building, entering a room that resembled an old-style dojo. Its presence honestly made a lot of sense if battles were happening here a lot. It was probably an addition built later; this place seemed as though it had a lot of rooms that’d slowly been tacked on.

There was nothing to inspect in here save for a tatami battlefield and a set of screens that covered the walls. The ceiling itself glowed with dim lights hidden in the rafters, but a much brighter glow came from behind another, lone screen in the back.

A flickering fire illuminated a silhouette draped in flowing cloth.

“You... challenge me?” the voice said. It was ambiguous, and it sounded as though it came from both everywhere and nowhere at once.

“I... I do!” Claude shouted. Despite his initial hesitation, he made sure to show his confidence by clenching his fists.

Quentin moved up to stand at his friend’s side, taking this chance to look around. He didn’t miss the additional screens set up like cover in front of the room’s walls. Without any light behind them, there was no way to tell if there was anyone else hiding at the room’s sides.

But, ever so faintly, he swore he heard something—an extremely faint sound. It was snickering, or maybe something closer to giggling. Someone or something was trying very hard not to laugh.

“Well,” the voice said, and that muffled noise seemed to cease, immediately getting its faint laughter in order. “A Pokémon battle, here in my own home! As a trainer, I have no choice but to accept.”

The silhouette nodded, and just like Quentin expected, something walked out from behind the screens at the room’s walls. A canine, one that looked like dough freshly claimed from a bakery, strode out to position itself on the battlefield floor.

“Whimsur!” Claude said, and he helped his friend off his shoulder. “We’re winning here!”

In agreement, Whismur shouted its name, and the dog on the floor didn’t let that go unanswered with its opposing bark of “Fidough!”

“It’s great to see kids like you starting your journeys. It brings me back to my own start way back when,” the silhouette mused. “Challenging unknown locations, taking on potential dangers... It’s always about the journey and not the end.”

The flames flickered behind them.

“It’s wonderful, isn’t it? This world we all live in? There’s always so much more to see and experience, and I always—”

A bark interrupted them.

That bark did not sound like it came from a dog.

“Yeah, yeah. I know! I was kind of a mess back then, but I got better!” came the silhouette’s reply. The figure waved a hand, and Quentin felt the need to hang his head. “Anyway, that’s enough stalling on my part. I accept your challenge! Are you ready to battle?”

“I’m ready!” Claude shouted.

“And I’ll... Well, uh, I guess I’ll watch,” Quentin said.

A moment passed. The two Pokémon on the tatami mats readied themselves, facing off.

Though nothing was visible, when the figure next spoke, Quentin swore he could hear a smile.

“Then, without further ado... there’s nothing else to say but this:”

For one last time, Alex, the figure behind the curtain, spoke.

“No sense in waiting any longer,” Alex said. “Let the battle begin!”

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

As these chapters took over a year and a half to get out, I might sit on them for a bit longer before posting them to Royal Road. I want them to be as close to perfect as possible, but now that I've written them, I feel like they could use some slight improvements. Only a bit of touching-up, though. They contain everything I wanted to write about.

Likely, I'll make all of these extra chapters public next week, but that's not the exciting part of what's happening next week:

The next fiction will begin to come out! I'm extremely excited to finally be getting to it. I know it's been a bit—thank you for waiting so patiently!—but I wanted it to be good. Before you know it, we’ll be settling back into a normal schedule with regular chapter updates.

See you very soon.

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.

The Type Specialist Extra Chapter 5 - Memories of Magearna (Part 1)

If you missed it and need context, read the first extra chapter HERE.
(Originally posted almost two years ago.)

=======================================================================

“Wandering Elite Alex! It’s a great pleasure to meet you. I’m so glad you sought us out for help with your little problem.”

My arm was practically swallowed by the man’s greeting, and I did my best to shake his hand right back to prevent myself from getting overwhelmed.

“I’m just thankful you accepted my request given everything else that’s going on,” I said. “But if there’s anyone that’s an expert with energy—”

“Then it’s us here at Macro Cosmos,” Chairman Rose said with a smile.

With my hand finally being released, I could practically see the confidence radiating off of this man, and I had no problem believing just why he had managed to catch practically all of Galar in an economic stranglehold. He was unironically richer than people like Steven Stone, Cynthia herself, and even Lysandre and Cyrus—from back when those two were in charge of massive corporations and weren’t just defeated criminals. However, the empire that Chairman Rose had built was all in the past. As it stood, Macro Cosmos was no longer the economic behemoth it was before.

“So, uh, how are things... going?” I asked. It was hard not to be awkward with this, but given I was the person whose comments inspired the first investigations, I did have to know.

Chairman Rose, however, had no idea of my involvement. Despite wearing a neat grey suit, his stomach bounced as he let out a laugh.

“It could be better! Ah, to be hit by so many anti-monopoly suits at once? Truly, I’m just happy to have preserved the one company that matters.”

“Energy,” I said. 

“Exactly!”

A dangerous glint appeared in Chairman Rose’s eyes, and if I hadn’t known what the League was doing, I would have been more worried.

If it hadn’t been for what I shared with Steven years ago, Chairman Rose would have been able to continue his plans to re-ignite Galar’s Darkest Days and summon Eternatus in a misguided attempt to control it. He was worried about an inevitable yet permanent loss of the region’s energy stores, and he wanted to solve that problem now, instead of within the next thousand years or so when it would rear its ugly head.

While his plan technically could have worked, the problem, of course, was that he wanted to summon and control a Legendary Pokémon. Specifically, he wanted to harness it for its power and create an infinite source of energy. That by itself was already doomed to fail, but Chairman Rose was also rushed, and he was paranoid. He skipped all possible safety precautions to try to force his plan sooner rather than later.

Except, that was only what would have happened in the games. Right now, the world had been changed through the decisions I had made. The strange part about Chairman Rose, a “villain” in the games, was that he wasn’t actually that bad of a guy—as long as you ignored how he was so willing to throw people away when they outlived their usefulness, or how his economic stranglehold was called a stranglehold for a reason.

Thankfully, learning about Rose’s plans regarding the Darkest Days saw the League look into his operations, and that tiny bit of action got Galar’s central government to do the same. Where Macro Cosmas had once had its tendrils in every part of a Galar citizen’s life, that was no longer true. Branches like Macro Cosmos Air, Macro Cosmos Media, Macro Cosmos Construction, and even Macro Cosmos Bank were being split up into their own companies, all separate and divided away from Chairman Rose’s control.

That just left Macro Cosmos Energy, the sole company that Chairman Rose had kept in his pocket, and it was the sole reason he still had his “Chairman” title, too. Even with all of those vested interests in outside companies, he had been the Chairman of Galar’s Pokémon League—a point of obvious contention. Thankfully, his title of “Chairman” now only denoted his position on Macro Cosmos Energy’s director board.

“As Galar’s foremost energy producers and researchers, we at Macro Cosmos tap into our region’s ample Dynamax Energy stores to provide power to both Galar and the world at large,” Chairman Rose spoke as he escorted me into the central structure of Hammerlocke, an enormous, brick building that served as its Gym as well as the lab for most of Chairman Rose’s personal research. “However, that energy is limited. As we are now, it’s set to run out within the next several hundred years. The added issue with that, of course, is that it assumes a consistent level of progress and technology. With our standards constantly rising, I predict that our energy consumption will see those stores become exhausted within the next few decades rather than the next few hundred years.”

As we walked through an empty lobby, my eyes scanned the walls of this building. My understanding was that this place used to be a castle before it was sold off to help fund the royals’... extravagances.

“Though recent unanticipated attention has come alongside the loss of our sibling branches, we here at Macro Cosmos have been gathering the support needed to solve our upcoming energy crisis. Despite the... differences that have emerged between Leon and I, he has still agreed to lend us his strength when our plan goes through, and we have a dozen other elite trainers already promised to our cause.”

I blinked, looking away from where a prominently hung picture displayed the current Gym Leader, Raihan, shaking hands with Chairman Rose.

“Wait, you’re publicly recruiting?” I asked. “For what?”

If he noticed any suspicion in my question, Chairman Rose looked completely and utterly unbothered.

“We are recruiting for a fight—a grand fight! We live in a Pokémon world, and that ultimately means we look for Pokémon solutions to our Pokémon problems,” he said, a confident smile worming its way back onto his face. “You can probably imagine that I was quite upset when the company I worked so hard to build was split up, but attention is attention, and even now, the Pokémon League itself is keeping a close eye on us. But where others would find issue with that—”

“You see opportunity,” I finished for him. “Increased League attention means more trainers learning of your cause. And more trainers paying attention means more trainers willing to help.”

Happily, Chairman Rose clapped his hands.

“When the Darkest Day returns, relying on Leon alone would have been a mistake,” he said. “No, while permanently securing Eternatus is an impossibility, its mere presence will be enough to refresh Galar’s energy stores to viable levels for the next several millennia—with our increasing progress accounted for. When all of that happens, we here at Macro Cosmos plan to have enough firepower aligned with us to turn the Darkest Day into the Darkest Minute.”

He laughed to himself, and honestly, it was a surprise that more people hadn’t pinged this guy as a “villain” earlier. However, so much more than before, there was a certain ease to both his speech and movements. Something about having the League’s attention on this seemed to have helped him relieve a lot of stress.

Though operating under restrictions, those restrictions were granting him opportunities, and he didn’t need to worry about keeping all of this out of the limelight.

Rose continued deeper into this room until he reached a point where he tapped a brick in the wall. With that press, the old stone structure practically unfolded itself to reveal the entrance of a much more modern elevator. The Chairman himself stepped into it and then gestured to invite me inside. The wall then closed behind us as we went down—

And down.

And down.

“I’ve done some research into Legendary Pokémon, myself,” I said, speaking in a half-truth to the Chairman while he hummed as if to say he’d done the same. “The Darkest Day... You mentioned Eternatus. Realistically, that Pokémon is going to be nearly impossible to defeat. Do you really think numbers alone will be enough?”

“No,” Chairman Rose answered bluntly. “I think quality will be enough, and I don’t even believe we’re there quite yet. We need the best of the best to work for our interests. Even if I had Leon and every Gym Leader in Galar on our side, I would still doubt we’d be in a position to win in that fight.”

I stared at him. He was serious. Though he was clearly very skilled at hiding just how unhinged he was, there was a measure of patience to him that hadn’t been present in the game.

“The Legends say—”

“The Legends spoke of a powerful hero defeating Eternatus, and we now know that those Legends were referencing the Pokémon Zacian and Zamanzenta,” the Chairman said, hands pressed behind his back as he watched the brick of this elevator shaft rush us by. “All stories hold power, but that power does not hold a candle to modern standards and technology. In the past, regions were isolated. Trainers lacked information. Now? The average person has much more freedom to travel—and also to train and learn.

“Believe me, Alex, we will fight that Legendary Pokémon. If not soon and under our own power, then when it eventually wakes up once more on its own. We cannot rely on Legendary Pokémon and chosen heroes to step in for us every time. We are humans, trainers, and partners. We will gather everyone we can, and we will fight to prove that we deserve to exist just as much as anyone else.”

His smile had vanished, but that same confidence remained. Any sense of worry, doubt, or carelessness had disappeared, all to be replaced by this careful plotting he was taking no efforts to hide.

This man truly believed that with enough preparation, a group of properly trained Pokémon Trainers could defeat Eternatus. If Zacian and Zamanzenta had managed to do so in the past, then right now, it was up to humans and their partner Pokémon to prove that they could do the same.

My team beat Tobias. Somehow, Necrozma was put down. When it comes to trainers and their Pokémon overcoming living legends...

I’d be a hypocrite to say I didn’t believe in the same.

“Who have you recruited so far?” I asked, curious.

“Leon, of course, and most of the leaders of Galar’s Gyms,” Chairman Rose answered, a small smile returning. “We have recruited a few foreign Elite Four members who were seeking tough battles, and I’ve personally reached out to every possible Champion, both ex and present. Alongside Leon and Lance, Diantha of Kalos’s Pokémon League has accepted, and Geeta of Paldea has promised to look into sending a small handful of elite trainers to assist us in this task.”

I wasn’t surprised those two had accepted. Kalos and Paldea were the closest regions to Galar, so they had the most vested interest in ensuring Chairman Rose’s plans went well. I could imagine that Cynthia could be recruited very easily just by pushing the “modern day history” angle, and Steven could probably be recruited by just pointing out that most of the other Champions were involved, too.

However, that second Champion that Chairman Rose had mentioned...

“Lance?” I asked.

“According to our research, Eternatus is a Dragon Type.”

“Ah.”

That put several pieces together in my head.

Pretty soon, the elevator came to a smooth stop at the bottom, and when it opened up, a woman in a lab billowing coat flicked her eyes over to us, briefly looking up from a clipboard she held in her hands before returning to her work.

“Chairman. Wanderer,” she said in greetings, slightly bowing her head in a sign of respect..

“Alex, this is Oleanna, my secretary!” Chairman Rose said with a bright smile. “She’s my right hand woman! If it wasn’t for her, I doubt Macro Cosmos would still be around in any form!”

“Hm. Yes. Quite.” Oleanna seemed far too pre-occupied with reading from her clipboard. “Wandering Elite Alex. You’re seeking to wake up a mechanical Pokémon? We can help. Follow me.”

Oleanna turned to lead the way, and Chairman Rose chuckled to himself out as he and I followed. The labs down here were white and sterile, almost reminding me of the Aether Foundation’s lowest labs. However, this place had an active force of Ace Trainers keeping an eye on its halls. The Galar’s League symbol sat prominently displayed on their chests, proving that no Ace Trainer here would let the remnants of Macro Cosmos get up to no good.

“So I take it that you weren’t explaining your plans just to brag,” I said to Chairman Rose as Oleanna brought us through these halls.

“Hah! I was a little,” Chairman Rose said, running a hand through his mustache after my words.

“It was still more than just bragging, though. You explained all of that as a literal elevator pitch, didn’t you?”

“Less of a pitch, more of a request to keep an open mind,” the Chairman of Macro Cosmos admitted. “If you’re willing, I’d like you to keep an eye out. Either accept our request to assist us with our task, or send any potentially interested trainers our way. However, that isn’t a requirement. No matter what, we’ll help you with your Pokémon problem. Not just to be nice, either—as it stands, we’ll either learn a bit more about the energy we seek, or we might end up with one more Legendary Pokémon on our side, hm?”

“Well, technically, Magearna is a mythical,” I pointed out.

The Chairman blinked.

“Is there a difference?”

“Not really,” I said with a shrug.

Unlike the labs I was used to, where the hallways were webs of individual testing chambers meant for one Pokémon at a time, the labs down here tended to connect to massive constructions and open areas—this place was primarily a power plant, after all.

With Macro Cosmos’s focus on Dynamax energy, however, they didn’t bring me to any side room. They brought me to a room in the very back of this place, into what was essentially an entire underground battlefield. Though there were no lines painted onto the floor in here, this place was very purposefully kept open and empty to support giant-sized Pokémon fighting it out.

There was a lot of steel support on the walls.

“Before we do anything, what’s the plan?” I asked. Nothing was around us, and Oleanna was still reading from her clipboard.

“Well! We’ve looked over the information you sent us and came up with a simple strategy,” the Chairman answered for her. “Oleanna, I believe you have something for Alex, if you will.”

Flipping her notes over, she pulled off a few sheets of paper and handed them to me. As far as I could tell, these just contained a list of numbers, comments, and optimizations. It was a little hard to parse through, but—

“So you’re going to do the equivalent of hooking her up to a car battery and hoping for the best,” I stated flatly.

Chairman Rose simply nodded, looking no less confident even with my monotone comment.

“As per the provided information, no attempts to activate Magearna have succeeded,” Oleanna said, finally looking up from her notes. “All previous methods involved targeted applications of certain energies, and we believe that involved far too little. Due to the probes performed by your Rapidash, we have confirmed evidence of both sentience and sapience. If anything more selective has failed to get through, our next best step would be to flood her with energy to ‘shock’ her into waking up.”

“Magearna isn’t quite asleep, but she isn’t in a coma, either. I asked Togekiss, and Togekiss said she’s... muted,” I mumbled, rubbing my chin in thought. “Not awake. And not... passed away. Magearna is still functional—she could generate the power she needs—but there’s not enough being produced right now, which is keeping her asleep.”

“And we plan to brute force past that,” Oleanna said. “Given her long-lasting condition, yes, she is likely to have her own internal power source, but as per your car battery analogy from earlier, sometimes those sources need a jumpstart to properly get going.”

It made sense in my head. Nothing else had worked. Silph Co. hadn’t been able to do anything due to this being so far out of their expertise, and even the Devon Corporation itself had failed to do anything without an “intent” behind their Infinity Energy to guide it. I’d also brought Magearna to several clockmakers, hoping there was a way they could “fix” her, but all of them could find nothing wrong.

She and her body were perfectly functional, she just needed to be woken up. However, looking between both Chairman Rose and Oleanna standing before me, it didn’t take too much effort to piece together their ultimate plans.

“You’re saying you want to Dynamax her,” I stated flatly, yet again..

Chairman Rose was the one to speak up first.

“This would be the first time we’ve seen a mythical Pokémon be Dynamaxed!”

“But of course—” Oleanna said, jumping in the second Chairman Rose started to become a little too eager, “while Dynamaxing is our ultimate goal, we would start with only a trickle of energy, and we would only do so with your permission. Our machines would enable a controlled environment for the application of Dynamax energy, and we would provide everything required, ourselves. Our only request is that you let us record the data, as seeing how a mechanical Pokémon like Magearna reacts to the power would be critical to continuing our research.”

I wanted to comment that the League would know everything that transpired here, but there’d be no point in saying that. I was sure that these two knew the consequences of trying anything too suspicious—and I’m sure they were distinctly aware that nothing they got up to was “private” anymore.

“Alright,” I said. “Do it.”

Oleanna looked back to the room’s entrance to gesture for some people to come in, and the next several minutes were spent setting up.

Researchers and scientists in white coats assembled large machines full of dials and wave-form displays. Radio dishes and devices with apertures were set up and pointed toward a padded cot placed on the ground. I sent out my team while they built all of this, using curiosity as the excuse. The truth was, of course, that my Pokémon had been released as an insurance. 

Everyone here knew that was the case.

Rapidash trotted among the researchers, walking behind them to keep a careful eye on just what they were building. Gardevoir stayed off to the side, in the far back, looking over the entire room at once for anything that might be aggressive. With a room this large, Ninetales ran around like an excited dog, but really, she was just getting a sense of the size of the place and testing how long it took for her to run across the entire room. That just left Florges and Ribombee, and Florges idled alongside next to me while Ribombee sat hidden. He was nestled deep inside her flowers, hiding himself just in case he needed to be our group’s undetected surprise.

“We’re almost ready.” Oleanna was now wearing goggles. The same was true for Chairman Rose. Those two looked up from a discussion with a group of scientists, and Oleanna gestured to the cot. “Please release Magearna so we can start.”

Nodding once, I did so, and the mechanical Pokémon appeared on her back, laying on the floor.

I had known there was something wrong with Magearna the moment Steven Stone and Cynthia revealed her to me. The mythical Pokémon was one of Lusamine’s “possessions” in the Aether Foundation, and this Pokémon had seemed to have been the focus of idle research. However, the Aether Foundation was almost wholly focused on Ultra Beasts, so their research into fixing Magearna had been sporadic at best. They had not succeeded, but there was definitely something off about Magearna’s current situation.

In her deactivated state, Magearna should have resembled a large, closed Pokéball. Instead, she was in her fully extended state, resembling some sort of mechanical maid with a metal dress, a cap-like gear on her head, and a pair of rabbit “ears” that were really just two halves of the “lid” of her ball.

She had been tinkered with, but how or to what purpose, I didn’t know. What I cared about was waking her up and making a decision on where to go from there.

“Please step back,” Oleanna said from behind a thick pane of glass. “We’re about ready to start.”

Ultimately, I liked Pokémon. I wanted to help Pokémon. Magearna might have been a mythical Fairy Type, but my real purpose here was just to try to get her out of her deactivated state.

Strapped for other options, I followed Oleanna’s call to join her with the researchers, positioning myself behind the panes that protected both the people and their equipment.

My team joined me, leaving their spots from around the room, and running my hand through Ninetales’s freezing cold hair let me calm my nerves, at least a little bit.

“When you’re ready,” Oleanna said.

Chairman Rose almost looked like he was bouncing.

I sucked in a deep breath.

“Alright. Let’s start.”

Right away, the machines hummed. Tickers and displays began to click, and a line flickered into a wave filled with uneven arcs. A thick cable had been dragged over from an opening in the side wall to this room. Nothing physical was connected to Magearna, but several dishes pointed at her, and those dishes gained a strange, warm pink glow.

“Energy levels are at their minimum, being maintained,” Oleanna noted. “So far, we’ve seen no reaction, so we’d like to ask your permission to turn up the radiation.”

“Increase it,” I said.

Dials twisted.

The process was slow, with that cycle of asking and increasing the energy repeating, and the radiated Dynamax energy slowly went up and up and up.

“I’m not that familiar with your region’s style of battling,” I commented to Chairman Rose while watching the unconscious Pokémon on the ground. “I probably should have asked this earlier, but how, exactly, does Dynamaxing a Pokémon work?”

Oleanna and the scientists were hard at work taking measurements and managing their machines. Chairman Rose, meanwhile, just kind of seemed to be... there.

“Fundamentally, or mechanically?” Rose offered, speaking up with a slight laugh. “Fundamentally, think of it as a ‘supercharge.’ It’s less the Pokémon growing to an enormous size and more like the energy takes their form and creates a projection around them that’s cast out. Mechanically, we at Macro Cosmos produce an item called a Dynamax Band that can harness Dynamax Energy. When activated in the right location, it will draw on local stores of Dynamax Energy to fill a Pokéball that contains a Pokémon. That Pokéball serves as the conduit for the ‘supercharge’ and allows for the Pokémon contained within to act with a far greater amount of control. It allows for the phenomenon to occur with a significantly smaller risk  of the Pokémon lashing out!”

“Hold on. There’s a risk?”

I snapped my head over to Chairman Rose, but he just laughed once again.

“There’s always a risk! How often does your Mega Evolution fail?”

“Never. Not anymore,” I answered quickly. “But this isn’t about that. A Dynamaxed Pokémon lashing out—how large is that risk?”

“A thousandth of a thousandth of a thousandth of a chance,” Oleanna mumbled, not bothering to look up.

“But you said Dynamaxed Pokémon carried a risk of lashing out,” I repeated, speaking as fast as I could. “That the risk is there unless they’re in their Pokéball.”

“Well, yes! You essentially have that right. Forcibly Dynamaxed Pokémon tend to rampage, especially those that have made their home within naturally occurring dens,” Chairman Rose said.

I heard a soft groan from behind me as Florges covered her face. Rapidash’s expression didn’t change, but I saw an acceptance in his eyes that spoke of him understanding that something like this would have always been the case.

“So Dynamaxing a Pokémon without recalling them first has a chance to see them go on a rampage,” I said to him. “And, with all of this equipment set up and with Magearna on that cot, what do you think is about to happen here?”

“Well, Magearna is—”

“We’re getting a reading!” one of the scientists shouted, interrupting Chairman Rose. “The Dynamax energy is working! We’re going to turn it higher!”

Faintly, I could hear the distant ticking noise from within Magearna’s chest begin to grow louder. The scientists and researchers began to speak more animatedly, but I was already turning back to my team and issuing what orders I could.

“Gardevoir, Rapidash. I need you two working together to protect everyone here. Ninetales, get ready with some of your tricks. Florges, Ribombee? Try to pin her down, and Ribombee, you’re crucial. For this, I need you to set up.”

I turned back to the cot.

“You’re the one that’s going to need to knock her down.”

In an instant, Gardevoir flashed over to stand next to the scientists, and Rapidash ran to the room’s doors. Ninetales lowered her stance to stand just at the edge of the screen, and Florges pressed her hands to the floor beneath her. Leaving her flowers, Ribombee went on to begin to do flips above her head while building up a Quiver Dance.

Then, after a few seconds, Florges looked up at me with a nod; even with the room’s well-maintained floor, she would be able to manage a large amount of plant growth once this all started up.

“...Hold on,” one of the scientists mumbled to himself, the expected cue finally coming. “This isn’t right. The Dynamax energy is being drawn faster than we can support.”

“Reduce outputs to previous levels,” Oleanna ordered.

One of the scientists twisted a dial, and a look of fright flashed over his face.

“I’m trying, but it’s not working!”

That’s when the panic started to set in. The thick wire connected to the side of the room began to glow with a brilliant red light. A loud hum came from where Magearna slept, and a strange sphere rapidly spun within the Pokémon’s otherwise unmoving chest.

“...I see,” Oleanna mumbled, and Chairman Rose hurried over. The scientists were in a furious discussion all around them, but Magearna had already started her draw and showed no signs of stopping. “We’ve fundamentally misunderstood just what a Magearna is. The visible machine is not the Pokémon—that’s only its shell. The true Pokémon is the artificial life that sits deep in its chest.”

Magearna had remained functional because her true self, her soul, had been in a deep, deep slumber. Now, being so filled with energy, she was finally waking up. However, the specific energy she was being presented with was Dynamax energy—which was both unfamiliar and chaotic. She couldn’t stop drawing what she needed, and she kept needing more and even more.

Red wisps began to flicker around her unconscious form. A dark cloud started to spiral in the sky above her head. The discussion between all of the scientists ceased as they recognized just what was in the process of occurring.

“Yeah, we’re actually doing this,” I said with a sigh, beginning to walk away to make some room. “Everyone, you already have your orders. We might as well start now.”

As my Pokémon jumped into action, all of the discs pointed at Magearna shattered in unison. Red energy rushed her, and it was like she expanded outwards once, then twice, and then thrice—and then a building sized Pokémon was suddenly laying on the ground.

With a massive mechanical body taking up a good portion of the floor, Magearna’s metal eyes finally snapped open, and she let out an enraged roar.

Right away, from next to where everyone was standing, Oleanna and Rose disappeared as Gardevoir teleported them away to bring them out of the room. Several scientists that were looking up, both dumbfounded and awestruck, were yanked off their feet. Rapidash galloped over to pick one up by sliding his head under her legs, and two more were pulled into the air next to him through careful yet powerful application of telekinesis.

Rotating up onto her feet, Magearna waved a hand, and more of that energy rushed out. She didn’t quite know what she was doing—her eyes were wide, pupilless, and staring straight ahead—because just like Rose had mentioned, the flood of Dynamax energy meant she was now actively lashing out.

The barest bit of effort saw lightning slam into all of the various machines; the people had been evacuated, and I had walked away, so only those expensive devices ended up destroyed. The earth then became colored with yellow electricity itself, and Ninetales took that as the sign needed to begin rushing the massive Pokémon.

With an exhale, Ninetales’s Icy Wind was practically a Blizzard, but this wasn’t her trying to deal damage. As the cold wind blew, frost formed on this behemoth of a Pokémon. The metal chilled, and Magearna slowed. Ninetales bought Ribombee just enough time to rush straight forward.

Magearna was slowed by the ice, but she was already slowed due to her enormous size. She waved her arm again, and an uncontrolled rush of steel spikes exploded out in a line in the ground. Ninetales tried to dodge with an Agility, but too much of an area was being covered.

However, Ribombe was right in Magearna’s face, and he was able to stop this attack with a brilliant distraction.

It was just a Pollen Puff, a move Magearna would resist twice over due to her dual Steel-and-Fairy Type. However, his repeated use of Quiver Dance had increased Ribombee’s speed and special capabilities far past any other member of my team. Out of all of the Pokémon I had with me, he was by far the weakest, but using Quiver Dance several times over meant he could surpass anyone here.

His Pollen Puff that exploded in Magearna’s face was a massive bomb of dust. It might have dealt little damage, but it covered so much area and hit with such force that Magearna was sent stumbling back due to the surprise.

“Now, Florges!” I yelled.

Magearna tried for one last move.

Her shout was deafening, and Fairy Type energy coalesced in the sky. Stars formed and fell, and for this last attack, my entire team acted at once.

Ribombee zipped over to change his focus; Moonblasts shot out to intercept what stars he could. Gardevoir appeared, using a foot-thick Light Screen to create a cover above our heads. From Rapidash, a beam blasted out to assist with the offense-based defense, and Ninetales’s passive snow and Blizzard worked to blow what fragments she could away.

The falling stars exploded against the battlefield floor, but a large area was protected—one large enough to keep me safe, and one large enough to let Florges focus. All of her attention was on the earth, where she had been channeling her power all this time. And, with Magearna still stumbling, the behemoth of a Pokémon was in no position to stop the massive vines that exploded out of the floor and wrapped around her legs.

“Grass Knot,” I named.

Florges smiled proudly as Magearna began to fall.

“I mean, I could say it. Should I say it? It’s a bit hackneyed, but I think it would be fun.”

Ninetales let out an encouraging bark, and Rapidash’s eyes glimmered.

As Magearna plummeted toward the earth, I laughed, not immune to their encouragement.

“Alright then,” I said, watching the collapsing giant. “The bigger they are—”

THUMP.

“...The harder they fall.”

_______________________________________________________________________

A Dynamaxed Pokémon rarely stayed Dynamaxed for long. It was only when they were truly out of control that they stayed giant, and here, Magearna’s initial blast had destroyed the same machines that had been supplying her.

With the threat gone, the scientists wandered back into the room, and slowly walked forward while looking around the destruction in awe.

The massive Pokémon was gone. There was no Dynamaxed mythical waiting for them. Instead, they just found me, crouching next to the ruined machines, watching a newly activated Pokémon do her best to pick up the pieces and organize what she could.

It took a full minute for Oleanna and Rose to rejoin me in the room and move to my side.

“Hah! It worked! And the reading we got—that risk chance I mentioned? With this information, I’m sure we can reduce it by another thousandth percent!”

For a second, I was slightly taken aback by the sheer level of excitement from Rose. He was known for being calm and controlled, and this manic reaction seemed out of place.

But then again, he’s gone through some significant upheavals in his life. And, he no longer needs to pretend about what he really wants to do.

“Any issues?” Oleanna asked.

“She’s awake,” I answered as I stood up. Magearna was still trying to clean, almost in a panic, but she slowed when Ninetales and Florges approached her.

Magearna titled her head to the side out of curiosity, and those two sent her soft smiles. Slowly, they both picked up pieces of the broken machines to assist, Magearna gained a brilliant grin as she continued to follow her instincts screaming at her to make this place neat and tidy.

“Yeah, she’s activated,” I repeated, smiling slightly. “Except...”

Oleanna was already tracking Magearna’s movements.

“Like a newborn babe acting solely on instinct,” the woman said quietly. “You reactivated her after a long time asleep, but she doesn’t have any memories, does she?”

“None, as far as I can tell.”

My team worked with Magearna to organize the parts by whatever system she had planned. The scientists clearly wanted to pick up the pieces themselves, but they didn’t want to get in the way of the many very powerful Pokémon that had just been on display in this room. One of the scientists made a comment and ran off to gather a sheet that was in the process of being printed out somewhere elsewhere in this lower lab.

Chairman Rose, meanwhile, finally managed to calm down. He was watching Magearna with a decent amount of interest, though he carried significantly less now that Dynamax Energy was no longer involved.

“Memories...” Chairman Rose mumbled. “Wiped clean, you say?”

“No clue. Either she’s reset, or there’s something still there in her, just pushed deep, deep down,” I answered.

“Hm. I would advise you to bring her to a place that’ll refresh her, or, perhaps, find someone capable of machine repair?”

“I doubt that’s the answer,” I replied, shaking my head. “There’s a reason no one in the Aether Foundation was able to wake her—or anyone else for that matter. Thinking that she’s just a machine is a mistake, too. The machine is only her body. Magearna is a Steel and Fairy Type. Really, Magearna is the sphere in the center—an animated, artificial soul.”

When I said her name, the Pokémon looked over, tilting her head at me. I smiled at her and held up a hand for a slight wave. She seemed elated at even just that small of an action, smiling brightly in return and proceeding to wave with both arms.

...The end result was that she dropped the chunk of metal she was holding, causing one of the watching scientists to wince. Eyes widening, Magearna hurriedly picked it back up and went right back to cleaning up the place the best she currently could.

“For her memories to return... You’d need to interface with that soul,” Chairman Rose said. “You’d need to do something significant to bring her memories back to the surface. Either that, or you’d need to return her to her home.”

“I can show her pictures and call someone she might know,” I said. I was hoping that Magearna had met Lillie when she was young, but part of me doubted that would work. “Unfortunately, we’ll likely need to dig deeper than that—assuming that anything is even there.”

I hummed briefly.

“Maybe we need to ask for a Psychic Type’s help?” I mumbled.

“Might I make a suggestion?” Chairman Rose suddenly said.

When I looked over, my gaze was flat. Though his plan to Dynamax Magearna had technically worked, it hadn’t exactly worked without consequence.

Still, he just laughed.

“No, no. This isn’t anything we can do for you. The role for Dynamax Energy here has passed, as much as that disappoints. No, if you’re seeking to stir her memories, you’ll need more than just the average Psychic Type. If you truly want to dig that deep into a mythical Pokémon, into a living soul?”

Oleanna raised an eyebrow.

“You can’t mean—”

“I can, and I do,” Chairman Rose said. “I’ve heard stories of a Pokémon of great Psychic power, one capable of witnessing all events—past, present, and future—all at once. If you wish to bring Magearna’s memories back to her, that is the power that you need to seek.”

“So not Rapidash. Not Gardevoir,” I said, crouching back down to better watch Magearna work.

“Not those two. They simply won’t be enough,” Chairman Rose said. “If you want to help Magearna, you need to search out a different species. Once, I dismissed its existence, but knowing of the Legends and myths I now know to be true...”

Magearna was still working, but she noticed me. Head tilting back to the side, she ran over as if to just check me out. She paused right in front of me, almost bouncing in place, and she very carefully looked me up and down.

Without saying anything, I held out a hand. She watched the offer limb for only a single second.  Before too long, she had already lunged forward, and that arm was shaken up and down in an excited form of a greeting.

“Head south,” Chairman Rose said. “Take the train. Climb into the deepest of mountains. Visit the tundra that sits at the top of the world, and search for the Crown that will bring Magearna back to her fullest form.”

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

The next chapter needs the most work, so I doubt it will come out tomorrow. Right now, I’m hoping to release it on Wednesday, and then the true epilogue chapter should be out on Thursday, after that.

I’ve been playing the new Pokémon game, and I’m honestly surprised at just how much I’ve been enjoying it. It has a massive amount of details that are super specific to what I want to write next (unrelated to Mega Evolution, too!). I’m extremely excited to get to the next fiction, and it should start being released toward the beginning of next week!

The Type Specialist Extra Chapter 4 - Pink

The brisk weather hit me first; it’d been a while since I’d escaped any sort of humidity. Where Alola and Hoenn would have this uncomfortable warmth to them, the weather out here was much closer to Sinnoh’s. However, Sinnoh’s environment tended to be dry, and Galar’s was undoubtedly wet.

Though it was not actively raining, clouds still painted the sky grey as if a downpour had just recently ceased. People held closed umbrellas and waited for everyone to disembark from the plane, dressed in dark-colored, smooth raincoats. My more fluffy and colorful outfit distinctly stood out from all the rest.

But though I was new to the region, I was not alone—Ninetales released herself beside me. It took only a second to unlock her Pokéball from the safety precautions turned on from the flight, and she shook to wake herself up from her nap and actually looked rather comfortable to experience the ongoing chill in the air.

And, there was someone else here—

“Alex!” a weathered voice called out from a distance.

Without hesitating, I walked over to where he was waiting, and I met my old friend with a smile.

“Old Man Harvey!” I said to him, squeezing the man with a hug. “It’s been a while. You’re shorter!”

“Bah! We haven’t seen each other in person for over two years, and you insult me over a hug?”

Ninetales snickered at my side, and the old man harrumphed, but his reaction was primarily in jest. The last time I’d seen him in person was all the way back during Hoenn’s Conference—I returned his journal, and I also told him about the true history of my life.

“I hope your research has been flourishing,” I said, pulling back.

Old Man Harvey grumbled, but he couldn’t hide the small smile that appeared on his face.

“Galar’s a region full of history,” he said, placing a hand on his now more hunched back. “And unlike most of what I’m used to, the chaps here are so stuck up that they actually bothered to write it down!”

He had a small, beetle-like car parked at the edge of the airport, and he hurried to invite Ninetales and me inside. Unfortunately, I had to hop into the back. Ninetales’s bark came out far too quickly, and she was able to call dibs on sitting in the front before I could even think I should.

“I have this place in Ballonlea where I've been staying,” Old Man Harvey said as he positioned himself behind the wheel. “Just temporarily, while I look for something more permanent. But it has plenty of space for guests and Pokémon, and its old owner was an avid book collector! His family barely bothered to put his things away before renting the place out for some extra cash.”

“An old man in an old home,” I quipped, and Old Man Harvey chuckled to himself, shaking his head while pulling onto the road. “Learn anything interesting?”

“A decent bit. Galar has a good number of myths and legends.”

As his car sputtered down the road toward the forest that contained Ballonlea, Old Man Harvey spoke. He told me of histories and rumors, giants and kings, and items and artifacts that had all been mentioned in the rented home’s eclectic collection of books.

“Your mention of non-Pokémon ‘Fairies’ from your old world got me thinking, which is why I’ve been doing all this research,” Old Man Harvey said as his vehicle jostled down the worn, dirt world. “Why are those kinds of creatures mentioned in both worlds? Why did you know about them? The Pokémon connection between our two worlds is obvious, but why do we have the same non-Pokémon creatures in myth?”

“Did you find an answer?” I asked, looking out the window and watching rolling hills pass us by.

“No. And I probably never will,” Harvey answered. “But at most, I do have a theory—believing that little, magical people are responsible for most of the world’s mysteries is easier and far more entertaining than searching for an actual explanation!”

He laughed and continued to drive down the road.

The hills changed to trees, and the trees grew so large that they began to choke out the sky. Glowing mushrooms started as nothing more than an interesting sight to glimpse from far off the road, but then they became so common that their glow all but replaced the sun’s light.

Harvey knew where he was driving, so we just chatted the whole time. He cracked jokes and spoke of the ancient stories he’d read, and I told him of the similarities I could see with the stories from back home.

Of course, I didn’t actually have that much to say. While I liked to consider I had a pretty good memory, most of the things I remembered from my old world tended toward Pokémon-related information rather than anything else. Pokémon games were my escape, so they, of course, had been my focus. At most, I could bring up surface-level references to myths, creatures, and stage plays, but that actually seemed to help Old Man Harvey more often than not.

“The Lady of the Lake. A sword, cast away?” Old Man Harvey hummed as he brought the car onto a more paved road. “Reminds me of this one story I read—”

“Probably Zacian,” I interrupted without thinking.

“Huh?”

“The Legendary Pokémon Zacian? You know, one of the two founding dogs of Galar?” I answered. “It’s a big canine Pokémon that wields a sword in its mouth while its sibling wields a shield. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t know about it. I think the region’s ruling family has been suppressing knowledge of its existence for generations.”

“That... That does fill in a few blanks,” he mumbled.

There was an entire town hidden in this forest—a series of wooden, medieval-like buildings. More modern amenities had sprung up between them, consisting of cars, roads, shops, and in one case, an enormous Gym. The glowing mushrooms were still the prevalent source of light here, and, even though this was a city, I could see Pokémon occasionally peeking in. Shadows that darted around to hide underneath the biggest of mushrooms had to be Impidimp, and then small Morelull drifted through the air while Shiinotic tried to blend in with the rest of the fungus.

I smiled slightly as I saw the large mushroom Pokémon again.

It’s been a bit since I was there for Lillie’s first Contest. I know she’s doing well, but I haven’t had the time to check in with her too much. From what I’ve heard, however, she should be doing okay.

“But, uh... Alex.” Old Man Harvey said as he continued down the road and pulled into the gravel driveway of one of the larger medieval buildings here. He took a moment to resume speaking, tapping his fingers on the driving wheel. “Just so you know, I... haven’t been doing this research all on my own.”

Just like me, Ninetales had been staring out the window and taking in the sights, but one of her ears flicked up the second Old Many Harvey said that.

Already, a mischievous grin had crept onto her face.

“There’s been, uh, people helping me,” Old Man Harvey said quickly. “Or, a single person with connections, I should say. When I was first asking around, my ‘unique’ questions caught her interest. We’ve been... study buddies, ever since.”

“Study buddies, huh?” I repeated alongside a hum.

The tips of Old Man Harvey’s aged ears were beginning to turn red.

“Yes. Of course. Solely platonic. We’ve simply been researching together.” He couldn’t keep his hands still on the steering wheel. “I... We...”

Ninetales barked something out, and Old Man Harvey jerked himself around to basically slam his head into the space between the front seats, pressing his face down and bringing up his arms with a pair of clasped hands.

“Please! I need your help!” His sudden desperation caused me to blink. “I don’t know what to do! This is all so strange! I never expected to feel this way again!”

“Uh... What?” I asked.

“I—” The weathered man leaned up, exhaling while trying to recollect himself after what he’d done. His expression was full of shame, but there was a certain desire in him that refused to go away. “My wife passed away over a decade ago. I thought her death would be a wound that’d never heal, and I was right. It hasn’t. But then... She... Her...”

Old Man Harvey let out a despondent sigh, and I finished the connection for him.

“Your study buddy,” I said.

He forced himself to nod.

“Yes. My ‘study buddy,’” the old man admitted. “I’ve only met someone as engaging as her once before in my life, and I ended up marrying them! I can count on one hand the people as elegant as her, and she has such a unique view on life that, while I’m around her, I feel as though I’m young again.”

“So you want my help with... asking her out?” I asked.

It felt weird to do this in the interior of a parked car.

“I want your help because you’re a specialist with Fairy Types,” came Old Man Harvey’s answer.

And, with that, I finally understood just what was going on.

“Oh,” I said, eyes widening. “So when you’re talking about this woman—”

Grimly, he nodded.

“Yes,” Old Man Harvey answered. “When I’m talking about the woman I’m interested in, I’m speaking about her.”

_______________________________________________________________________

I helped him prep. Despite just arriving in Galar, I threw myself into work. I might have had a little bit of jet lag, but this was a way to work it off, and my team and I had the equivalent of a battle to assist him with cleaning his place, making plans, and having a short chat.

“And... you’re sure this will work?” the old man asked after over an hour of effort.

“It should, but it does feel like our positions here are pretty reversed. If you’re so old, shouldn’t you be the one with experience—”

“High school sweetheart,” Old Man Harvey answered.

“Ah. That makes sense,” I replied. “And, it’s not even like my advice is that special. Telling you to clean up and just being yourself is a pretty generic thing to say, but my own romantic history is pretty small—”

“Hope, right?” he went on to ask.

I very pointedly did not respond.

Ignoring the growing heat in my face, I returned one book to a shelf to pull out two more. Ultimately, Old Man Harvey had made this connection through his interest in researching old myths and legends, and if there was ever an activity to have a date over, it would be something that they both enjoyed like that.

“So we have the table set up, the place cleaned, dinner cooking, and the only thing left to do is call her,” I said as I placed the last two books in a neat stack on this home’s kitchen table. “She has a phone, right?”

“A Rotom Phone, yes,” Old Man Harvey said. “She might be around my age, but she’s not one to fall out of date.”

He tried to smile at me as if just to reassure himself, and I sent him a supportive nod. He’d done his best to clean himself up, and the eager yet hopeful grin on his face as well as the pressed-down white tuft of hair on his head made him look pretty cute.

“Call her,” I told him.

“Y-yes. I’ll go do that no—”

And then, all of our carefully formulated plans came crashing straight down.

Because a sudden knock came straight from the front door.

“Oh no,” Old Man Harvey whispered.

“Is that...”

He nodded as if he was the most defeated man in the world.

“We usually meet at this time, but I told her I was picking someone up from the airport. I thought we weren’t meeting today!”

“Harvey!” I hissed, walking over to stand right next to him and keeping my voice in a whisper. “Did you say that your meeting was off, or did you just mention that you would be out picking someone up in the morning?”

His expression went utterly pale in the realization of his own mistake, and then the knocking stopped. For the briefest of seconds, I thought whoever was outside had turned around, but then a click rang out, and the front door’s handle began to turn.

“You gave her a key?!”

“Of course I did!”

“Why?!” I asked under my breath.

“Because... Sometimes I get distracted reading, and my hearing isn’t the best. I thought it was better if she could let herself in whenever I didn’t hear her knock.”

There was nothing we could do. She was already opening the door. All of our preparations were about to be needed right now in this second.

Except, there was an extra problem with this situation:

Instead of Old Man Harvey having the chance at a quiet, personal moment, in my panic, I’d neglected to leave the room before his visitor could step inside.

As the door slowly opened up, the edge of a light teal hat came into view. Followed by that, the tip of a long, wrinkled nose. Blue eyes emphasized with mascara peeked in to glance about the room, and an old woman with an extremely fluffy scarf around her neck took a proper step into Old Man Harvey’s home.

“Ah, Harvey!” said the old woman. She was exceptionally thin and stood with a hunch. “I’ve managed to acquire another old tome from an auction—”

She paused when her gaze landed right where I stood.

Genuinely, I didn’t know what to do. This was not just a random person; Old Man Harvey had made a connection with someone of significance. At one point, she had fought to claim the role of Galar’s Champion and had just barely lost, but she and her team of Fairy Types had held prominence in the region for not just the past several years, but for decades.

Opal, also known as the ‘Wizard,’ but more commonly known as the Leader of Ballonlea Gym, properly entered Old Man Harvey’s rented house. Despite her visible age, her eyes carried boundless energy, and there was an overflowing amount of life to her movements.

...Which became exceptionally clear the moment her full gaze settled on me and ran straight forward.

“Pink!” she shouted, and then she was suddenly right there, inches away. Honestly, that initial shout almost reminded me of the squawk of a bird.

She went on to poke and prod, bobbed her head, and walked in a circle around me while giving a lecture to both everyone and no one at all.

“Pink, but not quite pink!” she said, each word coming quickly but with a careful enunciation. “Sincere and straightforward, but also with a hint of mystery to you, hm? You have your own share of tricks, but that doesn’t stop you from acting with truth. A definite willingness to care, but also a need, a desire to always chase greater and greater goals going forward.”

She nodded to herself, satisfied, and then she stopped right in front of me and clicked the tip of her spiral, pink-and-blue umbrella against the ground.

“Yes. You are pink,” Opal said. “Except, you aren’t. Not quite. Not yet.”

“E-excuse me?” I stuttered out. I was already at a complete loss, yet Opal’s thin lips curved up into a ruby smile. 

“You have no need to be excused, Alex. I’ve been following your performances for quite a while. It’s not often I learn of a trainer so dedicated to the Fairy Type so early on, but you? You’re still chasing. Despite your and your team’s strength, you are still chasing after the peak of that color and racing after a grand destination. The pink in your heart is still developing, so... you are not yet the person I seek.”

Her smile then became a slight smirk.

“Of course, not right now, but maybe sometime soon. You would have made a good Psychic Type specialist, I’d think, so it’s no wonder to me that you are still striving to adapt. And— Don’t give me that look!” Opal clicked her tongue. “I follow many trainers. I plan to retire. It should be no surprise that I’ve been shopping around.”

With that, she laughed, covering her mouth as if to hide the haughty-sounding noise.

At the side of the room, Old Man Harvey looked shell-shocked. 

Honestly, I felt the same way.

“O-Opal,” Harvey stuttered, finally taking a step closer to the visitor who had entered both his heart and his home. “I... I!”

He had to breathe in and swallow to gather the courage he needed to speak. His face was bright red.

“I was wondering if you wanted to have dinner with me?” he finally blurted out.

“Of course. I—”

Only then did Opal blink, and that let her recognize the current state of the room.

Everything had been cleaned and organized. Dirty dishes from the preparation of a meal still lingered on an open kitchen’s counter. A table had been cleaned off of its scattering of notes just to be replaced by a selection of tomes that Harvey found the most interesting.

And, of course, Old Man Harvey himself had cleaned up, putting on his best clothes and wearing a hopeful expression on his face. So filled with nerves, he licked his lips, fighting for his life to try to make them not be so dry.

With the reality of the situation settling in, Opal’s expression softened. She walked toward that old man, crouching ever so slightly to better match his height.

“Harvey, you know how much I value our friendship,” she said quietly, “But...”

“But?”

“But I’m not interested in younger men,” she said to him. “Sorry, but I don’t think this would work out.”

She sent him the kindest possible in that moment, and it was like Old Man Harvey’s entire world shattered.

However, he got better. It took only a single second for him to build all of that back up.

“Ah, well. I get it. I’d probably react the same way if I were in your boat,” Old Man Harvey said with a laugh.

To that, Opal laughed again and stood back up, returning to her previous, slightly hunched height. She took one more look around Harvey’s temporary home, and she smiled at the sight of it being so cleaned up.

“Well then. I did say I value our friendship, and I would very much like to continue that. If you have a meal prepared—”

“It’s still being cooked.”

“Then there’s no sense in letting it go to waste!” the Gym Leader said, dramatically raising her hand, still holding her umbrella. “Now then. I didn’t realize you two knew each other, but it does explain quite a bit. Let’s not pass up this moment—this is an opportunity for everyone! Alex, you especially, I’d love to pick your mind while you’re here.”

_______________________________________________________________________

Later, Old Man Harvey properly recovered, and Opal was brilliant. I shouldn’t have been so surprised that someone who had trained the Fairy Type before there was even the Fairy Type itself would be so incredibly informed.

She stayed to chat, eat, and discuss some books, and then she left a while after dinner, and I stayed the night. The time difference made sleep harder to get through, but after everything that had happened, I was just tired enough to pass out and wake up on time.

“Thanks again for the help, Alex,” Old Man Harvey said the next morning. “It’s for the best that I didn’t try to make it more special.”

“I thought it was pretty special,” I said over a bowl of cereal. “You were trying to be yourself. When asking someone out, there’s nothing more special than that in their eyes.”

“Not even a grand, romantic gesture?” Old Man Harvey countered.

“Maybe save that for date two,” I said.

He laughed, and he shook his head. Across from me, he put the book he was reading back down.

“Thank you again, but I know you weren’t here just for me,” he continued. “I appreciate the visit and the help, but I am a little curious about just why you decided to visit Galar.”

I stopped eating, carefully placing the spoon against the cereal bowl before me. I brought my gaze up toward Old Man Harvey, and I looked him in the eyes.

“Are you sure you want to know?”

He stared back.

“I’m sure,” came his answer.

Pushing up from the table, I gestured for him to follow, and we both walked to the couch in his temporary home’s central living room.

Old Man Harvey followed at my side, and Ninetales was already here, napping on the carpet on the floor. Gardevoir was in the back, meditating to memorize a safe teleport location in the garden. Florges was with him, inspecting the small selection of plants and mushrooms outside, and, as usual, Ribombee was with her. Meanwhile, Rapidash was in my pocket, still resting within his Pokéball.

However, between all of them, that was only five Pokémon—I still had room for one more team member.

Holding up a certain, modified Pokéball, I hit the sphere’s central button to send a beam of light onto the couch. As a certain being coalesced onto its cushions, metal clanked against metal as a mechanical body settled down.

“That’s...”

“A Fairy Type. A very special one,” I answered. “She’s why I’ve been traveling around. I did come to Galar to visit you, but also...”

“Here I was talking about Legends, and you were carrying one on you the whole time!” Old Man Harvey exclaimed.

The Pokémon on the couch didn’t move. Its eyes were closed as if fast asleep. There was no stir to it, but there was a sound—a constant ticking. The faint noise of clockwork. Something about its internals was still progressing, even without any other signs of life.

“I’ve visited other places for help with little success,” I said. “Silph Co. The Devon Corporation. And other, smaller companies, too. I’ve been traveling the world to look for help, and Galar is my next step. You wanted to know why I’m here, and this is my answer.”

Old Man Harvey pulled out a handkerchief to wipe his forehead.

“The main reason I’m in Galar,” I continued, “is so I can talk to the right people, and so I get the help I need to wake Magearna up.”

________

If you missed it and need context, read the first extra chapter HERE.
(Originally posted almost two years ago.)

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

This is the last of the “standalone” extra chapters. We’ll be entering an extremely short arc from here.

After that, the true epilogue, and then there’s only the new fiction to post after that.

The Type Specialist Extra Chapter 3 - The Haunted House at the End of the Road

The environment of this place was significantly more humid than I expected, but I was basing my expectations on the fading memory of a video game that I’d played years and years before. The warm air was thick in a clogging sort of way, and it felt as though it was sticking to my skin even though all I was doing was standing at the edge of a road.

At my side, Ninetales fanned herself with her tails, as she was dealing with even more hostile conditions than me. On one hand, she was an Ice Type with great control over her immediate surroundings, capable of cooling down and drying the air as she pleased. However, on the other hand, she was an Ice Type with a great vulnerability to the heat. It took effort to maintain the more tolerable conditions around her, and even just the faint wisps of warm air that slipped through visibly dragged her down.

“And she said not to bring anyone with us,” I grumbled while staring out into the distance. “We won’t have an easy way out. And the only way back will be to walk.”

Ninetales let out a low whine.

Gardevoir wasn’t here to teleport us. Altaria wasn’t here to help us fly. Rapidash was all the way back home, incapable of providing us with a ride. Even the long-shot hope of a Pokémon like Azumarill helping out with travel would be impossible. At most, I had a phone on me in case of emergency, but it was truly just me and Ninetales standing there off to the side of a worn road.

Watching.

And waiting.

Suffering through this choking humidity while our “guide” continued to delay.

Eventually, a growing speck appeared on the horizon, and a voice echoed out from that rapidly approaching point.

“Hey!” the person shouted. “There you are, Alex! Sorry for taking so long—just making sure we had everything set up with the appropriate permissions!”

I knew I should have schooled my expression so as to not glare at Phoebe, but the choking humidity didn’t quite let me do that.

“Permission? About what?” I called out as she jogged closer and closer.

A shadowy mirage that had followed her from behind faded away into a small dark patch beneath her feet.

“Just making sure our tour won’t disturb this place unfairly,” Phoebe said, stretching her arm to the side as she stopped before me. “And when I said ‘getting permission,’ it’s more like I was checking in with Shauntal.”

“So that’s why you were late?” I asked. “Because you were chatting?”

“Hey! We’re both members of the Elite Four! We were doing important Elite Four things!”

“Yeah. Important Elite Four things that only coincidentally involved chatting about how much you two like the Ghost Type.”

Her smile told me everything. She didn’t even try to hide it. It didn’t help that she muttered, “Ghosts are pretty cool,” as if to try to defend herself immediately after.

“Anyway, that’s why we’re here—to fix exactly that!” Phoebe stepped closer. “You won’t get over your fear of the Ghost Type by doing nothing. You need to experience them in their natural habitat. So, shall we?”

With a wide grin crossing her face, Phoebe offered the crook of her arm and smiled at me until I took it. Reluctantly, I let her begin guiding me forward, and Ninetales let out a long sigh before following at our side.

“I just don’t get why this was your plan,” I said. “Why we needed to head to an entire other region just to have me visit a haunted house.”

“Because,” Phoebe started, her eyes searching the path that would bring us straight ahead, “all of the haunted houses that I’m familiar with are also familiar with me. Alex, I want you to get the full experience, and that means for this tour, we’ll both be tourists. Fun, right?”

As much as I wasn’t a fan of the idea, now that we were at least moving toward an escape from this heat, I was actually able to push down my grumbles.

Honestly, I wasn’t entirely comfortable with being in Unova, but that wasn’t due to any bias against the region; it was more due to a guilt that’d been clouding my thoughts for a while. I had made the best choices I could and had shared my information in the past. While Steven had worked to ensure only the best came of it, he could only do so much, and some regions... didn’t exactly end up as well off as the others.

Unova had been one of them, mostly due to Team Plasma. Their response to the changes had been far worse than anything anyone had expected.

But I wasn’t in a position to worry about that right now. I just didn’t want to think about the impending haunted house.

Or the horrible weather.

“How’s Steven, by the way?” I asked as we trekked forward.

“Hm?” Phoebe hummed. “We haven’t spoken in person in months, and the very first question you ask me is about Steven?”

I ignored her cheeky smile.

“He’s fine,” she eventually said, still smiling to herself as we walked. “As usual, he’s busy. There’s a reason he hasn’t been accepting any personal calls. He always takes on way too much work, and he’s still fighting to properly settle back into his role of Hoenn’s Champion. He’s also— Wait. Hold on, when did you last talk to him?”

“During my visit with the Devon Corporation.”

“Oh, yeah. I heard about that,” Phoebe said. “An entire city block went dark, huh?”

“At least we now know that it’s not Infinity Energy,” I mused.

Ahead of us, I could finally see the shadow of our destination: a great structure built into a wide swamp that had once been badlands. Framed by the slumbering mountain behind it, the clay that made up this building reminded me of adobe. However, where a home built with adobe tended to be on the smaller side, whoever had built this place had ensured it was an entire mansion.

It was wide, tall, and looked like an enormous, orange rectangle. Where the exterior had once been dry and dusty, a recent shift in the winds had seen a more coastal breeze blow in from the southeast. Something about that change meant rain had become more common here.

The result was the choking humidity, of course, but it had also created the thick mud and dead plants that surrounded this old manor. Though it was a completely motionless building, approaching it made it feel as though it was leaning closer, and it was as if its very presence mandated that it must expend effort to make itself loom.

“...You sure I shouldn’t have brought more Pokémon?” I asked, looking up at it.

For some reason, when I spoke here, my voice felt so very small.

“I’m sure. I want it to be just you and Ninetales,” Phoebe replied far too casually. “Too many Pokémon with us, and the ghosts would be scared off. You need to see that they’re manageable and mostly harmless. You might have had some bad experiences, but not every ghostly encounter is that bad.”

“The haunting in New Mauville,” I immediately countered. “And the Gengar attack in Eterna Forest. Then, that entire debacle in Alola’s abandoned Mega Mart. And now, you’re having me visit this... Strange House?”

“Yes,” Phoebe bluntly said.

It was only after a few seconds of silence had passed did something that Phoebe said stick out in my mind.

“Wait. Hold on—ghosts? Not Ghost Types?”

To make matters worse, she just smiled, and with her arm still hooked around mine, she continued forward to bring me straight inside.

Passing through the entrance’s decaying double doors, what hit me first was how the feeling in here was completely different from what I had felt outside. Where being in that recently-formed swamp had made it feel as though I were almost drowning, in here, it felt like an air-conditioned room: dry, still, and almost frosty. Even Ninetales looked rather pleased as the door creaked closed behind us.

“This place has an interesting story behind it,” Phoebe said. She kept her voice quiet, and the floor squeaked under her feet. “It was originally going to be a vacation home, but then the owners decided to move in and live here full-time. Except, that didn’t work out. Pretty quickly, the troubles began.”

“The troubles,” I repeated.

“Yes. The troubles.”

She went on to nod as if that vague phrase was the most important thing in the world.

“Long story short, everyone who slept here was plagued with nightmares. Its owners searched for a solution. They failed, and, in the end, they had no choice but to abandon the place. The rumors meant no one was willing to take over after them, so that’s when the Ghost Types came instead.” 

She nudged me, trying to inspire a reaction.

“Pretty cool, right?” Phoebe said.

Stepping forward, she finally released my arm, and this place was silent enough that I could hear every footstep she took to walk to the center of this room. Though there was no wind—not even the slightest breeze—a rusted chandelier above her rocked back and forth as if it had been recently disturbed.

“If you look up there...” Phoebe’s eyes locked onto a specific point just past this room’s second-level railing. A grand staircase connected to a balcony hallway, and Phoebe did not look away from the darkened entrance that sat open only a few doors down.

Following her gaze made my heart drop in my chest.

Already, I could see them—faint, purple wisps that flickered within the pure nothingness just past the open door.

Ninetales moved to my side and pressed against me, her own gaze not looking away. However, I could tell she was only pretending to comfort me—she moved closer to me for her sake, not mine.

“You can tell what Pokémon they are by the color of their flames and how they flicker,” Phoebe whispered, still staring at those tiny, purple wisps. “Those aren’t ghosts, but they are Ghost Types. Alex, we’re in Unova. Those are Litwick. The wisps you see are the lights of their candles. They’re a species that likes to guide people into spooky situations, and they’re probably trying to bait us into a prank. There’s no need to be scared.”

At the bottom of that upper door frame, I could see a small Pokémon made of wax peek out just to scurry back in. The floating, flickering flames above it almost seemed to intensify before suddenly dropping away one by one.

Though there was nothing left, there had been a playfulness to that disappearance. The act was meant to be spooky, but it was also meant to inspire curiosity and lure us further in.

“Come on, Alex! Don’t you want to see what they have planned?”

“Not really, no.”

Phoebe sent me a huff and then began walking up the stairs regardless of what I said.

Exchanging a look with Ninetales, I knew we needed to continue forward. Off the top of my head, I knew a Ghost Type’s scares were simply meant to be pranks, but I just couldn’t bring myself to be comfortable with them.

But Mimikyu is cool.

And then Whimsicott also liked pranks.

I didn’t have high expectations for this, but I doubted it would be that bad, and we had come here for a reason. Ninetales and I began to follow after Phoebe, and I really, really hoped that this wouldn’t be too horrible an experience.

Phoebe climbed the staircase in the center of the room, and I could hear how it creaked under the slightest pressure. The moment she reached its top, she practically spun on a heel to turn and head right toward the Litwick’s door. Ninetales was firmly locked against my side as we walked up the staircase as well, and I may or may not have had trouble looking up. I did note, however, that though decayed, this staircase had a rather nice pattern on the carpet that decorated its steps.

Unfortunately, by the time we reached the top, it was silent. Phoebe was already gone, having disappeared somewhere deeper inside.

Ahead of us, meanwhile, an enormous door yawned into a wall of pitch-black darkness. Our gazes could not pierce through the void that defined its inside.

However, Phoebe’s voice was somehow able to drift through.

“Come on!”

“Well,” I said, ignoring how I mirrored the slight tremble in the fox pressed against me, “I guess we’re heading in.”

I sent one last look to Ninetales just for reassurance, and though neither of us was pleased about this development, we did step through to follow after the sound of our friend.

“When Phoebe told us we needed to come here, I did some research,” I said quietly to Ninetales as the darkness gave way to a long hallway lit up by board-covered windows. “Places like these are left abandoned on purpose. They kind of serve as ‘containment.’ If there’s a dedicated location for Ghost Types to haunt, then those Pokémon are unlikely to haunt more important places in nearby towns and cities. This one building by itself is probably protecting all of Lacunosa.”

As we walked deeper and deeper into the building, Ninetales inspected the walls so furiously that it was like she was trying to pierce through them with her gaze. Phoebe had disappeared into this upper level, but I had yet to see any sign of her. I tried to look past the open doors that lined the right wall, but once again, I could not see through the darkness that lined each door’s inside.

“This way!”

Once again, Phoebe’s voice echoed out from even further in, and Ninetales almost jumped when the noise passed over us. Her fur was standing on its ends, but I knew Phoebe had come through here. Otherwise, why else would she call for us to follow?

“But it is a bit strange, though,” I said as we slowly crept down the hall. “I know she went to the second floor, but weren’t the Litwick in a different entrance? And, now that I’m thinking about it, there’s something else—the floor here is really loud, but I don’t think I remember hearing any footsteps from her entering this hall.”

Ninetales came to a halt. The suddenness of the motion meant I did, too. Something about what I had said had made her eyes go as wide as they could possibly go, and she snapped her head back over her shoulder to check on the entrance behind us.

She went totally and utterly still.

When I checked behind us as well, I realized the door we had passed through was gone. There was only more hall.

And hall.

And hall.

Nothing but hallway stretched out into the distance, and when I checked once more, I realized that it was infinity to both sides.

“This is the prank, right?” I asked to the empty air. “I’m not laughing. This was supposed to be simple. I’m meant to get over my fear, right?”

Nobody answered. Nothing moved.

This time around, I was the one to jump in reaction. Practically out of nowhere, Ninetales leaped to throw herself at where a boarded window hung on the left wall.

Without waiting, she furiously tore at the nailed wooden planks, swiping with her paws and biting with her teeth in an attempt to rip them off the walls. Though it was still just as cold as before, I started to feel as though I was struggling to breathe in here just as much as I had been outside.

I rushed to help.

One by one, the boards were splintered and torn away. One by one, we removed everything we could from this enormous wall.

At the end of it, we were panting, but everything before was gone. The boards and nails had all been removed.

However, we found no window. There was only a blank, stone wall.

“H-how do a bunch of Litwick fake that?” I hissed under my breath. “Ninetales, you’re skilled with these kinds of things. Are we in an illusion right now?”

Her only response was a shiver.

She started to run, and I didn’t hesitate to join her. We practically hurtled straight down the hall. Behind us, I swore I heard breathing.

And footsteps.

And a faint call—Phoebe’s voice—that shouted for us to run after her.

No, I realized practically immediately. That isn’t it. Her voice is whispering for us to keep going.

For us to get closer.

Snapping an arm out, I grabbed one of Ninetales’s tails—a feeling she absolutely hated—but even with that displeasure, she went along with the grab and let me change directions and yank us through one of those darkened doors.

Somehow, when we emerged, we were no longer on the second floor but back on the lower floor of the main entrance. This was the same, initial room, but furniture covered the place and restricted what path we could take.

The chandelier on the ceiling was gone.

Ninetales and I charged through the only viable route.

Passing through the single available door, we ended up right back in the same room as before.

Then, we ran again, following the predetermined path, but we changed our ultimate plan. Right before entering the sole provided entrance, I had us jump over a table to pass through a different door instead.

It didn’t work.

We emerged into the same place.

“Phoebe, if this is the prank, I don’t like it! Please, just let us go!”

Ninetales howled.

This time around, I didn’t bother to entertain the furniture-defined route. I turned us around to bring us back through the same entrance we had just left, but we merely entered the same room, just emerging from the other side.

“Okay. Okay!” I’d never looked around so quickly before. “They’re giving us only one way forward. They’re trying to herd us, but—”

Ninetales had already locked her eyes onto the same place that I had locked mine.

Between us and the main entrance, shoved against the wall of the room, was an absolute mountain of furniture. Ninetales could all but read my mind to tell what I wanted, and she leaped right toward that pile.

I did not hesitate to give the order.

“Blizzard!” I screamed. “Now!”

Ninetales practically flew through the air, and an impossibly strong hurricane of ice and wind blew out from all around her. Fueled by both panic and well-trained skill, this Blizzard hit with such force that the vast majority of the furniture was blasted into splinters.

But, protected by the rest of a pile, a few tables and chairs remained below. I ran to join Ninetales in destroying and tearing away everything that was left.

We threw and crashed through table after table, and we kicked away chair after chair.

The door was right in front of us.

I could see it for sure.

Tauntingly, it was right there.

“...Alex?”

But footsteps started to echo out from behind us—we were running out of time.

We kept going. We kept digging. However, no matter how hard we tore forward, there always seemed to be more hidden furniture placed under the others that blocked our way out.

“Alex,” the voice repeated.

We kept digging.

“Alex!” came its shout.

We continued to push through.

The footsteps from behind turned into a storm, and out of nowhere, hands were placed on both of our shoulders to turn us around with an overwhelming force.

Ninetales and I may or may not have screamed.

“What are you two doing? I’ve been waiting forever! You already missed the Litwick’s prank! They made the entire room dark and tried to bait us forward with fake candles! They were going to throw a pillow at us from the ceiling for their scare.”

“I... W-what?” I stuttered out.

Phoebe crossed her arms.

“Oh. I see,” she said, narrowing her eyes. “You’re up to something. A plot. Otherwise, why just stand there? You’re in the same spot I left you! It’s like you’ve done nothing but stare into that room for the entire time you’ve been gone.”

“That room?” I repeated.

Having not learned our lesson, Ninetales and I turned around. This time, however, no darkness blocked our vision. There was only a bedroom—a simple one. It was a room that actually made sense to fit into the given dimensions of this building.

“Yeah, this is where the daughter of the household became consumed with nightmares,” Phoebe said. “Her parents tried to save her, but...”

A chill drifted across the back of my neck.

In the distance, I swore I heard giggles.

“You know? Actually, thank you, Phoebe, but I think we’re good,” I said to her right there and then.

“Excuse me?”

Already, Ninetales eagerly agreed.

“I think we get it. There’s nothing wrong with Ghost Type Pokémon, only the effects of real ghosts. I would very much like to leave at this exact moment and never think about this place ever again. And, if you ever want me to meet a Ghost Type Pokémon, I accept. I’ll do it. I’ll agree to any of your plans as long as you promise that we’ll never have to step foot in this building again.”

“You...” Phoebe shook her head. “You know what? Fine. I’ll agree to that deal.”

“Great!”

We didn’t wait. Ninetales and I ran down the staircase to rush back to the front door.

And, it opened.

No furniture blocked it—it wasn’t even locked.

Never before in my life had I ever been so glad to breathe in such horribly humid air.

“Ninetales, I’m sorry for bringing you here.”

She whined to apologize for not being able to do more.

“But it’s fine. We’re fine. We’ve escaped. We’re out! That means... That means we can finally leave this horrible place!”

Then, in unison, we took our first step out.

From there, we practically charged forward, moving down the road to leave the Strange House behind.

It was only minutes later that the reality of our situation hit us.

As awful as that house had been, we were outside, and the swampy environment had not changed. We might have managed to escape, but we still needed to walk through the humid air all the way back if we wanted to return to town.

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

Next chapter might not be out until next week—I spent all of yesterday pretty ill, and I'm still recovering. Thankfully, we should be done with the extra chapters by the end of next week, and the next fiction will be out very soon after that!

In the meantime, for everyone getting it, I hope you enjoy the new Pokémon game!

The Type Specialist Extra Chapter 2 - The Viridian City Contest

Author Note:

Technically, this is a Contest chapter.

==========================================================================

Kanto. One of the most well-established regions, as well as the region in which the Pokémon League first formed. Other regions have always had their “bosses” and skilled trainers, but Kanto was the region that formalized and regulated the classic Pokémon Gym Challenge. Where every region had its age and history, there was something about Kanto that gave it more weight. Its Gym Leaders were extremely respected, it had a traditional order of challenge that almost every trainer followed, and even though it might have had less “interesting” destinations than those of other regions, it was consistently near the top of the list for most visited and challenged Leagues.

However, I wasn’t here for any of that. I was here on a day-long visit—technically, a week-long visit, but I didn’t consider my upcoming meeting with Silph Co. to be connected to any kind of “vacation.” Silph Co. was also unlikely to solve my problem when the Devon Corporation had already tried and failed, so none of that currently mattered to me.

No, I was here on a break, and the invitation to visit Silph Co. was truly just an excuse to be present right now. Kanto’s yearly season had only just begun, and with the start of its Gym Challenge came the start of something else:

Kanto had its own series of Contests, too.

“So!” a red-haired announcer called out, her voice echoing across the entire arena. “As is tradition, I bid you all welcome to the Viridian City Contest, the very first Contest of this year’s season!”

The crowd was uproarious, and, for once, I was a part of that massive group. The people here were desperate, almost hungry, to see a new Contest. Kanto’s previous Grand Festival had taken place months ago, and there was a palpable eagerness to see these performances start up once again.

Every region had always had a “first” Contest to start off the season in a major event, and this was Kanto’s. Where Sinnoh had its Jubilife City Contest, Kanto had its Viridian City Contest.

As I clapped and cheered alongside everyone else, I could feel the nostalgia beating in my chest. It’d been some time since I’d even just been tangentially involved with contests, and I could tell my Pokémon had missed it with how fervently they were cheering, too.

Though we would only be watching today, both Ninetales and Florges were screaming their names. Once more, they both wore sunglasses and had tied scarves around their heads to be present here in disguise. It was almost shameful how well those simple obscurations worked.

“Many of you are familiar with how Contests are run elsewhere, but for the people new to Kanto, our Contests are a little different,” the announcer said, smiling to the audience as her heels clicked across the stage. “Unlike those in other regions where trainers have free choice to choose what Pokémon to use in each round, here in Kanto, it’s a requirement that trainers use only two Pokémon, and those two Pokémon cannot be used in both the performance round and the battling round.”

A smile crept on her face.

“In other words, the Pokémon you see perform first won’t be the only Pokémon you see today!”

She stopped in place to let the crowd cheer in excitement, and my eyes scanned the stage for any hint of the person I was here to see. Unfortunately, competitors weren’t going to be shown until it was right before the time for them to come out.

The announcer’s speech continued, but she didn’t bring up any other major difference in the rules. The basics of Contests were pretty standard across regions, and so was their set of judges.

Like always, the head of the local Pokémon Fan Club was involved—same with the local Nurse Joy. Historically, since this was Viridian City, a representative from its local Gym would have been sent here, but given the last Gym Leader turned out to be the leader of Team Rocket, the local Gym couldn’t afford to do anything so “basic.”

“Any words of wisdom to share before we start?” the announcer called out, swinging her microphone around to point toward where the three judges sat.

“I hope all the Coordinators try their best to be... remarkable!” the local Pokémon Fan Club head called out.

“Please, remember to treat your Pokémon with kindness, and don’t push them too hard! I don’t want to see any Pokémon here get injured today!” the nurse added.

And then, the microphone was pointed right at the third person sitting at the table, and rather than an immediate response, all that came was a scowl.

“Bah. No, I don’t have any ‘words of wisdom’ to share,” Agatha, the current stand-in Viridian City Gym Leader for the past three years running, said. “Get on with it. I’m a busy woman. You’re keeping everyone waiting by stalling so much.”

“Well, she’s grumpy,” I whispered to my team.

Ninetales and Florges mumbled in agreement, but the audience seemed to laugh in support of Agatha’s grumbling. Apparently, retiring from the Elite Four hadn’t changed Kanto’s relatively positive opinion of her. Although, she had turned Giovanni’s rather extravagant Gym into a public library. While I had no idea why Agatha, of all people, would want to do that, that change was probably doing wonders for her public respect.

“Hah! Well, as our esteemed guest has requested, there’s no sense in waiting any longer!” the announcer shouted as she turned back to face the audience. “We have dozens upon dozens of wonderful Coordinators waiting to start off the year! So, without further ado, let us begin!”

“I hope she does well,” I said quietly to my team.

Immediately, the stage was beset by novice coordinator after novice coordinator, each one going on to perform for the first time and pouring their hearts into their performances. Well-groomed species like Meowth and Eevee ran across the stage to show off their fur and health while also demonstrating their expertise with what few moves they knew. Locally found species like Nidoran and Pikachu appeared in great numbers to display their unique takes on certain attacks. Thundershocks wove electric webs over jumping Pikachu, and Poison Stings burst into clouds of sparkling mist whenever they hit their target.

Despite how prevalent they were in these parts, Bug Types were not too common in these performances, but the allure of eventually performing alongside a Butterfree or Beedrill was rather great. The occasional Caterpie and Weedle would show up, and sometimes so would their evolved, chrysalis forms. I’d never seen so many ways String Shot could be used, but ultimately, with so many people all but restricted to a single attack, those kinds of performances did get old after only a short while.

There were also some rarer Kanto species involved, like Poliwag, Houndour, and Farfetch’d, but this was still a beginner’s contest. The vast majority of these performances were merely about trainers showing off their Pokémon’s appearance while making sparkles. Contests were about demonstrating the peak of what your Pokémon could do, but the vast majority of these novice trainers didn’t yet have the skills, moves, or experience to try anything more complicated than that.

And then, it was her turn.

When her name and picture appeared on the screen above the stage, Ninetales and Florges could not stop screaming.

“Up next, we have a Coordinator who’s come a long way from home!” came the announcer’s shout. “Everyone, give a warm welcome to Lillie, a trainer from Alola!”

I stood when I cheered, and Ninetales and Florges did as well. I could see Lillie stride onto the stage, head held high. However, her expression turned bright red the second her gaze landed on where we stood.

Her participation in Alola’s League meant she was an experienced trainer, but she was competing in the Novice Contest due to her extreme lack of experience with performance. Her team might have had the power, but they were judged to lack the skill required to do well in a higher-tier show.

Still, her placement here did not dissuade her, as she very quickly cleared her throat and grabbed a white Pokéball. I didn’t miss how the sphere in her hand was tinted blue—she had made sure to secure a few seals from all the way in Sinnoh, and those carefully placed stickers allowed for a young Alolan Vulpix to appear on the stage alongside a small burst of fake snow.

“Snowy!” Lillie shouted.

Her partner Pokémon landed as softly as an early morning’s powder, and Ninetales was somehow able to cheer even harder when her niece appeared on the stage.

“Set up the floor!” Lillie ordered. “Then, paint the sky!”

Snowy didn’t wait to start moving, and Lillie ran to dash alongside her Pokémon.

The pair of them circled the stage, leaving behind a trail of white, powdery snow. Circling the stage was also a pretty basic strategy that let Lillie show off all sides of her Pokémon while also letting Snowy demonstrate her skill. Usually, the stark whiteness of Powder Snow stood at odds with a Pokémon’s appearance, but in this case, the powder worked well to show off Snowy’s well-groomed appearance as well as the faintest of blue tints that came naturally to her species.

As this was a Contest, Lillie herself was also dressed up. However, I very pointedly ignored that. I did not want to acknowledge the familiar dress and hat, nor did I want to think about how it had not originally been chosen by her.

Once the circle of snow had been formed around the stage, Lillie and Snowy stopped the technique to run to the center. Stepping to the side to make room for her Pokémon, Lillie was already panting somewhat, but Snowy was a veteran of a decent number of battles and still had plenty of energy to go.

“Up!” Lillie ordered.

Snowy cried out her name, and a howl echoed over the stage.

At my side, a soft whine came out. Ninetales couldn’t have looked prouder even if she tried.

Remaining in place, just by throwing back her head, Snowy was able to conjure a snow cloud. However, she wasn’t just making it under her own power. It was like she was drawing in the snow from the circle she’d made around her and bringing that up to send it into the sky.

I also felt proud; Lillie was using a weather effect. Much like Ninetales, Snowy was setting up a Hail storm—or, specifically, a Snowscape.

Except—

“Oh,” I mumbled. “She’s messing up, isn’t she?”

Nearby, Florges nodded her head, her expression calm. Her discerning gaze swept over the field, and I followed it. She looked over to the judges, and when I saw them, most of them looked unimpressed.

Though the snowstorm was forming well enough above the Vulpix, this strategy had two main problems. First, the placement and use of the snow around the field almost implied that she needed some kind of setup to use this move, and when the snow was suctioned up and sent into the air, it completely obscured the little Vulpix’s white-furred body.

“Agh,” I groaned. “Lillie has the power, but there’s a reason she’s in the Novice Contest.”

This was taking a while, and the sheer amount of white meant we couldn’t see her Vulpix at all.

“Great!” Lillie shouted on the stage, unaware of what was going on. “Now, go ahead and use your Aurora Veil! Just like we planned!”

Due to its difficulty, Aurora Veil was an impressive move for a Vulpix to learn, but the problem was that she was adding even more to the snow-filled air—and we still couldn’t see Snowy use it at all. Rainbow screens formed all around the field, completely encapsulating the spot where Lillie’s Pokémon sat under the clouds. We should have been able to see just how Snowy was using this move, but right now, it looked like Lillie was being flashy just for the sake of being flashy.

A beginner’s mistake. Even when I had my team hide themselves with their moves in their performances, I made sure it never lasted long, and it was always to build up a reveal that’d show them off later.

And, credit to Lillie, that was what she was going for; it just took a bit too long and hid a bit too much. She had Snowy make an entire ball of Aurora Veil—an impressive trick—and then Snowy purposefully let it shatter, sending out a freezing pulse in all directions.

With that finale, Snowy was finally revealed underneath, and the reveal wasn’t the worst thing in the world. She looked perfectly fine and healthy, and even with everything she’d done, she'd maintained the poise needed to imply that her show had taken little effort at all.

“Hmph,” came a response from Agatha.

That dismissive noise saw Lillie immediately pale.

“And that was Lillie and Snowy!” the announcer called out.

“Th-thank you!” Lillie replied a little too quickly, bowing her head and then running off with her Pokémon.

I watched as she disappeared, with Lillie dashing behind the curtain as her eyes never left the ground. Behind her, a pair of Alakazam teleported onto the stage to clean up the lingering snow while the announcer began to introduce the next person to perform.

“A good display of skill. A good display of strength. Given this is a Novice Contest, the judges will rate her appropriately to her level of strength, and I’d say her performance is still one of the better ones we’ve seen so far,” I said.

Florges hummed in agreement. That finale had left her impressed. Ninetales barked as if to try to defend her niece’s entire performance, but there was a hesitance to her noise that spoke of her being unsure.

We were only halfway through the performance round, and there were a lot of Coordinators involved with the Contest today. Lillie did well, but even with all of these shows, only sixteen total trainers would be moving on to the second stage.

She should be proud, but with how she ran off the stage like that...

The image wouldn’t leave my head.

“I think... Excuse me,” I said, standing up as a Coordinator partnered with yet another Pikachu appeared on the stage. “I want to talk to her. I'll be right back.”

Squeezing past my Pokémon, I left the stands to head out.

If Lillie wanted to do well, she needed to stay confident. I needed to talk to her before they announced just who would be moving on to the next round.

_______________________________________________________________________

It didn’t take me long to find her. She was sitting in the hallway just outside of where the contestants waited between matches. This performance hall was actually Viridian City’s largest arena, just repurposed, but even with the sheer size of its center stage, so deep into these lower hallways, the noise of the crowd was muffled enough that it almost felt silent.

Lillie didn’t look up as I approached. She remained where she sat on the floor, running her hands through her Vulpix's fur in her lap.

Without saying anything, I took a seat next to her, and I didn’t need to prod her for a reaction before she spoke up.

“We messed up, didn’t we?” she said quietly.

Humming in response, I knew there was no need to lie.

“Yes and no, but mostly no. You had an advantage today, given your experience in Alola, and you made the most of that to have a genuinely impressive show. However, it’s also obvious you didn’t have any experience with Contests before now. Snowy has been in a decent number of battles, and you showed off her skill well—”

“But I didn’t show her off.”

I took a second to reply.

“Not for the entire time, no. However, that’s less important since you previously showed her off when she was circling around.”

“But a performance should focus on your Pokémon, not just the appearance of their moves,” Lillie said softly. “You told me that so much, and I should have known that much! But then, when we were out there... I thought that hiding Snowy in her snow was our best course.”

“It worked out with the Aurora Veil reveal at the end,” I pointed out.

“But the judges never saw Snowy use Aurora Veil,” Lillie countered.

She shook her head and plunged her face into Snowy’s fur. The little fox in her lap whined at the act, not bothered by it but just trying to press against Lillie in an attempt to cheer her up.

“I know we didn’t actually do that poorly,” Lillie mumbled into her Pokémon. “It’s just... I wanted it to be perfect. I wanted... I wanted to send it home.”

“Your... ribbon?” I asked.

“No. The recording,” Lillie mumbled flatly.

“Ah,” I said after a second. “That’s why you’re wearing that outfit. You want to send a recording of this contest to your mom.”

Sniffling, Lillie brought her head back up, but she pulled down the wide brim of her hat to hide the upper half of her face. She leaned back against the wall even as Snowy leaned against her chest. She sat there for a moment, just petting her Pokémon, visibly thinking about whatever it was she wanted to say next.

“Can I ask you what’s going to happen with my mom? Truthfully? Please don’t try to soften the blow.”

As I turned toward the opposite wall, I was similarly deep in thought. As much as I knew I could avoid answering, doing so would be pointless, and it wouldn’t be what she wanted to hear right now.

“As much as your mother almost caused a region-wide catastrophe, she does have some pretty great lawyers, and she is responsible for the Aether Foundation and all the good their rescue work has done. There’s also the fact that she isn’t exactly unfamiliar with the science behind Ultra Wormholes and knows key information that many other people don’t. I know you’re already aware of this, but she’s not in jail. She’s likely to be under permanent house arrest.”

“Like that... Who was that guy? Xa... Xavier?”

“Xerosic,” I replied, correcting her. “Yeah. Basically, someone who’s not a great person, but someone who demonstrated enough regret and is willing to do the work needed to make up for their crimes.”

Technically, something like this happened with Team Magma’s leader, Maxie. He was never going to lose the high security that surrounded him due to his followers’ cult-like devotion, but as far as I knew, he now worked for the League as an environmental analyst. Similarly, Xerosic still worked in Sycamore’s lab—much to Sycamore’s displeasure—and Lusamine...

She would work in her home, the mansion on Aether’s artificial island. She would no longer have access to most of the luxuries she was used to, and she would definitely lack most of the privacy she’d taken advantage of before. Ultimately, however, she would continue to work with the Aether Foundation, just at arm’s length and without any authority or the role of the Foundation’s president.

It didn’t help that the next most educated person on Ultra Wormholes, Faba, was gone. Nobody knew where he was. There were conflicting reports on whether or not he’d been captured, escaped, or... something else. Mainly, the League could find nothing about his location, even with their best psychics.

As far as anyone knew, Faba had completely disappeared.

“Everyone can get better,” Lillie said. “Mom did, for a while, after everything that happened with dad. At least, that’s what Gladion told me.”

She had to go quiet for a moment after saying that.

“I know Gladion doesn’t want to talk to her, but I still call her, and we talk. Except, whenever she speaks, it always feels like she’s... off. Distant. Almost dreamy. It feels like she’s not fully there.”

“I just wanted...” Lillie continued, hanging her head once more. “I thought that if I sent her something really good, she’d be reminded of how things used to be, and then she’d snap out of it. Like, she’d see my performance, think it was really good, and then she’d realize there was more to beauty than whatever she saw in Ultra Beasts.”

“I get it.” I pressed my head against the wall and tried not to think about anything else. “You told me that you wanted to perform for you and your team, but you also wanted to perform for your mother, huh?”

“Yeah,” Lillie admitted alongside a sigh.

She sat there for a while while I considered how I wanted to reply. Eventually, I came up with a dumb idea—probably the dumbest one. If I was anyone else, and if I was speaking to anyone else, it wouldn’t work.

But it’d work right here and now.

“So you failed,” I said outright.

Lillie bowed her head as if she was about to agree with me, but then she blinked and snapped her gaze over, recognizing the absurdity of how it was me saying it as well as the lack of seriousness in my voice.

“What?”

“Yeah, you definitely failed,” I said, purposefully refusing eye contact. “Nothing you did out there had any impact. Certainly not Snowy’s masterful control of snow or her impressive use of Aurora Veil. Those docked points for hiding her for a few seconds are going to ruin your perfect score. And without a perfect score, this entire Contest is pointless! There’s no way you’ll be able to move on to—”

I was interrupted when Lillie lightly smacked my arm.

“You can’t talk like that!” she said, holding back a ridiculous laugh.

“First off, ow. You’ve been learning way too much from Hope,” I said, rubbing my arm in mock-pain and receiving a pair of stuck-out tongues from both Lillie and Snowy in return. “Second off, do you see my point? If I’m not allowed to talk like that, then why are you allowed to talk like that to yourself?”

“That’s because—” Lillie suddenly stopped, frowning at my question. “Alex, this is the dumbest way you’ve ever tried to cheer me up.”

“What, by insulting you?” I asked idly.

She giggled.

“Yes!”

“Well, it’s working, isn't it?” I offered. “What I said was completely ridiculous, and I know you recognize that. Yes, it hurt your performance to hide Snowy for a few seconds, but that’s the worst that happened. You showed off so much, and that’s why you should be proud.”

Lillie took a second to think, and I pretended to stare straight ahead. Checking on her out of the corner of my eye, I managed to notice that a small smile had crept back onto her face.

“We... showed off how healthy Snowy is,” she said, speaking slowly at the start. “How she’s capable of running and using a move at the same time with ease. How she has great spatial awareness to draw a perfect circle and then stop in its exact middle. And then, even though she was hidden, she did create a full weather effect, and it’s hard for a Vulpix to learn Aurora Veil before it evolves into Ninetales.”

“See? Pretty good show, in my opinion,” I said.

“But they’re still going to grade us harder than the other trainers since we have more experience,” Lillie grumbled. “Snowy’s been trained before, so of course she can do all of that. Meanwhile, the true new trainers will only have to perform at their expected level.”

With that continued denial, all I had to do was send her a flat look.

“...You mean like the guy who wanted to show off his Nidoran’s accuracy, but then had only a third of its Poison Sting actually hit its target?”

“No,” Lillie shot right back. “I’m talking about Coordinators like the girl with the Pidgey that was able to make Gusts to launch itself straight into the sky.”

“What about the Pikachu that just ran in a circle and lightly sparked?”

“There’s that Poliwag trainer!” Lillie countered. “With just a few Water Guns and Mud Slaps, the entire stage was turned into a swamp!”

“Who else?” I asked.

“There was...” Lillie contorted her face to think. “Maybe that trainer with a Nidoran that was able to crack the provided rock?”

I stared at her and waited for any other examples of performances that were better than hers, but Lillie didn’t say anything. She just stayed quiet.

“Huh,” she eventually said. “I guess we did do a good job.”

“You performed better than you think,” I said, pushing to my feet and offering an arm. “Stand up. Let’s head back. There are more performances to watch and learn from. And, I promise you, when the first round’s rankings come out, you’ll see that you did better than you think."

_______________________________________________________________________

Sixteenth.

Out of the sixteen trainers to move onto the battle rounds, Lillie was placed sixteenth.

Her position reminded me of a joke about students trying to become Doctors—a Doctor who graduates last in their class would still be graduating as a Doctor in the very end.

“She’s feeling better,” I said as I returned to my Pokémon. “She was ecstatic when she found out she’s moving on. A bit of time, and she’ll be back out here. Then, of course, we’ll see her crush the rest of the trainers on the stage.”

It wouldn’t be as straightforward as a basic battle—if Lillie used one bad move that knocked out her opponent in a single blow, there was still the possibility that she didn’t win. The important part of these battles was to fight while showing off your Pokémon. This was a Pokémon Contest. She would have to fight while making sure her chosen team member looked better than her foe’s.

But as I sat, my Pokémon looked confident. They were familiar with a great many members of Lillie’s team. She had her own set of Fairy Types to choose from, and whatever she selected, both Ninetales and Florges were confident that Lillie would pull off a win.

We watched a few battles. They mostly involved novices, but there were a couple of trainers who did use Pokémon that were stronger than I would have thought. There was a Growlithe whose Flamethrower didn’t quite fit the expected level of the stage, and there was even an evolved Wartortle that gave its best showing against a Doduo. 

Ultimately, however, that Wartortle lost to its weaker foe.

But then, the eighth round hit, and the next two Coordinators were sent up. Lillie strode onto the field with a bright smile on her face, and this time around, when she saw me and my Pokémon cheer, she didn’t flush bright red.

“Coordinators!” the announcer shouted. “Send out your Pokémon!”

“Sunkern!” her opponent called on.

On Lillie’s side of the field, there was a slight delay.

Looking at her, Ninetales, Florges, and I all went dead silent when we saw the latticed Pokéball that she held in one hand.

“She’s not really—”

Ninetales let out a barking laugh, and Florges put her face in her hands.

Across the entire arena, the audience fell into a complete silence when they beheld just what Pokémon Lillie sent out.

“Nebby!”

...Faced with the Legendary Solgaleo, Lillie’s opponent looked as though he was about to ruin his pants.

_______________________________________________________________________

“I can’t believe I lost,” Lillie said to me once the Contest was over.

“I can’t believe you lost,” I repeated right back. “At least, you got pretty far? I’m also pretty sure that you tried your best?”

Frustrated, Lillie shoved a spoon of ice cream into her mouth.

The sweet flavor only barely helped.

Nearby, on the road, an entire squad of Ace Trainers did their best to try to redirect a growing crowd. The awe-inspiring, heart-shaking, spine-chilling Legendary Pokémon that was Nebby the Solgaleo, currently on his vacation from the space between worlds, sprawled out on his back like an enormous, depressed cat.

I’m going to have to file so much paperwork.

“If we just weren’t facing a Sunkern—!” Lillie cried.

“Think about it like this,” I said, “you fought a Pokémon that was empowered by the sun with a Pokémon that was the living embodiment of the sun.”

“I just thought we’d win,” Lillie grumbled again.

“I mean, I did too, but apparently, the judges didn’t agree. I suppose... Which is more impressive? A strong Pokémon punching down, or a tiny little seed giving it their all despite the impossible threat?”

Frowning, Lillie took another bite, not wanting to state the obvious after her direct experience with exactly that.

We ate our ice cream, and Lillie fumed. However, the sweet flavor did seem to calm her down. Eventually, her silence became less punctuated with grumbles and more and more punctuated hums of careful thought.

Soon, she regained the spirit to speak up once again.

“...I think I am going to send a recording to my mom.”

“You are?” I asked, looking up. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah. She won’t be impressed, but that’s not the point. We might have lost the Contest, but we did well, and we had fun, too.”

I stared at her, and Lillie smiled. Eventually, I had to chuckle.

“I’m glad you’re cheering up.”

“I am too! This was a great experience for us! I won’t make the same mistakes again,” she said. “And...”

A gleam entered her eyes.

“And,” she continued. “Even though we lost today, we aren’t giving up. This just means that we’ll look even more impressive when we win next!”

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

The end is meant to be silly. Please forgive me!

The Type Specialist Extra Chapter 1 - The First Annual Great Fairy Type Race

Author Note:

The extra chapters will begin to be posted to Royal Road starting next week.

This chapter is insanely long and is likely the longest chapter of the set.

More notes about these extra chapters and the upcoming schedule are included at the bottom of this post.

==========================================================================

“Welcome, one and all, to the most exciting event you’ll see all year!” a voice echoed out from above the forest’s trees. “An event in which the competing Pokémon will be pushed to their limits, an event that will involve more than just speed! Strength, skill, cleverness—all traits that will be tested today! So, I say again, welcome all of you, Pokémon and human alike, to the First! Annual! Great! FAIRY TYPE RACE!”

And thus, cheers.

That was what the world became: an overwhelming cacophony of cheers. Around this small forest home, Pokémon of all kinds gathered and shouted their names. They stood around and sat on a set of stands with a cleared-out track marked on the forest floor before it. A cloth screen had been set up opposite to those seats, and a projector quietly hummed but was yet to display any wide-angle shot.

The gardens here were bustling, and a handful of humans chatted. Even when the initial noise quieted down, the ambient conversations made this place quite loud. The sheer number of living beings made even just the smell overwhelming. It was no longer the peaceful Verdanturf homestead it was before. Now, this place was the center of a grand event.

Fidough was struggling to handle it all.

The old Dachsbund that served as the guardian for her pack let out a soft but low “wuff” to encourage her and the other members of her kind to start heading out. Half of them had already begun walking to explore and meet with the so-many other living beings present here today, but Fidough herself stepped back in an attempt to stay behind. The vast majority of the meandering creatures towered over her head.

Where Dachsbund was a golden brown hound with ears and a neck that resembled a well-bred loaf, Fidough looked much paler and entirely uncooked. Essentially, she was just a doughy pup. A yellow glaze provided her body with the barest of tints, and compared to the other members of her pack, she was by far the smallest. And, technically, neither she nor any of the dogs under Dachsbund were related by blood. Instead, they had all been rescued. 

She didn’t like to think about it, but she could still remember the day when she had woken up and seen that her mother was gone.

Fidough didn’t want to leave. The chatter hurt her ears, and the multitude of smells felt as though they were stabbing at her nose. The world was a mess of color, noise, and stench, and she really didn’t want to have to experience all of that. But, from within his small, wooden house, Dachsbund reminded her that she was the one to volunteer, and then a single nudge sent her off.

Thankfully, she didn’t have to suffer alone. A small flower drifted over, and an even tinier Pokémon waved to her from where it was holding onto the flower’s stem.

“Wuff,” came Dachsbund’s encouragement from behind.

Fidough took a cautious step forward, and her friend, Flabébé, giggled.

Flabébé’s presence helped. If something as small as her could face these crowds, then Fidough could as well. Doing her best to keep her head held high, she strolled on out, although her short legs meant she moved rather slowly, and her stubby tail was down and pressed between them.

This place was her current home, and it had been her home for quite some time. Dachsbund had been brought on board to protect it in exchange for help with taking care of all of the Fidough. Fidough herself had been happy here, but with this event, it was hard to handle all of these strangers walking around. There were so many people that she didn’t recognize, and the Pokémon with them were just as strange.

One human walked alongside a full-on behemoth, a titan of spiked stone. Another, a shorter person with green hair, walked alongside a full-fledged knight that had blades growing out of its arms. Another almost seemed jealous of the would-be racers, repeatedly eyeing a Gogoat in the back. And, a few others chatted among themselves with a pack of Eevee playing around them. A few other Pokémon had joined in on the games, but Fidough herself couldn’t bring herself to get close.

At least, the announcer was familiar. Wanda was the one who stayed here and took care of all of the Pokémon when the master of these lands was away. Wanda was much nicer than any of the strangers here, as she always made sure Fidough got extra treats.

Except, she was the announcer for this race, and she sat far away, hanging in the sky within a metal basket. A great bird with cloud-like wings kept her aloft, and her gaze was cast out toward the forest, where the race itself was still being set up.

As for the true owner of this place, they were right in the center of the crowd. Fidough had only heard positive things about them, but when she looked over—

A faint smile. A sharp gaze. A relaxed nature that didn’t betray the stories of their strength. A silhouette that seemed to be surrounded by a faint gleam, and a presence that was defined by the impossibly strong Pokémon that followed their every command.

They acted friendly, but there was a tension inside them, one that was ready to snap at a moment’s notice. They were a figure that would creep its way into every story involved with this home, and when they looked away from their conversation partner to sweep their eyes over everyone here—

Fidough turned, unable to look that person in the eye. It felt as though as if she met their gaze, her very soul would be snatched away.

Unlike Fidough, Flabébé was nowhere near as nervous, and her tiny squeaks dragged Fidough around to show her all of the sights. However, unlike Fidough, Flabébé wasn’t being taken care of by the humans of this home. She was wild—technically—but she did live immediately nearby. They had met when Fidough had been exploring the carefully managed flower gardens that surrounded this home, and like so many other wild Pokémon, Flabébé had been drawn in by the lure of the comfort and safety of this private grove.

With Flabébé at her side, Fidough started to enjoy herself somewhat as she walked around. She might have been nervous, but she was safe, and it was interesting to see everyone who was here before the start of this race. So many friends of this land’s master had come to witness it, but not all of them would be competing. The only Pokémon involved would be the unevolved Pokémon. Only the weakest of the weak would participate, and, among them, this race would determine the best.

...Which was why, days ago, Fidough had taken it on herself to volunteer and compete.

The thought of winning made her walk with more of a bounce in her step. She was the smallest of her pack, and that meant she was the runt. She wanted to prove to them—to everyone—that she was more than just the weak puppy that constantly needed to be protected. She was a full-fledged Pokémon just like any one of them, and just because they were all bigger—

“DOUGH!” came a sudden bark from behind her.

Fidough jumped, and her legs gave way when she came crashing down. At Fidough’s side, Flabébé hung off her flower so she could turn and glare. When Fidough looked behind her to see the source of the shout, she found herself looking straight up at another member of her pack.

Her brother—her adopted brother—stared back down at her. He had been the first to volunteer for this race, and he was the biggest and strongest of all the Fidough that had been brought together under Dachsbund.

He didn’t need to say anything else—the look on his face carried enough meaning on its own. His stare wasn’t mocking, only discouraging. If Fidough got so scared from what was just a simple greeting, then this race wasn’t for her.

For her own well-being, he thought she should drop out.

Fidough wanted to bark out in denial, to shout her name and state there was no way she would lose, but the commotion caused so many other people and Pokémon to turn their way that the weight of their combined gazes meant she suddenly felt twice as small.

Ultimately, her brother just turned around; he had nothing more to say, so he simply left. Behind her, Fidough felt a small palm rub her back—Flabébé did her best to give Fidough her support, even as the tiny fairy glared daggers into her brother’s back.

As the various visitors turned back to their conversation, Fidough slowly climbed back to her feet.

“Now, then!” came Wanda’s voice from the sky. “We’re just about finished setting up! Everyone, if I could ask the audience to head back to their seats~!”

The meandering people and Pokémon began to return to the stands. Fidough stayed behind with Flabébé, and so did many other Pokémon as well.

“Great! I’m Wanda, the caretaker of the Pokémon here and your announcer for this race! With me is—”

A screech rang as if to finish the statement for her.

Pokémon didn’t exactly speak a language—they mainly communicated through body language and feeling—but this cry wasn’t any of that. It was simply a noise that carried no meaning other than being loud.

Still, Wanda laughed, and even from this far away, Fidough could hear the merriment in her voice.

“Exactly, Altaria!” Wanda called out. “Well said! Then, no point in waiting. Let’s have all of the competitors line up at the start!”

Behind a white line painted onto a section of cleared-out ground, Pokémon began to line up, and more than just Fidough and Flabébé found themselves participating in the race.

A trio of Azurill that had been transferred here from a foreign region bounced into place. Wild Cottonee and other Flabébé from the local route floated over to join the group, their participation encouraged by meetings with a few of the stronger Pokémon that called this place their home. A small number of Eevee had been brought here by local breeders wanting them to socialize more, and a pair of young Vulpix brothers lined up as well, having had the insane idea to tie two of their legs together and compete in this race as if they were a single set of one.

And then, there were Fidough’s siblings. Twelve of them. Every member of her pack, save for Dachsbund, planned to compete. A full dozen outside of her lined up at the start, and Fidough couldn’t help but feel as though she was extra.

The spare.

The tiny, forgettable, unimportant thirteenth.

Her brother was part of that group, and he sent Fidough one last look that she did her best to ignore. The worst part about it was that his look wasn’t even cruel—it contained worry more than anything else. At her side, Flabébé patted Fidough’s back one more time, and Fidough tried hard to ignore the shaking of her legs to focus on the smells that filled the air.

With the crowded audience finally having walked away, she could now smell the excitement that pierced through every other scent here.

“In this race, competitors will need to do more than just run straight ahead!” Wanda shouted, her voice echoing through a set of nearby speakers. “There’ll be challenges. Obstacles! Trials in the racers’ way. Competitors, it’s up to you to decide how best to get past them, and the first Pokémon to reach the end will be the Pokémon to win our grand prize!”

Fidough shook herself in an attempt to force her body to relax. From the nearby edge of the grove, a bush rustled, and a lone Zigzagoon crept over to sniff at the competitors’ backs.

“Are we ready, Alex?” Wanda called out.

A thumb pointed up in the stands, and the home’s caretaker grinned.

“Great!” Wanda shouted. “Then, without further ado... We start on my count.”

Fidough lowered her stance.

“Get ready!” came the first of the announcements.

A breeze picked up as the various floating Pokémon prepared their initial rush.

“Get set!” came the second stage of the shouts.

Behind the starting line, dozens of paws dug straight into the dirt.

“You’ll start right when I say it...” came one more, extra set of announcements that wasn’t quite needed but helped to build the tension.

From there, there was a single moment of silence. Everyone held their breath, and Fidough reaffirmed her decision.

She hadn’t joined because the rest of her pack had decided to join. No, their participation had been their choice and theirs alone. As much as she wanted to prove her strength to them, Fidough had joined for one, solitary reason:

Fidough had joined for herself. If she could prove to herself that she could win—or even just finish the race—then she could prove her strength to everyone else, too.

“GO!” Wanda yelled.

Another screech from Altaria echoed out alongside that noise, and the bird’s scream was the gunshot that started the race.

Immediately, Fidough found herself in dead last.

Every Pokémon that was capable of using the move saw their legs blur white for a speed-increasing Quick Attack. Floating species like Flabébé and Cottonee weren’t allowed to move that far off the ground, but they could use Fairy Wind to generate a breeze that blew them forward after everyone else.

The three Azurill had been pressing themselves down into the ground, and the elasticity of their oil-filled tails saw them be launched straight ahead. The lone, creeping Zigzagoon seemed to be shocked at the sudden start, and though incapable of running in a straight line, its rapid, back-and-forth movement was faster than the speed at which Fidough’s short legs could carry her.

She was already panting, and her chest burned. Everyone was pushing ahead of her, even Flabébé, who turned around on her flower just to shout and encourage Fidough to catch up. At the very front of the pack was the pair Fidough least expected—the two Vulpix brothers, tied together, ran in perfect sync to be the frontrunners of this race.

“What an explosive start, but it won’t last for long!” came Wanda’s voice as all of the competitors disappeared into the forest. Behind them, the projector started to display a bird’s-eye view of the race to the eager audience. Everything would be streamed from above, as a camera had been tied to the bottom of Wanda’s basket, and a few Swablu had been bribed with food to carry a handful of smaller cameras and help out.

“The first obstacle isn’t too far away!” Wanda continued, still shouting. “Our competitors will reach their initial test before too long! They’ll need to make a decision there: strength or speed? It’s up to them to choose how to deal with the boulders raining onto their heads!”

Fidough stumbled at the declaration, and a single word seemed to echo around her.

Boulders?

A cheer came from behind Fidough as the first of the racers reached the initial obstacle. The flag-marked route of the race wasn’t perfectly clear—many of the forest’s trees were in the way—but soon enough, she broke through a gap in the forest to see just what this obstacle was.

The very first thing racers would need to deal with was a massive hill with a lone Pokémon composed of stone and crystal hovering at the very top. The hill honestly looked a little unnatural, appearing as if someone had raised the ground into a towering bulge without adjusting the trees. The forest floor had been dragged up into this enormous mound, leaving trunks half-buried and even a few branches pointing out.

The race’s path went straight up that hill, but the hill wasn’t the real obstacle—it was only there to create a more difficult path. Instead, the Pokémon at the top was the true challenge, even though it was only slightly larger than Fidough. Resembling a stone with blue crystals, tinted pink, the Pokémon’s eyes would curve up in enjoyment as it formed growing crystal seeds in the air around it. 

Those seeds would then coalesce and expand, eventually covering themselves in a layer of stone. Once ready, they were tossed down the hill in an onslaught.

Fidough was yet to properly reach the base of this hillside, but she faltered slightly when she saw one of those boulders slam straight into an Eevee’s face. A distant groan echoed out; the furred Pokémon was sent tumbling right down the hill.

When it landed at the bottom, however, the Eevee looked no worse for wear and jumped right back to its feet. With another Quick Attack, it ascended the hill faster than Fidough’s maximum possible speed.

“I mentioned needing to choose between strength and speed, but competitors are allowed to do anything they need to tackle Carbink’s stones,” came Wanda’s voice from where Altaria carried her above the trees. “Competitors can use speed to avoid them, but Carbink knows how to adjust their aim. They could also use their strength to take the stones on directly, but if a racer sustains any damage, then they’ll need to carry that forward through the entire rest of the race!”

Fidough started to climb the hill, and she was far enough in the back to see how the Pokémon ahead of her were handling these stones. The Eevee greatly preferred to use their Quick Attack to dart out of the way. Flabébé, Fidough’s friend, was already halfway up, and when a boulder started to roll toward her, she simply did what every other floating Pokémon did:

Nothing.

She didn’t need to act. She was small and light enough that the mere air pressure of the tumbling boulder was enough to pick her up and carry her right over.

Flabébé was fine, and Fidough let out a sigh of relief at the sight, but it didn’t last long. There were still plenty of others ahead of her, and she needed to worry about herself, too.

She saw her brother up there, and though he wasn’t the fastest, his strategy was the most direct. With the sloped ground of the hill, he very purposefully lowered his head ahead of him. When a stone approached, he then lunged for a Tackle. Rather than destroy the falling boulder, the burst of momentum gave him a single moment of leverage, and he pushed his snout underneath that boulder just to bring up his head and launch it over his back.

Through sheer coincidence, the boulder landed right next to Fidough,  and she squeaked in alarm as the ground shook from the impact. Thankfully, the boulder kept hurtling down the hill without hitting her, and these stones were causing enough trouble that she realized she was no longer dead last.

She was finally leaving a few other Pokémon behind.

The Azurill were probably in the worst situation out of every competitor here. The trio was far too aggressive, as even though they could leap over any boulder with ease, they kept intentionally bouncing into one another to send the others falling back.

Fidough couldn’t even imagine what kind of training they’d gone through to be as physical as that, but she knew she’d want to avoid them.

And then, a glint at the very front caught her attention. She brought her gaze back up just to see the pair of Vulpix brothers at the very front. As they just barely began to reach the hill’s top, a mischievous gleam entered the Carbink’s eyes. Another boulder was tossed at the pair, but the two Ice Types knew just how to reply.

The second the large stone hit the ground, a beam of frost formed a layer of ice beneath it. With its angled momentum and the slippery earth, the stone was thrown completely out of the way of the Vulpix’s path.

From there, the brothers were able to continue up and over to the other side, and a few other Pokémon followed them.

Unfortunately, the Vulpix’s clever redirection came with a consequence:

The boulder aimed at them was now hurtling right toward Fidough.

Where other Pokémon would dash to the sides, go over the boulders, or take them head-on, Fidough wasn’t capable of any of those options. Her combat prowess and known moves were far more limited—her Tackle was too weak, Lick would do nothing, and Growl could maybe intimidate the stone into changing its course.

...Yeah, right.

Recognizing her lack of options, Fidough threw herself forward. She practically stabbed her face into the earth and braced herself as much as she could. She didn’t want to be knocked all the way down, as her lack of difficulty so far was the only reason she’d passed others on the way up.

Somehow, for some strange reason, that strategy actually seemed to work.

When the boulder hit Fidough, she realized she had missed something important about their formation—as this was a Carbink forming them, these rocks were geodes and not true boulders. They were not solid stone all the way through; rather, they were mostly made out of a thin lattice of crystal that greatly reduced their overall weight. At most, they had a thin layer of protective rock around them, so when the stone hit where she had buried her head, it only barely hurt.

In fact, with her doughy body, the rock just kind of... bounced off.

“And the competitors have already reached their second obstacle!” came Wanda’s voice.

Armed with newfound knowledge, Fidough snapped up her head, and she realized she could keep running up without needing to slow down. Wanda continued to announce the frontrunners of this race, and Fidough ran right through. Carbink’s assault became meaningless to her as she could just hunker down whenever a boulder came close and let it bounce off.

By the time she crested over the hill, she had managed to leave behind the bottom fourth of the race’s pack.

She ran as fast as her legs could carry her, and a merry “Bink!” from the Pokémon next to her wished her luck as she dashed to the other side of the hill. Going down the slope did not involve running, thankfully; it was mud all the way down. Some Pokémon couldn’t quite handle it and ended up slipping, but Fidough purposefully let herself slip. It was a slide, and her speed drastically increased.

To her surprise, it was actually quite fun.

“For our second obstacle, competitors will have quite the challenge! It might just be the most difficult challenge across the entire race! This is a true test—and, honestly, probably a bit of an unfair one. If our racers want to get further, then they have to get past the menace that is Azumarill!”

Right as Fidough reached the earth, she could barely stop in time before the ground exploded before her.

There was a reason the back of the hill was covered in mud—this whole area had been turned into a swamp by the reality of the second challenge. The forest floor was a massive plain of brown, and a round, blue-colored demon with ears longer than its head crouched dozens of yards away with its arms shoved straight into the dirt.

In front of that Pokémon, geysers exploded out intermittently.

Back before the race began, Fidough had seen the master of this area and had thought that just looking at that figure would see them steal her soul. Here, she realized she had completely underestimated true fear. With a single look at this Pokémon’s face, she knew in her heart that any challenge toward this Azumarill would see her soul taken, chewed up, and then spat right back out.

The shouts here were chaotic. At seemingly random intervals, water would explode out in geysers from the ground. There would always be a rumble that would mark where the bursts would happen, but it took quick reflexes to avoid those bursts in time.

Some of the leading Pokémon were utilizing clever strategies to maintain their lead. At the very front, the Vulpix siblings froze the ground to delay the geysers just long enough to get past, and floating species like Cottonee and Flabébé were once again using air pressure to give themselves boosts and float right over.

Fidough could see her brother, and, for a second, a geyser made it seem like he disappeared. She thought that was it for him, but when the water blast faded away, she realized his strategy was like hers on the hill; the attacks could only be so strong with the level of Pokémon involved, and Fidough’s brother had made the executive decision to just take that damage and just keep running.

Fidough desperately wanted to be able to do the same.

However, though that brute-force strategy had worked against the boulders, she knew it would not work here. She didn’t have the strength or size of her siblings to keep going through the blasts; all that would end up happening is that she would get blasted right back.

She found herself standing at the very bottom of the hill alongside a few other Pokémon, staying still and just watching those in the front get farther and farther away. As much as she wanted to keep running, she’d be hit too easily if she kept moving forward. She stood still due to both fear and a need to figure out a path.

There had to be something more to this obstacle.

Right?

...Right?

She squinted and did her best to look for anything. And, to her surprise, it didn’t take long at all.

There was a pattern that Fidough could abuse.

When she had first slid down the hill, the explosions had felt random. And, they were, at least for the most part. The Azumarill was sending water into the ground, and that water would build up pressure until it became too much, exploding out into a pressurized burst. The rumbles always marked just where a geyser was just about to explode, but usually, if a rumble was heard, it’d always be too late.

No, the pattern came before that. Azumarill needed time to build up water. The geysers never came out twice in the same place—after every geyser exploded, there needed to be time for the pressure to build up before that geyser could explode again.

In other words, while the targets were random, the actual creation of the geysers wasn’t. This was an obstacle being controlled by a Pokémon, and all Pokémon had limited focus. While there were no obvious patterns, there was a strategy Fidough could follow:

She needed to do the exact opposite of everyone else and run toward the geysers instead of away.

Other Pokémon were still loitering around her, watching the field of geysers helplessly, and the lack of hope on their faces saw Fidough briefly turn around.

Follow, she essentially shouted with a bark over her shoulder.

She had no idea if anyone listened to her or not. She was far too focused on going through with her plan.

Her first target was an Eevee, and its speed meant it was ahead of her, but it had already been hit by a geyser once before, and the water in its fur weighed it down. Fidough wasn’t able to outrun it, but that wasn’t her point. 

The ground rumbled, and the Eevee darted to the side. Fidough, however, kept going, and the burst lasted just long enough for her to catch up and jump through as the water fell back down.

Then, she turned and charged toward the next Pokémon that had the earth rumbling before them. Her short legs let her move only so fast, but there were enough geysers here that she never had to run that far. When her strategy worked a second time, proving that it was viable, gasps rang out from behind. She jumped over a hole rapidly filling back up with mud and felt a warmth in her chest that she hadn’t felt since...

Well, that she hadn’t felt in quite some time.

She chased after the sole Zigzagoon, jumping through the water as the Pokémon was blasted into the sky. Somehow, it managed to land ahead of her and keep running, but the other Pokémon’s positions didn’t matter to her right now, only her own.

Following the other Pokémon was giving her a safe route forward. Fidough did her best to ignore how that Azumarill looked so ticked off at the end of this path.

“Well, would you look at this!” came Wanda’s voice from the air. “Seems like Azumarill’s obstacle isn’t without flaw. Someone’s found a way to safely run right through!”

It took an embarrassingly long time for Fidough to realize that the compliment had been for her.

Soon enough, however, Fidough was able to reach the end of the mud and almost immediately reach the next test.

“For our third obstacle—”

This one was nothing more than the fattest rodent she had ever seen.

An overweight layabout of a Dedenne napped on the ground, and all around it, static electricity passively crackled out of its cheeks. A few metal rods had been stabbed into the earth, giving the electricity an easy path for it to follow. Bolts of lightning would jump between them, forming a maze that, if not perfectly followed, would result in quite a painful shock.

But this trial had a few obvious flaws.

Some Pokémon saved time by barreling through while throwing up walls to protect themselves, such as how the Vuplix created mounds of ice to block the electricity, and a few Eevee would kick up dirt and sand to interfere with the static. Meanwhile, the maze was only so large. It was also possible to completely run around. Fidough’s brother took this path, but he did stray too close at times and received a few lingering, static shocks.

...Alternatively, there was that one Zigzagoon, which just ran straight through. Unfortunately, it was still wet with water from the geysers from before.

A lightning bolt struck it.

Fidough sincerely thought that would be it.

But the Zigzagoon just shook its quills and kept running.

Genuinely, Fidough was unsure if it even knew it was competing in a race.

“For our fourth obstacle—”

Unfortunately, Fidough had slowed to observe the trial, and she recognized she was falling behind once again. With her speed, running around would take far too long—her brother had dropped many positions just to avoid the worst of the electricity—but she also lacked any options to protect herself while running through.

Unless she wanted to risk everything like the Zigzagoon, there was nothing she was personally capable of doing to get through the electric poles.

An idea tickled the back of her mind.

Fidough turned around, running through a small pack of Pokémon that had been watching her. The handful of Pokémon that followed her through the geysers looked at her turnaround as if she were insane. She ignored them in favor of running right back to the previous area. There, she very, very pointedly did not look at the demon still flexing its control and strength.

Rather than do anything as part of the race here, Fidough dove straight into the ground and into all of the mud. She flopped over and rolled around, letting the muck cover her body. Doing so took time and weighed her down, but the mud would limit just how much the electricity could affect her when running straight through.

As soon as her dough-like body became stained by a deep covering of brown, Fidough scrambled back to her feet so that she could keep running and return to the race.

However—

“Tch,” came a sound from right next to her.

The bone-chilling noise almost caused her remaining strength to vanish in an instant. Fidough was unable to move as she slowly turned her head just to see that demon staring right at her.

This monster of an Azumarill was no longer maintaining its blasts. It had stopped to glare right at where Fidough had been about to run. The Pokémon at the very back of the race were able to run straight through without facing any geyser blasts. Instead, the Azumarill focused on Fidough and only Fidough.

The demon stood up and took a single step to get close.

Fidough knew she had messed up. She had become far too focused on winning and only winning to think about how the Pokémon managing this race would react to her actions. She lacked personal strength. She had no speed. She thought she could use cleverness—any form of cleverness—to make that difference up.

It had worked, but not without cost.

Now, this Azumarill was glaring at her. Its eyes were filled with malice, hatred, anger, and—

And...

And a little bit of respect?

Fidough wanted to run, but she was far too frozen with fear. Even if she had the will to leave, her heart dropped in her chest when arms lunged out to pick her up.

All of her hope drained away.

This wasn’t supposed to happen.

She just wanted to win.

She didn’t want to die like this!

“Tch,” the Azumarill repeated, and its voice seemed more annoyed at Fidough’s current reaction than anything Fidough had done.

Ultimately, Fidough never got the chance to squirm, wiggle, or even just fight to escape. The Azumarill simply brought back an arm and held the dog up behind its head. Before even a single whine could leave Fidough’s throat, she found herself jerked forward.

Sailing through the air, she was thrown and hurtled right over the sleeping rodent’s electric maze.

Trees rushed past the sides of her vision, and she thought she would slam into one, but such a painful impact never came. Instead, Fidough hit a plain of grass that stretched beneath the trees. The landing hurt, but enough grass had grown to pad the blow. If anything, touching the green floor beneath her seemed to reinvigorate her instead.

A giggle rang out.

From where she lay on the ground, Fidough looked up to see a brown Pokémon with a head of cotton floating in the air above her. The Pokémon looked down at her with obvious amusement.

She didn’t get up right away, but the noise coming from ahead of her was blatant; the other racers were already running ahead of Fidough.

Fidough didn’t understand why the Pokémon had bothered, but the Azumarill’s throw had given her an advantage—she had completely skipped the electric trial, and the speed at which she flew meant she was no longer as covered in mud. And, this was technically the area for the fourth obstacle of this race, but as it turned out, the fourth obstacle wasn’t an obstacle at all.

This was just a Grassy Terrain, an environmental move that could provide passive healing.

In essence, this area wasn’t a trial but a choice: slow down to maximize the healing potential, or keep going while tired to not drop any speed.

For Fidough, just the barest hint of invigorating warmth was enough to rekindle her motivation, and the inside of her chest burned with energy. She didn’t hesitate to pick herself off the floor and re-enter a dash. She was only so fast, and the leading Pokémon were already picking up their pace.

Wanda’s voice echoed in the sky.

The fifth obstacle would be the last.

The end of the race was so, so close, and though Fidough now found herself in the top fourth of competitors, there was still so much more to go.

As she dashed off, the floating Pokémon waved goodbye as she poured all of her energy into this. She had to keep moving. She had to keep running. She had to win this race, if not to prove she could do so to herself, then just to prove that she could do so at all.

The forest’s trees began to creep higher and higher around her, and soon, the only thing she could hear was the sound of her own breath. She kept running, and running, and running. Even the sun began to be drowned out.

In the distance, someone shouted, and the world seemed to dim. The marked path of the race curved around to lead the competitors back to the finish line behind the very start.

As Fidough ran, her eyes began to feel heavy.

Logically, she knew she had to keep running, but why was she doing that?

Why run? Why race? Why keep going when she could just stop and rest?

Every time she lifted a leg, the movement became heavier. Her movements didn’t cease, but they did slow. Still, she kept pushing through it, when, eventually—

Fidough tripped.

The sudden jolt against the ground snapped her right out of it.

It was then that Fidough realized the forest was filled with a thick fog. She could barely see even just a few feet ahead—how had she known the path was curving around to lead her back to the start? There was still grass under her feet, but that didn’t make sense. The Grassy Terrain had ended a while ago; the forest floor should have just been dirt.

Though the world was silent, there was a faint creaking noise, and Fidough looked down just to see the grass visibly grow and twist around itself, forming a vine that reached for her leg.

She gasped and stumbled back. The reaching vine withered and died. However, there was still grass under her feet, and where she stood, more of the plants grew and tied together to creep toward her legs.

If she stopped moving, she would be tied down. She had to keep running to avoid the tangle, but where? And how?

She had no sound to guide her. The only light was the faintest amount from above. Walking was enough to outpace the grassy tendrils that reached toward her, but the forest was hardly present anymore, and she didn’t even truly know where she was.

This had to be the final obstacle. A maze of mist and vines. A choking, clogging air that permeated the world alongside some kind of confusion that made it hard to think.

...Honestly, for a race meant for low-level Pokémon, this felt like way too much.

Fidough began to wander, trying to find some kind of marker or the marked edge of the race. She had no idea which direction she was going, and she had no clue if she’d already lost or not. Once in a while, she swore she heard a Pokémon crying out, but when she looked over, no one would be there.

She hoped she was making progress, but there was only fog, grass, and the confusion in her head. She knew she needed directions, but the only directions she could see were directly down—

As well as directly up.

...

She could see directly up.

The sun was there, serving as the fog’s sole source of light. By bringing up her head, Fidough could look at its position to just barely gauge the direction of the world, and then she also realized—

She could sniff.

She was a canine.

Though faint, scent could guide her way.

While minor on their own, when combined, the sun’s position and the growing scent of the crowd would be just enough to serve as a guide. Fidough knew she could do it, and she had a feeling she was the first to realize.

If she could just get out of this obstacle, she could win.

Thus, she took a single step forward, but then she heard a shout.

The noise didn’t come from a Pokémon she expected; she must have been closer to the end than she thought. The Pokémon that had let out a cry had been far in the front, and she had somehow wandered just close enough to hear its voice.

Then, the shout came again, and that let Fidough realize the noise was closer to a whine. It was mournful, and it was pathetic. It was closer to a wail than anything else.

Fidough wanted to leave. Desperately. She wanted to win, but she just couldn’t bring herself to do so. Within this fog, she stopped and turned for the same reason she had called out to the others in the mud pit.

She had considered herself pathetic plenty of times, but that didn’t mean she’d let anyone else do the same.

There, through the fog, she found the source of the cry. One of the Vulpix brothers lay on the ground, hurriedly nudging the other one. Alongside the act, he was desperately biting and chewing at vines that wrapped up his body. All the while, his brother lay flat on the ground, completely asleep and totally wrapped up.

The sole conscious sibling didn’t even notice her through the fog. He was far too busy trying to escape this trap. He was still tied up to his sibling through his own choice, but with his sibling fast asleep, there was no way he would be able to get back up.

These two had been the frontrunners of this race, and now... Now, they were stuck. If anything, their presence here confirmed to Fidough that she could keep going and win.

As much as that was what she wanted, did she really want to win like this?

If these two were stuck, then every Pokémon here was stuck. Every Pokémon here would be going through the same thing as them. This was only the First Annual Great Fairy Type Race. The kinks hadn’t been worked out.

The Pokémon here were struggling so much that—

That it—!

That it very much reminded Fidough of herself.

The struggle. The pitiful nature. Fidough wouldn’t be able to live with her win if she just moved on and abandoned them. Even with all of her deepest desires screaming at her, she made up her mind and charged the pair of Vulpix, rushing out of the fog with a sharp growl.

Terrified at her noise, the one conscious Vulpix between the pair raised his hackles, but he was utterly caught off guard when Fidough began to tear into his vines rather than directly attack. Only pausing momentarily due to shock, he didn’t hesitate to join her efforts.

Without much trouble, he was freed, and then they worked together to release his brother. Even without the vines, the other Vulpix didn’t wake right away, but that was solved after a sudden slap from several tails at once.

Just like that, the pair of Vulpix were awake, and they were free. Meanwhile, even though Fidough was free as well, she was slow. If the pair started to run, they could likely end this race before Fidough could ever hope to do the same.

But they didn’t leave. They just stood there and stared. Fidough could feel the grass creeping up her legs, but she only had to stomp in place to push it back down.

Their bright blue eyes held a simple question:

Why help?

Because, Fidough barked without thinking, you were in trouble. And I wanted to help.

Both Vulpix brothers nodded to accept that statement before hitting her with a different question:

So. What’s the plan?

From there, three of them split up: the Vulpix brothers willingly cut the string that held them together. Using the tricks that Fidough shared with them, they ran straight through the fog to search for the other competitors. Fidough was able to find another Eevee, free it, and then share her strategy with that Pokémon as well. Then, the Eevee raced off to find the others, and Fidough continued her search from there.

When she found Flabébé desperately trying to free her flower from a grassy vine, Fidough bit through the grass to tear it away. Flabébé looked up at her in genuine thanks, and then she joined Fidough in her ongoing race to help out.

One by one, the Pokémon in this mist were freed. So many of them had fallen asleep, and so many more immediately set off to help anyone they could find as soon as Fidough shared her plan. Many of them, however, didn’t leave. Rather, they chose to stay behind and follow her instead.

They followed Fidough.

The runt.

The weakest of her pack.

All of these Pokémon, better racers than her, willingly chose to believe in her ability to guide them out of this trap.

Quickly, the rate at which Pokémon were found slowed down, and a mass of them followed Fidough through the woods. It became harder and harder to find anyone still trapped, but through just the handful still searching that she’d bump into, she knew there was at least one more left.

She found him eventually.

Her brother.

He lay there wrapped in vines.

Unlike so many other Pokémon within this mist, he was fully conscious. However, he had willingly taken far too much damage over the rest of the race, and he had charged straight through the Grassy Terrain without giving himself time to recover.

As it stood, he was entirely unable to move due to the vines holding him down. Fidough trotted over, standing above him while he looked up.

With a soft woof, her brother asked his question.

Here to gloat?

But Fidough just shook her head and called the others over. With little effort, her brother was freed from the trapped earth.

For a moment, he didn’t move. He remained on the earth, looking at his sister while an unreadable expression crossed over his face. If he wanted to, he could run and finish this race before anyone else did, but he didn’t.

He stood, lowering his head in the process. A soft whine left his throat alongside a simple meaning.

Thank you.

And,

Good job.

He joined her group, and the sun and various smells let Fidough lead everyone to the edge of the fog. The mist ended abruptly and unnaturally, becoming a pale wall at the edge of the trees. Ahead, in the open space, the stands stood with the finish line set up ahead of them, and all of the Pokémon here aligned themselves at the edge of the woods.

No one else was trapped. Every Pokémon was freed. All of the Pokémon that had joined this race were ready, and they all were prepared to give this one final push.

Wanda said something from above them, and the crowd cheered for the final part of the race. Just like at the start, everyone was waiting for a signal.

But it never came.

“And they’re off!” came Wanda’s shout.

Exploding out of the mist, that lone Zigzagoon came rushing out.

Behind it, the expected leaders were out in the front right away. Several Eevee and the pair of Vulpix used Quick Attack to launch themselves toward first within a split second. However, that initial lead didn’t last long; attacks came from behind. The Fairy Wind that had carried so many Cottonee and Flabébé came out to push all of those Pokémon back.

The new leaders became those three Azurill, who bounced over the racing Pokémon to land at the front. They weren’t quick when they were on the ground, but the force behind every leap saw them launch themselves quite a long way.

Except, their tails were balls, and there was a pack of Fidough racing at their sides. With another jump, the three Azurill had basically turned themselves into toys. The various hounds leaped right after them, and they snatched the Azurill out of the air. They were thrown straight to the back as everyone else continued, running just as fast.

A Cottonee reached the front, furiously flapping its leaves in a desperate attempt to gather its speed.

Flabébé herself somehow passed it, using her flower as a hook to pull and throw herself forward by using the other Pokémon.

Then, Fidough’s brother was in the lead, somehow managing to reach the front by keeping a consistent pace that went undisturbed.

But he fell back when an Icy Wind from the Vulpix brothers saw him slip and slide across the grove’s floor.

Somehow, through this final, chaotic mess, Fidough found herself at the very front. Everyone else was constantly interfering with and interrupting each other, and her small size had let her just barely slip through. Shouts and screams came from all around her. Just about everyone yelled out in support.

The finish line was only a few feet away.

She could smell it.

She could taste it.

But then—

Momentarily, the sun was blocked out. Fidough looked up a single moment too late to see that sole Zigzagoon sail right over her head.

“It’s over!” Wanda shouted. “We have a winner!”

Ahead of Fidough, that Zigzagoon hit the ground and slid across the dirt before continuing its mad dash.

“Landing firmly in first place is... this Zigzagoon! A Pokémon that is, to my best understanding, completely wild and only competing here due to sheer coincidence!”

Altaria screeched. He didn’t say anything. He just screeched.

After crossing the finish line, Fidough’s legs completely gave out from underneath her. She collapsed.

All of that, and she still lost.

She’d completely neglected to think about how there was a prize, too. She had only wanted to win. Ahead of her, the wild Zigzagoon kept going in its panic until it reached a stage where a massive pile of berries sat on its wood.

Changing its mind, it then jumped straight into the pile as if taking a fruit-flavored bath.

The other Pokémon in the race kept running to secure their own positions, and Flabébé, having secured a very solid fifth place, floated over to comfort Fidough by placing a hand on her back.

It was hard to understate just how crushed she felt, and Fidough felt as though she had no energy left.

It was then that Flabébé suddenly drew back, and warm arms pushed under Fidough to carefully scoop her up.

“You know,” a voice said above her head, not directed toward her but to a small group standing to the side. “When I asked you to make a tough, final challenge, I wanted you to make a challenge that would push the competitors. Not traumatize them.”

Fidough looked over to wherever the voice was speaking, and the sight almost made her heart stop in her chest. Four beings that represented the peak of power that lived in this grove—a fox, a unicorn, a bouquet, and a ghostly doll—all hung their heads in what could have only been shame.

Ninetales had managed the mist. Rapidash had managed the hypnosis. Florges had managed the grasping vines, and Mimikyu had made sure everything was appropriately spooky for everyone involved.

Working together, these four had been responsible for that nightmare of a final challenge, and they were impossibly strong Pokémon, to boot. They were all monsters in their own right, and to have these elite-level Pokémon look so guilty after just one short phrase...

Who, exactly, was holding Fidough right now?!

She froze when she finally checked on who was holding her in their arms.

Once, she thought eye contact with them would see her soul be stolen. Now, she realized this person’s gaze was only warm and kind.

“You’re amazing,” the voice said softly. “To turn around even when you have a chance to win, and to help your fellow Pokémon instead of going off on your own? That’s the kind of support I want to see! And you were clever all the way through. Honestly, I’m amazed at some of the solutions that you thought up, too.”

Fidough hung her head slightly. She could be proud of how she handled everything after the hill, but she didn’t exactly consider hunkering down to be a clever strategy against the boulders.

Still, that person just laughed.

“Come on, now,” they said. “Might not have been that clever, but it worked, and the bounces made me laugh.”

Altaria landed, and Wanda climbed out of the basket. A boy with green hair ran up to her and then ran off to the side. Pretty quickly, he returned just to hand the person holding Fidough a towel.

Carefully, she was placed back onto the ground, and she stood there while the person wiped the last bit of mud off her. Their touch was light and caring. Fidough felt her eyes begin to close, but she had to force herself to keep them open and stay awake.

“You might not have placed first, but I don’t think that matters,” the person said softly. “What matters is what you chose to do along the way and the results your actions brought. And most ends aren’t even ends, anyway. Most of the time, they’re just one more step on the journey!”

With a short laugh, the towel was brought away. Fidough cautiously brought her head back to look up.

She stared at the master of this domain.

At the elite trainer.

At the person who wiped her off.

Fidough stared at Alex, and Alex smiled right back.

“As a thanks for saving the end of this race, tell me what you want, and I’ll do my best to grant it.”

A team full of impossibly strong Pokémon was watching her, and Fidough felt so small compared to them. Yet, she knew what she wanted. She knew what she had always wanted. Her performance had already proven it to be true, but there was nothing wrong with wanting to push that even further.

So, locking eyes with this trainer, Fidough barked out her request, ignoring the shaking in her legs.

She was strong, but she wanted to be stronger. That was her desire.

She expected a laugh, but to that, Alex simply nodded once.

“Alright,” the trainer said with a slight laugh. “You came to the right person. If you didn’t know, training Fairy Types is kind of my specialty. I’ll do everything I can to turn you into the strongest Pokémon you can possibly be.”

Then, with a grin that demonstrated the utmost confidence, Alex picked her back up, and Fidough realized everyone was staring.

But unlike before, she didn’t feel overwhelmed. 

Simply put, she was comfortable, and she knew that she had won where it mattered.

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

Including this one, I have seven extra chapters that I’m in the process of polishing and editing. This chapter is the longest so far, but there’s technically one upcoming one that carries the potential to be longer (though, after getting through this one, I kind of doubt that). I have no set schedule for releases this week. Chapters will come out when I finish editing them. Due to the length of this chapter, don’t expect a second chapter today, but there’s likely to be another coming out tomorrow.

When the next full fiction comes out, I’m aiming to get it out toward the start of a week rather than going with a surprise drop in the middle of it (so, a Monday or Tuesday). I’ve been splitting my time between the new fiction and writing these chapters, so I have fewer chapters prepared than I would have liked. However, everything is planned out enough to make writing future chapters easier, and the first full arc of the next fiction is already completed.

I can’t give you the exact date that the next fiction will be out, but I will tell you that there won’t be any extensive breaks before its release.

Thank you for waiting so patiently! I will see you very soon!

Quick Status Update + Preview Chapter

I want to thank everyone for being patient! Life’s been a bit difficult lately, but I’ve been trying to write as much as I can. Right now, I’m in the process of building up a backlog of chapters to mass post when the next fiction comes out, and then I also plan to use those chapters to continue into a fast release schedule from there. Once the backlog gets expended, the schedule will slow down to a more reasonable pace. Unfortunately, a fast early schedule is essential for getting a story out there.

Right now, I’m expecting to start posting the next fiction around early to mid-October, with the Type Specialist epilogue chapters coming out earlier in the month. I don’t really have anything to say other than “I’m hard at work,” but I also don’t want to disappear without any further words.

So, as a sneak peek, I’ve included the prologue of the next long fiction alongside this post. Think of it as a sort-of Chapter 0. It’s technically still a work in progress, but it should be a decent look into what the next story will be about—or, at least, how the very start will go.

=========================================================================

Mistralton Airport was busy for once. The place was no longer solely defined by cargo planes and amateur pilots. Full-fledged planes were now depositing people and Pokémon of all kinds on a daily basis. A palpable excitement filled the air, and conversations would start up as soon as people descended the staircase to debark. Meanwhile, Cory stood off to the side and watched all of these people take their first steps into northern Unova.

He knew for a fact that he could beat any of these trainers in a fight.

Cory had conquered during his Pokémon trainer journey; he took on all Unova and won. He hadn’t just defeated a classic eight Gyms, but he had gone on to face Unova’s full breadth of ten. His full badge case sat snugly in his backpack, and he had even competed in the end-of-the-year Vertress Conference to earn a respectable 17th place. Out of the thousands of trainers that had started their journeys in the same year as him, he had firmly secured himself a spot within the top tenth percent.

But none of that mattered right now. The classic Gym Challenge and its final rankings meant nothing in the current goings on in the region. Just about everyone had earned themselves at least eight badges, and just about all of them had competed in a Conference as well. Each and every one of those elite trainers had plenty of experiences at their back, and many of them had trained in other regions, as well.

This tournament was not just an Unovan tournament but a worldwide tournament, and it was one important enough to only take place every five years. Trainers of every level tried their best to rank as high as possible, and Cory was doing the same—but only on the surface. Achieving the best rank possible was too low a goal. He was aiming for the very top.

To get to the very top, however, he needed to beat other trainers, and he needed to make sure he didn’t lose and potentially drop in the ranks. He stood in Mistralton Airport for a reason; a good number of foreign trainers were entering the region through this airport, and he wanted to face them first before they could adapt to the ongoing challenge.

Eyes scanning the arriving crowd, he leaned against an exterior wall and tossed a Pokéball up and down in a hand. He could tell that a good number of these people were just here to sight-see, but many of them were obvious trainers here to compete just like him.

“Not that guy for sure—look at the way he walks. He’s far too confident about his strength,” Cory mumbled while searching. “And that girl off to the side is like me. She’s already looking for weak trainers to fight. That group over there looks like they’re all tourists, so none of them mean anything to us. But maybe that guy in the middle...”

Cory stopped his whisperings and caught his Pokéball. He narrowed his eyes and paid more attention to the trainer he had just found.

This trainer was young. Not necessarily a kid or a teen, but not necessarily a full adult, either. There was a wonder in the trainer’s blue eyes that spoke of naivety, and his blonde hair was pushed back in what had to be the laziest possible way to style it. As for his gear, his backpack was way too full for him to be anyone experienced; he clearly hadn’t yet learned how to minimize what to take to ensure travel stayed easy. And his clothes were bulky—far too bulky. Northern Unova could have a cold environment, but it would get nowhere near as cold to support how this trainer was dressed.

As Cory watched the young man trek through the open airport, a flash of light at the other trainer’s side saw the release of a Pokémon. The appearance of the species only served to increase Cory’s confidence even more; it was essentially a Route 1 evolution. A weak Pokémon. Something that was nothing more than a spotted, purple-and-yellow feline.

Occasionally, a Liepard could learn a trick or two, but very few trainers were ever able to train one to a competitive level and not just have it be a somewhat strong pet.

There was no doubt in Cory's mind. He had just identified his first prey.

“He’s the perfect trainer,” Cory whispered to the air. “If he’s here, he’s skilled, but there’s no way he’s that skilled. There’re way too many flaws with how he’s acting. We can beat him in a fight for sure. And do you see that? Look closer at his hand.”

Scars.

Beneath a watch around his wrist, faint rips had been torn into his fingers and improperly healed a long time ago. 

It was a sign this guy was irresponsible. Specifically, inexperienced. If he had bothered to carry the proper medicine, scars like those would have never formed.

“Yeah. Him,” Cory said, pushing off the wall and beginning to walk straight toward his target. “He'll be our victim. He won’t be prepared. In a way, we’ll be helping. After losing to us, he’ll have a chance to learn from his mistakes.”

Cory pocketed his Pokéball to place it with the Pokéballs containing the rest of his team, and he strolled to where that trainer was walking through the airport with an empty look of awe on his face. Upon getting close, the Liepard noticed Cory first, and it was only due to a nudge from that feline that its trainer finally noticed Cory’s presence.

“Hey!” Cory said with a practiced smile. “New to the region? Noticed you’re a bit overdressed.”

“Huh?” the other trainer blinked upon realizing Cory was there. “Oh, uh, this? Yeah, it’s a bit heavy, but it has a crazy amount of protection!”

A genuinely proud grin crossed the other trainer’s face as he patted the thick snow jacket he was wearing. With how bulky his backpack was alongside it, he looked like he was about to spend a month in the mountains—which wasn’t exactly a wrong look given how long some trainers preferred to stay in the wilds.

“You here for the World Series?” Cory asked, ignoring how the Liepard narrowed its eyes.

“The World Coronation Series?” the trainer asked. “Yeah! We’re here to— Wait! No way.”

Realization struck the trainer like an attack, but his smile carried a genuine excitement.

“You’re really approaching us about that? You’re actually going to challenge us already? Wow, I didn’t expect to get into a battle this fast. I guess she really was right to register us before we got here.”

“She?” Cory asked.

“Just my sponsor,” the trainer replied nonchalantly. For a second, Cory was slightly intrigued, but then he realized he didn’t care, and having a sponsor didn’t matter.

“Yeah. I want to battle you,” Cory said. “Consider it a welcome to Unova. And, if you were only just registered, that means you should be in the Normal Rank. You’re not allowed to run from our fight.”

Almost ten thousand trainers had already registered this year, and all of them were flooding into Unova. Originally, this tournament was meant to happen in Galar, but a controversy about corruption in the region’s higher-ups led to the location of the tournament shifting around. Any trainer was allowed to register, but the purpose of the tournament was to determine the best of the best. So newbies could enter, but there were limitations in place. To not have the top-ranked trainers be bothered all the time, all competing trainers were divided into tiers. 

“Challenge rules are pretty simple,” Cory explained. “There are four tiers of trainers, each named after a type of Pokéball. Master Rank is for the very best—the top sixteen—and the Ultra Rank below that is for the top 128. Under them, there's the Great Rank for the top 1024, and then everyone else is Normal Rank. So, you’re Normal Rank by default, and you’re not allowed to turn down challenges from trainers within the same tier as you.”

Trainers could still present challenges to a trainer in a higher tier, but those battles were allowed to be turned down. The only time cross-tier challenges couldn't be avoided is if the lower-tier trainer was within 10% of the numerical rank of the higher-tier trainer.

“Okay. That makes sense. So if you’re in the Normal Rank, what's your position?”

“Me? I'm 1308th,” Cory said.

Grinning, he thumped his chest out of pride.

The trainer he faced continued to smile, but it thinned ever so slightly after Cory stated his position.

In fear, probably, he thought to himself.

This guy was likely realizing just how screwed he currently was.

“And the rules for our match?” the other trainer asked.

“Competitive Standard. We each choose four Pokémon and then face off in a double battle.”

“Hm. But I only have three Pokémon?”

“...You seriously registered for a worldwide tournament with half a team?”

Despite Cory’s blank stare, the other trainer just shrugged and looked otherwise unbothered.

“Figured I could build up my team in the meantime,” the trainer said. “We have over half a year until the final tournament. That's plenty of time to train!”

Slowly, Cory nodded, but he had to force back the air that threatened to leave his throat.

He didn’t want to appear too cocky and make this guy fight harder. It was a battle in its own right to stop the laughter from leaving his throat.

“Alright, then. Want to keep it even simpler? We're allowed to bend the rules if both trainers agree,” Cory offered.

“What are you thinking?”

“I'm thinking... we keep this simple and only use two Pokémon instead of four.”

The other trainer crossed his arms to consider it. He exchanged a look with his Liepard and glanced at the watch on his wrist. Cory knew he technically had an advantage if he used four Pokémon against three, but keeping it to two meant he could save the health of the rest of his team for other fights and quickly eliminate this guy's team in a sudden blitz.

Come on. Cory tapped his foot. Don't think too hard and accept!

“Sure!” the other trainer finally said. “A two-on-two fight sounds good to me!”

“Great!” Cory turned away to hide his grin. “They don't exactly want people to battle on the tarmac, so there are a few fields set up off to the side.”

He glanced behind him to make sure this trainer would be following him and only had to do a slight double-take when he swore he saw the face of the trainer's watch blink.

When they arrived, two of the four fields at the side of the airport were already in use—and the battles taking place saw both fields be flush with flame and steam. Cory brought his chosen opponent over to one of the empty fields, and he walked across the painted rectangle to take up position in an outlined box meant for trainers to stand.

“We'll start on three,” Cory said. Since this would be a tournament-official battle, he took out a device to report the existence match as the other trainer did the same. “When I finish counting down, we'll both send out our Pokémon and begin fighting right away.”

“Got it. So, two each. A double battle. A quick match overall,” the other trainer said. “Liepard? Do you want to step forward now?”

The feline meowed, and Cory had to fight not to laugh once again when he realized he could already choose a Pokémon specifically to counter this revealed pick on his opponent’s team.

The other trainer grabbed a Pokéball, and Cory did the same, pulling two from his pockets.

“Alright,” he said. “Get ready. We start in one... two-three!”

He didn't hesitate. Throwing his Pokéballs, a pair of creatures appeared on the field, both of them plant-like in nature. After forming from light, the one with a mane of thick cotton drifted to the ground with a bright smile on its face. The other landed dressed in a dress of leaves that billowed out to allow it to touch down gracefully.

“Tailwind, Whimsicott!” Cory shouted. “Petal Blizzard, Lilligant!”

Whimsicott could use Tailwind in an instant, and the helpful wind would speed up Lilligant and ensure she could land the first attack in a blitz.

A harsh wind blew, and a barrage of pinks sliced through the air. The other trainer was still in the process of releasing his other Pokémon by the time the attack came out.

“Block!” the other shouted as soon as he threw a Pokéball forward.

This first order wasn't even a shout for a move, just a basic shout for a mundane technique.

Hearing that, Cory stood taller out of confidence, but that feeling faltered when he saw just what hit the field.

He didn't know what to call it. He wanted to say it was a Gallade, but it possessed enough aspects of a Gardevoir to say it was that species, instead. It carried that same, weird green horn on its head, and what was either a white robe or dress protected its legs.

But it wasn't flesh. It wasn’t anything biological. This creature was made entirely of metal, and it carried pink crystal blades attached to its forearms.

Immediately upon its appearance, it followed its trainer’s command to bring its blades up. The flat of the crystals served as a cover, and its quick thinking and positioning let it stop the worst from happening to both it and the Liepard.

“They're an Iron Valiant,” the other trainer said as Cory stared in bewilderment, “a rare species from Paldea. But for Valiant here? They’re special. They're one of a kind!”

The robot Pokémon proceeded to slam its arms together, and the attached blades swung out to disconnect. However, they weren’t lost—just changed. A pole connected the two blades to give the Iron Valiant a weapon to wield in one hand.

“You’re using Grass-types, huh?” the other trainer mumbled. “That means... Valiant, use Fury Strike! And Liepard, trap that Whimsicott with Encore!”

The sudden shouted orders snapped Cory out of his surprise. Remembering he was in an active battle, he was quick to change commands.

“Taunt it to stop the Encore, Whimsicott!” he yelled. “Lilligant, use Leaf Storm again to blow off the attack!”

The first to move was Whimsicott, as the Tailwind combined well with his penchant for lightning-quick status moves. Lilligant, meanwhile, was no slouch, and she was already conjuring leaves to blow toward her opponent.

Her Leaf Storm was a powerful offense that could be turned into an even stronger defense. Meanwhile, Whimsicott's Taunt could stop the Liepard from using any move that wasn’t a direct attack.

However, Cory realized he had made two crucial mistakes:

First, he had forgotten that Dark-types like Liepard were adept at ignoring pranks.

And second, he had vastly underestimated just how strong this Iron Valiant was.

Whimsicott's Taunt fell flat; irritated, the Liepard ignored the move with a roll of its eyes and let out a sharp “Mrow!” that encouraged him to re-try that pointless attack. Then, the Iron Valiant all but rocketed across the field. Even with the Tailwind up, it caught up to Lilligant within a second.

Its assault was immediate; the metal Pokémon's blade gained an off-yellow hue, and then it started to strike with slash after slash. Lilligant was far too overwhelmed to do anything but try to put up a defense. And then, the Liepard used a second move without the need for any other command from its trainer: it also used Taunt, but this Taunt was against Whimsicott. He’d be encouraged to only use direct attacks, but tricked by the previous Encore, he was unable to come to any decision and only began to Struggle.

“I...”

Cory’s hands twitched. Generally speaking, he’d been in enough fights to know how to respond, but he’d never been in a position like this. There were no openings. No options. Technically, Lilligant could use a move, but she’d never been under assault by such an unrelenting series of attacks.

“See, my Pokémon and I have a certain perspective when it comes to battling,” the other trainer said as Cory's eyes flicked around. “It's all about offense and ensuring that offense. We outlevel, and then we overwhelm. Strategy doesn't need to be that complicated. The only tricks we need are the tricks that ensure we can’t be stopped.”

Lilligant was taking a beating. The Bug-type Fury Strikes ate away at her leaves. Meanwhile, the Liepard was practically playing with Whimsicott. With a cruel grin on its face, it stalked around the Whimsicott while he looked to be in pain due to his indecisive Struggle.

“L-lilligant! You have to strike back! Take a move if it means landing one! And Whimsicott, if you can't attack, then... You just have to run away!”

“Sorry, but that’s not going to happen,” the other trainer said, casually adjusting the straps of his backpack. “Finish them off, you two. Take them out with Psycho Cut and Assist.”

The battle had barely even started. Hardly any time had passed. Yet, Lilligant was already injured, and Whimsicott was only managing to hurt himself.

Cory was able to do nothing as both of the other trainer's Pokémon drew back, and both Pokémon prepared their final moves.

The Iron Valiant's blade sharpened with a blue telekinetic hue, and the Liepard drew light from its trainer's sole other Pokéball to form a paw shape in front of its face.

“Go!” their trainer cried out.

The two moves were used at once.

The Psycho Cut practically sliced right through Lilligant, and Liepard’s glowing paw turned into a ball of shadow that burst against Whimsicott's chest.

Cory’s Pokémon fell.

Neither of them got up.

Just like that, the battle ended. Even if he had the option of sending out two more Pokémon, he wouldn’t have won.

He had been completely outmatched. 

“Who... are you?” Cory said, looking up from his team to stare the other trainer in the eye.

“Me?” The other trainer was smiling. He hadn’t stopped, not even once. “The name’s Nick—short for Nicholas, but ‘Nick’ is easier to say.”

“And you...”

“Are going to win the tournament,” Nick finished for him. “We're going to make it all the way up to the Master Rank to earn the right to compete in the final tournament at the end of the year. And believe me—I promise you! You might have lost, but at least you lost to the team that's going to place first overall!"

==========================================================================

Like I said, this is technically a work in progress. Expect parts of this chapter to be tweaked.

Valiant is out on Royal Road!

Valiant has just been released on Royal Road! Chapters 1-4 are all up, and the rest of the chapters will be released every weekday, culminating with a double post next Thursday to end it off.

All chapters here will remain public, but I've re-numbered them to follow a more conventional pattern. Additionally, there's a master list of chapters pinned to the top for easy access to any them.

The Royal Road releases should be automatic, so I'll be using this upcoming period as a short break and to (finally) finish off those long-promised Type Specialist epilogue chapters. The release of those shouldn't be too far away, and there'll be a new fiction out after that.

I will see you soon!

Master List of Valiant Chapters

Valiant Chapters:

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12 [END]

The Ghost Specialist Chapter List
The Type Specialist Chapter List

[END] Valiant - Chapter 12

Author Note:

This is the end of the story. If you want to start from the beginning, start here.

Two chapters came out today, with one being released alongside this one. Chapter 5.1 is the previous chapter if you missed it.

=======================================================================

To fight.

That was its purpose.

The Iron Valiant fought to improve its strength, and it improved its strength to ensure that it fought.

The other Iron Valiant of its home followed the same guide, and the power between them was essentially shared. When all the Iron Valiant ever faced were the same opponents, everything tended to...

Level out.

Day after day, blades clashed and metal clanged. Strikes became more honed, and techniques became more polished. 

However, no single Pokémon ever won against all others. At worst, fights would end in a tie or a temporary defeat.

When the Iron Valiant left, it was because it realized there was no further point. It sought strength, but so did everyone else. The world was unchanging, and it questioned its end goal. Despite all of its improvements, when it had to describe itself, it would always place itself in the direct middle—but so would every other Iron Valiant.

Truthfully, it left because—

It left because...

It left because it needed something else.

Unchanging stone defined its world, and it walked away. The crystal-laden bridge that had served as its home and battlefield remained behind as it began to climb the ledges and tunnels of this extensive cavern.

It quickly learned that other groups of Pokémon would rarely tolerate its presence, but that reaction did not stem from hostility. Pokémon needed to protect their territory. They needed to not show weakness in the face of others. Standing at the edge of an area without approaching would often lead to fights, but not immediately walking straight in would see those fights possess far less hate.

It would swing its blades, and it grew stronger. Sometimes, even just walking on its own would lead to unexpected fights.

Every battle was an experience, and every battle was a chance to win. More often than not, the Iron Valiant would stand victorious, and it carried every lesson it learned into the next fight.

However, it didn’t take long for fewer and fewer Pokémon to be willing to face it. No matter where it went, Pokémon became less willing to accept a challenge. It tried once to walk straight into a Pokémon’s home to start something only to learn that doing so was a mistake.

It needed an opponent, not a victim.

It needed to find something that would give meaning to these fights.

The Iron Valiant continued on, and on, and on, and, though clear, its memories of the time felt like a blur. It all came to an end when, suddenly, one day, the Iron Valiant fell.

It didn’t know why it fell. It was pushed. It slipped. The path crumbled. 

What mattered was that it plummeted.

No bridge stopped it. No platform caught it. Stagnant air rushed upwards around it. The stone walls that defined the cavern grew more and more lit with crystal, and then there was only crystal.

And then there was a jagged, crystal floor rushing straight at it.

The Iron Valiant crashed straight through.

Crystal shattered like glass, and the ground became falling, glimmering fragments. Those fragments turned into nothing more than shining, ephemeral dust, and the particles were so small that they reminded the Iron Valiant of—

Of...

Of a certain gleam.

An inch of water failed to break its fall, but its body was sturdy enough that it went relatively undamaged. The puddle of water served more as an ice-cold shock that kept it awake, and the Iron Valiant did nothing more than lie on the ground and stare upward.

Only the singular hole in the crystal world around it served as a memory of the world above.

“...Hello?”

It wasn’t sure how long it lay there. The stagnancy in its life was so pervasive that it almost wanted to remain motionless and wait for that to sink in.

“Are you going to say anything?

The Iron Valiant just lay in the water and waited for the light to end.

“You woke me up, and now you’re just going to sit there and pretend to rest?!”

Surprisingly, the stillness did not last—something pushed against the Iron Valiant. The Iron Valiant hadn’t expected movement but still tried to resist. Yet, the pokes were persistent, and it eventually had no choice but to crane up its head.

Shining eyes and a bright smile met its gaze. A creature smaller than even the Iron Valiant’s blades rested in the water just inches away.

“Hi!” When the creature spoke, its voice was a squeak. “Why are you here?”

It then let out a long yawn as if it had only just woken up.

“I don’t know,” the Iron Valiant answered.

“Alright. Then, how did you get here?” the creature asked instead.

“I don’t know.”

“Okay. Then, who are you?”

“I don’t know.”

A slow blink.

“Is that all you can say?”

The Iron Valiant let its head fall back into the inch of water beneath it, and it returned to staring up at the hole in the crystals. The passive glow was so incredibly bright that it was almost hard to see. It never expected to be in a room that consisted solely of crystals.

But everything it had ever known was up there, and now it was down here.

“No,” the Iron Valiant eventually answered.

The creature laughed, and its laugh was a strange, almost chiming noise.

The Iron Valiant finally pushed up to sit, and it took this moment to look over the creature wading at its feet. Its limbs and head consisted of blue flesh, but the Iron Valiant couldn’t look away from the creature’s shell. It was made of the same crystal that made up the walls.

Having spurred a reaction, the creature started to walk away, but it had no intention of leaving. It was simply climbing up a nearby plinth to gain the height needed to speak to the Iron Valiant.

“So. Don’t lie to me again,” it said. “Why are you here?”

Staring at the Iron Valiant, the creature let itself nestle into a small groove on its crystal bed. It looked comfortable, but the Iron Valiant wasn’t. It took a full minute before it could speak.

“I fell,” the Iron Valiant answered.

“Oh. That sucks. Are you feeling okay?”

“...No,” came the Iron Valiant’s reply.

The shelled Pokémon let out a sympathetic whine, and despite the difference in size, it was completely unafraid. This whole situation was so strange and bewildering that the Iron Valiant could hardly believe any of this was real.

“So why did you fall?” the shelled creature asked next.

The Iron Valiant didn’t want to answer, but the question was laced with such genuine concern, it felt as though it had no other choice. So it did.

“I fell because I wasn’t strong enough. I fell because—”

“That’s dumb.”

The Iron Valiant refreshed its sensors and stared at the tiny Pokémon. It crossed its front legs over one another, and it puffed up its cheeks out of annoyance.

“Why do you live?” it asked unexpectedly.

“To get stronger,” the Iron Valiant answered easily enough.

“So, why do you get stronger?” it then asked.

“To fight,” the Iron Valiant answered, and it tried to level out its growing glare.

The tiny creature scooted forward on its plinth, and the Iron Valiant stared at it to try to decipher any hint of its true feelings. However, no matter what it did, it found nothing malicious. These questions stemmed solely from raw curiosity.

“And... why do you fight?”

The question felt like a final one.

“To... get stronger,” 

The Iron Valiant hadn’t expected to stammer its answer.

“Wow. That’s dumb and stupid,” the creature said, and it did not speak unfairly.

It brought its tiny head back to stare at the hole in the ceiling, and its eyes gleamed, but the gleam did not come from the light of the crystal. The gleam came from being lost in memory.

“Well, do you want to know why I live?” it asked, voice cheery. “It’s because I want to. And it’s because I’ve made a lot of great friends. There are so many people that I know are long gone now, but remembering them keeps them alive! There’s always a piece of them that will continue as long as I keep them in mind, and there’s also so much I still want to experience. So much more to see!”

The crystals around it reflected its smile.

“What I’m trying to say is, there’s more to being alive than just constantly fighting. Being alive is about finding a meaning and following that meaning no matter what.”

The Iron Valiant had nothing to say. The Iron Valiant didn’t know what to say. It wanted to claim that this small creature’s words felt as though they stood completely opposed to the Iron Valiant’s existence, but it honestly wasn’t sure if that thought was true.

The creature squeaked out a yawn. Despite its diminutive form, it carried a lot of wisdom.

“Do you have any friends?” it asked.

“I do not,” came the Iron Valiant’s answer.

A blink and a shift saw the tiny Pokémon drop its head, and its smile turned morose. It looked over the Iron Valiant one last time, and then it seemed to come to a decision.

“Okay!” it cheered. “I’d offer, but I’m tired. I need to go back to sleep. Except, I’m in a position to help. Would you like to fix that?”

“Fix your sleep?” the Iron Valiant replied flatly.

“No!” the Pokémon said. “What I mean is, I can get you a friend.”

The Pokémon waddled to turn around, and the entire room shifted. None of the crystals physically changed, but it was like the quality of their light changed. The images on their surface reflected what was in the room, but there were so many tiny variations between them. The image mirrored the crystal-shelled Pokémon in the center, but that was the only constant between them.

However, the tiny Pokémon didn’t react to any of that. It was as if the shift in the room was completely natural. The Pokémon just maintained a smile, a constant, merry expression that almost reminded the Iron Valiant of—

Of...

The tiny Pokémon began to speak.

“This is a bit selfish, but I can bring someone over,” it said. “Give you a chance to make a friend, but only a chance, and I’m limited in my options. It can’t be anyone who wouldn’t want to be here. It also can’t be anyone who already exists here. They’d be new, they’d be from somewhere else, and they’d be similar to you. But most importantly, no matter what happens, they’d be someone who wants the same thing you do.”

The Iron Valiant wanted to ask what that was, but the creature looked up. The crystals shifted.

Something changed, but also nothing.

“It might take some time, but it’ll work,” it said, turning around. “I promise you. No matter what, I’ll make sure that you— That you...”

The tiny creature yawned.

“Everyone deserves to be happy. I’ll make sure that you meet someone who makes you want to live for you.”

_______________________________________________________________________

The Iron Valiant woke up.

It did not recognize where it was.

Something soft and white supported its body from below. Machines with wires connected to magnets were held in place by tape stuck to the surface of its body.

The Iron Valiant remembered how the world became nothing more than blurs. It remembered how a trickle of energy was all that was left in its chest, and it remembered walking and climbing and sliding and falling—

And then it remembered Nick.

The Iron Valiant shot up in the bed and was ready to tear everything off of it, but it froze when it saw a human with deep blue eyes staring right at it.

The human’s mouth suddenly curved.

“You’re quite the curious Pokémon,” she said. “A metal body. Steel flesh. Mechanical parts that perfectly mimic the functions of a more fleshy body’s organs. It is as if you’re a completely organic being, but every part of you is metal instead of meat. It’s... intriguing.”

Her stare was even. She did not look away.

“All of that is a curiosity, and then you also showed up out of nowhere with an injured person on your back,” she continued. “An injured person with no documentation whatsoever. It’s strange. It’s almost as if he didn’t come from this world.”

The woman sat in a chair that faced the bed, and her black clothes were prim and proper. She kept her gloved hands crossed in her lap, and she spoke with a sense of ease that made it seem she didn’t consider the Iron Valiant to be a threat.

But this room was empty. It was just her and the Iron Valiant in here. Machines next to the bed beeped, and they displayed numbers that the Iron Valiant had no idea what they could mean.

“It’s fascinating,” the woman said. “Both your actions and what you are. I’ve read the reports, of course, but I’ve also made sure to watch the videos posted online. You’re truly... something special. Very few Pokémon have the stamina to do what you did. And, even fewer than that have the determination to push themselves to such a level just to help a friend.”

The Iron Valiant wanted to stand. But it couldn’t. It wanted to rip off all of the things attached to it and carve out a way to escape, but the weight of this woman’s gaze kept it firmly in place.

There was a pressure to her presence and an expectation to her words. It was as if she wanted it to answer, but the Iron Valiant was a Pokémon. There was no way it could.

“Well then. That’s enough musings out of me,” she ended up saying, laughing slightly while leaning back in her chair. “I do have an offer for you, but now isn’t the time. That can wait until later—much later.”

She cast her gaze to the side of the room where a door remained closed. Tense, the Iron Valiant followed her gaze, and she sent it a side glance that turned into a slight smirk.

“Ah, I’ve kept you for long enough. Your friend is outside. He’s recovering. You can ask him for more details. To find him, just leave this room and head down the stairs—”

The Iron Valiant finally managed to stand.

The woman’s smile deepened.

“Don’t worry. Your friend will be glad to learn that you are okay.”

Practically running, the Iron Valiant charged to the door, but the exit opened up before it could slice it in two. Something red, metal, and covered in blades stood on the other side. Its steel mustache twitched as it moved out of the Iron Valiant’s way.

Truly and freely, the Iron Valiant ran out of the room. Humans filled the hallway that it entered, and they paused for only the briefest of moments to send it a smile.

It recognized them—these were the pink-haired ones that had brought Nick into the building. It remembered seeing them load Nick onto that cart, but it also remembered flashes of them standing over its body, rushing to give the Iron Valiant some kind of treatment.

At the end of this hallway, something pink and round grabbed a door and opened it up with a merry shout of, “Chansey!” That noise was an invitation in. It was all that the Iron Valiant needed to see to charge into the stairwell and descend toward the exit.

At the bottom flight, it burst out into another hallway, but this hallway ended in a set of glass doors. Slowing down, the Iron Valiant approached, and the exit opened.

Then, the Iron Valiant was there.

A lone chair with wheels rested ahead of it, neatly positioned under a tree in an open garden. A person reclined in their seat and stared up at the sky. The sun was high above them, and the sky was a bright blue.

They turned around.

“You’re awake!” Nick called out.

As fast as it could, the Iron Valiant schooled its reaction and returned to a more neutral stance. It let its body rest, and it forcibly maintained a calm gait to stand at Nick’s side.

For some reason, the human laughed.

“I appreciate the concern,” he said, covering his mouth.

Pleased, Nick let out a comfortable sigh, and for a while, he just sat there and stared up at the sky. The sun was lower in position than it had been when the Iron Valiant had arrived in this town—at least a full day had passed.

But that didn’t matter. It was content to just stand there for now.

For a human settlement, it was surprisingly peaceful out here.

“I’m going to be okay,” Nick eventually said. “Had some internal issues and a damaged spine, but they can apparently heal that? It was both more and less complicated than that, but I’m not a doctor. They said that getting some berries in me helped stop it from becoming worse, but if I had gotten here a just day or two later, the consequences would have been more... permanent.”

He pushed against the chair’s arms to adjust how he was sitting. The Iron Valiant glanced down and hid its relief when it saw Nick moving his legs.

“Going to have to get through some physical therapy for a while,” he said. “I’m missing some ‘critical’ vitamins, so I’ll need a special diet, too. But after a few months of that, I’ll be okay. After all this time, I’ll be out. And then I... Man. And then I can finally...”

He wiped his face.

“And then I can finally have a new start.”

Nick laughed, but there was no joke there. His laugh was one solely of happiness and of finally being free for the first time in his life.

“She’s paying me. Geeta. The Champion, I mean,” he said. “Soon as I was conscious, we worked out a deal. And don’t worry. I was careful about what I shared. There are going to be a few people sent into the crater for them to figure out the next steps to fix the environment there. And Geeta’s going to personally provide some money to get back on my feet—literally!—and she also said she’ll sponsor me when I choose what I want to do.”

He smiled.

“I could be a chef. I could buy a house. I could go to the academy here, or, heck, I could be a star on TV! Anything is open to me as long as I put my mind to it, but I think what I really want is...”

He whispered for the next part.

“I want to make a small memorial for my family. I don’t want to forget them,” he said. “But also...”

Nick looked up with a smile.

“If you’re willing, I want to continue traveling with you.”

The Iron Valiant had to look away, and it briefly shut off its sensors so it could hide its eyes. Its processors were firing for what felt like trillions of times every second, and then it lowered its head for its response.

“I know it’s a selfish ask,” Nick continued, still staring forward, “but I think it’d be fun. And even if you’re not interested, when those people are sent into the crater, you could use that to return. I don’t want to take you from your home if you don’t—”

Letting its vision return, the Iron Valiant furiously shook its head, and Nick raised an eyebrow.

“No?” he asked.

It furiously nodded to try to negate that.

“Wait, so, yes, you do want to return?”

The Iron Valiant felt like it was going to explode, and it did everything it could to emphasize, no, it did not want that. It waved its arms. It shook its head. It was the most animated it’d ever been in its life.

And that caused Nick to begin to laugh.

“I get it. I get it! Wow, I’ve never seen you act like that before.”

The Iron Valiant froze, righted its stance, and then Nick laughed even harder.

“Thank you,” he ended up saying after a bit. “You’re really cool, and if there was any Pokémon I’d ever want to travel with, I’m glad that it’s going to be you.”

He then went on to ramble about all of the things he wanted to see, like usual, and the Iron Valiant listened, not letting even a single word pass through its mind. His list was extensive, and his excitement was palpable.

“I’m really looking forward to this,” Nick said. “It’s going to be fun.”

And, once Nick was healed, it truly was.

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

Iron Valiant
Terapagos

Thank you for reading my weird little story. It's a bit simpler than the stories I wrote in the past, but I wanted to try something new. Whether or worked or not is still to be seen, but I enjoyed writing it. I'll be spending some time this weekend tweaking and fixing up the chapters, and then it should be out automatically on Royal Road over the next week or two.

The next story will be more of a "classic" Pokémon fiction. I've mentioned it here and there, but expect it to follow a similar route as a classic journey but without an explicit eight Gym Badges the main character will be hunting for.

As for my upcoming plans, I'll be using the scheduled chapters on Royal Road as a break to write the long overdue epilogue chapters for the Type Specialist (and also to play Silksong). Once those epilogue chapters are out, I should have a decently-sized backlog built for the next fiction to have the first bit of chapters come out quickly.

Once again, thank you so much so much for reading! I will see you very soon!

(As a quick note, the master list of chapters for this fiction will be posted alongside the Royal Road announcement post. I want to nail down this fiction's title first.)

Previous Chapter

Valiant - Chapter 11

Author Note:

Two chapters today. One more after this one--this is the end of the fiction!

=======================================================================

The grove was defined by an unnatural calm. Girafarig were slowly returning to their home beneath the trees. Broken trunks lay surrounded by fallen branches, and nearby Pokémon dug with their hooves to bury the splinters that remained.

It was silent as the Iron Valiant stepped back under the leaves. Heads and tails watched it walk by. It made sure that what it carried went undisturbed, and it moved to where the Roaring Moon had sent trees careening into the earth.

The injured Farigiraf from earlier, the one that had made the mistake of getting too close, was now able to stand once again now that it had the chance to be healed by freshly plucked berries. It worked with several Girafarig to smash apart chunks of wood and use that mulch to feed the soil, but as soon as the Iron Valiant stepped into the clearing, the Farigiraf stopped and moved back to give it room.

Nick made a noise as he was placed onto the ground. A few Girafarig ran to fetch the other Farigiraf. The grunt let out by the human was pained, and the Iron Valiant could not tell if that Nick making a noise was a good or bad thing.

When the other Farigiraf arrived, their long necks let them retrieve more berries, and the herd of Pokémon did their best to heal the human on the ground. The pack on Nick’s back had saved him from the worst of the blow, but it came at the cost of everything within, and the berries did not help. They only stabilized him at best.

The world felt as though it was frozen. The Iron Valiant was spinning—it didn’t even know first aid. It knew nothing about treatment or how to heal or how to do anything to save a human. It only knew how to fight and swing its blade, yet it had all but stood in place when Nick jumped down. It hadn’t moved to save him from being launched straight off the Dragon’s back.

One of the Farigiraf ended up leaving alongside a few Girafarig to figure out what to do with the unconscious Roaring Moon. Nick still did not get up. Girafarig watched him from the bushes. No matter what was applied to him or what was fed to his mouth, he remained where he lay—breathing, but the Iron Valiant could not say anything more than that.

Humans did not have the same inherent sturdiness as Pokémon. 

Nick was a human.

He didn’t have the strength or stamina to return to his feet, and berries alone were not enough to restore him to full health. What he needed was human treatment. He needed help from a human who knew what to do.

Only with that thought did a memory flash through the Iron Valiant’s head; it recalled Nick’s words from the past.

A red roof.

Free medical care.

It needed to get him to one of those buildings—a Pokémon Center, it was pretty sure.

The Iron Valiant righted its stance, and it brought its head up to stare at the sky. The waning moon turned the sparse few clouds a silvery grey, and the low illumination highlighted the cliffs that surrounded this crater. From the recent sunset, the Iron Valiant identified directions, and from there, it could piece together its destination.

Nick’s best option was for them to head north-west.

It moved to pick up Nick again, but one of the Girafarig bellowed and rushed to get in the Iron Valiant’s way. The edge of its blade shimmering, the Iron Valiant was prepared to fight if the Girafarig tried to keep Nick here in a misguided intent to help, but that wasn’t what it was doing. It barked out its thoughts, and a few other Girafarig ran off. The broken backpack was retrieved, and Nick’s blanket was grabbed. Telekinetically, the Pokémon commanded branches to stab into cloth while large leaves were woven in.

Slowly, Nick was tied to the Iron Valiant’s back.

This would not be comfortable, but it would work. The Iron Valiant would maintain access to its arms while bringing Nick along with it.

Trying its best to keep itself under control, the Iron Valiant sent the herd of Girafarig a respectful nod, and they all sent it a cheer right back.

While the Girafarig couldn’t help more, they could at least do this. It was the least they could provide to give thanks.

_______________________________________________________________________

The Iron Valiant walked.

Behind it, it saw the distant shapes of a Farigiraf working with the Girafarig to drag back the Roaring Moon. After all it did, these Pokémon did not plan to let it wake up and leave without going through some form of recompense.

The Iron Valiant walked, and the grove was left behind.

Patches of grass passed underfoot. The Iron Valiant maneuvered over hilltops and up the slopes, its target firmly locked on the north-western cliffs of the crater.

Other Pokémon watched it pass by, but it made a curious scene. Lit up by the moonlight, its movement was ceaseless. Its mechanical body let it travel without stopping, and all the way, it carried a strange package on its back.

The Iron Valiant walked regardless.

“Mmph,” Nick would groan. “I’m sorry.”

He wasn’t all there.

“I didn’t mean... for this to happen. I just wanted... to escape.”

The relatively even ground of all of the levels in the crater slowly gave way to more and more slopes of bushes and dirt. Then, the foliage gave way to stone, and the ground became steep.

The Iron Valiant’s movement was a constant, and it helped that it did not need to slow to help someone else over the terrain. The world turned steeper and steeper, and then it was suddenly in the middle of a climb.

“I miss my mom,” Nick would mumble on its back, not even conscious. “I miss my dad. I... fought with my sister. Never gonna be... able to apologize. Not gonna... see her graduate.”

Then, after minutes passed, he added, “We were... looking forward to that.”

He went quiet for a long time after that, and the Iron Valiant could not tell if that was because he chose to stop talking or if he had simply fallen back into unconsciousness. However, he was still breathing, as pained as the sound was, and to the Iron Valiant, that was all that mattered.

The Iron Valiant walked on.

Above it, the mountain became a shadow that blocked out the moon, and the only source of light was the Iron Valiant’s passive glow. No crystals grew out of the dirt. No groups of Pokémon nested nearby. There was only it, the cliff, and Nick himself, as well as the rest of the climb awaiting above the Iron Valiant.

It only had a single objective: it needed to reach one of those red-roofed buildings, and it needed to find someone who could heal the human on its back. But the Iron Valiant was exhausted. It had spent so much energy already. All day was spent in practice only for it to need to fight off the Scream Tail and then the Roaring Moon right after.

Compared to the underground, there was no energy in the air here. Its passive recovery was essentially non-existent—it regretted not consuming more physical food when it had the chance. The Iron Valiant’s stores were growing smaller and smaller with every foot ascended, and it knew it would not last to reach the top.

So it continued climbing, but it changed strategies.

One by one, it disabled all non-essential processes.

It didn’t need to taste if it wasn’t eating. It didn’t need to smell if it wasn’t searching. It didn’t need to hear anything further away than Nick and the cliff itself, and its sensors didn’t need to be at full power. It only needed to see what was directly in front of it and the path up.

At times, it would pause, both to give itself a slight moment of recovery and for it to plan the route it would take. Its solid metal arms could stab into the stone to guarantee it sturdy handholds, but if it stabbed in the wrong spot, then a boulder would come loose and see them both fall back to the earth.

At one point, it stabbed its arm into the stone up to its shoulder, and it let itself hang for quite some time. It brought its gaze back over to the crater and to the barest start of sunrise on the other side. Shadows crested over half of the landscape, and the mountains above the Iron Valiant were beginning to turn yellow from the morning’s light.

It was hard to believe just how high up it was, but it was harder to believe just how large this place was.

But it couldn’t hang there forever.

The Iron Valiant kept going.

Inch by inch, arm by arm, leg by leg, it ascended the cliffs in a slow climb toward the peak.

Harsh winds blew, but it never let itself be knocked off course. Eventually, it stopped giving itself time to pause. A feeling built within it—if it ever stopped, it would never continue again.

The energy in its chest vanished in a constant drain, and the glow of its body faded. If it got into a fight, it wouldn’t be able to use its moves. It wouldn’t even be able to defend itself in the barest sense.

However, this mountain was not just cliffs. It was saved when the vertical shelf began to level out. The climb became a crawl, and the crawl became a hike. It didn’t need to get to the mountain’s very top. It just needed enough of a foothold to bring itself around.

It was able to hike to the mountain’s other side.

And then, it saw everything. Infinity stretched out before it. Underground, its life had been defined by the walls of the cavern, and in the crater, its travels had been defined by the walls that held it in.

But up here, there was only the view, and the Iron Valiant could see forever. No wall existed to stop it from choosing a direction and then walking until it collapsed.

However, that entire, endless world was not why it had come up here. It was here to find a specific, red building.

It focused its gaze. It scanned the horizon. It searched for that one point of color—

And it found it. Not even that far away, a settlement had been built close to the mountains.

Rectangular buildings. Curved roofs. Small pinpoints of light that had to be windows. Right in the middle of it, however, was that vibrancy it sought.

The Iron Valiant took one more step forward and allowed the world to drop away.

For this, it did not stab its feet into the earth; there was no sharp cliffside here, and it was running out of time. It lowered its stance, locked its legs, and allowed its metal body to slide. Wind blew faster than ever before. Stones clattered against its shins. It could feel tiny impacts denting its body, but this slide meant it would not need to take long to descend.

As the world rumbled, groans came from the Iron Valiant’s back, but the noise was reassuring. When a tree rushed toward its path, a swing swipe of its arm saw the obstacle split in two.

In almost no time at all, the slope gave way to smoother ground, and the momentum carried the Iron Valiant forward into a dash. That dash carried it forward, but it quickly slowed as its reserves returned to practically nothing. Then, all it had left in it was a constant walk.

But this time around, it had a path.

No hills blocked its way. There were no more cliffs to climb. There was only a worn, dirt road for it to follow, and the settlement it saw grew larger and larger with every passing second.

This was a slow journey, but it was a guaranteed one. The well-tread path would guide it to its destination.

With Nick on its back, the Iron Valiant walked.

Something rumbled past it and then came to a sudden halt.

As the town grew on the horizon, an unfamiliar voice shouted at the Iron Valiant only to go quiet when the Iron Valiant paid it no mind. A handful of beeps rang out next, and then that voice became nothing more than hushed whispering.

The Iron Valiant walked.

Another human soon joined it, riding up to it on the back of a scaled, wheeled Pokémon. It tried to stop the Iron Valiant, but the Iron Valiant swung its arms, and the pair had no choice but to jump out of the way.

Then, even more voices started to shout at it just like the first. Other humans and Pokémon yelled at the Iron Valiant to stop. It carried neither the will nor the energy to process their words further than that. At this point, the only thing it had left was a need to carry itself forward.

The voices quieted, and the buildings grew larger. The settlement properly came into view, and then the Iron Valiant was there.

It was cool here. The buildings provided shadows. Machines similar to the rumbling one from before slept at the side of the road.

More humans than ever before now watched the Iron Valiant walk, and many of them took out rectangles to point them its way. Partnered Pokémon at the side of the road would stop to stare, but their stares contained no wariness. Only curiosity and support.

The path opened up. A section of trees and grass stood in the Iron Valiant’s way. But, at the very end of this open space, red poked out between the green. That beautiful, iridescent, vibrant color red was right there.

It tried to pick up its pace, but it failed. More voices spoke up in concern, but it ignored those, too. It took forever, but the building towered before it, yet every step took the same effort as lifting a thousand pounds.

Genuinely, the Iron Valiant had nothing left, but it had to keep going. Nick needed help. It had to—needed to—get him inside. Unless he was healed, Nick wouldn’t last.

But the world was fading. The Iron Valiant was truly tapped out. Still, it was too close to give up.

It took a step forward.

The building grew larger.

It took a step forward.

Glass doors opened.

It took a step forward, and more humans, these ones decorated with white and pink, rushed out. As they approached the Iron Valiant with worry on their faces, the Iron Valiant knew this was it.

The very last bit of its energy was spent unhooking Nick from its back, and only once he was placed onto a white, wheeled platform did the Iron Valiant allow itself to collapse.

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

Girafarig / Farigiraf

Previous Chapter
Next Chapter

Valiant - Chapter 10

“Get to the grove! Stop it! And remember that the Roaring Moon is a Dark Type—the Farigiraf won’t be able to hurt it!”

Next to the Iron Valiant, Nick scrambled back to his feet, but the Iron Valiant was already jumping off the cliffside yet again. However, instead of plummeting downward, it stabbed an arm into the cliff wall. The rocky surface slowed it and gave it the chance to land with more control.

Ahead of it, deeper into the grove, strands of smoke drifted into the sky. Some of the Girafarig were beginning to stampede away; the threat of this Roaring Moon easily outclassed any group of Scream Tail.

The Iron Valiant dashed, weaving through the trees. When it arrived at an opening, it saw two trunks lying shattered on the ground. A third was in the process of cracking, with the Roaring Moon standing up with its claws in its branches. The Dragon pushed into the tree while tearing away berries with its jaws, and the Farigiraf were failing to stop it. Psychic-type Twin Beams failed to land with any impact save for the base force of the blow.

Three Farigiraf fought, and a fourth lay on the ground, unconscious after making the mistake of getting close. Teeth gnashed against wood and leaves, and berries were gobbled down.

The violence of the scene far surpassed any act of feeding the Iron Valiant had witnessed in the past. Even now, the Roaring Moon was raging. Days had passed, and it was still lashing out after its loss.

The three remaining Farigiraf attempted to team up and land Twin Beams that swirled and joined together, but even that massive technique failed to deal damage. Feeling a slight push, the Roaring Moon just had to twist its head and exhale yellow-purple flames. The Dragon Breath sent the trio of evolved Pokémon scrambling back, and even more smoke was added to the growing cloud from the previous times the Roaring Moon had used this move.

The scene was analyzed; the Iron Valiant could not wait. With a leap, it pressed its hands together to pull out its polearm, and the blade of its weapon swung for a mighty blow.

However, the impact failed to push the Pokémon back, but the Roaring Moon’s eyes still bulged from the feeling of a familiar hit. The reactive force of this strike let the Iron Valiant bounce back. When it landed on the ground, it was ready to strike again.

But the Roaring Moon twisted its head around, the start of another Dragon Breath creeping out of its throat. It was prepared to exhale, but it froze when it saw the Iron Valiant.

Silence stretched out.

The very moment the Roaring Moon laid its eyes on the Iron Valiant, it was as if time itself went still. Recognition flashed through the hulking Dragon’s expression, but then all of that was gone, replaced solely by rage.

The yellow-purple flames that licked out of the Pokémon’s mouth grew to expand out around it as it pushed off the tree to launch itself at the Iron Valiant. The air became filled with the noise of whistling speed and the third trunk breaking against the ground. The force of this incoming move threatened to take out any Pokémon in its way. So, the Iron Valiant chose to avoid it. It dodged by hopping back, and then it turned around to run away.

Weapon in hand, it charged through the trees. A roar pierced through the night sky behind it. The deafening echo spoke of both rage and madness, but it also spoke of an absolute need for revenge.

The Iron Valiant practically exploded out from beneath the trees, leaves filling the air behind it. The Roaring Moon incinerated loose branches and foliage in its wake. Holes appeared in the earth from the impacts of the Iron Valiant’s feet, and the Roaring Moon’s pursuit dug a groove in the dirt behind it from the force of its wings.

This chase would only ever lead to the Roaring Moon catching up, but the Iron Valiant only needed to lead the Dragon out of the grove. It didn’t need to get far to be racing toward the wall of the nearby cliffside, and the Dragon type followed, the only thought in its mind being the image of metal to shred.

Before, the Iron Valiant had wondered why it was a Fairy type. Nick had told it that Fairy types were based on tricks and the mimicry of something called “fae.” None of that applied to the Iron Valiant, so the classification had never made sense. However, in that moment, the Iron Valiant knew just why it was a Fairy Type. The Fairy Type made it immune to Dragons; therefore, with its skillset, it was the perfect Dragon slayer.

Blade shining in the night’s first beams of moonlight, the Iron Valiant did not slow but kept running straight at the rock wall. Using its momentum and the hardened metal of its feet, its ongoing dash carried it upward for several meters, and then it pushed off the stone to flip right over the Roaring Moon’s head.

Teeth snapped out. Its blade swung down. A red glow, a Fighting-type move, struck. Blade shining, internals glowing, this technique smashed right into the Roaring Moon’s back. For the first time across all of its fights, the Roaring Moon let out a true scream of pain, and the Dragon type fell to the earth.

But it wasn’t defeated just yet.

The Iron Valiant landed, but so did the Roaring Moon. The great beast had taken damage, but it simply couldn’t care less. Its wings were too hurt to bring it back into the air, but it still had a pair of massive, rending claws. Flames licked out between its teeth, and the Iron Valiant could tell that after the Roaring Moon’s last defeat, more than just the Dragon’s body had been damaged.

It was here to make a point, to prove that it was at the top. The Pokémon it faced in the underground world had all been defeated by its draconic might. A simple loss to the Iron Valiant would not have inspired this kind of reaction, but being so thoroughly trounced by a single move that sent it falling off a cliff had embarrassed it to the point that its pride as a Dragon needed to be repaired.

To the Roaring Moon, the Iron Valiant was fated to be beneath it. The Roaring Moon was its name; it was the moon, and it was the ruler of the sky.

But from the Iron Valiant’s perspective, nothing about that statement was true. Since the Roaring Moon had landed, the two of them were on even ground.

They stood off.

The Iron Valiant’s display met the Roaring Moon’s yellow eyes. A growl left the Dragon’s throat. Both sides needed to win, just for vastly different reasons.

The Iron Valiant knew it would take a great deal of effort to pull off a win, but to make matters worse—

“Take this!”

The Iron Valiant had an audience.

The shout started from atop the cliff, but it rapidly drew closer by the second. Falling straight toward where the Dragon was crouched, Nick plummeted downwards, a familiar smile glinting in the moonlight that illuminated his face.

He hit the back of the Roaring Moon with a heavy thump, but something hummed in his hand, and he jabbed it straight into the Dragon’s neck. A horrible scream filled the air, and the Roaring Moon reared back.

“Go! Attack now!” he shouted through gritted teeth.

But as the electricity from his weapon coursed through the Roaring Moon, it knew exactly where Nick was. Through the pain, it opened its jaws, and a pair of red wings snapped out.

Nick was caught from below, and the sudden push sent him right off the Roaring Moon’s back and into the cliff wall.

Something cracked.

The sound of the impact echoed across the entire crater. It was so much worse than the noise that came from Nick landing on the Roaring Moon’s back.

The sharp buzzing of Nick’s weapon stopped. The Roaring Moon didn’t even turn around. It knew it had won, but it was also busy swinging its head back and forth to try to get a handle on where Nick’s weapon had branded it black with pain.

The Iron Valiant was in a daze.

The entire world was spinning. Its deal with Nick was made to help him escape, but at the very last moment, the dumb human had gone and pulled this.

The Roaring Moon continued to scream. Whatever fueled Nick’s rod was still coursing through its body. It wasn’t able to process the attack; it hadn’t seen it, and the weapon hadn’t landed with a proper Pokémon move. Through its pain, the Dragon exhaled, off-color flames washing out, and they briefly crossed over the Iron Valiant to no effect.

And then, the Iron Valiant saw it—but only a flash. Nick lay on the ground, back against the rock wall, completely unmoving, and his assembled weapon lay broken on the ground next to him.

The Roaring Moon was still rampaging right ahead of Nick, and seeing that sight, the Iron Valiant no longer cared about beating the Roaring Moon to defend the grove. It also no longer cared about needing to defend itself against such an impossible foe. Or even just defeating it to put down such a powerful foe.

Its grip on its weapon tightened; it had a new goal.

This Roaring Moon needed to be defeated so that the Iron Valiant could rescue the human in the back.

However, there was a problem; the Iron Valiant might have a worthwhile attack in Dazzling Gleam, but it didn’t have the power. It could unleash a super effective move, but then what? The Roaring Moon would just retaliate. This Dragon had been stronger than the Iron Valiant had been in the past, and this Dragon was still stronger than it was now.

But still, it could hear that crackling, that faint, zipping sound of electricity slowly fading from the Roaring Moon’s body. Nick’s weapon had bought time for the Iron Valiant, but it served a second purpose.

The jab was an example. The strike had given the Iron Valiant the inspiration it needed.

Who cared about transforming the energy in its body? Electricity was its energy, and to use this move, all it needed to do was transfer enough of that energy into the ground.

It spun its polearm in its hands. The Roaring Moon finally seemed to get a handle on itself. As the Iron Valiant reared its weapon up above its head, the massive Dragon lunged. However, the great beast was not fast enough to stop this strike, and the Iron Valiant plunged its weapon into the earth.

Yellow flashed through the polearm’s crystal. A vibrant feeling poured out of the Iron Valiant and into the ground. It could remember all the times Nick smiled. It could remember all of Nick’s speeches. It could remember how Nick forced himself to remain confident, even if he wasn’t feeling that way deep down.

All of its practice, everything it had learned, every example it could mimic, was used to fuel this attack. Electricity was energy, and that was all that was needed to change the terrain itself. A claw smashed into the Iron Valiant’s side to sweep it off its feet, but jagged, yellow bolts of electricity zapped across the dirt—

A whirring built in its chest.

That same electricity joined back with it, and its body had never glowed with such light.

Filled with an energy it had never possessed before, the Iron Valiant strengthened its grip on its weapon to slam it into the Roaring Moon’s chest. It could feel dirt churn under its back as the Roaring Moon dragged it across the ground, but that was just bringing it closer to the terrain it had just activated, and it sucked in everything it had to fuel this one attack.

A flash.

A Dazzling Gleam seared the Roaring Moon’s chest.

This was nothing more than a burst of burning light, but it was a light that far surpassed anything the Iron Valiant had ever unleashed before in its life. Infusing the earth with electricity had allowed that same electricity to come back. Every one of its internals was supercharged, and all of that allowed for this attack.

Scales burned away. Blue flesh turned black. The Roaring Moon dropped the Iron Valiant just to get away from the pain, but as it turned to flee, the Iron Valiant was already back on its feet.

It struck.

A flash.

It struck again.

Another flash.

Every time it swung its weapon, a Dazzling Gleam roared out of its polearm’s bladed end.

These attacks ate away at the Roaring Moon and practically carved through its scales. It did not take long at all for the pain to get the best of it, and the great beast fell to the ground.

The Dragon’s eyes rolled up into its head.

The Iron Valiant could have celebrated here, but it took off running. It couldn’t care less about the current state of its foe. The only thing that mattered was that the Roaring Moon had been defeated and that the Iron Valiant now had free rein to approach the human in the back.

As it arrived, it could feel a tension in its chest fade when Nick craned his neck up to look at it. However, the Iron Valiant’s stress was not gone. The only reason Nick was still awake was due to the tiny shocks of the electricity zapping through the earth beneath him.

“That was pretty cool,” the human coughed out. The Iron Valiant saw no visible injuries, but it wasn’t sure if that was a good thing. “Electric Terrain. Quark Drive. A pretty good combination.”

The Iron Valiant smashed its fists together to collapse its weapon and lock its blades in place. It knelt, looking over Nick to find where he was hurt most. Nick did not stand up.

“Didn’t expect... Dazzling Gleam to be that strong,” he wheezed. “Quark Drive is... it improves your best strengths. So that and... four times effectiveness. You were going to win from the start.”

The Iron Valiant wanted to laugh in some way, but it couldn’t. Even now, Nick was trying to talk about Pokémon battles. The human was smiling, but there was no way he was feeling happy through his pain.

No.

This expression was only for the Iron Valiant itself.

“I finally got to use that thing I made,” Nick said.

The Electric Terrain started to fade.

“And you fought pretty hard.”

Slowly, the Iron Valiant scooped its arms under the human, taking great caution to ensure its blades remained out of the way. As it turned to begin walking back to the grove, it heard Nick speak one more time.

“Like I said,” he mumbled. “We make a good team.”

Then, he closed his eyes, and the Iron Valiant picked up its pace.

Nick was breathing, but only barely. He needed to be healed, and soon. If not, then...

Then—!

If Nick wasn’t healed, then the Iron Valiant wasn’t sure what it’d do.

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

Roaring Moon

Two chapters on Friday to finish this story off.

Previous Chapter
Next Chapter

Valiant - Chapter 9

Author Note:

Chapter 4.1 came out earlier today. Read it here!

=======================================================================

The Girafarig positioned themselves intentionally. Though weak individually, all the Pokémon together formed an intimidating group. The Pokémon too weak or old to fight stayed in the very back, but every participating Girafarig here knew at least one viable move.

A strange-colored Scream Tail stood at the top of the hill, staring at the grove from its group's exact center. The other Paradox Pokémon around it seemed eager to fight, but it barked out an incomprehensible command, and only three of its Scream Tail started to bound forward.

It was sending the weakest of its group first.

“Ready...” Nick said. He held out a hand to prepare a signal. He waited until the Scream Tail were close. The Iron Valiant could see the whites of the Scream Tail’s eyes, and only then did Nick clench his fist, and with that action, he gave his command.

“Fire.”

The world became defined by whistling beams.

A unified barrage of Psychic-type Psybeams formed a single-colored rainbow that blotted out the growing dusk. None of these moves were anything that would do much individually, but, together, they turned a series of weak blows into a powerful wave.

When the barrage hit, they mostly just broke apart the earth. None of the Scream Tail took that much damage. However, there was something intimidating about such a well-contained and unified strike. The damage dealt was not to their bodies but to their psyche, and as all of the Girafarig glowed to prepare their next attack, the three Scream Tail scrambled back in a panic to escape, needing to never experience anything like that again.

“Good,” Nick said, his eyes not leaving their opponents. “Great job, everyone!”

The Girafarig started to chatter excitedly among themselves, and the Iron Valiant heard a slight whisper come from next to it.

“...Is it wrong that my heart is pounding so hard in my chest?”

The three Scream Tail returned to the others on the hill, and the off-colored one looked ready to snap their heads off. Instead, it just shouted something, and rather than send any further growing number of Pokémon, it had its entire mass of Scream Tail jump down in a charge.

All of the Paradox Pokémon were running toward the grove at once.

“Phase two!” Nick yelled.

The Girafarig held back, but the Farigiraf at the front began to charge. There were only four battle-ready Pokémon between them—the three from before and a fourth that had managed to evolve after figuring out Twin Beam in the past few days. The Iron Valiant joined the charge as well.

The Farigiraf stayed in the front, both pairs of eyes on their heads glowing for a telekinetic defense. The sheer size of their bodies acted as a shield for the Iron Valiant, and a few of the Scream Tail started to scream. That was when the counter-attack began.

Immediately, the Farigiraf shot out spiraling beams, and those smashed into the screaming Scream Tail to get them to stop. Then, behind them, another barrage came out. This one was far less ordered than anything before, but right now, the purpose was not to intimidate but to push the Scream Tail around.

The onslaught of Psybeams was only aimed off to the sides of the running Farigiraf, and any Scream Tail that might have tried to slip around were funneled toward the counter-charge. The lack of order between this group of attackers meant that several of the Paradox Pokémon tried to fall back and hide behind their “allies,” but the important fact of this situation was that it limited just how many could go after the Farigiraf at once.

The hooves trampled the hooves and several of the incoming Pokémon, and then the Iron Valiant tore to the front, serving as the surprise piercer that would instill even more chaos. Leaping right into the mass of bouncing Pokémon, it didn’t bother to pull out its blade. Rather, it spun with its two arms and struck with both at once. It maximized the angles in which it attacked, and it became a blender that carved into any Pokémon around it.

Some of the Scream Tail tried to scream at it. With the Iron Valiant’s positioning, doing so meant they caught their allies as well. These aggressive Pokémon were quick to turn on each other, as when an attack went wide, often one of the Scream Tail would go at one another due to the anger that came from being struck from behind.

Others focus more on melee, but that just gave openings to the Farigiraf. The Girafarig’s ongoing onslaught meant the Scream Tail had little room to move around, and the Twin Beams struck much harder and stronger than anything that came from the sides.

Any Pokémon that tried to run forward would be faced with hooves and blades. Any Pokémon that tried to move to the sides would be assaulted by dozens of Psychic-type blasts. The only direction these Pokémon could reasonably go was to the back—and, indeed, many of these Pokémon started to flee.

But then, a shout came from the grove behind the Iron Valiant.

“Watch out!” a yell came. “It’s creeping forward on your left!”

Without even thinking, the Iron Valiant swung its polearm, connecting the blades on its arms to sweep a powerful swipe to the left. The discolored Scream Tail that served as the leader of this group was caught out in the air, but the sudden slash was blocked to send it bouncing away.

The Farigiraf pushed forward. The Girafarig focused on corralling the other Scream Tail with their Psybeams. The Iron Valiant was left behind with this opponent.

It and the leading Scream Tail stood off, facing each other to have a one-on-one fight.

“It’s a Psychic-type!” Nick shouted. “Go for Fury Cutter!”

Except, even with the other Pokémon pushing past it, the Iron Valiant was not alone.

It was surprised by the revelation that these Pokémon carried the Psychic type while it did not, but that did not matter right now. What mattered was needing to strike.

The Iron Valiant jabbed with its polearm, the glowing crystal of its blade flashing with an off-colored yellow for a strike that mimicked a bug bite. The Scream Tail whipped its hair out—and maybe the way its mane moved did mean there was some kind of telekinetic control to it—but it was successfully able to block the Iron Valiant’s strike.

“Again!” Nick shouted.

The Iron Valiant stabbed again, and this move came with a building fury behind it.

The Scream Tail swung its purple mane into its blow, and it had to shake its head back and forth to maintain the whips that deflected blow after blow.

When the Iron Valiant’s assault became too much, it jumped, and Nick switched to calling out a different command.

“Feint!”

The Scream Tail opened its mouth to bite, but the Iron Valiant just leaned back to slip under it, then it swiped its weapon up to catch it from below.

“Psycho Cut!”

After that, an enhanced edge dug into the purple Pokémon’s body. It was completely caught off guard. It was this hit that, to the Iron Valiant, told it all that it needed to know.

The Iron Valiant would be winning this fight.

Here, it didn’t need to think. It might have been tired after the previous mass fight, but it didn’t need to put any conscious thought behind its moves. It was attacking instinctually and reflexively, and the only thing it needed to focus on was dodging and landing its blows.

It could put its trust into the human shouting at it from behind; Nick could see the entire battle from where he was positioned in the back. As someone who had spent the past several days working on strategy, it made sense that he understood what needed to be done.

All strategy was defined by him, and the Iron Valiant served as his blade. Attack after attack was called out, and each time, the Iron Valiant either blocked or landed an attack.

Eventually, the Scream Tail was panting. Desperate, it opened its mouth to prepare a scream, but the Iron Valiant was already charging straight at it. The vibrations of its move practically disintegrated the air, but it ran through that deafening noise regardless, and it reached a point where it could just barely hear the barest sound of Nick’s next command in the air.

“Gleam!”

His shout was a whisper on the wind, but the Iron Valiant was prepared.

The tip of the Iron Valiant’s blade glowed, and fueled by everything it carried in its chest, a flash exploded against the Scream Tail’s side, and the off-color Pokémon was blasted far, far back.

The Pokémon actually bounced when it hit the ground. Grass churned under its body. It managed to swipe its head to have its mane dig into the ground, and that was enough for it to recover its stance.

Barely standing, it brought its gaze up, and despite its injury, there was still a fight in its eyes. However, the world had turned terribly silent, and it looked around.

Four Farigiraf joined the Iron Valiant from behind, and over a dozen Girafarig stared at it from between the trees in the grove.

Expression wavering, the Scream Tail took a cautious step back.

Then another.

And then another.

Soon, it turned around to burst into a full-fledged scramble to escape, jumping and climbing and crawling up the hill to run, unintentionally feeling in the complete opposite direction that the red of its allies had fled.

When it vanished, there was no more sound. There was only the soft panting of the Farigiraf and Girafarig, but no screams or attacks filled the air. The Scream Tail had all but vanished, this strategy having worked. The sky had turned into the softest of blacks, and not even a single Psybeam tinted that glow.

A voice spoke up.

“We did it.”

Some of the Girafarig began to mumble.

“It worked. The Scream Tail ran off. And after this failure, they aren’t going to attack anymore.”

The Iron Valiant stabbed its polearm into the dirt and leaned into it to rest. In the back, one of the Girafarig raised its head to let out a celebratory bellow. From there, that was the signal that ended this event. So many others of its kind screamed their victory as well, and even the Farigiraf joined in, their shouts practically shaking the earth.

_______________________________________________________________________

The defeat of the Scream Tail started a celebration. The constant cheers from all of the Girafarig shook the trees’ leaves, and the four Farigiraf trotted back to the grove like a group of returning heroes.

Berries were pulled down and passed around. Every Pokémon got to eat. With the threat having been defeated, everyone wanted to have what was essentially a party.

But the Iron Valiant left early.

Slowly, it brought itself back to that same cliff from before, back to the same spot it had first witnessed the three Scream Tail attacking. Its body gave the area around it the faintest of pink glows, and as it was so high up, everything looked so small from up here.

Countless cliffs and platforms stretched into the distance. It could see the trend downward that led into the center of this crater. It was an enormous bowl, a sloped pit. In the very middle, the Iron Valiant knew there were openings and caves that’d lead to where it had spent its entire life, underground and unaware.

“So,” a voice said to its side. “Did you really come up here just to brood?”

The Iron Valiant snapped its head up when it heard Nick’s voice. The human was walking up the hill toward it, carrying a berry in his hands, watching the Iron Valiant with a slight curve to his mouth.

“Kinda expected you to celebrate longer,” he said. “Maybe not party or whatever, but to show off in a few celebratory fights?”

He laughed, and then he arrived. He walked up to the Iron Valiant and deposited himself at its side.

With his legs dangling from the cliffside, Nick kept his expression light. His smile was genuine, and his eyes seemed to glimmer. When he looked down at the grove where the Pokémon were celebrating their safety, there was a measure of pride on his face.

“You know, I mentioned this before. When I first came to this world, I was hiking to find a place to camp with some friends.”

He kicked his legs out over nothing. In his hands, he held a deep blue berry freshly plucked from one of the Girafarig’s trees.

“Well, I called them friends, but I didn’t really know them,” he said, his gaze shifting toward nothing in particular. “We hadn’t talked in a few years, and I kinda just bumped into them by chance. We chatted for a bit, and I somehow brought up how I used to camp all the time with my father. One thing led to another, and I found myself invited along to help them on an upcoming camping trip.”

He leaned back, smiling, but as the Iron Valiant watched him, it realized his expression had changed. He maintained his smile, but the glimmer in his eyes was now absent. His smile shifted down every so slightly, and there was something there the Iron Valiant couldn’t fully understand—it wanted to say the feeling was longing, but the feeling felt closer to something akin to acceptance.

“I know it’s insane to say yes to a camping trip with people you don’t really know, but I did use to know them, so it should have been fine. I just hadn’t kept in touch with anyone because... I was hard. I don’t know.” He let out a long sigh. “Maybe I said yes because I was desperate? It’s hard to want to do things sometimes. Like, you really have to push yourself. I guess I was hoping things would get better if I hung out with those people. I wanted a new start, and, in a way, that really came true.”

He laughed for some reason. The Iron Valiant didn’t know what was so funny. After taking a second to calm down, Nick jabbed his thumbs into the berry, the juice dripping beneath him, and with a yank, he broke the fruit in half.

“Here,” he said, holding one half up, “eat something. You have to get nutrients sometimes.”

The Iron Valiant took it and held it. Nick returned to staring out at nothing at all.

“I’ve never been great at maintaining connections,” he admitted. “It’s just hard to get motivated sometimes. With everything that was going on, I just kinda stopped. I was just one person among so many. As much as it’s nice to have friends, it’s easier to just... not.”

“But I’m here now. In the Pokémon world. And everyone else is back home. I wanted a new start, and I got it. I wouldn’t have said the Pokémon world was my first choice—I would’ve liked to be a wizard or something—but I think, with everything going on...”

He looked up at the Iron Valiant with a genuine smile.

“I’m glad I met you,” Nick said. “We make a good team.”

He took a messy bite of the berry, yelped when it dripped, and then tried to dig through his pack to find something to wipe his mouth with. The Iron Valiant looked away to hide its amusement and then took a small bite of its piece as well, and even more blue juice dripped onto the metal of its chest.

Nick laughed again.

Something about this berry’s flavor was so terribly sweet.

“You know, when we get out of here, I don’t have to leave the crater on my own,” Nick said. “If you really want to—”

His words were cut off.

Above their heads, a crescent shadow blocked out the moon before diving into the grove. Only a second passed before something crashed, and both smoke and screams filled the air.

When the echo of a familiar roar followed all of that, the Iron Valiant knew:

It had escaped the tunnels, and it had followed them.

Even after all this time, the Roaring Moon was back.

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Author Note:

Roaring Moon
Scream Tail

Three chapters left. There'll be one on Wednesday, and then two on Friday to finish everything off.

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Valiant - Chapter 8

Author Note:

There'll be a second chapter out soon after this one.

Patreon has changed the post editor / publisher again. If there's anything off about this chapter, please tell me so I can try to fix it!

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Berries crushed by hooves served as a healing poultice. Juice from those same berries became a medicinal syrup to drink. The assisting Girafarig would freeze whenever the Iron Valiant moved, but, even as wary as they were, they still shared the bounty of their grove as a form of thanks.

Nick sat next to the Iron Valiant but snapped his head up at any unfamiliar noise. Though he wore a confident smile on his face, his reactions spoke of being just as wary as the Girafarig that surrounded them. When the three Farigiraf from before finally approached where the Iron Valiant and Nick rested under a tree, Nick immediately started to talk. The Iron Valiant felt as though Nick needed to speak.

“You need a way to defend yourselves.” The blurted-out phrase inspired bewilderment in the Farigiraf rather than any sense of ease or fright. “The Scream Tail out there—those primal, Jigglypuff things? They barely gathered any berries, but they proved that they could gather berries. Believe me, they will be back.”

Two of the Farigiraf exchanged a look, an unsure thing. The third let its helmet-like mouth close over its head. It was like it lowered a visor; it was purposefully hiding its expression. But, for the briefest of seconds, the Iron Valiant caught its shame.

“New moves would be good and all, but how long would it take you to pick them up? Not to be rude, but this... one is really skilled,” Nick said, gesturing toward the Iron Valiant. “Except, it still took them days to pick up even one attack, and I get the sense that’s not the standard.”

“No,” he said, continuing. “What you need is strategy. And I can help you with that. Just let us stay here for a bit, and I promise we can get you into shape.”

The Iron Valiant could tell what Nick was doing; berries from the grove would help offset the drain on his limited supplies, and resting in one place would let him recover the energy needed to continue his journey out. But really, Nick was nervous. Even now, with the confidence in his voice, he was tapping a leg. The Girafarig had no intention of attacking them here, but out there? Where other Pokémon still wandered about? The Iron Valiant knew it was strong, but both it and Nick had just witnessed how being outnumbered could make individual strength pointless.

Just remembering how the three Scream Tail were able to distract it and then run away grated at the Iron Valiant. It had withstood their attacks, but it had done so at a cost, and its targets had escaped with loot. It had been unable to do anything to seal a win.

Nick had already offered these Pokémon help with new moves, and the speech he was giving was a slight modification of his first offer. Truthfully, they had been allowed into the grove more as a gesture of thanks rather than acceptance, but Nick’s words were making a point—the Iron Valiant had performed the best out of any of them here, and it had still lost. No Pokémon here would be able to win as they were now. If Nick left without doing anything, the Pokémon of this grove would not be able to defend their home—and the Iron Valiant would not be able to defend Nick.

The Farigiraf trotted in place and turned to have a silent discussion, but Girafaring were already gathering around the nearby trees, watching both the Iron Valiant and Nick with a quiet curiosity. His words had sparked something in them, and the Iron Valiant was prepared to stand and point that out to convince the grove’s leaders. But it didn’t need to argue anything. Nick was already convincing enough.

The Farigiraf turned back around and all nodded at once.

They accepted the offer. Strength was something to be developed, and at least for the next little while, everyone here would be training together.

_______________________________________________________________________

When it came to helping these Pokémon fight, the Iron Valiant learned that Girafarig and Farigiraf were a kind of variant fighter it had not expected. They were unlike most species underground as they used neither high physical defense nor speed to handle their opponents’ attacks. Rather, Nick put it succinctly when he described them as “skill-based” and “special” fighters. They would focus more on disrupting moves with kicks and sudden Psychic-type attacks. In a way, they fought in a way not too dissimilar to how the Iron Valiant wielded its weapon, but these Pokémon had to use an explicit move every time they tried to block or deflect a technique.

As the Iron Valiant needed time to heal, Nick was the first to volunteer for a spar. Far too eager for a human, he pulled out that rod he had assembled, and then he circled one weak volunteer of a Girafarig within an open space in the grove. Every click of the weapon’s trigger let electricity crackle at its top as a show of intimidation, but the opposing Girafarig only ever momentarily flinched. He would swing, and the Girafaring would jump back. As weak as it was, it easily outmatched a basic human, and a psychic beam slammed into his chest.

“Gah,” he said with an exhale, rubbing the face of his shirt with his back in the dirt. “Feels like you just punched me right in the gut.”

Nick still stood right after that, and he tried to continue to fight even through the pain.

He lost every time.

But he predicted more and more of the Girafarig’s movements, and it eventually got to the point where he was more willing to talk while the Iron Valiant finally jumped in for training spars of its own.

“Alright,” Nick said as the Iron Valiant exchanged blows with a Farigiraf. It could not mimic how the Scream Tail fought, but it could at least help these Pokémon get used to fighting against a tougher foe. “The thing to remember here is that power is everything. Strategy only works if you have the strength to back it up, and when you do have that strength to back it up, you’re usually just better off landing a direct blow.”

“I would say you should try to learn something like Trick Room since I remember that being good for your species, but that’s a more strategy-based move, and I have no idea how to teach you that or even how to get you to figure it out yourselves,” he said as about a dozen Girafarig gathered around him. “From what I’ve seen—and experience—you all are better off with the basic moves for species. Psybeam and Stomp, mostly. And then for Farigiraf, you should be practicing Twin Beam since that’s needed for you to evolve.”

To the Iron Valiant, Nick’s words almost felt like rambling lies. He had never met Girafarig or Farigiraf before, but he was speaking to them with such confidence that he sounded like he had years of experience. He spouted off beliefs and ideas as if they were cold, hard fact, but once he got to his final point, everything came together. His point made perfect sense.

“You aren’t going to be strong enough to win on your own by the time the Scream Tail come back,” he said, his voice serious. “But, you won’t need to worry about—your power comes from elsewhere. You aren’t individual Pokémon, but you’re an entire herd. Since all of you know ranged moves like Psybeam, practice those. Right now, your power comes as a group.”

The Girafarig looked among each other, and the Iron Valiant dodged a rear-hoof kick from a towering Farigiraf. Both of them paused to look over at Nick, and the Iron Valiant found Nick’s knowing smile curious.

“After all,” the human said, “there are a bunch of you. With you ranged attacks... Have you ever heard of something called a firing line?”

The Iron Valiant tried to use its spars to push itself. It remembered just how awful it felt to let the Scream Tail escape. It tried to take those feelings and inspire something electric within it, but whenever it tried, it would always fail, no matter how much Nick spoke of this being its best way forward.

“Definitely Electric Terrain,” he said to it, long after the Girafarig stopped practicing to rest with the sky having turned completely dark. “You felt like you weren’t strong or fast enough, so you need a boost that carries. Swords Dance or Agility are probably your best moves to do that, but it feels like a waste to work on single stat-boosting moves like that. What you really need to lean into is your ability, Quark Drive. Figure out Electric Terrain up, and it’ll naturally boost what you’re already best at.”

The Iron Valiant fought to inspire the needed feeling and gather any kind of Electric-aligned energy, but nothing ever crackled to the surface. It would watch Nick’s personal spars against the weakest of the Girafarig, but even analyzing the lightning of his electric weapon, the Iron Valiant could not figure out how to bring that raw energy to the surface.

Time passed—the sky changed color. What was blue became black, and what was black became blue. Nick would swing his weapon against the Girafarig, and the Iron Valiant would swing its blades against the Farigiraf. What was intended to be a short stay turned into a stay over a period of days, and tension grew. Everyone knew they had limited time; the Scream Tail would be returning soon enough.

At one point, the full moon hung in the dead center of the sky. Clouds covered its glowing sides. Nick sat at the edge of the grove and stared out into the crater. He watched nothing at all, simply taking in the faint movement of distant Pokémon, and the Iron Valiant stood near him just in case. With how dark it was, it needed to remain on guard for any would-be attackers that might attempt to sneak in.

“Am I doing the right thing?” Nick’s voice was a whisper. “I wanted to get you a place to rest and heal, and I wanted to find some way I could train, myself. Except, I’m now working my butt off to make sure these Pokémon can fight. I even have the bruises to prove it!”

Nick let out a laugh.

“But... is this even helping? Half the time, it’s not even training. I’m just talking at them. Lecturing. I know facts and some tricks. I feel like I’ve jumped into the deep end of training Pokémon without any previous experience whatsoever.”

Behind Nick, the Iron Valiant bowed its head. It could tell that Nick’s actions were assisting with the Girafarig. As a human, he was only barely improving, and the Girafarig kept beating him. But his words, his smiles, and his relentless willingness to continue despite it all inspired something else: more and more each day, the Pokémon were brimming with confidence.

But Nick didn’t notice that. He didn’t turn around. He simply kept staring out into the distance and did not see the Iron Valiant’s reaction.

“If this was the show, the real solution here would be to recruit the Scream Tail to make friends that help defend the grove, but there’s no way that’s going to happen. Those Pokémon are crazy aggressive. They looked like they were prepared to start digging into each other, and they were supposed to be a group. And then, even if we fight them off here, they’ll still be around. Won't they just go and attack the next group of Pokémon that have food?”

Bringing his head into his hands, Nick let out an echoing groan. He then let himself fall back, where he rested on the ground and stared up at the sky.

Clouds drifted by. The moon continued to shine. The Iron Valiant watched the human lie there in silence.

For a while, Nick did not speak.

“I'll talk to someone,” he said eventually. “I already want to make some kind of deal with someone important, so as soon as I find them, I'll work out a way for them to send someone here. I never realized just how much of a mess this crater became with the Professor’s absence, but even if just one Pokémon Ranger sees this place...”

A small smile returned.

“Yeah. That’s the solution. That’s what I need to do. We just need to make sure the Girafarig can defend themselves, and we’ll worry about fixing all of this once we’re out. That means we still need to find a way to get out of here, but, in the meantime, we’ll just need to train.”

A few seconds passed. Quietly, he added, “That's the only way.”

He then got up and returned to set up a place to sleep within the grove.

As the spars continued, the Iron Valiant learned more and more about its faults—not from what Nick told it, but from how it analyzed how it moved. Its slashes were too telegraphed. Its movement took too much build-up. When it sparred against the Farigiraf, it became obvious that it had a weakness at range.

The inability to learn Electric Terrain burned at it. But, even more than that, losing the fleeing Scream Tails had hurt, and it was not a physical pain. The Iron Valiant had lost before, but never like that. It had never felt so helpless until that moment. It never wanted to feel that again.

Every day that passed was another day it threw itself into training. Since it had learned how to better control the energy that fueled its techniques, it could learn more about how to properly unleash those same techniques. Everything needed to come out faster. More powerful. Stronger.

In its spars, one Farigiraf became two.

Then two Farigiraf became three.

Eventually, it would face the Farigiraf while Girafarig circled the space in which it sparred. The unevolved Pokémon would fire off Psybeams during the fight that the Iron Valiant would have to deflect, block, and dodge.

And then, the sky became purple. Morning and night crossed the land several times over. After one long day of nothing but practice, Nick yawned, his hair a mess, his clothes stained with dirt, and a certain quiet fell over the clearing.

The clouds were building. The barest start of the night began to peek over the mountaintops. From where it was resting, the Iron Valiant stood to pull out its weapon and walked to the front of the grove.

Girafarig moved to take up positions in the bushes and between the trees. Evolved Farigiraf joined the Iron Valiant at its sides.

From behind them, Nick walked up to join them where they stood in the center, and everyone was ready to battle.

The entire grove stared out into the distance.

Silence stretched into the incoming night.

And a certain group of Scream Tail, perched at the top of a hillside, all stared right back.

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Author Note:

Girafarig / Farigiraf
Scream Tail

Nick is introducing the most terrifying thing possible: an entire herd of militarized giraffes.

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