The Redwood Saga (Pokémon Fanfiction, Crossover)

Sahqoreyth · Mar 16, 2024

Preface

The story you are about to read is a prologue to the following chapters, which are set quite a few years in the past, at the beginning of this saga, but that does not make the upcoming story the end. Just the first glimpse of a larger tale.

Old readers should know that as of January 2024, much of the early parts of the story have been re-written, and in my opinion, improved. New readers should know that, due to time constraints, new chapters usually take a minimum of a month or two to write, edit, and publish. It might also take much longer. They're ready when they're ready.

It is important to note that while I will attempt to make everything as 'canon-friendly' as possible in this story, I will not always succeed. If you notice any errors in my 'lore' that clash with what's generally established in the Pokéverse (or established within the lore of the fanfic), feel free to PM me and let me know, all feedback is appreciated. Also note that much of this is headcanon, and is subject to change if Nintendo ever gives us information on areas of the world mentioned in the story. When it comes to new regions and their inhabitants, assume they exist but haven't been mentioned yet.

The world featured in this story is meant to be a fusion of our Earth, set many, many thousands of years in the future from our current era, and the Pokémon world, with all the familiar faces you would expect, as well as faces from other anime/stories, but with Pokémon. Categorically, I would classify this tale as a crossover/adventure saga, but it will Always stay set, primarily, in a slice of the Pokéverse. Later chapters may see us hop universes/dimensions, but again, we will always circle back to Pokémon.

Also note, the usual Pokémon protagonists are all quite a bit older in this Pokéverse. This will be elaborated on in the future, but for now, go forward understanding that some of the people, regions, and names may be identical or similar to the real world's. For example, Kalos may sometimes be referred to as 'France' as well, but the people living in that region don't quite remember why. 'Japan' is typically used to refer to the regions based on real Japan, from the Sevii Islands to Sinnoh.

Also important to note, much of the information about the 'ancient world' and the time before Pokémon is only available to these characters because of the 'Pokénet', a similar and futuristic version of the internet. When it was created again, much of the data from the 'ancient world' was lost, but not all, and between books and several websites, the people of this time know a bit about the planet's ancient history. To them, humanity's cataclysmic fall, and then rise with the arrival of Pokémon and the Earth being restored to balance by Arceus himself, is somewhat common knowledge. Again, it will be elaborated upon. Eventually.

When it comes to 'fakemon', I take the same approach I do with the lore. If it makes sense, and is likely to pop up in wherever the story is centered, you may see some headcanon friendly versions of Pokémon enter the story, but as a rule I try to avoid making entirely new Pokémon, with the only notable exceptions usually being Mega Forms, and one or two Legends. Regional variants, gender variants, etc. are all potentially fair game as well, but again, I tend to stick with what is released by default. Names, traits, etc. of these Pokémon are subject to change when/if Nintendo gives us info on them.

One final note; the content of this story is probably not safe for a work environment. So, read it openly and obviously at your own risk. Most of the 'mature' content will be relating to 'drugs', termed in the story as 'Leaf'. I shouldn't have to tell you what it's based on. It's kind of obvious. Any overtly sexual scenes will be with my short stories on FFN. As of writing this, there are a few moments and not-so-subtle innuendo that probably is not appropriate for people under 16. There are also a few rather gory moments, though I typically leave most of the unnerving details of such things to your mind's eye.

For those interested, my Deviant Art page has several pictures, Maps, trainer cards, amongst other things, that fans of the story may enjoy. Mostly, it's home to maps of the Earth as it was reshaped by Arceus, as well as several regions, some custom some not custom but updated/expanded for this particular Pokéworld, that usually include a wider scope of what's around them. If that piques your interest, find Pokefan1337 on DA and enjoy.

Without any further ado, I give you...
(But if you want more ado, here's a map of the world, and the entirety of Unova)

pokemon_world_map_spoiler_free_by_pokefan1337_dfms35t-pre.jpg

Pokémon: The Redwood Saga

Prologue

The Gohara Desert – Plateau in Central Eurafricasia

He'd underestimated the locals when they'd told him how high the plateau was. Even with all his skill, it had taken most of the day to finally reach the top of the massive plateau, known in these parts as the 'Master Plateau'. There was a reason nobody climbed up here. The wind was too strong for most flying types, and though several of his teammates had been eager to test that, he had ultimately decided to test himself against nature instead.

Nature, for her part, was pushing back. The wind almost reminded him of Norstad, but it lacked the bitter, freezing cold. Looking around, he didn't see or sense anything for miles. He was alone, on the top of the world. He stared at the fiery sunset on the horizon for a moment, and then turned his deep blue eyes back to the barren emptiness around him. This was, as promised, the ideal place to train his team. At their level, a sparse field in a forest simply wasn't going to work. They were too destructive, if they wanted to train seriously and not catch some one or some thing in the crossfire of their ultimate moves.

The wind gusted suddenly, and the Trainer growled in irritation, one large hand clamping his black and gold hat down against his head before it could fly off. The hat itself was a throwback, to several years earlier, in terms of style. Most Trainers would recognize the style as Unovan, based on the era that saw the twins, Hilbert and Hilda, take down Team Plasma's first incarnation. It was an ordinary Trainer hat, really. Black in front, gold in back, with the symbol of his homeland front and center at the top against the black background. The symbol of eternal Balance, a Taijitu sphere of black and white.

His dark brown curly hair, as always in a constant state of 'needing a trim', curled up from under the edges of the hat, and was being windblown by the absurd speed of the wind on this treeless, deserted plateau. He hated when the wind messed with his hair, but there were more important things to deal with. Training in this kind of wind was going to be a problem for most of his team.

At a height of six foot five inches, or one hundred and ninety five point eight centimeters, the Trainer usually towered over most people he met. He wasn't fat per se, but if his clothes were baggy enough, he could appear that way thanks to his stupidly large body type. His current attire was the opposite of baggy however, as it fit his form with a tightness he wasn't used to, and highlighted his musculature far more than what he usually wore, but only when he moved. Human-made fabric simply wasn't as comfortable as what the Dragon had given him early in his training, but one simply did not turn down the attire one earned at the World Tournament.

The black and gold robe whipped wildly in the fierce wind. The symbol of the Original Dragon that was on his hat was on the back of his garment as well, and underneath, he wore a plain black shirt with a green Pokéball symbol upon it. His black and white pants, he'd kept unchanged, as he saw no reason to change them out, and he still enjoyed wearing the otherworldly material around his more…sensitive regions. They were black going up to his waist and crotch, as well as along his inner thigh, but the outer edge was a stripe of white all the way down on both sides. As his robe was usually tied, nobody really saw his pants.

Black flames contrasted with the gold coloring of the robe around its bottom edge, and its sleeves, which he'd been told was called a 'Haori' back in Japan. Given the nature of the World Tournament, and having been dominated by Ash Ketchum for so long, the Japanese attire hadn't really surprised him. The Japanese Leagues were incredibly popular, and easy to watch, and their clothing styles had caught on once the aforementioned World Champion had continued his winning streak against the strongest Trainers the world had to offer, every four years. He did genuinely like the garment, which came down to his ankles, or would have, if not for the wind, flaring it out behind him. He would've felt epic if he was battling like this.

While mostly gold, by request, he'd asked for the black flamelike pattern on the bottom of his relatively new attire to be added once he'd earned it. An obvious homage to a certain anime protagonist, and a subtle reference to his not-so-secret weapon. The wind gusted again, and as he felt even his large frame lifting from the ground, he decided enough was enough as he stamped his stupidly large feet firmly onto the plateau and cemented them there atop the earth. He focused his mind, and let the breath build within his lungs, but before he could do anything, the wind suddenly ceased. He exhaled softly, somewhat disappointed. He liked clearing the skies.

Ceased was the wrong word, for the wind still moved his attire with a light breeze, a credit to its strength, given that Air Lock was supposed to remove all weather effects. He looked up to see the long, snake-like form of his Rayquaza, arcing through the clouds. He was, as far as he knew, the longest Rayquaza on record. It made sense, for he was also apparently the first, and therefore the oldest. Or so the Legendary dragon had told him. He gave the Rayquaza a nod of thanks, and he could've sworn the dragon was smirking at him. He had no earthly idea as to why, but the ancient dragon had surveyed his training before, and he didn't mind. He tended to have useful insights, and the man considered him a friend and an ally, free to roam the skies as he pleased until he was needed. They had stopped several natural disasters in the making together, though he had no idea why Rayquaza was here now, quite far from where the Trainer knew he preferred to rest between meals.

After he adjusted his hat, the Trainer once more surveyed the area, and began mentally setting up locations for where his team would train, and with whom. As he reached for the camouflage patterned Pokéball, as always, in point position, a voice interrupted him mid-throw. "Hello there!" The Trainer turned, and stared the intruder down, slowly raising an eyebrow at what his eyes revealed. To all appearances, a perfectly normal looking human.

Normal, in this case, was a term he applied to the general masses of humanity that had yet to awaken their psychic potential. Even amongst them however, this man would've stuck out. The shape of his body was round at the bottom, and thin all the way up. His first thought, was how similar his shape looked to a bong, a glass instrument used in the smoking of Leaf, a herb this Trainer was particularly fond of, but not reliant on. Trainers the world over, particularly those with grass types, often shared it at Pokémon Centers, and the man was, at his core, a lover of grass types, and their relaxed vibes.

"Well well." The strangely shaped man said, "It seems the rumors are true after all. Unova's Rayquaza has a new Tamer." Alexander Redwood raised a brow at the man approaching from about a Pokéfield length behind him. He'd had his Rayquaza for years. Most people who followed Trainers with his kind of record knew that, though he supposed it was possible the man simply hadn't heard before. He didn't really use Rayquaza for battling, as he was more of a friend and advisor. Rayquaza appeared in the clouds again, and the ancient dragon coiled his massive body in the air, resting on said coils, and watched the pair from his lofty perch. Alex knew that through that dragon's eyes, his other mentors were likely watching him as well. Bunch of old crotchety bastards. He did like them, even if their sage wisdom occasionally left him more confused than anything else.

"He found me worthy." Alex said as the man across from him stopped, and put his hands on his hips. His attire didn't help his oddly shaped body. His bag stuck out from his overly round hip, not unlike the slide one filled with Leaf before smoking it. Alex resisted chuckling, despite the absurdity. There was something off about this Trainer and his appearance here, but he couldn't quite figure it out. His own psychic senses again confirmed the man was, seemingly, a normal human but Alex knew there was something special there.

He wore a robe similar in style to Alex's, so similar in fact, that it was uncanny. It was white, rather than gold, and a swirl of artfully woven red lines moved to Alex's right around the bottom. When the garment shifted, they appeared to swirl, almost like water, or smoke. His shirt was a plain, smokey gray, and his pants were white cargo shorts, several years out of style. Even his head fit the uncanny similarity to a bong, for his hat was white with an open top, which revealed an entirely bald head underneath.

The symbol on the hat was green, but rather than the normal leaf symbol, or even the spiky variant found in Grassium crystals, this leaf symbol had five prongs, each looking slightly serrated. Alex shook his head, and bit his tongue. His eyes were probably red as well, and though it was hard to see at this distance, he knew that look, the look of someone who was enjoying the highs a bowl of the Leaf gave. This had to be a prank. He was about to tell the tourist to kindly piss off, when he noticed a familiar stone on the strap of the man's bag. A legitimate Trainer, apparently, despite his appearance.

"I assume you're here for a Battle, then?" Alex smirked. The fact that he hadn't sensed this man at all had piqued his interest, something many Trainers unfortunately failed to do these days. Being in the world's top tier of Trainer could be boring at times, and after the World Tournament, many people recognized him, but only a few actually wanted to battle. He couldn't really blame them.

The man nodded. "My name is Clarence. Grass Type user. The best Grass Type user, I'd wager. I've beaten all the others that are of note. All except you, and your Torterra." Alex nodded, understanding. Of course. He was here for Terra. Everyone wanted a piece of the fabled 'Yggdrasil', and his legendary defense.

"I'm not strictly a Grass Type user." Alex said, flaring his robe open as he began reaching for the power, deep within. The strange new arrival was treated to the sight of what had to be at least fifty Pokéballs, clipped and miniaturized along the robe's insides. Alex kept his eyes from flaring up with his power, he had summoned just enough for a battle connection with his first Pokémon. Trainers with his kind of abilities had been allowed by the League, provided they stayed in their own heads, and verbally issued orders. Said orders did not have to be moves, though. Clarence eyed the collection of balls with a cursory examination, but his focus was on the camouflage patterned one still in Alex's hand.

"I'm aware…your team is rather impressive, I admit, but I've seen plenty of impressive teams. You heard me, Redwood. I didn't come to this Arceus-forsaken wasteland for the rest of your belt. I want your Torterra." The man was smirking, but Alex pinched his brow, and sighed.

"Everyone thinks they can handle my Torterra." He said, looking up again, and then gestured at the field. "But, you're in luck. This is actually a battlefield that could handle his punishment. He might only break half the plateau."

The smirk disappeared, and what replaced it was hard to make out. Fear, perhaps? Constipation? "Break half of the Master Plateau? You're overselling, Redwood. I'm ready to buy, too much, and I'll lose interest. And then who will be left to challenge you? Who would take the risk?"

The smirk left Alex's face as well. "You incorrectly assume that the rest of my team is as wild as Shruikan. He's a Dragon Type. Honestly, it's like you people forget what Salamence are best known for. Ferocity. Everyone loses control, sometimes. That's why we have our friends to bring us back to our senses." The mood had shifted, at least for Alex and his team, who were connected by a series of mental links, stemming from their Trainer and forming a mental web of sorts through which they could share thoughts, feelings, and words. They did not take kindly to people who insulted members of their family. Alex kept their anger in check, however. There would be time to use it.

Before more words were exchanged, Clarence drew, and threw his own Pokéball. "Brute Root! This is the Trainer. Prepare for Battle!" The Venusaur let out an impressive roar as the flash of green light that accompanied its arrival faded. It was certainly one of the stronger male specimens Alex had seen, and unique in that the ten serrated-edged petals atop his tree were a deep forest green, rather than pink. Moreover, there was another stone upon its thick trunk stemming from its back, a Venusaurite. It had been a while since he'd met a Trainer who didn't use his method to reach a Mega Form.

A quick glance told Alex that this Venusaur, for whatever reason, was a pure grass type. There was no poison typing with it, which only further increased the strangeness of this Trainer. Pure grass type Venusaur weren't unheard of, but they were usually ancient, wild, or responsible for breeding many Bulbasaur. Such offspring would then go into the world, and usually acquire the poison typing from the pollution human cities still produced, despite their best efforts to stymie it.

"Impressive," Alex said, nodding at the Venusaur. Old memories of his own Venusaur, who had also been a pure grass type albeit with normal colored petals, filled his mind. His time as a League Pokémon had made him more of a breeder than a battler, which meant he stayed home at the Lab, these days. "I still don't think he can handle Terra, though…recall him. I don't want to hurt such a unique Venusaur. They're a favorite of mine…"

Clarence's expression shifted to a grin. "I know." Before Alex could ask what that meant, the Trainer opposite him pressed two fingers to his Key Stone, and Alex sighed. Evidently, this battle was happening, despite his warning. Oh well. He'd tried.

"Respond to my heart, Key Stone! MEGA EVOLVE!" Clarence shouted, as his Venusaur climbed to the next level of power in a long, drawn out sequence that really wasn't needed. Lines of Infinity Energy connected the Trainer and his chosen partner, as they slowly advanced Brute Root to his Mega Form.

"Are you done?" Alex asked, once the Venusaur was finished. It certainly looked impressive, and he had to admit he was curious as to why it radiated a familiar Stunky-esque scent from its newer, larger petals, but he still knew it was no match for Terra. Then again, he'd been wrong before.

"Saaaauuuur!" The Mega Venusaur roared a challenge that one didn't need psychic powers to interpret. Alex glanced down at his hand, feeling a twitch from Terra's ball. He'd been called out by a fellow grass type, and was more than willing to put this Venusaur in its place.

Alex shrugged. "It seems Terra wants to accept your challenge. Very well." Clarence raised a brow as his opponent gave the ball a casual underhand toss high into the air, and in another flash of green, a large Torterra appeared on the barren, rocky field.

Terra was everything one expected a titanic earth turtle to grow into. Like his Trainer, he had grown larger over the course of their adventures, and had to be pushing, in Clarence's estimate, eight hundred pounds. Minimum. His legs were not dissimilar to the species of tree in his Trainer's surname. Large, thick, and sturdy with large but well-maintained rocky toes on each leg. His shell was massive, easily large enough to ride, or camp on. The Ash tree on said shell was set in the center, and was large enough for a pair of Decidueye to roost comfortably, and the massive spikes on the right side of the shell were mirrored by three more on the left. That, more than anything, set Terra apart from his species, though such growths weren't unheard of in Torterra that lived long enough. With tending and care, Trainers could help keep their grass turtles from becoming unbalanced by their trees, and often, more stone spikes would grow to compensate, as said trees shifted to the shell's center. Moss covered each rocky spike, and gave the massive turtle the appearance of a Pokémon in his prime.

Despite all of that, Clarence appeared undeterred, as did his Venusaur. As impressive as Terra was, he was still just a Torterra. Terra looked back at his Trainer once he took stock of his opponent, and was seemingly unimpressed. "Torterra?"

Alex shrugged, seeming to perfectly understand what his starter was asking. "If you want. There's no reason to restrict yourself. This time."

"Terra." The earth turtle nodded, and then began to glow green, as a green aura surrounded his titanic form. The green almost metallic looking square affixed to his shell just above his head flared with the Infinite grass typed energy that he could use to power his evolution, and strengthen his attacks. With that, the already massive Pokémon began to evolve.
His form shifted as streams of green light arced up and behind Terra into the air, while similar streams of Infinity Energy from Alex's own Key Stone did the same, emanating from somewhere on his right hand. They met in the air, and catapulted his Torterra to the next stage of his species evolution at a much faster rate, compared to the Venusaur. The white horns on either side of his head grew longer, sharper, and the green that usually covered his head became white, connecting to his new head spikes, and forming a helmet of sorts. His tail lengthened as well, and a pair of deadly looking spikes on either side of the now clubbed tip shot out, just as long and sharp as the pair on his head. Each of the stone protrusions from his shell were humming with power growing the Torterra further in size, until he'd finished changing. The massive Torterra roared, and slammed the ground with his tail as the light faded, and his aura pulsed through the ground. The plateau around them trembled as the titanic tortoise stomped on it.

"Last chance." Alex said, smirking as the entire plateau ceased shaking. "I really don't want to injure your Venusaur. Now you know I'm not overselling. Recall him, and we'll enjoy a bowl of Leaf instead. Something tells me you'd like that." He couldn't help chuckling now, this was too ridiculous.

Clarence's hand moved, by pure instinct at the offer of Leaf, towards his Venusaur's ball, and then it stopped. He grinned. "Fascinating. No command…it just changed on its own...and so quickly. I didn't believe it. I guess Plates can cause Mega Evolution."

Alex raised a brow from under his hat. "This isn't exactly new information…people have been using Plates and crystal shards made from said Plates for Mega Evolution for…years, now. Have you been living under a rock?"

Clarence stiffened, and his Venusaur looked back at him. "Something like that… years, eh? Hmmm…let's just say that, where I come from, Mega Evolution in general is…a touchy subject."

Alex nodded. With the explosion of new Mega Forms the Plates had revealed, had come new problems. That much Infinite Energy coursing through a Pokémon, could have damaging side-effects. Without proper mastery and control, the Mega Forms could go berserk, and long-term usage could even, if wielded improperly, cause fatal injuries, or retire them from battling altogether.

As Alex had something of a hand in making Mega Evolution so easily available through Plates and their shards, Alex had also taken steps to find a solution to that particular issue. It hadn't been easy, but the results spoke for themselves: a world in which a Trainer, once they had a proper bond, could Mega Evolve their beloved partner without worrying about killing them. Normally, the influence of one Trainer wouldn't have much of an effect, but after it was discovered that his method actually worked better than just pointing and pumping Infinity Energy into one's partner, many Trainers chose to learn it, rather than risk hurting their Pokémon. Those were the people he gladly taught the technique.

Those who only cared about using their Pokémon as a weapon, with unlimited access to the most powerful evolution phenomenon yet discovered, and there were many, had not been taught the technique. He had suspicions a few had found ways around that, but for the most part, the scum of the earth was kept from limitless power. Pokémon were tools to them, but those tools would die, and need replacing, if they used Infinity Energy too often. Many countries had still opted to forbid Mega Evolution in their Leagues, but Alex hoped that someday, they'd change their minds. He'd travel to all of them, if he had to. Everyone deserved to battle on the same level, if they could handle such a thing.

"I understand." Alex said, finally, "But where I come from, it's been found to be harmless, now that we understand it." The problem with energy overload had been a uniquely Plate based phenomenon. Several Kalos Trainers had discovered that using Mega Stones limited the amount of Infinity Energy pouring into their partners, to the point that it could be safely ignored if their bond was strong and their hearts were one. That method of reaching the next evolutionary form had, if he was being honest, been what led Alex to his own discovery of keeping the power of Arceus from damaging his creations. Either way, Mega Stones were still nowhere near as useful as the Plates. They could evolve any Pokémon that had the same typing as the crystal or Plate in question, and the only thing a Trainer needed was a Key Stone, and a bond strong enough to handle the sheer power of Mega Evolution.

"I will admit…" Clarence said, eyeing Terra, "I was seriously tempted to take your offer. That Torterra is…well, look at him!" Terra slammed the ground again, though whether it was for effect or a result of impatience, Alex couldn't tell. Probably a bit of both.

"Impressive as you both are, it's not important. I don't care how many Badges you have, or how many regions worship the ground you walk on, oh future 'Tamer of Arceus'." Clarence said through a smirk as he used finger quotation marks, "I will have the Battle I came for!"

"Saaauuuur!" To Alex's ears, Brute Root echoed his Trainer's sentiment.

Alex sighed again. They really weren't backing down. "Alright. Fine." He said, finally giving in. He turned his hat backwards, the Meadow and Earth Plate crystal shards that were a part of the strap that held the hat in place and adjusted its size, became much more noticeable. He gave his usual smirk as he spoke. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

Author's Note: And that's the Prologue. It's a bit disconnected from where the first chapter begins, but I promise, the reason for starting here, will be obvious when we, eventually, get there the long way 'round. I do want to mention that there's a short story pretty much exclusively on Fanfiction dot Net called the Trainer Exam that goes over more of the time preceding the first chapter. I just don't really know where to put it chronologically, so with the short stories it remains. If you have trouble finding it, just DM me and I can send you another link.

I'm not going to pester you guys every chapter to remind you to favorite or review or comment. Though I obviously do appreciate them, and reviews that offer advice or call out inconsistencies that I will inevitably miss, with a story this size. I saw the Traveler mention he had 94 pages on word on average (which I always assumed was too much for some reason), and since then, I've kinda accepted it as a bit of a challenge, and made it the minimum length for mine. Chapters are, usually, broken up by scene transitions, so for those of you who don't like length, I recommend using those as a 'bookmark' of sorts. They'll all be in bold, and hopefully easy to scroll to.

Finally, I've mentioned this in notes further on, but it should probably also be mentioned here, the World Tournament wouldn't be much of a World Tournament if it was just characters I make up or use for it. So if you have an OC you want to see, either as a participant, or potentially (someday) a Gym Leader or one of the Elite Four, or somewhere else in the setting, send me their name, any notable personality quirks, and their team. I will endeavor to use all submissions as you, their creator, want them to be used, so don't forget to mention where you'd like to, potentially, see them.

Enjoy.

Sahqoreyth · Mar 16, 2024

Chapter 1: The Final Semester

"It's the final Battle! Who will bask in the glory of the Championship!? …And there's the Flamethrower!" The announcer shouted, as the Charizard responsible inhaled, and let out a torrent of fire at his opponent, which was another Charizard.

A young Alexander Redwood stared in awe, as Leon, the current World Champion, faced off against Alain, the reigning Champion of the Kalos League, in an all out Charizard versus Charizard brawl from the carpeted floor of their TV room. The two Champion level teams had traded off Knock Outs throughout the match, which had taken most of the evening, and Alex, along with his brother and younger cousins, were all watching, spellbound but occasionally yawning, as their eldest cousin Geralt idly mastered becoming a Berry Ninja on his Rotophone. Despite his aloof attitude, he too was watching with some interest. Not enough to pull him from his game, though. Leon always won.

"A clash of Dragon Claws in this fiery, white-hot brawl!" The announcer continued. Leon smirked then, and Geralt sat up, for the finale, noting a few of their youngest cousins had drifted off to Dream World. "Here it comes, kiddos. Watch."

The little humans looked at their cousin, and then at the TV. "Charizard! Thunder Punch!" Leon gave the command, and the pair of fire lizards entangled in a Dragon Claw clash struggled, only for Leon's to duck low, and bring Alain's partner with him. His Mega Form had faded after a previous round of hard battling against Leon's Rillaboom, but Leon's Charizard was also tired from battling and expending its signature G-Max Wildfire on Alain's Metagross. At that moment however, it was clear which fire lizard had more fuel left in the tank.

As Alain's partner was dragged down with Leon's, his right claw drew back, sending Alain's Charizard into the ground, where its Dragon Claw stuck fast. Then, came the counter. A thunderous uppercut, right to the jaw, sent Alain's Pokémon sailing onto his back with a landing hard enough to kick up dust. Their moves faded, and Leon's partner was panting hard as it stared down its opponent. Alain's Charizard raised its head, growled, and then fell, fainted, and out of energy.

The announcer sound very hyped as he shouted into his mic, "What a strike! That's what a Battle is all about! It's completely unpredictable! Once more Galar's Unbeatable Champion claims victory from the fires of this white-hot Battle!" Alex's brow furrowed as, being the oldest, he noticed Geralt had predicted the ending. He looked back at the screen as the shot changed to show Leon.

It was as Alex took in the Unbeatable Champion of Galar striking his iconic pose that he knew what he wanted to be. What he wanted to do. The same thing literally every child in their Pokémon-focused society wanted: to be the very best. To climb to the peaks Trainers like Lance, the Dragon Master, and the Unbeatable Champion Leon had. To protect the world, alongside Pokémon, travel with them, live with them, and train alongside them. His tiny mind already knew he wanted a Charmander.

Unfortunately, fate had other plans. At that moment, his father came into the room, shut off the TV, and scolded Geralt for letting the little ones stay up so late. Never mind that not one of them had gone to bed when Alex had defied the tweenager's orders, and stuck by him in solidarity. That night, Alex's dreams were filled with images of him, standing before the living wildfire that was a Gigantamaxed Charizard, wielded by arguably the best Trainer of his time. He was older though, confident, smirking. He turned his hat backwards like Ash Ketchum did in the ever-popular Pokémon cartoon series, and sent his own Charizard in to battle Leon's.

When he awoke, it was to his parents telling him they were driving south from their family's ranch/Pokémon Lab, to Unova proper, to see a doctor. He was told to behave, and while he planned to, he also constantly babbled about Pokémon on the way down. His parents had to remind him almost every five minutes that he'd get one when he was older, but clearly, the youngster was eager to start. While this behavior was normal in other regions and families, for whatever reason, Alex's school teacher had convinced his parents it was somehow abnormal, and combined with his tendency to be mild, shy, and aloof with other kids, she deemed it a sign of some kind of deficiency but one that, Praise Arceus, could be studied and cured by the wonderful technology of the Arcean Church.

She was a devout member of a powerful and influential religious cult led by their self-proclaimed Prophet, Caleb Pravus, that essentially controlled the entire western half of the States that made up the north american continent, and was based in the Fornia region's capital of Sacreus. Their general tenets encouraged the general (and poorer) members of the Church to seek out those dissatisfied with Unova's wild and free lifestyle, and give them a path to Arceus and his Light. She also happened to be friends with Alex's mother, who usually bought into what her friend was selling, though not enough to pay the entry fee to actually join the Church.

Alex's father, Frederick Redwood, was not an Arcean himself, nor was he an unintelligent man. He knew what the Arcean's Prophet was, and didn't really care one way or the other. He was more concerned that his firstborn son, who would become the Redwood Ranch's owner if he had his way, was far too obsessed with Pokémon training. His teacher had convinced them that the renowned Doctor Frank Ein could provide the guidance young Alex needed, and so, it was to Doctor Ein that he was brought.

Being the tender age of seven, Alex didn't have much of an attention span for adult talk, and he would live to regret not paying attention to what Doctor Ein said as he dazzled his parents with his wall of framed certificates and degrees. He didn't have them just for psychology though, were one to look closely, they would find that Frank Ein was apparently a certified expert on all known species of Pokémon, human biology, Pokémon and human genetics, among several other fields of study. That the man was well-learned, nobody could deny, and his flashing of degrees was enough to convince the Redwoods to let him examine their seven year old in the same manner Fornian parents did, when 'maladaptive tendencies' were detected early in life. Such 'deficiencies' would be measured on a device known to members of the Church, as a Pokémeter. Doctor Ein also spent no small amount of time selling them on the 'scientific veracity' of the Pokémeter, through which the Redwoods smiled and nodded.

Once alone with the boy in a separate but adjacent room that was purposefully bland in terms of decoration, Doctor Ein explained in child-friendly terms how the Pokémeter worked, and within those soundproofed walls, claimed the device could measure the latent potential in a person, to see how good of a Trainer they could become. This was not what he'd told his parents it did. They had been fed a lie about brain waves and some such nonsense, but in this instance, the truth would be more appealing to the child, and Alex hadn't noticed the discrepancy. He was all in for finding out if he had Pokémon Trainer potential.

Alex did as he was instructed, taking hold of the two almost unnaturally silver canisters attached by long wires to the machine. He dropped them, as they buzzed in his hands and surprised him, but on the second grab he held firm. Ein had been mentally preparing to suggest that Alex's parents enroll him in Arcean based classes that would refine his behavior and his potential as a Trainer as the needle rose, when the machine registered something odd. A sleeping source of power in the child, that pushed the Pokémeter's needle into the red.

The significance of what this indicated, had long been lost. Pokémeters had once been used by the first Tamer of Arceus himself, the man who was also their inventor, to try to find a worthy successor to work with Arceus, but nobody in the modern era knew this. Not even Doctor Ein. All that meter readers like him knew, was that if they found someone, especially a child with that unnatural potential to tame Arceus himself, they were to do everything in their power to keep them from becoming a Trainer. By order of the Prophet. Like many of Pravus' orders, this was not a public one, and only applied to those deemed suitably conditioned enough to be meter readers. The reality was that most of them didn't know the significance of the meter's reading either. Ein was an exception, and a master of expanding the Church's reach. Caleb Pravus had tried getting a foothold in Unova for a long time.

Not being entirely heartless, as Ein could tell the boy adored Pokémon, he decided to make a call, to his superiors. If he could be used by them, he could become a powerful asset. Maybe even one of the Prophet's Hands. Over several minutes, the call made its way to the Prophet of the Church himself, which was when Ein skillfully argued, in the privacy of his personal office adjacent to the meter room, that the boy could be a useful pawn. Caleb Pravus however, had other plans, and ordered the rules to be followed in this instance. Pokémeter readings like Alex's happened, but they were rare enough that the Arcean Church had become wary of them. The last child candidate they'd almost ensnared, the third Alolan Champion, Elio, had not worked out well for their plans to set up shop in Alola, and had in fact ended in them being run out of the region by the Island Kahunas. He did not want to lose what little they'd gained in the rational populace of Unova, and the last thing he needed was another Unovan Champion. Had Pravus but asked the boy's name, things might've turned out very differently, but the callous nature of the Arcean Prophet shielded Alex from the sins his granduncle, one Professor Gilroy Redwood, had committed against the Arcean Church in the past, and thus his fate was set in motion.

"Good news, Alex." Ein said, projecting warmth as he smiled at the patient, quiet, and evidently quite talented seven year old. "Your results are good. Very good. You may even be a Trainer on Leon's level, some day." Alex's deep blue eyes got big, as they filled with hope, oblivious to the slight sneer Ein had on his face. With that said, they returned to his parents in a room that was like a faux office, for receiving visitors. It had the degrees and the certifications Ein had needed the Church to fabricate after his time in the criminal organization known as Cipher, but the back office was where the records, dirty secrets, and landline phone were kept. The only way back there, was through the typically locked Pokémeter room.

As Alex excitedly opened his mouth to tell his parents about his Leon-level potential for training Pokémon, Ein spoke first. "I am afraid, Mr. and Mrs. Redwood, that your son has a rare neurological disorder; Pokénylketonuria." When the two adults shared a look of confusion, Ein helpfully continued, as Alex found himself unable to even speak. He didn't quite grok 'neurological' except that it related to brain stuff, but he did know what a disorder was. Either way, it was not what the previously seemingly kind Doctor had told him he had. He tried to speak, but could only swallow as a result of the attempt, and during his moment of shock, Doctor Ein sealed his fate with a subtle air of sadistic glee.

His parents didn't see it, but Alex narrowed his eyes. The slight smirk on Ein's face, that superior, confident look. He was lying, and what was worse, was that his parents were buying it.

"Pokénylketonuria is a rare disorder, and unfortunately one that will disqualify young Alex from being able to receive a Trainer Card, or indeed even own a Pokémon of his own. Given that it is a mental deficiency, it simply isn't safe for him to be in control of creatures as powerful and wild as Pokémon can be, both for him and whatever Pokémon he ends up with. I'm afraid he will never be a Trainer, and this condition may limit other areas of his life as well." This was, in its entirety, a load of Tauros dung. No Pokémon League in the world denied potential Trainers a card, as they were extremely convenient and could act as passports. Nor did they discriminate by the status of one's brain, be it slightly different or 'normal', the Leagues only denied hardened criminals Pokémon access, and even most of those got to see them when in Prison.

Unfortunately, despite living next to a Pokémon Lab, and with a Pokémon Professor, neither of Alex's parents knew of these arcane League bylaws, as most citizens of their world wouldn't even fathom something like forcibly denying access to a Pokémon partner. They also were not Trainers themselves, and had always treated Pokémon as a source of income, rather than friends. To them, the Doctor's rationale was sound. As the ones who had to pay for materials when their Tauros or Bouffalant destroyed fencing with battles, they considered Pokémon to be dangerous, if they were angry. Despite being a source of income, they gave them a good life, of course. Fed them, got them medicine when they got sick, let them create families, and essentially a home for themselves. Alex's father Frederick was more of a numbers guy than an actual rancher, and his mother considered them filthy beasts, which to be fair, they were.

Ein then brought out a holochart board to add to his load, and demonstrated, on a graph with no labels for what was being measured, the relative levels of 'danger' between a child without a neurological disability battling with Pokémon, and one with Alex's condition. The bars for his condition were exorbitantly high, and Alex even swore Ein gave them a larger disparity, in real time, as his parents looked away, and processed the fake news.

Seeing that, Alex had enough, and tried to call Ein out on his Bouffalant Stool, or BS, as his granduncle called it. "That's not what his dumb machine said! He said I had Trainer potential like Leon's! He's lying to you!"

Ein just nodded, solemnly. "I understand, young Alex. Denial is the first stage of grief, and I assume that you, like many children your age, must have had great dreams of going on journeys with Pokémon." Ein stepped between him and his parents then, and gave the seven year old a sadistic grin. "Unfortunately, you will never be given a Pokémon. You simply aren't capable of safely handling them. It would be be too dangerous, for you and for the Pokémon."

"I'd show you capable if our Tauros and Bouffalant were here! They listen to me just fine! You're nothing but a Mukking liar!" Alex shouted, physically shaking from the anger he felt. He was generally a calm kid, quiet, chill even, one might say, thus anger, adrenaline, rage, were all new emotions for him.

"Alex! Watch your mouth!" His mother uselessly admonished.

Ein simply nodded, and gave the child a wide smirk that embodied evil, one still out of view of his parents. "It's alright, Mrs. Redwood, I understand. Anger. The second stage of grief. Only to be expected when one loses any chance of living their dream." Alex's eye twitched, but he knew hitting the Doctor would probably just get him further into trouble.

Then, Mr. Redwood spoke, for the first time since Ein had started his charade. Alex had a lot of hero worship going on in his young life, with Leon, Lance, Red, and others as his idols, his Gruncle as his chief source of wisdom, but his father, while never really overtly affectionate, was a smart man, and, Alex believed, loved him enough to not buy such an obvious lie. His mom remained absolutely no help, as she looked at him with tears in her eyes.

"What are our treatment options, Doctor Ein?" Frederick Redwood said, solemnly.

Alex reacted first, shocked, hurt, and in disbelief. The smartest man he knew was being lied to, and he couldn't even see it. Both of his parents, trusting the word of some lying Doctor over their son. "Dad...you can't seriously...I know you didn't want me to be a Trainer, but...but I can still work on the ranch! My Pokémon can help too! I can do both!"

"Bargaining." Ein said, now once more facing the general direction of the family, his face composed in a masterpiece of regret, sadness, and faux understanding. But Alex saw the glint of evil in his eyes. Or thought he did, anyway. "You're progressing through the grief of your situation remarkably fast, young Alex. Soon you'll accept the reality of your situation, like your parents have."

"Doctor." Frederick said again, in a stern tone that refocused Ein's gaze. "Are there treatment options?"

Ein gave him a smile that oozed sleaze. "None that the Unovan government will allow me to give to a minor. However, were he and at least one Guardian to join the Arcean Church, your rights to medicine would be protected under even these archaic Unovan laws, and I could administer something that will help young Alex here, but it could get quite...involved. And expensive."

"We're going to get a second opinion." Frederick said. For his part, he had initially seen this entire trip as a waste of a day thanks to their overly religious kindergarten teacher. A waste that had turned into a depressing realization; that his first born son was not mentally capable enough to train Pokémon, a skill even ten year olds could, and had, managed. Well enough to stop entire criminal organizations. He wouldn't be able to run their family business either, which mainly relied on turning Miltank milk into quality cheese, and selling off Tauros and Bouffalant meat once they passed on from old age, or other causes.

From that point on, Alex's parents had been convinced he'd never become a Trainer. Pokémon were too dangerous for those with the 'mental disabilities' Ein had labeled the young boy with, and sure enough, word got around to other 'professionals' whose phone numbers and business ads just happened to bombard their personal Pokémail accounts after their trip to Unova. Once they heard the diagnosis and that it came from Frank Ein, these 'certified experts' claimed the Leagues would, and had, upheld such findings in court, and would deny Alex a Trainer Card. They communicated this all through Pokémail, and HoloCalls with no actual meetings in person.

Alex's granduncle was the only one in his corner, as when the three had returned home, he was the only family member to react to the news with what Alex saw as the right response. Utter disbelief, and several vulgarities comparing Ein's findings to the contents of their fertilizer silo. Of all the young Redwoods growing on their ranch, the Professor had noted that Geralt and Alex had the most raw potential for training and using Pokémon. That wasn't to say the others lacked it, those two simply had a connection with the creatures that went deep, and made for excellent Trainers. Geralt had gone on to become a Pokémon Ranger once he graduated from a basic education, and he had excelled, becoming a Top Ranger on their continent in the space of a few years and the Professor had similar hopes for Alex.

Though his granduncle had tried to convince his father otherwise, or at the very least have a doctor not affiliated with the Church test him, the decision had already been made. Alex would work on their ranch as a farm hand, and that was the end of it. Eric would take over eventually, and together, the two brothers would build a 'legacy'. Alex had other ideas though, and despite not having a Pokémon of his own, he'd managed to convince wild ones to battle alongside him. Sometimes. The Redwood line had produced several Pokémon Rangers over the years, and his family was quite good at bonding with the creatures. Each of them, usually, had a knack for it, but wild Pokémon were, at their core, wild. It wasn't until he was twenty four, that he finally, finally, got his first permanent Pokémon partner.

Derrion Town - Northern Unova Region

The alarm rang, and Alexander Redwood growled awake, smashing it with his oversized fist, swearing into his pillow as he heard and felt it break under the careless pressure his large limb exerted. He always underestimated how hard he could hit those damn alarms. It was a problem in every region. It was either that, or use his Pokégear, which was unreliable at best. At least when it came to alarms.

He smelled breakfast, even from two floors up, and outside of his slightly ajar window could already hear his mother's shrill tones asking where he was. As expected, nobody had taken care of the Miltank and Tauros, but as of today, that was no longer his problem. As promised, his childhood and teen years had been spent essentially as forced labor on their ranch, which meant primarily shoveling the Tauros and Miltank leavings in their silo. With Derrion Town being primarily surrounded by farms, it sold fairly well. Alex rolled out of bed, half awake, and stumbled into the too-small shower in his room. It was a little cube, and he was a large man, both in height and unfortunately, weight. But the apathy that had gotten him and his appetite to this point changed today.

Once showered, brushed, and de-odorized, he grabbed his green-brown hat and similarly colored hooded jacket, pulled it over his black undershirt, then pulled on his dark blue jeans. The hat fit well over his black, curled hair, even though he was desperately in need of a trim, as the hair by his ears curled up around the edges of the Trainer hat. Today would finally be the day. In this region, on the north-eastern coast of the largest continent in this part of the world, his journey would finally begin. He'd been waiting two decades for this. Though he knew he was starting way behind his own generation, he was ready.

Most of the people in Derrion Town spent their lives preparing to one day take over their family business, and contribute to society as a whole. But not Alex. Being denied access to Pokéballs and his own partner had turned him increasingly more bitter the older he'd gotten. It was only to be expected in a society like theirs, that almost constantly emphasized that humans and Pokémon were meant to work together to live in harmony, and enjoy the utopian society they'd built together after rising from the ashes and ignorance of the Dark Times.

Becoming a steady Leafhead at around the age of seventeen, Alex had shirked his chores as often as possible, and done jobs that actually paid around their town, as he combined that, with his monthly allotted allowance, to save up for the items he would need on the journey he fully intended to one day take. He'd also, more than a few times, donned a mask and hood, borrowed his uncle's Pokémon, the Alpha of their Tauros and Bouffalant herd, and battled in the underground matches that happened in town. Trainers of all ages partook, but generally, unless up against a fighting type, Alex and Tatanka, the aforementioned Alpha Bouffalant, cleaned house, which had also added to his stash of cash, since Tatanka wore an Amulet Coin around his neck, and seemed to like how it looked amidst his mane of curly hair.

Despite his parents efforts to stop him, he'd still managed to earn his Trainer Card alongside a Bulbasaur who'd grown into a Venusaur by the time the weeks long examination had concluded. He'd done better than his brother, but not even that had been enough to convince his parents that Doctor Ein was wrong. If anything, his defiance of them to take the exam anyway only demonstrated he was irresponsible, unruly, and unfit to be a Trainer. His Bulbasaur had stayed with his examiner, but his Trainer Card he had kept. Many times had his parents tried to find it, but much like his Leaf stash, it was hidden in places they simply couldn't reach, and once he'd filled out to his adult height of six foot two, or one hundred and eighty eight centimeters, he had stopped worrying they'd ever find either of his hiding spots.

After years of hard labor, when he'd turned eighteen, Alex had declared he was simply done being a work slave. He'd strode into his father's office to make said declaration, and the entire Redwood Manor shook as they argued. It was a fight that, in the opinion of most of his family members, was decades in the making.

Alex knew that if he'd but had the chance to be a Trainer, he could be the best. He'd burned with the desire for a chance to prove himself for years. Finally, after two decades and several hours of arguing, his father had accepted his intentions. Being an eighteen-year-old, and by their laws, a man, he could no longer legally stop his son from purchasing his own Pokéballs, or force him to work on the ranch without being paid the Unovan minimum wage. The wage he had gotten, was a pittance that only a five year old would've found worth the effort. Once he learned what a minimum wage was, and the rights legal adults had, he'd planned out said argument with his father. He already had several Pokéballs for the ideal team he'd dreamed of training, but had resisted using them, as his father had once promised to 'get rid of' anything he attempted to capture on his own. As he had been about to enter Unova University, and thus complete the final stage of his general education, they'd agreed that if he managed to pass the Trainer course at the University, without a team, he would have their blessing to finally become a Trainer. Things hadn't been so simple, though.

Currently, he had one more year at the Unova University to finish, and to finish it, he needed a Pokémon. Now, finally, Alex's father had acquiesced to letting him have a partner. Only one. He'd said that it was a 'probationary period' and if he proved himself capable, he could get more.

After years of carefully saving and spending his hard-earned cash, he was now armed with hundreds of standard Pokéballs, potions, vitamin pills, and other gadgets that would help him in his trek through Unova, to the south, and beyond. Alex intended his journey to last his entire life, as was the case for serious Trainers, and he'd stockpiled as much as he could. He'd packed his bigger-on-the-inside bag, a gift from his granduncle, with enough items to last a lifetime. Or so he assumed. His father had no idea about his stash, but it had been impossible to hide the six custom Pokéballs he'd prepared for his main team. He'd had to keep them empty, but now, he retrieved them and shoved them in his ball pocket.

Alex looked in the mirror by the entrance of his room once he was dressed, and sighed. He was tired of seeing this fat incarnation of himself. The past few years at University had been relatively easy, as he had all but memorized the Pokédex, and without a team to train or a ranch to take care of, he'd grown fat over the long years of nothing to really do. With nothing much else to do besides study, enjoy a bowl of Leaf, and play video games day in and day out, his lack of physical activity had caused him to grow wider. Fun as it had been, he was tired of it. He'd had more than enough lounging about to last a lifetime, but the break from laboring had been much needed.

He'd understood early on that to be the best Trainer in a world full of claimants to that title was a long, uphill climb. But, he had studied every Champion he'd been able to find information on, and watched more Pokémon League matches than anyone in his household, perhaps even his whole town. They were mostly farmers, this far north, and many of his peers had made the 'Unovan circuit' as it was called, and had returned once they'd found a Gym Leader they could not surpass. The usual number of badges the townies gained was four or five. Evidently the Gym Leaders in the north western parts of Unova were on another level. He'd long since studied Unova's Gym Leaders, and how they battled. He'd also memorized their team composition, from matches when they'd been serious, and used six Pokémon. He was ready to face them. Now all he needed was a Pokémon. That was where his granduncle, and strongest supporter of his decision to be a Trainer, came in. As always, he'd promised to help his grandnephew when he'd heard that he was, finally, going to get a partner.

The elderly Professor knew that if Alexander Redwood was to be a top tier Trainer, he'd need the right starter Pokémon. The Professor had pulled his strings, and the renowned elderly Professor Juniper, from Unova proper, transferred him three of their starters common to Unova's capital, namely Snivy, Oshawott, and Tepig. Each a Pokémon that anyone in Unova or otherwise would love to have. Their region had produced many Champion level Trainers, and most of them had begun their own journeys with one of those three.

His granduncle was waiting in the lab adjacent to the main house when Alex arrived, and the old man knew as soon as their eyes met, that this was it. The day had come to finally test just how hot the fire in those blue eyes could burn. Professor Redwood was an older gentleman, though to call him that would be kind. Almost two hundred years of age had caused him to slump a bit as his spine was perpetually curved, the top of his head was bald, but he had wild, gray hair sticking out from the back and sides of his head.

He looked like a mad scientist, and with the official Professor coat, he basically was one. He got his aide's attention with a snap of his gnarled fingers, and everyone watched as the Professor's favored relative walked into the lab, towering over everyone there as he strode past. Most Trainers weren't so large width-wise, but the training he had in mind for his last year of University would take care of that. It was not just his starter that he intended to train.

The Professor gestured to a briefcase on a table by the lab's back wall. "Snivy, Oshawott, Tepig, this is Alex." The three Pokémon appeared as they were named, and eyed the new Trainer, who examined them in turn.

"Hmm." Alex said after looking them over, and confirming his suspicions. He had nothing but respect for Professor Juniper, but he was well acquainted with the kind of Pokémon the Victory League gave to new Trainers. He didn't need babies or inexperienced Pokémon to learn with, as he did not define himself as a rookie Trainer. He needed a partner with some measure of life experience, and of course, potential. "These three are not for me." The three starters, doing their best to look pleasing to the eye, all pouted, visibly deflating at his choice.

"It's okay." He patted each of them, and the three young Pokémon smiled. "I have a feeling I'm not supposed to be your Trainer. You may have noticed I'm a bit old for you...but we will meet again, I think. Go back to your home, and you will find the ones you're destined to bond with. Then, one day, challenge me. When you're ready." The three starter Pokémon shared a look, then looked back at Alex, and nodded. The fire burned in each of their young eyes, and he knew, the challenge was accepted.

Shrugging, the ancient Professor called them all back, hiding a smirk. "Well lad, I didn't expect that. Unova Trainers are renowned for their starters." His sly gaze shifted to his grandnephew. "Why, even that girl next door has a Snivy." Alex's passive face was typically hard to read, but his older relative knew how to see past the stone-faced expression that was his default. His eyes always gave him away. They were on fire today, and at the mention of their neighbor, they'd become just a bit shinier.

Alex nodded in agreement keeping his face impassive and his cheeks cold. "That she does." He glanced at the Snivy's ball again, but shook his head. Copying her would get him nowhere, and, both the Snivy before him and hers were female. There were other ways to gain her notice, though.

Jessica Gladstone was, in a word, beautiful. He'd been crushing on her since they'd met during his Trainer Exam to get an ID, and once she'd moved to town, he'd wondered if fate was actually favoring him for once in his miserable existence. He'd always carried a torch for her, but then, so had every other boy within their small town who had an interest in women. He had a small advantage though, as he lived 'next door', though over a mile of land separated their homes, something not uncommon in a farming town. She often ran barefoot through the fields of her family's land with her Snivy, and her red hair was always easy to spot. It was the color of a Charmander, as were most of her outfits, but despite that, she and Snivy made a good pair. Their eyes were almost identical. Some people didn't like how narrow her face was or her resting-haughty-face, but Alex was smitten, and if he was honest, had been since he'd met her.

Despite being neighbors, they rarely spoke anymore, after becoming teenagers. With so much distance between the properties, the only way he'd ever even had a chance at talking to, let alone befriending a girl so gorgeous and rich, was because of her older brother, Connor. He was a good friend who, like Alex, had shared a love of Leaf, video games, and Pokémon. They'd agreed to one day be rivals, when Connor learned why Alex had no Pokémon, and had pitied him. Then, on a seemingly random day when they were around thirteen, and for no particular reason Alex was aware of, Connor had encouraged the would-be Trainer to study the Pokédex, as without years of battling experience, knowledge was the only way to close the distance between himself, and the rest of the Trainers their age.

As the years had passed, Connor had decided to get a leg up on his rival-to-be, and to that end he had gone overseas to Kalos a few years back to seek out the ninja clans of Gaulia, a small region south of Kalos, and home to a number of famously skilled Greninja. Now, Alex didn't see much of Jess, or her family, outside of their yearly Festivus gatherings. During those though, she'd either talk to his brother, Eric, or hide away and do whatever it was she did on her Rotophone.

Connor Gladstone had always been obsessed with Greninja, and getting a Froakie on this continent was challenging, to say the least. His family was rich, richer than Alex's, but their father had just gotten into the Tauros ranching business after years of owning a ranch estate, but not using it. He'd decided to partner with Alex's father, and the two business minded men had agreed on splitting the profits of the cheese and milk their Miltank produced on their combined ranching land. After generations of breeding, the number of Miltank had slowly increased, as did the quality of their milk, but they were more of a side-effect, as the Tauros who sired them were worth more money. Still the stronger the Tauros, the better milk its daughter made. It was this aspect of society that the Redwoods had grown rich on over the past few years, but Alex knew he would never take up his father's work. It would pass to his brother and his cousins, who also worked on their Pokémon ranch and laboratory.

Alex had always envied Connor for being able to leave on a journey, but without a team of his own, he'd never be able to travel beside him. Choosing his starter while knowing his chosen rival's choice, as well as a few of his other team members, gave him an advantage, and as Alex recalled the Trainer Exam, he briefly contemplated trying to find Saur again.

They had been a powerful team once Saur had fully evolved during the test, and his record of wins and losses against the other novices had been impressive enough to get him into that year's top percentile. Unfortunately, his record had been scrubbed several years later, after the League got an anonymous tip, suggesting that he'd cheated. Evidently, it claimed he'd been boosting his partner with Rare Candies, and given his tendency to hide in bushes during the test, the tip appeared credible.

Ultimately, the League had scrubbed his win/loss record, but allowed him to keep the ID, as Professor Redwood threatened to make a scene if they forcibly tried to reclaim it. Given his friendship with John Crimson, legendary anchor of the Pokémon News Network, the threat had been enough for a small victory. Alex had remained Pokéless throughout his high school years, always burning for the chance to properly train his own Pokémon, and show that he was the reason they were strong, not Rare Candies. Without his granduncle's intervention though, he knew none of this would've been possibl

"I've made up my mind, Gruncle." Alex said, using his nickname for his favorite relative, and looking quite pleased with himself. "I want a Turtwig." A chuckle went through the room. They'd had bets that he'd choose a turtle of some kind. Eric had trained a Blastoise over the years, and the aides were well aware of this Trainer's desire to prove his competence. As his granduncle had counseled, demonstrations would go further with his father than words ever could.

This had, logically, led to Alex thinking that if he trained a bigger, better, turtle he'd undoubtedly prove who was 'competent enough to be a Trainer' and who was not. He didn't dislike his brother, but neither had Eric helped him over the years, or even let him practice battling with Squirt, his Blastoise, he had his own parental burdens to deal with as well.

The Professor burst out laughing at his response, and a few of the aides smirked behind their glasses in the background. "Turtwig! Hah! Very well lad, if you want a Turtwig, you'll get one. Though, you'll have to go out and catch it yourself."

Alex smirked. "Like I'd do it any other way." For Alex, the choice of starter was simple. His favorite clothes matched Turtwig's color scheme, and it had a type advantage over a Blastoise, like the one his brother owned. More than that, Torterra was a strong defensive battler, and no slouch with heavy hitting physical attacks. Speed would be the main issue. He was a turtle, after all. He was also a grass and ground type, meaning their main weakness would be ice. They'd figure out a way to deal with that though. Torterra were known for their sturdiness and defensive abilities. He knew in his heart that his would be able to take an Ice Beam or three, if they trained hard enough.

The Professor pressed a button on one of the lab's walls, and a doorway opened on the back-right side of the lab. Once Alex wandered into the small room, looking around, the Professor turned to his assistants, "Pay up." He said, smirking.

He knew his nephew well. Those who'd bet correctly on his choice had won a great deal of Pokédollars. Half had been expecting him to choose Squirtle instead, so he could prove who could raise a Blastoise better, and no one had bet that he would take the Unova starters, young as they had been. The Professor had insisted on testing him with them anyway. Returning them was as simple as pressing a button, after all.

He followed his grandnephew into the side lab, and flicked the light on. "From here, I can talk to an old friend. He owes me a Turtwig..." The Professor stepped past his relative, and made the call. The image of the half-naked world-famous news anchor sitting in what looked like a hot tub, with a floating food tray piled high with a meal filled the screen. Alex just stared, not expecting to see that amount of gloriously curly chest hair.

The Professor spoke softly, "John, it's me. I know I'm interrupting your favorite meal of steak, waffles, french fries, and of course Scotch, but I need a favor. Ask your people to find out where the Turtwigs are today, up in my neck of the region."

There was audible sighing in the call's background as Gilroy Redwood's contact ordered the PNN's radar people to scan for Turtwigs in their area, not too far west of Bostonia. They had satellites around the world, over every civilized country, which made tracking Pokémon easy. Once a familiar image appeared on the screen a few seconds later, he hung up the phone.

A map of the local area was on the screen. The old man pointed a gnarled finger at a forested area a few miles north of their small town. "There. Past the ranches, and into the woods by the orchards, is where you'll find your Turtwig."

Alex was already out the door, and the aides had to stop him. "Hold up lad." Professor Redwood wheezed, hobbling over to his grandnephew on his cane. "A true Trainer needs a Pokédex. And-"

"And balls. Yes Gruncle, I know. I have the balls. And I was making my own Pokédex…"

"Nonsense." The Professor interrupted, several seconds after Alex had stopped speaking. "You'll have a Redwood Pokédex, and that's final. I've improved on Juniper's design. Every known Pokémon from every known Region is listed here, and it updates as new Regions are catalogued. I expect you to catalogue at least one Region. Unova hasn't been finished yet you know, though we pretty much know what lives here by now. Go catalogue it. Heh. Do my job for me!"

The old man cackled and wheezed through another laugh as his relative took the Pokédex with a sigh and a sarcastic tone. Having six Pokémon was, for him, a dream. But an attainable one. Catching them all would take a lifetime. Right now, at this point in his journey, he had to focus on making his chosen six as strong as they could be. "By the time I fill it, you'll have probably fossilized."

His granduncle's only aspiration was making sure his Leaf jar was over seventy five percent full, and he'd never been genuinely invested in fully furnishing a Pokédex. As Alex looked the device over, he was still somewhat impressed. It would remain to be seen if the 'improvements' were actually beneficial, but he doubted they would get in the way. Once the genius known as Bill had figured out how to link every Pokédex the world over via the PokéNet, the database of known Pokémon, or National Dex as it was known commonly, had quadrupled in a night, as Trainers across the planet linked up. New information on more than a few species entirely foreign to Unova, and most League friendly regions, had flooded in, and had only kept growing. Alex could use his own creation once it was finished, but this would do. For now.

Alex was out the door again, Pokédex in hand, as he power-walked towards the woods, and soon found himself damp with sweat in the summer heat, as he was wearing a heavy jacket suited to colder weather. He pushed on though, as being sweaty was going to become a regular thing. That was how it had been with Saur, and that was how training would be with whoever he found in the woods. Professor Gilroy Redwood had some...unique ideas about catching Pokémon. These ideas had been passed on to all the younger Redwoods, and namely included asking a Pokémon to join their team, rather than chucking a ball at their face and hoping they were too stunned to escape their new owner. The Professor was not a fool though, and had educated his relatives. Some Pokémon, like Beedrill or Scolipede, would attack intruders on sight. Other Pokémon species would seek to test their Pokémon in battle, before accepting being caught.

Usually though, the Professor had discovered, giving them a berry allowed one to pass through their territory, quickly, unscathed. Pokémon near urban areas, or areas with a large human presence, tended to be more accepting, and less likely to outright attack Trainers. He had also shown them that Pokémon were quite capable of simply denying a Pokéball, as the latest generation has safeguards in place to let the occupants leave when they pleased, and also provided a pocket dimension suited to their natural environment, not unlike the pocket dimensions the Pokémon Storage System used.

As a child, Alex had often played here when he'd helped out at the Torterra orchards, to the east. The Torterra had always let him climb their shells to pick fruit, even the grumpy old ones who didn't like to be bothered. They were kind, but also powerful. They had once even driven off a gang of thieves, who were obsessed with stealing fruit for some reason, that had all used fire types.

Their combined power in the form of a massive Earthquake had awed Alex, who until that point had wanted a fire type as his first Pokémon. He still did, just not as his first. He'd find a Charmander eventually, they were absurdly popular requisitions on the Trading Network after all, but he would start with a Turtwig, and train him to be as powerful as the Torterra in the orchard had been. The very earth had shook with their power. That was the kind of Pokémon he needed on his team, if he wanted to reach the likes of Leon and Ash Ketchum, the current World Champion, who'd defended his title nine times in a row now with his most recent win.

To the Pokémon of this forest that might have considered leaping out and joining him, as they spied the previously lacking bag and Pokéballs, it was obvious that this human had a focus, and no matter how badly he wanted that Nidoran pair, or the healthy green looking Caterpie he saw on a nearby log. He went deeper, ever deeper, until he discovered a place, a round, bare hill, where he found his prize.

Lying beneath an enormous Oak tree were several sleeping Turtwigs. "Finally…" he said, panting from the hard hike and the summer heat, and now properly, thoroughly, damp from sweat. He'd underestimated just how out of shape he'd gotten in the three years of no farm work. As he uttered the word, he knew what he would awaken. Their mother. While it was true some Pokémon liked to live on Torterra's shell, the females usually kept theirs empty, for their eggs. It was the easiest way to determine an adult's gender.

The mound rose from the ground, and slowly one massive, unmistakably female eye met his gaze, and looked him over. He bowed low, fist to palm, in the Unovan style. "Great Mother Torterra. I wish to train one of your young ones. I need a partner for my journey."

He stayed perfectly still as the giant earth tortoise regarded him, and he didn't flinch as hot air was expelled over him, almost knocking his hat loose as she snorted. Then, finally, she went back to sleep, shaking the very forest around her as she burrowed into the ground. Once more there was only a great tree on a round hill, the rest of her was completely underground, giving her more nutrients than she could ever find by grazing, at her size and speed.

The young Turtwigs huddled around her tree ran towards him then, all eager and understanding that this was their chance to be trained, and not given out in a lab either, caught in the wild itself. Very rare, for a new Trainer, but not unheard of in parts as rural as 'northern Unova'. A famous grass Trainer by the name of Appleseed had helped the species flourish in this area, and they had done so quite effectively. In towns around Bostonia City, Turtwig was a common starter choice. Alex scratched their chins and gave their shells many pats as he subtly checked their health, but as he looked them over, he knew immediately which one would be his.

He was the largest Turtwig, and the only one to have walked over to him patiently, before regarding him, and nodding, agreeing that he was worthy. Alex smirked, even as he consoled the others. They were all a bit young still, but not the larger one. He was ready to be trained.

All that remained to be seen was whether or not he had the drive to go the distance. Once he determined the Turtwig understood him well enough, he'd ask if that was what he wanted, and if it wasn't, he'd simply release him, and try his luck on the Trading Network.

Alex knelt from his lofty height and offered the green and brown camouflage patterned Pokéball he'd picked specifically for his Turtwig, at no small expense to his personal cash. He had a ball for each of his future party members, and gathering them all had taken most of his life. Luxury Balls, and the tools to recolor them were expensive after all, and he'd been given a lecture about finances after buying each one of them, despite using his own money. Now he would make his family see why they'd been worth it. Before today, his parents had considered them a waste, since he would 'never own a Pokémon under their roof'. That was fine with him. He was eager to leave.

He'd obtained five Luxury Balls and had spent an entire weekend preparing them for their future occupants with their color schemes in mind. The result was a ball with water designs, one with fire, a purple looking one that would hold his psychic type, and a Timer Ball that would hold his dragon type. His proverbial Ace in the hole when his future Torterra couldn't cut it. As Unova had many dragons, and he'd had limited cash, he'd decided on an all but guaranteed catch for his sixth ball, assuming his team could last long enough while battling whatever he decided to pursue.

The small turtle nodded, pressed the center button with his large nose, and swirled into it in a flash of green light. It shook once, and then the button faded from its blinking red to a plain white. He stared at the ball for a long time, not quite believing what had happened. He finally had his own Pokémon. The ball was heavier now, and he smirked as he noticed it. It was hard to tell, but he knew well what an empty ball weighed. He'd practiced throwing them for two decades after all.

Finally, the attempts at bullying would end, the strange looks, mixing between pity and disgust. He knew he was still weird, one did not simply change a lifetime of exclusion, and the habits it had formed, in a day. But it was a step in the right direction. One he'd been itching to take. His smirk widened as he stood, and tossed the ball. It came right back to his hand, with the accuracy of a homing Pidgey.

Alex smirked as the Turtwig formed from the emerald colored light, glanced around, and then blinked. Evidently entering and exiting was weird, but he didn't seem adverse to the ball, at least. "Hello there. I name thee Terra. Together, you and I will be the best. Like no one ever was." He smirked, recalling the line from the cartoon that had spawned from Ash Ketchum's journeys as a kid. "Are you with me?"

Terra had, up until this moment, been a lazy Turtwig, unwilling to do much more than sleep and eat and learn from his mother. Watching over his siblings had always been tough enough, especially in the wild, but he'd always felt as if he was destined for something more. He'd had little interaction with humans, as his mother had warned him to stay away from them, but this one, she had liked the scent of. She had never, to his knowledge, given a human more than an uninterested glance before moving on and ignoring them entirely.

This human was different though. Similar to his kind, in some ways, but there was more to this new sensation than a matching color palette. As soon as Terra had entered the ball, he knew they were bonded. Now, he felt this human's fire, his drive to climb to the very top. Their bond would last the rest of their lives. They were both big, and a bit overweight, but together they would grow into something truly powerful, as their adventure carved their power from their pudgy starting forms. Terra nodded. He could picture himself as the mightiest of his kin, and this was the Trainer who would take him to that height. Every instinct he had confirmed it.

"Very well." Alex nodded, as he saw the fire burning to life in the adamant grass turtle's eyes. "Someday, you will be regarded as the strongest Torterra on the planet…but for now my friend, we train. It's a long road, a hard road, full of ice, fire, and obstacles you won't be able to handle alone. Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Twig!" was the reply he got from the large Turtwig. He hadn't hesitated in answering, and Alex didn't need N's abilities to understand a yes when he heard one.

With that, they said their goodbyes to the grass turtle's family, and headed for home. As they walked, Alex reassured his stoic friend; "Now you know the way to your mother from your new home. If you can get to our home, you can go find her. Whenever you wish. Just let me know beforehand, hmm?"

That made the little turtle grin, and nod. He hadn't looked worried, but the reassuring tone had helped ease his nerves. Anyone would be nervous leaving home, but it turned out that he wasn't really all that far from the home he knew.

His new home wasn't bad either. He'd have to grow truly massive to feel cramped in a place like this, and he liked the way his Trainer and his family smelled. Although that might have just been their food. He'd snagged a piece of it, and had nommed the human created of bread, cheese, and whatever a 'pepperoni' was, and found it delicious. He could tell what his mother had sensed with one sniff, now. Each of the humans had an inherent kindness to them, though as he met the older ones, he sensed their kindness had, for whatever reason, dulled. He avoided those humans in his usual aloof manner. There were too many faces to remember at the dinner table that first night, but the other Pokémon that were allowed in the house were friendly as well. He didn't notice how quiet the humans were, nor did he think it abnormal, as this was his first real interaction with them. His Trainer kept smirking at them, so he assumed all was good.

The only Pokémon that hadn't been friendly towards him was the Blastoise that eyed him the entire time they ate, not with malice, but with something that seemed like high expectations. Beyond staring though, the massive cannon turtle did nothing. Terra could tell when another Pokémon wanted to battle, though. Someday, he guessed, they would both have the chance. He looked forward to it. He was clearly a powerful Pokémon. Then he heard his name. Terra thought that 'Squirt' must be a mighty name indeed for such a large Pokémon.

Terra spent all night playing with the others, as all but one of the humans he sniffed and greeted quietly admired his size, and when they were done, he followed his new Trainer to his room, all the way to the top of the house. Stairs were a new experience for him, and he knew immediately that he would come to loathe them. Then again, they would only be an issue for as long as he remained small. When he was grown, he could crush them at his leisure with feet as big as his mom's. Everyone in the house soon knew when Terra went up, and when he went down, as he practiced stomping on every single step.

Alex had shown him a place on the floor to sleep, no doubt comfortable, but Terra waited until his Trainer was in bed, and then joined him. Alex didn't mind. Grass types preferred warmth, and the soil on his Pokémon's back smelled wonderful. He cuddled his Turtwig close, and even though he woke up with dirt stains on his sheets, he didn't mind. He had a Pokémon. Nothing could ruin his good mood. Indeed, even his cousins were astounded at the shift in personality. He'd avoided most of his family as a rule, preferring to either climb atop their barn and 'cloud gaze' or 'star gaze' as the case sometimes was, but now, the passive face bore eyes that didn't stare at the world with irritation. Instead, they were on fire.

Weeks passed, and summer soon began to end. The new pair had trained hard in the brutal heat, but sunlight was something grass types loved, and Alex had let his little turtle absorb as much of it as possible. It was going to be a hard winter, and the local water type Trainers gave them quite a bit of practice. He didn't take their money though, as the only Trainers with Pokémon on Terra's level were still in grade school.

Then, finally, his final year at University began. Terra got to experience what a moving car was like, and after Alex lowered the back seats for him, Terra found that the rhythmic motion of the tires, when he was splayed out on the 'floor', felt nice against his under-shell. He couldn't look out the windows, though. Seeing things moving by so fast unnerved him. This year, thanks to seniority and his parents being on the wealthier side of society, he got a room to himself. And by room, that was a literal description, as it was one single box shaped space with a small rectangle devoted to showering and the toilet. Once it was set up and furnished, Terra found that he quite enjoyed the comfortable box, even when his Trainer would leave him to absorb sunlight while in class. Being essentially part plant, many grass types could be safely left unattended when basking in the sunlight.

Alex disappeared three or four times a day, and then after that, Terra's sunbathing would end, and they would train. Unova University was an older school that lost more and more students every year to the Blueberry Academy and their massive Terarium. Naturally, this had made the two higher learning centers official rivals, but Alex had no interest in such things. The Trainers who battled for the schools were undoubtedly skilled, but he also knew they were years above his skill level, and had full teams. Technically, he was only allowed a single Pokémon by his father. So, they trained in the woods, traveling up the trails to the nearby mountains that separated northern Unova and Kanadia with a natural barrier. The rock types, like on most mountains, became stronger the higher one went, and Terra soon grew strong against actual opponents. For months, even when the cold sapped the little grass turtle's strength, they trained to their limits. Many times Alex gave his friend an Ice Heal after training in the rocks and snow, and that seemed to help him.

Their training sessions were intense, and lengthy. Alex had caught Terra in August of that year, and by November, he was giving Boldores in the caves they found an OHKO, or one hit knock out, with his Razor Leaf. Alex knew he was pushing him hard, but his chosen partner had ended up willing to try going the distance with him, once he understood Alex better, and their bond became stronger. He'd also not evolved, on purpose, so that Terra had a chance to learn moves strong enough for their final exams in the Trainer course in a quick manner. Between that, and a Frenzy Plant TM that his Gruncle had given him for his last birthday, and a Lucky Egg he'd gotten from the birthday before that, Alex felt confident they could beat whatever test they faced for finals. His gifts from his family usually tended to be money, but when his Gruncle had an actual item, it was always super useful. His other useful gift was an Exp. Share, but he didn't need it quite yet.

They did everything together, he and Terra. Schoolwork, what little was left to be done, and then graduation of course, where Alex was likely to be the only Trainer in his year not to have a fully evolved starter, or a full team. His parents had been furious when he was told he'd have to pay for another year to finish two classes that required at least one Pokémon, but Alex didn't mind. He wasn't paying, the government was, though there was quite a hefty fine for needing more time to finish a degree than the University said was needed. That money typically came from either students or their families. As much of an allowance as he'd been given, six digits were yet out of his range. As it was his parent's own stubborn refusal in allowing him a single Pokémon that caused this unnecessary extra semester, he felt the fine was well earned karmic justice.

As expected, once he had a partner of his own, he excelled at battling. Once Terra was stronger than most of the Pokémon they could walk to within half a day on mountain trails, they'd started battling Trainers around the town that had sprung up around the university. Naturally, a lightly bearded twenty-four year old showing up to challenge teenagers on the campus's high school, had seemed more than a bit odd, though the awkwardness had lessened once their teachers saw how well he battled, and of course, heard his reason for visiting them in the first place. He also didn't tend to loiter after finding an opponent and being a university student made his presence tolerable to the townies. Eventually, after several wins, they were ready to start trying their luck on campus.

He subtly toured the entire town surrounding the University's buildings for the highest levels of learning, and as he beat Trainer after Trainer, it didn't take Terra long to reach the level of people his own age, though when they had fire or ice moves, there was little he could do if their initial hit wasn't enough for a win. Once at University, the matching pair focused mostly on battle tactics, like coded commands that made it hard for an opponent to guess their moves. Terra learned them easily, as he and his Trainer could communicate with about ninety percent accuracy. The training had helped with that, though. The turtle had learned that humans often needed a very obvious nudge in the right direction for comprehension, but once they understood, they could usually grasp whatever he was trying to tell them.

Alex had never talked much at University in the years he'd gone, never made many friends outside of classes really, or rivals for that matter. He was just the tall, dumpy looking kid with the equally large and dumpy looking Turtwig. He didn't battle publicly to show off, always keeping his hat over his eyes and bowing, then walking off after a win, or a loss. He didn't boast, and stayed as low key as he'd been every other year while they slowly grew stronger. Most of the time, even with his size, he went unnoticed entirely in the sea of students.

He'd rarely bothered raising his hand in class, unless the teachers demanded an answer of him. He usually answered right, and yet remained quiet all the same. Once they'd battled enough Trainers to understand their weaknesses, they switched back to training alone, in the woods around the campus almost every day, always leaving his spot and moving deeper into the great forest whenever he heard other Trainers his age approaching. He knew avoiding battles for the moment was best, now that they knew where Terra needed to improve.

Terra had, over the course of seemingly endless hard hours of training during the long semester, become a powerhouse. What they focused on now, was his agility. With his muscles rather strong at what Alex's devices measured at level seventy, and his vitamin rich diet, Terra learned how to dodge effectively. Given what he would some day become, they hadn't focused much on trying to dodge attacks, but had seen first hand how useful, and annoying, Trainers calling dodges could be. They aspired to be that annoying as well. After a few weeks into the month long Festivus season that Alex had not returned home for, Terra had increased his speed and become strong enough to start rumors around campus. Naturally, anyone with a full team was eager to beat a Turtwig. Once he'd learned a ground typed move however, their win to loss ratio shifted dramatically, as few Pokémon could handle an Earthquake. While typically not a move Turtwig could grasp, they had trained with a local Tyranitar, who had over time molded his Bulldoze into a proper Earthquake, yet another move that would undoubtedly help them at the end of the year.

When they did battle those persistent Trainers, who sought them out after hearing the whisper of a rumor about their supposed strength, they always won, or at least ended things with a draw when their opponent had a type advantage. Alex had figured out early on how to account for fire moves, at least. Ice remained a weakness, and he knew as Terra grew bigger after evolving, and slower, they would be even harder to dodge. For the moment though, the lighter form of a Turtwig made dodging Ice Beams much easier.

When they won, instead of taking their opponent's money, pride, or Pokémon, Alex made them swear not to tell anyone else where he trained. Many blabbed anyways of course, to their girlfriends, or boyfriends, as the case sometimes was. It was hard to track him down twice though. He and Terra often moved miles away from the campus. Having only two classes most days meant several days off in a row, and often, they could go leagues away from anyone, and train as hard as they dared. Having grown up in a place that was little more than fields and forests, Alex was quite used to camping as well. Having a bag that was essentially bottomless also helped.

Though he very obviously walked into the woods with his Turtwig, and came out hours later, exhausted and sweaty, nobody made the connection between him, and the supposedly 'super strong' Trainer in the woods. Mostly because most people wouldn't even consider that a Trainer that large with just a Turtwig could be that strong.

The people who oversaw his dorm knew about his training habits, but they respected his wish for privacy and stayed tight lipped, or at most, pointed the more insistent Trainers into the woods. Even as a dorm student he was quiet, content to sit around and play video games, and watch TV with the volume low when he took an occasional day off so Terra could properly recover.

He never disturbed anyone, never had parties, occasionally invited unregistered guests, but they were always respectful, and were Alumni themselves. What friends he did have it seemed, were older and already had jobs in their chosen fields, their dreams of journeying around the world crushed by the hard reality of financial concerns. Alex had always flown under the radar, but he knew he would eventually be thrust into the spotlight once they had a stadium watching them. The graduation exams for Trainer majors were always public. His would be no different.

It was when he overheard rumors of a 'strong Trainer in the northern woods' as he devoured hash browns in the Mess Hall that he knew he needed to stop battling the few people who managed to find him. Someone had talked, again, despite his asking otherwise. For what he had in mind, he needed to stay relatively unknown until graduation. The more people who knew how strong he and Terra had become, the harder their test would be. The faculty pretended to be above the local campus gossip, but he'd been at Unova University long enough to notice the difference in difficulty during Final Exams for Trainers with a reputation. His examination needed to be as easy as possible, since he only had one Pokémon.

Though the strength of this 'mystery Trainer' was supposed to be impressive, he was glad when nobody seemed to believe it. Every Trainer claimed to be strong, and those who didn't were often ignored. His teachers had an inkling of course, they could spot talent and strength when they saw it, but he never showed off, even in class. Mostly because he was always exhausted after his days of training, such was its intensity.

Though his original plan hadn't called for them, Alex had added weight vests for both himself and Terra after they had stopped a rampaging Tyranitar, the very one they'd trained with, from devastating the campus, and still managed to remain incognito. Their strength had plateaued, and they still needed to be stronger for what lay ahead. The weight vests never came off, even in class. Terra wore them too without complaint, though not at all times, as he was still growing. The added strain on their muscles would be worth it soon enough. Though the training had a positive effect on Alex's weight, the vests made him seem just as heavy as he'd always been. He didn't care. He needed to reawaken his muscles, and push them to be stronger. Everything he felt, he knew Terra felt just as much, if not more. In time, they hardly noticed the vest anymore, and eventually, Terra traded his vest out for Power Bracers on his forelegs. They slowed him, but Alex knew the boost to his attack power would be enough to claim victory once they came off. They specifically sought out Rockruff and Lycanroc once Terra graduated to Power Bracers, and this also made him stronger in terms of attack strength.

The final exam of the University, for Trainer majors at least, consisted of an intense test that forced the studying Trainers, and their partners, to go through a rigorous set of exams with their Pokémon team, to demonstrate what they had learned. When Alex had shown up to his advisor's office with only a pudgy Turtwig in his party at the start of his final year of University, his advisor had actually facepalmed.

His parents had been consulted. The Dean was informed. According to his parents, he wasn't 'allowed' to fail University. The Redwood Lab would be even more disrespected. He was, apparently, his family's chance to erase the 'stain' his granduncle's reputation had left on their name in the science community. In his father's opinion, it was the only good that could possibly come from him being allowed to become a Trainer. If he could manage to discover something, anything really, that other Trainers had missed in regards to Pokémon, that would be enough. His mistake was in assuming his son would return, once he'd had a few adventures.

Eventually, at a meeting of all interested parties, Alex had told them all to, quite literally, piss off. He stated that he would pass any test given to him with his Turtwig, and just his Turtwig. As his father had demanded when they agreed he would finally be allowed a Pokémon. He felt more satisfaction than he should have when he saw the patriarch of the Redwood clan turn red with anger. None of the University staff had known that little factoid, nor had they realized just how long Alex had gone without a Pokémon. It was embarrassing, to say the least. What kind of parent denied their own flesh and blood a Pokémon partner after all? Frederick had tried bringing up Doctor Ein's diagnosis, but the teachers at Unova University were quite aware that Frank Ein was a fraud, and there were quite a few sketchy rumors about him and his infamous research on Shadow Pokémon, namely, rumors of him attempting Shadow Infusions on eggs. The Arcean Church had helped bury said rumors, naturally. Even after hearing this, and seeing how Terra had grown, Alex's father remained steadfast in his refusal to allow him another partner.

His advisors and the Dean were against Alex's decision to take the final with only Terra, but his teachers supported him. They had watched this young man show up to every class for almost six years without a single ball on his belt, or even many friends. He had a knack with Pokémon that was obvious to anyone with eyes, and they were all aware of the role he'd played in calming a certain rampaging Tyranitar. He'd done that with naught but a Turtwig, and all in his first year of actually having a Pokémon. He could handle the exams with just one, though certain caveats would have to be made to make passing possible.

His parents had remained quiet, letting the educators bicker. Alex assumed his father still expected him to fail, he'd said as much, and had only the lowest of expectations. Alex intended to smash through them with the ferocity of a Woodhammer, and not look back. Though, in the face of his son's evident skill, the elder Redwood's preconceived assumptions about his son's ability to handle a Pokémon were finally starting to shift. The University's educators were some of the best trained mentors in the world. Those in the Trainer course were also world renowned, and had many former Gym Leaders on their staff. If they were impressed, his firstborn must have been quite good. For the first time since Alex was a child, his father quietly wondered if he'd made a terrible error in trusting Doctor Ein's words.

It was one such teacher, who had been responsible for dealing with the repercussions of the Tyranitar that had wandered onto the campus several months past, that spoke up for Alex, and managed to ultimately sway the Dean's mind.

In the end, it was decided that Alex would face the test with just Terra, and the young Redwood intended to have the entire University watch in awe as he beat every single challenge he faced. His only stipulation for the trials was that during and after each one, he could give his Pokémon a potion of unrestricted strength, and an Elixir to restore his moves' power.

His request was granted, and with their slight handicap, Terra demonstrated just how strong he was. Alex had been stockpiling supplies for years bit by bit, and in this final series of Trainer tests, his patient use of his allowance was helping him tremendously. Terra grew rather strong during the examination, as the tests were fairly difficult for a Pokémon without Vine Whip, Ember, or even Water Gun. The Trainers who'd balanced their teams of six with moves of pretty much every type did the best, and both Alex and Terra had watched carefully at how they'd moved, before cracking on with their own test.

Despite being forced to take the slowest route through whatever course they had him moving through, Alex made good use of his early education from his granduncle, namely by way of utilizing the wild Pokémon present on the courses with neither Ranger Styler nor Pokéballs. Most were persuaded to help with multiple berries from the family berry farm. His duties had also included tending, watering, and harvesting them, and he had taken a tithe. They grew fast enough for it to not have been noticed. The Pokémon he befriended made up for what Terra simply did not have, but Alex knew once his team was assembled, and trained, a test like this would be nothing. He'd studied up on what he'd need to be a Trainer since the time he learned to read. He'd watched every League Champion match, from Lance's first to Leon's 'last'. He was prepared.

He ran the obstacle courses, and Terra was right along with him, as the crowd watched in disbelief. Nobody could fathom how a Turtwig could do so much, and with such heavy bracers on his tiny feet. He swam, jumped through hoops of fire, endured man-made blizzards, simulations of pouring rain, swamps, grassy plains, etcetera, until finally, the two of them made it through to the end of the course that marked the first half of the Trainer final.

The course was designed to simulate every possible terrain Trainers might encounter in the world, and he had passed through each of them, Terra never wavered either. There was a fire burning in their eyes that not even the coldest ice could blow out.

Finally, the time for battle came. Needless to say, by this point, those who already competed had left. But those who stayed seemed impressed. His trials certainly took longer than most others, but the judges waved the need for a time limit, given that all he had was a Turtwig. The reason for why he could only use one Pokémon had also gotten around. Terra's unassuming appearance had done much to get them this far. Nobody expected him to be strong.

Going in with only one unevolved Pokémon was hard enough, they had decided early on. But now, that was over. No more items. No more elixirs. Terra was given one more chance to heal completely, and an hour's rest before the final battle. That was normal, however. The final battle was, more or less, what Trainer majors were graded on most harshly.

Terra took two hours to recover, but the small crowd's enthusiasm for seeing him reappear died off once it became clear he hadn't evolved. They really wanted to see him become a Grotle, at least, but Alex knew forcing him to adapt to a new body mid-challenge was a bad idea. It simply wasn't yet time to evolve him. He had a plan, after all.

His opponent was selected from the heads of the department that oversaw the student's training in a specific aspect of Pokémon. Breeding, cooking, battling, contests, assessing the quality of a Pokémon's bond with its Trainer with naught but a glance, whatever a person wanted to one day be, their final test was given in the setting that would best test them and their abilities.

When asked what his 'focus' was going to be, Alex had simply written, on the first day he had come to the University without a team, 'Pokémon Master'. His first counselor had thought that was a joke. So had the second, and third. The fourth took him seriously, but passed him on when he refused to capture a full team. When pressed on why, Alex had only stated that he 'couldn't' have a team yet.

It had taken him a total of six counselors over the course of his education to finally help him focus on what he would need to be a master. Four out of six of them had simply said, "He needs Pokémon." Before passing him along. Thus, the head of the Trainer Department had become his counselor in his final year, and had sighed in relief when he finally presented his Turtwig.

At least he had brought one Pokémon. That was an improvement. Though the Department Head felt some guilt in judging him once he'd learned of the strange circumstances the boy had grown up with. Not allowing someone so obviously talented to have a Pokémon was sheer stupidity, in his opinion. He'd called Gilroy Redwood the night before to ask about it, and had gotten a proper tirade from the old man. He'd tried, evidently, to help the boy, as he was also a certified Doctor, which was a prerequisite of being a Professor, and he had risked eviction in doing so. Out of curiosity, the older man had looked up the scrubbed League record Alex had earned in his Trainer Exam, and that had been the final nail in the coffin. There was potential here. A Trainer like Alex was rare, and only came along once or twice in a generation. He'd been certain that after the Hero twins Hilbert and Hilda, as well as Nate and Rosa two years after them, that Unova had produced its last Champions for a time. But this Trainer, with proper guidance, would likely reach the same heights. If given the chance to excel, and, if that fire in his eyes stayed burning. The fact that it had survived a childhood that must have been an ordeal was a good sign.

It was the opinion of most of the Trainer department staff that Alexander Redwood would never graduate, when they saw he'd brought only a Turtwig to the challenge. Yet there he was, clad in the filthy robes of a would-be graduate who'd made it through the first half of the challenges on foot. He handed the customary robes off to the University staff as he entered the final stadium beside his Turtwig. He was in his training clothes now. They were a black t-shirt that hung too loosely on him, and a pair of white cargo shorts that were quite durable and suited to traveling outdoors. To call them worn would have been generous, but he'd started the year with them and he would be damned if he wasn't going to finish it in them as well. Alex smirked, and gave the crowd a small wave, before letting his weight vest fall to the ground. Moments later, Terra's Power Bracers joined his weight vests. They shared a look as they stretched, and nodded. It was time to test just how far they'd come over the better part of a year.

As Alex stepped onto the final battle field, his counselor did the same. He was an older gentleman, a silver fox some would say, and he had also been the man to replace Grimsley, back when he'd left Unova's Elite Four. Today, he wore the robes befitting the Head of the Trainer Department. He'd even shaved, and trimmed his mostly gray beard short. He addressed the crowd. "This has been…without a doubt, one of the more...interesting challenges our University has had. About a year ago, young mister Redwood came to me, without any sort of Pokémon, and claimed his major was in being a Pokémon Master."

The crowd laughed. Alex adjusted his green and brown hat to hide his face, waiting patiently. The advisors always gave a little speech, but he knew his would be long and embarrassing. One did not fly in the face of tradition without getting gently mocked.

"But then, Arceus be praised, he told me he had 'a plan'." The Counselor continued, using air quotes, "A 'plan' that consisted of finding the ideal team that could take on and react to any type of Pokémon his opponents would use, and counter them with super effectiveness. Obviously, I was skeptical. Then, after we decided to trust each other, he told me exactly what he was aiming for."

This had the audience's attention now. Especially the staff's, many of whom were his former counselors. They had always wondered why the head of the Trainer Department had taken on that lost cause personally. He hadn't fought at a graduation challenge in years.

Men his age, with his position, usually stayed retired. And most students avoided them as counselors, because they were likely to have powerful teams. "I decided to trust what he told me. You can see the fire in his eyes, and I saw it too. So, I gave him a chance. I trusted in his vision, because in it, I saw the same fire that his granduncle possessed when he came through this University with the rest of our contemporaries. And now…young Redwood has beaten all of our expectations. One test yet remains."

Silence filled the entire campus. Anyone who paid attention to school goings on was watching now. Either from the bleachers, or the common rooms, the cafeterias, and even most dorm rooms. This battle would be on all of them. Department Heads rarely, if ever, battled. They were considered at the Elite Four's level, and often the Elite Four of a League would retire to universities like this one, there were always exceptions of course, like past Champions, but generally the strongest Trainers took to teaching the next generation once they were over a hundred years old. Humans lived much, much longer than they had in the past, and passing on the previous generation's knowledge only became more difficult as their race's lifespan increased.

The counselor looked across the battlefield, a standard, league official affair, that had no rocks, trees, or other environmental hazards. It was designed for exceptionally powerful Pokémon, so they could fight their hardest and duke it out with their opponent blow for blow without fear of ruining the stadium. The old man pointed at Alex from his lofty perch across the stadium's field. "Young Redwood, are you ready to complete the first part of your 'plan'?"

The old man's smirk reminded Alex so much of his granduncle's. He was quite tired of old men underestimating him. This was the start of his journey, the first step that would prove to all of them that they were wrong…or crush his dreams of being the best to dust. He'd waited twenty years for the chance to own a Pokémon and prove he was more than capable of being a Trainer. He would not lose.

Alex had a mic too, though he hadn't wanted it. He answered the old man with a smirk. "I was born ready. This is my first step…I've waited too long to waste this chance. I want to thank you, sir. When I become the world's strongest Trainer, I'll make sure everyone knows the Fist of the Earth started me on that path."

The crowd murmured softly. It was one thing to claim to be the best, anyone could do that. Coming from someone who had just soloed a Final Exam with a Turtwig, it was almost believable. Most in the crowd smiled softly, shook their heads, or chuckled. He was a good Trainer, nobody watching could deny that, but World Champions were on an entirely different level. Some did see what the Department Head saw, however.

This Trainer had the drive, the fire, the iron will needed to climb to that highest of peaks, and at that moment, it is said, he gained his first followers. They didn't yet know it, of course. They thought they were alone in their appreciation of his fighting spirit, but over time they would find each other, and unite, as many humans in their world often did, around the appreciation of a famous Trainer.

His counselor responded, pulling a Heavy Ball from his own robes. "An admirable goal, as I told you before. But before you can attain it, you must go through me... Come, young Redwood. Show me your strength! Go! Tyran!"

The crowd stared as the largest Tyrantrum they'd likely ever seen was called onto the field. He was massive…but noble. He had a dignified bearing, worthy of a king. And, he was colored blue and white, which only made him look even more impressive. Unique coloring usually indicated a powerful Pokémon. When owned by a skilled Trainer, anyways.

Alex swore quietly. As Terra trotted onto the field and took his position, the massive dinosaur looked at his partner as if to say, 'Really?'

His Trainer nodded. "Yes Tyran, you are fighting the Turtwig. Don't worry, it's stronger than it looks. Do not restrain yourself…because he won't." The great beast nodded. A Charizard might have hesitated in unleashing its power on a smaller, and probably weaker, Pokémon but Tyrantrum had no such reservations. It had been a king in the ancient world, a force of untamed destruction. A force on par with a pseudo-legendary, at least in ancient times. Alex, for his part, knew all about Tyrantrum after having a fascination with them when he was younger, like literally every other child.

In this era, they were of the rock type, like all revived fossil Pokémon. But back then, they had been full dragons. The additional typing hadn't really weakened Tyrantrum as a species…but it did make their number of vulnerabilities increase.

But Turtwig didn't know any ice moves. It didn't have to. Alex smirked as he'd seen the Tyrantrum, and shiny or not, the fact that it was weak to ground moves put the advantage in their favor, assuming it didn't know moves capable of crushing a grass type. The two Trainers shouted simultaneously, "Head Smash!" "Energy Ball!"

The massive Tyrantrum charged the ridiculously small Turtwig, its head glowing with the power of the old world. But Head Smash was a rock type move, and even with the lack of recoil damage, it was still weaker than grass. Terra's Energy Ball stopped it cold as the dense sphere of condensed, swirling grass typed energy forced the charging predator to a halt, and as with most move locks of near equal level, the type advantage won with an explosion of power.

The king of the prehistoric Pokémon went down hard, and got up slowly, unable to use its tiny arms to aid in standing. Still, this was a Pokémon that had seen many battles. He had been the Department Head's first Pokémon. The massive dinosaur eyed the small turtle with new respect. He'd seen Pokémon that were small and powerful before, and that Energy Ball had managed to stop him. He would not underestimate this one again.

Alex's final challenge was listed as a 1v1, no substitutions, no items. Just two starter Pokémon, and the Trainers who raised them. Having a type advantage had been sheer luck for Alex, but even if this had been an Aurorus, Terra would've strove to win. They needed to win here. Everything they'd practiced for culminated here. Losing was not an option.

"Again!" Alex shouted, and another Energy Ball slammed into the rising giant, but it seemed to not affect him at all this time. The crowd gasped. Tyran's eyes were glowing red. He was a king, a power unmatched. Leader of a team that had been in the Elite Four, and had held that prestige for many years, before retiring to this position. An alpha like him would not be outdone by this whelp with a simple thing like type advantage.

Tyran roared, and the entire campus shook with the force of his Hyper Voice.

Terra winced. Tyran's roar was a powerful attack, but not nearly as damaging as their opponents hoped it would be, unfocused as it had been. "Now Terra! Razor Leaf Barrage!" Alex shouted, and Terra nodded.

His job was now to avoid taking damage, and use his considerable Pokémon power, enhanced by his Trainer's carefully hoarded stock of PP Max, to unleash a steady stream of Razor Leaves at his opponent. He had plenty of power for this beast. The first flurry seemed ineffective, but both Alex and Terra saw that the leaves were indeed cutting the large Pokémon deep. His counselor attacked, then.

"If Razor Leaf is the best you have, you'll never be a World Champion. Ice Fang!" Tyran was already attacking, but for the benefit of his student, the old man called the move anyway. That too was a part of the tradition. Graduates always got to hear what move their superior opponents would be using, even if said opponents didn't need to give commands to battle. In this way, they had a chance to beat them, and thus the next generation would become stronger than the last.

If Alex felt a twinge of dread, he didn't show it. This Tyrantrum had not been revived then, he had been bred. That was the only way he could know a move like Ice Fang. Dragons, especially part rock types, did not do well with ice normally. Tyran's fangs glowed a frosty pale white. Alex did the math. Accounting for level and type advantage, plus the inherent strength his dragon typing gave him, this move would almost certainly take Terra out with one hit.

"Scenario Gamma!" He shouted, and Terra nodded.

Terra had studied each of their patterns for almost a full year now. He knew what he had to do, as they had expected this kind of thing to happen. Surprise ice type moves had been one of the many things they'd readied for. Despite that, one hit from this much larger opponent, and he was done. This was the moment all the evasion training paid off. But he needed more than just evasion, he needed an edge.

The plan Alex had called for relied on Terra's judgment as well, so he used a different move from the ongoing Razor Leaf barrage. The earth shook, and the entire stadium field was crushed and made unstable as Terra dodged the icy fangs of his opponent by leaping into the air, and then ruined the terrain with an Earthquake as he landed just in front of the Tyrantrum's snout, and gave the enraged dragon a dopey smirk.

Both Trainers, seeing what was happening, were raised into the air on metal platforms. They avoided the Earthquake, but one accidental hit to the supports, and they would go down hard.

Tyran's charging speed was now useless, and he had to smash through boulders that crumbled under his weight just to move effectively. The blue scaled beast snarled, growling low as he eyed the tiny turtle once more. He decided then that he'd had enough playing around. The ice he'd used had locked his fangs together, as it always did when he missed, but it cracked as he angrily forced his jaws to open, and readied another Ice Fang.

Terra, for his part, had no such movement problems. His smaller form was faster, and he jumped through the debris with the skill of one who had run through the woods many times, dodging roots, trees, rocks, and generally speeding through the harsh mountainous terrain.

Tyran was effectively trapped in one area, and he was not happy about it. His fangs tore through rock uselessly in his rage, giving him something stable to stand on, if one could consider gravel stable.

"Enough!" his Trainer called. Tyran had wasted many valuable Ice Fang uses on the environment. Without that move, he could very well lose. "Crush the rest of the area around you with your feet. Let him come to you!"

A novice Trainer with a newly evolved Tyrantrum might've been ignored with a dragon that angry, but Tyran and his master were not novices. The great beast began crushing the large upended boulders around him, making the immediate area flat enough to stand on. All the while, Razor Leaves slammed into his rocky hide, launched from the still moving tiny turtle. He ignored them.

That was what Alex counted on. The practice of gauging a Pokémon's health with bars on a screen had been discontinued several years back, but he could tell the attacks were working. Luckily for him and Terra, their opponent couldn't see the small but damaging leaves very well.

Switching to long range once more Tyran roared, and another more focused Hyper Voice slammed into the Turtwig, who shook his head and looked a bit wobbly. "Terra!" The Turtwig snapped to attention, the damage ignored now. He'd just been brought to half health, by Alex's estimate. "Finish him."

The Turtwig nodded, stopping his ceaseless dodging through the field of boulders, and charged at Tyran. The great beast let him come. His fangs glowed with frost once more, and one way or another, both Pokémon knew this would be the deciding moment.

Terra charged, eyes closed, at the stoney tyrant dragon as the ball of green energy formed in his maw. Tyran lunged, and roared in frustration as he missed yet again. Terra had leapt under the massive Pokémon now, and Tyran had expected him to jump back, or to the sides, not under him. Terra's Energy Ball swelled as he wove the power into a condensed ball like Tyranitar had showed him with his own Dark Pulse, and fired it, slamming it into the giant dinosaur's throat. Tyran flinched, tiny arms reaching in vain at the painful wound as the dense ball of supereffective energy spun itself into a weak spot on the rocky dragon's hide.

"Frenzy plant!" Both Tyran and his master blinked. There was no way a mere Turtwig would know that kind of move, but Terra had already stomped his little feet into the ground, drawing the power of one of the 'elemental Hyper Beams' into his body. It wouldn't be as strong as, say, a Torterra's, but with all the damage Tyran had taken thus far, this was the end.

The crowd watched, amazed, as a series of massive vines rose from the shattered ground at the Turtwig's command, and slammed directly up into Tyran's body. The massive stone dinosaur went flying, falling before his master on the other side of the field. Everyone watched it struggle to rise, twice, only to finally fall. If he'd been able to use his arms, he might've gotten up again. As it was, he was too drained to move, and gave in, fainting. Alex and Terra sighed in relief. The damage from the Razor Leaves had added up to be enough for a knock out.

The platforms lowered once more, and Alex made his way through rocks, vines, and rubble to his advisor, on the other side of the field. Terra met him halfway. The two opponents shook hands amidst the cheers of the crowd, and those cheers only grew as he took his diploma, and raised it, victorious. Students who lost, and they usually lost, were judged on their battling technique, and given a pass/fail rating that was lenient for most majors, except anything to do with battling.

Facing the challenge with only one Pokémon had all but guaranteed a failure in the judge's rating of battle strategy. Students who won, however, not only automatically graduated, but went on to do whatever they had studied for with a battle record that counted one official League recognized victory on their Trainer Card. In Alex's case, that victory was over an Elite Four member, in a one on one match. The examiners here were considered some of the best, and many had served in Unova's Elite Four under N at one point or another. Such a victory could get a Trainer a spot in almost any gym in Unova.

Yawning wide, Terra slumped against his Trainer's leg, and Alex smirked down at him, patting his head. "You were amazing. I told you, and now I have proof. Together, we cannot be stopped."

He recalled Terra for the first time in weeks, letting him rest in his ball for once, and left the stadium. The murmuring crowd of his peers met him with cheers, handshakes, phone numbers, and challenges to battle. He returned what handshakes he could, and refused almost everything else. Several random numbers ended up in his Holoceiver anyways, and he didn't rightly know how they got there.

The heat of the new summer finally faded into the coolness of the night, and after dropping Terra off at the local Pokémon Center, he attended what must have been maybe his fifth actual 'Uni party' at the behest of the small circle of friends he'd made, namely fellow Leafheads, or other Trainer majors. It was the last party of his last year. He figured he might as well go.

It was exactly as it had been the last four times. Music that drowned out the chance of any intellectual conversation, and inspired zero desire to dance with its beat or lyrics. Men and women who were so drunk that, if you paid attention long enough, you could guess their major based on intoxication alone. People who enjoyed grinding on each other, and called it dancing.

He'd never really seen the appeal of any it. While he could actually dance, he simply didn't. If he had a decent song on, he could easily move with it, but the loud, obnoxious music here, a favorite of his generation for some reason, did nothing for him. The lyrics were garbled, repetitive, and derogatory of Rangers, a profession he had nothing but respect for.

He didn't quite know how he'd remained anonymous at the party after his apparently awe-inspiring victory, but his natural tendency to avoid eye-contact had helped. That is, until some idiot found a microphone. He knew the voice, and groaned into his cup of what he hoped was alcohol of some kind. It tasted more like fruit punch than alcohol, but that only hid how powerful said alcohol was. He'd hidden himself rather well by a fake tree planter in the back of the crowded room, and kept to himself. Given the lack of light and plentiful beverages, he'd expected to stay anonymous. At least until the Leaf circles started popping up. But those always came later.

Jon was also a Trainer major, and thus had many of the same advanced classes with Alex. He had a thing for black and yellow Pokémon, and was almost the entire reason that Alex intended to find a golden Shinx, somehow. He wanted a Luxray on his team, and he'd get one someday soon if he was lucky. Thankfully, Shinx was an absurdly popular Pokémon even with those who didn't train professionally.

Jon liked Pokémon, and they shared many opinions on them. He was generally pleasant to be around, but alcohol can make an idiot out of even the brightest mind.

"Heyoooo!" He slurred into the mic. Boos followed as it shrieked, and he waved them away. "I jusht, I jusht wanna shay, Redwood, man…wow. What a match. Give it up. He'sh back there in the…the corner…being all aloof. Give it up!"

After a few attempts at pointing, he finally singled Alex out, who took one last look at the window, before being mobbed once again by handshakes, phone numbers that were usually missing digits, and requests to battle. He just smiled and nodded at his peers, who seemed amused at his shyness for some reason.

"I can't Battle, Terra is resting now." He kept repeating, explaining multiple times to blank, drunken faces that yes, he really did only have the one Turtwig, and no other Pokémon. They either didn't believe him, or found that 'totally lame'. These were his peers. The future.

The rest of the party was a blur of much of the same, and despite his attitude towards such gatherings, he did eventually have fun before he left. He found a group of grass Trainers as he wandered away from the Pokémon Center with his rejuvenated Turtwig, and spent the night enjoying the hallucinogenic Leaf smoking that grass Trainers so often enjoyed together while Terra frolicked with the other grass types.

The next day he made his way home, after packing his car, alone, as Terra rested in the sun. He was pretty sure the little Turtwig was fine, but he let him rest anyways. They'd had a long year, but the result was worth it. Their finals were passed, with a solid A minus, since he'd only brought one Pokémon to the culmination of over half a decades worth of Trainer courses. Now they would go home, and their real journey would begin.

Meanwhile, back on the Ranch…

The Snivy picked her head up, glancing out the enormous ranch-style window of her Trainer's house as a flash of green light caught her gaze. "Ivy." She squeaked, getting her Trainer's attention.

"What is it Serpi?" The flame haired head of her Trainer appeared next to her, looking out the window. Her Trainer had the same eyes she did, the superior look of a Snivy. It was why they had bonded. She too came from a line of her species that was considered to be one step from royal. There was no doubt that she would one day be a Serperior. Thus, she had been named for that eventuality.

"Char!" The more annoying and more recent addition to her Trainer's team, a female runt of a Charmander from the Charicific Valley in Johto, jumped up next to them as well. She was the same shade of red-orange that her Trainer's hair was, and they matched perfectly together, as her Trainer often dressed in flamboyantly red colors as well.

Serpi was jealous of their newest team member, but knew deep down that their bond was stronger. She was the first. She always would be first. Across the field, at the smelly neighbor-boy's farm, there was a commotion. Jessica Gladstone blinked slowly, staring out the window. Another green flash lit the area, and Serpi's eyes narrowed. Much like how electric types could speak over distance with their element, grass types had similar methods of communicating through nature itself. The pudgy Turtwig was trying to get their attention, for some reason. She'd met the unimpressive grass turtle near the end of last summer, and only briefly.

The flame haired woman was younger than twenty-four, but looked to be graduating early, thanks to her father's influence at the University. Right now, however, was her summer break. She had, of course, been against coming to such a remote part of the region for a whole summer, as their family usually went to places like the Kalos region or Alola. It was as she squinted across the grass that she saw one of her neighbors. Then, she saw the familiar hooded jacket, despite the summer heat. It was Alex, then. According to his brother Eric, he'd been obsessed with little more than training since he'd gotten his Turtwig.

He had, in actual fact, just finished University. She'd seen the battle of course, but hadn't quite believed it was the same overweight, quiet, shy kid she'd lived next to for so long. He was a good friend, fun to talk to, but he always smelled of Tauros, and was a bit too overweight for her tastes. Kind as she was, like most women, appearances mattered, and were often deal breakers, or makers.

Or at least, that's what she'd thought. She watched him again, with a Turtwig just as large and a bit pudgy as him at this distance, fire another Energy Ball at an old stump that he had moved into his yard years ago, claiming it would be where he trained his first Pokémon, a Turtwig.

It seemed the 'master plan' he'd shared in part with her over a bowl of Leaf was finally becoming reality. Before her Pokémon could blink, she was up and racing across the hills towards him. There was something in his stance, the way he ordered an attack, that had her intrigued. It reminded her of how he'd been during their Trainer Exam, and after watching that battle…well, what girl wouldn't be interested in a Trainer like that if they were right next door? She wanted to know how finally getting a Pokémon had changed him.

She needed a closer look, in person, and not on a screen. As she got her improved view, she gasped lightly. From a distance, he had looked as overweight as ever, but she had failed to recall exactly when he'd gotten his first partner.

They had trained for almost a full year, and now, Turtwig was strong enough to have mastered another grass type moved entirely, one derived from their Energy Ball, that had a bit more physical power, something his species line excelled in. The unfinished seed-based move exploded against the stump each time, but to the Snivy, she could tell the Turtwig was holding back, and both of the males had been not so subtly watching her Trainer as she came towards them.

They had both been training hard it seemed, and after that battle, their strength was obvious. With that strength came muscle, and it was no longer fat that filled out his brown-green shirt, torn and dirty from constant activity and training. He didn't have the toned body of a rancher anymore, but anything was better than being comparable to a Snorlax.

Alex's Turtwig was similarly changed. Where once he'd been pudgy, he now radiated bulk that was, to an experienced eye, muscle. His head leaves had grown large as well, and his shell was deep brown, and cool to the touch. As Alex saw the flash of red running towards him across the stretch of mowed grass that separated their houses, he smirked. This, was the other moment he'd spent his life waiting for. The moment where he showed the girl next door that he was actually a decent Trainer. Unlike her brother, Jess had never quite believed that he would make a good one, as she, like his brother Eric, had bought into the not-so-secret diagnosis that his parents, but mostly his mother, tended to bring up. Thankfully, Jess was intelligent enough to know when she was wrong. Taking down an Elite Four level Tyrantrum with a Turtwig had to require some measure of skill. And luck.

He and Terra shared a look as she and her Pokémon came through the fence of their pasture area that sat directly behind the Pokémon Lab, and the manor house. After a moment, Alex nodded. For this particular moment, they'd put their training vests back on, for dramatic effect. They let the vests drop with a satisfying thud into the dusty ground of the ranch as the girls came closer. Over the years, science had finally condensed the many weight-training items into one perfected item that could raise every stat with the potency of a final evolution. The drawback was a loss in speed and movement, as well as power. Attacks were weaker, but could be used more often. It was perfect for training and mastering moves.

Alex glanced towards the flash of red racing over the grass towards them, and after a brief stretch, he nodded at his partner. "Now Terra! Seed Bomb!"

Terra responded instantly, and this time, the sphere of dense grass energy was surrounded in an aura of green as it exited his mouth, and hit his target with unerring accuracy. The stump blasted apart, just as Jessica's Charmander and Snivy caught up to her, panting. A life of luxury had left them with little real endurance, as their Trainer would rather dress them up than battle with them, most of the time.

They stared in awe at the Turtwig before them. He was so strong, so bright, he almost glowed…then they noticed, he was glowing. Light shone forth from within him, and he cried out as the blinding spiraling power of evolution took over, finally transforming his child form into that of a Grotle. It was almost as large as a Torterra, and just as deep voiced.

But Alex didn't seem to notice. "Well done Terra!" He ran and hugged the enormous beast, who shared his enthusiasm. They had followed his plan then, Jess thought. Train until he'd learned Seed Bomb, and then evolve. Even the name Alex had picked was the same. But recalling the battle, Jess wondered. If this Grotle knew an attack like Frenzy Plant, he must've mastered Energy Ball a long time ago. From what she'd heard, and seen, they should've been strong enough for a Seed Bomb during the exam. In reality, they'd agreed that using Razor Leaf would be smarter once they saw their opponent. It could critically hit rather often, and Terra had more than enough leaves for a single opponent.

"You really did it…" she whispered, "You're…actually following your plan?" Turning as if just now noticing her, he smirked, and gave a nod. As always, he was covered in dirt, though that was to be expected when one was training an earth turtle. Up close, that intensity in his gaze awoke something inside her that had been sleeping for all the years they'd been neighbors. She'd learned what happened to him after their Trainer exam from Connor and Eric, and whatever fire he'd had that had given him a win over her during said exam had long since gone out by the time they'd moved in to town. Now though, it was back. And mirrored in his Pokémon's eyes as well.

He would've always been perfect if he'd just lost a bit of weight and gained some much-needed social grace, but now…now he was holding her eye contact. This was not the same person she'd grown up next to. Who'd been a friend of her brother's, more than her. While the Leaf-smoking gamer had been amusing to tease, teasing was all she'd done. She'd assumed it was harmless. It wasn't like he was secretly pining for her, or anything. Passive as his face was, she could usually tell when guys were interested.

Evidently, finally getting a Pokémon partner had changed the former ranch hand more than she'd expected. At the very least, he had her attention, which of course had been the point of their little light show.

She grinned. "Well, if I recall correctly, the next stop is for Leo, the Luxray."

A smirk cracked Alex's normally impassive expression, and Terra nodded. "Aye. Now we find him. At Mall Town. There's usually alternate colors there." He arched a brow to Spockian heights. "Care to join me?"

She smirked at him, then shrugged. "Why not. Lead the way."

And lead he did. For once, from behind, he didn't look like a lumbering Snorlax. There was purpose in his long stride, and a straightness to his back. Definitely not the same Alex. Gone was the awkward ranch hand. Now, he was a Pokémon Trainer.

Sahqoreyth · Mar 16, 2024

Chapter 2: Assembling The A Team

Redwood Ranch Barn (Several years before Chapter 1) - Northern Unova Region

Alex, his brother Eric, his friend Connor, and Connor's sister Jess had gathered again in the Redwood's barn for another Leaf smoking session. The stench of the Tauros and Miltank dung kept any authority figures from smelling what they were up to, but the Pokémon were in their somewhat spacious stalls in the building beside the barn, which was primarily used for storing their feed. Obviously, the group stayed far from the flammable food source while they padlocked the door, and enjoyed the effects of the herb.

Now, each of them knew the risks and potential damage to their brain that could come from smoking the herb at under the age of twenty five, but like most teenagers, they were stupid enough to sacrifice a bit of their seemingly limitless youthful vigor for a brief bit of fun. None of the other three partook as often as Alex, and upon learning of the recently studied effects of the herb by their society's scientists, he had cut back his own consumption to toking on a single bowl, twice a day. It had taken some willpower, but over time, it had become more than enough to enjoy the effects, and, hopefully, not ruin his thinking organ.

Jess spoke then, as Connor took his friend's bong, and ripped it skillfully. "So Alex…you've never actually told me why you want a Pokémon so badly. Or why you can't have one."

Beside her, Connor practically coughed up a lung. "Arceus…Jess, the one thing I told you not to bring up!"

"It's fine." Alex said, cutting in. There wasn't much he wouldn't tell Jessica Gladstone, smitten as he was by her face, eyes, body, everything really. He didn't offer much, but when she asked, he always answered. He noted his brother was quietly watching as well, to his left. He was sitting across from Jess, as he'd made the mistake of being beside her before in such Leaf circles and had regretted not being in her line of sight. "I won't get into why I can't have one. My parents won't let me…let's leave it at that. As for why I want one…?"

He paused, looking up at the rafters for several moments as he remembered the day he decided that, more than anything, he wanted to be a Trainer. Finally, he said, "Who wouldn't want one? You all have one. You know better than me how precious that bond is…and there isn't a single day I don't miss Saur. But it's more than that. I want to be the very best Trainer."

Before he could elaborate, Connor laughed at him. "Like no one ever was?"

That made the others laugh, but Alex fixed his friend with a hard stare from the intense blue, and now also slightly bloodshot, eyes. "Exactly." The chuckling faded, and he took a breath. "I have a plan, you see. An ideal team. Maybe not the best ever assembled…but they could be, if I could just train them hard enough-"

Connor had passed the bong to Eric then, who had ripped it, and exhaled. He chose then to interject. "But you can't train them, Alex. You'll never be able to. That's what the Doctor said." His brother's words cut deep as he essentially repeated their father, and Alex winced. Connor smoothly changed the topic then, and Alex let it go. Sleep claimed Eric first, and then Connor soon after. Leaving them to their hay bales, Alex and Jess climbed to the barn's top level, and then the roof, to smoke some more.

Had he been more suave, Alex might've realized the starry sky unclouded by city lights or inclement weather was a rather romantic setting, but he was still dealing with his brother's words. Something Jess could tell. As Alex took his hit, she spoke. "So…what exactly did this Doctor say, anyway? I've never heard of one keeping someone from using a Pokémon. It seems...cruel."

Alex explained then, what he remembered of his trip down to central Unova. What Doctor Ein had said, the machine he put him on, how he'd claimed his potential was like Leon's, only to then turn around and destroy any chance of his parents letting him train by making them think he had a disorder that he was still fairly sure Ein had completely fabricated. "They declined to take any Arcean courses or enroll me in any, but when it came to his 'diagnosis', they trusted his word over even my Gruncle's."

Jess exhaled her own toke, as she processed this information. Not even her father had known why Frederick had kept his eldest son from having a partner when it was so obvious he had a connection with Pokémon. Whether it was the ranch's Tauros and Bouffalant, or her father's Arcanine, Alex always got along with them. They enjoyed his scritches. Even wild ones were unnaturally comfortable with his presence, despite how high he tended to tower over them. "You said you had a plan? Tell me."

And so, Alex did. Or rather, he told her the parts he currently had figured out, and left out the parts where wooing her became important, almost integral, even. "...and then once I graduate, Terra and I will blow apart that stupid stump down there with Seed Bomb. That'll be the last chore I ever do on this Arceus-forsaken ranch. After that, I want a Shinx. A wild one, ideally. Luxray have amazing eyes, did you know? Their Attack and Special Attack stats are also pretty balanced. Very versatile, if not the fastest of electric types."

Jess chuckled. "Shinx are adorable. What about the rest? I assume you want a Charmander. I know how you and my brother obsess over Leon."

Alex nodded, setting the bong down, as by this point, it was ash, and they were simply enjoying the effects as they talked well into the night, under an orange waxing crescent moon. "Well, unlike your brother, I do actually want a Charizard eventually. It has to be the right one, though. One that won't shy away from the thought of facing down a Gigantamax Charizard. For my water type, I was thinking of a Mudkip. Swampert are pretty strong, and if I train it right, as versatile as a Luxray. I haven't figured out my psychic type yet. I know I don't want a Solosis. Maybe an Abra, or an Espeon. I'll have to see what's around."

"Will you have an A team and a B team like Nate or Hilda?" She asked.

"Hmm." He pondered, wondering if he could ever feasibly train twelve Pokémon at once. "Will I have a B team…I want to focus on getting a single team together, first. I'll worry about more partners once I train the ones I want. Besides, Nate didn't start making his until he was Champion."

Jess smirked at him. "I think you'd do well with an Espeon. But I'm biased, I love the cute Pokémon. What about your last one?"

Alex glanced at her, smirked confidently, and then stared at the moon. "My dragon." He said quietly. "I want it to be my ace in the hole. Someone I can bring out against other dragons, or when Terra gets tired. I don't know which type yet, but I like the idea of a Salamence. I know there are Bagon around Draconis Mons, along with Axew and other species, so I'll have to look there."

Jess arched a brow at him as she listened. Draconis Mons was a peak just north of central Unova, and the Victory League's man-made plateau. It was historically significant to Unova once, but in modern times had become home to truly ferocious dragon types. "That mountain is off-limits for a reason, you know."

Alex smirked at her. "I know. But when has that ever stopped Trainers?"

Jess sat up then, and Alex's high self hadn't realized just how close she'd gotten over the course of their conversation. "I mean it, Alex. The Pokémon up there are ferocious. Untrainable. Don't be stupid."

He blinked at her, as he realized she was actually concerned. It felt nice, and his cheeks warmed. He was glad it was dark out. "I'm not an idiot." He said, flatly, and Jess winced, as she realized how that might sound now that she had context. "I'll hunt around the base." He continued, seemingly not caring about her faux paus, "There's usually young dragon types on their own down there. I'm sure I can find at least one who will come with me. There won't be a need to go near the summit."

"Mm. Alright then. As long as you don't go up the mountain, you should be fine. We should head down and sleep." She said, stretching under the faint moonlight. Alex shamelessly took her in, and had to shake his head free of the thoughts that had both plagued men and simultaneously driven their race's survival forward for hundreds of thousands of years. He'd accepted that he was going to have them, but he refused to let them control him. He'd seen guys who didn't tame their urges, and he had no intention of becoming like them.

As she descended, he dumped the bong water over the roof edge, packed his Leaf jar and his equipment away in the barn's rafters, and joined the others in sleep. Unfortunately, this would be one of many Leaf-fueled conversations that slipped his memory, until it was too late to recall it.

Present Day, Mall Town, Southwest of Bostonia City - Northern Unova Region

The mall was crowded with hundreds of people, and the two rich kids blended well among them. Or rather, Alex did. Jessica stood out completely thanks to her hair and her looks, drawing the attention of literally everyone who saw her.

He had forgotten how noticeable she could be among normal people. He saw her confused look as she noticed the various and multicolored Unovans walking past them staring at her, and he leaned in to whisper in her ear, and explain. "They're not used to seeing someone as alluring as yourself. Though it could be the fiery hair." He had a newer shirt on now that was brown, with a green Pokéball on it, under a black jacket that had a useful, but thin green hood. It was proper travel attire for a Trainer, warm in the winter, breathable in the summer. A graduation gift from his Gruncle.

"I think you're imagining things. People attractive enough to catch an entire mall's attention only exist in dreams." She said, smirking as she scratched her Charmander under her chin.

"Then may I never wake." Alex muttered, as he looked around for the store he'd driven down here to find.

His new color scheme more or less matched his future Torterra, and with a few more battles, he'd finally have one. There was no reason to hold off evolving anymore, as he'd caught Jess's eye and successfully asked her out, more or less. Just as he planned. He'd imagined this a thousand times, actually experiencing it was something else entirely. He still couldn't quite believe it had actually worked. The hot day had an almost ethereal quality to it, as if this was yet another of his daydreams. He expected to wake up at any moment, and realize he was still a Pokéless outcast.

They'd come to this town, a fair number of miles south of their home, for the enormous mall that served as a hangout, movie theater, and shopping center for the many sparsely populated towns north of Unova, but too far from Bostonia to make a day trip. Thankfully, in their society, business tended to thrive, and Mall Town was no exception. It was a place to do business, and had enough 'rural charm' to entice city folk from the south and the east into making the trek to Mall Town. The result was the massive mall they were now strolling through. If you couldn't find what you were looking for here, it was fair to say it probably didn't exist, such was the variety of stores. The prices for items could get a bit high, but Shinx was not that rare of a species. A shiny colored one wouldn't be too expensive, he hoped. He'd seen the price on the Pokésite of course, but what they actually charged you at the counter could, in his experience, vary wildly.

His purpose here was multifold. Find the Shinx he'd seen on the Pokéstore's site, train up his Grotle into a Torterra, get his Shinx some experience if possible, and impress the girl next door who, as she looked around at the many shops, holding her Charmander, took his breath away for a moment. It was as she looked back at him and smiled, that he realized he was staring. Her Charmander blinked up at him, and made a soft noise. He scratched her chin, and the small red-orange Pokémon shivered in delight.

The poor thing had been a runt, rejected by her mother, and given to the Charicific Valley's keeper to hand to the Professor of Kanto. But they hadn't wanted such a small Pokémon for their potential Trainers, and so eventually, Jessica's father had been convinced to buy the small burning lizard while they were on vacation that year in Johto, living in their Goldenrod City apartment complex, or so Jess had told him. She'd originally wanted a Torchic or Fennekin, but after seeing the fire lizard on the adoption site, she knew she had to help.

It had either been that, or releasing her into the wild where the laws of nature would have likely seen her dead before long. Such things were avoided these days, however. The world was connected like never before, for Pokémon at least, and there was always a sympathetic heart in the world that would take in a runt or a stray who needed a home. Transportation only required a Pokéball.

Hearing how she'd saved the little Charmander was what had made him realize that this neighbor of his was the one. Sure, he had eyes for her long before that, any guy would've, but her kind heart on top of her top tier beauty was the proverbial nail in the coffin.

"She really likes that when you do it." Jess said, frowning slightly. "Like, more than when I scratch her. Why do you think that is?"

He winked. "Magic fingers." She rolled her eyes, but the faint blush was there, on the pale cheeks. Before he started awkwardly staring once more at perfection incarnate, at least to his smitten eyes, he forced them elsewhere...and they landed upon exactly what he'd been looking for. For a moment, he put the ever-distracting thoughts that drove human procreation in the back of his mind.

"There." He stopped, and touched her arm, fighting down the instinctual thrill from feeling her skin. He might've been a bit loopy from the Leaf they'd had before coming in, but he could've swore he felt a slight buzz of...something, where his rough fingers met the soft, warm skin. If she had a similar reaction, it didn't show. He pointed across the way at the Pokéstore, where they sold unwanted and highly desired Pokémon alike. There, in the window, was a bored looking Shinx, colored gold and black. Just as the Pokésite had promised.

A quick PokéGoogle search on the PokéNet for a special Shinx had given him the store's location, and he had been lucky to be close enough to make the trip in a day. It was fitting for today though, as it was quickly becoming the luckiest day he'd ever lived. When Jess had heard how near his next partner was, she hadn't backed out, and the car ride had certainly been pleasant. He wished he could've let Terra out, but there was no way he would ever fit in a car again, so big was he after putting off evolution for so long.

As far away as the mall was, it wasn't really that unusual for the people of his town to go there, as their town was pretty small and remote. It didn't even have a PokéMart, as it was primarily ranches, which meant a few local stores trying to ignore the technological revolution, and a train station that charged absurd prices for tickets, because they could.

He hadn't wanted to use the train though, he knew the reaction to his companion would be similar, if not worse on a crowded metal tube where the scum of humanity tended to appear. He knew her Charmander wouldn't like it either.

Jess hadn't seemed to notice, but he could tell the little fire lizard hated cramped spaces. The entire car ride, she had been twitchy, until he'd managed to calm her by scratching her under the chin, a sweet spot that most Charmander shared.

The bored looking Shinx was licking his paw when he looked up suddenly, on instinct, and met his new Trainer's eyes. And from that moment on, they knew they were bonded. The cat gave him what seemed like a smirk. Alex returned it. Yes, this was definitely the one.

Alex didn't even blink at the exorbitant price tag on his new Shinx, who'd had been reserved for another, until Alex offered a sum four times larger, that he would pay right then and there.

His deal was graciously accepted. He could tell his father it was a charity donation, which it essentially was. Any Pokémon store could run itself on what he'd paid for years, and open additional branches as well, but his family could easily afford the cost. Plus, after decades of being denied a Pokémon and used for nearly free labor on the ranch, he was more than due a few thousand Pokédollars. His allowance had been pitiful, especially compared to his relative's, but it had been enough for Trainer items, which had become cheaper to make as more humans became Trainers at younger ages.

After changing out his ball and Original Trainer ID, as he was technically the first human to 'own' this Pokémon, the Shinx was his. He lifted the electric kitten into the air, and eyed him, before setting him on his shoulder. The cat purred against his Trainer's neck, and his hair flared under his hat as electrical current moved through it.

Jess watched, amazed, at how easily he'd bonded with a new Pokémon. The ones from the store usually had an issue of some kind after being mistreated by their Trainers. The only real problem their world faced was people who abused Pokémon. That hadn't changed. All it took was a mindset that viewed them as tools, or 'lesser' beings because their brains weren't as 'advanced' as humanity's, and people could justify using them for anything. And because Pokémon were trusting by nature, as Arceus had made them, often they would follow even the harshest Trainer, if it meant potentially getting the praise they so desperately desired.

But for every Ghetsis, there was an Alex, it seemed. This Shinx did not have a defect however, as he was one of the store's ideal Pokémon with an ideal nature and a price tag only the rich could ever hope to afford. He was proud, and already strong enough to make sparks of his own. The little Shinx took great pleasure in sparking Alex with them, but they didn't actually hurt.

He was put inside Alex's custom Luxury Ball in black and gold colors, and appeared in a flash of blinding light that made him sparkle when he was called from it. The mall crowd around them watched, noticing the display. Just as he'd planned. Someone would surely want to battle a Shinx like his. He knelt down to the gold and black cat, petting his fur, and then checking his hand for paint, just in case. He seemed legitimately golden furred though.

"I'm going to call you Leo. What do you think? Do you like the name?" The Shinx blinked at him, then tilted his head, and nodded once. It would work. "Good!" Alex said, standing and looking around the crowded mall intersection. All he needed was to lock eyes, after all. They were surrounded by people and stores. There was no way he'd go unchallenged.

"Yo, bro! Jess!" A voice called out, and Alex suppressed a grin. It seemed fate was giving him just what he needed. His brother. Eric. The brothers had always been rivals, and unlike Alex, he'd gotten a Squirtle when he was young, and had grown up alongside it. Alex had no illusions about who the favored son was, and he'd decided that he didn't really care. He'd show his parents his worth as well, eventually, but it wasn't his main goal, more like a byproduct of the heights he knew his growing team could reach. Buying a Shinx with their money was more than enough of a final snub to them, especially with that many zeroes on the price tag. They'd be furious, and he'd definitely lose access to the family bank account now, but it would take a few days for his father to notice the transaction and he'd be gone by then anyway.

Alex looked back to his brother, and knew that though he only had primarily water types, he was a skilled Trainer, and had been battling much longer than Alex had. Still, water types were weak against both electric and grass types, and Alex knew that though Leo was young, he'd still be a valuable partner after he'd benefited from a few Technical Machines.

Eric primarily trained against the other water types their cousins had, and those in town, while Alex had trained Terra in the harsh northern mountains to grow a resistance to his weakness. Now, the brothers would see which training style paid off more.

"Eric." Alex said, meeting his brother's gaze, "My new Shinx and I, along with my Grotle, would like to Battle you."

"Aha." Eric responded, sarcasm creeping into his voice. "The plan is in motion then?" His eyes darted from his brother, to their gorgeous neighbor, and Alex nodded.

His brother was his opposite in every way, short where he was tall, deathly thin where he was literally big boned, straight hair where his own was wavy and curled at the edges. The younger brother had caught Jessica's eye for far longer than the elder brother had. Yet he had never pursued her.

A love of Pokémon was one thing they had in common, but Eric was always busy researching on the few occasions the Gladstone siblings had wanted to hang out and enjoy a bowl of Leaf. Alex knew his childhood had been no picnic either. Being the favored son destined for greatness was almost as rough as being the futureless, mentally deficient farm-hand.

Almost.

Eric had a tendency to win whatever contests of skill or athletics Alex ended up in against him. He also tended to be the best Trainer in his classes, and had a reputation in their town as a fairly decent battler. If Alex wanted to prove he was legitimately a Trainer now to those who'd claimed he'd never amount to anything, he would be hard pressed to find a better opponent to beat. That too, was part of his plan, before setting out on his journey.

Eric was studying to become a Professor, and even their granduncle was impressed by his scientific mind. He claimed Alex had a similar mind, but Alex was too focused on his grand plan for the future to bother with contemplating what he might do if he ever achieved his lofty goal of becoming the next World Champion. But his granduncle had always told him to aim high with low expectations.

Being able to even make it to the Masters Eight of the World Tournament was an ordeal on its own, or so his granduncle had told him. But it was one Alex was willing to endure. Nothing could be worse than living in a world of magical creatures, and not being able to bond with one as a proper partner.

Eric was thin, thinner than most because of an eating disorder that plagued his stomach. He didn't have much muscle on him, which once more made his brother look fatter by comparison. He was dressed much the same in a hoodie and jeans, but in blue colors that matched his Blastoise, and together, the three of them in green, blue, and shades of orange and red on Jessica's part, represented the three starting type colors quite obviously. People were staring.

Alex raised his voice, and Leo's new ball towards his brother. Leo watched his Trainer with sharp eyes.

"I said I challenge you, Eric Redwood, to a Battle. Outside. Bring as many Pokémon as you like, and substitute as many times as you wish. I will do the same, and I will beat you." Eric slowly raised his eyebrow to Spockian heights.

"With two Pokémon, you're going to beat my entire team? Yea right, bro. Fine. I'll meet you outside." With that, he walked off, and some of the milling crowd watched with interest, following the younger Redwood. The majority of the others watched him and Jessica, but mostly Jessica. She was gorgeous, after all. The Charmander only added to her charm.

Her looks were unmatched, but she had, at least to his knowledge, never really used them. The boys had certainly tried, of course. But trying to tie her down was like trying to tame the wind. There was only one way to attract a free spirit like hers, and that too, was part of his ultimate goal.

"Are you sure about this, Alex?" She asked, frowning. She doubted his chances. Eric had always been better at battling. Alex was good at calming Pokémon, but he was a new Trainer. "You know you'll probably lose, right? This is your first Battle out of school. Against a full team. Maybe you shou-" He cut her off, and again, she saw the fire in his eyes.

"No. This is perfect. I couldn't have scripted it better if I was in a play. Sibling versus sibling! The showdown that was always meant to be." He smirked. "I've waited a lifetime for this Battle. I'm more than ready for Eric, even with two Pokémon. Now, I'll take them on the first step to the Victory League!" A few people sarcastically applauded his enthusiasm in the background, but a show was exactly what he wanted to put on. Nothing spread gossip faster than a performance, after all.

Jessica nodded. "If you're sure…" Now she felt confused. He had certainly impressed her with the battle against the Trainer Department Head, and his Turtwig evolving on schedule, but Eric had been training far longer. His Blastoise was surely much stronger than any Grotle, and it probably still knew Ice Beam.

Alex smirked confidently as Jess trailed off. "And I'll lead with Leo." That got her attention.

"You're leading a rival Battle with the Pokémon you just got?" She said, staring in disbelief.

He nodded, and smiled down at his Shinx. "Leo is my partner now, I trust him completely. I have the proper TMs for him, too. He won't let me down." Leo made a growling noise, but one that seemed more excited than angry. Sparks rippled over his fur. He was as hype as his Trainer was, more than eager to be out and about from his display in the store. With that, they strode off, and Alex began loading the disks into the TM Machine. In a relatively unpopulated sitting area by the entrance to the mall for which the town was named, or one of them at least, Alex waited patiently as the machine displayed how to use the moves in question.

A few minutes later, after stopping by a small training area in the mall and with encouragement from Karate Man Janus, who ran it, Leo had learned how to focus his Sparks into ranged attacks. His physical moves would always be stronger, but his special attacks weren't weak, either, and would give him much needed versatility, given the lack of useful physical electric moves with significant power. As the golden Shinx strode into the hot parking lot, he was brimming with confidence in his new move pool. How to manipulate electricity in ways he'd never known, but knew were far stronger in terms of damage than his Sparks had been.

"Are you ready Leo?" His new Trainer asked.

The young Shinx came to grips with his newfound knowledge. He had the power. He would use it, even if he ended up fainting. There was something about this human, something that made him want to fight with all he had. If he did that, he knew he would still feel satisfied, even if they ended up losing.

He nodded at his new Trainer, and growled at the figure in blue as sparks flared along his beautiful fur. Eric spoke then, "Really? Are you sure you want to lead with the one you just bought?" Alex nodded.

"Fine!" Eric called, drawing his own ball, a blue affair covered in water drops. "Don't whinge when dad finds out you spent that much money on a painted Pokémon. Wash it away, Draking!"

Alex rolled his eyes. Leo was legitimate, even though fake shiny Pokémon were often sold as scams, Mall Town had a good reputation, and Shinx wasn't that uncommon of a species.

A Kingdra appeared across the small battle field, to the side of the parking lot. Dozens of townies were watching now, and there were a few laughs as they saw the formerly fat, awkward Redwood with his tiny Shinx walk up to battle a well-known water-type expert. He'd seemingly trimmed down again, but everyone in the know was well aware that Alex Redwood didn't know how to battle. At least, that's what they assumed.

The assumption wasn't entirely without basis. He had tried to battle people before, alongside wild Pokémon, but even those he'd become good friends with had run away after taking damage. A life or death situation was one thing. Battling for sport without the bond a Pokéball created was entirely another.

"Even with type advantage, he has no chance." Someone in the crowd whispered. "I know" came a reply. "The dragon typing will make it too tough for a Shinx. But Alex Redwood never listens. He'll learn the hard way. Amateur."

"I don't know, didn't you hear how he graduated?" "Later. You shouldn't buy into rumors."

Jessica sighed, looking down at her Charmander. "At one point Chari, I would've said the same thing." She said, speaking too softly to be heard. After spending most of the afternoon with her neighbor, she was slowly realizing that this was who he'd been all along. She should've listened to her brother when he'd said he had potential. Connor had an eye for those kinds of things.

"Charmander. Char?" Came the response from the bundle in her arms. Jess grinned. "You're right. Let's do it." She looked up, grinning, and Chari raised her little arms as well, waving them frantically for her Trainer, as she was holding her up with her own hands. "Go Alex! Go Leo! You've got this!"

Alex and his new partner turned at that, side-eyeing the girls in perfect sync, as the crowd quieted. He met her gaze from under the hat, where she saw the last hint of his hesitation fade. She was cheering for him. Her. The girl he dreamed about constantly. She believed in him, and that was all he needed. He smirked, and turned the hat backwards. Eric rolled his eyes, but some of the more enthusiastic gawkers whistled. There was fire in the amateur's eyes, and the veteran Trainer was coming off as entirely too confident. At the very least, it would be fun to watch.

Leo felt his Trainer's surge of confidence, and sparks radiated further from his fur. He'd battled before, but this…connection he felt now was new, exciting, and most of all, powerful. He was ready to give this battle everything he had. He had to prove he was strong too, if he was going to face down his sire someday. With this Trainer's help, he knew he could do it.

He growled at the much larger, much stronger Kingdra, and even the water dragon shivered at the look of ferocity in his eyes as his attack was lowered. Not that it mattered, for Draking was a special attacker. Leo knew he might go down…but these humans would remember how strong he had been against a superior opponent. Alex nodded to his oldest rival, and the battle began. Eric shouted at the same time his brother did.

"Hydro Pump!"

"Thunder!"

The crowd gasped. These two certainly weren't using novice gloves.

The Kingdra sprayed at the Shinx, but to no avail. It dodged the water stream easily, taking only minor damage, and getting a bit wet. Which, of course, only made its attack stronger. Electricity bristled over its fur.

"Shiiiiinx!" Thunder burst down from the sky, and hit the water and dragon type head on. It winced, taking significant damage, and began panting. Leo grinned, baring his tiny fangs. The crowd, and especially Eric, looked stunned at how much damage the thunder kitten had managed to do.

"Again!" Eric shouted, eyebrows narrowing as his attack was dodged and countered with too much ease. His brother's Shinx was moving with speed his species just wasn't supposed to have.

"Dodge!" Came the cry of Alex, and Leo did so, his small, nimble form helping him miss the water completely. "Thunderbolt!" There was another cry from the small lion-like creature as a flash of golden electricity arced towards the Kingdra, hitting it squarely on the chest. It winced again, but powered through the hit.

"Smoke Screen!" Eric shouted, and Alex smirked as the area filled with dark clouds, pouring from the Kingdra's snout, and obscuring all vision of the fight in seconds. The crowd mumbled, displeased.

"Wait for it Leo…" Alex said, softly, "Use your ears…and then dodge." The Shinx obeyed. Someday, his eyes would be able to pierce clouds like this with ease, but for now, he relied on pure battle instinct and his other sharp senses. There was a deep inhale, followed by the sound of a torrent of water.

Leo jumped, dodging it once more as the Smokescreen also worked against the Kingdra who'd summoned it. "Now, Thunderbolt the direction it came from!" The little Shinx responded immediately, as if he and his Trainer had been partners for weeks instead of minutes. The Kingdra cried out in pain, and as the smoke faded, the mighty water type fell, fainted.

There was a stunned pause, before Eric shouted, "Draking! Return!" Alex's smirk widened. He had checked the Shinx's recorded level, and discovered that he had been kept from evolving for quite a while. Not as long as Terra, but long enough. They would need that power boost in this battle, and as Leo glanced at him, he nodded. The time was now, it seemed.

The crowd's eyes were on Leo. He was growling, panting, and electricity sparked across his form. Now the fun began. "Do it!" Alex shouted as Leo cried out again, and evolved before their very eyes with bright spiraling double helix shaped energy that always appeared when Pokémon evolved. "Luuux…iooo!" Came the new, deep roar.

The little Shinx was gone. In its place now stood a fearsome looking cat that looked ready to keep fighting. And keep fighting he did, taking down two more of Eric's water types, a Gyarados with a severe type disadvantage, and a Poliwrath. By the end of that round however, Poliwrath's fighting type had drained the newly evolved Luxio with a swift low-kick that nearly knocked him out. The only way he'd even managed to weaken Wrath was with Thunder Wave, and several lucky rounds of paralysis. He was panting hard after using his fourth Thunder to finally bring the martially skilled water type down.

"Take a breather, my friend, and well done. You, are going to be one of my strongest." Alex said, genuinely impressed by his new partner. Leo had dodged like an expert, bunching his muscles with electricity, and then leaping. It hadn't always worked, but it had worked often enough, in this battle. Looking tired and proud, Leo returned to his ball, and rested, satisfied that he had demonstrated his worth to this blue Trainer, and the crowd.

Pokémon were a lot smarter than many people realized, and when someone insulted one by claiming it was overpriced and weak, one had to expect it to try and prove you wrong. Even if the win against Wrath had been mostly luck and timing, taking down a Kingdra and a Gyarados was nothing to sneer at.

Eric called out from across the field, and his voice had a tinge of anger to it. He hated losing, especially to Alex. "Now you have my final three to deal with, Brother! They will beat you, and your novice Pokémon!"

Alex smirked, and raised the ball holding Terra. "A novice am I?"

The calls came out simultaneously. "Terra!" "Aurora!"

The Grotle appeared, in all his large, earthy glory, and across the way, an Aurorus, a prehistoric and revived rock and ice type, appeared across from him. The crowd made an 'ooo' sound. Ice beat grass. Hard. Eric smirked, some confidence returning to his stance.

Terra didn't flinch, but his Trainer did. He hadn't expected an ice type yet. Oh well. He was part rock, too, just like Tyran had been. Terra would adjust the plan as required. "Terra. Just like last time."

The Grotle nodded, and waited for the inevitable. He wasn't as agile as he'd been this morning, but his legs were much stronger. He just had to keep moving, and remember his footwork. He'd likely only manage one jump this time, though. He was much heavier.

"Ice beam!" The long-necked creature shot forth a powerful beam of frost that was sure to one-hit poor Terra. Or rather it would've, if he hadn't sprung to the side at that moment, and slammed the field with his feet as he landed, causing a massive Earthquake.

The entire parking lot shook, and the field was in chaos, as was Aurorus, whose Ice Beam had been disrupted by the massive attack. The damage it took wasn't the issue, it could've followed Terra with its attack and ended this quickly, but as the earth rose to strike it hard, it was dazed, struggling to recover its footing. It had never been in a battle like this, and Alex realized this must've been the newest addition to his brother's team.

"Masterful, Terra!" Alex called out as he praised his starter, "Seed Bomb!" The Grotle's mouth glowed green, and the condensed ball of grass power, at least twice the size it had been when he was a Turtwig, surrounded the seed he produced and smashed the frilly dinosaur with a hard explosion. It whimpered once, before fainting. The crowd whooped. Though part ice type, the rock typing of the young Aurorus made it weak to grass moves. There was a reason Alex had wanted Seed Bomb. Being essentially the strongest physical grass move that didn't injure his partners, as he despised using such moves, he knew it would be Terra's best move. Frenzy Plant was useful, but mostly as a final attack. It left his friend wide open after use.

Eric had counted on a difference in type giving him the win, but had forgotten his opponent's type advantage, and as he recalled his Aurorus, he realized he didn't actually know what level Terra was, now. When the pair had returned home, he hadn't had time to inspect the Turtwig before he and Alex were outside training and doing chores simultaneously. Apparently, Alex had kicked his laziness and properly trained his Pokémon. The crowd cheered. Eric however, was red-faced and rapidly losing his patience. When had Alex gotten so good? And how had a turtle Pokémon dodged an Ice Beam?

"Vapor! Come!" Eric shouted angrily. Vaporeon was a water type that could learn ice moves, but it was still a water type. Eric wasted no time. "Aurora Beam!"

To which his brother responded, "Energy ball!" The two attacks met in mid-air, and the aurora beam pushed through, but was skewed by the sheer power and density of the Energy Ball it had collided with, the spin of so much condensed grass type energy altered its trajectory, and it slammed into the ground beside Terra, a credit to the strength of this Vaporeon.

Terra's attacks had been trained against genuine blizzards of the north and a fully grown adult male Tyranitar, but a type advantage was a type advantage. "Razor leaf!" The follow-up was quick and brutal, as roughly thirty razor sharp leaves came through the smoke of the attack collision, and hit the Vaporeon hard.

"Acid Armor." Eric said, regaining some measure of composure. Alex hadn't used Frenzy Plant to one-hit his Vaporeon, something he had to do if he wanted Terra to have enough power for Blastoise. Now, he played it careful.

"That won't work. Razor Leaf Barrage!"

"What!" Eric growled. Hundreds of leaves shot from Grotle's back, twice as many as he had made when he was a Turtwig. Each of them slammed home against Vapor's Acid armor, whittling it down to nothing.

Terra, meanwhile, never looked healthier. In the water, Acid Armor was very hard to beat…but on land, especially a parking lot battlefield in the summer, water types were at a disadvantage. In this much sun, grass types were incredibly strong.

Alex finished the Vaporeon with a swift Energy Ball follow-up that smashed through his brother's hastily chosen Hydro Pump. Had he gone with Ice Beam again, he might've won right there, but he wasn't on his game anymore. He never lost to Alex, not like this.

As Eric reached for his trump card, Terra began to glow. The entire crowd, save for Jessica, but Eric included, shouted "Oh, come on!" One evolution was rare in a battle. Two was just unfair…but this battle never specified against that in the rules.

And now a completely healthy, freshly evolved Torterra would face off against a Blastoise. Eric's predicament did not look favorable…until he realized that ground was also weak to ice. Looking across the field, he knew Alex knew it too. One Ice Beam…and that would be enough to finish this Torterra.

It would be the attacking power of Blastoise against the natural defense of a Torterra, with type advantage. No, things were definitely not set in stone. Torterra could endure fire, but not ice, when freshly evolved. His shell was still new. As a Turtwig he'd been able to resist moves like Icy Wind or Powder Snow. Weak ice moves had been tough, and Ice Beam had ended their win streaks more than once. It would take time, years even, to train his new shell to withstand that kind of cold now that his weakness was quadrupled.

"Alright Squirt! Ice Beam!" Eric called, confirming his brother's fear that, yes, Squirt did still know that move. Terra was too big to dodge now, too unused to his bulk. He was massive, even for a member of his species, and while that was a sign of his strength, it would also make him unable to move quick enough to dodge. He was a defensive tank now, and with Seed Bomb in their arsenal, that descriptor was even more accurate.

"Take the hit!" Alex shouted as the Blastoise powered up the attack in his maw. He got a few glances from the crowd. That was just cruel, forcing his Pokémon to struggle against its major weakness.

"Terra! Scenario Alpha." The giant tortoise Pokémon nodded, and trusted his Trainer. He hunched down to brace himself, watching the Blastoise as it powered up the attack. He'd glared at the grass turtle for months. Finally, they had a chance to battle properly. The Ice Beam launched from the cannon turtle's cannons, arcing across the field, and slammed home. It was too fast to dodge, even if he'd still been small.

They waited. The entire parking lot was silent. Finally, shivering, Terra stood, and snorted through the smoke of the colliding moves. He was seemingly untouched, and smirking at the Blastoise, as was his Trainer. They had planned for this, of course, and as planned, learning Protect had been a smart choice when he'd evolved earlier. Eric and Squirt stared angrily at the two, as the barrier from the Protect faded to nothingness.

Terra's attributes were maxed from all the pills and vest training, and he had only just become a Torterra. The heights he would reach with his new strength were limitless. All their hard training was finally paying off, it seemed. Terra would never be as quick as he had been that morning, but the trade-off was worth it, as his power now exceeded the strength of his brother's Blastoise by quite a margin. His type advantage all but assured a victory now, and the counter-attack was his.

Alex channeled the Champions he'd watched throughout his life, as he pointed at Squirt, and shouted the counter. "Finish him…Frenzy Plant!" The massive earth tortoise stomped on the ground, and the battlefield shook under his feet. He was larger now, a few inches taller than most Torterra on record, by the Pokédex's calculations, and Eric knew he was done if an attack like that hit.

"Dodge!" he cried in vain, but his Blastoise was too slow and defense heavy, like Torterra, to dodge. And unlike this Torterra, he had never been trained to take grass attacks, let alone the most powerful grass attack a starter could only learn and truly master by trusting their Trainer. Squirt had spent his days fighting other water types, and did his best work on a water battlefield.

To Squirt's credit he grabbed two the giant roots as they slammed into his claws, but the flood of other massive vines overwhelmed the cannon turtle, and knocked him back onto his shell, sending him crashing through the chunks of debris upended by the roots to the feet of his Trainer, fainted.

Blastoise didn't actually weigh all that much, but his bulk was deceptive. Terra on the other hand, now a full adult, had to be pushing six to eight hundred pounds. There was a low buzzing murmur through the crowd until Jessica blinked in time with Chari.

"He…he won…HE WON!" She shouted after whispering. She cheered loudly, and the rest of the crowd followed suit. "He did it!" "I don't believe it!"

"I guess he did have a solid plan after all." "Seems the rumors from the University were true." All the remarks he knew he'd hear and more filled his ears, and Alex smiled at his partner, giving him scritches under his new armored chin.

"Amazing, as always, my friend. Rest now. You've earned it." He put his first Pokémon's ball away, only to find himself face to face with the girl whose eyes made his heart stop for an entire five seconds.

She was grinning ear to ear, and he couldn't help but blush. He mumbled something, scratching the back of his head, and seeming for a moment like his old self. Jess raised an eyebrow, and he became increasingly more aware of the crowd around them.

"I couldn't have done it without you." He managed. A few catcalls came from the peanut gallery, as well as a few whistles. She blushed as well, and let her hair hide her face. Her Charmander looked up in confusion. Her cheering really had helped…so why was she suddenly so shy?

Jess looked up again, but Alex was already walking towards the car, whistling to himself. Off to, if she remembered correctly, find a Mudkip. Everything else had gone according to his plan. Why wouldn't he stick to it now?

The words "Could they BE any more obvious?" came to her ears from the dispersing crowd, but she paid no mind. Eventually only she and Eric were left. It was rapidly becoming obvious to both of them as to which brother she preferred. That, and Alex was her ride out of here.

Her own brother had always said that it was likely she'd end up with one of the Redwoods after their fathers had become so entwined in business and PokéGolf. She'd never agreed with him, but there was no more denying that Alex as a Trainer was checking her boxes. She blinked and shifted her gaze down, somewhat embarrassed. She'd always said she'd preferred Eric…but now, she was realizing that she had been more focused on his appearance, cool demeanor, and reputation, rather than who he was as a person. Something she often did when it came to men, it seemed.

She made a note to change that, with Alex at least. Even if he did become a Champion among Champions, she had to remember the person under all the fame that would no doubt follow him. In the span of two days, he was going from a complete unknown in this area to a respected Trainer. She could only imagine where he'd be in another year, at this pace.

"I…I knew he would do it this time." Eric looked up, sighing first at his fainted Blastoise, who he had mistakenly named 'Squirt' when it was just a Squirtle. He'd gotten Squirt ages ago. He should've been able to beat a Torterra.

He looked up at Jessica. He'd never really pined for her the way he knew his brother had, but seeing her preference now only disheartened him more. "He had that look…the same look he had the day he came up with that plan of his, and chose his team…I was just a stepping stone on the way to his real goal."

The fire-haired girl blinked at the boy her age, clad in blue. "Real goal? What goal? The Victory League?" Eric looked at her, then nodded slowly. He hadn't told her yet. That part had changed, it seemed.

"Well, yea he does want to be Champion, but what Trainer doesn't? There's more than one goal on his mind. It's the reason he fights so hard." Eric stood, brushing his knees, and recalling his fallen two hundred pound turtle. "The reason he gets up in the morning. The reason he ran with his Turtwig through rain, heat, and apparently even snow. They started the day after he caught Terra, and I guess they never stopped. But there's much more than being Champion behind his drive to be a Pokémon Master. Maybe ask yourself who he's putting on the show for." Eric smirked, and patted her shoulder as he headed back into the mall, and then the Pokémon Center.

Jessica stood silently, holding her runt of a Charmander, and watched her neighbor stride away with his camouflage pattern ball holding Terra, surrounded by new admirers peppering him with questions. Had she been younger, she might've mistaken Eric's words, or denied them, but this was too obvious. With university classes having just ended, she was, she realized, probably the first person he'd talked to since returning, aside from his family. None of his cousins of Leaf smoking buddies had been here to see him acquire his Shinx and prove himself in battle. She had. It all clicked, as she did as Eric said, and asked herself why. She looked up at her neighbor again. Had he really been in love with her this whole time, Jess wondered. She would need to review everything they'd done or said. He was quiet, so she figured that meant what little he had said must've been important. She had no idea how right she was.

She put Chari back in her ball for the ride home, choosing instead to pet Leo, who certainly didn't mind it. After a potion and an elixir, he was feeling much better, and Alex decided to let him spend some time free of confinement. He knew that those stores were usually cramped, even though they did their best to accommodate the many strays and abandoned Pokémon they ended up with.

As Leo felt the female's soft hands, he purred loudly, and rolled on his back, in her lap, offering his belly for a rub. Human standards of beauty were foreign to most Pokémon, but even a Magikarp would gladly be touched by a girl like this one. The clever cat eyed his master as he steered the strange machine that ran faster than he could. If this was the mate he was after, Leo certainly didn't mind her. She smelled wonderful.

And to emphasize that point, he purred against her lap the whole ride back, not noticing that she was fighting down a blush under the crimson locks hiding her face. Leo wasn't used to his strengthened electrical current yet, and he was tickling her with his purring in all the right places. Despite herself, Jess kept petting the Luxio, as even after evolving he was a handsome cutie. Once they got back to the Redwood's combined ranch and lab, Alex recalled his newest addition, not noticing Jess' flushed face either.

"Seems he likes you." She yelped, and nodded, hurrying out of the car into the cool night air of summer. Alex blinked once, and then shrugged. He'd understood a long time ago that trying to figure out everything women did was, at best, a hopeless battle. There were some things men just simply could not grasp. This was not one of them, but as usual, he was too distracted by her presence to pay attention to the flush in her face, or the discolored damp spot on her skirt.

"S-so," she stammered, before realizing that he hadn't noticed his Luxio's purring had caused. A thick skulled Torterra really was the perfect partner for him. "What's next? A Charmander? Mudkip?"

He stretched, yawning. "A nap. And then maybe a Mudkip tomorrow. There's a small swamp out to the west that supposedly has some. Which means mud, bugs, and tons of Wooper hitting me with Water Gun, for fun."

She giggled. "I think I'll skip that adventure then. But you'd better come show me once you catch it!"

He shrugged, the embodiment of casual aloofness. "I wasn't planning to come back here for a while. I was going to challenge the Unova League this summer. I'll be leaving tomorrow."

She blinked. "The Unova League? As in…facing all eight gyms, and then the Elite Four?" He nodded, as if that was a perfectly normal thing that normal people did against the hardest League in the world.

Most Trainers challenged a few gyms to prove they could battle well, and then found a position in a gym with a steady paycheck, and a team with a specific type. Almost nobody went the whole way, and for good reason.

The Elite Four of Unova were notoriously strong, with varied teams, and even Legendary Dragons. Or so the rumors said. She believed them. Champions earned their titles, and Unova had five, with one of them reigning currently and the others hanging around to defend Unova. Jess shook her head, brushing her hair from her face. The flush was gone now, the cool night air had done its job.

She rolled her Serperior-like eyes at him. "Only you would think you could run around the entire Unova region in one summer."

Alex shrugged, saying, "It's been done before. I could do it in a week, with a flying type. The capital isn't that large."

She nodded. The Trainers who'd brought down Team Plasma for good had done it in a similar period of time, and became Champions for good measure. Hilda had raced her twin through Victory Road, and Hilbert had taken his sweet time. By the time he made it through the Elite Four, she had already smashed Alder with her Emboar, and had been waiting for her brother in the old Champion's Chamber of the Victory Plateau.

Hilbert had claimed the title then, countering his sister with type advantage in a battle that Alex, Eric, Connor, and Jess had all watched live, while having a sleepover in the Gladstone's mansion. They'd only done that a few times, and instead of impressing her, Alex's juvenile self had thought thrashing Jess via video games was the smart choice. His cockiness hadn't gone over well though, and both she and Eric had retired early that night, while Alex and Connor had continued to smash each other, randomizing the characters they played, and the stage they used, well into the night. At least until their father's Arcanine had come into the massive basement, and growled a warning to go to sleep.

Alex yawned again, remembering how tired he'd been after what had been a good six hours of intense button mashing following the intense Champion showdown. "Well…I have an early start tomorrow. Thanks for coming with me. I guess I'll see you around. Maybe at the end of summer, I can catch you before your last year at the University."

"Yea, maybe..." She couldn't tell if he was just tired, or not interested anymore. She had noticed the numbers many of the girls were giving him back in the parking lot. It was the thing to do when you met a Trainer with obvious skill.

He surreptitiously watched her, the words of both his Gruncle and his friend Nick coming back to him then. Naturally, they had given him womanly advice. Play it aloof, he thought, Play it aloof. Not too aloof. Just the right amount of aloofness.

"Or, you could come with me." He smirked as he decided to trust his instinct, and say what came naturally, as he'd done all day.

She blinked. What. "What?" she asked, but he was already strolling into his garage, ducking under the door before it fully opened, and then closing it again. She sighed, and began the walk to her house. No way was she going to let him start a journey on a note like that.

Nameless Bog, One Day Later - Northern Unova Region

Another Mud Slap followed the first, but it might as well have been a raindrop for all the damage it caused Terra. "Gently now…ram it with your head!" Terra rolled his eyes at his Trainer. How did one 'gently' ram something with a head like his?

He did what could, and held back, but the Mudkip still went flying, skipping across the swampy water, and whimpering once he stopped. Alex was already swimming to it, ignoring the stink and the grime. He recalled Terra at the last minute.

"Should've used Leo…" He mumbled, taking the sinking form of the fainted Mudkip into his arms. Its family watched him with muted anger in their eyes, as their heads broke the water around him. "I'm going to heal him!" He told them, hoping they understood. "I'm going to fix him up, and then I'll be back to return him. You have my word."

They let him leave the muddy waters of their swamp, and Alex sprinted towards the nearest Pokémon Center, knowing that hearing the little Mudkip wheeze was not a good sign. He fed it a Max Revive. It seemed to breathe a little easier, but stayed unconscious. Seeing him up close, Alex noticed he was much, much younger than he'd thought, but the little warrior had jumped at him, first.

"Hang in there, little guy. The nurse will fix you right up." And once Alex arrived at the Pokémon Center, he ran straight to the desk. So focused was he on the Mudkip, he didn't see the flame-haired girl waiting for her tray of balls next to him. "Nurse! This Mudkip! He's hit a bit too hard from a Battle."

She set the tray down behind the counter, and took the young Pokémon from the man's muck-covered arms. "What did he Battle against?"

"My Torterra…" He said, somewhat guiltily. "I told him to go easy, but…I guess he's too strong now. I…I miscalculated. I'm sorry." The nurse sighed, and took the Mudkip into the back part of the center. He saw a hand out of the corner of his eye, reaching in vain for the tray of Pokéballs.

"I've got it…" he mumbled, grabbing the tray with his long arms, and sliding it to whoever was just out of his vision. He was laser-focused on the doorway. Did it usually take this long?

"You always had a longer reach than me…but given that you're covered in swamp, I could've gotten it myself…"

Alex blinked, just realizing how nasty he was. Jumping in a swamp wasn't very hygienic, and his stupidly large feet had left a trail through the Center. He knew that voice though, and could pick it out of a crowd with ease. He turned, and immediately felt his face heat up. "Jess! I-I... I didn't know you were out here. Today." He took a deep breath as he tried to remain calm instead of nervous, and summon some of that aloofness he'd had the night before. Hurting the Mudkip had unbalanced him, and he was out of breath from sprinting to the Center. He hadn't expected that seeing her would unnerve him this much.

"Well…" She twirled a lock of hair, and batted her eyes at him obviously. She found the whole situation a little amusing. The Mudkip was essentially a baby, but of course Alex would still try to catch it. Another influence from her brother, who had the same idea. Pokémon raised from near-infancy ended up stronger. "After you invited me yesterday, I had to follow you…" She paused, her own face turning crimson. "In a totally friendly, not stalker-ish kind of way. I'd like to see Unova. With you. If you'll have me." She grabbed the tray with her balls as she spoke, and avoided the large swampy hand print.

There was a third ball with the others now, and she busied herself with putting them back on her belt, her long shoulder-length hair hiding her face.

"I could think of worse traveling companions…" He blinked, as he didn't quite believe what was happening. She stared at him for a long moment, and he stared back. If he was going to say it, he was going to stand by it. Couldn't backtrack now, even if he wanted to. The doors to the back of the center opened again with a familiar ding.

"Your Mudkip is resting. The bones are set and healing. He should be ready by tomorrow morning. Will you be staying the night?" Alex nodded, attention once again drawn to Pokémon and not Jess.

She couldn't really blame him though; the worry was evident on his face still. It made her wonder if his Torterra was seriously that strong. Most Pokémon who were made to faint in the wild were usually caught, but that Mudkip had been seriously hurt…and hadn't he said Terra was going easy?

"Very well." The nurse said, pretending to be unaware of the obvious attraction between these two. They seemed shy, despite their age, which made some sense. Most of the novice Trainers around here were big on the knowledge one gained from years of study from Unova University, but had far less experience in real life situations on the road.

"Since you two are...friends, then? I can have you share a room. Is that alright?" she continued. They both nodded absentmindedly, before they realized what they'd just agreed to.

"I-I mean, uh, that is, if you want to share…" Alex mumbled quickly.

Jess smirked at him. "It's fine…just like when we were younger, and we stayed in the barn with the Tauros and our brothers."

He smirked, and nodded at her. "I remember. Sleeping on hay, smoking on top of the barn. Good times." He found he liked being able to hold her gaze this long.

"There will be no smoking in our lodgings, understand? Keep it outside. Please." She sighed. While most Leafheads weren't too bad, things could get…rowdy with them around. "We're almost booked up for rooms. Lots of Trainers around here." That piqued both of their interest.

"Trainers? Any looking to Battle?" Alex asked, as his tone failed to hide his eagerness.

The nurse nodded. "Just a tournament for newer Trainers. Nothing a team like yours could fairly compete in." She said, focusing on Alex. Her eyes shifted to Jess then. "Hers could. But there are other Trainers around closer to your skill levels."

As the last stop between the north-eastern region of the country and Unova, this Pokémon Center was indeed a hot spot for new Trainers who were heading south, to Unova, or coming north from there, usually in search of Pokémon, or the University campus.

Trainers from Unova were usually in their early teens, but the mixing of older and younger people often led to book smarts being exchanged for knowledge of the road. Most Trainers from their home didn't know what kind of Pokémon were around here, but the younger Trainers often did, as their youthful energy gave them the drive to constantly scour the woods, lakes, and grass for every type they could catch. Alex's thoughts were on the local Trainer's Pokémon, and on Terra, and his power. Probably better to use Leo.

"So how about it, Pokémon 'Master'?" He looked up, to see Jess put on a fiery red Unova style hat, and turn it backwards with a smirk. "How about we have some Double Battles?" He blinked once, twice, a third time, then nodded.

"Terra is a bit strong for this crowd…but Leo could use the exercise." She nodded as well.

"I'll be using all of mine. Including my new Piplup." He raised a brow at her departure from fire types. "What?" she said innocently. "I like Piplups. They have happy little feet."

He smirked, and turned his own hat backwards. "Alright. Luxio and Piplup. What a team. Let's do it." It wasn't long before they found opponents, but they were novice bug catchers and Alex left Jess to challenge them.

Alex took the chance to clean himself of swamp grime in the Pokémon Center's bathroom as the newbies gathered around to watch the forming double battle. Bug lovers, couples, grass Trainers, and even a small troupe of bikers ended up offering to be their opponents. Leo's intimidating glare had kept the bolder male influences in the crowd away from the perfect ten redhead, while he'd scrubbed the muck off his clothes. He was doing as Alex asked, and listening to her well, and for her part, Jess was using him in combination with her Piplup and Serpi to great effect.

Once he was clean, Alex came up beside the redhead and her Piplup as they finished thrashing the bug catcher and taking his money. He gave Leo a thorough chin scratch that set him purring. Once Alex stopped, the cat stretched, then looked at his Trainer.

"I'm sorry I ignored you most of today, my new friend…but Terra was on a roll." "Luxio!" Was the response. "I think I can make it up to you, though. How would you like to Battle alongside Jess some more?" The Luxio grinned, and sparks flared over his gold and black fur. "Perfect. We'll train you up, and we can also help Piplup grow too, alright?" Leo glanced at Jess and her partner for a long time, examining them with those smart, intense golden eyes. He finally nodded, and she released the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. There was something about big cats that set her instincts on edge, when they looked at her like that.

"I thought for sure he'd refuse…he's a bit of a loner, you can see it in his gaze…you know, his eyes are as intense as yours lately..." Jess spoke quietly. Ignoring her for once, Alex instead petted his friend's golden fur, smirking at the soft buzz of electricity that went through his hand as he did. He didn't mind it anymore.

"Together, we will be unbeatable." Jess couldn't tell if he was talking to her, or his Luxio. Or both. He cared for Pokémon, all Pokémon, it seemed, almost as much as he supposedly cared for her, according to his brother. Now that she looked, the signs were a bit obvious. Yet somehow also endearing.

She had recalled the times he had saved her bacon in the past, from a rampaging Tauros charging at a Miltank it wanted to breed, to saving her from a pair of malicious Poliwags. One of which his brother had captured. "Do you still have that scar on your arm? From Wrath's Peck attack?"

Alex blinked at the seemingly random change of topic, but smiled at her anyways. "Umm. Yes. It's a scar. Those don't heal, you know."

She shrugged. "Stranger things have happened."

"I never thanked you, did I?" She said, putting a hand on his shoulder. She blinked at it in surprise as she felt a very noticeable buzz.

It was probably just Luxio's current of low energy running through him to her now, but just touching his shoulder seemed to set her entire body abuzz, much as she had been on their car ride home. Her thoughts turned lewd, and her gaze grew distant. Something about Leo's electricity just felt…really nice. Or maybe it was his Trainer. It was probably both.

"You did, actually." He said, smirking. "But I appreciate the sentiment all the same." She blinked, trying to clear her head as he spoke. This was not the same boy she'd slept next to as a ten-year-old. He was grown now…and so was she. How would they ever share a room?

"Our next opponents are coming…" She said, half distracted.

He nodded, glancing up into her eyes, and seeing the same low, golden glowing spark of electricity there as well. In an unexpected show of boldness, he took her hand, and then stopped petting Leo. The low hum of his electricity flowed between them still, back and forth. They were connected. She smiled at him, and didn't pull away. He reconsidered a thought from the previous day. This was rapidly becoming the luckiest day of his life. Though he was more of a rational-minded man, he offered a small prayer to Arceus that his luck didn't end any time soon.

The Luxio and Piplup strode onto the battlefield, one of many around the Pokémon Center that was little more than a few lines in the grass and dirt. Personality wise, they appeared similar, despite the difference in gender and species. Both proud, both loners, but both respectful of the other's strength once they won the first round with a pair of one-hit KOs on a Roggenrola that wasn't very sturdy and a rather surly Hoppip. The team of electricity and water was able to cover for their partner's weaknesses.

Hands still clasped together, the two Trainers battled together flawlessly against every pair they managed to find around the Pokémon Center, which wasn't all that hard of a feat. Most of their opponents were younger Trainers, and as they won more battles, the pair of Pokémon who had both been given Lucky Eggs by Jess, only grew stronger. When she told him she had a bunch more, Alex felt a bit nauseous. Sometimes he forgot how absurdly wealthy she was. Seeing they were on a streak, those who'd lost the local newbie tournament also tried pairing up to battle them, and other pairs around the building. The battling lasted long into the day outside of the Pokémon Center, before Alex and Jess retired to their shared room.

At his advising, Jess had used the Experience Share harness in her bag, which she hadn't known the function of, to give her Piplup, Empolia, power as she watched Serpi battle, once the little penguin had run out of energy. Having evolved her the night before with a pair of Rare Candies, Serpi was now a magnificent, if a bit small, Serperior. She might have been freshly raised, but that changed with each battle, and Alex noted a Lucky Egg in her ferns as well as one on Chari when she later came out to gain some battle experience against a pair of bug catchers. He'd eventually asked Jess how many she had in total, and that answer, had been twelve. Alex had just stared at her, and laughing, she'd offered him six, and then asked if they were rare. He'd asked to see what else she'd brought then, and found tons of cash, more healing items than he had, in numbers approaching a thousand, and various items her father and mother had given her for her partners to boost their elemental moves. A Miracle Seed for Serpi, a pendant of Mystic Water from the spirit oasis in the Koria Region for Empolia.

Between battles, she told him her parents had gotten them for her once she'd come home late that night with a new Piplup, and declared she'd be traveling around Unova through the summer. Alex had no doubt Connor had also gotten a sendoff package. Not for the first time, he wished his own parents were as cool as hers. Mrs. Gladstone had always been nice to him, except when he was being overly loud, or a brat, and Mr. Gladstone was also good people, though much harder to read. He always seemed to look through him whenever they'd interacted, but Alex could tell he was cool from his demeanor, and how his kids glowingly referred to him with admiration and respect. By contrast, he couldn't recall one of his cousins having a good word to say about his own father.

Everything from Charcoal to an Expert Belt was in Jess's bag, and Alex stared with envy. She offered him his choice of items, but he resisted. They were gifts for her, and therefor hers. His team would be holding the Lucky Eggs for a while anyways, as they trained to reach the heights Terra already had.

Alex had retrieved the Mudkip as well, finding the little mudfish had healed perfectly thanks to the nurse. The fractures had been serious enough to need a Mega Blissey's Heal Pulse, but seeing as how Alex already felt bad about overestimating his Torterra, the nurse kept that to herself, as she led the pair to the small cabin they'd be sharing for the night. Being a remote Pokémon Center, there was only so much space in the main building, with all the storage space they needed for treatments and recovery rooms. That meant Trainer housing, which was free to those with a Trainer Card, was scattered around the building in the woods, where Trainers had their privacy, and a small cooking area outside the cabins.

Alex and Chari worked on roasting their dinner, hand-made Redwood Ranch hotdogs, while Jess showered. Alex worked with her on controlling a small but constant flame, and the little runt of a fire lizard squee'd with joy when they came out as a fine golden brown, by which point her Trainer had rejoined them. Terra, Leo, Serpi, and Empolia all had a bite, and seemed to compliment Chari's cooking. Seeing the Charmander's reaction, Alex wondered if it was something she secretly wanted to master. She seemed to enjoy it, when what she cooked wasn't turned to charcoal.

As the Jess celebrated her flame control by giving Chari all the twirling hugs and scritches, evidently, the smell of the meat and the cries of a female member of the species was enough to attract a second first stage fire lizard to their cabin's site. Alex, and Jess, as well as their Pokémon raised their heads as they heard something making its way through the heavily forested area around the clearing that housed their cabin.

As Alex glimpsed a familiar red orange, and a similarly colored tail sporting a small flame, he tried to keep his excitement in check, but his rapidly tapping right toes gave him away as they shifted in his stupidly large shoes. Charmander were more common to the south-west of their current spot, near Draconis Mons. Finding one here was unlikely, and it probably had a Trainer. Still…it was a chance, and he'd been absurdly lucky lately. He'd noticed his unusual streak of luck so far, and hoped that, right now, it wouldn't end. He'd dreamed of finding a Charmander. Literally. Two of the strongest Champions he knew of had a Charizard, and like every other kid who'd watched Leon and then later Ash Ketchum win battle after battle, for years, he'd dreamed of one day testing his own against them.

While it was true that the little Charmander male that now watched them had indeed had a Trainer, he had lost to the power of Alex's Luxio, and its partner, the female runt of a Charmander.

His latest Trainer had abandoned him after losing, deciding to give up on training entirely, so now this Charmander once more sought a new Trainer, on his own initiative after breaking his Pokéball with the move he'd inherited from his sire: Dragon Tail. It was not the first time he'd done such a thing, either.

He sought a Trainer who would light him with the fire he'd seen in that Luxio. The power of the evolutionary spiral. The power that catapulted their species' evolution forward, constantly. He needed a Trainer who would make him as strong as possible. He needed to find a human whose fire would not dim so easily, as all the others had. And the fact that this one apparently knew a cute but deceptively strong female Charmander put these humans at the top of the potential replacement list.

As he looked over the two humans, the larger male one caught his eye. The Luxio beside the male grinned, and bristled with electricity, as he had when they'd fought. Like an Electrike, the thunder cat had charged his muscles to compensate for his comparatively slower speed. His Trainer had a similar look, and was approaching the Charmander slowly, a red Pokéball in hand.

As the Charmander fearlessly met the human's gaze, he saw the fire in his eyes, and felt his little heart beat faster. Then, he knew. This was his Trainer. This was a Trainer who fought with everything he had. He'd had a bad run of luck in choosing a worthy human, but he had a good feeling about this one.

The Charmander wandered over fearlessly, expertly navigating his tail through the remaining brush without starting a blaze. "That is what you are…" Alex said softly, watching, and then looking around for someone who would claim such a rare Pokémon. "A Blaze. And a Blaze you shall be."

Jess chuckled behind him. "More like you'll use him to 'blaze' up."

Alex winked at her, as she wasn't wrong, and then offered the crimson, fiery red Pokéball in his hand to the Charmander, who eyed him for a long time. "Charmander, Char?"

"Yes. I'll make you into one of the strongest Charizard in the world. There are many claimants to that title though, and the road will be long and difficult. Are you sure you want to join us?" As he spoke, Terra stomped up beside them, and his rumbling cry shook their immediate area. Naturally, the Charmander had faced a few Turtwig in his time, but seeing a Torterra was a new experience, and the power of the part ground type made the tiny fire lizard retreat a step on instinct. Still, he knew something was off. This Torterra towered over the tiny fire lizard like his first Trainer's Rayquaza had. His presence wasn't quite as intense as the crimson scaled Legendary dragon had been, not yet anyway, but he was much further along than the Luxio or the Mudkip. The fire lizard nodded. This was the Trainer's first Pokémon, then.

Blaze glanced at the two large Pokémon, especially at Terra, who was almost as tall as the nearby shack, counting his tree. This Trainer could back up his promise. He was sold. He entered the ball willingly as he booped it with his snoot. Alex stared at the ball as it dinged shut, still somewhat dazed as his Pokédex began reciting the entry he knew by heart automatically. Years of misfortune and toiling in Tauros dung seemed to be paying off now, because he had never been this lucky his entire life. Alex bit his thumb, hard, and Jess gave him a look.

"Just making sure this is real…" He muttered, thumbing the release on his newly filled ball. Once released again, Blaze, his new Trainer, and his Trainer's allies, all enjoyed their feast of classic Unovan style hotdogs, well into the morning. Meat was cooked, hallucinogenic Leaf was shared, and as the effects kicked in, the two humans kept eyeing each other. Eye contact was a new thing from her awkward neighbor, but Jess didn't seem to be minding the company.

Tired and blazed as they were, the usual awkwardness that tinged their conversations had evaporated, and once more the cautiously optimistic 'rookie' Trainer let instinct take over. Mutual leaning on each other led to hesitant kissing, and before long, the two humans had begun kissing like a Kalos couple within the privacy of the cabin, until they'd fallen asleep. After his offer to 'truly demonstrate his skills', and her smirking acceptance of it, they had eventually collapsed on the rug before the unlit hearth within their cabin, her in orgasmic bliss, him, still with his head resting on her thighs. It was in that early morning time that Alex roused himself, and carried his 'lover' to bed, then cleaned up their mess.

He recalled the Pokémon, who had long since fallen asleep, and put them to rest in their balls. He grabbed their clothes, and hung those within the cabin as well. Then, he returned to the room he'd put Jess in. She reached for him as he rejoined her, their session earlier had certainly changed their dynamic. Or at least, that's what she thought. Alex felt his cheeks heat up again, but it was impossible to tell in the darkness of the room. They'd drawn the curtains against the glare of the rising sun.

"Did…you, umm, enjoy that earlier?" There was a giggle, and he felt her lips on his again as she pushed him onto his back, and began straddling him in the dim light of the morning. Normally her smaller frame would have trouble moving his, but he let this happen and rolled with her.

"Yes…" She whispered, as she pressed into him. "I'll pay you back for that, Redwood." She yawned, and then put her head on his chest. "But notrightnow…" she mumbled tiredly. His arms wrapped around her, and they stayed like that until they both woke up.

When they finally rose, it was at the same time, and since she'd showered the night before, Alex went first, as he very much needed one. Then, they had their breakfast, and over time, with more talking, the awkwardness of their blossoming romance gradually faded. They decided on their next destination; Bostonia, where Alex intended to finally cash in on the many Heart Scales he'd collected in Alola, when his family vacationed there every other year. They were fairly common on the beach, but in Bostonia, there were Tutors who could teach his partners useful moves, or help them remember useful moves. For just one Heart Scale. Jess revealed a similar, and larger, pile of her own from her own family vacations, and seemed just as eager to get there. First though, they agreed they needed to train their Charmanders.

The first route towards the eastern coast saw many grass Trainers lock their eyes with the pair, and they'd taken to walking on opposing sides of the route, where possible. Their winning streaks continued, though not without the need for potions, elixirs, and several Max Revives in between matches. Chari evolved early in the morning, and continued to grow as she kept winning with her newer, stronger form. Jess eventually let her cool down, and brought out her Piplup instead. Being a quick girl, and having inherited Ice Beam from her mom, she also made short work of grass types.

For Alex's part, he was all about his Charmander, though Leo got some exercise too, namely against water and flying types of which there were many, both wild and in Trainer battles. As with the day before, these Trainers tended to be young, but everyone grew from the battles, and Alex parted amicably with each of his opponents. It was Jess who had an issue with one of hers.

He was a biker of some gang Alex didn't recognize. Chari had Flamethrowered his Breloom into an OHKO, not unexpected from a fire type against a grass type, but the angry bald man had lost his cool, and then, loudly, roared down the route towards Bostonia in the distance on his motorbike.

Jess raised a middle finger towards him as he left her and Chari coughing, and the Charmeleon snarled with more rage than Alex expected from her. He'd provided the Flamethrower TM, as that one had come from his Gruncle, who'd known he'd need it for his Charizard eventually. Blaze turned out to be a modest little fire lizard, with a bit of a vain streak after winning so consistently. It was a nice change, having a Trainer who understood how types worked.

Around twenty minutes past four in the afternoon, after a timely toke on the bong from both aspiring Leafheads, Alex brought the Mudkip back to the swamp from the day before, as they were close to it. Jess had continued on towards Bostonia alone, and he'd intended to catch up to her after his detour.

Once at the edge of the swamp, Alex gave the tiny Mudkip a choice. "You can either go home to your family and live your days there, my little friend…or you can come with me, and become more powerful than any of them." The little blue Pokémon tilted its head at him. "Mud…kip?"

Alex chuckled. "Yes, even stronger than Terra, once you learn a few Moves." The tiny Mudkip, then named Hydrus, said his goodbyes to his seemingly grateful kin who were glad to know he was alive and willing to let him live with a genuinely kind human. Hydrus rejoined his Trainer inside his ball as they left the swamp. Alex eyed the four balls on his belt now, grinning. "Two to go…" He said quietly.

He continued his training then, now actually using Hydrus. The Mudkip proved adept with his Ice Beam, though Alex only brought him out, for now, when he was sure the little mud fish could win. It helped that being bashed by Terra had made him determined to get stronger. As they continued, they didn't run into Jess.

Alex began to worry when she didn't pick up her Holociever, and when they spied it off to the side of the route, dirty and on the ground but thankfully still intact thanks to the durable case, he knew something was wrong. He stopped idling then, and ignored eye contact with people as he sprinted towards Bostonia. Years of being a loner finally had some use, as he made good time down three separate routes, with the aid of a Max Repel, and finally arrived at Bostonia, wheezing hard, but hopefully in time. He rested his partners at the Pokémon Center, one of many across the large harbor city, and then made his way to the Police Department.

He found one of the off duty officers, and after a friendly but quick battle, asked him which group of thugs in the city had Giratina's head on their jackets. The biker who'd lost hard to Jess had worn one, and Alex figured they'd be the most logical culprits. As far as he was aware, Jess hadn't pissed off anyone else. The officer told him to stay away from them, and refused to mention where they polluted the air with their presence, so instead, Alex found a more central Pokémon Center, and asked the Leafheads there where one might find them. From them, he got a far better answer, though it took way too long for his liking.

Eventually, after about three hours apart from her, he found the nest of bikers, inhabiting an old Bostonian canal that, in summer, was dry and empty. They were circling something, loudly, under one of the bridges, and Alex' eye twitched as he saw a very pissed off Jess coiled protectively by Serpi, who refused to attack the bikers. Chari was in her arms, already hurt, and he assumed Empolia was still in her ball. She was too fresh for this many opponents at once.

Alex raised Terra's ball, and gave it a shake as he enlarged it. "Wake up, bud. We have trash to take out." He felt the ball shake in response, and nodded. Bikers tended to favor poison types, and while he wasn't personally a fan of inhaling petroleum gas, garbing himself in black leather, and riding around being a general obnoxious nuisance to polite society, he opted to give the bikers a chance to demonstrate that they weren't complete trash. He didn't have high hopes given their excessive tattoos, body piercings, and attitude, but appearances could deceive.

He threw Terra into the middle of the bikers, and several swerved away, before coming back to a stop in a circle around the massive earth tortoise. Alex ran up next to him as they'd parted, and now faced them down, fixing them with a look he only reserved for those who'd pissed him off. "That's enough. You've had your fun. Now leave. Her. Alone." The primarily rotund, pale skinned, and bald men chuckled at his words, and as they did, Alex glanced at Jess. "Did they hurt you?"

She shook her head. "Serpi came out once we stopped…the one from earlier grabbed me right off the Mukking road…" She seemed more irritated than traumatized, which Alex was glad for. It meant she'd be able to help, if they overwhelmed him.

One of the bikers, the leader, Alex guessed, walked forward on his bike, and sneered at them. "An' who the hell're you s'posed t'be, mate? Her whoite knoight?" Alex cringed at the mix of Galarian and Bostonian accents, before fixing the man with a glare.

"I'm the one whose responsible for her safety while she travels with me." Alex said, looking around the circle of bikers. "Now which one of you is the piece of trash that decided kidnapping a woman off the street in broad daylight was a good idea?"

"Oho! Somewunz angry. Come now, mate. We're jus' havin' a bit o' fun with'er." The lead wasteproduct said, with a grin.

"Yea." Another one said, sliding forward on his own vehicle. "I didn't take'er fah. She was rude. I figgered she could do with a bit of rough play…and once she learned'er manners, I wuz gonna bring'er right back."

"Oh, you're about to learn some manners, Mukstain." Alex growled. "Terra. Mud Shot." He pointed at the biker responsible for the crime, and called the special attack. Terra didn't condense it as much as he would for battle, just enough to bruise the human, and blast him off his bike, which he did. The other bikers made noises like 'Oi!' or 'Hey!' as he gave the order, but he'd stopped caring. "Now Stomp!" Terra took a few thunderous steps towards the fallen biker, glared at those around him, daring them to attack, and then crushed the machine with a single foot. It exploded with a minor blast, but the earth tortoise covered it up, and absorbed the hit without so much as flinching.

Alex glared at the group, as they each reached for their own magical monsters. "I have no issue with you. Just the imbecile who committed a crime. Let us go, and I won't crush your bikes too."

About twenty lights from Pokéballs flared then, as a host of poison, dark, fighting, and water types surrounded the pair further. Their leader spoke again. "Nah, mate. Afta' that display, yer gonna' pay too."

"Dragonite! Use Dragon Rush!" "Dratini, Dragonbreath!" "You too, Glaedr! Dragonbreath!"

Alex blinked, as he and Terra watched a rotund orange comet sail past their faces, bowling over the bikers in front of them with speed that only a truly powerful Pokémon had. He watched as the Dragonite arced its Dragon Rush, and blue flames from the pair of Dragonbreaths made a circle on the concrete, keeping anyone from running. Not that the bikers or their partners were in a state to run after being smashed by a dragon type move that strong. Most of their partners had fainted with a single hit.

Then, their timely savior's Trainers appeared or rather, their Tamers. Alex recognized Lance, the long retired former World Champion, and legendary Champion of the Indigo Plateau. Beside the ancient white haired Dragon Tamer were a pair of what seemed to be novices, with blue hair. The woman had the Dratini, and the boy had a Fraxure, who he'd apparently given a nickname. It was uniquely colored too, and had a shine to it.

"I am Lance, of the Pokémon G-Men." The old man said from the incline of the canal, his glaring, grizzled features taking in the group of bikers. "Under the deputization of the Bostonia PD, I am placing every member of the Gira Grinders at this scene under lawful arrest. Surrender, and come in peacefully."

The majority of the bikers had been tossed from their rides by the Dragonite's attack. Many of their bikes were now damaged, or seriously scratched or burned by dragonfire. The bike gang's leader glared at Lance. "Arrest!? Whose gonna' arrest you fer destroyin' our bikes!?"

Lance walked down the concrete incline leading into the canal carefully, leaning on a thin black cane as he did. His spine was bent with age, but the ferocity in his eyes hadn't lessened at all. From the opposing side of the Dragonbreath flame wall, he glared at the man. "Your gang is responsible for a kidnapping. Did you think no one would report you? Be glad you have your lives. You can always buy new bikes."

"You mean you can pay fer our bloody bikes!" One of the other bikers shouted. Lance's glare intensified, and his Dragonite flew to him, hovering above him as he stared the gang down.

"I'm not paying you people anything. Criminals don't get to make demands. Now put your Pokémon away. Last warning."

Blue and red flashing lights appeared from the bridge over the canal, and the biker grimaced at Lance. He knew it was over, as his minions did as they were told. He recalled his Nidoking, and the other bikers followed suit. The one who'd been hit with Mud Shot tried running as he saw that, but the Dratini tripped up his legs, and then Wrapped him.

Lance approached Alex then, and gave him and Jess a nod. "Are you two alright?"

Jess answered first, having healed and recalled all but Serpi now. "Yes, sir. Thank you. We're glad you arrived when you did."

Lance just shrugged. "I owed your dad a favor…happened to be in the city…and I despise scum like this. Taking people off the street in broad daylight…" The old man mumbled something about crazy Unovans, and then fixed his gaze on Alex. "You did well, having your partner hold back, kid. If we hadn't shown up, that Torterra of yours could have probably taken most of them."

Alex chuckled, and scratched the back of his neck. "Maybe one on one…but not all at once. Thank you. Sir."

Lance nodded, and then hobbled away. To his assistants, he said "Process them." Before he began the steep and slow climb to the police atop the bridge, his Dragonite still by his side.

The girl took Jess's statement, and the boy took Alex's. Once that was done, the two began chatting, as Alex brought out Leo, and he and the Fraxure, Glaedr, stared each other down. Alex learned the lad's name was also Lance, and that he was a relative of the Dragon Master himself. He asked to see Alex's Trainer Card, and seemed to frown, but handed it back promptly.

They continued chatting, and Alex learned he also had a Bagon which he'd caught around Draconis Mons, to the west. The boys exchanged numbers, agreeing to battle someday, while Jess and her assigned processor were far more professional. Alex took her for dinner then, and over time, she gradually became her cheery self again. Serpi had taken the brunt of the bikers, and while shaken, he could tell Jess was proud of her Pokémon. He recalled how he'd felt when Terra had jumped in against the Tyranitar they'd ended up training with, saving his life from a very angry Hyper Beam. Seeing how much Pokémon cared for them often changed and deepened their dynamic. He knew Jess and Serpi would be stronger for it.

When they returned to the closest Pokémon Center, Jess already had a call waiting from her father, which she took privately, on the nurse's own line. If Nurse Joy found that odd, she didn't show it, as she took both their teams for a well earned rest. Alex kept Leo with him, as he'd remained fresh, and he wanted the Luxio's sharp senses guarding them as they slept cuddled up together. He no longer trusted the city.

The next day, they hit the local Battle Stadium before heading west towards central Unova, for more training. Hydrus lost several battles in a row, and while Alex kept him healthy, he seemed to feel bad for breaking his Trainer's streak. Alex didn't care though, as long as Hydrus had enjoyed the contest of strength. It took some explaining, but eventually the little mudfish understood that battles weren't about winning or losing, but competing honestly, and having fun while he did it. He was smiling again after that, and it was his turn with the Exp. Share once Jess's Empolia became a Prinplup. Unlike Hydrus, she kept her Trainer's win streak going, and evolved as a result.

Then, it was Blaze's turn.

The Charmander was in rare form as he dodged, sprang into the air for aerial Flamethrowers with the aid of his Dragon Tail, and in a few short battles, all of which he won as Hydrus watched on, the little fire lizard roared in victory.

"Chaaaaaaar!" The Charmander shone brightly with the power of the evolutionary spiral, and began shifting his form to the next stage of his growth as Infinity Energy surrounded him in a double helix pattern. He doubled in size, and gained muscle, and power, trading it for the speed his child form had had. "Meeeleon!"

The new Charmeleon stomped the ground, and snorted flames. He was feeling the high his new master felt, the drive to 'be the very best' as he'd called it. Blaze saw his Trainer eyeing him for signs of uncontrollable rage, and the Charmeleon gave him a clawed thumb, pointed upwards, the signal they'd agreed on for determining if he could go on battling once he evolved.

When asked if he wanted more, the Charmeleon's tail flame shifted to blue, and his roar echoed through the stadium. They battled there for half of the day after that, Jess with Empolia and Alex with Blaze. As before, they teamed up for several double battles, but resisted holding hands this time. Once they had lunch, it was back on the road they went, and Alex was glad Jess had seemingly returned to her usual self, the one that despised walking anywhere.

He'd tried telling her heels weren't suitable Trainer shoes, especially away from the city, but she had stubbornly insisted on 'looking good while battling'. He'd told her she already did, and would even if she went shoeless, but she'd persisted anyway.

It was a boring pair of days they spent heading west and training as they did. Hydrus gained more wins, and more experience, finally growing larger as he won. He hadn't been a runt, just a late bloomer when it came to size, and it wasn't long before he got his own Lucky Egg as well.

"Look…there's our first Gym stop." Alex said two days later, as they trekked up a large hill, and then spied Undella Harbor and the eastern coast of central Unova below them.

He pointed, and she checked her map. "Humilau City? You want to take on Marlon first? That Gym is usually the last one people challenge! Marlon would turn you into chum."

Alex smirked as they began walking again. "It'll be nothing, for Terra. It's exactly his level, and Leo might even evolve if he can win against Marlon's underlings. I'll get the eighth badge first, and then the other Leaders won't treat me like some novice. Besides, our goal is Driftveil City. Humilau is on the way."

She blinked, and chased after him on the downward sloping path. "Eww, Driftveil? Really? I thought nobody in Unova willingly crossed the river to…that part of the region. Isn't their shore full of violent surfers?"

Alex chuckled. "You're thinking of the coast further south. The north shore isn't nearly as bad."

The Driftveil Shore was notorious for having obnoxious surfers riding the waves of the river. That in itself wasn't a bad thing, it was the culture of tanning their skin to the point of being orange, and the culture of fighting, with fists not Pokémon, that gave the shore such a bad rep with Castelianites and Unova at large.

"Move tutors. Move deleters. TM sellers. And of course…the old World Tournament building. Basically, everything we need in order to get our teams the last few Moves they need." He met her gaze evenly, listing the many reasons they needed to visit the city on one hand.

She pouted again. "But I like my team's Moves."

Alex shrugged. "I have two more Pokémon to catch, and Draconis Mons' base is on the way, too. Just north of Humilau. East of the Victory Plateau. We're technically already in its range, but we'll need to go farther to find a Bagon."

His companion rolled her eyes, the strain of hiking so far and so long was showing on their sweaty brows, and after days of travel her precious heels were wearing out, but their conversation had carried them far and distracted them from the time it was taking to get somewhere civilized. "What is it with you and Bagon, anyways? Why not Dratini, or Deino? There are plenty of Deino here."

He nodded. "True, but Hydreigon is a real pain to train, most dragon types are, but especially that one. Besides, plenty of Trainers have a Dragonite already. No, I finally decided a while back that a Salamence would be the perfect secret weapon if Terra ever failed. And, their flight speed is unmatched. If I want to get around the world quickly, a Salamence will do it the fastest. They love flying, and they're aerodynamically built for it."

She shrugged. "I just think something more your style would be better. Like a Goomy."

"Hey!" She was already running ahead, laughing. He rolled his eyes, and kept walking. He didn't chase. Not on long journeys that required stamina, anyways. Let her run, he thought, she'd be exhausted later.

Sahqoreyth · Mar 16, 2024

Chapter 3: Humilau Gym

Draconis Mons Base - Directly North of Humilau City, Unova Region

"Are we theeere yet?" Jess whined in his ear. He liked her better when she was too distracted by his tongue to form coherent words. She had indeed run herself out of energy, first running ahead quite far, getting lost, and then running back.

She'd been expecting to be chased, and as much as he would've liked to catch her and pull her into the bushes, this was the Unova region. There were quite a few impressionable children on the road, and he was going to do his best not to traumatize them.

All this had happened whilst in her heels as well, a type of shoe that confounded Alex and defied all logic. If it hurt, why wear it? If you were going on a journey, why wear heels? She'd insisted that they 'made her feel pretty', and had kept complaining of sore feet, which he had been nominated to rub when they stopped to rest.

They'd been traveling for several days now, and she'd run ahead of him several times, only to limp back with sore feet an hour later and ask for a ride on his back. The monotony of walking like a normal person on a road was evidently too boring for her to deal with. Some might've found that annoying, but he could see she was happy. She'd even caught a Mareep, and this latest jaunt ahead had seen her return with a Swablu as well. Both Amphi and Melodi were welcome additions to her growing lineup.

Now however, he was once more carrying her shoes, and she was on his back. They weren't thin heels, but they were apparently just painful enough to cause sore feet. This was yet another thing he would never understand about the fairer sex. His own shoes were perfect. Black and white and made for travel. He'd had to wear his backpack reversed to make room for her, and now he felt more like a camel than a Trainer. He would've ridden his Torterra, but he was still sleeping almost twenty four hours a day, and Alex figured that it would be best to let him rest before the gym match. Once that was over, he'd have a proper break in the warm summer sun of Undella Bay.

Looking at her shoes, a thought drifted into his head, and he asked, "Are you planning on staying with me this summer? Through the whole journey? You might not be back in time for school. I'm good, but journeys take time. Especially the first one." He could feel her sigh against his neck, and then his vision was obscured as she yanked his hat down.

"What a question!" she said, dramatically. "Of course I'm coming with you! It'll be a good chance to prepare my team for my final exam."

In truth, she was sick of school. The monotonous memorization of tests, the endless hours spent discussing various type pairings. It bored her to sleep. Her father would be furious if she missed the start of the half a year long semester. She'd always avoided taking the summer one.

The campus was oppressively hot in the summer months, and taking the final exams in the fall was even harder. Most students only went for the winter months, when being home with family, trapped indoors, was liable to make many of these maturing adults go stir crazy.

Alex pushed his hat up by blowing hard at the rim, repeatedly. Just enough to see the trail. "Are you ever going to tell me what you specialized in?"

He could feel her giggle against his back. Not an unpleasant sensation, for two C sized reasons. "You'll find out. And you had better be at my graduation, Mr. Redwood."

He looked up at her, a hard thing to do with his hat so far down. "I wouldn't miss it."

She giggled again, and stole his hat, then turned hers to the right and put his on, facing the left. "Ahh…now the sun can't burn my face." She sighed, letting her chin rest on his head.

He smirked, eyes on the road ahead as Humilau came ever closer. He'd thought it was a small town, but that was because they'd been so far away from it. They were close to the Unovan coast now. "You look ridiculous with two hats on."

She swatted at one of his cheeks. "You're supposed to say I look beautiful no matter what. Who taught you how to be a lovesick puppy anyways?"

He snorted. "Puppy? If anything, I look more like a turtle. Which fits I suppose, Trainers are supposed to match their Pokémon aren't they?"

She laughed, and dug her chin into his head, trying not to sneeze as it was surrounded by wavy, dark brown hair. "Fine. You're a lovesick turtle."

That brought another smirk, one that faded slightly as he saw a group of people on the road ahead. "Can't argue with that logic."

The group ahead of them came closer, and as Jess finally noticed, she grinned. "Look! Preschoolers!" She jumped down off his back, sore feet forgotten, and ran towards them, all smiles.

Most people from Unova were inherently suspicious of strangers, as anyone from such a highly-populated region would be, but out here among the gorgeous waves and scenic mountains, people were more relaxed.

Free of his giggling burden, Alex stretched his back with a satisfying crack, and adjusted his backpack once more. He threw her shoes in it for good measure, and was zipping everything up when he heard shouting. "Oi! Turtle-boy! Come say hi and stop being shy!"

He was already moving towards her, close enough to hear the teacher say, "Turtle boy?" To which Jess shook her head. The kids loved it though. The girls, anyway. The boys were young, but they were still boys, and as a rule, thought girls were annoying and icky. But this new one was prettier than their teacher, despite the fact that she looked silly wearing two hats that clashed with one another.

Once Alex made it down the road, he snatched his hat back from her before she could say anything, and put it on again as he turned to the teacher, and smirked. "Sorry for interrupting your class. I can't take her anywhere."

The teacher had to be around their age, with black hair and an average build. She wasn't necessarily unattractive, but next to Jess, every woman was less attractive. She had a sort of nerdy look about her that, had he not already been smitten, might have piqued his interest.

"Oh, it's quite alright." She said, smiling. "Jess was just telling us that she was starting her journey as a Pokémon Trainer. I'm guessing that means you two are from up north?" Alex nodded, glancing at his partner, who was playing with the kids, as he had an adult conversation.

She was enamored with the girls, and even the boys had come up now. They were, of course, talking about Pokémon, each one telling her with childish enthusiasm what they wanted, or had at home, or their older siblings or parents had, all while mispronouncing their names. It was adorable.

"Yes, our town is pretty far north of the Pokémon Center in the mountains. But it's small, nothing but ranches really. And apples." The teacher looked ready to respond, when a smaller boy with black hair and a red shirt that had a Emboar on the front of it came up to him, and tugged on his jacket.

"Do you have Pokémon too? Can we see them? Pleeaaase?" The boy's teacher looked embarrassed, but Alex nodded. Nobody could resist that cuteness.

"I suppose I could let them out." The entire class cheered, but he held up a finger. "You have to be careful around them though. They don't like to be hit, or tugged on, and while they won't attack you if you annoy them, you might get shocked, or burned, or splashed with water. You have to promise to be gentle." He emphasized the word gentle. He might as well have told the sea to stay calm and never turn stormy.

"We promise!" they said in unison. Someday, far in the future, he would be wise enough to figure out how kids behaved, but at that moment, he was not wise, and decided to take them at their word, not yet understanding that children that age kept promises for about five minutes. He shared a look with Jess. The cuteness was blinding both of them, and even their teacher.

"Alright then." He grabbed Terra's ball. Out of all of his growing team of Pokémon, Terra might've been the strongest but he was also the most like Alex. He wouldn't have to worry about the kids being in any kind of danger with him. Like his Trainer, he was a gentle giant.

"Terra! Come on out!" He threw the ball into the air, and it burst open before zooming back to his hand. Terra appeared in a flash of green swirling light, and yawned, then looked around him, blinking slowly at the children.

"This," Alex began, "Is my first Pokémon. His name is Terra."

One of the girls spoke up now. "Does he like warm hugs?" Alex shared a look with his Pokémon, and shrugged, not getting the reference. The mountain turtle answered for him. "Terra!"

Even the children could tell that was a yes. Despite his size, the children were climbing on him almost immediately. Since just one of his legs was taller than most of them, he lay down, and let them use his large shell as a playground on the grass to the side of the road.

The trees had lessened now, this close to the ocean, and grassy plains with the occasional house were what surrounded them now. It was a perfect place to relax, or take a field trip.

About five seconds passed before the same boy as before ran back to Alex. The other kids watched him like a pack of Wingull watched another of their kind who had just caught a tasty fish. Perched on Terra as they were, the similarity was quite accurate.

"Do you have a fire type?"

He sighed. Most kids loved fire types, as they were, ironically, the coolest in almost every region, from Sinnoh to Unova. Even he had liked fire types when he was younger, only preferring grass types later on, when he understood how a Pokémon's type often affected how they interacted with the world around them. Grass types brought peace and clean air, but underneath that calm exterior was a power as strong as the earth itself. Fire types, and their Trainers, often had to go to areas without any vegetation to train. Fire was hard to control, most of the time, and fire type Pokémon were no exception. If one was careless, their training could cause a disaster, and hurt someone innocent. But Blaze was different, and so was the rest of his species. They had a sense of honor that was admired world-wide, and had helped the popularity of their species soar. He wouldn't intentionally harm weaker opponents, let alone children.

"I do actually. So does Jess. She copied me when I chose mine." Jess looked at him as he spoke, and made a face, like she was about to protest, when Alex threw the rest of his balls into the air, somehow managing to catch all three when they zoomed back to him. Blaze, Leo, and Hydrus appeared in a burst of light matching their color.

The children stared, eyes wide as Alex pointed at each one. "This is Blaze. A Charmeleon. Do. Not. Yank. His. Tail." Quickly grasping the situation, Blaze nodded, snorting flames for emphasis. He moved on.

"This is Hydrus. His fins are sensitive, so if you pet them, do it gently, and he will love you for it. Yank on them, and he will get you wet." Hydrus, the youngest of his team by far, was inspecting a bug on the ground, not able to decide if he wanted to eat it or not. At that moment, one of the larger kids in the group burst from behind the others, a Mudkip on his blue shirt.

"Mudkip!? I LOVE MUDKIPZ!" Hydrus blinked, recognizing his species' name, and then yelped, running as the large kid began chasing him. Knowing Hydrus could easily outrun the boy, Alex continued, patting Leo as he walked up to him.

"Last but not least, Leo. You might feel a slight buzz if you pet him. Don't worry, it won't shock you." "Lux." The gold furred cat purred, immediately moving towards the kids. They pet him gently, and babbled excitedly as they felt the current of his electricity under their hands. The cat looked at his Trainer and tilted his head questioningly. Alex nodded. Suddenly, most of the children had their hair stretched completely straight in random directions. The boys found it hilarious. The girls immediately let go of the cat and pat their hair down frantically. They wandered back over to Jess then, as she'd brought out her own starter but Alex didn't mind. Serpi had their attention now, as she was, he had to admit, quite a lovely grass type.

Blaze was by far the most popular, and he didn't quite like being the center of attention. "Mak'im do a Fire Blast!" One kid shouted.

Alex shrugged, and looked at Blaze, who sighed a puff of smoke, and tilted his head to the sky. With a roar, a ball of mighty flames shot above them, bursting into a five-pronged star and flying even higher before finally exploding high above them.

The kids stared in awe, and despite his reluctance, Alex could tell his partner enjoyed showing off for them. A few kids were still on Terra, the Mudkip boy had finally managed to coax Hydrus to come over, and was stroking his fins gently. Judging by his wet clothes, he'd tried yanking on them first. The boys began shouting eagerly for more moves, many of which Blaze simply didn't know, or couldn't do without hurting someone.

"Meleon." Blaze said to his Trainer, as he was obviously tired of entertaining children, and wished to go back into his ball. Alex couldn't really blame him. As he disappeared, the boys all made an 'awwww' sound, and Terra opened one eye from where he was snoozing. Most of the kids had moved on from playing on him, but he was enjoying the sunlight all the same.

He lifted his head then, and opened his mouth as if to yawn, but instead, green light swirled towards him, forming a ball of energy in his mouth. Unlike his usual Energy Balls, this one was being drawn from the land, not himself, in small amounts from what the land could give. Once he had it large enough, several kids started to notice.

The gathered energy was inhaled then, filling Terra with green light. He closed his eyes again, and soon after, the green light appeared again, around the massive tree on his shell. Most of the class was watching now, Alex included, and after about a minute, tiny apples began to form on the branches of his tree.

"I don't believe it…" Alex whispered, "I didn't know he knew how to grow fruit yet. Who taught him that?"

The teacher walked up then, and pushed the rim of her glasses up with two fingers. "Some things can't be taught. Pokémon know how to do more than just what you teach them, especially grass types. Growing fruit for a Torterra is as easy as say, a Snivy controlling vines, or a Bulbasaur tending flowers. You have a Pokédex, right? Many Pokémon, in the wild, use Torterra's shell as a home. Torterra is often kind enough to share its shell, and if a Pokémon is wounded and needs shelter, it can provide food and safety."

Alex nodded, recalling several Pokédex entries. Some varied by region, but most gave similar information. "I remember…one of the reasons we have wild Turtwig at home is because we have farmers who grow entire orchard's worth of fruit using Torterra's trees. I used to help out at several of them when I was younger. I always liked how kind they were, and often I found Pokémon that needed treatment at our town's center, hiding on their shells. I guess growing fruit is something they do naturally."

By now, the apples were bright red, and looked delicious. The children needed no prompting, and ran over to grab them. Not long after, another would grow in to replace what had been taken, such was the amount of energy Terra had gathered. In an environment like this, that got plenty of sunlight, he had been able to draw quite a bit of energy.

They decided to have lunch then, all of them, and even Leo and Hydrus had a few apples. Blaze was called out again, and munched on several himself before returning to his ball. That left Chari as the center of attention, and the only fire type. Unlike the boys, most of the girls had just wanted to hug her, rather than make her breathe fire. Eventually, the time came to return everyone to their balls.

The teacher approached the two Trainers as the kids got ready to continue again on their field trip. It was just past noon. "We're going to continue on the trail a bit further, so we can see Draconis Mons, from a safe distance of course. Are you two headed into town?"

Jess answered, nodding. "Alex is going for the Gym Badge there. As his first Badge in the Unova challenge."

The teacher blinked. "You're choosing Marlon as your first opponent? Willingly?"

Alex nodded as well. "You saw my Torterra. I could use him and him alone and sweep this gym. But I want to train Leo on the other Trainers under Marlon as well."

The teacher gave a small smirk. "Well, I wish you luck. Marlon knows how to handle electric and grass types, they'll have to be quite strong to face him and win. There's a reason League Challengers save him for last."

Alex smirked. "Good. It's been too long since I faced a decent water type user. Thanks for letting us show off our teams. I think the Pokémon enjoyed it as much as the children did."

The teacher gave a slight curtsy then. "Any time. Feel free to visit if you ever come through Humilau again." With their goodbyes handled, Alex and Jess began making their way to town again.

Five minutes later, they stopped and called out Terra, as Jess remembered that her feet were killing her. Terra didn't seem to mind, but he looked tired. "Wake up my friend," Alex said, patting his shell. "We have our first Gym Battle coming up. Once we win, I'll let you rest as long as you like."

"Terra." Was the grumble he got in response. Jess hid a blush under her hair. The deep rumble of Terra's voice made the shell vibrate in all the right ways.

"We should ride Terra more often." She said, smirking.

"He's my friend, not my car." Alex grumbled. Still, he supposed it would be good training, riding cross-region on Terra would make his endurance grow even further, but something didn't seem quite right. Terra still looked tired, and not just because his eyes had changed upon evolving. He yawned often as they traveled, and every few steps he would yawn again.

Over time they became less frequent, especially once they entered town, but he made a note to be sure to have the local nurse check him out once they beat the gym. Finding the gym was easy, and the locals stared at him as he rode past at Torterra speed, lumbering through the town.

There were smirks on their faces that unnerved him. Anyone with eyes could tell they were heading to the gym, and after an unnecessarily complex series of ramps that led them up and down and up again, they made it.

"Yo, Marlon!" A man in a too-tight swimsuit called as Alex and Jess entered the building sans Terra, "We got more challengers!"

Alex raised a brow at Jess. "Are you going to try your luck too? Serpi might beat him. She's gotten a lot stronger after all those battles on the road."

Jess shook her head. "I might have a Battle or two with the other Trainers, after you, but beating teams of Caterpie didn't give her enough experience to face the eighth Gym of Unova right out the gate."

Alex shrugged. "Whatever you say. It just means we'll have to come back here again." She elbowed him forward as the man who must've been Marlon walked towards him, his fellow gym Trainers flanking him. They reminded him of the University's swim team. He even recognized a few faces from alumni, though of course, they had no idea who he was.

"I wanted to see the kids again anyways. Now go pull another victory out of thin air." He winked at her, and then shook his head. Type advantage would do all the work here. Had this been an ice gym, he would've just skipped it and started at Striaton, like most Trainers.

"Yo!" Marlon waved, and Alex took a minute to take in his unique appearance. Most adult men he met didn't wear pants with fins on them. It wasn't wrong, it was just…unusual. Jess seemed more occupied by his upper half as he glanced at her. "I'm Marlon, head of this Gym. Which of you fine folks is challengin' me?"

Alex stepped forward, and turned his hat backwards, grinning. Marlon spoke before he could say a word. "Oh ho ho! I see! Judgin' by that hat you're from the northeast, yea? So, you must just be starting out! That's cool bro, we can take all types here! Everyone's welcome at the Humilau Gym!"

It was hard not to like Marlon. His appearance was a bit…odd, but once you got past that, he had a chilled-out vibe that seemed like it would be more at home in Alola, not Unova.

"Thank you for accepting my challenge, Marlon. But I'm no beginner, despite coming from the northeast. This is my first Gym Challenge, but I didn't walk over mountains to face your line up for novices." Marlon raised a blue eyebrow, and Alex met his gaze evenly, allowing a smirk to cross his normally impassive features. "Treat me like you would if this was my last Gym, and after, I'd be facing the League."

"You sure, my man? My team is pretty strong." Deciding that showing, rather than telling, would be the quickest path to a match here, Alex thumbed the release on Terra's ball. He came out with a yawn, and blinked at Marlon, then looked around the gym. Despite the type advantage, grass and water types got along well, for obvious reasons, and he could tell Terra liked this gym's setup.

"Well now…I see! You must be him! The Trainer who beat ol' Tyran, and his Trainer up at the University." He turned to his protégés. "Grab your strongest, boys and girls. If this Torterra is the end result of that Turtwig, we've got quite a challenge ahead."

The gathered water Trainers grinned, and as they took their places in the gym, out came the flying and water types. Terra seemed to smile, and he and his Trainer shared a look. They strolled casually up to their first opponent, at which point a white Pokéball flew into the air, and produced a Luxio. A smirk appeared under the northern styled hat. "Thunderbolt."

As promised, type advantage took care of a need for strategy, most of the time. One by one, he could see the swimmer's respect for his skill as a Trainer grow. Leo grew as well, finishing strong as he took down the last swimmer's Pokémon, an Azumarill. That had been the last obstacle before Marlon, and as the other Trainer recalled the fainted Pokémon, Leo began to glow with a blinding white light in an increasingly familiar double helix pattern.

Alex kept him from evolving during the harsh gym battles for one reason: Thunder Fang, arguably the signature move of Luxray. Leo had figured it out after the first Trainer they faced, and had honed it throughout the other battles. He'd finished Azumarill with that very move, and now, he ascended to the final stage of his evolution, growing larger, and gaining sharp claws as well as a large, flared mane.

Leo grinned at his Trainer once the light faded, looking quite refreshed as electricity sparked over his fur, and made the mane flare out even further. It was large, fluffy, and impressive, and his intense red and gold eyes had a feline fierceness that suggested nobody should mess with him. In earlier forms, it was often hard to tell if a Shinx was male or female, but Alex had known Leo was male from the start, and now, his mane proved it.

The female's of his species had manes that were shorter, smoother, while the males were larger, and flared out more. A trait shared by their counterpart, Pyroar, in Kalos. Jess had gone with Marlon to the final battlefield, a series of wooden platforms with circular platforms dotting the water. They didn't look like they'd hold Terra.

A section of sturdier wood was provided at his request once he mentioned just how heavy his titanic earth turtle was, and several strong platforms were provided for his side of the field coming up from the bottom of the gym. Terra wouldn't be able to dodge, but then, he was a tank that fired condensed grass energy now. Dodging was a thing of the past.

Terra was rested and ready to go, despite his yawning, and his defense was second to none. Alex had no doubt that if they could block ice attacks, they'd have a pretty easy win. Leo got a Max Elixir and a Hyper Potion for the final battle, and he was ready as well. Electricity bristled over his shiny black and gold fur, and mane. He was itching to try out his new body.

"I should mention..." Marlon said, after hopping across the numerous lily pads and wooden platforms that littered the Gym Leader's field, "There's a new League Challenge rumored to be starting soon. The other Gym Leaders were given special Badges, and everything. I'm technically not supposed to tell anyone about it yet...but you seem like the kinda' guy who'd be interested in such a challenge."

Alex raised a brow from under his backwards-turned hat. "A new challenge? What makes it different?"

Marlon stretched as he spoke, and as Alex glanced towards Jess again, he saw her watching with undisguised interest. As did many of his female gym Trainers. He quietly lamented his lack of abs, then focused as Marlon spoke again, "Well, for one thing, there's no Conference this time. This challenge is so hard, anyone who manages to beat it will have proven themselves worthy of going straight to the Victory Plateau."

Alex felt a smirk tug at his mouth. A chance to avoid being taken out by some foreigner with an overpowered mythical partner before the Elite Four. "Consider my interest piqued."

Marlon put his hands on his hips as he explained the rules, "Gym Leaders, as you know, usually have a specific team of Pokémon they use for battles. Their teams are allowed to have one 'ace' on them, but the other Pokémon have to be relatively new, or at least match the skill level of our challengers." Marlon grinned at him. "This challenge lets us use the teams we had when we were traveling Trainers, like you. The Victory League is even harder."

"And that's why it's so difficult..." Alex finished. He looked down, and stroked his bare chin as he pondered whether or not he could really succeed in such conditions. The Gym Leaders of Unova were quite strong, and if they were using their best lineup for this, he needed to train even harder. Two seconds later, he looked up. "Right. I'll face your team, and gladly enter this challenge."

He had no idea what exactly he'd signed up for, or why it was being held in the first place, but at the moment he didn't care. This was an obvious way for the League to see who the standout Trainers among this year's crop were, and he planned to be one of them.

Marlon wasted no time, and soon both he and Alex had their Pokémon out, ready for battle. Terra's weight managed to be held by the wooden platform, and Marlon's Jellicent was at home in the water. With type advantage and field advantage, they were evenly matched. Marlon gave a flourishing bow. "The first move goes to the challenger! Give me your best! You'll need it..."

The knowing smirks from the townspeople and now Marlon's swimmers bugged him, but if this was a trap, he was going to spring it. "Alright. Terra, Energy Ball!"

Jellicent replied with a Shadow Ball, and the two moves canceled out in an explosive cloud of smoke. Alex and his partner blinked. Evidently, he was not the only Trainer to have figured out the many advantages in layering spherical energy attacks. Terra followed up with a Razor Leaf that hit Jellicent hard, and then two more Energy Balls, the first being deflected by another Shadow Ball, while the second hit home. Jellicent went down, and the ref, one of Marlon's people, called it. Next up was Mantine.

"Wing Attack!" Marlon said, taking the first move now, as he was the one who'd changed Pokémon.

"Energy Ball, Terra!" Terra tried to attack, but then stopped, shaking its head. Alex blinked, and then swore as the flying type move slammed into Terra. "Razor Leaf!" He shouted quickly, not wanting to lose the advantage.

"Keep hitting them with Wing Attack! They can't retaliate with Energy Ball thanks to Jellicent's Cursed Body! Get in close!" Mantine bashed the leaves away with its glowing white fins, the flying type move batted them easily out of its path as it charged Terra. Mumbling under his breath about annoying abilities like Cursed Body and Sap Sipper, Alex switched strategies.

"Terra! Catch its fin on the next attack with Crunch!" Despite the pain he took from the move, Terra did as he was ordered, clamping down on Mantine's glowing fin with his sharp mouth. "Now, hit it repeatedly with Razor Leaf!"

Unable to block the swarm of sharp leaves that flew from Terra's Ash tree with Wing Attack as it had done before, Mantine took the hit directly, and fell into the water, fainted. Next came Carracosta, a fellow turtle Pokémon. Had it not been part rock type, Alex would've used Leo. Terra stayed in, looking just as determined as ever, despite the multiple Wing Attacks.

"Shell Smash!" Marlon called the move, and Terra braced for an attack. Instead, the other turtle dove into the water after stretching, and causing bits of its rocky shell to fall away, freeing up its movement, and increasing its speed.

"Razor Leaf." Terra fired at the blue turtle, but to no avail, the surface of the water made a poor environment for that kind of attack. The crafty water type used his advantage to leap out of the water and slam Terra's head with an Aqua Tail. More Razor Leaves followed, but were similarly useless.

Finally, when Carracosta jumped to use another Aqua Tail, Terra was ready. "Wood Hammer!" Alex called, and Terra answered by letting the grass energy build in the spikes on either side of his head, and not unlike a Fraxure, hammered the rocky turtle as it tried another Aqua Jet. After weathering so many attacks, Marlon had hoped to lower Terra's defenses, but the grass tortoise remained looking as strong as ever, even after taking damage from his own move.

In reality, he was limited in moves and mobility. Frenzy Plant required earth to be truly effective, Earthquake was useless on water, and Energy Ball was still disabled. As Marlon brought out his next Pokémon, Alex switched Terra out.

It was good he did, because the Walrein that came out next looked strong, and knew primarily ice moves. Leo's Thunder Fang met its Ice Fang numerous times, forcing the agile cat to leap from platform to platform, before paralysis finally took hold, and Leo was able to call down a Thunderbolt from a safe distance.

As Marlon recalled his Walrein, he pulled out a final ball. "This is it. Roshi, go!" A Samurott appeared on the single platform before Marlon then, and he shivered as he met Leo's eyes.

Alex felt a shiver go down his spine as he realized that this had to be Marlon's starter, no doubt received from a Professor, and second only to his Jellicent. He imagined that together, they were quite difficult to beat. "Razor Shell!" At Marlon's command, the large Samurott drew a pair of sharp shells from each front forearm, and then dove into the water.

Alex smirked. He'd need to do better than that. "Leo, keep your eyes on him..." The golden furred Luxray watched, his gaze laser-focused on his target. A Luxray's eyes were superior even to targeting computers, and were a large part of his newfound accuracy with ranged attacks. He could be dodged, but it was not often that he missed. Leo snarled, a warning to his Trainer that the Samurott was coming up for his attack. "Thunder!"

Leo's roar, now one that well suited his lion-like form, echoed through the gym as the electricity shot into the air...and then came down hard on the emerging Samurott. The masterful swordsman cut through the attack with one shell, and the other was thrown towards Leo.

"Catch it with Thunder Fang!" Alex ordered, taking a page from Terra's tactics. Leo caught the shell sword, and then tossed it outside the field, where it landed next to Jess and the onlooking swimmers who trained at the gym. They were certainly getting a show.

Roshi dove back under the water, and Leo watched him once more. With only one shell-sword, he'd be limited to defense, but Alex knew Samurott were renowned for their sword skills, and were almost on par with Gallade in that regard.

"Hydro Pump!" Alex swore as he heard Marlon call the move, but Leo was able to dodge, as he saw it coming.

"Rrray..." Leo growled once he'd found a new platform. He'd lost sight of Roshi, but Alex knew where the Samurott would strike. It was where he would've struck, had he been in Marlon's place. "Razor Shell!" Marlon called again.

A shift in movement below his thunder cat confirmed his suspicions. "He's below you, Leo, hiding under the platform!" Leo jumped to another, trusting his Trainer to be his eyes as he dodged the blue slash of energy that tore the platform apart. Alex kept track of his Pokémon's position, as well as the swift blue form of Roshi.

"Keep moving!" He called, swearing as Leo was put on the defensive. Roshi continued slashing through platforms and lily pads, and Alex knew Terra wouldn't be able to pull this off if Leo went down. Blaze would do poorly against a fast water type, and this Samurott appeared to have mastered its physical moves. Hydrus wouldn't last long either, young as he was, and with only the outer ring to stand on, Terra would be an easy target. They had to win here.

"Wait for it..." Alex said, and Leo nodded, jumping between the last few surfaces on the water field. "Now! Thunder Fang!" Leo landed hard on the last wooden platform, then turned completely around as only a feline could, and leapt over the open water, right as Roshi came up again. The two crossed in the air, and Leo went into the water, snarling in discomfort, as Roshi landed on the platform, sword extended, and still glowing.

Marlon looked triumphant, and crossed his arms, preparing to declare his victory...until he took a second look at his Samurott. With a sigh, Roshi collapsed. Blocking Thunder with a water type move had mitigated some damage, but not enough to take a direct Thunder Fang from a fellow physical attacker. Leo crawled out of the water onto the square wooden platform that ringed the field, shaking himself free of as much water as possible.

Marlon took most of it, but didn't seem to mind. Leo trotted back to his Trainer, and despite his dampness, gave a toothy grin. "Well done, Leo. You've grown more than I could've imagined, and in so short a time." Growling in agreement, Alex recalled his Pokémon, and knew the ball's interior would dry him. After a long argument about ethics in the wake of Team Plasma's second attempt at domination and at Champion N's request, the Pokémon League had decided to give all Pokéballs a 'Luxury Ball level' of comfort within. The older model balls had been phased out, as trade-ins were free, for balls with occupants. Over time, reports of ball-hating Pokémon lessened, though there were always those who preferred to wander outside.

Riding the lily pads they'd been standing on back to the wooden slats surrounding the field, Marlon fished out a badge from his odd pants as he walked over to Alex.

"Well done my man, this Wave Badge is yours. Enjoy it, because the other Gyms won't be nearly so easy. I can tell you've been practicing on other Water Types." Alex chuckled, thanking him for the badge.

It hadn't really been an easy fight per say, Terra was worn out and Leo had barely managed to take down that much stronger Samurott, but in the end, it was worth it. He pinned the badge to the inside of his jacket, and he and Jess left the gym to find the sun was already setting, and the sky was almost as red-orange as her hair.

"So." She said, as they headed for the town Pokémon Center, "How did you like your first Gym experience?"

Alex shrugged. "Don't get me wrong, it was intense, but it seems like doing that eight times could get a bit…repetitive. It's definitely a great way to train though, assuming you have enough of a type advantage and a high enough skill level."

She sighed. "Well I hope my first time is as easy as that looked."

He raised a brow. "You call that easy? Terra was essentially reduced to one move for most of the battle. If that Mantine had known Ice Beam, Terra would've gone down, and that Samurott...it almost had us."

She shrugged as they entered the Pokémon center. "I guess after seeing Terra beat a Tyrantrum, a bunch of Water Types isn't as exciting as I thought it'd be. Though I did like Leo's finishing move. That cat has style."

Alex smirked. "He has class, too."

He shook his head, chuckling, and then got them a room. As he waited for their key, he replied, "Don't worry, there's more to life than Gym Battles. But I'll try to make the others more appealing."

"Oh, it was definitely appealing. Not a shirt to be found in that Gym." She said with a knowing smirk.

"Nope," Alex agreed, smirking as he recalled the female swimmers. "Nothing but swimsuits." He could play the jealousy card too. She pouted as their room key was handed over.

"I'll meet you there, I'm going to leave my team here." She shrugged, already heading off towards the rooms, and Alex addressed the nurse.

"My Torterra has been acting a bit strange lately. I mean, I know he's supposed to be big and enjoy a good nap, but he sleeps all the time and can barely go five minutes without yawning. Even in Battle. Could you take a look at him?" She nodded, taking Terra's Pokeball.

"I'll see what I can do. One moment, please." One moment turned into five minutes, and then five turned into ten. Finally, the nurse returned. "Your Torterra is recovering from an imbalance of power in his body. Did you keep him from evolving for a long time without an Everstone?" Alex nodded. "I see. He's not in any danger, but he needs about three weeks of rest, preferably somewhere sunny, where he can sleep in peace."

Thanking her, he headed towards their room, swearing silently at the fact that his strongest Pokémon would now be out of it for almost a month. There were worse things, though. He could focus on training the others while Terra recovered. He needed the gap in their respective power levels to lessen. Arriving in their shared room, he saw his flame haired companion, already asleep and with minimal clothing. Evidently, she'd tossed her clothes, and dropped into the bed.

He slid in next to her after doing the same, but there was no lewdness. It had been a long day, and he fell asleep as quickly as she had.

Sahqoreyth · Mar 16, 2024

Chapter 4: Draconis Mons, Part 1

Humilau City - Unova Region

The next morning came swiftly, and while Alex let Jess admire his shiny new badge, he went to retrieve his team at the front desk. He then put in a call to the Redwood Lab. Surprisingly, his granduncle answered the phone for once. That was unusual, as he usually made his aides talk to people.

"Oho! Alex! You've been gone a while my boy, almost a week! I expect you've beaten the Unova League by now, Mr. Fame and Fortune." Alex suppressed a laugh. He hadn't really let himself miss being at home, but not having his long talks with his granduncle was definitely leaving a hole in his life. Luckily, Jess was filling that fairly well.

"Not quite Gruncle, but I did just beat Marlon at the Humilau Gym yesterday. I'd show you my Badge, but it's being admired because it's shiny." His granduncle gave him a knowing smirk, not missing a trick.

"I see, I see. And is that Badge the only thing that's been getting polished?" Alex snorted with a hard laugh, and yanked his hat down to hide the flush in his cheeks as his granduncle's loud laughter filled the lobby of the Pokémon Center.

"Honestly…there are children here." He mumbled, trying not to laugh. The crude sense of humor was something they often shared, but the rest of the family found it childish and lewd. Not them though, they'd spent hours over the years sharing such jokes, and their conversations were saturated with innuendo. But doing so over the phone was another matter entirely. The old man finally ceased laughing, wiping a tear from his eye.

"Oh. Ho ho. Next time choose your words more carefully, lad, you set that one up for me. Now then, what do you want?"

Alex gave his favorite relative a look. "Want? Can't I just call my family to see how everyone's doing? Make sure you haven't turned to dust while I've been gone? That's what happens when fossils like you get too much sun, you know." He couldn't hide his smirk.

"HA!" his granduncle shouted again, and again he drew looks from other people using the phones. "It'll take more than age to kill me, boy. And I know you. Unless you needed my help, you wouldn't have called until you beat the Unova League. Now out with it."

Alex explained the situation with Terra, and then outlined an upgrade to his Pokéball that he thought might help the situation. Sitting in one place, lounging in the sun all day wasn't good for a Trainer like him, with a team that needed to get used to battling. If he let them relax too much this early, they'd become lazy.

Thus, he asked his granduncle to modify Terra's ball so that the internal habitat was one that would trick his body into thinking it was getting enough sunlight. It would genuinely filter in said light to him through the solar panel slots he outlined for his granduncle, just at a steady rate rather than high amounts of it for a few hours a day.

"Hmmm." His granduncle murmured once he'd finished explaining, "Tricky…but I think I could do it. You know, you could just leave him here on the ranch."

Alex shook his head. "Unlike some wrinkled fossils, I actually worked on that ranch. Not even Terra could get more than a few hours of real rest there. Sun, sure. Peace and quiet? No chance."

The old man chuckled again, nodding. "Alright. Send him and his ball over anyway. It'll be done by tomorrow." Alex nodded, placing the ball in the teleporter. He didn't bother calling Terra out to explain all this, since the poor creature had been sound asleep since the day before, and nothing could rouse him. He'd had enough power to battle, but now he slept.

Alex had decided to simply let him rest. "Just let him sit outside the lab while you work on it, eh? That way the Tauros and Miltank won't bug him. They hate the smell of your stale Leaf."

The old man snorted. "My Leaf is of the finest quality, as you well know, you curly haired mooch." The Professor waved his hand again. "Stop worrying about your bloody turtle and go find that redhead of yours. Savor every second you have with her. Terra will be fine. Go. Shoo. And be here tomorrow."

"Oh, and one more thing," Alex said, sensing the call was ending. "I need a similar setup for Leo and Hydrus' balls. Leo's can't handle his new electric power as a Luxray, and Hydrus keeps flooding his, somehow."

His granduncle sighed as Alex loaded the balls into the teleporter. "Fine, fine. I'll fix your whole damn belt. Lazy boy. In my day, we fixed our own balls."

"Thank yo-" The line cut out after the balls were transported, and Alex sighed. With Terra and most of his team gone, that left him with Blaze as his strongest and only Pokémon. It felt strange, not having Terra with him. A year might have seemed like a short time, but he'd grown used to always having him within reach. Now, he wasn't. It was an odd feeling.

He decided to let Blaze walk with him, and they headed back to the room, where he found his bag and his badge were missing. He sighed, grabbing his jacket and then noticed a note that read:

Dearest Turtle, I've gone out to train Empolia against the other Water Types around Humilau. One of our handsome neighbors told me that Draconis Mons has a lot of Bagon around lately, so you should go there and catch one. Take all day.

He sighed, as she'd added a 'wink face' after that, but there was more.

P.S. I took your bag because it has vitamins and stuff. I left you your dragon ball though, so go catch a Bagon! I expect you back by lunch after I've beaten this pretty boy senseless. Hurry up.

-Jess

He sighed again, hoping that whatever fool had hoped to impress her with his 'skill' would survive a battle with her. One of the reasons Serpi had grown so strong was because other men were always trying to show her how strong they were, and she usually beat them. That had only become easier now that Serpi had evolved, and gained backup from a Charmeleon and a Piplup.

"Looks like it's you and me, Blaze." He said, folding the paper and sliding it into an inner pocket where it would be safe. He grabbed the customized Timer Ball, and soon they were on the road north to Draconis Mons, on the same road they'd seen the preschoolers on.

Reaching the giant mountain that lacked a pointed peak wasn't hard exactly, but there was a good mile of dense forest full of young or even middle evolution Pokémon that kept humans away. Alex and Blaze managed to trek through most of it rather quickly thanks to Blaze's sharp claws and Alex's lack of a heavy backpack. It was nice not having to lug around all that stuff. Maybe he would actually make it back for lunch.

His hope of lunch faded as they reached the rocky base of the mountain proper, and still hadn't found any Pokémon at all. Deciding to risk traveling up, figuring that his uncanny lucky streak, and the fact that he had a Charmeleon to vouch for him, would keep him from any real harm, he headed up the mountain itself. It wasn't all that difficult, as there was only one footpath.

He noticed a lack of human prints however, but hoped that his own would go unnoticed. Large as his feet were, that was not to be the case. By about two hours past noon, he'd climbed to the top of the mountain, which he discovered was a large crater, with a lake at the bottom. He was quite high up, but the trail had been easy enough for someone who had long since mastered the art of running uphill.

Blaze was panting by the time they reached the top, and so was Alex. It was quite a climb. Once they got to that point however, Alex realized why they hadn't seen any Pokémon today. Before him, throughout the massive crater that made up the top of the peak, hundreds of fully evolved dragon types, and Charizard, lined the walls along with just as many middle and pre-evolutions as well. It was one of those rare scenes, a gathering of Pokémon that was supposed to be for them, and only them.

None seemed to notice him yet, and he decided stealth would be a good idea here. In the middle of the crater, high above the lake where he could see several Dratini and Dragonair, was a rocky outcropping that looked structurally unsafe, connected as it was to only two sides of the mountain crater by bridges of natural stone that seemed to have been carved out by way of claws. Judging by what was happening on top of the circular rocky bridge, it could handle plenty of weight.

Two Charizard were dueling atop the rocky arena, in a test of grappling strength, rather than fighting with fire or in mid-air. Claw to claw. He blinked as he looked closer, and noticed that the larger of the pair was actually as black as obsidian, and had a downright nasty look to him. His wings were ragged, and pale scars covered his body.

This was an old Charizard, and likely the top dog around here. Realizing that any Pokémon that could become the strongest among dragon types that even included Salamence, several of which he could make out perched on the cliffs, could kill him without a thought, he decided that leaving quickly was a good idea. He stank of sweat from the climb, and this fight wasn't going to last much longer.

The black Charizard bit his opponent's neck then, and the spectators all roared in outrage at the apparently illegal move, but the contest continued, despite the open and bleeding wound of the smaller Charizard who, by his estimate, was still larger than any he'd ever seen.

The black one gave a mighty roar then, and pushed his opponent back repeatedly with Dragon Claws, seconds later, it was over the edge, plummeting towards the water hundreds of feet below. The black Charizard was not done however, as it took flight now, and followed him down, slashing at his opponent the whole way.

Once it landed in the water with a giant splash, the black one flew back up above the natural arena, and roared again, establishing its dominance over the others. Every Pokémon in the crater bowed its head, and he seemed to look at each one, making sure there was no defiance.

Distracted as he had been by the fight, Alex had failed to notice that Blaze had crept closer for a better look, and was now near other wild Pokémon. He blended in well enough, but there was just one problem…he wasn't bowing his head, and the black Charizard had noticed. Alex swore under his breath as the obsidian scaled lizard snorted blue fire, a sign of its rage at rebellion from a Pokémon that wasn't even fully grown.

Suddenly sensing the amount of trouble he was in, Blaze scurried back towards his Trainer, and the two bolted for the ledge that led down the mountain…only to have the enormous black Charizard land in front of them. If he'd been mad before by Blaze's defiance, his rage intensified when he discovered that the transgressor had a human with him.

Raising both hands, Alex swallowed his pride, and got on both knees before the beast, which seemed to keep it from outright killing him. He wondered why, as by all accounts, humans were K.O.S. to these Pokémon.

"Blaze…" he spoke softly, but before he could say anything else, tell his Charmeleon to translate for him, apologize for trespassing, or even ask for mercy, a powerful black tail came out of nowhere, and slammed directly into his chest.

The last conscious thought Alex had before fading out was him wondering whether that loud crack he'd heard and felt was his ribs, or the sound of his lucky streak being split in half. With his Trainer sent flying, Blaze snarled at the larger Charizard, only to be bathed in a torrent of blue fire at point blank range. He fell to one knee, glaring at the stronger Pokémon, who snarled.

A warning for him to stay kneeling. Knowing he was beaten, and that his friend was likely hurt after a hit like that, Blaze stayed down, but didn't avert his glare. Seemingly satisfied, the large fire lizard took off again, flying towards the largest peak that looked over the crater, and was on the northern part of the bowl-shaped mountaintop.

The two land bridges connecting to the rocky platform connected to the eastern and western edges, and the southern edge was the one that held the footpath for those who could not fly. The black Charizard perched on the tallest northern peak then, and curled up on it, keeping one eye on the Pokémon below. They were angrier about his dishonest fight, and his harsh treatment of a Charmeleon, than they were about the human.

Blaze however, was plenty worried about his Trainer. Most other Pokémon warmed right up to him, but the ones who lived on this mountain apparently did not care for humans at all. He limped towards where he smelled his partner, increasing his pace as he scented blood, and found another human kneeling over his friend's body.

He snarled, but knew he was in no condition to fight, as the black Charizard's flames had been enough to almost make him faint. He'd hung on to consciousness for his Trainer, and the Charizard had deemed him not worth knocking out, his point made. Still, this human didn't look all that threatening. His skin was bronzed and wrinkled with age, his hair was white, and his back had a permanent curve to it, making him constantly hunched. His clothes were little more than rags, and he stank of Pokémon droppings.

"O-oh…you're his Pokémon, aren't you…brave little thing. Don't worry, he'll be alright…once I set his bones. Help me carry him." Alex had been slammed into a nearby boulder, and how his spine hadn't been shattered by the force of impact was a mystery, at first glance.

As Blaze stalked closer, he saw that one of his Trainer's arms looked out of place, at an odd angle. It seemed he'd actually hit the boulder on his side, not his back. Still eyeing the old, smelly human with suspicion, Blaze grabbed his Trainer's feet, and helped him move his injured friend into a nearby cave that smelled like the old man. Judging by the various trappings and odd trinkets, this was where he lived.

Blaze's opinion of the old human dropped further. No self-respecting creature would live in filth like this. The old man handed him a berry, and then shooed him away from his Trainer. Deciding it was better than nothing, Blaze chomped down on the tough, bitter piece of fruit, and then sat by the entrance to the hovel, keeping an eye out for the black Charizard, or any one of the hundreds of other powerful Pokémon that lived here. They seemed to tolerate the old man's presence, but Blaze had a feeling that if they discovered his Trainer was not yet dead, they would take steps to correct that.

The only Pokémon that did eventually show up was a Chimecho, who drifted past a snoozing Blaze. Once he heard it ring through the cave however, the Charmeleon snapped awake, and leapt to his Trainer's side, growling at it.

"Calm yourself, Charmeleon." The old man spoke now with an odd accent the fire lizard didn't recognize. "This little one is going to heal him. Otherwise, he would take months to recover." Still eyeing the two with some degree of suspicion, Blaze stepped back, ready to intervene if they tried to hurt his Trainer. Now that he'd rested a bit, Blaze could tell just how badly Alex had been hurt.

"Healing Wish, Chimey." The little Pokémon glowed with a light pink aura, and it soon spread to Alex's form. His arm popped back into place, and the angle it was bent at wasn't so awkward. His abdomen was repaired as well, filling out more under the ragged bandages that had been torn from his shirt and pants. He grunted in his sleep, and Blaze could hear his breathing become a little easier.

"There…" the old man said as the Chimecho tolled softly, utterly exhausted, and floated down into his arms. "The bones are set, and he's been healed a bit. It'll take a few weeks, but after that, he should be fine. Thank you, Chimey."

Blaze glanced at the two, and then his Trainer. "Char." His own guarded thanks was given as well. He headed for the cave entrance then, and the old man just sighed, knowing what the Charmeleon would face out there.

Pokémon that had Trainers were about as unwelcome as humans, but they were shunned, not killed. Blaze headed for the mountain ledge calmly, ignoring the other Pokémon on his way, only to be stopped as a Tyranitar stepped in front of him, and growled. He tried to walk past, but to no avail. It seemed that he wouldn't be allowed down the mountain, given that he was new, and worse, bonded to a human. Letting him leave would likely draw more humans, from experience, and the Pokémon atop the mountain were willing to knock out a Charmeleon, if it let them live in peace.

He received a similar reception from most of the older Pokémon, and eventually returned to the old man's smelly hovel after getting water and finding more tough berries. None of the others seemed to care what he did, and except for the occasional snarl from one of the fully evolved Pokémon, he was ignored.

Three days passed, with Alex getting a few more Healing Wishes from Chimey. Eventually, it floated off and did not return, looking quite ragged. It would need to rest at the mountain's base for quite some time after using so much power, but after expending it, the little Chimecho had almost certainly saved Alex's life. His body at least, was healing correctly, but he still had not awoken.

Blaze was out of his mind with boredom at first, until he discovered that the cave the smelly human lived in was connected to a series of tunnels that went deep into the mountain itself. The old man, when not tending to his secret patient, spent most of the day cleaning the dung in the larger caves, and being snarled at or attacked by the larger Pokémon with anger in their eyes.

Their moves always missed him however, their aim wasn't faulty, they just simply could not kill the human. The black Charizard had ordered him kept alive for some reason, and so the others contented themselves with scaring him. Blaze spent most of his time exploring, and replaying the moment they had been trapped here in his head, over and over.

His Trainer had knelt before the black one, something Blaze had never thought he'd do. He could see the sense in it though. That creature was fueled by hate, and lashed out at humans and Pokémon alike. Every day it loosed blasts of fire at anything that got in its way, from rival Charizard to newborn Dratini. It was a menace, but none of the Pokémon that lived on this mountain, strong as they were, could match his power.

Five days of being stuck on the mountain had driven Blaze to finally explore the tunnels under the mountain, in the hope of finding a way out below. That way, he could find Jess and get help for his Trainer. The Torterra he used would certainly be welcome here, and along with the Luxray, they might just have a chance of freeing their Trainer. Blaze did not find a way out of the mountain, however. He found hundreds of unevolved Pokémon instead, training in a deep cavern that was lit by flowing pools of magma.

Full grown Pokémon like Magmar kept an eye on them, and more importantly, kept them from digging through the mountain itself. Long ago it had been an active volcano, but it had been kept from erupting for centuries thanks to the fire types that understood it better than any who lived above on the crater. They knew where to release pressure when necessary, and could even guide the lava flows when they needed to.

It was a full-time job, and they allowed the younger Pokémon from the crater to train down here, but otherwise they didn't care who or what ruled above them. Once fully grown, these Pokémon were far too large to ever fit back down here, and when one of the larger ones tried burrowing down, they were swiftly repelled by the likes of Magmar, Magcargo, and other Pokémon who loved the constant heat the mountain provided.

The best part was that down here, Blaze was no longer an outcast. Granted, those from the crater were wary of him, especially those who were middle evolutions, but they let him train alongside them, despite the fact he had a Trainer, and none of the adults above could do anything about it. If they tried, he could always vanish into the labyrinth of tunnels for a while, and then find another Pokémon to help him get back to the surface.

Those who lived down here weren't necessarily fond of humans, but they didn't mind them, either. Only one or two humans had ever found these secret places in the mountain, and they were forced out soon after finding them, the entrances they made were closed, and melted shut.

Blaze found himself spending almost all of his time below, returning above only to drink, check on his Trainer, who had still not awoken, and rest after hard bouts of sparring. He could feel himself growing stronger, and knew that if he so desired he could become a Charizard himself, but that would not have been wise.

The black one had no qualms about killing rival Pokémon it saw as a threat, and he had already refused to kneel once. He wouldn't get the chance to refuse again, and he knew evolving would be enough to catch their black scaled overlord's attention, and demand a show of submission. It was something he did often to the other Pokémon, and every so often, one of the prouder ones would refuse. They paid for it, sometimes with their life. So he continued to train underground, knowing that once his Trainer awoke, indeed, if he ever did, they could usurp the black one together.

Another week of hard training passed before Alex finally woke. The first thing he saw was the old man, and recognized him as being from Kanto, judging by his features. He knew one did not bring that up in polite conversation however, but he soon found he couldn't remember where he had learned that, or indeed, who he even was.

All he had were vague images. Upon noticing his newly conscious state, the old man scurried over, offering a carved rock with a bit of water in it, and a berry that looked weak and dead. He consumed them regardless, finding he was ravenous. "You have been sleeping for two weeks now. After Lizardon attacked you with his tail, I thought you were a goner. You are very lucky."

Alex grunted, examining his left arm. It felt strange for some reason, a dull ache. He felt the same in his abdomen as well, but couldn't recall why, exactly. He looked at the old man. "Lizardon?"

The old man chuckled, and spoke once more in heavily accented Common. "What you call in this Region…Charizard. Wings. Fire at the tip of the tail. You don't remember?"

Alex shook his head. "I can't remember anything…except a few vague facts…but I don't know how I know them, nor who I am. Do you have any clue?" The old man reached for a dark green and black jacket, and pulled out a note.

Taking it, Alex noticed a familiar aroma. It made a thrill rush through him, insisting on being remembered, but he couldn't, nor could he understand why the scent affected him. "My name is…Turtle?"

The old man chuckled again and spoke in a voice that was soft from lack of use. "Mm. Yes. I've been calling you Kame (Kah-may). Good a name as any, since you can't remember your own."

Alex was busy trying to remember why the name Jess sounded so familiar…he wouldn't be able to sleep, so insistent was the urge to remember whoever this Jess was. Yet every time he tried, he met with failure, and it irritated him.

It was like he was on the edge of remembering after the smell on the note and the name, but something was blocking him. At that moment, there was the sound of heavy footsteps by the entrance to the dirty cave. Looking up, Alex saw a red creature, with a flame burning on its tail. It looked tired, and his first instinct was to reach into his bag and heal it. He blinked. He didn't have a bag, nor did he know this creature.

"Char!" It ran at him, and he grunted in pain as it tackled him to the floor in what he felt was a hug. "Char! Charmeleon. Char, meleon. Char." Charmeleon…right. The name sounded familiar, and he struggled again to remember why as the old man shooed the creature away.

"This is your Pokémon, Kame. He came with you up the mountain. Was seen by Lizardon. Clumsy. Didn't bow before him, and then he found you. Then he attacked you. He's been waiting for you to awaken for some time." Alex blinked. Pokémon. Of course. It came flooding back, the years' worth of information that he had spent memorizing. Battle tactics. Strategies. Move types. He remembered learning them, though where he'd done so was always vague in his recollection. A room of some kind, but wherever it was, he knew he was far from it.

"Right…" He managed, meeting the fire lizard's gaze. Its intensity was so familiar. "Right." He said, more sure of himself. "My Charmeleon…I…always wanted one." The Charmeleon looked at the old man, confused. "Char?"

"He doesn't remember who he is, my friend. Nor how to understand you, I think." The old man answered, sighing. It was a talent every Trainer had to some degree, but if you couldn't remember that you were a Trainer, what chance did you have of understanding a Pokémon?

"I can…grasp the gist of his words." Alex grunted, standing now. The cave was barely big enough for him to stand at full height. "We should get back to the nearest town…someone there will probably remember me."

The old man nodded. "Humilau. But you cannot go back. The path is guarded by Lizardon's minions. They fear him more than any human. If they see you, they'll likely kill you. They think you are dead already."

Alex sighed at the old man then. "So what do I do? I need to eat…I need a real doctor…Blaze looks exhausted, he needs rest too."

The old man opened his squinted eyes. "Blaze? A nickname?"

Alex blinked. "I…just called him that out of reflex…didn't even think about it."

"Charmeleon! Char!" Blaze looked at him, hope returning to his gaze. That was the name his Trainer had given him, if he could remember that, he could remember everything else.

"Come to think of it…" Alex said, finally examining the old man properly. "What do I call you?" The man was wrinkled, like the berry he'd given Alex, and had a permanent curve in his back. He shuffled around fairly quickly, but it was obviously a struggle. More than that, he had bruises all over him.

He waved a wrinkled hand. "Don't worry about me. Not your problem. Worry about Lizardon. These caves carry sound, the more we speak, the more chance he hears us. We both dead, if he finds you."

Alex stared at him, suddenly guilty for putting him in so much danger. "So…so what do I do? I'm trapped here, dead if I leave and dead if I stay."

The old man shook his head. "No, there is a way. You must beat Black Lizardon. Use your Blaze. Battle him, Pokémon and Trainer. Together, he will never beat you. Your Blaze has grown strong in past few weeks. Almost enough for victory, but only if you face Lizardon together. Beat him, and you can leave Draconis Mons."

Alex thought for a moment, the name ringing in his head, but with far less information to recall. "Draconis Mons…the dragon mountain…in the Unova Region. Forbidden to go there, full of Pokémon that hate Humans enough to kill them…home for those abandoned by their Trainers. Home to some of the strongest wild Pokémon… on the continent."

He shook his head. "There's no way I can beat the strongest wild Charizard around when I can barely remember how to Battle."

The old man grinned, showing old, yellow teeth that not even brushing could clean. "So learn! You have your Pokémon. What more do you need? You have your chance for freedom. Go into the mountain tunnels, Battle together the Pokémon there, grow strong, evolve, and then face Black Lizardon. Free the mountain from his tyranny."

Alex stared at the old man in disbelief. Still, he had mentioned other Pokémon below. If only he had… "Old man, let me see my jacket. Did I have any Pokéballs with me?"

The old man grinned. "Ahh. Yes, two. Was luckily in right side pocket. Whatever was in the left was crushed." He gestured to a pile of broken machine parts that upon examining, he found looked familiar.

He sighed. "A Pokédex. Looks like I'll need a new one…I'll worry about it later. Give me the balls." The old man shuffled through the cave, and moved some rocks, then shuffled back and handed him a ball with a flame pattern, which he assumed was Blaze's, and a dirty white and red ball with a pointed red arrow on the top of it.

"A...Timer Ball…perfect." Random chance wouldn't help him here, he needed certainty, and a strong Pokémon. The longer he battled whatever he decided to catch, the more of a guarantee he'd have that he could catch it. With two Pokémon, he felt he might just be able to beat this…Lizardon. But first, he needed to see his opponent.

He knew the old man wouldn't show him, he had seen the fear evident in his entire form when he'd mentioned the black beast. He was terrified of it, for good reason of course, but there was more to this old timer than he was willing to reveal. Humans weren't supposed to be on this mountain. Especially not ones who lived in squalor. "Right…with this, I can catch some aid against Lizardon. Then…we might have a chance."

"Meleon!" Blaze snorted fire in agreement. He felt they could've done it alone, but after remembering the fight they'd seen when they arrived, the Charmeleon felt as his Trainer did. Any aid, no matter how small, would be welcome.

"Go on then!" The old man said, shoving him towards the back entrance into the tunnels. "Get down there and train. And don't come back until you're ready to face Lizardon!"

Before Alex could respond, a large boulder was moved in front of the tunnel entrance. A few seconds later, there was a thunderous stomp from the other side of it. Alex glanced at Blaze, and listened.

There was snarling, and the sound of stomping came closer, accompanied by the muffled sound of a powerful nose inhaling hard. Nothing of his had remained in the cave, but his scent no doubt lingered. Alex had an idea of what was on the other side of the rock the old man had put in front of the entrance. Given his frailty, that rock probably wasn't large enough to hold up for very long under a Charizard's flames which, he recalled in that moment, could indeed melt boulders. "Blaze. Move. Into the tunnels, now."

They hurried down as the rock covering the hole glowed red, but by the time it was smashed through, they were long gone, deep in the tunnels that forced Alex to crouch to Blaze's height, and kept the larger Pokémon from entering them. Still smelling the unfamiliar, but unmistakably human scent amidst the slave's cave, the black Charizard roared in frustration, and his fury echoed through the tunnels for the first time.

It was the cry of a creature that wanted blood, almost berserk with fury. But he couldn't reach the heart of the mountain, large as he had grown fighting other Pokémon on the peak. He gave up his search for the moment, and returned to his perch. The human needed to eat and drink, and to do that he would have to scurry from his hole eventually. That was when he would be pounced on, and ended.

Sahqoreyth · Mar 16, 2024

Chapter 5: Draconis Mons, Part 2

Humilau City - Unova Region

"Has there been any word?" The words of Alex's granduncle, Professor Redwood, came through the other side of the Pokémon Center's Holociever.

Jess had only spoken to him a few times, as her father had warned her to stay away from him. He had apparently been brilliant, once, and then for a reason nobody would talk about, fell from grace among the scientific community.

The resulting infamy had damaged the Redwood's reputation, hurting sales so much that, eventually, Alex's father had come to hers to ask to share their land. Combined, it was quite large, stretching for miles. The amount of Pokémon they could effectively raise there had nearly quadrupled, and the profit had been great indeed.

After agreeing to a fair share of the future profits, the fences had been extended, and the Redwoods had managed to grow enough to avoid bankruptcy. Her own house was still left with a large yard, and that had been divided with trees rather than fences. Curious Tauros and other ranch Pokémon would often roam through the tree line, but thankfully, they all went back at their master's call.

Still wondering at what exactly had made the old man so infamous, she shook her head. "No…nothing. Something must've happened, three weeks is too long for him to be gone without calling."

The old man sighed, and scratched his head. After a long pause he said, "You don't think he'd be stupid enough to climb that mountain without his team, do you?"

Jess began to shake her head, then paused. "Well…he was on a bit of a lucky streak, and he and his Charmeleon are pretty close…given the high spirits he left in, he might've chanced it…but Professor, if he went up there, that means…"

The old man sighed. "It means he's dead, and his charred bones are lining the nest of a Charizard. Fool. I told him a thousand times not to chance angering fully grown wild Pokémon, especially those that live on that mountain!" He was about to go on a whole tirade about how one could go pretty much anywhere in the Pokémon world, except Draconis Mons. It was declared a historical site and natural Pokémon preserve for a reason. Rangers typically didn't mind people hiking around the base, but anyone who went up was, usually, detained before they got too far. Then he saw the look on the girl's face, and hushed his rant before it began.

Jess shrugged, thinking aloud, "Well…there was that time at school with that Tyranitar…he told me all about it. Said he and Terra had kept it from rampaging across the campus…he might've thought he could handle it."

The Professor shook his head, sighing once more. "The Pokémon on that mountain are some of the most violent in the world. And nobody can understand why, because everyone who's gone there has ended up dead or seriously injured. All kinds gravitate there, usually those abandoned by their Trainers. But they don't attack people at the base…just the top. He must've climbed up, for whatever reason."

Jess' eyes widened suddenly, and she looked down. "It was me…I told him to go catch a Bagon…he must not have found one, and thought going higher would help…"

The old man looked at her from across the phone's screen as he saw the first signs of tears in her eyes. "Now don't start blaming yourself, lass. He made the choice to go up there. If that is even where he went. A thousand things could've happened out there. Highwaymen, a sprained ankle, a sudden and unexpected forest fire started by his Charmeleon, we simply don't know…"

Jess nodded absently. She hadn't been listening to the old man's words, her mind already convinced that none of those things would keep him this long. She briefly remembered the letter she left him, and cringed inwardly. Teasing men to keep them jealous and interested was a bad habit of hers, and now, it was the last thing Alex had heard from her. The guilt swelled within her. She hoped Blaze was strong enough to handle anything the wild could throw at them…but even he'd have trouble against fully evolved human-hating Pokémon. She suppressed a groan. Up the mountain was exactly where Alex would've gone. She knew him.

"I'll let you know if there's news, Professor." They gave their courtesies, and then hung up.

Jess headed to her room, and surveyed her Pokéballs, lying comfortably on the bed. She had taken Leo and Hydrus back from the Professor after he'd fixed their balls, but Terra was still asleep on the large plot of land outside the lab, put aside for the other Pokémon Alex intended to eventually catch. The Professor and his aides, as well as several of the younger kids in the family, were in charge of keeping those residing in the PC happy and healthy. Even the Pokémon of other Trainers who had started from that lab were kept there. Not many Trainers chose the Redwood Lab to start from these days, not since the Professor's fall to infamy, but her brother Connor had visited the Professor once to attempt to find a Froakie, and the Pokémon he tended to catch ended up there too.

Unfortunately, the only frog Pokémon around this region were Croagunk, Tympole, and Poliwag. Kalos, and the surrounding countries, were where Froakie tended to live, so that was where he had gone. Yet another Trainer in her life who didn't call much. He did pay attention however, enough to know that she had gone to Humilau with Alex on foot, and that Alex was missing.

He'd called as well, during the first week. The media had been abuzz about the grandnephew of the infamous Professor Redwood going missing, but as usual, had since moved on to something else when nobody could figure out where he'd gone. But she had an idea now…she at least had to look. But not without a proper defense.

With her Pokémon and Alex's, that left her with seven in all. More than enough, especially since Alex's Luxray was also strong. He and Chari had been the first to notice the absence of Alex and Blaze, but Hydrus had figured it out as well, eventually. Still, young as he was, she had kept him busy by training him against her new Prinplup. She grabbed Leo and Chari's balls, letting them out. They looked at her, eagerly.

"I might know where Alex and Blaze went. Alex might be hurt, but Blaze should be fine. We need to get him back, at least. But to find them, we'll need your eyes, Leo." He responded with an agreeing tone. "Luxray."

She had tested his sight ability since training with him, a task he wasn't all that fond of given that she wasn't his Trainer, but after a good grooming, he'd listened to her well enough. Now, she could use his ability for something useful.

She offered him the badge. "Smell this, both of you, track his scent if you can. We'll start at the base of Draconis Mons. See what we see."

They both nodded in agreement, and she recalled them, then headed out of the Pokémon Center, only to run straight into the larger form of her brother, literally, as she had been thinking about, and trying to ignore, the potential mortal peril she was about to be in.

"Hello sis." Connor said, smirking as she bounced off him. He was built like Alex, big boned, but not nearly as tall, and his glorious full beard was a far cry from Alex's bare face. His reddish scarlet hair was straight, under a blue Trainer's hat that looked more like a beret from Kalos. Only in the day could one see his hair's coloring, otherwise it looked like a normal brown. "Going somewhere?"

Jess looked up at him, still processing the fact that he was even here at all. She had never, not once, in all the time she had lived, been able to lie successfully to her brother. Now was the chance to change that. "Yes. I was going to train with Alex's Pokémon. So they're fit when he comes back." The two siblings stared at each other for a long time, before he shrugged.

"Alright. I just came from beating the Gym here, now that I have my team together, I figured it was time to try to beat my home league. Kalos was…on another level." His clothes weren't all that different from Eric's, being mostly dark blue and white, the largest distinguishing feature was his long purple scarf, wrapped around his neck. It seemed he was going for the Greninja look.

"Well, I still have to train," Jess said, sticking to the lie, "I'll come back once we're done. We'll catch up." She hurried off, heading north out of town. Connor hadn't beaten the gyms in Kalos without picking up a few tricks however, and as usual, could tell when his sister was up to something.

"Gren." He said softly. The lithe form of his Greninja appeared beside him, seemingly out of nowhere. He bowed his head, slightly. "Watch her. Make sure she stays out of trouble, find Alex if you can…and stay unseen." The Trainer spoke, and the loyal Pokémon nodded again, grunting an affirmative as he disappeared.

The trip out of town was relatively easy for Jess, who called out Leo and Chari once they were on the road. After so many weeks however, they would be lucky to find anything. Leo did manage to find the path Blaze had carved through the woods however, which led them all the way to the base of the mountain itself.

After climbing the trail a bit, they found an imprint of a familiar looking shoe pattern, but it was more the size of the print that gave away what they were looking at. Only one Trainer around here had feet that large. Jess was convinced that Alex had climbed up further now, but as she made an effort to do the same, a Greninja appeared in front of her.

She scowled. "You're my brother's Pokémon, aren't you? He sent you to follow me." The Greninja nodded, and Jess sighed. "You're not going to let me up, either." The blue frog nodded again, arms crossed.

She sighed again, and pulled her fiery orange hat down as weeks of frustration built up suddenly, and all at once. "Fine…just…just do me a favor and find out if he's alive or not. I need to know. Will you do that?"

Connor's Greninja had been able to figure out who this human was, to his Trainer. They had a similar scent, and he had seen pictures of her as a Froakie. He'd also seen her once or twice when his master used the phones at the Pokémon Center, something he rarely did. He could also see the tears dripping slowly from under the hat.

His master had explained why they were here after the gym battle, and given his typing, he hadn't been used for that challenge, and thus wasn't tired. Connor had instructed him to search the town for this 'Alex' but he'd found nothing. Now, his master's sister had found a trail, but he could tell this was a place for powerful Pokémon, not humans. There was something about it that attracted the strong.

"Gren." He said, replying positively to her request. He made a show of running up the trail, before disappearing again with another high jump. Climbing a mountain wouldn't be too hard for him, but it was still a mountain. It would take time. He paused once he'd gotten high enough to be out of her sight. His master had said to make sure she was safe after all, and if she went up anyway, she wouldn't be. Eventually, she recalled the Luxray and her Charmeleon, then turned back. It was a wise move.

Only certain species of Pokémon lived here. A Greninja would be out of place, but he could go unnoticed. A Luxray would be more obvious, however. Gren continued his climb, hoping that these Pokémon wouldn't outright attack a stranger, and fellow Pokémon. There was no way they could know his species wasn't native to this region, after all.

Down below, Jess made her way back through Alex's trail alone, ignoring the wild and rare Pokémon around her. They made no move to attack her, as she looked distressed, and these youngsters, while wild, weren't quite yet nasty enough to jump out at a crying, lone woman walking through the woods without disturbing them.

She'd been forced to turn back, but still, she had managed to find some trace of her missing friend, and now her brother's starter Pokémon was searching for him.

She had no way of knowing how well he'd been trained, but she knew her brother. He would've raised his Greninja well. He'd always wanted one, after all. Eventually, she made it back to town and began training with Leo, Hydrus, and the rest of her team, as she had said she would.

Tunnels Within Draconis Mons - Unova Region

The first night in the tunnels had been rough for Alex and his Charmeleon. His dreams were plagued by images he couldn't place, names he knew he should remember, but couldn't, and the ever-present hunger of having not eaten more than a rough berry for a number of weeks. He'd lost quite a bit of weight, and his cheeks were looking gaunt and dirty.

The heat of the mountain made him sweat constantly, a feeling he despised, and what he really needed was a good bath. But the only water they had found down here had been boiling. Eventually, unable to awkwardly crawl in the tunnels any longer in the ever-increasing heat, Alex had sent Blaze to find food, or help. They would need it if he was going to survive down here.

During his training, Blaze had made several allies down here, but when he communicated that he needed help for his Trainer, each one had refused. They hadn't been abandoned, but their parent's hatred of humans had influenced them. Eventually, Blaze found one of the Magmar in charge of maintaining the tunnels and asked for help.

Reluctantly agreeing, if only to get Alex's large form out of the tunnels, he helped Blaze drag him to a significantly cooler chamber that was actually pretty high up in the mountain. The crater above had a small leak in it, and over time, water had dripped into the large cavern below. Now, it played host to many water and ice types who kept that area of the mountain cooler. Many Dratini and Dragonair lived down here, along with another rare Pokémon species that were often abandoned.

Amaura and Aurorus were relatively new fossil Pokémon, but due to their many weaknesses, inadequate Trainers often released them into the wild, in a world they no longer belonged in. Those that managed to survive were drawn to this mountain, like so many others, and now they had a home.

Unlike the dragon and fire types above however, these Pokémon were inherently kind. After having the situation explained to the largest of the Aurorus by Blaze, they allowed the human to drink and rest. The older Pokémon avoided him, but the younger Amaura were rabidly curious.

Alex managed to come to consciousness after Blaze splashed him a few times, and after drinking his fill, he found the little ice types adorable. But he had come for a Bagon, and had only brought the one ball. Before he left, he decided to approach one of the older Aurorus, and bowed low, fist to palm, in the Unovan style.

His memory had slowly improved, enough at least to remember why so many rare species lived on this mountain. He didn't know why, but he felt he had to try to apologize for what they had suffered at the hands of his kind. The older long necked Pokémon eyed him suspiciously, but didn't outright attack. It had watched him with the younger Pokémon, and judged him to be kind. For a human.

"I'm sorry that you ended up here…abandoned. I can't imagine what that must've been like for you. You don't belong in this time, your species has only been revived because of Human meddling, and it was Humans that abandoned you. We're not…we're not all like that. Thank you for not giving away my location…the Pokémon above are…not nearly as kind." The large head of the tundra Pokémon lowered to press against the human's dirty hat.

"Aurooor." Looking up, he didn't quite know how he knew, but it seemed that the older Pokémon understood the heart of what he'd said. He continued, daring to press his luck.

"I may be down here for a while…and I can't survive in the constant heat. Might I stay here until I'm able to leave?" He had Blaze translate this for him. It was too important for miscommunication.

The larger Pokémon met his gaze again for a long moment, and he stared right back. Finally, it nodded, and then spoke to Blaze. The Charmeleon then grabbed his master, and led him to a back part of the cavern, far from the Aurorus and their young, and gestured to a small pile of dried leaves, and several berries.

It seemed his Pokémon had already set up a living arrangement for him. He nodded, biting into one of the berries, which must have been picked from the forest below, given the size of them. Blaze ate too, and while it didn't completely satisfy his burning hunger, Alex felt a lot better.

When they were done, he stood, and went to the water's edge. There, he spent the next hour or so washing, and then with Blaze's help, drying his clothes. A few of the Dratini watched curiously, but swam away when he went to pet them. When everything was finally ready, and properly washed, he put his hat on, and nodded at Blaze.

"Right. Enough stalling. We need to train…and we need to find a strong Bagon. Have you met one down here?" Blaze nodded an affirmative. After several attempts, they'd managed to agree on what species they needed to catch. The Charmeleon was aware of what they'd come here for in the first place, as he was very much behind getting a Salamence on their side. What a sparring partner it would be. It had taken a few weeks, but he'd found the perfect ally, and rival.

The tunnels that led from the ice cavern were large, large enough for an Aurorus to fit through, so Alex no longer had to crouch. Indeed, it seemed that many of the other tunnels within the mountain itself were made for larger Pokémon, while the smaller ones were used to keep the more powerful fire and dragon types at bay.

Finally, Blaze and his Trainer arrived at the magma-filled cavern, where hundreds of pairs of first and middle evolutions trained daily. Every single one of them stopped as he entered, and a few growled. Most of them were Charmeleon. He coughed, awkwardly.

"Translate for me." Blaze nodded. "Pokémon of Draconis Mons…I come in peace. I'm not here to disturb your habitat, or get you in trouble. The black one doesn't know that I'm here. Or if he does, he cannot reach me. I came here to train with my partner…" He paused, and a few of the scowls had lessened slightly. These were Pokémon who had, for the most part, been born here, not abandoned. The human spoke of peace, so they saw no reason to attack him. Yet. They had all come to appreciate his Charmeleon's fighting spirit, and when asked how he'd gotten so good, he gave his human credit where it was due. He'd never have been able to become this strong on his own. Not so quickly, anyways.

"If any of you would like to test yourselves against a true Pokémon Trainer…this is your chance. I guarantee you that it won't be like battling by yourselves. I can also guarantee that you'll get stronger."

A few of them roared at that. These species lived for such challenges. They could accept the human's, and drive him off when they beat him. More than a few of them were confident that they could.

"However." He held up his Timer Ball, and many of them recoiled, snarling. "I'm here to do more than just train. I have a goal. I am going to beat Lizardon, and to do that, I'm going to need the aid of a Bagon. I wouldn't dream of catching one that isn't willing to battle for its freedom, so if you find the idea of becoming the strongest of your kind distasteful, don't bother stepping up. I'm going to free this mountain of its oppressive ruler, and then I'm going to become the strongest Trainer that ever lived. Challenge me! I welcome all of you."

As he finished translating, Blaze loosed a Flamethrower into the air, and the gathered Pokémon roared in response. Alex walked to the center of the cavern then, and drew a rough interpretation of a standard battle field with his heel, and Blaze's help.

His flame marked the path his heel carved in the hot dirt, and when he was finally done, he took his place on it along with his Pokémon. Many of those gathered had never seen such a stage, and watched, curious. This was an opportunity wild Pokémon rarely got to see. A genuine battle against a Trainer that wasn't chucking capture spheres at them after weakening or incapacitating them.

"Let the first challenger come!" He shouted, and Blaze roared. This felt right to him, being here on a proper battlefield. He knew he'd done this before…but not with this Pokémon. Not nearly as often as he had with…the memory was there, but he couldn't recall it. The image of the black Charizard's tail coming at him always interfered as soon as he tried to remember something. At least he'd managed to remember how he'd been hurt.

Their first opponent was a Shelgon that looked fairly close to evolving, given its size. But he had come for a Bagon. Training a Pokémon from its earliest stage was the oldest method of getting the strongest final evolution. That was basic Trainer knowledge, or at least, he assumed it was. The battle was over quickly, as Blaze's Dragon Tail took down his slower opponent with ease, using it both to dodge and attack.

The gathered Pokémon stared, not quite believing what they were seeing. That Shelgon was nearly unbeatable, and even Blaze had trouble against him in the past…but battling with a Trainer was like having eyes in the back of your head.

It took five more battles before a Bagon finally stepped up, walking onto the field, and roaring. Blaze looked at his Trainer and nodded. This was the one then, the one that would be his. He examined the small dragon type, and liked what he saw.

He was large, of course, and looked close to evolution himself, but he was also young. The fire that burned in his eyes was not unlike Blaze's. He was indeed ideal. The two Pokémon butted heads before taking their positions, and Alex realized they'd battled before. They were rivals, but friends as well.

"Flamethrower." The torrent of fire was met with a similarly powerful Dragonbreath, and then the little Pokémon charged. Usually Blaze caught him when he did this, but this was an entirely different battle. The Charmeleon smirked.

"Dodge high, then Flamethrower again!" He leapt with the aid of his tail, and the fire came down all around the Bagon, who growled in irritation at his new burn. Using Dragon Tail might've ended the battle quicker, but Alex wanted to test the measure of this Pokémon's strength. So he kept to fire type moves.

As soon as Blaze landed, the Bagon leaned backward and jumped into a spinning headbutt that hit the fire lizard square in the stomach. He bounced back after the hit, and unleashed another Dragonbreath that Blaze barely countered in time with a Flamethrower.

Seeing that this Bagon was about to press his advantage, Alex decided it was time to use their new move. Learning what moves Blaze knew had taken less time than he'd thought, and it was this newest one that didn't seem familiar.

"Heat Wave!" Blaze opened his mouth and the air around them grew even hotter. Usually, this wouldn't affect a dragon type too badly, but even dragon types could suffer heat exhaustion, especially in the bowels of a volcano. This move made the local temperature nearly unbearable.

Alex was sweating hard, and he finally signaled for Blaze to stop after ten seconds of it. The Bagon was panting hard too, and the heat certainly hadn't helped with its burn. It was time to end this.

"Flamethrower." The Bagon looked back at him, and then at Blaze, who loosed another torrent of flame at him. Jumping into another Headbutt, he used the move to dodge quickly, and countered with his Dragonbreath, just in time to meet another Flamethrower. The two moves clashed, but Blaze was in better shape, and eventually his fire overwhelmed the Bagon.

It collapsed to its rear, panting. The fight was over. Alex approached the small blue Pokémon, who eyed him warily, until he saw that he was being offered a berry. This one just happened to cure burns, and heal. He had figured the Bagon they battled might end up burned, and there was no Pokémon Center here, so he'd saved one of the berries from his stash in the ice cavern. Swallowing his pride, the Bagon ate it, sighing in relief as the burn faded. Alex knelt to his level then, and offered the Timer Ball.

"I was originally going to battle the strongest Bagon I could find down here until this would guarantee a catch…but I know the Pokémon here don't like Humans. You look like you have a family, a life, here. I'm not going to snatch you away from it against your will. I'm going to offer you the chance to join me. If you do, I promise, you will one day be regarded as the strongest Salamence the world has ever known."

The Bagon looked at Blaze, who nodded subtly, and then at the human. It blinked, seeing the same fire in his eyes that was in his partner's. They were linked, and he knew that if he accepted, he would feel that fire as well. This human was unlike anything his mother had told him of. Unlike most, she didn't hate humans, but she had warned most of them were vile creatures that deserved their rage. This human had eyes like a dragon. The young Bagon knew what he had to do, and his instincts agreed with him.

"Bagon." He nodded, and his little arm pushed the strange ball's button. It opened, and he entered it willingly, finding the inside to be not at all unpleasant. Once it stopped blinking, Alex let him out again, and he returned in a flash of black light, ringed with white. Alex blinked. That was unusual, but then, this whole situation was strange.

He felt that the light should've been a different color, but decided to ignore it. His memory was still gone after all, though he'd managed to recall his name after seeing it on his jacket. For all he knew, that was the right light Timer Balls emitted. "Welcome to the team…I suppose you need a name, hmm?" He thought for a long moment, struggling to remember what he knew of dragon types. Fragments of legends came to his mind, as dragon types were, in their own right, legendary. It felt right, naming his after dragons of legend.

"How about…Shruikan? I can't quite remember where it's from…but it sounds fierce, and powerful." The Bagon nodded in what seemed like agreement. He liked it.

"Alright then…let's rest up. Then tomorrow, we'll return here for more training." He looked at Shruikan. "You're going to need to evolve if we're going to have a chance at beating that black beast." The Bagon nodded again.

That was another reason he'd accepted. His mother, a Salamence, was often attacked by Lizardon with no provocation. His father had been felled by it, one of the many victims of the black one's rage. This Trainer seemed like his best chance of avenging his sire's death, and his mother's mistreatment at the Charizard's claws.

He felt he could evolve already, but tomorrow he would finally try to. The time seemed right…one more night as a Bagon wouldn't hurt though. He examined his form as they walked through one of the larger tunnel exits. It wasn't weak per say, but not overly strong either. As a Shelgon he would have a much better chance of surviving a fire attack from the black beast that ruled over them, and be one step closer to achieving the ability to soar through the skies. He just had to trust that his new Trainer knew what he was doing. According to Blaze, he did, which was primarily the reason he'd accepted being bound by a Pokéball.

The next two days were intense training for Blaze and Shruikan both, but no matter how hard they trained, Shruikan couldn't evolve. He did however have the unique advantage of being able to sneak down the mountain, and after convincing other Pokémon to help, he managed to smuggle armfuls of berries in for all of them.

He even got one of the Magby to open, and then close, a hole in the mountain for them. Alex contemplated leaving of course. He had his Bagon, fulfilling the task the mysterious note had told him to, but he couldn't just leave these Pokémon under the rule of that Charizard.

That species tended to outlive their Trainers, and that one had lost none of his youthful vigor. It could be centuries before he was weak enough to be overthrown, or passed naturally. He hadn't gone to visit the old man either. There would be time enough to pry information from him if and when he defeated 'Lizardon'.

Just as Shruikan finished his latest battle with his newest move, Zen Headbutt, there was a tutting sound from beside the makeshift field Alex had created. The Pokémon here had kept it, enjoying the challenge of staying in bounds while battling, though not one of them obeyed the rules of a ring out. The tutting sound came from the old Kanto man, who had somehow appeared without even Blaze noticing. He'd been on the sidelines, watching.

"You will never evolve him that way. This Bagon needs fire…same fire that burns in his eyes…take him to Morty. Yes, Morty will be enough. You battle him…you evolve them both. They are ready. Two more days to get used to their bodies…" A dark look appeared in the slightly opened, but perpetually squinting eyes. "Then, you fight him."

Looking at him closer, Alex saw his bruises had only gotten worse. Mottled green now mixed with the purple where new bruises covered the old. It seemed Lizardon had taken his anger out on the old man when Alex had failed to resurface.

Before he could say anything about them however, the old man began walking towards the largest tunnel exiting from the large training chamber. It was one Alex had never gone down, and had been kept from entering by a Magmar that had risen from the lava pool by the entrance. The same Magmar reappeared now, and then nodded upon seeing the old man. He sank back into the lava, and Alex and his team followed him.

"You better heal them." He said in his foreign accent, strangling the R sounds. "This will not be an easy battle." The other three shared a look.

"Can I use Blaze as well as Shruikan?" Alex asked quietly.

The old man stopped in place. "Shruikan? The black dragon of destruction? Why would you ever name him that?"

Alex blinked twice, the information slowly coming back to him, and he relayed it to his partners. It had happened quite a few decades back, supposedly a black scaled Rayquaza had gone berserk in the Hoenn region, and the Champion of said region, who had tamed a Groudon, had been forced to stop it. He hadn't been strong enough however, so the story went, and the woman who tamed the seas, and Kyogre, had helped him finally end the black Legendary Pokémon's rampage. They hadn't tamed it though, for once it was stymied by two Tamers, it had returned back to the skies, and flown in a northerly direction.

The media had nicknamed the beast Shruikan, due to its tendency to form a spiked circle and slam into opponents when it used Dragon Tail. They had meant Shuriken, an ancient Japanese weapon that actually resembled the spinning dragon's attacks, but by the time they admitted that, the name had become too popular.

Most of the footage of the event had mysteriously vanished, and now many people his age considered it to be nothing more than a fanciful Hoenn myth, but that didn't really help him, as he couldn't remember his age either. He looked at his Bagon, then shrugged.

"He'll grow into it. For now, Shruikan is his name. Let all who remember it know his strength." The tiny dragon growled in approval of the story, and the name. "Bagon!" Sharing a name with a Rayquaza was an honor for any dragon type.

The old man shook his head and continued on further. They walked in that tunnel for what seemed like ages, it connected with many other smaller tunnels that smaller Pokémon, like Aron, had carved out of the mountain, but the few they saw ignored the two humans as they made their way to the chamber at the end of the tunnel.

It was large, but not nearly as large as the training cavern was. Large enough to have a battle in, certainly. In the back was a massive statue of a Magmortar that looked to have been carved in great detail from the stone, but by who was a mystery. It was missing key elements of the Pokémon Alex vaguely remembered learning about. The old man shuffled right up to it.

"Hi there Morty, sorry to wake you. There's a Bagon here that needs some help evolving. Think you could help out?" Alex and his two Pokémon shared a look again.

The old man continued talking to the statue for a good minute, before Alex spoke up. "Umm…old man, I think that's just a statue of a Magmortar."

The old man laughed loudly, hands on his hips. "A statue! You hear that, Morty? He thinks you're a statue! Oh wow. Lizardon must've hit you harder than I thought if you really can't tell a live Pokémon from a statue! Ha! Haha!" He turned back to the statue as he began coughing, ignoring Alex and his raised eyebrow.

"Come on Morty, this is serious! This young man intends to battle Lizardon, and his Bagon needs to be a Shelgon to do that. His Charmeleon needs a proper boost as well! Otherwise they'll probably be killed." Alex sighed, turning to leave as the old man began pounding on the solid rock.

"Come on you two…we've wasted enough valuable training time…" Alex muttered as he turned to leave with a sigh. Hermits were always crazy. He had no idea why he'd expected this one to be different from the ones in what stories he could remember.

He'd taken one step out of the cavern, when he felt a tremor. A slight tremor, but a tremor all the same. He didn't quite know why, but it felt familiar, the shaking of the ground. Like he'd ordered it done before in a battle…a lot... but Blaze and Shruikan didn't know Earthquake. Another tremor followed the first.

He turned, and saw the old man grinning. "See? He's finally waking up. Morty always was lazy…come on now! Get up!"

The cavern shook harder, and Shruikan jumped before his Trainer, growling at the statue. Alex swore inwardly. The old man had been right. Rocks slowly broke from the form of the Magmortar, and it gurgled over and over.

It took Alex a minute to realize it was coughing. It stared at the old man, and then shifted its' impassive gaze to him. It coughed again, hard, and rocks shot out of its cannon arms, slamming into the ground. He'd thought it a statue because the head and shoulders lacked flames, but as the massive Pokémon rose, they burned to life again.

It raised its arms to either side, and two Flamethrowers shot out, clearing any excess debris. The old man dodged the one near him skillfully, like he didn't even try, and had moved on reflex. The sudden burst of graceful movement only mystified him further. Surely he'd been a Trainer, his facial features seemed slightly familiar, but without his memory, Alex couldn't place him.

"Easy now, Morty. Lizardon is still alive…but these three can take him down. With your help. Battle the Bagon." The Magmortar looked at the old man, then growled, turning to finally look at Shruikan and then Blaze as well.

It raised one arm, pointed at Shruikan. "Mortar!" Shruikan growled in response, and Alex saw the light within its arm begin to build. The battle had started, it seemed.

"Dragonbreath!" Shruikan's blue flames cut the larger Pokémon's torrent of orange ones in half, saving both himself and Alex from their fire. Blaze didn't mind them much, but moved to stand by the old man all the same.

The old man began whispering to Blaze, but another Flamethrower from 'Morty' drowned out his words. Both Shruikan and Alex had to dodge. "Zen Headbutt!" Before the hit could land, it met with yet another Flamethrower. This Magmortar launched them easily, but this one held its stream continuously.

"Look out, lad! Move!" Alex lost sight of Shruikan within the flames as they surrounded his move, but instead of exploding, as most move collisions did, this one began to glow impossibly bright, the white light filling the room. Morty covered his eyes with his free arm, but kept the stream going. Finally, the light faded, and the Flamethrower increased. Shruikan slammed into the back wall of the cavern, but was unharmed.

He rose slowly from the rubble on four stubby legs, legs that looked too small to support the shell covering his entire body. He roared, and it was much deeper now. Morty raised his second cannon arm, and now two Flamethrowers shot towards Shruikan.

Only to be met by a Dragonbreath that was stronger than anything he'd used as a Bagon. Stronger than anything other Shelgon had used themselves. It overwhelmed the flames, shifting in mid-air into a blue colored pulse that slammed into Morty, and sent him back into the hole he'd left when he'd awakened with a thunderous crash.

The large Pokémon grinned at Shruikan. The battle was over. A proper contest would see the cave destroyed. Alex stared at his new Shelgon, and smirked. "Brilliant…Dragon Pulse…we have a chance at beating him now…we hit him with…maybe four of those, and Blaze can grab the win." Blaze and Shruikan met each other's gaze.

As rivals, they were obviously eager to test the other's strength. Evolution changed a lot in a battle, but now wasn't the time. They were so intensely focused on each other's gaze that Blaze failed to notice Morty standing over him. He snorted in surprise and backed up when he finally did.

"Mag. Mortar." With that, the giant Pokémon left his cave, and Blaze followed, motioning for the others to come with him. As Morty walked down the tunnel, each heavy footfall echoed throughout the many smaller tunnels that connected to his. Smaller Pokémon everywhere got out of the way, but many Magby stared in awe at this example of their final evolution, a stage many Magmar never advanced to. Not without a Trainer.

They didn't know that however, so their hope of one day becoming that powerful was kept alive. Finally, they reached the training chamber. Once more, each of the dueling Pokémon stopped as Alex and his band of companions entered. He wondered if they were getting tired of the interruptions.

They didn't have time to complain, as Morty strode across the cavern with the confidence of a being that is fully aware it's the strongest one in the room. Alex wondered, briefly, if he shouldn't have saved his Pokéball for this one instead.

He banished the thought then. Doubting his team would certainly lead to failure, and he had a feeling this Magmortar wasn't completely done with them yet. At the wall opposite Morty's tunnel, a large pool of lava sat, ignored by all, save the Magmar who stood on the lone pillar of rock in the middle of it.

Morty stared it down. "Mag." He growled.

"Mar." The other responded, hopping off the pillar. Alex had only seen him do this once before, when a pair of battling Pokémon had gotten too rough while sparring. It seemed his purpose was to keep order, as well as stand guard over…whatever Morty was reaching into the lava for. There was a loud whooshing sound as the right cannon arm drew in tons of molten lava like it was nothing. Suddenly, he stopped, and three barely visible claws that acted as this Pokémon's hands lifted out of the pool, holding a shining red crystal. He turned to look at Blaze.

"Magmortar!" He tossed the stone back into what lava remained in the pool, and then focused both arms on it. The lava he had taken in poured out faster than it should've been able to, given that it was molten rock, not water. Alex attributed it to the power this Pokémon held. They could alter nature in ways man would never truly understand, and they could do it on a whim.

Blaze glanced at his Trainer, and then at where the crystal had gone. Alex hadn't felt the power radiating from it, or if he had, he'd been too distracted to notice. But every fire type in that cavern had felt it. It was old.

No more than a shard of something that had once been unimaginably powerful, the essence of fire itself, long broken into pieces that had been buried and crushed in the ground, or disintegrated upon colliding with the land…all except that one. It was the heart of Draconis Mons, a source of the power that drew powerful fire Pokémon here, Pokémon that otherwise would've found different mountains to occupy.

Every Pokémon on the mountain had felt it surface for that brief moment, but only the fire types could truly crave it. Up above, Gren watched from his place of hiding as the black Charizard that clearly dominated this mountain's crater roared with a fury that he had rarely achieved before. Pokémon scattered at this roar, even the stronger ones like Tyranitar and Salamence. When the black one got this angry, you got out of his way, or you likely ended up dead.

Down below, Morty looked up, as did many others. The roar had gotten their attention, but Blaze kept his gaze on where the crystal had disappeared. Lizardon's roar only spurred him on to do something he imagined was unwise, but in his core, felt right.

The only one who saw him start to run full tilt towards the large pool was Morty, and the large Pokémon grinned as the smaller red one leapt using his tail, over the Magmar who noticed him a second too late, over Morty's head, and finally over the ridge that separated the smaller Pokémon from the lava.

Not even Magby were allowed in this pool, but Morty made no move to stop him. The lava ceased flowing from his cannons, and he stepped back, avoiding the Flamethrower the Magmar had unleashed seconds too late, as Blaze dove into the lava, parting it in a way that shouldn't have been possible.

Morty turned on the smaller Magmar, and smacked it across its face with one of his cannons. The smaller Pokémon blinked, and then they both turned their attention to the pool. Alex had run up now, just tall enough to have a view of the surface and wince from the intense heat. He'd seen his Charmeleon as he leapt over Morty, but had no chance of stopping him. He looked up at the Magmortar, but the larger Pokémon shook his head, and pointed with a cannon arm.

The pool seemed unusually red... because it was unusually red. It was glowing now. As the glow faded, the tips of four familiar looking orange points rose out of the pool. Wings appeared beneath the outer two on either side, the familiar dark blue of the flaps came next, followed by the eyes, which now radiated the same red color as the crystal that rose above the lava, supported by one large, orange claw. Clutching his prize tight, Blaze glared at where the furious roar from above had originated, and flapped free of the burning magma, into the air before inhaling, and loosing a roar of his own that shook the mountain in turn.

It echoed through the chamber, shaking it with the force his new throat could produce. Many Pokémon had to cover their ears, as did Alex and the old man. Morty watched, unblinking, the ever-present smirk unchanged. Blaze flapped once, and landed outside the pool's edge, right in front of Morty. Magmortar usually towered over most Charizard, but Blaze had held off on evolving for weeks now, and his size had carried over. For his species, size usually indicated strength, and now, Blaze was a head taller than Morty.

Alex struggled to remember how large Lizardon was, then stopped himself. He was being too analytical. He had a Charizard! Vaguely, Alex felt as if that was some sort of life goal of his, now completed. It improved his mood, and his method of evolving had been so cool. The more he thought about it, the more he remembered. Images came flashing again. A giant stadium. A man in a strange combination of athletic shorts, tights, and athletic shirt garbed in a ruffled red cape covered in corporation logos stood on the field, and he also had a Charizard. Alex suspected he had, at one point, desired to face it in battle. Morty stepped back as Alex strode up to his fully evolved partner, grinning wide. Blaze lowered his head, and while his eyes may have stopped glowing with the power of the strange gem, they still held the same fire that bound Pokémon and Trainer together. Alex put a hand against his partner's cheek, noticing that despite having been in lava, it was hot to the touch, but not searing. "Only you could make lava diving look cool."

The old man chortled behind them. "Ha! Lava diving! Cool! Because it's usually so hot! Getit?" Morty gave him a look, then began stomping back towards his cave.

"Well someone has to have a sense of humor on this mountain!" The old man turned to Alex and his Charizard. "Don't worry lad, I got the joke."

He and Blaze shared a look as well, before looking back to the old man. "Thank you, mister… I still don't know your name."

"Don't worry about it! Heh heh. Tell ya what, you beat Lizardon, and I'll tell you my whoooole life story. Deal?" Alex nodded, then shook his head in disbelief. This old man was straight out of a comic book. Though he couldn't remember which one.

"Deal…" He turned back to Blaze, who was offering him the crystal. Alex took it and with it in his hand, properly touching his skin, he knew, without knowing exactly how he knew, that he was holding a piece of Creation.

The symbol used to represent fire types was visible within it, and he marveled at it, before moving to return it to Blaze. The Charizard shook his head. "Char."

"You want me to keep it? But you can use it in the Battle…" The fully evolved Pokémon growled, shaking his head again. He meant Alex to have it. Alex shrugged, deciding not to argue with his Pokémon's instincts. "If you insist… let's go back and rest… soon, we take on Lizardon, and free this mountain."

Sahqoreyth · Mar 16, 2024

Chapter 6: Draconis Mons, Part 3

Crater Atop Draconis Mons - Unova Region

She opened one lazy eye as another loud smash echoed throughout the crater atop the mountain they all called home. The black beast that ruled over them, a Charizard that looked twice his age, but had the passionate fire of one who had just evolved, had been slamming his tail into the wall of his perch on the northern edge of the crater for two days now, out of sheer frustration.

They had all felt the power that surfaced, the power that drew their overlord into a rage that had, by all appearances, cooled. She wasn't convinced however. She could see the smoldering embers of hate in his eyes, always looking below, searching desperately for any sign of the Charizard that had roared back at him in open defiance. He had killed for less. But there was nothing.

For two whole days, the tension in the crater had been high. She had been preoccupied, however. She was a Salamence, one of the stronger species that lived on this mountain. She didn't necessarily hate humans, as so many of the other full-grown Pokémon did. Her human had passed a long, long time ago. In a far away region. She couldn't even recall his face now, just the kindness he'd shown her, the battles they'd won.

But those days were long gone. She'd flown far away from that place, found a suitable mate, and settled here on this mountain. There had been many good days…until the day a golden Charmeleon emerged from the tunnels that led into the mountain, and evolved.

In the course of a day, the Charizard he had beat and mercilessly killed many of the strongest Pokémon that had lived on the mountain, and refused to submit to him. Her mate had been among them. After that, the Pokémon who maintained the tunnels had shut them all, barring the black one's rage from entering the core. Now, the black one was furious, and to top it all off, one of her offspring was missing.

He'd gotten old enough to begin to burn with the desire to train, grow stronger, evolve, and finally achieve flight. That was fine, every mother expected her young to leave the nest at some point. Many of her past clutches had done just that, choosing to roam far away. But it was still too early for this latest son of hers to have been gone for so long.

She worried about that Bagon. The skies had been so loud, they'd even annoyed their black scaled ruler the night his egg hatched. The storm raged for hours, only ending when the shell was finally broken. Even Pokémon had legends, and Salamence were no exception. Dragons had long lives, and longer memories. She'd heard, once, what that omen foretold, but she didn't entirely believe it.

Worse, he was missing at a time when she and the others could feel a change was coming to the mountain. Many Charizard and other species had challenged the black one for dominance…but there was something about that roar that had them all on edge. It hadn't been like the others, it had almost reminded her of their ruler's, but his was pure rage.

This one had something else fueling it, some other power that had made the very mountain shake with the force of it. She shifted again, making sure to turn her gaze from the black Charizard as she did. He noticed everything that moved, thanks to the state he was in, and had been shooting Flamethrowers at any who looked at him and met his gaze. He hadn't slept, either. Something about that defiant roar had him on edge.

Down below, under tons of seemingly solid rock, the source of Lizardon's rage had been training relentlessly for two days straight. The point of said training had been to get his team used to their new bodies, but a problem soon presented itself.

Blaze didn't quite know how to fly, and though the instinct was there, the confusing air currents and lack of experience in the hot mountain had kept him consistently crashing into the ground. He desperately needed time in the air, under the open sky. Down here, the most he could do was flap aimlessly around the training cavern, like a Noibat trapped in a house.

Over the course of two days however, in heat even fire types found oppressive, Blaze had slowly, and painfully, learned to move with the curve of the air. At first, he simply stayed aloft on the warm currents of air, and didn't crash into the ground. In the same day, once he'd mastered that balance upon this 'wind', he began doing tricks, flips, all sorts of aerial maneuvers.

He slowly learned what he would need to beat Lizardon. That he seemed born to the air, a true flying type, only helped. Even in this hot cavern, large though it was, he managed to learn to soar, and knew that under the open sky, he would be even more impressive. Provided no unknown wind patterns disrupted him.

Once the crystal had been given, the old man and Morty had vanished, far, far below the fiery cavern where their chance at freedom from Lizardon trained almost to exhaustion.

At the old man's request, Morty had opened a large tunnel in the base of the mountain, and other types, like grass and water, that lived in the forests around the mountain, once more found their own ancient caverns within. There was room for every known type, and several as yet undiscovered by humans, scattered throughout the enormous natural structure.

They came from the woods and forests nearby, for the sole purpose of seeing a place of such power freed from the grasp of a tyrant at last. The power that slept under the dragon mountain had been awakened by Blaze and now drew them all. None could imagine it would be a Trainer that freed them though.

Far above Draconis Mons, a pale white clone of the Alpha Pokémon, Arceus, had his attention drawn to the world below. He knew of what transpired atop the mountain where once man and dragon had trained together to achieve a new level of power, but those days had long since passed. What drew his focus now, was a piece of one of his Plates, one that yet held a spark of power from his own realm within it. This is what set it apart from other shards of his Plates, for while they could boost the attacks of a Pokémon holding them, most Plates had long since lost their Light. This one, though had retained it, sustained by the energy of a volcano that, without his creations, would have long since erupted, and decimated the region around it. Arceus kept his gaze upon the peak, curious as to what the human who now held the awakened shard would do with it.

The Shelgon, now called Shruikan by the strange Trainer, had watched the human and Charmeleon train together in awe. A Pokémon that had been raised from its first stage by a Trainer was a new sight to the Shelgon. Now, he watched the Charizard called Blaze slowly learn how to dodge, duck, dip, and dive through the cramped cavern, and the fire in his eyes became truly envious.

He needed to fly as well. He would be the greatest of his species with this Trainer by his side. Someday, he would ascend to the status of Legend among all of them, for this was the Trainer who could make him into such a dragon. Or so his instinct said.

For now, however, he had to deal with his hard shell of a body. He was stronger yes, strong enough for a normal Salamence to evolve after such intense training with Blaze, but Shruikan knew he was no normal Shelgon. He needed fire to evolve, as Blaze had required magma.

But not just any fire would do. So, he would continue to train, reaching the highest level he could in just two days. As the old man had said, it was enough for them to reach new heights of strength. With the intensity of their battles, they might just be strong enough, together, to have a chance of beating Lizardon.

Eventually, Shruikan mastered moving quickly with this new body, forgoing his stubby limbs entirely, and simply rolling towards his opponents. He trained against the Charizard, and slowly, painfully, learned their fighting style.

Always the wings were an advantage, but one Shruikan eventually overcame. Once he and Blaze could only cause a stalemate between them, the old man had stepped in, and told them to rest.

The cavern of the grass types in the base of the mountain welcomed them, and for the first time in just over a month, they slept soundly, far from the ever-present malice of the beast above. Alex marveled at the grass types, who wholeheartedly shared food and played with him. Even the larger ones were kind.

He wondered briefly why he hadn't picked one of them when he became a Trainer. He was especially fond of the Turtwigs. Several fell asleep in his lap as he dozed off as well. They liked him on instinct, and there was something comforting and familiar in their presence. He slept soundly on the back of their mother, a Torterra, who was just as kind, and had almost seemed to recognize him for some reason.

Even then, the names nagged at his brain. Jess. Terra. An image of a different mountain, with a different Trainer who both was and was not him, and a different Pokémon, mastering Energy Ball to a degree only the most skilled reached. He knew these were his memories, but he couldn't place them. Always the image of that black tail slamming into him kept them barred.

Finally, the third day dawned. Another echo in the Ice Cave under the crater signaled Lizardon's impatience, the force of which shook the mountain itself, even the fire cavern they had returned to.

Alex looked to his two Pokémon, wondering if this was the path his regular self would take. He knew the strength of his partners, but he yet doubted he could beat Lizardon. That monstrosity was in his own weight class, one that could rival dragon types.

He shook his head, and met his partner's gazes. They were ready. They knew it. He took strength from their confidence. Morty, a powerful Magmortar whose strength could not be underestimated, had bored a hole to the upper levels large enough for a Charizard. He had been the one who'd trained the black Lizardon, now, he righted his mistake, and released another Charizard to face him, armed with an awakened piece of the Plates that contained the very essence of the Alpha Pokémon in the hand of his Trainer. Only a few areas of the world had such rare crystals, though shards of them were easy enough to form. Some people had been able to reforge them into Plates, but they had only ever boosted a Pokémon's typing. Alex could recall having touched such an artifact once at a museum, but the power in the shard he held now felt different. Awake.

Morty had been charged by a pale clone of the Alpha himself to guard this mountain, and the powerful crystals within. Over time, the Pokémon that lived here had forgotten what had drawn their ancestors in the first place. But the shards of the broken Plates remained, and Morty was only one of the Pokémon who had stood guard over them. The night before he'd evolved, the golden Charmeleon had slain the other guardians, an act of barbarity which had dulled their fading Light. Now, only Morty remained, and he'd given up one of the crystals he'd been bid to guard.

It would finally right this imbalance, with the aid of a human. It was overdue. The mountain had not always housed abandoned Pokémon. Once, humans had been allowed to hike up here, and gaze upon the world, battle on the natural ring suspended over the crater, and share the company of dragon types. There was one glaring difference in the modern era though. The Unovan Dragon was not around to keep them all in balance. Still, he remained split.

But that had been ages ago, before dragon types were rare enough to sometimes be called legendary. Morty watched the human and his partners leave before beginning the process of resealing the upper mountain caverns, which was easier than boring through them, for him anyways.

There was something about that human, that Morty had sensed was unique. He wasn't like the old man, who had long since given up hope of beating Lizardon, with good reason. He fought on, and had the fire to keep going, all the way to the top. If anyone could remind the Pokémon here that not all humans were so cruel, it was a Trainer like that. He also had no other choice, if he wanted to see this mountain freed.

Up above, the black Charizard roared with fury when he smelled the challenger approach… beside the human he'd killed weeks past. And a Shelgon. One of their own. A traitor. He spread his wings, when one of the Salamence on the mountain roared at him with a rage that halted even his eternal fury.

Normally, she would die for such an act, but she moved from his path immediately, and pointed with her long head. They were climbing to the arena. They sought a proper challenge.

Lizardon's red eyes burned with hate as he weighed his choices. He ignored the Salamence, for she had several Bagon to nurture. He disliked killing females, even more so those with young, but if they challenged him for dominance, he treated them as males. Other Salamence and grown dragon types roared, as she had, and he knew if they all attacked at once, he might not survive to retaliate. At the very least, there would be none left alive to lord over, and he did not want that. He'd been alone enough.

This one had merely pointed out the situation. The Charizard with the human was impressive, to say the least, more than his last challenger, but he was walking, not flying. Shackled to a mere human.

The human held his gaze the longest. In the past, he'd thrown them from the mountainside, which wasn't necessarily a death sentence, if they were strong. Other times, he'd had loyal Tyranitar scare them away. Killing too many humans provoked a response from them, but injuring a few and having them spread tales of the mighty mountain Pokémon had seemed to work as a better deterrent.

Then this human had arrived, Charmeleon in tow. Maybe it was the fact that, but for a twist of fate and time, he could've been that Charmeleon. Maybe it was that familiar fire burning in the human's eyes. Maybe it was the hat, so similar to his former Trainer's own, save the color. Something had ignited his rage, and urged him to end this human's life.

He'd instructed the servile human to get rid of the body…but it seemed this weak, hairless ape had the strength to survive one of his attacks. He snorted blue flames, his fury ignited once more. A worthy challenger, then. He flapped once, and landed hard on the suspended arena. It had taken far heavier landings, and stayed intact.

Some force held it in place, much to the joy of the Pokémon who had once battled for fun atop it. Now, it was the site of many a slain challenger to the might of Lizardon. He spewed blue flames around the arena as the challengers approached.

Alex stared in disbelief at what Lizardon wrought with his fire. A true classic arena, from the days when official Pokémon battles were still mostly unorganized. It was shaped like a Pokéball, with two rectangles on either side for the Trainers. Lizardon stood in his, and then stepped forward. He was his own master.

Blaze stood beside his Trainer in his own rectangle, which was still smoking from the heat that had renewed the carved shape. Maybe this was what had inspired the first arena fields. It was certainly old enough. All Lizardon had done was renew the ancient borders.

"Shruikan." The Shelgon stepped forward, growling at the much larger Charizard before it. The black one scented the Shelgon, and cast an eye towards his mother, the same female Salamence that had stopped him earlier. Now it made more sense. He snorted blue fury again.

If her clutch was as rebellious as their fallen father, they would go down as well. The flame on his black tail shifted to blue as his rage swelled. His eyes grew pure red. Such rebellion was commonplace these days. Always they defied him. If he gave an inch, they took a mile. No more. He could stand being alone if it meant not having to deal with constant attempts to usurp his authority. He'd dealt with this kind of irritant for decades now. This latest act of defiance had been the straw that broke the Camerupt's back.

He roared his intent, to burn every one of them until he alone ruled the mountain. All the dragon types began to gather now, at the entrances to their caves. Their ruler had just declared his intention to burn them all out of their homes.

If this human failed, they would sacrifice everything to finally bring him down. They could not know however, that if this human did indeed fail, Lizardon would gain a power that would ensure his rule lasted well beyond a normal span of years.

A Fire Blast shot from the maw of the black Charizard, huge and unrelenting in its fury.

"Into your shell!" While Shruikan did know Protect, he could only use it so often. Still, the instinct remained, and it would take more fire than this to end him. The blast met his shell with fury, the blue five-pronged figure slamming into it hard. Shruikan struggled to stay rooted to the ground, even as his Trainer did the same.

"Now, let go and use Dragonbreath!" Shruikan had stopped wondering where his Trainer's battle instinct came from, and had learned to, sometimes quite literally, roll with it. As he did now. He let his shell be tossed into the air by the flames, and then, once he spun in the right direction, he shot his Dragonbreath at the ground, spinning him further into the air, and turning him into a cannonball of blue dragon flames.

Lizardon's eyes were on his own attack, searching for his opponent in the smoke that had erupted from the impact. He never saw the furious ball of flame coming in just above his field of vision. It hit him square in the head, and his entire form shook, both with anger, and the new paralysis the critical hit had given him. His skull throbbed with pain.

"Dragon Pulse!" Another attack, another hit, directly to his stomach, as Lizardon was unable to move. He shrugged off the pulse however, fighting through the paralysis. The red eyes shifted to look towards his perch, lined with berries that could heal such wounds.

"Blaze, if he makes a move for his berries, burn them all." The Charizard shot into the air in response, and hovered right above the ledge on the northern side of the crater. Landing on it would've drawn the black one for sure, but his hovering only threatened.

"I have no items!" Alex shouted, pointing at Lizardon, "You won't be using them either." The black beast snorted blue flames, and inhaled to Roar at the human, and send him scurrying. Without aid, the Shelgon would fall easily. "Zen Headbutt!" He'd taken his eyes off the Shelgon as he'd readied the move, a rookie mistake, as the human had distracted him long enough for the insolent whelp to roll in close, and ram his stomach.

With a single flap, Lizardon took to the air. Blaze hovered closer to the berry stash. Without the old man's aid, Lizardon might've cured his weakness, as Alex would've never learned where they were.

He hoarded the berries of the mountain, staying strong while forcing others to eat weak, unwanted berries to survive, or expend energy hunting. Either way, the others were kept too weak to rebel successfully.

The old man had seen the stash however, and had warned them of it. The stash was not the black one's target, though. A claw of purplish-blue energy formed around his black claw, and he swooped down towards the Shelgon. This was it. Dragon Claw, combined with flight.

"Protect!" There was a grating shriek as claws of energy wore away, and Lizardon's real claws ran across the shell. He roared in fury, as he hovered in the air, and then unleashed a deluge of blue flame at the Shelgon's form with a Flamethrower. Blue flames covered Shruikan's vision, but he'd need fire much, much hotter than this for evolution.

"Dragon Pulse!" As planned, the fire did little against Shruikan, but it was beginning to wear on him. His shell was smoldering, though it cooled once he rolled his face opening towards his opponent, and expelled the attack at close range.

Lizardon slid back, pushed across the arena by the powerful dragon type attack. Another Flamethrower followed, and Shruikan winced. A normal Flamethrower was hard to resist, but this one was powered by pure rage, and burned all the hotter for it. Seeing he was about to be burned badly, Alex reacted, trusting his Trainer instinct.

"Shruikan! Alpha maneuver!" The Shelgon nodded, and a Fire Blast of his own pushed back slowly against the Flamethrower's continuous stream. Lizardon had forgotten that Fire Blast was self-propelling however, and so when Shruikan again came down on him, hitting his head once more, he was even more surprised. A quick Dragonbreath-aided jump into the air and another rolling descent scored another critical hit.

Lizardon reeled, clutching his skull, and roaring in pain. On the southern cliff face of the mountain, the Greninja known simply as Gren sat motionless. He'd watched for two days, moving only when nature urged him to eat or void his bowels. Now he was witnessing a true battle between a Trainer with natural skill, and the strongest Charizard nature could possibly create. He had a feeling the human was the one he was looking for, but he had no intention of interrupting such a contest. It was a spectacle, for sure, but the mood shifted suddenly.

A foul stench filled the air. Every Pokémon knew then, the battle was about to get serious. Lizardon looked up at the Shelgon, blood dripping from the head wound. His vision was already questionable after two days of constant vigilance and no sleep. Now, the blows to his head made his vision swim. He realized he might actually lose this. The human was clever, as humans tended to be.

It wasn't fair. He should've been this Trainer's Charmeleon. Or at least had a Trainer worthy of his power, but no. He'd been given a coward, and then had been abandoned. It wasn't fair.

It wasn't fair that he'd had to fight to survive in the wild, abandoned, young, and alone. It wasn't fair that he'd had to learn how to battle all by himself, no parents, no guardians. He'd achieved power on this mountain, and in his mind, ruled fairly. After all, what leader would've tolerated the insubordination he'd put up with for so long?

Now, his rule looked to be toppled by this upstart Shelgon and his human. They couldn't have been bonded for more than a few weeks, and already, their power was enough to give him a challenge. It was unnatural. Dragon types could never grow so strong so quickly.

It wasn't right. It wasn't fair. It would not stand. The blue flame around his tail burned hotter as his blood fell to the ground, and the Pokémon watching could only look at their mighty ruler with pity.

He was roaring his frustration now, screaming to the heavens in his own roaring tongue about how none of it was fair. A fair creator would not subject him to this life. He demanded the power that was his birthright.

And the power was given.

The clone of Arceus that now watched the mountain had, like its inhabitants, come to loathe humans, at least the ones who treated Pokémon like that black Charizard so badly. So, he intervened, though he knew he shouldn't.

The bright golden light of Arceus shone down from the sky, surrounding the black Charizard, giving him the energy needed to advance along his species' evolutionary path, a power that should have been his, would have been his, had he not been abandoned, had the humans of the region remembered the importance of bonding through battle, win or lose.

His form grew more monstrous, more grotesque, his surroundings changed his very typing to match that of the Pokémon that lived in this crater. He became a true dragon type then. The means to keep his power were now his. This Trainer was also, at the same time, being tested.

Arceus was, naturally, well aware that his memory was gone. He was battling on instinct alone right now. This would test the human's potential, for reasons that were Arceus's alone. Two birds with one stone. The heavens stopped glowing, and Lizardon stood before Shruikan, fully Mega Evolved.

"Zen Headbutt!" Alex had glared at the sky, as if to say 'Really?', but this was still a battle. He had to win it. The headbutt was obeyed by Shruikan, who took strength from his master's confidence. Someday, he too would evolve like this Charizard. But he would do it the right way, through a bond, not pure rage, desperation, and an Act of Arceus.

Lizardon caught the headbutt with ease, the skin of his claws sizzled as they grabbed the hot shell of his opponent. He did not care, for fire could not truly harm a dragon like him. He was unnaturally black in this form, retaining his scale color upon evolving. He flew into the air, and Alex lowered his hat. This was it for Shruikan. He ordered a counter anyways, refusing to give in.

"Roll in his claws!" Shruikan struggled to obey, and rotate as he had done in Blaze's claws, but these were different. Stronger. Lizardon's grip was iron, like his desire to win. Higher and higher they flew, and Shruikan knew a fall from this height would end him.

Lizardon circled then, and in a true demonstration of aerial grace that only Shruikan saw, and burned into his mind, the newly evolved Charizard threw the weakened Shelgon at the ground. Shruikan fell like a meteor, and Lizardon followed him, fully intending to finish this whelp and crack the already weakened shell. When he fought, it was to the end.

Before impacting, Alex raised Shruikan's Pokéball, and the unusual beam of black light hit his falling form, recalling him into the ball. The force of his impact shook the ball in his hand as the inertia was canceled out, but these balls were designed for such stress.

Alex held it steady. "Well done, my friend…well done. We hit him harder than we thought we could…now we-" He was interrupted as a furious roar broke the sky.

Lizardon shot down from the clouds at speeds only a Mega Form could handle. He swung in mid-air, bringing his tail around. It glowed with the purplish-blue energy his claws had, and Alex knew he wouldn't survive this hit.

But this was not his first time on this mountain. He had a true Charizard with him now. A similarly glowing orange tail met black, and Blaze roared in pain as he took the furious hit for his partner with Dragon Tail. The sheer force of the impact would've normally broken it, but the typing advantage from the move canceled it out, and more damage was actually done to Lizardon. He was unused to his new typing, and was using his new form on pure instinct.

"Dragon Claw! Finish him!" Blaze met Lizardon's own Dragon Claw, and the two battled on the ground, the younger Charizard slowly pushing the older one back with pure force, or so it appeared.

At the last second, Lizardon's heightened perception let him lock his Dragon Claw with Blaze's. He spun, slamming his heavy tail into the younger Charizard, and followed that up with a Fire Blast, as blue and intense as the first had been.

Blaze was shoved back. He'd caught the tail's impact again, more than ready after training so long with Magmar, and catching its tail. The Fire Blast however, was too much to block. His claws pushed against it, and he roared for help from his Trainer. Alex, for his part, was momentarily awed by the power of the Fire Blast, as it towered over him by many feet, but Blaze's cry for help jolted him back to reality.

"Let it hit you! Absorb the heat!" He knew the max temperature of a Charizard's flames. Even with a Mega Form, they could only burn so hot without igniting the atmosphere itself. Blaze had withstood lava, he could take this. He hoped.

Wings flared, Blaze did as instructed, and the flames surrounded him. Lizardon snarled through a dark grin, but faltered. The fire burned around his opponent now, in a manner that was unnatural, circling up and around Blaze in a fiery blue tornado odd flames infused with dragon energy. Alex looked at his hand. The red crystal shard was glowing with power…he needed to do something, but what? He looked at his Charizard, and their eyes met. Blaze nodded at him. He was waiting…for something. For him.

Alex raised the crystal on nothing but instinct, and a red light shot from his clenched fist, hitting his Charizard. "Do it! Do it now!" He wasn't entirely sure exactly what Blaze would do…but this felt right. He trusted his instinct, and his trust was rewarded.

The flames around Blaze shifted to red-orange, and then soared even higher as he roared, the sheer power of his voice filled the air. Even Lizardon winced. Finally, the fire faded away, leaving nothing but a scorch mark on the stone. Blaze stood in the center of it, with a Mega Form of his own. But he was different.

Where Lizardon had become fierce, horned, and fueled by intense rage, Blaze had become what one might expect a Charizard to evolve into. He had three horns now, a wider wingspan, wing-like fins on his arms, and spikes along his tail. He was slimmer than Lizardon, but no less imposing. He almost looked like a crowned king, strongest among his brethren. Blaze looked back at his Trainer, and smirked, giving a thumbs up.

Alex blinked, as the gesture almost brought back memories, recent ones, or so he felt. "You…you want to handle this by yourself?" Blaze roared an affirmative, and his Trainer smirked. "Alright…you know what to do. Win!"

Blaze snorted blue flames of his own, and the color of the one on his tail shifted to blue as well, out of sheer intensity. Both parties were at their peak strength now. This would be a show of power this mountain hadn't seen in an age.

The two titans clashed loudly, slamming into each other with Dragon Claws on each paw. Their aerial battling was fierce and almost impossible to follow, such was their speed. Alex let a dazed Shruikan out to watch. The envy of the Shelgon only grew as he watched the aerial display, and munched on one of the Sitrus Berries they'd saved for the battle.

He could've won, if he'd been able to fly. Of that he was sure. The two Charizard soared ever higher into the sky, trading Flamethrowers as well, now. As they ascended, they became a faint speck in the sky, with an occasional streak of blue, high above the already tall mountain.

Alex would not see the rest of this battle for a while, but Blaze would remember every moment of it. The satellite responsible for monitoring and recording this area of Unova caught sight of the fight, zoomed in, and streamed it live, and many would count themselves lucky for having been able to watch it in real time. That wouldn't diminish those who would watch the scene later, however. This fight was about to go down in legend.

Blaze knew it on an instinctual level, and so, he demonstrated his skills, almost able to feel the eyes of the world watching with envy. He was the one responsible for dragging Lizardon this high.

He'd hurled insults with every roar, taunts with every Flamethrower, and always met his enemy's Dragon Claw. They'd scored multiple hits on each other, but after taking so much damage, Lizardon was feeling the strain more than Blaze was, thanks to Shruikan. Without him, the Charizard had no doubt he would've lost already.

And now, far above their planet, the rage of his flames was burning out what little oxygen there was to fuel them. Alex had explained to Blaze, after their first day of training with his flight, that flying too high outside would cause his tail to go out.

If it did, he'd have to fall and re-ignite it, or he would certainly die. Now, the clever fire lizard had lured his tired opponent to this height. He just needed to stay on top of him, and his plan would work. A final Flamethrower hit Blaze square in the chest, but sputtered almost immediately. The air had run out. Breathing was impossible, and as their flames went out, both Charizard began to plummet.

Blaze forced himself to stay conscious however, his link to his Trainer pushing him to win. Without it, he would've passed out like Lizardon. But this was one fainting from which this tyrant would never awaken. He inhaled through his nose, and let the frigid air warm in the center of his body, where his flames dwelt. As he exhaled, his tail re-ignited.

Blaze stabilized himself with his larger wings and arm fins, but their speed was only increasing. Exhausted, but still willing to fight, he came into view of Alex as he cartwheeled in the air, and hit the unconscious Lizardon with the full force of his Dragon Tail. The attack was pure instinct, but it hit the black one directly in the stomach.

The new spikes upon his tail pierced the black beast, and blood flowed freely as his massive form shot towards the platform with a loud boom that cracked the air, such was the force of the hit. Lizardon fell faster, as the Dragon Tail increased his velocity significantly.

Blaze hadn't aimed for the platform however. He'd let his eyes guide his tail, and Lizardon clipped the stone structure with a wing, breaking it and sealing his death, as he plummeted to the crater lake below.

There was another loud crash as the impact of his large body hitting the water, which was hard as concrete at that speed, echoed throughout the mountain as the force of the impact mercifully ended Lizardon's reign with the quick efficiency of a broken neck. Blaze landed on the rock platform soon after, as blood filled the water for the last time. He roared, letting the entire surrounding region know; it was now free. The mountain was safe again.

The female Salamence immediately flew over. She'd waited until the two titans had stopped battling, before moving to nuzzle her offspring. She kept a wary eye on the human, but largely ignored him. Those upon the mountain who had been like her and outlived their Trainers could tell this human was, as they termed it, a good egg. Besides, what harm could a lone human pose a dragon?

Shruikan explained everything to his mother in a series of growls, and Alex let him as he stood beside Blaze at the platform's edge, looking down into the dark scarlet water.

The power faded from Blaze's form, returning him to normal. He growled softly, lamenting the fall of a worthy rival, and Alex nodded, understanding. "That he was."

He raised his head then, noticing the dragon Pokémon watching him expectantly. Once more, he let instinct guide his actions, not with battle, but words. He knew they could understand him. Most had known the human tongue once.

His voice cracked from disuse at first, but he cleared his throat, and forced himself to orate loud enough for every Pokémon in the crater to hear. Luckily, the acoustics of the arena helped him with this.

"Lizardon…was a menace. That much is true. But he was a menace that Humanity created. His Trainer abandoned him, probably after assuming he was weak, despite his unique coloring. Every Pokémon starts out weak. You need to train to be strong. Humans understood that, once. These days though…we'd rather abandon them than train them to their full potential. Store them away in favor of something stronger. It isn't right." Many of the gathered dragons nodded, once, in agreement.

There was something about this human…they felt a connection, like he could understand their pain, and gladly shouldered it. He almost seemed like one of them. Shruikan's mother glanced toward Lizardon's cave, and blinked, confirming that it was indeed glowing a deep bluish purple. Not for her offspring, or either Charizard…it had started when the human had spoken. She eyed him again as he continued, genuinely curious now as to where exactly he'd come from.

"I'm sorry many of you were released. Abandoned, or left without a partner for whatever reason. But you need to let us help you remember how to be kind again. Let Humans come to this mountain top. You will see that we are not all bad, and maybe, you'll find a Trainer that IS worthy of having you." There were mixed grumbles throughout the crater. Prejudice and old hatred was not so easily erased, but suddenly, Alex sensed a large presence behind him.

He looked up at the neck of a female Salamence looming several feet above him, and she roared at every one of them, as if telling them to come to their senses. The Tyranitar by the path down the mountain roared back, and stepped out of the way, deciding he'd had enough of playing guard dog. The way was clear, and would stay that way. Alex looked up at the large dragon type in awe. She looked down at him, winked one large eye, and backed up, lowering to his level. He pet her snout as he admired just how strong she was.

"Thank you for raising such a fine Bagon. I'll make sure he becomes a truly legendary Pokémon. Keep an eye on the TVs around Castelia City. If you can make a suitable nest there, you will see him. Eventually." The female Salamence eyed the Trainer, very clearly understanding his words, and nodded. She lifted off again, revealing Shruikan behind her. They nodded to each other.

"Alright Blaze, fly us home!" Alex said, patting his Charizard. Blaze responded by yawning, and tapping the Pokéball button for Shruikan's ball, then his own, each disappearing in their own black and red-orange lights respectively. The message was clear. They'd be walking, after such a hard fight.

Alex sighed, and began heading towards the mountain path down, giving respectful nods towards each dragon type he passed. They nodded in return, seemingly impressed. But dragon types were hard to read. At least they weren't trying to burn him and eat his flesh. While many would never forgive humanity, this one had overcome adversity, and freed them from a tyrant. He'd earned his freedom.

Seeing all he'd needed to, Gren leapt from his hiding spot, catching Alex's gaze for only a moment, before vanishing.

Alex was still trying to figure out why what looked like a Greninja would be here of all places, when he noticed the old man by the path down the mountain. "Old man. Are you going home too?"

The Kanto man shook his head. "I'll stay here. Make sure tourists don't flood the place. Only Trainers will come up this mountain. Real Trainers. I'll have a hut. Make it a true wildlife preserve."

Alex nodded. "I'll see about getting Humilau to send some people out to help you." The old man nodded, gave Alex's waist a pat, which at 6,2 was all the old man could reach with his stoop, and then shuffled back towards his cave.

"Hey! Wait!" Alex called, "You promised to tell me your story. Why are you here?"

The old man looked back at him, and gave a sad smile. "I had a Charizard once, like you, and like you, I thought to climb the Dragon Mountain. I thought the Pokémon up there could give us the strength we needed to battle and surpass my greatest rival. I'd heard they hated Humans. I wanted to change their minds. When I got to the top, Lizardon was waiting for us. He killed my friend…and I...refused to leave until I got his bones. They're in his cliff nest."

Alex stared at the man, heart wrenching for his loss. It wasn't quite his life story, and there was still no name, but losing one's partner was always tough. "I'm sorry, I can help get them ou-" The old man cut him off.

"No. His bones will stay there, in a place of honor, no longer a prison. He is free now. And has you to thank for that." He bowed low, and formal.

Alex scratched his head. "It's no problem…any Trainer would've done it. All I did was follow my instincts…I still can't remember anything."

The old man gave him a long look, then grinned for the first time, revealing far too few teeth. "You will. Go. Back to civilization. Oh, and one last thing." He turned, shuffling back, and offered a hand with a green crystal in it. "The Torterra from below gave this to me, for you, as thanks for saving our mountain home. You earned it."

Alex took the crystal, eyed it, and saw a leaf symbol etched within its center. As it brushed against the fire one in his palm, it too started shining and gave off immense, but subtle power. He'd need a grass type to properly use it. "Don't lose that lad. Those crystals are more precious than you know." Alex nodded, and made his way down the mountain, still wondering at what exactly these Plate crystals were. They looked familiar, but his damned memory was still befuddled.

He knew they weren't Mega Stones, but they could make Pokémon Mega Evolve, so they had to be unique. He knew Mega Evolution used Infinity energy, but what exactly that was, and how to tap into it, was something that was for the moment beyond his knowledge. He placed the grass crystal next to the fire crystal in his inner pocket within his tattered, dirty jacket, and made the climb down the mountain.

The old man watched him go, then looked out at the horizon, to the south west. The sun turned the entire sky a familiar orange as it began to set.

"Rest in peace now, Zippo." The old man whispered, then turned, and shuffled back to his hovel. He would bathe, and return to civilization just long enough to make sure the fools running this region didn't abuse the mountain now that Lizardon had fallen.

As Alex wandered down the mountain, pondering the mysterious crystals still, he forced his mind to other matters. Like who he was, where he was from, the mystery behind the names on the edge of his consciousness.

He once more let instinct guide him, and headed in the direction of the town he'd seen from the trail, what could only be Humilau City, to the south.

As he walked however, his nagging memories became more insistent. With the threat of losing his life gone, and the stress and adrenaline that had come with it, he was struggling to remember himself, but he felt closer than ever. He pulled the note again from his pocket, wrinkled and torn now after so many times reading it.

All of a sudden, for no explainable reason, he looked up from the note, and stopped dead. Before him, standing on the path, was a Ralts. The note was pulled from his hand via telekinesis, and the Ralts examined it for a moment as it hovered before the tiny Pokémon's covered eyes. He seemed to be reading it, something that Alex wasn't sure Ralts could do. Then the Ralts looked away from it, and walked up to him.

"Ralts!" it said, reaching its stubby arms towards him. Alex didn't quite know why, but he felt the sudden urge to kneel down to this Pokémon's level. He raised an eyebrow.

"Why?" The Ralts tapped its strange horned head with one stubby hand, then lifted the other hand towards his own head. Despite his wariness, Alex knelt.

The Ralts came closer, rising higher on its legs until the large red horn on its head touched the human's. Alex's eyes rolled, and his memories came flooding back, the image of Lizardon's tail was finally moved, now nothing more than a memory, half remembered.

He...felt...somehow, that the Ralts had gained something in the contact as well, though what it was, he could not tell.

Alex knew who he was now, more certain of it than ever after his actions while he'd had amnesia. Blaze and Shruikan appeared in a flash of red and black light, and they both glared at the Pokémon interfering with their friend's mind. They'd sensed Pokémon power emanating from him, affecting their Trainer, and had responded. After their hardship together, the bond between them was quite strong.

The growls increased in volume, causing the Ralts to slowly back away, until their Trainer raised a hand. It would take a while to sort everything into its proper place, but he managed to stand, at least.

"Calm…calm down you two. My memory is back, and this Ralts is responsible." The little Pokémon chirped again, smiling. He could tell it was happy to have helped. The Ralts looked once more at the note then, and read it, staring for a long time at the name the note gave this human. Alex tilted his head. He knew psychic types were intelligent, but for one so young, understanding the intricacies of written Common should've been beyond him. He smirked. Unless he'd borrowed the knowledge from another mind.

The young Ralts had been told that his path would cross with a turtle of some sort. He examined the human with his senses. He seemed different somehow, and the Ralts realized that his kind act had accidentally awakened something. There was power in this human. Familiar power. Psychic power.

Alex looked for a long time at the small Pokémon, still not quite believing it. He'd felt his lucky streak was over, that had been the source of his constant dread and stress while in the mountain, he was subconsciously convinced that his being attacked would kill him, slowly, if not outright.

But now, with the finding of the last member of his ideal team, the team he'd dreamed about once, long ago, he knew there was more to his path than luck. Things like this simply did not happen by coincidence. These events were too coincidental. He found his ideal psychic type, who restored his memories, just after he happened to free a mountain full of Pokémon from a tyrant and catch a Bagon in the process? No, there was more to this path he was walking. Especially after that Act of Arceus he'd born witness to. For now, he decided to trust where it led.

The little Ralts' demeanor changed then, suddenly, as he looked up at Blaze and Shruikan, as if properly seeing them for the first time. They weren't unfriendly, but they did have a lean fierceness to them after their ordeal. Their Trainer wasn't the only one that was malnourished after so long without decent food, and such intense training in sweltering heat.

The Ralts started to back up slowly again, away from the larger Pokémon, when it bumped into Alex, who had moved behind it. The little psychic type jumped, startled, but Alex gently patted its horn, which could allegedly sense emotions. "It's okay…they won't hurt you. Nor will I. You're actually a Pokémon I've been looking for. I don't have your Pokéball on me, however. If you come with us, I can go get it, and we can complete our team. What do you think, little guy? Want to join us?"

The Ralts' horn quivered at his touch, and he smiled. He turned towards Blaze and Shruikan each, and while he still seemed hesitant about Shruikan, he found Blaze as friendly as his Trainer, once he realized what the Ralts had done for Alex.

"Ralts!" It said happily, pushing the return button on both of their balls with a small, controlled burst of psychic energy. Somewhat surprised, the two Pokémon were recalled, and then, the little Pokémon put its stubby limbs on its new Trainer's hand, and in an instant with little more than a 'bamf' sound, they were back in the room he'd stayed with Jess in. Her stuff was still here, as was his backpack, on top of which, was his badge.

He sighed with relief, and then searched his bag for the purple ball he'd chosen for his psychic type. He tossed it at the Ralts, and the ball flipped, capturing the Pokémon within it immediately, before it had even hit the ground.

He picked it up then, and smirked, before putting it on his belt beside the other two. Leo and Hydrus' balls weren't here either, nor was his spare hat, that he alternated to keep both from getting too dirty.

He still had spare clothes though, so he began to scrub over a month's worth of hard living off in the shower unit. Once that was done, he saw his reflection, and did a double take. Gone was the lingering fat from his face, replaced now with a thick, dark brown, unruly beard. It wasn't as majestic as his friend Connor's, and there were still a few patches that seemed singed off, but with some trimming and growing, they would fill in. His hair was in desperate need of a cut, and his eyes were sunken, from so many restless nights without remembering who he was.

He did what he could with a comb, and then breezed out of the shower, bumping into the unmistakable form of Jessica, who'd just entered the room, and had moved to investigate who was showering in it. They stared at each other for a good fifteen seconds.

She was sweaty, unusual for her as she preferred to lounge around all day without lifting a nail, and she was wearing his hat, which was filthy, damp, and covered in sand. Just like her clothes.

For his part, his muscles stood out clearer now, though he looked a bit ragged. He was nude, save for a towel, but he hadn't yet quite realized it. She was stuttering, he realized, and he moved in to hug her, sighing contently.

It certainly felt right, though at that moment, he became fully aware that the cloth separating his nudity from her could fall easily. He pulled away slightly, bringing the towel up, but she stopped him.

He adjusted it as she met his gaze, smirking. "Wow. I really do like the beard." Seven words had never hit him so hard. He felt like he'd fallen for her all over again as the feelings he had also returned, slightly delayed as they were by remembering everything else. He made a note to throw out his razor. For the first time, he dropped his guard around her and gazed at her the way he'd always done from afar.

Jess felt her face heat up as she returned his gaze. His eyes were as intense as Leo's and had a similar fierceness to them. They were still much the same, however, changed only slightly by…whatever he'd gone through. Still just as kind, still just as blue.

His instincts had been…on fire, since regaining his memory, and right then, they were insisting that he kiss her. He couldn't have ignored them if he'd tried.

Sahqoreyth · Mar 16, 2024

Chapter 7: Aftermath

Domain of the Alpha - Arceus's Dimension

A reality away, in another dimension entirely, the golden form of the Alpha Pokémon slept soundly, waiting with eternal patience for the One to rise again. He had awareness through the many eyes of his pale white copies, who monitored his favored worlds, and all who lived on them, for instances where his power would be needed by Sentient and Pokémon alike.

He waited for the One that his last Holder had prophesied would one day appear. The Trainer who could control his power, and was worthy of doing so. The Trainer who would, so he'd claimed, propel both their species to heights neither could properly imagine. Being all but omniscient, Arceus could imagine quite a bit. The human had laughed when he'd said as much, and promised that the next one to Tame him would, at the very least, pique his interest. It wasn't as impressive as the rest of the prophecy, as it was self-fulfilling. Of course Arceus would be interested in another human that could handle his power. Sentients like them, creatures born of the universe's natural evolutionary processes, usually couldn't even properly fathom his existence, let alone tame it.

With a sudden jolt, the red eye of the true Arceus opened for the first time in millennia. His near-omnipotent senses confused him, for an instant, as he felt the combined psychic potential of many Trainers who could end up taming him upon the world he watched most closely. The world he himself had saved from catastrophic imbalances in the natural cycle that had allowed life to appear and flourish. Though the humans had, at first, repulsed him, the Alpha Pokémon had come to see that they were indeed worthy of being saved. The one he'd granted his power to had shown him that, and their accord was not yet fulfilled. For now at least, the Earth was worthy of his gaze, and attention.

After a moment, he understood. One of the potential Trainers who could handle his power had just been awakened in a rapid manner, at the behest of a psychic type, and this was following a draw on his power that had made him stir in the first place, which had been used in relation to the same Trainer. For a brief moment, that Trainer's mind had almost unlocked its latent psychic abilities. Almost. Now, at best, he was aware of them, but unable to use them. For now.

Still, it was more promising than the thousands of others Arceus had sensed over the long millennia, and that particular Trainer's latent power had been strong enough to jolt his own senses back to awareness, which was no small feat. He took a longer look at the planet through his third eye, and then realized just how long he'd slept. Humanity had evolved, since last he was awake. There were thousands with that same psychic potential, and more besides without it that could, in the right circumstances, also prove worthy. It was a far cry from the war-loving brutes they'd become once his Holder had fallen prey to his mortality, despite the Alpha Pokémon's best efforts.

The challenge, the true hidden purpose of the Pokémon Leagues, established by himself and his human, had never been tougher. He could sense it. The time for his next Holder to appear was fast approaching, and eventually, one of them would rise atop the others. He stayed awake, watching the world from his dimension of infinite Light, even as his clones monitored the Earth.

They were one, and yet weren't, and many wondered at what his awakening signified. More than a few had developed skewed personalities over the eons, but now that the original was conscious once more, they were slowly erased, and molded back into the single entity that was Arceus.

His patience was also infinite. He could wait a little longer for the next Holder to rise. He'd stayed awake, and waited two whole Earth centuries last time, which in his realm, was much, much longer. He could do so again, if needed. He'd made a promise, after all.

Sensing the potential within this latest batch of Trainers, the Alpha Pokémon sent a psychic message to the ones who would test the potential Pokémon Master's latent power. There were many such Pokémon who lived on the world, that could test the candidates. Of all of the differing species, very few were alive when he last was Tamed. Though the Sages all had psychic potential, some were simply shorter lived species.

Now, they all received the message, the call. The time was approaching. His awakening signified a change in their world, one that would only appear evident as his handiwork over time. Soon, the trials would begin again. He could feel the Sage's inherent excitement at training the One. They would all be disappointed before the end though, all but one. Only one of their protégés could Tame him, after all.

All across the world, the Psychic Sages shivered as they felt Arceus, the real Arceus, call them to action. They needed to stop being picky, and uncover the potential of as many Trainers as possible. This time, one would be chosen.

Sage's Isle - The Great Swamp, Floria Region

On the Unovan side of the northern continent, there was one psychic type who received the message, and sighed. He lived south, far south, in a massive swamp that extended from what was once called Floria thousands of years past, to Jinia Town, a home of rather superstitious and fearful humans that rightly avoided his home situated in the middle of the continent's eastern coastline. Thanks to its sheer size, the Swamp was rather dangerous, if one was not prepared.

When Arceus had bid Regigigas to shift the continents of the planet that hadn't been drowned under rising water levels, much in the old world had changed. New Tork City's southernmost borough now directly bordered an ocean, and the new coastline was home to many ancient cities, long since looted, destroyed, or abandoned in humanity's downwards spiral. The continent had once, long ago, been home to many humans, but now, it was overrun by ocean, and much of the southern half had become a salty swamp filled with Pokémon and rumors of deadly misfortune that befell any who dared to enter.

The Pokémon in charge of testing the candidates was, on this continent, the Foggy Swamp Sage. Oranguru. He was old, not quite old enough to have sensed the last time the Alpha Pokémon awakened, but old enough to know that it was his own father who had trained a human candidate for the last cycle of awakening. He was younger than his father had been, but in his wise opinion, far stronger.

His father's chosen protégé had not succeeded in the last test. The candidate from Eous had, but that had been a long time ago, and that candidate had failed to prove worthy enough to Tame the Alpha Pokémon. Now, the process would begin again. Now, there was a chance to prove that he could train a worthy human to become the Holder of Arceus, and succeed where his forebear had failed.

Over ten millennia had passed since the true Arceus had been conscious, and influenced the world in wonderful ways. Humans had mostly forgotten, and while some of them knew Arceus existed, many had simply categorized him into their 'National Pokédex', another number on a list that grew every year.

While he never interacted much with the planet, save for when humanity and Pokémon alike were doomed before a natural catastrophe, like a meteor, Arceus had appeared all over the world at one time or another. Or rather, his pale white clones had. They sacrificed willingly, to keep the planet from being obliterated by disturbingly frequent meteors, and with each loss, the world was littered with yet more broken Plate shards. Luckily, it was easy for a new clone to form from the Alpha's dimension, and take the fallen one's place.

Only one region painted his myth with Arceus as he truly was, golden as the sun, and only one story contained the tale of this golden Arceus. But it had been twisted and misused by lesser men in the long millennia since his last appearance. Now, in the modern world, it was seen as a fantasy, a tale believed true only by those under the control of the Arcean Church, who many in the eastern States disliked for their disdainful outlook on their modern societies, and the morals that ran them. Oranguru sighed again.

Such things would need to be dispelled and prevented against, if the One truly did appear again. Once, Arceus' name had spread the world over, spoken in reverent tones of peace and gratitude. He had healed thousands, his power bolstered by the bond to the human who had Tamed him. In response, naturally, humanity had named Arceus their deity, ever-grateful for his aid in healing the planet. Nevermind that said healing had upended entire nations with the shifting of the world's continental plates, the planet had survived, and that was what was important, for it once more gave hope to a race that had lost theirs, and accepted their impending doom brought on by their uncaring ancestor's mass polluting of the air, water, and land.

With the introduction of Pokémon into the animal and plant kingdoms, humanity had, true to form, abused the new, magical creatures in their midst, and it did not take long for them to start using them as weapons. Arceus put an end to that, in a conflict known historically as the Judgement War, and once the parties responsible had been Judged unworthy of continuing to exist, humanity had managed to thrive. At least, until the Holder of Arceus had succumbed to mortality.

The cult that had formed around the Alpha Pokémon and his Tamer had grown powerful in the years they'd served faithfully. Once the Tamer of the Alpha passed on, it had taken less than a year for the cult to fracture, and war to erupt once more on the supercontinent, namely in what was known today as Eous. The fractured cults, each with diverging beliefs, were what sparked the period of turmoil and strife now known to modern humans only as the Dark Times, an indeterminate period of time wherein empires had risen and fallen, and an uncountable years had passed before the formation of the Pokémon Leagues, and the start of the current period of recorded history.

The Foggy Swamp Sage had not lived through the Dark Times, his father had experienced them though, and had shared psychic visions of the atrocities humans and Pokémon alike had committed in the absence of Arceus' Tamer. It had taken far too long to climb out of that downward spiral, and the only thing the Pokémon in charge of training the next Tamer agreed on was that it had to be avoided again. Humanity had grown so far on its own, even now, and that progress could not be lost. It was their job to choose one who would be strong enough, wise enough, to keep that from happening again.

As the energy from Arceus waking up rippled through the world word began to spread to Gym Leaders, and the Pokémon Leagues all around the world from Alola in the west to Sinnoh in the east. The challenge was on again. The Leagues had, originally, been formed to administer a test to find remarkable Trainers, and send those Trainers to the Sages, in an effort to find the next human capable of Holding the Alpha Pokémon. In the modern era, many Trainers had held Champion status in multiple regions, and many regions had more than one Champion, if they were large. Very few ever went to the Sages, even if they were asked to.

Many of the older League members were skeptical. To become worthy of being trained by one of the Psychic Sages, a Trainer had to beat at least five of the leagues around the world. A feat not unheard of, but one that was rare enough. The only other way to prove one's worth was by Taming a Legendary Guardian, or preventing a disaster of some description. Humans who managed to bond with, and successfully use, Legendary Pokémon were assumed by the Sages to have the same potential as a Trainer who could best five regional Leagues. Trainers capable of five League victories often spent their days enjoying their celebrity status, before retiring to a University to teach, and live off a fat League paycheck until they passed. The more they taught, the more they earned.

Nobody alive knew what happened after Champions went to the Sages, because the last challenge hadn't gotten past that point. In the end, none of the candidates had been deemed worthy, and the Alpha Pokémon had remained untamed. That had been centuries ago however, before Pokéballs had existed, and the few old timers who still knew about the challenge assumed it couldn't be beaten. The Sages had a habit of rejecting anyone they felt was even slightly unworthy.

Trainers had changed over time though, mainly thanks to Pokéballs. While the civilizations in the time of the Holder had possessed similar methods of carrying their partners about, it had taken a long time for them to be rediscovered. It was still relatively new technology to the societies that had survived the turmoil of the Dark Times, barely two centuries old, but it had revolutionized modern training of Pokémon.

Most of the Leagues were excited, despite the skepticism of the older generation. Many still believed that there was a Trainer out there who would remind the world of what was actually important when it came to training Pokémon, of what really mattered. This challenge, from what little they knew of it, would separate the unworthy from the pack, and hopefully one of the chosen Trainers, should they be judged worthy, would prove to modern Trainers the world over that there was more to it all than statistics and vitamin maxing.

The Foggy Swamp Sage looked out over his peaceful island, and sighed for a third time. He was putting it off, and he knew his rivals were already summoning those with potential in their own regions. He knew he had to do the same. With a thought, he summoned the human in charge of gathering the worthy. Once she'd arrived and hopped from her Dragonite, he explained the situation, and she was off again just as quickly. Oranguru watched her go as he loaded his wooden pipe with crushed Leaf, and with a flash of pyrokinesis, started yet another smoking session. He stared up at the sky as he exhaled the foul smelling smoke, remembering this calm, and knowing that it would be centuries before his home would be this quiet again.

Humilau City - Unova Region

Alex's abrupt return had stirred the local media into a frenzy. The first thing he'd done was tell his family he was alright, and recover his Torterra. The Professor had said that Terra had slept almost the entire time Alex had been gone, awakening abruptly about a day ago.

He told his granduncle then about what had happened on the mountain, and afterwards, with his new Ralts, who was at that very moment examining the local book collection in the Pokémon Center. He hadn't decided on a nickname earlier, so Alex left it up to him to choose. After a bit of training, he was smart enough to read on his own, and was therefor deemed capable of picking his own name.

Alex had just finished telling his uncle the whole story when, after several long moments, he said "We already know about the battle, lad. And by 'we' I of course mean most of the world. Two Mega Evolved Charizard going at it that high in the atmosphere catches attention. Nobody knows, yet, who the victorious Charizard's Trainer is though. Your hat was blocking your face. I suppose the local media might recognize it. It was pretty dirty though."

Alex took a moment to ponder that information. "So…I should tell them? But there's no way they'll believe me. I bet half a hundred Trainers have already stepped forward to claim that they were the ones who battled."

His granduncle nodded. Unfortunately, there were many Trainers looking to leech fame off the exploits of their betters. They rarely succeeded, but like any leech, they were hard to pry off once they attached.

"There is one way, of course…" The Professor said, a gleam in his eye, "You have your Charizard Mega Evolve again. I wouldn't mention how the black one did it though. That'll only make the Arceans crawl out of the woodwork. The last thing we need is to give them an excuse to grab power."

Alex's eyes narrowed at the mention of the cult responsible for his Pokéless childhood. The Arceans were the leftovers of the cultish group that claimed to have formed around the last man to tame the Alpha Pokémon, almost ten thousand years prior. Whatever they had been when they'd started, time and human greed had corrupted them in the absence of their original leader.

Now, they were mostly based in the Fornia region, but a few had migrated to Unova in recent years. They were notorious for latching on to any excuse to claim doom was coming, and unfortunately, they could convince many people what they said was true…if the proof behind their words was good enough. Fear could drive people to believe almost anything.

A similar incident had happened in Sinnoh a few decades back, and to this day, many in that region were convinced that Arceus had a fierce and vengeful temperament, which made them perfect recruits for the Arcean Church. Now, their latest claim to superiority was having 'bases' on two continents, something no other organized cult could claim.

That was due to the strong scientific following prevalent the world over, though. Many technologically superior regions had traded fairytales and myths for laboratories and research centers. They weren't always moral, but many agreed they were better than the thousands of cults that had warred during the Dark Times. Those wars had brought low almost every civilization on the planet, almost crippling them as much as the destruction of Old Earth had. Many would do anything to avoid having that scenario occur a second time.

Thinking about it, Alex could see how whatever power made Lizardon Mega Evolve could be tied to Arceus. For all he knew, it was Arceus who had given the tyrant Pokémon that power, for whatever reason. There were other examples of Pokémon reaching their Mega Forms on their own, a fact his granduncle stressed early in their conversation, but given that said examples were of Rayquaza, a Legend, and Mewtwo, a product of human bio-engineering artificially enhanced to match a Legend, he didn't think people would care to be reminded. What Lizardon had done was different, for with his temperament, he would've never reached that form on his own.

"Fine." Alex said finally, "I'll play it vague. Just like you taught me. Now send Terra back."

The old man held up his Pokéball, and put it in the transporter. "He'll be happy to see you. He was very disoriented when he woke up. I'm just glad he recognized me before he started to rampage."

Alex shook his head, taking the ball as it materialized. "Terra would never rampage. He's a gentle giant." At his words and the sound of his voice, the newly materialized ball opened on its own, and Terra freed himself, looked around the Pokémon Center for a moment, then all but tackled his Trainer.

Large as he was, very few beings could be tackled by such a strong Pokémon and hold their ground. "Ah! Terra, Terra, stop! I know, I missed you too." Alex grabbed his Pokémon's head spikes, and was lifted up and over onto his shell, covered in Torterra drool. He grabbed a branch on the large turtle's Ash tree, and wiped his face clean on the soft leaves.

He turned then, and settled on the white, raised hexagon just above Terra's head as he retried the Holociever. His granduncle grinned. "Gentle giant. Right."

Alex was focused on his partner, however. "How would you like to Battle, hmm? I hope your Earthquake isn't out of practice."

"Terra!" The large Pokémon rumbled. Seemed he was eager.

"Very well, return." Alex recalled Terra, landing carefully as his seat was suddenly gone, and then focused on the phone. The Professor seemed to have something important to say, but was holding back until his relative's attention was refocused.

"I should tell you, by the way, there's a rumor going around. Remember that super-secret elite Pokémon League challenge I told you about once?" Alex nodded, vaguely recalling it through the hazy smoke-filled memories of their long basement talks. He'd thought he was being pranked by his uncle and granduncle at the time. It sounded made up.

"It's on." The Professor said, quietly. "League members and Gym Leaders worldwide have already been notified…and Trainers are already starting. Do you remember what I told you about joining?"

Alex nodded. "Beat…umm…four or five League challenges…and then…" He paused, clearly forgetting the rest.

"And then find one of the Psychic Masters to train you, and hopefully deem you worthy. Honestly lad, pay attention." His granduncle crossed his skinny, wrinkled, lab coat covered arms and shook his head in mock disapproval.

"I am paying attention!" Alex said, knowing it didn't sound half as convincing as it needed to, "And I already started with Marlon, and this 'elite challenge' thing they have in the Victory League this year."

The Professor tilted his head, at that. "Elite challenge?"

Alex nodded. "Nurse Joy said Champion N started it. It's not the first time they've held it, but nobody has ever managed to win it, since it's insanely hard. If Marlon was any indication, this will be a good test for the team I'm putting together. I think once we beat it, we'll be ready to take on other Leagues. Are there any other ways of proving worthy? Preferably faster ones? Beating over thirty more Gyms will take a long time." With a Charizard, he could probably finish relatively soon, as there were a number of Pokémon Leagues in the States, across the continent Unova shared with them.

He knew however, that traveling with Jess would limit how fast he could beat them, if indeed he could. He'd never admit it, but Marlon almost had him in that last battle, and he intended to do some serious training with the rest of his team. He was still far behind the Ace Trainers his age, more so now that he'd lost so much time to the mountain.

The old man scratched his chin, which seemed to be perpetually covered in gray stubble. "Well...you could always stop a disaster, or accomplish a heroic feat that benefits the world as a whole...but to my knowledge, Unova is fine right now." Alex sighed, looking disheartened. His granduncle had no intention of mentioning taming a Legendary to his grandnephew after the poor judgement he'd had on Draconis Mons.

"Don't get discouraged, lad." His granduncle continued with a sly wink, "If there's trouble around, you'll probably stumble into it."

Alex rolled his eyes before changing the subject. "By the way, did you manage to figure out what those crystals are?"

The Professor's face grew more serious, and he nodded. "Remember those Plates that I told you about? The ones related to Arceus that are said to radiate Infinity Energy and boost a Pokémon Move's typing considerably? It seems that these fragments are indeed made of the same stuff, and have the same inherent power. My colleague in Hoenn had a Plate given to him by a Trainer, and we compared the energy readings they give off. His was a Flame Plate, but your little crystal was giving off levels of Infinity Energy we've only measured in Mega Stones. When I touched your crystals to the Fire Plate, it became active too. I had a group of fire types, like our Torchic huddled by my window, drawn by the power it was giving off. True to the name, the energy they're both radiating seems infinite."

He stroked his scruffy, gray beard stubble before continuing, "If it really is a piece of the Alpha Pokémon, we hypothesized that someone must have taken a crystal like yours, and hammered it down into a Plate sometime in the past. We're not going to try that however…as these crystals are rare."

Alex nodded, stroking his own beard in thought. After a trim and a shower, it actually looked somewhat respectable, if patchy. "I understand. If I find one I don't need, like ice or something, we can try to turn it into a Plate."

He looked away from the screen, smirking as he spotted an unmistakably familiar shade of red coming from the hallway leading to the center's guest rooms.

As usual, Professor Redwood missed nothing. "Seems my own blood would rather talk to a pretty redhead than listen to me ramble on about science! Bahaha! I'll let you know if anything new happens with our research lad, now go to her. And use protection! Ha!"

The line cut out before Alex could respond, and he was once more left flushed red, standing in front of a phone, on a call that he knew most of the surrounding callers, and their contacts, had overheard. His Gruncle was nothing, if not loud.

He tilted his hat down, and fussed with his belt as he adjusted Terra's place on it. Then he went to the closest sink to wash the Torterra drool from his face. Blaze's ball was right behind Terra's now, followed by Hydrus, then Leo, Shruikan, and his to-be-named Ralts. He'd let his Ralts out earlier that morning after rising to discover he was sore in places he'd never been sore before. Sleeping on primarily hard stone for weeks on end left a mark, but he hadn't actually slept much until the sun had risen.

Thus, by the time he'd revealed his presence to the Pokémon Center, who then passed the news on to the local media, and after calling his granduncle, it was now high noon. He knew that he was being watched, as Humilau's 'open and free' center design had large windows on the front.

The local news crews had been taking constant pictures throughout his phone call, but he'd forced himself to ignore them. Thankfully, he'd had the phone closest to the windows, so the main irritation from the flashing was on him, and not his fellow callers.

Of course, there were eyes in the Pokémon Center as well. Hiding from those eyes was a male Ralts that nobody seemed to notice. He'd been shown how to use the PokéNet by his Trainer, and given his typing and stubby hands, had been able to look up whatever he liked on his Trainer's travel laptop. But the problem with that was that he had no idea what he wanted his name to be.

His Trainer had, hurriedly, shown him his final evolution, and explained that once he became a Kirlia, he'd go straight into a Gallade, thanks to the stone Alex had given him.

However, when the female who shared his Trainer's room saw that, they'd resumed their heavy-panting-mouth-sucking, and the young Ralts had been summarily ignored. Had he been anything but a psychic type, this would've gone over his head, but he understood a lot of what his Trainer had said.

He'd also understood why. In his Trainer's mind, the young Ralts had seen that he wanted every Pokémon to have their own unique name, just as humans did. To him, there was no reason not to. Calling his Ralts 'Ralts' would be like someone referring to him as 'Human', and thus the young psychic type had grasped the need for a nickname.

In the wild, there was no need for such a thing. Pokémon could always tell each other apart, more or less, but every name he found on the PokéNet thus far had been unacceptable.

With the understanding of names, the young psychic type had also understood that this was something he would be referred to by everyone. He couldn't explain why, but even his Trainer's other Pokémon, who he'd briefly met, now referred to each other by their nicknames. They had become them, and each of them fit like a glove. Especially the one called Shruikan.

Thus, he had been given access to the PokéNet, failed to find anything, and had then found himself wandering the building he was in while his Trainer made a call. Whatever that was. Nobody seemed to notice him, not even other Pokémon. He moved silently on his hidden legs, Teleporting into various rooms past locked doors until he discovered one filled with strange square objects that had hard covers, but soft insides.

The runes within them were understandable though. Since unclouding his Trainer's mind, and borrowing his knowledge of human runes, reading them had become much easier. Granted, he hadn't seen many examples of Common before that, but when he had, they'd been mostly unimportant gibberish.

Now, they seemed to rearrange themselves into something he could understand, though when he deciphered them, it was his Trainer's voice that echoed in his mind, and explained their meaning to him. He might've been awed by that, had he not been engrossed in the tome he'd grabbed.

It was the first he'd touched, several isles into the room, and it had drawn him, somehow, by pure instinct. Humans had long since ignored their instincts, and thus they'd become dull, but Pokémon trusted theirs constantly. Especially psychic types. This allowed Pokémon to prepare for, and sometimes prevent, natural disasters, as well as accomplish other amazing feats their human counterparts usually had no idea they were capable of.

The instincts of those with psychic power were, arguably, the best-attuned. They could even, sometimes, alter fates. This young Ralts' instinct had drawn him to this specific book on this specific shelf for some reason, one that became evident as he deciphered more and more of the text. It was a story about a king, a beloved king in a time far, far in the distant past.

Ralts quickly found that reading with his hands was far less efficient than using his powers, and soon, he'd found a dusty old couch to recline on as he held the book before him in the air, and scanned through it, reading at a speed that no human could match without the aid of a machine.

The king was called Arthur, and as he read on, the young Ralts found himself admiring the character more and more. He was kind, fair, just, and above all, a hero. He fought witches, monsters, evil kingdoms, and was surrounded by powerful, loyal friends who all treated each other as equals.

It rang through the small Pokémon's very being as he finished the book, which had been a treasure hoard of information on the king's legend. All anyone knew at this point, so many thousands of years ahead of the time in which this man had lived, was that there had probably once been a king named Arthur, who had ruled over a kingdom that might have been called Camelot. It was good enough for the Ralts.

He understood that this was a story, for Pokémon had them too, and while most stories were complete nonsense, they usually carried a hint of truth. Or rather, the ones his mother had told him had seemed to. He sat quietly, still levitating the book, as he struggled to recall her.

All he really had was images, and it made him sad to remember them. He focused on the book again, recalling what Arthur would've done in the face of such sadness, for he too had, supposedly, lost his mother. He would've continued on, focusing on his quest for the betterment of his people. That was what the young Ralts vowed to do as well, and then, he smiled as he knew what his name would be.

The trick then, was getting his human to understand. In his limited experience, getting humans to understand anything was like trying to make a Geodude bathe. His Trainer was clever though, or so he'd sensed. It would probably be obvious if he saw the book. Pokémon had little concept of what 'property' was, and a Pokémon that wasn't territorial, like Ralts, had no experience with it.

Thus, he felt no guilt as he left the room, book in hand, and hurried towards where he sensed his Trainer, and the red female he seemed mentally, and often physically, attached to.

Jess had just finished lecturing him about being shy about showing her affection in front of so many watchful, knowing eyes, and in response he had done the only logical thing. The young Ralts, who now thought of himself as 'Arthur', came upon the two, wrapped up in each other in a kiss that was definitely not meant to be seen by the public.

In Alex's mind, it was necessary. She had insinuated that he was too shy for her, and now he was proving otherwise. As usual, she could do little to resist his affections, falling into each one of them eagerly after a second of hesitation. Such was the power of newly discovered lust. Had Alex not felt his Ralts tugging at his spare, and now only jacket, they might have gone further right there in the main entrance area of the center.

Reluctantly breaking the kiss, which had prompted the media circus just outside to bombard the interior with seemingly endless flashes of light, Alex looked down to his newest Pokémon, as his lover was left with a distant smile on her face.

He hadn't had much experience kissing, but it seemed good enough for her. He'd found that trusting his instincts had always been the smart move, when it came to her. He blinked the thoughts of lust away as he felt a book being shoved into his hand by a psychic force. Looking down, he read the title, and smirked.

He gave Jess a subtle pinch on her rear, bringing her focus back to reality, and showed her as well. She giggled, just as amused as he was at a joke his Pokémon could tell he'd been missing out on.

"Ralts." He said, pointing at the book, wondering if his Trainer had understood. He seemed distracted by this female, and could not understand why his book was so funny.

Finally, Alex nodded, and handed the book back. "Very well. I'll call you Arthur." He began to laugh as well then, and the small psychic type finally had to speak up. "Ralts?" The questioning tone was universal, even to Pokémon, but his Trainer seemed to understand.

"It's not a bad name. We're laughing because, after I gave you the laptop this morning, Jess suggested I name you after Arthur Pendragon, or one of his knights. She said it fit you, but I was stubborn, and wanted you to choose for yourself." That made Arthur smile as well, and his opinion of the female reversed.

She'd seen what he'd felt, that the character and the Pokémon were really quite similar, even if his appearance didn't suggest it yet. Arthur turned to look at her then, and smiled, touching her consciousness with his thoughts of happiness, approval, and admiration for her ability to understand him.

It came off as emotions to her, of course, but Arthur noticed that she seemed to understand him as well as his Trainer did.

He decided to ponder what that might mean later as he yawned, and poked the ball button on his Trainer's belt, once more entering the new pocket dimension that he now called home. It was certainly cozy, and he could tell it had been made for a Pokémon like him. He radiated a sense of satisfaction, even from within his ball. He had a Trainer, a comfortable home, and now a name. He was finally fully part of their little round table, and by his reasoning, he'd just appointed himself the King.

Arthur's sense of satisfaction spread to his Trainer, manifesting as confidence, renewed after being literally shattered by his trials on the mountain. He had the girl he'd dreamed of for years, he had the makings of his team, and already three of them were fully evolved and powerhouses in their own right.

He could handle addressing the media circus. He met Jess's gaze again, and nodded, as he adjusted his hat. She'd insisted on giving his hair a trim, and he wasn't yet used to the shortness. "Right. I think we've kept the jackals at bay long enough. Are you sure you don't want to join me? After that kiss, they're going to want to hear from you, I think."

She waved his words away, laughing nervously. "Ahaha…no. I'll be in enough trouble for that kiss. If not from mother, then definitely from father. And Connor might be annoyed as well…no, I'm in enough trouble already without adding a bunch of media rumors. They'll probably assume I'm pregnant already as it is. All they do is make up baseless rumors…I'm rambling. Go. They're not going to stop until they get answers. I'll be in the room." She added her seductive tone to the end of her sentence, and narrowed her eyes at him while twisting a lock of her hair. Day two, and she already knew how to stoke the flames.

She turned and left before he could think of a properly clever rebuttal, and Alex shook his head, muttering under his breath. "You chose well, Redwood. You chose well…" With that, he strode out of the doors into a barrage of intense camera flashes that, in broad daylight, were completely unnecessary. At this point, with their advanced recording technology, the flashing lights were literally just decorative, and annoying. But the news hounds didn't seem to care.

It was a good-sized crowd, just large enough to be a nuisance to the regular Humilau foot traffic, but not as large as something say, a Champion would've drawn. The only reason it was that big was because the Redwood name was famous, even in Unova proper. He knew why, of course.

Every Redwood knew of the secret family shame, but to speak of it was to give it life. As his granduncle had predicted, nobody important now remembered exactly why he was considered infamous. They just knew that the once honorable Professor Redwood had been disgraced.

Now however, the media had once again begun sniffing around for dirt, in the long absence of anything newsworthy pertaining to the missing Redwood. They gnawed at whatever source they could, like a Houndoom at a bone that had been picked clean. With the barrage of light came a barrage of questions, that blurred into an incoherent babble of nonsense noise.

After weeks of relative silence, it stunned Alex, and as he shouted at the crowd for quiet, his calls were drowned out, each one only making the mob of babble grow louder. Finally, there was a flash of red light, and a deafening roar tore through the babble as Blaze appeared beside his Trainer, and glared at the crowd. A few more lights flashed, but soon were stilled as he followed his roar up with a deep, menacing snarl.

Each of his Pokémon had disliked the noise, truth be told, but Blaze was the first who did something about it. He had enough sense to know that these other humans probably wanted information on him. He'd caught a glimpse of a satellite, after all, not that he'd understood what it was, but he knew human tech when he saw it by now. It was little more than an instinct, a feeling of eyes on the back of his neck in the middle of a battle, but he had followed it regardless.

"Thank you, Blaze." Alex said, recovering from the barrage of noise and light. The Charizard snorted flame in response, eyes still glaring at the crowd.

He put on his best public face, a face his father had coached him on long ago, when he'd been little more than a toddler. When his granduncle had been disgraced. They'd had to go on TV for some reason. He still couldn't remember why exactly, though he knew the bare details, he never pried. He knew his Gruncle was a good person, a bit crotchety, prone to bouts of sad silence, but truly and genuinely kind.

It didn't matter what his Gruncle had done, he was family, and family stuck together. Whether they wanted to or not, no matter how many branches separated them on the family tree. A Redwood was a Redwood. Or so the old man had said. It didn't matter that the aged Professor and his father didn't get along. He'd always stressed the importance of family.

"Please, I know you have many questions, and I will gladly answer them. But one at a time. I'm sorry about the wait, but it's over now. Let's have a little respect for the town, eh?" To his surprise, the reporters shared guilty looks.

They had caused quite a stir, and more than a few locals were still glaring through their shoreside cabin windows at the source of the disturbance. An elderly gentleman stepped forward then, and Alex had to blink. He was, arguably, the most famous person there. It was a testament to the severity of the light and noise that Alex hadn't even noticed him.

His tone was deep and baritone as he spoke for the crowd with their unspoken and ungiven permission. "John Crimson, Poké News Network. I apologize for my colleagues Mr. Redwood, but we are a bit excited. You've been missing for months, after all. I suppose the question to start with is… where have you been?"

It was weird to be called 'mister' by the man he'd watched anchor the most famous global news network on the planet for years. He'd also shown up for Festivus once or twice, when he was younger, as John Crimson and his granduncle were apparently old friends. He resisted the urge to address him informally. This was a time for questions, after all, he could show his appreciation for the Crimson Fox's appearance afterwards. He was more of a silver fox these days, though no less desirable, judging by some of the looks the female reporters were giving him.

He decided to keep to the formal tone, something he would not regret in the future. "Well Mr. Crimson, it's a long story…but I suppose I can summarize. When I first went missing, I'd been hunting a Bagon around Draconis Mons, to the north. I didn't find any, or any other Pokémon in the forest. Seeing that as odd, my Charmeleon and I climbed the mountain to discover the source of this strange lack of Pokémon, and we found that the mountain was under the rule of a tyrannical black Charizard I ended up calling 'Lizardon'. I stumbled upon him as he was brutally defeating a rival Charizard. The other Pokémon were all watching, and I later learned, they had been all but forced to do so. This Lizardon noticed my Charmeleon, and before we could escape down the mountain again, for we were barely off of the path to the top, he landed in front of me, and slammed his tail into me, severely injuring me after I crashed into a nearby mountain cliff side."

He paused for effect, and suppressed a smirk. Connor was right, he really did have a flair for the dramatic when the moment came, and though he was new to having an audience, he had them captive. He could sense the questions building, but the only sound was of writing implements scribbling furiously as they took notes on his story.

He could tell more than a few of the newer ones were thankful for his pause, but he continued all the same. After all, they'd never be good reporters if they relied on pauses.

"I was…nursed back to health by an old hermit, whose identity I will keep anonymous. All you need to know about him is that Lizardon kept him captive, and treated him like a plaything. He was old, bent, and covered daily in new bruises. But despite the risk, he saved my life. And yes, he is still on the mountain. I think that more or less covers where I've been."

There was more scribbling, and when no more questions came forth, John Crimson spoke again. "I see. I suppose we'll need a formal interview for the full details, but for now, my next question is this: How did you escape from this...Lizardon?"

Alex met the old man's curious but intense gaze. He could see the question the reporter really wanted to ask still beneath the surface. He knew, more or less, what it would be about. His Charizard had all but made them blurt it out, but nobody dared interrupt a legend like John Crimson.

Alex allowed himself a confident smirk then, a smirk he'd practiced for hours while wearing his hat backwards. He knew it was a stereotype straight out of a cartoon, but honestly, he had stopped caring years ago. He knew what kind of Trainer he wanted to be, and if he ever did achieve true fame, he wanted that look to be obvious, and consistent.

He put off realizing that this was likely the start of his entire career as a Master, for such Trainers were almost always popular with the media. He didn't need that pressure just yet though. He instead nodded towards Blaze, who had the same smirk his Trainer did.

"Blaze here was the only Pokémon I'd brought with me onto the mountain that day. I left my bag at the Pokémon Center as well, thinking I wouldn't need to lug all that weight around, as it's a relatively short trip to the mountain…Blaze stayed with the hermit, and once I was healthy again, we began to train to defeat Lizardon, as he'd trapped me on the mountain."

He tapped Shruikan's ball, and the Shelgon appeared in a flash of black light, staring at the crowd, and then looking up at Blaze and his Trainer. He grasped, more or less, what was going on.

Blaze had explained to him, once they'd returned to the center and rested, that he'd felt their battle had been seen by other humans. Shruikan had no idea what that had meant however, this entire scene being completely foreign to him. He followed his friend's lead, and looked over the crowd, like he was superior to them. Easy to do, as a dragon.

His appearance put any doubts of Alex's story to rest. He'd been in the area, seen on satellite, vaguely, and had both Pokémon who'd been in the battle. While the Mega Charizard brawl had been the main focus of the media hype, they had eventually found footage of the first round of the fight, albeit from a great height. Apparently there was always a camera focused on the mountain's peak, and said camera had been just zoomed in enough to show Shruikan, and a Trainer with him. It seemed Redwood was the real deal, and the few fame leeches who were watching live knew it. Most of them had a Charizard, but none of them could be put in Humilau at the right time, and none of them had a Shelgon. Even a con artist can tell when a jig is up.

John Crimson smirked, and both he and Alex knew what question was next, but Alex continued answering for the sake of posterity. "I caught Shruikan here as we trained, luckily the ball I picked for him wasn't smashed, like my Pokédex was, and eventually, the time came to face Lizardon." He crossed his arms, hoping he looked as cool as he thought he did. "We won."

The reporters rumbled again, but John Crimson's deep baritone cut through the growing chatter like a hot knife through butter. "I see. So would I be right in assuming that the Battle that's still being broadcasted and watched worldwide was fought by you?"

Alex nodded. He'd seen it of course, as Jess had shown both he and Arthur, the only one of his team, save perhaps Terra, that hadn't watched it live, or participated in it. She had certainly appeared impressed when he told her the whole story, and what had happened next was not appropriate for him to be thinking about while the media was grilling him for information.

"I know several imposters have already claimed to be that Trainer. I can tell you with total certainty, that they are lying." He held up the red crystal then, which got everyone's attention, especially John Crimson's.

"This crystal is something I found in the mountain that was given to me after completing my training. Given by a Magmortar, who lived deep in the caverns within the mountain. Blaze retrieved it, and gave it to me…and when it became evident that Lizardon could also somehow Mega Evolve, I...activated it, which made Blaze Mega Evolve as well. I'm not quite sure how…"

He paused again, this time less for drama and more for weighing whether or not he should mention his granduncle. "My granduncle, Professor Redwood, examined it this very morning, the source of my delay, and told me that it's giving off similar power to a Mega Stone, though he theorized that it could be used on any fire type, thus eliminating the need for race-specific crystals."

He flipped it in his hand, and then appeared to pocket it, instead hiding it within his black Trainer glove. He had no doubt somebody would try to pickpocket it before the day was over. This kind of power always drew out a criminal element, and a crystal that could make any fire type Mega Evolve was going to be highly sought after.

"I was given that crystal shard because the Pokémon of that mountain needed my help to free them of their tyrannical ruler. Now that they are free again, I want to make it perfectly clear that they need to be left alone. No government, no tourists, no power seeking amoral Trainers. As he spoke, his pocket began to glow with a familiar red glow, and he raised his fist half on purpose half on instinct, appearing to draw the stone from said pocket.

"Anyone who decides to ignore this warning and desecrate that mountain…" Blaze's form grew and shifted as the red light enveloped him, "Will answer to us!" The Mega Charizard beside him let out a powerful Flamethrower in unison with Shruikan's Dragonbreath, crossing in the air above him.

Alex was impressed, and proud, as he looked above him and smirked. He couldn't have choreographed it better. He knew, of course, that there would be idiots who decided to defy him on this, and that this statement would only draw them like flies to Muk, but they would've come regardless. Now, the public would keep an eye on that mountain, and anyone who did decide to desecrate it, and was caught doing so, would pay the price. It was the ones who didn't care about repercussions that he had to worry about. The dragons residing at the top would not be merciful to intruders.

The babble of questions rose up again, but a growl from Blaze, mega evolved as he was, and a raised hand from the legend, John Crimson, kept them in check. Sensing that this…whatever it was… had gone on long enough, Blaze let the power flow back into the crystal from whence it came, and Alex recalled his Pokémon.

John Crimson's voice rose again quickly, sensing their time was nearly spent. "Before you go, Mr. Redwood, one more question, if you'll take it." Alex nodded.

One did not simply defy a question from John Crimson. To be interviewed by him was a dream for any Trainer worth a damn. The fact that he was here at all was unusual, to say the least. As far as Alex knew, he hadn't been live in the field in decades.

"Your story is…interesting, to say the least. The legal implications alone…" He whistled, and a chill went up Alex's spine. He'd hoped everyone would conveniently forget that going up on the mountain was illegal, but now he'd just admitted to doing it on live TV. Given that he'd made the mountain 'human friendly', he hoped that little factoid would be forgiven, or at least forgotten.

"I know I have a lot more questions for you, as I'm sure many other people do, so I'll get ahead of the flood and make this a two-parter. Will you consent to an interview in the near future? And what's next for you? After your exam and 'tournament' victories, and of course this mountaintop duel, what are you doing next?"

Alex let out a small chuckle, not surprised that they'd tracked his every move since leaving home. He might have been John Crimson, news legend, and owner of a mustache so glorious his own scraggly one shivered in envy just by being this close, but at his core, he was still a reporter.

"Well Mr. Crimson, I can say I'll gladly schedule an interview with you in the near future. I would be honored, in fact. As for what's next…I have a certain League Challenge to complete…several Badges to win…and then after that, who knows. I may drop off the map for a while and find a mountain to train on, or something." His smirk widened, and he took note of those who chuckled at the obvious reference to Red.

The old reporter nodded, making it clear he was done, and as the other lemmings surged forward, desperate not to be outshone by the famous old-timer, Alex quickly shouted, "No more questions, thank you!" and ducked inside the center again.

A few looked ready to storm the building, but getting on the bad side of a Pokémon Center was never a good idea, for any profession, and the local nurse had already warned them to stay outside. She was kind to Alex, and his travel companion, but he knew her nerves had to be wearing thin after dealing with him so long. For free.

After explaining that it was probably a better idea to find a new town to make love in to his scantily clad and clearly ready-to-go redhead, he eventually relented to her persuasions, and thus, they ended up finally leaving several hours later, after dinner in the common dining area of the center.

They got looks the entire time they ate, but when he told her, she'd simply shrugged and said, "I've been getting those looks my entire life, Alex. That's jealousy. They're jealous of my wealth, my looks, my clothes, my…boyfriend." She batted her eyes at the last bit before breaking into giggles, and he found himself nodding in agreement out of reflex.

That was that, then. He'd been wondering how to ask her, but it seemed she already considered them to be…a 'them'. A couple. "You're getting stares too," she said, unfazed, and seemingly not caring that the staff in the small dining area could very much hear her, "You're practically famous now. That Battle of yours has been the most watched in recent memory. As if that wasn't enough, you discovered a new kind of Mega Stone. Just wait. You'll be getting mobbed before you know it. By reporters, by Trainers, by girls...but they can't have you. You're all mine."

As if to emphasize that fact, she snatched his hat and put it on, forgoing manners entirely, and shot daggers at the comparatively cute waitress who had apparently been watching him all through dinner. He hadn't even noticed. That left him in a thoroughly good mood through the rest of the evening, despite the glares he got from the other staff, particularly the men.

Pokémon Centers were free because the Pokémon League had, since its inception, funded them. The Elite Four and Gym Leaders kept the chaos of a world full of superpowered magical beings from upending society, and for that, they were compensated by the local government. That compensation went to two places: The Elite Four, and the Pokémon Centers. The Elite Four, and the League of the region was typically expected to maintain the upkeep of things like stadiums, Gyms, and Pokémon Centers.

While the centers were required by the Leagues to take in all injured Pokémon, and anyone that needed a place while on the road, they typically despised 'freeloaders' who stayed for weeks on end.

Alex decided to tip generously for their dinner, as Jess didn't, and when they left out the back of the building to attract less attention, he felt the goodbye the nurse gave them was actually genuine. Which was good, because nurses talked. Bad behavior at one center led to low quality rooms and food at others. It was a very good idea to not end up on their bad side. Thankfully, getting on their bad side was difficult.

Blaze managed to fly them halfway to Undella Town, though the ride was a bit 'comfy' on his back, and the weight of two people was a bit more than he could take. Alex made a note to figure out their combined weight, and double it. He'd then make Blaze practice flying with that weight, every day, for every mile they had to walk.

It seemed harsh to Jess, but Blaze had risen to the challenge after Alex had explained that once he could be swift with the weights on, taking them off would make him much faster, and stronger. They needed to build up his wing strength, and quickly. Carrying them would also be a breeze, but he knew it would take his Charizard a while to get to that point.

He wasn't the only one with intense training however. Hydrus got some much needed battle experience against other water Trainers on the road into Undella Town, eventually evolving into a Marshtomp. He might've been stronger, but he kept his playful attitude. He'd missed his Trainer, and though he'd grown to like Jess as well, Alex was the one who'd promised to help him grow. And grow he did.

He had Terra train Leo in evasion, by dodging as many Razor Leaves as possible, and that task kept the two busy for several hours when the group of two humans and their Pokémon teams rested. Once Hydrus had evolved, it was Arthur's turn to battle the random Trainers on the route south of Humilau, and eventually, he learned several new moves that helped him one-shot the many fighting types they came up against. He used special moves for now, as until he evolved, his physical attacks would be quite weak.

During the last battle before arriving in town, he finally evolved, and then evolved again into a Gallade, thanks to his Dawn Stone. Alex wanted him to have as much experience with his amorphous body as possible. It was also good to evolve Gallades immediately, so their physical attack strength wasn't unbalanced by a Kirlia's affinity for special attacks. Pokémon grew quickly, and Alex wanted his growing in the right direction. As useful as a special attacker psychic type was, he knew Gallade was extremely versatile, fast, capable of Mega Evolution, and had a move pool that would prove quite useful in the battles to come.

He was taught to use Psychic, Shadow Ball, Night Slash, and Brick Break. With those moves, he became better at winning battles, even though he was relatively new at using them. Type advantage did most of the work, but it didn't take long for the Gallade to start slashing in a specific pattern, based on the move he used.

Shruikan continued to train against Blaze, despite his training weight handicap, but once Blaze used his new weight as a weapon, they became evenly matched again, more or less, as after flying so far with two humans on his back, he could barely flap into the air during their sparring match.

They took the long way to Undella town, and eventually landed in the forest on the other side of Humilau and Undella Bay gave way to a mountainous region that only helped him train his team further, as Hydrus handled every Hiker they met along the way, usually beside Jess' Prinplup.

Jess wasn't idle either, having trained her Mareep, which she'd named Amphi, while he was trapped on the mountain, and using her to great effect on the many, many bird Trainers that inhabited Unova proper. She'd also gotten the Fennekin she'd asked Connor to bring her from Kalos, and had named her Delphi.

She had trained her team with a similar intensity Alex had demonstrated with Blaze, and had even eventually challenged Marlon's elite team, as Alex had. The badge she received was the same as his, similar to the regular one, but encased in a square of white marble. Her Mareep, after evolving into a Flaaffy, had helped her beat his gym, and then her Serperior had finished the rest, proving to be quite adept at swimming, unlike Torterra.

Her team's training was a bit less intense, but it wasn't long at all before the two humans had used both teams to train as effectively as possible. As a result, her partners rapidly grew as well, and their Pokémon came to regard the others as family. They sparred, but the humans soon learned that they did not wish to battle each other, and neither Alex nor Jess pushed them to. They weren't concerned with which of them was stronger. That showdown, while inevitable, they had agreed to have in the future, when their teams were more mature, and could compete against each other without feeling bad about injuring those they'd come to see as siblings.

Terra already had a year of training under his shell, the sole reason he'd won every battle since graduating University. Blaze's experience in the mountain had certainly strengthened him, but while his fire power was intense enough, his flight skills had been noticeably lacking. He'd been able to learn enough to fight Lizardon, but it was Mega Evolution that had allowed him to keep pace in the air, combined with his natural talent that came from typing.

After facing a particularly tough Pidgeot however, he was shown that his flight skills were definitely lacking, for a partial flying type, and only Thunder Punch had saved him from a loss. That was another reason he endured such hard training. All in all, the trip to Undella Town took around nine days. Alex certainly hadn't minded, and though he'd expected Jess to complain, it seemed she'd changed quite a bit in the weeks he'd been gone.

Getting filthy while training no longer bothered her, she could sleep on the road without complaining, and when all they had was a thin bag between them and the hard rock terrain, she found sleeping atop his chest was quite a bit more comfortable. Once they found grass again, they continued to share a sleeping bag, and they used hers as extra padding, as it was incredibly fluffy, and high quality.

As they arrived in Undella Town, they found that the main thoroughfare was blocked. On either side the local townsfolk, who were really just rich tourists experiencing the Undella Bay's sunshine for fun, as it was still summer, watched the lone figure in the road from behind barriers of hard brown mud that acted as fences.

They were high enough to be difficult to climb over, and one could not do so without getting their outfit covered in dirt, something these elite snobs would never dream of doing. Both Alex and Jess recognized the lone figure, and as a look of irritation came over the redhead's lovely features, Alex stopped her, one hand on her shoulder.

"Let me. I've been expecting this since you mentioned he was back. I'll be the lightning rod for his anger. I can take it. This is the Battle I've really been training for..." He already had Terra's ball in hand, as he stepped up towards Connor, his oldest rival, save for his brother. They'd competed in everything from trivia to Pokémon Base, but a real Battle had always given Alex's neighbor a sense of superiority that had been both irrefutable and irritating. A makeshift arena had been carved into the sandy path, and as Alex took his position, he knew already what kind of match this would be as he saw a new, but familiar look in his friend's eye. He'd always been rather protective of his dear sister. He'd need to vent quite a bit of rage before he'd come around to accepting reality.

Connor shouted out the rules anyway, for the benefit of their small crowd. "One on one, Redwood! Your starter against mine. And if I win, you cease staining my sister's genes, and reputation." Alex could feel the tirade his lover was about to launch from behind him, likely about freedom to choose who she wished to be with and such, a rather touchy topic among the ladies of Unova, who were finally free of oppressive Imperial traditions and serving roles. More than a few of the women in the crowd shot looks at Connor, as his remark bordered on sexist.

Alex knew it was more a result of his upbringing than anything, but Connor had always controlled his words well in the past. Well enough to avoid offending women, at least. Something was definitely off. He'd expected anger, but this seemed more like something that had been simmering for some time. Apparently challenging the League in Kalos had not gone well. Glancing at the Greninja, he could guess why. It was to other Greninja what Terra was to other Torterra. Larger, stronger, and given the species, more than fast enough to strike his slow turtle twice in a row. He'd definitely used the ninja frog quite a bit, enough at least for the rest of his team to be much weaker. Alex had a similar issue, though he had to admit the others were closing the gap rather fast. Arthur, Hydrus, and Shruikan had all proven to be decent battlers, and with a few more Gym Battles, they'd be good enough for the Elite Four. He assumed.

Connor himself was big, though not as big as Alex, as he stood a few inches shorter, but they shared a similar body type. His primarily blue outfit and purple scarf, with hints of white, made it obvious as to which starter Pokémon he'd chosen. His Greninja was right next to him, after all.

Alex called Terra onto the field, and immediately the crowd began to rumble. Grass beat water easily, and that Torterra was larger than any they'd seen. A few even recognized his Trainer from the news, and their disbelief began to turn into irritation at the delay in their schedules, but Alex knew better to fall into the comfort of type advantage. This was his old friend's first Pokémon, and if he knew him at all, he knew their training had been just as long and intense as Terra's had. Finally, a worthy opponent.

"Alright, I agree." Alex said, turning his hat backwards. He felt the growing irritation turn to him, but the only opinion he cared about was Jessica's. He turned to glance at her, and winked.

The growing temper faltered, as her eyes widened. Alex continued, smirk wide on his face. "But when I win, nobody in your family objects to us. Not your father, not your mother, and not you, old friend. I had planned on doing this honorably." He resisted smirking, recalling her insistence. "...but circumstance forced my hand. Are the terms agreed upon?"

Connor's eyes narrowed, but he nodded, ultimately not caring to argue. He was going to win anyways. "They are." Alex was being cocky, for a rookie with one badge. Now he'd see what three years on the road did for one's power. The thought that his neighbor might win wasn't even considered.

Terra stomped the ground, and the fire in his eyes matched his Trainer's. The battle was on.

Sahqoreyth · Mar 16, 2024

Chapter 8: All the World's a Stage

Connor Gladstone raised his hand to knock on the room the Pokémon Center's nurse had directed him to, when he'd returned from thrashing Marlon, and enrolling in N's latest League challenge. He figured he could train the rest of his team on the tough Trainers in Unova, and having travel companions would be a boon, as Triple Battles were all the rage, lately. His hand froze, as he heard a sound no brother ever wanted to hear, but as a male human, he physically could not ignore, thanks to how his brain was wired, and almost three hundred thousand years of instinct. What was worse, was that he recognized who the grunting and moaning was coming from, and that, made something snap in his head. The slightly curled hand he'd been going to knock with tightened into a fist, and he turned around, promptly departing the Pokémon Center with a look and attitude of rage. Without a word, he summoned Gren, who seemed concerned for his Trainer, but obeyed the orders he was given with the precision and ability of a frog ninja.

They surfed to Undella Town in only a day thanks to Gren's ridiculous speed, at which point, Connor made two rather angry phone calls to his parents, and the Redwoods. He'd informed Alex's parents of what their son was up to, and had then angrily disconnected the call with the appropriate amount of dramatic flare, before calling his own parents. As he explained the situation, his mother seemed appropriately shocked, but his father had simply smirked, and said, "Damn it. I owe Gil quite a bit. My money was on Eric." At which point, his wife had elbowed him. It was at that moment that the Redwoods called the Pokémon Center back, and ended up on the same line. The four neighbors greeted each other, awkwardly mentioned the situation, and then Connor had watched in growing anger as they rationally and calmly suggested there were worse matches for Jess, and a union between the families had been probable for quite some time.

Connor stared in disbelief, unable to fathom how his parents were okay with this. Before they could cement anything, he had ended the call, cutting the line, and glaring at the black screen. His eyes darted to Gren, beside him. "Gren." The Greninja stood at attention, ready to act. "It's time we welcomed my old Friend back face to face. Help me prepare."

Undella Town's Main Road, Several Days Later - Unova Region

The crowd ducked again as the fierce impact of the Water Pulse and Energy Ball shook the small resort town with their collision. By sheer willpower, the Pokémon had managed to guide the stray balls of energy purposefully into the ground.

The road was littered with craters, but it was a dirt footpath, and the Pokémon knew that if they were going to destroy things, as was inevitable in a battle at this level, the humans would rather have to fix the dirt road than their houses. This knowledge didn't stop the locals from being angry, however.

It was far past the point of no return, as that point had arrived rather quickly in the battle. Gren's opening Water Pulse attack had bounced apart from Terra's Energy Ball in a collision of energy, and hit the dirt and sand road on either side of the crowd, effectively trapping anyone who didn't want to get dirty behind the raised sand barricades, which in this crowd was everybody. Not one article of clothing there was priced under several thousand units of their currency.

The barricades had isolated the main road into Undella Town from the north, effectively splitting the town into two sides. Once Alex and Jess had arrived, holding hands no less, Connor had blocked their path, and with his ninja arts, Gren had summoned the sandy walls, trapping their quarry. The few sensible rich folks, like the Redwoods and the Gladstones, had already dirtied their clothes to get the hell out of this battle's path, though they watched from the sturdier stone path up the hill, right in front of the Pokémon Center.

Connor had summoned both families to the town, and further infuriating him, they'd turned it into a group vacation trip. While Connor's news did merit at least a phone call, after a talk with their daughter by way of Holoceiver, both parents were satisfied that she seemed genuinely interested, and after a bit of awkward questioning from her dad, they discovered she was serious. As long as the two stayed together, there wouldn't be an issue.

Connor had not accepted that, however. His sense of what was and was not honorable had shifted over the long years spent in the oriental communities sequestered within the borders of Southern Kalos, a region known as 'Gaulia'.

He'd gone there to train his Froakie into a true Greninja, and as the two had matured, Gren and his Trainer had become masters of the ninja arts, streamlining the Water Pulse technique into a form so fast and powerful, Gren couldn't be beat. Not by the villagers anyways.

So, Connor had left, conquered each of Kalos's Gym Leaders with his Greninja's speed, ultimate technique, and his large move pool, then returned to Lumiose City in time for the Pokémon League that year.

He'd lost, however, beaten in the final round by a superior Sceptile. It had been a six on six battle, but Connor had only entered Gren, as his other Pokémon were still too weak to compete in a Champion ranked match safely, and after five difficult opponents, including a rather powerful Charizard, Gren had finally fainted. Nobody could solo the Kalos League. Not anymore. The reigning Champion, Alain, was too powerful.

Connor had returned to Unova after that, to train his other Pokémon, and challenge the Victory Plateau. While Kalos was difficult, the current Elite Four of the Victory Plateau were considered the hardest Elite Four team in the entire world. Their latest Challenge was considered ridiculously hard, as it required Trainers to take on the Elite Four, one of the other Champions meaning Hilda, her brother Hilbert, Nate, or Rosa, and then the reigning Champion and Hero of Unova himself, N. Both Champions were using one of the Unovan Dragons. Challengers had to prove they could both defeat and battle beside a piece of the Original Dragon. According to rumor, N used the other Legendary Dragon, and the rumor was that he and Zekrom were still unbeaten among the other Champions of Unova. The final match with him required a Challenger to be able to draw upon either Zekrom or Reshiram's power, to unseat N. Given that he had beaten Champion Nate's team after returning from his worldly travels with only Zekrom, N had established himself a dynasty to rival Leon's over in Galar, and had remained unbeaten ever since returning to Unova. His title as Champion was up for grabs, if one could face the elite teams of Unova's Gym Leaders and come through victorious.

After preparing his trap, Connor had plied the Trainers swimming and battling on the route between Undella and Humilau for information about the pair. If the rumors were to be believed, they had been seen or heard on the route to Undella several times, in the throes of passion, not caring who might overhear them. In Connor's mind, the punishment for such brazen acts was total humiliation, thus he'd summoned their families, and enlisted their aid in setting the scene.

But it wasn't playing out right. Instead of being neutral to water, Terra seemed to enjoy the Water Shuriken that hit his tree, and sank into the bark harmlessly. Seeing that his grass typing was being used as defense, Connor had waited for the ground type offense, to counter with a water attack. Alex gave his Torterra the command in that moment, and Connor responded by telling Gren to block. Unfortunately, the Earthquake had been far too powerful for Gren to block completely with his streamlined Water Pulse that formed an orb of condensed water energy, in true Kalos style. It had made a triangular swathe of untouched ground around Gren and his Trainer, but to the rest of the coast and into the ocean, the earth had been shattered.

Earthquake wasn't an issue for Gren though, not like it had been for Squirt and Tyran. His nimble feet jumped from each large boulder easily. At eighty eight pounds, he barely shifted in the mass of rubble. Terra had then planted his trunk like feet into the soft sandy dirt, and launched a massive ball of swirling green energy right at his opponent.

As expected, the blue frog had leapt high enough to dodge, but could now only fall aimlessly, as he'd strained himself getting to that height. He needed to land and recover his leg strength, but before that could happen, his eyes widened as another ball of green energy, but clearly one more condensed and powerful than the one he'd just dodged, shot towards him from below. The ninja frog's eyes narrowed, as he realized what the turtle was up to. He'd hidden his Seed Bomb behind yet another Energy Ball.

Terra was firing off attacks like a cannon, crushing the rubble around his feet with the force of the push-back. Gren barely had a chance to raise a defense as the Seed Bomb hit him, hard, but surprisingly to Terra and his Trainer, not hard enough for a K.O. Gren was clearly looking rough as he landed, but Connor knew he could still win.

For the past four minutes, he and Terra had exchanged attacks constantly. Normally, Water Pulse would win because it could be used more, but not only had Terra become capable of surpassing his Energy Ball limit, by about five, which would leave him quite drained, Gren's streamlined attack took up a lot more power. At least five hits worth. Doing the math, the two Trainers met the other's eyes, and their Pokémon stopped as well, sensing a pause.

"Not bad, Alex... I expected to crush your Torterra a lot quicker. You've only had him for a year. He's easily strong enough to solo the Kalos League."

Alex just smirked as he fixed his hat, "You have no idea, my friend. This isn't even his final form."

Connor's eyes widened at the claim. While no longer shiny and new, Mega Evolution was still a bar by which Trainers were judged. If you could battle a Mega Pokémon with one of your own, you were taken seriously by pretty much anyone in the Pokémon League. If you could make a Pokémon without a previously documented Mega Form attain that level, you were in a league of your own.

Connor's eyes burned, his issue of honor momentarily forgotten. He hadn't expected his neighbor to be this strong, and Connor smirked slightly, as he realized his suspicions about Alex had always been right. The guy was a natural with Pokémon. Now that he had partners, Alex was seemingly every bit as competent a Trainer as Alain, and his Torterra was at the same level as Alain's Sceptile had been. If not higher.

"Enough fooling around, Gren." Connor spoke softly, his deep voice barely louder than the waves hitting the ruined beach behind him. The fire in the Greninja's eyes flared, and like their opponents, they became linked.

Alex's own fiery gaze seemed to increase as well. "So…you got him to do it too?"

Connor smirked, "I may not be the first…but since nobody but him has ever done it…that's my claim to fame. Certainly better than beating a Charizard with a Charizard."

"Oh, I'm about to be famous for another reason entirely." Alex said, smirking. "I've found Torterra's Mega Form."

After dinner on that first day back, Alex had examined his two crystals, and theorized that if the fire one had made Blaze evolve further, the grass crystal should do the same for Torterra. Theoretically. Once he'd figured out that to use the crystal's power, he had to have a clear, focused mind, it became easy for Terra and Blaze to draw on the power, and mega evolve.

Arthur had helped with understanding that, and Alex had shown his entire team the power Terra and Blaze could achieve. He promised to get all of them to that level, and their bond became even stronger. They were truly a team now, with a unified goal: to be the best team the world had ever seen. They'd trained with impressive intensity ever since leaving Humilau, and Hydrus, Leo, Arthur, and Shruikan were rapidly closing the gap between them and his Torterra.

At his opponent's words, Connor made a cross with his pair of pointer and middle fingers, and Gren copied the stance, his form shifting like water, and glowing as he took the form that only Ash Ketchum's Greninja had been recorded using. The main difference between them, was Gren's fin 'hair' being a reddish brown, rather than black. Meanwhile, all Alex did was smirk as his pocket glowed green, and his Torterra ascended to the next level as well. His entire body grew, becoming armored around his head as the spikes jutting from either side of his head formed a helmet of sorts around his skull and jaw. From said jaw now dangled a mossy beard.

Three more massive spikes grew from the other side of his shell, and the ash tree on his back became heavier, older, and moved to the center of his back. His tail had grown longer, and formed a club on the end of it. Said club slammed the ground, causing the debris on the field to shudder. Without a word, battle was joined again, but now only Connor could see Gren move, such was his speed.

"Ice Shuriken!" He shouted, and from seemingly every direction, spinning stars of ice slammed in Terra simultaneously, and evaporated into a mist after hitting his hide, so cold were they. Terra yawned, and gave a smirk towards his opponents that mirrored his Trainer's.

Seeing Connor's confused look, Alex spoke up, taking on the tone of one who thinks they know more about Pokémon, and is about to demonstrate that fact. It was something he'd learned to mimic ages ago, and was to be expected when your mentor was a Pokémon Professor. "Like most Mega Evolutions, he gained a new ability upon evolving. He's easily over a ton now. And his Thick Fat has adapted to ice."

Connor's face tightened. "I see. Well that's irritating. I guess we're back to plan A." At those words, Gren formed another Water Pulse, and met Terra's countering Energy Ball full force. The two balls bounced off each other once more, further damaging the ground. Connor hid his emotions, but his tight expression was slow to fade.

Gren should've been able to handle any grass type after he'd learned to make his shuriken into ice. He supposed that if any grass type were to have Thick Fat, it would need to be similar to Venusaur, who had the same ability and thus defense against ice, in body type and species. Torterra was lucky, it seemed, as he was also a ground type, and now his quadruple weakness to ice was gone. On top of his species' natural affinity for defense, he was now, in this form at least, very hard to beat.

Despite the damage from earlier, Gren kept fighting, but unfortunately, mega evolving was only straining what little stamina he had left. Knowing he had but one shot left in this state, Gren landed, and faced Terra head on.

He raised one finned hand over the other, and his arms curved around to his waist as the energy began to form. The giant Water Shuriken on his back faded, and reappeared between his hands, spinning fast between them as the rest of his power was channeled into this one , it started spinning faster, so fast the hum from the rotating blades of the shuriken could be heard.

It was as this water attack was being prepped that Terra drew deep from the resort town. Once more, he was lucky.

This place had enough sunlight this time of year to match Alola, and the amount of energy he could use from the local flora right now was nearly unlimited, after an entire season's worth of sunlight. He drew in enough to finish the ninja frog off, swirled it, condensed it, and made it stronger. Just as Tyranitar had shown him.

The two Pokémon fired, and this time, type advantage won out. Their Water Pulse could deflect Terra's attacks with enough time, but their current Water Shuriken was designed to cut through an attack with its incredible speed. With the dense amount of power in Terra's Seed Bomb, that was never going to happen. Thus, the grass attack won out, pushing through the shuriken, sending it hurtling into the sky, and slamming into Gren, finishing him. He was sent flying and tried to recover in the air, but then he hit the ground, losing his Mega Form, and collapsing in a tired heap. The exhausted Greninja clung to consciousness though, and pounded the sand with a fist as once again, a grass type beat him.

"I think that's enough." Alex said, as he started slowly crossing the ruined ground. He nodded at Terra, who began repairing the terrain by slamming each foot into the ground, and pulling it back together. Something he could only do in this new form, or so Alex thought. The ruined coastline slowly came back together, and it took Terra's entire focus to keep it like that as he guided the earth in mending itself.

Alex stopped short, as he noticed Connor move for his belt, shouting, "Dammit! Two on two, then! Dragon Rush!" A Garchomp appeared in a flash of light, and sighting Alex as his target instead of Terra, due to his closeness, he prepared to fire the attack. Had he been a Charizard he might've hesitated at the mere idea of attacking a weak human, but his Trainer had ordered a command, and he had to obey.

Connor was halfway through the word "Wai-" as he'd realized that Alex was the chosen target, not his Pokémon, when a burst of black light appeared in front of Alex, taking the super effective attack. The Garchomp smashed into a barrier of energy, called forth by Alex's Shelgon.

Enraged and unharmed thanks to Protect, Shruikan retaliated with the kind of Dragon Pulse only a truly angry dragon could produce. This outsider had attacked his Trainer, with a dragon type move, and not the Torterra. Now, Shruikan was taking revenge.

The attack hit the Garchomp point blank after his Dragon Rush, and he went flying back towards Connor, landing with a crash, not fainted but he was slow to rise. Shruikan turned his furious gaze on Connor then, reasoning that his Trainer had been attacked, therefore Garchomp's Trainer deserved no less. It was a draconian punishment, fueled by the rage Shruikan felt, and embraced as he prepared another Dragon Pulse.

He opened his mouth to attack Connor, but instead found himself soaring through the air, before crashing into the sand several feet away. He'd felt a slight tickle on the right side of his shell, and when he rose from his hard landing and looked at his attacker, he saw the new Gallade, arm blades extended in a fighting stance, protecting the blue clad human.

Shruikan snarled. That arrogant psychic type was rapidly starting to irritate him. A few road victories and an easily attained evolution had given the Gallade an enlarged ego. Shruikan didn't hesitate, a powerful train of blue fire burst towards Arthur, and the crowd behind him. Arthur crossed his arms, and using Psychic, forced the flames from the crowd, or their homes.

The path was ruined even more though, parts of it turned to glass by the power of the dragonfire. Arthur refocused his Psychic attack, turning it on Shruikan then, levitating him into the air, and facing him towards the sky, where he couldn't hit anyone with his flames.

This made the dragon furious, as he struggled against the psychic hold. He'd closed his eyes and prepared to counter with Zen Headbutt, when suddenly, he was forcibly returned to his ball. The normally stone faced Alex looked furious as he eyed the Timer Ball, which had been strangely warped by the trip to the dragon mountain. Apparently, it didn't matter what badge he had, the eighth one received would always be the one that earned him total control.

As it stood, he had one. He needed to move faster to account for his growing team, but first he had to deal with Connor, and their families. He nodded at Terra again, and the earth walls were shattered as well, allowing the townsfolk to move into the sturdier part of town, and get on with their day.

He walked with heavy steps over to his rival, and sighed as Connor recalled his dragon, realizing that his rival was not changing the battle rules at the last second. "That was low. Your Garchomp would've ended me without a thought. What was that you always told me about 'being in control of a force of nature'? Garchomp is probably the only Ground Type that can handle a Torterra evenly, but he was aiming a Dragon Rush at me. I might've survived a Rock Slide, but no, you ordered the most destructive move he has." Alex looked down at his rival, who had fallen to a seated position on the sand. Connor mumbled softly, realizing what he'd done.

"I didn't…I didn't mean…" Ordering your Pokémon to attack a fellow Trainer was unheard of, and now, he'd done it to one of Unova's alleged 'rising stars'. Who was supposedly his friend, no less, in front of a crowd of witnesses. Not even team members sunk that low. They'd use harmless moves like Smoke Screen or Supersonic, but never an attack move as powerful as Dragon Rush.

Alex noticed a familiar looking crystal pinned to his rival's jacket. The symbol of water types was within it. Alex reached out, and snatched it before Connor could blink or protest.

"So. That's how you did it. You figured out how strong these crystals are, what they can be used for. Well, clearly, you're not ready for one of these. This is my 'prize money' for winning. You can have it back when you beat me. These should be a last resort, not a crutch." With that, he turned on his heel and headed for the Pokémon Center.

As he passed Jess, he spoke quietly. "Your turn. Once you're done, tell me, and we'll move on. Clearly some of my team needs training still." He switched Shruikan to the sixth slot on his belt, behind Arthur. His last resort, until his dragon could control his rage. He went out of the town, and the two worked out the dragon's frustration as Jess handled her relative. He knew Shruikan was being protective, and he thanked him for the timely save, but the follow up attacks had just been dangerous, and wild. Now somewhat calmed, Shruikan seemed apologetic for attacking Arthur, and Alex cleaned off the sand from him and Terra, before returning to town.

Jess took several hours to chew out her brother, deflect their family's inquiries, and heal her own Pokémon who were tired from road battling. Alex and Shruikan agreed they needed to keep an eye on his temper, but given he was a dragon type, and an adolescent at that, one outburst was easy enough to forgive. Nobody had been hurt, thankfully. They all got a needed rest from the constant training, and left early in the morning, surfing down the side of the road on their water Pokémon for strength training. Eventually, they passed the edge of the White Forest.

The forest had been small once, but over time it had grown in size from the coast of the river, to the coast of the bay, the forest was enormous. A Trainer could spend a month in there if they left the path. It was heavily warned against, but Trainers often left it because they spied a rare colored Pokémon, and chased after it endlessly. That was the trap of the forest. It tempted you with what you wanted most, and kept you lost and wandering for weeks if you didn't pay attention. That said, it did contain hundreds of rare Pokémon, namely starters given out in labs. Nobody knew why there were so many, but it was a good place to find foreign favorites for Unovan Trainers just starting out.

It was rumored that some of the remnants of Team Skull had come over from Alola several years back, after being beaten out of their home region by a pair of thirteen-year olds. Rather than run this team out of the region to be someone else's problem, the local Gym Leaders and top Trainers of Unova trapped them within the Black City, after forcing them into White Forest. Indeed, remnants from Team Rocket, Galactic, and especially Plasma also called Black City home. It was the one city on the continent that had no laws, and only the strongest survived there. For all their power though, they were infuriatingly contained by the magic of the forest, and the powerful Gym Leaders of Nimbasa and Castelia, who could fly over and subdue them even if they managed to escape.

The few who could escape the forest had been forced to stay within it, to serve out the time in the prison meant specifically for evil team members, but when their sentence had ended, they typically didn't want to leave again. The haven of crime and lawlessness was ideal, and more than a few of the local Trainers preferred living in Black City to living in society. Quite a few businessmen and women from all over the States went there when they needed something outside the law, but all traffic in and out was carefully monitored by the Unovan government, who naturally kept a list of such visitors.

Thus, despite being considered a prison, Black City had become a haven for all kinds of undesirable types, and due to the enormous forest surrounding the city, they had all become a bit…strange, as isolation from society tended to have that effect. The forest itself had adverse effects on evil minded people as well, but neither Alex nor Jess were worried it would repel them. If their hearts were tainted, their Pokémon wouldn't have warmed up to them so quickly. In either case, the locals of Unova typically avoided the city and the forest, often by surfing around or flying over them entirely. Travelers to Black City were advised to keep their Pokéballs either in a PC box, or close at hand, for the Trainers within had no qualms about stealing them.

Despite the numerous warnings, Alex had declared that he had a number of Pokémon to catch now that his team was finally assembled, and catch them he did as they entered the White Forest. They spent a full three days among the trees, as Alex used his Luxray's incredible eyesight to track what he was after by scent and print, and to keep sight of the road. A quick Thunder Wave usually made the young Pokémon weak enough to capture, and it got repetitive after a while.

He knew he was taking on a larger responsibility with so many new faces to train, but they would be well looked after back at the lab. He could find time to take them out, one by one, and train them up once he found a Box Link in Castelia. The advent of modern technology like Box Links and Rotophones hadn't quite reached the farming town he was from, and they were quite pricey in Mall Town, but in Castelia one could usually find anything at a decent price. He didn't quite know how to feel about shoving a Rotom in a cell phone, but it seemed rather convenient, and his own gear was quite out of date by comparison. He'd wanted to try putting a Rotom in Pokégear, but his granduncle had advised against that.

With Leo's help, Alex was able to track down, one by one, the various starter Pokémon he'd wanted. They tended to be pretty powerful, if trained correctly, but having now trained six Pokémon, he understood it would take time to level them all up. His Chikorita, he found laying on his head after walking rather far with Leo, initially finding nothing, and then taking a short toke and nap. He figured she'd been drawn by the smell of the Leaf he had with him. He asked if she wanted to come with him, and after she happily replied and nuzzled him, he booped her snoot with the Ultra Ball, and called her Meg. He explained where he was going to send her after training her up against the numerous Patrat in the forest, and while disappointed, she had understood he could only have so many Pokémon with him at once. For now.

Leo had found his Chespin, zapping him with a timely Thunder Wave as the quick grass hedgehog scurried by them. Alex called him Invictus, after giving him a Cheri Berry and going through nicknames. He seemed ambivalent towards going on the ranch, but eager to train. He was patient though, and could wait for his time. His Torchic actually found him, and he'd had to dodge through the trees with it Pecking at him rather fiercely. They had Torchic on the ranch, but those were more trained to become Combusken, and lay eggs. They had no desire to train and become a Blaziken, when food was so plentiful. Upon hearing what the Torchic at the ranch were like, the newly named Garuda seemed eager to go there.

He'd snagged a Treecko, Arbor, and his Totodile, Chomper, with similar Thunder Wave and curve-ball throwing technique. Arbor seemed content to wait on the ranch, but Chomper was spastic, and reluctant to leave his Trainer. Alex spent almost an entire day battling with him in the forest, by the end of which, he became a Croconaw. At that point, he seemed content to live on the ranch, and as there was a lake nearby, he would be just fine. Evolution had also cooled his tendency to randomly bite. He also caught a Starly and a Rowlet, who he dubbed Caero and Coryn, respectively. That one had been a rarely attempted and even more rarely successful double catch, but the two seemed content with their new Trainer, and upon hearing about his Gruncle's Noctowl, Coryn was eager to go visit the ranch.

He also had a list from his younger cousins, who he had conspired with just before leaving on his journey. Their parents restricted them to one partner, but if Alex just happened to catch one they wanted, and by total coincidence it bonded with them as they took care of it every day while giving it a break from the PC storage in the Redwood Lab, what cold-hearted parent could deny a bond between child and Pokémon? While Alex's parents had certainly had issues with Pokémon, seeing them as little more than tools, his relatives had always been sympathetic to his plight, but ultimately unwilling to risk the roof over their family's heads, and lack of rent, to give him a Pokémon. Alex had a feeling their own children having more wouldn't be too much of an issue. They were older now anyways, and he sympathized with their losing streaks. Most kids wised up and gained full teams early on, if they intended to go on a journey, or be a serious Trainer. That made victory over people with one partner much easier. Usually.

He had Ultra Balls, so the going was easy, the hardest part was navigating the ever-changing maze of a forest, but Leo's eyes saw through whatever illusions were clouding Alex's eyes, and was able to find the path again, and from there Jess was easily spotted. She mainly stuck to the path, with her tendency to get lost, but her little Mareep, Amphi, was also getting some decent training on all the first form flying and normal type opponents. He'd also found an entire nest of Eevee, and after capturing their eldest brother, who he'd named Espeo, convinced the rest to come along in balls of their choosing. He'd described a good place on his farm they could reside, and in time, he would make them strong. They'd each agreed, after he convinced them that he did indeed know how to make each of them into the form they desired. He used the fire, thunder, water, ice, and leaf stones first, giving those Eevee who were willing a chance to start adapting to their bodies posthaste.

The others would change with time, and friendship, and he intended to carry his future Umbreon and Espeon around for a bit as they traveled Unova's Trainer-rich roads. Those two had agreed to protect his home, from whatever threatened it while the others in their family were free to live in peace on their land. His father had been reluctant to train guard Pokémon for their ranch, and had instead left it to the Arcanine belonging to Jessica's father. He was getting older though, and while it was sad, defending the herds had to fall to a new generation.

He had enough stones for every eeveelution but Sylveon. Jess wasn't idle either, as she'd caught the remaining Eevee he was missing, a lone runt from a different litter, and agreed Sylvi was destined to be a Sylveon, if she had her way. Ultimately though, they agreed to let the Eevee pick their own forms. Alex's only caveat was that none of them became identical, which was apparently fine by them.

Jess continued to train her new Flaaffy, alongside Alex's Marshtomp against what Trainers they met on the road to Black City. Once they were strong enough and Alex had satisfied his catching spree, they decided to move on to Black City itself. Home to TMs of every kind, rare Pokémon trading, specific battle types, and a bunch of other modern Trainer items that while hard to find, Alex didn't care for. His main focus was to find the hard-to-craft TMs that never ran out of uses, for moves typically deemed too powerful to simply sell in a PokéMart.

They even sold mass-produced Rare Candies, though the only place to get them was from street dealers, who would rob you just as soon as they'd sell to you. They were very much the out-of-place rich kids in a city full of criminal elements.

He had one goal for Black City; get his TMs and Get Out, as the White Forest was typically considered safer than the city. In response to so many criminals residing in the central area of the region, many strong Trainers had come to the White Forest, to make sure the criminals stayed put.

Over time, they had decided to make the forest their home, and had even made the White Forest grow somehow, to be a thousand times larger than it had been in the past.

Now, it was common sense for Trainers to avoid it, lest they lose themselves to chasing imaginary rare Pokémon. To help with that, the forest Trainers provided flight training for flying types at both ends of the forest, so Trainers could simply fly over it if they wanted. The one they had passed on their way in had claimed Blaze was well on his way to handling a large Trainer as a rider, and even both of the humans at once. With time, he'd grow larger, and it wouldn't be an issue, or so the flight master had claimed after battling him.

As bad as the city was however, the people who lived in the forest had become the kindest on the continent, and had managed to, allegedly, cure the team member's grunts, who came to them to rid themselves of their desire to do violence. Most grunts managed to find redemption, peace, and were allowed to rejoin Unovan society after an evaluation from the Trainers in the White Forest. They also directed Trainers who dared to chase the forest's Pokémon and became lost to the exit of the forest, but there were too few of these strange, nature-loving folks to help every Trainer who got lost.

To call Black City creepy was an understatement. It was definitely a 'counter-culture' type of place, given the lack of dedicated law enforcement on the streets of the city itself. Alex and Jess were almost immediately set upon by the locals, and the two Trainers battled at least ten such thugs before Alex finally unleashed Terra, hopped on his back with Jess, and stomped off. None of them dared to test their Zubat and Woobat against a beast like that, especially once he'd mega evolved.

The Pokémon Center at least, seemed like a haven of sanity in a prison city, but the local nurse looked tired. She was different from most of the Joys that Alex had met thus far, as her hair was black, she had a spiky neck choker that was definitely not part of the League's uniform, and she'd painted her nails to match her hair. She perked up when she saw the two Trainers enter however, glad to see a pair of comparatively normal people, instead of the usual punks who hit on her constantly.

She had a black dyed uniform on, and make-up that probably wasn't approved by the League either, but she was genuinely cool, as she'd been mid bong-rip when they'd entered to the familiar dank stank of the grass Trainer's favorite herb. She demonstrated that not all in the city were bad. Just most. Despite the criminal element, it seemed some regular non-sentenced citizens lived here too, presumably so they could hide from society. The couple convinced 'Cool Joy' to join them for another bowl of the Leaf, before going to bed.

At her advising, they spent the night in the room with Hydrus blocking the door with his weight, and Leo watching the window with his sharp eyes. Their room was almost broken into twice, but both times the would-be robbers ran away with searing electrical burns, and a bite mark. Leo was very protective, and while he was silent, the yelping locals were not. Eventually the local scum seemed to understand that their room was inhabited by powerful Pokémon. From the noise outside their room, it seemed they'd simply moved on to other people trying to rest.

The rest of the trip to Nimbasa City was spent much the way their last time on the road had been. Alex had managed to find weights that Jess had sewn into vests for their teams during his re-supply. It was convenient, as Black City had almost anything a Trainer could want, but no massive crowds to slow him down. Just the occasional biker thug who thought a Koffing and a Stunky had any kind of chance against his team. They'd stocked up on training weight items before leaving the city, and heading for Nimbasa.

They were challenged to battle, of course, and Alex let Hydrus, Arthur, even Shruikan battle on their own against the less experienced Trainers they came across, mostly school kids from Nimbasa, enjoying the summer sun on the route outside their city. The only aid Alex gave them was, "Use what Moves you think I would tell you to use, and you'll win. Be clever, and above all, stay in control." He'd glared at Shruikan after that until the dragon averted his gaze.

He'd been embarrassed by his rage in Undella Town, but had since calmed down. He and Arthur had gone around Black City, fighting double battles together, and had repaired their budding friendship, to a degree. They would always be rivals, a knight against a dragon, but even they admitted that together, they were hard to beat. Alex imagined that once Shruikan had wings, they'd be even more powerful.

The training vests had paid off, though they'd made every Pokémon but Terra pause at first with the added weight, eventually, each of them became used to it thanks to the constant training on the road. They also became more used to taking initial attacks, and then following up with a super effective counter that, more often than not, took whatever they were facing down in one shot. Alex had a tendency to change his partners based on typing, though he didn't always go for an advantage. Blaze could've burned through every Scolipede or Leavanny they faced, but Hydrus got better experience from them than Blaze would, at his current level. They sacrificed progress for training time, but eventually, they reached Nimbasa City. The whole trip through both sides of the forest had taken a fortnight, and the trip down the route to Nimbasa took another three days, thanks to their constant training.

Nimbasa, New Tork City - Unova Region

Alex had planned to skip Nimbasa's Gym and hit it when they came through New Tork City again, but fate had other plans. Elesa happened to be at the Pokémon Center when they arrived, and though Alex was unremarkable to the aged model's eyes, Jess drew looks wherever she went. Alex washed and fed his team, while Elesa approached the redhead. Alex heard a vague mention about clothes, or something fashion related, but he paid the older woman no mind. Her aged face wasn't what he was expecting from Nimbasa's Gym Leader, and thus, he did not recognize her at first, familiar as he was with images of her younger self.

Jess had no such problems, as she kept up with the fashion world, but Alex was more focused on feeding his team, and eating with them, than the conversation the two were having. Once he was done eating, Leo climbed into his Trainer's lap, and demanded belly scritches. Alex obliged him, leaning back, eyes closed, as he felt the electric cat's energy flow up his arm, and make his hair stand on end as he purred.

"Such a tingle...you can even feel it in the air. That Luxray of yours is something else...and those colors...I've always liked black and yellow." Alex opened an eye to see the old woman Jess had been chatting with had approached him. She was in black and yellow again, and that throwback along with a proper look at her helped him recognize Elesa. The redhead was in tow behind her, smirking, as she saw Alex's hair.

Alex and Leo both opened one eye, and then the other as they saw she intended to chat. Leo stretched, slid off him, and then sniffed Elesa. The thunder cat purred against the older woman, who smelled too much like Zebstrika for his tastes. Alex met her gaze as he said, "I bet you have...Leader Elesa."

Alex's team twitched their hearing appendages as he spoke, and each of them eyed the woman, as she continued speaking. "Your girlfriend here was just telling me you were planning to skip my Gym. What's the matter, Trainer? Not confident in your skills?"

Alex shrugged. "I wanted to start in Striaton, like the twins did. As we are now, my team might win against yours, but I'd be more confident after earning a few more Badges."

Elesa chuckled behind her hand, as she held it before her mouth. "I see. You know, once I heard your name, I remembered all the buzz around you lately. I've met your granduncle, you know. Beating Marlon, getting lost on and surviving Draconis Mons, they say you're a Trainer in the same vein as the Champions, but...I don't know." She looked him over then with nothing but pure, undiluted condescension. "I expected...more...after all the hype." Alex kept his face passive, save for a slight eye twitch, as the woman turned away just as suddenly as she'd walked over. "If you decide you do have the skill to challenge me, I'll be waiting in my Gym." Elesa strode out of the Pokémon Center with a knowing smirk, convinced she'd successfully stoked the fire in the younger Redwood's eyes.

Jess watched her go, still smiling. Hearing you had good fashion sense from one of the greatest models alive left a girl in a good mood, though as she looked at Alex, the good mood lessened, as she knew her Castelia City shopping spree was going to be put on hold. Again. "I take it we're not leaving Nimbasa, then?"

Alex's eyes were on fire, and so were his team's. He stood, once Elesa left the building, and met Jess's gaze evenly. He raised a hand before him, and it clenched into a fist as he spoke. "I'm going to bury her. And her team." He turned slightly towards his team then, "Hydrus!" The mudfish dumped the rest of his bowl of food into his maw, and stood, giving his Trainer the best salute he could manage, with ungainly fins. There was a mad gleam in his Trainer's eye, as he spoke. "It is time you learned, little fish. Terra! You're with us! The rest of you, basic exercises until we return. Arthur, Blaze, you're in charge."

The Gallade and the Charizard shared a look, nodded, and then went back to eating. Shruikan was also still mid-meal, and Leo had begun a tongue bath that he had no intention of stopping until it was finished. Alex left as Jess retrieved her own healed team, and began feeding them. He led the pair of partially ground typed Pokémon to a large clearing, and after Terra told the local Pokémon to evacuate, he took his place on a small incline just above the grassy field.

"I know you've seen him use Earthquake before, but the time has come for you to learn this Move as well, Hydrus. You have a natural tie to the Ground Typing, and frankly, your Mud Shot is much stronger than your Water Pulse at the moment. This is good though, Ground Type Moves are going to be key to beating this Gym." The mudfish nodded along as Alex spoke, and then fixed his eyes on Terra. "Watch how he uses his weight. All of his weight."

Terra crouched low then, before his powerfully muscled legs surged upwards, managing to lift even his titanic bulk off the ground momentarily. At the height of his lift, Terra shifted his weight down, purposefully, and hammered the hillside with his ground energy infused legs. The clearing before them shattered, as the entire area shook, and was turned into a roiling mass of chunks of earth. Alex blinked in surprise as the scope of the damage exceeded his expectations. Several young trees fell, and the grass was properly ruined. Alex glanced at his starter Pokémon as Terra lumbered back down the slight incline. "Well done, Terra...you are getting...seriously good with that Move."

The grass turtle snorted hot air at his Trainer's face. "Terra."

Alex turned to Hydrus, then. "First, you must learn to fix that which has been Earthquaked. From there, we can move on to the Move itself. Take your place, Hydrus." The mudfish did as ordered, and climbed the slight incline. He wasn't worried about reforming the land, as Marshtomp and Swampert were capable of molding the ground to be ideal for raising Mudkips. Despite their name, the adaptable mudfish could make nests on beaches, water-filled caverns within mountains, and of course, in swamps, which was where their genus originated.

Much like Charizard, they had become popular in recent years as well, and the result was a surge in their number in the wild, across the world. Scientists had, after discovering Swampert did indeed nest in more than just swamps, begun studying how human popularity trends affected Pokémon populations in the wild. Lapras, was also a good example, though some people in and around Japan still hunted them, as they always had.

Applying this new skill to the earth was a bit tricky, but in a few minutes, Hydrus had the area looking somewhat restored, even if the grass would take time to recover.

"Now, while the Ground Energy is in your fins, let it build up, raise them as high as you can, and then bring them down hard. It takes a lot of force to break the earth. Don't hold back." Alex said, as he watched from his perch on Terra's shell.

"Marshtomp." Hydrus said, as he started raising his fins. The training weights still covering him, along with the ground energy itself, were rather hard to lift, but he did manage to get them above his head. At the height of his lift, he let gravity drag them back down, and the ground rumbled slightly as they hit. A single rock rolled down the hill from where Hydrus stood. Without a word from his Trainer, he tried again, and twenty minutes later, he had managed to replicate the move. Another twenty, and he had learned how to guide the shattered earth so that it dealt damage to whatever was unlucky enough to be caught in his Earthquake. He wasn't as proficient as Terra was yet, but he had it down well enough to use in a battle.

Alex gave the pair some regular Elixirs before they headed back into the city. They returned to the Pokémon Center to find that Jess had already gotten them a room. Alex's team was lounging around within, chatting with the girls, napping, or just babbling about things their Trainers could only guess at. Terra returned to his ball, thanks to his size, but Hydrus joined the others, and it seemed they congratulated him when he evidently told them he'd learned a new move. For his part, Alex joined Jess on the balcony, as their room was on an upper floor of the Pokémon Center.

Jess had bigger meals brought up for them, and they were still warm as he joined her. They largely ignored the barely contained chaos within their room as they ate, and made full use of the balcony's railing and his large, muffling hands for several hours. By the time the humans came back in, most of their teams were sleeping, and they soon did the same, cuddling up on either side of Leo as they went to bed, and his natural electricity kept them warm.

The next day, Alex and Jess were at the Nimbasa Gym rather early, and Jess went to join the crowd of screaming Elesa fans while the Gym Challenger took his place on the catwalk. Three lovely models waited for him, and behind them, was Elesa. He made short work of her warm-up Trainers, between Hydrus's Mud Shot, and Rock Slide for the annoying Emolga the model's used. Many tried basing their teams on what Elesa had, but after watching several of her past Gym Battles, he knew they were no comparison.

He could tell which of the models were more focused on fashion than Pokémon, and as Hydrus brought down the last Blitzle, he cried out through the boos of the crowd, and his fins smacked his chest in victory. Alex healed and revitalized him with a Max Elixir, as they finally reached Elesa.

The crowd had several mixed ages, but the vast majority were tweenagers, prepubescent fangirls whose high pitched keening would've gotten to Alex on any other day. After Elesa had thrown down the gauntlet however, he was focused, and so was his team. When a Gym Leader challenged a Trainer, it was typically a big deal, to other Trainers. To Elesa fans, it had made many wonder who exactly the awkwardly dressed large framed man even was. After seeing him thrash the other models though, a few in the crowd understood that at the very least, Elesa was in for a rough match. The majority however, had blind faith in an Elesa victory. Alex tried finding Jess several times, but the poorly lit sea of faces did not yield the one he was hopelessly infatuated with, which was, he decided, for the best. He knew she was out there, he could feel her eyes on him, but staying focused for this match was a good idea.

"Hydrus...wait. I'm removing these, for this match." Alex walked up to his partner, and took away an item, leaving him with only a small, shiny egg tied around his neck. The Marshtomp grinned, hid it away, and crouched as he faced down the Gym Leader. As she drew a Pokéball, Alex held up a finger, and didn't even try shouting over the crowd. He instead produced Marlon's Elite Wave Badge, and the Gym Leader nodded in understanding. She snapped her fingers then, and the catwalk began to shudder. The crowd around it moved back, as if they knew what came next, and in moment, the shifting platform had revealed a standard Gym battling field hidden beneath it. There was a PC next to Elesa's Trainer box, and Alex let her retrieve whoever she liked. Hydrus's eyes never left her, that is, until she threw the first ball, which as expected, was an Emolga.

The referee, a fellow model, shouted and had her voice enhanced by technology. "This match is part of the Victory League's latest Elite Challenge! Both Trainers may use up to six Pokémon. There will be no item usage, and only the Challenger may substitute. Let the match...begin!"

Elesa opened the match with her standard Attract and Aerial Ace combination, but the mudfish dodged the strange pink floating heart, and the following Aerial Ace might as well have been Tackle for all the damage it did against a ground type. Alex called the counter move quickly, an Ice Beam, and Hydrus turned swiftly on the field, tracking the Emolga with both eyes and fins before firing his icy projectile, and nailing the Emolga with a critical hit. It crashed to the field encased in ice, and fainted. The ref called the round for Alex, and Hydrus beat his chest again, before dropping into the same ready crouch. Elesa nodded, as if her Emolga had been meant to test just how strong the Marshtomp was, and then drew her next ball.

With his weights off, Hydrus appeared to be much faster than a Marshtomp should've been. No doubt the illusion of speed would spawn another ridiculous rumor, but this one he had on video, as Elesa had a habit of recording all her Gym Battles. Showing N and the other Champion's matches with her from back in the day, was always amusing. Hilbert and his Serperior, Caesar, had not liked the pair of Emolga she used on them, and even Hilda had struggled, though when she came back with a Flame Charging Emboar, the flying electric squirrels hadn't lasted long.

Elesa's next choice was her Zebstrika, and though Alex knew it was powerful, he also knew Hydrus was well equipped to take it down. "Flame Charge!" She shouted, opening as she usually did, relying on the speed her Pokémon would gain after enough uses of a move that did little against a water and ground type.

"Water Pulse!" Alex countered, as Hydrus doused the flames, and the electric zebra's building speed, as the dense water projectile hit one of his legs, and sent him tumbling. To the Zebstrika's credit, he was up again quickly, and still ready to go. This time though, the challengers took the initiative. "Don't give it a flat surface! Earthquake!"

Hydrus grinned, and with surprising ease, his ground energy suffused fins rose easily, and rapidly over his head without the weights restraining him. He brought his fins down hard on the field, and the entire building rumbled, as it became a sea of rolling boulders and crushing earth. "We're not done yet!" Elesa shouted, once the shaking fell off, "Get close with Flame Charge, and then Double Kick!"

"Get ready to dodge, Hydrus, then hammer it with Mud Shot!" Alex said, and the mudfish nodded confidently, as the electric zebra smashed through the rubble of the field, flames burning as he came close. He dashed past Hydrus, and then, the Double Kick came. Hydrus bobbed around one hoof, weaved past the other, and then raised his fins above his head. A dense sphere of ground typed energy formed between them, and he brought it down, hard, on the Zebstrika, leaping back once he landed the move. The ref came over to look and clear away the dust, and then called the match. More boos came from the tweenagers, but all of them, even Elesa, paused as the mudfish began to glow bright white. He cried out triumphantly, beat his chest again, and then held still as he ascended to his adult form.

The largely as yet undamaged Swampert slammed his fists down on the field and roared at Elesa, as she watched, and kept her expression neutral. Her eyes gave her away though, and Alex could tell she understood what was going to happen next. His Swampert was bigger, bluer, bulkier, and perfectly typed for this Gym. He'd tossed around most of her team, and the other model's partners, without taking much damage at all. Alex wondered what she had left, that kept her confident. She smirked and threw another ball, "Ampharos! Use Signal Beam!"

"Ice Beam!" Alex countered, as the shorn electric sheep appeared in a flash, and fired off a beam of bug typed energy towards his Swampert. Effortlessly, Hydrus matched the bug beam, and type advantage canceled out the move, keeping him fresh for more. Alex continued after that, shouting even as Elesa opened her mouth. "Earthquake!"

Once more, the building shook, once more, one of Elesa's partners was caught in the roiling sea of ground typed damage, and once more, she emerged battered, but still conscious and willing to battle. Alex let the Ampharos crawl free, and have its attack, which Elesa was eager to call. "Confuse Ray!" The weakened Ampharos lowered its head, and from its raised tail came another beam of sorts. As it hit Hydrus, the mudfish shook his head, trying to clear his senses, but it was clear he was confused.

Alex nodded, as Elesa's strategy bought her time, but only delayed that which was inevitable. "Hydrus!" The mudfish straightened as he heard Alex's voice. "Use Mud Shot! Trust your fins, not your eyes." The Swampert nodded, closed his eyes, and then twitched his head fins, as he homed in on his target.

Elesa didn't wait for him, though. "Ampharos, Cotton Guard!" Wool erupted around the formerly shorn electric sheep from seemingly nowhere, as white as a Flaaffy's and looking just as comfortable. Unfortunately for the Ampharos, it was not enough to stop the heavy, condensed ball of ground energy that came hurtling her way, and sent her sailing into the wall behind Elesa, just under her massive electronic screen showing their battle as it unfolded, for those in the crowd who couldn't get close. After an Earthquake, this combined damage from a Mud Shot and a concrete wall left the Ampharos fainted, and the Swampert still largely untouched. Hydrus began pounding the field rhythmically, and the shattered rocky terrain reformed, as they waited for the Gym Leader's last Pokémon.

For their part, the crowd seemed to know what came next, and were almost frothing at the mouth in their excitement as they screeched Elesa's name, and called for Alex to get crushed by whatever she had left. Alex had a good idea of what it was, as he'd done his homework the night before, but he expected the worst case scenario. Elesa was universally considered a tough Gym Leader, tougher than Burgh or Clay, even though they were also serious Trainers, and had been training as long as Elesa. She usually handled ground types better with her Emolga, but Hydrus had proved that a flying electric squirrel was not going to be enough to stop this Trainer.

Elesa seemed as refined and cool as she ever had, as she held her last ball. "The time has come. Elektross, take the stage!" With an ungodly shriek, the Gym Leader's former Tynamo in its final form took the field. As the shriek overpowered the crowd, they silenced, for about half a second, before the cheers and fangirlish screaming resumed tenfold.

The challengers stayed focused, as Alex expected Elesa's secret weapon knew exactly the right kind of move for Hydrus's type combination. "This is going to sting, Hydrus, but I'll try to keep the Grass Moves from hitting."

The Swampert snorted, unfazed by the idea of pain from grass type moves, even with a quadrupled weakness. "Elektross!" Elesa said, starting the round, "Use Giga Drain!" Alex grimaced, as the worst was confirmed, and countered in the same moment. "Protect, Hydrus! Charge it while you block!"

The grass energy radiating from the Elektross' patterns on its palms didn't touch Hydrus, as he stomped forward, arms crossed, and protected himself. The Move's barrier was surprisingly heavy, even for a Swampert's super-strength, and he wasn't as close as Alex wanted by the time the energy faded. It would have to be enough. "Now, Hydro Cannon!"

The Elektross dodged as Elesa told it to, by forming a circle in the air, but the levitating electric eel soon realized a Hydro Cannon was more than wide enough to smash into it, and send it hurtling back into the part of the wall as yet unsmashed. A mirror crater to the Zebstrika's appeared, and after taking a water flavored Hyper Beam to the face, and a concrete wall impact, the Elektross was slow to rise. Hydrus panted heavily after the move, and Elesa tried to even the scales.

Or she would have, if Alex hadn't called their next move first. "Get in close again! Hammer it with Mud Shot!"

Elesa smirked, confident their ground move would miss. "Giga Drain!" Grass energy leeched strength from Hydrus as he charged the Elektross too slowly for Alex's tastes, but he had enough stamina to survive the hit. He would not stay conscious through another, but Alex didn't intend to give Elesa another. As the Giga Drain ended, Hydrus loomed over the Elektross, and then leapt up to its height, where it floated in the air. Both powerful arms brought the condensed ground typed energy down, and the following cloud of dust obscured the victor. That is, until Hydrus hopped backwards out of the cloud, and beat his chest twice, while he roared his name. He then nodded at the ref, and she came forward to inspect Hydrus' handiwork once more.

"Elektross is unable to battle! The Challenger from Derrion Town wins!" Hydrus gave the referee a lick then, as he celebrated the win, and she tried not to visibly recoil from the slime. "Yes yes...well done...thank you..." She walked quickly off the stage then, and Alex did not see her return.

He gave Hydrus a Max Elixir and Potion before they approached Elesa, who had done something similar with her Elektross. In short order, the electric eel was levitating again, and the Gym Leader's partner eyed the pair of challengers with the same look his Trainer had. One of hard won, but mutual respect. "Well done, Challenger. I can see why Marlon lost, if that Torterra is anything like your Swampert."

Alex nonchalantly slid his thumb across his nose, as it itched. "Terra was my first, actually. He's stronger. But this one is catching up fast." He grinned, as he patted his slick Swampert, and the mudfish stood a little straighter.

"It seems Professor Redwood's grandnephew is as good at hustling me as he is. You were more than ready for me and my Gym. The Elite Bolt Badge is yours. I know you mentioned Striaton yesterday, but I confirmed today that the Triple Threat has retired, to go pursue their own ambitions in their golden years." Alex might've imagined it, but he sensed what might've been envy in Elesa's tone. Judging by the crowd of fans, some older, most younger, he knew why she couldn't leave. Nimbasa loved Elesa as much as Castelia loved Burgh. New Tork's Gym Leaders had been in their positions for years, and had defended Unova on several occasions alongside the other Gym Leaders, and even the Champions. They were every bit as much Heroes as Hilbert and N were. "Burgh and Clay know that you're coming. I look forward to seeing how high you rise, Redwood. The Champion has been searching for someone who can topple this challenge for a long time. Don't get complacent, and you will have a very good shot at the title."

Alex bowed, thanked Elesa for the information and advice, and then made his way to the exit of the Gym, where the models he had thrashed were chatting with his better half. His eyes slid passively over the other three women, and resumed burning once they fell on Jess. "I owe you a shopping trip, I think. We've been training a lot on this journey."

"We have." Jess said, matter-of-factly, as she took his oversized hand in one of hers, and dragged him from the gym. "We're going to hit the Join Boulevard first, and then, the finest shops in Castelia!" She looked over his clothes again, with a slight frown. He made them work, but the lack of synergy between the black and white hat styled after Champion N's, his spare, as the green and brown one was still quite dirty, and the deep green and brown jacket along with the longer Unova styled black pants didn't quite fit together. "We'll need to do something about your clothes, too mister."

Alex groaned. "My clothes are fine. They fit, and they cover the naughty bits. I don't need new ones."

"Nonsense!" Jess said, as she led him back towards the center of Nimbasa, and its Pokémon Center. "If you're going to be a serious Trainer, you need to not look like you dressed yourself for your journey."

"But I did dress myself for my journey..." Alex muttered, but Jess was already focused on what was ahead. The terminal that led to the Join Boulevard, an entirely indoor and massive connecting tunnel that brought the two boroughs of New Tork's southern and center parts together. The houses that had lined the route had eventually fused with the ever-growing Join Avenue, and the result was the shop-filled tunnel that was crowded with people of all nationalities, and the Pokémon to go with them. If one wanted to see just how diverse New Tork City was, the Join Boulevard was the best place to take in the multiple cultures that had come to call the ancient capital of the Dragon Empire their home.

As he and Jess left Nimbasa and began traveling down the Join Boulevard, it took him a minute to realize they were getting looks, as it seemed quite a few eyes had seen Elesa's latest match. They tended to get stares wherever they went thanks to Jess. If he was honest, he'd won half of his random road battles thanks to them being distracted by Jessica's looks. That applied to both sexes. As they walked further down the absurdly large metropolitan tunnel leading to Castelia, packed to the brim with shops for literally everything, the going was slow. The sheer volume of people made it hard to move, and with one half of the tunnel flowing towards Nimbasa, while the other went towards Castelia, stopping off at the shops was tricky. For someone with a smaller build. Alex despised crowds, but this time, he was being used like an icebreaker ship by Jess, who hid behind the absurd tallness as she stopped at many, many stalls.

Like most women, his was not immune to the lure of shopping, and given that she'd coaxed a certain black piece of plastic from her father, her spending was wild. Naturally, Alex ended up shoving half of it into his bag. It was bigger on the inside, a 'secret Redwood tech trick' as his Gruncle had called it, but even it had a limit. He didn't mind the extra weight, though. She'd resisted her womanly impulses in Mall Town so he could focus on finding his Shinx, and had trained hard with him, almost every day, on their way down here. The least he could do now was carry her stuff.

The Join Boulevard had once been a small passage on the long road from Nimbasa to Castelia, but after years of support from Unova's many Champions, it had grown massive. The twins, Hilbert and Hilda, along with Nate and Rosa, all had entire sections of the avenue devoted to merchandise they specifically supported. As popular as they were though, Champion N had the largest booth, from black and white hats not dissimilar to Alex's, to replicas of the wrist bangles he still wore to this day, they had any N themed merch an N fan could ever want.

All along the Join Boulevard, Alex and Jess were challenged regularly by Trainers with actual teams, not just six Magikarp in a row. The experience was tough on their less experienced members, but no tougher than training with their weight vests had been on the road to Nimbasa. Every few stalls, there was a room that split off, went underground, and led to a Pokémon battlefield. The Trainers who recognized Alex, most of them female and most from Nimbasa, all found out why Elesa had fallen, though it was largely Arthur and Blaze who participated in these grudge matches from fans who sought justice for the thrashing he'd given their idol. Shruikan hopped in against the occasional dragon type they brought out, thinking that would be enough to crush his team. After the sixth such battle, Blaze wanted to remove the weights, so he could fly, and upon seeing how strong his wings had become over the past few weeks, Alex wondered if his fire lizard wasn't already strong enough for a proper Pokémon/Trainer flight.

Keeping the vests on too long could end up weakening his team in the long term. There was a limit to how high one could boost one's Pokémon partner through weight training, but both Alex and Jess had agreed to balance the training with rest, and Unova had no shortage of luxury available for those willing to spend. They had eventually been forced to rest in one of the motels along the boulevard after a long day of battling, shopping, and eating. Jess had a win streak going as well, though she hadn't wanted to face Elesa quite yet. Her team was still coming together, and she didn't have the benefit of a water and ground type like Alex had.

She too had purchased TMs in Black City, and now her team was rapidly becoming a challenge to his. They didn't battle however, not officially, as each of their teams considered the other a part of their road-bound family by now. Battling them seriously was just unthinkable, to most of them. They would spar and practice moves, of course, but an actual battle simply never occurred.

After a few more hours the next day spent battling genuine Trainers on the massive Join Boulevard, they reached Castelia City, a borough of New Tork City that never slept. Alex was eager to challenge the local Gym Leader that very night.

He was stopped however, right in front of the Castelia Gym, by an aide from the Poké News Network. John Crimson apparently wanted an interview that night, and Alex agreed, saying, "Right after I beat Burgh."

The aide mumbled something about make-up and checked his watch constantly. He'd been told to collect Alex within two hours by John Crimson himself, but Alex was already inside the Gym.

He and his team knew the drill by now with the warm up Trainers, and he had Hydrus get used to using his Ice Beam on rather fast bug types. It made Hydrus stronger, too. He'd been battling a lot lately, to try and bridge the gap between Terra, Blaze, and the rest of his team. They all needed to be that strong if they were going to take on the Victory Plateau. For the battle with Burgh himself though, Alex's choice was different.

Blaze had begun to get twitchy, and while Alex knew Hydrus needed to train, his Charizard needed to battle strong opponents, and he could also do with more experience. The first few match ups went as expected, as Blaze Flamethowered his way through Burgh's openers. Then, he was left with three balls, and Blaze had yet to be touched.

"Alright now Scizor, give us a happy little Battle! Do your best!" Burgh said, as he summoned the crimson bug type. With a quadruple weakness to fire, and a match against a living Flamethrower, Alex knew all the encouragement in the world wouldn't help. Seeing his Challenger was confident still, Burgh smirked. "Let's...take things up a notch. I can tell you enjoy Battling, Challenger! We'll come at you with all we have! Scizor! Ascend!" Burgh raised what looked like a light green version of Alex's own fire crystal, ready to go in his pocket, if Blaze needed it. A cocoon of light green energy surrounded both Burgh and Scizor, and when it faded, a Mega Scizor stood ready to go.

As his Charizard's tail flames shifted to blue, Alex's fire crystal responded on its own, as Blaze drew from it, and the two Pokémon ascended to their Mega Forms at the same time. Burgh spoke again, then. "You've started a bit of a trend, my friend. I'm not the only Gym Leader to figure out how to use these. I always knew they were special. All it took to wake this one up was a little bit of Light. Now, let's get down to business! My Scizor is quite the technician, as you will see! Wing Attack!"

"Dodge, and Heat Wave!" The Mega Charizard outmaneuvered the slower steel and bug type, as it surrounded itself with flying energy, and sought to hit Blaze. He dodged gracefully, with his weights off and Alex was impressed at how far he'd come from flapping around like a Noibat under Draconis Mons. Suddenly, the temperature in the room Burgh held his battles increased in temperature, and the Scizor slowed, then lost its Mega Form and dropped to the floor. Blaze remained unaffected, but his Trainer, Burgh, and Burgh's paintings, all suffered from the combination of Drought and Heat Wave.

"That's alright, Scizor. It is a Charizard after all. Next, comes my Scolipede! Show this Charizard that we're not the only ones with a quadruple weakness! Rock Slide!"

Alex mentally kept track of what moves he'd used, as Blaze knew more than four, but he generally stuck to four in battle. He'd expected rocks to get involved at some point, and thus, he used their shield. "Block with Steel Wing! Then Heat Wave!"

The Charizard made a wing tent that turned deep silver-gray as the Rock Slide came down on him, and while he did take damage, he took about as much as a steel type would, against rocks. Then, the wings unfurled, and a new wave of heat turned the studio battlefield into an oven once more. The Scolipede tanked the heat, but Alex could see one more hit would end this round, and he needed Blaze for Burgh's ace.

"Scolipede! Dodge their next assault with Rollout!" Burgh said, staying as calm and good natured as he'd been since Alex had come in.

"Blaze, barrage it with Air Slash until it's down." The Charizard nodded, flapping into the air above the ground-bound Rollout as he began aiming, and firing, Air Slashes at the Scolipede. The massive form of the high speed rolling bug trying to dodge sent the studio into chaos, but if Burgh minded, he didn't mention it. If anything he seemed to be reveling in the chaos a little bit. Alex didn't see his eyes fall on his tilted easel, but titled as it was, and from what it was made of, he knew his Scolipede could use it. He'd need a new easel, as Scolipede weighed a few tons, but the chance to win the battle was worth it.

"Use my easel as a ramp! Smash that Charizard with Rollout in the air!" Burgh grinned, knowing his Scolipede had been building up power over time. Now, was the moment to unleash it. The heavy rolling bug winced as his spiky balled up form ruined the canvas Burgh had been working on, and though the easel bent, the blend of metal and modern crafting techniques were just enough to give the Pokémon the air it needed to do as its Trainer asked. Blaze never even saw it coming, though instead of a direct hit, the Scolipede got a wing, and then went sailing towards the String Shot covered upper portion of the battle studio. It hung there, struggling to get free, but only becoming more entangled as it moved. It gave a mournful cry as Blaze landed, and then aimed his maw at the Scolipede.

"Trying to hit a flying type with Rollout was a mistake. Flamethrower!" Alex said, eager to finish the round, but Burgh wasn't done yet.

"We don't make mistakes. We have happy accidents! Spin around in the webs Scolipede!" The bug type did so, and as the flames washed over it, it took damage, but not enough to make it faint. "Good, now cut yourself free with Steamroller, then use Toxic!"

Alex's eyes widened, as poison was the last thing he needed, and these matches didn't allow item usage. "Dodge high and use Heat Wave!" Purple sludge melted the floor where Blaze had been standing, and though his flight pattern was wobbly, the Charizard managed to stay in the air long enough to exhale, and for a third time turn the room into an oppressively hot cauldron of Battle.

Burgh was sweating as hard as Alex, and he winced, as his Scolipede finally went down. "You were amazing, my friend. Get some rest." The Gym Leader paused then, and glanced around his studio as the heat faded. After three bouts of it though, he new there would be little to salvage from his paints, and he easel had been thoroughly crushed. "I had a feeling we were gonna get wild, when you walked in. You have the same passion for Battle that the Champions did, when they came on through. Tell me Alex, does battling make you happy? Or is this just a hobby?"

"I spent most of my childhood and teen years doing a hobby. I thought I was going to be doing it for the rest of my life. Then, finally, I got a Pokémon, and now I'm here, in the biggest city in the free world, battling a legend like Burgh Ross. I could do this for the rest of my life." Blaze took the moment to recover his breath as well, as his wing was still folded. He roared in agreement at his Trainer's words though, still ready to Battle.

"That great! Battles against people who love training are some of the best...why don't you go ahead and heal up your Charizard there? That wing looks a bit...bent." Burgh replied, concern clear on his face.

Alex blinked, and Blaze glanced at him, and then the referee. "Is...is that allowed?" The ref chuckled, as this was pretty common in Burgh's matches, and then shrugged. Some Trainers refused to heal their partners and stick to the rules, but those with flying types typically understood that wing injuries needed to be fixed quickly.

"I hate seeing a Pokémon hurt, and honestly..." Burgh looked down, smirked, and then met Alex's eyes again as he held up a Pokéball. "I want to Battle your ace at his best. This Leavanny and I have been together since the start. I know she wants a fair Battle too. Go on ahead and heal'im up, I don't mind."

Alex began the process of dealing with a wing injury then, as it was a bit more complicated than point, spray, heal. It needed to heal correctly, but once Blaze managed to unfurl it, Alex applied the potion to the areas most impacted by the Rollout. Burgh called out his Leavanny as this took place, and Alex glanced over, wincing slightly as the bug and grass type embraced the intensity of the sun from Blaze's ability, and increased her speed. She still had not one but two quadruple weaknesses to both of Blaze's types, but Alex expected Burgh's starter Pokémon to be a challenge regardless.

"Let's begin then, shall we?" Burgh said with a smile, before raising his hand as his eyes hardened again. His fist glowed the same green as before, as he said, "Leavanny! Mega Evolve!" Light green energy enveloped both Burgh and his Pokémon partner in cocoons, and when they faded, Leavanny was wearing what could only be described as a grass helmet. She had four arm blades now, and the 'waistcoat' of leaves covering her enlarged thorax split, revealing a pair of wings that brought the bug and grass type into the air, with the fire lizard she was trying to face down.

Alex blinked, and watched with fascination, though he did give Blaze an order. "Stay high in the air, and get ready to Flamethrower."

That, only made Burgh smirk. "Double Team! Then Swords Dance to dodge the flames!"

Blaze attacked, as the Leavanny cloned herself, and then danced past his fire. He still got several of the clones, but the real one eluded him. Another turn passed, the dancing become faster, and Burgh clapped along, to a beat only he and his partner were hearing. "Pick up the pace! Swords Dance!"

Alex switched tactics, to a move far harder to dodge. "Heat Wave!"

As Blaze inhaled, and prepared to yet again raise the temperature, Burgh countered. "String Shot its mouth!" Faster than either Blaze or Alex could follow, the Leavanny disappeared, and then reappeared elsewhere, with a better angle on Blaze. The finest woven silk from what was likely the strongest Leavanny on the planet wrapped around Blaze's fiery maw, and the hot air he'd built up was not enough to burn the wrap now covering his mouth. Being a masterful weaver of such silk, the mouth cocoon had even left air holes for the Charizard, by his nose. They charred as he exhaled, but seemed unnaturally resistant to catching fire.

Alex's eyes narrowed slightly, irritated at yet another delaying tactic. The longer they took to hit, the harder Leavanny was going to be to beat. "Use your tail, free your mouth, then bathe the field in a Flamethrower!"

Burgh countered as once more Blaze inhaled, and started to spew intense flames into his studio battlefield. Burgh's eyes widened as he said, "Use your String Shot to avoid the floor, then Poison Jab!"

The now very speedy bug and grass type bamfed around the room on strands of her own String Shot and it became very clear that they were in her lair. Between her and Scizor, Alex assumed those without a powerful fire type had quite a hard time against Burgh. Four poison imbued blade arms slashed Blaze in the stomach, in what Alex knew was a critical hit. Worse, he saw a purple hue come over Blaze's face, and he grimaced, knowing Burgh would not allow another healing session. Probably. He genuinely seemed nice enough to allow it if Alex worded it well, but he could think of nothing to argue his point with mid-battle. Seeing only one option, Alex decided to try a different tactic, before Blaze became too weak from the poison to battle. He had other Pokémon that could win the badge for them, but he knew Blaze wanted a solo sweep. They had expected an easier time, but the advantage was still theirs.

"As hot as you can, Blaze! Heat Wave!" The Charizard had used the flames and intense heat of the scorched battlefield to hide behind, as he shot flames at the rapidly dodging Leavanny. As Alex gave the order, he inhaled, and drew the heat from the battlefield into his mouth again, before exhaling rapidly, and once more baking the inside of Burgh's studio battlefield.

As he exhaled, Burgh attempted a counter. Having no supereffective moves, he went with one that would deal regular damage, when it hit. "Use Throat Chop!"

Alex nodded, as he'd been hoping the Leavanny would get close. The hot air Blaze was expelling had been far more intense than his previous Heat Waves, and thanks to the already scorched field, it didn't take too long to use against a Leavanny who'd been increasing her speed under the sun. The grass and bug Pokémon came down from the ceiling despite the heat with four dark energy infused blades of the move her Trainer had called. The intensity of the heat would get her, but she still wanted a final hit.

As fast as she was, Burgh's Leavanny went down before she could strike, fainted, and the referee called it through a hacking cough. "Blaze, beat your wings, let's clear the air." Alex said, and his Charizard did so, as he urged the oppressive heat by way of manipulating his Air Slash to more quickly exit the Castelia Gym.

Burgh stepped forward as the air cleared. "Thank you for that, I appreciate it. Heat is terrible for my kind of paint, though after your barrage of Heat Waves, I'm going to need to make more anyway. That was a well-fought Battle, and another good choice of partner. A Swampert for Elesa, a Charizard for me. Is that Torterra I've heard about being saved for Clay?"

Alex chuckled. "Terra is...definitely down to handle Clay. He's more than strong enough...I just need the rest of my team to catch up to him...I think my Swampert will handle Clay...my Gallade can take his steel types, but his ace? I can use Terra for that Battle, I think."

Burgh grinned. "Sounds like Driftveil is about to have another underground rumble. One of the Champions...I think Rosa, she turned his Gym into more of a garden for a long while with Frenzy Plant. They say all of Driftveil shook, when she and Clay went head to head."

As Alex recalled a healed and cured Blaze to his ball for a rest, the pair of men walked from the still steaming battle studio, to find another adult male waiting in the hallway. His shirt was roughly the color of bug typed energy, he had a dingy patch of beard on his large chin. His frame was akin to a stick bug's, but on and around him, Alex scented an impressively dank smell of Leaf. Burgh addressed him first. "Heeeyyy, what's up Shaggi? Is it time for our introspective Leaf smoking session already?"

The man introduced as Shaggi shrugged. "I don't know man, you tell me! I was just walking by when I saw smoke coming from the top floor of your Gym! I figured I must've forgotten what day it was again, and you started without me."

Burgh chuckled. "No, not this time. That was this Challenger here. Alex Redwood, from northern Unova. He and his Charizard thrashed us pretty good. He won an Elite Insect Badge." Burgh said, with a subtle waggle of the eyebrow.

Shaggi looked impressed, but it was Alex who spoke up, even as he knew one of the PNN aides was still waiting below at the lobby for him to be done. "If there's Leaf to be smoked, I have come prepared." Alex said, procuring his bong from his backpack. It was pretty much identical to his granduncle's red and transparent piece, save that it was green, and the bottom was more brown from excessive use and a seventy eight percent effective cleaning method. He looked to Burgh then. "I take it you have somewhere you prefer smoking that isn't around your paintings?"

Burgh tapped his nose, winked, and then led the pair to a silken cocoon that Alex hadn't been able to open on his way up. Now that he looked at it, the tunnel where it led seemed to go only further upwards, and wasn't connected to the String Shot pods that Gym Challengers used to traverse the Gym these days. As they entered and then exited, they came to the top of the skyscraper allotted for Castelia's Gym. The roof, like the studio, had an easel, and there was a shed of sorts that Alex surmised was used for storing paintings, and whatever Burgh used to make them.

Alex felt less guilty, as he saw a second easel, and a third older one, folded against the shed. Across from the storage space were several chairs, some folded some not, placed around what looked like a fire pit. Shaggi sat down, and Burgh and Alex joined him soon after. Shaggi reached into his own backpack then, the same color as his shirt. First came a Pokéball, which was then followed by the biggest bag of unground Leaf Alex had ever seen. "This, my fine friends, is the finest Leaf this side of Unova. They call it...Pinap Express."

Burgh fiddled with the fire pit as he looked at the bag. "Very impressive, I can smell it from here, Shaggi."

Shaggi opened the bag and took a whiff. "Nnngggaaaahhhhh. Sweet mana from the Dimension of Light!" He opened his ball then, and the goofiest looking Houndoom Alex had ever seen joined them. "Hey there, Scoob. Mind giving Burgh a hand?"

"Doom."

The Houndoom crouched low, and waited until Burgh had the fuel arranged properly, before lighting it with an Ember. While that happened, Shaggi's eyes turned to Alex, who was maintaining his usual air of perpetual chill. "How about you, my man? Care for a whiff of the dankest herb I have?"

Personally, Alex had never found the scent of the Leaf appealing. It was very similar to a Skunky, and what Shaggi was holding smelled worse. Like a Skuntank. He nodded anyway, flashed Shaggi a smirk, and inhaled, doing his best not to cough. He feigned passable awe, and said, "Mm. Now that is some dank herbage. Are you a bong man, or a joint man, Shaggi?"

Shaggi shrugged. "I go with what I have, my dude. Bongs break, and paper is cheaper."

Alex nodded. "Well, my bong hits like a Mudsdale with Double Kick." Shaggi nodded as well, as the owner of a dark type, and a big fan of Alola, he knew exactly how hard that could be. "We must make them stronger up north. My granduncle has had his for five decades. The inner slide bit is a bit chipped. Apparently he let it freeze by accident one winter, and in the process of melting, a bit of ice got it, but otherwise, it's still intact and useable."

Shaggi pondered as he seemed to genuinely listen. "I see. And where do they make such a quality bong?"

"Bostonia. I think the shop was called...the Happy Hoppip? Or something?" Alex shrugged.

Burgh spoke up then, as he finished grinding a green nugget of dankness into something smoke-able. He looked between the two then. "You're over twenty five, right Alex?" Alex nodded, and Burgh continued. "Good. This herb can have negative effects on a brain that's still growing. Most brains are done growing, at twenty five. That's why I don't smoke up anyone younger."

Alex blinked, and quietly wondered if his had been damaged perhaps more than he expected it would be, given how long he'd had this habit. He'd long since accepted the repercussions of said habit. Every herb smoker expected lung issues eventually but surgeons in their world could easily replace and regrow lung tissue, but brain damage had always been a nasty rumor, an unproven one, usually peddled by those who abstained from and despised the happy herb. Burgh didn't seem a liar, or uninformed, so Alex took him at his word, and put the worry from his mind as he had no regrets about his smoking sessions and what they had led to, or would eventually cause as he filled his bong with the perfect amount of water, and Shaggi packed his slide with the Pinap Express.

As Alex mused quietly, Burgh and Shaggi shared a look, and the skinny man spoke up, as he scratched his Houndoom. The already goofy face of the Pokémon became goofier as Scoob grinned, and the pointed tail wagged, smacking the rooftop as he enjoyed the scratch. "I've been doing this since I was fourteen. I didn't really have money, or access to it until my twenties, but I'm not worried. Humans have been smoking this herb for thousands of years, man. How bad could it be?"

Burgh sighed, and then turned to Alex. "So tell me Trainer, is there a reason you're on this journey, or are you just following the trend until you settle and find a career?"

Alex smirked. "I waited too long to get here to just give up. I'm not stopping until we reach the top. I don't lose often, but it does happen. I don't let it get to me, and we trainer harder because of it. Until we understand our mistake, and find a way around it. Everyone on my belt wants to reach the top. This journey is just my long awaited first step."

Burgh nodded, as he puffed, passed, and peered at Alex. The Trainer felt a chill go up his spine, as he reacted to the sudden seriousness in Burgh's tone. "And if you do become someone like Lance, or Leon? What then? You will eventually lose the top. Everyone does."

Alex nodded in agreement. "Mortality is irritating, but inevitable. I'm not worried. I've found I like pushing my Pokémon to reach their highest potential...and I think I'm going to be doing that with all of my partners. Eventually. I have to reach the top, first, but I can see spending my de-throned years just filling societal niches with my Pokémon, helping wherever they can, because they want to, and they're strong enough. I'll probably try catching them all, but that's a big number to reach."

Shaggi chuckled, and passed the bong back around to Alex. "Sounds to me like someone is trying to become a Pokémon Master. Burgh?"

"I agree." The Gym Leader said as he nodded, and his perm nodded with him.

Alex smirked as he kept the ember alive, and then passed to Burgh, who continued speaking. "I like this dream of yours, Alex. It's realistic, and the way you Battle, it might even be attainable. I'm going to give you some foreknowledge about this Challenge that most people don't get. Clay is usually seen as a wall, that separates Challengers from the east side of Unova, from the west. He's pushed Skyla to become stronger for years, and with Brycen's return from his journey, as well as Iris guarding the gates to the Elite Four, the west part of Unova is typically seen as the harder half, but for this challenge, you'll need to master a certain kind of Move, if you want to have a chance at victory."

Alex arched an eyebrow. "A certain Move?"

Burgh nodded sagely. "A Move that balances two types of energy, into a single attack. In my experience, opposite types work best when they're balanced together. It's like life, or painting. If you can find balance in the dark times life throws at you, you can appreciate the light ones so much more."

Alex pondered, as Burgh partook then. "I understand. I don't collect regrets. Hmm. Balancing energy, eh? Maybe in a sphere...and opposites do best, but what about combinations that work well together?" He kept mumbling to himself, as he started thinking up what moves would work. Terra would have to learn Mud Shot, but Hydrus could, theoretically, already try it. Then there was Blaze. Alex only knew of one Move that was flying typed, and spherical, and he didn't know of any Lugia that would be willing to show his Charizard how Aeroblast worked. Blaze didn't really need a special move though, he was already ferocious in battle, and it was easy to see he enjoyed it immensely. He shifted to Arthur then, and wondered if the Gallade could manage two typings, one on each arm. That kind of battle strategy would make him rather hard to beat, if he could learn something like Metal Claw to block with.

The session continued for several more minutes, until Alex felt a disturbance in the Force, and bid farewell to the two adults as they gaze at the stars and enjoyed the herb. When he'd left, they'd been trying some sort of 'triple spliff' but Alex had never been a big fan of joints in general, and had left them to it. By his estimate, there was still time to walk across the street to PNN.

Alex returned to street level to find that Jess and the aide for PNN were still waiting. The aide had, upon hearing who she was, wanted Jess to interview as well, but she declined, when Alex mentioned Burgh probably wouldn't be battling again until tomorrow.

The aide was a few years older than them at most, but his forehead already had signs of wrinkling. He wore a navy-blue uniform that seemed strange in public, and had no belt of Pokémon either. There was no name tag, and his general demeanor slowly led Alex to wonder just how badly PNN was treating their people. He decided to act like how he assumed every other Trainer John Crimson interviewed did. They usually had far more badges, or at least had former Champion titles, but every once in a while, the legendary reporter brought in someone green. The twins, Hilbert and Hilda, had been such Trainers, and like Alex, they had agreed to chat after thrashing Burgh's Gym team. Twice.

Deciding one Trainer was good enough to keep his job, the aide gave in, and brought Alex to the station, where he refused attempts to have make-up dumped on him, and offers to trim his scraggly beard that still had a few patches of lighter fuzz in it. He also got an offer for a new wardrobe, and though he was seriously tempted with going black and gold, he decided to stick with his own clothes. Jess had managed to get another spare outfit for him in Nimbasa, and he switched to the clean one in the PNN's dressing room. His jacket was still dark, but instead of brown it was black, and on the back was a black and white Pokéball, outlined in white. His new undershirt was white, and the pants had a similar dual color scheme, that went all the way down to the shoes that managed to perfectly encase his awkwardly large feet. Black and white, along with red, white, and blue, were typically seen as Unova's colors. He was more black and white, as he understood what they represented. His granduncle had made sure his relatives understood the concept of Balance.

Burgh's Gym Battle had been quite heated, and even on a cool summer night like this, Castelia City might as well have been an oven. Alex handed over his dirty undershirt and pants, letting them be taken to be washed after the people assigned to make him presentable insisted he do so.

It seemed that keeping their jobs depended upon them aiding him in some way, and they told him as much, when he asked. It made his stomach curl, but he stayed polite, knowing it wasn't the aide's fault they had to act like this. Their usual clientele was probably a lot different than he was.

Their world didn't have many problems, it was true. Once, supposedly before Pokémon ever came to be, humans had been forced to deal with issues of water shortages, air pollution, violence, etcetera. It was commonly taught in history classes of multiple grade levels that the old world had eventually collapsed in a very large war, only rising again when Pokémon appeared, and solved many of these problems.

Energy, water, food, pollutants, there were Pokémon to combat every negative aspect of human existence. Some people claimed Pokémon had always lived with humans, but Alex's granduncle had disagreed when the subject had inevitably come up during their many basement chill sessions. Alex in his naiveté had regurgitated what he'd been taught in public school, and as was his wont, his Gruncle had expanded his knowledge with some hard, factual truths, namely, movies from the ancient world, revived and reformatted for modern technology, that had no Pokémon in them whatsoever. Slowly, Alex realized that these movies had Pokémon added to them, giving them the 'classics' that Pokéstar Studios had simply re-made for the modern age.

Like the skeptic he was, Alex had asked for more evidence from the Professor, as he too had thought a world without Pokémon simply impossible and anyone with a phone could make a movie, and in response, had been shown stories in truly ancient books, now only existing on the PokéNet, that didn't contain a single mention of Pokémon, but had plenty of animals that had long since gone extinct. It was hard to believe, since everything in the world he'd known had some tie to Pokémon, but the stories he had been shown when he was younger contained no trace. Just humans with the aforementioned problems, and many others in addition.

The ancient fairytales about King Arthur or the notorious archer of Galar, Green Hood, were good examples of tales without Pokémon, but most people saw them as just that: tales. Pokémon had been around longer than anyone could remember, and a few fairy tales from pre-history would not be enough to convince the Poké obsessed humans they had once never existed on this planet. Most simply said it didn't matter, they were here now, and were worth bonding with. After a very long time since their initial contact with humanity, Pokémon and their Trainers had become an integral part of any advanced society, as they were immensely superior to most firearms, though that hadn't stopped those with darker agendas from advancing projectile weaponry anyway.

Some problems still remained in their all but utopian society of peace and plenty, with the largest being, as always, human greed. Money controlled many aspects of the 'real world', as Alex's father had called it. It was fine for Pokémon Trainers to run around on the road, eating for free, and battling for fun. But, he had been told, society needed currency to function.

That was one point his granduncle and his father intensely disagreed upon. The aging Professor had insisted that many of the issues they did face would disappear if humanity gave up currency. They existed in a society capable of supplying them with whatever they could possibly need thanks to the rising popularity of Item Printers, and it wouldn't be long before those were taking in basic ingredients and printing out food.

He'd claimed that as long as greedy humans had some kind of currency to hoard, they would do whatever they could to hoard as much as possible. Far too many simply didn't care what they had to do to achieve a comfortable lifestyle, even if that meant ascending to disgustingly wealthy levels by stepping on the backs of their fellow man.

His father had responded by saying new issues would rise to replace those that had been solved. Alex had done his best to remain neutral in this debate that he, as he'd gotten older, realized was at the core of the separation in their family.

But now, looking into the faces of total strangers who all but begged to serve him, lest they lose their job and their access to currency if they failed to do so, he started to understand why his granduncle was so passionate about defeating human greed. If these people just relied on Pokémon instead, they could be just as well off, but no, they needed currency like a crystal addict needed dust. Crystal was one of the 'harder' substances available in shadier places, that had similar effects to Leaf, but far worse consequences. It was also highly illegal, mostly because it was so dangerously addictive, and damaging.

For his part, Alex didn't really see the issue with jobs in their world, as most gave more than enough to live somewhat modestly. In the infamous League Court case against three members of the now disbanded Team Rocket, evidence had been presented that showed, on numerous occasions, the criminals in question had scraped together funds for hundreds, if not thousands, of giant robots designed to catch Pokémon.

They obtained these funds, supposedly, by working at menial jobs that nine out of ten times had involved hard work and selling things. Apparently, they paid just as well as Pokémon battles, and were far more reliable for income. The cost of living in this modern age was low, thanks to Pokémon. Said criminals had then eventually gone on to create the first of many PokéNet streams, and their imprisonment had led to the rise of the next generation of streamers, like Iono.

As Alex subtly watched and spoke briefly to the numerous aides flitting about the dressing rooms of the PNN building's lower floors, he realized these poor people were essentially slaves to whatever 'celebrity' happened to be entertaining their audience that night. It was a business, and like every business, some parts were considered more important than others.

The aides assigned to him were obviously on the bottom of this business totem pole. They didn't even have name tags, and as he looked closer, more than a few had bruises. He felt Arthur's ball shake, as he waited to be called onto the stage for his interview.

He thumbed the release. "You sense it too, don't you." It wasn't a question.

"Gallade." The response was solemn and understanding, but under the surface, Alex sensed the same fury at this ridiculous workplace setup. The more he saw, the more he noted flagrant violations of Unovan laws meant to keep employees somewhat dignified as they toiled. It helped that Arthur had a strong nose for dark intentions, and Alex decided that while some jobs were probably fine, preferred even, the majority of humanity's potential was simply wasted on ones like the aides found themselves in. He also doubted most people wouldn't mind not having to work them, in favor of doing literally whatever they wanted.

That wouldn't be true for everyone, of course, but if there was some way of assigning the right people to the places they were needed most, he was sure the reliance on Pokédollars would diminish further. He didn't have a better alternative for distributing currency. He knew others had been tried before, only to succumb to power hungry tyrants.

This current currency based system had eventually beaten all the others, and his Gruncle had warned him that speaking against it, especially in public, would make you a pariah. One simply did not question the system.

The door opened, and the younger male aide from before, who had to have been around ten or twenty years older than Alex, came in. He had the strange navy-blue uniform on still, the PNN logo was sewn into the chest of it, but otherwise, it was little more than a bland suit.

No name tag, no Pokémon belt. Even the man's features were unremarkable. Brown eyes, dark hair that was cut short, a clean-shaven face. Each of the aides assigned to him had looked this way.

"Mr. Crimson is ready for you, sir." He said, looking hurried.

Sir. Alex had never been called 'sir' before he'd left home, but as he'd traveled, he noticed that amongst the few who'd heard of him, he was regarded with more respect. They'd called him 'sir' too. 'May I have a Battle, sir?' 'Might I have your autograph, sir?' 'Please sir, keep your Torterra from defecating on the grass.'

Was that what he had to look forward to? A future where, eventually, he stopped even noticing aides like this entirely? He noticed Arthur staring at him, and the Pokémon smiled, sensing his emotions, and put a hand on his shoulder. Confidence filled him. He knew that his Gallade would keep him honest, if nobody else did. Alex nodded, smiling back, and then recalled him to his ball.

"Thank you. What was your name? I didn't catch it." The aide blinked, and Alex could tell, nobody had ever asked him that question. His face betrayed a hint of nervousness, and Alex understood. He wasn't supposed to have people ask him his name. Judging by the beads of sweat forming on his brow, he thought he was in trouble.

Which meant that his superiors were either listening, or he thought he'd somehow offended this guest, which was, he assumed, an offense that resulted in being fired. Alex put a hand on his shoulder.

"Relax, you're not in trouble. I just wanted to know your name." If the younger man had looked put-off before, he was doubly so now. A Trainer with enough nepotism to be interviewed by the legend, five-time Pokémmy award winning reporter John Crimson, taking notice of him? Unlikely, if not impossible, or so he'd come to believe. And yet, it was happening.

Alex gave the shoulder a squeeze, and the aide finally stammered a response. "I-I'm Joey."

Alex gave what he hoped was his best comforting smile. It needed work. "Well Joey, I need you to do me a favor, and it's going to sound unusual." The man's eyes faded back into the practiced neutrality he maintained as part of his job. Eyes that were dead, with no spark of hope whatsoever. He hadn't been noticed, this was just another wannabe celebrity with a fetish or something.

Even his response was robotic. "Of course, sir. Whatever you need, PNN will provide."

Alex had expected such a response, you couldn't undo programming like this with a few sentences after all, and he was due to be on the air. "After I'm done, when I come back for my things, please bring in the other aides that were assigned to help me. Can you do that, Joey?" The man blinked again, wondering what new perverted hell awaited him and his coworkers now. You could never tell with Trainers.

"Of course, sir." He said, not betraying a hint of worry. "We'll be waiting here once you and Mr. Crimson are done. Now if you please, we really should be getting upstairs."

He was shown to the stairs leading up into the studio where he'd be interviewed, and before he could utter a word of thanks, Joey was off. Putting the man from his mind, and focusing again on his public face, he wandered onto the studio.

"Ahh, there he is. Mr. Redwood! Over here." Being waved over in such a friendly manner by a legend like John Crimson was going to take getting used to. He began walking over, and did a double take when he saw who the legendary reporter was talking to, over a shared dinner of steak, waffles, french fries, and of course, Scotch.

Professor Gilroy Redwood. His granduncle. He broke into a smile. If John Crimson was someone his Gruncle could stand to talk to, he couldn't be all bad. From the way they were sitting, close, friendly, and with a pair of Scotch glasses, they seemed like old friends. He'd always assumed the old man had been full of it, when he'd mentioned he had connections.

John Crimson offered a hand as he made his way over. "It's nice to properly meet you, lad. Your granduncle and I go way back, and you're the only relative he ever talks about favorably."

Alex returned the handshake, smirking at his Gruncle, and then the reporter. "I usually go by Alex. Only this old fart calls me 'lad' anymore."

Alex grunted as he felt a hand slam into his back. He gave his Gruncle a look, and the old man shrugged. "What? I had to be sure you were really back. And that this crimson fox didn't take advantage of your naivete."

The aging reporter feigned offense. "Take advantage? Me? I'd never do that, Gil. You're practically family, and he's your grandnephew, which makes us…"

"Very distantly related." Alex said, smirking. The blood tie to his favored relative was already thin enough, he had enough trouble remembering all his cousin's children, let alone all the family more closely related to his granduncle.

At a hand signal from one of the crew, who were similarly garbed as Joey had been, but did actually have name tags, at least, John Crimson led Alex onto the stage. It was a simple setup. Two chairs, a table, and glasses of water. There were of course, many ways to interview people.

John Crimson however, liked to say he was 'old school'. For a reporter, Alex supposed this was as old school as it got. He took his seat, the old reporter took his, and the countdown began. Alex knew the drill, as he'd told them earlier that he'd seen plenty of these interviews before. Mr. Crimson would start them off, but it soon became obvious he was reading directly from the holoprompter, thanks to his squinting, and failing eyesight.

"Tonight, on Poké News Network, we have a story from our home region of Unova! I, John Crimson, will be reporting on and interviewing one of the newest hotshot Trainers in our region; Alex Redwood, a supposed rookie with a winning streak, an epic adventure, and even an Elite Four level win on his record already. There's been a lot of talk about his exploits lately, and as always, we're here to separate fact from fiction. Shit from seed."

Hearing the intro for his own interview was almost surreal, and Alex wished he'd actually done more before agreeing to it. Three badges was nothing. That wish faded as one of the crew mumbled into their ear pieces, "Stay on script John. We're live. And manure is actually used to fertilize crops."

"Well that is disgusting. Poop does not belong on food." Crimson said, loud enough for the mic to pick it up. "Script!" came the voice again. The old reporter turned his focus on Alex then, and he put on his trademark smirk as he desperately tried not to burst into laughter.

"So Alex," He said, dropping formality as he'd requested, "Hows life? Two Badges and a string of victories from here to Unova University. Not many people would believe it, from a rookie Trainer in his first year."

He let his smirk grow appropriately, before answering. John Crimson was stroking his moustache very obviously as he spoke, and he seriously considered a career in acting as he managed not to laugh.

"Three Badges, actually." He managed in a weak tone. He coughed, and spoke stronger, louder. "Burgh was kind enough to allow me a challenge before I came here tonight." He paused, enjoying the look of surprise on the old reporter's face. Interviewees didn't usually drop a brand-new story at the start of an interview, but it seemed like John Crimson was more interested in the badge itself.

"Can we see it?" Alex stared for a moment, then shrugged, and nodded. The old man stared at it openly and spoke not-so-subtly, "Ooooh. Shiny. But wait, that's not a standard Burgh Badge, is it? It looks different."

Alex blinked, wondering if he'd meant 'bug badge', despite the fact that the official name for it was 'Insect Badge'. "Erm. No, it's not. It's part of the League's latest challenge. You ask the Gym Leaders to Battle you with their original teams, and in return, you get a special version of their Badge, showing you beat them at their best."

The silver fox nodded, still very obviously stroking his moustache. "Interesting. You know, I Battled Burgh, once. Great guy. Great Trainer. We made a bunch of happy little clouds after the Battle. Good times." Alex blinked. Did he just imply that he too had shared Leaf with the bug training painter? It didn't seem too hard to believe. His Gym was right across the street.

"As for how I am?" Alex continued smoothly as the crewman shouted "SCRIPT!" through their earpieces once more, "Well, I've watched your show since I was five. I never thought I'd be on so soon…not before beating the Victory Plateau, at least. It's exciting. Thank you for having me." His own prompts were more free form, and Alex had to reply on the fly.

John Crimson tried to sip his water smoothly, but ended up taking too much at once, and began coughing. "Ugh! What is this...tasteless garbage? Vinny, who was in charge of getting the Scotch out here?" The old man looked back at the stage as his crew manager grabbed a piece of white cardboard and wrote 'SCRIPT' on it.

As the crewmen tried to keep from laughing while on the air, John Crimson eventually recovered and found his voice again after sliding the glass of water away in disgust, and turning back to squint at the prompter, "So...who was the herdest...oh, oh, hardest...who was the hardest Leader you've faced, so far?"

Alex paused a moment, stroking his patchy beard, and biting his lip hard as he tried to focus, and not laugh. "Marlon. His Mantine had my Torterra at a field advantage, and a type advantage with Wing Attack. Terra was really hurting after that fight, but we managed to pull it out in the end."

"Always a good idea to pull out, lad." The crew burst into giggles and heavy sighs, but John Crimson continued, unfazed as Alex facepalmed, and tried not to smirk. They'd given up on shouting 'script' over and over.

"Terra…so I'm guessing that's the one you beat that Tyrantrum with at the start of the summer?" John asked again, this time apparently reading from a folder full of scripted notes that he'd failed to secret away before recording started, and now had broadly open on his lap. It seemed the prompter's script was too small for his old eyes.

Alex nodded, unable to stop smirking. "Aye, I took the University's final test with a bit of a handicap, but we made it through." Mr. Crimson adjusted his seating then, and Alex felt the tone shift.

A look of competence came over John Crimson, and Alex saw a spark of what had made him so famous flare to the surface for a moment, and he sat a little straighter. "The last time we spoke, you'd just returned from Draconis Mons after a fairly harrowing experience. I know that I, and many of our watchers have been eagerly waiting to hear the full account."

Alex let his smirk fade, and then sighed, nodding. "I don't know about the full account, that would take quite a while, but if you have questions, I'll answer them with as much detail as I can."

John Crimson nodded, and continued, flipping very obviously through his folder and tossing cards he'd already read behind him while the crew tried not to laugh. "Very well…let's see...ah!"

He underlined the holo prompter's words with a finger in the air as he read them. "What we saw on that video was quite an aerial display. Many have been wondering; how exactly do you give commands to a Pokémon that's in the atmosphere?"

Alex chuckled, and wrung his hands out of reflex. "You don't really. What you need to understand is, at that point, we'd been living in that mountain for weeks. It was hot, uncomfortable, and what little food we could get was usually pretty nasty. Blaze couldn't leave the mountain, and I had to appear dead so that Lizardon wouldn't have a reason to attack him."

Alex paused, for a moment, then continued, "Blaze and Shruikan were doing whatever we could to beat that monster, and free not just ourselves, but the entire mountain. He was dominating all of them, even the Dragon Types. I told Blaze that, if he flew high enough outside in the sky, he'd eventually run out of air. I guess he remembered that, and figured he could get the advantage on his larger, healthier, and more experienced opponent if he fainted from lack of oxygen. But I didn't command him to do it. Once they Mega Evolved, they were fighting on instinct."

The old reporter grinned, and Alex knew what question was next. "I see," he said in his smooth baritone, "So I guess the next question is…how did a wild Charizard Mega Evolve?"

Alex gave a mirthless smirk, and then looked into the camera directly behind John. "Well, there are a number of ways. We've seen it before, but only in Legendary Pokémon, and only with a stone containing Infinity Energy. My granduncle and I theorized that Lizardon must've had a stone like mine somewhere nearby, and used it on his own. I think he could've been classified as a legendary Pokémon, more or less. His speed was clocked at matching known Latios and Latias, and he was, at heart, half dragon. He lived among Dragon Types. He was a unique case, to be sure, but he lived in a unique environment. That mountain is...special."

John Crimson gave him his best attempt at a knowing look. "I see. A good answer that, but I assume you've heard that many are starting to claim that this transformation was an Act of Arceus, as the same satellites that caught your Battle also caught a familiar outline in a nearby cloud, according to the Arcean Church. Would you agree with that assessment?"

Alex sighed, "No. And even if it was, I couldn't really blame Arceus for bestowing the power. That Charizard was a product of our society. Some rich snot probably thought he'd be the next Leon because he had Daddy buy him a unique colored Charmander. He probably lost a few Battles, and went back to doing whatever it is rich snots do, abandoning his Charmander."

Alex looked down at the floor then. "I've never seen so much rage in a Pokémon before, and when I started to beat him with my Shelgon, he was roaring at the sky in frustration. Even I pitied him then. You didn't have to be a Pokémon to understand that he was asking why he couldn't have been the Charmander who got a skilled Trainer. I don't think he wanted to end up on that mountain, powerful and alone."

He looked up at the camera again, staring it down. "But of course, none of the Arceans claiming Arceus gave this power on purpose to wipe out Humanity or something, were actually there. They didn't see that part of the Battle. I did. And while I pitied him, truly, he was too far gone to ever be reached by a Human. In the end, his rage consumed him. Act of Arceus or not, the deed is done, and Lizardon is a threat that Unova won't have to deal with. The Dragon Mountain is free again, and as long as Humans have enough sense to stay away, it will remain free."

John Crimson sat, listening, fingers entwined as he let his interviewee speak. "I see. Bold words from a strong Trainer." He gave a slight smirk then, his deep tone taking on a humorous tint. "So, how is it you know the mind of the Alpha Pokémon so well?"

Alex chuckled, and shrugged. "I don't claim to, I want to make that clear. But, if I were in his position, with the power to help that abused, vengeful Pokémon in his hour of need, I would've done the same thing. Blaze was going to Mega Evolve anyways, as I planned to use the crystal, somehow, just not that early. We wanted to damage him more, then finish him quickly, but fate had other plans. All his evolution did was balance the scales, and Blaze still came out the victor."

John Crimson nodded. "I see. It's getting late now, and I need a Reuben, so we should wrap this up. A few final questions. What's next? What should your fans be on the lookout for?"

Alex blinked, speaking before thinking. "I have fans?" He knew he'd been asked for battles, autographs, Holociever numbers, but he always assumed that's just what you did when you met a strong Trainer. Fan clubs were for Champions, no?

John Crimson nodded, pointing at words only he could read within the folder. "Quite a few it says here, after that video of your Battle. All around the world, in fact. What a surprise. People like a strong Charizard."

That was when it finally hit Alex. He was on, live, with arguably the most famous news man on the planet, being watched by uncountable numbers of eyes, in an uncountable number of countries, and this footage would exist on the Pokénet, forever. Even if human society collapsed, modern humans had perfected and quadruplicated their backups, in case of another mass extinction. He resisted shivering as he felt a cold chill up his spine.

PNN had a presence everywhere, and TV sets sold cheap these days. Then of course, the Pokénet would have this interview on it tomorrow, too. There was a whole playlist of John Crimson interviews that was always growing. He was on a stage, and a good portion of the Trainer world was probably watching him, either live or in the future. He took a deep breath, trying to ignore the sudden feeling of millions of eyes on him. His voice came out shaky, and he had to clear his throat several times.

"Wh-what's next…let's see... I'll be hitting the rest of the Gyms, of course. Then…uh, Victory Road, and... on to the Unova League. I'll challenge the Elite Four, so…I guess I would tell them... to keep an eye on the next Champion of Unova...?" He spoke with what he hoped was confidence.

John gave his 'I'm-going-off-script-look' to Alex, and said, "Whooooee. Boys got some balls. Where does this confidence come from, eh? You do realize who the Champion is, yea? The Tamer of Reshiram and Zekrom. What training method makes you so confident that you can go up against two Unovan Legends?"

"Well," Alex said, smirking, "I want to be a Master, and we have the skills to be the best. But, I admit freely, that without my friend Nick's training plan, I wouldn't have a chance. Legendary Pokémon are forces of nature, and Reshiram and Zekrom will be...intense. "

John Crimson tilted his gray head. "Who is this...Nick?"

Alex waved his question off. "A friend from University, from my home town in fact. My first year there, he helped me devise a training regimen for my future Pokémon team. Diet, vitamins, exercise method, everything. It was his goal to be a Gym Trainer, although, not in the Pokémon sense. He trains people, mostly. I followed his plan to the letter, for months, and my Turtwig reached a level of power that beat a Tyrantrum. It's not for everybody though. In fact, you'd have to be insane to follow the same regimen he does…but I managed to survive intact, and so did my partner."

In actual fact, the plan had called for even more workouts than Alex had done, no days off, and a diet of strictly vegetables. He'd had to change it up a bit, as he would always be an omnivore at his core. Meat was as much a part of the 'circle of life' as any vegetable, and after raising a grass type, he didn't see a difference between killing animals or vegetables for food. It always came down to survival. You either ate something once living, or you died. Just like his Gruncle had said.

His response made the old reporter chuckle, as he clearly understood about a fraction of what he'd just said, and then he closed out the show with his usual catch phrase of 'Stay Classy Castelia'.

Before Alex left the set with his granduncle, John Crimson stopped him and said, "Lad, I hear from my loyal man, Danny, he's right over there behind the camera, that you have quite a lovely lady traveling with you." The old five-time Pokémmy winner handed him a dark bottle that was black, light blue, and streaked with gold. "Musk up with this before you see her. It's Luxray Musk. Illegal in nine countries. Makes women crazy."

Alex stared at the old man with the glorious mustache that was offset by his crooked bottom teeth, for a long time. Then, he pocketed the bottle, and said, "Thank you. I don't really need it though. I actually own a Luxray."

"Getting it from the source. I like that. It's smart. But trust me, sixty percent of the time, it works every time." John Crimson winked, as he watched the Trainer leave. Alex shook his head.

"He took the bottle." Professor Redwood said, grinning, and the two old timers laughed for a good minute before their aged lungs forced them into a coughing fit.

Sahqoreyth · Mar 16, 2024

Chapter 9: Unova, Part 1

Basement Level of PNN's HQ - New Tork City, Unova Region

Alex thought long and hard about what he was about to say, ironically, more than he'd thought about what to say in an interview on live TV. He considered this next conversation one that was far more important.

He was on his way to his dressing room, where he'd left his bag, when he was suddenly tackled from behind, though the smaller form didn't move his larger one very much. Feeling a familiar press against his back, he smirked, even as dainty hands covered his eyes.

"There you are…so…how did I do?" He felt Jess giggle against him.

"You're wasting time. Do you know how many Trainers he interviews weekly? You could be in Opelucid by now." Her tone was teasing, but her words were true. He'd been dragging his feet a bit since coming back from the Dragon Mountain, and it became obvious why when he'd battled Connor.

Now he was dragging again, hoping to run into his friend and travel with him, the way they'd wanted to since they were ten, envious of Trainers in places like Kanto who started so early, but usually without a thorough education.

"I have one more thing to do here. Wait for me at the Pokémon Center. I won't be long, and then we can get to Driftveil." He felt her nod, and then slide off of him.

"I'm going to challenge Burgh, and then fly to Nacrene City, and get that Badge, while you waste time." She bopped his nose, then walked away, swaying her hips on purpose. He shook his head, then continued on down the hallway, stopping when he heard a creepy noise from a dark adjoining hallway, leading down presumably to the basement, or sewers.

"Muuuuuuuuuuuuuuk." Alex blinked, watching as a literal herd of poison type sludge monsters came towards him. "Mmmmmmmuuuuuuuuuukkkkk!" They cried continuously.

Then as they reached for his pocket, he understood why, and brought out the bottle of Luxray Musk. They stared at it, their sludge-eyes forming into hearts as they saw it. Finally properly creeped out, he threw it down the hallway, and he was pretty sure the Muk it landed on was devoured by the others.

Alex was just about ready to leave the city, after that display. The scent of a Muk was what gave people cancerous tumors in their lungs. If you left it in a sewer, and not open air, at least. This wasn't the first time he'd seen strange places for Pokémon to live while in the city. It was definitely a unique place, with unique people. You couldn't walk down the street without seeing someone his rural townies back home would call 'abnormal'.

He stopped again, before descending to the lowest basement of the building where the dressing rooms were. There was a…nagging sensation in his head, like a voice, but not, urging him to come towards it. Normally, his skeptical nature would make him ignore such a strange thing, but he could tell this one was tinged with worry, loneliness, fear, and many other negative emotions.

He followed the directions, and instead went to the penthouse of the building. Once he met the source of the nagging sensation, it guided him to another floor, where he surmised the employees of the PNN building lived. Living at work was illegal for many reasons, but only one group got away with it, claiming that their 'beliefs' would be infringed upon if it wasn't allowed.

He didn't have to guess which group was using freedom of belief to hide behind and abuse their workers. It was a play straight from the Acrean's own handbook, a truly disturbing read that his Gruncle had a copy of, and had let him peruse once.

Fuming inwardly after what he'd discovered in the two upper floor rooms, he once more descended to the basement, and the dressing rooms, two Pokéballs heavier. Several of the gathered aides were female, and rather attractive, but there was one blonde in particular who, in his opinion, came rather close to Jess in looks. A 'perfect ten' as the numerous male influences in his life would 'rate her'. She was very obviously holding a can of some kind of spray he had a feeling was made specifically to repel creepy men. She was about to say something, as she saw his eyes, drawn by pure instinct to her generous attributes, when Joey appeared between them.

"Oh, hello Mr. Redwood. Welcome back. We're here, as you requested." They were all very obviously still on edge and eyed him expectantly.

He was almost tempted to try to poke fun at them, just to see the reaction, but then he remembered the conditions he'd found upstairs. He sighed instead, saying "What have these zealots done to you people?"

The tension bled from the room, and the blonde lowered her can. Finally able to tear his eyes from her glorious cleavage, he closed his eyes, letting the pause grow as he calmed himself.

This took about half a second as he looked back up at all of them this time, saying "I called you all here because I saw the conditions you're forced to work in, and wanted to help...but then I discovered the conditions I can only assume you're forced to sleep in, as well." The group shared nervous looks. They'd been expecting some strange sexually oriented request, but his tone was veering towards rebellion against their employer. At a normal job, loyalty might have kept them from considering it. At this one, it was fear, and terrible living conditions, that kept them in line. The blonde girl, despite her looks, was no idiot. She knew a way out when she saw one, and this Redwood had sway with John Crimson himself.

The blonde was definitely gorgeous, but his momentary distraction was based on instinct as old as the human race, and those instincts had been controlled years ago, by pure willpower. His eyes did not wander as he met the eyes of each person gathered. The blonde raised a brow at him. They all did, as if they didn't quite believe what he said.

Alex turned to Joey then when nobody spoke, "I found your... 'apartment'. I'm guessing they gave you that 'room' because you're in charge? Well, the door was unlocked, and there were some shady people in there, stuffing your Pokéball into a bag, as there was nothing else of value in there except a sleeping mat." Alex held out the Pokéball. "You shouldn't leave home without it. It's dangerous to go alone." Joey took the ball, and it shook, opening, and revealing a Raticate in a flash of white.

Joey knelt down to his friend. "I'm sorry…" He looked up at Alex, "You're right…my Raticate is the best, in the top percentage of Raticate actually, and he should always be with me. But…" He looked back down at his Pokémon, "The higher ups don't allow us to let them out or have them on us. This building is owned by the Arcean Church, you see…and they don't allow Pokémon they don't control on their property...and since we all essentially live here and work fourteen-hour shifts…we have no choice but to leave them in their balls."

The blonde spoke up, then. "Even our bosses don't have Pokémon, but John Crimson doesn't work enough to miss his Ninetales these days. I know that during your interview, he didn't have his Ninetales on him though. Like Joey said, they're...strict about who can have Pokémon on them, on their property."

Alex had a good guess as to what she meant by strict. He was familiar with the Church's not-so-subtle punishments and knew what employees like these risked by asking for a raise, let alone bringing in their Pokémon. The disciplinary actions given out by Arceans were well documented. From physical beatings to psychological torture while they were hooked up to a Pokémeter, the very least they risked by involving their Pokémon was having them taken, and never seeing them again. There were rumors though, that sometimes, the Pokémon in question did return...but when they did, they were violent, constantly angry, and had a tendency to attack anything that moved, ordered to or not. In such cases, they had to be kept in their balls for safety, and anyone in the Church specializing in Pokémon health simply claimed they were fine. His granduncle had explained that these were the signs of Shadow Infusion, a highly illegal and immoral practice, but one the Arceans often used, or so the Professor claimed. He had refused to elaborate on how he knew that, though. The Church, of course, denied any such actions were ever given out. They denied any negative allegation, loudly and publicly. Even when hard evidence to the contrary was readily accessible. It was a good bet that if they denied something oddly specific, they were responsible for doing it. Often, one could accurately guess what they were guilty of, as their denials were usually focused on a very specific single misdeed, instead of vague ones.

More than that, they accused the people who reported these incidents of being the worst kind of scum. Pedophilia, thievery, drug use, any seemingly negative, and usually baseless, accusation they made was a total fabrication. Little more than an attempt to slander people. And yet, many humans bought into it.

When a large group of people picketed your neighbor's house and told you they were a pedophile, most people were gullible enough to buy into the lie. It was an effect of being in crowds. He'd written a report on it, once, back in university.

Alex considered the blonde woman's words. "That means he doesn't have Ninetales with him now. Joey. Let's go pay your 'boss' a visit."

Joey nodded, and the two left the room, and headed back up into the shooting studio. Arthur appeared alongside Joey's Raticate, acting protective over all of them. He'd had trouble forming his arms into swords, hence his use of Psychic and not Psycho Cut, but it didn't seem to be an issue now that he needed them.

He was readying a Night Slash, and as their group reached the studio, a pinkish white energy appeared within the dark energy on his arms, swirling into a Taijitu symbol on each arm, albeit a rather elongated one given their shape.

Neither Alex nor Joey seemed to notice the swirl of energy Arthur summoned, but their audience did. Most of the vacationing elite of Castelia were still there, partying in the now vacated studio, but John Crimson was in a corner, with an ominous older gentleman, clad in a large cloak that looked like it had been purchased from a movie involving one of those classic stereotypical villain types. Alex and Joey walked over to them, with both of their Pokémon out.

The older gentleman was wearing a badge upon his chest in the shape of Arceus' symbol that very obviously insinuated that he was a 'holy man' of the Arcean Church. What was strange, however, was the fact that he was wearing a hood, indoors. A flash of red gleamed from beneath the hood as the man raised his head to examine the two youths approaching him.

"Can we help you?" He asked in a gravely irritated tone, looking at Joey for an instant before moving his gaze to focus on Alex. Judging by the stoop in his back, and his voice, the man was older than he seemed. There was something familiar about him, in a manner Alex couldn't quite place. The cut of the robe's style, the gold and white mantle that surrounded his shoulders and almost looked like a castle parapet.

Alex was still smirking as he eyed the man, despite his growing feeling of unease, "No, not really. We have no need for any guidance in 'holy' matters. We're here to speak with Mr. Crimson." Alex pulled out another Pokéball that wasn't his own, an Old School crank turn type design that was as fiery in coloration as the Pokémon inside it.

Ninetales had led Alex into John Crimson's home and had been responsible for starting this entire situation, and Alex had figured out that the Pokémon had guided him there because 'Tailsy' as he was called, knew that his owner would soon need him thanks to a psychic premonition. He'd guided him to Joey's Raticate as well, just in time to prevent a theft. Alex knew better than to question a premonition of a Pokémon with latent psychic power. The ball opened on its own, and the Ninetales within appeared in a flash of fiery red light. He wrapped his tails protectively around John Crimson and snarled at the strange old man.

The old man glared at the aging reporter. "Crimson...how dare you...you know the rules. Pokémon are not allowed at work, where they can be pushed around, and mistreated...you remember what happened the last time we allowed them. Leaving them at home is for their benefit."

John Crimson looked down at his Ninetales, who looked at him at the same time. It was obvious where Tailsy preferred to be.

"Can you confidently say there is no truth in what I'm telling you?" The old man limped towards the reporter, and that was when Alex noticed he had a cane in his left hand, though he couldn't get a good look at it, the familiarity only increased, nagging at his brain to remember why this man looked so familiar.

"Pokémon contain unlimited potential..." He continued, in his gravelly but charismatic tone made hoarse by age, "They do not belong in Human buildings, confined to wandering small spaces for hours at a time, every day. You may think leaving them behind is cruel, but is it not crueler to have them be bored for hours at a time, confined to a small space? Or worse, abused by some stranger when you're distracted? At least their balls can be infinitely entertaining and keep them safely in one place."

The old reporter kept his eyes on his fire fox. "I... I don't..." He was clearly struggling to argue against the relatively sound logic coming from the man.

That was when Alex realized who this old man was, as it all clicked in an instant. "Ghetsis…" He hissed quietly. He finally remembered. Long ago, when he'd been younger, he'd watched a video of the notorious villain, taken by way of camera phone, as he gave his first known public address, back when Team Plasma had appeared honorable, knightly, even kind. Their idealistic claims had drawn many to their cause. At first. Then they'd told people to release their Pokémon, something the vast majority of people and Pokémon had not wanted to do. That was when Team Plasma started setting them free by force, usually by stealing them.

He'd used almost exactly the same words now, and Alex too had once thought that he'd had a point, even though he'd been young. It had taken his Gruncle to set him straight by reminding him of one simple truth that every Trainer shared, and as he remembered that lecture, he started to repeat parts of it.

"Some people have them as pets...others use them to Battle...at times we play together...other times, we work together..." The cloaked Ghetsis, Joey, and John Crimson were now looking at him, and Joey was grinning ear to ear. Every kid heard this speech at one point or another. Professors the world over went to classrooms all the time, making sure the next generation understood the world they lived in.

Alex stepped next to the old reporter and put a hand on his shoulder as he quoted his granduncle, "But the most important thing to remember about Pokémon, any Pokémon, is that they're our friends." He turned his glare to Ghetsis then, and Arthur joined him in standing between the man and John Crimson. "There are no bad Pokémon...just bad Trainers."

"Nonsense!" The shout from Ghetsis drew the small crowd of the live studio audience's attention to their little corner once more, and murmurs filled the air as they noticed the Gallade with the shining arms, and the strange symbol. Gilroy Redwood, who'd been chatting up several older ladies in the crowd who were gray, but still far too young for him, also noticed the symbol, and stared at it in awe.

Few remembered now what the sign of the Unovan Dragon's empire had been, long, long ago in Unova's golden age, but the Professor was a learned man with a specialty in ancient and unique Pokémon, and the myths surrounding them. He eyed his relative with a new respect. Perhaps he would be the one to do it...that would make the effort of setting this stage for him worth it. He didn't quite know what Ghetsis had on his belt these days, but given the rumors coming from the Victory Plateau, he had a good idea. He'd maneuvered his idealistic grandnephew here knowing that seeing the Church's working conditions would set him on the path to the truth of what was going on in PNN's headquarters. He was bonded to a Gallade, after all. If this kind of thing didn't tweak his sense of justice, nothing would.

Ghetsis continued, devolving into a rant as he slammed his cane into the mahogany floor of the studio. "Pokémon are meant to be used not played with! They're incredible sources of energy! Friends...pagh!" He spat on the floor then, glaring at the arrogant Trainer from under his hood, oblivious to the looks he'd drawn.

Alex turned his hat backwards but did not smirk. He couldn't afford bravado against a threat like Ghetsis. "I knew this 'No Pokémon' rule was tied to Plasma filth..." He said, glaring right back, "The rest of Unova has accepted that Team Plasma was wrong, hypocrite. Your son helped dismantle your organization years ago. Move on already. This is just...sad."

Arthur's eyes glowed with Psychic energy then, and the robes on Ghetsis' ancient body flared up, revealing a full-size team of six Pokémon on his belt. He glared at Alex furiously as the rest of the room noticed this literal hypocrisy. He raised a hand to strike him, but then remembered the crowd was still watching, and he was still representing the Church, to these, their potential and wealthy donors.

"I'll meet you outside, boy…I will not be humiliated by some random Trainer from who-knows-where..." He thumped out of the studio, and down the stairs, muttering, "Not again..."

The room went silent, and all eyes shifted to him. Alex understood then and nodded to himself. Nobody here was actually good enough to beat Ghetsis, a man known for abusing his Pokémon, and attacking civilians. They knew he was a criminal, but none of John Crimson's guests were willing to ruin their night by involving the police. He'd forced them all to follow his absurd rules through fear. Yet another Arcean tactic, straight from their 'Prophet' and his 'playbook' but it was one that would backfire. Alex was not afraid of the aged villain, and Arthur was practically glowing with confidence. He was, in fact, literally glowing, beyond just his arms, but Alex was too busy planning to face Ghetsis to notice the aura of light around his Gallade.

Alex hurried down to meet him outside, emerging to his Cofagrigus' Shadow Ball as soon as the building's doors opened. Luckily, Arthur was there with his Night Slash from his glowing, swirling arms. A second slash followed the first, slashing right through the tomb Pokémon's ghostly body. It fainted in a single hit, but Ghetsis already had his Bouffalant and Bisharp out. Blaze joined Arthur as Alex threw his ball, giving them the type advantage, as they'd practiced.

A pair of double Brick Breaks from Arthur into the charging Bouffalant and his partner damaged the Bisharp, but took down the bull Pokémon completely. Blaze finished off the Bisharp with a timely Flamethrower that was launched so fast mid-flight, it couldn't have been dodged.

Their training weights were off now, and they were benefiting from the long hours of wearing them in so many battles with Trainers on the road into Nimbasa, and then the Boulevard to Castelia.

As Ghetsis recalled his Pokémon, Alex did the same. This slippery bastard would claim the battle was unfair if he'd left them out during the next round. His notorious Hydreigon appeared, and Alex brought out Shruikan without hesitating.

Shruikan had been training solely for the Opelucid gym, and the battle against the Gym Leader, Iris, and now his weights were off as well. His minor temper flare during the battle with Connor had been smoothed out, and now his sole wish was to evolve. Anything that would help him get experience, he did willingly, trusting his Trainer to lead him on the right path to attaining flight. All he could do now to honor his fallen father was prove that the strength he'd inherited was worthy of recognition.

It was clear Shruikan was unusual somehow, his granduncle had muttered something about 'Pokérus' when he'd examined his ball, but hadn't explained what that meant, exactly. Alex figured that only flames from a Legendary Pokémon like a Moltres would be strong enough to evolve his Shelgon, so he'd been listening carefully to the world news, waiting for a Tamer of such a Legendary Pokémon to appear within his reach. For now, a fight against this Hydreigon would be a good test of how much stronger he was after so many battles.

Dragon Trainers were common in Unova, and Shruikan had seen some serious battle time. The two dragon types traded furious Dragon Pulses, and Shruikan rolled out of the way of them, firing back when he could, but both of the arm-heads on the fierce dragon type would launch Dragonbreaths as well, whenever he stopped. Ghetsis wasn't obeying League rules, and Alex adjusted accordingly. Shruikan's Dragon Pulse was, by now, a ball of dense energy, similar to his teammate's moves like Energy Ball and Mud Shot or Water Pulse, but Ghetsis' Pokémon used a stream of that energy, wild and uncontrolled when it spewed from one of three mouths.

When Shruikan's attack blocked his Dragonbreath so easily, it infuriated the barely tamed Hydreigon, and all three heads attacked at once. Shruikan used Protect, taking the hit, and then retaliated with another dense, swirling Dragon Pulse, scoring a direct hit on the other dragon. It went down slowly, but Shruikan followed up with another Dragon Pulse, and ended the round.

Ghetsis' Drapion met a similar fate at the hands of Terra's Earthquake, and the old man laughed, then, in disbelief. "I didn't expect to need him for this. This was a routine security check for the building…it should've taken five minutes, and now I'm Battling a boy in the middle of a street whose pushed me to this..."

It was a summer night, and the foot traffic on the Castelian street had stopped to gather around the two Trainers duking it out. The crowd had only swelled when it heard Ghetsis was involved, his hood now fallen, many people recognized him.

What nobody could believe was that another Trainer was beating him, and he wasn't even a Champion. Ghetsis had evaded capture for years because of his power, and now, he was being beaten in public by a relative nobody. It also helped that Alex and his team were on point with their type counters, and the fire of youth.

Ghetsis hadn't intended this battle to last past that first surprise Shadow Ball, but he'd forgotten about the glowing Gallade. The crowd gasped then, as he called out his ace, and Alex stared in horror at the monstrosity they had all heard was long gone. A forced fusion of Reshiram and Kyurem, by way of machines, specifically the DNA Splicers. Man's last attempt to reunite the Original Dragon had only resulted in a forced fusion with either Zekrom or Reshiram, never both.

Alex knew what he had to do then as he recalled Terra and brought out Shruikan once more, and his energy seemed to flare and focus as the crowd cheered him on. As hot as White Kyurem's Ice Burn was, Shruikan could handle hotter when he used Protect, and countered with a Dragon Pulse, hitting the abomination hard enough to stop it in its tracks.

Flames burned bright as the body of Kyurem connected to Reshiram's power, and it became apparent that Shruikan had merely stunned the Legendary Pokémon. As it readied another Ice Burn, it gave Shruikan time. The white half of the Pokémon seemed to be reluctant to listen, as if Reshiram was yet within, and aware of his chance at freedom. Kyurem had zero issues taking down a Shelgon, though. Even if it was at Ghetsis' order. The human was strong, and dragons respected strength.

The fused dragons had been slowed long enough for Shruikan to aim an attack at the DNA splicer that was forcing the two together, as destroying it would likely break them apart. A brief fiery golden aura that nobody seemed to notice surrounded Shruikan, and his Dragon Pulse turned red as he condensed the energy before his mouth and fired the sparking ball of pure dragon power at the 'wings' on the ice dragon's backside, as he gave the Dragon Pulse the necessary spin to curve in the air and hit where it needed to hit. The point where the man-made item was fusing the two Legendary dragons. As soon as that happened, the lines connecting Kyurem and Reshiram were torn apart by the Dragon Pulse's explosion of energy. As they glowed bright white, one dragon became two, Reshiram was freed with a majestic roar, and the monstrosity that was Kyurem roared right after, freezing the feet of every nearby human before it stomped off to the north, through the city, leaving a trail of icy terrain in a line straight to the Giant Chasm.

Life had just begun to return to the chasm, but now, it would surely vanish as the product of man's desire to war with each other, which had split the Original Dragon apart, returned with an icy vengeance.

Reshiram examined Alex for a long moment, and a noble, strong telepathic voice echoed in his skull, and his alone, "Come to the Victory Plateau...the time has finally arrived...come..." It gave him a last look over, then blasted upwards as its tail propelled it easily through the air, and headed north as well, but towards the Pokémon League, to his Tamer. The Champion.

Ghetsis stared at the shattered DNA machines on the ground in pure disbelief, and then rage. "You fool…what have you done!? You've ruined any chance of uniting the Dragon!"

Alex just shook his head. "My truth is stronger than your skewed ideals. You only want the Dragon for power, but the more you take by force, the less you will truly have. Over and over, you have been shown this lesson, by each of Unova's many Champions. It ends here. You will never have the chance to cause strife like this again."

Arthur held Ghetsis in place with Psychic as Alex freed most of his team from their balls. Cofagrigus and Hydreigon stayed, but the rest left with Trainers from the onlooking crowd. Not even prison was able to split up Trainer and Pokémon, which meant the guards of their prisons had to be serious Trainers, lest they be overwhelmed. The police arrived with their various partners, as Castelia was quite diverse, and Ghetsis was finally taken away in cuffs. Hopefully he'd stay there this time.

With the PNN crew now outright demanding the allowing of Pokémon teams in the building from their Arcean overlords, Alex decided to move on, assuming that their issue with the Arcean's rules was over.

Beating one of their enforcers made it clear that he was ready and willing to back them up against any threat they received from Church members, and with Pokémon of their own, he hoped the employees would be able to avoid feeling threatened. The Church backed down against public displays like Pokémon Battles like the one he'd just had. Under no circumstance was it okay for an Arcean owned building to be visited by police. Their image could not be tarnished.

Alex met up with a worn-out Jess again several hours later at the Pokémon Center, and the two began the long trek to Driftveil as he explained what she'd missed. His street brawl with the former Boss of Team Plasma had gained him some more popularity, and many Trainers wanted a chance to face down the man who'd split apart White Kyurem and lived to tell the tale. They spent most of the journey battling, as always. When they finally crossed the bridge into Driftveil, they headed for the Pokémon Center, and the next morning, were ready to hit the gym.

Or rather, Alex was. Jess went into the Clay Tunnel to train her Serperior, while Alex and his grass and water types, both of whom were quite at home surrounded by earth, steamrolled through Clay's miners. It didn't take the Underground Boss long to realize this latest challenger was taking out all of his Trainers in his maze of a gym challenge, on purpose, before coming to the Leader.

Clay muttered to himself. "Smug little…"

The Swampert got a Potion and Elixir, before the black and white clad Trainer in his modern style hoodie finally approached Clay's platform, which then lowered into the mine, descending into a truly massive cavern, at the bottom of which was a standard ground themed battlefield, with the League approved layout.

Hydrus had honed his Water Pulse against the ground types, and his Mud Shot against the steel types, until the two Moves were at equal strength. By the time they reached Clay, Alex felt confident they could pull off a dual type Move, if they had to.

The Underground Boss looked over his challenger, as the lift descended. "You 'aint here for a regular ol' Battle, are ya son?"

Alex shook his head, and Clay nodded. His giant white hat nodded with him, and Alex resisted smirking as he continued. "In that case, I'm goin' ta hafta get my oldest friend ta wake up...I saw how you rumbled my Miners. This here field of mine can handle any Moves you have, so don't be worried about lettin' 'em loose. It's my job to make sure yer ready for what lies ahead. From here on, the Gym Leaders will be usin' a special kind o' Move."

Alex nodded. "Burgh mentioned something about that. We've been practicing a kind of dual typed Move...but once I see yours, I'm sure we can replicate it."

Clay chuckled. "Them there Plate crystals you discovered from the Dragon Mountain; we've always known they were somethin' special. Unovan Gym Leaders have been perfecting these kinds o' Moves with similar crystals fer years. Yer the first to try'em for Mega Evolution, but whoo nanny, boy, you've started a trend."

Alex shrugged, as they finally reached the bottom of the mine. "I just pointed it at my Charizard...he did the rest."

Clay looked him over for a moment, then sighed. "Yer more involved than ya know...but once you master yer dual typed Move, you'll understand. It takes two, fer that kind o' power up."

Clay took his side of the field, and Alex waited patiently on his for the older Gym Leader to hobble on over to his spot. Once in the box, his posture straightened, and the pickaxe he'd been using as a cane was swung around effortlessly, before being slammed in the ground.

He drew his first Pokémon, and Alex saw a full team, waiting for him. Clay was usually regarded as a hard Gym Leader to beat, with how effective his 'double Earthquake' strategy was, for Trainers gullible enough to accept a Double Battle with the Underground Boss, but in a one on one, Alex assumed his strategy would probably shift. He reached for Hydrus's ball, and smirked, as he saw what Clay threw out first, true to form.

A massive Krookodile appeared across the field, and as the two ground types locked eyes, Alex knew, the Battle had begun. Hydrus looked at Alex, and made a pleading face, but he shook his head. He wasn't going to use Connor's crystal for Mega Evolution. He did intend to return it; it was vital for Gren's power after all. "You can handle this, Hydrus. Get close with Aqua Jet, and then use Water Pulse!"

Water surrounded the Swampert's entire body, and the usually slow on land mudfish sped through the air, as his hands formed his Water Pulse. Clay wasn't one to just sit and take a Move like that, though.

"Krookodile...counter it with yer Dark Mud Shot!" The dark and ground type made a similar motion with his claws, and between them, a projectile of dark energy and ground energy swirled together in a Taijitu pattern that was familiar to Alex's eyes but seeing it in a move was a first for him.

Hydrus's Water Pulse was dense enough to meet the dual typed projectile, and then cancel it out with type advantage, and an explosion. Both Pokémon slid back to their sides of the field, as their moves collided.

Alex changed tactics then, to a move that probably should always have been classified as dual typed. "Muddy Water!" Hydrus inhaled, and then spewed a Water Gun at the ground. He raised his hands then, and the wave of water and mud surged towards Krookodile.

"Sand Tomb!" Clay said, as the Krookodile buried itself in its own Move. "Now while yer under there...rock'em with an Earthquake!"

"Hydrus, Earthquake as well!" Alex countered, and as the Krookodile popped up from the damp sand it had used as a shield, the two ground typed Pokémon built up the energy in their hands and slammed them down. The entire mine rumbled, as pieces of earth smashed into other pieces of earth, but ultimately, it was Hydrus who got the lucky hit, as one of his jutting rocks nailed the Krookodile in the stomach. Alex capitalized on the opening. "Now Aqua Jet!"

Hydrus barreled into the dark ground gator, driving him across the field with what was essentially Tackle, but with water involved. Clay wasn't giving up though. "Krookodile. Tie it down with Grass Knot!"

"Ice Beam, now!" Alex said, and as the Krookodile tried summoning the grass energy, Hydrus froze him solid with a beam of ice to the face, at a very close range. "Boss Clay's Krookodile is unable to Battle! The round goes to the Challenger, and his Swampert!"

Hydrus roared as the Miner referee called the round, but Clay didn't waste time. "Seismitoad! Yer up!"

Alex grimaced as he saw the Gym Leader's choice and knew that if he wanted Clay to play into his plan for this match, he needed to switch. "Hydrus, well done, take a rest." He said, as he called the mudfish. He seemed almost disappointed, but Alex wanted to draw out the Underground Boss' secret weapon. "Terra! Start us off with Seed Bomb!"

Terra appeared in a flash of green, opened his mouth, and drew the grass energy into his body, instead of condensing it. From the ash tree on his back came several oar shaped seeds, limned in grass energy. They began perforating the field as they came near the Seismitoad.

Clay had only a second to counter, but that was all he needed. "Hyper Voice!" The burly water and ground typed toad opened his mouth, and with nothing but sound, turned away most of the Seed Bombs.

A few managed to get through though, and Alex spoke again. "Seed Bomb! Bombard it until it falls, Terra."

Clay grimaced. "Dodg'em with Rain Dance! Then hit it with Ice Punch!"

The Seismitoad managed to dodge most of the projectiles with its odd dance, and as water began drizzling over the field, the Seismitoad got faster. Then, it charged at Terra, leaping across the field, its right fist encased in ice energy.

Alex smirked. It was a quadruple weakness for both sides, the winner would be whoever managed to hit harder. "Just before it strikes...Wood Hammer!" Terra crouched low as the relatively slow toad came for it.

As the Seismitoad punched, Terra whirled in place as he caused a circle of the earth beneath him to spin rather than try moving his massive bulk. The rotating turtle dodged the icy fist and brought his green glowing armored head around to hammer his opponent with Wood Hammer. Terra had a slight bruise where he'd slammed the Seismitoad, but otherwise, he was still fine. Clay, however, was less fine. His eyes were wide as his Seismitoad was sent hurtling across the field from what was arguably Terra's strongest move, aside from Frenzy Plant. Alex hadn't wanted Clay to take advantage of temporary exhaustion, and thus had gone with the self-damaging move instead. As Terra was still fresh, it hadn't hurt too much.

Clay recalled his Seismitoad, and glared across the field at his smirking opponent. "I think it's about time someone knocked you off yer high horse! Mamoswine!"

Alex gave the command as soon as the ice mammoth appeared. "Seed Bomb!" Terra didn't waste time, and in the perpetual light drizzle, his grass moves seemed stronger. A storm of green oar shaped seeds hammered the bulky mammoth, and it groaned, one front leg bending, as the super effective onslaught hurt it, but didn't bring it down. Alex hadn't expected a KO, as Mamoswine was a tank like Torterra. All they had to do now was survive.

"Mamoswine! Shake it off, an' then use Icicle Crash!" Clay gestured at the Torterra, and his Mamoswine began charging, as the bone-white tusks became encased in ice.

Alex and Terra kept their smirks consistent. "Protect." A barrier of green energy kept the Icicle Crash from landing, as the Mamoswine struggled against it. Once the Moves ran out of power, Alex called his counter. "Wood Hammer!"

The rebound off the Protect had left the icy pig mammoth open, at which point Terra headbutted it. It didn't sail like Clay's Seismitoad, but Alex's starter once more brought down a member of his team.

"That Torterra o' yers is somethin' else, son. I admit, y'all have quite a bit o' power on yer belt...but it'll take more'n power to win in my Gym! Golurk! Yer up!" The Underground Boss tossed his next contestant, and he was quick to go on the offensive. "Take it out! Ice Punch!"

Alex grimaced, as he learned the hard way that Clay did in fact have a TM for that particular Move. The Golurk rocketed forward, its feet folding up rapidly into its skirt armor as one fist extended, and clocked Terra right on the jaw. He winced, but weathered the hit, and readied himself for the counterattack. "We can't let it hit twice! Frenzy Plant!"

"Toooorrrterra!" Green energy radiated from his grass tortoise's shell, and then, rapidly, it surged into the ground. Once more, the mine shook, and the onlooking Miners had semi-traumatic flashbacks as they recalled the last time their precious mine had been filled with vines, by the soon to be Champion, Rosa. That had also been around the time Clay had acquired his icy TM.

Golurk had been one of several on Clay's team who had been on vine clearing duty, and it was for this moment that Clay had gotten them used to punching through a Frenzy Plant. He only made one miscalculation, and that was the difference between a Serperior's vines, and a Torterra's.

Golurk found itself inexplicably stuck against the disturbingly sturdy dark green vine, but before its simple brain could process what had happened, the move hit, and took the ghostly ground type down.

"Return, Terra." Alex said, as he gave his battle worn partner a rest. Clay recalled his fallen automaton as well and shook his head. "You shoulda kept 'im out, son. Yer Swampert ain't goin' ta fare well 'gainst what's comin'."

Before Alex could draw his ball, Hydrus popped free, onto the field, and slammed it with nothing but his bare fists. The mine shuddered, not quite as hard as when Earthquaked, but still enough to be impressive. "Swaaaaaamp!"

"I wouldn't underestimate my Pokémon, Leader Clay. They can hear you. I know what's coming, and so does Hydrus. This was always the plan." Alex said, with a smirk. He turned his hat backwards.

Clay arched an eyebrow, narrowed his weathered orbs, and threw his next ball. "Big talk. But talk is cheap, son. Come on an' try backin' up yer words." What appeared next was a Flygon, and the lingering rain shifted to sand, and then mud, as Flygon appeared, but failed to summon the Sandstorm. For the moment.

Hydrus wouldn't have minded it either way. He liked rain, and sandstorms. "Ice Beam!" Hydrus fired the second his Trainer finished saying 'ice', and the Flygon had little time to dodge. One wing froze, dropping it to the ground, as it struggled to right itself.

"Flygon, use Giga Drain!" Clay said, as he grimaced and gave the command. The temporarily grounded Flygon raised its tail, and from it radiated the vampiric grass typed energy meant to damage and heal. Hydrus winced as he weathered the hit, and like Terra, fell to about half his strength.

"Delaying the inevitable. Ice Beam!" Hydrus fired, right as the Flygon freed itself and dodged, but the mudfish kept firing, and two beams later, it struck the ground dragon once more with its quadruple weakness, and sent it crashing to the ground, fainted. The ref called the round, and Clay brought his last ball out.

"It's been a minute since I've had cause to call on this here Excadrill...time to wake up, ol' friend! We have a serious Trainer, fer once." At his words the unmoving sleeping form of the Excadrill opened and glanced at Hydrus. Slowly, it rose to its full height, putting them at eye level to the other. Excadrill flexed his claws, and Clay called the first strike. "Start us off strong, an' don' let up! Drill Run!"

"Dodge! Hit it with Water Pulse once it gets close!" Hydrus nodded, and formed the dense sphere of water, as the still Drill Running Excadrill continued to whizz past Hydrus, into the ground, and then up again.

Hydrus crouched low and waited for the earth to tell him where the violently spinning Excadrill was coming from. Then, he turned, and whammied its face with the condensed water, sending it sliding across the ground back to Clay's feet. "Right then." Clay said, as he looked down, and then at his challengers. "It's about time we got serious. Ground on the right, Steel on the left. You know the drill! Crush Claw!"

Alex's brow furrowed, and then he realized what was coming. The problem was that Hydrus needed a moment to charge his own dual typed Move, and Clay's was the kind of attack that took focus to dodge, with how fast it was. The Excadrill came for Hydrus, claws limned with differing energy types, as he charged forward.

Alex resorted to his usual strategy, as he needed to buy time. "Earthquake! Then start charging." Hydrus nodded, and responded immediately, once more shattering the underground battlefield. He saw quickly that the Excadrill was barreling through the jutting rocks coming for him with his dual claws, but in the upended chaos of the field, Hydrus had stealthed away behind a larger boulder and began fusing his Mud Shot and Water Pulse into a single, balanced sphere of energy.

"There! See the glow, Excadrill? Crush Claw that boulder, an' anythin' behind it!" Clay crowed with triumph in his voice, but Alex was ready.

"Hop back, Hydrus. Then fire it." Clay's triumphant expression faltered, but it was too late. Excadrill crushed the rock with ease via its steel limned claw, and the ground typed one surged forward, only to meet a similarly dual typed move, an impossibly dense sphere of water and ground typed energy, that the Swampert had tossed up, and then punched in his opponent's direction.

There was a boom, and a cloud of dust covered the field. When it cleared, the field was in one piece again, Hydrus stood, damaged but victorious, and Clay's strongest Pokémon lay unconscious on the ground. The Underground Boss recalled him then. "Well done, ol' friend. Ya did good."

Clay grabbed his pickaxe, and then hobbled to the center of the field. Alex met him halfway and gave Hydrus a Hyper Potion. "Well done, son. You an' yer team 'ave got a lotta potential. What dream are ya aimin' for that gives you an' yer partners such drive?"

Alex scratched Hydrus' under chin as he answered. "The top, Leader Clay. I'm going to try to become Unova's latest Champion...and then, I'll be entering the World Tournament."

Clay smiled at that. "I remember the World Tournament. Brought all kindsa folk on down to Driftveil, back in the day. It's been a minute since we hosted it, but now yall have that fancy new buildin', I guess ya don't need ol' Driftveil."

Alex shook his head. "Your TM vendors and Move masters are second to none in Unova, and the old PWT building is still battle worthy, isn't it?"

Clay shook his head. "Not since Nate and Lance had a go, and their dragons all but tore it down in the process. Listen, son if you plan on winnin' the World Tournament, yer gonna need to do a lot more trainin'. I've seen Leon Battle, an' he aint alone in usin' Moves to keep his partners from bein' damaged. You've gotta master that, an' with only four Moves, get a win. Still think yer World Champ material?"

Alex nodded. "We're just getting started. The latter half of Unova will take my team to where it needs to be for the Elite Four, and two Champions. I'm sure I'll find ways to get stronger after that, too. Red did. Maybe I'll hang around the Clay Tunnel's deeper levels for a bit, once I'm at the top."

"You become the Champ, an' you'll be welcome in my tunnels whenever ya like. Here's yer Elite Quake Badge. I'd give ya an Earthquake TM, but yer already stocked up, from what I've seen. Good luck against Skyla, an' a word o' advice...don't try usin' Rock Types against her. She's ready for'em. She'll never admit it, but she's less ready fer Electric Types."

Alex nodded again. "I have one that can sweep her Gym...he's due for some training anyways. Thank you for the Battle sir, until we meet again."

Alex took the elevator up to the top level, just in time to see a certain fiery redhead walk into the Gym, a bit muddier, and she looked like she'd just crawled through a cave, but otherwise, as beautiful as ever.

He waited in the stands as she and Serpi rumbled Clay in a similar manner Alex had. He did eventually bring Serpi down, and that was when Empolia stepped in, and won her Trainer the Gym Badge with a timely evolution into an Empoleon.

Before they left Driftveil, Alex and Jess paid a visit to the southern part of the city and acquired the TMs for their teammates that they yet lacked. The two spent several minutes loading up their balls with the TM's instructional video guides on how moves worked, and it was only once they were done, that Alex noticed a trio of figures by the old Pokémon World Tournament building.

A trio of older gentlemen were battling in the old World Tournament building's main hall, as the stage was long since broken by the ferocity of the matches there. The new stadium was shaping up to be much more impressive, like the one at Wyndon Stadium. Still, this old building was used for battling by Driftveil's less than upstanding members of society, but today, the famous Triple Trouble Trio were offering a prize before they each finally retired.

Alex approached the men, and when he asked about the challenge, they revealed that they'd been battling all day, giving out their old elite versions of the Trio Badge, from their predecessor's era. The last ones had never all been given out, as the challenge had ended abruptly, and now these spares were offered by the League as counting towards the current challenge, until they ran out at least. They had one left, the pair discovered, and Jess sighed. Alex wanted it bad, she could tell, and his team was itching to battle strong opponents again.

She'd finally outpaced Alex in badges, but she saw the look in his eye, and knew he couldn't resist battling them. It was the perfect chance to train every part of his team. The trio accepted his challenge, offering him their final badge if he could beat them in three six on six gauntlets, one battle against each of them.

Alex agreed, and Cress was up first. He demanded a double battle, and so Terra and Leo teamed up to effectively wipe out his line up with a few Seed Bombs and Thunder Fangs. Leo covered for Terra's ice weakness by hitting those who might know ice moves first, and his Seed Bomb was strong enough to finish off most of them as well.

Cilan also wanted a double battle, which meant that Blaze and Shruikan were up. With a pairing of Flamethrower and Fire Fang, Cilan's team didn't even have a chance. That left Chili, and his fire types, who wanted the glory that came with a one on one battle.

Such battles also came with humiliation, as Hydrus smashed down each of them with Water Pulses and Mud Shots. Blaze had been watching Chili's match, as he had wanted to battle other fire types, and he was instead astounded to see the little Mudkip he'd never seen as much of a threat, or ally, prove how strong he'd become after their last three Gym Battles.

Chili then questioned Hydrus's strength, saying that only Rare Candies could've gotten him to such heights. Alex denied his accusation, and flashed his recently acquired badges. Between road battles and his weight training, Hydrus had become a legitimate threat, and a key battler on his team. Eventually, the hotheaded brother withdrew his accusation, at insistence from the other two. Accusing a Trainer of using such things was serious, and incidents without proof were not taken lightly. One could end up in just as much trouble for falsely accusing a legitimate Trainer.

With the pair several badges heavier, they set off for Mistralton City, and their next Gym Badge.

The path took them through the Chargestone caves, and they found that even coming slightly close to the humming electric crystals made them zip away. The only thing the crystals didn't shy away from was electric types, and rocks, and Alex found out why, when he finally cornered one, and poked it. It was burning hot, and he marveled at the energy within, amazed that someone hadn't already found a way to harness it.

Compared to Clay, the scientists and hikers within the caves were extra experience for the two Trainer's less used Pokémon, and Arthur began seeing some battle time as well, for after Skyla, would come Brycen, and it would be up to the Gallade and the Charizard to give Alex and his team the second to last step on their road to the top of Unova.

Alex wasn't concerned about the flying type loving Gym Leader in Mistralton. By all accounts, Skyla was a bit of an airhead, who had almost lost her Gym license back in the day for handing out Badges in what she'd called 'air battles'. The rumor was that an aspiring Trainer had set her straight when she'd claimed he'd lose against her, and he insisted on a regular battle anyway, and scored a win. Since then, she had reportedly become a bit of a flake, shirking her duties and challengers to fly in her plane as often as possible.

When they exited the Chargestone Caves, Alex and Jess opted to camp outside this time, as most of their teams were still fresh. Jess had been training up her Flaaffy with her Iron Tail against the rock types in the caves, and once they found a spot to camp out, they began working on their electric Moves. Leo helped and got in some practice as well. He'd been taking out Unova's various flying types throughout their road battles, and Alex had promised the Mistralton Gym would make him genuinely powerful. He was also the only one still wearing the weights, and he snarled, willing to Bite whoever tried removing them. His coat had grown long enough to cover them with his fur, and it was unimpeded enough for electricity generation, and conduction. The weights were designed to raise his attack and special attack simultaneously, the only downside was that he was much, much slower.

As the sun set, the humans decided on a movie to watch via their available devices, and while Jess had several romcoms, Alex had insisted that they study Brycen, and his Beartic, which meant the movie of choice was Enter the Beartic. Alex and his father hadn't had many things in common, but the explosion of martial arts movies back in the day had been one thing they'd shared a love of. One movie became a marathon, and though Jess made it through The Way of The Beartic and Fist of Ice, she was asleep for the finale of Brycen's four-part Kung Fu saga, the long-awaited Game of Ice.

Seeing she and her Pokémon were well and truly conked out, Alex found his primarily nocturnal Luxray, and the pair descended into the town. They came across a Pokémon Battlefield on the outskirts, where they found two Trainers going head-to-head. To Alex's eyes, one was using a freshly evolved Magnezone that had probably benefitted from the Chargestone Caves, while the other was struggling along with a tiny Joltik.

The Trainer with the Magnezone had red hair, a thin build, and confidence in his step, while his opponent seemed stressed by the imminent loss in his future. He had glasses, the same hair color as most of humanity, a similarly thin build, and it was then that Alex realized these two were newbies, fresh Trainers who weren't completely green, but still had several shades to go before they lost their green entirely. Alex knew he also had areas to work on, but he could tell these Trainers were fresher than he was in many ways. Most of his experience had come from an education, but these two seemed like they were taking advantage of the summer to train and travel Unova.

Alex watched quietly, his arms crossed, as the Magnezone claimed victory with stronger moves. Not long after their victory, the thin redhead Trainer waved at Alex and Leo from where they were watching and greeted them with a cheery hello. Alex stepped forward then and addressed the victor of the match.

"Hello there. I take it you're training your Electric Types for Skyla, right?" The redheaded teenager nodded, and then his eyes widened as he saw what Alex was standing next to.

"Holy Heracross! Is that a Shiny Luxray!? Wooow! So cool!" The excitable Trainer ran over and offered his hand for Leo to sniff. Leo, as usual, seemed disinterested, but that didn't dissuade the Trainer. "Can I petim?"

Alex shrugged. "He doesn't bite...but you'll know if he doesn't want you touching his fur." The Trainer appeared to take his vague answer as a yes, and while Leo did enjoy the scritches, his sharp eyes were locked on the Magnezone, who was still on the field. Leo trotted away suddenly then and took his place on the opposing side of the field. Electricity bristled through his fur, as he snarled at the Magnezone, who spun up its magnet arms in response. The air crackled as the two electric types revved up.

The redheaded Trainer watched, and then grinned. "Seems like he wants to Battle." He turned to Alex then. "I'm Rick. Rick Astley. Me and my friend Drake here are traveling Unova, to try to become stronger, and stop Team Plasma!"

Alex arched an eyebrow. "I'm Alex Redwood. Team Plasma was disbanded, Rick. Nate, Hugh, and Rosa took them out rather effectively years ago."

As he spoke, the other Trainer, Drake, approached, and pushed up his glasses. "Actually, we ran into them up in Bostonia. They almost stole our Pokémon, but we managed to win in the end. We came down here with one of Interpol's Agents, but he's gone to see the Champion now, so we're just getting Gym Badges at this point."

Alex nodded, and his eyes shifted to the other Trainer. "You probably found a training camp, if they were as far north as Bostonia. Skyla is pretty good at blocking Electric Moves...and Bug Types are weak to Flying Types. Are you sure a Joltik is the best choice?"

Drake shrugged. "It's all I have with a type advantage right now. That, and my Carkol." Alex winced. A Carkoal had a quadruple weakness to Skyla's ace, her Swanna.

At that moment, the two Trainers turned their heads as Rick suavely action swirled into his Trainer box on his side of the field. "I'm ready for more training! Let's do this!"

Alex nodded, and trotted over to his side of the field, when he noticed Leo scratching uselessly at his back. His eyes narrowed as he saw the aforementioned Joltik attached to Leo's back, leeching strength from his Luxray. "Oi! Drake, was it? Recall your Joltik."

Drake raised his Pokéball, then paused. "But eating electricity makes him stronger!"

Alex's eyes narrowed. He could remove it himself. "Leo. Thunder Wave. Aim upwards." The paralyzed Joltik fell off shortly, overwhelmed by the much stronger electric move, and Leo snarled at the tiny bug, sending it, and its fresh Trainer, running away. Drake had his Pokéball out, but the agile and tiny Pokémon dodged the recall beam, and seemed to be enjoying itself, despite its paralysis and the effort it was taking on its Trainer.

Alex looked back at Rick. "I'll let the fresher Trainer strike first." "Lux. Ray." Leo added, sounding rather impressively sarcastic for a Pokémon. The Magnezone spun up its 'hands' quicker, and sparks now flared over it, as well. Unlike Leo's golden ones, they were blue and white, with their intensity. Being a steel automaton, Magnezone could charge up as much as it wanted without fear of overloading. It made the final evolution of the Magnemite line rather intimidating in a battle.

"That mistake will cost you. Magnus! Use Flash Cannon!" The Magnezone began charging the strong steel typed move, and its electricity formed the outer layer of the dense sphere of steel energy.

Alex took the opportunity to get his primarily physical attacker closer to the floating steel type. "Close in while it charges! Double Team!" Leo charged forwards, splitting himself into several mirror images, as the Magnezone prepared to fire. The cyclopic orb shifted between each of the five thunder cats, fired, and then realized it missed. It began charging another Flash Cannon, but it was too late, by then. As Leo closed, Alex shouted, "Fire Fang!"

Flaming fangs sank into the lower leveled steel type, and as it was building up energy, it lost control of the heavy Flash Cannon, and its center of gravity, as it began spinning in the air. Rick tried to stay calm and gave an order. "Right yourself! Switch to Thunder!"

By the time Magnus righted itself and dispersed the steel energy, Leo was already in position for his reacquired move that he'd learned from his sire but had forgotten since leaving the breeding ranch. With a Heart Scale, it had been remembered in Driftveil City. "Finish it, Leo. Double Kick."

The Luxray shifted under the electric discharge of the off-balance Magnezone, and aimed both kicks upwards, simultaneously, sending Magnus high into the air before it came crashing down again, fainted.

Rick recalled his Magnezone with a sigh. "I guess I need more training."

"I'd say we both do." Drake said, as he returned, Joltik in hand, and safely in its ball.

Alex nodded sagely. "I can see how you survived Clay, but Skyla, while a bit of an airhead, is not an incompetent Battler. Did you guys train in the Chargestone Caves?"

Rick and Drake looked down, and then away from Alex. Rick spoke first. "Yea, I mean, we trained on the wild Pokémon...then came out here."

Alex nodded. "Go back and find the Trainers you missed along the way. That will get you where you need to be for this Battle. If you manage to catch up, I'll be on my way to Icirrus City after my Battle tomorrow. Keep training. Maybe I'll see you on Victory Road."

The two newbies retired for the night then, and Alex did the same, as battling the Magnezone had given his Luxray a bit of experience. The next day, Jess challenged the Mistralton Gym first, evolving her Flaaffy on Skyla's warm-up Trainers. Her hair was thoroughly mussed after all the wind turbines and air cannons she'd ventured through, but she emerged from the Gym one Elite Badge heavier.

Then, it was Alex's turn. As he walked in, he heard an exasperated sigh. "Another one!? Already?"

Alex set his eyes on the speaker and found it to be Skyla. She was a bit older than her Bulbapedia page displayed, and lines of silver were woven into her red hair, or what he could see of it from under her flight helmet and goggles. "I'm here for a challenge, Leader Skyla. Against your best team."

Skyla sighed, as she'd been about to climb into what appeared to be some kind of plane, though it was heavily modified, and customized. "My team is resting. Come back at noon."

At that moment, Leo decided to burst from his Pokéball, and he roared at Skyla. Her Pilot and Bird Trainers murmured at the sight of the dazzling gold and black Luxray, and even their Gym Leader seemed impressed. "Interesting. Seems your Luxray is as eager as you are, unfortunately, you can't get an Elite Badge until my team is ready, and I have time for a flight before they're done resting. Just come back later."

Alex shook his head, as Leo did. "We'll wait right here. Don't take all day, I want to get to Brycen today too."

Skyla let out a deep sigh, hopped in her plane, and flew away as one of the walls of the Gym opened to admit her and her flying machine through. Alex and Leo ended up waiting an hour and a half, right next to the Gym door, before Skyla and her Trainers finally came back inside.

"Wow. You really sat here the whole time. You're either very patient, or very boring. Oh well. Let's get this over with. I want to squeeze another flight in before dinner." Skyla's far too cocky tone caused Alex and Leo's eyes to narrow slightly, as she hopped in a cannon, and glided via wingsuit to her spot at the far end of the Gym.

Mistralton's Gym setup was similar to the others Alex had experienced, and as with Marlon, Leo's ferocity tore through the flying typed Trainers with ease. Alex switched in his Charizard for a few of the tougher looking fliers, but as usual, healed and revitalized his partners before they reached Skyla, and her battlefield. The platform she waited on rose upwards once they landed on it, and they were brought to the Gym's upper level, where she had an entire field at the ready. The sky was clear above them, and the roof was still open from the Battle she'd had up here earlier.

Jess watched from the Gym stands alongside a few other Trainers, as Alex had during her own match. The locals of Mistralton rarely got to see Skyla battle so often in the same day, and Alex wondered how such a lackadaisical person had become a Gym Leader. It was obvious she preferred being a pilot.

Alex threw Hydrus out first, and Skyla grimaced, before throwing her own ball. As with Burgh, Elesa, and Clay, he'd done his homework on Skyla's partners, and was not surprised to see her grass and flying type come out in response. She took the initiative as well, and called the first move once their referee was done announcing the two Trainers. "Alright Jumpluff, Energy Ball!"

"Water Shot, Hydrus." The Swampert grinned and charged up his attack. The water energy became half ground typed, and the two swirled into a pattern similar to the one Clay had used. Alex had done some reading and recognized it as the old symbol of Unova's long fallen Dragon Empire. He found it fitting, for moves that were dual typed, and as the sphere of dense double energy hurtled towards the Energy Ball, the moves collided, canceling out as type advantage did its work, and caused an explosion.

That was when they countered. "Hydrus! Use Dig!"

"Fairy Wind!" Pink sparkles filled the air, and Alex grimaced as it washed over him, as well. The move missed his partner, but it did clear the area of the smoke and dust.

"Hiding, are we?" Skyla said, mockery in her tone. "You can't stay down there forever."

"Actually, we can. But...now, we don't need to." Alex smirked, and then pointed at the Jumpluff. "Ice Beam!"

From directly below the Jumpluff, the earth opened, to reveal the hidden Swampert. Ice formed in his maw, and it nailed the Jumpluff with a critical hit, giving Skyla's latest challenger an OHKO. Hydrus jumped back up onto the field then and slapped his fins together as he readied for more. Alex spoke up, then. "Return, Hydrus."

His mudfish looked back at him, seemingly disappointed. "You'll come out again. Now return."

"Swamp." He muttered, as his ball converted his matter to light, and then shifted him to his own personal pocket dimension.

"Mandibuzz! Fly with me! "

"Leo. You're up."

The Luxray and Mandibuzz appeared simultaneously, but this time, Alex moved first. Leo's weights had finally come off, and the thunder cat was more than ready to rumble. "Let's go with Thunderbolt!"

Skyla smirked. "Protect." The barrier of energy summoned to shield the vulture Pokémon was black in color, and the Thunderbolt smashed uselessly against it. "Don't let it strike again! Air Slash!"

"Dodge and use Thunder!" Alex said, countering as she had. Leo dashed skillfully out of the way of the rapidly fired Air Slashes, and once the Mandibuzz paused her assault, he roared and struck back by bringing down a massive bolt of plasma from the sky. The move hit the Mandibuzz hard, and the difference in level between her and Leo became obvious as the Mandibuzz fainted. Alex smirked. "I wonder if I can get a single hit on your whole team...Hydrus! Let's find out!" The rapidly switched Swampert mirrored his Trainer's smirk, and Skyla's eye twitched, as Alex purposefully poked her last nerve.

"I'll show you a single hit! Archeops, use Earthquake!" As Skyla switched, so too did her opponent, and once more, Hydrus took the field.

"Show them what a real Earthquake looks like, Hydrus."

Both Pokémon raised their fists, infused them with ground energy, and then brought them down. It was immediately evident that the Swampert's was stronger, and the Archeops leapt backwards into the air awkwardly as it dodged the roiling mass of earth.

The dust built up, as the tremors finally stopped, and then from within the cloud, there was a loud thump. "Ice Beam!" Light blue energy lanced a path through the dust as Hydrus planted his fists, aimed for the noisy gliding Pokémon with his fins guiding him, and fired.

Once more the icy beam struck home, but Archeops held on, despite a frozen wing. She was forced to land amidst the rubble of the field, but she seemed to be just as quick on the rocky terrain as she was in the air.

She hid behind a boulder, and Skyla grimaced, as she saw the defeated look in her Pokémon's eye. "We're not done, Archeops! Agility!" Her Trainer's voice brought her focus back, and her eyes flared with a brown aura, as she used her predator's mind to increase her speed.

"Muddy Water." Alex said, from the other side of the field. Hydrus once more hammered the field with his fists, and water erupted from the broken earth. It surged up rapidly, and while Archeops tried dodging, one could not simply avoid a wave like that. The damage caused the faint, and the Pilot referee called the round.

"Ready another Ice Beam, Hydrus." Alex said, smirking.

Skyla's eyes narrowed, and she threw her next ball. "Drifblim. Get in close."

The oversized blimp Pokémon closed the distance easily, spinning past Ice Beams. Alex expected a grass Move then, perhaps something outlandish like Vine Whip, but Skylaa's next command only brought fear, for Hydrus, as Alex knew it was going to hurt, and he couldn't stop it.

"Explosion!"

The Drifblim blew itself up without a second thought, and since it had a lot of HP, that damage transferred to Hydrus, taking him down with the Drifblim in a single move.

When the smoke finally cleared, Alex chuckled, but there was little mirth in it. His Swampert remained standing, hiding behind a hastily constructed, and now melted, wall of ice from the readied Ice Beam that had taken the brunt of the damage, and left just enough health for Hydrus to hang on to consciousness with. He'd shielded his head with his forearms while firing, and they still smoldered, as silence fell over the field.

The crowd watching them was silent this time. Murmurs began soon after though, and the referee broke the silence. "Drifblim is...unable to Battle. The Challenger from Derrion wins the round!" The two Trainers recalled their partners, as a new round began.

"All the versatility of a dual type...and you just blow it up." Alex's eyes narrowed as he once more switched Hydrus for Leo. "This is your best team, right? They all seem...younger...than Clay's or Elesa's or Burgh's teams."

"And compared to them I'm also the youngest. Only Marlon is as fighting fit as I am." Skyla said, as she flourished her next ball. "Braviary! It's your time to fly!"

"Thunder." Alex said, as Skyla called for a dodge. Evidently, her knowledge of electric types was lacking, or she would've never tried to dodge a Luxray. Leo's golden eyes stayed fixed on the brightly colored bird, and with a roar, once more the heavens boomed, and a bolt of plasma struck the flying type.

Leo arched an eyebrow, as the wounded, but still raring Braviary cawed, and Skyla called her counter as she realized he was still up. "Thrash!"

At his Trainer's command, the Braviary's eyes gleamed red, and his rage was unleashed upon Leo. He dove in fearlessly at the thunder cat, cawing as he struck and slashed over and over. Leo took several hits, before Alex called their own move. "Thunderbolt!"

From that range, the hit was inevitable, and type advantage once more did its job, as the Braviary let out a final caw, and then fell to the field. Leo panted, and then roared, placing a triumphant paw on the fallen war eagle. His intelligent eyes fixed on Skyla, as if he knew what Pokémon she had left on her belt, and was more than ready still to face it, even after a thrashing.

"It's up to you, Swanna!" Skyla said, as she threw her final ball. "Use Aqua Ring!"

Alex rolled his eyes, as she set up her electric defense early and obviously. "Thunder." Leo roared, and a massive bolt of plasma shattered the shield. The air hummed with electricity, and the Swanna seemed panicked, as it sensed the oncoming storm that was the Luxray below.

"Stay agile!" Skyla ordered, "Sky Attack!"

"Thunderbolt."

Leo filled the air with electricity, but the swift Swanna was hard to hit, and Leo realized that it had figured out his attack pattern. He smirked, and purposefully let up on the Thunderbolts, appearing to be out of breath as he did. Skyla perked up. "Charge it now!"

Swanna curved in the air, and then came in rapidly towards Leo. Alex smirked. "Thunder Fang."

Leo leapt, and delivered a single, perfect bite as his electricity surged through his fangs. He crossed the Sky Attacking Swanna's path with his leap, and the water and flying type landed behind him, before crashing to the ground.

The Pilot monitoring the match spoke up. "Swanna is-"

"Wait!" Skyla said, as the injured, but still conscious flying type struggled to its feet. Leo looked at the ref and rolled his eyes. The Pilot shrugged, and then motioned for the Battle to resume. "This is it, Swanna! Hurricane! Then combine it with Scald!" The scorched bird flapped weakly into the air, but seemed strong enough still to Battle as it raised its wings towards Leo.

A ferocious tornado of wind appeared around Leo, and the Luxray snarled, as the flying typed Move hit him. The weakened Swanna had enough power left for a Scald as well, and soon, the tornado was a hot, watery prison.

By the time the attack faded, Leo was panting hard, and seemed to have been burned. Skyla clenched a fist in victory as she saw the condition, but Alex's smirk simply widened. "Oh, you've gone and done it now. Focus your rage, Leo...Thunder Fang!"

His strength was undiminished by the burn, as Leo felt a surge of power from his guts. His electricity flared over him as he summoned the power for a final strike. All at once, it shifted to his fangs, and the thunder cat was a blur, as he zigged, then zagged, and leapt for the Swanna, who hadn't flown all that high from where she'd almost fainted. He burst through the wind wall of the Hurricane with a roar.

This time, Leo brought her down, and he blinked several times as he panted heavily with the Swanna's neck in his jaws, before his Trainer saying his name got through his predatory instincts. He blinked again, and spat out the Swanna, who was caught by Skyla, and fed a Revive. Her more serious injuries lessened, and the Gym Leader applied a Potion as well, before recalling her ace.

She stood then, and turned to the challenger, as he gave Leo a rare Full Restore. After stocking up on everything else, the expensive cure-all was something he only had so much of. Skyla awkwardly scratched her head as she said, "You played on my temper...and it cost me the chance to whittle down your Luxray. A little more, from my Drifblim perhaps, and our dual typed Move would've finished you."

Skyla tossed Alex the Elite Jet Badge, and he caught it, before placing it with the others. "I still had an entire team behind Leo. Not to mention my Swampert. Have you actually gone on a journey with your partners?"

Skyla nodded. "Yea, we flew all over the world for a few months, before coming home."

Alex arched a brow. "No, I mean like...walking. From town to town. In a place you've never been, with just your Pokémon next to you. Maybe try that, if you find yourself losing too much in the near future."

As Skyla's brow furrowed with his forewarning, Alex departed the Gym and met up with the other Trainer to beat Skyla today, leaving the crowd to murmur as they also departed. The hour was late, and everyone who knew Mistralton's Gym Leader knew she would be flying well into the early evening after a day with two losses in a row.

After getting so far in one day, the pair decided to rest in Mistralton before the long hike to Icirrus, and while they enjoyed sleep and dinner, Connor spent the night catching up to them after detouring to Virbank City, for the Elite Toxic Badge, and some necessary training for his Garchomp.

Gren had handled Clay, and now Tonitrus, his Elektross, had swept Skyla's gym as well. She remarked that she hadn't seen so many strong Trainers in one season since Team Plasma first formed, and when Connor asked her to elaborate, he learned that he had finally caught up to Alex and Jess.

They were away from the Pokémon Center, sparring against each other, alongside their Pokémon, and a pair of younger Trainers he didn't recognize, with what seemed to be their own teams. They barely knew the basics of martial arts, but they had once taken such lessons simultaneously at their hometown's dojo. Though they sparred hard, their movements were sloppy, compared to a professional, and lately sparring together rather than training specific team members had become more enjoyable, as it often led to other things. After the martial arts saga that was Brycen's movies, they had both been eager to try out several of his more useful moves.

Each of their Pokémon was having a battle south of the Mistralton Pokémon Center, atop the large hill above the Chargestone Cave's exit. Their Trainers were fighting each other too, and Connor didn't know what to make of the strange sight. He'd never seen a Torterra and a Serperior coaching a Gallade and a Braixen as they battled each other.

It was fortunate that Alex and Jess noticed his presence, as the two had been eye-locked for the past minute, and the amateur karate sparring was devolving into something else. Any later, and her brother would've likely stumbled on something that would have probably started another grudge match between him and Alex.

"Connor…you finally caught up, hmm? Are you after your Splash Plate crystal, then?" Connor smirked and shook his head before responding to Alex.

"I have a new one. Keep yours. You'll need it more than I will." Alex felt slightly guilty at taking it now, as he had intended to return it. He hadn't even let Hydrus use it, though his Swampert clearly wanted to. Alex scratched his hat, and then turned it forward.

Connor continued, "Each Trainer only needs one Plate crystal…usually…and they can Mega Evolve any Pokémon of a matching type. At least, that's how they do it in Gaulia. Kalos is catching on, but they still rely on Mega Stones. So really, keep it. I don't mind."

Alex listened, shrugged, and then smirked. "Good, you know, I'm glad you'll let me keep it. I learned about these Plate crystals when my family vacationed in Alola for a few weeks, and since Draconis Mons, I've been trying out some new...techniques...with them."

He held up a crystal like Connor's then, but instead of blue, it was brown, had the ground symbol within it. "I was actually given this by Kahuna Hapu…even though I didn't have a Pokémon, and made it clear I wanted a Fire Type. At the time. Or maybe even a Grass Type. She just shrugged and gave me this. I knew it wasn't a Z-Crystal, but I didn't realize what it was until I came back from Draconis Mons. I convinced my granduncle to send it to me when I passed through Undella."

Connor's face had regained the similar look he'd been wearing in their last battle, a persistent frown, as Alex had spoken. "Wait, so one of the Kahunas just gave you a crystal?"

Alex smirked, "No, I helped her hatch a Mudbray. In fact, I spent several days of my vacation helping her out, so that was my reward." He'd been too young to battle and had accepted the crystal regardless of the fact that he was unable to use it. His Gruncle had liked it, so he'd let the old man hang on to it. Until now. Evidently it was not a Z-Crystal, or so the Professor had told him, which probably explained why the Kahuna had given it away relatively easily. His Gruncle had theorized that Z-Crystals might also be capable of triggering a Mega Evolution, but these Plate crystals were different. They came from a much stronger source than Necrozma.

Connor crossed his arms. "Well, go on then. Show me this 'new technique'." He was clearly skeptical that Alex had created anything truly new. Finding undiscovered Mega Forms was one thing, but new Pokémon Moves were an entirely different trick.

Alex chuckled, and responded by summoning Terra over to them, and after mega evolving, the giant grass turtle used the crystal's power to combine grass and ground energy into a single, balanced ball, turning his Energy Ball into a dual-typed attack. He fired it then, and the dual explosion left a massive swirling crater in the landscape.

Connor just stared at the massive crater. It was bigger than anything Gren's attacks could make. "That can't be legal…"

Alex shrugged. "Clay did something similar against us." He smirked, lifting his hat slightly. "After that, I found out that anyone participating in the League's new challenge is allowed to use whatever Moves they wish, in whatever manner they please, as long as they stick to four per Battle. Technically speaking, what I just showed you is classed in the same strength bracket as a Z-Move. Something the Alolan Trainers do. Mine just don't seem to require interpretive dance to use."

Connor's frown deepened. "Those Moves require motion to unlock them…so how are you bypassing that?"

Alex smirked. "It's not about motion, for mine. It's about balancing energy and combining Moves and Types that work well together. My Granduncle gave me some insight about the League's ultimate Challenge back when I was learning. He said that it was unlikely that it would ever start up again but wanted me to know what his master had taught to him anyway. I combined that with the dense ball of energy technique, the one you use too, and that's the Move. I asked Clay about it, and he said anything goes in this League Challenge. Only the strongest Trainers have a chance of beating it."

Connor recalled his Greninja, and left for the Pokémon Center, still not accepting that in such a short time, his rival had gotten so far ahead. Then he recalled the plan, and rightly surmised that since getting his full team together, Alex had begun battling as many people as possible and trained by himself constantly.

Since returning from the mountain, Jess had joined him in said training, and her team had gotten stronger as well. She left Alex atop the hillside that overlooked the town to train and went to prove it to her brother. They were long overdue for a match, and she needed to practice using these new dual typed moves as well.

The next morning, as they were leaving Mistralton, and getting ready for another day of hard Trainer battles, Connor joined them again. "I owe you two an apology. I've been acting strange since I got back."

He looked at Alex. "I forgot, you know, about our promise to travel together…but you're right, we're rivals second and friends first. Teach me what you know. Both of you. Help me catch up." Evidently, Jess had finally, and literally, beaten some sense into her brother.

Alex accepted his request for help immediately, as did his sister, and in the first battle they came across, Alex used Hydrus, and mega evolved him for the first time. Awed by how strong his combined water and ground type Water Shot was, Connor asked again how legal this could be.

This time, Alex's opponent explained. She was partaking in the new League challenge as well, it turned out, and ever since the battle against Lizardon had gone viral on the PokéNet, Trainers with such crystals had been using them as Alex had, with varying degrees of success, the world over. The trend was catching on, Professors were scrambling to record all the new Mega Forms being discovered, and as the Plate crystals grew more popular, it seemed they would be even rarer.

As Connor continued to watch Hydrus, who stayed mega evolved for most of that morning, he noticed something about their dual type attacks. Other Trainers used them as well, but they looked different from Alex's. That was when Alex decided to stop for lunch and explain what he and Jess had discovered about those kinds of attacks.

Only Pokémon of a dual typing could do them without a partner, and when in a double battle alongside another Pokémon of similar strength, a Pokémon with only one type, like Luxray, could combine attacks as well.

With these new attacks, Alex was usually unstoppable. That was largely because his Pokémon had each learned a move that formed their natural energy into a sphere. Each of them had learned how to condense it into something more powerful, with Terra's instruction.

In Terra his Energy Ball had gotten stronger with the ground type, and now in Hydrus, his Water Pulse had as well. Blaze had been practicing forming his Flamethrower into a condensed sphere, but without a flying type move that could form a sphere, it remained a single typed attack. As far as Alex knew, only a move like Aeroblast would suffice, but they didn't have a Lugia around to teach that to Blaze. There was footage of Aeroblast on the Pokénet of course, but that apparently was not enough for Blaze to successfully copy a Legend's signature move.

Leo also remained without a dual type move, though with his strength and speed powering his Thunder Fang, he didn't seem to need one. He'd considered combining Leo and Blaze as fire and lightning, but balancing two spherical moves from two Pokémon was beyond them. For now.

Arthur was a walking symbol of his typing balance, even if he didn't know Psycho Cut yet, and Shruikan wouldn't be one until he evolved. His Dragon Pulse remained as strong as ever though. Arthur had focused on trying to make his Shadow Ball a physical move by condensing it, but ghost energy was hard for him to control.

His orb was smaller than the others but seemed to do more damage than an ordinary Shadow Ball, at least. Charging it left him wide open for a counterattack though, as Delphi, Jess's Braixen, repeatedly showed him.

"You know," Alex said after pausing to eat lunch, "Nobody ever examined Greninja's new form for a change in type. Judging by those shuriken, I'd say he was part ice."

Connor raised a brow at him, "Oh, and your Torterra was examined?"

Alex nodded. "The Professor examined both him and Hydrus back at the ranch, and both remained part ground upon Mega Evolving."

Connor looked at his Pokémon, then shrugged. "I would think the Dark typing would make more sense."

Alex smirked. "So, try teaching him Dark Pulse and find out."

Connor glanced at his starter. "Gren, Dark Pulse." The Greninja sighed, and then formed a ball of dark energy in his palm. He continued to eat with his free hand.

Alex chuckled. "Weak. Very weak. You need his full focus for combining the types, he's still mastering this Move." Hearing him, Gren's eyes narrowed, and the ball of swirling energy tightened, forming into one similar to his Water Pulse.

"I think he's saying he knows how to do that." Connor said, mockingly.

Alex's smirk widened. "Alright, now combine Dark Pulse and Water Pulse in one single attack." Gren stared at him for a long moment, then looked away. "That's what I thought." Alex said, still smirking.

Connor sighed, "His Ice Shuriken are just…a trick he knows. They're not a dual type Move."

Alex nodded. "They're an Ice Type Move. Meaning he used Ice Type Energy to turn the water into ice. If he balanced that energy with water, then they'd be even stronger. Perhaps make the edges ice, and the inner bits water?" Alex looked at his sleeping starter. "Terra. Show him how it's done."

The large turtle rose with a yawn, and then began stomping away beside Gren, to find a spot that could handle the destruction this training would cause. Connor was busy examining his Pokédex, and then made an 'aha' sound as he displayed the page on the only known Greninja capable of mega evolving. It was only slightly different to how Gren appeared in that form, and the largest difference was evidently based on the Greninja Trainer's hair color.

Alex shrugged. "Water and Dark. you're right. In either case, combining darkness and water should be quite strong...if you can manage to do it."

It was Connor's turn to smirk triumphantly now. "Watch me." He joined Terra and Gren, and had his Pokémon focus on Dark Pulse instead of his Ice Shuriken.

They came to Icirrus later that day, around noon, exhausted from the constant battling on the previous route. They rested at the Pokémon Center then, and Alex left at dusk to challenge the local Gym, not wanting to wait until the next morning. He found Jess and Connor already outside Brycen's Gym, and another challenger was already battling his Beartic. To Alex's eye, it was the same Beartic that had starred in Brycen's smash hit martial arts movies, and he felt Blaze's ball shake with anticipation. He too had watched the movie marathon, acting as one half of a heated 'pillow' for the humans, and time had only made the ferocious ice type that much stronger.

"Icicle Crash!" Came what looked to be Brycen's final move, and it slammed into the Trainer's Serperior, knocking it out with a single hit.

"The Challenger from Aspertia is out of usable Pokémon! Sifu Brycen is the victor!" The crowd around Icirrus cheered, and Alex turned to Jess, who seemed to have just noticed him, as Brycen was inundated with fresh challenges from eager Trainers who had managed to crush every Gym Leader up to Skyla but found Brycen to be an indomitable ice wall. The aged movie actor had a cane to get around these days, but the fire in his eyes was as intense as it had been in Enter the Beartic.

"Brycen has been using only his Beartic for his Battles." Jess said. "Nobody has been able to beat him so far. Alex watched as the Gym Leader healed up his partner with an Elixir and Potion combo.

When he was done, the old ice typed master turned to the crowd. "For those just arriving, I will repeat the rules! I have one Elite Freeze Badge left; from the last time this challenge was around. Once it is won, I will retire. All further Battles will be against my son, who will be taking over as Gym Leader." The ice typed Pokémon Master then tossed his cane and dropped into some kind of martial arts stance. "Who among you has the power to take me on!?"

Alex and Connor stepped forward immediately, as did several other Trainers, but it was Connor who Brycen selected. "We will have a one-on-one Battle. Your name, Challenger?"

Connor raised Gren's ball as he answered the oldest Unovan Gym Leader still in action. "Connor Gladstone, of Derrion Town."

Brycen let out a near-invisible flurry of punches, that ended with a swift roundhouse kick-twirl, and his Beartic's ball being sent soaring onto the field. "Well Connor...I hope you choose wisely. My Beartic is more than ready for Fire Types!"

Connor smirked, and summoned Gren to the field. The two Pokémon locked eyes, and Connor moved first. "Double Team. Then close in for Brick Break!"

Brycen nodded, as if he expected this. "Beartic...Play Rough with them."

The polar bear roared, and its fists began glowing with a sparkling pink energy, swinging through the various clones of Gren as they came close, and missed their strikes. Brycen mirrored his Beartic's movements, and the two were in perfect sync as they diverted the real Gren's Brick Break with a simple paw movement, before the Beartic hammered the lithe Pokémon through his guard in response, with Play Rough. The massive ice bear tossed Gren around like a toy, his paws limned with fairy energy.

Connor countered, wincing as Gren was sent skidding backwards on the temporary Pokémon Battlefield. Another one of those, from Brycen, and Gren would either faint, or be close to unconsciousness. "Rock Tomb!" Gren made a sign with his fins, and four boulders came crashing down on the Beartic, but Brycen was just as quick to counter.

"A taste of their own medicine, then. Brick Break!" With a flurry of movement, the Beartic smashed each of the boulders, and seemed unfazed by the damage it had taken. "Now close in with Aqua Jet, then use Superpower!"

"Gren, use Mat Block!" Water surrounded the Beartic as it charged forward, and Gren redirected the Aqua Jet with his Mat Block. Once the energy faded from the frog ninja however, the Beartic began radiating an intense aura of fighting energy. His muscles bulged, as they were pushed to their limit.

With a roar, it brought both paws down on Gren, and the watery ninja frog fainted. Connor stared at his ball for a long time, recalled Gren, and then left, heading straight out of town. Alex was the first one up next to take the Trainer box. "Well now, someone is eager. A moment, while we recuperate. And what is your name, Challenger?"

"Alex Redwood. Also of Derrion Town." He said, as he readied Blaze's ball. He could feel the heat his Charizard was giving off already, and he was glad that this Battle would be a one on one. Blaze didn't really need warm-up Trainers at his level, all he wanted, was a challenge. He recognized a fierce warrior in Brycen's Beartic, and was eager to conquer him.

"Another from northern Unova. Interesting. More and more Trainers keep coming down, and with such strong Pokémon…" Brycen grinned, as he nodded towards the ball in Alex's hand. "I can feel the heat from here...why don't you let your Fire Type out, before its ball breaks?"

Alex smirked. "Blaze." He spoke and tossed the ball. His Charizard appeared in a flash of red light, and as he stared across the way at the rejuvenating Beartic, who was nomming a Sitrus Berry or three, his tail flames turned blue. That shift in color drew the ice bear's attention, and their eyes locked. Brycen glanced at his partner, and chuckled.

"Seems your Charizard has caught the eye of my Beartic...interesting. Perhaps this will be our final Battle. We are ready to begin, if you are." Brycen said, bowing in unison with his Pokémon as it once more took the field. It was a standard battlefield, icy of course, but a temporary affair, set up in the middle of Icirrus Town. Both Brycen and Beartic bowed, and then fell into a fighting crouch, gesturing for the fire lizard to come for them.

Alex and Blaze shared a look and nodded simultaneously. The Charizard glowed red, as he ascended to his Mega Form. "Stay in the air...then Heat Wave!"

Brycen stayed calm and focused, as the temperature in his normally chilly town rose rapidly under the combination of Drought and Blaze's strongest move. "Beartic...keep it cool with Icicle Crash!" The polar bear roared, and icy slabs of frost surrounded him like a shield, keeping the ice type from the worst of Blaze's heat.

Alex smirked. "Bathe the field. Flamethrower!"

From his aerial position, Blaze flew over the field thrice, torching it with flames hot enough to turn rock into slag. Brycen quickly realized his ice type would be burned if he stayed on the field too long and shifted strategies. "Take to the air as well! Aqua Jet!" Water surrounded the Beartic, and it rocketed into the sky, higher than Hydrus had ever been able to lift his bulk. Alex made a circle motion with his finger, and Blaze stayed away from the water shrouded ice bear, circling it in the air. "Now, Rock Slide!"

The water faded from the Beartic, and was replaced by shards of empowered rock appearing from seemingly nowhere, before hurtling towards Blaze. Alex, like Brycen, stayed just as cool, but his hat did get turned backwards as the battle began in earnest. "Dodge in close! Then Seismic Toss!"

Blaze maneuvered expertly through the rock shards, and then grabbed the Beartic. With an impressive aerial flair, he circled, and with his momentum brought the heavy ice type up and around, before he sent the Beartic hurtling towards the ground. The entire stage rumbled as Beartic landed from the super effective move and got up slowly. It shook its head, and then growled.

"Rock Tomb!" Brycen said, as he solidified his fourth move for the battle. Instead of going for Blaze, the rocks encased Beartic this time, providing a shield from any more flames. "Now, from your bunker, fill the air with Rock Slide!"

"Dodge, Blaze." Alex ordered, and the Mega Charizard used his speed to stay ahead of the rapidly fired stones. He smirked down at the Beartic, and roared, which caused the Beartic to snarl in response.

"Wait, Beartic! Don't get-" But Brycen's words were too late, as the angered ice bear hurled one of the Rock Tomb boulders at Blaze, who dodged it so easily with his Mega Form's speed, he did an unnecessary loop around it, before coming down, rapidly, towards the Beartic.

"Finish it off, Blaze! Blast Burn!"

The Mega Charizard landed, punching the field hard, and a horizontal arc of fire burned towards, and through, Beartic's hiding spot. The Rock Tomb became molten lava, and the ferocity of the ultimate fire move ended both Beartic's and Brycen's careers as Pokémon Battlers in a spectacular eruption of flame.

"And so the wheel turns." Brycen said, as he recalled his Beartic. "The next generation burns to the top with all the fury of a Ho Oh...but be careful, Trainer. Never forget who brought you this far. Concentrate too much on your goal, and you will miss out on the glory that awaits a Champion."

Alex bowed in the Unovan style, clenched fist to open palm, and he felt proud as Blaze mimicked him, as his Mega Form faded away. "We will take your words and your lesson with us, Brycen. All the way to the top."

Brycen smirked, and then threw something shiny towards Alex. When it became clear the throw was less than perfect, Blaze flapped into the air, caught it, and then handed it to his Trainer. Alex nodded, as he examined the Elite Freeze Badge, and the last of its kind, according to its former owner. Evidently the new Leader's badge would look different.

Jess had left after the epic final showdown with Brycen, staying just long enough to watch the Icirrus Gym Leader pass the mantle to his son, before walking off into the sunset beside his Beartic on what was likely their last journey. She unintentionally followed Brycen for a while but lost him as he headed north onto a snowy mountain just north of Icirrus.

While tromping around on the base of the mountain, she found a lost female Snorunt, and after convincing her to come along, named her Lassi, gave her several TM related lessons, and then evolved her into a Froslass with her remaining Dawn Stone. She got the finest Exp. Share money could buy, as Jess would require her skills for the Opelucid Gym. They would have to train hard, to even stand a chance against a Leader like the Dragon Master.

The route between Icirrus and Opelucid provided much in the way of experience. Even the wild Pokémon were strong, and by the time they arrived in the city, the trio's respective partners were all ready to challenge the Dragon Master, Iris.

Several Hours Later - Opelucid City

Opelucid City at sunset was an awe-inspiring blend of hydroponics alongside modern and ancient styles of housing. The older buildings tended to be white and carved of stone, while the newer ones were more modern, and typically black, or a dark gray made from modern materials. The newer buildings also tended to be further away from the town's center and seemed mainly to be housing units.

The Gym stood over the city, like a twin headed draconic guardian. The dragon's heads were identical, one black, one white, and they depicted the Original Dragon, or so the locals of the city said. The interior had even been remodeled to incorporate two more dragons, and the Dragon Tamers dueled atop their moving limbs, as they trained under the current Gym Leader, and former Champion, Iris. The dragon statues within the gym seemed to be even more detailed depictions, also of the Original Dragon of Unova.

Shruikan made effective use of Double Edge and Dragon Claw on the narrow limbs of the white and black statues. Iris's Dragon Tamers all paused, as Alex and his rapidly rolling Shelgon took down the first Dragon Tamer, and then his counterpart, solely for the experience. A Potion and an Elixir, and the pair were ready for the next level, and once more, they rolled through the Dragon Tamers, ignoring their mastery and strategy with nothing but pure ferocity. Iris smirked, as she watched from above. "This Trainer is…"

Before long, he was at the head of the dragon, and the forehead of his white dragon statue slammed into her black one with genuine force, and the noise they created as they clashed signaled to all below that the true challenge was about to begin. Every single Tamer in the Gym had underestimated the unassuming Shelgon, and had fallen to his merciless onslaught. When Shruikan had been on his back legs, Hydrus had stepped in for a few rounds and made good use of his Ice Beam. As a Mega Swampert, not even dragon types could withstand him, and he'd masterfully combined his unparalleled grappling strength with a close-range Ice Beam several times, usually against Druddigon.

The warm-up Trainers never saw who else was on his belt, and Blaze was thoroughly disappointed that none of them had a Dragonite. Or a Flygon. He smoldered from within his ball, and his opinion of the Gym lowered, as the only one with genuine flight-capable dragons was the Gym Leader herself, who started off strong with a Hydreigon. When Alex had asked for her strongest team, the Gym Leader that kept the unworthy from Victory Road had retrieved only four balls.

She called the first move and seemed eager to battle. "Hydreigon! Use Dragon Pulse!"

"Show them a real Dragon Pulse, Shruikan." Alex said, smirking from under his hat's brim. He was wearing black travel pants similar to Hilbert's in style, and his recently cleaned white hoodie with a black and white Taijitu swirl on the back covered his top. The smirk hadn't faded once, since he walked into the Gym.

Shruikan's dense sphere of deep blurple energy rolled through the wide area of the Hydreigon's attack with ease and hammered it in the chest. Unlike Skyla's Pokémon, Iris's were strong enough to take several hits, and Shruikan's only seemed to make the Hydreigon angrier. Iris's partner had a much higher stat total, but given what Shelgon's stat total was, Alex was confident they could pull out a win.

"Use Hyper Voice!" Iris ordered.

Alex countered with, "Into your shell! Then roll in close and Brick Break!"

All three heads of the Hydreigon roared, and the entire Gym shook in response. The air seemed to crack with thunder, but only Shruikan remained seemingly unaffected by the noise, as he sheltered from it. Once the damaging reverberations stopped, he shifted into a forward roll, and as he built speed, his shell began to glow an intense brownish orange with fighting typed energy.

The Shelgon bounced himself once, and then sent himself straight into the Hydreigon's jaw, belonging to the main head. "Now Dragon Claw, Shruikan!" Alex said, and the Shelgon reacted instantly, clawing the larger dragon across its toothy maw with critical effectiveness. Hydreigon roared out in pain, and then fell to the ground as Shruikan rolled back to his side of the field.

"A Shelgon is an interesting choice...but there's something about yours that's...special." Iris said, with a tilt of her head.

Alex shrugged. "Actually, he's one of my most average...compared to the rest of his species. He's not the biggest, but he's definitely the most determined to evolve. I've seen him run down his energy many times, and he still hasn't evolved. You might be right, but I don't think I'll know for sure until the time comes for him to reach the final stage."

"Let's see if we can push him over the edge, then. Salamence! It's your turn!" Iris tossed her second ball, and the male dragon type snorted, as he saw his opponent was still a Shelgon. "Use Dragonbreath!"

"Dragon Pulse, Shruikan." Alex replied.

Blue flames engulfed the Shelgon, or they appeared to, at first. "Now fire!" Alex said, smirking. Iris was about to chide him, and say his Shelgon was likely down already, but then her Salamence's flames rippled, and parted, and that strange sphere-like version of their Dragon Pulse burned through the weaker attack.

Salamence poured even more flames against it, and it eventually spun out of energy, just before Salamence ran out of breath. The Dragon Pulse had kept the Shelgon from the worst of the dragonfire.

"Shruikan! Dragon Dance, get some air, and then use Rollout!" The armored ball of dragon growled an affirmation, before curling into his shell, and becoming rollable. He rolled himself in an infinity pattern, glowing as he grew stronger, and when he faced his head towards the floor, he used Dragonbreath of his own to propel him upwards. He activated the next Move his Trainer had called, bringing him down on the taller dragon type's head with the type weakness he would one day also be vulnerable to.

Salamence had not been idle, and had kept using Dragonbreath throughout Shruikan's rolling, but somehow the dense dragon ball kept dodging the flames. "Keep on rolling! Dodge whatever they try next!"

Iris's mouth was a thin line. "Dodge this. Our perfected Move! Imperial Rage!" Her slightly damaged Salamence was in the air in moments, and from his angle, he bathed the field in far more intense dragonfire. Alex recognized an Outrage attack, but apparently, there was another level of power to that move he'd been unaware of. Iris watched the Shelgon eagerly, hoping the heat would be enough to finish it, or evolve it.

Today was not Shruikan's time, and as he kept himself covered in building rock typed energy, he used it as a shield against the dragonfire. It hurt with about normal effectiveness, which for this improved version of Outrage, was a lot, but Shruikan was tanky enough to take the hit. Another would end him.

"Into the air again! Before the next wave! Rollout!"

Shruikan burned into the air towards the Salamence, who smirked at the ground bound Shelgon, knowing well from experience just how high one of them could get with a Dragonbreath boost. What he didn't expect, was Shruikan's flames to be hotter than his Dragonbreath had ever been, as a Shelgon. The Salamence's eyes went wide, as the rolling ball of rock energy hammered him in the jaw, flipping him out of the sky and rolled him all the way to the 'floor' that was the two foreheads of the dragon statues. The rock typed move's annoyingly fast building power, type advantage, and damage from gravity all combined to faint the Salamence, to Iris's disbelief.

From above, atop a carved Haxorus head, one of the other Dragon Tamers shouted, "Master Iris's Salamence is unable to Battle! The round goes to the Challenger!"

Iris's face was unreadable, and the woman still in the prime of her life, if a bit more wrinkled, watched as yet another Unovan steamrolled past her. She recalled her Salamence, and then threw her third ball. "Dragonite! Put this Shelgon in its place."

Alex smirked, as with a roar, and a flash of red, a very impatient Charizard took the field. The Dragonite's resting rage face solidified as he locked eyes with the fire lizard, and remembered a different battle, cut far too short. The chance for another match like that was more than enough to motivate him. Blaze nodded at the Shelgon, who turned to his Trainer. Alex recalled him and shrugged at Iris. "He refused to Battle any of the other dragons here...maybe he was waiting for one who could fly." Blaze snorted blue flames in approval, but his eyes were still locked on the Dragonite's. He'd been wondering if the battle with the Beartic had made him improve, and this Dragonite was the bar by which Pokémon in Unova were measured, before they even got close to the Victory League.

The male specimen of the Dratini line narrowed his eyes at the fire lizard pretending to be superior to a dragon type and looked back at his Trainer. He nodded once, and Iris looked at Alex. "Have him Mega Evolve. You'll need to, if you want to stand a chance."

Alex raised the flame crystal, but nothing happened. Blaze gave him a backwards side-eye and shook his head. The Dragonite snarled from across the field and got into a battle crouch. Blaze smirked and readied himself for an aerial duel against a dragon type worth fighting. "Looks like we're keeping things even."

Iris shrugged. "There's that legendary Charizard honor. You'll regret not taking the chance now. Thunder Punch!"

"Dragon Pulse." Alex said, and Blaze gathered the power in his maw. It was different than Shruikan's, and Iris's eyes widened as she saw the condensing orb turn red with the ferocity of a mastered move fueled by a fresh rivalry. The difference between Shruikan's and a fully evolved special attacker like Blaze was shocking to experience.

"Dragonite, hit the orb instead! Don't let it land!" The angry looking dragon side eyed his Trainer in the midst of a Battle, and by the time his eyes were back on Blaze, the sparking orb of dark crimson draconic energy was already within striking distance. The Dragonite heaved, and had to burn more power, as he slowly managed to shift the orb away from him with a thunderous fist.

The Gym shuddered, as the Dragon Pulse smashed into a wall, but the Battle continued. "Speed up with Dragon Rush, don't let it aim!" Iris's Dragonite growled an affirmative, and bluish-purple energy surrounded it as it zipped around the still ground bound Charizard, whose eyes kept tracking it as it moved.

Alex nodded. They could play the distance game. "Heat Wave!"

Iris didn't look worried, as her Dragonite's untarnished scales and superior typing kept it from being harmed much. "When it's not looking, close in and Thunder Punch!"

"Be patient, Blaze...Heat Wave!" The Charizard nodded and stayed in his same readied position that he'd fired the Dragon Pulse from. As the air became even hotter, he stopped tracking the Dragonite, and waited for the attack to come. He'd expected it from behind, but his respect rose for this dragon type as it came from his front.

Blaze was the member of their team who enjoyed battle the most, and he lived for matches like the one he was currently in. Essentially, he was in his ideal zone, and as the Thunder Punching Dragonite moved the superheated air with his resistant bulk, Blaze felt where he was coming from, and with a much faster shift in movement, dodged the move entirely.

He leapt into the air and away from the electric attack, as the counter came, all in the space of a few moments. "Dragon Pulse!" This time, the sphere of super effective energy was not red, but it was still dense enough to boom as Blaze launched it, and as the Dragonite tried to catch it and hurl it away, the rotating sphere began to spin the dragon type, before it sent the oddly proportioned flyer hurtling into a lower part of one of the stone dragons.

A few moments later, it zipped up to the battlefield again, bruised and battered, but still ready to fight. "Using the heated air to feel out our attack...that's clever. You're going to do well at the League...assuming you can survive the rest of my team."

Alex gave her a deadpan look, but his tone had far too much confidence. "Oh, I came prepared for your Haxorus."

Iris sighed, and tried to shrug nonchalantly, but Alex could tell he was touching a nerve. "This is the problem with being so famous. Everyone knows what you use and can exploit your weaknesses." She met Alex's eyes then, looking far too confident for someone with one Pokémon left. "Maybe you'll show us one we haven't covered yet."

"Blaze." Alex said, returning his focus to the round at hand. "Get ready to counter hard, with that new Move of yours." The Charizard grinned, and with a motion straight out of Enter the Beartic, he fell into a fighting crouch reminiscent of Brycen's style of kung fu.

Iris blinked, as Ash's Charizard had never done anything like this, and Charizard Trainers weren't exactly common, in Unova. "Once more Dragonite! Dragon Rush around it!"

"Heat Wave!" Without shifting from his position, Blaze intensified the air again, and the Opelucid Gym became truly hot within. Oddly enough, neither the aspiring Dragon Tamers, nor Alex, minded the heat. The stands from this Gym were well protected, and doubly reinforced, but the shift in temperature was gradually increasing even in the nosebleed seats.

Iris smirked. "Let's end this, Dragonite! Whirlicane!" The dragon type ceased his movement behind the Charizard this time and raised his arms. With a combination of Whirlpool and Hurricane, it sent a storm of wind and water hurtling upwards around the fire type. "Thanks for the shift temperature. Now the Whirlicane can get bigger!"

Blaze remained still, as he resisted some aspects of the move, and was damaged by others. Whirlpool was not the strongest water attack though, and he was expecting the Dragonite to attack through its own Move once he was blind to what it was doing outside the vortex.

"Now, Dragonite!"

"Get ready, Blaze." Alex said, still smirking. He couldn't see his Charizard at the moment, but he wasn't worried. The two Trainers shouted the same move at the same time. "Thunder Punch!"

Dragonite came barreling through the wall of wind and water, fist shining with electricity, as he went straight for the Charizard's stomach. Blaze took a page from Terra and flared his wings just enough to ride the circular current of the wind, dodge the punch, and land his own. Electricity sparked up the Whirlicane, and Alex shouted a follow up attack, hoping his Charizard was still up. "Dragon Pulse!"

Within the tornado of wind and water, the two Pokémon were locked claw to claw as they used Thunder Punch on both claws. As Alex called the move, Blaze opened his maw, and once more a dense sphere of crackling red dragon energy formed in his mouth. Iris wasn't done yet, though. "Dragonite! Once you have it, Dragon Rush up through the Whirlicane!"

Blaze continued charging the move, and the dense sphere of energy came close to the Dragonite's face, as it did as it was ordered. Blurple energy shrouded both Pokémon as they ascended up through the vortex. Iris's voice came again through the roar of wind. "Seismic Toss!"

The Dragonite took the move it had learned from the last Charizard he'd faced and began trying to throw his current opponent. It was at the apex of their flight that Blaze was finally ready. "Finish it, Blaze." Alex said from below, and before the Dragonite could make the throw, there was an explosion.

The Whirlicane's top blew away and the dual typed Move faded as the power of the Dragon Pulse blew both it, and the Dragonite who'd made it, away. The dense red orb rotated the Dragonite all the way to the floor of the battlefield, and though he fought it, trying to use Dragon Claw to toss it away, he only changed the trajectory of the dense orb as it spun him once again into a wall of the gym, and the impact left him smoldering. Blaze landed then, and roared, shaking the Gym with the force of it.

No call for the round came though, and as Alex looked around expectantly, his gaze was drawn back to the Dragonite rising from the crater the energy sphere had made on impact. He landed back on the locked dragon statue heads, roared back at Blaze, and then fell, fainted.

"Master Iris's Dragonite is unable to Battle! The round goes to the Charizard, and his Trainer!" Came the ref's voice, and Blaze's wings slumped, as he heard it. He was panting hard from that one, something he did not do too often these days. He gave his Trainer another side-eye, and then nodded. Alex nodded as well and recalled his truly badass Charizard.

Iris stared at him, as she did the same. "I hope you brought your best for my Haxorus...he won't go down easily."

Alex pulled a green and brown ball from his belt this time, and Iris' brows furrowed. She'd noticed the color scheme this Trainer had with his Pokéballs, and this one signified a grass type, by her guess. "Your Haxorus is probably the strongest Pokémon out of all the Gym Leaders in Unova, and according to my research, your starter." He leveled Terra's ball at her. "I brought my starter as well. It won't be an easy Battle, you're right...but you will go down."

He finally turned his hat backwards, as he tossed the ball. "Terra! You're up!" His earth turtle appeared in all his grassy glory, stomping the field as he took it. "I only really needed him for Marlon's Gym...he's had a bit of a vacation up until now...though if I'm honest he trained harder than most of my team all along the way. Try not to break the Gym, bud. These statues are pretty cool."

"Terra." He replied, with a snort.

"It's down to you, Haxorus! Start us off with X-Scissor!" Iris said, as she threw the ball. Alex grimaced, as he'd hoped she wouldn't have anything for a grass and ground type, but alas, that proved not to be the case. The axe-headed dragon roared, and then charged Terra, as his face blades began glowing with bug typed energy.

"Earthquake!" The Haxorus' eyes went wide as it heard the counter, and Terra rose up, before bringing his massive legs down on the field. The entire Gym rumbled, and while the armored Haxorus tried to dodge, Terra only let him think he'd dodged, before ground energy infused rocks rose up from both sides, and hammered him in the head, and the legs. The Haxorus spun in the air, and then fell, as he lost focus on his move.

By the time the axe headed dragon was up again, Terra had closed the distance. "Wood Hammer!"

The Haxorus tried to strike again with X-Scissor, using its claws this time, but Terra shifted the stone beneath them, and made his bulky form dodge as he rotated in place, and brought his thick head around for the move. The Haxorus was properly hammered, and sent flying back towards Iris, skipping across the field.

"Woah...someone ate their vitamins as a Turtwig." Iris said, eyeing the grass turtle. She shifted her gaze to Haxorus then, who was damaged, but still ready to battle. As he rose, she gave their next move. "We're not done, Haxorus! Dragon Dance!" The Haxorus made an infinity symbol pattern where it stood then, as its body twirled, spun, and then increased its power.

"Start charging it up, Terra. One good hit will end this." Alex said, and his partner rumbled an affirmative, as he began weaving and condensing ground and grass energy into a sphere. Out of all of his Pokémon, Alex was aware that Terra had the best understanding of how to form such energy, and layer it so it did the most damage possible.

Iris's eyes widened as she watched the symbol appear within their opponent's attack. A symbol of a long-forgotten empire, and the Original Dragon, as well. "We're out of time, Haxorus! Rush it and use X-Scissor!"

Alex grimaced, as he knew his slow, and still charging earth turtle would be taking the hit. He also knew Terra's defense was more than tanky enough to weather at least one super effective hit. The empowered dragon charged them once more with a roar, swinging its axe head as it did.

Terra's tail twitched, as he nonverbally showed his Trainer, he was ready. "Wait for it…" Alex said, as the Haxorus closed. It leapt, and with a twirl, brought its head down towards Terra. "Now Terra!"

Terra didn't need to be told twice as he launched the dense energy sphere and withstood the recoil like the earthy turtle cannon he was, when using this move. As the bug infused blade of the Haxorus met the balanced sphere of grass and ground energy, there was a stalemate of power. Type advantage and blades capable of slicing steel struggled to overcome the sheer power and density of Terra's attack, and indeed Haxorus did manage to cut into the dense combined energy sphere, but in the end, all it ended up doing was blowing up the dual typed sphere in Haxorus's face.

The dragon was slow to rise, and Alex saw it had enough fight left for another move, thus, he called one of their own. "Seed Bomb!" Oar shaped seeds covered in dense green energy balls flew from Terra's tree, and pounded the dragon back into the crater. He fell onto his back, tongue lolling as his eyes became Poliswirls.

Iris recalled her starter Pokémon, and then crossed the somewhat rumbled battlefield to her challenger. She handed him the elite version of the Legend Badge then. "That was...an interesting Battle. Perform like that at the Victory League, and you might even be a challenge for N."

Alex thanked her, and departed, only for Jess to arrive next. She performed slightly worse against Iris than Alex had, with two faints on her own team. Chari had not been able to handle her Dragonite like Blaze had, but Empolia had humbled the dragon with a quadruple effective Ice Beam moments later. Her match actually went quicker, but the end result was the same as Alex's. The fiery redhead strolled out of the Gym with a win, and much needed experience for her teammates.

That, only left Connor. Unlike Alex or his sister, he only used Gren and his Ice Shuriken for this Gym. Gren easily swept the warm-up Trainers, all of them, and then managed to dance and dodge Iris's moves while whittling her dragons down with their ice move.

As she and Connor departed the Gym for the Pokémon Center, Iris saw the trio regroup down the block, and realized that all three of her latest victors were traveling together. In them, she saw a familiar sense of friendship that mirrored her own, back when she'd been younger. The northern Unovans kept a subtle eye on her, as she made a call in the Pokémon Center to what Connor said had appeared to be Marshal, the fighting typed specialist of the Elite Four, and former Champion Alder's strongest apprentice.

The three didn't think too much of it at the time, but when Nurse Joy turned up the Pokémon Center's communal TV as a news broadcast aired with breaking information, their eyes widened. Alex recognized Haley, the blonde from PNN, as the one giving the report, and he was glad that, apparently, the formerly underutilized interns had gotten a promotion at PNN.

"A new story breaking now, out of Opelucid City, home of Dragon Master Iris, longtime Gym Leader of the Opelucid Gym. We're told that, just moments ago, she gave an address to her Challengers and fellow Dragon Tamers in the Gym. We'll play that for you, now."

The screen shifted, and they saw Iris in what looked like vacation wear for somewhere warm, addressing her Gym. "When Leader Drayden asked me to take over the Opelucid Gym, I didn't think I was ready. He asked me many times, before I accepted and I only did so after Haxorus and I climbed to the top, and became Champions. Today, I saw the rise of the next generation first hand...and it occurred to me that I don't want to spend my golden years constantly losing to hotshot Trainers who know what's on my team with a five second Pokénet search. That's why I'm currently stepping down as the Opelucid Gym Leader. All challenges will be postponed until the Pokémon League can send someone qualified to stand in for me. I wish you all good luck with your training."

The screen shifted back to PNN, and Alex kept watching, thoroughly hooked now, as apparently, there was more. "A shocking and upsetting retirement from one of Opelucid City's strongest Trainers. More in this hour, we have news from the Victory League as well, in a similar vein, as longtime Fighting Pokémon Master, Marshal, also announced his retirement from the Elite Four of Unova. His departure leaves Shauntal, prolific author and Ghost Type Pokémon Expert as the new longest standing member of Unova's Elite Four. Our sources say he did pick a replacement, unlike Iris, but the new member of the Elite Four declined an interview."

The camera shifted to John Crimson then, and Alex smirked, as he spied a bit of leftover steak, hanging about in the glorious moustache. "Sources close to Elite Four Marshal claim that he and Iris shared a call today, and reached this decision to retire early together. There have long been rumors around Alder's strongest student and the Dragon Master who once reigned as Champion, and it seems that today...the rumors have more fuel for the flames."

Jess chuckled and drew the boy's attention away from the screen. "I guess...we did that? Think they know which Trainers are responsible?"

Alex shrugged. "It's PNN, so probably."

They glanced back at the screen, as Iris returned to it. "Sources from Opelucid City say that lately, only a few Trainers have made it past Iris to reach Victory Road." Haley continued, "It seems that just an hour ago, the third Trainer in a row to sweep Iris's team today finished their Battle, and prompted the retirement. No word yet on who these Trainers are, but we will continue monitoring the story, for the potential rise of a new Champion from among these promising Challengers."

Connor finished the last of his meal then, and grabbed his bag. "We should move. Now. Before the reporters find us, and swarm us. They can't get onto Victory Road without Badges, so we should be safe if we camp there. I don't need media distractions right before a League match."

Alex and Jess shared a look, then nodded in agreement. They'd been eager to have a room to themselves, but Connor had a point. The Victory League was no longer a goal on the horizon, but the step right in front of them. In a few minutes, they were packed up, and on their way out of Opelucid City. They passed through the Badge Gate, and as it rose behind them, they turned towards the maze of caverns, hidden lakes, and mountainside cliffs that made up Unova's Victory Road.

On Victory Road, Arthur got the most use, as Alex intended to try to sweep the Elite Four with his Gallade. He had grown strong enough to match Terra and Blaze mostly because every single night he'd honed his attacks, at least until he ran out of energy for the day. But in a brief four hours, the Gallade was refreshed, and ready to go again. Having him tanking each Elite Four member would leave his Ice Beam wielder in Hydrus and his armored ball of dragon fresh for whichever of Unova's former Champions he ended up facing.

As they traveled the sparsely populated mountain, Alex finally shared with Connor and Jess the theory behind his variation of a dual typed attack, and what Professor Redwood had known about it. Alex began explaining the concept behind the balanced pattern of energy, referred to in ancient times as a Taijitu Move, a pattern of attack that had apparently originated in Eous. His deep baritones rang throughout their chosen cave in the mountain, and after masterfully following them, a figure eventually appeared by their campsite, stepping obviously and unthreateningly towards the three Trainers that had rolled through each Unovan Gym Leader's best teams with ease.

He was getting on in years, but his hair was still a red mahogany color, streaked with gray. He wore a lab coat, under which he had a blue shirt, and between the edges of the coat, a crest could be seen hanging from a thin rope around his neck. It was a pendant with the very symbol Alex had been describing.

"So, you think you know about Taijitu Moves, hmm?" The man's voice was dripping with sarcastic wit. "What makes you think you kids are strong enough to handle Moves like that?" They wordlessly held up their collection of badges within their badge cases, and the older man scoffed as he saw them. Connor's did hold his gaze longer, but only because he had Kalos's regular set as well.

"Right. Badges. There were eight to get in Kanto. I earned ten." He shook his head, and smirked. "I know you, Alex Redwood, and I know your granduncle. He hasn't told you everything about this Challenge, has he? Just enough to be dangerous. Of course."

Alex eyed the stranger, who'd invited himself to their fire. He seemed familiar, but Alex couldn't place him in the dim light. "And who are you then, if you're smarter than my granduncle?"

The man grinned. "I'm Professor Oak, one of the people who first discovered that combining Moves was even a thing Pokémon were capable of doing." He looked around, and then lowered his voice. "I'm the person the Pokémon League sent to educate you, as I can't erase the knowledge you already have. So pay attention, because none of you are supposed to know this yet."

Sahqoreyth · Mar 16, 2024

Chapter 10: Unova, Part 2

Victory Road - Unova Region

Professor Gary Oak's naturally snarky tones now filled their cave, and the humans had made their dinner, and were eating as they listened. Upon hearing who he was, Alex had been hesitant, as most of the Oak family tree had, according to his granduncle, bought into the lies and nonsense the Arcean Church spewed, despite being learned enough to know to check their sources. Gary, thankfully, knew exactly what the Arceans were, and the fabricated allegations against Alex's granduncle were quite far from his mind. "This League Challenge is designed to test your potential as a Trainer. A call went out from across the League recently, to find the best Trainers around every Region, and N knows what he's looking for. This Challenge was meant to draw out the best of the best. Usually, Trainers need to beat five or six Regional Leagues, before they start messing with dual typed Moves, because that experience is usually required for their proper use. You're from Unova though, a Region where Trainers start when they're older. I saw you in Castelia against Ghetsis, and at each of your Gym Battles since. I've watched all three of you. You're all worthy candidates."

The three Trainers shared looks as this famous Professor told them how great they were. They focused again as he mentioned the League Challenge, and their Gym Battles. Alex raised a brow expectantly.

The Professor continued. "If each of you manage to beat the Victory League's Elite Four and the two Champions after them, you'll get an invitation to undergo...a special kind of training. I can't say more until you actually beat this challenge, but I can promise you that what you will learn, and who you will train with...will make you much stronger."

Jess shrugged. "Summer is almost over, and I still have a year of University." Alex nodded. Her parents would, in no reality, let their precious daughter drop out before graduating properly. As far as her brother went, all Alex knew was that his father had some kind of connection to the ninja clans of Gaulia. His son had wanted a Greninja, and his father had made sure he got the best, and everything that came with using one. Alex briefly started to wonder just what their dad had on his belt, as now that he thought about it, he knew of Arcanine, and little else. He'd heard bat wings from the rooms that guests like him were not allowed in, so he assumed he might have a Crobat or Swoobat. Surely, he had others, though, rich people tended to be good Trainers because they didn't blink at the price of buying twenty-eight vitamin packs. They also could afford to feed large teams, without being famous.

Connor's voice brought Alex back to the conversation, as he spoke. "I intend to go become the Kalos Champion, after this. My team is already strong enough...but the Victory League is the bar by which I will measure them." He smirked, as he felt his friends shuddering with anticipation. There had been some hard feelings after being ignored in Kalos, but they'd grown strong on the party-wide Exp. Share that modern Trainers in Galar, Kalos, and Paldea used. Unova was only just catching up in that regard, but places like the Blueberry Academy had also been giving them out to the next generation, along with Tera Orbs. After going through Castelia, Alex and Jess had upgraded theirs too, which had been as easy as trading in the old harnesses for a Box Link.

Gary nodded. As expected, only Redwood would challenge N. He was here to become Champion and claim the title. Trainers who could beat N were rare, but they did exist. They also had not taken his title, they'd just wanted to battle. "In that case, Redwood should go first. You did say you wanted to be Champion, right?"

Alex cringed slightly, as he remembered the interview he'd been dragged into. "I did. I did say that, yes."

Gary smirked. "I saw. And then you went on to free Reshiram and Kyurem both, from Ghetsis soon after that interview ended. Right?"

Alex nodded, and Gary continued. "Of the three of you, you've already made a good impression on Reshiram. It may be enough to help you defeat Zekrom. The League is...worried about N, lately. They believe he's out of Balance, and now with everything that's coming with the next...World Tournament, they want Unova to have someone strong enough to win." Alex nodded again, wincing slightly as he remembered. N had done alright on the world stage, but only using Reshiram, Zekrom, and his Zoroark had made him easy prey to Leon, Cynthia, and then Ash Ketchum. N had seemed to enjoy each battle though, and the Unovans consoled themselves; that was what mattered most. Winning was nice too, though.

For Alex, the choice was obvious. He fully intended to go first. If N needed a decent battle to get him out of whatever funk he was apparently in, he felt confident he could vibe with Reshiram enough to at least challenge him and Zekrom. As long as Kyurem hadn't been retrieved from the Chasm by N and somehow fused into Black Kyurem, Alex had a shot. Black Kyurem was beyond him, he had no illusions about that. He'd barely managed to destabilize White Kyurem, and that was entirely because Reshiram despised Ghetsis and had been resisting. Shruikan had also been much more powerful than he usually was for some reason, but those convening events had been enough to free the dragons.

Finally, he said, "Alright, Professor. I'll go first. Jess and Connor can still challenge after me, right?"

Gary nodded. "In the event you beat N, they'll face the Champions, alongside a Legendary Dragon. If the Dragons are indisposed though...you'll likely be facing their teams, in a six on six. First Hilbert or Hilda, then Nate or Rosa. A win at the Victory League on your Trainer Card is nothing to sneeze at...but there can be only one Champion."

Jess elbowed Alex as he was lost in thought. "I'm going after you, if you get rolled by N. I'm sure Champions can do their schoolwork remotely. El Primero did."

Alex silently nodded as Jess spoke, but he was too focused on the hill before him that he was being told to climb. After talking with several Trainers on Victory Road, he knew exactly how the Victory League was structured for this particular test, and he was planning on relying heavily on Arthur and Shruikan to counter the ghost, dragon, psychic, and fighting types the Elite Four would use. Once he made it through them, if he made it through them, he'd likely end up facing Reshiram. It was no secret that N was closer to Zekrom, but Reshiram had battled with each of the Champions. Hilbert had been more open to sharing him, as needed.

Hundreds of Trainers had probably already tried by now, and all had likely been soundly defeated, unable to control the power of Reshiram's truths or Zekrom's ideals against N, who had mastered both. He would've heard if someone had won, dethroning a Champion with a reign as long as N's was a big deal, at least to Unovans.

Alex had an idea of what he needed to do to beat N, but Gary Oak didn't need to know that. So, he played along with feigned ignorance.

Seeing Alex was lost in thought, Gary spoke again. "Let me see your Pokémon, if you don't mind. All of them."

They appeared simultaneously, as each of them had been watching the scene from within their balls. The Oak name was a legend to Pokémon, as all who listened to Celebi's stories knew of his grandfather, Samuel Oak and the Trainer who joined him from the future to save the time traveling Forest Guardian's life.

The Professor eyed each of them, from Alex's Torterra to Connor's Garchomp. He nodded then, finding only a few who had yet to become Alphas of their species. "As I suspected. All three of you are indeed capable of becoming candidates for the trials of the Psychic Sages. If you win, one of them will likely end up training you. Good luck, you three. You'll need it against these Trainers." Personally, Gary saw the Victory League as obsessed with battle. Shauntal hid it well, but all the new faces were as eager to get stronger as N was. And the Champions were even crazier, but Hilda and Hilbert clearly loved Pokémon training, while for Nate, he strove to be a World Champion. Gary knew how that had played out for him so far, though. Despite having many powerful teams, Nate's brute force damage strategy could be stopped by timely status moves, clever tricks and counters, or a timely switch to a new Pokémon. All of those had seen him lose in the World Tournament.

The aging man got up and left, then, and the journey through Victory Road continued. Arthur saw the most use and had by this point become as physically strong as Terra or the others, but still had a weakness in being limited to using Psychic or Zen Headbutt, which lacked the versatility of Psycho Cut, a simultaneously close range or mid distance attack. Once they arrived at the Victory Plateau's building, Alex went in first through the gates. The three had agreed to heed the Professor's words and send Alex in first.

As the doors closed behind him with finality and the cast iron gate rose, blocking the entrance until the challenge was finished, he took stock of his dwindling supply of items and then he turned his eyes to the four paths of Unova's Elite Four. One eyebrow slowly rose, as he saw Pokémon type symbols above each one. Ghost, dragon, psychic, and fighting. The path to the fighting types was closed by thick metal bars, however, and Alex's eyes narrowed, as he had expected a free choice, in Unova of all regions. No place claimed to value the rights of the people more, but he supposed it was part of the challenge, or something. He'd wanted to take them first, as Arthur would be at his peak as a psychic fighter against fighting types, and Alex had wanted him fresh to handle their potentially brutal counter moves.

He headed for Shauntal's pathway first. He ignored the spoopy ghost vibes from the spirits trying to levitate his larger frame. He ascended the spiral staircase on his own power, passing right through them, as he suppressed a shudder. He came upon the Ghost Type Pokémon Expert, as she seemed to be reading from a scroll on the desk in her room. It was emanating a silvery light, and Shauntal was limned in it. "Clad in the bones of Dragons, he brings change wherever he goes…" Shauntal turned then, as one of the ghost lights, a Chandelure, manifested beside her, and whispered something. "Interesting. It's been a while since someone picked me first. Welcome, Challenger. I've been keeping an eye on your story, ever since John Crimson mentioned you were rising like a Draco Meteor. I'm genuinely looking forward to this."

Alex smiled, for once, the sardonic smirk exchanged for a far more pleasing expression. "Shauntal of the Elite Four...your books are awesome. All of them. N's. All the Champions, really."

"Really!? You think so? Some people don't care for Rosa's…" Shauntal replied as she fought down the flush in her cheeks.

Alex shrugged. "Some idiots on the Pokénet don't care for strong female characters, but from what I've read of the situation, Hugh and Nate would've been up a creek without Rosa's timely arrival on the Plasma Frigate. One could easily argue she played a vital role in saving Unova."

Shauntal sighed, with what seemed like relief. It was rare that she got challengers who were humans with culture. This one's eyes were on fire, and she wondered if it would be enough to relight N's. "Finally. Someone who does their due diligence. Welcome to the Elite Four, Challenger Redwood. Let's begin, shall we?"

Alex threw Arthur's ball, and his Gallade appeared in a flash of light. He was the picture of calm, with the kind of focus only fighting and psychic types could usually achieve. Dark typed energy burned up his arms, and formed into dark humming blades, as he readied his Night Slash, and smirked. "We're going to need Night Slash the most, Arthur...so plan accordingly."

"Gallade." He answered, dropping into his fighting crouch.

Shauntal gulped, and suddenly regretted not bringing Disable. She went for type advantage, and shouted, "Drifblim! It's time for a new chapter...Acrobatics!"

Arthur was already moving. At his level, and with his speed, he was a blur compared to the ghostly blimp. He vanished from the Drifblim's sight, and reappeared moments later behind the floating ghost balloon, then he struck it twice. The tanky health of Drifblim kept it going, but Shauntal had a visceral reaction as she saw how much damage her friend had taken. That didn't stop him from using Acrobatics again, as he drifted after the Gallade.

"Save your energy, Arthur. Aerial Ace, stay defensive. Then counter."

The Gallades blade arms faded, as the dark energy did, and his shorter forearms, still unable to form into swords, became imbued with flying typed energy. He only aimed to hit the Drifblim's similarly empowered limbs, and the two Pokémon danced around the room as lightning flashed in the window behind Shauntal.

"Drifblim! Use Shadow Ball!"

"Now, Arthur!"

As the Drifblim charged the Shadow Ball, the Gallade bamfed in behind it with his far superior speed once more and struck twice with Night Slash. With a wheeze, the Drifblim's eyes became Poli patterned, and Shauntal recalled her partner, before bringing out her next Pokémon. Since being qualified as a referee was part of the prerequisites for an Elite Four member, they didn't need referees in the Elite Four's chambers. Alex nodded in approval, as Arthur sped back in front of him. All the lessons from Gren were paying off. Arthur wasn't as fast, but he was just fast enough to appear to vanish. Not for the first time, Alex wished he had a Mind Plate crystal, but those were quite rare.

"You're next, Golurk!" Shauntal shouted as she flung the ball. "Use Shadow Punch!" The ground and ghost type dropped into a crouch, and once more, dark energy swords formed up the Gallade's arms, like it would if he could form them into swords. Alex had hoped that this much use, at an Elite Four level, would help his Gallade figure out the trick to shifting his arms into blades. It would lead them to Psycho Cut, and he knew that his Gallade hated not being able to do something so simple.

The two circled each other slowly, and Alex noted that this seemed to be the most intelligent Golurk they'd yet faced. Most of them were thick in the head, but this one seemed more alert, and aware that this very strong physical attacker was readying a super effective move. Other ghost golems had charged right into their demise after being given a punch move to execute, but this one was waiting for an opening.

"Arthur...don't give away which direction you're going...and watch the counter to the strike. This one is...smarter." Alex spoke, his Gallade nodded, and Shauntal smirked. Not many Trainers noticed the difference between her Golurk, and others, but then, not many remained who understood Golurk at all.

Arthur moved, suddenly, vanishing from sight, and the Golurk spun its head around as it tried tracking the Gallade. It managed to do so, and its body whirled in place, bringing around the ghost golem's Iron Fist straight into Arthur. The ghost energy made him shiver, as he skidded back towards his Trainer, still ready to fight, but heavily damaged.

Alex mumbled his next order to his partner, and the Gallade smirked again. Moments later, he vanished, but Shauntal wasn't worried. "Shadow Punch again, Golurk! Nobody sneaks up on you!"

Once more the golem's head spun rapidly as it searched out the Gallade, but this time, it found nothing, and began whirring in heightened anticipation, even worry, as it failed to find the attacking target. It was a smart Golurk, but it was still a Golurk. It hadn't thought to look upwards. Arthur placed his arms together above the ghost golem and formed them into a single Night Slash. He spun as he came down fast and hammered the tanky ghost by spinning down his backside, and landing in a crouch.

He flipped away from where he landed, arms crossed, and turned with an elegant half turn back towards the Elite Four member, and her Pokémon as he readied another Night Slash. "Golurk! Use Shad-" She stopped halfway through the command, as she realized her partner was fainted. It fell over then, and she recalled it, eyes wide. "Only Champion N ever took it out in a single hit before...and that was with Zekrom...who are you, exactly?"

Alex applied a Max Potion, as the Battle hit a lull, and Shauntal retrieved her next ball. "Alex Redwood. The next Champion." He said with a confident smirk.

Shauntal's Cofagrigus and Froslass met similar fates to Arthur's Night Slash, and suddenly, she was down to two, and her challenger hadn't even called out another Pokémon. She planned to change that, or at the very least, weaken the Gallade enough for her Chandelure to handle. She refused to be swept again. "Gengar! Use Shadow Ball!"

Her second strongest partner appeared and started launching sparking Shadow Balls at the Gallade with superior speed. Then, Shauntal placed something on the end of her pen and raised it. Ghost type energy shot into the Gengar, and it ascended to the next stage thanks to a Plate shard, from a Dread Plate. Despite this, and with the same persistently cool-under-fire demeanor that reminded her of Nate, and how easily his Lucario had swept her, her latest challenger seemed unfazed.

"Double Team, and Night Slash." Arthur did as ordered, and soon, the hectic room of floating papers, books, ghost lights, and Shadow Balls became inundated with Gallades. Shauntal's Mega Gengar fired off Shadow Ball after Shadow Ball, but soon, it began to tire. That was when the Gallades who remained, shifted from dodging, to striking. The Night Slash was almost enough to end the Gengar, but as it was in its Mega Form, it weathered the hit.

Shauntal changed tactics, as she saw how damaged her partner was. Once again, this Gallade proved to be at a higher level. "Hypnosis!" Shauntal ordered, and with surprising accuracy, Gengar hammered the Gallade with his psychic eye beams. Arthur's eyes closed, but he continued smirking, even as they closed. For a Gallade, who only needed four hours of rest to be recharged, his version of sleep was more like a semi-aware trance. "Now use Dream Eater!" The Gengar closed its own eyes, and an opaque version of itself charged quickly for the Gallade.

Alex grimaced, and shouted, "Dodge, Arthur!"

As the spirit Gengar's mouth opened wide for a large bite, the Gallade leapt back at the last moment, frowning as he slept, and the Gengar's intangible teeth came down on nothing but air. It winced, as that seemed to hurt it, and it tried Dream Eater again, only for the graceful Gallade to keep dodging.

Then, suddenly, he was awake, and Alex gave the order. "Now Night Slash!" The Gallade dropped low, swirled in place, and severed the tether between Gengar's Dream Eater, and its body. The spirit rushed back into the ghost Pokémon, and it panted, looking furious as the smirking Gallade readied another Night Slash.

"Once more, Gengar! Hypnosis!" Shauntal ordered, and her Pokémon obeyed, as the angry eyes focused on the Gallade. Arthur was ready this time however, and he backflipped over both circular beams, before landing, and charging in hard for another Night Slash. "Don't let it hit! Shadow Punch!"

The Gallade leapt, and struck, at the same time as the Gengar, and the two landed harder than they meant to after they crossed in the air. The Shadow Punch had burned up Arthur's left arm, but his right had been the blow that ended the round. He rose, as he heard the Gengar's gasp, but not its fall. He leapt back to Alex then and fell into a fighting crouch.

Shauntal recalled her partner then and sighed. "I had hoped Gengar would weaken it more...come Chandelure! Let us write the final chapter in this intense Battle!" The ghost type in question was much, much stronger than the rest of the team, bigger, higher leveled, and Alex guessed that it had fed well on its Trainer's life energy. He also assumed Shauntal knew the price of being a Litwick line Trainer.

Alex took the initiative this time. "Start us off with Shadow Ball, Arthur!" The Gallade nodded and began forming and condensing the ghost energy between his hands. It was smaller as it got denser, but still just as damaging. If it managed to hit. Arthur had yet to perfect landing this particular Move, at close range. At a distance he could usually hit.

"Fire Spin." Shauntal said, and as the Shadow Ball approached, the Chandelure spun itself, rather than spewing flames. It burned right through the ghost attack, which evaporated behind it. "Now that's disappointing. I'd heard your ball attacks were harder to cut through."

Alex shrugged. "Arthur is still working on that one...I've been trying to get him to learn something like Shadow Claw or Shadow Punch, but he's determined to get the ball attack right." The Gallade glanced at his Trainer, and then charged up another. He poured more energy into it, making it bigger, denser, and then fired it again.

"Same thing, Chandelure! Fire Spin through it!"

As the ghost chandelier Pokémon tried bisecting the ball again, this time, it exploded in her face and damaged her to about the same level as Arthur. They were both far from done, though. "Fire Blast!"

"Dodge through the...legs, then Night Slash!" Alex ordered. Arthur did as instructed, and his Trainer flinched, as the barrier protecting his side of the field was tested by arguably the strongest fire type move in the Elite Four's arsenal. Arthur was as graceful as ever as he slid through the bottom part of the five-pointed Fire Blast on his knees as he leaned backwards, and then leapt above the Fire Spinning Chandelure as he landed yet another hit.

Shauntal winced, and then desperately cried, "Dark Pulse! Drive it back!" The Chandelure acquiesced, and Arthur had to leap back, as any forward momentum threatened to get him hit by the intense dark energy. By his measure, he had two hits left that he could endure. "Don't stop! Dark Pulse!" Once Arthur hit the back of the room though, something changed. He zigged ahead of the Dark Pulse as it tried cornering him, and then kept ahead of it. His right arm was the only one that formed a Night Slash this time, and as he ran, he kept it 'sheathed' as his free arm readied to shield him.

The next wave of Dark Pulses came, and were met by a normal sized Shadow Ball, an uncondensed version of the move, and one wide enough to stop the Dark Pulses via type advantage. Shauntal's eyes went wide, as she realized what came next. Arthur came dashing through the smoke of the colliding moves, and in the space of a second, leapt, slashed, and then landed behind her Chandelure.

Up close, she got a good look at the psychic and fighting type. That he was at a high level was obvious, but there was more to his power than training. Her author's intuition was convinced. She made a note to dig up information on the Gallade, as she was sure now that there was a story behind those sad but determined eyes.

She fell to her knees as her Chandelure did and recalled her partner. "You all did excellently...even though we were swept with one Pokémon that only needed one Potion to finish us. We'll have to train harder!" She felt Chandelure's ball shake, weakly, but it was enough acknowledgement for her. She stood then and nodded at Alex. "You've climbed the first rung on the path to the Champion. Proceed to the next room...I'm interested in seeing how this story ends."

Alex nodded. "I hope you'll be as entertained as I was, when I finished your stories. I think I'll take on...Will, next. He's the Psychic Type Expert that replaced Caitlin, right?"

At the mention of the handsome, book loving psychic type master, Shauntal flushed. Hard. "Oh, uh, Will? Yea. He's uh, been here for a while now...he's so handsome, and strong, and well read, and handsome…"

Alex smirked. "You said handsome twice."

Shauntal turned a shade more crimson. "That was out loud!? Ohhh…" With that, she quickly jumped into the telepad that led to the Pokémon Center, and because it was the Victory League, it was the nicest Pokémon Center in Unova. Built into the mountain, it had room for eating, training, and there was even a field lower down for Battles. The rooms were all singles, as Unova didn't do Double Battles in the Victory League, and challengers were expected to prepare alone, with their teams.

Alex smirked and looked around the chamber. His eyes were drawn to the desk then. The scroll Shauntal had been reading when he came in was glowing with a whitish light, and as he stepped towards it, he heard two very distinct, and yet almost identical male baritones thunder in his skull at the exact same time. "Don't…"

When a spoopy ghost room told you not to pry further, smart people resisted the urge, and Alex turned, stepping hurriedly into his own telepad, that brought him just outside Shauntal's room. The gate attendant gave him a sympathetic look, as he saw Alex's expression. As the ones who had to clean Shauntal's room after combat, they knew how creepy it could get. Especially if they got curious.

Alex gave Arthur the max variants of a Potion and Elixir, made sure he was ready for the dual types Will was renowned for using in both Japan and Unova, and then headed across the room towards the domain of the Victory League's resident psychic master.

As he entered, a nonsensical floating cube surrounded him and dragged him up to the platform meant for battling. Will's decor was a far cry from the obnoxiously lavish bed Caitlin had levitated in, and out, during her stint as an Elite Four of Unova. All the area seemed to have around it was constantly swirling cubes, which were easily ignored. The battlefield itself was flat, bare, and reminiscent of the ones used in Japan.

A light purple haired man wearing scarlet and black formal clothes, with hints of gold, spoke as Alex landed, and was deposited by the cube. "Welcome, Challenger. I am Will, a Master of Psychic Types, and a lover of fine novels. I see I am the second on your rise to the top...and I sense...hmm." Will's eyes shifted closed beneath the opaque mask covering them. He smirked, slightly. "A good question. Why don't you ask it?"

"Why is the Fighting Type Master's door barred to me? This is unheard of." Alex muttered, with an appropriate amount of salt.

"In Unova, maybe, but in many Leagues, there is an order to the Challenges that Trainers must face. The new replacement is still preparing, apparently, and requested that he go last, if you were the one who challenged the Elite Four next. You are the first Challenger since Marshal retired a few days ago, so we apologize for the inconvenience." Will snapped his book closed, and Alex caught the cover, in standard Times New Imperium font. It read: Tusk Love, and there was a Walrein on the cover, roaring, white luscious mane flaring in a breeze, and looking impressively chiseled and muscular for a typically chonky Pokémon. "I sense much power...in you and your partners...this is going to be fun. Let us begin!"

Will sent out an Exeggutor with the Kantonian grass and psychic typing. Arthur once more took the field, and smirked, as his brain brought up all the choices he had for super effective hits. He wished he wasn't limited to four Moves. "Same deal as before, Arthur. Night Slash and Shadow Ball. But for this one...try an X-Scissor first." Alex smirked, as he made full use of the TM Burgh had given him.

Bug type energy hummed in Arthur fists as he readied the move. For a moment, Alex wondered if they would form blades as well, but unlike Night Slash, the energy remained in his forearms. Will's brow furrowed, as he heard the quadruple effective move called, and having just seen Shauntal's encounter with this challenger, he had no intention of getting swept. "Exeggutor! Use Reflect!"

The psychic heads of the undersized tree Pokémon roared in unison, and a barrier of reflective psychic energy formed between them, and the charging Gallade. Arthur's smirk widened, and he vanished from sight, then reappeared behind the much slower Pokémon, landing his X-Scissor behind the Reflect. "Stomp!" Will said, taking advantage of the closeness, but by the time the psychic grass type turned and stomped, Arthur had already zipped back to his side of the field.

"Brick Break! Then X-Scissor!" Alex said, and Arthur readied his arms for the fighting move, before charging in at the Exeggutor once more. He leapt, spun gracefully in the air, and then brought his rolling momentum down on the Reflect, as he smashed through it. The follow up spin into another strike from his other hand, was bug typed, and Arthur brought the Exeggutor down on the second hit. Tanky as it was, a quadruple weakness was hard to withstand more than a single hit with.

Will called out his next Pokémon then, "Let's try you next! Bronzong! Go! Use Reflect!" The psychic gong appeared with a toll, and then it swung its body the other way, and a Reflect barrier appeared on all sides of it.

Alex chuckled. "Don't waste the Brick Break, Arthur...it's stronger than the Exeggutor. Slip through the Reflect, and then use Night Slash!" Will stayed ominously quiet, as the Gallade charged, arms out to either side as the blades of dark energy formed once more. He flipped over the Bronzong, and noticed a horizontal Reflect screen atop it as well. That left using his lithe figure to slip in between the series of psychic shields. Arthur landed behind the Pokémon, twirled in through one of the slim spaces between the five-sided Reflect, and then struck with Night Slash.

Arthur immediately covered his ears, as the Bronzong donged in response, and then, Will called his counter, looking far too confident. "Payback." The Bronzong didn't even turn, it whirled in place, hammering Arthur with the dark energy, into the Reflect barrier, and then once more struck him with dark energy as he bounced off it. The Gallade was tossed around the five-sided death trap, purposefully left open enough to slip through, so the counterattack would be all but final.

"Arthur! Get out of there! Drop and roll!" The Gallade kept his block up as best he could during the assault, but the damage had been done. When next he fell to the floor, he rolled quickly out from under the levitating Pokémon and its five barriers, and hopped up, panting, bruised, but conscious. Alex grimaced. One Potion was allowed in these Battles, and only to the challenger. He'd wanted to save his, but another Payback, or psychic move, would end them, and their solo streak.

Arthur came close enough for the Max Potion, and once it took effect, Will countered. "Use Psychic!" Arthur tried dodging, but soon found himself levitating in the air.

Alex countered quickly, before their Potion was made useless. "Break out of Psychic, then Double Team! Charge it and use Brick Break into Night Slash!" Arthur saw the plan in his Trainer's head, and went with it, as he could not think up a better one at that moment. He used his own Psychic on himself to break free, before charging in at the Bronzong again.

"Shadow Ball!" Will ordered, but the Gallade was already dividing himself into clones, and each of them went for a Reflect screen, smashing it. Then, one somersaulted high in the air, and brought a double Night Slash down the Bronzong's back side. "Bronzong!" Will said, as he saw it hang on just enough for a counter. "Use Psychic!"

"Brick Break." Alex said, and as the psychic gong's eyes lit up, Arthur did a half turn from where he'd landed, and sent the steel type skipping across the battlefield, fainted. Will recalled his Pokémon then and brought out the next.

"You know, at first I thought Shauntal was just weak...but after seeing you Battle up close, I understand better why she seemed to go down so easily...that Gallade of yours is something. Grumpig! Come on out!" Will made his remark and threw his ball with the same panache all of his movements possessed.

Alex smirked, and his Gallade eyed the psychic pig, who had entered a battle stance, and growled a challenge. "Shauntal is more than strong enough to rank here…and she had nothing but praise for you...though after seeing your line-up so far...I'm not that impressed, honestly." Alex said, as he instinctually defended the last 'classic Unova' member of the Elite Four. Those who'd reigned in the Champion's childhoods, Grimsley, Shauntal, Caitlin, and Marshal, were considered one of, if not the best four the Victory League had in its modern history. That said, it was only the current Elite Four, with the exception of the new fighting type specialist, that had been ranked as the hardest in the world by the Pokémon League.

"Let's see if we can't shift your opinion of us. Grumpig! Use Teeter Dance!" The Grumpig nodded, and with a snort, began gracefully dancing. Arthur, who was on the other side of the field once more, simply shielded his eyes with a blade-arm, though his smirk was still visible.

"Night Slash until it falls, Arthur." Alex said, and the Gallade let out a yell, as his arms once more burned into dark arm blades. He charged forward again, and then vanished as he used his speed to move beyond the psychic pig's perception and get behind it. The Grumpig's eyes looked towards its back, but before it could so much as turn, the Night Slash landed, and the Gallade leapt away again, as graceful as he always was.

"Grumpig! Don't let it close again! Shadow Ball!" Will said, as he pointed. The Grumpig formed a truly massive, sparking Shadow Ball, and fired it like a cannon at Arthur. She had gone for dumping more power into it, rather than condensing what was there to make it more damaging, and that, left it open to being bisected.

"Straight through Arthur! End it!" The Gallade charged forward towards the Shadow Ball and leapt through the bisected pieces of ghost energy as they were cut in half by Night Slash. They exploded, but Arthur was already beyond them and used his remaining Night Slash to land the final hit. Dust from the explosion obscured the field. Will gestured, and the cloud vanished, revealing the Gallade once more behind the Grumpig, but facing Will, arm out from where he'd left it after landing the Night Slash. The Grumpig collapsed, and Will's eyebrow twitch was all that gave away his annoyance at being swept. His Xatu had a very similar fall, and like his Grumpig, only required two hits to faint.

By the time he was on his final two, Will was losing his composure. The mask had slipped slightly on his face, after he'd facepalmed so many times, and his frustration was obvious. Then, he took a deep breath, realigned his mask, and flourished his ball. "This one will not be so easily brought down. Slowbro! Go!"

"A question, Will, if I might?" Alex said, holding up a hand. Will nodded, as Slowbro was still realizing it wasn't in its ball anymore and was on a battlefield.

"By all means, Challenger. I'm familiar with League rules in multiple League affiliated Regions. Ask away." The psychic user tilted his head as he spoke, wondering what question might be asked. He'd heard many in his time. Most, had been rule clarifications. Alexander Redwood did not break the trend.

"The four Move limit...is that per Battle, or per round? I could never find a solid source on it from Nurse Joy, or the Victory League rules." Alex said. As he spoke, Arthur tried waving at the Slowbro, but she just stared at him with the same unfocused, derpy eyes she'd had since appearing. It did respond with 'Bro' though, so the Gallade took that as a hello.

Will held his chin as he pondered. "A good question. In the Indigo League, I know it's four for the entire Battle, but in Unova, you're all about freedom and intensity. As challenging, and fair, as possible. In that spirit, I would say four per round. Only the most remarkable Pokémon can remember more than four Moves. Battles are always more fun, when they're less predictable."

Alex bowed, in the Unovan style. "Thank you, Psychic Master, for the clarification."

Will bowed in return, looking far more elegant as he flourished. "My pleasure to inform. Knowledge is power, after all."

Alex smirked. "I agree. Arthur! Show them what you and Blaze learned from watching Leon's Charizard."

Arthur's smirk became downright maniacal, as he recalled watching the Undefeated Champion, at his height, using the move on the World Champion's (of the day) red Gyarados, via the Technical Machine's built in screen. Will made the first move though, and said, "Withdraw, Slowbro!" The dopey psychic water hippo didn't even notice as the Shellder leeching off of it grew and covered most of its back. Suddenly, the eyes widened, and the air rippled, as the Slowbro woke up.

Arthur meanwhile had been bringing the thunder, in a pair of Thunder Punches, and as they landed, the Slowbro's eyes widened in pain, at which point, Will countered. "Disable!" The air cracked, and suddenly, Arthur could remember nothing of what the TM had shown him. The other battles involving Galar's Champion and his starter remained, but even those with Thunder Punch were hazy, around the parts where it had been used, blocked temporarily by powerful psychic interference. "Now use Psychic!"

Arthur barely had time to process the loss of a move, before he was surrounded by absurdly powerful psychic energy, from a much stronger Pokémon compared to the others he'd faced so far. It seemed Will had saved his strongest for last. The Gallade was tossed around like a ragdoll, as the Slowbro moved it with only its eyes, and then, as suddenly as it began, it stopped, and the Pokémon winced in pain for a moment, then went blank again, as each eye stared off in a different direction. It was damaged, but getting close to hit would result in another Psychic thrashing.

Arthur lowered his stance then, and brought his arms by his waist, as he began empowering the Shadow Ball. He left nothing to spare, this time, and it grew rapidly as he condensed it between his 'hands'. It was smaller than the ones from Shauntal's Pokémon, but for a fast physical attacker with a truly garbage special attack stat, it wasn't bad. Will only had one thing to shout as he tried to counter, "Amnesia!"

Alex's smirk shifted to a grimace, but Arthur fired anyway, and the Slowbro took the hit, as its move made it forget where it even was. By Alex's reckoning, it was almost done, but Will seemed to intend to get every drop out of his psychic water hippo before it fainted. "Now Slowbro! Psychic once more!"

"End this, Arthur. Dodge, and then Thunder Punch!" Alex countered, and a wave of psychic force rippled past the Gallade as he gracefully spun into a dodge, and then readied his own move in response. Lightning crackled over the Slowbro as he hit, but it stayed standing, as it fainted. Will sighed and recalled his oblivious Pokémon.

"Now it comes down to her...I've never used her in this League, you know. I only joined a few years ago after all. During my time spent in Hoenn I found a rather special Pokémon...one your Gallade may find too much to handle." Will said as he readjusted his mask and flourished a Pokéball with psychic power.

"Arthur is ready for anything. Bring it." Alex said, confidently. His Gallade responded in kind, with a battle-yell, and a drop into his fighting stance. His arms readied a Night Slash, as they knew whatever Will had left would likely be weak to it. The Elite Four's Psychic Master tossed the ball, and Arthur's arms lowered, slightly, as he saw a Gardevoir.

Unlike the response Will expected, Arthur seemed to be lost in a haze of memory, rather than lust, but it didn't matter. The first move was theirs. "Gardevoir, Dazzling Gleam!"

The Gardevoir narrowed her eyes at the seemingly stunned Gallade. "Gar. Devoir." Arthur blinked, shook his head, and focused back into his fighting stance. There weren't many Ralts in Unova, and the last Gardevoir he'd seen was his mother. As his focus returned to his present, the final round against the second of the Victory League's Elite Four, the red eyed Gardevoir raised her arms, and bathed him in fairy typed light.

There was a blur of darkness in the fairy light though, in the moment after the attack, as her arms were still raised, the Gallade struck with Night Slash, and landed behind her. It was around that moment that both Arthur and his Trainer remembered that fairy types beat dark types, and a psychic fairy type would not be weak to Night Slash.

Arthur didn't let up though, and Will continued to call moves, as Alex let his Gallade handle things. "Charge Beam!" The Gardevoir's arms moved in a specific but untraceable pattern, and then came together, to fire a line of intense plasma at Arthur. Once more, he tried to counter, but he missed, as the Gardevoir spun out of the path of his slash and gracefully dodged him with almost no effort.

He barely dodged her next Charge Beam, but he could tell it was making her attacks stronger. One Shadow Ball now, and he was done. As if Will read his mind, he gave that exact order. "Gardevoir! We will not be swept by one Pokémon! Shadow Ball!"

"End it, Arthur." Alex said, and his Gallade nodded. The Shadow Ball came for his face, so he went low, running like a ninja along the floor as his arms once more burned to life with dark type energy. Then, he vanished, reappeared by the Gardevoir, and struck with critical success. Arthur walked slowly then back to his side of the field, as she fainted, and let his arms return to normal. He was all but out of Night Slashes, and more than that, after two intense battles against the Elite Four, he was drained. The Max Elixir and Potion helped, but Alex knew he needed a rest.

"Well done, Challenger…" Will finally managed, as he looked at his Pokéball, and then recalled his Pokémon. "You have bested me, and with a Psychic Type no less. I have...never been wholly swept by a Challenger's first Pokémon...it is...an interesting feeling." He walked towards the center of the battlefield, as he spoke.

Alex shrugged. "Arthur fought hard, and so did your team. So did Shauntal's. We competed fairly and found out who was stronger. In my opinion, all Battles should be so fun."

Will stroked his chin, then. "And how did you get so strong, might I ask?"

Alex nodded at his Gallade. "Arthur is responsible for that...he saw the gap in strength between him and the rest of my team, and he closed it in a matter of weeks. When the others sleep, he's training. While they focused on perfecting dual typed Moves, Arthur was busy learning more than four. Only a few of mine can do that...but the rest are getting there."

Will nodded at his words. "There has been an awakening...a few weeks back, a great power returned to conscious thought, and that event has begun a shift in our Pokémon friends. Long ago, in ancient times, Pokémon Battled with as many Moves as they could, and the strongest was usually the person ruling over the people. These...Dark Times were poorly recorded. Entire civilizations rose and fell within that period, and by the end of it, most Pokémon could only manage to recall four Moves."

Alex pondered Will's words for a moment, then smirked. "Read that in Tusk Love, did you?"

If the Elite Four blushed, his mask hid it, but his mouth did lift into a smirk. "Not quite. That tidbit I discovered while researching the Judgement War. The last major recorded conflict before the Tamer of Arceus's death plunged our burgeoning societies into renewed chaos."

Alex nodded again, but the smirk remained. "You know, Shauntal is quite a prolific author. And a history buff. You should speak with her about this."

Will tilted his head. "Is she? Interesting. I haven't really had time to talk to the others. I'm still pretty new here, and Champion N made it clear that we are here to find the strongest Trainers and send them his way. Not fraternize."

Alex waved his words away, as they moved towards the pair of telepads at the furthest edge of the platform. "There've been plenty of people who have...fraternized...in the Elite Four. In many Regions. You should speak with Shauntal, she's in the Pokémon Center as we speak, you know."

"Perhaps I will…" Will said, as he stared at the pad. Alex was about to leave, when he spoke again. "You know, I'm not all that good with women. I prefer books."

Alex arched a brow. "But your entire team is female…"

Will chuckled. "Pokémon are a different story entirely. I saw that redhead you arrived with. The thoughts coming from your minds were...distracting. Any advice for someone whose never initiated that kind of conversation?"

Alex blinked, as he realized several things about Will, all at once, and wondered just how old the man was. Then again, some people just didn't care for romance or sex enough to constantly pursue it. Will definitely came off as someone driven towards other goals, but if this was to be his first foray, the least Alex could do was give him what advice he genuinely believed would be helpful. It'd worked for him, after all.

"Honestly? You don't need much. You can open with something simple. A greeting. Just have somewhere to go after. Don't expect 'hello' to be enough for a conversation, because she will say it back to you, and then there will be an awkward pause. Mention books or something, and you'll do fine." Alex pondered for a moment then, and the pause lingered as he continued to think. "Aside from that...eye contact. Very important. You won't have a problem speaking with Shauntal, call it a hunch, but I think she's into you. Maybe take the mask off when you chat, though."

"Right...simple conversation...eye contact. No mask. How hard could that be?" Will said, as he strode towards the telepad, and was bamfed to the Pokémon Center. Alex was bamfed back behind the Gate of Victory, and once more, the fighting type master's door was barred. He sighed, and then headed for the dragon typed specialist. Arthur needed a break anyway.

Damon had been on the Elite Four since Grimsley departed, replacing their dark type focus with a focus on dragons that had been sorely missing from the Victory League after Nate knocked out Iris from the Champion spot, and into the role of Gym Leader. By all accounts, it was Damon and Marshal who had crushed the most aspiring challengers, and more than that, was the fact that his team was largely unknown. Most people only ever saw his Hydreigon, and he didn't allow the footage of matches that went beyond his first Pokémon to air publicly.

As Alex entered, he wished he had a Salamence, or a special attacking water type with annoying Ice Beam coverage. Hydrus's aim was good, but against an Elite Four Dragon Tamer, he expected it to be countered. Hydrus, Blaze, and Shruikan would give Arthur a much-needed break, and Alex intended to make the battle a longer one, so his Gallade was as rested as he could be, for the final showdown with the fighting typed specialist.

The staircase leading to Damon was simple, straightforward. One side was covered with menacing bone-white spikes, reminiscent of the claws Grimsley had in this very room. The other side of the path was lined with the same claw structures, except they were jet black, and gleamed with menace in the torchlight of the chamber. As he ascended the stairs, the claws folded back for him, and as he reached the top, he got a good look at the style of brazier holding the torches that were giving the unusually dark chamber its light.

The battlefield was an old style Pokémon field, used in the earliest days of Unova, back when it was known as the Dragon Empire. The ball pattern was more of a square, and that same pattern was repeated on Damon's clothing, as he stepped into the torchlight. Most of his attire was covered by a lengthy black cloak, and the aforementioned pattern upon it was, naturally, white. The entire room had the black and white theme going, from the floor to the Dragon Tamer's own hairstyle, which had apparently been dyed half black, and half white. The clothes beneath the cloak appeared to have the same pattern, a belt, pants, etcetera, save that they were mainly white, and their pattern appeared to be black.

"Welcome, Challenger, to my domain. I am Damon, Dragon Master of Unova. My people have lived in this Region for thousands of years, guarding the Oath Woods with our Dragon Types. I saw your Battles with my contemporaries. I must say, I am impressed. Out of all the Challengers we've had for this latest League Challenge... I believe you're the one most likely to beat it. Your obvious love for your Pokémon is matched only by the power they put out for you. If you can replicate that in your future Battles, you might just unseat Champion N. But first...you must defeat me."

Damon snapped his fingers then, and one of his balls opened. Alex grimaced, as he stared down a Hydreigon. One look told him it was well trained, and monstrously powerful. He had only heard rumors about the People of the Woods, as Unovans collectively called Damon's tribe. Supposedly, they had once been immigrants who had lived in the Desert Resort, before Reshiram's flames had burned it down to nothing but super-heated sand and memory.

"Shruikan!" Alex said, as he tossed his ball and took the first move, "Use Dragon Pulse!"

As the sphere of dragon energy charged up, the eager to battle Shelgon condensed it, and turned it black and red before he fired it. The dense sphere of sparking dragon energy roared towards the Hydreigon, and with the same calm, but confident monotone as his challenger, Damon countered it. "Stop it, with Hyper Voice."

The air within the chamber cracked like a boom of thunder, and Alex could've sworn that he heard the Hydreigon say something other than its name, but it was drowned out by the boom, and resulting explosion, from their Dragon Pulse. When the smoke cleared, Damon's Hydreigon was untouched, and Alex swore. Now it would be a defensive battle. Hydreigon could rarely be stopped once it got going.

"Ice Fang, Hydreigon." Damon said, and the dark dragon surged forward faster than Shruikan could ever hope to be, the fangs on its main head encased in ice.

"Start rolling, Shruikan! Then Brick Break!" Alex said, hoping his Shelgon could counter. The Hydreigon's jaws snapped shut with an echoing thud, but Shruikan was already rolling. If he gained enough speed, he could outpace the Hydreigon, which was not very maneuverable but could cover a wide area of effect with its moves. Damon had a bemused expression on his face, as he watched. It faded, as fighting typed energy surrounded the Shelgon's shell. With a Dragonbreath powered leap, Shruikan managed to hammer the Hydreigon in the back, between its wings.

The damage was nowhere near enough for a faint though, and Damon's counter was swift. "Turn and cover it in a Dragon Pulse!"

Before Alex could react, the massive dark floating dragon whirled in place, opened all three mouths, and covered his Shelgon in super effective energy. When it finally faded, Shruikan was barely standing, but standing he was. "Brick Break! Keep rolling to dodge the counter! Don't get hit!" Shruikan gave his Trainer a look, and then once more leapt, and hammered the Hydreigon. It countered without Damon's order, with another Dragon Pulse, but Shruikan was already rolling away past the edge of it. The field burned with blue dragonfire as the Hydreigon set it ablaze.

Damon's eyes widened as the Shelgon rolled near him. "Your Shelgon...did you carve a pattern upon its shell!?"

Alex blinked. "No... I mean...that probably wouldn't hurt him...might even look cool...but no. I'm no craftsman, I wouldn't risk accidentally weakening his shell like that."

Damon nodded but stayed quiet. The marking had been clear enough to his eyes at least, and he had a feeling it was the intensity of the Dragon Pulse that had revealed the mark's existence. If they were there naturally, he was very glad that he was not facing this Pokémon in its evolved state. There were legends around Shelgon with marked shells, dark legends, usually from other regions, about how unnaturally powerful they were, and when they evolved, they had been compared to death itself. He wondered how such a Pokémon would end up, bonded as he was to a Trainer with the skill to sweep two of the Elite Four with one Pokémon.

"Faster, Shruikan! Brick Break!" Somehow, the rolling ball of dragon propelled himself quicker, and once more, the Hydreigon struggled to track him, even with three heads. His pattern was too chaotic, and as Shruikan saw how the Hydreigon's tracking worked, it was easy to make the heads bump into each other.

Suddenly, he rolled under the levitating dark dragon, and as the main head leaned down to blast him with another wide area Dragon Pulse, Shruikan rolled to the right, summoned the fighting energy and came around on the back of the Hydreigon's head. He rolled through, slamming it fast enough to make the six-winged dragon type rotate in place and become dazed. Alex capitalized on that. "Into the air! Get as high as you can, Shruikan!"

The Shelgon abruptly stopped, faced himself downwards, and then exhaled, as he propelled himself high into the air with his flames yet again. Damon stared, somewhat in awe, as the Shelgon rose like a Draco Meteor. The move that was called though, was arguably worse, since it was a physical move not a special one and wouldn't weaken the Shelgon after its use. It was one they'd been working on perfecting though, and it required a stunned target to be used effectively. It also needed enough gravity to be as damaging as the move their version was based upon.

At the apex of the Shelgon's climb, Damon spoke up. "Hydreigon, ready a Hyper Beam. Aim upwards." All three heads formed dense balls of intense dark energy, as they focused on the Shelgon.

"Now, Shruikan! Dragon Hammer! And give it a spiral!" Alex called the order, and Shruikan enveloped himself with dragon type energy, before plummeting downwards. The Hydreigon rocked in the air with recoil as it fired the Hyper Beam with only its main mouth, and as the attack missed, Damon stared in disbelief, as he watched the Shelgon use Dragonbreath to guide his trajectory down, as well. His shell skirted the Hyper Beam, but his Dragon Hammer stayed on target and hammered the Hydreigon with all the force of an Alolan Exeggutor.

The armored ball of dragon rolled back to his side of the field then, panting slightly, but eyes aflame, as he felt his experience grow, and roared from within the confines of his irritatingly heavy shell. From across the clearing field of dust, Damon stared, looking somewhat unnerved by the sound. "Impressive...not many Challengers get past my Hydreigon...I've never seen a Shelgon fight like that. Where did you find him?"

Alex smirked. "Draconis Mons...he was a Bagon, but he evolved pretty quick. Once he figured out how to roll, and make himself faster, he became a terror on the battlefield. He trained hard to keep up with my Charizard. Once you see the bar by which he measures himself, you'll understand why he's so strong."

"Fascinating...most Shelgon I've seen just Protect, and then counter with a bite or a claw attack. We shall have to Battle again, once he evolves." Damon said, as he drew his next ball from beneath the patterned black cloak.

Alex nodded. "By the time he evolves, I'll be your Champion. I look forward to sparring together, Damon." Shruikan affirmed his words with a growl, and that, brought a rare smile to Damon's fierce countenance.

"Go, Haxorus!"

Meanwhile… - Victory League Pokémon Center, Unova Region

Jessica and Connor Gladstone had watched patiently as their neighbor Night Slashed his way through two of the Elite Four. Connor was rapidly losing interest however, as he knew how Damon's Pokémon would match up to the combination of Blaze and Shruikan. Even now, the rolling ball of armored dragon was encircling the newly summoned Haxorus, whose Dual Chops kept missing.

Connor glanced at his sister, who was one hundred percent focused on the match, as usual, and then he turned his gaze elsewhere. It was around that time that Will strode into the common area of the Pokémon Center, apparently after depositing his team for a proper rest. He glanced at the siblings, before his eyes fell on Shauntal, and at that point, Connor realized his mask was off. There was forced confidence in the Elite Four's stride as he walked over to his contemporary, who'd been reading quietly in a corner, at least when Will hadn't been on the viewscreen.

He heard Jess whoop again, and looked up to see Shruikan had landed a hard hit on the Haxorus. By his estimate, Damon would lose this round too. Shruikan might last for a third, but he only had so much Dragonbreath to keep propelling himself around. The PP Max helped, but even those had limits.

Next up for Elite Four Damon was a Kommo-o, and judging by its size, Connor expected it to be the one to take down Shruikan. Kommo-o were fierce even for dragon types, and the fact that Damon had one, as well as a Hydreigon, spoke to his skill as a Dragon Tamer. Connor stood then, and went to the Pokémon Center's nurse, as Shruikan again started rolling around.

"Something I can get you, Challenger?" Nurse Joy said, with her typical cheery tone.

Connor nodded. "Nacho chips, and some of that 'cheese' to go with them."

Nurse Joy nodded once. "I'll let the kitchen know to bring it up. Do you need anything else?"

Connor nodded. "Are my Pokémon ready?" The nurse held out a hand for his Trainer ID, and he handed it over. She scanned it, and after a few moments of silence, spoke again.

"They are. Your team is in peak physical condition...we did find some mutated Pokérus cells on them, but the infection seems to have passed. I'll bring your balls up now." Nurse Joy said, as she typed on her desk computer, tabbed out of PokéCraft, and transferred them up.

Connor arched a deep crimson eyebrow as he took back his ID. "Pokérus cells? Like a virus?"

Nurse Joy nodded again. "It's a strain of bacteria that seems to benefit Pokémon, rather than hinder them. No examples of it being dangerous or having negative long-term effects have been found. In fact, many Trainers want their partners to catch it. Ultimately, it has been proven to increase a Pokémon's strength."

Connor thought for a moment, and then glanced at the viewscreen Jess was still watching. "That Challenger there...did his Pokémon have it too?"

Nurse Joy nodded. "His had a stronger strain, but they also had it at least several weeks ago. They have long since gotten over the infection."

Connor glanced at Jess then, and back to the nurse. "My sister's Pokémon...do they have it?"

Nurse Joy shook her head. "Not anymore. Their infection seemed to match the one found on that Challenger's Pokémon."

"I see." Connor said, as he took his balls, and set them on his belt. "Gar. Gren." His Garchomp and Greninja appeared from their balls at his word. "I want you both to watch and learn from Alex's match. Don't underestimate that Shelgon...someday, it's going to be a real pain, and knowing Alex, he'll send it out to counter you, Gar."

The two Pokémon nodded, and then joined Jess in watching the match. Connor looked around the room again, mostly out of boredom, until he noticed Will and Shauntal were seated now, and their eyes were locked, almost creepily on the other, as they discussed something in a whisper.

After seeing Will's mannerisms, Connor had expected he and Shauntal to have a thing. To his relatively inexperienced eyes, it seemed their romance was just kicking off. He returned to their table as the nachos arrived and set his eyes on the screen. Kommo-o was staying in one place, as the rolling Shelgon tried striking it, and Connor soon saw Damon's plan. The Shelgon would tire long before a defensive warrior like Kommo-o.

Chamber of the Dragon Tamer, Victory Plateau - Unova Region

Both Alex and Shruikan felt the frustration, as the Kommo-o's guard was as impenetrable as the scales it guarded with. He didn't want to use Dragon Hammer on a Pokémon famous for uppercuts, but it seemed that was exactly what Damon was driving them towards, with his tactics. Either way, Shruikan would tire out before the Kommo-o did. "Alright Shruikan, once more, into the air! Then Dragon Hammer!"

Damon let a faint smirk break his generally serious features. "Clanging Scales." As Shruikan reached the apex of his Dragonbreath assisted jump, powerful vibrations infused with dragon energy rocked him, and as he was in his shell, the thunderous noise that somehow penetrated it made him lose focus on his move. "Good, now end it! Sky Uppercut!

The air rippled as the Kommo-o hunched, and then leapt. Fighting type energy propelled it higher, high enough to hit, or that's what it looked like. Shruikan's trajectory had shifted after the powerful and super effective move, and the Kommo-o, not an air battler, had greatly misjudged his rising fist. As both Trainers realized the uppercut was going to miss, they tried to counter, and play off the upwards momentum, with the same move.

"Kommo-o, quick, Dragon Claw!"

"Shruikan, use bursts of Dragonbreath to dodge, then counter with Dragon Claw!"

The falling ball of armored dragon did as ordered, blue flames rocketing from his mouth as he attacked with his rear or tried to. The Kommo-o dodged the hurtling Shelgon, and then suddenly, they were face to face in the air. The two dragon type's eyes met, and as their Dragon Claws collided, there was an explosion of power, and the usual accompanying cloud of dust and smoke from the collision. The Trainers heard two thuds, and Alex looked down at the floor, as he heard the jangling.

Once visibility returned, it revealed Shruikan fainted, and the Kommo-o only slightly worse for wear. His Sky Uppercut had gone about as poorly as it possibly could, but he'd made up for it with the Dragon Claw. Alex kept his head downturned, hat covering his eyes as he recalled his Shelgon. "Well, I almost swept all Four with one Pokémon...but that's not what matters. We're strong enough to win it all, as a team. Blaze! Avenge your teammate."

The Charizard appeared with a flash of red, and a roar, and as his eyes met the Kommo-o's, Alex felt his pocket start to hum. He raised the fire aspected Plate crystal, and his Charizard drew the beam of crimson energy into him as he ascended to his Mega Form with a roar that shook the chamber.

"Get ready Kommo-o! Sky Uppercut!" Damon said, expecting the fire lizard to start flying.

"Into the air, Blaze. It's almost done...pepper it with Air Slash and finish the round. Save your dragon Moves...we'll need them." The Mega Charizard snorted white hot flames as his Trainer gave the order, and he flew into the air as the clanging dragon type from Alola charged him.

With respect to the Kommo-o, his Sky Uppercut was indeed perfect in form, but a Mega Charizard was not the kind of Pokémon to pick an aerial battle with, if one could not fly. Blaze let the fighting energy infused fist come tantalizingly close, even though it wouldn't have done much damage, and then suddenly he moved away from the Kommo-o with a single backwards wing flap. His wings glowed white with flying energy, and it scythed forwards into the fighting and dragon type, who was unable to dodge midair.

Blaze continued the barrage as his opponent fell, and then landed two more Air Slashes besides, once it was on the floor and surrounded by dust and smoke. Blaze returned to his side of the field with a roar, and one wing flap revealed to his Trainer that the Charizard had indeed won the round.

Damon kept his eyes upon the mega evolved fire lizard and reached for his next ball. "Noivern. You've handled Mega Forms before...take the field, and Boomburst!"

"Dodge, Blaze. Then ready your Dragon Pulse." Alex replied, and Blaze was already moving by the time his Trainer gave the order. The booming bursts the Noivern continued firing disrupted the air quite a bit, and it didn't take long for the flying bat dragon to realize what the Charizard was doing, to dodge his moves.

As the Noivern ceased booming, Damon gave his next order. "You as well, Noivern! Dragon Pulse!"

Blaze's eyes narrowed, and his flames shifted to a whitish blue color as he condensed the energy in multiple layers and formed a sparking red sphere in his maw. Noivern's move didn't look half as impressive, and as the two Pokémon fired, Blaze's Dragon Pulse tore right through the wide area spray of the other and landed with critical effectiveness as the Noivern and his Trainer both watched in disbelief.

As the dust cleared, the Noivern stayed standing, and Blaze snorted. It was hanging on by a thread of stamina. "Finish it, Blaze. Heat Wave!"

"Use Hurricane around yourself! Stay shielded!" Damon called, and the weakened flying and dragon type did as ordered, calling up a circular wind wall just in time to avoid the worst of the heat. "Now, fly into the darkness above, and hide!"

There was a shifting shape within the wind vortex, and as the Hurricane dissipated, the Noivern was not inside. Alex grimaced, as he hadn't wanted to use more moves ending a Pokémon that was essentially done. "Blaze! Use Smokescreen."

Damon chuckled, as the field became a haze of darkness and smoke. "That...was a poor choice. Noivern is unmatched in the dark. Use Psychic!"

Blaze felt himself be lifted and tossed about like a ragdoll as the Psychic attack hit, but through the gloom, he spied the glowing eyes of the Noivern. He growled to his Trainer as the Psychic ended, and he stood up, slightly worse for wear. "Dragon Pulse. But stay moving."

The Charizard snorted, and did as he was instructed. He moved, but not to dodge. Once more the sparking ball of dragon energy formed in his maw, but he flew towards the Noivern's glowing eyes, using the darkness and Smokescreen to come from behind with an almost noiseless gliding maneuver. All the Noivern had for a warning was an ominous dark red glow, before there was an explosion.

Once more, Blaze had landed a critical hit in the hope of impressing his Trainer, and this one caused the batlike dragon type to fall, fainted, to the field. Blaze flew back into the Smokescreen and hovered near his Trainer as Alex's hand and Blaze's claw slapped together in affirmation of their teamwork, as Damon summoned his next Pokémon.

Next up for the Victory League's Dragon Tamer was a Garchomp that was more blackish gray than blue in scale color. Blaze's eyes narrowed, as the ground typed shark dragon effortlessly tracked his position through the Smokescreen, and roared. "Now Garchomp!" Damon said, as he brushed aside the cloak and raised his right hand, revealing a Mega Cuff. "Mega Evolve!"

Unlike most other Trainers in recent months, Damon was still using Mega Stones, and while Alex couldn't see where the Garchomp's was, he knew this would become a true clash between two Pokémon in their Mega Forms. He felt the heat behind and above him increase, and he knew that his Charizard's flames had shifted to blue once more. Despite being a ground type, Garchomp were expert fliers, though they lacked the maneuverability Blaze had in his Mega Form.

"Dragon Rush!"

"Keep ahead of it, Blaze...dodge, then Dragon Pulse!"

The Charizard did manage his dodge, just barely, as he stayed ahead of the Garchomp. His mouth opened, and began sparking as he formed the Dragon Pulse, and his wings flared, suddenly, which had thus far been the best method to lose the aerial land shark. The Garchomp Dragon Rushed ahead with his momentum, and Blaze rocked in the air with recoil as he floated in place and fired.

The Dragon Pulse landed, hard, but the Mega Garchomp wasn't done yet. It flew around back to Damon and landed. Blaze cleared the lingering Smokescreen as he did the same, and the two Pokémon glared at each other. Without commands from either Trainer, they each readied a Dragon Claw, and then charged. The entire room, and likely the building itself, shuddered as they collided.

Both Dragon Claws landed and dealt damage, and the two mega evolved Pokémon traded several blows, before Damon shouted, "Enough, Garchomp! You won't win like that. Fall back, then Dragon Rush!"

Alex smirked. "Well done, Blaze. Are you still good to go?" The Charizard let out a roar that made the very air vibrate with its intensity. Alex winced at the sound, blinked twice, and then smirked again. "Good. Smokescreen." The Charizard exhaled through his mouth, and the room became impossible to see in once more. "Now into the air and dodge it! Dragon Pulse once it's open!"

The Garchomp followed the wingbeats of Blaze, but the Charizard knew its tricks by now. He flapped loudly several times, and then flew upside down, skirting the battlefield floor, as he waited. Just then, Damon shouted, "He's luring you in, Garchomp! Don't fall for it!"

Unfortunately for Damon however, in the next moment, the Garchomp Dragon Rushed right above Blaze, looking down just in time to see the ominously dark red tinged smoke part in the ferocious wake of the Dragon Pulse. Once more the insanely lucky Charizard landed a critical hit, but even that did not fell the Garchomp.

The smoke blew away from the impact of the Dragon Pulse, and with an injured scythe-wing, Garchomp wouldn't be flying anymore. "Finish it from above, Blaze! Dragon Pulse!" Instead of listening however, Blaze landed as well, glanced at his Trainer, and then looked back at the Garchomp. Alex chuckled. "Always after a fair Battle...fine, then. Dragon Claw!"

That command, Blaze happily obeyed, and the respect he saw in the Garchomp's eye as he too had landed was worth disobeying a direct order. Alex wasn't too strict about it, as long as such disobedience didn't cost them the match.

"You can do this Garchomp! It's weak as well! Dual Chop!" Damon gave the order, and to its credit, the Garchomp charged rather rapidly towards Blaze, who flapped into the air just above the field, and stayed low, as he charged as well. His physique was nowhere near as good for running as Garchomp's, and he preferred flying fast and low anyways.

Alex winced, as the Garchomp landed both Dual Chops, but Blaze countered hard with Dragon Claw, and that, finally made the Mega Form vanish from the land shark. It collapsed with a soft growl, and Blaze met its faltering gaze, nodded once, and then it fainted. The Charizard roared triumphantly, and then walked back towards Alex, as his Mega Form faded away.

Alex smirked. "Tired, eh? I don't blame you. Get a good rest, we may need you for the next Battle. Hydrus! You're up!" He recalled Blaze, and in his place, came the fresh, eager, and burly Swampert. He was a far cry from the tiny Mudkip he'd caught at the start of the summer, and Alex knew he would only grow stronger.

Damon raised a bushy black eyebrow, and unlike his hair, both of those were black, as he saw the challenger's choice. "All I have left is you, Flygon! Do your best!" The Flygon appeared, floating in the air with an ominous hum as it did. "We may not have the power to beat this Challenger, Flygon, but we will make a good showing all the same!"

"Fly! Gon!" It answered in response, and Hydrus let himself smirk, as his Trainer did.

"Hydrus. Mega Evolve." Alex raised the Splash Plate shard, and Hydrus drew the energy into his body, as he ascended to the next level. "Now use Rain Dance!" The overly burly mudfish pounded the field as he finished his transformation and a light rain started to cover the field, but if the Flygon was scared, it betrayed nothing.

"Flygon! Use Sand Tomb!" The Flygon sped into the air, and then spewed forth sand at Hydrus, meant to slow him down.

Alex wasn't worried about their speed though. "Tank the hit, Hydrus." The mudfish nodded, as he was aware of the plan, and a ground type move would do little to a water and ground type. His arms shielded his eyes and chest as the sand surrounded and trapped him.

Damon's eyes narrowed, but when Alex didn't press the counter, he struck again. "Flygon! Use Dragon Claw!"

Alex's smirk widened, as Damon went for more STAB, for all the good it would do him against what was coming. "Hydrus...let them close in." The Mega Swampert flexed, and broke free of the Sand Tomb, arms raised in a battle stance as the Flygon's sharp tail lit up with blurple dragon energy and got ready to slash the mudfish. As it came within four feet, Alex gave the order. "Avalanche!"

The bulky mudfish raised his fists, faster than the Flygon expected, and they glowed with ice energy as he formed the water from the Rain Dance into a flood of icy rocks. The Flygon managed to dodge the first larger few, but then, he dodged right into a particularly large one and was buried by the quadruple effective move in a pile of rock and ice.

"Boomburst!" Damon shouted, and a wave of ultrasonic force blasted the ice and rock apart into nothingness. "Now Fissure!"

Alex winced, as he waited. The Flygon radiated ground energy, and it came very close to working, but the field did not split, and Flygon was left open for a harsh counter. One Hydrus was already poised to deliver, as he loomed over the depowered sand dragon.

"Hydro Cannon." Alex said, with a tone of finality, and Hydrus raised his fists. While the folds on his water cannons usually rolled up so they could propel him forwards, this time, he aimed them at the Flygon, and the side closest to his clenched fingers rolled up instead. The most powerful water move available to a Pokémon like him hammered the already damaged Flygon, and beneath the red coverings, its eyes turned to Xs.

Hydrus let the power from the Plate crystal fade, and he helped the Flygon limp over to its Trainer, as it regained consciousness, and sought relief from its weakened state. Damon applied a Max Potion, and gave the mudfish an under chin scratch. "You have my thanks, Swampert."

"Swaaamp!" Hydrus answered, before lumbering back to his smirking Trainer. Alex handed him a Sitrus Berry, and then recalled him so he could rest, and eat.

"Go and face the final member of the Elite Four, Challenger. Apparently, you know him, hence all the...drama...around his barred door. You should now find it open to you. I wish you luck on the heights you have yet to climb." Damon spoke with a grim monotone, but it seemed he accepted the loss and was glad he hadn't been swept like Will and Shauntal.

Alex stepped on the telepad, and bamfed back to the main hall. As he looked around at his series of conquests, he found the fighting type door was indeed open. He called out his team, and climbed on Terra's shell, as he fed them, and gave them a rest. Making whoever was waiting, wait longer, seemed a just punishment to the still somewhat salty Trainer.

It wasn't unusual for challengers to take their time between battles. Some Elite Four members had time limits, but the popular opinion was that those seeking to be Champion should be given all the time they need between matches, so each Battle would be as intense as possible. Smart Trainers healed, but typically didn't start camping in the middle of the hallway leading to each of the Elite Four. He wouldn't have done it had he been in, say, Kalos, but this was a special circumstance. Arthur had taken several poundings all morning, some of them rather intense, but his Gallade seemed in top form, as his Trainer watched him punch the air before him, and then dodge an imaginary blow.

Once he'd learned that mental image training was apparently a thing, Arthur had developed his own kind of semi-constant practice, as only a psychic type could. He knew every fighting type Pokémon species, that was in the Pokédex, and he imagined sparring against each of them fist to fist, as the party ate and recovered. He had focused on Machamp and Mega Medicham the most, as their multiple arms were infamously hard to deal with, according to the Pokénet. Most of it was guesswork, as Unova had very specific fighting types, but Arthur was prepared for anything, especially now that the Fighting Type Expert was going to presumably have a different team than Marshal.

Eventually, the Gallade ate as well, and Alex took his time packing up, before finally approaching the door. The steel cage that Marshal had held his matches in remained, and much of the room was still the same. It was dark though, and the spotlights hanging above the field were missing. Alex climbed the stairs to the top, seeing no one, but as he stepped into the Trainer box of the half a field, he felt it rumble, and from below, the other half of the field rose, revealing his old friend and rival from University, Nick, sitting in a classic 'Bruno pose'.

It had been some time since they'd seen each other, as two years into Alex's stint on campus, Nick had graduated, and left on his journey to train his team, and expand his knowledge firsthand through travel. By the time Alex had graduated, Nick had returned to Unova, but he stayed in New Tork City, and taught humans and Pokémon tips for wellness and maintaining one's physical form. His own body had grown as well, and there was no question as to who was more muscular between them.

Alex stared, in disbelief as his friend rose and spun in place all at once. He was also clad in black and white. His similarly colored sparring helmet covered his forehead and had a Pokéball of the same color pairing covering each ear. Around his shoulders was a worn black and white scarf that he'd gotten the day he'd graduated, as Alex remembered it. His attire was that of a fighter, with forearm bandage coverings and fighter gloves as well. "You're kidding me. N picked you for the Elite Four?"

Nick smirked. "Apparently my name was on a list the Champion was given when we needed a sudden replacement for Marshal. In the end, he picked me to be here. I'm glad my first match is against you. I know how much you want to be Champion, but I'm sorry bud...your ascension ends here."

Alex smirked back. "The last time you saw me, I had no Pokémon, no Badges, and almost no experience in Battle. I'm a lot different now...I'm finally doing what I've always known I was meant to. You don't have the power to stop me! I'll push past you as well, old friend." With that, he threw Arthur's ball, and the Gallade took the field, looking rested and refreshed. Alex felt slightly more guilty about making Nick wait, but he'd earned it by not facing him at his team's peak. Arthur wasn't the only one to have taken hits, and Alex had no idea if sweeping his old friend was a possibility. His team was a complete unknown, but he was aware of what his friend had started with.

It wasn't a Chesnaught that Nick summoned to the field, but a Heracross. Both Trainers shouted the same move, as the battle began. "Aerial Ace!"

Arthur's forearms lit up with flying energy, while the Heracross readied one of the few super effective moves it had for a Gallade with its long horn. The two Pokémon charged forward, and while the Heracross managed to go strike for strike at first, it took Arthur only two rounds of blows before he got under the fighting bug's defenses, and landed a critical, and quadruple effective hit, which the Heracross managed to stay conscious through.

"Press the advantage, Arthur! Don't let up!" Alex said, and his Gallade continued hammering the Heracross, who looked to his Trainer, as the powerful and still somewhat damaging strikes became harder and harder to block. By the time Nick countered, Arthur landed a second hit with Aerial Ace, and sent the Heracross sliding backwards against the stretchable ring ropes that were surrounding their battlefield.

"Swords Dance, Heracross! Then beat it back with Pin Missile!" Nick said, and the almost fainted Heracross obeyed, flying into the air and looping in a pattern that raised its attack power. Then, from the spiky forearms came the bug energy fueled missiles that the Gallade gracefully dodged. Arthur made it look effortless, but his Trainer could tell he was tiring quickly.

"Finish it, Arthur. Aerial Ace!" The Gallade nodded, then zigged, and zagged past the remaining Pin Missiles as he charged forwards. As he leapt, he vanished from the fighting bug's sight, only to hammer it from behind in the air. The force of the hit knocked out the Heracross, and sent it skidding across the field, before Nick recalled it. The Gallade gave the opposing Trainer a smirk, and then flipped backwards through the air back to his starting position.

"Bruce." Nick said, as he stared Alex down. "You're up." He tossed his ball then, as a Hitmonlee popped from it, and did an unnecessary flip, before landing. The Pokémon's movements weren't excited though as he wasn't bouncing on his feet. Instead, the Hitmonlee was calm, confident, and prepared his hands as well as his feet, for the bout that was about to come. Alex knew that like his namesake, an ancient Old Earth martial artist by the name of Bruce Lee, the fighting type had learned to balance his devastatingly powerful kicks with punches as well. When he'd last seen him, he'd been trying to replicate the One Inch Punch, with little success.

Silence reigned over the field for several moments, so Alex struck first. "Once more, Arthur! Aerial Ace!"

Nick smirked. "Double Kick."

The Hitmonlee's frankly absurd leg reach smashed into Arthur, who blocked the foot with one arm wreathed in flying energy. Not losing a beat, Bruce brought the other foot around, and this time dragged the Gallade closer to him, as he blocked with Aerial Ace. Arthur hammered the fighting type in stomach once he was closer, only for the move to fade, and for Bruce to be more than ready to keep going.

"One Inch Mega Punch!" Nick shouted, confirming that Bruce had indeed mastered that technique in the years since he'd started and faster than Arthur could blink, the Hitmonlee's arm extended his fist, and punched him in the jaw, sending him flying back towards his Trainer as he rolled several times before he stopped, and slowly rose again.

Nick stared at the seeming lack of damage, and at that moment realized just how much higher leveled the Gallade was. He'd need to weaken it significantly, or he too would be swept. Then, it was Arthur's turn to counter, and while Alex would've preferred Psycho Cut, he used what he had available, and used their next best option. "Get in close, Arthur." Arthur bounced on his feet, eyes locked with the Hitmonlee's, when suddenly, he shifted his form and vanished. "Now Zen Headbutt!"

Bruce's eyes moved as Arthur did, as they were able to follow the Gallade, but his body wasn't as quick to match. He was brave by nature, which made him absurdly powerful, but slow. He shifted just in time to give the Gallade an opening on his midsection. A Double Kick was incoming, but even Bruce knew it was too slow. Arthur hammered him with the psychic energy covered spike of his 'helmet' and sent him sliding across the ring as his free arm blocked Bruce's extending foot, but Alex gave another command, eager to finish the round before the Hitmonlee countered again. "Aerial Ace." With another step, Arthur was over Bruce, and he brought his flying typed fist down on the damaged fighting type, ending the round.

Next up was a Poliwrath, and since Alex had trained both Arthur and Leo in the art of dealing with that kind of insane strength, because his brother also used one, Arthur was prepared for Nick's. Or at least, that was what he assumed.

Their opening attack was quick, and brutal. "Close Combat!"

"Block with Aerial Ace, then Thunder Punch!" Alex responded, even as Arthur was already blocking with flying energy, and blunting the insane power coming from the burly pollywog. Finally, an opening in the Poliwrath's guard appeared, and Arthur fired a Thunder Punch through it, and while he landed, the Pokémon stayed standing. This one seemed as strong as the Hitmonlee, if not stronger.

"Hypnosis!" Nick countered, and since Arthur was so close, the attack managed to land, despite being inaccurate.

Alex had time to give his Gallade an order before the swirling pattern on the pollywog's belly fired its sleep rays. "Alright Arthur! Dodge! Just like last time!"

Arthur nodded, and his arms became like limp noodles as his eyes closed, and sleep took hold. He stayed standing, and relied on his unconscious mind's danger sense to dodge for him, while he was temporarily incapable of fighting. Nick did not waste time in countering. "Dynamic Punch!" This close to the target, the Elite Four member expected a hit, but Arthur's lithe form shifted at the last moment, and Nick could've sworn the sleeping Gallade was smirking as he dodged. "Smug little...Close Combat!"

Arthur dodged the first two furious fists from the Poliwrath, but the rest landed, pummeling him and knocking him back across the field. When he rose again however, the intense eyes were open once more. Alex was also smirking. "You know what to do, Arthur."

The Gallade nodded, and then jump-stepped towards the Poliwrath. It scanned the field for the Gallade, and its gaze was drawn upwards, as it felt the electricity in the air. Arthur had one fist pulled back and sparking as he came down on the Poliwrath. "Submission!" Nick yelled, and as the thunderous boom indicated a hit, there was a small explosion from the collision of moves as well.

"Aerial Ace." Alex said, before the cloud even cleared, and from within, the burly pollywog came hurtling out as the Gallade hammered the weak but still standing fighter with yet another fist. This one finally brought the bulky Pokémon down, and Arthur panted, as he walked out of the smoke from the move collision, and returned to his spot. Alex gave him their single Potion for the battle, and he perked up immediately, which made Nick grimace.

He didn't expect to beat Alex at this point, not down by three and with his whole team in reserve. He had watched the match with Damon, and knew his protégé's Pokémon to be just as ferocious as this Gallade was. "Chesni. Spiky Shield, then Seed Bomb!" The Chesnaught that Nick brought out was one Alex had known as a Chespin, which had evidently evolved in the years since. He smiled as he reformed in this dimension and saw Alex. He gave a single nod, then did as his Trainer had commanded. Their species wasn't impossible to find in northern Unova, but they were rare enough that Nick had been the only graduate in his year to have one as his starter Pokémon. Alex had found one in the White Forest, but Invictus was nowhere near trained enough to be at the Victory League.

The massive grass and fighting typed tank eyed the Gallade, within its shield. The four larger horns atop it glowed green, and from them, the air filled with massive, green Seed Bombs. Having seen Terra's in action several times, Alex was mildly annoyed that these somehow seemed bigger, but he knew his patient grass turtle was watching with interest from within his ball, and probably learning.

"Dodge, Arthur! Focus on not getting hit!" Alex ordered.

It was Nick's turn to smirk then. "Keep them coming, Chesni. Don't let it get close."

Arthur managed to dodge well enough, and as he did, he made his way towards the hunkered Chesnaught, and that was when Alex called the move. "Aerial Ace!"

Arthur knew Aerial Ace usually didn't miss, but then, he was usually much better at attacking. As he closed in on the Chesnaught's shell, he reared back to punch, realizing too late that the Pokémon within the shell was watching, and waiting, for an opening in his guard. He got one, and Nick countered hard. "Shadow Punch!"

The Chesnaught was standing before Arthur could blink, and he countered with a ghost energy infused limb that hammered Arthur, and once more sent him skipping across the field. Having never been hit so hard so many times in one Battle, the wear was starting to show on Arthur, who at this point in the challenge had soloed the vast majority of their League challenge.

"Shake it off, Arthur. There's three more to go, and then, you get to sleep." Alex said, and his Gallade responded by lighting up his arms with another Aerial Ace. "Watch your guard, and hammer it with a flurry of Aerial Aces!"

Arthur began running, blinked out of sight, but by this point, Nick was wise to his tricks. "In the air Chesni! Seed Bomb!" The Chesnaught once more hunkered down, and fired the large triangular Seed Bombs, only to have the svelte Gallade gracefully dance past them in air, before bringing down not one, but two Aerial Aces.

"Keep it up, Arthur!" Alex shouted, and the Gallade nodded, staying close as his flying enhanced fists powered up for more. He danced behind the tanky Pokémon's shell, thinking that would gain him an advantage.

"Wood Hammer, Chesni!" Nick countered, only to watch in disbelief as the Gallade leapt over the low sweep of the burly Chesnaught's arm. He hammered the shell with four Aerial Aces this time, all in rapid succession, and the Chesnaught fell over then, fainted, as his quadruple weakness proved to be the chink in the otherwise impenetrable armor.

Nick recalled his starter then, and pulled out what looked like, to Alex's eyes, a Master Ball. "I was hoping you'd be weaker by the time I needed this one...and since it's more of a myth than a Legend, the Victory League has allowed me to use it. Mars! I choose you!" Nick hurled the ball then, and it opened to reveal a Pokémon that both Alex and Connor, along with most of the scientific world, had deemed simply did not exist. Some Alolan legends claimed they were in fact real, and sometimes foul tempered, sometimes exceptional builders, but most Professors had claimed the 'sightings' of Marshadow were all hallucinatory, likely caused by something else in their shadow. The prevailing theory had been that Gengar was responsible, as they so often were, but the Marshadow was standing before them, impossible to deny.

"You actually found a Marshadow...and named it Mars." Alex said, as he shook his head. "You would."

"Once you see it fight, you'll understand why it has earned the name of the old god of War. Ready, Mars?" Nick said, as the Marshadow looked at him, and nodded. Their shadows stretched, and met each other, forming together in the harsh lighting of the room. Alex saw now why Nick had kept the lights. Nick fell into a fighting crouch, and so did his Pokémon.

"Alright Arthur...psychic, ghost, and flying typed Moves are what we need...be careful. You haven't seen Nick's fighting style, and that's who you're fighting this time, essentially." Arthur nodded as his Trainer spoke, and readied himself. "Alright, go!"

The Gallade charged forward, but before he could bamf, Mars was already there. It immediately became apparent who was faster, as Nick shouted, "Shadow Punch!" Arthur tried blocking with his prepared Aerial Ace, but the punch did not come from where he expected it to, and it hit him across the face, hard, as he struck, and missed.

"Double Team! Then use Zen Headbutt!" Alex said, and Arthur leapt backwards, one arm vertical, while the other crossed it horizontally. Clones of the Gallade appeared around them, and as the Zen Headbutts started coming, Mars dodged them effortlessly, as Nick did. It copied its Trainer's movements, and then countered when he called the same move again.

The Shadow Punch met the Zen Headbutt, only to find it was a clone. The real Arthur hammered Mars from behind, and the fighting ghost turned mid-hit to counter with a Shadow Punch, once more to the face. Both Pokémon were slow to rise after a critical hit from each, and Arthur smirked. "Gal...Gal, lade."

The ghost nodded, once in what seemed like agreement with whatever Arthur said. "Marshadow."

"Close Combat!" Nick said, as he started shadowboxing on his side of the field.

"Block with Aerial Ace! Counter with another Zen Headbutt!" Alex replied, and Arthur did as instructed, keeping both the Trainer and the Pokémon in his sight, so he could better predict their moves. The further Mars was from his Trainer, the slower the shadow copying movements were, and the clever Gallade drew Mars back towards Alex, seemingly unable to counter the flurry of fighting typed fists coming at him.

Yet, none landed, and when the Marshadow, or rather, its Trainer, finally paused for breath, Arthur countered, hammering it with the psychic energy infused head spike that was part of his helmet. He sent Mars sliding all the way back to Nick. It looked at its Trainer, nodded, and then glared at the Gallade, as the smoke surrounding it shifted colors, and the Marshadow entered its Zenith. Nick grinned. "Now you've done it. It's time, Mars. Seven Star Strike!"

Alex looked down, as he knew Arthur didn't have anything, yet, that could stop a move like that, powered by Z Energy or not. To his credit, the Gallade didn't fight the inevitable, but rather stood tall, and closed his eyes before the seven ghost typed strikes hammered him into unconsciousness with explosive ghost powered chi.

Alex knew how long his Gallade stayed fainted for, usually, and tossed a Max Revive after the allotted time had passed, in silence. The Gallade's arm caught it, popped it in his mouth, and chewed. He sat then, panting hard as Alex recalled him into the comfort of his pocket dimension. "Well done, Arthur. Doing this well without Psycho Cut, without your swords, is genuinely impressive...you're going to be unstoppable once we figure that out." He met Nick's gaze then, and the Fighting Type Expert of the Elite Four flinched. His old apprentice's eyes were burning.

"Blaze. Air Slash!"

The Charizard appeared the second he was called, and his assault was relentless as his wings immediately sought to avenge his teammate. "Dodge." Nick said, not worried, and Mars did so, shifting vertically as his Trainer moved him horizontally. It took a deep level of coordination to Battle the way they were, but there was a reason Nick had been chosen for this post. Mars danced away from each exploding blast of flying energy with ease.

Then, the Elite Four countered. "Rock Slide. Then punch the rocks at it!"

Alex grimaced, as a quadruple weakness hit now would make whatever his old friend had saved for last that much harder. He wasn't too concerned, but his only Potion use had been on Arthur, as planned. "Blaze! Mega Evolve!"

Nick chuckled. "That won't help your speed difference. Face it, Redwood. Your League Challenge ends here!"

Alex smirked, and his raised fist glowed crimson as his Charizard ascended to the next level. "Famous last words. Keep dodging Blaze, and counter with Air Slash!" Nick shook his head, and guided Mars in hammering the Rock Slide at the flying fire lizard with what should have been perfect aim. Over and over though, the smirking Charizard dodged the rocks, as they perforated the dome of the room. "Now, Blaze! Sunny Day!"

Suddenly, the Charizard zigged in front of the intense lights, and the Marshadow winced as its enhanced eyes tracked it automatically, into the blinding glare. Its shadow broke from Nick, as it covered its eyes in vain attempts to stop the pain. It felt more pain, as the Mega Charizard hammered the fighting ghost with multiple Air Slashes, two missed, but the final two hit, and sent Mars flying back across the field.

Alex wasn't done, though. "Heat Wave! Focus on the air around you!" Blaze obliged, and the air rippled as the unaffected fire lizard turned it hot. Almost hot enough to ignite the very atmosphere, but Blaze knew from experience how far he could safely push this kind of temperature. "Now Air Slash!"

The Charizard roared, and fired a blast of superheated air at the Marshadow, who managed a close dodge, but was unexpectedly burned as it hadn't accounted for the heat. As the pain made it hesitate, the unerring aim of the Charizard hit home several more times, leaving the Marshadow panting, and on one knee.

"Mars! Reconnect!" Nick said, as he realized just how much damage his mythical Pokémon had taken. The Marshadow nodded, and once more, they were bonded by shadow. Nick shifted at the same time as Mars, and suddenly, Blaze's aim was dodged. The faster Pokémon was readying a counter, as it dashed over to the part of the field that was still superheated. More bullet-like Rock Slide boulders kept Blaze on the move, that is, until Nick called their next move. "Rock Tomb! Punch them at the Charizard!"

The Marshadow leapt, and both Trainer and Pokémon struck, several times, sending the massive and already melting rocks towards Blaze. The Charizard ducked, dodged, and dove around the burning boulders, coming out from under the last one at a speed that was, in fact, enough to match the Marshadow. Nick realized someone had eaten their vitamins as a Charmander, and while he expected an Air Slash, what he got was a game ender.

"Blast Burn!" Blaze hammered the field hard as he landed, right in front of Mars, and the eruption of flame that followed was enough to send the damaged mythical Pokémon into unconsciousness. Blaze circled back to his side of the field, having only taken a few grazes from the Rock Slides, and roared loud enough to shake the air itself.

Nick chuckled, and poked his eardrum. "I take it you kept them to the training schedule I gave you...is your whole team like this?"

Alex's smirk widened. "You should see my Torterra. Blaze is faster though, and loves Battling a lot more. Terra is more...defensive."

Nick blinked. "Well yea. It's a turtle." He shook his head then, and called out his final Pokémon. "Shifu! I don't want to lose to a Charizard. Let's win!"

"You're not going to get past him." Alex said with a knowing tone. "Air Slash!" The Charizard began firing, and the Medicham put his hands together, and dodged the first three, but then found itself shifting into the fourth, as Blaze read its dodging pattern. He got two more hits, before the Medicham again dodged, and then countered.

"Shifu! Keep Meditating!" Nick said, as the Medicham's hands consistently glowed brighter. Its dodges became stiffer, and closer, and Blaze was gaining his measure, but was also running low on Air Slashes to pepper him with. As Blaze slowed in the velocity of his attacks to save power, Nick countered.

"High Jump Kick for air! Then Thunder Punch!" The Medicham dashed towards the Charizard, and kicked into the air, bringing his feet up and turning upside down in the air as he did, using the momentum to go even higher. Then, came the Thunder Punch.

"Match it, Blaze." Alex said, knowing his Mega Charizard, despite being a special attacker, was still in a different weight class than Medicham. His Charizard focused the electric energy, condensing it for safety, and by instinct around his clenched claw as the pair of fists met, and caused an explosion of energy.

Blaze rocketed away from the sparks, only to find that Shifu was following up with the other fist, as Arthur had consistently done throughout their battles, striking with both limbs. "Air Slash!" Blaze hammered the Medicham guiding the wind blade around the fist that might've stopped or halved the damage. He scored a hard enough hit to kill the Medicham's momentum, and send it dropping back to the floor.

To avoid injury, Shifu needed a forward roll, and it was as he was forced into a single direction for that roll that the follow up Air Slashes finished the match, right as Blaze ran out of them. He landed, panting hard, wings drooping from all the use they'd gotten. A Max Elixir perked him right up though, and he nodded at his Trainer when asked if he could handle more that was yet to come.

Nick recalled his partner, and sighed, crossing his arms as he did. "I can't believe it...but you smashed through me easier than you did Damon." Alex started to say otherwise, but Nick held up a hand, convinced. "It's fine...clearly, we need to train harder. And invest in more vitamins."

Alex smirked. "Training weights help too. You know, the ones that boost all skill growth, but halve speed? It was worth taking a few hits to be strong enough for this challenge."

Nick nodded. "I see...interesting. I hadn't considered weight vest training…" His eyes widened. "You do the schedule I gave you with those on!?"

Alex nodded, and Nick stared at him. "Your Pokémon must adore you."

"My Pokémon want to be the best, and will do what they have to, to reach that level. I promised to help them as best I could. I like to think I have...and a victory here will prove it." Alex said.

Nick nodded again. "I think it's time someone toppled N. Good luck against the first Champion you have to face. You drew Hilbert."

Alex thought for a moment about which Champions were reputed to use which Legendary Dragon, and then smirked again. "So he's giving me Reshiram?"

Nick laughed, at that. "You assume you'll even get past Reshiram."

Alex's smirk grew, and he turned his hat backwards as he walked towards the telepad, and the second-to-last match of his challenge. "I brought a pair of Earthquake machines. I can get past it." He gave his friend a side-eye as he bamfed back to the main room. "You'll be calling me Champion before we're done."

Nick shook his head as he watched his protege leave. Then, he saw the damage caused to the partially melted and seriously perforated ceiling of his room. "I think I believe it." He sighed again, and then bamfed to the Pokémon Center, for some needed heals.

On to the Champion he went, as he stepped onto the center most platform in the first chamber of the Victory League. Alex went down, and somehow, came out before a set of stairs that led upwards. Around him, he saw the once-ruined and blown out remnants of the Champion's Hall, from the days when Alder and then Iris had, briefly, reigned as Champion.

The back part of the room where Hilbert and N had reportedly briefly faced off had a new set of stairs ascending from it, up to the plateau, for which the League was named. In the old days, such a vast space had, evidently, been required for their matches. In the modern era, a raised man-made pyramid and stone structure had been what contained the Champion level battles held within. The redesign had followed N's second ascension to the Victory League, when his final match with Nate had leveled the building again. Rather than rebuild, the League had opted for the cheaper solution of battling on the same field as the ancients had, for Champion title matches.

Before that however, was Hilbert. What was left of the original Champion's chamber was supported by stone columns and had a grand feel to it. Large, spacious, and lacking much, or any, decoration. There were marks on the white stone, both from flame and something much more focused, and hotter in temperature.

"Welcome, Challenger. You've done well to climb this high...if you defeat me, only Champion N, and Zekrom, stand between you and the title of strongest Trainer in Unova. I've seen your matches so far...some day, you and I are gonna have to test our psychic types in Battle. My Alakazam wishes to face your Gallade...but only at his strongest."

Alex nodded. "I understand. I'm sure Arthur would enjoy it as well."

Hilbert nodded in return, and there was a pause, as Alex felt the Champion Trainer's eyes bore into him. The fire of the man who had single-handedly faced down N, Zekrom, and Team Plasma in their darker early days, and won, was measuring his worth.

"Shiro. It's time." Hilbert said, as he crossed his arms. From Hilbert's left, came the roar of Reshiram's Turboblaze, and the White Yang Pokémon burned his way into the chamber. The Overdrive flames kept it aloft behind Hilbert, as he smirked.

Alex nodded, hat still backwards as he drew Shruikan's ball, and threw it. It was in his hand before he'd even reached for it, but focused as he was on the Battle, he didn't notice. The much smaller, seemingly unassuming Shelgon stared up at the fiery dragon god of the Unova region, one third of what was once the Original Dragon, progenitor of all dragon types.

Shruikan growled, and rock energy built around his shell. Alex called the move at the same moment. "Rollout!"

Hilbert's tone was as cold as the flames that were about to engulf the field. "Dragon Pulse." A wide area spray of dragon typed energy in the form of blue flames, from a Legendary Pokémon, bathed the field, as Shruikan got rolling. He winced, and tried to Protect, but the intensity of the dragonfire was too much, and it caused a single hit knockout.

Alex grimaced and recalled his middle evolution. He could guess how well Hydrus would do, against a floating dragon, and while Terra would tank one, maybe two fire attacks, he wouldn't do enough damage to be worth enduring that kind of pain. That only left one option, an attempt to match the Legend, and fight fire with fire. "Blaze!" Alex said, as he pointed at Reshiram. "Mega Evolve! Dodge what comes with Dragon Dance!" Alex's hand glowed crimson then, as Blaze drew from the Plate crystal in his hand, and once more took his Mega Form. Of all his team, only his Charizard had ever been able to battle all day, multiple times, and still come in later as fresh as ever. Alex was convinced it was a species trait, as that tireless stamina would go far in explaining both Champion Leon and Alain's winning streaks.

Hilbert frowned, as in one move, Alex took the advantage in speed and special attack power. "Fusion Flare!" Shiro roared, and the entire building shook as blue-white flames followed the speeding fire lizard as he dodged and weaved through the columns and the sky both in and outside of the hall in his attempts to dodge.

Once the flares began to fade, Alex countered. "Dragon Dance, once more! Do not stop dodging!" Blaze roared in acknowledgement, and once more, a draconic aura surrounded him and enhanced his already ridiculous power even further.

"Dragon Pulse." Hilbert ordered, but even Reshiram's ability to rotate and hover couldn't keep up with the Mega Charizard's speed now. The counter was theirs, and it came swiftly.

"Dragon Pulse in return!" Blaze arched his head as he countered while moving, and a dense sphere of deep crimson dragon energy hurtled towards Reshiram, as it cut a swathe through the field of dragonfire, and landed with critical effectiveness on the massive white Pokémon's stomach. Reshiram's Overdrive turned blue as it roared from the hit, and Alex gave another command. "Dragon Dance! Don't get hit by this!"

"Blue Flare!" Hilbert shouted immediately after, and Shiro leaned forward, roaring as he filled the air with white hot flames, damaging even to a fire type from their sheer power. Blaze kept ahead of them flying upside down with his stomach to the ceiling as he did. The flames left a noticeable trail of black as they burned across the ceiling.

"Once more, Dragon Pulse!" Alex ordered, and his Mega Charizard responded again with an even stronger sphere of draconic energy. It moved so fast, even Shiro had trouble following it, but he did not have trouble feeling the impact, as it hit him again. The damage was beginning to show, and Hilbert, like the Elite Four, was starting to wonder if this would be the Trainer to dethrone N, who'd reigned as Unova's Champion since his return several decades earlier.

Hilbert did not intend to make it easy, though. "Use Psychic!" Shiro's eyes glowed an intense blue, and Blaze's momentum stopped, as psychic power held him in place, and hammered him against the ground. "Now Stone Edge!"

"Blaze! Use Dig!" Alex countered, as Reshiram landed, and caused the earth to rise at its command. Blaze summoned the ground energy, and used it to burrow, before the Stone Edge could land. "Dragon Dance beneath the field!"

Shiro's eyes appeared to follow Blaze, as he grew even stronger, and faster. "Shiro, bathe the field in Blue Flare once the Charizard pops up." In response to Hilbert's orders, a ball of intense blue fire formed in the White Yang Pokémon's mouth. Before it could burn the field though, Blaze rose from the ground, behind the white fire dragon, who'd taken his eyes off the subterranean dancing fire lizard to charge up the Blue Flare. Alex had watched Reshiram closely, noting how he'd attacked, and how long it took to do so. He expected Zekrom, under N's command, would be even faster. He and Shiro would need to match them.

Blaze hammered Shiro with the Dig, and then in the blink of an eye, was once more zipping around the room. A deep crimson glow lit the chamber once more, while Reshiram empowered his Blue Flare with even more strength.

Alex called the move, as Blaze fired it. "Dragon Pulse!" The competing colors of blackish red and purplish blue competed for dominance, and then, the red soared across the chamber, humming loudly with the sheer amount of volatile dragon energy within it.

The condensed dragon attack was stymied by the ferocity of the Blue Flare, and the two moves collided in an explosion, as neither proved to be superior. Then, from out of the smoke, came the hurtling form of a Mega Charizard, both claws alight with dragon energy. "Finish it, Blaze! Dragon Claw!"

"Shiro, Fire Fang!" Hilbert countered, as he knew the STAB from a Legendary Pokémon would make up for the resistance to fire that the Mega Charizard possessed. Blaze landed the first Dragon Claw, only to find his tail being bitten, and then used to throw him, as he tried zipping by again. He should have been much faster than Reshiram by this point, after so many Dragon Dances, but it seemed the Legendary Dragon was a legend for a reason.

As Blaze went flying back through the air, Hilbert capitalized on the counter. "Fusion Flare!" Shiro's tail burned into Overdrive once more, as Blaze righted himself, and brought the second Dragon Claw around for another hit. He and Shiro crossed in the air, and as both attacks landed, moments later so did the Pokémon. Shiro gave a final cry, and fell, with enough force to shake the hall. Blaze was badly scorched, but he made it to Alex's side of the field, roared triumphantly, and then fell on his bottom, panting, and genuinely exhausted.

Hilbert clapped slowly, as Reshiram raised his head, and was given a Max Revive. Hilbert examined Blaze, who had let the power from the crystal go as the battle ended. The two fire typed Pokémon eyed each other, and Reshiram glowed then, as his tail's flame surrounded both of them. It shifted to a deep blue color as the heat intensified, and Alex started to speak up before he saw his Pokémon's face.

"Fire types aren't always injured by Blue Flare." Hilbert said, approaching Alex. "In fact, Shiro can heal them with it, if he chooses to do so." Alex nodded, staying silent, choosing instead to watch the two.

Hilbert continued. "You've won the right to use him now, for your battle with N. He'll be using Zekrom. If you can defeat N, you will be the newest Champion of Unova." The Hero of Unova smirked, shrugging. "We had so many Champions already. We needed to make things more difficult, for this."

Alex smirked as well, and then shook Hilbert's hand as it was offered. "I'd expect nothing less from the Victory Plateau. It's been an honor Battling with you. We should have a proper six on six some time." He said, as he offered the approaching white dragon a Max Elixir as well.

Alex needed him at full strength for the duel with N. He gave a small wave towards his spectators via the remote camera drones who were recording the matches, and then proceeded further up the plateau, to the very top, Shiro by his side. He could understand now why the Champions had beaten Team Plasma. If Hilda was as strong as Hilbert, no team of gangsters would be able to stand against them long. N was, since returning to Unova, supposed to have surpassed them both, in terms of strength.

As he reached the top of the stairs and looked around the flat plateau, Alex saw the familiar green mane of hair of Unova's strongest Trainer standing on the other side of the battlefield. His castle had long since been deconstructed, and the remnant materials had been used to rebuild the chamber below several times, before they had run out. Weathered columns dotted the sides of the ancient plateau, and judging by the fire and lightning scoring upon them, the battles up here were just as intense. Indeed, the further he went, the more he realized there were only marks from Reshiram and Zekrom's moves. Fire and electric scoring, with the occasional triple claw mark. As he reached the center of the plateau, and looked down, he gasped and looked with worry at Shiro. Burned into the ground, presumably from above, was the unmistakable outline of Reshiram. N had not held back with Zekrom's attacks, and Alex theorized that after battles this intense, with the amount of people who wanted to dethrone N, Shiro had been weak enough to be snared by Ghetsis again.

"Alexander Redwood." The voice was as charismatic and strong as it had sounded on the TV, where Alex had first heard it so many years ago, and it made his eyes snap up instantly to the speaker. "Welcome, to the Victory Plateau." N turned, and Alex saw bags under his eyes. Not too large, but enough to be noticeable. He still had the light beard, though it looked scraggly, presumably from all the wind up here on the plateau. His mane of hair was also in similar disarray, flaring wildly in the breeze. Looking at his eyes though, Alex started to understand why Gary and the League were concerned for him. There was no light, just bored darkness.

A Trainer like N was, of course, famous and loved by the Unovan people, and he'd had many region-saving adventures, often stopping rampaging Pokémon, or shady people from abusing the power of Unova's many Legendary Pokémon. Alex had no doubt he'd seen some soul crushing truths, in his time.

"It's about time you got here. I must thank you for freeing Shiro…I'd been looking for Ghetsis for weeks, after Kuro and I discovered Kyurem was missing. When Shiro went missing too, I had a feeling he was trying to fuse them all again."

Alex shrugged. "It wasn't that difficult…Ghetsis is not the Trainer he used to be...and Shiro was as eager to be separated as Kyurem." He looked up at Shiro, and smirked, raising a hand towards him. "I'm glad I was able to help the embodiment of Truth." The massive white dragon pressed his snout into the offered hand, and he rumbled.

N nodded. "I can sense the conviction behind your personal truth… Impressive…you might actually prove challenging."

Alex hadn't bothered with shoving Reshiram into a ball, yet, and had instead freed him entirely of the one Hilbert had used. This only seemed to make the white dragon like him more. He'd even spoken, using his latent psychic powers, to thank him for keeping him out of such a confined space. After that, Alex had given his team a brief rest, during which, he focused on teaching Reshiram what he would need to use to beat Zekrom. At the end of their break, the white dragon of light seemed confident they would win, and that seemingly renewed fire was enough for Alex.

His granduncle had been right about Legendary Pokémon. They were simply too strong to keep confined to a ball. Trying to shove a force of nature into a pocket dimension was just a bad idea.

To this day however, Professors could not explain why some Legendary Pokémon seemed to appear in multiple places. For example, the breeding habits of Moltres, Zapdos, and Articuno were still unknown, and there had even been reports of a Trainer in Johto who had, according to Professor Elm, witnessed the birth of a new member of the Creation Trio, though which member had been added to the known pantheon had not been divulged.

Many had called the story ludicrous, claiming that Zapdos and several Legendary Beasts had easily dismissed Pokéball attempts to catch them, even from a Master Ball, multiple times. The fact that you couldn't just entrap them in a Pokéball however, did not matter to some Trainers. Some Trainers became 'Tamers' of the Legendary Pokémon they beat into submission through a battle and were able to summon whatever Legendary they had bonded with and proven worthy of battling alongside, at will. No Pokéball required, though many had one anyways, if their Trainers needed to recall them from imminent danger, or thieves.

The gods of Time and Space did indeed have Tamers, according to his granduncle, but nobody had ever met them, and those who claimed to usually were lying, or had unverifiable stories. Being able to travel freely throughout space and time made it difficult for those who would challenge the Holders of Time and Space. They could be anywhere, at any time, and they sure hadn't seemed to stick around Earth.

They did show up when summoned however, and the only one who could summon them was Arceus…or a clone of Arceus, as far as Professor Redwood knew.

N proved his own skill as a Trainer who was a cut above the rest by summoning the other half of Reshiram, Zekrom, whom he had nicknamed Kuro. Like Alex, it seemed he'd not bothered with a Pokéball, as Zekrom rose on the power of electromagnetism from behind the edge of the plateau N had been standing near. "Kuro, his truth is as iron…let us forge it into steel…or more likely, break it."

Zekrom's roar filled the air, and Alex felt a shiver up his spine from the Hyper Voice. A dragon and electric type was a fierce combination, and the only counter to it was a Pokémon like Shiro.

Alex couldn't tell which dragon was stronger, as he eyed the two of them in the same place. In fact, the more he glanced between them, the more he was convinced he was missing something obvious.

"Fusion Bolt!" The Champion shouted, as he started off the match. Alex raised a brow. Was he really going to start that contest? This early?

"Fusion Flare!" Alex responded, and the two Legendary Pokémon bashed against each other uselessly. Reshiram was unharmed, but Zekrom it seemed had, by pure chance, caught a burn. Seeing that losing was now a real possibility, N got serious. There was no point in using Blue Flare or Bolt Strike, not when dragon type moves were so much better.

"Dragon Pulse!" The two Trainers shouted at once. The Legendary Dragons responded, but different attacks came out. Shiro's Dragon Pulse had changed, becoming dense, and swirling with the energy of the dragon type move, and the fire type power he was drawing from his new Tamer's Plate crystal to power the move, instead of Mega Evolution. This was a new trick, and one that Shiro had claimed would allow him, and other Pokémon, to fire dual type attacks much more easily. Alex had also showed him, by way of demonstration from Terra, how to condense a pulse move into a sphere, for more damage and density. Shiro had picked it up in moments, once more proving just how strong and adaptable Legendary Pokémon were.

It was too late for N to counter, and Zekrom took the dual typed Dragon Pulse hard, landing before N in a smoking heap while Shiro floated above, almost seeming to grin. Often had darkness bested light on this plateau, for many Trainers had truths they believed in, but few even knew what ideals were. N's ideals, which governed his very training style, were stronger than most, and thus, Zekrom responded just as strongly as Reshiram had to N's own truth.

As the years had passed, the Champion had mostly forgotten what his truths were. The passage of time and the accumulation of life experiences had eventually overwritten what Hilbert had taught him with Team Plasma's defeat. He sat on this plateau all day with Zekrom, usually, having forgone any other Pokémon. His ideals kept him stubbornly opposed to carrying them around in Pokéballs, and often the partners who he did have gladly offered themselves for capture, if it was by him, but he always refused.

He'd refused them all, and eventually, they had left. The Pokéball was a device that had been designed by corporations, but had been commissioned by the Pokémon League almost two centuries ago. In those two centuries, modern Pokémon training had changed entirely, as the League had correctly predicted that being able to carry around multiple Pokémon would correlate directly to an increase in the number of strong Trainers.

The pure convenience of being able to take your Pokémon wherever you pleased, and then store multiple once the pocket dimension system was applied to the Pokénet, couldn't be matched. Multiple Pokémon could travel with their Trainers all over the world, rotating in and out, but N hadn't wanted that. Alex had no qualms about it though, and his full team of six Pokémon was very obvious, even under his heavy black and white jacket.

N stared at his belt, and his eye twitched. Reshiram watched, smirking knowingly. He'd finally found the right Trainer to move N past this block…or so he had thought when Alex had beaten Hilbert. Shiro was now convinced that this Trainer had what was needed, what they had previously thought only N possessed; the power to right the wrong of the ancient twin Heroes, and once more unite Unova, and the surrounding regions of the 'States' into a cohesive, enlightened whole, as it had been before it was fractured by war and human idiocy.

N had come so close…but in abandoning his Pokémon team while claiming to hold to the truths Hilbert and Hilda had shown him, he had ultimately failed. No one had been able to dethrone him, however, as adventuring with Zekrom had only made the pair that much more closely bonded. It seemed that finally, someone had arrived who could, perhaps, reform what was sundered.

Shiro felt his counterpart stir, and slowly reach this same conclusion. On a primal level, both dragons present agreed; this Trainer had a sleeping power and potential akin to the first Dragon Emperor, the man who had taken the apocalyptic hellscape of what was once America, and turned it into a prosperous empire within a single human span. Bonded as they were, N sensed Zekrom's appreciation for the Challenger's strength…and grew angry. "Hypocrite…" He snarled, "You sit there with a team you're not even using, abandoning them in favor of my Shiro…you're like every other Trainer…you abandon your enslaved friends for a Legendary Pokémon at the first opportunity!"

Alex's brow rose to Spockian heights, as he'd just noticed N's rage. He'd been enjoying the battle, but something had shifted. Instead of bouncing back, Zekrom had risen slowly, blue sparks rolling across his body, his power being fueled by N's newest ideal, to never be replaced. It was twisted from his original ideal of never binding Pokémon to balls, but Zekrom was already bound to his Trainer's emotional turbulence.

For battle, they were connected on a deeper level, and this connection was now affecting the Legendary Dragon. It figured, for Kuro had always responded easiest to darker emotions. All Alex felt from Shiro was calming peace and light.

Thus, he answered evenly, logically, and calmly. "You're the one who set up this Challenge, Champion. I'd face you, team to team, if you wanted that but you only have Zekrom with you." Shiro roared as he felt the spirit of Battle rise from both humans. Alex's eyes were burning as hot as Reshiram's flames. "He will not be enough!"

"Kuro, Bolt Strike!" With the rage that fueled the attack, Alex didn't need to bring up type advantages in his head.

If that hit Shiro, he might survive it, but would most definitely be paralyzed. And even one missed move in a battle like this meant defeat. No, Alex decided, that move needed to miss. He took a page from Hilbert's book.

"Evade, and counter with Fire Fang." Shiro's maw blazed to life, and it dodged its counterpart's furious strike effortlessly, and then struck at his outstretched arm, clamping down on it hard with his fangs.

Kuro tried to switch arms for his Bolt Strike, but by the time he had, Shiro had already spun, and thrown him into the building that housed the only entrance into the League complex. Luckily, there were other ways up to this level, and the League had, at this point, several masons on perpetual standby for Champion title matches, and their intensity.

Since the summer had started, Leagues all around the world had been in a constant state of competition, and all matches against Champions were regularly broadcasted. Usually for a fee. N's had always been free to watch though, and that was a large part of why the people adored their Champion. He cared about the Battle, the honor in the sport, the bonds it helped to forge between humans and Pokémon. Many times, he'd expressed dislike, or outright irritation, at their society's dependence upon currency, which had made him quietly disliked by the older generation, and that much more loved by the younger one.

Watching Kuro in his enraged state, Alex began to understand what he'd been missing thus far. He looked at each dragon, and then recalled the stomping ice monster that had charged through Castelia in an effort to get home. As he began to grasp at what Gary Oak had hinted he'd need to do when and if he won, if the product of his sudden realization actually worked in the end, the current challenge for the Unova region wouldn't be able to be completed more than once. He briefly wondered how Jess would ever prove worthy enough to reach the aforementioned Psychic Sages, but resumed his focus on the battle as Kuro attacked again with a Dragon Pulse. This was it, then.

Alex smirked, and Shiro responded with his own densely compacted Dragon Pulse, easily condensing it into a ball of dense draconic death. Alex briefly wondered if Arceus had the same capabilities. He was a deity no? He had to already know something as simple as condensing a pulse attack. Right?

Alex had Shiro combine his power in a Taijitu swirl once more, as the Dragon Pulses canceled out, and filled the air around him with smoke and dust. Being a Legendary Pokémon, Shiro could raise a crystal's worth of dragon energy easily. The Flame Plate crystal compensated, and his next Dragon Pulse was once more part dragon, part fire type, and more than Zekrom or N could handle after all the intense battling on top of the damage from the burn he'd acquired earlier.

Shiro's balanced dual type attack again brought Zekrom low, as it shot through the dust cloud at frightening speed, spinning as it did so. Kuro's claws struggled in vain to hold the dense sphere of flame and dragon energy back, but he crashed again into the Victory Plateau's harsh terrain before the ball exploded in his face. Kuro struggled to rise, and then fainted. The red fury from N was cut off, and his eyes lost their enraged glow. N was still furious, however. "This isn't over! You will not replace me!"

N dropped into a martial stance, but Shiro descended between him and Alex before N so much as moved, shaking the plateau as he did so. With almost a field between them, Alex did not hear what Shiro told N, but after, N calmed, and walked over to him beside Shiro.

Alex had gone to Kuro in the meantime, deciding that earning his trust now would help with his new idea. It worked, and the Black Yin Pokémon thanked him as Shiro had when he was given a Max Revive, and an Elixir as well. Kuro's tone was deeper, but Alex swore the two sounded almost identical, and somehow familiar.

"I...lost myself in the darkness there, for a moment. My apologies. You did it, Challenger." N said. "You're the new Champi-" He paused, as there was a beeping from his pocket. After checking his Holociever, Alex's started ringing as well. It was his loving girlfriend, of course, as always with impeccable timing. He didn't care if N was interrupted, he'd still become the new Champion, as far as he was concerned.

"Jess. My reason for existing. What is it?" She was having none of his attitude though, distracted as she was.

"If you two are done slamming dragons together up there, we need the Champion down here. Kyurem is on a rampage. Evidently it wasn't able to freeze the Chasm again, and now it's furious. Someone in Lacunosa Town did something to anger it. People are dying, Alex. We need the Dragons."

N and Alex shared a look, and then N sighed at his device, and shut it down, ending the contact. "You heard them. They need the Dragons, Redwood. Go. Save Unova."

Jess made an 'o' face as she overheard N, and then looked excited. "You won!? The smoke hasn't cleared yet, we didn't see the end!"

Alex winked at her, then closed the device almost entirely. It wouldn't end the call, but N didn't need to know that. He also knew Jess would kill him if he didn't share something this good.

N looked depressed, almost deflated, as he realized he wasn't needed anymore, that he'd somehow failed at being Champion. Alex patted his shoulder. "They'll need you, too. Don't sell yourself short, you're one of the Heroes of Unova. My victory isn't going to change that. You didn't fail at your duty…you just didn't finish what you'd started."

N blinked slowly. "What…I started?" Alex pointed at the two dragons then, smirking.

They had each told him they approved of his idea, after a brief telepathic conversation, and their good mood was infectious. "With them. You kept them separate, all these years. They're meant to be One, you brilliant fool. Until your Team Plasma awakened them, they were fine existing apart, asleep. Now that they're awake, and at peace, they want to become themselves again. You woke them up and calmed them into a state of balance, but simply never finished unifying them, and thus fell out of balance. Without unity, one side eventually overpowers the other. For you, it was the darkness."

N stared at the new Champion. "What?"

Alex simply chuckled. "Hop on Kuro. I'll show you what I mean." Alex hopped on Shiro, and together, the four of them soared down the Victory Plateau. Alex had a feeling a certain fiery redhead would be calling whoever owned those satellites that had broadcasted their match, and demand they follow them. She needn't have bothered however, as the recording had continued, and would continue, until N fully declared Alex the Champion. That meant the automated drones would follow the current Champion, until the title was verbally transferred.

That was their excuse for it anyways. Pokémon League monitoring was a boring job most days, and the men monitoring the intense match would take any excuse to not cover the drudgery of the minor League challenges after this battle resolved itself. Or so they would tell their bosses.

Kyurem wasn't hard to find, as its path of destruction was obvious. The frosty dragon had returned to his old stomping grounds, Lacunosa Town, a strange little place that had lost so many children to Kyurem, they had legends about him.

Instead of simply abandoning the settlement, as anyone with any sense would do, the people had stayed, walling themselves in from the ferocious ice dragon, and making their town perfect for the Arceans, and their Church to 'convert'. Their visiting Bishop had claimed that if the townspeople simply believed in Arceus and gave their lives to his Church, as those in the Fornia region did, He would shelter them from the monster lurking in the nearby Chasm.

Over time, children stopped playing in the woods because of the town's high walls, technology had advanced, and portable tech was all anyone that young cared about as they were, of course, watching Pokémon Battles live, all over the world. This peace was what had lent the Arcean Church credit for a 'miracle', for after they'd established a small church in the town, Kyurem hadn't taken anyone, even though the last time the dragon had been blamed for such a thing had been almost a century earlier. The people of Lacunosa had eventually become devoted Arceans, and with that devotion, Lacunosa Town had become a very…strange place, operating as the base of the Arceans in Unova.

They'd always wanted a base in the east after infecting the western coast, and they'd finally gotten one. They claimed to have facilities the world over, but Alex had discovered during his research that the majority of them were actually entirely empty buildings, run by literally nobody. He'd even visited one, out of pure curiosity. The lights had been on, but nobody had been inside the lavishly decorated rooms. There hadn't even been a security detail, and that, was how he'd smoked up an entire dining room with him and some of his more incredulous 'friends' from his hometown. It had been quite a night.

Lacunosa Town had, as the Arcean's base, received an influx of Trainers from the Fornia region. Nobody knew what they were up to, only that they frequently visited the Chasm. This was how Kyurem became embroiled in an enormous battle that led to the deaths of hundreds of young Trainers. He'd stomped over to Lacunosa from Nimbasa, and hadn't done much the first pass through. Absofusion drained him, as it was man's attempt to forcibly pair the Boundary Pokémon with his other halves by way of technology. That would never lead to a complete restoration of the Original Dragon, but Kyurem had not bothered to tell Ghetsis, or anyone else, that fact. Kyurem rarely, if ever, spoke.

Once he'd discovered his Chasm however, he'd entered a state of rage. Lacunosa Town was a perfect incubator for the Arcean's strange and oppressive style of belief and living, as they'd moved in and taken advantage of the walls and turned the once peaceful town into a functional prison for those who had once called it home. Despite their apparent conversion, the original residents had been treated to the poor living conditions suffered through by most Arceans. Naturally, those who wanted and enjoyed higher quality living than thin mats on hardwood floors tried resisting, and that resistance had led to imprisonment in their own town.

From Lacunosa, the Arceans had ordered their aspiring Trainers to visit the Chasm regularly and catch as many Pokémon as possible. The wild ones there were quite strong, thanks in no small part to their proximity to Kyurem and the unchecked draconic aura that radiated off the shell of the First Dragon. Upon seeing its friends being captured en masse as it returned, the ice dragon had made the Trainers responsible pay for it. Catching a few that jumped out of the grass was one thing. Those Pokémon usually wanted a human to train them, and Kyurem had always respected their choice, as it had only gone after humans foolish or curious enough to enter its cave. What the Arceans had been in the process of doing had been systematic, thorough, and all but robbed the area of its natural inhabitants. Far too few of his friends had remained, but they had begged the dragon to aid them all the same, igniting his cold fury.

Kyurem had become enraged and had headed for the Arcean Trainers as they ran in terror. He caught them easily with Glaciate, and then turned his rage on the not-so-distant Lacunosa Town. Devout Arceans were slaughtered, along with their guards, as Kyurem's Glaciate all but buried the town in ice. Something similar had happened to Opelucid, and while many people would be safe for a time in their homes or be able to be thawed free in the coming days, many would simply die in that ice. It was why Unovans didn't upset the balance between the dragons, and why Ghetsis was now serving the rest of his lifetime prison sentence. But who knew if he'd actually stay there.

Alex and N arrived on the scene to find Kyurem nestled in an enormous crater of ice. Because of the town's tight knit construction, it appealed to both the controlling Arceans, and the wandering Kyurem, who made it into a new icy cavern.

"We have to smash the top of that before it freezes completely. Or it will never melt." N spoke quickly, guilt all over his face. Had he been paying attention; he would've surely gotten here sooner. The Victory Plateau gave one a large view of the entire region, and one could even make out Castelia's spires from the top.

"Shiro and I will handle it." Alex said, knowing the fire would be quicker. "You go in through the 'entrance' by the Pokémon Center."

N wanted to salvage this town, but to Alex, it was a den of corruption, now frozen, that he'd just as soon let freeze. He didn't like Arceans, but they were still people. He also needed Kyurem, and if his plan succeeded, the town would likely be saved regardless. There was also a very high chance some idiocy the Arceans had done was what had made Kyurem leave its chasm and take up residence in the now frozen town.

Shiro's blue flames melted the ice near-instantly, the only reason he hadn't used Blaze instead, and Kyurem was below them. It roared up at them, and as it did, Zekrom flew in with a Bolt Strike, upper cutting the hollow ice type in the jaw.

Alex winced. They needed dragon type moves here, or at least fire. Electric attacks were not very effective, a fact made evident by Kyurem's slow turn towards Kuro and N. Alex summoned Blaze then, and together, he and Shiro used Flamethrower to hit the dragon and ice type.

Alex had taught it to Shiro in favor of Fire Fang after the battle, as it was much stronger, and more useful for a Pokémon with strong special attacks like Reshiram. Kyurem went down hard under the twin torrents of flame, and Alex dropped to the ground, running towards N and Kuro.

He looked at Zekrom as it spoke into his mind, then glared at N. "You have a what? We're going to need it! Quickly!" N looked confused for a moment, before Zekrom informed him of what the new Champion was talking about.

"What? I'm not giving you that! I…" N let his sentence trail off, and his eyes glanced towards the floor. Alex had beaten both Hilbert and himself. Technically, he now was the Tamer of both dragons. Which meant the Plate crystal infused with dragon typed essence was his.

Sighing, N handed over a deep bluish-purple crystal, the symbol of the dragon types embedded within it. Dragon types were the rarest of Pokémon, and naturally, the pieces of a fallen Arceus's dragon plate were just as coveted, and rare.

They were so powerful that an order of Dragon Masters had arisen for the sole purpose of keeping those crystals from the hands of dark minded Trainers. They didn't stop them from taking other crystals, though they confiscated them when they could, but the Draco Plate crystals were by far the most important to keep safe.

Alex took the crystal, then looked at N. "You'll have this back, I promise. I just need it for a minu-"

N interrupted him. "Keep it. I no longer need it."

Not knowing what to say, as he was technically correct and pointing that out would be awkward, Alex simply nodded. "Very well…I'll be sure to use it wisely."

He turned to Kyurem then, who had almost freed itself of the Flamethrowers, and even Zekrom's Fusion Bolt, which lanced from his maw in a streak of electricity. "Kuro, use Dragon Pulse, you too Shiro. Terra, Seed Bomb, Hydrus, Earthquake, Leo, Thunder, Shruikan, Flamethrower, Arthur, Psychic."

Alex called out each of the moves, and each of his team appeared as he called them. He weaved their energies together with the Draco Plate shard, forcing the Legendary ice dragon down under the force of so many powerful and varied attacks. Alex approached, holding the dragon crystal in his palm.

He showed it to Kyurem, and the Legendary Dragon paused in his struggling.

"Cease." Alex said, and the attacks stopped. The dragon-ice type rose, looming over him.

"Prove...your worth…" Came a soft, echoing voice from within his head. Alex rightly guessed it was Kyurem challenging him.

Alex nodded then, saying, "I understand." Before he recalled his team, leaving only the three dragons on the icy field.

The ground shook as ice erupted and grew all around them. A gateway of sorts appeared by the entrance N and Kuro had used and the rising pillars of ice sent N sliding backwards across the treacherous ground. Kyurem walked backwards slowly retreating further into his new icy cave, before lowering himself down into a battle stance. He was inviting the human to face him. Properly.

"Shiro, Kuro, I'll need your help to Battle it." The two dragons stepped forth and faced down their empty husk. Kyurem's Glaciate was the first move, and it assumed the only move it would need.

"Blue Flare!" Shiro's flame burned through the attack, protecting Zekrom from his weakness, and doing minimal damage to both of them, which left Kuro open to counter.

"Fusion Bolt!" Alex called, and the black dragon's tail began to hum as Kuro charged forward and hammered Kyurem in the jaw before flying away. The force of the strike made the ice dragon flinch, long enough for Alex to call the next move in rapid succession. "Fusion Flare!"

Reshiram answered the command as quickly as he had each time before, but this time, his flames seemed stronger. They shifted to white-blue intensity, and burned the ice dragon backwards, forcing it to slide across the icy terrain, into one of the houses serving as the back part of the new 'cave'. Thankfully, it seemed uninhabited, which was good, as it was definitely in need of repair after Kyurem smashed into it. Thankfully, even Reshiram's flames were kept from spreading by Kyurem's coating of insulating ice.

The insanely powerful dragon-ice type roared, and the two dragons roared back. Ice shot up behind them, locking them in the icy arena, and cutting them off from N, who had been struggling to make it back to them. Now in an enclosed space, once more fire ice and lightning met in a collision of power as Kyurem launched an Ice Beam, that Shiro and Kuro blocked with a Flamethrower and Thunderbolt respectively. Alex glanced at what Kyurem had wrought, and though the circular town seemed more like a prison, to his eyes, it could almost be a stadium.

Later, he would learn that there had indeed been eyes to feel, as this time his battle was being broadcasted live, and very clearly seen. He'd made himself presentable for the League Challenge, and now, looked like he'd never lost a game of 'who's the protag' with his hat still backwards, as he stared down the giant hollow dragon. The League's floating camera monitor continued to record, despite the ice. It was strong, but clear enough to see through. Some deeply buried aspect of Kyurem wanted those present to witness this battle.

Seeing he was alone, Alex glanced at N through the ice. The former Champion looked concerned, but his expression changed as Alex winked and turned back to the clash of dragons he was probably enjoying far too much as he touched the Draco Plate crystal shard to the 'awakened' piece of the fire Plate he already had. As he did, the deep bluish-purple crystal began to hum in response as it too awakened, and the black and white dragons each kept one eye on him, with the other on Kyurem, as they watched, and seemed to smile. Alex met their eyes with a smirk as he gave his orders. "Shiro, Dragon Pulse…Kuro, Mega Evolve."

Shiro launched his newly perfected dragon move at Kyurem, who took the dense sphere of dragon energy head on and looked seriously injured by the attack. A hollow hole had appeared in his head, in the crest of ice, but the unbalanced spirit would not be cowed so easily. As a Glaciate was launched in response, it was blocked by the still cone shaped Dragon Pulse of Mega Zekrom. His wings were more reminiscent of a Charizard's in shape now, and his posture had shifted, lowering his front and head towards the ground, as the enhanced tail hummed with plasma energy. His arms were even burlier, and blue sparks constantly covered his dark scales. Alex looked at him closely, and noticed there was dark typed energy swirling around the Black Yin Pokémon. It seemed in this form; he'd embraced the darkness and still wielded electricity.

Zekrom needed to be able to balance his energy as Reshiram had, or Alex would lose balance as well. Allowing the mental contact between himself and the black dragon, Terra gave the knowledge freely, trusting the Legendary Pokémon to use it for the good of them all.

"Now Kuro, balance your energy. Condense it into a sphere…and use Dragon Pulse!" A ball of electric energy swirled in the dark dragon's maw, and it was joined in a Taijitu swirl by the dragon type energy that was coming from the Draco Plate shard and had fueled his Mega Evolution. "Shiro! Mega Evolve!" Again, Kyurem was unbalanced by the massive dragon and electric attack as it struck home and dealt significant damage. Kuro had focused on drawing electric power, and the Draco shard had given the rest.

Now Reshiram joined its counterpart at the same level of evolution. Like Zekrom, the wings and body posture had changed. In this new form, Reshiram sported a pair of fluffy white front legs, that helped keep the White Yang Pokémon balanced as it stood on four legs, and an impressive pair of white wings flared out from its back. Also, like Zekrom, Shiro was now radiating a comforting light, a light that could turn oppressively hot in an instant. This, Alex thought, was a Pokémon capable of burning the Desert Resort so thoroughly that it still was unbearably hot to the touch to this day. The Draco Plate shard was providing the energy for all of this. It was, after all, only two thirds of a Pokémon he was evolving, and each of them drew from the same stone that now held awakened dragon typed Infinity Energy.

Now in their ascended forms, the two Legendary Dragons forced their empty, frozen shell into submission as they raised their Mega Turboblaze and Mega Teravolt generators on their tails. Alex frowned, as there seemed to be a dominating of energy going on, but he could only barely make out just what the two Mega Legends were doing to their counterpart. Kyurem stared down the Trainer who had managed to subdue him so handily with the separated avatars of truth and ideals, as they shared their intent with him through their overpowering auras. A deep voice rang through the colosseum-shaped crater of ice, "You...have nerve...thinking to unite what has been broken..."

"That was a long time ago..." Alex responded, holding the Draco crystal up to the Boundary Pokémon, "It is time for you to become One once more. Humanity will never sunder you again. Not while I yet draw breath, anyways." Kyurem looked ready to attack for a moment, then nodded, lowering its head and touching its snout to the crystal. It too mega evolved and of the three dragons, its form changed the most.

Kyurem had always been front heavy, with small arms and powerful legs, like a Tyrantrum, but now, its arms became longer, sturdier and ended in claws similar to his feet, the 'wings' on its back became even lengths, and rose from the base of his neck, which had also lengthened, and come up from his torso.

His body was now more akin to that of a Tropius than a Tyrantrum, and as Mega Kyurem turned its gaze to its two counterparts, the three spoke as one. "It is time. Absolute Fusion!" Kyurem and Reshiram both sat back on their hind legs then, revealing a pattern on their scaled stomachs.

Each of Kyurem's 'wings' shot towards Reshiram and Zekrom, connecting to the Taijitu swirl pattern of black and white that had appeared on each of their stomachs, and the respective dragon's auras of red and yellow manifested alongside the icy blue of Kyurem's. For his part, Alex reached out as best he could as he clutched the crystal, trying to force the spheres together into one unified whole, but the resistance to the fusion was great. The opposing natures of Shiro and Kuro were relentlessly pushing against the other as their tails spun up with opposing natural forces emanating from them and keeping them apart. It was this fusing of opposing forces, that human science had been thus far unable to overcome. From Mega Kyurem, came a circle of dragon energy in the ground, that surrounded the pair of Legendary dragons, and forced them together, closer and closer, until literal fusion occurred. Alex covered his eyes as the intense light filled the icy chamber, and when he lowered his arm, he gasped as he saw what his efforts had wrought.

The Original Dragon had returned.

Mega Kyurem had provided the boundary needed to keep the two other parts of itself in balance, and now once more, a golden age would reign over the land. Its typing had been fused by dragon, and thus had been lost in the final reforming. Fire, electric, and ice were now balanced in one draconic looking being who was as light as he was dark. Looking around with seemingly disoriented pure golden eyes, the reconstituted dragon roared, and the ice surrounding the town began to melt in response.

Alex and N knelt, awed that they were in the presence of this legend, appointed by Arceus to safeguard their continent so very very long ago. He had four legs now, and his pair of wings sprouted up from the base of his neck. The scales upon them were as white as Reshiram, but the webbing was as dark as Zekrom. They folded, after extending during his roar, slowly, as if the dragon was trying to remember how to close them.

The Taijitu symbol, in black and white, was imprinted on the dragon's forehead. His snout was long and had two long white tendrils that dangled down from either side of it. His claws flared with blue flames, sparked with electricity, and then returned to being an unsettling black. As Alex examined them closer, he found their composition to be crystalline, which would make them black ice. His breath sparked with electricity regularly, and the crest that surrounded his skull and formed his simple but sharp icy horns, and ran all the way to his tail, was made of pure ice colored the same as Kyurem's. The tail itself, save for the ice it was made of, seemed strangely normal, given the dragon's separated forms, ending only in a spiked, mace-like tip.

N stared at Alex, conflicted, and yet balanced, in his dislike and admiration for this random Trainer. For this Champion of Unova, now worthy of the title of Hero.

The great white scaled dragon, whose underbelly was black in contrast to his white scales, leaned down to Alex, and in his pupilless golden eyes, he saw the eternal balance this being had enjoyed until humanity ripped him apart for a few millennia. "You are my Tamer now, Human. See that you do not ruin my perfection by splitting me apart again."

Alex smirked, and gave the dragon's snout an affectionate pat. "Don't worry, Tao. I shall see to it you remain One." Enjoying the sound of his newest nickname the dragon grinned, and Alex pulled out a Hyper Potion, as the damage the three dragons had sustained had carried over to their fused form. His bag's hoard of items made him a walking Pokémon Center, but no amount of potion could replace genuine rest.

He kept looking up at the massive dragon as he marveled at the new details that he discovered the longer he looked. Elements of all three dragons were present in him, and yet the whole seemed much different. Seeing him now, Alex was reminded of the Opelucid Gym, and he smirked. Of course, the city of dragon lovers would remember, accurately, what the dragon god of their ancestors had looked like.

Seeing the ice around them taking longer to melt than it should've, the First Dragon raised his tail, and the club tip glowed with a familiar blue from under the ice that made up the end of the limb. The ice formed a familiar shape, that of Reshiram's 'Turboblaze Generator' as Trainers sometimes called the obviously powerful engine of fire, and in moments, he melted the ice his empty shell had created around Lacunosa Town while a comforting heat freed the people and Pokémon trapped. As the ice around his tail faded back to a simple mace shape, the damp inhabitants slowly came out of their shelters, and many of the outraged Arceans were stopped mid-tirade as they witnessed the return of the Original Dragon in person. He radiated a sense of calm that not even Arcean indoctrination could overpower.

Alex felt it most keenly, as he and N rode upon Tao's long back, and left the town before the litigious cult could so much as threaten a suit. The energy from this dragon made him feel like he wouldn't need sleep for a month, so closely were they bound now. That bond was a safe, balanced center he could always come back to, if he focused, a gift that would be invaluable in the trials to come.

Tao flew them northwards, and then to the east, over the trail of destruction Kyurem had caused, and though many of the humans that had been caught in his ice attacks thawed harmlessly, as they approached the Giant Chasm, they saw that many others had not. The initial Glaciate had been truly powerful, a testament to Kyurem's rage.

Tao landed in the icy crater now, the long tendrils from his snout touched the bodies of many fallen Pokémon as they thawed, and then retracted in sadness. "What happened?" N said, astounded by the damage.

Tao snorted blue-white flames, then looked saddened again as his eyes were drawn back to the destruction. "The Arceans happened. This was where I crashed after your predecessors split me apart, so very long ago. It was where the shell of myself, Kyurem, was most at peace. It arrived, and found a group of Humans capturing Pokémon who had returned to live here, and dragging them back to Lacunosa Town..." As Tao spoke, the memories flooded into the heads of N and Alex. They saw what Kyurem had, and N grew angry.

"How...dare...they..." He said, sharing in the rage Kyurem had felt. Alex felt it too, though he was more saddened than anything.

"That explains it then...with Ghetsis holding White Kyurem, the Arceans assumed the Chasm would be unguarded. Who knows how many Pokémon they managed to haul off before I split them apart..." Alex hopped down from Tao's back, and looked around, sighing. "Can you do anything for the land?"

The long-bodied, almost Rayquaza-like dragon lowered his head next to his Tamer's and seemed to smirk. "Do you think I would have come if I could not?" Alex blinked, and the dragon raised his head again, surveying the land. "Once, Unova was golden. The land was bountiful, and Pokémon and Humans lived in harmony...it took many millennia, but despite my absence, you all managed to achieve that Balance again. More or less. It is long past time we returned to being what we were. It starts, here. In the spot I was sundered."

His wings raised into the air then, revealing a white circle pattern of scales on his right side outlined by black, and a black circle on his left that needed no outline on his white scales that had been hiding beneath the folded wings, and gone unnoticed by the two humans on his back.

The tendrils from his snout grew longer, and moved back to link to both circles, and the dragon began to glow with golden light. "Behold," He thundered as fire ice and electricity swirled around his iconic form, "The return of Unova's Golden Age!" The icy tail rose again, and Alex and N were given a glimpse of the true form of what the original combined tail looked like. Elements of the Turboblaze and Teravolt generators now hummed with a truly massive amount of dragon energy, that Tao seemed to summon with little effort.

His wings flapped, and the draconic power gathered the fire ice and electric energy in a sphere of draconic power before it sank into the crater and dispersed into the ruined landscape, and the very dirt began to shift in color. Grass returned then, appearing gold as it sprouted, and new trees budded from the seeds of the ones that had fallen to Kyurem's unbound rage. With time, the Chasm would heal.

Alex and N returned to the dragon's back, and as they ascended, the two humans watched with awe as the dragon continued to smirk. They were so very easy to impress. The golden glow was spreading from the Chasm, and from Humilau, to Mistralton, the land would once more enter a seemingly literal golden age.

Sahqoreyth · Mar 16, 2024

Chapter 11: Unova, Part 3

The Dragonspiral Tower - Icirrus Town, Unova Region

The return of the Unova Dragon had been televised, thanks to the League's cameras and their auto-pilot function. Naturally, the match between Alex and N, and their post-battle shenanigans, ended up on the Pokénet a few hours later, and soon the entire world knew. Alex Redwood had brought the Original Dragon, Tao, back into balance.

Once more the land took on a golden hue, and peaceful emotions reigned across the region. A holiday was declared, and everyone took the day off, bringing the region to a standstill, as the reformed dragon returned to the Dragonspiral Tower with the new Champion upon his back, after leaving N at the Victory Plateau by his request.

John Crimson was there, of course, eager for the story, only to have Alex remind him that it was all readily available on the Pokénet. He did however, mention that one of the Arceans at Lacunosa had tried to saddle him with a bill for damages as they'd flown away, with a price tag that was a good number of zeroes above what anyone sane asked for, or even needed. With the amount of materials their currency could buy in a world where clever businesses made use of Pokémon, things like building materials could always be gathered, or crafted, with speed and efficiency that rivaled machinery.

Most of the damage was ice related, and since the ice had melted in Kyurem's absence, Alex didn't see how the damage was his doing. They'd brought on Kyurem's rage by capturing its friends en mass. Since Kyurem had been discovered, the general rule amongst Unovan Trainers was to not piss it off. Most did this by avoiding the Giant Chasm entirely, which had worked, and helped it to heal. Some Trainers between the Chasm and Lacunosa had lost their lives, but through Tao's power, many of those trapped by Glaciate had been successfully revived.

Given that most of the injured were Arceans, they were, of course, looking to sue someone. It was what they did, whenever anything even remotely bad happened to them, or their group. This tendency to go after whoever they could pin the blame on legally, and win, had led to most State governments avoiding the zealots entirely. Nobody wanted to deal with them, or their crazy habits, for good reason.

In the past, the Arcean's legal team had 'miraculously' found documents that would often support their legal battles, and it was no coincidence that most of the judges who presided over their legal cases were rich enough to retire not long afterwards. The tactics of bribery, blackmail, and planting evidence didn't always work, but they worked often enough, and even if their involvement was discovered, anyone going after the Church was quickly labeled a bigot, and the Church itself claimed said person was infringing on their spiritual beliefs, and thus labeled them 'intolerant'.

Rather than attacking organizations, the Arceans had entire divisions of their government devoted to picketing houses of naysayers and spreading foul rumors about the inhabitants. Pedophilia was a favorite accusation, but thievery, corruption, and even incest made their appearances. Thankfully, they hadn't had time to pin Alex with any of that before Tao had carried them away.

All in all, it was a frustrating way to end such an epic day. The whole challenge against the Four had taken most of the morning, Shiro and Blaze had fought well into the afternoon, and by the time Alex had beaten N, and Kyurem had attacked, the sun had started to set.

The Original Dragon headed to his old seat of power, from which he had once dispensed wisdom and knowledge to Unova's Trainers. Alex had always wondered what the Dragonspiral Tower had been for, but he had no idea how integral he would be to reviving it.

As they came upon the large, castle-like structure, Alex felt the dragon sigh as his calming mental baritone echoed in his skull. "I knew it had fallen into disrepair...but this will take some time and effort to fix."

Alex had given the dragon a comforting pat, though he had no idea if it had been felt. "Worry not. I'll help, where I can. I'm sure they will too." He said, pointing to the milling crowd of Unovans below. Icirrus was flooded with people, and they all cheered as their Dragon God of legend returned home, at last.

The media beat them there, somehow, and John Crimson met Alex and N as they hopped off of Tao's ice-crested back and into the throng of humans. A waterfall of questions came at them, and the two men shared a look, unable to even respond due to the noise. Then, Tao roared, and all the noise ceased before his Hyper Voice, as the cameras took him in. His eyes glowed, and he projected his mental voice for the first time in ages.

"Let my Tamer speak."

The cameras focused on N, but then Alex coughed, and waved John Crimson over. "Wait..." The older man said, looking between Alex and N, "He means you!?"

"Indeed!" Alex said, smirking as he projected confidence that he felt he'd earned after a hard day of battling. "You're looking at Unova's latest Victory Champion!" He flashed the cameras a victory sign with his pointer and middle fingers forming a V.

"He called you his Tamer though, Alex..." John Crimson continued, still in disbelief, "You're saying you managed to Tame the Original Dragon, and not N?"

Alex nodded. "I used Infinity Energy to balance both halves of the Original Dragon, and then Kyurem kept them contained until they achieved balance with each other and used Absolute Fusion to fuse back together."

John Crimson blinked at him, slowly. "What?"

Alex tried again, using simpler terms. "You know of Reshiram and Zekrom, yes?" The news legend nodded. "I Mega Evolved them, and Kyurem, and then used Infinity Energy from a Draco Plate crystal to help fuse them back together." He glanced up at Tao, and then smirked at John Crimson. "Seems like it worked."

John Crimson had an expression somewhere between confusion and constipation. "Okay...but...how?"

Alex sighed heavily, and he had to explain several times before the silver fox and the reporters around him grokked it enough to parrot back to their audience.

It was fair to say that at first, most Unovans had no idea how Alex had balanced the dragons. Something something Infinity Energy. But most didn't seem to care right then. The Original Dragon had returned. Unova's Golden Age had started again. Many of them had been waiting for this for decades now, but they had expected it from N.

Nobody outside the Trainer world really knew who this 'new Champion' was, only rumors that he had supposedly beaten both Hilbert and N, on top of the Victory Plateau's Elite Four. A few recognized him from PNN's interview, but John Crimson had already interviewed three other up-and-coming Trainers since. His had been easily missed. It was always available on the Pokénet though, and the video itself went viral overnight.

The celebration of the Original Dragon's return lasted a week, the last week of August, in fact. Almost a year to the day since Alex had first caught Terra. Alex spent that week by Jess's side as much as he could, putting off asking N about the secret training Professor Oak mentioned. Tao had suggested it was where the next stage of his journey would occur, and with university starting soon, that meant the lovers would have to part. They had a brief chance to relax before that happened though. Mostly, they clung to each other as often as possible, in an endless game of hiding from her brother, who caught on to their antics almost immediately and strove to interrupt them as much as he could. He and Jess had their battles against Nate and Hilda respectively. Connor had been able to match the intensity of Champion Nate's team and seemed satisfied that his own team was ready to crush Alain. Hilda, on the other hand, had very nearly beaten Jess, but she'd managed to stay within one round of Hilda, and in the final two, Delphi had proven her worth with her awesome psychic powers, pulling out two knockouts, and winning her Trainer the match they'd all been training for. Connor had no designs on becoming Champion, or challenging Alex, as now that he was a Champion, the only proper setting for their next match was with Connor as the Champion of Kalos. Jess, for her part, was not a fan of the sudden influx of demands for Alex's free time, and decided she had no desire to be one. She was apparently considering entering a Pokémon Contest instead, when she went to Kalos for her spring break in the upcoming semester.

Alex had colored a suitable Luxury Ball with a familiar swirling pattern of black and white for Tao to stay in, when necessary, but both he and his Trainer agreed that he should interact with Unova as much as possible. The crowd of people who wanted to see Tao stretched from Mistralton to Opelucid as they came to see history in person, and hopefully catch a hint of his great wisdom. As Legendary Pokémon went, Tao was friendly, and regularly spoke to humanity, which made him unique among Legendary Pokémon, and immensely popular.

Most Legendary Pokémon were shy, or angry, towards humans, and could be incredibly destructive without a guiding human hand. Many of the Legendary class Pokémon had latent psychic abilities, allowing basic telepathic speech. Even then, many did not use them. With humans. Tao had never liked that approach though and had always wished for closer ties between humans and his own kind. Being as old as he was, he had told Alex and his two companions that in this modern age, humanity and Pokémon were closer than they had ever been. They were stronger, too. In the past, a Trainer capable of challenging one of his halves one on one, and winning, was all but unheard of, yet in N's challenge there had been many, over a hundred, that had managed to defeat Reshiram or Zekrom, usually through Mega Evolution, or some other power that evened the disparity between them and a Legend like Z Moves or Terastallization.

Tao spent his energy on rebuilding the Dragonspiral Tower, which had long since fallen into a state of near-constant disrepair and became little more than a hangout for ghosts and wayward dragon types. He kept everyone but Alex from the tower as it was re-worked into what it had once been, and every so often, Alex would appear to ask the celebrating crowd outside the tower for a particular Pokémon move, or item that Tao needed. They usually had it ready for him, as the crowd had swollen to a massive size now.

As the days passed, Tao would occasionally stare out at the crowd, until he sensed one of the millions of humans swarming around them that actually had potential he sought. He would then psychically single that person out and offer them a chance to learn his Way. It was said that, with enough training, the disciples of the First Dragon would gain unnatural power. In modern times, such people were called 'psychics'. This was something only mentioned vaguely in the region's lore, from the era before the brother's war, and thus, all who were given the chance to learn, took it. One simply did not turn down the chance to be a student of the Dragon of Unova.

Thus, Alex had more and more free time to spend with his woman, but with so many eyes around the rapidly reforming tower all day, they'd resorted to sneaking north with their Charizard in the night. A small mountain range, nothing like the one up by Unova University, separated 'northern Unova' from 'Unova Proper'. It was in those foothills that they'd carved out a cave to chill in all night. It was a bit of a nostalgia trip for them, as that very area had been where they'd first met during their Trainer Exam. The new World Tournament building was also nearby, but rumor said it still wasn't ready yet. They'd peeked at it of course, but the tarps and scaffolding surrounding the massive structure gave away no hint of its design. It had to be at least as large as Wyndon's, since it would allow Dynamaxing, and creating a Power Spot was quite easy, as it turned out.

Since Professor Sonia had close personal access to Eternatus, and Leon, its Tamer, she had discovered the Legendary dragon actually shed what humans called Wishing Stars with regularity, though the pieces of the dragon which broke off reportedly grew back quite quickly, as long as it was well fed and able to rest. Through this method, several new Power Spots had been created, though the Professor had warned that making too many anywhere but Galar threatened to throw off the energy network of the planet. Such things were not meant to be tampered with, after all, but that had not stopped the Unovans from creating one here, and since Wishing Stars, albeit ones long bereft of Max Energy, had also been discovered in the region, so adding more Power Spots might be repairing the damage the planet had undoubtedly suffered in the wake of the Dragon King's war.

The re-working of the tower had taken a few days, and in that time, much of the region had condensed itself into this usually sparsely populated area. Everyone wanted to be worthy of the great wisdom the Original Dragon possessed, and if they weren't here for the dragon, the Trainers in the crowd usually wanted to challenge the new Champion. Word had evidently gotten out about his winning streak, and as usual, the Trainers of Unova were determined to break it.

Alex had welcomed the challenges, though they took up time. He let Blaze and his other Pokémon battle to their heart's content, as most of the Trainers simply were not on their level, but he was usually constantly busy working with Tao. The battles kept most of his team sharp, all except Shruikan, who had fallen into a deep sleep. After consulting the Pokédex, he'd learned Shelgon had several such periods, as they prepared to become a Salamence. This was the first he'd seen, but as he watched, his eyes had widened as the sleeping dragon type slowly, visibly, grew in size.

Alex barely slept since he'd started work on the tower, though it was mostly Tao who worked. Strong as Alex and the other humans were, they were simply incapable of digging through millennia of rock and soil buildup. The Original Dragon, however, made short work of all of it. He'd smashed through the 'puzzles' of each floor with mild irritation and had reformed the rooms into the designs they'd once had. Many levels of open spaces, easily ascended to and descended from, and each with a purpose for the humans who had come to reside within and learn the dragon's wisdom. The restoration had picked up considerably, once Alex and the others didn't have to hop around all the time.

Tao didn't exactly need help, either. He alone could sense what needed to be where in order for the tower to regain its 'Feng Shui', and though Alex had a few good guesses, this was beyond him most of the time, and as he lacked psychic powers, he couldn't really do much to repair the stonework itself, which left him to enjoy his lover in their private abode as the dragon flitted about his old home, repairing it.

Finally, once the interior was repaired, Tao had all of the humans and Pokémon leave the tower. In an awesome display of his power, the Original Dragon raised his ancient home from the swamp that had formed around it, reworking the very land itself, something that was simple to one on his level of power. Having been formed directly by Arceus, raising a building was within his power set, though how Tao managed to move so much earth with a wave of his arms was beyond Alex's ability to explain. He realized there was much about the Original Dragon that humans did not know, but he asked Tao anyway, curious as he was. The dragon had simply smirked, and explained that, apparently, dragon type energy naturally had dominance over the other types, and in large enough concentrations, could control them as effectively as any Pokémon of that type. The exception of course being fairy energy.

Buried by water and years of silt buildup, the uncovered levels were damp, grimy, and a pain in the rear to clean. But clean them Tao did. Alex had watched with interest as swarms of Unown had flooded from the sunken tower, only to then proceed to aid Tao in whatever he needed. Alex and the other selected humans were made ultimately useless in the reconstruction, and the new Champion wondered if he could convince the dragon to tell him what the Unown actually did.

Tao had responded with another smirk, and promised that, if Alex but obeyed his wisdom, he would find out. Eventually. This was akin to most of the answers the dragon gave him regarding the mysteries of the universe, and thus, Alex contented himself with waiting. He still watched them however, which was how he learned what they spelled together, actually happened. For example, some had gathered to spell 'Cleanse' in Common, and the level of the tower they were in had been turned so clean, they could've eaten off the floors. Naturally, the scientists and Professors of Unova had also gathered to meet the Original Dragon, who was more than glad to welcome learned minds into his home. They constantly peppered him with questions when they could, like what Dream Mist even was, and Tao answered, indulging them with three, at most, before he resumed his work. They also studied phenomenon like this, when Alex told them about it, and had confirmed that the level had been completely cleansed of anything the Unown perceived as not belonging. The humans were, after that point, advised to stay out of the strange being's way, while they worked.

When everything was finally once more in place, the dragon invited the growing horde of Unovans into his home, and all forty-two floors were filled with milling humans, each waiting for their chance at an audience with the dragon. Though Alex was nearby, the humans who approached usually regarded him with cold looks, fear, or general ambivalence. They didn't care to speak to the man who'd reunited the dragon, they wanted the legendary being himself. Alex found he didn't mind, as after listening to several of the conversations, he realized two things.

Humans were, by vast majority, stupid. Most of the problems Tao handled could've also been solved by five seconds on the Pokénet. He also learned that his species was, in a word, inherently violent. Too many who came to the dragon came demanding his power, so they could crush their rivals. Those types usually brought some sort of device to try capturing the Original Dragon, but Tao was not concerned, as he simply Teleported them away. To where, Tao never said. The only humans that gave Alex the time of day were Trainers, but usually only the inexperienced ones. A depressing amount had tried throwing an Ultra or Quick Ball at Tao, at which point they'd been detained and, in most cases, banished from ever entering the dragon's tower again.

Once he'd had as much of humanity as he could take, Alex walked off to explore the other levels of the castle-like tower. It wasn't long before Alex found Connor sulking in a shadowy corner on one of the top floors, bluish-purple scarf around his mouth, like he was some sort of ninja. His hat was all wrong for it though.

Connor nodded at the dragon as Alex joined him. "I was thinking, looking at him, I'm reminded of that old line. 'Disturb not the harmony of fire, ice and lightning'…"

Alex tilted his head for a moment, eyeing Tao, then looked back at his friend. "You don't think Lugia and the others are like our three former dragons, do you?"

Connor grinned. "I intend to find out."

Alex rolled his eyes. "Fine. If you manage to balance the birds, I'll eat…something edible, shaped like my hat." He liked his hat too much to actually eat it, and had no illusions that Connor would definitely hold him to such a promise, and judging by the fire in his eyes, Alex kind of believed he'd manage to do it. Or at least try.

Connor stood straight then, and Alex saw his bag as well. He was readying to leave. His bag was similar to Alex's, a few years older in design, and covered with a lot more sentimental junk, but it still matched the edgy dark blue thing he had going on.

"I'll hold you to that, Redwood. I should get going now. The party has been going for days, and I've idled long enough."

Alex raised a brow, then thought for a moment. His past two weeks had mostly been spent restoring an ancient building covered in the dredge of a lake and hundreds of years of pollution buildup. He supposed everyone else had been enjoying the new 'golden age'. He'd heard about the golden grass, the bluer skies, the pinker nights, but he'd seen little of it between his lovemaking and his working.

Almost all the regular Unovans he met told him how impressed they were with his achievement, and yet up until today, he'd seen almost none of it. Unova had definitely changed, and he would leave it to Tao to make sure it stayed balanced.

Connor walked off then after the manliest of brief hugs, to find his sister. It wasn't hard, for though much of Unova was a varied shade of hair colors, nobody else had red hair like hers, and she stuck out in the crowds when viewed from the air. It still took some time, though.

Tao often levitated in the air at the top of the tower as he gave his patient wisdom, eyes closed, speaking quietly with the gathered Unovans by way of telepathy as he gave them insight into what their lives required for balance. He didn't solve every problem immediately, but most people left with words of wisdom that would only make sense when the time was right.

Often, he was challenged to battles by Trainers who'd captured other Legendary or Mythical Pokémon of which there were many. Such Trainers soon found out that the dragon, despite being quite good at battling, much preferred to Teleport away with the Pokémon in question and enjoy a private chat as they caught up on news, and shared important information that evidently was for their ears only.

Alex was usually left alone when he did this, and those who had Tamed the aforementioned Pokémon looked at him like a leech, rather than the human who'd tamed the strongest dragon in history. He knew the time to head for this Swamp he'd heard of several times was fast approaching. Dealing with humans was clearly Tao's specialty, and Alex was becoming more and more obviously bad at it, though thankfully, none of the media networks had managed to record his Mukups.

Stuck outside while the tower was full of petitioners, Joey and other Trainers had gathered at the local fan club and had happened to recognize Jessica Gladstone as she was heading to the Pokémon Center. She was semi-famous by this point of course, but nobody had really tied her to Alex yet, nobody except those who had seen how they acted together. Joey had been chosen by the Original Dragon too and had seen how they acted within the confines of the tower. They'd even spoken around bowls of Leaf on breaks.

Joey had convinced her to chat for a minute, despite being surrounded by a troupe of equally overly interested Trainers, who hadn't been chosen, but clearly found Joey and Jess awesome, because they had. Rumors abounded about Tao's 'enlightened disciples', and the only way to find out if you had that potential, was to speak to the Original Dragon himself.

They all made it clear that they wanted to learn from her boyfriend. She admitted that having him teach them now would take time away from his other duties. She was in the middle of explaining the awkwardness of the soon to be long-distance relationship when Connor spied her hair, and descended alongside his Reuniclus, Uniclus, who was flying him around with Psychic, and evidently having a blast doing it.

Feeling nauseous as the overly bubbly psychic type twirled him towards the ground, Connor muttered, "Gah…flying is for Pokémon…"

Once he landed and fought the urge to hurl, he eyed the group of strange men surrounding his sister with strangely eager looks, Connor moved towards her. "Hey, sis… I'm, uh, leaving."

He was too distracted by the men, who were very obviously staring at him too now, to come up with a more elegant way of phrasing his imminent departure. He met her gaze, and then nodded at the men, who continued to smile enthusiastically. They really just wanted to meet the Champion, but these Trainers had never mastered social graces, especially not around women like Jess.

Jess found the whole situation hilarious. "They're here to meet Alex, gutter-brain. They want to be his 'disciples' and learn what he's apparently taught us as well."

Connor's eye twitched. "So…we're his apprentices now? Senior apprentices, since we've mastered these 'skills'." He looked at the ground, then at the Trainers, and then at his sister who he could tell, had recently been intimate. They weren't too careful about hiding the aftermath lately, and didn't seem to care, judging by the slightly mussed hair and askew clothing. The imminent separation was approaching. Little else mattered, apparently.

"Right." Connor said, tossing his old hat he'd worn since he'd been in university, to the ground. "I'm going to call you around Festivus dear sister, I need you to make something edible in the shape of Alex's hat."

Jess arched a brow. "Whyyy?"

Connor grinned. "I'm going to...do something 'Legendary'. I've a bet with Alex. It involves a hat-shaped edible arrangement, and you're the only one of us who knows how to cook."

He walked off before Jess could say anything more, and accelerated into a run, just like he had been taught. Then, he vanished. He needed a new hat, and plenty of training. He was behind his sister and his rival in the balancing of these dual typed moves, but he had picked up the concept quickly. Too quickly, for Alex's tastes, who had stopped teaching him just in time for them to arrive at the Victory Plateau.

As she watched her brother leave on his quest, Jess decided to leave as well. Alex tried to persuade her to stay, until he saw it was already past midnight. They'd been making love straight through dinner, and then work had pulled him away. He was helping Tao solve people's problems, and the more of them he heard, the more he was convinced that humanity was doomed.

Eventually, during yet another example of Arcean philosophy in action, he and Tao were subjected to a group of the lunatic cultists abruptly taking over the level at which Tao answered the general populace's questions with a disturbingly lock-step flash mob. They then started loudly proclaiming their version of the very obviously fabricated series of events with regard to who had really brought the golden age in Unova about. Sensing he was about to go off on the Arceans, at Tao's request he had walked away and left it to Tao to handle in a calm and serious manner. He did not abide such obvious lies in his home. They were now trying to claim that, had Ghetsis not held Reshiram and Kyurem, Alex would've never united the Dragon. Because Ghetsis had legally caught Kyurem and then fused it with Reshiram, they claimed that meant that the Arcean Church legally owned two thirds of Tao, in Kyurem and Reshiram. Since Ghetsis had been part of their cult, his Pokémon were, supposedly, also part of their 'religious property'.

Reasoning with those people was like teaching the alphabet to a barn door, and instead of knowledge about the dragon, and how the three were literally just One, these people in old style navy military uniforms only sought to inform Alex, when he'd tried speaking, that he was being sued for damages to their town. Over and over. Every time he closed his mouth.

As the town had been smashed by a Legendary Pokémon they had angered by mass-capturing the inhabitants of the Giant Chasm, Alex wished them good luck with their ludicrous lawsuit, and went to find his girlfriend. He hadn't controlled Kyurem's actions. Kyurem was their property, apparently. He knew that since they had been the ones to work the icy dragon into a rage, any damage caused by it was on them, legally. Alex wondered if the Arceans would actually try to sue themselves as he returned from his work to find his lover ready to leave.

They made no mention of Festivus, as she knew he couldn't stand his family all at once for a full month. Especially not now that he'd done something so 'unbelievable'. He also had a feeling it would take more than a few months to deal with whatever this 'psychic master' had in store for him.

Then, finally, she was gone. It was cold in Icirrus now, granted, being thousands of feet up might've caused that, and he watched the light of her family's luxury driving car head north until he could no longer make out the lights.

Discovering that he was genuinely freezing, even to his nose hairs, he went back to the Pokémon Center on Blaze, who had been responsible for flying him up. That cold air above that had carried the first freeze of the coming winter had chilled him more than he expected.

He enjoyed a bowl of Leaf then, in the local Pokémon Center and was soon joined by other people, who were all passing around a bong full of it. Typical grass Trainers. The massive crowd brought all types to the formerly sparsely populated Icirrus Town. It looked more like a tent city, these days.

The Arceans had pitched a fit when they saw a follower of 'their dragon' smoking 'drugs' with other 'random Trainers' in the middle of a Pokémon Center. The local nurse, who was rapidly considering relocating, had considered a group of relatively harmless Leaf smokers the least of her worries. The crowd was full of battles, and lack of hygiene was causing sickness to spread. She had bigger things to worry about, but the Arceans were relentless, and it wasn't long at all before the legality of the Leaf was once more in question, as the use of the herb had become strong amongst those milling around Icirrus. There were simply too many for the local police forces to handle. Many, including some members of the police, had simply joined in, as the good mood following Tao's revival had been infectious. Others, had rallied behind the Arceans, thinking that the return of the Original Dragon should be celebrated with ancient rituals, not smoking circles. As was the usual with crowds, tempers rose quickly.

For once, the Arceans made a good case. Devout followers of the Original Dragon famously claimed that he had abhorred the Leaf. It was the entire reason the herb had been banned in the first place. These so called 'dragon-priests' had evidently been wandering the crowd, shaming anyone they caught enjoying the Leaf, or doing something they saw as 'unbecoming' in the Guardian's presence. Arguments became heated. Sides began forming. Thus, Alex brought the issue to Tao himself.

"They're at it again Tao. Now the Arceans are claiming that smoking Leaf in your 'divine presence' is an 'affront to the Alpha Pokémon'. There's also people calling themselves Dragon Priests wandering the crowd, trying, and usually failing, to shame people into not smoking."

Tao arched a scaly eyebrow and peered over the edge of the topmost level of his tower. It was, apparently, a garden, or had been in ages past. Tao was in the midst of replanting and regrowing it. The gong that had been placed upon this level had been moved below with other artifacts, as it no longer served a purpose, but was apparently historically valuable to the humans. "Is my stance on the Holy Herb really not well known?"

Alex blinked, "That's...a new name for it. Uhh, no, it isn't. In fact, the idea of smoking up one's Pokémon is generally frowned upon, though feline Pokémon seem fine with-" He was cut off, as the titanic form of the dragon rose from where it had comfortably coiled around the top of the Dragonspiral Tower. Tao's coils were, apparently, the source of its moniker.

"I shall set the record straight, and this will, ideally, be the end of the Arcean's insipid interference." They hadn't done anything egregious, yet, and had loudly denounced those who had poached the Giant Chasm, so Tao had resisted publicly opposing them, but their antics were starting to grind even his nerves. Their asinine presentation of how he was apparently two thirds their Pokémon had lasted for five hours.

Tao's rising form arced out over Icirrus, awing the equally massive crowd with his heavenly grace. The cheers lasted a full five minutes, and the vain dragon enjoyed them as he gracefully twirled through the air. It was good to be whole.

The dragon flew low over them then and winked as he flew up to the topside garden of his tower. "There is contention in regard to my enjoyment of what you in this era call...Leaf." He twisted a claw, and a piece of thin, wispy cloud, the only one for miles that day, became a familiar glass shaped instrument used for smoking the Leaf. He curled his tail in the air and rested his upper half on it as he pointed at the ground of the tower's top level, and massive balls of green rose to his claws as nature itself bent to the Dragon's needs. The crowd just watched, mostly in disbelief. "Let this put to rest any misconceptions you may have."

He twisted his claw again, taking what was left of the thin cloud, and turning it into a familiar glass slide. The balls of green floated into the new slide with his telekinesis, one of the powers his followers supposedly gained, and the crowd quieted entirely.

One of his claws blazed with blue flame over the large green buds as the massive dragon inhaled. Thankfully, it was a cloudless, late summer day. There was no cloudy moisture to ruin the buds. The force of his inhale would've definitely brought them through the slide, and made his buds damp, and un smokable. He usually didn't do this this high up, with a bong this fragile. The wind sucked, the cold air ruined the burn, and he never got as much as his massive body desired.

He had an entire room in his tower for this sole activity, that he and he alone could handle, though he had yet to clean it out and make it suitable to chill within again, as aiding the people of his region was more important.

The legality of this same herb was an issue with Legendary Pokémon as well. Some enjoyed it. Some did not. Some claimed the Alpha was against it. Others said it was the only way to the Alpha. Tao was one of the latter.

He eyed the stunned humans as literally everyone stared at the dragon, usually in disbelief, but just as commonly with open laughter at the sheer absurdity of what was happening. The dragon God of their people was smoking a bowl.

A cloud of light-gray smoke rained down on Unova as the massive white and black dragon exhaled, and thousands started coughing, like complete newbies. Tao sighed, and his tone rang out over the hazy crowd. "We have much training to do…"

The legality of the herb was settled, then. The Governor of Unova had come to Icirrus as well, naturally, and had looked at the Arceans of Lacunosa, or AoL, and said to their leader, Ghetsis' handler, "I'm not going to argue over the legitimacy of sacred texts you don't have, when the Dragon God himself smokes a bowl and bathes half the region in dank smoke." Evidently, the 'dragon priests' had just been Arceans, converts from Unova itself, and history buffs as well, passing themselves off as Unovans.

Even the Arceans couldn't argue with the dragon's actions though, and dropped the issue entirely, once they realized the crowd was enjoying the effects of the herb, and their position had become even more of a minority. Strangely enough, the Original Dragon's smoke had only caused good effects, cured many of the crowd's diseases or infections, and even healed wounds. The crowd only grew as tales of this 'magic herb' spread beyond just Trainers, and Tao took to smoking on the ground with them in what became, to the Arcean's fury, a town sized smoke circle. One day soon after that display, when John Crimson predicated a thunderstorm approaching, Tao had taken those strong, dark clouds and forged a set of bongs and slides for both him and his Tamer with the power of electricity, fire, and ice. Storm clouds were a bit harder to mold than wisps.

After witnessing Tao's little stunt and laughing for a full minute, Alex had returned to the former gym of his friend Nick, who had also come down with the other members of the Elite Four and joined in the festivities. The entire gym was on break from training, and those within were hanging out, and smoking bowls of the herb. Alex joined Nick's circle and recognized several Karate Trainers he'd battled when he'd still been training to topple Iris. He got their names, and promised to have Tao evaluate their potential. His all-seeing eyes could single out those with genius level talents, but he had to be in closer proximity for those whose potential was buried, or otherwise untapped.

As the circle grew, and Nick asked about Jess, the conversation turned a bit lewd, and despite having stated who he was with, he did get propositioned. It was about that time that he decided to return to Tao and told him that he would be leaving as well, to train with this psychic master he'd heard about.

The dragon had simply nodded, and spoken, gaining the attention of the entire crowd as his calming mental baritone filled the air. "Go then, Champion. If you need me for Battle, I will be there. You will learn much from the Sage. Train hard." They enjoyed a final bowl together in their already well-used cloudy gray glass sets, and then Alex headed off for the Victory Plateau upon Blaze again. N would likely still be waiting there. Brooding from atop the plateau was kind of his thing, a habit he'd developed once the League had named him the strongest of Unova's many Champions.

Alex arrived once more atop the battle-torn plateau, now understanding just how epic his battle must have looked. The plateau had once housed N's castle, but now, the land it had stood upon connected to the back of the Victory League's final room. All that remained of the castle were the stone pillars that formed a loose circle around where the two dragons had battled. As expected, said pillars did not last long, and usually had to be rebuilt. This was where most of the material making up N's old home had gone, and over the years, it had faded entirely as it was deconstructed piece by piece.

"It's about time." N said, not turning to his newest, youngest rival, who he refused to be surpassed by, "You've taken two weeks. We'll be late at this rate."

Alex raised a brow. "Late for what?"

N grinned, turning to him. "For the race to the Psychic Master in the Swamp."

Alex and N departed then, and found him a flying type as soon as possible. They hadn't looked far, as there was an Aerodactyl waiting for them at the bottom of Victory Road. N looked at the Pokémon, speaking to it, and then shed a single tear.

His old friend Archeops had sensed his Trainer's need, and sent a friend to help. The offspring of his own nest's neighbors, a young Aerodactyl who needed and wanted a Trainer. He came clutching a Pokéball as well, one that was as black as Zekrom had been.

Inside the ball was his Zoroark, who had been captured by Ghetsis. N asked if he wanted to be released, but he refused. His ball belonged to N now, and he was fine with having one if N was his Trainer.

Alex gave him a Luxury Ball for his Aerodactyl, but then said he'd need to earn money by battling to get balls for his other Pokémon. Twitching slightly, N nodded. He'd never needed money, or Pokéballs. He was still wrestling with balancing his strong ideals concerning the capture spheres.

"I just don't like confining them to Pokéballs." He kept saying as Alex continuously pointed out the many advantages of having them on hand. Finally, he'd convinced Arthur to come out and share mentally with N what the interior was actually like. After that, his reluctance was greatly lessened, as he saw they were absurdly comfy. He also learned they could be customized, to simulate a territory in which the contained species was most comfortable, or to simulate human comforts like a bed and pillows. They could also manifest rooms or areas within which they could train and use most moves without risking damage to their ball. Despite having his mind blown at just how far Pokéballs, especially Luxury and Ultra Balls, had come thanks to modern Professors, N still let his partners out often.

Hilbert had had a conversation with N before leaving ahead of Connor, Jess, and now Alex as to the fate of himself, and the other Champions. Nate had taken over as the leader for Opeleucid's gym, which left the two female Champions, Rosa and Hilda, to keep the Unova League's status as the hardest in the world.

There was a backlog of Trainers coming up Victory Road, and the Elite Four didn't always beat them. Since adding Nick to their ranks however, just getting to one of the girls was quite challenging. Very few Trainers could match Hilda or Rosa though, and the ones who did would end up battling Tao, and losing.

By the time all this transpired, Alex and N had reached the southern edge of Unova. South of there, things got…strange. Strange people, strange culture, all terrified of the Swamp that loomed to the south, and threatened to swallow up their home, as it had to the land once known as Floria, which was now overgrown with massive sky-scraping trees, and people who lived on the dangerous and salty swamp waters.

"This is where I leave you, Champion." N said as they reached the southern edge of Aspertia City.

Alex raised a brow. "Are you not coming?"

N shrugged. "I might, someday, but you made it clear that my destiny is not yours. Perhaps I am destined for a different Psychic Master."

"I was wondering about that," Alex said, eyeing the tree line. He could see a barely used footpath there on the edge, and knew walking through it at his size was going to be a joy. "Professor Oak met me while I was on the Victory Road. He said to ask you about the Sages."

N sighed. "Show me your Badges." Alex did so, and the Champion swore. "Fine. I guess we're just handing all the secrets to you."

Alex smirked at N. "That's the idea. I am the Champion."

"Bianca should be doing this…" N muttered. She was the Pokémon Professor now after all, though the aging Professor Juniper still helped every so often.

"The Swamp is the second part of the League Challenge you've somehow managed to complete. Usually, a Trainer whose beaten several Pokémon Leagues is given this information. Because Oak told you enough already, and because of what you did for Unova, and your victories here, I will tell you where to go. Head south, past the Swamp fearing people of Jinia Town, and you will find a group of Trainers. They're from the other Regions on this continent, and all are going to venture into the Swamp to find the Psychic Master. Assuming you survive the Swamp, the Psychic Master will inform you of the rest of the challenge."

Alex blinked, absorbing the information. "And who is our Swamp's Psychic Master?"

N tilted his head. "A powerful one. He's as close to Human as a Pokémon can get. Intelligence wise. Big, like you. You'll like him." Figuring that meant N had seen this master, he began to ask, but N had already flown away on his Aerodactyl.

After battling through half the region, it was now strong enough to carry N. Several of his old team had returned as they'd traveled and word got around even among Pokémon, but he had a few new faces on his belt as well. He would need time to train them, but they promised to be a difficult team to beat. His reluctance to battle had faded when his partners had told him how much they enjoyed it, how strong it made their bond, and most importantly, how skilled he was as a Trainer. Even without one of the dragons, the former Champion was quite good. For his part, Alex had eventually gotten over his hero envy of N and was just glad to see that the dethroned Champion was genuinely having fun battling. Alex found he liked the feeling he got, seeing a new team form thanks to his occasional timely intervention, when N's tendency to resist catching a Pokémon threatened to stop a forming bond.

As Alex turned to face the barely used path to go further south of Aspertia, he blinked, seeing a trio of youngsters step in front of him. To his eyes, they were adorable, and each one wore a color matching the grass, fire, or water type.

"Stop right there, Champion." Said the oldest boy barely into puberty, who was wearing fiery red. If Alex had been in a game of 'who's the protag' this youngster would've beaten even him. His hair was gelled, blonde, and spiky, with a flame like pattern on each spike. This was the future. Alex sighed softly, but he was smirking.

The girl with the green clothes on threw a Pokéball then, and a Servine appeared.

"Not yet!" The other young girl in blue growled. She stared then, as her own ball opened, and her Dewott appeared beside the Servine. They glared at each other, and Alex knew they were rivals. Sighing, the fiery boy brought out his Emboar, fully evolved. It was fitting, as the flame-head was a few years older than his lady friends.

Alex raised a brow, then eyed each of the Pokémon, who had dropped to their battle poses and stared him down with eager grins. That was when it clicked. He had rejected these very three, and had sent them to partner with Trainers as young as they were.

"I see." Alex said, smirking. "Your Pokémon noticed me, and called you three out of your homes. Very well. Let us Battle." Terra popped out, towering over the Servine, Blaze appeared before the Emboar, and eyed the fire pig, smirking. The Emboar offered a clenched fist for a bump, and his Charizard didn't leave the burning boar hanging, before they took battle stances. Hydrus yawned and examined the Dewott, then shrugged, and dropped into his battle crouch.

"Go easy on them." Alex said, hands in his pockets.

It was over in one round. Terra had turned, and blasted the Dewott with a Razor Leaf, the Servine had received a non-condensed Flame Burst from Blaze, and Hydrus had taken down the Emboar with a single similarly non-condensed Water Pulse. This, combined with Terra's leaves hitting all three, cemented their victory.

The three Trainers stared at him in disbelief.

"A good Trainer relies on their starter." He said, patting Terra, "But they also have other Pokémon, with different typing. Next time, we will Battle one-on-one. Prepare for that day, conquer Unova, make a strong team, and then come and challenge me. Who knows. You might become the Champion."

He winked then, leaving, knowing that maybe one of those three would accept his challenge, and make it all the way up the Victory Plateau. If they were lucky.

Everyone thought his title of 'Champion of Unova' relied on the dragon's power, and not his. Many still hadn't had the chance to battle his team, though on the way down with N, he met quite a few of Unova's Trainers, and beat them as hard as Hilbert had.

Alex and his team were essentially following Hilbert's own string of recent victories through the mostly undeveloped, but populous regions in the center of the eastern coast. Much of the land was used for farming, as the east had always been more fertile than Fornia to the west, which was mostly covered by a massive desert, and mountains.

This region provided food to almost every one of the States. He knew they were on the right path to the Swamp as, whenever he asked about it, the Trainers he met would make Arceus' sign in the air with their fingers, and promptly leave. That was fine, though. He could find the true edge of it on his own.

Once he was through the more wooded part of Transylveticut, the state directly south of Unova, he found a rustic looking Pokémon Center, and decided to rest up. One or two Trainers asked if he was the new Unova Champion, which had made him smirk, but beyond that nobody seemed to know him.

It was nice not having all eyes on him all the time. He hadn't been this ignored since before the Draconis Mons fiasco. He made a call to his Gruncle, and thankfully, the center still had modern technology within its wooden frame. A sign of the League's wealth, even here, in these wide, primarily empty farmlands. The 'breadbasket of the continent'.

After having him transfer over a new Pokédex, he plied his granduncle for information, but he was a stubborn old goat, and apparently, was in the middle of an experiment. That was odd, for as far as Alex knew, his granduncle hadn't conducted an experiment in decades. He usually sat around smoking Leaf in his lab's dingy basement, dispensing wisdom to anyone who would listen. Not many did.

Feeling exhausted and frustrated at his lack of progress on finding out anything more about this Swamp, Alex went to bed. His relative had stubbornly refused to talk about the Swamp. He was 'on his own, for that nonsense'.

He slept for almost a full day, recovering from the long weeks of work, and sex, with almost no sleep. Tao's energy had sustained him, but he could feel himself slowly growing more exhausted the further he went from Unova. He awoke over a day later to find that Arthur had taken care of the rest of the team, letting Hydrus and Terra out to lounge around.

Blaze was practicing aerial maneuvers, with his weights on, and Alex was surprised his team knew how to attach them properly.

Impressed with his responsibility, Alex sparred against Arthur, something he often lost at, but knew his Pokémon enjoyed immensely. They both had rough, untrained styles, and were both completely self-taught amateurs. Still unable to properly control his Sword Arms, Arthur took every chance he could to try and master them.

They had just finished battling, when Alex noticed a blur of dust headed straight for his lounging team. If he was being fair, he'd been petting Leo, who noticed it first, and growled. The cloud turned towards them, and at the head of it, Alex saw a familiar dragon type.

The Dragonite pumped its absurdly tiny wings as it struggled to stop its forward momentum. How a creature that oddly shaped flew so fast was an aerodynamic mystery that scientists still hadn't figured out.

The large dragon stomped over, and that was when Alex noticed the bag around its body. It handed him a pamphlet of some kind and waited patiently. Looking around, as he didn't quite believe he was experiencing this exact scenario. It was almost identical in nature to the one Ash Ketchum had, apparently, experienced before being invited to face Mewtwo. The first, and most powerful Mewtwo that Team Rocket had created. Their meeting had been so epic, they'd made a movie out of it. He turned his focus to the pamphlet then.

"If this is an exploding hologram, I swear…" He opened it, and while it had some sort of tech within it, the words required one to read them. It was an invitation, apparently, to some sort of gathering by the northern edge of the Great Northern Swamp.

He looked up at the Dragonite, who was still waiting, and noticed it was offering him a writing implement. He checked the 'accept' box on the small card that had come with the pamphlet, and after taking it, the Dragonite launched into the air again, straight up, before stopping in mid-air, and then zooming southward with incredible speed. Blaze growled; he'd wanted to fight a dragon like that. It may have looked silly, but it was clearly strong. It had also completely ignored the prideful Charizard.

Alex recalled his team, and then walked over to his Charizard. "If you can catch up to him, we'll Battle him." Motivated to carry his master's large frame for once, Blaze launched himself into the air and began flying south as well. As he was carrying a passenger, there was no way he could realistically catch up. At least Alex had removed the training weights though. He usually left them on.

It didn't take long for them to find what they were looking for. The massive group of Trainers was stretched out on the abandoned, grassy fields north of the Swamp. Makeshift battlefields had been carved into the dirt in a haphazard mess, and from the air, it looked quite unusual. Knowing he needed to find someone in charge of this chaos, he had Blaze hover behind clouds as they approached. Not that it helped.

He could see the people battling below and had a sudden premonition that they'd be in the air as well. He was right, as a Mega Pidgeot blasted past him, straight into a Staraptor it was battling. A Talonflame joined in then, and it was ridiculously hard for both Alex and Blaze not to watch. They were masterful in the air, and he had to all but smack his Charizard to get his attention and refocus on flying.

He took Blaze down then, and just for fun, the flying orange lizard began to spin. It was a good trick, but his Trainer felt his lunch threatening to come up.

As his Charizard leveled out over the crowd, gaining the attention of many of the idle Trainers camping below them, he spotted someone who looked like they were in charge. They were by the Swamp's edge, so he guessed they must know about it. He was directed from person to person until he finally found the real makeshift headquarters. Because of the barely controlled chaos, he'd needed aid in finding it.

The person in charge of this mess of camouflage clad Trainers was a woman with purple hair, and a strange robe-like garment, that covered a pair of her own camouflaged clothing. She was older as well, and her left eye had a patch of dark cloth over it. She carried a staff, ordinary, wooden, which she leaned on as she surveyed a map of what he assumed was the Swamp.

She looked up as Alex was escorted into her tent by her similarly garbed guard. They wore a strange kind of clothing that was patterned with green, brown, and gray. When asked, one of the guards had said that it was old-fashioned survival gear that the people of this region had apparently worn for millennia. In the distant age of humanity's past, such garments had been made in massive quantities, probably for some war, but now, they served to identify those in charge of the Swamp, and those who were challengers.

"Ah yes, the newest Unovan Champion. Good. Now we can begin." The way she looked him over made him nervous. It wasn't all that different from how Leo had eyed the female Luxray they'd encountered in this area of the continent.

Raising a brow, Alex held up a hand. "Please, I have a few questions, before anything begins, I'd like to know what everyone else knows. What is this challenge, exactly?"

The older woman eyed him for a moment. "You already know what everyone else does. Like you, they were told by the last Champion they surpassed that they needed to come here to seek the Psychic Master. Beyond that, nobody knows what this challenge will entail. Now go outside and join the others…the test will begin soon."

Being relatively fresh from university, the word 'test' still made him flinch and filled him with an aura of anxiety. He despised tests, or rather, written ones. There had been a fair number of physical tests over his years there, but most had been of the writing variety. It had taken him two years to realize that everyone was cheating on them. The increase in his grades after acquiring that knowledge was, of course, purely coincidental.

"Fair warning, Redwood," The woman said as he left, "Most of the other Trainers here know about you, and what you did in Unova. Some are impressed, but most are irritated that you acquired the knowledge of this challenge without beating other Leagues in other Regions."

He sighed and nodded as he left. It figured as much. Something as notable as reforming an ancient and unimaginably powerful Legendary Dragon Pokémon was exciting news, and in a world as globally connected as theirs, everyone naturally had an opinion on it.

He put it from his mind and ignored the occasional too-long stare he sometimes caught from the crowds of other Trainers gathered around makeshift campsites. Judging by their clothing, he soon got the feeling that each region's worthy competitors were expected to team up for this.

His feeling was confirmed as he saw Hilbert approaching him. It seemed Unova only had two competitors, as he was camping alone. They clasped arms and shared a smirk. "Welcome to the Great Swamp, Champion."

"Glad to be here." Alex responded. They had about fifty-five minutes of casual conversing over Leaf that his Serperior, Caesar, had grown, before the announcement happened.

A Hyper Beam shot into the air and punched a wide circular hole through the clouds. Finding its source, Alex stood. It was the Dragonite who'd delivered his pamphlet. Motioning for his fellow Champion to follow, the two men made their way towards the purple haired woman's tent, which was closest to the Swamp's border.

Hilbert was quite a bit older than Alex, by at least three to four decades, but they had become fast friends since their match. He also knew Leaf smoking techniques that had been quite beyond Alex when he'd tried them and looked forward to practicing them more. If they could.

The purple haired woman thumped her staff, gaining their attention as she began to shout at them, without raising her voice. Despite that, her words still reached their ears, somehow. "Welcome, Trainers of the Northern Continent. Some of you have waited years for this challenge to begin, others among you have only recently acquired this knowledge. Regardless, the Master himself instructed that each of you be invited here."

She began pacing on the platform of raised earth that hadn't been in front of her tent earlier. "Each of you has demonstrated a potential worthiness, however, few of you will actually succeed in this challenge. Indeed, many of you may even lose your lives. If you are not willing to risk death or maiming, leave now."

Alex sensed heads turning as people watched for those whose nerves were weak. Most of these Trainers were hardened Champions, or Trainers on that level, and had traveled the world. Their resolve would only break during this challenge.

Surveying the crowd of Trainers, and noticing that none had left, the woman smirked. "Good. At least you're all worthy of not being called cowards." She knew that a few of them would likely leave once the challenge began, to avoid scornful looks.

Some Champions prized their lives and material wealth above such challenges and weren't willing to risk cutting them short for more glory.

She continued, suppressing a wry grin. "During this challenge, you will be required to venture to the heart of the Swamp. You may not fly above the canopy while the challenge is in progress. Violators of this rule will be shot down." Alex flinched again, as did every Trainer in the crowd. The feeling of unease from this woman was universal, it seemed.

Each of them had seen her Dragonite's Hyper Beam, and most of the Trainers gathered knew it would be enough to cause serious injury if it came out of nowhere and hit their Pokémon mid-flight. There were always exceptions, of course. Alex had a feeling they'd learn the cost of breaking the rules rather painfully.

"In the Swamp, you will each encounter a challenge that will be tailored to you, and your past. Some of you will relive harsh emotional events from your life and feel things you thought you'd never feel again. If you are not prepared to suffer such things, leave now, and know that you will not be judged for doing so."

This time, a few people did leave, hopping on their various flying Pokémon and soaring away. Evidently there were some who had experienced such horrifying trauma that no reward was worth reliving that experience. Nobody sneered at them, however. Not openly, at least.

"If you manage to pass this challenge, you will soon find yourself in the heart of the Swamp, and in the domain of the Master. If you fail, you will continue to wander aimlessly, lost, until you complete it…or go mad. Many who venture into this terrain do not return. Those of you who have visited the town to the north know that the locals fear the Swamp. They do so for good reason. Underestimate it, and you have already failed."

That got a few murmurs, but otherwise, the crowd waited patiently for the old woman to finish. "If you, at any point, wish to quit the challenge, you need only fly above the canopy, and hover there. Keep both arms very clearly raised above your head as you do, and you will not be shot down. Once you reach the aforementioned height, and confirm with an official that you're quitting, you may leave."

The woman paused then and affixed an item to her Dragonite's head. It was a scope of some kind, with a green lens that hovered in front of the Pokémon's eye.

"These scopes will be affixed to each group of Pokémon assigned to shoot down those who violate the no-flying rule. The League has banned these devices, because they allow a Pokémon to attack with a Move, and rarely miss. Do not try your luck against them, you will fail." There were a few skeptical rumbles, and there would likely be a few daredevils who tried to cheat, believing their aerial dodges would suffice here. They would be proven painfully wrong. The Sage's Examiners took the 'no-flying' rule quite seriously.

"In a few moments, I and my attendants will take position at the Swamp's edge. Each of you will come forward and speak to your guide. There are papers you'll need to sign, as well as last wishes, and what you want done with your bodies and Pokémon, should they be recovered. Once that is complete, you may enter the Swamp." With that, the woman hopped onto her dragon Pokémon, and headed for the edge, where the rest of her strange camouflage garbed people were already standing.

It took a few minutes before the crowd surged forward, and as it looked like a few would try to avoid the lines and just enter the Swamp regardless, a massive wall of red light shot up from behind the stationed guards. The Swamp's trees were massive in size, and towered high above the energy barrier, but the wall served its purpose. Anyone trying to circumvent it would be noticed easily, and then presumably shot down.

A few Trainers tested the barrier of energy, then resigned themselves to the que. Alex and Hilbert, along with other scattered loners from remote regions, lagged behind. They saw no sense in rushing, as the Krokorok would only need so many meals to be satisfied for the day. Traveling would be easier once they chomped on those unlucky enough to fall into one of the Swamp's numerous deep, salty water basins.

The other Trainers, Alex and Hilbert discovered, were from all over. Sippi, Kentu, Ohiana, Texico, Kanadia, and even Takoma in the far northwest. They quickly discovered that there was a person from pretty much every State not in league with the Fornians, and their crazy Church. Forming a fast friendship, they spent their time waiting in the now abandoned campsites by the old woman's tent. Hilbert was mainly fine with waiting, because he thought Hilda, Rosa, or even Nate would join them down here too. They had all beaten the League, after all, and saved Unova. They'd earned this.

It took about three hours for the lines to die down. They were mostly filled with large groups of older Champions from many of the 'east central' states. Given that the crowd was enormous, they rightly assumed a Champion, past or present, from every region on the continent was here.

Alex wondered how they were supposed to survive in a Swamp environment, but Hilbert didn't seem to be concerned. When Alex asked why, he learned that his Pokémon were capable of feeding their Trainer if they had to. It was namely celery stalks from his Serperior, but it sufficed. Alex supposed he could always survive on Terra's apples, if he had to. His Mega Form could make them easily, and they were red, and delicious.

Alex and Hilbert spent the time waiting sharing stories and several full bowls of Leaf with the other gathered Champions. It really was a popular herb, especially among Trainers. Only more so now that Unova, the so-called 'Eastern Capital' had now completely legalized it, effective immediately after Tao's little display on the crowd outside Icirrus City.

Anyone strong enough for this challenge had a means of growing it, usually by using their grass type. These Trainers had teams that were well balanced and could handle many type variations. Often, the battles here had resorted to flying vs flying or fire vs fire, if only to avoid constant switching out to gain type advantage.

Upon learning who he was, the group had, of course, asked how he'd reunited the Original Dragon. Thankfully, they grasped the concept of balancing energy easier than John Crimson had, but none among them had thought to try combining moves. He did notice that several of them had crystals similar to his, and he was informed that many Trainers had acquired one of every type before coming here. Nobody in their group had tried Mega Evolution with them. Yet.

He'd spent the last half hour beating himself up for not gathering a full set as well, but it was too late now. He'd been told he was almost late for the challenge and had rushed here. It wouldn't take long for Trainers this skilled to grasp what they could use their crystals for, but that didn't stop him from tapping their sets with his own and awakening the dormant power within. Plates, or shards of them, it didn't matter. The limitless energy his gave off was enough to power theirs up and awaken the energy lying dormant within.

Once more he lamented losing so many days to Draconis Mons. He would've likely had time to gather a full set, if he'd just been more careful. Seeing that the lines were reasonably long now, Alex and Hilbert parted, and headed for the Swamp in separate lines, deciding that they could each handle whatever awaited them on their own.

Alex went into the 'dragon lady's' line, a nickname he'd learned the Trainers who'd camped here for weeks had given her. He signed the documents without hesitation, and she smirked, then gave him breakfast.

After his papers were processed, a square shaped outline appeared in the barrier of crimson energy. He entered through it, and the Swamp challenge began.

On the northern continent, there were a series of territories known as the 'States' from coast to coast. Nobody really remembered why they were called states, all anybody could tell, from ruins and texts of a bygone age, was that it was what they had once been called in the past. Now however, they were anything but united.

Each of them was ruled by a Governor, and each Governor was part of a council that oversaw regional issues of trade and such. Naturally, with so many voices clamoring to be heard, this council managed to get very little done. Votes on anything often ended up tied, until one of the abstaining states could be convinced to change their vote. The coasts generally unified under one Governor, and for the east, that was Unova's, as New Tork was the largest city in the world, and Unova had the largest population.

More importantly, Unova had also once been the head of their Dragon Empire, which had stretched from coast to coast, and had given their land millennia of peace and prosperity under the Original Dragon. Many who wanted to see those days return, tended to look favorably upon the old imperial capital. Others, usually plants from Fornia, wanted a new power to rise. The Arcean Church had an iron grip over Fornia to the west and had been slowly expanding their influence eastward for centuries now. Nobody considered them a legitimate threat though, and the Church itself was seen as little more than a nuisance that would sue anyone who went against it. Thus, it was largely ignored.

Each of the states had a Champion chosen to participate in this challenge, and from Alola to Unova, they had come. Just over five thousand Trainers had entered the Swamp, and since the Swamp stretched from the middle of the eastern coast all the way to the southern tip of what was once called Florida, there was plenty of room for all of them.

The Swamp didn't go nearly as far west as it did north, but still, the sheer size of it was impressive. From the word go, Alex had sensed something strange about the Swamp. Something about it made the back of his head tingle constantly. There was an ever present brownish-green haze that filled the humid air, and the vines between the massive trees made flying impractical for all but the smallest of Pokémon.

No Pokémon small enough to successfully fly through the tangle of vines could carry a person as well, with the exception of the 'Eurafricasian Swellow' which could carry five times its body weight with ease. Very few Trainers here had one of those however, though many had caught the far more popular 'Hoenn Swellow' which had spread to every continent the world over, more or less.

The difference between the two species was minimal, really, but several scientists from the Galar region had insisted upon making the variation well-known.

About halfway through his first day, Alex finally encountered someone else. He had yet to see other challengers, and the person he ran into turned out to not be one. He was taller than Alex by about two inches, absurdly well-muscled, and blonde. He had been employed as a guide of sorts, tasked by the dragon lady with making sure that the Unovan Champions were well educated on their region's history, and various pieces of obscure lore. Because he was from Unova, whose education system was arguably the best on the planet, Alex knew most of what the guide told him already, but it was nice, almost like having a living textbook he could ask questions to.

He had been commanded to use his experience surviving in the Swamp for years to guide those from his region, for a time anyways. Just long enough to make sure the new Trainers understood the important things about the Swamp, like not to mutilate it to make travel easier. They had come across several macabre sights, Trainers crushed to death by vines, and his guide claimed that this was the fate of any who overtly harmed the Swamp. It was also why the locals who called this region Floria had been unable to stop it from growing so large and swallowing their home. Everyone like him, and there were many in this Swamp, trapped like him since the last challenge, knew where the center was. As well as the Sage who lived there. They had been rejected before, but now, he'd claimed, they had a second chance to prove their worth as his disciples.

This chance did, of course, have a requirement. They had to beat a challenger, and take their place, likely condemning them to years of living in the Swamp as well. Their battle was short, despite the man's well trained and fairly balanced team, Alex's tore through him mostly with Hydrus, who was in his element in this environment. Terra also seemed at home amongst the green haze, and his grass attacks seemed to be empowered by their naturally grassy terrain. Upon winning, Alex plied the guide for information about the first Dragon Emperor, though once again, he was told what he'd already learned from books. Nobody knew where he'd come from, or what his name had been, they only knew that, in the tumultuous chaos of a nation that had discovered a weapon more powerful than firearms in Pokémon, the first Dragon Emperor had crushed his opponents one by one, raider clan by raider clan, until the people stopped robbing and killing each other, and remembered the benefits of a peaceful existence.

Evidently, the States had been such a lawless place, that those civilizations on the supercontinent to the east had unanimously agreed to simply ignore the clusterMuk that was North America. Their northern neighbors in Kanadia had also opted to close off the heavily defended entrances and exits through their continent-spanning border wall. A titanic structure built of solid steel alloy several feet thick and reaching thousands of feet into the air, it had been built in an age long past, nobody remembered exactly why the Kanadian's wall existed, but the current inhabitants of that northern land, and their ancestors, had made effective use of it to keep the 'crazy southerners' at bay. Even Pokémon had trouble getting over it.

Eventually, Alex and the man parted ways, with the tall blonde man saying that anyone from Unova with his skill level should be able to survive easily in a land like this and find their own way. He'd hopped on his Floatzel then and smoked a bowl as he chilled on its massive stomach and followed the river's current away.

Alex was now on his own with this challenge. With the lack of flying, that meant traversing the Swamp's wet, slimy ground. Alex took about ten steps before he found his oversized feet stuck in the muck. He was forced to call out Terra and ride him instead.

Terra didn't seem to mind the Swamp at all, which worked for both of them. The going was slow however, and eventually the mighty earth turtle tired of pulling his feet from the muck.

Remembering that Swampert was, supposedly, the 'king of the swamp', Alex called out Hydrus instead and rode on his back as he swam through the murky brown water. He was indeed at home in this place, and apparently loved the smell and taste of the water. The few grass and water typed Krookodile they came across already seemed full and avoided a battle with mutual head nods of respect to the powerful Swampert. They traveled for what felt like hours, and soon Trainer and Pokémon grew bored. The scenery was the same wherever they looked. Brownish green, vines, trees, and more water.

The Pokémon were unique, true, but Alex conquered most of them with his team and used Shruikan for the powerful grass types that lived here. He didn't need to fly, like Blaze, and could essentially burn away any challengers that popped out at them with Flamethrower. They didn't see any other Trainers.

Alex spent several days traveling on his own, and one night, as he enjoyed a bowl of his ever-full personal Leaf stash, courtesy of his beloved turtle, with the draconic blue flames provided by his loyal dragon, Alex decided to try to call out to whatever Psychic Master was supposed to be testing him.

"I can handle navigating the terrain. Are you going to challenge me, or not?" Silence answered him, and he sighed, packed his instruments safely away, and went to sleep.

As soon as he'd finished sleeping, and had continued on his journey once more in what felt like the morning, he felt Hydrus stop, and then looked at what had made him do so. A bright circle of white light had appeared before Hydrus, and out of it, floated a creature from myth. Alex stared in open awe upon the impressive form of Arceus, the Alpha Pokémon. He bit his lip, and confirmed he was awake, and while he had enjoyed a wake and bake, this was no mere illusion.

Arceus was titanium white, with a regal looking horned head, impassive red eyes, and the body of a stag. Around his middle was the golden ornament that was used as a symbol by those who followed him, though its true purpose was unknown to humanity.

It was not only the Arceans who worshiped him devoutly, across the Eurafricasian continent he still had pockets of tribal followers who, through their kind hearts and unwavering devotion, were rumored to be able to tap into his power. Many in other regions jokingly offered praise to him, though a few who understood his nature were more than accepting of the worship that would always surround such a benevolent being. But now, here before him at last, was the real thing. Alex bowed as low as he could, and Hydrus also dipped his head.

You have asked for a Challenge…and so I grant you one. Prove yourself, Trainer.

Shivering from hearing the psychic speech of the Alpha Pokémon reverberate through his very being with unbridled power, Alex smirked.

"Challenge accepted." He said, turning his hat backwards. The eyes of the Alpha Pokémon narrowed, and as Alex brought out Terra, he had Hydrus bring him to the closest mound of relatively dry dirt before recalling him.

Alex didn't hesitate then, shouting "Seed Bomb!"

The gold coloring of the white Pokémon shifted to an icy blue, and a tinge of dread rolled up Alex's spine. The rumors were true, then. The Alpha Pokémon could change type at will.

A beam of ice formed where its mouth should've been, and as Terra saw this, his form shifted, the power of the Meadow Plate crystal coming to his aid with rapid speed.

If he was impressed, Arceus did not show it. Even as Terra fired the attack, the Ice Beam lanced forth from Arceus' maw, and cut through it with ease. It hit Terra before he fully mega evolved, and Alex knew his strongest ace in the hole had just been taken down in one hit. he couldn't say he was surprised though.

He was facing Arceus.

It wasn't the first time Terra had fainted, nor would it be the last, but it was a rare enough occurrence for him to go down in a single hit. Switching Terra out quickly, Alex shouted, "Flamethrower!" Blaze appeared in a burst of red light, and once more, the color of the Alpha Pokémon shifted, from an icy blue, to a deeper navy color. The flames passed over him harmlessly, his water typing making them all but ineffective.

Then, he countered, and Alex knew that it would almost certainly take down his Charizard with one blow. This was a deity, there would be no counter-attacks.

"Blaze!" He shouted quickly, "Fly up!" Blaze was already moving, but Arceus' eyes were already glowing with fierce power that Alex could sense from his spot on the embankment. A wave of filthy water rose from the Swamp, and hit Blaze directly.

The sheer force of the attack slammed him into a large tree behind them as the water spout curved to Arceus's will, and Alex recalled him before he hit the ground, knowing the move had extinguished Blaze long before the impact had.

Thus, he continued. Leo was taken down by an unavoidable Earthquake, Arthur by his own redirected Shadow Ball, and then Shruikan by Ice Beam once again. No matter how hard he urged them to dodge, duck, dip, or dive, each move from the Alpha Pokémon hit without fail, and every counter he managed to make was immediately nullified or made not very effective by Arceus's type change.

He'd saved Hydrus for last, wanting to keep him strong for the remainder of their trek, but now he called him out as well.

He'd never had a full party wipe before, and he didn't intend to have one now. Even before a 'god'. He saw the Alpha Pokémon's type change to a familiar green, and he suppressed the urge to cheer. He'd actually made the Alpha Pokémon fall for it. Water had two weaknesses, electric and grass, but electricity didn't really harm a ground type. At all. That left grass as Swampert's weakness, and thus, the change to a familiar green.

"Ice Beam, quick!" Hydrus launched the attack, and it hit the stag shaped Pokémon square in the chest. Alex cheered. At least he'd managed one hit. "Well struck, Hydrus! Aga-" but it was already too late.

The Alpha Pokémon had flinched, briefly, and then retaliated. A familiar looking ball of condensed green energy came arcing from his maw.

"Ice Beam!" He needed another hit, and that meant at least trying to neutralize this attack. Then, somehow, the Energy Ball curved away from Hydrus' attack, and came around at his left side with incredible speed. It slammed into the mighty Swampert, and sent him crashing into the tree that took up most of the embankment Alex was on. Running over to his friend, as he'd feared he'd heard more than just wood break with that impact, he knelt beside him.

"Hydrus…easy bud…you'll be okay…" He fed his Pokémon a Max Revive, which slowly brought him back to consciousness. Alex smiled, then faltered, as he sensed a massive amount of power behind him.

He rose quickly as he simultaneously recalled Hydrus and turned, and found himself face to face with the Pokémon he'd dreamed of catching since becoming a proper Champion. It rose above him then, it's coloring returning to normal white and gold.

He'd given each of his Pokémon a revival item but hadn't brought them out again. They were usually in no shape to fight once revived, which seemed off to him for some reason, but distracted as he was by literally facing down a god, he failed to make much of the observation.

You have failed your Challenge.

Alex opened his mouth to protest, then stopped, and nodded. He had, indeed, lost. Finally, his party had been wiped out in its entirety. The sarcastic part of him remarked that it had taken a deity to do so, but he was in no mood to feel smug. He'd finally had a chance to catch the Alpha Pokémon, or at least prove worthy of being his Holder, and he had failed. It hadn't even been close, either.

"I have." He mumbled softly, turning his hat forward once again. He looked down for a moment, then met Arceus' gaze as the being floated higher into the air.

And now, the Alpha Pokémon declared, You will be Judged.

Alex froze. He had heard the stories from Sinnoh, of how Arceus's Judgement had been furious to behold. Luckily, the damage had been negated by some sort of time travel shenanigans, the details of which had never been made fully clear, but still. Many had witnessed his rage, and to this day, those who had seen it lived in constant fear that the vengeful Pokémon would someday return to finish them. Of course, any who had seen it and yet lived were almost a century old, and were nearly senile, yet they feared all the same. This fear made them easy prey for the Arcean Church to get a foothold in Japan.

Alex decided then, that he wouldn't be afraid. He'd lived his life trying to be as kind as he could. He recalled several of the tenants Arceans adhered to, and wondered if Arceus would now make him pay for not obeying them.

He dismissed that thought, then. He refused to accept that the Arceus the Arceans worshiped was so petty and cruel that he judged humans harshly for enjoying their brief existence. Surely the true deity was not the vengeful monster that absurd cult groveled to. No merciful god chose a man like Caleb Pravus as a 'Prophet'.

His Gruncle had told him, after he became Champion, of his escapade into Fornia, and had recalled the man's brutality, and amorality, many times in their smoking sessions. He always seemed frustrated to have been slandered into ineffectiveness.

"I accept my failure, and your Judgement, Alpha Pokémon." A swirling orb of pure power formed above Arceus' horned head. Alex's eyes were upon it as the Alpha made it grow in size.

Alex briefly wondered if the resulting explosion would kill other Trainers in the Swamp, and he sincerely hoped the Alpha Pokémon had enough control to avoid collateral damage. This Judgement was his, and his alone, and he would not run from it.

The red eyes of Arceus shifted back to him then, and he barely had a chance to shiver with suppressed fear before the blinding ball of light shot towards him. The resulting explosion filled the area with blinding white light, and Alex knew no more as he whited out.

Sahqoreyth · Mar 28, 2024

Gilroy Redwood, Pokémon Professor

(This is a 'canon' short-story with relatively important plot information. But you can skip it, if you like.)

Gilroy Redwood, who went by 'Gil' most of his life, became a Pokémon Professor around the same time the far more famous Samuel Oak did. Unlike his Kanto counterpart however, he stayed in Unova, in his family's home town.

There had always been a Redwood Lab adjacent to their farm land, handing out Pokémon to Trainers from towns all over the largely unpopulated north east. Most would hardly even call that area Unova, Unovans would call it 'northern Unova', and given that not many people lived up there, not many people minded the lack of an official region name.

Unova was close enough of a trip whether by car or flying Pokémon, so it didn't really matter to the locals of that area. It was, however, far enough for Professor Juniper and her associates not to bother with it. Unova proper had enough Trainers as it was, and it was hard enough getting them Pokémon.

Because of the general lack of people, Trainers around that region within a region didn't usually set off on journeys. The people who lived there could generally trace their roots in the area back five generations, and the Redwoods were no exception. Unlike more populated regions, this also meant that the official lab servicing the area didn't stick to a trio of particular starter Pokémon. It was more of a 'choose what's around, and go catch it' type of experience.

This is also what caused the local Trainers to start so much later than other regions. The north east was dangerous, home to Tyranitar, Ursaring, and even the occasional Beartic. The winters were usually harsh and long, and the summers didn't tend to last through August.

Despite all this adversity, the area did tend to breed a tougher kind of Trainer, for the few who actually bothered to prepare to go on a journey. Most kids worldwide were taught early on about tall grass being dangerous, but the locals here had a different tradition.

They let their youngsters wander the woods, and they left it to the esteemed Professor Redwood to teach them. There were wild Pokémon all over the place, and walking through grass was an inevitable nuisance. Thus, the community had decided long ago to educate the children early.

This was how poor Gil got roped into sticking around his hometown. He would've much preferred to go south and study the strange Swamp that took up half the coast, or continue to wander the world searching for unique variations of known Pokémon species, like the Black Salamence, but he was needed at home. It was hard to up and leave when most of the youngsters relying on you for their education were related by blood.

The Redwoods had, by far, the largest family for miles, with an aged manor home that could barely fit them all. They never had an issue with extending the barn to make room for more Miltank and Tauros, but Gil's brother, Renault, had outright refused to let anyone touch the house itself.

When Gil and Renault's father, Professor Alaric Redwood, finally passed, the surrounding towns were left without an official Pokémon Professor for several years, as Gil was still getting educated. Becoming a genuine Pokémon Professor tended to take a long time, especially if your specialty was on rare and unique Pokémon that were, more often than not, completely made up.

Gil spent many years as a Trainer of sorts, on the road, traveling the world. Decades had passed by the time word reached him of his father's death, and his brother's. Thus, he managed to miss his nephew's generation entirely, and they were all grown by the time he returned to the family lab at the ripening age of seventy-five.

It became obvious on day one that he would be arguing with his brother's children for the rest of his life. Renault had four, and they themselves were in the process of making even more children. Renault had passed while Gil was still in school, and thus when he finally returned, his young nephew Frederick was playing the 'man of the house'.

It was an altogether dreary, depressing place in his opinion. The children had clearly been raised 'proper' and saw Pokémon as a source of income, not fascinating creatures meant to be studied and loved, that were more full of wonder and mystery than most people even realized.

Frederick had three siblings, Lisa, Edward, and Gilbert (who also went by Gil, making things even more confusing), and they were all in the process of expanding the family line. In short, he returned to a house full of pregnant women and screaming babies. This is how he took to shutting himself in his lab's basement, rather than the uppermost room of the manor, which had been deemed his. It had also been used primarily for storage space, and the Professor didn't have the back strength to move it all. Nor was any of his younger family willing to help him do so.

Everyone was okay with this relocation, as 'The Professor', as they all called him, had a 'foul and disgusting habit'. Smoking Leaf had been illegal during his school days, and that had only made it slightly thrilling. Now, he mostly smoked to alleviate the headache his relatives gave him.

He spent some years living like that, out of his lab's basement, until eventually, by an act of Arceus, he found a woman. Elaine was a 'local', which meant she was from one of the surrounding towns. Nobody cared that her hometown was on the north-eastern coast and not far from Bostonia, they still considered her 'local'.

For a local, she was quite a looker. Hair that was a wonderful cross between red and scarlet, curves in all the right places, and as if that wasn't enough, she shared his sarcastic wit and love of the Leaf. He knew as soon as he met her, and discovered these things, that he would marry that girl.

Which of course, he did, despite his age. With their technology, humans were living longer than ever, and the males of their species didn't lose their juice until they hit their nineties. It also helped when one's lover had a thing for older men and still looked as young as women in University.

For about a year, things were fine. Their basement was extended, if only to give them a private bedroom, and while it was cozy and stank of many, many smoked bowls of Leaf, the two were quite content to live there.

The trouble started when Elaine discovered she was having a girl. The Leaf smoking stopped, of course, and suddenly, their living conditions were unacceptable, a fact Gil agreed with. The only problem was that by now, everyone had four-year olds running around the main house.

Frederick was also finally married which meant the promise of more children, and he refused to expand the house, as his father had, and also refused to let Gil take his portion of the family money to build a proper house elsewhere. Gil even offered to extend the lab into a second house, but that too was 'unacceptable' with how much of the ranch the expansion would take up.

These long months of stress, coupled with the total lack of stress-relieving Leaf sessions, is what caused Gil's hair to finally turn from a rich auburn-brown to gray. Not entirely at first, but enough to be noticeable, around his dwindling hair-line.

What turned him snowy white was his wife's death, in childbirth. As obscure as their town was, they'd made the trip to Unova for the birth, and for reasons that were never fully explained to him, he lost his wife, but gained a daughter. The combination of shock, lack of sleep, and having to drive a screaming child up to his home, alone and grieving, kept him from questioning it properly for years.

As a Professor, he should have pressed harder. He had been trained to handle human injuries, as well as Pokémon's, and he knew enough about the human body to understand the medical jargon that the average layman would not. He stayed preoccupied however, as the depression, funeral planning, and lack of sleep thanks to his screaming daughter kept him from being anywhere near as sharp as he should have been.

His demeanor changed, after that trip. He stopped arguing with his relatives, barely leaving his lab. Almost all of his aides left, and the few that stayed only did so because they had become ingrained in the town after spending so long at the relatively isolated lab. Many said that he'd simply lost the 'spark' that had driven him to investigate even the most absurd rumor in search of a new Pokémon legend, and it was only his years of travel and experience that kept the rest around. That, and his always-full Leaf jar.

His daughter, Malina, grew up in the main house mostly, spending most nights with the other children. By the time she was five, she was already sick of their smelly basement, and was more than eager to get on with becoming a Trainer. Her father didn't often brighten up, but every once in a while, he'd tell her about his travels. For a brief moment, the man he used to be would return.

The cold cynic would always come back, however, as the story only had one ending, and he stopped telling it long before he got to mentioning her mother. By the time Malina was ten, Frederick had finally managed to have his first child, who he'd named Alexander. Up until then, he and his wife had cared for her like a daughter most of the time, and she was a large part of what kept the two men from arguing.

Malina was sixteen when she demanded to be taught to be a Trainer, claiming that Unova girls were already adventuring, and taking down evil organizations with full teams of Pokémon. She had a point, as everyone had seen what Hilbert and his sister had accomplished against Team Plasma. The old Professor finally relented, and resumed teaching the new generation about Pokémon, as best he could.

Aside from a few Trainers who came by seeking a proper starting Pokémon, his students were the offspring of his own nieces and nephews. He taught them everything his own grandfather had, how to walk in tall grass without angering wild Pokémon, which Pokémon were territorial, which would attack to defend their territory, and which would simply growl if they accidentally intruded. He also impressed upon them the importance of carrying spare berries around. Usually, a peaceful offering of food was enough to dissuade Pokémon from attacking a human.

He noticed two things as he began educating his thirteen relatives. His own daughter, and Frederick's son, were remarkably close. What was more, was the son in question clearly did not take after his father. His eyes lit up around Pokémon just as brightly as Malina's. He clearly loved them, and one had to be blind not to see that love reciprocated. He'd narrowed his little eyebrows at the idea of his Miltank friends being sources of money, rather than unique individuals, at which point his father had passed him to the Professor to teach.

He'd been in class for a week before Alex and his daughter had run off to the nearest pond to try to find a Squirtle, or a Bulbasaur. Naturally, the rest of the kids had followed, and Gil pretended not to notice. There was to be a full moon that night, and the air had a tingle to it. There was no better time for fate to unite a Pokémon and a human for life.

It ended rather quickly, when young Alex's father found out. The other children had been just as eager, but when their parents discovered their plans to go around the nearby wilds in search of Pokémon, they mostly shut them down. A few of the older kids, like Malina, Geralt, and Aria had already managed to catch an Eevee, Rockruff, and Swablu respectively, by convincing them to become their partners. That too, was a Redwood specialty.

Like his grandfather, Gil taught the kids that offering a chance to join your team, rather than snatching a Pokémon from their home, usually made for better companions. Some Pokémon would battle to test a Trainer's worthiness sure, but most were capable of deciding whether they wanted to be part of a Trainer's team or not.

It was an 'outlandish' theory to the more popular Pokémon Professors, who to that very day continued to tell new Trainers that 'weakening' them was key, but it was one theory that Gil had seen disproven over and over again on his travels. There was no need for a battle if the Trainer in question could approach a Pokémon properly.

He had no idea where the concept of needing to battle before catching came from, but he'd done his best to discredit it. That, along with his discovery of how to tell the difference between truly unique species variations, and regional variations, was what had given him his small amount of fame. His actual research into the myths and legends of the Pokémon world had been laughed at by mainstream scientists, who mocked his evidence based theories of Arceus and other legends like Necrozma and Eternatus being a part of some fabled 'original Arceus'.

With most of the burgeoning Redwoods prohibited from becoming Trainers, Malina's closeness with Alex's parents soon faded, and only faded further as they were primarily focused on caring for Eric, who'd been born three years after his brother. When Gil made his rare visit to the main house to watch the PNN, and his old friend John Crimson, he noticed something else that irked both him, and his daughter.

Eric had been three when the family decided that catching more Pokémon would mean too many mouths to feed, now he was five, and his brother was seven. There was no seven-year-old alive that wanted a Pokémon as badly as Alex Redwood. He talked constantly to his 'Gruncle Red' about having a Charmander, or maybe an Oshawott, or a Tepig, and so on. It changed almost hourly, but he usually stuck to Charmander as his default. The kid was obsessed with watching Galar's own Champion, Leon, and his seemingly endless winning streak.

His father was adamant though, he could have a Pokémon when he could afford one. It was no secret that the family funds were running on the low side, even with Gil doing what he could to help out. Pokémon Professors got a nice paycheck from the Pokémon League, especially when they actually started a Trainer on their journey. It was hard to do that, given the lack of gyms in their 'region', but he managed.

Not long after his favorite cousin left for University, Alex had been taken to Castelia, in New Tork City, where one Doctor Frank Ein had seen to it that his destiny was forever altered through lies and manipulation of his parents. He'd been in a dark place, for a child, and that darkness had turned from sadness to rage when Eric had been given a Squirtle, before even reaching the age of ten.

Gil had sighed when Eric received the Squirtle, and seeing the glimmer of hope in the young Alex's eyes fade as they took in that sight caused more of a heart ache than he thought he could still feel. His naïve daughter, who'd been home on Festivus Break, had been sucked in by those large blue eyes on the verge of tears, and she later admitted she spent much of that night keeping him from crying. Even back then though, he'd managed to keep his face somewhat passive, though his chin had trembled.

When asked why Alex was still being denied a Pokémon, Frederick's response had been to have a long talk with his uncle's daughter. His reasoning had been thus: because Alex had a tendency to be quiet, shy, and withdrawn around people, the local kindergarten teacher had informed his parents that something was 'wrong with him' back when he was seven.

When he did talk, it was about Pokémon. Rather than doing math, he drew doodles of Charmander. Even at recess, he'd wander into the nearby woods and entertain himself with the Caterpie there, rather than join the other kids. Were it not for his size, he would've been bullied.

His parents had 'tested' him then, driving him down to Unova so a 'proper Doctor' could examine him. The Doctor in question, one Doctor Frank Ein, had determined him to be 'mentally deficient' and recommended keeping him from becoming a Trainer, lest he hurt someone with the power a Pokémon could put out. It wasn't that far-fetched of a fear. There were teenagers running around taming Legendary Dragons, after all.

Malina was, of course, furious when she heard this. It was clear what young Alex's parents thought of their children. One was a 'Professor in the making'. One would be lucky to live out his life as a stable hand. Naturally, she went to her father with this news, only to discover that he'd known about the Squirtle, and the testing. Gil had tried reasoning with his nephew, but as usual, that got him as far as it ever had, and it seemed Alex would continue to be denied a Pokémon. Frederick had even gone as far as to threaten to evict the Professor if he got one for his son anyways.

That, more than anything, set his daughter off, and it was only his laughing that kept her from demolishing their cozy basement furnishings. He told her that she reminded him of her mother, even though she'd inherited his brain and his hair color. They talked long into that night, and even enjoyed a bowl of Leaf. He wasn't all that surprised to learn she'd become fond of it while away at school.

The next morning, she demanded that they go down to the hospital in Castelia City to find out what had actually happened to her mother. Given that he had always preferred Pokémon to machines, he called out his aging Rapidash, who was still every bit as fiery as he'd been in their youth, and rode him down to the city.

It was more crowded than he remembered, but much of his memory of his last visit down here had been hazed over by pain and time. Malina was adamant though, and eventually, they tracked down the hospital. Gil had to blink several times as he stared up at the symbol that now adorned the entrance of the building that had not been there previously.

The symbol of Arceus, supported by a metal cross underneath it. Evidently, the Arcean Church had bought out yet another building. He paused, holding his daughter by the shoulder. "We should stay out here. There's no reason to get involved with these people…and knowing them, the records are probably ash by now."

Malina sighed at him, "Dad, most records are kept on computers. Honestly, how old are you?"

The Professor sighed, and muttered something about being too old for 'tude, before heading in. The desk monitor already had her hand on the desk phone, presumably to summon security, as he walked in. He didn't particularly find a brown suit covered by a lab coat threatening, but evidently this poor woman did.

"'Morning, ma'am. I was here about two decades ago with my wife, while she was giving birth to this one," He patted his daughter's head, and smirked as both women gave him a look, "Unfortunately she died during the birth, and nobody could tell me why. I wasn't in my right mind at the time obviously, not enough to prod anyways, but now we'd both like some answers. Do you happen to have any records from back then?"

The woman looked between him, and his daughter, then shrugged. "You can hav'a look in tha basement. Don't get'cha hopes up though. Floodin's a bitch." He nodded his thanks, but the evidently locally born and bred woman was already focused on her Holociever again.

Upon seeing the basement, the Professor had to agree. Flooding had indeed been a bitch, but by an act of Arceus, the records from the year in question had been stored on a top shelf, and thus were some of the only papers still intact.

The two Redwoods searched what they could when the Professor suddenly asked, "Malina, what did you say the name of Alex's Doctor was? The one Fred took'im to?"

She was by his side seconds later. "I think it was…Doctor Ein…wait, he handled mom, too!?"

The Professor's eyes narrowed as he examined the picture. "That name…why does it seem so familiar…I feel like I've heard it before, but where?" Malina had shrugged, and Gilroy's brow remained furrowed as he struggled to recall something that was seeming more and more important as his clever mind began connecting dots.

The two left quickly and quietly then, with a lead to follow. The entire ride back up to Derrion Town, the Professor was lost in thought, using his considerable brain power to try to remember why that name sounded so familiar to him. It had tickled his memory when he'd first heard it, but he'd been too enraged by his nephew's idiocy to focus on it.

Once he got home, he began researching on the Pokénet while his daughter eventually dozed off on their basement couch. He'd shared as many stories of her mother with her as he could bear, over a bowl of Leaf of course, and then once they'd cried themselves out, she had fallen asleep. It was hard to remember she was still just a kid as, like her mother, she'd developed relatively early. He had enough on his mind though, and put the thought of worrying about boyfriends away for another time.

Three hours into his research, he finally dug up something useful. A report from Orre, where a scientist by the same name had been involved in the Shadow Pokémon incident, a calamity that had gained worldwide attention when it had been leaked that a Lugia had, briefly, been infected with Shadow energy as well. Thankfully, the science was too complex to easily replicate, and those who had started the research were either in prison, or defectors who sold out their former comrades for reduced or no jail time.

The Professor had had many gut feelings over the course of his life, and he didn't like where this one was leading him. He needed to follow it regardless, however, which meant more digging. He left his daughter a note, got a haircut, and trimmed his beard. He added a bit of hair dye, red like his wife's had been, and he was reasonably disguised.

He got on his Noctowl, Soren, then and headed for the distant Fornia region. The trek was long, and his Noctowl was as old as he was, but he was still a stealthy flier. They moved at night, when he was hard for humans to see, and eventually, they managed to enter the Fornia region by coming down from the north-western coast. That small region was the only part of the coastline to remain free of Arcean control.

Infiltrating the Church wasn't exactly difficult. They welcomed new members, especially members with a background in science and the study of Pokémon. A friend in the north-western Takoma region had given him a fake ID, as a Fornia-certified Professor. His name was changed, but his skills were still very much real. Within a week, he had passed their PokéMeter tests, and was admitted into their main lab in the center of the region, in the city of Sacreus. Sacreus itself was an unusual sight, as it resided in a crater, caused by an impact of something massive, from the days when humanity had been in the process of tearing itself apart, after trying to send colonies into space.

Military installations lined the interior of the crater, despite the fact that Fornia hadn't officially been at war since the Prophet of Arceus united the region. The city itself was a quiet, but bustling place, and the people did not stop to socialize on its streets. They were all too focused on their own tasks, and completing them in a timely manner.

Being inside the organization itself, it was easy to see why so many people clung so tightly to their status as a member of this cult. At that moment, he was a cog in a much larger machine, and had he not had an ulterior motive, he might've been swayed into believing their menial busywork actually had a greater purpose. It was nice thinking that their efforts were benefiting the entire planet.

The longer he stayed, however, the more the corruption began to peek through the cracks in the aesthetically pleasing society. Coworkers would appear with bruises after not having any the day before. Female workers were often called into their superior's offices, and one didn't have to be psychic to guess what was going on behind the doors. He could only hope it might be consensual.

What got him in trouble, were the children. He loved teaching young ones, and had done so many times on his travels, as well as back home. Many of the words that came out of their mouths made him genuinely laugh, and they always had questions, which he was happy to answer, with his learned brain and life experience. His station in the medical wing often had him walk by classrooms full of children, whose parents were presumably hard at work 'in the name of Arceus's Prophet'. He noticed one of the supervisors of these children, not much older than some of his own family members, getting far too friendly with several of them. Boys, girls, it didn't seem to matter to the man in question.

He reported it to his superior of course, with the idea that not even the Arceans, who he'd never had a high opinion of to start with, would be okay with a pedophile in their midst. Instead of punishment however, the supervisor in question was moved to a different classroom with fresh prey, and Gil got to spend eight consecutive hours in 'PokéMeter Therapy', until he admitted that he'd only 'made up' those accusations because he had 'guilt' for his own 'crimes'. After eight hours of repeatedly answering the same damned question, he made up whatever lie he could, just to get out of that room. After that, he began to understand why it was so hard for people to leave. This was little more than brainwashing. Legal brainwashing, he reminded himself.

He resolved to get out as soon as he could, and thankfully, an opportunity presented itself two weeks after he was brought to live at the facility. His room was spartan, and he'd seen jail cells with better lodging, but he didn't mind. Living in this helhole gave him access to what he needed: files.

He'd mentioned early on that he could work night shifts with ease, and as he'd guessed, most of the other night workers were not nearly as adjusted. Most adults worked sixteen-hour shifts, so he couldn't blame them. Most teenagers worked the same shifts. If you were in an Arcean family, you let the Church educate you, and Church education left much to be desired. Like actual education. Those who conformed to the rather harsh standards required by Arcean Trainers excelled, and were given the basic knowledge one would need to function as a Trainer in a foreign region. Those who did not conform, as they preferred to enjoy their freedom their own way, ended up mining for fossils in the region's north at large, isolated camps run by only a few adults.

The lack of education was yet another shackle that kept the potentially disillusioned cultists where their leaders wanted them, as even if they did escape, they would never earn enough money to support themselves on battling alone in the modern world. If one family member left the Church, the others either disconnected from them in every conceivable way, or left with them. Sadly, the families in question, while saddened at losing a family member, thought the 'Prophet's mission' was far more important. Thus, the very idea of leaving was considered taboo. It was a clever idea, turning every member of the cult into a potential snitch certainly dissuaded any thoughts of disloyalty or subversion, but at the same time, it did not promote trust between the people of the region.

It was on one of his many graveyard shifts that the old Professor finally managed to find what he needed: a detailed file on 'Doctor' Ein's experiments. It seemed that after the Cipher Organization had fallen to pieces, the Arceans had quickly moved to absorb what was left of them. One of their own former admins, Ardos, was reportedly working for the Prophet himself, as one of his Hands. Caleb Pravus's Hands were like extensions of his will, and their presence was usually a sign that something terrible was about to occur. In Gil's experience, that was usually seeing a coworker having the snot beaten out of him for some 'crime', which in this cult, could be real or imaginary. The idea behind calling them Hands was that, because Arceus himself was rumored to have created reality with a thousand arms, his 'Prophet' should have many arms as well. It was the highest position one could hope to attain in the Church. Some Hands had more importance than others, but all had the authority, and security clearance, to enact the Prophet's will.

The research on Ein's work almost made him grimace where he crouched. The Church had evidently started up the process of creating Shadow Pokémon again, but as before, they had been unstable. This Ein character had gotten the brilliant idea to use human stem cells to try to stabilize the darkness, and after injecting them into several Pokémon eggs, they'd had a breakthrough. The madman had copied what the scientists behind Team Rocket's Mewtwo disaster had done. Evidently, they wanted history to repeat.

He couldn't really blame them, as Mewtwo was monstrously strong. According to the file, the specially infected Pokémon were bathed in Shadow energy, and then handed out to local Trainers, as this variant of Shadow Pokémon could gain strength from battle, but only as an unevolved species. Naturally, the poor things were confused, angry, and unable to bond, unless their Trainer proved themselves by dominating their partner.

In this way, the Fornian Trainers kept the weaker bleeding hearts from advancing too far in the Church, while those who embraced their cruelty were given legitimate power, to be used in the name of the Prophet. After that initial success, a mandate had gone out from the Prophet himself, to ensure as many Trainers as possible started with these new abominations of science. Then, he looked at the date said mandate had been handed down. Almost three decades earlier. He had a growing feeling of unease as his brilliant brain did the math, and having first hand experience with how Arceans expanded, he extrapolated the numbers, and reached a simple conclusion. They had to have been harvesting such cells from outside of Fornia. Likely, in every region they'd established a presence in.

The Professor's gut guided him towards the source of the stem cells used, and his lunch nearly came up as his worst fears were discovered. The use of stem cells to extend human life and repair damaged organs had been discovered ages ago, the only problem was getting a supply of them. Most modern doctors had moved on to other methods of repair, and only used such cells sparingly when needed from the donated surplus their organizations managed to collect, but from what the files he dug up said, the Church had been gathering a stockpile large enough to support a second Shadow Pokémon project. Many of their sources were hospitals in Unova, and other States that their Church considered 'enemies'.

He could only imagine what three decades had done for their research. He carefully took the files, and gave them to his Noctowl that night, who carried them to a safe place, far from Arcean jurisdiction. Given that they were paper files, created in case the computers ever went down, he didn't expect them to be discovered missing for quite some time.

As he entered his third week of hard meaningless labor and graveyard shifts, the wear was starting to show on his weathered features, but he couldn't give up yet. He needed hard evidence to tie Ein to his wife. He'd read that one of the methods of collection was siphoning cells from umbilical cords that were supposed to go to legitimate facilities, and legitimate doctors who, presumably, still held a moral code.

Such methods could only get so many cells however, and after finding a vague mention of siphoning cells from fetuses about to be born, it didn't take a large leap in logic to assume what might have happened to his wife.

He could stand to be tired if it meant discovering that secret. He'd even risked being caught, but he no longer cared. The truth was out there, and it was so close. He remained stealthy however, always making sure to get a full rest before attempting another search. It didn't mitigate the exhaustion completely, but it helped.

It took many long hours of scouring through records both physical, and on the net. He knew he risked discovery by using his computer, but he had no choice, if it meant following a lead. He tried to hide his extracurricular searches in between the numerous logs he made to keep the medical wing running smoothly twenty-four seven, but eventually, his luck did run out.

It was on the day that he finally found hard evidence of Ein's pass card being used on the same Unovan labor ward his wife had been in, when he was confronted. He'd been the only person in the office that night, and had taken the chance to dig online for what he needed. Had he been more awake, he might've smelled the not-so-subtle trap.

"Well well well." A smooth baritone interrupted his search, and he felt a chill go down his aging spine. The tone might've been charming had it not oozed sleaze. "Someone has been searching for information in all the wrong places. You're clever though, Professor Redwood. It took us far longer than I'd like to admit to notice where you were digging, and why."

After spending several months pretending to be a devoted Arcean, the Professor knew who he was talking to. The Prophet of the Arcean Church was a figure the workers pledged their oaths of loyalty to on a daily basis, and he had been a figure in thousands of their cringe worthy workplace videos that were, of course, mandatory to watch on a yearly basis. The Professor coughed, his voice rough from disuse, "Caleb Pravus…I thought I smelled a Muk."

The strike to his cheek was as hard as it was fast, and it sent the elderly Professor spinning in his chair towards his keyboard. He snagged his data disk, and slid it up his sleeve, along with the saved napkins he'd kept from dinner. He glared at the man, wondering how anyone could purposefully go for the 'evil villain' look, goatee and all.

"I guess the rumors are true then…beating subordinates must be so easy... when you control every aspect of their lives…" The Professor expected the next punch, and the one after that, as his arms covered his face. One glance at the 'Prophet of Arceus' told him all he needed to know. The man was enjoying beating on him a little too much. The look in his eye was almost manic.

"You'd know all about that, wouldn't you, Professor?" Pravus grabbed what little dyed red hair he had still, primarily on the back of his balding head, and forced their eyes to meet. "I had no problems ruining your life…it was so easy to fake her death…on paper, at least. Ein was the one who had to get his hands bloody, weren't you my friend?"

The bespectacled man with dark hair and a hair flick that was entirely too long walked into the Professor's vision. "Caleb, we shouldn't be-" The man was silenced as the fist that had been holding the Professor's hair swung to strike the scientist across his face.

"You will Address me…as the Prophet! Sir will also suffice…" Pravus was panting slightly, his face red from the exertion. It took the Professor a moment to realize that it wasn't exertion that had caused his heavy breathing, but pure, undiluted rage. He stared closer at the temporarily distracted madman, and the chill in his spine deepened, as he realized what was hiding in the man's shadow.

Gil wondered for a moment how a man with such issues managed to control a state as large as Fornia, which made up the majority of a coastline, with absolute authority. Then, he surmised, a cult was probably the way he would've gone about it as well. In this era, such groups were rare enough, but they always devolved into brutality behind their closed doors. During the Dark Times they'd been far more popular. Thankfully, the modern world had turned more peaceful, and rational. To a point.

Ein glared at his superior, and then adjusted his black, spiky glasses. They were several years out of style, and now had cracked lenses. "Sir…is it wise to be telling him so much?"

Pravus turned back to the Professor, and smirked, "Oh Ein…fret not. This wrinkled sack of skin won't ever see daylight again. Put him in the Hole."

The Professor felt himself being lifted by two burly sets of hands, but after being struck and beaten, his vision was becoming unsteady. Fist fights and old age did not mix well.

The next thing he knew, he was waking up to the feeling of someone shaking him. He blinked his weary eyes open, then looked around. He was still clothed, and judging by his exhaustion, hadn't been out for too long.

He noticed then, that he was being shaken by a blonde boy, who couldn't have been older than Alex. "Hey mister," he said, sounding entirely like a twelve-year-old, "You should sleep in the day, when it's hot. It's better to be awake at night. That's the only time we get food."

Groggy as he was, it took the old man a minute to comprehend the boy's words. "Food? What?" He blinked again as several loaves of bread, covered in what looked like dumpster gruel, fell on top of them, and the forms of several other huddled humans nearby. He grabbed one, and sniffed. He'd tasted some harsh dumpster gruel in his time traveling the world, namely in Eous, but this was an entirely new level of foul. His aged nose picked up feces, and he grimaced, tossing it away. As the others around him tore off the gross parts and ate the rest, he hoped they weren't all covered in the same filth.

He took the time then to figure out what exactly was going on. The boy, whose name was Bradley, said that they were in 'The Hole', and that it was where people went when they were bad. When he asked the boy what he'd done to get put in here, he said, "I…lost my Charmander…Uncle told the Prophet I lost it on purpose, and then he…then I was put in here."

The Professor gave the lad a shoulder pat, though he kept it brief, as he felt the child stiffen in fear at the contact. That was another aspect of this cult he didn't particularly enjoy. Members were required to report other members for violating the 'rules' of the Church. Not doing so got you put in here, or so he heard from his fellow prisoners, and he realized that was probably what had gotten him eight hours of meter time.

Night eventually gave way to the day, and the Professor chuckled. It was amazing how wrong Pravus could be. Judging by the hole's entrance, the sun would be visible for several hours a day, at least. By his third day in the pit, he'd figured out the guard rotations, and from then on, began to plan his escape.

He knew Soren was likely looking for him, and given that they'd been in worse prisons than this, he felt escape would be relatively simple. To the guards, he was just a sunbaked old man making hooting noises for hours on end, but he knew the hole's acoustics would likely be what helped his sharp-eared friend find him.

Eventually, of course, he did. Hypnotizing the guards was simple, it was helping his fellow prisoners that almost derailed his plans. None of them would escape with him, each of them, Bradley included, said that they couldn't just abandon their families.

Leaving them behind was hard, but after ten minutes of arguing, he'd had enough. He had information to share, a story to tell, and a daughter to go home to. If these people refused to help themselves, he couldn't force them. Not with only one flying Pokémon. Soren flew him back up north, sticking to the treetops, and eventually, they passed over the Kanadian Wall, into Takoma, and freedom. He patted his old feathered friend, and thanked him.

Once he was safe in his friend's Takoma hideout, he shared what he knew with his ally. He had a vested interest in bringing the Arcean Church down as well, as he was Takoma's Champion, and well aware that the Arceans had designs on conquering his region. They discovered that the old man did indeed have useful information, on not only Ein, but Pravus as well.

Gil had taken to walking around with a pocket recorder years ago, as he and his wife had won or lost arguments by recording previously spoken words. He'd kept hers for years without over-writing it…and in the moment he'd been caught, he'd turned it on more by reflex than anything else. He wouldn't let the loss of the last recording of her voice be in vain. He had proof, now all he needed was an exposé, and he knew just the man to do it.

"I'm sorry Gil, but I'm not the man to do this." John Crimson said as he poured yet another glass of what looked like scotch. They were in his penthouse apartment of the PNN building in Castelia, and the legendary reporter was bathing in his hot tub, a tray with his favorite meal floating before him, "The Arcean Church has been trying to buy this studio for years, and they're about to succeed. If I run this story, the entire network might go down after they sue us for every charge their lawyers can cook up."

"John, I have the man on tape admitting to covering up murder. That's as hard as evidence gets. It's like you, in Nimbasa's Red District." He'd made four copies of the tape when he'd returned home, and hid them in every safe spot he could think of. Paranoia was a blessing, sometimes.

John Crimson shrugged, "If it's that hard, bring it to the police. If Officer Jenny can't make it stick, no one can."

After several more minutes of arguing, the Professor eventually left the PNN building, and went to the police. Finally, after weeks of hardship, he felt progress was being made, as the officers at the station guaranteed him they could convict on evidence like that.

He went home then, and slept soundly for the first time in a month. He called a week later to check the status of the investigation, only to find that the officers at the station had no recollection of his visit, the evidence he'd presented, or the charges they'd discussed filing. The man on the other end of the phone was more interested in knowing if he had any additional copies of this evidence however, and the Professor disconnected the call before swearing loudly and colorfully in the privacy of his lab-adjacent room.

He went to every news station that would take his call then, resolved to give the story to a hungry young reporter, eager for a 'scoop'. After the Ryme City scandal, they'd popped up like weeds the world over. Before he could contact them, they came to him, asking questions about a rumor so obviously fabricated that, by its design, he knew it came straight from the nonsensical realm the rest of the Arcean Church's accusations manifested in. The Arceans had moved quickly to counter him. Pokésites had popped up, claiming that the esteemed Professor Redwood had recently taken a vacation to the Fornia region, infringed on the religious rights of the Church, and had returned home, drunk off his ass, trying to sell a fake story in order to get a scrap of fame.

Any idiot with a three-digit intelligence quotient would've been able to tell who was sponsoring the aforementioned sites dedicated to smearing him, but the press' interest was on his personal affairs, not the truth. Moreover, they'd taken a similar tactic to his own, and used his own recorded words about his 'crimes' to slander his name. His tone was clearly sarcastic, irritated, and exhausted, but the 'evidence' that was little more than rearranged words in his own voice, was damning. Eventually, he resigned himself to the fact that he would never be in a position to take Pravus down.

He became even more withdrawn after that, his daughter met a man from Kanto, and moved overseas with him, desperate to get out of that lab basement and start her life. He never heard from her again.

Abandoned, slandered, and outfoxed, Gilroy resigned himself to his studies, but his efforts were fruitless. His sole comfort was his grandnephew, Alex, who alongside his uncle, Gilbert, often joined him in the Lab's basement for talks about life, and Leaf smoking sessions. Of Frederick's generation, Gilbert had turned out to be the least stuffy.

The Professor buried what evidence he had in his former bedroom, and took to sleeping on the couch. Eventually, he sealed the door entirely, utterly convinced that what was behind it would never be useful.

He often wondered why people had so easily believed the lies on the Pokénet, and the cynic in him said it was because most people were too thick to dig a little and find the truth. Eventually, he stopped caring altogether, and focused on trying to impart some kind of life wisdom onto his favored relatives, namely, the newest generation.

He'd tried telling Alex's father who the Doctor responsible for 'testing' him really was, but as usual, Frederick took his word, and chucked it. Like everyone else, his nephew bought into the Church's propaganda, and told him to his face that he was lucky that they didn't evict him for his supposed predilections. He was, for the foreseeable future, no longer welcome in the main house, full of kids as it was. He showed his nephew the hard proof that he'd believed would help Alex, the actual step-by-step indoctrination methods for kids with battle talent that they couldn't control. Gil had no doubt they'd put him on a PokéMeter, and he knew all too well what had happened after that.

The boy had no doubt registered some degree of talent, enough to be a threat. Arcean procedure then instructed the meter reader to either indoctrinate the individual in question, or keep them from becoming a threat. Ein had deemed Alex too 'mentally unfit' to handle a Pokémon once the attempt to indoctrinate his parents failed, and thus Alex grew up without Pokémon. The only comfort he had was the love the Pokémon of the ranch showed him. He handled them better than anyone, and thus was often the one left to clean up after them. It took him all day, usually.

The Professor wanted to help him out, but knew that giving him a Pokémon would only result in his eviction, as the straw that broke the Camerupt's back, and that would leave young Alex without a supportive mentor of any kind. Something needed to change, before Gil risked that, and eventually, something did. New neighbors moved into the old mansion roughly a mile from their own plot of land, and the Professor watched the new arrivals with curiosity, at first. There was an awful lot of construction work for a house that, having once belonged to the Redwoods, was still in fairly good condition.

The head of the smaller Gladstone family first met the crotchety Professor during Festivus, and the two soon hit it off. There was something familiar about the well-mannered man in his seventies, and eventually Professor Redwood discovered, and aided him in his own...private endeavors.

For Alex, it was a chance to bond with people over Pokémon, though Gilroy suspected they only kept coming around because there was literally nothing else for bored rich kids to do in town. Not long after the neighbors came, Frederick made a deal with the man of their house, capitalizing on his new friendship with the Professor. Eventually, they had reached an agreement to share the vast swathes of land that had been 'town property' for decades now, and far out of the Redwood's price range.

The number of ranch Pokémon increased, the Redwood family clawed their way back from bankruptcy, and by the time Alex left for University, they were once more sitting comfortably on a pile of golden currency.

Alex had changed as well, however. The Professor had noticed a hardened look in his eye one day, and from then on, it seemed obvious the lad had a goal. He'd spent his years on the ranch battling Tauros against Bouffalant or vice-versa, learning Pokémon moves, and squirreling away what allowance he received in order to buy items.

It didn't take a Professor to figure out he was going on a journey soon, and it wasn't until he asked for aid on a topic for a school paper that the old man got an idea. He recommended his grandnephew research the Arceans. They had helped contribute to his Pokéless existence, a fact he would realize, if he dug deep enough into the cult to learn of PokéMeters, and their purpose. He had a mind that, with maturity, had become as sharp as his brother's, and the Professor knew that he wouldn't stop at the surface of the rumors he'd no doubt find.

The Arceans hadn't become kinder in the years since his infiltration, and his hunch that they would eventually out themselves with their plans for world domination eventually became substantiated. He slowly realized, after watching his relative battle with a Turtwig against a Tyrantrum in his final exam, that this was a Trainer who could out the foul cult, perhaps permanently. All it took was a bit of strategic placement, and timing.

John Crimson agreed to help this time, and by pure coincidence, one of the newest Hands of the Prophet paid the PNN building a visit on the same day Alex Redwood gave an interview. In truth, the Professor had thought his plans foiled before they began once Alex disappeared on the Dragon Mountain, but when the video of his grandnephew's Charizard surfaced, he was more convinced than he'd been in decades. This was a chance for retribution.

Fate, it seemed, agreed with him, as it was Ghetsis's own pride that led to Reshiram's freedom, and all the wonderful things that followed.

Sahqoreyth · Mar 28, 2024

Chapter 12: The Foggy Swamp Sage

The Great Swamp - Floria Region

The first thing Alex felt, was damp wetness. There was nothing he hated more than feeling dirty and damp, and it was that innate discomfort that finally brought him to consciousness. He sat up, groaning, and looked around to find that his entire team of Pokémon was out of their balls, standing around him, with concern in their eyes.

Arthur knelt next to him, and he rubbed his aching head. "Oof. What happened? Where'd Arceus go?"

Arthur tilted his head at his Trainer. "You fainted. Never saw an…Arceus. Whatever that is."

He turned his head to the others, "Did you guys?" They all responded with negative sounds that were part of their name, and that was when Alex noticed. His head snapped back to Arthur. "Wait…did you just speak?"

Arthur blinked at him slowly. "You…can hear me?" He sensed confusion, and not just from Arthur, but from his entire team. Alex nodded, eyeing each of them. It was like he was seeing them for the first time, what they thought, what they felt, and with but a glance, he could tell how much they cared for him.

His heart wrenched as he sensed their loyalty, especially Terra's. He resisted the urge to hug them all, and forced himself to stand up. They were sensing the connection as well. Something had just awakened another part of their Trainer, and their bonds were stronger than ever. He formed their seven minds into a unified mental web by pure instinct, and a little help from Arthur. They were a team now, bonded in thought and purpose.

He'd felt their loyalty before of course, in battle, but this…was different. "We Battled with Arceus." He said, voice returning to his usual confident baritone, "We Battled and lost…hard…he used Judgement on me…and then I fainted."

His team continued to stare at him. Arthur spoke again, and as soon as he started, Alex's eyes went to his mouth. It wasn't moving.

"There was no Battle, partner. No…Arceus." His comprehension of human terms for the deity of all Pokémon from just a few hazy dream memories was impressive, but then, he was a psychic type. "We would know the Alpha. You rode Hydrus, then fell into dirt-water. Been lying here ever since." Alex let the psychic words ring in his head for a moment, still amazed that Arthur could form them.

Of his entire team, he now knew, Arthur was by far the most intelligent. Meaning were he to be tested, his intelligence score would be the highest. He didn't doubt the intelligence of the others, but their intelligence was more specific to what they were good at. For example, Leo knew more about walking silently and hunting than Alex had originally guessed, given that his diet was mainly berries and Moo Moo Milk from their ranch.

That was normal for psychic types, as they were said to have near-human intelligence. Now, with his strange new ability, Alex was slowly realizing that it was humans who had near-psychic type intelligence.

He eyed each of his team again, and noticed something else. Their coloring was…different somehow, brighter, and though he knew their typing by heart, he knew that with a single glance, he'd be able to tell another Pokémon's typing as well. Then, on a whim, he looked at himself, and his mouth dropped. One eyebrow raised to Spockian height.

In each of them he could see their typing, and by pure instinct, he knew what they were, each of the known types having been drilled into his skull at University. When he looked at himself, it was no different, but what he sensed was normal, and psychic typing.

Did that technically make him a Pokémon? Was this how all psychic types viewed the world? Could he learn attacks, or something? What did that make the rest of humanity? Could they learn from TMs as well? He tried not to imagine the chaos that would ensue from humans learning they could, if the trend held, learn a move like Hyper Beam.

Realizing he was damp all over, he paused the flow of questions as he undressed from his soaked, wet clothes and changed into his spares, or rather, he would have, but instead found a new outfit, and a note within its folds as well.

He didn't have to read it to know who it was from, her scent was all over them, and suddenly, standing in naught but his undergarments, he was reluctant to put the new clothes on. He might go months without that scent, he didn't want to lose it.

He decided to keep his damp socks, and had Blaze dry those first. They were a bit singed afterwards, but warm feet were better than damp feet, and now, the pair from his lady love would remain untouched. As long as he washed and dried them, the ones he had would never need changing. Holes in one's socks were a thing of the past.

He grimaced then, as he realized he'd be living out here for who knew how long with only one pair of socks. He fervently hoped this Psychic Sage had clean water. Then again, there was always Hydrus, who even now was washing his filthy clothes with a Water Gun. Even though he'd forgotten that move ages ago. Arthur then let them hover over Blaze's tail to dry, using his psychic power, and keeping them from burning. The whole process was relatively quick.

Examining himself again, Alex tried to figure out how to tap into his supposedly psychic abilities. As he had so often in the past, he reached out towards the nearest small object, a rock on the embankment, and tried to make it levitate. Something was different this time. He could feel it.

He pushed and pushed, until he began to sweat, but the rock he focused on remained firmly in place. That was when a new voice, similar somehow to Arthur's, rang in his skull, and he took a moment to puzzle out the words.

"There will be time enough for that later. Come, my student, and I shall teach you."

"How?" he said aloud, drawing looks from his team once more. Leo muttered to Terra in Pokéspeech, but Alex understood the gist of what he said near-perfectly. He'd been able to before, with about eighty percent accuracy, but now, he had no trouble discerning that Leo was wondering if their Trainer was losing his mind. Fainting randomly, and now speaking to the open air? Signs of madness indeed. He ignored the two, and mentally fumbled for the source of the deeper voice.

"How?" he asked again, without speaking, instead letting his question echo in his head, hoping that would work.

Then, just like that, he knew. He knew every part of the swamp, every tree, every river, every Pokémon. He could sense them, if he focused, and he had a feeling he would be able to do this on a much larger scale once he was trained.

More than that, his insight into the previously unknown Pokémon's minds gave him Pokédex worthy information. He could catalogue entire regions, if he entered entries manually.

He felt his excitement build. Not because he would likely be able to finally move objects with his mind, but because through this sensory technique, he could maybe, one day, communicate like this to Jess. Distance could mean nothing. He was even more eager to learn, now. He tugged at his new jacket, as it fit a bit snugly over his large frame.

It was primarily black, lined with white, and his undershirt was white, and bore a green Pokéball on it. He had black pants and shoes as well, also with bits of white. His new gloves were white, and his new hat was similarly split between the two colors, but more importantly, bore the symbol of eternal balance on the front of it. She knew him so well.

His clothes still smelled like her, even his new hat, which he had instantly loved. He was half tempted to try reaching out to her right there, but had a feeling that would be meddling with powers he had not yet mastered.

He'd read enough stories to know that heroes who used such things without practice usually ended up paying for it. Heavily. For all he knew, his attempt at psychic contact would fry her mind and leave her a tragic vegetable. He could be patient, if it meant avoiding that.

So instead he recalled his Pokémon, and rode forth once more on Hydrus. He knew their destination now, and as he linked with Hydrus, he knew his Pokémon knew the route now as well. He'd almost jumped out of the water when he felt Alex's consciousness brush his, but he was rapidly adjusting to it. He was the last member of the team to be fully integrated into their mental connection, and the others teased him like he was their little brother.

Feeling a sudden urge to prove himself, Hydrus reached out with his mind to his Trainer's over this new link. They were one. Alex crouched, placing his oversized feet where he knew Hydrus preferred them, and the swamp Pokémon picked up speed, as he could feel his Trainer's movements, and easily keep him from falling.

The Swampert smirked as he sensed the rest of the team's shock at his speed through the swamp water. He was built for this. They all shone with the power of the Splash Plate crystal, as Hydrus mega evolved. His arms rumbled like rocket engines, and now, Alex had to cling for dear life as the speed of his Mega Form propelled them along the massive swamp rivers.

They were speeding now, rapidly, down a series of smaller rivers, and then into a larger one. He saw several other Trainers doing the same, and gave them a tip of his hat and a smirk as he blew past them. They would try to follow, but he understood the Swamp now. Finding the center was inevitable, but he could understand why not choosing the right direction to wander in led to so many lost Trainers. Apparently, those the Sage wanted were supposed to wander towards him on instinct, likely have a vision similar to his own, and then be given the same mental map he had.

He'd had his resolve to be a Trainer tested by what seemed like an illusion of the Pokémon he wanted to one day partner with. He didn't care whether it had been real or not, that had nothing to do with the lesson he'd learned.

Losing was as much a part of the path he'd chosen as winning, and even when he'd managed to almost turn things around at the end, and was then cheekily thrashed, he hadn't given in to despair. He didn't care what his record said now, but he would always consider himself one loss heavier than the official number.

He adjusted his seating again, regaining some hold, and felt Hydrus turn then, down a side river, and heard the Trainers behind him make the same adjustment. They were a persistent bunch, and he had a feeling that guiding them to the Sage wouldn't be a good thing, for himself, or for them. He almost stopped to reason with them, when he spied a fork in the river he knew Hydrus had to take. They were moving in a counter-clockwise spiral, heading ever closer to the center, and so their path always was to the left.

He knelt down on Hydrus then, and gripped his head fins, the way he knew he'd have to once he submerged himself. They weren't as sensitive anymore, and Hydrus didn't mind having them petted now.

"Water Pulse." A condensed ball of water shot from his mouth, and Alex marveled at how he'd drawn the power, formed it into a sphere, and then launched it all within seconds. He'd felt it like he was actually doing it. He was quite proud of how strong his little Mudkip had become, and he felt Hydrus grin as he sensed his Trainer's pride through their link.

The river exploded before them, and Hydrus dove, dragging his massive hands through the silt at the bottom before moving left again. The other Trainers tried to follow, but by the time they decided on a direction, they'd split up, and the pause had given Alex and Hydrus enough time to make two more such left turns.

They were closer, but it still took some time for them to travel the spiral. He knew Hydrus sensed quicker paths, but he kept him on the spiral course. Alex didn't quite know why, he simply felt his instinct telling him to do it, so he did.

Hydrus didn't argue with his Trainer's instincts, and took the longer path without complaint. He opened up his speed as they came into the last turn, and they sped through the water like a bullet until finally they spied the center. Hydrus slowed to a paddle in the filthy swamp water he loved so much, and let the power of the crystal fade, but his attention was on land, for once. The river's center flowed into a massive wooden hut, and as they entered it, Alex felt a presence. It was enormous, ancient, powerful. It had to be the Sage.

The room they floated into was half water, half wooden flooring. The wooden half had a Taijitu symbol carved into it that must've been centuries old. He couldn't help but grin. His granduncle wasn't as 'mad' as everyone made him out to be. This was physical proof that his concept of combining type energy in that pattern was the right way to go.

He recalled Hydrus, and entered the wooden building. It was little more than a dock, really, evidently made for Pokémon Trainers arriving by way of surfing. As he exited the old structure, he found another symbol of eternal balance, right in the center of several other similarly old, moss-covered buildings.

This one was much larger, however, and newer. It was made of stones of varying shades of white and black, that had been fused together somehow. In short, it was a masterful work of art and he didn't want his clumsy feet anywhere near it. He walked around, on the white Yang side, towards the large building directly in front of where they had entered this new central area. That was where he sensed the Sage.

It was, by far, the nicest building in this compound, despite the fact that there was an enormous tree serving as the back of it that reached well above the canopy, and into the sky. Now he understood why flying wasn't allowed. Anyone who saw it could make their way towards it easily, and bypass the test.

He had seen several other buildings and wings to the compound, but they were simpler in construction compared to the one he was approaching. He wanted to explore every inch of this place, but first, he needed to meet this Sage.

As he entered the building by way of ascending wooden steps, he found himself standing in a grand room that almost reminded him of a throne room in the ancient castles that yet dotted the planet. Nobody knew who had built them, or why, but they had captured the imagination of humans.

They were only owned by the mega-rich, of course, as they were limited in number. The Redwoods owned none, as no such castles had been found in their region. He knew Jess's father had at least one somewhere in Albion, north of Galar. He bragged about it every Festivus.

Perched on an ornate circular wooden bowl that acted as his 'throne' Alex spied the Sage. He was an Oranguru, but he was easily larger than every other Oranguru on record. Most averaged out at four to five feet. This one had to be pushing fifteen. Instead of a star upon his brow, Alex again spied a Taijitu symbol, white and dark pink, outlined by a black circle with an S through it.

He examined every part of the room then, and realized this wood was mahogany. The Sage had good taste, it seemed, especially in his doors, which also bore the Taijitu symbol. It was everywhere.

Two Passimian stood before the Sage, clearly acting as bodyguards. They, at least, were more normal sized. He still wouldn't want to fight them himself, however. He approached, and saw the guards tense up, ready to fight. His team responded, eager to thrash these strange, new, and evidently powerful Pokémon.

He held them in check, and gave the guards a smirk. He couldn't wait to battle like this. They'd be unstoppable, now that he didn't have to call moves aloud. They could hear his thoughts as Arthur could, though forming a similar response with human words was, for the moment, beyond them.

Ascending the steps to the throne, Alex looked up at the Sage, and blinked. He'd assumed the large green thing behind the Sage was just another part of his ornate chair, but no, it was much more. Most Oranguru used hand fans made of leaves to channel their psychic power. This one was much, much larger, though given the size of the Sage himself, Alex didn't doubt he could wield it with one hand.

The Sage spoke first, and the power in his voice sent shivers through himself, and then every member of his team. "Hello there." Alex had paused before the guards, who had moved out of his way. He hadn't stopped for them, but had instead been, for a moment, unable to move forward against such raw power. "Come here, my little friend. Don't be afraid." Again, his voice echoed, but this time, with far less impact. Like Arthur, the Sage's mouth did not move as he spoke. He was more amazed that someone had actually called him little.

Alex placed his right fist against his left open palm, and bowed in the classic Unovan style. "Foggy Swamp Sage, I have come many miles to learn from you. Please, teach me." Oranguru eyed the Trainer then, and his eyes widened. Old as he was, with mastery of the psychic power a human could only ever dream of wielding in their limited lifetimes, he saw many things with the same kind of sight Alex had only just acquired.

Only those with the potential for such power made it through the Swamp. The others usually quit, disappeared from even his sight, or were eaten by one of the many Pokémon that had acquired a taste for humans.

Those mostly lived south of him though. There was a reason Trainers came here from the north. The local wildlife knew not to attack humans in his territory, but should they wander beyond it, said humans were considered fair game.

With his sight, the Swamp Sage saw that this Trainer had already used his new connection to bind his team together. A tingle of what might have been excitement ran through the ancient Pokémon.

There had been a prophecy, made thousands of years past, during the age of Arceus' last Holder. It said that one day, another Trainer would rise to the same heights he had, and when Arceus was again Tamed, the whole of Time and Space would finally enter into an eternal balance with the realm in which Arceus dwelled.

Passing between them would become easy, and all those who suffered would have a means by which their suffering would end. Since that prophecy had been made, the world had descended into the era known only as the Dark Times, which had ended not so very long ago, at least for a Pokémon as long lived as he.

Oranguru's sire had passed when the Dark Times finally ended, and that was when his heir finally stepped up to become the next Foggy Swamp Sage. As it stood, he was still in his youth, though he was old beyond measure by human standards. In the final days of those long, dark millennia, he had seen, through inherited memory, and his own sight, attempts to find the next Tamer of Arceus fail time and again. The few candidates who made it to the Sages were always turned away, or denied the chance to become the honored student of the Sage who taught them.

Oranguru expected this time to be no different, and yet, the raw potential in this Trainer before him, and indeed, in all the Trainers that had thus far arrived at his secluded home, astounded him. Evidently humanity's potential had grown, or surfaced, in the two hundred years since the last attempt to find the One. There were several Sages around the world, and though he had several rivals amongst them, he had friends as well. One such was a Slowking, who was the Secret Island Sage of his region, Alola.

They had often competed in games of chess, an amusing and challenging game the humans had invented in a time lost to history. Slowking had also sent word; his own crop of candidates was just as promising. After checking with and receiving similar reports from each of the Sages, they had all agreed. This time, the World Tournament would truly commence, and for the first time in centuries, one of their pupils might climb all the way to the top. But first, they needed to be trained.

Alex had been waiting, awkwardly, for about five whole minutes as the Sage sized him up, and after coughing, Oranguru blinked, and Alex felt his focus return. "Hmm? Oh yes. Train you I shall. For now, join the others in the dormitory. It is almost time for food."

Bowing again, Alex strode from the Sage's hall, following the mental directions the Sage had shared. He was experimenting with following them while his eyes were closed, when he felt himself bump into someone.

"Oof, I'm sorry, I wa-" He paused, opening his eyes as he didn't quite believe who he sensed. "Professor Oak?" It was indeed the same Professor from Victory Road, a little worse for wear, but unmistakable in appearance.

Gone was the lab coat, and without it, Alex got a good look at his outfit. Purple, mostly, on his long, woolen shirt, the manliest of colors, with the Taijitu pendant still where it had been before, dangling from his neck.

"Ahh! Young Redwood. Glad to see you made it."

Alex raised a brow at the Professor. "I…didn't expect to see you here, Professor. I thought this challenge was for…erm…younger Trainers."

That got a laugh from the aging Professor, who shook his head. "Nonsense. Most of the challengers are my age at least, or rather, the ones who made it here already are. Though there are a few exceptions."

Alex's brow rose further. "Really? Who? How many made it here?"

The Professor stroked his stubble-covered chin, saying, "So far? Around thirty. I didn't expect so many. As for who? Hmm…well there is one you might have heard of. His name is Red."

Alex blinked. "Wait, not the Red from Kanto, who beat you at the Indigo Plateau! Trained on Mount Silver? Former Champion of who knows how many Regions? That Trainer is here? Now?"

"Yes, the very same!" Gary Oak said, chuckling. He'd had a feeling Alex was a secret Red fanboy, though the way he talked, he'd probably studied a few other past Champions as well. Including himself, of course. "He was in the Unova Region actually, but didn't get a chance to challenge the Four before…well, before you showed up. He ran into Lance, the Dragon Master, who was searching for his nephew in Unova, and Lance guided him here when he heard the Word. I tagged along as well. I've always wanted to train under a Sage."

Alex paused for a moment, then eyed the Professor. Normal typing only, or so his instincts said. Perhaps not everyone's challenge had awakened their psychic potential. Or perhaps the Professor's potential lay in another direction. "The Word? What word?"

Gary chuckled. "The one from Arceus. The real Arceus. He's awake again. The challenge to find his next Holder is beginning. It's what you're training for. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an appointment with a bush I need to get back to. Don't eat the berries. Smell ya later, Champion." Suddenly glad that they hadn't clasped hands, and still processing the surprising information the Professor left him with, Alex continued on to the dormitory, to find that Professor Oak had been right again. Most of the Trainers here were several years older than him.

Looking around, he realized he was probably the youngest. He ignored their stares, a skill he had acquired after being forced into the spotlight so often back at the Dragonspiral Tower, and claimed a bunk at the far end of the dorm.

He decided immediately that he could not, would not, live like this. The combined stink of thirty grown adult humans that had just spent over a week in the Swamp, minimum, was almost too much to bear. Even swamp gas was better than this.

Dinner came, and after gathering in a great hall on the opposite side of the dorms, to the right of the main entrance yard with the Taijitu symbol etched in precious stones, Oranguru informed each of them of how their training was to proceed. Each day, they would receive exactly one lesson, no more, no less. Upon completing that lesson to the best of their ability, they would be given a new one the next day.

These lessons were quite difficult however, the Sage had warned, and some trainees had taken lifetimes just to complete one. Having acquired a nose for BS from living with his granduncle, who had quite literally berated the naivete out of him long ago, Alex had a feeling most of them would not require a lifetime to complete, but rather would improve consistently over the course of a lifetime, as was typically the case with 'special powers'.

He groaned inwardly. It seemed Oranguru was one of those hermit-types that liked to speak in half-truths and give information from points of view only he was privy to. Just like Tao, and his granduncle. His mentors had a common theme, apparently.

Dinner was simple fare, some bread, some rice, and a banana. The Sage gladly took the fruit from those who abstained from eating it. Alex had no desire for it either, but he knew he'd need more than bread and rice before long. His body was large, and required quite a bit to keep it running at the level he knew he would need. Thankfully, the Sage informed him that they could indulge in as many helpings as they dared.

Wary of the master's word choice, he settled for seconds, and didn't take more after that. Some other Trainers did, however. One in particular, a Trainer with a red jacket, tanned skin, and sandy blonde hair who was clearly from the Fornia region, Unova's equivalent on the western coast, helped himself to four rounds of rice and bread, eating as though he'd been starved for months.

The others, Alex included, had watched for the consequences of so much gluttony, but the Sage had seemed to ignore him. Indeed, he ignored them all, most of the time, preferring to spend his day meditating on his throne. At his size, moving was a chore, and judging by the green moss that covered the ends of his fur, it was not something he did often.

That was how the first three weeks passed. Occasionally a new student would arrive, or an older one would depart, frustrated with their lack of progress. September was just ending, when something interesting finally happened.

The old Psychic Sage had mostly ignored the apprentices who survived the Swamp, and while he trained them, and answered any question with a confounding riddle, he wasn't the sort of Master you could just visit. He battled each of them once a day, and by using Instruct, taught their 'weakest link' in their Pokémon teams how to properly get over a shortcoming.

For Alex, he knew it was Arthur's inability to learn Psycho Cut, a physical move, instead of Psychic. To get to Psycho Cut however, they first had to learn a new fighting type move that suited this Gallade perfectly, and would help him form his arms into swords.

His other partners had gotten lessons in battle experience against the Sage, and those battles had not allowed orders to be shouted by their Trainers. Many students, who Alex saw also lacked psychic typing, had floundered. Yet when Alex's opportunity had finally come, he had excelled…or rather, he'd at least managed to order an attack.

Like the others, he lost consistently to the Sage's fierce psychic power, for he never went easy on them. It was only once Terra had demonstrated that he could balance both types of energy in his Energy Ball, and thus survived the Sage's fierce power, that Oranguru had ordered him to appear early the next morning, for a private lesson. Other students had received similar instructions, and always, they and their Pokémon came away stronger for it soon after.

As instructed, Alex appeared the next morning on the training field. The compound was south of the massive tree that grew partly out of the Sage's main hall, but to the north of it, there had been enough untouched land for a proper battlefield to be constructed.

Instead of a Pokéball in the center however, yet another Taijitu symbol had been carved. Alex was starting to see it in his sleep, and he knew there was a reason. His mind kept nagging at him to look at it, but he never quite figured out why. He felt something obvious was staring him in the face, but the more he tried to see it, the more it eluded him.

Today, Arthur had been picked out by the Sage, and he and Alex stepped onto the field, expecting a battle. Out of all his team, Arthur usually did the best, as fighting moves were Oranguru's weakness.

"Not today." The Sage had said, as his fan glowed with psychic power from where it was fastened to his back. A large boulder had been brought onto the field then, and placed before Arthur.

"Now," Came the psychic tone of the Sage, "Use Brick Break upon it."

Arthur's hands glowed with the energy, though they didn't form swords for this move. Oranguru's fan glowed again then, and before Trainer or Pokémon could blink, he'd used Instruct to force Arthur's glowing hand into the massive boulder, burying it deep within the large rock.

The energy of the fighting type move faded, and Arthur looked at the Sage. He tried to raise his fist then, and found himself stuck. He couldn't pull his arm free of the stone. Refusing to be made a fool of, Arthur summoned the fighting type energy again, and it flowed through his arm.

Deep within the stone, the Sage had used his power to shape it, molding it, and forcing the malleable arm of Arthur, unique to his species, into a proper sword shape. It had been stuck however, despite now being sharp.

As he used Brick Break, planning to pull free of the stone by force, the fighting type energy of the move, channeled through his sword-like arm, allowed him to pull free effortlessly. Eyeing his arm, Arthur switched it between its normal and sword forms at will, a skill that until now, he had not had. As usual, doing it once was enough for the brilliant Gallade.

"Form a sword, and channel the energy again." The Sage had instructed, and as Arthur complied, his Trainer stared at the fighting typed energy radiating off of the arm blades of his Gallade. He wasn't using Brick Break anymore. He and his Trainer shared a smirk. They had always talked about him learning Sacred Sword, but had no idea as to how they might achieve that.

As he focused the power for the attack, his sword arm began to glow with a golden light. Alex suppressed a chuckle, as he heard what his Pokémon planned to call his newest weapon. When filled with fighting type energy, and using Sacred Sword, he would refer to his arms as 'Excalibur'.

Oranguru beckoned the fighter, only to see that Arthur was already being given a PP Max for his new move by his eager Trainer. Eye twitching, the enormous ever-present fan on the Sage's back glowed with a furious pink colored energy. Not unlike Mew, when frustrated.

Suddenly sensing that their daily battle was very much on, Arthur's eyes glowed as well. But for this attack, his arms glowed with a Taijitu swirl on both limbs, a balance of bright pinkish white psychic energy, and the dark type energy he now called forth as well. He never had problems forming sword arms of dark type energy.

He slashed through the furious Psychic attack, canceling it out entirely. Had it continued, it would surely have obliterated the rest of the compound behind them, which would've meant failing, and proving unworthy of whatever he was here to learn from this Sage. The boulder had, of course, been crushed when the moves had canceled out, and now the field was clear once more.

The Sage's eye twitched again, this time a proper battle-strength Psychic lashed out at Arthur, and even though he knew fighting type energy had the disadvantage, he used his new move, Sacred Sword, anyways.

It was a poor choice. The immensely powerful Psychic attack cut painfully through the perfected fighting type move's energy, revealing a hidden layer of psychic energy just underneath it, and the attack was canceled out again as it slammed into Arthur, damaging him quite a bit. Astounded, the Sage sat hard on the ground, a little impressed that this duo had withstood a serious attack from him.

Arms still glowing with psychic power, Arthur looked back at his Trainer, giving a weak grin as he held his smoldering arm up, and the glow increased. "It's Psycho Cut! At last!"

He looked back to the Sage, who had a smile for once upon his lips. Nothing could quite compare to seeing one's students excel, and these two were quite the pair indeed.

The battle raged on for a few more rounds, and eventually, the Sage called a draw. With Sacred Sword, Psycho Cut, and Night Slash, this Gallade had managed to hold his own against the fearsome power of a Sage Pokémon. They were almost ready.

"How did you two come by such a strong bond so quickly?" The question rang in the skulls of Trainer and Pokémon, and Arthur let Alex answer. Even though he could communicate now, even with other Trainers, he found conversing to be irritating.

It seemed that after their trial in the Swamp, Alex had not been the only one to gain a new ability, and yet only Arthur had benefited. The other five seemed unchanged, though now, connected as they were, they could use Arthur or Alex as mouthpieces. It was quite useful for all of them.

"After I…experienced a vision in the Swamp, I awoke to find that I could see the typing of other Pokémon, and communicate telepathically…with those I could see, anyways." The Sage came closer then, sitting before the Trainer and his now-released team. He made a gesture that suggested they should sit as well. Though most of them were itching for a battle as well now, they complied. Chances for Instruction from the Sage always gave them new insight that made them stronger.

"And what did you do, in your vision?" The Sage had an inkling, but he needed to hear it from the Trainer himself. Reading minds was nothing for a Pokémon of his power, but when it came to humans, he found that they appreciated not having their innermost thoughts read aloud.

"I battled Arceus…I battled Arceus, and lost. Hard. I managed to get one good hit on him, but then he took out my last Pokémon, and used Judgement on me. When I woke up, I saw the world with different eyes." The Sage pondered his words, then nodded.

"No more training do you require today…nor any other day. You and your partners are ahead of the others by many degrees. You may stay, train, observe, but until they catch up, you do not require more instruction. For now." The Sage eyed the human subtly, watching for a reaction of rage, or disappointment, or entitlement…but this Trainer remained calm, balanced, and though he could see the Unovan Dragon's presence deep within his very being, he did not need to rely on that Pokémon's balance to keep his own.

Choosing an honored apprentice this early was unheard of…but the Sage had a feeling that this Trainer would definitely be one of the final contenders for that honor. There were many challengers now, though. Roughly five hundred Trainers total now remained at the Swamp Dojo, less than half of what they'd started with. Many Champions who'd made it to the Swamp's center had left after weeks of poor living conditions, and way too much free time. Though sparring against other Champions was entertaining, the way they battled, newcomers faced off against previous winners, and some, like Redwood, had earned annoyingly long winning streaks.

In time, many of the others had gone home after receiving permission to fly away, but some were simply lost in the Swamp still, and likely would be for a time, until they were found. Or eaten. Even though training that many other humans would take time, Oranguru resolved to keep an eye on this one from then on. "Go, enjoy your free time, do what you wish, and when the time comes to resume your training, you will know it."

Alex nodded, then stood, and bowed. The rest of his team, even the prideful Charizard, did the same. The Sage felt the tingle of what could have been excitement once more. "We will still Battle once a day…but otherwise, you are free to do as you please."

Alex nodded again, recalled his team, and left. Oranguru then announced that for the rest of that day, all but Redwood would be required to endure the intense physical training under the guidance of his strongest Passimian. He would still spar with them in the Foggy Swamp Style of martial arts, but he and he alone got a free pass from the endurance training.

The announcement caused confusion, even anger, but Oranguru knew that drawing ire to his strongest pupil would only forge him further into what he needed to become. He had singled out a candidate, and that meant Redwood now had a target on his back.

He reacted accordingly, and that night he did not return to the dorm, much to his fellow Trainer's surprise. Instead he camped out in the Swamp, on an unused part of the massive landmass the great tree stood upon. It was probably the largest mass of land in the entire Swamp, and the Sage's compound took up only a small space.

Alex set about constructing a small private dwelling then, with the help of his team. Each of them pictured what it should look like, and eventually, they worked out a design and set about building it. On the westernmost edge of what he'd nicknamed the 'Sage's Island', for the landmass was surrounded by water, Alex set up his hut.

Hydrus had access to the water, and was content with sleeping in the mud and filth his kind preferred. He said that on the Swamp Scale, this place was a ten. Alex didn't quite understand that, but took Hydrus' word for it.

With the help of the rest of his team, he gathered logs, cut down a few trees across the massive swirling river, and bound them together with the ever-plentiful vines that crisscrossed the Swamp's canopy.

Terra also slept outside of the small dwelling, covering most of it from view with his tree. He buried himself in the rich soil, as his mother had, and each night grew stronger for it. He too found that the land here was giving him immense power, as he adjusted to it.

Blaze rested atop the domicile, and because everything was flammable, he'd been given a small U-shaped perch he could rest his massive tail upon safely without lighting a blaze. Leo preferred to stay inside, with his Trainer, keeping him warm as he lounged in the hammock of woven vines he'd shaped like Oranguru's 'throne' and gave the thunder cat scritches as his laptop entertained him.

Arthur had a small adjoining room where he let himself hover in the air as he slept. It wasn't full sleep, but more of a restful meditative trance that allowed him to remain vigilant, but also rest his conscious mind. Shruikan, for his part, had opted to remain in his ball. He didn't care for the Swamp, finding the whole thing a waste of time. He wanted to evolve, and he often asked Alex how he expected to find a Legendary Tamer if all he did was train here. When told he would simply have to deal with waiting, Shruikan had entered another deep sleep, and Alex noted his size was increasing yet again. He was far too large to propel himself with Dragonbreath as high as he'd used to.

As time passed and the fall passed with it, the training of the rest of the compound intensified, and the Sage kept an ever-present eye upon the Trainer he had a feeling would make the final cut. He had a top four of potentials already, but time could change his opinion, as could new students. Pupils needed to constantly advance, to keep ahead of their peers. Such Trainers grasped that he only took the best. He kept an eye on all of them, though Redwood's antics often drew his gaze with routine curiosity.

He was a strange man, always lounging around with his Pokémon, smoking various plants he grew on his Torterra's shell astoundingly quick in the bright southern sun. Despite the Swamp's ever present and entrancingly green canopy, there were patches of sunlight where his Torterra would lounge, and he'd discovered that tossing the seeds of Leaf he found in his purchased bags onto his Pokémon's shell was an amazing way to grow a stash for the rapidly approaching winter.

He'd run out of seeds once, of course, but the 'Vegemite Man' as he'd named the blonde stranger from Unova, always had more. From their home region, no less. He seemed glad to share it whenever he stopped by the compound, but it seemed he'd been unable to beat Hilbert, either. The Leaf often reminded him of home, and Terra kept up a steady supply of it for his Trainer, who hoarded it in a strong, storm cloud colored jar, full of crushed Leaf.

When asked why he did this, by the Psychic Sage himself, Alex replied, "Because, winter is coming." Oranguru's stoically passive face had twitched as he suppressed the urge to laugh, and had gone back to lounging. Winter was indeed coming, but this one wouldn't be too terrible. Next year's, he had sensed, would be quite harsh indeed.

The next chance he had, Oranguru looked in on Redwood some more. He moved around strangely, with a makeshift 'staff' of what looked like a long, thin, ancient piece of plastic waste used at one point, ironically, for cleaning homes.

He'd apparently found it while wandering the Swamp, but now, it was an extension of himself, and when asked if such a strong Trainer like him needed a real staff, Alex simply shrugged saying, "I don't mind using this one until it breaks. I have a better one."

From then on, he made a show of idly twirling it as he amused himself on his solar-powered computer, which he'd stashed in his bag. He smoked, gamed, and grew more for winter, when he wasn't training, of course. Through his Box Link, Arbor got some training time in as well, and evolved into a Grovyle. Garuda was a Combusken now, apparently, and was leading the Torchic back on the ranch as their Alpha. The pair who got the most training though, were his Umbreon, Shadow, and Espeo, his Espeon. Training on other Champions made them strong enough to be sufficient guards for the ranch.

His debts were paid back home from the money he'd gained on the road, and he'd earned the right to not have to deal with his family's insanity this Arcanalia, another term for the Festivus season. When his device needed recharging, he trained with his team, every day, pitting them against the opponent they'd have the most trouble against over and over, until they found a way to win. Training ceased when the charging was done, and there was a decent eight hour split, with the rest of the time being used for sleep. Since training here, he found he only needed four hours for a full mental recharge.

He'd told his family he would become a serious Trainer, and with the sheer amount of uncontrolled destruction his lounging Pokémon wreaked on his 'room' any civilized home would've been destroyed. Yet another reason not to return home for Festivus. After Redwood had blocked the Sage's full power moves, there had been a shift in the mood of the complex.

The other students continued to get one-on-one time with the Sage, but Redwood had not, as his Gallade had already learned Psycho Cut and Sacred Sword, thus fixing the weakest link in his team. While many of the other disciples envied or disliked him for his seemingly rapid advancement, most had been fascinated, or curious, and sought to learn from him.

He had combined the Unovan Dragons together again, after all, at the Sage's own admission when the feat had been doubted, as was typical. It was no small accomplishment, restoring a Guardian, and none wondered if the Sage was lying. There had been video evidence of the entire thing, after all.

Alex explained what he'd learned about combining the energy of Pokémon, and how he used it in battles, and often he would spar with the other Trainers, teaching them what moves he could, usually though, he was the one learning.

Oranguru had approved of this, and soon, being able to successfully combine a dual-type Pokémon's attacks was a requirement for advancing. Many Trainers had special crystals and at least one Pokémon with dual typing, so all of them had the potential to master this style of battling.

Alex hadn't held onto his perfect win record, not like he supposedly had in Unova. The Trainer from the Fornia region with the sandy blonde hair and classic good looks had arrived at his hut to challenge him one day, and revealed that all he used was a Rayquaza.

Typically, there were three shades of Rayquaza to a continental region, not dissimilar to the roosting habits of Moltres, Zapdos, and Articuno. Each Rayquaza ruled over a portion of the sky, and often you could tell which you were facing by its coloring. Because much of the western part of the continent had red rocks, the western sky's Rayquaza had formed red scales, while the east's remained green. Unova's Rayquaza was much, much older though, having legends of its heroic and noble deeds that stretched back as far as the Unovan Dragon's own history. Give or take a century.

This Trainer's Rayquaza was powerful, and could even Mega Evolve. Often a powerful Outrage attack would one-hit Alex's chosen Pokémon, Shruikan, and through the bastardry of item usage mid-battle, he could end up missing the right moment to hit the Legendary with a dragon move in between truly destructive bursts of rage.

Shruikan saw it as good training though, for if he was going to be stuck in this green hell, he might as well benefit from it. As messy as Alex's Pokémon were, their destruction usually did not permanently injure their surroundings, but this Trainer and his partner did not seem to care what destruction their attacks left in their wake.

Each time they battled, the Swamp around them would have devastation for miles, the only exception was when Shruikan actually got hit. Then, it was the makeshift battlefield that took the damage.

After a straight week of being beaten in this manner, Alex approached the Sage, more irritated than anything. His items were not infinite, and he was running through Max Revives. There was no place to replenish them, either. Oranguru had almost seemed to smirk, and say that Alex simply hadn't practiced enough, clearly. He'd returned home then, only to find Brad waiting to battle again. This latest loss was different, however.

"What's the matter?" The sandy blonde Trainer said, shouting as Shruikan went down again after the latest pair of Outrage attacks. The Trainer's flute cured confusion, so after a brief song from it, his Rayquaza could attack over and over.

"Too much for you? As someone who's supposedly mastered a Trio of Legendary Pokémon, I figured you of all people would be able to handle my 'inferior' west coast Rayquaza. Have you caught the eastern one yet? Or, you could just use the Unovan Dragon… unless he was too much to handle in a ball."

On their continent, Unova and Fornia had always clashed, as they were the center of their respective regions, and the most obvious way of testing which coast was stronger, short of war, was battling. There was a tradition of Trainers catching the Rayquaza of their region, and then battling against the other.

The east coast had a record of victory over the west, but since the east's Trainer had passed several years ago, causing their Rayquaza to disappear in sorrow, the west now claimed superiority. Nobody in Unova seemed to care however, as they were too enamored with the return of Tao to bother with worrying about the annual battle with the Fornians.

Alex smirked. He swirled his bag around to his front, catching the 'staff' that had been resting between the pack and his back expertly, before it could fall. He fished through his pack with one hand, and pulled out an emerald colored ball, patterned with the coloration of the eastern green Rayquaza's scales.

These battles had acquired a small crowd of other disciples over the past few days, and now, they murmured with excitement at the appearance of this ball. This was the Trainer who combined the Unova Dragon. Surely catching a Rayquaza would've been easy compared to that.

The other Trainer stared. "You…did catch it? Then why aren't you using it?" Alex shrugged, smirking inwardly as he played up his bluff. The ball was, of course, empty.

"My own team needs the experience more than a Legendary Dragon Type does. I was hoping to battle your team, you know, the one you journeyed with?" The crowd murmured again, and the Trainer, Brad, lowered his gaze at the mention of his team.

He had classic good looks and tan skin to match his hair, a perfect stereotype of the people who lived on the western golden coast. As Brad looked down, a flash of red light burst from Alex's belt. Blaze appeared in a burst of flame, and glared down at the tan Trainer, nostrils flaring as he recognized the scent of the man who'd abandoned him.

He'd watched from his ball for several days now as this Trainer had beaten his, and while losing wasn't new for them, it wasn't common. Not that common, at any rate. He'd been itching to save their battle record, for Blaze actually cared that his wins counted towards the League's view of their skill level, but he hadn't been sure of this Trainer's identity until he'd gotten a good look at him, and his chosen Pokémon. Blaze had been abandoned, forced to wander the massive desert of the Orre region, as his Trainer had managed to acquire Rayquaza early on through sheer luck. A relative's Pokéball.

Evidently, he had no longer seen the point in using his Charmander, so he flew into the desert and left it. Blaze shifted his gaze to the 'guardian' that was responsible for abandoning him. This Rayquaza could fly far and fast, and once it saw its Trainer leave Blaze's ball, it must have known the Charmander within was likely to die if left alone. Yet it had done nothing to prevent this.

Blaze had emerged from that ball on his own, and upon realizing he'd been abandoned by his best friend, shattered the symbol of their bond with Dragon Tail. It was a move that would keep him alive as he traveled ever eastward for years, towards the rising sun. Alone, lost, and in one of the most hostile environments on the planet, he moved quickly, avoiding human and Pokémon alike. As he crossed, he gained only a few levels. Enough to, at least, learn Ember and give him a slight type advantage over the many bug and grass Pokémon he ran into. It was sloppy though, and had a tendency to completely miss his target. Between that and Dragon Tail, he'd managed to survive. He'd traveled from one side of the continent to the other before he realized what he was looking for was an honest Trainer who could make him strong. He was sick of losing to ground types.

The fire crystal in Alex's pocket glowed, and surrounded the Charizard. His form shifted as he near-instantly mega evolved. His eyes were as red as they had been against Lizardon, and he snorted blue flames at Rayquaza, before focusing his gaze on his old Trainer, and snarling.

Being the sole member of a Trainer's team for most of his pretty challenging journey had made this crimson Rayquaza a bit arrogant, and attached, to this human. What he'd lived through had touched a sympathetic nerve in the dragon, one the cult the boy belonged to used to their advantage. He was in prime form, could Mega Evolve, and few were capable of withstanding his Outrage. The Legendary Pokémon's eyes burned as well. If this upstart thought he could match a Legendary because of a temper tantrum, Rayquaza would put him in his place.

Realizing the battle was on again, Rayquaza kept his Mega Form, but before he could unleash an Outrage, Blaze was there, furious, both claws engulfed in the deep red, sparking energy of his Dragon Claw. Alex shared his rage, as through their link he had read the Charizard's thoughts, and memories. The fire lizard had, after some reluctance, finally shared them with his team.

Blaze had always been reluctant to share his past with his Trainer, but now, the secret was out. There was no hesitation on Alex's part. He shared the universal dislike of Trainers who abandoned their Pokémon, and Blaze had more than earned his revenge. He freely gave him the power to take it. United, they were ridiculously strong.

It didn't matter if this single battle with Shruikan had already ended, Rayquaza hadn't been hit, and this was a grudge match that Alex had no intention of stopping. The crimson Rayquaza went flying through the air, and though it eventually managed to right itself, it had been knocked clear of the makeshift field Alex had outside his hut.

After so many Outrage attacks, the 'field' was basically gone, but that didn't matter anymore. Furious, and knowing he'd need room to fly, Blaze torched the vines around them, clearing a space above the field. Oranguru's field had a similar open-air space, so Alex figured it was fine. There would always be more vines.

"Alex! Calm your Charizard down!" The cry came from Red, who was standing beside Gary Oak. Both known experts on how to use a Charizard. Red's, once Gary's, was rumored to be the Alpha of the Charicific Valley, in Johto.

The two had met, of course, and Alex found the older Trainer's insight both amusing and enlightening. They'd even pitted their Charizard against each other, and had a great match. Blaze had gone strike for strike with Red's Charizard. Alex was kind of proud. They'd eventually had to stop however, as the combined heat of two Pokémon with Drought had rapidly turned the Swamp to kindling.

Oranguru had watched the battle unfold from his bowl throne, which could ascend to the branches of his tree, and had eventually called for the flaming fire lizards to cease, before they ruined the ecosystem by drying out too many plants.

Alex shook his head at Red's words, and the other Trainer arched a brow. "Don't worry, Red. His eyes do this sometimes...but he's never been more focused. It's long past time for this Rayquaza to face someone on its own level." Alex spoke quickly as Brad's Rayquaza recovered, and prepared to retaliate. He had no doubt as to what move it would use.

"Trainers who abandon their Pokémon are scum." Alex declared, glaring across the ruined field at his opponent. "This Charizard was once your Charmander. Do you remember him? You left him in the Orre Desert to die once you had your Legendary."

Brad kept his face neutral as he ordered his partner to attack. "Outrage." The small crowd's murmurs turned to angry whispers, and more than a few glared at the Fornian Trainer. It seemed the rumors about the Fornian's tendency to leave weak Pokémon to the desert east of their region was true. The Church's Trainers only accepted the strong.

Nobody liked stereotypes but most gathered had learned about Alex's mental connection to his team by this point. His words rang with truth, and Blaze's fury only reinforced them.

Crimson light surrounded the Legendary dragon, and a similarly colored beam shot from its maw, towards Blaze. Wordlessly, he narrowly dodged by turning sideways in the air, and flew towards his opponent. The thing about Outrage however, was that it was a furious, multiple shot attack that kept coming and rarely missed.

Blaze dodged each of the fierce shots, using Alex's eyes and his ability to fly in combination. He'd been burning for a shot at this Rayquaza for years. He refused to lose. Now, this Trainer would see what he had missed by choosing a Legendary Pokémon over him. That choice had cost Blaze everything he'd ever known before being tossed into the wilderness to survive. It was time for revenge.

Once he reached his opponent, the Charizard raised a claw, and Rayquaza twisted, planning to dodge it. Blaze let the claw slash through the air uselessly. He hadn't summoned power for the Dragon Claw attack, but instead used it to gain momentum for a forward roll that ended with a fierce Dragon Tail.

Rayquaza's eyes widened as it recognized that particular strike, one his sire had mastered. The crimson dragon went down hard, but this was a Legendary, and a well-trained one at that. The irritating sound of Brad's flute cured the haze of confusion that had begun to settle over his eyes, and once more, Outrage struck.

Once more, Blaze dodged. In a normal battle, he might have taken a hit, but this was no normal battle. Not for him. This was long-awaited revenge against the Trainer who'd abandoned him. His focus was like iron, and linked as he was to his Trainer in his Mega Form, these attacks almost seemed to move in slow motion. Seeing them from multiple angles made dodging much easier. Had the Rayquaza used its own speed to outmatch him, Blaze likely would've fell, but he could tell this dragon had been relying on its impressive power alone for quite a long time.

Again, he countered, dodging the last furious blasts of red energy before coming up and hitting the Legendary with a dual Dragon Claw across his throat. It was a critical hit, and caused serious damage, but Blaze wasn't done. He spun again, sideways this time, hitting the snake-like body of the Legendary horizontally, and sent it soaring across the river to the west, through yet more vines that hadn't been burned, and into the trunk of a large, ancient tree on the opposing side of the wide river that surrounded the island.

Alex sensed his Charizard fully intended to rid the western skies of their guardian, when he shouted, "Enough!"

Blaze paused, glaring back at his Trainer, and Alex focused on their link, reaching into his partner's mind, and letting his inner peace mix with and balance out Blaze's rage. "Enough…" He said again, tone soft.

Blaze landed, and Alex held out his hand, palm open. The fire lizard pressed his forehead against it, and his Trainer sighed in relief. He'd been close to losing control, closer than he'd ever been, but Alex didn't blame him for it. He would've been just as furious.

"You'd better go to him." Alex said, louder, hand still resting against his Charizard. "He's hurt. I can sense it from here." He looked from Blaze to Hydrus then. "Help him cross the river, and then bring him to the northern edge of the Swamp."

The Swampert then ordered the other water types he'd gathered at the Sage's request to keep dousing fires, as it obeyed Alex's command. Oranguru watched, stunned, as his command was overwritten. The mud fish respected the boy more than a Sage. He sighed, exhaling Leaf smoke as he watched the human from his perch. "This kid…"

Alex turned to Brad then, giving him the same icy stare his Charizard was. "From there you can find a Pokémon Center. Heal your partner, and don't come back. Scum like you doesn't deserve to learn from the Sage."

The sandy blonde's face twisted with anger. "You're going to pay for this, Redwood…"

Alex smirked. "No, I don't believe I am. When you and I next meet, Shruikan will be more than a match for you, and on the off-chance he isn't…" Blaze snorted, his flames still burned blue, and they seared the air.

"My Charizard will handle you. Either way, you are done here. I'm not going to abandon you and your injured partner to the Swamp, the way you abandoned Blaze. I'm a Pokémon Trainer. I try to help everyone. Now get out."

Brad looked around, but seeing that the few friends he'd gained here had turned to enemies, judging by their expressions, he did as Alex suggested. He was wise enough at least, to take help when it was offered. He stomped over to where Hydrus waited, muttering as he shoved past Alex, "You will pay for this, Redwood. I'll find another Sage. Mark me, this is not over."

Blaze snarled at the Fornian Trainer, fangs bared. "End him now, no threat later…" His thought process echoed in Alex's head. Rather than respond, Alex focused on keeping Blaze's fury from re-igniting.

"Not yet, my friend…" He replied, glaring at the Trainer as Hydrus ferried him over. "Not yet…be better than he is. Everyone has the potential for redemption...and if they don't, he at least, does. There's potential, otherwise Oranguru wouldn't have let him in. Time away might do his attitude some good." He stayed closely linked to Hydrus for the rest of the day, and when he felt the pair had reached the northern edge of the Swamp, where they'd started from, he instructed his Pokémon to return post-haste.

Hydrus did so, but not before batting away a Master Ball from Brad, sending it smashing back into his face. The coward had tried to add thievery to his list of abuses, and Alex looked forward to the day he dared to show his face again.

Alex exhaled slowly, and kept himself, and the rest of his team, calm. They would use that anger later, and save it for a battle in the future. For now, he would let it simmer. Once Hydrus returned, Alex sensed Red approaching.

He arrived just as his Swampert did. "The Sage has asked to see you." Alex nodded. He'd been expecting that, as well. He rose, and headed back towards the compound.

Sahqoreyth · Mar 28, 2024

Chapter 13: The Castelian Civil War

Hall of the Swamp Sage - The Sage's Isle

"I will say this much. You have nerve, Redwood." The Foggy Swamp Sage sat upon his wooden bowl-throne which, Alex realized, was balanced perfectly on one of the massive roots of the tree that grew on this 'island'.

He raised a brow at his mentor, and crossed his arms. "I'm sorry, I assumed you wouldn't want Trainers who abandon young Pokémon to their death in favor of power, learning from you. Was I wrong in that assumption? If so, I'll leave right now."

Oranguru raised a hand. "Nonsense. Nobody leaves until I allow them to. What you learn here can be dangerous if not used properly."

Alex rolled his eyes. What he himself had actually learned here was minimal. His team had gotten most of the training. His own 'power' remained woefully untrained. "All the more reason to not allow Trainers like Brad here in the first place."

There was a heavy sigh from the Sage, and he glanced at his Passimian guards. They proceeded to leave immediately after. "I sense conflict within you. I assumed that when you said you would be staying here for the winter it was because you had nowhere else to go, but that is not the case, is it."

Alex frowned, and buried his surface thoughts. "Don't change the subject. We were talking about Bra-"

"We talk about what I say we talk about, Redwood." The Sage interrupted, "I am the master. You are the student. Speak, why have you not opted to return alongside the others for your solstice holiday?"

Alex averted his gaze from the Sage, "I have no desire to see my family when I could be honing my skills. I still can't use these powers I supposedly have." That wasn't entirely true, as he could at least levitate a pebble now…but the appeal of levitating a small rock was short-lived. Still, just seeing the damned thing move when he ordered it to with his mind was intensely satisfying, after years of literally nothing. He levitated his Pokéballs every chance he got, wanting to get stronger.

The Sage pressed him, speaking as he always did, with his mind, not his mouth. "There is more to life than training. For those like us, there must be time to eat and rest as well. Do you not care for your family? Do you not wish to see your-"

It was Alex's turn to cut him off. He didn't want to think about who he was missing out on seeing, as it was too painful. "Of course I care. I have those I wish to see. But this is more important. My instinct says to stay here and train."

Oranguru's wide lips formed into a sly smirk. "You Humans pride yourselves on the ability to ignore your instincts, do you not?"

Alex's eyes narrowed, as his mastery over his lustier urges had been a recent stray thought when Jess had been all but mentioned. "Stay out of my head."

The large Pokémon laughed then, a sight that was rare, as the Sage did not often display emotion. "I cannot. Your thoughts are like a loudspeaker, and my senses are everywhere, I see all, I hear the thoughts of every living thing in my domain. I could listen to the planet, if I wanted to go mad. I cannot help it if I overhear yours. Such is the strength of my psychic power."

"See!? That! That is what I want to learn." Alex sighed, looking down, then finally back to his master. For all the grief and riddles, he had come to like the old Sage in the long months they'd been stuck together. His humor was dry, clever, and often Alex was the only one who laughed at his jokes, as he was the first one to grasp them. The Passimian found them humorous as well, but the other students were still convinced the Sage simply wasn't funny.

They still needed time, and that was the deciding factor in what had convinced Oranguru to let them return to their homes for two months. He knew many would not return. Living in the Swamp was hard, after all.

"A compromise then, master. Teach me how to speak to those I cannot see, with my mind. Or tell me how I can lift more than a damned pebble. Give me something to hone over the two months you want me gone. If you don't, I might go mad with boredom."

He'd almost gone mad with it by staying here. Red had been the last to leave, as he'd finally left roughly an hour ago. Those who remained were the Sage's attendants, students who had dropped out of training, content to aid the Sage with whatever he needed them to do. By this point in his training, it was the middle of November. Since most of the Champions had left for the absurdly long holiday of Festivus, which lasted for all of November and ended on the final day in December with the New Year, the days had become monotonous, and aside from his daily spar with the Sage, the rest of his time had become outright dull. There was no connection to the Pokénet out here, he'd thoroughly beaten what games he'd brought with him, and if he was being honest, he missed conversing with people whose mouths actually moved when they spoke.

He missed food that had flavor, and wasn't remotely related to rice or bread. He hadn't had meat for the longest time, and while Blaze, Shruikan, and Leo hunted, he didn't find what they brought back very appetizing.

The Sage looked him over, the same way he'd done when he first arrived, and Alex's excitement grew as he sensed he was finally about to convince his master's stony refusal to teach him to bend.

"Fine."

The deep voice boomed in his skull, and rang with a tone of conceding an argument. He'd been pushing for more training for months, without success. Until now.

"I will teach you how to reach out with your mind and communicate with those you cannot see, and even those who are far away. Then, once you have the basics to practice, you will go home, and enjoy what time you can with your family."

He knew better than to jump with excitement, but he was practically shivering with it. He bowed instead, right fist to left palm. "I await your instruction, master."

The Sage rolled his tired eyes, and then closed them. "Enter the state you are in when you meditate…Arthur, join us." Arthur appeared then in a flash of pinkish-white light, bowed, and sat beside Alex, legs crossed. Alex copied him.

"Show him."

The Sage spoke again, echoing in his head, and Alex blinked in surprise. "Wh-" but he was already being guided by Arthur's own Psychic power, instructed first hand on how exactly to reach out with his, and sense the world around them. This was mainly done by focusing what energy he could in his forehead. Fighting types shouted, and embraced emotion to gain power, but psychic types relied on a calm mind, and intense focus. Such was required to keep their energy from going wild.

His lack of emotion played a large part in this, and Arthur warned him to maintain his balance. Anger, frustration, rage, these things could manifest as devastating psychic forces if left unchecked, and could potentially destroy the world around them. If he turned too dark, the atrocities he committed with such power would haunt him forever. Luckily, Alex had always been slow to anger.

Something he felt he'd been missing for months finally clicked into place, and his eyes shone blue. First, he sensed Arthur, then the Sage, then the Passimian guards just outside the room. He opened his eyes, and felt he could still sense them.

He brought his senses in, then expanded them again, over and over, testing the limits of how far he could actually reach. Oranguru watched his student with his own third eye as he took his first steps into a larger world.

"Come." The Sage said, "Place your hand upon this root…sense the tree as you have sensed us, and you will begin to understand how to commune over distances that seem beyond your reach."

Alex raised a brow, and rose. Arthur followed him as Alex ascended to the throne, and surreptitiously peered into it as he knelt beside the root his master was balanced on. He knew Red had been lying about the master having Pokéballs within his reach. A Pokémon as a Trainer? Outrageous.

They could teach, yes, battle alone, learn from and enlighten others, but battling as Trainer and Pokémon was an act only humans and Pokémon could do together seriously. It hadn't stopped some of the more humanoid ones from trying, but things like Mega Evolution remained beyond the abilities of such pairings. He didn't quite know why. Yet.

Red had the opposite opinion, mostly because his spoon-wielding Mewtwo had battled him with his own team of allies, before Red eventually caught him. Mewtwo and Arthur had yet to face each other, as Alex kept holding off, until they had a Psychium crystal. Mewtwo's power was allegedly on par with Arceus. Especially in Mega Form. If they were going to battle, it needed to be somewhat even.

He felt the Sage's power force his mind back to the root, and he cleared his thoughts once more, placing a hand upon it. He reached out, feeling it as he had felt the others. It was alive, of course, but beyond that, he couldn't tell what he was supposed to be understanding. "I don't…I don't sense anything, master."

He heard the Sage sigh. "You're too focused on what is in front of you. Reach out to what you know is beyond you. Be mindful of your surroundings."

Sensing what he was getting at, Alex shifted his focus to the tree itself. It was just out of his reach, but then he noticed that if he but followed the root, he could reach it. That was when things began to make more sense.

The root was a part of the tree, it didn't matter how far away it was, they were connected, and that connection could be followed. Follow it he did, and again, his perception changed. The tree, he had known, was massive, but he had never understood just how massive it truly was.

It went deeper than he imagined, and he followed the roots, until eventually to his surprise, instead of ending, they grew into another tree. And another. The further he followed them, the wider his perception became, until finally he could see it all. It was similar to when he'd received the map to this place telepathically.

For a brief moment, he had sensed the entire Swamp, and everything's position in it. Later, he had discovered that ability had disappeared with time. Now, he realized, that awareness had been residual knowledge from the Sage. He was as much a part of the Swamp as this tree was. Alex once more felt as though something obvious was staring him in the face.

He sensed the Swamp, and everything in it, and just as he felt he was about to cross that threshold of understanding, an entirely too-relaxed voice echoed in his head.

"Hey there."

The random, casual voice he heard in his head made him jump, and he could feel the two psychic types next to him smirk.

"I'm the Swamp Tree. How's it hangin' bra?"

Alex glanced, eyes still shining blue, at his master, and then the tree again. He sensed it all, and the Swamp Tree made him realize just how close a connection psychic power let you have. With anything. Plants were great, naturally, and were usually pretty chill to talk to.

He smirked, and decided to enthusiastically roll with it, responding mentally, "Not much, Swamp Tree. What's up with you?"

The two conversed for almost thirty minutes then, and Alex learned exactly how effective trying to get information out of a tree was. You had to know the right questions, otherwise the trees would mock you, and remind you that they were just trees.

He sighed, as he sensed the Swamp Tree was yet another witty mentor. He knew they'd be having lessons all the time.

"At last, he understands." The gentle mocking of his psychic partner echoed in his head.

"Return to us." The Sage said. His usually thunderous tone seemed muted.

Alex panicked for a moment, unable to separate his own senses from everything he was connected to now, but then Swamp Tree reminded him that he could simply follow his mind's own tie to his body back to the Sage.

It was a complex bit of mental gymnastics, but eventually he forced his eyes open. He was sweating, drenched, really, and he hated every second of being so swampy, but he'd finally done it. He also had an inkling as to how to solve his pebble problem, but that could wait. He looked up at his master then, and simply bowed.

"Thank you. I will depart." The Sage stopped him.

"Hold, a moment. What you have just learned is not to be shared lightly. In the wrong hands, this power would unbalance the entire world. It has before. Understand that if you share this knowledge with whoever you can, you will not be welcome in this Swamp again, nor will any of the other Sages train you."

Alex frowned, "But how do I discern who I can and cannot pass it on to? Did you not tell us that someday we would be responsible for passing on what we have learned?"

The Sage sighed again. He'd forgotten how impatient humans were. "Always reaching for knowledge they cannot yet handle…" Alex blinked. He had a feeling the Sage hadn't meant to share that thought, but he'd picked up on it anyway.

Indeed, he realized, he could now sense the surface thoughts of Arthur, and the nearby guards as well, if he but looked. He felt that doing so was a bit rude however, and he tried to ignore it.

Oranguru continued, "When you can peer into a person's mind and see the core of their being, you will know. It's the same as how you know what typing a Pokémon has. Instinctual. You are not, however, able to keep your emotions from clouding your perception yet. Leave the passing of knowledge to the Sages, and be patient. Your time will come."

Alex thought for a moment, then responded, saying, "I know someone who is worthy. If I judge her correctly, and you share my judgement when she comes here, will you trust me to share this knowledge?"

The Sage eyed him again, and Alex had no doubt that he knew exactly who he had in mind. "Interesting. Very well, it is agreed. If you can successfully judge her potential without being blinded, I will help you refine your skill in this further. It will be a good first step. Once I deem you ready, you may share it with whomever you wish. Know this, however, those you teach will be bonded with you for life. They become your responsibility, their actions will reflect your tutelage. And mine."

Alex bowed again, nodding. "I understand, master. I won't fail." The Sage eyed the young human, and suppressed the urge to chuckle. He didn't understand, not yet, but he would. Sooner than he could imagine.

Packing his things took less time than he thought it would, and as he headed for the entrance that connected to the river, he saw the forty Passimian who lived with and protected the Sage awaiting him, though many sat on the roof of the entrance building, or in some of the lower hanging branches of the great tree.

They too trained here, practicing a style of martial arts that was all their own, the Foggy Swamp Style, that each human pupil was expected to learn as well. Alex hadn't really picked it up as well as the other students.

They were all still nowhere near the Passimian's level however. Their leader, who Alex had personally sparred with only once, and lost badly against, was holding a small cloth sack full of rice and bread. He blinked, wondering how he knew that, and then realized that he had inadvertently sensed the thoughts of the Pokémon before him.

Feeling slightly guilty, his appreciation for his budding power grew, and he knew it would only grow stronger. He needed to keep it in check, always. His master had once compared his fledging power and his own, saying that he had achieved but a single drop, in a wide, wide ocean. He decided not to give the Sage attitude if he accidentally sensed his thoughts in the future, and he knew the urge to resist reading someone's thoughts would be strong indeed.

Accepting the gift, he bowed low, and then brought his free right hand up rapidly as he sensed the lead Passimian strike. He'd taken his eyes off the Pokémon, but he managed to catch the blow on his own arm, even though it hurt quite badly. He'd have a bruise there for sure. Seemingly impressed, the Passimian dispersed then, and let him be on his way.

The trip through the Swamp this time was actually rather pleasant, and for some reason, many of the Pokémon he saw from Hydrus' back eyed him for a long time as he passed. It was only when he reached out with his new senses and caught some of their surface thoughts that he realized they had felt him earlier, and recognized his presence as a friendly one.

Feeling Hydrus' sudden desire to speed through the rest of this trip, he crouched low again, and once more, Trainer and Pokémon rocketed around the spiral. He was much faster than last time, and Alex held on to his head fins for dear life. Each of his team had grown stronger over the past few months here, but he wouldn't know by how much until he battled some Unovan Trainers. Still, Hydrus' improvement was a good indication.

His little mud fish had once more improved in skill, and now, when he and Terra sparred, the very earth shook, rumbling like thunder. They'd become good friends as well, the shared ground typing and the beneficial relationship between water and grass types made them natural friends, and rivals.

Instead of just stopping at the edge of the Swamp, Hydrus found a route that led into a river which would take them onto the western part of the grassy plains they'd entered from. Most Pokémon would've just stayed in the water and let their Trainer disembark, but Hydrus was nothing if not playful. As a Mudkip it had been cute. As a Swampert, it usually meant Alex was in for another night of sore bruising.

Hydrus approached the bank from the water, and launched into the air, soaring a respectable distance before landing hard on the shore. Being part ground type, he didn't mind. His Trainer, however, was tossed violently and rolled a few times before coming to a stop, and groaning.

Thankfully, his water-proof bag full of fragile items had been strapped to a safe place on the large Pokémon, and seemed to have avoided damage. He was glad. A 'bigger on the inside' bag was rare, and his gift from his granduncle was apparently unique. Despite that, he'd learned both Jess and Connor possessed similar bags, but neither of them would tell him why.

Alex raised his head groggily, and saw the river which curved to the west, and eventually fed into the much larger river that split the northern continent unevenly in half.

The eastern states had a certain amount of territory a specific number of miles west of that river, which was under their control. The center of the continent was full of regions and people who historically had wanted no part of the eastern and western rivalry, and they served as a buffer between the two, to prevent war. That hadn't always been the case, and there were still some areas of the middle of the continent that favored one coast over the other, but in this modern age, they were at peace.

Once Alex recovered from the rough landing, and glared at his ever-happy Swampert as he recalled him to his ball, Blaze was up next. He hadn't been very good at carrying Alex on his back before, as his Trainer was quite large, and that muscle mass added a lot of weight.

Now, he didn't seem to have a problem. After months of staying low under the vine-filled canopy, training against Pokémon, like Red's own Charizard, who had been flying much longer than he had, his wing strength had increased considerably.

It had to, as the Passimian he'd sparred against were weak to flying type attacks, but only if he could hit them hard enough with them. Now free to fly as high as he wished, Blaze shot flames from his maw and corkscrewed through the air as they headed ever northward. Once more, Alex held on for dear life, and wondered if he'd ever be able to simply enjoy traveling on his Pokémon.

Eventually, Blaze's giddy joy at being free to fly as high as he wished faded, and he leveled out. They flew low and fast over the land, passing many towns, and even cities. His Charizard was much faster than before with his new size, and on their journey north, they were stopped twice by enterprising flying type Trainers who simply needed to battle that Charizard. Upon learning he was somewhat famous as well, they'd only gotten more excited. The battle over the Dragon Mountain had gone viral, after all.

Alex indulged them, as they had both been rather young, as most Trainers whose teams consisted of only one species or type of Pokémon often were. It was usually the older Trainers who had balanced teams, like his, that could give an advantage over pretty much every type. He'd let Blaze battle on his own, deciding to take the time to inform a certain lady of his impending arrival via text-based Holoceiver message.

He had no desire to intrude on the Festivus celebrations quite yet, and he knew the Gladstones would likely be at the ranch. The Redwoods always had their neighbors over this time of year, or vice versa, which of course meant that it became a madhouse.

While he would never admit it to his master, he had missed many of his cousins. He hadn't seen them for over a year after all, and now it was December. So much had happened in that time, it felt like years had passed, not months. More than that, he was the Champion now.

He'd done what he'd said he would do, and had excelled once he'd finally gotten his team together. He wondered if his stubborn father would finally admit that he'd been wrong in essentially ruining his childhood, but that was one conversation he fully intended to avoid. Irritating him purposefully for the holiday would only irritate everyone else who had to deal with him. He'd waited two decades for the opportunity to prove his father wrong. He could wait some more.

He knew that the arrival of a Champion in such a crowded house would change the mood, and likely spark the aforementioned confrontation. Jess however, from the image she sent in response, did not mind the return of her Champion. She'd even mentioned that her own house was empty. He fought down a flush in his cheeks and was suddenly rather glad he'd been coerced into coming home. One sparring session a day was simply not enough to release his stress. It was as he was enjoying the thought of imminent rest in civilized company, that he noticed the air around them had gone still. The kind of stillness that only resulted from powerful Pokémon, and their abilities. Rain Dance could vary in power, but was usually localized. Things like Air Lock or Drizzle affected things on a much larger scale.

It was still cold, but the wind was gone. Blaze had assumed his Mega Form halfway through the miles of land between the middle coast and Unova, and though they made great time through the snowstorm currently hitting the region, the wind had been rough.

They had just crossed into Unova, and were now crossing high above New Tork City, specifically the Join Boulevard, on their journey northward. They had no idea what was going on in the city below, but they'd be back soon enough to find out.

They were over the region's Entral Park when they noticed the sudden lack of frigid, north east coast winter wind. Blaze let out a Flamethrower at a mental command from his Trainer, and he nodded, understanding. Even the falling snow had frozen in mid-air. His suspicions grew.

It was as he was pondering why the locking of air seemed so familiar, that he noticed. A flash of green came to the corner of his eye, and Blaze, with his reflexes in his Mega Form, shot upwards, above the powerful bluish purple Outrage attack. They unified their sight, as they did before every battle these days, and both rider and Pokémon saw their opponent.

The Rayquaza of the eastern coast. Many Rayquaza patrolled the massive expanse of sky across the world, but because it was the Unovan Dragon that created them, Unova's was the oldest, by far. This meant that he was twice as long as his other counterparts, and that much harder to tame.

The eastern coast's guardian of the sky had vanished when his previous Trainer had passed on. Dragons, especially Legendary ones like Rayquaza, were exceptionally long-lived, if not outright immortal. They tended to avoid Trainers, because of their tendency to be mortal, but once they bonded, they were friends for life.

Alex smirked, as he realized the Outrage attack had been to get his attention. He could only imagine how it looked from the ground. Tao had warned him that his revival would likely draw out the grieving Rayquaza, and that Alex would have to capture him if balance was to be maintained. Alex hadn't actually expected to run into him over the city. Or so soon.

He hoped they were high enough to avoid collateral damage. Blaze launched a Flamethrower in a wide fan at the Legendary dragon, only to burst through it at a different angle, and strike with a Dragon Claw as the jade dragon gracefully dodged under the flames.

Blaze was relentless, and refused to lose to a Rayquaza after his experience in the Swamp. He didn't care how old it was, he would establish himself as being on par with dragon types. Especially in this form. His successful claw sent the large jade dragon down, and he spun into a Dragon Tail. Bonded as they were, Blaze knew his Trainer feared for the residents of this massive, poison infested nest of humans that was New Tork City, and thus the great green dragon had been aimed into a part of the water surrounding Entral Park.

Nimbasa was close enough to see, and Alex again reminded his Charizard that there were people nearby. The area between Nimbasa and Opeleucid was lightly populated by humans, but he knew Pokémon had homes here as well.

The Legendary dragon managed to right itself, expending psychic energy, as it consciously tried to avoid crushing the many water types that called this park home. That was when it felt the ball hit its scales, and it turned, glaring at its would-be Tamer.

He began to resist the capture, only to realize that this was a Master Ball the human had painted to match the green pattern of his scales. The dragon rumbled, and the Master Ball shook longer than it should have. If he was going to be captured, he was going to make this pocket dimension enjoyable to be in. Warping something as simple as a Pokéball was nothing for a Legendary Pokémon. The ball dinged shut, and then began to fall towards the water.

Not even Blaze could keep it from hitting the water, however, far away as he was. One of the Floatzel that lived in the park that happened to be nearby caught it, and batted it upwards with an Aqua Tail, shooting it high enough for Alex to catch as Blaze flew by.

Alex tossed down a Sitrus Berry he'd found, and he chuckled as he saw it submerge in the Floatzel's paw. The Pokémon of the park were absurdly friendly, after so much positive human interaction. It was just good manners to give them a berry, if they helped you. He turned his attention to his new Pokémon then, and headed for the Victory Plateau. He knew this Rayquaza would always resent him if he kept him locked away in a computer box, or a Pokéball, and he usually made a point of meeting newly captured partners before letting the PC system take them away.

He'd specifically disabled that feature on this ball, however. Having a Rayquaza on hand would undoubtedly be helpful, and it wouldn't be against the League's rules if he didn't battle with him. He had several slots for extra balls in his bag, but he hadn't expected to be using them just yet. Tao's was, of course, in there, but he'd let him remain free of it.

The Victory Plateau was empty, as he landed, and let Rayquaza free of his ball. The long-bodied dragon eyed him with suspicion, and curled himself into a pile of coils he could rest on. "Go ahead, then." The tired, psychic voice thundered in his skull, "Make your wish."

The Trainer tilted his curly haired head slightly. Everyone had heard stories of a Rayquaza that granted someone a wish if you presented the sleeping stone forms of Reshiram or Zekrom to it. He hadn't thought it was real.

"You mean that 'wish' nonsense is actually true?" The great green dragon nodded, its expression unreadable. "Well we can't have any of that." Alex said, crossing his arms. "How about we skip the part where you teach me a lesson I already know about my personal greed? I hereby wish that from this moment on, you are free from granting more wishes to those you do not deem worthy. Upon my passing from this world, your ball will become your own, to give to a Trainer you wish to partner with. The first Rayquaza shouldn't be used like Hoopa."

The great green dragon stared at the Trainer for a minute, then recognized the symbol on his hat. "I see the Swamp Sage has taught you well…it is done. Your wish is granted. I will accompany you."

"You don't have t-"

The giant snake-like dragon seemed to smirk as his thunderous mental baritone interrupted Alex. "I will accompany you whether you want me to or not. You have piqued my interest, little Human. Take from that what pride you can. Name thyself."

"Alexander Redwood. Champion of Unova, and Tamer of the Original Dragon."

Hearing that, the draconic smirk grew wider. This was indeed a fateful meeting, if this was truly the First Dragon's Tamer.

Something on the wind caused Blaze, still in his Mega Form, to turn. He hadn't dropped the form for some reason, as his instincts told him to hang on to it for now, and linked as they were, Alex smelled it as well, though not nearly as clearly.

Seeing that something had drawn his new Trainer's interest, the old Rayquaza looked now, and raised a scaly brow at what he saw. Like most Legendary Pokémon, he saw the world in a different way.

To try to put it to words is futile, suffice to say that he, like the Sage and now Alex, could tell typing from a glance. He had noticed this Trainer's latent psychic power, small and undeveloped as it was, and now in as many hours, he found a second human with similar potential, though far deeper buried. He had been right to return. The winds of change had again begun to blow.

Blaze shot a Flamethrower into the air, only to see one in return, in the distance. His Charizard was grinning, and his tail actually wagged back and forth. "My, someone's eager tonight…" Alex chuckled, guessing correctly at who was intruding on their little gathering.

A Charizard that was a bit small for a Mega Form zipped down from the gathering clouds, and entered the area of calm snow and wind that constantly surrounded Rayquaza. Alex briefly wondered if this was why people said it flew so fast.

Not having to deal with weather, like headwinds, would certainly make flying a lot easier. Jess, for her part, looked like she'd flown through a blizzard, which indeed she had. It had kicked up halfway between their home to the north and the Victory Plateau. Her heavy winter clothes, red as always, were almost white with frozen snow. She'd never looked better, to him.

Once he'd offered his jacket, and warmed her up with the fire of their two still mega evolved fire lizards, she started speaking. "As soon as I got your message, I realized I had to come get you. Things have changed in Unova, and right now, nobody expects you at home. Not yet, anyways." He sighed. He'd had a feeling Unova's balance had been disturbed, but Tao had never responded to his mental queries, and Alex assumed he could handle it. Apparently not.

"Well, go on then, what happened in the few months I was gone? Is it so hard to maintain the balance without a babysitter?" She gave him a look, before continuing. Apparently, Festivus had been stressful.

She spoke softly. "The Arceans took Tao."

Alex blinked down his rising fury, and his eyes grew hard. He knew there was a reason Tao had still felt distant, despite his return to Unova, but this was too much. "How?"

Jess shrugged, "How indeed? Once you left, Tao spent most of his time in deep meditation, though he continued to help those who visited him. Apparently, he didn't notice being captured, because he hasn't awoken since. The Arceans have him on display atop the PNN building, still resting. Anyone who tries to enter, to free him, gets blasted by a Tri-Attack from a machine they've hooked up to him and mounted on the building. Ghetsis and the Arcean's leader, Caleb Pravus, have been ranting about their 'superior technology' for the past three months, claiming that their possession of it was what had kept you and the other Champions away from Tao, who is apparently, legally, two thirds their dragon."

At the mention of the other Champions, Alex raised a brow. "You mean the others, all three of them, were beaten back? How? Ghetsis was easy enough for me, and I hadn't even gathered eight Badges when we Battled."

Jess looked down, and sighed. "The four of us, as I went with them, were repelled by Pravus, Ghetsis, and their minions. They don't Battle by League rules. They ambushed us at the front entrance with ten other Trainers, and then finished us with a Tri Attack from their machine. It's not like a Pokémon Move, it's much stronger. It fires off a condensed beam of fire, ice, or electric energy. Usually all three. Delphi managed to keep it from injuring us too badly, and we escaped. We tried a few more times to get in, but they repelled us, so we decided that we'd have to accept the situation until you returned with Hilbert."

As Alex absorbed the information, he knew numbers would be useless here. They needed to take that machine down first, and then rush in, preferably with a small group. He looked to his newest partner, the massive, ancient jade colored dragon.

"Can you take down that machine?" The Rayquaza nodded, and Alex turned towards Castelia city, then blinked again. "Hey…does Castelia look different to you? I've never seen it so bright…or so orange…" Jess turned as well, and then the Rayquaza spoke again, startling Jess as it echoed in their heads. By now, Alex was used to it.

"Those are flames. Whatever you plan to do, Champion of Unova, do it soon. The city is unbalanced, and it seems war has erupted."

Alex raised a brow. "War? Between who?"

It was Jess' turn to chime in again. "Probably between the Arceans and Tao's followers. Once you left, he let quite a few people stay at the Tower, and maintain it, as he meditated. They've been planning a rescue attempt ever since. Supposedly. Nate and Rosa have been organizing local Trainers while Hilda has been here, defeating challengers of the League. Only a few managed to get past the Four, though."

Alex stroked his bearded chin as he eyed the burning city. "And Hilbert? He should've been back by now. He left weeks ago. He's definitely strong enough, after the training we had." Hilbert had arrived at the Sage's home a week after Alex, battered and bruised, but alive, and sick of Vegemite sandwiches. He, Red, and Alex had often relaxed together when they had a free moment.

Jess shrugged again. "Nobody has seen him. He does have a tendency to vanish, though."

Alex swore, and mounted Blaze again, who was already ready to go. He was also glad he'd kept his Mega Form. Chari had done the same, and soon, Jess had mounted up as well. Close as they were, Alex caught a strangely familiar scent. He smirked at her, "Is that lilac and goo-"

"So, what's the plan, Champion?" Jess interrupted, as she put her Trainer hat on. Free of the heavy winter clothes she'd somehow stuffed in her own bag, she'd been dressed far too nicely for stopping a war, and had apparently prepared for his return before rushing off to warn him. She looked like a proper Trainer now, and he had a feeling he hadn't been the only one to improve.

Alex suppressed a chuckle, and looked back at the bright light of Castelia. "My green friend here will free the First Dragon, then…I'll have a chat with Caleb Pravus..." He didn't even bother to ask how Ghetsis had escaped prison again, as organizing Arceans in Unova was his role in the Church.

Ghetsis had slipped free of incarceration so many times now, he was convinced the prisons just let the inmates out the back door once they were processed. Apparently, the guard's Pokémon weren't always able to beat a prisoner's, and he knew from experience how strong Ghetsis was against most other Trainers. But, by law, Trainers were allowed to see their partners. That was also typically when they tried escaping. Knowing Ghetsis, he'd probably had help from the Shadow Triad, which to this day, had still never been apprehended.

Getting into the Dragonspiral Tower would've been easy for him, and knowing Ghetsis, he probably had a machine of some kind that had forced Tao into submission by surprise. Fornia had long been a rumored source of the highly illegal technology that Pokémon Hunters used to bypass the safeguards modern Trainers had at their disposal, should their partners be stolen. It had become the goal of Bill, the creator of the PC Box system, to fight against such technology with new safeguards, but the Pokémon Hunters always found a way around them, eventually. To Alex, it was obvious who was funding such people, though why the Arcean Church would do so was yet beyond him. Whatever they wanted from stolen Pokémon, it probably wasn't good.

The trip to Castelia was short enough, and they came over Nimbasa first, which was noticeably less on fire than the borough to their south, Castelia. Alex looked down as they flew over the Join Boulevard, which now connected both cities with a series of shops and residences within the long tunnel.

"It hasn't reached the Boulevard yet. Jess, keep it that way, hmm? You and I had fun there, I'd like to go back. Tell any Trainers with Water Pokémon to be ready to fight the flames. You're a Champion too, technically. They'll listen."

She sighed. He was right, technically, but nobody really acknowledged the Gladstone sibling's victory except on official records. Reuniting the Original Dragon had taken up most of the news coverage, but Alex was confident that between her looks, obvious skill, and Empolia, she'd be able to rally Unova's local Trainers. "Fine. Once that's done, I'm joining you. Stay safe."

He nodded, and she and her Charizard peeled off for the ground, where people were flooding into the relative safety of the boulevard. They had indeed had fun here, and as she landed, many of the Trainers they'd battled remembered being beaten by her, or her lover.

Soon, teams of water types were running through the city, putting out fires, and aiding the local firefighters as well. Other Trainers heard the call, and on seeing civilians were getting involved with saving their city from burning, they lent their water types to the cause. Between the Trainers Jess freed from the flames blocking the Join Boulevard and the firefighter's experience, they'd soon contained the blaze, and began putting it out in short order. Unfortunately, new fires kept popping up, and Jess switched to tracking down the arsonists with Delphi once the blazes were contained. The damage they'd caused was already significant though.

Alex and Blaze flew over the northern part of Castelia, and looked to Rayquaza then as the PNN building came into view. The aforementioned weapon affixed to the building began to glow with red, blue, and yellow light. "Let's start this party, shall we? Dragon Pulse!"

The Legendary dragon shot ahead towards the PNN building, dodged each part of the Tri Attack, and then countered with his Dragon Pulse. The way he fired, it was more like a Hyper Beam of dragon type energy. The weapon was left a smoking ruin, completely obliterated by Rayquaza's power.

"Go!" He thundered, "I will free the First Dragon." He spiraled up and away before Alex could say anything, or offer to join him, but he wasn't worried. Unova's Rayquaza was quite powerful, and without an ambush, he doubted the Arceans could handle it.

As he flew over the southern part of Castelia, Alex saw that most of the city was lighting up with new flames, as many of the Trainers below were using fire attacks. The fighting had erupted in multiple battles in the city's streets, battles that were not adhering to League rules. The Pokémon Center was overrun with members of both sides, and fist fighting had broken out there, as well. Amateur Kung Fu based on Tao's style was tested against Arcean conditioning camp martial arts, even as their Pokémon battled. He spied Burgh's Pokémon amidst the fray, but they were doing poorly against the fire types the Arceans had. Most of those fighting the Fornians seemed to be from the Dragonspiral Tower, garbed as they were in the black and white clothes Tao had envisioned for them, before Alex had departed.

Though Alex wasn't aware of it, this fighting had been raging for hours now, and was coming to the point that would decide who won and who lost. As a result, the Pokémon Center had become a crucial point for either side to hold. As another of Rayquaza's Dragon Pulses lit up the PNN building and arced towards the plasma cage that held Tao, Alex had gone further south, and had Blaze land amidst the fighting before the Pokémon Center with a Blast Burn that got everyone's attention.

The flames swirled around him and his fire lizard, and he appeared within them as they faded, arms crossed as the wave of flame skillfully burned only Arceans and their Pokémon. The awed Trainers looked his way, and he saw them grin as they recognized their Champion.

"Listen up!" He shouted, addressing the crowd. A few of Tao's students waved as they saw, and recognized him. "That explosion was the sound of the Unovan Dragon being freed of captivity. If you are an Arcean, I suggest you return home. Immediately. Things are about to turn against you in this 'war'…and I'd rather not have to kill any of you." The Unovans looked back at their opponents, who were to a man, dealing with their fainted Pokémon. The Champion had overpowered them with ridiculous ease, and his Charizard seemed raring to keep going.

At one time, they might have continued fighting. But this was Unova, and he'd built a solid enough reputation. Everyone present seemed to recognize him, if not his Charizard, and knew how strong his team was.

Blaze punctuated his words with a snarl, fully intent on being the one to battle, if he had to. A large group of what he assumed were Arceans fled down the road to the east of the center. He had a feeling they were heading for the sewers, as that had been where Team Plasma had once holed up as well. He'd have to route them out of there too, or they'd regroup, and the fighting would continue.

Blaze took off after them, sensing his thoughts, and assuring his Trainer that none would escape back into the city. Alex then hurriedly began helping the center's nurse heal Pokémon. He had enough items to make a dent in the number of patients, and as they moved through the streets crowded with wounded Trainers and Pokémon, he healed who he could. Arthur had been helping him navigate the streets towards the PNN building, and the two locked eyes as they both stopped short. They'd both felt it. Tao had awakened…and he was not in a good mood. Something had gone wrong on Rayquaza's end.

Alex darted down the westernmost street, and headed for the PNN building. This street was still embroiled in fighting, and he was about to try to gain their attention when he saw Rayquaza appear above the battling Trainers. Their Pokémon stopped, and they had no choice but to look up and acknowledge the massive dragon. He flew towards Alex, and hovered over him.

He took his chance to try to dissuade them. "If you don't want to get hurt, get out of here. All of you! Now!"

Most of the Trainers scurried off into side alleys and down other streets, but two stubbornly remained to guard the door of the Poké News Network. They each had a Drapion, and they each commanded a poison attack against him as he approached. Rayquaza had flown back towards the building's roof as Tao's furious roar echoed through the city.

Arthur's arms glowed with the power of his Psycho Cut and with two slashes of psychic colored energy, his power ended the two poison type's attacks, leaving them wide open for Sacred Sword to finish them simultaneously. He loved Psycho Cut, and it had quickly become his favored move once he'd learned to use it in melee, and from a distance. The Drapion's Trainers ran off, abandoning the Drapion to their fate. Alex left a pair of Oran Berries for them before moving into the building and recalling his psychic partner.

It was a far cry from how he'd last seen it. Things had certainly changed, though not for the better it seemed. PokéMeters, the machines used by the Arcean Church to allegedly pinpoint problem areas of a person's life, were set up all around the lobby, and Alex started to understand where they'd suddenly found so many Trainers.

Three months of indoctrination backed up by the very obvious sleeping form of the Unovan Dragon above the building was sure to impress gullible people, and the Arceans were infamous for being able to retain the people they snared in their buildings. Whether through monetary or emotional control, those who fell prey to the scam rarely managed to break free of it unscathed.

Using the PokéMeters, they were often able to convince people to try their 'courses', as they claimed doing so, for a modest fee, would improve their life, and save them from depression they didn't know they'd had.

It was one of those very machines that had caused him to grow up Pokéless, and as Alex debated whether or not to smash the machines that had pretended to be measures of potential psychosis to pieces, Jess burst in through the doors behind him, and he couldn't help smiling, despite the fact that things were likely about to heat up. He heard Tao roar again, from above. "I'd have a romantic quip for you, but this is all happening rather fast."

She managed a smile as well. "Save it for later. We need to get up there." They called the elevator, got in, and then waited. It was a long ride to the top floor, and the Festivus music was entirely inappropriate for the moment. "I had Empolia handle the fires, and we caught the goons starting them. Most of the fires on the east side are contained. We heard Arceans were retreating from the Pokémon Center, and that's when I noticed Rayquaza moving. I figured you were on your way in."

Alex nodded. "Your timing was perfect, really. I expected more resistance though…"

Without warning or explanation, their Gallade and Delphox appeared before them, springing from their respective Pokéballs. Then, the doors opened, and their Trainers understood why. The room was full of Arceans, clad in their standard blue suits with white naval caps.

They looked ridiculous to Alex, but then, he imagined his own garb wasn't all that impressive either. It still smelled of the Swamp, too. Poison attacks came from every direction, but Arthur was there, arms glowing with psychic power as he blocked each of them with a rapid series of Psycho Cut attacks.

The League's rules were indeed being ignored. Jess's Delphox retaliated after that, and a wide fan of flames arced towards Trainers and Pokémon alike, hitting them with unerring accuracy.

Most members of groups like this tended to use normal, dark, or poison types to battle, and the Arceans were no exception. Arthur knew what to do, and began zipping through the room, arms in Sword Mode, using his various attacks, and changing them up when he had to. He was perfect for this, really. The rest of Alex's partners would destroy a confined space like a building, but Arthur had no such issues.

As with the Elite Four, he usually had type advantage, or at least a move that would be super effective. Between his expert strikes and Delphi's flames, the opposing Trainers went down, hard. Many recalled their Pokémon, and then scurried towards the stairs, heading down, likely to the sewers. Most buildings in Castelia had an entrance to them somewhere. Alex smirked, as he recalled the herd of Muk, and hoped the Arceans were dumb enough to try moving through them.

As Jess watched Alex and his partner, battling without saying a word, she noticed the two had become much, much stronger. As Alex gave his partner some much needed potions to recover his strength, another person stepped forward. The leader, hopefully.

Alex sighed as he examined the man. He was too young to be very high up, but judging by the manic spark in his blue eyes, he was 'devoted' enough to be given control of his own group of Trainers. Devotion didn't appear to inspire loyalty, however, as his cronies, those who remained conscious, had fled to the lower levels, usually clutching a burn. Delphi had not held back.

Alex looked at Jess, smirking. "You take this one. Arthur can't have all the fun."

She was already stepping forward, and waved his words away. "Go. Save your dragon. Delphi can handle this zealot."

The two engaged in a rapidly escalating battle with a strong looking Skuntank, but Alex was already heading up the stairs of what he realized was the studio where he had once been interviewed. Like the lobby, it too had changed in appearance.

It was a classroom now, with what looked like Pokémon education. Arcean style. He grimaced, recalling more stories his Gruncle had shared, of Arceans who had an unnatural preference for little children. According to him they typically ended up as teachers, and indulged their twisted desires in rooms just like this. The very thing they'd accused the Professor of had likely happened again in this very room. Alex tried not to vomit at the thought, and marveled at how, in only a few months, they'd apparently already managed to start indoctrinating Unova's children. Unless of course, the classroom was like their 'centers' across the world, furnished for show, but barely ever actually used.

Since this was an indoctrination room, that meant this party would be on the roof. As he rapidly ascended the stairs with Arthur, he knew Jess would likely be right behind him.

As he reached the top, he beheld a sight that made his anger, slow to awaken, rise. Tao was indeed up, his energy cage broken and smoking, but his long body was bound with ropes and stakes pounded into the roof's concrete. His wings were similarly bound with a ring of energy that kept them upwards and pressed against each other. It certainly looked painful.

Worst of all, they'd muzzled his long snout, and several men in Arcean uniforms appeared to be in the process of trying, and failing, to pull off his white scales, to get at the obsidian colored skin beneath them.

Alex leapt onto one of the random piles of wooden crates that littered the roof, towering over them all as his eyes burned blue with his aura. "You muzzled the Original Dragon? Sacred Sword!"

Arthur's arms glowed bright with fighting energy, that shifted to bright gold light as he responded to his Trainer's emotions, and once more he moved with blinding speed, slicing at the ropes that bound Tao down. He struck at the binding on the dragon's wings then, but that one was considerably stronger. "I'll need a minute for this." He said, mentally, as his arms struck the binding over and over.

"Hyper Beam."

Neither Alex, nor his Pokémon had time to react, and Arthur was blasted off of Tao's back as the other Arcean grunts tried to keep the struggling dragon pinned with their Pokémon. Alex reached out to the Legendary dragon. Telepathy wasn't something he was entirely sure would work, but it would be invaluable here. He felt the dragon's mind, confused, unbalanced, a whirlwind of emotion.

"Relax, Tao. I'm here." The dragon abruptly stopped moving as it heard Alex's mental words, and met his gaze. He sensed the acknowledgement, as Alex began to tell him what the plan was. Busy as he was with his mental conversation, he missed the opening lines of the monologuing man who had ordered the surprise attack.

He looked up as his newest opponent paused, and seemed to be waiting for him to answer. "Sorry." Alex said, chuckling, "I missed most of that. Care to repeat for my friend here?" He gestured to the stairway he'd exited to get onto the roof, right as Jess ran up next to him. Being able to sense her presence was really useful for timing witty banter.

Their opponent narrowed his eyes. "I am-"

Alex interrupted again. "Caleb Pravus? Right? The man behind the cult? I didn't think you were actually stupid enough to come to my Region in person. Your Church is not going to be allowed in Unova, after this. Stealing Pokémon. Setting fires. Inciting a war. Beating your subordinates. Your cult is going to be blacklisted by the government by morning." His eyes narrowed at the man, now once more back to normal. "I'll make sure of it..." Since becoming Champion, Alex hadn't really had a chance to decide what he wanted to use his position for. To protect Unova was a given, but he was not off to a great start on that front. In that moment though, he resolved to make sure these depraved westerners never got within a mile of another Unovan child.

The man's eye twitched, and he finally regarded the strangely garbed boy below him. He had some balls to accuse a man as 'well respected' as him of so many crimes. It didn't matter that the accusations were actually correct. Denial was a part of the Arcean's playbook, and they used it often.

Having done some prior research on the Arceans in his school days, Alex had recognized their leader. He couldn't help but smirk as he saw the man's face darken at his words involving his subordinates. He really did not like it when people mentioned the ugly rumors about his tendency to beat his his own people to a pulp. But bruises tended not to lie. Several of the guards below had them, sometimes on their faces, but usually, he assumed, below what was covered typically by their weird uniform.

Caleb Pravus was an older man, who looked like he'd been cast to play the villain in an old-fashioned play. His suit was more casual, but better made than his subordinates, and it was black, with a fine purple shirt beneath it. He had black hair, combed over to his right, and kept reasonably short. What really stood out was the goatee, however.

Aside from being a stereotype for evildoers, he'd let the hair on his chin grow longer, so it formed a twisty, pointed clump that dangled from his chin. One of his dark eyes twitched continuously with pure rage at Alex's words, and Alex had a distinct impression another attack was coming. Neither he nor Arthur had determined the source, yet.

Suddenly, Arthur sensed just what they were fighting, as he'd needed a minute after getting blindsided by such a strong attack. "Alex! It's a-"

He was drowned out once more by the Arcean's Prophet as he uttered the word that confirmed what Arthur had sensed. "Aeroblast."

A beam of white energy shot from the darkened, cloudy sky just above the building, but Arthur cut through the attack with Psycho Cut. His blocking arm was marked with black, and smoking, but he'd managed to avoid the super effective hit, more or less.

He was already moving to engage the Lugia that had fired the attack, but Alex still couldn't see it, which was odd. Lugia was always white in color, even the variant that lived in the Atlantican Ocean, and had red horns rather than blue. It should have stuck out against the purple and black shade of the night's clouds…unless…

Sensing his Trainer's thoughts, Arthur continued to watch the clouds. If the Arceans had actually managed to replicate Shadow technology, this Lugia was going to be a lot harder to deal with. Seeing as Alex had the Arcean leader distracted, Jess ordered her Delphox to try to free Tao, but Pravus wasn't having any of it.

He ordered several of his minions to engage her with a wave of his purple gloved hand, and they all brought out water types, primarily Seismitoad, then pressed Jess and her Delphox back towards the door as the psychic fox struggled to block the multiple water and ground attacks with Psychic.

Unable to fly, all Arthur could do was dodge or parry the attacks being launched at him from the cloud's cover. What little he saw of his opponent didn't make much of a target. Irritated, the Gallade looked back at his Trainer as Pravus called out an unusually colored Gengar, and then Mega Evolved it. The intimidating white ghost grinned at the Gallade, and prepared an attack.

"Let me fight the ghost…this is a battle for someone who can fly." The Gallade said, as he appeared before his Trainer for a timely Max Potion.

Alex smirked. "Or someone who can cripple Flying Types…"

Leo appeared in a flash of white-gold light, electricity already sparking over his fur. He was ready to go, but as the Gengar launched a Shadow Ball at him, changing his aim at the last moment, he found the attack deflected by Arthur, and his Night Slash.

Pravus glared at him. "You're getting annoyingly difficult to ignore. Leave. This does not concern you." It occurred to Alex then that someone like Pravus, who ran a region-spanning cult, might not know about up-and-coming Trainers. Or kids whose futures he ruined.

His organization was, after all, a business first and foremost. He likely brushed elbows with the rich 'elite' of their world. Such people didn't have time to keep track of new Trainers. Their respective 'worlds' simply didn't collide.

"It does concern me, actually. I'm the Champion of Unova, and therefore, Tao's Trainer. You've much to answer for, Pravus. I'm not going anywhere...and neither are you." Another Aeroblast arced towards Arthur, only to be blocked by a hasty Thunderbolt. Had Leo been a bit slower, the Gallade would've likely fainted right there, distracted as he was by fighting the Gengar, who was parrying his Night Slashes with the same move.

The aging man's eyebrows went up. "Ahh. The Redwood boy. Yes…I've been expecting you. I didn't expect you to look like a monk, though."

Alex didn't know of any monks with his amount of hair, but his new jacket did resemble a robe. Kind of.

Pravus continued, "Tell you what, boy, if you manage to beat me, I'll give you my Mind Plate shard." It was Alex's turn to frown now, as that type of crystal, aside from dragon crystals, was extremely rare. There was a reason only N had possessed a dragon crystal in the entire Unova region, and none but other Champions in the Swamp had held a Mind shard.

Still hesitant, Alex answered the man. "Fine. Challenge accepted."

Recalling his now fainted Gengar, Pravus brought out his psychic type partner, a Gallade. Unlike Arthur, he was red, not green or blue. His torso was purplish-black, but his horns were a deep red, and he maintained bits of white as well, on his legs. Seeing Arthur as his opponent, the Gallade smirked.

A dark voice echoed throughout the area, startling everyone. "Oh…so that's why you did that. I see." It was mental, like telepathy, but broadcasted so strongly, everyone could hear it.

Then Alex understood. This was what Gallade turned into when infused with Shadow energy, like the Lugia his Luxray was currently trading blows with.

"Mordred." The word was a command, and the Gallade before them was wreathed in bright purple energy as he mega evolved. The Mind Plate crystal became visible, as it was pinned to Pravus' chest, and in use. "Shadow Slash."

The Mega Gallade launched forward, every bit as fast as Arthur, as ghost type energy flowed up his arms. Arthur met it with a Night Slash before Alex could even think the command.

Arthur looked back at him as the dark type energy beat out the ghost. "Relax. I have him. Help Leo."

"Aerial Ace!" Pravus had looked annoyed again when Arthur blocked a move he was supposed to be weak to. But dual types had multiple weaknesses. He swore colorfully and loudly as Arthur's Night Slash blocked that as well.

He could block all day, as the damage he took wasn't too terrible, but he needed to counter soon. He realized he needed to wait until the opportune moment presented itself. Just as the Passimian had taught him.

As it turned out, that moment was fast approaching. Leo had been shooting Thunderbolts into the clouds at the Lugia, and now, lightning flashed constantly, illuminating the outline of the Legendary Pokémon.

With a roar from the Luxray, Thunder arced from each of the charged clouds, slamming into Lugia with the same pinpoint accuracy most Luxray possessed. It fell from the clouds, smoking, revealing dark purple coloring. Their hunch had been correct. Shadow energy had been infused into this creature, perverting it into something that should never have existed.

Another Thunder struck it as it began to recover, and the smoke from its body changed then, growing darker, and engulfing the Lugia's entire form. Then it was gone, without a trace, reduced to atoms as the Shadow infection overpowered it. Leo grimaced and Alex sighed softly. It had been an unstable transformation, which meant Pravus had not yet perfected the art of infusing Legendary Pokémon with such energy.

The Shadow had finally overwhelmed that Lugia, and now it was gone. Alex didn't have the tools to counter that kind of infection, almost nobody did, as it had only broken out in the Orre region primarily, and had been stopped before it could spread. That had been years ago, and nobody had been mad enough to attempt it a second time. Until now, apparently.

He had no idea what to do about the Gallade, Mordred. He did however, know that the Arceans, or at least their 'Prophet', would go down for this. Forcing that much Shadow energy into Pokémon for a boost in power and obedience was illegal in every country with a Pokémon League, which at this point, was pretty much all of them.

Alex focused his attention back on Arthur, who appeared to be standing victorious over Mordred, or rather, had his sword-arm to Mordred's throat. He'd taken the Aerial Ace, hard, but in return had launched a Shadow Ball at point blank range. Even infused as his opponent was with Shadow, he'd still retained his species' typing. As well as its weaknesses. Shadow Pokémon infused as an egg, like Mordred had been, did not benefit from resisting regular attacks, the tradeoff being that they still gained experience, and could still use Shadow moves, which were always super effective on those who lacked such an infusion.

That opening had given Arthur what he needed, and though he was hurting, he'd still managed to pin his opponent after the power of the condensed sphere of ghost energy knocked the Shadow Gallade down.

His arm shone with the golden light of his Sacred Sword, smoking as it touched the shadowy purple skin of Mordred's neck, but before either could find out what the move would do to him, Mordred vanished, as his Trainer recalled him to the obsidian colored Dark Ball he apparently called home. Pravus, seeing his Lugia fall, had decided he could deal with this nuisance in plenty of other ways.

"Get us out of here…" The older man rumbled, turning his back on the Champion.

Pravus's shadow moved then, and enveloped the man whole, then sank back into the concrete roof, and slithered off before Alex could so much as blink. He swore colorfully, but knew he wouldn't be able to catch the man. He had a reputation for being able to slither away from most situations unscathed. Now he knew how. His followers claimed it was a miracle, a sign that what he did was sanctioned by the Alpha, but as usual, reality proved to be different.

Alex turned his attention to Tao then, and saw the injured form of his Rayquaza lying not far from him, tail dangling over the side of the building. Evidently, the Lugia had overpowered him with a surprise Dragon Pulse.

Delphi had bought Jess time to call out Serpi, and together, the two had beaten the Seismitoad back. The number of Arceans restraining Tao had shrunk as Jess took them down one by one, and as only one of them remained, the furious dragon reared up, free now that Serpi's Leaf Blade had slashed through the ropes binding him, his eyes blazing with purple darkness.

His scales and underbelly reversed colors and the dragon's aura took on a darker tone, as electricity sparked over his form. Alex could feel it as well, the Shadow energy they'd been pumping into him had awakened Zekrom apparently, and now that black aspect of the Unovan Dragon was becoming dominant. The plan he'd shared earlier was forgotten, as his darker half's rage awakened, and shook the sky with his roar.

Alex had no doubt that Castelia would be a smoking ruin if he left Tao like this. History blamed Reshiram for the ancient fiery destruction that had occurred when the two brothers had warred with each other, but in reality, much of it had been the result of stray lightning from Zekrom hitting the trees of the region.

They would've raged forever if Reshiram hadn't stepped in after the battle with well placed fire lines. Thinking of the light half of his partner, Alex pulled out his Flame Plate crystal, and pointed it at Tao.

He tried his hand at telepathy again, unsure if it would reach the furious Legendary. "Shiro, you need to balance yourself! Take the power, before you lose control."

The now black scaled dragon twisted in the air, his long body not entirely unlike a Rayquaza's. The crystal's energy seemed to set half of the Pokémon aflame, before both it and the sparking electricity suddenly vanished. Then, purplish black energy was violently expelled from his being, leaving Tao weakened, but alive. Alex sighed in relief as he felt the balance return, and saw Tao's scales and underbelly return to normal. He also felt Tao was exhausted after months of resisting his darker half's takeover by remaining in a trance. Shadow energy did not work on him like it did other Pokémon, or even other Legends. Being a Regional Guardian, he was unique, and given his nature, able to resist that kind of perversion. Had he still been three, things would've likely turned out much worse for Unova, and the world as a whole.

After failing to close his heart, the Arceans had pumped as much Shadow energy into the dragon as they could manage. It was a credit to Tao's strength that he'd managed to resist it, but it had certainly taken a toll.

The long-bodied black and white dragon landed, evidently, he'd broken the wing restraints with his own surge of power, and he met Alex's gaze. "I need to rest…I'll take the shape of an orb for a time…"

Alex held up a hand. "The last thing we need is your power in a shape that these people can easily steal. I have another form in mind. What do you think?"

The tired dragon gave him a long look, then smirked. "Fine. That will do…for a time." His form shimmered, and became that of a staff, half white, half black, the Taijitu symbol of his balance emblazoned in the middle. Alex caught it, and marveled at the power he felt running through the resting dragon's form.

He twirled the staff a bit, smirking. "Any feelings of nausea?"

Tao's voice emanated from the staff, "My mind is not so weak it will suffer such things. Use this form as you wish." His presence retreated then, and Alex could tell he had already slipped into slumber.

He slid the sleeping dragon between his pack and his back, securing it tight, until he was sure the staff wouldn't just fall away. Jess meanwhile, had corralled the Arcean grunts, and left Delphi to keep them in line.

After their leader abandoned them, they had surrendered, and were now arguing about whether or not to remain in the Church, or if they'd even be allowed home after such failure. Alex walked up next to the fiery haired Trainer his gaze always lingered on. "Any idea what to do with this lot?"

She shrugged, "The Police and Ranger forces are busy raiding the sewers. That's where the Arceans were hiding as they waited for their Prophet to kick things off. Evidently, once Tao's followers and the Arceans saw Rayquaza fly over the city, chasing you, the real fighting broke out. Nate and Rosa are down there too. They assumed you'd be helping by handling things up here."

He nodded. It was a bit surreal to think Unova's heroes were counting on his aid, but he had a feeling they'd be able to handle whatever they found down there with their own teams, and the Rangers. There was a reason they were Champions, after all.

Alex walked over to the arguing Arceans, and as he approached, they eyed the staff on his back warily. "You lads have some explaining to do. Legally, Tao is my Pokémon. Not only did you steal him, but you then used his power for defending your rat's nest of a building as you tried to corrupt him with Shadow Energy, another very illegal act."

He knelt down to their level then, and noticed they weren't bound. Evidently Delphi had kept them in place with Psychic, and they'd simply given up resisting.

"You have some serious Prison time in your futures…unless you're willing to divulge where your leader went." In response, he sensed one of them about to spit in his face. He dodged it, easily, and then backhanded the man with a fist, who fell over groaning. As large as his hands were, his knuckles left a noticeable impression.

Another of the men, who were all easily older than him by a good decade, judging by their looks, blonde, tanned skin, and classic jawlines, spoke up then. "You'll get nothing from a True Arcean. Caleb Pravus will clear this world of filth like you. Half-breed!" Alex sighed, then turned his gaze to the final man in the trio. Evidently, this was the one who had become disillusioned.

Alex stepped over to him, and the man looked up, fear evident in his eyes, "Please…I can't go to Prison…I have a family..." The other two began to protest, until a very hot ball of flame appeared between them, and began expanding in size at Delphi's command. They stopped talking, eyeing it warily. Jess stepped up next to Alex, then and knelt down before the third man.

"It's alright." She said, taking on a soothing tone, "We can put in a good word for you…"

"But only if you give us something useful." Alex finished. They'd been able to finish sentences for each other before, but with latent psychic abilities, it was a lot easier. He suppressed a smirk as he felt her eyes on him. He'd spoken her next words verbatim.

He could already sense the multitude of questions she had, but he sensed something else she wished for first. It took him a minute to recognize her lust, and he had to work at keeping his cheeks from flushing.

The man glanced between the Champions and his companions, then sighed. "I can't…you don't understand…if I utter so much as a word about him, they'll kick me out. I'll lose everything. My job, my family…my entire life is in the Church. It's all I've ever known."

Alex shrugged then, "Fine. Enjoy Prison, I suppose." He empathized with the man, but in all fairness, he'd joined this group of his own accord. He'd followed orders, indoctrinated his family, and become so entwined with the Church the thought of leaving was absurd.

Arceans that did leave were cut off from family and friends still in the Church, at the behest of the Church itself. The Church denied that they did this, of course, as they denied any negative allegations against them. Even when hard evidence to the contrary was readily and easily available.

Knowing that the other two were likely to turn on this man when they wound up before Pravus again, as they no doubt would if he deigned to spend money on releasing them, Alex sighed. "When this group of yours turns on you, and mark me, they will, go to the Dragonspiral Tower. One of the attendants there will give you a room. Tell them who sent you."

Seeing the glares from his companions, the ostracized man waved Alex's words away. "I need no pity, I exist only to serve the Church, and Arceus' Prophet on Earth."

If his companions were buying his words, it didn't show. Alex sighed again, and then went over to Rayquaza, who was struggling to rise. He fed him a Max Revive from his rapidly dwindling supply, and soon the dragon was floating again, and the snow and wind on the rooftop became muted. Agreeing to rest in his new ball, Alex recalled his newest partner, and put his ball in his bag. It was strange, carrying two Legendary dragons around, but being Unovan he really should've expected it eventually.

He felt Jess return to his side again as he stared out of the smoking city, and she seemed more upset than he was. She'd tried convincing the man to talk, but had also failed. "I will never understand those people." She sighed, and then leaned on him.

Given she weighed hardly anything to him, he welcomed the weight and responded in a low voice, "Understanding isn't something their 'Prophet' encourages. You either obey, or you're excommunicated. Cut off from everyone and everything you've spent your time doing in the Church."

He felt her eyes on him again as she spoke softly as well, "How do you know so much about them, hmm?"

He smirked, "I was instructed to write a paper, back in University, on an example of the power of indoctrination. Nobody approved of my topic, even the Dean was angry about it, but I still aced the assignment. After I burned and deleted all copies of the paper. They were very adamant that it never be seen by the public, let alone actual Arceans."

She raised a brow at him, "Really? That seems a bit extreme…"

Alex shook his head, sighing, "No, it isn't. Not where Arceans are concerned. They have a tendency to sue anyone who so much as looks at them the wrong way. I expect you and I will be getting court summons soon enough. When they can't take things by force, they switch to legal trickery."

He felt her shrug, "Oh well. Daddy's lawyers will take care of them." Alex just chuckled. Her father's lawyers were most likely working for them. If you didn't have moral qualms, the Arceans were a guaranteed fat paycheck. "Shall we go home, then?"

Alex looked around at the pockmarked roof, then nodded. He reached out with his mind, and soon, Blaze appeared, landing with a large yawn. Flying hundreds of miles at top speed would drain any Pokémon, as would holding a Mega Form for as long as he had.

It was gone now, however. Chari was called out as well, and soon, the two Trainers were on their way home, back up north. They assumed Castelia could regain some semblance of order by itself, now the Arcean leadership had vanished.

Before they could take off, Alex was stopped by someone yanking on his leg. "Ahh, Joey. I didn't know you were here...or an Arcean..." His tone turned mildly disapproving as he examined the man's clothes.

Joey shook his head, "I'm no Arcean. I stole a uniform and spied on Pravus and Ghetsis. Nobody noticed. I also did as you suggested last time, and recorded everything I could."

Alex had suggested that Joey record his bosses telling him that he wasn't allowed to bring his Raticate with him to work, back at the Dragonspiral Tower, when he'd mentioned that the owners had caught him with his Raticate's ball, and had threatened to fire him if he kept it.

Most people brought their Pokémon everywhere, as leaving them alone for hours on end was legally considered abuse. He'd also have grounds to sue them, for more than enough money to sustain him until he found a better job. Alex smirked, glad for once that the man's enthusiasm had proved useful rather than annoying. "So you have hard evidence against them? That's brilliant! Well done."

Joey scratched the back of his head, and averted his gaze. "Yea...actually, I handed over all of it to Pravus, downstairs...he appeared alongside a Darkrai. A purple Darkrai...but, I did manage to snag this before he left."

After looking crestfallen at the loss of evidence, Alex's expression shifted to a smirk. "Well now...it might not help legally, but...I'm sure you can make good use of it." The Mind Plate shard pulsed once in Joey's hand, but the man handed it to Alex. "I don't have a Psychic Type...and besides, you can do more with that than I can, Champion."

Alex looked Joey over then, and nodded, hand closing around the crystal. He might have been a bit annoying with his constant texts about what his Raticate was doing and how amazing it was, but he'd really come through this time.

He could also sense Arthur's excitement, but he was hesitant. Madmen like Pravus tended to over-do things, and with an abundance of Shadow energy, who knew how he'd corrupted this crystal. Arthur might become something monstrous if he used it. He'd have his granduncle examine it first.

"I suppose I can..." Alex said finally, pocketing the crystal. "I won't forget this. Thank you."

As the pair of Charizard flew into the snowy night, Joey waved at them until their tail flames were out of sight.

Sahqoreyth · Mar 28, 2024

Chapter 14: Taming the Land

Derrion Town - Northern Unova Region

The 'Castelian Civil War', as it was being called, had occurred five days from the start of the final day of Festivus, and the New Year. In those five days, Alex Redwood and Tao remained safely hidden in the icy north, and as with most small towns, any media attempts to find his residence were met with stony silence by locals.

That's not to say the entirety of their small town liked the Redwoods, they just disliked the media circus more, especially since they were very obviously from the west coast of the continent. Tanned skin, blue eyes, and sandy blonde hair weren't too common this far north of Unova. Even with the coordinates of his home available to the public, with the sheer amount of farmland their small town had, finding the actual residence was a challenge.

The blizzard that had been raging in that northern region didn't make matters any better, and eventually, most of the media crews gave up, or hunkered down at the local inn until the storm passed. The snow was also covering New Tork City, which took up a large part of what was considered Unova. With the Arcean's sudden withdrawal from the recently burned Castelia, the local Castelianites were left to clean up the damage, which included paying for it.

That was a large factor in what soured most of the billions of humans within the megalopolis against the Arceans and their Church, which had more than enough money to fund the repairs seven times over. Since they'd been the ones setting most of the fires, purposefully, the least the inhabitants expected was proper reimbursement for their damaged property. All they ever received however, was a public statement claiming that the incident in Castelia had been perpetrated by Unovans who were 'Arceans in name only' and had been radicalized by the east's 'wild and free' lifestyle and morals. Therefor, the Church claimed they owed nothing, and had no involvement in the affair.

Tao's followers had stayed in the city through the night, alongside two of the four Champions who'd fought beside them, and aided in the repairs as best they could. The locals had also begun taking a page from their attacker's book, and began suing the Church itself. With so many Battle Recorders on the Trainers who'd defended their home, it was hard for the Church to deny their involvement, especially when Caleb Pravus himself had been caught on camera, fleeing the scene.

The Trainers who offered said recordings soon found themselves evicted, and Arcean landlords came out of the woodwork with new 'building codes' in regards to Pokémon across the city. Evidently they'd bought up quite a few buildings in Castelia over the years, though in a city as large as New Tork, they were vastly outnumbered by groups who'd owned land much, much longer.

Neither 'coppers' nor criminals cared much for foreign trash that set their city on fire. New Tork City stank, it was filthy, and your average fellow citizen would typically pass you without so much as noticing your existence, but it was still their home. Local landlords, who not so subtly represented the crime element in New Tork, partnered with 'Jenny Law', and in three days, the foreign ownership of the buildings in question was returned to the state of Unova, their landlords having had their property seized once the criminal element of Unova rather easily brought their dirty laundry into the light. Pedophilia, illegal Pokémon trading, possession of Pokéballs with foreign and unregistered Trainer numbers as trading partners, which implied they were stolen, and of course, providing aid and comfort to foreign and domestic enemies of the region. The combination of police and criminal gangs outing said landlords was surprisingly effective, if temporary.

Not since Team Plasma grunts had been brought before the Unovan courts had so many criminal charges been slammed onto so many people at once. The foreign former building owners were advised to return to Fornia, and were 'guided' to the nearest plane flight across the country, headed for one of their 'satellite States', regions of the north western continent that had, over time, become devout Arceans in their own right through the same tactics they'd been using on Unova.

Alex and Jess had returned home to find her house empty, and his house bustling with activity, despite the snowstorm raging outside. Having a mansion to themselves certainly aided with the pent-up stress and extra adrenaline from fighting in an intense conflict. They'd had to stop when her parents had returned, nearly two hours past midnight, but with some help from Leo, Alex had escaped discovery, and ridden home on his back.

It was the first time they'd tried it, and they discovered they made a good team. Leo's movements were fast and soundless, and even though his Trainer added quite a bit of weight to his step, they were able to leave minimal prints in the snow. The blizzard took care of them, and thanks to Leo's eyes, getting home was easy.

The lights in the main ranch house were dimmed as they approached, but the adjacent lab still had a faint glow, and as Alex examined the smaller building, he saw the telltale gleam of an old fashioned hand-held lighter brighten the interior for a moment. Then he spied a plume of smoke rising from one of the windows that faced the land behind the lab. He smelled what Leo smelled, and one didn't have to be psychically linked, as they were, to recognize that familiar Stunky-esque scent.

Sensing and sharing his Trainer's thoughts, Leo moved them away some distance so Arthur could join them in relative stealth. The swift Gallade kept low under the opened window on the backside of the lab building, as Alex and his five-foot-tall electric feline made their way to the front door.

He had to resist swearing, as he hopped off Leo, and sank a good three feet into the unshoveled snow. His granduncle was a classic leaf head, and in his day, the herb had been made illegal for several decades. As such, he had a lingering paranoia whenever he smoked and someone knocked on his door.

The eastern part of the continent shifted its stance on the legality of the herb all the time, but the western side had outlawed it completely, thanks in no small part to the Arceans. They saw such things as 'distractions' from their goal of 'preparing the planet for Arceus' imminent return'. This didn't mean all Fornians disliked or abstained from enjoying the Leaf however.

Those who managed to fly under the Arcean's radar kept to the heavily forested, mountainous north of the western coast, and grew and smoked in relative safety. Or so Alex had heard, from that area's Champion, one of his fellow trainees in the Swamp. She too had returned home before he did.

Because he knew his granduncle's quirks so well, he knew, with some certainty, how the old man would react to a simple knock at his door in the middle of a smoke session. He pounded his large fist on the door three times, and heard the clanking of glass and crunching of plastic bags as his oldest relative hurried to hide the evidence of his midnight smoke session. That was where Arthur came in. He was carefully watching the old man, and noting where he hid everything.

Alex suppressed a chuckle, and Leo had what looked like a smirk on his furred face as they heard the spraying of some kind of air cleanser meant to rid, and in this case hide, the odor in the air.

When his granduncle finally got the door, the faint scent of lemon hit Alex, and he made a show of waving the smell away as the aging Professor pinched his brow and sighed. "Blazing Blaziken balls lad, you nearly gave me a heart attack! I thought you were the Police, or worse, your father. All I need is him showing up at midnight, drunk, to 'wish me a Happy Festivus, and talk'. Again. You know better than to knock. Now get in here."

Behind the old man, Alex spied Arthur, carefully floating the hidden pieces of glassware, a bong and several slides, as well as a bag of familiar green, out the still-open window via his psychic powers.

Apparently leaving a window open in a snowstorm was entirely normal. Alex chuckled, and then embraced his granduncle. "It's good to see you, Gruncle. I missed the stench of your stale Leaf stash." The old man returned the embrace, though to Alex, it seemed weaker than before.

"Bah." He said, waving his hand as they entered the lab. "My stash is of the highest quality. You should know, ya bloody mooch."

The two Redwoods moved to the back part of the lab then, and Alex saw no sign of Arthur. From what he could sense, his partner was still outside, waiting for the jig to be up, but something was off. He was too distracted by his granduncle's words, and the state of the lab, to notice, however.

"Well?" The old man grunted, returning to his seat, "I heard about Castelia. Is it true? They're calling it war."

Alex looked around the lab, and then noticed why something seemed different. Papers were piled up everywhere, not a single piece of the dated equipment was being used, in fact, most of it was covered by white sheets.

"Yea…" Alex said, still taking in the sight of the disused, and filthy lab. "The Arceans…as soon as I heard they had Tao, I had to get him…I guess when they saw me fly over on Blaze, trailed by Rayquaza, Tao's followers kicked off the rescue attempt…and it devolved into open conflict. I've never seen anything like it. I doubt Fornia will do anything though, they're claiming they had no involvement."

The Professor nodded, returning to the chair he'd placed by the window. "I did warn you not to mess with them. They'll give you no end of trouble. Especially since you have a Psychic Type on your team."

That got Alex's attention. "What? Why does having a Psychic Type have anything to do with their opinion of me?"

The old man raised a scraggly gray eyebrow as he reached for his hidden bong, behind the chair, yet only found air.

"You don't know? They hate Psychic Types and anyone with the ability to use similar powers. Even those with minor empathic abilities. They're convinced that the Psychic Types are controlling the world's governments, and making them do Giratina's will, or some such nonsense. Where in the bloody hell…" He turned to look behind his chair now, and discovered his stash had vanished.

Alex kept his face neutral as he thought for a moment, taking a seat in the chair opposite his granduncle. "Odd…I didn't find anything like that when I was researching them…" His Gruncle had spoken of this before, but had never revealed so much at once. Alex urged his high old brain on.

The Professor looked up, and chuckled. "You wouldn't. It's not something the Arceans like to tell people. They keep it secret, but one of their core beliefs is that Psychic Types seek only to challenge Arceus' rule…apparently having psychic power, and being Human, marks one as a 'half breed'. You don't want to know what they do to the psychics they find in Fornia. They see natural power as a sign of domination by a malevolent Psychic Type, and the resulting 'half-breeds' are considered to be the antithesis of everything they stand for."

Alex stared back at him. "But…but Pravus uses a Gallade…I saw him Mega Evolve it with a Mind Plate crystal. He had a Lugia as well, another Psychic Type, and Tao easily qualifies, with his telepathy. Even separate, Reshiram, Zekrom, and even Kyurem all possessed psychic ability."

That brought another chuckle from the old man, "You expect the leader to follow his own rules? Ha! He's likely explained that using them like this is part of some Arceus-given plan, but owning his own Gallade, Pokéball and all? That's damning evidence."

Both their heads turned as they spied a soft orange glow from outside, and Alex laughed into his hand as he finally sensed what Arthur had been hiding.

He'd been suppressing their link for a moment, just long enough to try this Leaf that appeared so popular with humans, and apparently ancient, wise Pokémon. Both the Sage and Tao had openly enjoyed it, and he was tired of missing out. Manipulating the instruments was easy enough, but the smoke was awful. Still, he had enough residual knowledge from Alex, and had seen him use similar equipment enough times to take a passable toke.

"Speaking of Gallades… yours wouldn't happen to be using my bong, would he?" Alex broke down into full laughter, and the old man hobbled towards the window. "Oi! If you scorched the entire bowl, I'll have your hide!"

The old man's bong, as well as all of his other various smoking apparatus, floated back in through the window, safely tucked in the old man's own travelling backpack, wrinkled with age like its owner, and long since past use for travel. Alex raised Arthur's ball, recalled him, and then let him out again within the lab. "Couldn't resist, could you?"

Alex smirked at his partner, who took a seat, cross-legged, by Leo. The large cat had curled up between the two humans, and had been napping. He opened one eye, blinked at Arthur, then resumed his nap.

Arthur shrugged, and then projected his telepathy for the two humans to hear. His speech had improved over their months in the Swamp, and now he spoke with the eloquence of an Albion Knight.

He had a baritone that almost sounded like Alex's. "You never let me try it in the Swamp, and I was curious. It's an odd sensation…but I rather like it."

That got a laugh from the two Redwoods, and soon after, they decided to descend into the basement of the lab for a proper post-midnight smoke session. Arthur's first 'hot boxing'.

Leo opted to remain above, taking one of the butt-warmed chairs to curl up in, while the other three went below. It wasn't long before the air was filled with smoke, and the conversation resumed.

"You mentioned that Pravus having a Gallade was damning, but how?" Alex asked, somewhat distracted by the disoriented thoughts of his own Gallade. Arthur was enjoying himself, it seemed, and it was flooding over their mental link.

His granduncle looked at him as he took another deep hit from his piece. "You still have your Battle Recorder, aye?"

Alex's eyes widened. "I see…yes, I should…and if it recorded that Battle…"

"Then you have video evidence of the Arcean Prophet's hypocrisy." His granduncle finished, smirking and exhaling a cloud of smoke. "That kind of evidence would put a serious dent in what little credibility they have left. They'll deny it of course…but if it's straight from the BR, it won't make a difference. The trick will be putting it on the air. Arceans need to see it, not just the general public, and their own exposure to uncensored news is limited, at best. Pravus took a page from the government that used to run this land, and wrapped his followers in a media bubble, all run by the Church. They consider non-Arcean sources of news to be fake, nothing but lies and conspiracies perpetrated by the Unovan government and their Psychic overlords."

Alex nodded absentmindedly, distracted as he pulled the device from the strap of his bag. "I have so many devices, I'd completely forgotten this one."

It was true enough, as most modern Trainers had PokéNavs, Poketches, and other useful, but ultimately frivolous devices that aided them on their journeys. He brought up his last battle, which had luckily been the one against Pravus, and smirked. "Here it is. It got him Mega Evolving his Gallade and everything."

He handed the recorder to his granduncle, who was also smirking. "I'm making a copy of this. If they ever give you grief, let me know. I'll have this ready to be sent to every media station the world over. Whether they broadcast it or not is another story."

The old man got up, hobbled over to the basement computer, and then went about saving the recorded battle. "Send a copy to me, too." Alex said, smirking, "Just in case. The more backups we have, the better."

Alex was fully expecting Pravus to retaliate, but he hoped he'd wait until after the holiday. He would never admit it, but the long months of living in the Swamp had worn him down. It was hard, living out there, only ever getting answers in the form of riddles or wise anecdotes, eating only simple fare on what the small isle could grow. He was looking forward to a rest.

His granduncle nodded. "As you know, they have no qualms about breaking into buildings and destroying evidence like this. Either way, I'd rather them not learn what we're hiding here. I prefer my lab to not be broken into."

In the past, on the western coast, there were numerous stories from former Arceans that had managed to escape Fornia's main hub, Sacreus City, and the oppressive rule it was subjected to, that told of security forces employed by the Church breaking into homes of those they deemed 'heretical', and destroying whatever negative evidence against the Church they could find.

The Church, of course, denied these allegations, but given their denial of anything that portrayed their group in a negative light, it was a good bet that the stories had some truth to them.

"Speaking of your lab…" Alex continued, looking around. Even the basement had white sheets over most of the equipment the aged Professor used in his personal experiments. "What happened in here?"

His granduncle sighed, and groaned as he sat in his worn reclining chair. The old man proceeded to hit his bong before answering. "You know the rest of our family has been pushing me to retire for years now. About a month after you went south, my doctors gave me less than a year to live. My lab assistants found out, and moved to different labs. After that, I decided to finally retire. Your brother will inherit this eventually, but for now…it's little more than a storage building."

Even if his head hadn't been swirling from the night's events, and the hallucinogenic herb, Alex would've felt the same vertigo. He had known this was coming, of course. Death came for everyone, eventually, and even though humans these days lived much, much longer than they had in the past, no amount of technology could grant immortality. Yet.

It was as he was processing his relative's words, that he felt the staff he laid beside his chair stir. A single golden eye opened on the white half, which was sticking up towards the ceiling. His granduncle had noticed immediately, and both humans watched as the eye began to glow. Its focus was the old man, and to his credit, he didn't waver before it.

Alex knew what Tao would find, but as he felt the resting dragon's sadness, what small hope he'd had of preventing his favored relative's end vanished. "I'm sorry." Linked as they were, Tao had sensed several diseases that even now were ravaging the old Professor's body, and now Alex knew of them as well.

Brain, lungs, heart, liver, the old man's body was rapidly fading. No amount of medicine could save him. Even the power of the Original Dragon, now united once more, couldn't stop the inevitable. It was a shame, for as the resting dragon had listened to the two related humans banter, he'd grown to like the old man. He knew much of what his Tamer had learned came from him.

His granduncle waved a hand, as Tao's voice had been projected to all three of them. "I'm an old man, Dragon. I've known this was coming for some time now. It comes for all mortals…I've had a long life, which is more than most Humans throughout our race's history have had. Don't apologize. I'm fine with going quietly into the night...those who rage at the inevitable are childish."

He took another toke from his bong. At one point, it had been clear glass, tinged with red at the bottom, but after years of use and lack of consistent cleaning, the glass had turned mostly greenish yellow, and the whole piece now had many shades of color, almost like a rainbow.

The elder Redwood had no idea how it had survived in one piece for so very long, but it had, and now it seemed it would outlast its owner as well. That cheery thought brought another hit, and he then passed it to his favorite nephew.

"That'll be yours, when I'm gone." He said, almost sighing as the thought of his imminent and probable nonexistence loomed over him like a shadow. "As will most of my possessions. Your brother's getting my research, but my will says you'll have free access to it as well. Maybe something in there will help you. I did get around, back in the day. Heh."

Suddenly, the piece floated away from Alex, who was yet still lost in thought. It had been an emotional night, but his attention refocused itself on Arthur, as he watched the Gallade rise, and take the glass piece. He spoke only to the Professor then, keeping his words from Alex and Tao.

Tao heard, of course, but he kept the knowledge from his Trainer. A tear fell from the old man's eyes after a moment, and he nodded. "I'll hold you to that." He said, his voice suddenly rough.

He cleared his eyes, and nodded. "You'll excuse my skepticism…but…if anyone could…" Arthur raised a hand, stopping the old man before he could say more, and then gave the piece back to his Trainer, resuming his seated position on the old wood floor between them.

Eyebrow raised, Alex looked between his psychic partner, and his favored relative, then shrugged. Some things could only be learned in time. If it was important for him to know, he trusted his Gallade to tell him when the moment was right.

Tao's presence faded as he resumed resting, and Alex finished the bowl, though by that point there was barely anything left but Scooby Snacks that became ash as he inhaled. "Well, I should get to bed…" He said, standing and recalling Arthur to his ball.

He helped the Professor up as well. "Aye lad, it was nice having you back. We'll do this again before Festivus is over, I'd wager."

Alex chuckled. The two of them shared a common stressor in dealing with the rest of their family. They didn't dislike them, but conversing with them repeatedly, all at once, for an entire month was stressful, to say the least.

"We will. You can count on that." Alex said, as he moved for the stairs. His granduncle usually slept in his lab, and judging by the state of the basement, he still did. The equipment was covered, but signs of habitation were all over.

Ashes from past bowls of Leaf, a stray sock, his old lab coat, even the cot in the basement, which was actually quite comfortable, seemed to still be in use.

Alex recalled Leo as well, and then, using Tao's staff form as an aid, made his way to the front door of the main house. Nobody was awake at this hour, as it was quite late. Had the storm not still been raging, he reckoned the rising sun's light would be visible.

Normally, his family would be up soon enough, taking care of the ranch, but with the snow as high as it was, all the Tauros, Miltank, Bouffalant, and other Pokémon were resting in the barn behind the main house.

It was also where Professor Redwood stored the extra Pokémon of the Trainers who started from his lab. There weren't many, but Alex's other Pokémon were among them as well.

He made a note to visit them as he tried and failed to sneak upstairs. His feet were large, and the house was old. The floor creaked with every step as he made his way to the top room, and found it as he'd left it.

The bed was folded and proper, but aside from that, everything else was the same. He dropped into it with a sigh after removing his clothes, and setting his team on his desk.

Tao was propped up next to his bed, and it didn't take long for him to fall asleep after that. His dreams would no doubt be troubled, especially after the night he'd had, but he never did remember what he dreamed that night. He was too tired to stay semi-lucid, as he often did.

He slept until well past noon the next day, and upon awakening, wasn't surprised to find that his team had let themselves out for breakfast, and lunch. Arthur had taken care of them while their Trainer slept, and had answered most of his family's questions when they'd demanded to know why he was on the morning news, which was covering the events of the previous night.

Thus, when he finally descended, showered and with Tao in hand, they'd been more happy than irritated to see him. Arthur had shared the events of the previous night through his telepathic image sharing, and thus despite what the news was saying, his older relatives were proud of their family's newest Champion. Most of them, anyways. As usual, his father was convinced that his becoming a Trainer had somehow started a war, despite the fact that he hadn't actually been around for the initial outbreak of the conflict.

Some channels with obvious Arcean Church backers, like Arc News, labeled the new Champion as responsible for the fighting, while others, PNN included, gave a more truthful recounting of the night's events. Castelianites knew, more or less, which version was actually truthful, but the rest of Unova either bought into the lies, or remained neutral about the attack on their largest city's downtown borough.

The storm continued to rage as Festivus's end drew ever closer, and it was being called one of the worst storms in years. It wasn't all that uncommon this far north. The snows were always intense.

The storm continued until Festivus Day finally arrived. Alex had spent the day before the start of the New Year preparing to leave to find a spot to train at, but despite the weather, he'd gotten a visit from N. As the new Champion, he had duties to perform this time of year, not least of which was facing challengers who had managed to beat Hilda.

There weren't many, but some had been waiting quite a while now, and were eager to either win, or get on with their journeys. He spent most of the second day back at the Victory Plateau, first having Blaze clear it of snow, and then battling his challengers. There were three in total, but none had the strength to topple him. In a six on six battle, he was quite hard to beat.

They had still proven challenging though, and he sent them to the Dragonspiral Tower after losing, suggesting that they should return once they learned what they could from the Trainers there.

Tao's followers had taken to wearing white robes with black pants, in the old style, shaving their heads, and practicing martial arts. It wasn't all that different from how Alex had been living in the Swamp, though having the modern comforts of a region with actual infrastructure made living much more tolerable.

Tao awoke the next day, recovering much quicker now that he was whole once more, and resumed his dragon form, before flying off to his tower. Before he left, he'd split a small part of himself to remain as a staff, and left it with Alex. With it, he claimed he could escape future confinement, provided Alex helped, without losing his strength.

At first Alex had protested, but Tao had insisted saying, "I was split in three for millennia. This is different, and useful. You will see. Humans are clever, especially when it comes to capturing Legendary Pokémon. I won't always be able to fight them off, but this will solve that problem. It is a part of me. Keep it by your side." He hadn't elaborated on how it would be useful, exactly, but had been quite sure Alex would know what to do when and if the time came to use it.

Tao departed with relative stealth, and Alex decided against telling anyone. Let them think he was still hibernating upon his back. He did tell his granduncle though, along with Jess. They were joined by his uncle Gil, and Arthur, as they all decided to have a smoke session in the lab while the main house was packed with relatives and neighbors once again.

About halfway through, Alex showed his granduncle the Mind Plate crystal he'd acquired, and after a few tests, the Professor deemed it free of Shadow energy. He had no doubt Pravus had tried to corrupt it, but it was a shard of Arceus himself, and like Tao, had been immune to that kind of corruption. There was no greater known power, and if there was, it was unlikely Pravus had access to it.

Arthur wanted to try it immediately, but given that he was new to smoking the Leaf and could barely stand, the humans all agreed to wait until his head was clearer. He'd gone into his Pokéball to sulk, then, and stayed there for the rest of the day after falling into a Leaf nap.

Alex spent the remaining time before Festivus sleeping, enjoying the company of his lover, and eating real food. He'd grown a bit gaunt on only rice and bread, but the Redwood pantry was always well-stocked for Festivus. After a straight month of celebration, there were many meat-related leftovers.

Modern technology kept it from going bad, and thus Alex was able to enjoy relatively fresh plates of food that had been sitting in there since November. He was usually the one who had to finish such things, as his relatives seemed unable to do so themselves.

All the leftovers threatened to have him gain too much weight, so in the dark of night, when all others slept and his lady was comfortably enjoying the latest pleasure coma he'd left her in, he did what he always did.

He trained.

The end of Festivus was approaching fast, and for that, he knew the population of their small town, and the surrounding towns, would all be heading south to Castelia to celebrate the coming of a new year.

The media was nicknaming the new year the 'Year of the Dragon', and Alex knew Tao appreciated it, as it had been named in honor of his return. Dragons were nothing if not a bit vain, even the first. They appreciated being admired by the shorter-lived humans. It fed their superiority complex, a fact Tao was well aware of, and ignored. He was a dragon, they were supposed to feel superior.

Alex traveled far to the north to avoid the storm, and thanks to Rayquaza's Air Lock, they were able to train in relative comfort once they'd found an open spot and cleared the snow away. It was still bitterly cold, and Terra opted to stay in his ball for this session. There was no sun, and they were still surrounded by ice. He wasn't having any of that.

Alex first knew there was trouble when he saw the ancient form of his Rayquaza float into the air from where he'd been sprawled out and resting. He had since become linked to the team's mental web in an adjacent manner, and thus could communicate to them as easily as their Trainer did. Just like that, Alex had

"Something is approaching." He said in their minds, and each of them stopped their training.

The ground rumbled once, and Alex looked around in vain in the dark of night. His eyes were useless, but they began to glow blue as he extended his senses, and swore. He knew who was coming now, as did his team, and Blaze shone with a crimson aura as he mega evolved again.

Alex recalled them all, but left Shruikan and Blaze out to deal with this approaching threat. The earth trembled again, and he wondered just how exactly his newest enemy had managed to capture another Legendary Pokémon.

As the three prepared for battle, a powerful roar echoed through the mountain chain, and the Pokémon that produced it was unmistakable. Everyone knew the sound of a Groudon's rage, thanks to its prevalence in the movies Unova produced.

After the one in the Hoenn region had gone Primal a few years back, that roar had become as recognizable as a Tyrantrum's, and Pokéstar Studios had used the Primal cry in the Big Monster series ever since. Alex was glad that barely anyone lived this far north, as the heavy snows and large mountains left little room for rivers or houses.

It had suited his purposes for training, and now it would make a suitable battlefield as well. He knew the Pokémon of the surrounding area were wise enough to hide from a power like this.

The crimson scaled Rayquaza descended first, and it snarled at its larger green counterpart as his Trainer landed on the field Alex had made in the snow. "There you are, Redwood…I almost thought you wouldn't train tonight…but you're finally here..."

Alex glared Brad down. The blonde and tan Fornian had a black eye, and many other bruises Alex couldn't see, and that was when it clicked. "You're an Arcean aren't you…a spy sent by Pravus, perhaps? Shame you were kicked out of the Swamp. I take it your boss wasn't happy to learn that I'd foiled that plan as well."

He now knew why his master had seemed to ignore Brad's gluttony and misbehavior. He'd likely grown up dealing with such abuse and once he'd inherited a Rayquaza, Alex could only guess at how the Church had treated him.

The Sage had done what he could to guide Brad down the right path, but he had also known a confrontation between him and Alex was inevitable. They were more alike than they realized, and if not for a twist of fate, Brad might have very well been the one in Unova, and Alex forced to live under Arcean brainwashing.

Alex didn't quite know whether he would've been able to handle such a thing, and it spoke to the opposing Trainer's strength that he'd come through it yet again, relatively intact.

Alex looked to Blaze as the two reached the same conclusion. Brad had likely been ordered to abandon him, or risk being excommunicated, cut off from everyone and everything he'd ever known. A test, to make sure the Rayquaza Tamer did not have a soft heart for his adorable Charmander. Remembering his first Trainer, Blaze admitted that the boy had likely been heartbroken. Abandoning him hadn't been in his character. He'd cared, and he'd paid for it.

Alex's Charizard now watched his former Trainer with pity, more than rage. It had been an impossible choice, most likely and one forced on a young Trainer, no less. A choice between staying with his home, his family, his beliefs, or staying with his Charmander. In the end, for one that young, there had been only one option that had allowed Blaze a chance to keep living.

Alex knew his Rayquaza had likely been subjected to the same conditioning, and facing the same choice, between a Trainer who needed him, and a young Charmander, he'd been forced to choose his Trainer, and hope that the Charmander managed to survive.

Now, it seemed the pair was focused on making him pay for indirectly forcing Brad into a beating, likely at the hands of Pravus himself. The Groudon roared again and now it loomed in the dim moonlight, towering above the small mountain Alex had found his training spot on. He and his team stared in awe, as they realized that this Groudon's coloring was gold, not red.

"Precipice Blades!" Brad called the attack, once more upon the back of his crimson dragon, and the golden Groudon sank its claws into the land. Blaze flew up, avoiding the attack entirely, but Shruikan didn't move.

The massive daggers of rising earth popped up around him, but Shruikan stayed still, and waited. He knew, in his core, that this was it. This was the Pokémon who had the firepower he needed to evolve. He could feel it. He wasn't going to run from it, not when finally achieving flight was so very close. He could hear the thunder, as the Sage had foretold he would and an ancient song, in the tongue of dragons, rose in the Shelgon's head. Alex smirked, finding the tune entirely appropriate, and familiar. Once rediscovered, Skyrim had, naturally, been remade to work with modern game consoles and as had happened in the past, the game had exploded in popularity, bugs, and player-made modifications. Alex just assumed Shruikan was humming the tune he'd heard while Alex had enjoyed it in his free time in the Swamp.

Furious that his attack had simply missed the tiny dragon, the Groudon reared back, and expelled an enormous Fire Blast from its maw. Shruikan grinned to himself as he went into his shell with Protect, and waited.

The primordial heat from the Groudon scorched over his shell, but left him essentially untouched, thanks to his move. Runes of black appeared over his shell as the Legendary heat hit and engulfed it. He felt the power surge within his body, enhanced by vitamins from his Trainer, as his shell absorbed the primordial heat and once it was exhausted, he used that heat to finally evolve.

The sky thundered, and even the pair of Rayquaza turned their heads to watch, as they felt the surge of potent dragon energy. Shruikan's eyes glowed red from within his shell…and then, he began to glow brilliant white as the spiraling power of evolution propelled him, finally, into the air.

Thunder roared through the nearby area, and lightning struck the ground as Shruikan's form began to grow…and grow…and grow. The thunder boomed once more, and as his shape became that of a Salamence. Lightning came down from the sky, striking him directly as he tested his new vocal chords with an impressive roar.

Most Salamence were more wide than tall, but Shruikan's parents had both been old enough to have grown well over six feet, and now he himself pushed ten feet as his form coalesced. The skies roared again, and as the glow from his form faded, Alex noticed he had trouble making out his new Salamence, who had immediately shot into the cold night air on his new wings. He would waste no time in testing them.

Another Fire Blast from Groudon was launched at his newly evolved opponent, even though Brad had ordered a Fissure attack, and as the massive five-pronged attack lit the sky, Alex glimpsed Shruikan as he dodged in front of the flames. His scales were black, and his form was massive. Alex had expected a normal Salamence, stronger perhaps than others of his species, as most of his team was by now, but still relatively normal. He should've known better. Shruikan's underbelly was still the same color as a regular Salamence, and so were his wings, though they were perhaps a bit more crimson than scarlet. It was his main scale's color that had changed, but as Alex got a good look at him, he had to blink.

He'd gotten fairly used to knowing a Pokémon's type by instinct, and because he had known most of them already thanks to years of education, he was rarely surprised by what his eyes told him. He'd seen various dual typing in some humans among Castelia's crowds, some as normal and fighting, others as normal and dark, in Pravus's case. When he looked at Shruikan, he'd expected to see the flying type, but hadn't.

Instead, his instinct told him his Shruikan was now part dragon, part electric and as he tried to understand why, he noticed his new Pokémon's mouth glowing with golden light, as he formed a move he'd only expected Leo to know. Thunder Fang.

"I have risen with the storm, and through the pain, Human." Shruikan mentally spoke, in his new baritone. "Unleash me."

Alex briefly wondered how he'd use his power on a ground type like Groudon, when he noticed Shruikan's target was actually the Rayquaza instead. Naturally, it was time for the numerous consecutive losses in the Swamp to be made up for. Alex had, of course, let his dragon attack. Shruikan was now an adult, a full-grown dragon, and losing his temper was hopefully a thing of the past.

Shruikan's speed was unmatched as he rode the power of fresh evolution, and the crimson Rayquaza could only blink, before it realized it had already been struck by the Thunder Fang. Electricity arced over its form, holding the crimson Rayquaza in place, and as Shruikan looped around towards them again, he gave a mental nod to their Rayquaza.

Alex noticed his own Rayquaza was shining, as he shifted to his own Mega Form with the Draco shard in Alex's possession. His base form had been on par with his crimson rival's, but now the arrogant runt had awakened his Ancient Power.

This was, of course, a rock type attack, but instead of raising chunks of earth, the ancient Rayquaza simply launched the rock type energy, as a sort of Hyper Beam, forgoing raising boulders entirely. The paralyzed dragon could do nothing to dodge the beam of pure rock energy, and it struck him full force.

His crimson scaled rival went down hard, and Alex flew down on Blaze as he saw Brad fall from its back. He might've been a rival, but he was still human. He hadn't chosen the path that had led him here. That was why the Sage never scolded him.

Blaze and Alex's combined vision spotted his red coat, and with a sudden burst of speed, Blaze grabbed the Fornian Trainer, and zipped away. Seconds later, an Eruption leveled the ground around the fallen Rayquaza. Groudon was free of its domination and now it wanted revenge.

With the dragon even now burning in the magma it had raised, the golden scaled beast turned its focus on the tiny human that had ordered the dragon to command him. Each Rayquaza, no matter how young, had the power to control either Kyogre or Groudon as needed.

Once in their Mega Form, they had the power to control the land and sea completely, even if they went Primal, and had once helped Regigigas in raising, moving, and shifting continents the world over, at the behest of the Alpha Pokémon.

The humans of the past had melted their ice caps, flooding numerous lands and cities with water. The two Groudon had strode the ancient lands, drying up the water, as the Kyogre at each pole restored the planet's melted ice. Once more, harmony in nature had resumed.

Civilizations had risen from the chaos of the planet's shifting plates, ancient, powerful, and mysterious ones to those living in the modern day. Some had ties to the Unown, others had possessed the ability to tame and battle giant Pokémon. The idea was absurdly common in Japan in particular, for some reason.

Alex's Rayquaza focused on the Groudon as his new Trainer flew away carrying the other human. The ancient dragon's eyes glowed with power as his Mega Form prepared an Outrage attack of his own.

"Go." The word thundered in the air, and the golden beast paused, as it realized which Sky Guardian this was.

Effectively cowed, the Groudon seemed to nod slowly, letting its anger cool. If it ever saw Brad again, it would annihilate him, but for now, the Groudon could wait. Fighting that Rayquaza right now, wasn't worth it. The Rayquaza in question looked at its fallen dragonkin, sighed, and then lifted his form from the magma with his latent psychic power.

He was largely fine, he'd simply fainted. Alex appeared then, and skillfully tossed the first of his new stash of Max Revives into the fainted Legendary's mouth. The red dragon blinked awake, yawned, and then slept, recovering.

Alex looked at his newest dragon, the Black Salamence that had distracted the crimson Rayquaza, and then had moved away from the furious Groudon, had now rejoined them in the air as they flew the relatively short journey back to his home. He still couldn't believe how cool his Salamence was, and as he thought that, the black dragon smirked.

Alex's innermost secret pocket had begun to glow with the ancient blue-purple power of the dragon types. Shruikan mega evolved then, and his new form, which had retained the black scales, looked like the form most Salamence had at this level.

He was fast though, as in the space of a single eye blink, he burst ahead towards their home, outpacing all of them.

Alex looked at his Rayquaza then, smirking. He knew which Mega Form would be faster. There was a reason Rayquaza's kin were considered Legendary. He was hampered by the large form of his red scaled passenger at the moment, though.

"Take him somewhere safe to recover. Then do as you please. I won't need you until Festivus Eve, I think." Alex's words were sent telepathically, and the dragon gave him a look, then nodded. He arrived back home soon after, and he saw how massive Shruikan was now, compared to his house. He had no idea how he'd ever fit in the Swamp.

The black dragon had seared the frozen ground beneath him with a Dragonbreath, and then let his Mega Form fall. That part of the ranch would have a large circular mark, come Spring, and most of the snow around the barn had melted thanks to the heat of his attack. They could likely let the Pokémon within come out soon, if it didn't snow again.

Alex looked up at the dawn of Festivus Day, and then down at Brad, who Blaze had deposited on the scorched dirt. The storm had ended, but it was still cold, and the Fornian, unused to such temperatures, was shivering. Alex helped him up, and the two eyed each other. Alex spoke first, "What will you do now?"

The Fornian looked at the direction the older Rayquaza had taken his. "I don't know...It's probably better if my Rayquaza stays away from me...but now I have no Pokémon. There's a lot of tall grass between here and Fornia." He gave the Unovan an awkward smile, and despite himself, Alex chuckled.

"Heh. I might have something to help with that..." Alex spoke softly as his Charizard appeared from the barn, carrying an egg. "I'm fairly certain this is Blaze's. He's been rather...active with Jess's Charizard...walk around a bit, head towards Unova. By the time it hatches, you should be near Humilau. Train it up...properly, this time...and avoid the Arceans."

Brad shook his head, "I can't...they can track my Trainer Card, and my whole family is in the Church...I can't just leave..."

"And what's the alternative?" Alex sighed, "Pravus is going to keep using you for your natural talents, until one day he decides he doesn't need you. Like he decided he didn't need his wife. You're a Fornian. When was the last time anyone saw her? Publicly?"

Brad stayed quiet, and looked down at the egg. The truth rang loudly, and obviously. The Prophet's wife had simply vanished one day, and nobody, not even the higher ups, were allowed to ask why. It didn't take that much of a logical leap to assume murder. Pravus was a violent man, after all. Everyone around him knew it. Nobody had the balls to speak it aloud in his presence, though. If any did, they'd probably 'disappeared' as well.

"I...guess you're right. I won't let this Charmander be abused." He turned to Blaze, then, "You have my word. Someday, it will be strong enough to beat you both." He took out his ID card then, and handed it to Alex. "Destroy this...it's better if no one knows where I am for a while..."

Alex nodded, "I'll...take care of it." He offered a hand, then, "I don't quite know how yet...but someday, I will help you go home. Pravus needs to be stopped...and I might very well need your help to do it. The word of a non-Arcean won't go far with your people, but if the Fornian Champion says something...well, we might just have a chance."

Brad looked at the hand, and then the egg again. He shook it, sighing. "I suppose I have no alternative...Pravus doesn't accept those who fail twice...you're right. I can't go back, not yet. If I did, he'd just take my Rayquaza...or this Charmander."

"When you're ready to storm the Fornia region, come to the Dragonspiral Tower. Tao can get in touch with me. We'll need full teams for that, though." Alex recalled Blaze, after giving his large chin a scratch. "Good luck...and... I'm sorry for how I acted in the Swamp. I've been told I need to see things from others' viewpoints before cementing my own...I guess I still need to train."

Brad shook his head, "No, you were right. Trainers who abandon their Pokémon are scum...I knew it was wrong, and I did it anyway. I'll make up for it though...later, Champion. Good luck today."

Alex nodded, and let his newest rival set off on his own before he snuck inside in the semi-darkness of the dawn. He was stealthy for once, and nobody noticed him return. Thus, his family had no idea why there was an enormous Black Salamence napping casually outside the following morning.

Using Delphi to lift her up to the window to Alex's room, Jess had snuck past the sleeping dragon, and Arthur, his 'guard', was left distracted by the psychic fox. Soon the two were flirting, and not long after, battling. Shruikan had awoken to watch that, as it was quite a show.

Jess had opened the ranch's barn as well, and released the family's horde of boxed Pokémon. Many of Alex's watched the psychic battle, while the other fire types set about clearing the snow for the masses of Tauros and Miltank.

Alex awoke to the not unpleasant feeling of his lover straddling him. He yawned, still tired. "Well, someone's early."

She smirked back, "No, I just don't sleep as long as you do after a session." He rolled his eyes. The fact that she'd been asleep at all was the reason she now risked sneaking over to wake him up. "So. Tell me about that dragon out there. It's enormous. Is that Shruikan?"

Alex looked up, and out his window. Even from up here he could see the dragon's black scales very easily against the golden grass of Unova. "Ahh. Yes, that, he evolved during our morning training session." He smirked up at her. "He's part dragon, part electric. Like Zekrom. He knows Thunder Fang."

She looked out the window at the dragon, then shrugged. "You should teach him Charge Beam instead."

Alex raised a brow, and despite the erotic positioning, his brain was once more all about Pokémon. "But his physical attacks are stronger. He's better with physical moves, like Arthur. It's a running theme with my team, now that I think about it..."

She bopped his nose. "Which is why Charge Beam will raise the strength of his special attacks, and his Dragon Pulse won't be useless either. Dragon Claw can do just as much as Thunder Fang."

He smirked. "I see the student has become the master. But as I recall, your moves were a bit rusty last night."

Her cheeks joined the red of her outfit's color scheme as she flushed, then tossed her hat away, letting her hair blind him as it fell on his face. "I've been out of practice for a few months. And it doesn't help that you've somehow increased your stamina. Again. Honestly, hiding this is getting quite difficult."

He blew her hair out of his face and looked up at her, smirking. "Well, winning in the Unova League pays quite well. As does Battling. We could get a permanent residence. Somewhere."

Before she could ask if he was serious about potentially moving in, there was a commotion outside, and the two Trainers jumped up immediately, only to see the door was still closed, and they had not, in fact, been caught.

Alex peeked out the window from his entrenched position on his bed, and smirked. "I guess Arthur won the Battle." He expected it, not because Delphi was weak, but because Arthur's Night Slash was rivaled only by his Sacred Sword.

Alex had been forcing him to train without relying on their Plate crystal, to improve his base form. Now that he had, he could already sense his partner expected to train in his Mega Form next.

Alex sighed. "I guess I'll have to let him Mega Evolve now."

Jess rolled her eyes. "Your Gallade is a cool guy, don't get me wrong, but I'm still wondering about the giant Black Salamence sitting in your yard. How? When? Why?"

He chuckled, and retrieved her hat for her with his stupidly long arms. "I'd like to know that myself. And you know there's only one authority on rare and unique types of Pokémon around here."

Alex and his lover descended with relative stealth to the lab. Delphi kept the majority of the hungover adults and spastic children entertained with a display of firebending that was truly impressive. She'd clearly been practicing.

They came upon his granduncle and one of Alex's cousins, Geralt, the son of Alex's uncle Gil. Most of the Redwoods tended to have dark brown or reddish hair, but Geralt's was white as the snow outside. It hadn't always been that color but nobody had asked him, as far as Alex was aware, if he'd dyed it. His training clothes were all studded leather. He was a Ranger now, and not unlike his cousin the Champion, he had ascended to the position of Top Ranger, one of several that patrolled their home continent. Alex was surprised he'd had time to come home for a visit.

Pokémon Rangers had changed over the past several decades, after Red and several other Champions from Japan decided that they should combine the organization with the International Police. The IP had agreed, and taken on the Ranger's name, as well as their ideologies. The resulting combination had been so effective, that Unova's Rangers had joined as well, prompting many other regions to follow suit. The result, was a strong international force that tended away from using Trainers directly, thanks to the allure of power that a full team of Pokémon brought with them. Most Rangers in the International Ranger Force didn't have full teams of Pokémon, but then, most didn't need them. One to three partners was more than enough, and there were always wild Pokémon around to aid them, if necessary.

Geralt gave the Professor a nod, and left the lab. He and Alex 's eyes met, as Geralt left and he entered, and his cousin smirked at him. "Alex. It's been a while. I heard you're the Champion now, eh? Not bad, kid. I knew the Old Man was right about your potential."

Alex nodded, awkwardly, as his cousin made small talk in the manner he usually did. Awkward, but honest. He really didn't talk much, a trait they had in common and one that had sustained them through many a Leaf session, before he'd gone off to the Ranger Academy. "Gruncle is right about a lot of things, Geralt. But I'm glad at least one of my relatives noticed."

Geralt slightly arched his brow, and he didn't need an enhanced nose to detect the salt in his cousin's tone. "Mm. I guess you wouldn't know. Most of the family saw your potential too. The rest of our cousins, for instance. Especially the young ones. You helped quite a few of them with their first partners, Alex. People don't forget that."

"If you say so." Alex said, pondering his cousin's words, as he glanced at the ground. Seeing Alex was thinking through his preconceptions, Geralt gave him a swift nod, and then, he was off. He didn't have a flying type on hand and as most of the local ones were hiding from the snow, he'd hopped onto his massive ice and rock typed white Lycanroc, Ghost, and vanished into the distance with a few graceful bounds.

Alex had heard his cousin had a nickname amongst his fellow Rangers. The White Wolf. Though he wondered who that nickname was really for. It had been easy to miss at first, but Geralt's eyes had been different, almost like a cat's, and when he'd tried to see the Ranger's typing, his psychic sight had revealed nothing. Not even normal typing. He supposed he wasn't the only Redwood to have gained special powers, but then, stranger things had happened.

The Professor spoke up as he and Jess entered the lab. "Ahh, Alex. There you are. I saw that Salamence. I expect you think I know everything about it then, right?" The Professor was sarcastic, but Alex knew he was excited. He'd dreamed about seeing a Black Salamence up close for over a century. Literally.

Alex shrugged. "Nobody knows more about rare and Legendary Pokémon than you. You told me yourself there's always a grain of truth in the legends that make them Legendary. So spill, why is my dragon part electric?"

The old man gestured to the back room of his lab. "I pulled up everything I could find on a Black Salamence, by pure coincidence of course, months ago. It's on the computer in the…little room…thing…where I showed you where to find Turtwigs."

He vaguely guided his great-nephew as Alex hit the switch, and opened the well concealed side door. Soon, he'd found the folder, which only contained one article, from the Hoenn region and was quite old. Thankfully, it was also detailed.

Alex Redwood's voice rang softly in the small adjoining room to his grand uncle's lab, as he read for Jess. She wasn't very good at speed reading paragraphs, and often spent five minutes staring at something as simple as a sign for half a minute, before moving on.

"The unholy offspring of lightning and death, the Black Salamence is a rare offshoot of the Bagon species, that occurs in roughly one Shelgon out of five hundred thousand." Alex paused for a moment. The unholy offspring of lightning and death. He felt a shiver run down his spine. He was going to use that.

He continued, "These Shelgon take a notoriously long time to grow, and can only evolve in specific conditions. If they meet said conditions, which are usually finding a source of heat strong enough for evolution, they can then use it to propel themselves into their final form, the Black Salamence. Unlike most Salamence, and their green scaled equivalent, the Black Salamence is of an entirely different type, and may even be considered a new species of Pokémon. Possessing the rare dragon and electric typing, this Salamence retains its ability to learn Flying Type Moves as well as electric Moves the main species of Salamence don't have access to. The only stats ever recorded on one showed that this variant of Dragon Type gains Special Attack potential to rival their Attack strength."

Jess smirked. "There you go. A balance between attack strength and special attack strength."

Alex sighed as he pondered his dragon's move set. Special attacks, namely ranged ones, combined with flight were hard to beat. Much harder than quick aerial physical attackers, like Pidgeot, and regular Salamence. He looked up as he sensed his Charizard and Salamence readying for a match of their own. He knew Blaze and Shruikan had been itching to battle, but given how strong they were now, he'd forbade it…for the moment. The ranch was too fragile for their strength. "No mention of how hot the flames should be to evolve one. Hmm." He continued reading, "Because of their rarity, the Black Salamence is considered to be a legend by most, a fluke of nature, by others. They are, allegedly, notoriously hard to raise, according to the now passed Drake, Dragon Master of the Hoenn Region. Drake only ever mentioned seeing one of these creatures, and when asked how to train one, he reportedly responded by saying, 'Don't bother. This dragon is untrainable. If you encounter one in the wild, run, and pray it does not find you.'"

He whistled, and then looked at his redheaded companion. "Unholy offspring of lightning and death. Sounds like it came straight from a book, or something."

Jess shrugged. "Sounds more like a movie…in any case, he's a lot faster in the air than Blaze is."

Alex nodded. He could also transport more people on his back, easily. The trick was accounting for the increase in wind that would seek to rip passengers from his back. Salamence were a lot more aerodynamic than Charizard, who used their flight skills mainly for battle, not soaring all over the world.

Jess poked him as he stayed lost in thought. "You should Battle against Connor with him."

He sighed again, and recalled the last time Shruikan faced off against Connor's Garchomp. "If he goes wild again, a Psychic attack won't be enough to stop him from hurting someone."

Alex blinked as he felt his Salamence, hurt by his words, counter with words of his own, and the emotions they came with, in his head. "I'm in control now. Besides, that Garchomp has…" His words fumbled.

New as he was to speaking the human tongue, Arthur supplemented his words through their shared six-way link. "Type advantage. Ground and dragon."

"I'm sure he'll be fine this time. He was quite friendly when I first came over. Besides, you said yourself that the mountain forged a bond of trust that you didn't have with the rest of your team." Jess spoke again, and Alex suppressed a chuckle as he heard Shruikan echo in his head once more. "I like her."

Blaze chimed in as well, "So do I."

Ignoring his mental peanut gallery, and her quizzical look, he suddenly turned serious. "I was right. Blaze and Shruikan are good friends. But I've had a few adventures with the others as well. Adventures you weren't around for. Which reminds me. What are you doing this summer?"

He was still trying to get over that he'd only been an official Trainer for a bit over a year. He'd done a lot, but then, any Trainer worth their reputation had done just as much, if not more, and usually in shorter amounts of time.

She was in his lap then, and the ancient rolling chair squealed in protest at their combined weight. His Gruncle's voice came from the lab proper, after the sound of a bong being hit, of course. "If that chair starts squeaking, you'd better close the damned door!"

Alex smirked, and waved at the button, sealing the door closed with a small burst of psychic power. That got Jess's attention, as he'd been reluctant to try his powers so close to his family. "I expect I'll be learning how to press buttons with my mind. How? When? Why?"

He looked at the door for a long moment, until he was completely sure that the old man had indeed hobbled over, and pressed a cup to it. He couldn't tell if it was out of envious lust or genuine curiosity. Which was saying something, given his seeming ability to read anyone's mind. It seemed some minds were indeed harder to read than others.

His gaze fell on hers. Or perhaps, he thought, the better you knew someone, the easier they were to read. Her eyes mirrored his then. She knew that look, and he could already sense the rising lust.

He decided to speak before his mouth was occupied by either set of her lips. "I could teach you…but my master forbade it unless I found you unworthy of the training. I have to peer into your very being before I'm allowed to teach you anything."

If he was being honest, he hadn't had much more success with his pebble lifting. He could manipulate the pebbles now, make them zip around the room, and even push or pull small objects, but anything bigger, like, say, a door, and he might as well try pushing a mountain.

She pressed her forehead to his, and his vision took in her eyes, and only her eyes. "Go ahead. You know me better than anyone…I don't mind you peeking inside my head."

He blinked once as he fought down the heat rising in his face, and then his eyes began to shine blue. He reached his sixth sense out to her, as he had with the Swamp Tree, and once more, his perspective shifted. She was as connected to the world as the tree had been, but not by roots. He sensed a similar kind of energy to her own, and then realized it was actually just the computer. He suspected he could follow that energy as well, but for the moment, his focus was for her.

He knew that the energy that made up human consciousness was electrical in nature. Wouldn't it make sense if, on this level, it shared a connection? That would explain the similarities between her, and what he sensed from the computer.

He focused on her again, and then realized the difference. There was organic, decaying matter in her, the computer was a machine, one built to outlast either of them. He briefly wondered if combining durable materials with the human body was the next step for them as a species before he felt his focus drawn like a magnet back to her.

He realized that she was sensing him as well, and from what he could tell, she didn't appreciate the implication that her 'soul' was akin to electricity. He shared his knowledge then with the speed of thought. Namely, of biochemistry, learned of course, in his last semester of University. She hadn't had those classes yet.

Once he sensed she understood, more or less, the foundations of that particular science, which if he was being truthful was the extent of his knowledge as well, he turned his focus to the rest of her. She hid nothing from him, and he saw every embarrassing moment, family dinner, and even romantic thought she'd had throughout her twenty plus years.

"Do you want to see what my three months apart have been like?" Her inner voice seemed almost sad, and he wondered why. She showed him, then, the constant romantic advances, offers for sex, even attempts at forcing such a thing. He burned the faces of the perpetrators into his own memory, and hid his rage well. He felt Arthur resonate with the cold fury behind his rapidly forming mental plans, and they both agreed to keep the other from going too far, when the time came to make them pay for their attempted assault.

He'd battled a few of the faces she conjured in her memories the year before, up at the University, when he'd noticed several strange men stalking her, with more...predatory intent than he ever had. He and Terra had battled several, and told them to leave her be. It seemed they'd forgotten his lesson. He decided to visit his Alma Mater, and reinforce what he'd taught them and he sensed the rest of his team also shared that desire. They were sensing, to a degree, what he was as well, but he'd kept most of the private moments of her life from them.

He looked and looked, and learned more about her, even as he sensed her doing the same for him. Nothing he learned however, shifted how he felt about her. If anything, it made him fall harder and the tone of the connection shifted as she discovered exactly how he felt about her in a manner unlike any that words could ever accurately convey. It seemed to surprise her, in a good way.

He could sense she felt the same way, which was a relief for someone as paranoid as he was, but he couldn't be blinded by love right then. He had a purpose here, after all.

He searched for memories of her reaction to having power. The first time she'd realized Serpi was a true force of nature. The first time Chari and her new Flamethrower, a gift from him no less, was unleashed in battle.

The first time she'd felt Delphi's power, true psychic power, and envied it a little, but respected it enough to not abuse it. More than a few Delphox Trainers had gone bad in the past, as they were quite powerful, and power tended to corrupt those unworthy of wielding it.

"Well done."

The voice thundered through both human minds, as their combined thoughts had begun to veer towards le romance, and Alex recognized it immediately. He felt Jess was a bit dazed however, and soon helped her focus again. The presence of the Sage receded as quickly as it appeared, and Alex felt his mouth grimace. His tutor hadn't trusted him after all, keeping an eye on him despite the promise to not be blinded by love.

He sensed Arthur's voice then, "He did trust you…you just don't understand yet. This power…it cannot be allowed to be abused by Humanity. Not again."

Alex was about to acquiesce to the Pokémon's decision to hide some things from him again, when he decided that he needed to know, this time, why this was so important. "Why? What happened that makes this level of secrecy necessary?"

As their conversation was mental, it seemed his mentor overheard them. As did Jess, who remained linked to his mind. They both liked the closeness it brought and that fact only made them like it more. He felt the gaze of the Sage's third eye sweeping over the three of them and suddenly, a fourth joined.

It took a minute for Alex to recognize his lover's Delphox, but since coming home, Arthur had been teaching her how to project telepathy, and he'd come to like her. She was clever, one might even say sly.

"Good…" The Sage thundered again, "I have to teach all of you this eventually, and I might as well teach the two of you at once. Save some time." Before any of them could respond, a vision filled their minds, a vision of the world as they knew it, a small, beautiful blue oblate spheroid against the starry pitch blackness of space.

"Long ago, the Earth was in a state of chaotic imbalance. Polluted oceans, melted ice gaps, colossal catastrophes…since the final nail in the coffin of the Human race was dealt to them, this planet was on the verge of becoming uninhabitable for millennia and the Humans who lived in those times were convinced that their ancestors had doomed them all with their over-reliance on technology, careless destruction of natural resources, and complete lack of conscience for what they inflicted on their home by way of toxic pollution. Your kind had returned to their nomadic roots in the wake of what many believed would be the final war Humanity waged. The next generation was wary of technology, and the doom they believed it had brought upon them. That changed, when Arceus appeared."

The vision shifted again, zooming outwards, and the four saw the golden form of the stag like Alpha Pokémon, hovering over the blue planet. His size was massive by comparison and Alex figured a being classified as a deity could probably shift it at will.

"Arceus admired the world's beauty, but everywhere his gaze fell, he saw the ruins of a fallen race, clinging to the surface of a dying world. Eventually, he found the remnants of your people as well."

The scene shifted again. The Alpha Pokémon, now smaller, hovered above a group of tribal humans, but instead of embracing the creature, they told it to leave them to their doom. Over and over the scene repeated, in rainforests, tundra, mountain tops, deserts, and abandoned city streets, everywhere the Alpha appeared, he was told to leave.

Humanity, a species not likely to agree on anything, had given up and this attitude of despair and hopelessness was prevalent across the globe. Their cities had drowned or been turned into craters, their fuel had run out, and their carefully stacked monopolies had crumbled in mere months, revealing just how finite their 'mighty reign' actually was, when tested against screwing with a planetary force's ecosystem.

Humanity had learned that their home was very much alive, and aware of them. Nature had reacted, and as humans were forced into hovels again, predators had appeared to hunt them, and keep them from ever rising again, as the planet struggled to heal itself of plastic filled oceans, and millions of piles of garbage.

The Sage continued, "Arceus eventually grew to share the Human's despair, that is, until he noticed the children. When he appeared in his radiant glory at these Human hovels, they were always sure to keep their children from sight, out of fear of this strange, alien, creature that shone with golden light."

"It was when he looked on them from afar, for his sight is limitless, that he saw the children, and the adults as well, bonded with some of the natural fauna around them. They were a broken race, but in falling, they had rejoined the natural balance of the world, what little was left, and that was when the Alpha Pokémon had an idea."

The four were spellbound by the vision, but as it's narrator paused, Alex felt confusion. Primarily from Delphi.

She wanted to hear more, but the Sage was preoccupied by…something. His voice returned, and he seemed…lighter, in his mental presence. His voice didn't thunder so loud. That's when the Delphox and her Trainer realized what the Sage was doing, and Alex felt Jess smack him, speaking verbally, "You taught him to smoke too!?" Arthur broke down laughing, and Delphi simply sighed.

The Sage chimed in then. "Please. I have enjoyed the Leaf since before the Redwoods were Cypresses. In fact I'm fairly sure you Humans only started smoking it again, on this continent, after picking it up from my students, who shared my enjoyment of it. Anyway…Arceus saw that this planet, one of many the universe had naturally spawned, was one that needed his aid. Life flourished across the worlds he touched, and there was something about this one backwater planet, in a galaxy of no particular import, that made him decide to leave the planet's fate, and the fate of its inhabitants, up to his divine Light."

An image of the Alpha Pokémon appeared in their minds again, his golden form once more hovering over the planet. Alex repressed a shiver, as he saw the being ready for a hauntingly familiar Judgement attack, one massive enough to wipe out their world. The ball of Light energy slammed into the Earth, and instead of being destroyed, the planet was instead infused with the power of his attack. "Judgement is not always a damaging Move," Oranguru explained, "Sometimes, as you well know Alex, it does nothing but aid that which it is focused upon. The fact that the Earth survived showed the Alpha that this planet was worth saving, and had a role to play, though I suspect even Arceus doesn't know to what extent, yet."

As the Judgement sank into the planet, Arceus formed his Plates into one, massive, infinite power source, and his next attack caused it to shatter, as hundreds of trillions of Plate shards fell over the sizable world. Where they landed, the Earth recovered. Plants returned, and with their rapid regrowth, rose the bones of the millions of species that had fallen to the human's incompetence. Cradled in branches, almost sentiently, the Earth literally raised the remains of the majority Animal Kingdom, much of which had since gone extinct thanks to mankind's expansion and pollution. Though there was no discernible reason as to why the trees raised up these fossilized bones, and Oranguru did not elaborate.

The scene shifted yet again, and the four saw images of Mew, the Genetic Pokémon. From one that was shining with a golden light, thousands of clones appeared, some pink some blue, soaring across the planet. The first area they came to was the Mediterra mountains, which had risen when the African continent had been pushed to the north east, into the Eurasian continent, at the order of the Alpha Pokémon and by the strength of Regigigas. The result was a massive spine of mountains, the Mediterra Mountain range, that upended holy lands, ancient kingdoms, forests, entire deserts, and most importantly, fossils. With said holy lands eradicated, seemingly on purpose, it seemed Arceus expected humanity to stop drenching the world in blood.

It was Alex's turn to speak up then, "Wait, so the original Mew cloned the DNA from the fossils in the Mediterra range? Is that why the trees raised them up too? Are you telling me that Aurorus, Aerodactyl, Tyrantrum, etcetera, were all created from species that predated even ours?"

The Sage chuckled, and gave the mental equivalent of a nod. "They went into the oceans, too. They found the creatures still surviving there, transformed their very DNA to match them, bred, and the result was Carracosta, Relicanth, and the other ancient Pokémon of the sea. Indeed, the only natural fauna the Mew did not clone, was Humans. As far as I know." He had some suspicions about the Ralts line, but he kept them hidden in that moment.

Arthur spoke then, his tone grave. "And how did the Humans react to the new fantastical creatures in their midst?"

The Sage seemed to sigh. "About as well as you might expect. Fear, at first, though eventually they came to only fear those with sharp teeth. Before long, they'd turned them into beasts of burden, domesticated them, as they had done with their natural ancestors…there was a catch, though…Humans soon discovered the incredible power creatures like Aurorus could learn. Understand, before then, something like an Ice Beam had simply never been seen. Food was able to be preserved, Water Gun was a nearly limitless supply of fresh water, if you could get enough Pokémon."

Jess spoke then, "It seems to me like we did fine at first. No different from now, really…I sense a 'but' coming, though…"

"But," the Sage said, continuing on in his deep baritone, "Eventually those with dark, greedy hearts saw these new creatures as a means to control the leaderless masses. Tyrantrum was, in those days, the undisputed king among the earliest lineages of Pokémon. One of the first lines of Dragon Types that emerged from fossils that the Humans seemed to house in specialized buildings across the world. It made cloning them all too easy, for Mew. Most of them were actually quite even tempered, almost noble. They kept the few remaining natural predator species of the Animal Kingdom and other Humans from hurting their fellow Pokémon as the remaining Mew spread to other areas, cloned other animals, and created even more Pokémon. Arceus was not idle either, as he spawned legends across the world, Guardians to watch over each of the continents and always to keep them in balance. The Original Dragon is one such Guardian. Eventually, one of your Norstad kin managed to force a Tyrantrum into submission, and the power he controlled through it was great…terrible…but great."

Another vision then, a man with a metal, clawed arm and a heavy metal staff, ordering a Tyrantrum covered in sheets of rusted metal from the old world that acted as armor, to unleash its Hyper Beam upon settlement after settlement. Humans and Pokémon alike fell to its power, for combined, they were unstoppable. The scattered humans of his land flocked to his strength, and it wasn't long at all before the scenes displayed an army of humans and similarly armored Pokémon sweeping down from the north of the new supercontinent, intent on conquering all of it.

"Arceus saw this, of course, and devised a countermeasure. Many years had passed by this point, but he knew the Humans and their latent greed would eventually abuse the Pokémon of this world he was rebuilding. This tyrant in particular only proved that Humans and Pokémon together would indeed reach new heights, as he'd foreseen, but evidently, said heights would not be reached until the Human race dealt with the greed inherent to their species. So, he scanned the world for one who was worthy, and decided to appear once again, before a boy in a small desert settlement in the warpath of the Tyrantrum and his master."

The Sage's words caused yet another shift in scenery, as Arceus appeared before the boy in question. He was remarkably normal, brown hair, brown eyes, tan skin, as he lived in the desert.

He offered the boy an orb of gold that looked suspiciously like a Pokéball, and then disappeared into it. From then on, Arceus appeared at the boy's command, and eventually, the orb was little more than a symbol of their bond, and rarely used to contain the Alpha Pokémon.

"The boy Battled alongside the Alpha Pokémon, defeated the tyrant, freed the Tyrantrum, and Humans and Pokémon alike hailed him as a hero. He showed that Battling alongside Pokémon gave a Human great power, and more importantly, could be fun for all involved, if it was treated as sport, rather than a life or death contest. The tradition of Battling for sport caught on quickly everywhere he went. He set about traveling the world, finding that Arceus was not the only 'Legend' class creature around. Arceus had been busy creating others, defenders of this planet and its numerous regions. Once he was sure his Legendary Pokémon would keep the balance of this world, he had dealt with the Norstad menace. There were others though. Always others."

Another mental scene change revealed the same boy, slightly older, and garbed not too differently than Alex, Jess, and most other Trainers. A backpack, a walking stick, and a good friend by his side. That was the dream, and Alex was beginning to see why so many Trainers started on similar paths. He already had a feeling that he knew how this boy's life would eventually end, but he continued to listen.

"Worship of Pokémon had sprung up all around the world and for all his sight, Arceus had not predicted the devout and sometimes perverse measures Humans will reach to demonstrate how much they love and worship their deity of choice. Many of the Legendary Pokémon were uncomfortable with this, as they had no desire to challenge Arceus for the right to be the Alpha. Only one other had tried, and that other had paid dearly for its arrogance. Arceus is merciful, true, but his wrath, when awakened, is truly ferocious."

The scene shifted again, and the Sage kept speaking. "The Humans had begun to rebuild their cities alongside Pokémon, and when Arceus and his partner arrived, they were educated as to who the true Alpha was. The Humans, of course, praised him as the highest of high powers, though many still revered the Legendary of their region with respect, and Arceus did not seem to mind."

Alex flinched as he saw Tao, a bit younger looking judging by his facial tendrils, lazing on a familiar mountain as a group of humans stood on a familiar peak, and listened to the Alpha Pokémon. It was undoubtedly Draconis Mons, but it was different.

There was a battle arena, as the ancient Unovans had apparently been one of the first to organize Pokémon into battling teams, but the mountain top was flat, not a crater. The northern peak had the same familiar cave though, and Alex had a feeling that he knew what was residing in that cave, perhaps even now, waiting to be discovered.

He felt the ever-present staff on his back shudder at that thought, and his focus returned as the Sage continued on, "Eventually, as all Humans do, Arceus's partner grew old, and he returned to his village…only to find that it had been leveled. Even with his travels across the globe, true unity evaded the Human race and other amoral men and women continued to use Pokémon to try to gain power over other Humans. Arceus had separated from his partner for a number of years by that point, for such a span of time is nothing to him. He tried to quell the numerous wars, only to find another had sprung up while he was busy. Many kinds of kingdoms had risen in this new age. Entire civilizations rose and fell in remarkable time, always brought low by the greed of one of the Humans within it. The more they delved into the mysteries of his Pokémon, the more powerful these civilizations became. Over and over this repeated, and Humanity began to stagnate. As the situation became more and more futile, Arceus began to wonder if his Judgement had been incorrect, if perhaps it was the planet that deserved to live, not the Sentients upon it."

"His fury was justified." The Sage continued, "He is a being that is used to letting the universe run itself, and often hibernates for millennia at a time. He had been awake for far too long focusing on one planet, using his power on an almost daily basis as he adventured with his partner and all they had to show for it was a few hundred million overly zealous followers, and more bloodshed. He made his intent to wipe the Humans out clear, except for his partner, and those he cared for."

The scene shifted, and Alex recognized the Judgement attack forming above the golden Arceus' head, ready to come down on two seemingly random warring armies of humans and Pokémon.

"Eventually, his partner managed to calm his rage…but not before it devastated the Humans who refused to stay peaceful, in a conflict that would come to be known as the Judgement War. His Tamer, an old man by then, appeared to Arceus, as he'd been traveling the world with Pokémon he'd trained from eggs, spreading peace where he could to as many as possible. The Alpha attempted to grant him immortality, but sadly, the Human's body was already too far decayed, and eventually, mortality took him. It was then that Arceus quit this world to recover his strength. His Human had foreseen that, one day, another would come to help him guide Humanity once more, but in that moment, the Alpha was too exhausted to be optimistic."

The Sage gave the mental equivalent of a heavy sigh. "He told us, the Psychic Sages, that someday, when this world managed to find peaceful coexistence between his creations and Humankind, he would return to partner with one who was worthy. To help with that goal and your species' incurable Greed, he gave one final gift to you Humans…yes, Alex, you're right. Your insight serves you well."

The others waited expectantly, and Alex spoke then, "I guessed that Arceus decided to make us similar to his own creations. Pokémon, of a kind, but unlike any others. Normal types, of course, though some of us apparently have dual typing."

The Sage smirked to himself. Arceus' gift went a lot farther than that, as the being had altered much to overcome humanity's tendency towards violence. From altering the composition of the air, to the very food both humans and Pokémon regularly ate…but he had a feeling the young Redwood would find for himself just how extensively humanity had been altered by the deity in their midst soon enough.

"As I said, you are correct, though even to this day, arrogant Humans think you're 'above' mere Pokémon, just as you pretended to be above the animals of this world so long ago. This is simply not the case. Always remember that you are a part of this world, and the delicate balance it takes to keep it habitable. I, and others like me, have watched your race crawl back from the Dark Times that came after the death of Arceus's Tamer, and Arceus's departure. You have, slowly, begun to manifest more and more Humans with Psychic potential. Never forget what you are; a race spawned by Nature, and empowered by a deity. You all have so much potential...you could be incredible...if you'd only stop murdering each other." The Sage spoke, as the scene shifted to one that every Trainer experienced at one point or another.

Some Trainers inherited Pokémon, or bonded with them, some were given their first by their parents or siblings, but every Trainer who was serious about adventuring had visited a lab at one point or another, to get one of the unique Pokémon used by so many Trainers across the planet. The scene that came to their minds now was evidently one that had been before the onset of the Dark Times.

The same boy from before, now ancient and bent and swathed in a white robe that dangled from his frail form, whistled, and three Pokémon came over to him. A fire type, a grass type, and a water type. He'd evidently rebuilt his little village, and had become a revered elder among the people, far surpassing the normal span of years most humans lived, a gift from Arceus no doubt, but the Alpha was not present in this scene.

"He chose a Successor," The Sage said, quietly, "And from among all his followers, he found the one with the most Psychic potential, the one who, he hoped, would lead Humanity and our world as a whole back into Arceus's Light."

The boy in question had fairer skin, blonde hair, and green eyes, wide and curious. He pointed at the grass type, a Snover from the nearby Mediterra mountains, and Alex chuckled.

"Mm. I'm glad it amuses you." The Sage spoke, as he shifted the scene again, to one that outright shocked the four seeing it, as the tone of the vision changed abruptly. It was the same village alright, but covered in ice, and devastated by massive vines. They could even see some of the townspeople, and their Pokémon, trapped within it.

"That Trainer went on to develop his Psychic power, and once he had that power…he used it. Again, and again, he forced his unwilling Abomasnow to comply so many times, it eventually became little more than a husk. Into that husk, he poured his malicious emotions, until eventually, he figured out how to manifest and harness Shadow energy. He went on to form a cult then, a popular thing at the time, when Arceus's Tamer, seen as a Prophet by some, and a hero by others, finally passed on. The followers they'd gained over the long years fractured, and the world descended into an age of darkness the likes of which it had never, and will never see again."

The Sage continued to narrate as scenes, from his own vision now and not his father's, flitted by, showing but a fraction of the carnage. "The 'Successor' and his forces were all trained in the Psychic arts, mastering and abusing their power, until eventually, they killed each other off, or died in other ways. They turned on each other almost daily, to the point where it became expected for an apprentice to one day slay his master, and claim his knowledge. This is why you must be extremely cautious in who you give this power to…not all Humans are capable of handling it."

Alex spoke quietly then. "Am I? Are any of us?"

That brought a chuckle from the Sage, "The fact that you even ask only proves that you're already worthier than some…but time will tell. Return here with Jessica when she completes her final year. Then, we will test you. All of you."

Alex and Jess shared a look as he opened his eyes again. It took a minute for his vocal chords to work, as he'd become so used to telepathy in such a short time. That was often how it was with the Sage. "That was…"

He felt her lean on him then, "I'm glad you think I can handle this power…but what about my brother? What if he has it too? I don't think he could control it…and apparently that's more dangerous than abusing it."

Alex waved a hand again, pushing the button for the door, in the lab. His Gruncle was nowhere to be seen, evidently, he'd left when they'd stopped speaking with words he could hear. "Don't worry about your brother…he just has to find his own path. It might not lead him to the Swamp immediately, but Professor Oak said it would…and his words have been right so far. If he starts to misuse what he learns, you and I will keep him in check. Like we always do."

She sighed, and he cheered her up then by teaching her how to reach out with her burgeoning senses, and lift small objects. She failed, of course, as he had his first day, but he was slowly learning what being a teacher was like. He didn't mind it much, but it certainly helped that his 'student' was so close to him.

They trained all day, until he was certain she could, at the very least, reach out and mentally link to him. They thoroughly enjoyed being linked to that degree, and that was how the two stayed as they joined their families in the massive convoy of cars and Pokémon heading for Castelia City. It was Festivus Eve, at last, and Alex fully intended to relax and enjoy himself.

Sahqoreyth · Mar 28, 2024

Disturb Not the Harmony

(This is a canon short-story that you can skip, if you like. It's plot relevant, and takes place in the same time period as the last chapter.)

The Orange Islands - Kanto/Johto Region of Japan

Connor Gladstone had come to the center of the Orange Islands of Japan for one reason. Like many other Trainers, he'd heard the legends of the Guardian of the Sea, a Lugia who was supposed to be stronger than any other in the world.

As a rule, its species was stronger than most, and rare enough to be considered a legend, but this particular Lugia was older, and stronger, than others encountered by Trainers. Not unlike Unova's Rayquaza.

Connor had arrived on the island, parlayed with the locals, and now, he was on his way to Lightning Island, home of Zapdos, supposedly. The other two islands had noticeably lacked Moltres or Articuno. He departed in the boat he'd rented, grabbed the yellow crystalline sphere at the shrine, and then searched for Zapdos. Like the others, it was nowhere to be found.

After heading back to the islanders, they pointed him in the direction of Slowking's shrine. The more he spoke with them, the more he was convinced they weren't telling him something, especially after not finding the legendary birds. He went to the shrine anyways, placed the colored spherical gems in the only structure that could hold them, and waited.

And waited.

The islands were gorgeous in autumn, but as the sun began to set, and deprive him of a view, he wondered if he'd have to wait all night. He was willing to, of course. He needed a Pokémon to rival Alex and Tao, and you didn't just find one on Tao's level sitting around. He'd wait all night if he had to.

It was as he thought that thought, that the voice spoke. "You won't find him." Connor turned, eyebrow raised. A Slowking stood behind him. If rumor was to be believed, he was the shrine's caretaker. Nothing to worry about, then. "You won't find him." He repeated, "You don't have the song."

"So teach it to me." Connor replied, standing and turning in one fluid motion.

The Slowking sighed. "It won't matter if I do. The Guardian isn't here." Its offspring was, guiding and keeping the ocean's current in balance while its parent was away, but this Trainer didn't need to know that. Humans had a tendency of disrupting the balance, if it meant gaining power. The same one had tried twice to capture the Guardian of the Sea. The second attempt had cost that human his life.

Connor's brow rose further. "Then where is it?"

The Slowking gave him a look. "You already have the answer to that."

Connor sighed. The rumors were true, then. He was part of that Trainer's team, and trying to find information on Ash Ketchum was a rabbit hole that everyone went down, eventually, but few ever managed to actually find him. He'd done more in his tenth year than most Trainers did in seven. He didn't stay in one place often. "Then where are the birds?"

"Gone. Tamed, most likely, though the ones you're thinking of left long ago, after the second incident. Zapdos might still be around. I saw it a week past, during a storm." In truth, the storm had been the product of a Legendary electric type, Slowking hadn't seen Zapdos itself. But this human didn't need to know that, either.

"Zapdos it is, then." Connor sighed, and turned to leave. It wasn't Lugia, it wasn't even Moltres, the bird he would've preferred, but it was better than leaving empty handed.

The Slowking watched the Trainer go, and sighed. Many like him had come over the years. Repeated the ritual, best they knew how, and then left empty handed. The islanders had adapted, after the second incident perpetrated by the same man had made national headlines.

They charged such Trainers exorbitant fees to rent a room or a boat, or even to eat. That had driven most of them off, but this Trainer didn't seem bothered by it. He'd likely leave empty handed too.

Slowking sighed again, watching the sun fade completely, and as he did, he noticed something. The lightning orb had begun to glow, though the others remained dormant. He knew Moltres and Articuno had left, as had Zapdos. He couldn't rightly figure out why it was glowing now.

The villagers greeted Connor's return from the shrine with the same passiveness, and fully expected him to leave. When he asked for a boat to go out again, they denied him, and he shocked them all by calling out Gren, and surfing away on his narrow back, despite the oncoming thunderstorm on the horizon. It promised to be a powerful one, but Connor ignored the islander's warnings. Great Trainers were not dissuaded by something as simple as bad weather.

It was hard going, as his Trainer was stocky, and Greninja were, as a rule, not big enough for a comfortable ride. They managed, as Gren was quite strong. Connor recalled him once they made landfall on Lightning Island, and began heading towards the shrine again.

Once there, he climbed to a nearby hill of sorts to the right of the thunder shrine, blinking in surprise as he realized it was metal he was now standing on. Rusted and old, he examined it further and realized it was likely one of the two floating palaces that had come to this region seeking Lugia. He only looked away when he heard the boom of thunder overhead, and noticed the sky was now dark with angry looking clouds.

Lightning flashed, and though he was momentarily blinded, a figure atop one of the nearby cliffs lining the shrine appeared once the blindness faded. It roared at him, and thunder boomed through the area again. Most Trainers would've been awed, but Connor simply grinned.

It made some sense. If the birds were captured or migrating, then what Pokémon would be better for watching over their energy filled homes than Ho-Oh's own trio? Connor blinked, and leapt off the pile of rusted metal, landing before the shrine. He pulled out his Unova style Pokédex, double checking the entry for the Pokémon he suspected now stood before him.

It was Raikou, of that there was no question, but this one was orange. That, too, made some sense. The current Champion of Kanto and Johto's Pokémon League was rumored to use the three 'Legendary Beasts' as they were sometimes called.

Raikou's eyes lit up with psychic power, and Connor's grin only widened as he heard its voice in his head. "You wish to tame the essence of lightning…" The massive thunder Pokémon leapt from the cliff, and landed before him with a deep snarl. "You can certainly try…"

Connor had no illusions about who he'd need to use for this particular battle. Gar, his Garchomp, was the obvious choice for his type advantage, but Connor had a feeling Earthquake and Dig wouldn't be effective against a Pokémon as fast as Raikou.

He went for his fastest then, and called out his Infernape, Ardor. Gren was technically the fastest, but he knew no amount of tricks would help this kind of type disadvantage. This was a Legendary Pokémon. Unlike most members of his species, Ardor's fur was crimson not orange, and as he saw what his opponent was, the flame on his head swelled.

Raikou started the battle, with lightning arcing from the clouds on his back. Ardor had decided to use a Mach Punch, before his Trainer could call it, and Connor sighed. His Infernape had a tendency to battle on his own instinct, and take things too far. It was a theme, with fire types. Even those who were well trained.

There was a reason he'd kept the impulsive ape around, though. He dodged the electric attacks easily, and while a normal punch wouldn't normally do all that much, this one hit Raikou's jaw with unerring accuracy and a lot more power. Enough to daze him, for a moment.

"Close Combat!" The Infernape fell into a stance for his own unique style of fighting which his Trainer had nicknamed the 'Iron Fist', and as each of the fighting type hits from his legs and feet landed, Raikou seemed to take them without an issue.

"Is that all you have?" Thunder boomed with its' telepathic words. "Come! Give me a challenge!" It roared again, and the heavens seemed to shake with the force of it. The fact that it could speak wasn't necessarily unusual, not to Connor, anyways.

Most Legendary Pokémon had some kind of latent psychic potential. He did wonder who taught it Common, though. It attacked then, with a Thunder Fang, and Ardor's hands lit up with fire as he caught the manifested electric jaws, and struggled to keep them from closing on him.

Ardor looked back to his Trainer, for once, seeking guidance. His Trainer nodded. "Do it." The Infernape leapt back, narrowly dodging the fangs as they clashed shut, and then lunged forward again. Instead of a punch however, this time, he used a kick. His foot was enveloped with fire as he slid under Raikou's guard, and then launched the Blaze Kick upwards into the Legendary tiger's chin.

"Now, Fire Punch!" The force of the kick had actually managed to lift the legendary beast off the ground, onto his back legs, and Ardor let his momentum carry him as he arched his back, and flipped backwards from the kick. His fist was enveloped in flame then, and he let it carry him to his target, hitting the tiger-like beast directly in the chest.

There was a thunderous crash as the Raikou was sent backwards into one of the nearby rock faces. It rose from the rubble then, and took a different approach. The Raikou leapt onto the pile of rusted metal, and electric sparks ran through it, making its outline obvious.

It took Connor a moment to realize that was indeed one of the airships that had almost caused a global unbalancing of the ocean current. It had to be the first. There hadn't been anything left of the second. Several bolts of electricity hit the metal as they arced down from the clouds, and then curved towards Raikou, who redirected them towards his opponent.

They were fast, and relentless, all Ardor could do was dodge. Every time he tried to approach Raikou's perch, it attacked with Thunder, scorching the ground before it. Eventually, it grew tired of being dodged by the agile ape, and once more changed tactics. The electricity clung to the Legendary Beast's form, and then expanded in a circular wave of energy. A Discharge.

Knowing that kind of hit would put them at even more of a disadvantage, Connor acted. "Get some height, then Blaze Kick through it!" Ardor moved quickly, climbing the shrine itself and leaping. The wave of energy was almost upon him once he'd gotten the kick going, but it pushed back against the attack, and hit him regardless.

The flames had been unable to push through the wall of electric power, and Ardor hit the ground hard. Rain began to fall from the darkened clouds, and given the region they were in, it soon increased in its intensity. Ardor's flame weakened, but both he and the Raikou were panting. Connor eyed both of them, and nodded. It was time to finish this.

Raikou sensed the end of this bout coming as well, and another Discharge formed around its body. This next round would decide it. Ardor met his opponent's gaze, and the flame on his head swelled…and swelled. He didn't like losing, and he wasn't going to let this so-called Legendary Beast show him up. He let the flames engulf him, and roared, pounding his chest in challenge.

"Fire Punch!" Connor called the move as the Discharge came, and Ardor's burning fist finally managed to push through it. He was better at punching, then kicking. The flames around his body kept most of the damage from him, but he was holding on by a thread. One more hit would likely knock him out.

The comet-like form of the fire ape slammed into Raikou, who caught the attack with his Thunder Fang. Both Pokémon winced as fire and electricity battled for supremacy, distracting the thunder Pokémon long enough for a Pokéball to slip past its defenses.

Raikou's eyes widened in surprise, and as its form was called into the ball, Ardor fell to one knee, shivering with paralysis.

The Ultra Ball had a great success rate that had only improved over the years, as the technology was perfected. Technically, the one Connor had thrown was the third generation, the newest, and the one that had a catch rate almost as good as the Master Ball's.

The ball dinged shut, and once it did, Ardor collapsed, only to be caught by his Trainer, who had sped forward both to catch his Pokémon, and retrieve his prize. "Well done, Ardor." He said quietly, as he grabbed Raikou's ball. He recalled the fainted Infernape after feeding it a Max Revive, and let him rest.

Then, he called out his newest addition. The large, tiger-like Pokémon eyed him as he approached, and snarled as a Max Potion was applied to his wounds. Connor crossed his arms then. "If I take you from here, will the islands be out of balance?"

Those who knew of the incidents that had occurred here always knew just enough to be dangerous, but luckily, maintaining the balance of power between the three islands was common knowledge, and Trainers from all over Japan were ready to fly down and maintain it should it be disrupted.

The Raikou shook its head. "There are other Guardians. One will come."

Connor nodded, trusting the Legendary Pokémon to understand such things better than he could. It was rumored that Raikou traveled by way of thunderbolts, and nothing he'd seen seemed to contradict that.

"Alright, then you're coming with me. We're going to Kalos…but first, a question. Who taught you to Battle like that? And to speak the Human tongue?" The large beast seemed to smirk at his new Trainer.

"One who, like you, had the drive and the power to rival a dragon." Despite not getting the Lugia he'd wanted, Connor grinned, as he heard that.

Four Days Later…

Getting to Kalos all the way from the Orange Islands had taken longer than he'd wanted. Luckily, his new Raikou had the ability to dissipate storms, which had made crossing the enormous Mediterra mountain range much easier. He would've gone the other way, through Unova, but the Arceans of the Fornia region were very particular about who they let through their air space, and given that they controlled the entire coast, more or less, no pilot was willing to risk trying to sneak past.

Though they denied it, the Arceans had a tendency to have numerous 'accidents' from aircraft that tried to pass over their waters, but the desert of Orre, and their ability to suppress information, kept anyone from tying them to the accidents. As it was currently, only fellow Arceans and certain people from certain parts of the Sinnoh region were allowed through.

He'd eventually crossed the mountains, visited home for the holiday for a few days, and after hearing that Alex was skipping Festivus in favor of training, had returned to Gaulia to do much the same. He could always return for the end of the holiday, and the start of the new year.

As he looked around the front of the airport, he sighed. Technically, he was in southern Kalos, a region sometimes called Gaulia. He'd switched out his Eelektross, Tonitrus, in favor of Raikou, and while he knew ground type attacks would once again be a pain to deal with, this particular Raikou had informed him that he could handle such things.

Apparently, he had been the Pokémon of a master Black Belt in the region of Hoenn for many years, and together, they had developed a style of martial arts that even now the Legendary Pokémon was teaching him.

He'd come to Gaulia to continue his training. The Kalos League was set to start just before the end of Festivus, which gave him roughly two months to prepare for it. He already had the badges, now all he had to do was pass the Kalos Conference, and then take on the Four. Given the strength of their Champion, the Kalos League was considered almost as hard as Unova's.

As he made his way towards the village of ninja-esque Trainers who had originally trained both himself and his Greninja, he resolved to visit home at least once before the League started. He knew Alex was training as well, though he'd been less than forthcoming with the details. It didn't matter. If he could beat Alain, his neighbor would be no challenge.

The village elders welcomed him back with little ceremony, and a bit of hesitance. Once he showed them his new instructor, they agreed to let him stay. Many of his fellow trainees, who had never stopped training, were eager to learn this new fighting style as well. Raikou taught all who were willing to try, but he had an eye for those who could not handle it.

It was perfect for someone like Connor, with his large frame and honed swiftness, but those with smaller builds were eventually turned away by Raikou. His style involved combining speed and power in explosive demonstrations of force.

Those who had weaker bodies would never master his techniques. He did direct them to masters who could make use of their strengths, and before long, every trainee not learning 'Raikou Style' martial arts was sent off across the world to find an appropriate master with the word of a Raikou vouching for their competence.

The village elders didn't seem to mind, nor did their families. The world was connected like it had never been before, and even though the developer of the Pokémon Storage system, Bill, was still working on a human teleportation device, one akin to the one used for Pokéballs, there were other ways of returning home quickly. The village elders often spoke with Raikou, and they took the Legendary Pokémon's advice without hesitation.

Two Months Later…

The training had been long, difficult, and in the end, only Connor and a few other students were deemed 'masters' of Raikou's fighting style. At the end of the two month wait, Connor was the only one who left the village, garbed in the black and white garment given to children of the village who were seen as particularly strong, and wise. He hadn't earned it the first time he'd left, but he was ready for the Kalos League now.

His team had filled out nicely as well, as both his Grovyle, Itharius, and his Kadabra, Sophos, had evolved. While the rest of his team were now all as fast as he was, Gren remained the strongest by far. Only Sophos was unable to keep up with the rest, but after learning to levitate himself with his psychic power, he could keep up with all of them. He'd switched out Uniclus for Sophos, as Alakazam could actually Mega Evolve, and were quite strong with special attacks, something sorely needed on his team of fast, physical strikers. His goofy Reuniclus had simply been too slow.

Once Connor left the village, he set about looking for crystals, shards of Elemental Plates from a fallen incarnation of Arceus. Naturally, finding such things was difficult, at best, but he did have some luck after doing a bit of research.

Usually, such shards were found near the sites of massive planet-ending asteroid impacts that had been mitigated by the power of the Alpha Pokémon. Whenever a crisis that was capable of destroying the planet came about, it was always mitigated, somehow, by an unknown power.

Researchers had attributed it to Legendary Pokémon like Rayquaza, but every so often he found a reference to a catastrophe that was far beyond a Sky Guardian's ability to handle. In the end, he managed to find a Psychium crystal by wandering the forests near the edge of the Mediterra mountains.

He came across a Delphox, a wild one no less, and only after defeating it with Gren's aid did he realize that he recognized it. With Sophos translating, he was able to inform the distraught and beaten Pokémon that the Fennekin it was searching for was in good hands, with a good Trainer, and had already become a Delphox herself.

He spent the night in the Delphox's hut, and promised to inform his sister as to the whereabouts of it so that parent and offspring could see each other again someday. Before leaving, the psychic fox gave him a crystal, and a reading of his future. Much like Professor Oak, she told him to head to Kalos. All roads lead there, it seemed.

He traveled to the gyms quickly, meeting with the Gym Leaders, who made sure he was still competent enough for the League challenge. He mainly used Sophos for these battles, as his Mega Form was slowly becoming strong enough to handle just about any challenger. As his strength grew, so too did his intellect, and by the time they came back to Lumiose for the conference, he was speaking in short sentences with Common words.

A year's difference didn't really affect the quality of Trainer in the conference, and Connor managed to once more beat whoever he came up against, although this time, he didn't rely on Gren alone. He used his Sceptile and Infernape respectively, and kept his ace hidden, saving his strength for the final battle with the Champion.

The conference ended the week before the end of Festivus, and on the last day, Connor once more challenged the Four…or he would have, if he hadn't been interrupted before he could face his first opponent.

The Festivus celebrations in Kalos were as enjoyable as the ones in Unova, but this year, security was relatively lax. With the Four and their undefeated Champion, Alain, the locals didn't worry about another Team Flare incident, and even if one did occur, they were sure their Champion would handle it.

It was as Connor was taking the elevator up to his first opponent that the entire castle-like building shook. Upon reaching the Elite Four member's chamber, the inhabitant within stepped off of the red throne, and joined him on the elevator. "I'm very sorry challenger, but your Battle will have to wait until this disturbance is dealt with."

The rumors had said that Serena was lovely, and even as a woman several decades ahead of him, that fact remained true, as age had yet to so much as turn her gray. Being one of the defenders of Kalos, Serena had taken the place of Malva when her ties to Team Flare were discovered. He'd beaten her easily with Gren a year earlier, though he didn't assume victory would be that easy this time around.

Once outside the League's building, she called out her Delphox as the source of the sudden attack on the stadium became clear. "What is that?" She said, pointing towards the sky.

Anyone who'd grown up in Unova, or the regions surrounding it, knew well the ominous outline of the infamous Plasma Frigate. While the airship that now moved over the stadium did indeed resemble that ship, it was newer, and fundamentally changed in design. Like most airships, it now had proper wings, complete with tandem rotor blades embedded in the wings for sustained hovering.

"That, madam, is a flying ship." Connor spoke softly, glaring at the black metal aircraft. "Team Plasma used one like it a few decades ago to freeze Opelucid…but it's different somehow…" His eyes noticed it then.

Instead of plasma-sails, the 'mast' on the airship's deck was now an enormous t-shaped block of metal, supporting a symbol that was easily recognized. The Symbol of Arceus, all in gold, of course.

"Team Plasma was disbanded though." Serena looked back up at the ship, "So who is piloting it?" Connor called out Raikou then, who growled low as the ship came closer.

"I know that mark…" His psychic baritone rang in his Trainer's skull. While the symbol of Arceus was widely used by those who still clung to systems of worship around him left over from the Dark Times, the Arcean's had made their own variation unique by placing the golden symbol over a t-shaped cross.

Once the airship was above the League building, the rest of the Four, including the Champion, came out to the front entrance. Alain and Connor locked eyes, briefly, before his Charizard joined them, alongside numerous other Pokémon from the other members of the Four.

A voice echoed from the ship then, and Connor spied a loudspeaker attached to the top of the 'mast'. "Members of the Kalos League, Challengers and Champions, behold. Your destruction has finally come."

A cry echoed throughout the plateau then, one that Connor was unfamiliar with, but was all too familiar to the citizens of Kalos who'd lived through Lysander's madness, and the remnants of Team Flare that tried to revive his dream. The voice rang out again as the Destruction Pokémon, Yveltal, flew out from above the ship, and began circling the plateau.

"Make this easy, Champion. You know what we want. Give it to us, and you may all leave here without turning to stone."

As Yveltal flew, it's Dark Aura permeated the area around the League building, and from the ship, a white Gengar, in its Mega Form, landed before the group of Trainers and Pokémon. "Last chance. Come peacefully, or condemn everyone to death."

The Champion's Charizard looked ready to battle, but his Trainer stopped him. "Not this time. I'm not letting another madman hurt the people I care about."

He looked at the Gengar, whose eyes were glowing with a bluish white power that meant it was using some sort of psychic ability. "I'll come peacefully."

The Gengar levitated the Champion up to the ship, and his Charizard followed, circling the deck, ready to attack if its Trainer was harmed at all. Minutes crept by slowly, and yet, there was no outbreak of battle.

Connor, for his part, had ordered Raikou to be ready to hit Yveltal with a Thunderbolt if it made a move to attack them, but it only circled the mountain top, which was odd. All data on it said it attacked indiscriminately until it ran out of energy, and then entered a cocoon, which sucked the land's energy, and took centuries to stop. As a Legendary himself, Connor hoped Raikou would be able to keep the creature from killing them if it decided to attack.

More time passed until suddenly, Alain's Charizard landed on the deck of the airship, and then flew down to the ground with his Trainer. A beam of black light shot towards Yveltal, and it was recalled much in the way a Pokéball recalls a Pokémon. The ship sped off again then, headed in a north-eastern direction.

Connor didn't quite understand why, as the only thing in that direction was Norstad, a country full of technologically impaired 'barbarians', who fought their kinsmen for the glory of battle and bloody honor, with the help of manually subdued Pokémon.

The ban on technology included Pokéballs, and he could only imagine how an airship would be received. Let alone one that was presumably full of self-righteous and conversion happy Arceans. Insulting a Norstadder's gods was a good way to end up as one of the slaves they sold to the Imperium.

As the Champion landed, he did not give an explanation as to what the mysterious voice had asked for. In fact, his only command was to resume testing this year's conference winner. Before he walked away, Connor spoke up, "If I beat you, you tell me what they wanted from you."

The Champion glanced back at him, then sighed. "Deal. But you'll never beat me with a Greninja."

He did however, beat Serena, and her colleagues, all of whom managed to pull promises of sharing whatever the Champion told him, if he managed to win.

The actual battle with Alain went much the way it had a year prior, at least in the beginning. Gren showed his skill against the Champion's Tyranitar, and despite Mega Evolving, the win once again went to the Greninja.

He was switched out then however, as a Metagross appeared on the field, and mega evolved as well. The only Pokémon Connor had that could possibly match it was Ardor, his Infernape, and with speed and type advantage, he won that as well. Ardor stayed in for two more bouts then, against Alain's Sceptile and Bisharp, and won.

Exhausted as he was however, Connor brought out Raikou to take care of his Talonflame, which then only left his Charizard.

The battle a year earlier had gone similarly well in Connor's favor, but by this time, Gren had been exhausted, and the Mega Sceptile that had been his last opponent had torn through his untrained team easily once it dispatched his ace.

This time, the Champion's ace came in against his full team, save Ardor, and was starting against a Legendary Pokémon no less. Raikou didn't give it a chance to Mega Evolve, as the Thunderbolts started coming immediately, and didn't stop.

Whenever the Charizard tried to advance to the next stage of evolution, a Discharge ruined its focus, and as it retained its flying type, it was quite damaging. It did eventually manage to reach its Mega Form, and after that, despite getting in a few more hits and a Thunder Fang, Raikou went down. Alain's Charizard was one of the strongest in the world, and this only proved it. There was a reason he'd stayed Champion for so long.

Instead of Gren, Connor brought out Gar, which caused the Champion, and his Charizard, to pause. Even today, they hesitated when facing a Garchomp. If only for a moment. A sandstorm soon filled the Champion's chamber, and Gar began zipping around, desperate to hit the dodging Charizard with a Dragon Rush.

When Alain finally ordered a Dragon Claw attack after seeing his wounded partner torn apart by the harsh sand, the Dragon Rush hit home, and the damage from Raikou, the Sandstorm, and the final Dragon Rush move finally bought the Charizard down.

It took a moment for Connor to realize he'd finally won. He hadn't soloed it with his Greninja, but in hindsight, that had been a ridiculous goal. Unrealistic. Something he'd expect from his rival, not him.

Alain recalled his partner, and then brought Connor up to the Hall of Fame. It was almost as old as Unova's had looked, but was easily far more ornate. The Kalosians did love their décor. Once his team was entered into the Hall's records, and his title as Kalos Champion was officially bestowed, he asked Alain about the incident earlier. The entire thing still unnerved him.

The Arceans had a reputation for retaliation, and his sister had recently very publicly helped remove them from Castelia City. Killing her brother with Yveltal would've been easy, satisfying, and yet the Arceans hadn't attacked. It didn't make sense, until Alain started explaining.

"The man running the ship did not introduce himself, though I can only surmise that he must have been Caleb Pravus. He fit the description, at any rate. He's after Xerneas, more specifically, the eternal life that particular Pokémon can bestow upon others. Up until now, I've denied his requests for an audience, or any information about Xerneas…but as you saw, I had no choice today." Alain sighed.

Connor spoke quietly, his sense of dread only growing. "Did you tell him where to find it?" The power from the Life Pokémon was rumored to give true immortality. Short of total atomization, survival was guaranteed. Forever. That kind of gift in the hands of the Arcean's leader was, based on the information his sister had shared, a very bad combination.

"I only know of two Xerneas. The one here in Kalos is sleeping, as our Yveltal is now awake again... The other…is rumored to be in Norstad. It should be active, by now." The Champion averted his gaze. "I can only hope the people there do not know where it is, or have countermeasures against people like Pravus. I could practically see the greed in his eyes once I told him."

Connor began heading for the exit elevator. "I'll stop him before he ever gets there. Those people don't have the tech to repel a weaponized airship."

Alain gave a humorless chuckle. "I wouldn't worry about the locals…five minutes with Pravus, and they'll probably kill him for fun. There's more. He bragged about an upcoming attack on Unova…he said it was set for tonight."

Connor pinched the bridge of his nose. Of course he'd set his followers loose on Festivus Eve. There were ways of crossing oceans quickly, and while he knew Sophos might fly him over with Psychic, it would take too long, and he would never stop hurling. "I'll head to Unova…try to help."

Alain raised a brow. "And how do you expect to arrive in time? The sun is setting, the attack is probably coming soon, if it hasn't already begun."

Connor hit the button for the elevator, and grinned at the former Champion. "I have a Pokémon that runs so fast, it can cross oceans. I'll be fine. Try to send word to Norstad. We're headed there, next."

Alain's brow rose higher. "We?"

Raikou had fought bravely against Alain's Charizard, but after a Max Revive and a Max Elixir, as well as a short rest at the Pokémon Center in the League building, Connor was on his back, and headed towards the western coast of Kalos.

Raikou ran just as fast on land as he did on water, and given the lack of hard terrain and obstacles, water was actually quicker. He knew Alex and Jess could likely handle whatever the Arceans were planning on hitting Unova with, but it never hurt to have another skilled Trainer nearby.

Even if Unova was already full of skilled Trainers, he needed those two for other things. According to his sister, Alex had gotten even stronger, after training in the Swamp. From her description, Pravus had almost beaten him, which meant taking on him and a ship full of his henchman alone was a bad idea.

He only hoped they had a faster method of travel, as Raikou could only comfortably carry him, and maybe his sister. Even then, it would take a lot longer to reach Norstad from Unova.

About thirty minutes passed before the cloud of dust behind Raikou became a spray of water. There was relatively flat land between the Kalos League's plateau and the coast, and there were plenty of rivers to run on as well. Raikou estimated that the trip over the Atlantican Ocean would take about two hours, and the sun was just past its zenith above them, turning the sky orange. Accounting for time difference, it would be setting in Unova soon as well. As the seemingly endless expanse of cold water opened up before them, Connor only hoped they'd arrive in time to be helpful.

Sahqoreyth · Mar 28, 2024

Chapter 15: Storm, Earth, and Air

Derrion Town - Northern Unova Region

The roads to Unova proper may have been packed, but once more, Pokémon proved how invaluable they were to the human race, most of whom could no longer even imagine a world without them in it. Teams of flying Pokémon who knew Flamethrower, which were primarily Talonflame, Charizard, or dragon types, had been clearing the numerous roads to Opelucid City nonstop since the snowstorm ended.

Alex, Jess, and several other members of his family who had Pokémon, had opted to ride them down, as did many other Trainers. It was simply superior to traveling in cars.

They flew over the outer southern edge of their small town, and noticed someone below was flagging them down. A line of cars was backed up all the way to the main road through Derrion Town, and none of the locals had fire types on hand.

The Pokémon usually responsible for clearing the roads was an Arcanine, but Alex had learned that he was getting on in years, and had been sick since before Festivus began. The local nurse had given him a month, and he'd lasted three, when his Trainer had become depressed by the imminent loss of his friend.

Now, it seemed, this Festivus would be his last. Sad as that was, the more callous individuals in town were eager to get on with the celebration, and given that both Alex and Jess were on 'fire breathing lizards', as they put it, the people were all but demanding the Pokémon Trainers help them.

Almost hesitant to comply after being all but ordered by people from his own home town, Alex had Blaze Mega Evolve, and as his form changed, the area around him became much hotter. Not hot enough, however, as the snow was piled up five feet high.

Alex nodded at him then and said, "Heat Wave." Blaze flew into the air, and then unleashed his attack. It took about a minute before the golden grass was visible again after being melted by the blazing waves of heat. Looking around, the circle of now uncovered golden grass extended all the way back to town. The residual heat and sudden dampness made it almost feel like springtime. Almost.

Deciding to give Blaze and Chari a rest after expending so much heat, Alex took out Shruikan, and he and Jess opted to ride him southward at a leisurely pace, which for his new form, was almost as fast as Blaze while mega evolved. Shruikan got looks wherever he went, as they soon came upon a flock of other Trainers from similarly small towns, all heading to Unova.

The large black dragon stuck out in the late afternoon sun, and relatively cloudless sky. Naturally, requests to battle a Pokémon that unique were constant, and eventually, a bit annoying. Shruikan indulged a few of the stronger ones, again mostly Charizard, but his new Charge Beam and Thunder Fang ended them quickly.

After the fifth such battle, the air around them had become packed with flying Pokémon, and when it became evident that these Trainers weren't going to take 'no' for an answer, Alex told them they could battle his dragon if they managed to beat the Victory Plateau. In the few days since his battles there, nobody had made it past the Four, or the other Champions.

Alex had taken the chance to summon his Elite Four, and had emphasized in them the importance of filtering out all but the strongest. He assigned Nick to the task of giving them a training regimen, and while Damon did not complain, Will and Shauntal were disappointed at how much the training would cut into their new date-filled romance life. Given that they were both senior Elite Four members, Alex had Nick cut back, slightly, on their own training. Nick agreed, rationalizing that any Trainer who could beat him and Damon would likely also beat Shauntal and Will, no matter how hard they trained together.

The Unovan Elite Four wasn't at the Victory Plateau today, though. The New Year was upon them, and the Champions, past and present, alongside the Elite Four, were expected to be in New Tork City for the ceremony in Entral Park that would mark the start of a new year. Tao was already there, from what Alex could sense, and thankfully had not been attacked or stolen.

The thing about large gatherings of humans, however, was that they were always a good place to strike if one wanted instant infamy, and to remove the power structure of the entire region. This time, measures had been taken.

Alex was greeted in the air by two Pokémon Rangers as he flew over Opelucid City, and though Shruikan could've outpaced them, he had nothing to hide, and no reason to quarrel. Normally, the city of Dragon Tamers would've been clogging the streets to see such a unique dragon, but everyone, including Nate, the newest Gym Leader of the 'dragon borough', was already at the park.

As were more Rangers. As a rule, most of them didn't capture Pokémon in Pokéballs, preferring other methods of temporarily requesting their aid. This time, it seemed some had indeed brought along Pokéballs, though none of the Rangers he passed had a full team. Close partners, then, or perhaps their Pokéballs were temporary.

Whatever the reason, Alex was glad they had others on hand. Wild Pokémon were usually weaker than ones bonded to Trainers. Every study done on the subject had proven that it was humans who could bring out the greatest potential in their Pokémon. While older Pokéballs had used the Infinity Energy of their occupant's life force as power, that practice had been deemed inhumane, and was discontinued several decades previously. The balls of the modern era were heavier, but did not weaken their occupants in the slightest.

As Alex landed, he did a double take. Just north of Entral Park's center was the ever-recurring symbol of balance. Light and dark, yin and yang, the Taijitu symbol, or so it first appeared. Alex soon realized it was actually just the Original Dragon, lying coiled on the grass. It seemed that even while resting on the ground, Tao embodied eternal balance.

The Legendary dragon's mind connected with his, but his focus was on Shruikan. They exchanged 'words', of a kind, through emotions and images. Alex understood about a quarter of it, but was yet again impressed by the dragons. He felt Jess was as well, as the two had remained mentally linked since he peered into her mind. They couldn't bring themselves to part, and seeing as how they had a month and a half left before they'd split again, they saw no reason to unlink their minds until then.

It wasn't as personal as it had been in the lab, and was more akin to the bond he now constantly shared with his team. She had connected with her team as well, and Alex wondered if there was a limit on how many mental connections he could maintain, and what would happen if he surpassed said limit.

He sensed amusement from Tao as the three finally landed, and the dragon's voice thundered in their heads. "There is no limit to the connections one may make…when one life touches another, something new is created. However, the Humans I've known have had difficulty keeping track of them all in the past. You would be wise to organize them…when you have advanced." The dragon focused one massive pure golden eye on the pair. "You've begun to train her? Hmmm."

Tao's eyes were pupiless orbs of gold, and they examined Jess for a long moment. His voice thundered again, "Your insight serves you well. She may indeed be worthy…" His voice and tone shifted then, echoing in the deepest recesses of his mind, away from his connections to the others. "Always remember my friend…only one can truly become a Master."

He responded immediately, taken aback, "Are you saying I'll have to turn on her? On anyone who has the same goals I do?"

The dragon blinked once. "No. I am only warning you of a potential conflict in the far future. You may want to share your ultimate goal with her, lest it become her own."

He noticed she was staring at him, giving him the Spockian eyebrow raise, and he winked at her, pulling her closer with the arm that had reflexively wrapped around her waist. He spoke so she could hear as well, then. "I know who she is. Whatever conflict may one day arise, it won't sunder us. Nothing is more important to me."

The dragon lifted his head from the golden grass covered ground then, and stood. He almost seemed larger than before, but that was likely due to once more being in balance. Captivity and months of meditating had left him somewhat gaunt before, but now he was restored. "As you say. I've seen few bonds among your kind as strong as yours. Cherish it…such things are not easy to find twice."

Alex let the dragons converse then, in their own tongue, and he could already sense Jess' confusion. She might not be able to read fast, but she could tell when she'd missed part of a conversation. "What was that about?" She whispered, keeping her voice low.

Alex responded mentally, as he saw who was approaching, "Later." He let his mouth form a smirk. "Well well. The newest member of the Four. It's good to see you."

Nick had picked out his younger friend's form quite easily, as all eyes had been drawn to the Black Salamence that had landed near Tao in the middle of the crowded clearing. "It's been a while since I've seen you outside of work, Champion. I haven't even gotten a text. Where have you been?"

Alex shrugged, "Oh, you know, here and there. I went south to the Swamp with Hilbert around the end of summer. I got back a few days ago. Naturally, there's no Pokénet down there."

Nick gave him a look, seemingly unconvinced, then noticed the woman by his side, and blinked in recognition. "I see you've brought another League Victor with you…is she the one you never shut up about?" Alex nodded. Nick continued, "I remember she thrashed my team pretty hard with her Empoleon. It'll take more than Aerial Ace to beat us now, though."

It was Alex's turn to raise a brow, "Oh? That sounds like a challenge…are you sure your team is ready?" As soon as he finished speaking, Nick's Medicham, Shifu, appeared from his ball, and took a fighting stance. Arthur was beside Alex a moment later, arms extending into swords.

Nick grinned, "Fighting and Psychic typing versus Psychic and Fighting, one on one, no substitutions…I like it…but you'll have to do better than last time. We've perfected our battling style, and Shifu has been itching for a rematch." Alex responded by turning his hat backwards, and smirking.

The two were already walking towards the nearest open area of the park. Nick spoke first once they found a big enough space. "Shifu, make us a battlefield." The Medicham nodded, and then proceeded to Mega Evolve. Flashes of psychic power appeared from under the golden grass, lifting the turf up, and outlining the field with the removed dirt. Alex supposed they could always put it back later, with minimal damage to the grass.

As soon as people heard that one of the Four was battling the Champion, a crowd began to gather. Arthur glanced at his Trainer, and Alex looked down at the Plate crystal they'd thus far been reluctant to use, then nodded. "Don't hold back." Shifu looked like most Medicham who reached that level of power, save that the circles on his legs were now sporting a familiar pattern of eternal balance.

Arthur's form had minor differences as well, as the crystal finished its work. The spiky 'hair' that his species had now curled up around the green 'helmet' that covered his head, not unlike his Trainer's did to his hat. In other aspects, his Mega Form did not differ, though the pinkish blades on his arms began shining gold as he readied his favored move.

They knew Shifu's weaknesses well, for they were the same as Arthur's, and as the Sacred Sword met and blocked the multiple Force Palms from the Medicham's six arms, the collisions sent shockwaves through the air. Arthur was a master of close combat, but fighting an opponent with six limbs tested even his skill. There was a reason most Victory League challengers saved Nick for last.

After the fifth exchange of fighting type moves, Arthur noticed that neither Nick nor Shifu seemed to need commands to battle. "His typing is still Normal and Fighting, right?" Arthur asked mentally, growing irritated by the seemingly impenetrable defense.

Alex looked again at his friend, and nodded. They spoke with the speed of thought, but that didn't make it any easier for them to talk mid-battle. It was still a distraction. "He is. Shifu must be connecting them…but that means his entire team isn't sharing the link."

For whatever reason, aside from Sages, he'd noticed most psychic Pokémon could only form that kind of mental connection under specific circumstances, and with only one or two others. He had no clue why humans seemed to form them so much easier.

Arthur watched the flurry of palms, and saw his opening. His arm blazed with darkness, and he weaved through the attacks, hitting home with a Night Slash. Shifu countered with a Focus Blast soon after, as he had when Arthur had managed to get past his arms before, and the Gallade was knocked away once again as his opponent followed up with more Force Palms.

"That's it…I'm trying it. We can't hold out forever." Arthur straightened his body then, and turned sideways as he dodged each of the Force Palms with the grace few other Pokémon species possessed, then flipped backwards once more, out of his opponent's range.

Alex raised a brow at his Gallade's words, and shrugged. "If you want…just be careful. You haven't perfected that, and it could seriously injure Shifu."

Arthur glanced back at him. "Do you have a better idea?"

Alex nodded. "We get creative, and incorporate some classic moves." He smirked, and let Arthur read his thoughts.

The Gallade rolled his eyes, and focused on his opponent, who had taken the initiative, and charged. "Fine. But I seriously doubt that's going to work."

"Trust me. It'll work." Alex smirked at Nick, whose brow furrowed at that unflinching confidence on the Champion's face. "Do it."

Arthur nodded, and shot forward again, taking two Force Palms before he was able to slide under Shifu's guard, and ready his kick. It wasn't an attack persay, and had he not been a fighting type, it probably would've failed.

Once under his opponent's guard, he was in a kneeling position, and with a backwards flip, he brought one of his feet up under the Medicham's chin, hard enough to launch him into the air. Arthur finished his flip, landed, and then jumped as he formed a Shadow Ball between his palms, rapidly weaving and condensing the ghost energy he summoned.

He'd always had trouble controlling ghost type energy, and even though he'd managed to condense it into a similar attack that the rest of his teammates used, it required both his arms to do so, which left his guard open far more than he liked.

He sailed above Shifu, who was still smarting from the surprise kick to the jaw, and opened his eyes just in time to see Arthur's arms shift, as he slammed a condensed Shadow Ball into his midsection. Shifu went down spinning before he landed, hard, and the ground shook from the impact.

Arthur landed as gracefully as ever, and when Shifu didn't rise again, and lost control of his Mega Form, the battle was over. Nick was staring at Alex in disbelief. He had, in essence, ordered his Pokémon to use a particular set of moves from a fighting video game they had both played in high school.

With the combination Nick had spammed to consistently beat him, no less. He'd never used any other series of attacks, making the whole thing frustrating for Alex back then, but now, revenge was all the sweeter for it.

Alex flashed his friend the victory sign, and turned his hat back around. His Gallade shared his smirk, and was already helping the dazed Shifu to his feet. They set about fixing the disturbed ground caused by their clash as the two Trainers met, and clasped arms.

"He's gotten better…but that Shadow Ball should be a Shadow Claw. It leaves him too open, unless he finishes with it." Nick was eyeing Arthur, who had let his own Mega Form fade, and was now signing autographs from the spectators who'd watched them.

Alex nodded, "That's actually what he's been practicing lately…but he doesn't have control of it fully. Yet. I didn't want to risk hurting Shifu."

Nick thanked him, and then looked towards Tao, who had, alongside Shruikan, raised his wings and flown into the air, headed for the center of the park. "Looks like we're about to start. We should get to the center." Alex sighed, as his ride had taken off without him. Adult dragons did as they pleased, it seemed.

The two recalled their partners, and looked around. The forest on the raised circle of land in central Unova was slowly emptying, as people gathered in the lower ring surrounding it. The paved concrete ring had once been home to water Pokémon, but they had been safely relocated to a much larger circle of water that the humans had made for them in response to a growing population.

Now, the original circle surrounding the centerpoint of Unova was paved, and an ideal place for Unovans to come for the end of Festivus. Not everyone fit into the circle however, and many locals opted to picnic in the trees, and watch the ceremony from afar, once everything got started. As the reigning Champion, and a member of the Elite Four, Alex and Nick headed to the raised bit of land, the area that had always been known as the center of the region. Entral Park.

The 'Entree', a massive spiraling tree of black and white, towered above Unova's central point. It had grown so massive over the years, that now the area around it was only occupied by visitors when Festivus ended. Each year, the Champion addressed the region, and marked the end of the old year, and the start of the new.

From up there, they had a good view of almost all of the people who had come this year. Given the relatively recent events, Entral Park was packed with people who still hadn't seen Tao in the flesh. Alex spied him curled up again, Shruikan beside him, speaking to the other Champions, and members of the Victory League's Elite Four.

Upon closer inspection, Alex realized Tao was primarily speaking with N, and his conversation was kept private. Tao often blocked his link to his Trainer when other humans confided in him, and though Alex had never minded much, he was admittedly burning with curiosity. N was a legend, he'd saved Unova more times than anyone could count. If you grew up in Unova, there was a one in five chance he was the Hero you styled yourself after.

Or so that had once been the case. Alex felt Nick nudge him. "Look, Champion. Your fans are already mimicking you."

Alex looked to where his friend was pointing, and squinted in confusion, then he did a double take as he finally noticed. The crowd was filled with copies of his hat, sporting the symbol of eternal balance. While Unova had not initially understood how the new Champion had reformed the Original Dragon, over the past several months, it had been repeated and simplified enough for even the dullest tools in Unova's shed to grasp.

The response had been a positive one, evidently. Unovans were once more embracing the concept of balance, and applying it to literally everything. Tao's voice reverberated in his skull, "There is no such thing as too much balance. Be proud of what you've accomplished so far. It's done more good than you know. Once more, the land is on the right Path."

As always, the Legendary dragon type left his Trainer pondering his words, that is, until he noticed N was tapping his shoulder. "Come with me…we have a technicality to address."

Alex blinked, "A what?" But N was already marching towards the southern edge of the raised land.

"People of Unova!" The crowd quieted as N began orating. He had the bearing of a king, and a voice to match. He'd changed quite a bit in the months Alex had been gone. He no longer lacked balance, and it showed. He'd found his center, and his belt held six partners, ensconced in balls of their own.

"There has been some talk of late about the confusing events surrounding the return of our Region's favored dragon. While Mr. Redwood did indeed beat the challenge I issued, I never got the chance to declare him Champion, and mark him in the Hall of Fame. The two challengers who came after him did receive this honor after defeating Nate and Hilda respectively, and as you can imagine, the official judgement of who is actually the reigning Champion became somewhat muddled for some time, on the League's end."

The crowd murmured in confusion. The message had been broadcasted on every connecting terminal throughout the region. Alex Redwood was the new Champion, and the Original Dragon was made whole once more by his hand.

N continued, cutting through the murmurs. "The League has decided that Alex and I shall have one final match, to determine who will officially hold the Champion's title. Win or lose, he and his team will still be recorded in the Hall of Fame. We could think of no better way to kick off the final party of the year!" The crowd roared in approval. Matches on this level were rarely so easy to watch, especially live.

N turned to Alex, and the crowd quickly went silent. Then, N spoke. "So, Challenger…do you accept?"

His hat was already backwards, and Terra's ball was in his hand. Alex smirked. "Like I could refuse. You're on." There was a large gust of wind as Tao launched into the air, and perched upon the sturdy branches of the Entree. "If he smokes a bowl again, I'm done." Someone from the crowd muttered, eyeing the dragon.

Tao stared down at both of them, amused at how N was clad in white, and Alex remained in the black garb he'd been training in. "I will officiate."

His telepathy thundered through the surrounding area, and the crowd murmured again softly. Nobody was going to dispute Tao as a judge, though having a Pokémon officiate was irregular. Not because it wasn't allowed, but because Pokémon who had the mental prowess required for the job rarely associated with humans, or were Rotom.

"Begin!" The Unovan dragon punctuated his mental word with a roar, and before Alex could call Terra out, he paused. Shruikan lumbered onto the field in between the two Trainers, and stared N down. Electricity sparked from his maw, but the older man only grinned under his hat as he looked downwards and chuckled. "It seems someone finally evolved…Dragon and Electric…a tough combination. But familiar."

One of the balls on N's belt opened, and a Mammoswine appeared in a flash of light. It stomped the ground once, then paused, as it saw the fury in Shruikan's eyes. All were intimidated before the unholy offspring of lightning and death. There weren't many type combinations he was susceptible to, but Mammoswine's was one of them. It didn't matter though. Shruikan was determined to win.

N pointed across the field, "Manny, Earthquake!" The mammoth Pokémon responded quickly, but he might as well have been moving in slow motion. Shruikan was already in the air, and now fire, not electricity, leaked from either side of his mouth. Wordlessly, he arced around the field in the air, and came in low over the upturned ground, bathing it in a Flamethrower.

The next attack came swiftly, as N shouted, "Blizzard!" Though weakened, Manny managed to comply, and the air was filled with ice. Shruikan was pounded by it, but his own defense came before the storm could knock him from the air. His Flamethrower burned a swathe through the attack, and finished off the Mammoswine. He landed then, panting. He'd taken more damage from that than he'd expected, and Alex recalled him as N did the same.

A Scizor as green as his Trainer's hair appeared next, and Alex called Arthur out. The two circled each other twice, then bumped claw and sword arm together once, before leaping back in front of their Trainers. N used a Mega Stone, and Arthur drew on the Mind Plate shard's awakened power. Once both Pokémon had reached their peak of power, the fight began in earnest.

Arthur had a clear advantage with Psycho Cut, but this Scizor's Night Slash proved as useful for defense as it was for attack. Alex and Arthur switched their tactics then, and instead of using Psycho Cut from a distance, Arthur's arms shone with psychic power, and each strike physically slammed into the Night Slashes.

It took N longer than it should have to realize what Alex was doing by using a psychic move on a dark one, and by the time it became obvious, Arthur's contact with his enemy's dark type attack had done its job, raising his attack power. He sliced through the dark typed energy with Sacred Sword, and scored a direct hit on the Scizor, fainting it with a single, decisive blow. His attack strength was almost quadrupled after that exchange, and he shared his Trainer's smirk as he readied himself for the next opponent.

Next up was N's Zoroark, and while its Night Slashes were able to block Arthur's rapid Sacred Sword assault several times, they only powered Arthur up even more. The Zoroark tried loosing several Night Daze attacks, but the Mega Gallade was too quick. Eventually, the powerful fighting move struck home, as the Gallade's flexible body helped him get past the Zoroark's guard. One hit was all it took. An empowered Sacred Sword was nigh unstoppable when he was maxed out for physical attack boosts.

A Shiftry came out next, and though he managed to parry Arthur several times, eventually the Sacred Sword struck home as well, and another Pokémon went down to the Gallade's absurdly powerful physical attacks. His speed was hard to match, and in his Mega Form, few could challenge him.

N chose his next partner, throwing a familiar looking ball into the air. A Luxury Ball. The one Alex had given him not so very long ago. His Aerodactyl took the field, and as it soared through the air, it mega evolved. Few Pokémon were as strong, or fast, and Alex knew none of Arthur's moves had an advantage. They were both reluctant to admit it, but Arthur would likely lose this round if he stayed in.

The Gallade was recalled, ending his boosted attack power as he switched out and before Alex could summon Hydrus, Blaze made an appearance in a fiery flash of red light from his similarly colored ball. The two combatants locked eyes, and the fire lizard wasted no time mega evolving as well, and taking to the air.

Out of all his team, Blaze was by far the most independent, and Alex could sense his desire to fight an opponent this strong on his own. Alex wasn't having any of that this time, however. They needed to win.

He was shocked as Blaze began the battle regardless, and blocked out his Trainer's link. Alex glared at the Charizard. "Prideful fool…"

He crossed his arms, and continued to glare. N noticed, and slowly, a smirk of confidence came over his face. "Having trouble controlling your Pokémon? With a name like 'Blaze', I'd rebel too. Do you have any idea how many Fire Types share that name?"

Alex turned his attention to his smirking opponent, face neutral as he raised a brow. "You don't know why it's so common? I thought everyone knew." Above them, the two Pokémon traded blasts of flame and dragon fire.

Though Blaze was clearly the better flier, and scored more hits, he was only half as effective as he normally was. Being part rock, the advantage went to the Aerodactyl. His Charizard was going to learn the hard way the cost of fighting on his own in a battle like this.

They were a team, and if he'd really forgotten that, a powerful move like Ancientpower would hopefully remind him without taking him down in one blow.

The confidence on N's face faded slightly. "Enlighten me."

Alex allowed himself a smirk, "Well, aside from the obvious fit with his species, many Charizard Trainers use their tail flames to 'blaze it up'." He used air quotes, hoping the exchange of words would give the younger Pokémon pause. It didn't. It seemed this Aerodactyl was as eager to fight alone as Blaze was.

Comprehension came over the former Champion's face. "I see. Communal Leaf smoking sessions around a tail flame. Is that really the reason it's so common?"

Alex smirked, shrugging. "That, or perhaps I'm just unoriginal."

N looked up suddenly, and shouted, "Stone Edge!" Alex swore quietly. N was no novice, but Blaze had had an advantage, for a moment, and had almost landed a Dragon Tail. N had countered at the right moment, after letting his Pokémon battle solo for several rounds. Meanwhile, Alex's own Pokémon still refused to link with him.

He paid dearly for it. The rock-like protrusions on the Aerodactyl's wings shone with rock type energy, and had Blaze not been mid-swing into a Dragon Tail, Alex had no doubt the move would've knocked him out.

As it was, the collision mitigated some of the damage, but his Charizard was hurting. Alex closed his eyes, and forced his mind through the block, surprising Blaze as he spoke silently, "Listen. I know you can Battle well alone, but you need me if we're going to win this."

The response was not unlike Shruikan's method of speech, a mix of emotions and images, followed by words. "He…has no…link. Isn't fair."

"The word you're looking for is 'honorable'. Perhaps it isn't even, but right now, you're one hit away from losing. In front of all of Unova." He sent an image of Tao, perched atop the Entree even as they spoke with the speed only thought had, followed by the millions of eyes in the crowd. "We're a team. Use our link. N is fully capable of establishing his own, or he should be, it's not our fault he hasn't."

He could sense it still didn't sit well with his proud Charizard, but the only thing he disliked more than an uneven battle was publicly losing. The connection flowed once more as Trainer and Pokémon linked, the logic of his human was too sound to ignore. The Sage had warned him of his pride, and the prideful Charizard had ignored the warning.

Thankfully, his Trainer had kept him from making a total fool of himself. That was his role, after all. "Use your speed, not your power. You're outmatched here. Hydrus should be battling, but we might still salvage this." He switched to a verbal command then. "Go high."

Blaze sensed what his Trainer had in mind, and wondered for a moment if that would actually work. When flying horizontally, a mega evolved Aerodactyl was just as fast and powerful as his Charizard's form was, but now Blaze went vertical, and the sudden shift in direction slowed the Aerodactyl as gravity did its work.

It also kept him far above his Trainer, unable to hear commands. As they went higher, eventually, the unfamiliar added weight from his Mega Form finally caused the younger Aerodactyl to lose his balance.

He let it happen, and turned down towards the ground again as he figured the Charizard would follow him, but Blaze had already corkscrewed through the air, and much as he had against Lizardon, came down hard with a Dragon Tail that he followed through all the way to the ground.

There was a loud boom as the lower level Aerodactyl hit the ground, and lost its Mega Form. Blaze roared, triumphant, but was clearly weakened by the battle, panting this time, rather than spewing flames of victory. Alex gave him a Max Potion, and then let him rest.

N kept his face neutral, but Alex sensed a shift in the tone of the battle then. He'd been beaten on every match-up so far, and simply did not have the ability to sweep a team like Alex's with only one Pokémon left. That didn't mean he couldn't try, however.

He drew a black Pokéball from his belt then, and tossed it, saying, "I summon thee…Helix!"

An Omastar appeared then, and Alex summoned Terra to counter. N held out a blue Plate crystal then, and gave the command, "Mega Evolve!" Alex blinked as he tried to recall what Omastar's Mega Form was…and then realized that there was no record of one that he knew of. He couldn't resist grinning. He loved it when this happened.

The shell on the spiral Pokémon's back extended, making it look more like a squid, in appearance. The tentacles grew longer, suckers appeared on the ends of them, and then, out from under the shell came two long, thin, folded blue wings. Omastar gave a terrifying screech as it extended them, and began floating in the air. From what Alex could tell, it had traded the rock typing for dark typing. He drew Terra's ball to his hand, and tossed it high, as the grass tortoise appeared with a heavy landing that didn't faze him.

Rain began to fall over them as the sky darkened, and Alex let Terra draw from the Meadow Plate crystal's power. Once in his Mega Form, Terra slammed his clubbed tail on the ground, shaking the entire area as he faced down Helix.

"Ice Beam!" Alex smirked as N called the attack. The beam of ice glanced off Terra's shell, as his Thick Fat kept him protected. He retaliated then as his Trainer simply pointed at the floating Omastar. Ground moves wouldn't really help, but grass moves would, and Omastar had impressive defense against physical moves. Not special ones.

Another Ice Beam cut through the Energy Ball launched toward it, and Alex sighed. Terra might have been immune to his greatest weakness now, but his moves weren't.

There was one move, however, that might just do the trick. First, he had to make sure this winged squid stopped moving long enough for it to hit. His words went to his oldest friend instantly. While he'd refrained from using Terra lately, due to the cold and how much the turtle had despised the previous winter's temperatures, he remained his Trainer's closest friend, thus, all it took was an image from his Trainer's mind for him to grasp the plan of attack.

Razor Leaves filled the air, the wind accompanying the storm clouds only helped whirl them around. N didn't notice at first, until they began covering Helix's aerial avenue of escape.

"Blizzard!" N shouted, as he saw what was happening. Helix aimed for the leaves above him, and exhaled a devastating flurry of ice, blowing straight through his opponent's attack. Which was all the distraction Terra needed.

The green crystal in Alex's hand flared as his massive earth turtle slammed the ground with both front legs. The ground shook, and N seemed to smirk for a moment, as he mistook the attack for an Earthquake.

The smirk vanished as massive roots shot up from the shattered ground under Helix, binding its wings long enough for the rest of the Frenzy Plant's roots to hit home. Helix struggled, shooting multiple Ice Beams in vain at the attack, but the roots were endless, and pummeled the unnerving Pokémon into unconsciousness.

The disturbing form faded from the Omastar. Terra let out a cry of victory as the clouds began to disperse, and the crowd echoed it. The smirking grass turtle gave the crowd a slow nod, and then glanced at his Trainer, who recalled him, and placed him back in the point position.

The two Trainers met in the center of the battlefield, which had been repaired by Terra, and his manipulation of the earth. It almost looked like a battle had never occurred there. The two shook hands, and N turned to address the crowd arms wide as he shouted, "Unova! Your newest Champion shall continue his reign!"

There was thunderous cheering, so loud that Alex almost didn't notice what was descending from the clouds against the violet sky that signified dusk had arrived. Tao, however, did notice, and warned his Trainer mentally. Alex grimaced, and pointed up at it, directing the more attentive people in the crowd towards the ones who dared to intrude on the end of Festivus.

A voice rang out over the area, emanating from a large, black airship that looked uncannily like the one Team Plasma had used in their second bid for power, save for a few key design differences. The mast had been replaced with the Arcean's symbol, but the ship was still recognizable. It had to be the one that had frozen Opelucid, and it seemed the Arcean's income from their followers had paid for upgrades. Even though Colress had eventually gone 'straight' and aided the International Police and Aether Foundation, it seemed he'd sold the ship to the highest bidder anyway.

"And now, his reign is at an end!"

N's eyes narrowed, "I know that voice…"

The voice continued, "And not short enough it was! Release them!"

Alex's eyes narrowed as well as the speaker began cackling. His hands curled into fists. "How many times must I defeat the same damn criminal? How do they always escape?"

He felt N's hand on his shoulder, "I know your pain. I was raised by the man. He's very…persistent." Alex nodded. N had clashed with his adoptive father many times. "This is my mess to clean up. Not yours."

Alex nodded again. "Take Tao. Do what needs to be done. I still have a few on my team that can Battle." Tao landed behind them with a boom, and N climbed on his neck, gripping the icy horns and sitting somewhat comfortably on the crest of ice that ran down the dragon's back. The two gave each other a final nod. N could handle Ghetsis, Alex would handle whatever he decided to throw at Unova.

The dissipating clouds returned with a vengeance, and darkened until they were black. The crowd was already evacuating at the behest of the Four, who had their Pokémon out now, ready to shield them from attacks.

Thunder boomed, and the wind picked up. Ghetsis' voice rang out again, "Storm, Earth, and Air, heed my call! Eradicate the Champion, and any who bear his mark!"

Alex swore, loudly, as much of the crowd was wearing the symbol of balance on their hats, shirts, anywhere really. They'd all just become targets. The Pokémon Ghetsis was ordering appeared then, as the clouds parted. The three Forces of Nature, Landorus, Thunderus, and Tornadus, already in their altered forms, floated above the Entree.

Their forms were twisted, however, their auras turned dark by what Alex assumed was more Shadow energy. It was more obvious to his eyes this time though, and he wondered if that was thanks to his new way of seeing the world. Their eyes burned red, and Alex felt three pairs of them center on him as they descended to carry out Ghetsis' orders.

He felt a hand on his shoulder before he could draw a Pokéball, and sensed Jess beside him. They'd temporarily dulled the link between them for the battle, but now, it returned. "Take Landorus." Jess said, drawing a Pokéball of her own. "The other two are mine."

He nodded, sensing her thoughts, and called out Hydrus. Blue light surrounded him as he mega evolved, and roared a challenge at Landorus. The three responded as one, with Stone Edge, Thunder, and Air Slash.

Hydrus slammed a fist into the ground, and a large chunk of earth rose up to absorb the impact. He needn't have bothered however, as Lassi, Jess' Froslass, had lanced the three combined attacks with an Ice Beam. The beam had disrupted the air and the stones, leaving only the Thunder to crash harmlessly into Hydrus's now ruined earth shield.

The ghost's hollow, icy body howled ominously as Tornadus' wind blew through her, and she focused on Thunderus then, launching another Ice Beam. Hydrus shot one as well, this time at Landorus, who took both attacks for his brother, before falling towards the central mound of earth that the Entree rested upon in an icy heap.

Hydrus leapt into the air with help from his arms as they unleashed jets of water, and Alex ran after him, leaving Jess to handle the other two. Lassi had begun gracefully weaving between Air Slashes and Thunder attacks, and Amphi had joined her. Between the two of them, Alex had a feeling Jess would be fine. Her Ampharos wasn't to be trifled with.

Alex found Landorus rising from the crater he'd made when he fell, still covered in bits of ice. He recognized the growing orb of bluish purple energy in Landorus' maw, and Hydrus countered quickly with another Ice Beam, hitting the orb in its center as it formed. The Outrage attack fizzled and shrank in the face of the entropic cold, and the enraged Legendary roared in fury before charging his opponent.

Several Hammer Arms came down on Hydrus' own arms as he blocked them. Swampert was not the fastest Pokémon, but after several Hammer Arms, he was fast enough to finally counter. He'd taken damage, true, but that would only help in this instance.

Alex gave the command once he mentally confirmed that Hydrus' Torrent had activated after taking such powerful attacks, and the Swampert lowered his arms to retaliate. The Hydro Cannon, an already devastatingly powerful move, was now doubled in strength.

The ultimate water type move took the enraged Legendary down, knocking him into the northern tree line surrounding the Entree with a hard crash. The Shadow energy pervading Landorus' aura faded, and Alex recalled Hydrus as he walked towards the fallen force of nature.

Jess, meanwhile, was battling admirably, as were the Pokémon Rangers around her. Arceans had dropped from the airship at Ghetsis' order, and the battling had broken out all over the central part of Unova. Rangers and local Trainers in the crowd now once more battled the Arceans as those without Pokémon, or who were better suited to evacuation, helped the crowds of people get away from the sudden combat.

The symbol of the Alpha Pokémon loomed over the scene as thunder boomed in the sky repeatedly. Any hope the Arceans had of sweeping their failure in Castelia under the rug was now totally gone. Pretty much all of Unova was witness to their attacks. There was no question as to whose account of the Castelian Civil War had been accurate, and whose had been patently false. That wouldn't matter to Arc News watchers though, buried as they were in BS.

While Alex had managed to handle Landorus with relative ease, the other two were not so easily brought down. They worked well together, united in their Shadow-fueled rage, and they were Legendary Pokémon. Every attack Amphi launched at Tornadus was absorbed by Thunderus. Each Ice Beam was blocked by a Hammer Arm from Tornadus' tail, and Blizzard was only so effective against a Pokémon that literally controlled the wind.

Now sufficiently irritated by the ghost before them, the two Legendary Pokémon shot a unified Dark Pulse at Lassi from two directions. Amphi stepped forward then, taking one, and blocking the other with a Focus Blast. It wasn't the first time she'd had to take a hit for Lassi, and this one effectively knocked her out of the battle.

The two furious Legendary Pokémon prepared another pair of Dark Pulses, and as they shot towards Lassi, a bolt of Thunder shot through them horizontally, canceling the attack entirely. It wasn't Leo's though. This one had much more power behind it. Jess had vaguely sensed her rescuer, and Alex seemed just as surprised, though he was distracted as he communicated with an angry, confused Landorus.

Thunder seemed to boom again, but this time, it was on the ground, and was followed by a blur of orange. The blur moved both Lassi and Jess as another pair of furious Dark Pulses blew apart the area they'd been standing on only a moment earlier.

It took Jess a moment to realize she was on the back of a Pokémon, and a moment longer to recognize it. She looked up at her brother, who she hardly recognized. He was garbed not unlike Tao's followers, though where their colors were white, he was mostly in black.

She gave him a hug, and asked, "How on Earth did you get a Raikou?"

Connor waved her words away. "Later. Right now, we have bigger things to deal with."

The two furious Legendary Pokémon had prepared another pair of attacks as Raikou ran and turned, though once more, they were stopped in mid-air, and redirected back at their owners. Arthur, in his Mega Form, had bounced them back with his Sacred Sword, and now Alex and a recovered Landorus were close behind him. Being the most sensible of the trio, he'd agreed to help the humans calm his brothers. Evidently his Shadow infusion was just not as effective as what was infecting his brothers.

Once more in his normal form, the guardian of the earth pointed at Jess, and motioned her over. "When I give you the opening, freeze them where they stand. They will not calm down otherwise." Landorus' deep baritone seemed fitting, as he was rumored to be the strongest of the three brothers, but he didn't ring quite as loudly in her head as Tao and Alex's Sage had.

She nodded, regardless, and Lassi approached the two again as they recovered from the surprise redirection of their attacks. Their tails both glowed with the fighting type energy of Hammer Arm as they saw their icy opponent return for another round, and as they swung towards her, Landorus acted.

Normally, a decent Trainer would wonder how a ground type could possibly lord over a flying and electric/flying type. It became obvious as the lord of the land raised his arms. The gravity around Lassi, and his two brothers, increased dramatically, and all three were brought to the ground. Tornadus and Thunderus hit harder, as they had been in mid-attack, and that brief pause was all Lassi needed.

"Blizzard!" Jess gave the command, and her partner summoned the wind that had previously been hard to control, infusing it with ice, and freezing the two grounded Legendary Pokémon where they'd crashed.

The Shadow energy slowly bled from their battered bodies, and Landorus floated over, now in his 'Djinn form', and with two Hammer Arms, freed his fainted brethren from the ice. Alex and Connor had followed him, and gave the two weakened Pokémon Max Revives. Their bodies also returned to normal, and as that happened, the Shadow left them.

The group turned suddenly, as an explosion, and waves of concussive force, rocked the immediate area. The airship had an enormous hole in it, and Tao was no doubt responsible.

Thunder swirled around him as he came zooming out of the massive hole in the ship's hull. He arced gracefully in the air then, and flames engulfed his serpentine form as his icy tail changed its Teravolt generator's shape from Zekrom's to Reshiram's Turboblaze generator, and he tore through the ship again, giving it a second hole. Tao flew up from the other side, and with a roar, a beam of ice struck the main deck for good measure.

A figure jumped on his back as the ship began to plummet towards the water, and the Pokémon in the immediate vicinity of the crash zone were urged to move with another roar from the Original Dragon.

Tao arced towards the group then, and landed with a hard thump. N jumped from his neck, and nodded at Alex after glancing at them all. "It's done. Ghetsis won't be bothering any of us again. Ever."

Alex nodded, figuring that after all he'd done, there was ultimately only one way to stop him. He turned to Arthur then saying, "Help the Rangers. Capture as many Arceans as you can. If we let them go, they'll try something again." He glanced over at Tao as Arthur leapt towards the nearest sound of battle. Gren soon leapt after him, and the two made short work of whoever they came across.

Tao was conversing with the three Forces of Nature. From what he could glean by Tao's mood, he was arguing with them over something. Once the argument ended, the three brothers clasped their palms together, and light formed between each pair of hands.

Eventually, the three turned, and approached Alex, Jess, and Connor. They extended their hands, with slight frowns on their faces. Landorus spoke for them, "The Dragon has commanded that we reward you for your aid. Thus, we grant you gifts that will aid you in your adventures. Use them well, they are not lightly given."

In Landorus' palm was a Zap Plate crystal, which he handed to Alex. Thunderus met Raikou's gaze with a mutual nod of respect, and then handed Connor a green Plate crystal of his own. Tornadus approached Jess as well, and handed her a shard of the Mind Plate. The humans shared a glance, then bowed.

The three Legendary Pokémon bowed their heads in return, and then ascended into the clouds. The clouds dissipated soon after, but any trace of the trio had vanished. Only smoke from the crashed ship and the numerous battles now filled the sky. Connor and Jess gave Raikou and Delphi similar instructions as Alex had with Arthur, and they too zipped off to help quell the fighting.

Alex meanwhile approached Tao, and spoke with him in the comfort of their minds. "I didn't know the brothers could create such powerful items. I thought they were a piece of Arceus himself, of his Plates."

The dragon seemed amused for a moment, then answered, "They do not have the means to create such things. However, there are numerous places across the world where such pieces exist, that have yet to be uncovered by Humans. It is from one of those areas they pulled the crystals. That ability tires them though, so they use it rarely, and never for lowly Humans."

Alex raised a brow at him, "Lowly Humans? If we're so inferior, why did they agree?"

Tao's lips pulled upwards in a smirk. "Because I am the Dragon of Unova, and they know better than to test my patience. You helped free them of the foul energy controlling them, as you did for me. This was the very least they could do to thank you." Alex felt a newfound appreciation for just how strong his partner was.

Alex thought for a moment then spoke again, "If you're so much stronger, could you not do as they did, and pull more crystals?"

The dragon brought his head to his Trainer's level, and stared at him with one large, golden, pupiless eye. "Be wary of your greed, Alexander Redwood. It will consume you if not controlled."

Alex rolled his eyes, trying and failing to not be unnerved by the dragon's gaze. "I wouldn't call it greed…they're just useful to have around. The more I have, the more Taijitu Moves I can pull off, the stronger we are against threats like Ghetsis."

The dragon blinked once, "By my count, you now have one for your entire team. What more do you require?"

Alex blinked, then fished his stash of Plate crystals from their hiding place. Fire and Grass from the mountain, Connor's former Splash shard, the psychic crystal from Joey, Dragon from N, and now Electric as well. He hadn't even realized how close he was.

He'd learned early on that lying to Tao was futile at best, so he stuck to the truth when speaking with him. "You're right…as always, Dragon of Unova. I have all I need…for now…"

The Dragon chuckled with minor amusement. "Not quite yet, Champion. In any case, that ability is not one I possess…however…hmm." Tao examined Alex again, then nodded. "Give the Draco Plate crystal to your friend, for his Garchomp. I know of something much stronger, and suited for your Salamence."

Alex glanced at the crystal N entrusted to him. Then at N himself, who nodded. If the Original Dragon was sure of his choice, neither Champion had an issue as to who should guard the crystal.

Alex blinked as he sensed the dragon thinking of the cave atop Draconis Mons, and then walked back over to the siblings, lost in thought. He handed Connor the crystal then, pressing it into his hand. "The Original Dragon has suggested I give you this. If you can control Raikou, I've no doubt your Garchomp has advanced as well."

Connor took the crystal, eyeing the symbol of dragon types within it. "He has…but what about Shruikan?"

Alex glanced back at Tao, who had walked over to the battle-torn earth around the Entree's plateau, and made it whole once more. The damage compared to Alex's battle was significant. Legendary Pokémon always managed to cause such devastation, when enraged.

"Shruikan will be fine…Tao said there's something else better suited for him, and is still capable of helping him Mega Evolve."

"Good…" Connor pocketed both crystals, glancing up as the orange form of Raikou leapt over the nearby trees to the south of them, and landed before them. "There's something I need your help with. The Arceans have been busy today, and were it not for time zone differences, I might've arrived too late to help you."

Connor gave the tiger-like Legendary a scratch beneath his chin, which made the fur on his back ripple. Gren and Arthur reappeared soon after, and returned to their balls. "He says the fighting has been quelled for the most part…which is good. We're running out of time."

Jess and N joined them then as her Delphox returned, and went into her ball as well. "Time for what?" She asked.

"The Arcean's leader…he's headed to Norstad in search of Xerneas. He's after Eternal Life. We need to stop him." Connor glanced between the three as he spoke, trying to impress just how bad a man like Pravus gaining eternal life would be.

Alex glanced at N. "Can you handle the clean-up? We're burning daylight."

N nodded. "I'll make sure things stay in balance."

Alex smirked. "Have Tao help you. I know you two are friends, don't feel awkward about Battling with him. I could never claim sole ownership of a dragon that was once three."

N gave the three a short bow, before heading over to Tao. The dragon looked at the three of them, then back to N. He called out his Aerodactyl, and after being bathed in golden light from Tao, it seemed entirely rejuvenated. The two flew off then, headed south towards Castelia as Tao walked towards them.

"Before you go…" His voice echoed in each of their heads, "There is something we must do. You can depart for that icy wasteland after we pay Draconis Mons a visit."

Alex glanced at the other two, then shrugged. It was hard to argue with a Legendary dragon. Tao lowered his head, and the three humans climbed atop his ice-crested back. Tao flew into the air then, and arced northwards towards the faint outline of the Dragon Mountain in the distance.

Sahqoreyth · Mar 28, 2024

Chapter 16: The Land of Ice and Snow

Draconis Mons - Unova Region

"I thought he'd be colder!" Alex smirked as he heard Jess speaking from behind him, and enjoyed the press of her smaller frame into his back. The massive, white and black scaled serpentine dragon glanced back at the humans perched on the icy crest that ran down his spine as his powerful wings ate away the miles between the center of Unova, and the Dragon Mountain.

"Just as a Rapidash can choose not to burn its rider, I can choose not to freeze those I deem worthy of riding upon my back." Alex mostly ignored what Tao was saying, which was impressive, given that his commanding baritone was thundering in his skull.

He was more focused on the land below, specifically Lacunosa Town, where the Arceans from earlier had been tossed by the local authorities, which by this point, were the Pokémon Rangers stationed in Unova. The area was also home to the Chasm that Kyurem had once inhabited. The Rangers had been disturbed and surprised when they found the town already suited to hold the Arceans as criminals, as the houses the Arceans hadn't used had been retrofitted to act as prison cells. There was no word yet on who, if anyone, they had put in them. They'd apparently been empty when they were found. The New Tork Police Department was still processing Trainers from the region's most recent battle with the Fornian insurgents.

Thus, many of the Arceans became imprisoned behind bars they'd paid for, and the Unovans of the town were all too happy to finally have power over them. The Arcean cult's initial words had been sweet and convincing, but it hadn't taken more than a month before the freedom-friendly ideals of Unova clashed with the standard Arcean methods of mental conditioning. The villagers promised not to free the Arceans, but several Pokémon Rangers stayed in the town anyway. This group had a bad habit of breaking free of imprisonment.

The land around the Giant Chasm had indeed recovered, if only slightly. The heat of summer had been used to good effect, but winter had come early, and much of the plant life and Pokémon remained away from the area. Several minutes later they were over Humilau City, and then began ascending to the top of Draconis Mons itself.

It seemed livelier than when Alex had been here last. Pokémon of all types shared the upper bowl with the dragons now, who were content to stay within the carved-out caves and cliff-sides that made up the edges of the massive mountaintop. Normally the dragons would have dominated their territory, but with the return of peace, they were all just glad to be alive. Many of the Pokémon from within the mountain had shared their food with the hungry dragons thus in return, the dragons ignored the age-old tradition of the peak being for them and only them.

He spied a small, ramshackle building by the footpath up the mountain, and smirked. It seemed the old man had stayed true to his word. With the dragons as sentinels, not to mention the other Pokémon, he felt sorry for any idiots dumb enough to try to poach from this place. There were a few hikers, but most of the older Pokémon shied away from them, and they in turn were experienced enough not to intrude too close. It seemed the mountain as a whole was also welcoming humans now, provided they didn't interfere.

Alex smirked as he felt his belt shudder. It seemed both Blaze and Shruikan, weakened as they were from battling, still had energy enough to desire to join the other Pokémon here. He leapt from Tao's back, and landed harder than he intended on the central rocky platform before he thumbed both of their twitching ball's release buttons, and the two appeared in bright swirls of light above the central platform of the mountain.

Tao had definitely gained the attention of everything living atop the mountain as he spiraled up through the air and set off a chorus of calls from the dragons that could only be defined as joyous, but the appearance of Shruikan had a more calming effect. The noises of joy became low growls, that dissipated quickly when it became clear that this black beast was not the one that had ruled over them so harshly, but was in fact one of them. Some of the older dragon types seemed on edge at the sight of him, though they kept to their caves. One of them or not, there were still those who knew what a black Salamence presaged.

Alex and Shruikan noticed the dragons were eyeing both of them with what seemed like apprehension, and something else. After a brief mental sweep, Alex smirked, and his Salamence roared. Lightning sparked through the previously white clouds as they shifted to black. The dragons of the mountain were burning with the desire for a battle, and neither Pokémon nor Trainer was about to pass up a challenge like that. Shruikan welcomed any that wished to test themselves against him.

Tao spiraled down onto the central rocky platform, and growled softly. The low rumble sent the agitated dragon types back into their caves, while others who were ready to rise to the whelp's challenge, opted instead to simply wait. Once more, the Original Dragon addressed the humans, as Jess joined her other half on the ground. "Hold off, for now. Let your partners out to eat, they will need the rest, and they will be safe while we do what we must here." The white and black dragon's voice echoed quietly to Alex in particular as he said, "Get ready to bring your team with you, when they're done. And tell your female to bring hers, as well. We will leave, soon."

He raised a brow, but let the rest of his team out for the moment, as did Connor and Jess, and the gathered Pokémon, all powerful in their own right, wasted no time in beginning to socialize. Alex's team knew Jess' well enough by now, but Connor's partners were new and interesting. In short order, Arthur had them preparing a feast of berries and Pokémon food and once that was done, he came up to his Trainer and non verbally communicated to him.

Alex then turned and handed Jess Arthur's ball. She raised a brow at him. "His request, not mine. He insisted on it for some reason. A premonition, or something." He shrugged. "Psychic Types." She glanced at the Gallade, but he was already back to setting out bowls for those without fingers or hands. She shrugged as well, pocketing the purple sphere.

Tao brought them up to Lizardon's cave then and it seemed abandoned. None of the local dragons had tried to claim it, and now that the Original Dragon had returned, none of them intended to. Before the Dragonspiral Tower had been built in his honor, this had been his home, after all. Tao entered the cave without hesitation, the whisker-like tendrils dangling on his snout lifted up by his horns, and sparked with blue electricity, lighting the interior.

Alex stared for a long time, as the symbol of eternal balance became visible against the back of the cave. It was definitely an old carving, at least as old as the ruins in Unova's western desert area. Three massive gashes ran through the center of it, and he had no doubt as to what Pokémon had dared to make them.

Tao sighed as he examined it. "That brute had nerve…" He opened his maw, and white-blue flame enveloped the carving, searing through each line. When it vanished, the rock was flawless once more, and Tao turned back to the humans, then. "What lies in this cave is an entrance to a useful place where my followers would train when the need for experience was dire and time was short. It is from here that the first Dragon Emperor of your land was trained. His line ruled the land with the powers acquired here, ended the wars between the States, and brought Balance to this continent. Now you will do the same."

The dragon directed his gaze at Connor specifically then, "You however, do not require use of this, which is fortunate, as it can only take two Humans at a time." Though it could technically hold more, Tao had no intention of interfering with Connor's path, one which he sensed did not lie in Unova, or as a student of his. What Raikou would teach him would help him far more than his own lessons.

Connor arched a brow. "Then why bring me here? I could be halfway to Norstad by now. We cannot delay."

The dragon exhaled at the impatient human, hot breath ruffling his reddish-brown hair. "Patience. The Fornian will have to search long to find what he seeks, and even if he finds it quickly, it will not yield as easily as he believes. Practice what Raikou taught you as you wait." Tao looked to Alex, then. "Rest, eat, recall your teams, and then Open the Way."

Alex blinked up at the dragon. "Sure... How do I do that, exactly?"

Tao looked at him for a long time, and a chill ran down Alex's neck. As if this mysterious and confusing circumstance was actually of incredible importance.

He paid extra attention as the dragon spoke into his mind. "Balance exists in all things. Nature. Pokémon. Humans. Animals. Even the universe beyond our tiny world. There are many names for this Balance. Light and dark. Ebb and flow. Push and pull. Yin and Yang. Nature is full of opposing forces."

Tao's head came close to him once more, and it took Alex a second to realize that his pupiless golden eye was almost as tall as he was. "Find the central point of this Balance…and you will find enlightenment."

Alex pondered the Dragon's words as they ate, and of course, enjoyed a bowl of Leaf. As he let the calming effect wash over him, his mind began connecting certain events he'd experienced over the past year. A pattern emerged. Always, he'd needed to shift his viewpoint, and expand it when he learned something. He had a feeling this would be no different. He recalled his team once they were finished resting, and approached the wall.

The dragon lifted his head up again then and watched his latest Tamer as he sprawled comfortably on the cave floor, forepaws crossed, with his lengthy body coiled up behind him. He had not enjoyed the bowl, but the smoke, each powerful inhale more than enough for a contact buzz.

Alex could feel Tao's gaze and he realized that this wasn't all that different from his training in the Swamp. A wise old Pokémon with more power than he could dream of, watching him expectantly after divulging a cryptic clue to help solve whatever conundrum he was facing.

He sighed. Apparently, centuries of living did strange things to one's perception of the world. He did not yet know how right he was about that.

He focused on the symbol again, and his eyes went to the middle of it. Surely it wasn't as simple as focusing on the point between the two smaller circles that represented light in darkness, and darkness in light. Then again, simplicity had been a running theme with his training. The answer was always relatively simple, once he'd found it.

Except when it came to higher mathematics, which was why he despised it. Answers led to more answers, and some answers were needed to solve the entire problem. Sometimes they had to be in a specific order, or pattern too. It made his head spin. He was thoroughly glad Trainer majors only had a few math courses, focused on making sure they understood the currency of their world, and how to exchange it. Most regions used Pokédollars, but other forms of currency existed, like Olympian Gelt, the main currency of the Imperium of Man used across the supercontinent of Eurafricasia.

Alex put his large palm over the center of the symbol, and resisted glancing at Tao as he heard the dragon chortle. There was a trick to it then. That was fine. There usually was.

He ignored everything else, and focused on the burgeoning power that Arthur had been helping him expand during their late-night training sessions. His eyes shone blue, and his entire form was lined with blue energy as he drew more.

By his Gallade's approximation, he could use a Confusion level attack about five times before the strain on his undeveloped power would cause his body to start failing. The most obvious sign of this was a nosebleed. He had enough for this, however, and as he looked at the carving once more, his instinct guided him.

He let it. His hand moved to the top, tracing the outline of the circle, and moving through the lines that had been carved into the rock. Where his pointer finger trailed, a line of psychic energy was left behind, and as he continued, lines he hadn't noticed before became obvious to his eyes, as they linked the smaller circles seamlessly to the larger one, creating a pattern over the usual S shape that separated light and darkness.

He followed the lines connecting the light in the darkness, and the darkness in the light carefully, until he finally traced his finger to the center of the carving. He flooded it with power then, and the rock rumbled, and fell away. He let the power fade, and smirked at the dragon. "How'd I do?"

Jess spoke up from behind him. "What did you do? You just traced the outline, then let your power go. I don't get it." Her brother nodded in agreement, arms crossed. For them, the circle was lifeless, the rock still appeared to just be rock.

Alex raised a brow at the dragon, who winked his left eye, visible to only Alex's point of view, at him. "Go." He said, speaking only to him then, "I will see that Jessica finds her own path. This one is yours, and yours alone."

He hesitated. His path was hers. He'd told her as much, and he'd meant it. The dragon arched a scaly eyebrow at him expectantly, and he walked through the shining doorway. Now wasn't the time to argue over how attached he should be to her. Still, if anyone knew the depths of his ties to her, it was Tao. The dragon didn't really grok the need for such ties, but then, he didn't have reproductive organs, or a desire to breed. As far as Alex knew.

The siblings stared, eyes wide, as their neighbor walked through what looked like solid rock. Jess was up against the wall then, hand running over it. She turned her gaze to the dragon. "You said we'd be going in together. I can't even sense him anymore."

Tao nodded. "You wouldn't. He is no longer on this plane. If he manages to cross to the other one, then I will have you attempt to cross as well."

She raised a brow at him. "If? You never said this was dangerous."

"I warned him of the danger, as I am now warning you. He accepted the risks." The dragon's head moved towards her then, much as he'd done with his Trainer. "Will you accept them? Will you put your life on the line?"

Jess backed away from the wall a step. "Woah, hey, nobody said our lives were at stake."

The dragon seemed to sigh, and blinked his golden eyes at her. "Your lives are always at stake. You are frail, easily broken mortals. It makes protecting you quite difficult. Though I admit, I haven't seen any Human as durable as your chosen mate. Most Humans who dared to climb this mountain in days past reappeared dead. That brute did not restrain himself."

Jess thought for a moment. "So you implied he could survive whatever he just walked into?"

The dragon shook his large white scaled head. "No. That Trainer does not let fear hold him back. There are other ties that make him hesitate."

Jess ignored Tao then, and summoned her own power. She was still quite new at using it however. Unlike Alex, she only traced the symbol. Tao yawned, and returned his head to resting on his paws. "You won't be able to enter until he passes through. The Way is shut."

Jess crossed her arms, anxious, and nearly jumped when she felt something on her shoulder. She turned, seeing Arthur, Delphi, and Sophos, all free of their balls. They'd popped out when they sensed the psychic power shift the fabric of reality, only to realize everything was fine.

Naturally, the psychic types got along. Sophos had learned much in the short time he'd conversed with them. Arthur's knowledge of grammar, and Delphi's, helped him thread proper sentences together that no longer seemed as jilted.

He was the one who spoke, as he nodded at the symbol on the wall. "I sensed that Human's power from within my circle-home. There is no…need…to worry." He was still having trouble sorting through all the words he'd learned evidently, but an Alakazam's mind was like a supercomputer. It wasn't that surprising that he was learning so quickly.

Meanwhile…

There hadn't been many times Alex's experience as a smoker of Leaf became useful, but as he stepped into the portal and saw what lay beyond, his first thought was the similarity to his more potent dreams while experiencing the hallucinations his subconscious fabricated when exhaustion mixed with the calm of a recent smoke session. He blinked, bit his tongue, then nodded. This was no fever-Leaf dream.

He looked down, and saw the world. He was floating in a multicolored shaft of rainbow light, motionless. He could see other similar shafts from numerous points around the planet, and one in particular caught his attention. It was truly massive, and originated from somewhere east of the center of the Mediterra mountains.

His brow furrowed, as all that was supposed to be out there was the vast Gohara Desert, until the borders of the country known as Eous, the largest country on the planet. Much like Unova and the other regions that made up the States, it had many regions within it, and many more Pokémon. Nobody owned that desert though, as it was occupied by a large, lifeless plateau, and the Imperium and Eous both had little interest in occupying a desert. There were no hidden ores or oases to speak of indeed in comparison to other desert on the planet, the Gohara was, as far as humanity knew, largely lifeless. Thus, it was avoided.

Alex followed the large rainbow shaft's direction with his eyes, only to see that it was pointing in the same direction his was, and seemed to encircle and entwine with the bridge he was on, though as he moved, his perspective shifted, and he saw how the paths diverged, and where that larger path led, he could only guess. Alex drew more of his power to increase his floating speed, and as he did, his perspective shifted. His point of view turned kaleidoscopic and circular, but he kept propelling himself in the same direction, until finally, he was surrounded by white light.

Then, it faded. He was standing again, on stone, and as he looked around, he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. The Arceans claimed that their Creator lived in a golden paradise surrounded by clouds, that only loyal humans and 'non-suppressive' Pokémon were allowed to enter.

In their view, any and all psychic types were automatically considered enemies of Arceus's 'true vision' and were therefore labeled as 'suppressive' to the Prophet's, and by extension Arceus's desires.

What he saw before him now very much seemed like what they had described Arceus' abode to look like. Grand, randomly placed marble columns, nearly blinding omnipresent light, but something was off. He walked around the immediate area, probing with his senses for any intelligent life, and then noticed a path, a pattern in the rock he stood upon he hadn't seen before.

He followed it, and eventually the weathered columns gave way to a massive tower that looked almost identical to the Dragonspiral, back in Unova. This incarnation wasn't weathered with age though and an image of Tao could be made out, spiraling all the way up to the top where, instead of a flat top, there was a massive reproduction of the Original Dragon's visage. It was uncannily accurate.

As he made to enter the castle-like building, three spheres of light shot from the mouth of the carving. He stared, as once more Kyurem, Reshiram, and Zekrom appeared before him. They were different, though. Kyurem's color was deeper, and its eyes and head crystal were scarlet. Reshiram's bands were gold, not white, and Zekrom was a lighter shade of black, with bits of glowing green, rather than blue.

"I…I don't…what? When? Why? How!?" His gaze moved between the three of them, but they spoke as one in response to his words, each of their draconic visages smirking in amusement. "We are as you see us…and yet, we are not what you know. We are the prototype for the One."

Alex continued to stare, suddenly wishing he'd taken the Draco Plate shard with him. He could've reunited these three, and as he had that thought, they collectively shook their heads. "The Alpha made us first, but we were inherently flawed. Forever out of Balance, too fundamentally different in nature to ever unite. He replaced us, and bade us to guard this, the home where the One was birthed from the combination of our essence."

Alex blinked again, several times. "Wh-what? Replaced you?" He felt a cold dread as he realized what that meant. Perhaps the Arceus the Arceans worshiped wasn't all that far off from the real thing.

The dragons nodded again. "With our help, he cast down the Lord of Antimatter, and combined our remaining power to create the One. From our deaths, he rose."

"Wait…you're…dead?" He looked at the three again, and then noticed. They were all vaguely transparent. They nodded again.

"Now, we guard this home, for those whom the Original Dragon wishes to train. Pity us not, Human…this duty is an honor, bestowed for our sacrifice." Combined as their voices were in his head, they sounded uncannily like Tao. "Tell us Human. It has been ages, even in this place where time is altered, since we have seen him, or his students. What befell the One?"

Looking at these ghosts, his eyes noticed other things. Wounds, barely visible, but evidently fatal. Whatever they had fought had hurt them severely and with the last of their power, they formed Tao. He sighed. "Humans tore apart that which should never have been separated…which is why I recognize the bodies you're in."

He went into detail then, about the legend of his home region. The Dragon Empire, the wise king from a foreign bloodline who married into the empire's royal line, the war that lineage eventually caused, the splitting of the Original Dragon over ideological differences, and the millennia that it had taken for the separate halves of the dragon to awaken once more. He finished by saying, "I freed Reshiram from a forced fusion with Kyurem, and soon after, fused the three separate parts with Infinity Energy back into a cohesive whole. I wasn't the first to try re-uniting them. I expect a man-made fusion would've produced something else entirely."

The dragons glanced at each other, then nodded. "For this deed, you are worthy. Enter the Tower of the One, and gain the knowledge you seek."

Almost twenty minutes went by before Tao opened one eye suddenly, and his head rose to eye the symbol in his cave. "He has done it. Though I expect it will be easier for him."

Jess rose from where she'd been sitting, and brushing her Delphox's hair, with Arthur's aid, as he meditated. He'd held it aloft with his power, making brushing it quite simple. Sophos had left with her brother and Raikou, to train. "What will be easier?"

The dragon blinked at her. "Entering the Tower. Its guardians are…fickle. Prone to infighting that can last centuries. Now you may attempt to follow. Be warned…this is not a journey lightly embarked upon. You will not be the same Human when you return."

The redhead recalled Delphi, and Arthur as well, as Alex had left his ball with her. She stared the dragon down then, her earlier hesitation gone. "I don't let fear cause me to hesitate. I am not afraid."

The dragon seemed to chuckle as he stood, and touched his nose to the symbol of Balance etched into the wall. Again, nothing appeared to happen. He looked back at her before walking through the solid stone as well. "You will be."

Eyes narrowing, she called on the power as she'd seen and partially felt Alex do. Being mentally linked made understanding such things much easier, though what it had caused had been blocked from her, by the dragon, if she guessed correctly. Her form shone with an intense pink aura, and she stared at the carving, recalling the Dragon's words to Alex, which he'd shared before departing. Apparently they were important.

She blinked a few times, seeing a faint glow in the recesses of the rock, where Alex had traced his finger. A slight echo of his essence, something she could sense easily, with this much power focused in her eyes. Things became easier to piece together as she did as he had, and made out the faint hidden lines in the Taijitu symbol and ran her finger over them, seeing as Alex had, how they connected to the two smaller spheres representing light in darkness, and darkness in light. The rock turned blindingly white as her finger reached the center-most point and she walked through the portal.

Where Alex had experienced a vision with which he was somewhat prepared, Jessica's experience was much, much different. She experienced vertigo, seemingly endless vertigo, as she tumbled ceaselessly through her own personal hell. Every unpleasant moment of her life, from being berated by her father, to something as simple as smelling something foul in the air, was on full display as she felt herself fall into eternity.

She felt as though she re-lived all of it, and before long, a pattern became apparent. Over and over she could hear her father's voice repeating, "Journeys are dangerous! They're not for people like you! You have a future, a duty to keep the family line going! Don't waste your life on a dangerous, pointless excursion with that bloody farmer!"

She saw then, the events she'd been involved in that had risked her life without her really noticing it. After seeing Alex clash with, and beat, her brother she knew how strong he was. She'd always taken her safety for granted when he was around…until she saw things from a different perspective. The first time they'd met, and he'd battled her with Pokémon that were still wild. That time a furious Tauros had almost run her down when she'd first visited her new neighbors, and Alex had redirected its charge. Traveling through Black City's sketchy populace, and then White Forest, the long hours of training, the arm and leg bruises from sparring with Alex, who never once went easy on her.

The Castelian Civil War, seeing the fire burn through almost half of the city as Arceans not locked in battle continued to set them. Charging head first into the PNN building. Facing down yet more Arcean thugs while being very much outnumbered as Alex took on a Lugia and a Gallade infused with Shadow.

Seeing Tao's darker aspect take control had brought genuine fear. Seeing a being straight out of myth, a deity to the people of his region, with the power to literally turn the land gold start to lose control, had made her pause.

As the scene played out from her memory, the enraged dragon's eyes focused on her, his entire form sparking with electricity. She'd always thought Kyurem was the most frightening of the trio, but being combined and dominated by Zekrom only enhanced how terrifying he'd looked in that moment.

His words echoed in her head. "You will be…"

Her eyes hardened, and she managed to right herself as she continued to plummet, though which direction was up or down was a mystery. She used her best guess.

All her life she'd been told Pokémon were friends. Powerful, useful, loyal, cute, but Legendary Pokémon were in an entirely different class. Especially ones that seemed to stem from Arceus directly, like Tao. A true Guardian of an entire region. She had indeed been afraid, many times in fact.

Then she noticed something else. Every time she'd faced one of these scenarios, Alex hadn't hesitated. He'd stepped right up to Tao and forced him back into balance. Again. Just like he'd jumped in front of that Tauros. Without hesitation, facing down whatever was in front of him head on.

He'd rallied Unova's Trainers to fight off the Arceans in the streets, and the fire burning their homes. Even in this latest confrontation, he'd faced down three forces of nature without so much as blinking. Could she have done the same? Had she used her own Flame Plate crystal, could she have balanced Tao?

"Yes." The voice echoed in her head, unmistakably male, and yet it wasn't Alex. He sounded similar, but she could tell Arthur and his Trainer apart easily. She held up his ball, and it glowed with psychic energy, the scenes around her shifted.

Her Empoleon, fighting the fires. Herself, covered in soot as she emerged from building after building with people and Pokémon who'd been trapped inside. Her Delphox taking on three Arceans at once, and still managing a win.

The long hours of sparring had paid off. She noticed the scenes moving in reverse now, but this time, she gave herself credit where it was due. The bruises had faded, and her body had hardened. She'd fought off just as many creeps in Black City, and had been the one to stay on the White Forest's trail as Alex flitted through the trees hunting rare Pokémon. She was the anchor, the point he always came back to, the center of what made him so good at staying balanced. He'd told her so during one of their many, many sexcapades.

Then she almost laughed, recalling the first time she'd actually seen him. Dirty, messy hair, a hat and clothes that barely fit, and a strong scent of Leaf. Some things never changed.

Then, she saw her father once more, and the echo of his stern baritone ceased as she stared him down, and she smirked, her own psychic power outlining her form as she recalled what she'd told him: "He's no more a farmer than you are, and in case you haven't heard from your son, the future of our family line is all but guaranteed with him. We've been neighbors for years. You know him. How many times did you talk with him during Festivus? How many times did that dry wit make you nearly cough up dinner, by your own admission? I expected blind reactionary anger from Connor. Not from you."

She'd left then, with an appropriate show of storming off. Her father had come to his senses, admitting that of all the many Redwoods, Alex was probably the best choice, given his brother's history of poor health. He was first in line to inherit all of it, like his father had been. She'd rolled her eyes at the capitalistic obsession with more wealth, but he'd acquiesced to her traveling, and had handled her brother, to boot. She was glad she had such a sensible father, or at least one that could be sensible when it suited him. Sometimes, she'd found, men just needed a nudge to remember common sense.

The final image she saw was a still one, of a girl she hardly recognized, running ahead of a beardless green and black clad Alex, carrying two backpacks, and a pair of shoes that did not belong on dirt roads. She tossed Arthur's ball, and looked up as she heard it hit a palm. "Thanks for lending him to me…though I'm still not sure why you did."

Her lover seemed changed, somehow, now garbed in the primarily white and black clothes that Tao's followers usually wore. They were different, though. His white robe-like jacket was down to his black-clad calves now, the symbol of eternal balance clear on his undershirt, and his hat. It was on the back of the coat as well, though she couldn't see it right then. His pants had changed too, a white stripe running down the outside, black running down the inside and being the primary color of the comfortable looking martial arts pants, they were roomy, and seemed ideal for moving in.

"He told me to, remember? At this point, I don't bother prying when he refuses to tell me why." He sighed, then smirked, placing the ball back on his belt. "Come. You're going to love this place."

The three guardian spirits appeared once more as Jess approached the tower. She barely had time to blink in surprise, before they spoke, in unison, into her head. "Answer we these questions three, or the inside ye shall not see."

She gave Alex a look, and he shrugged, then shook his head. "They're a bit…eccentric. Just do as they ask." His hands were in the pockets of his long coat as he waited, patiently.

She looked back up at the dragons. "Fine. Ask me your questions. I'm not afraid."

The three dragons seemed to grin. "What…is your name?"

"Jessica Gladstone."

Their grins widened. "What…is your purpose?"

She paused for a moment, glancing at Alex with a growing smirk as she recognized these questions, and then looked back to the ghostly visages of the Unovan Dragon trio. "I come to learn."

The dragons continued speaking in unison, "What…is the average air-speed velocity of an unladen Swellow?"

She rolled her eyes. "A Hoenn Swellow, or a Eurafricasian Swellow?"

The three dragons exchanged looks. "We…we're not sure."

The two humans burst into laughter, and the three dragons shared another look.

Tao appeared then, flying in from behind the tower, and blasted the three dragons from their perches with a burst of flame. "Enough fooling around. We have work to do." His golden eyes focused on the pair. "Welcome to my true home, Miss Gladstone. Enter and be welcome." He arced through the air and flew through the large entrance as the three guardians retreated to his carving's mouth.

She took Alex's hand as they entered. "They do know that's the easiest question on Unova University's entrance test, right?"

Alex smirked. "They don't know, actually. They've been dead for millennia. It's an old joke they find amusing. You'll hear it again, I promise. Apparently, Tao likes it too. One of my advisors said it was the oldest question on the exam. Can't remember which one told me."

Any further witty remarks were stifled as they entered the main room of the tower. Unlike its earthly counterpart, this one had books lining every single wall, all the way up. Tao was curled up already on a large black and white pillow, scanning them, and sighing. "Take her up to the Dojo. Put her through the basic forms. All of them. We don't have time to waste."

Jess glanced at Alex, and through their link, saw the forms already forming in his subconscious mind. He led her up the ramp, and she looked closer at him. The beard was longer, fuller, as was his hair. "Exactly how long have you been here?"

He gave her a wink. "About two weeks, by my reckoning, but Tao said not to bother trying to discern time here. It flows differently than it does on our plane. And, there's no need for sleep."

She stared at him. "That's impossible. You were only gone for a few minutes… and our bodies need rest, or they eventually fail."

He shook his head. "I thought it was impossible as well, but aside from an occasional meditative trance, I haven't slept since I arrived, and I'm perfectly aware. It's a bit unsettling. Don't get used to it, like I have. It'll be hard to adjust once we return home."

They reached the top then, and she blinked again. She'd seen the fighting gym in Icirrus, and this room was uncannily similar. In fact, everywhere one tried to learn the martial arts, in Unova at least, shared a setup with this room. She hadn't been to many such places back home, though. Not as an adult. Connor had always had an interest in Kung Fu, she'd only learned the basics of defending herself, at her father's insistence.

As he began demonstrating the forms they would be using, she interrupted and asked, "Why exactly are we learning martial arts? Don't Pokémon do our fighting for us?"

Alex paused, and smirked. They really were quite alike. "I said the same thing when I got here. And when I was in the Swamp. The Sage just ignored me, and let me forgo practicing if I was so sure. Remember when we were on the PNN's roof?" She nodded, and he continued. "Imagine you'd been facing down five Arceans. Not three. What would've happened?"

She looked down, then back at him. "I get it. Our enemies are no longer content with just using Pokémon. They'll get physical if they have to." In both of the recent attacks, she'd seen plenty of fist fights as Pokémon battles devolved. It was what shocked many Trainers, and led to quite a few Pokémon being snatched. Most of them had eventually been returned.

He nodded. "I don't know when they decided their 'security force' members needed martial training, but both Tao and my granduncle confirmed that they do have it. Norstad is dangerous in the same manner. They may lack technology, but they do have Pokémon. Strong ones, bred by a harsh environment, and the people are just as strong. They place great importance on physical strength, more-so than strength one has because of their Pokémon. Not that surprising, for a region without Pokéballs. From what I hear, they have zero qualms about defeating outsiders, and then selling Trainers into slavery to the Imperium. I for one, am not going to end up as some slave. Nor are you, if I have anything to say about it."

She acquiesced then, and they spent the next ten hours going through the forms he'd shown her. She was a fast learner, and their now re-established mental connection only helped her pick up what he'd already learned much quicker. He'd also been right about sleep. By her estimate, it was supposed to be night, but the light remained pure white outside, and she felt no need for sleep, just sore from hours of hard exertion.

As they meditated and recovered, Alex had explained what exactly he'd been doing since arriving, and told her that, like Connor's Raikou, Tao had also developed a style of martial arts after watching humans. He had outlived more generations than any human alive, and their centuries of knowledge had been refined by him into what he called 'The Dragon Style'.

There was indeed a variant of it taught in Unova, but Tao claimed that, from what he'd seen at least, the modern form was more about tournament fighting than a style of real combat that doubled as a series of stretches to keep one's body limber when one moved through them slowly, on purpose. Before long, Jess had caught up to Alex, and Tao began instructing them both in the finer points of his style. Alex had, after a particularly grueling session, finally asked how long they were going to be doing this for. Time flowed differently, yes, but it still passed.

Tao had simply smirked, and said, "By the time we are done here, no more than eight hours will have passed in the real world. That's roughly the equivalent of two years, in here."

He'd started to groan, but one of the dragon's face tendrils had thwacked his forehead. "You need to be ready before you go to Norstad. Pravus barely considered you a threat last time, but he will not make that mistake again. Training like this should take much, much longer…but we don't have time to waste. Now is the time, young Redwood. Advance, or you will surely be killed."

The training intensified then, and despite their best efforts, neither human could tell how much time had passed. It was simply impossible in the ever-white tower, surrounded by clouds. There were few places to wander, though they wandered anyway when their relentless instructor gave them a break. There was a garden atop the tower behind the carved visage of Tao for meditating, but even there, they trained.

In secret, at first, they tested their psychic powers against each other in literal clashes of psychic energy. Jess usually beat him when her Confusion was focused, but distracting her wasn't too difficult. Eventually, Tao noticed, and the matches became more intense. They learned how to defend their minds, penetrate others, read surface thoughts, and even invade a person's mind. Other people with psychic powers or mental training would be able to repel them, but the vast majority of humans had no such defenses. They both began to understand a little better just how important it was to keep this knowledge from the hands of someone who let the power go to their head.

Eventually, they reached a point where Tao stopped guiding them, and left it to their Pokémon. He claimed he'd refined as much of Alex's psychic skill as he dared to, for he did not wish to unbalance Oranguru's plans for him in that regard. Jess, being free of such obligations, continued to learn from her Delphox, and it soon became clear which of the humans had a knack for special attacks.

Tao's fighting style was, of course, all about balance. Though it wasn't energy they were balancing, but motion. He taught them to move fluidly, like water, or himself when in the air, but when they struck, they struck hard, and precise, where their opponent was most vulnerable. Ideally, they'd unbalance them with enough strikes. Often the three ghostly dragons who guarded the tower would possess human-like training dummies, and spar with them. First one on one, then two on one, and then all three at once. Kyurem's was the most merciless.

Their Pokémon teams received similar instruction, always in their Mega Forms, at least in Alex's case. Leo joined the others, finally, when he too had mega evolved. He looked like one might expect a Mega Luxray to look, similar, but different enough to the base form of Luxray. His frame became larger and more heavily muscled, he had long slightly jagged saber-fangs not unlike lightning bolts, and a luscious black mane that conducted his electric attacks with deadly accuracy. Having larger, stronger muscles also meant his electric attacks were much stronger. He'd gained the dark typing, and given that his species were night hunters, it was fitting. His mostly black fur retained hints of gold, and his visual prowess only increased. He could see through anything now as he pleased and little could escape his eyes once his Mega Form had locked on. With his cat's somewhat balanced skill for both special and physical attacks, Alex knew that ability would be invaluable for using Thunder.

Before long, Leo could balance the power of electricity and darkness into a Taijitu attack. Moreover, the speed of his new form made up for his species' relatively low stats. Compared to most electric types, Luxray were slow, but thanks to his training, vitamins, and Mega Evolution, Leo soon outpaced them all, save for Arthur and Shruikan, who borrowed Tao's power to reach his next evolution when they trained.

The two humans had no way to measure how much time passed, and eventually, they just asked Tao to tell them when it was time to leave. They trusted him. Eventually, he decided to inform Connor and the others that they'd be staying the night. After considering their progress so far, and the hours they were already behind, a single night would make little difference. They'd arrived at the mountain around sunset, and the original eight hours became thirteen. They'd be a day and a half behind Pravus's ship, but Shruikan could outpace any human craft in the air.

Arthur learned the Dragon Style alongside them, while Delphi constantly reminded them that, against a real psychic Pokémon, they were still just amateurs. She taught them as well, sometimes, but in the two weeks Tao was gone back to normal reality, she was infuriating, to both of them. Her personality was that of a trickster, and often she would make them think they were learning, when in fact they were falling for another prank. Only when Tao returned did she relent, and teach them properly once more.

It was hard for the two humans to romance each other in this strange place, as along with every other need, that too had vanished. They'd enjoyed each other several times, but not with the same fervor that usually filled their nights back home. The urges were muted, and though they came through eventually, they could suppress them for what was likely months. Being a woman, Alex suspected Jess could've gone the entire time without so much as a sensitive touch. Thankfully, she hadn't wanted to.

Tao drilled all of them constantly, and soon, time began to matter little to any of them. When he didn't train the humans, he battled with their Pokémon. Often, he faced off against Shruikan in the air. None of them had realized just how good Blaze had become at flying, until Tao demonstrated over and over that the young Salamence was nowhere near his level.

He might be faster in a race, but the Charizard would always have the advantage in maneuverability. Eventually, Shruikan asked his Trainer to battle with him against the Original Dragon, and with two sets of eyes, he started to improve quite a bit. It also helped that Alex shielded their minds from the dragon, who constantly tried to worm past his psychic defenses during the battles.

The Original Dragon was a ruthlessly efficient instructor, but he was also the reason they progressed so quickly. More than once, he'd had to literally control their limbs to show them a complex move, and had them drill it until they hurled, or couldn't move.

Much like the Swamp, food was limited to simple fare, like fruit. Dragon Fruit, of course, and though Tao certainly seemed carnivorous, he sated himself with the seemingly endless supply of it. Alex once asked him if he hunted, and he replied by saying that he had the urge to, but denying it was his burden, like an alcoholic denies themselves a drink. He accepted what meat was given to him by humans, but he refrained from eating anything raw. It was his opinion that if a Pokémon was to give up its life to feed others, it should be prepared and enjoyed properly, though he did not judge those who preferred their flesh fresh and bloody.

Eventually, Tao deemed them all ready and gathered them in the garden atop the tower after a long, grueling final session. Every single one of them, humans included, were quite tired. "You have each learned what you needed to learn, and then some. Norstad will not be kind. It will not be pleasant, and it will be even rougher, as your bodies struggle to balance their needs again. You are all in for several rough nights, emotional turmoil, and exhaustion."

"How much time have we spent in here?" Alex asked.

"Do not worry about it. Time here is outside of the Vortex's influence. Your bodies have not aged. Biologically, you are the same age you were when you entered…" The dragon looked between the two as he spoke, looking somewhat proud. "I have rarely had such dedicated students. Once you adjust to the prime material plane once more, you will see just how far you have come."

Jess was clad much the same as Alex now, though she'd eventually lost her own hat. It got in the way. She settled for a headband of black and white, an all-too-familiar Taijitu symbol on the front of it. She'd gone with black for her outfits primary coloration, like her brother, whereas Alex had remained in his white one. They made a good team, and had become quite adept at fighting together. They could even give Arthur and Delphi a good battle.

"There is one last thing," Tao said, as he raised his right forepaw, and it shone with a golden light. "This is for Shruikan."

At the mention of his name, he lifted his head and eyed what the dragon was holding. It looked uncannily like the Draco Plate crystal, had the same bluish purple sparkle, but it was in the form of a large square plate, the symbol of the dragons was also embedded within the sparkling metal. Shruikan pressed his snout to it, and the Plate floated in the air before it affixed itself to his chest, just under his neck.

"You can use it to achieve your Mega Form and it will empower your Dragon Type attacks considerably. Do not lose it. It's quite valuable." Tao spoke, and the black scaled Salamence nodded, pressing the button on his ball with his tail, and returning to the comfort of it with a swirl of black light.

They headed for the exit then, when they each paused, sensing the three guardians approaching. As always, they spoke in unison. "We've a gift for them as well." The three ghostly dragons opened their maws, and in a fusion of fire, electricity, and ice, a pair of crystals appeared. A symbol of the dragon types embedded within them. "Use them well." They said, looking suddenly dimmer, and more transparent before floating back to their eternal rest.

Tao watched them go, and Alex did a double-take as he saw a look of genuine confusion on the Dragon's face. He'd never seen that before.

Jess frowned, slightly as she took one, and gave Alex the other. "I suppose it will help but…I don't have a Dragon Type."

Tao chuckled as he brought forth the exit portal. "Worry not. Your Serperior and Ampharos can both use it. Such is the case for any dual-type. If you know what type they gain upon Mega Evolving, the appropriate crystal shard can call it forth."

The two humans exchanged a look. Neither had been aware of that, but the implications were interesting. Alex's first thought was to try his ground crystal with Terra, and see if his form was different. He didn't know how to feel about having another Draco crystal to guard, but he reasoned that if the guardians had seen fit to grant him one, he would guard it as well as N, Connor, and the other Dragon Masters had.

The three went through the portal, and exited into the cave to the first light of dawn. They were early. Tao grinned. "The time-dilation favors us. Fate is on our side. We should've come through later, but now you'll be that much closer to Pravus. Go. Quickly. Do not allow him to gain what he seeks, whatever the cost."

The two nodded, and bowed, then ran from the cave. Jess hesitated at the cliff, but Alex simply smirked, and leapt, calling on his power as he soared through the air. He came down in a three-point landing beside Connor, who was impatiently waiting on the central platform suspended over the crater.

He arched a brow at his friend. "Wow. Nice outfits. What'd that dragon do to you in there? You seem…different."

"I am different." Alex said, patting his belt. He smirked at Connor, and nodded at his sister as she floated down, limned by scarlet pink light. "And, we know Kung Fu." Tao had explained that his style wasn't entirely original, as he'd gained much from the ancient knowledge humans had uncovered in Eous. Still, he felt his was different enough by this point in time. Improved, now that he'd ironed out the flaws. When he spent millennia in three separate parts, two of which were orbs, he had time to think about such things.

Connor just stared at him. "You mastered a style of martial arts in one night? That's impossible. How?"

"Later." Jess said from behind her brother. She'd floated down gracefully, and landed without a sound. He turned to her, and rolled his eyes.

"Seriously, what did he do to the two of you?" Connor looked between them, and the two shared a smirk.

"Don't worry about it," Alex said, calling Shruikan out. Connor blinked at the dragon, who suddenly seemed much, much larger than he had yesterday evening. He was, in actual fact, far more muscled. His height had remained roughly the same.

"We'll tell you later." Jess said as Shruikan mega evolved using the Plate affixed to his chest. She climbed into the metallic underbelly of the dragon, after Alex. With his forearms tucked against them, they'd be close to his body, warm, and relatively shielded from the wind. Not to mention secure. Alex put his hat under him anyways. Connor climbed in as well, and just like that, they were off.

It might have been the vertigo, and the incredible speed at which Shruikan now soared, but both Alex and Jess felt slightly nauseous, and suddenly exhausted as they flew further and further from Unova. Tao had flown off towards Castelia as they left.

Despite the nausea, the two managed to fall asleep, much to Connor's dismay. He'd wanted details, explanations, but their bodies had been awake for longer than they could rightly remember, and the sudden return to reality was taking its toll. Thankfully, it was a long flight to Norstad.

Shruikan poked Alex awake with a claw thirteen hours later, over the eastern end of Kalos. They were right over Lumiose City, which was just starting to light up in the coming darkness. He almost wished they could stop, he'd never been to Kalos, but given the culture and seriously strong Trainers, he'd always wanted to go. Few regions were as technologically advanced, and willing to allow Mega Evolution in battles.

For some regions, like Sinnoh, Mega Evolution had caught on quickly and spread across Japan as a whole like fire, but for other regions it was still a new technique, and as such, not always allowed. The League had remained divided on its usage, leaving it up to the local Elite Four and Champions of their respective regions to decide on their own. Unova's Victory League welcomed any challenger, any battle style, to test itself against the Elite Four, and two Champions, one former, and then finally the current one. This lineup had earned the Victory League a place as one of the hardest Leagues in the world.

The two siblings were still sleeping, and Alex saw no need to wake them, as his draconic friend simply needed directions. "Head north-east. They say Norstad is surrounded by an ever-present storm on its borders, which makes entering exceedingly difficult…for normal Pokémon. Take us high."

Shruikan arced up then, as far as he could, before the wings of his Mega Form needed to start awkwardly flapping. Eventually, they found an air current that seemed to be carrying them straight towards their destination.

Alex had nodded off again, but awoke once more at Shruikan's mental nudge. The current was gone, the air was being bisected by something unnatural, and as he saw the massive gray clouds spreading for miles in either direction before him, he nudged the other two awake. "We're here."

The dragon flew right over the clouds, and then arced down behind them, straight into a blizzard. They hadn't been flying through the gray murk for more than a few minutes before Shruikan's nostrils flared, and Alex swore. "We have company." Several shapes formed in the gray swirl of snow around them, and Shruikan began dodging several Ice Beams.

The cries of the Pokémon flying around them, nearly invisible in the storm, were similar to the species Alex was familiar with, but it seemed the Skarmory of the land of ice and snow had traded the steel type for ice. It was all the same to him. Fire could handle both, but ice would seriously injure their dragon.

He spied shapes on their backs, as he looked through Shruikan's eyes, and swore again. Riders. A wild flock they could drive off, but sky pirates were another issue entirely. "Shruikan. Show them why they should fear a Black Salamence." The mental command was all the electric dragon had needed. His maw sparked with electricity, and he spun rapidly in the air as he arced the Charge Beam in a circle, catching at least two riders.

There were plenty more, though. Beams of ice began forming in the midst of the snow and gray clouds, and Shruikan repeated his maneuver, this time with flame. Even with their locations revealed by attacking, the smoke from the Flamethrower canceling the attacks obscured their vision, and their assailants disappeared back into the clouds. The Skarmory blended perfectly with the storm.

"Enough. Go down, we need to get out of these clouds." Alex was glad he could communicate mentally. Shouting in this kind of storm would never be heard. Shruikan shot down again, occasionally blasting fire to gauge where the ground was. Unfortunately, it also gave away their position. Ice Shards came down around them, and both Pokémon and Trainer winced as several hit.

"Can't…take much more of those…" Alex nodded at Shruikan's words, and pulled out Blaze's ball. He put his hat on again, and crawled into a free-fall from his dragon's stomach. He saw the riders pause, and realized that the storm was lessening, at least in this area. Shruikan had flown far, and fast, and now he could make out the ground below. It was a slightly whiter blur than the sky.

He called out Blaze, and the flash of light from his appearance, along with the glow of red from the Flame Plate crystal, caught the rider's attention as Alex adjusted himself on his back. They turned towards him, likely assuming he'd let his Salamence go on ahead while he fought on a stronger Pokémon with a better type advantage.

He smirked, and gave Blaze the order for a Blast Burn. The snow around them had melted in the presence of the heat his Charizard's Mega Form gave off, and now they all had a clear line of sight. The flames roared towards the riders in a horizontal crescent, and they flew up to avoid it, whooping and shouting as they laughed at his aim.

Alex smirked at the whooping riders, and he gave a two-fingered mock salute to them, as he mentally ordered the command. "Dragon Rush."

Shruikan came down from the clouds then, his entire form wreathed in bluish purple energy. As one of the fastest known fliers, their opponents had no chance of dodging. Nobody got away with ignoring the offspring of lightning and death. To do so was to lose.

Shruikan's attack hit all six of them in a line faster than an eye blink, and then he arched his long neck down to look at the riders yet mounted from under his stomach. He gave them a Charge Beam for good measure, and the two that had managed to stay somewhat airborne, began to fall.

Some of the riders managed to hold on to their mounts, the others became splotches of red on the ice below. One of the icy birds shook off its rider, who had slipped and grabbed a tail feather. The bird flew off into the clouds then, disappearing completely, despite the red smear left on its razor sharp tail feathers.

Alex patted Blaze. "Well done. Both of you. Let's clear off before they regroup." Alex jumped from his Charizard to his Salamence, and then set about tending to Shruikan's wounds. They'd long since mastered having him walk on the dragon's back in the air, though his speed slowed considerably.

Tao had even made them battle him like that once. He then rejoined the other two in the scaly undercarriage as Blaze flew alongside his longtime rival. Even now, he knew they were itching to battle. Tao had kept them from clashing too often, and when he let them, it was to remind Shruikan that they were unevenly matched. The training was done now, though. By the Original Dragon's admission, they were all more or less at the same level. They itched to battle again.

Connor smirked at Alex as he awkwardly crawled in again beside Jess. "Having fun, are we?"

Alex shook his head. "I would've preferred it if they'd all survived…but I expect there will be many more such encounters before we leave this place."

Shruikan roared, and the three humans paused in their banter, to look down. The massive, black form of a smoking airship bearing an Arcean Cross was below them. Evidently, the riders had given them trouble as well.

Jess spoke quietly as they looked at the scene. "Looks like a battle…that's still going on."

Indeed, bursts of flame and ice, along with other attacks, and the collisions they caused, dotted the landscape. Alex heard her speak again, "Holy Heracross…look what they're riding!"

Connor stopped looking at the clouds for a moment, and stared. "Those aren't Skarmory…"

A veritable flock of what could only be Articuno, going by their tail feathers, were circling and firing down at the Arceans, often freezing both Trainers and Pokémon in place with their powerful Ice Beams. Connor frowned as he spoke again, "But where's…"

He was interrupted as a massive Legendary bird, pure white in color, descended from the clouds to rejoin its fellow Articuno in their battle. Each of the Articuno also had riders, though they were garbed much differently from the hooligans that had ridden the Skarmory. There were also less of them in number but they didn't need numbers to claim victory.

The riders of the Legendary birds had white helmets which were styled after their mount's crest, and each had a 'tail' of some description extending from the back of their helmet. The rest of their clothing appeared to be white, but beyond that, detail was hard to make out. They were quite a sight as they came around for repeated passes over the Arceans, and, Alex noticed, they didn't always strike to kill. Not against the Pokémon, at least.

Their Trainers were not so fortunate. Several were already encased in ice, and as the massive white Articuno joined in, the tide quickly turned.

"We're helping them." Jess said, sliding from Shruikan's cover and calling her Charizard, much as Alex had. Her brother sighed. "Always on the move…"

Alex looked at Blaze. "Cover her. Make sure the riders don't turn on her, too." Connor followed after his sister, calling on and mega evolving his Garchomp. While their species couldn't fly as high as, say, a Salamence, they were absurdly fast, especially in their Mega Form.

Alex hopped onto Shruikan's claw, and took his place on the dragon's massive head, sitting comfortably on the spikes of his Mega Form. "Stun the Arceans. Try not to hurt the Pokémon too much. Make them abandon their Trainers, if you can."

As the four new arrivals joined the fray, the Articuno riders looked ready to attack them as well, until a twin pair of Flamethrowers scorched a Scizor, and its Trainer, and burned away the ropes around one of the Articuno that had fallen to the Arcean's nets. They didn't seem to have many and from the air, it seemed the Articuno riders had already ruined most of the old fashioned methods of capture.

Gar and Chari freed the few other captive Articuno, three in total, while Alex and his Salamence Dragon Rushed over the lot of them, gaining their attention. Shruikan spiraled over the embattled Arcean Trainers, then flared his wings and roared, intimidating everything below him into pausing, perhaps briefly, from their battles.

Alex kept his speech short, as he stood on Shruikan's head, arms crossed. "I'll only say this once! Surrender, and you will live to see your families again. Fight, and…well…" Shruikan finished for him, a Charge Beam launched from his maw, and corralled the Arceans and Pokémon into a loose circle as it tore up the icy ground and they strove to dodge.

The response was split. Several of the Arceans, clad in a tundra-adapted version of their blue uniforms, recalled their Pokémon, and raised their hands. Several others replied with zealot-like shouts of 'For the Prophet!"

Before Shruikan could make them pay for it, beams of ice hit every resisting Trainer, and their Pokémon paused as electricity once more formed in his dragon's maw. "Peace, Shruikan…" Alex spoke softly, patting a horn. "It's done. For now."

The dragon snapped his mouth shut. He was disappointed, but he'd already gotten to battle. He could wait for another. He rather liked this land, despite the ice. Barely a few hours here, and they'd already been in two battles. It was more interesting than the Swamp, at least.

The Articuno riders landed around the encircled Arceans and the large white one landed behind them. Alex waved his friends over, as his black dragon took him down. Up close, the bird was even more magnificent. Her white feathers shone brilliantly in the harsh winter sun, almost blinding him as her rider hopped down. Only a female of this species could be so large, or so naturally lovely.

Her rider was also female, which surprised Alex. He'd been led to believe the Jarls of Norstad were all male, and that their society spat on women, refining them to serving roles, as primitive cultures so often did.

Given the gender of the other riders, that didn't seem to be the case with this tribe. She approached, and waited for him to join her on the ground, arms crossed. As Shruikan lowered his head so he could jump down, their attire became easier to see. It helped that the storm was dissipating as well, though the snow never actually stopped falling completely.

The woman's garb, along with her follower's, were clad in feathers, no doubt from their mounts, and the other riders were, after a closer look, actually garbed in a light blue, instead of white. It seemed that the variant of the Articuno species here was primarily lighter blue, which likely meant the matriarch of the brood was white with age. Nobody knew the lifespan of an Articuno, but she was certainly large enough to be several centuries old.

The woman's voice was rough as she spoke, "Hail, Dovah Zorrik. I am Lokra of the Lok Briinah. Your aid is welcome against these kroveds."

Alex blinked, processing her words. The ever-present staff on his back shuddered at them. He heard Tao's voice, faintly, "I know these words…they resonate in my head longer than they should…and I do not remember why…tread carefully."

He guessed that 'kroveds' was probably a derogatory term, and he was glad she hadn't used it for him. That said, he had no earthly idea what title she seemed to have given him. "Hail, and well met. I'm Alex Redwood. Those two are my friends, Jessica and Connor Gladstone. I know these…kroveds. They come from my homeland. We tracked them here. They're criminals. What happened before we arrived?"

She eyed him from under the crested helmet, and he saw her eyes go to the symbol on his hat. He'd kept the robe buttoned up, as it was so cold, his nose hairs were freezing. The otherworldly material seemed to repel the absurdly cold temperature from what it covered, and he almost regretted not getting one for Connor, who even now was digging in his pack for a dark blue jacket. His own black attire might as well have been sleeveless, for all the good it did in Norstad's cold.

"The ship came into our territory, surrounded by a flock of thunvu on their war-birds. This lot drove them off with the...Winged Death, as you say in this tongue. It turned many to stone, and made them flee. When the ship came to our territory, we greeted it, only to find these kroveds were heading into the Revak Feykro." She paused, seeing his confusion.

"Erm…thunvu? Kroveds? Redak Fekyo?" Alex looked genuinely puzzled, and the woman chuckled, finding his genuinely confused expression amusing.

"I forget, you tirah come here with no knowledge of our Tinvaak. Erm, speech. Thunvu are…bandits. Scum. They ride on the Skarmory. The Revak Feykro…" She said, emphasizing the pronunciation, "Is the…how do you say…sacred woods. It is forbidden to enter without respect. These came, and began taking the magical creatures into their electric balls, forcibly. We stopped them."

She eyed his belt with a disapproving glance as the siblings finally came over. Alex chuckled, "I know someone who shares your opinion of these...electric balls, but trust me, mine, and my friend's, are all willing partners. We're Pokémon Trainers. And, from what I understand, the insides are quite comfortable. They are our friends. Not our slaves."

Her expression softened, though only slightly. Granted, on her scarred, wind-burned face with fair skin turned red by the harsh sun, she had a persistent severity to her look. "Mm. You are...Trainers, eh? I have heard of this profession. We have had your kind here before. They were curious, like children. Harmless…but not prepared. Many who come are captured, and made slaves for the Imperator."

She waved a hand. "As I said, they tried to enter the sacred woods, and we stopped them. I brought their fragile ship down, and then handled the Winged Death. It had many riders, and flew away after Iizlokraan drove it off." She patted the massive Articuno, who had locked eyes with Shruikan.

His opinion of the woman increased. Taming an Articuno, bare-handed, was one thing, but driving off what he assumed was Yveltal? After taking down an airship? That was far more impressive. He hoped the local Guardian of the Sea was as seemingly even tempered as this bird was.

"The...Winged Death, Yveltal, where did it go?" Connor said, eyeing the woman, who eyed him in return.

"Do not speak its name. You will draw it here. It went north-east. But you will not find it so easily. There is a dark, ever-present whirlwind there. A wall of intense wind, and ice. Nothing can penetrate it. Demons live within. We avoid it." Connor resisted rolling his eyes at her superstitions by biting his tongue.

Such beliefs were common in lands like this after all, and often, insulting them meant death. He almost preferred the Arcean method of suing anyone who uttered a public bad word about them.

"We crossed a similar storm to get here. I think we can handle it." Alex said, hearing Shruikan groan inwardly. He reassured the tiring dragon. Blaze would be needed, if it was worse than the one they'd encountered first. He had a feeling they didn't have Charizard in these parts, let alone ones as strong as his.

The woman shook her head. "The wind is like a hurricane, the snow, a constant blizzard. You may try to enter, we will not stop you, but to go is to invite death." She glanced over at Jess, who was all smiles as she approached the white Articuno.

It lowered its head to examine her, and then allowed her to pet it. Alex heard her speaking to the Articuno, mentally, though at this point he wasn't all that surprised. Articuno was considered Legendary, after all. Latent psychic power was a running theme with them.

If the Articuno riders couldn't fly through that storm, he wondered if Blaze really could manage it. His Charizard responded by landing, hard, beside him and snorting flames at his feet. Their eyes met. "Wind and ice are nothing to me."

Alex wanted to admonish him for his recurring pride, but had to admit, he liked the attitude. Sensing his Trainer's whirl of emotions, the Charizard smirked. He was twelve feet tall by this point from foot to head horn, and almost as intimidating as Shruikan, and the woman's Articuno. The three traded glances, and he didn't doubt the lovely bird was just as eager to test their mettle. Lokra was staring up at his Charizard, and Alex noticed the heat he was radiating made her fidget.

"Perhaps you will manage…" She muttered, before chuckling as Blaze lowered his head to lick her cheek. She chuckled, and wiped the slime away, unfazed. "You are welcome to stay with us, after we deal with the kroveds."

Before any of them could stop her, she marched towards her fliers, and the Arceans they'd corralled. They were in the process of smashing the Pokéballs on them to pieces, after freeing the Pokémon within. The three stared, awestruck, as several of those radiating a visible aura of Shadow were cleansed of it by a mere touch from an Articuno.

"I want one…" Jess said, admiring each of the birds. Alex and Connor shared a look. They glanced behind them as they heard Blaze and Shruikan take off, and start to spar in the air. Evidently, they had agreed that the no-wings-two-legs were going to start chattering again, and thus, they now had ample time to spar. Finally.

Alex sighed. "I'm done trying to keep them from Battling. They're like magnets." He turned to join Jess and Lokra, while Connor and several of the riders watched the battle. Flame and thunder collided in an awesome spectacle, and their Trainer suppressed a smirk as he heard their thoughts and felt their emotions.

They were battling so they could show off, as much as they were battling to test each other. The Articuno didn't seem interested though. They were all focused on the enemy humans, eyes narrowed. Alex had no doubt the wise birds had some understanding of what the Arceans had subjected their partners to.

Lokra backhanded one of the louder Arceans, who was half frozen in ice, and had been partially melted by his Emboar. The flaming pig had backed down after being cleansed, but still refused to leave his Trainer. Its flames flared, and it stared the rider down, only to have them blown out from a snort that the white Articuno aimed at them. The now flameless fire pig backed down again, but stayed stubbornly put, and focused on freeing its Trainer.

Indeed, most of the Pokémon had stayed, with only a few running off towards the forest roughly five miles to the north west. Judging by their species, Alex guessed they'd once called the Giant Chasm their home. He didn't blame them for leaving. Kyurem's memories of seeing them being captured still managed to irritate his eternal patience.

"We will never betray the Prophet!" "You barbarians aren't worthy of setting foot on His ship!" "Release us, hags!" Numerous cries from the Arceans erupted, and as their captors focused, and struck them as their leader had, they only grew louder. They whined about persecution, brutality, unfair treatment. Alex wondered if they actually realized what land's sacred woods they'd just tried to land an airship on.

"Enough!" He shouted, cutting through all of it. There was a brief pause. He looked around at them. "Which one of you slippery bastards has the lowest rank?"

The group of roughly fifteen people murmured for a moment, then one of them said, "Umm, that would be Billy…" "Shut UP, you imbecile!" Shouts and verbal abuse rained down on the man who'd spoken out, and Alex nodded to Jess. She grabbed the man, who like the others, was bound with rope. Many of the fliers had climbing gear for use on the icy cliffs of the region, and the spare rope was always a useful tool.

A few of the riders gave her a mildly impressed look. The man she was dragging across the snow-covered ground was easily two hundred pounds of muscle, and she tossed him like a sack of feathers out of ear-shot from the others without visible strain. Tao had been efficient with his instruction, and the long hours of strength training were paying off.

It wasn't hard to single out the aforementioned Billy. The man who could only be the captain of their little squad was practically screaming at him. "If you utter so much as a Word to them William, you are Dead! You hear me? Dead! And not just you! Your family! Your sister! Your parents! Your little brothers! Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead!"

With each cry of 'dead' the man was headbutting the poor kid with no regard to the damage he was causing himself, and Alex had a feeling he'd be beating him if his arms were free. He was like most of the upper-echelon of the Church, that Alex had seen, anyways. Suave, classic good looks, blonde, blue eyes, Fornian tan, he looked uncannily like Brad, though much more mentally unhinged, especially with the blood now trickling from his skull down his face.

He could've been on one of their seemingly innocuous recruitment posters. There were cracks in the façade though. Unshaven stubble. Bloodshot eyes. A manic look on his bloody face. A bruised jaw that was in no way recent, given the mottling. Someone had caught him good, and Alex didn't have to think hard to guess who. Now, blood ran down his classically good looking facial features all the way to his jaw, as his forehead had split open on Billy's.

As Alex approached, the bloody man's eyes widened in recognition. He started to spew, but Alex held up a finger, and let his eyes shine with blue psychic power. They flared with energy now, radiating it in wavy patterns, instead of just glowing. The man stopped speaking as he stared in disbelief. "Your jaw. Who gave you that bruise?" The gathered men around him went quiet, and more than a few narrowed their eyes in anger. They all knew, of course. But to admit it was to admit to Unova's Champion that their Prophet was a violent bully, not a divine messenger. As with most humans subjected to mental conditioning, they clung to the facade instead of embracing reality.

Then, the momentary awe was gone. "Half-breed! You Psychic loving swine! Your mother was a Gardevo-" The epithets halted as Alex knelt down to his level, finger still raised, eyes still flaring. Fear overpowered the blind faith and devotion, in that moment. He concentrated power into his digit, making it glow like his eyes did.

"Dead." He said, poking the man in the forehead. He dropped, seemingly boneless, and the other Arceans crawled as far away as their captors would let them, gibbering in terror about demons and 'suppressive Psychics'. Lokra stared as well, a slight frown on her face. Her fliers murmured, uneasily.

He focused on Billy. He had to be around Alex's age. Thin, tall, there were more bruises now that he looked, and there was a tinge of red in his hair. His befreckled face showed the same fear, and Alex smirked, winking, before letting the power fade. "Relax, Billy. It's alright. He's just unconscious. I don't indiscriminately murder people…though you've probably been told to believe otherwise."

Billy just nodded, the look of fear lessened, slightly, now that he appeared normal again. Alex continued, speaking low to the man as he examined the lesser wound on his head caused by the headbutting. Thankfully, it wasn't nearly as bad as the one on the now unconscious brute. "Now, listen carefully. I want you to think of the answers to what I ask you. I'll hear it. You just keep spouting insults, otherwise your friends will probably kill you for speaking with me. Alright?"

Billy nodded again, paused for a moment, then realized he was supposed to start insulting. "Y-you're a-a filthy Tepig f-fucker…"

Alex rolled his eyes, "Close enough…" He put a hand on the scared man's shoulder, and whispered quietly to him, keeping his lips hidden from the view of his comrades. Lip reading wasn't a common skill, but he was done underestimating Arceans. They seemingly had all sorts of weird abilities. "I know why Pravus is here. I can guess what he's after. What I want to know is why he took Yveltal into that storm to the north-west."

He waited patiently for the man's mental response. "We have…a base…there. Supposedly…an old ally…of the Church. That's all I know…"

Alex continued whispering, "Does he know where Xerneas is?"

"No…not really…he guessed it was in the forest…but…we didn't look." Billy paused, then glanced at his comrades, whose fear was slowly turning to anger. He gave a not-so-convincing thumbs-up, then said, "The P-Prophet will make y-you all pay for th-this, you…you heathens!"

Alex patted his shoulder, and figured he was speaking truthfully. The forest was the first place he would've looked too. Norstad was supposed to be a barren tundra, mostly uninhabitable, the fact that there was plant life could only mean the Life Pokémon was within. "Good effort. Now, tell me where I can find your family…you know what's going to happen when and if you ever get home. I need to warn them of what's coming…and hopefully they'll hide before Pravus ever gets word of this."

Billy started to shake his head, but Alex continued, "You know as well as I do where you all get those bruises from. You know who I am. I can only imagine the punishment Pravus has for speaking with me, or someone like me." Billy looked down and to the side. Sensing his thoughts, Alex saw the naiveté. He was convinced he hadn't told too much, but Alex knew that wouldn't matter. Arceans had a way of drawing secrets from people, and then using said secrets to keep them from leaving, or seeking help outside their cult.

"You also know that, regardless of what happens next, your comrades will rat you out in their snitch reports. Tell me, Billy." Alex said, giving the shoulder a slight squeeze.

He thought of the address, then said, mentally, "Please…don't let them get my family…"

Alex patted his shoulder again. "I'll do what I can. I can't promise they'll heed my warning though."

Billy surprised him then, grabbing the collar of his white jacket. "My sister…talk to her…she'll believe it. She can get my brothers…at least…" Billy blinked, then steeled himself, aware he was being watched. He switched to speaking with his mouth. "You're w-wasting your time…Psychic scum! I will n-never talk!"

Alex stood then, feigning irritation. "Fine then, zealot. Crawl back to your friends. I'm done with you." Billy crawled towards his comrades desperately, and their anger faded. Murmurs of praise and bravery went his way, and they looked more surprised than anything. Evidently, they'd expected him to break.

He blinked, feeling Lokra patting his shoulder. "The greasy one…he lives?"

Alex nodded. "Just knocked out. I couldn't let him hear any of that. These people are…fanatical, and brutal to their own members. They'll probably beat that kid for a year just for being that close to me."

She snorted. "I've seen tougher. Do you want them? They could be…useful. We don't often find males that are...so easy to control."

He glanced at the woman, recognizing the look in her eye. "Trust me…you don't want these. You saw their Pokémon; their seed is probably tainted with Shadow too. Weak. The young would never survive out here."

She eyed him again, and smirked. "Yours could. But I know better than to anger that one." She nodded at Jess, who was still interrogating her prisoner. "She has eyes like an Odprakem." She paused, seeing his confusion. "Ice snake…very large…burrows. Has icy vines, too. Pulls prey underground. None return." She turned her attention to Connor then, who was being flanked by no less than three of her fliers. "What about him?"

Alex laughed, and shook his head. "You'd have to ask him. Might want to hurry." She nodded, and barked at her fliers, who scurried away from Connor and back to their mounts. They enjoyed the spectacle that Blaze and Shruikan were still having. He let them continue, walking towards Jess.

She pulled her palm from the man's forehead as he approached. "Anything useful?"

She shook her head. "He wouldn't give me anything else. So I took it. Billy was correct, but there's something about this 'ally' of theirs they're being vague about. They seemed to fear him almost as much as Pravus, according to this one."

Alex eyed the unconscious man, who was as blonde and tan as every other Fornian he'd run into, except Billy. From what Jess had shared over their link, his eyes were blue as well. He started to wonder if there was a reason for that. Eugenics wasn't exactly a new concept, but it was one most modern humans considered a vestige of a world ruled by senseless bigotry and hate. A world now long gone, and mostly forgotten, but if anyone would try to bring back old practices, it was this cult. They loved claiming all of their traditions were 'wisdom from the ancients'. "Alright. Toss him with the others."

Once they were all gathered, Alex addressed them again. "Listen up! You're all free to go. By all means, wander the wastes of Norstad, or, stay here. And while you wait and eventually die of starvation or cold, ask yourselves if following that fanatical bully of a Prophet to an empty tundra was really worth it."

Lokra stepped forward then before they could spew a response, her Articuno right beside her. Her white feathers puffed up, and she looked genuinely menacing as she glared at the Arceans. "Do not hunt in the forest. We will know if you try. Next time, we end you." She turned, and followed after Alex. "Is it wise, letting them live?"

Alex shrugged. "They're harmless, more or less. If they do happen to die off, save the one I spoke with. He's decent."

She nodded, then hopped onto her bird's saddle, and with a shout, the other fliers took off as well. Before they flew off into the gray clouds that covered the skies of Norstad, their Articuno combined their Ice Beams, making a wall between the ship and the forest. It was large, and stretched for many miles. Passing it on foot would exhaust anyone who tried, as the snow was also quite deep on the ground.

Alex and his companions huddled far from the others, as he healed up Shruikan and Blaze. No clear winner had been decided, and he'd stopped them before they expended all their energy. The items helped, but they were no substitute for genuine rest.

"We should split up." Connor said, eyeing the forest. "I'll uh...stick around their village, search the forest a bit. Maybe make a map. You two take your fire lizards and storm that base. Two Mega Charizard should be enough to penetrate the storm. I don't have a strong flier that does well in ice, and I'm not even going to attempt to go by land."

Alex and Jess shared a look, then nodded. Map making. Sure. "Alright. If we're not back in three days, get backup. From Kalos, from Unova, from whoever is available. I'd rather not stay in an Arcean prison. If they manage to catch us."

With the plan agreed on, the three set off, Connor on Raikou, and the two lovers on their Charizard. Raikou sent the Arceans, and what few Pokémon had remained, scurrying back into their frozen ship with a Roar, before following after the Articuno fliers. It didn't take Alex and Jess long to spot the storm. That they could see it from that far away was a testament to its size.

Alex had never really considered weather menacing, but seeing those black clouds swirling for miles, he got a sense of foreboding up his spine. By his estimate, it would take a day to cross over the mountains between them and the storm, but they could likely camp there. They had to make sure not to oversleep, as well. They were both exhausted, and could easily sleep for three days if nobody woke them.

Sahqoreyth · Mar 28, 2024

Chapter 17: Dragon Born

The Fairy King's Tower - Northern Norstad Region

"Fine. It's a deal." Caleb Pravus glared at the man across the unnecessarily long mahogany table that sat him, and the rest of his followers with room to spare in the sparse meeting room reminiscent of his cult's various unoccupied buildings around the world. Those that had managed to climb on Yveltal, anyway. He could send someone to retrieve the others later. If they were even alive still. There was a time when he wouldn't have left anyone behind, but he'd long since stopped caring about which of his sentient pawns lived and died after coming to control the billions who inhabited Fornia and beyond.

They were expendable, after all. And irritating. Always whining, complaining about morale, or the weather, or their lack of time with family. He was quite sick of it, frankly. He pulled the enhanced Dark Ball from the magnetic clips that held his other sentient tools on the inside of his suit jacket, and tossed it to the man.

He had to hold back disgust as a psychic aura of pink surrounded the ball, and levitated it towards the man, who examined it with a sigh. "Shadow Infusion, hmm? How…original. But not…I think…as potent an infusion as your Lugia had."

There were murmurs of distrust, and each of Pravus's followers eyed their 'ally' with practiced disgust. The only thing worse than psychic Pokémon were humans with psychic powers. They were considered to be among the greatest enemies of those who made Arceus's will manifest on Earth, rumored half-breeds whose parents were enslaved consorts to the ever-manipulative psychic Pokémon.

There was, of course, no evidence to support the theory that humans and Pokémon could successfully breed in the first place, none that Pravus hadn't fabricated at least, but thanks to the ever-expanding sources of smut on the Pokénet, his followers believed it, and the so very human urge to endlessly fetishize everything and then post it on the world wide network gave the cult all the proof they needed that there was in fact a secret psychic domination by psychic types in other regions.

It was these Pokémon, like the Ralts and Elygem lines, and their 'Trainers' that were responsible for whatever perceived attack the Church was playing victim to. In recent years, the most common complaint was easterners, and Unova in particular. The fact that one of their newest Champions had all but soloed the Victory League Elite Four with a Gallade also played into the conspiracy, and his propaganda arm had made good use of that footage on their 'news' networks.

The man who caught the ball holding Yveltal, destruction made manifest, was the epitome of what one might expect an 'eccentric billionaire' to look like. Fine light blue and white clothes with golden colored highlights the same shade as his strange, wider-than-average shining eyes. He had the same look in those eyes that those who trained fairy types gained, if they trained long enough. Thin, but classically good looking features, platinum blonde hair under a hat with a long pointed brim that flared in the back, and an ever-irritating smirk. Were it not for the fact that he had more money than anyone Pravus knew, he'd be a welcome enemy. One day, perhaps, he'd get his hands on this man's fortune, but for now, he could be patient.

"You have your precious Yveltal. Now talk. Where is Xerneas?" Pravus stared the man down, but he simply smirked, and thumbed the release on the ball. Nothing happened.

"Nice try, little Caleb, but you're going to unlock this before I give you so much as a hint." The man stared him down with his piercing, unnatural gold eyes. "Do it. Now."

His followers looked between their so-called ally, and their beloved leader. He was loathe to show weakness in front of them after spending so long literally beating obedience into them, but he had no choice. "Fine."

His two left pointer-fingers were limned with black energy as he waved them at the ball. There was a noticeable click. "It's unlocked. Now tell me what I want to know!" He didn't notice slamming the table, but his friendly adversary did, and frowned. He looked more disappointed than irritated.

He tutted at Pravus. "Temper, temper. I'll tell you. No need to get violent." Pravus's eyes narrowed dangerously. He was rapidly tiring of dealing with this man, but he knew he couldn't kill him, and he'd just given him the only Pokémon that might have been able to.

"When you woke this Yveltal up, Kalos's Xerneas went back to hibernating. This means, our Xerneas is now awake again, for the first time in millennia." The man tossed the Dark Ball up and down, seemingly taunting the 'Prophet', and he was admittedly enjoying the growing rage he saw in the madman's eyes. That would only motivate him more.

"There are only so many forested areas in Norstad. Xerneas shall be awakening soon in one of them. I can provide you with aerial transport, I have plenty of spare ships. Do try to bring it back in one piece." The man gave a grin to Pravus, whose knuckles were turning white against the table.

"Like I'd ever come back here…" He muttered.

"Oh, but you will be coming back here, Caleb." The man said, still tossing and catching the ball. "You'll be bringing Xerneas to me, before you leave these lands. Otherwise you won't be leaving them. Nod if you understand." The fae man gave the Prophet a smirk.

Pravus' left eye twitched with suppressed fury, and his adversary had no doubt that one of these poor bastards under him would be an outlet for that rage before long. "Fine. You need to make it give me what I seek, anyways. It only listens to you, or so the legends say."

The man's smirk widened into a knowing grin, "Oh, I wouldn't trust legends around these parts. They're a bit…unreliable."

Pravus sighed heavily, still glaring at the man. "What do we do about the Articuno riders? My men aren't competent enough to stop them, and that white one…well, even Yveltal had trouble with it."

The eccentric man paused in tossing the ball, it hung in mid-air, once more suspended by pink aura. "Articuno riders? Really? Huh. Well, if you avoid their village, it shouldn't be an issue. Send one of your more charismatic men there. They won't be able to resist being distracted by fresh meat. If that fails, you'll have to hope the ship's cloaking device doesn't break."

Pravus rolled his eyes. He made a point of making sure any rival charismatic personalities were culled, or suitably controlled. He didn't have any with him on this mission. He'd figure something out. "Fine. Show us to your ship."

Meanwhile…

Two Charizard in their Mega Forms did indeed prove effective against the snowy aspect of the storm, but the wind was a literal wall. Alex and Jess had camped in a mountain cave and managed to wake up at a reasonable hour, but now they'd lost several more, battering uselessly against the wall of wind. The storm was circular, and spread for miles, never moving. It was entirely unnatural, but similar in some ways to the one they'd passed through earlier.

Eventually, Blaze and Chari combined Dragon Pulses, and managed to blast a temporary hole in the wind. It was a struggle to fly through, but eventually, they made it through to the other side. Both were panting hard, and Alex switched them out for Shruikan.

He and Jess rode on his back this time, after he mega evolved, as he was flying slowly through the relatively stormy area. Even within the cyclone of black clouds, the weather was horrible, and the temperature well below freezing. Shruikan often exhaled a Flamethrower, just to keep his core heated.

They continued flying and searching until the sun began to set. He knew flying at night in a place like this wouldn't be a good idea. Their Charizard could keep them warm, but he didn't want to camp on the barren ground. Finally, Jess spoke up, sensing something.

"There's…what looks like a village, north of us. It's full of people, at any rate. Maybe they'll give us a place to sleep." She looked at him, shrugging.

Alex was more skeptical. "And maybe they'll kill us before taking our stuff. Might as well look. There's nothing else around here."

Shruikan banked towards the village, and as it came into view, Alex had to blink. To his eyes, it looked like a city straight from a video game, in classic 'nordic' style. Wood buildings, wooden and thatch roofs, dragon heads carved everywhere, wooden carts pulled by hardy looking Mudsdale. The resemblance was uncanny. There was a shriek from below, and Alex glanced down as he noticed they'd been seen by a woman of the town.

He had to blink again as the man beside her turned and ran towards the town shouting, "Alduin! The World Eater returns! The end is nigh!" He and Jess shared a look. She hadn't been half the 'gamer' Alex and her brother had been in the old days, but even she knew that name. The Dragon Who Ate the World, sometimes called the 'World Serpent', was an ancient myth, one which had gone on to inspire a certain antagonist of a certain popular RPG by the name of Skyrim from Old Earth's time, or so the story went. Naturally, it had been remade in the modern era as well and surprising no one, had sold very well. He'd known Norstad had similar tales to those in the game, that seemed to share a cultural history and tone, but the use of the same name was surprising.

He felt Jess pinch his arm, and he moved to bite at her fingers as she did. "Ow."

"Focus. You're in your head again. We need to act. For whatever reason, these people think your dragon is the World Eater. We should land before they start trying to shoot us down." Alex scanned the town, focusing as she spoke.

Arrows had indeed started flying up towards them, but they bounced uselessly off Shruikan's scales, and seemed poorly made, or heavily re-used. Eventually, he unleashed a Flamethrower, incinerating those still in flight. The archers ran then, towards a large building at the back of the town. Alex and Jess agreed that it was likely where they would find a Jarl, one of the major powers in this land, supposedly.

He saw a burly figure, wielding what looked like a giant two-handed axe stride from the largest building, axe resting on his right shoulder. He had a familiar looking helmet on, made of what looked like iron, with shed Skiddo horns curling down either side. It was uncannily similar to the one that had become somewhat iconic, as it usually was on the cover of the aforementioned game. "Is it bad that my first instinct is to try and sneak around him, steal the helmet, and then run to the nearest cave?"

He heard his lover sigh as she leapt from his dragon, landing gracefully moments before Shruikan did. Shruikan towered over all of them, though the burly man had to be pushing seven feet, and was awfully close in height to his dragon.

"Thees ees thee mighty Alduin!? Pagh!" The man spat on the ground. "I 'ave seen 'orses weeth lahrger clahws." Alex felt Shruikan's amusement at the large man's accent. He had muscles, an impressive weapon, but he lacked wings and the ability to breathe fire. In Shruikan's mind, that made him inferior.

He leaned down towards the man, and his maw sparked with electricity. The man stepped back a few paces, and then fell into a crouch, brandishing the axe. Shruikan looked to his Trainer for a cue, and Alex held up a hand. "How about we all…just calm down, hmm? We come in peace."

The burly man burst out laughing, and several of what had to be his goons came trotting up behind him, similarly garbed in bits of leather and iron, all wielding deadly looking weapons, as well as shields. "Peese! Ha! 'E vants peese, boys!" The man's jovial attitude shifted to a dark smirk. "Let us show heem vhat 'peese' he finds in Norstad!"

Alex looked around at the other men, and he didn't need psychic powers to guess what they wanted. Not one of them had stopped leering at Jess since she landed. He'd been training for this, and he nodded at Shruikan and Jess, before stepping up to the man. "I take it that means you wish to fight, then. Send out your Pokémon. I'll use Shruikan." He gestured to the Salamence, and Shruikan raised his wings, as he crouched low, ready to battle.

The helmeted man tapped the axe's haft against his free palm. "Dat's not 'ow we do things in Norstad, boyo." He raised the axe. "Here, we fight for Honar! Weeth our own 'ands! ZIINKRIF!" With the shouting of the strange word, he swung, bringing the weapon down in a diagonal slice.

Alex turned himself sideways, making his usually large form a smaller target, and leaned backwards slightly, letting the axe pass by harmlessly, and dig into the frozen dirt ground. It went into the permafrost several inches. The man wasn't playing around.

He pulled the black and white staff from his back, and it extended several feet, slamming into the ground as he held it before him. "Fine. I accept your challenge. I'm Alex, Champion of the Unova Region. In my country, we exchange names before fighting."

The burly man seemed irritated, and focused on pulling his weapon from the ground as Alex spoke. He grunted, nodding. "Eh. Too much talk, in your country... I ahm Jarl Arkyn. Now fight with your puny steek, 'champeeon'." Alex raised a brow at the man, bowed, and then dropped into a fighting stance that Jess and Shruikan were all too familiar with.

Seeing his opponent wasn't going to attack first, the burly Jarl charged him, bringing his axe up in the opposite diagonal direction. Once more it whipped past Alex harmlessly, as he spun in place, and moved around the sloppy attack. It left his opponent's guard wide open, and his footwork was appalling. He hooked his staff with his ankle, and used the two combined to trip the larger man as he stumbled forward, off balance.

"Pitiful." Alex said, taking on an instructor-esque tone he knew would annoy and enrage the fighter, making his anger blind him, ideally. "Your footwork is sloppy. Your strike is slow. How has nobody killed you yet? Did your Mudsdale teach you to fight?"

Roaring in irritation, the man let his upswing's momentum carry him as he stumbled and regained his footing. He spun, and guided the axe down behind him in another downwards slash. Alex barely had a chance to raise the staff, catching the absurdly large weapon by the haft and the base of the massive blade as he was made to kneel under it, the honed edge inches from his face.

The Jarl had a murderous grin as he tried pressing down on the staff, but Alex was already as far down as he could go. His base was solid against the ground. "Better."

Alex raised his stave's left side, tilting the weapon's balance, and letting the man's attempts at pushing his opponent down drive the blade into the earth once more. Furious, the Jarl let his weapon go, and moved to punch at Alex, but his fists only hit air, and he stopped suddenly as he felt the stave's tip press against his throat.

"I wouldn't do that." Alex said, staring him down. "Pick up your weapon. If you don't, honor demands I fight hand-to-hand as well…and if I do that, you will likely die." The man opened his maw, likely to spew more garbled insults in his rough accent, but Alex didn't let him.

The staff spun with a blur of white and black, and smacked him across the face, hard, stopping any speech, and giving Alex a sense of just how hard it would be to take a man this burly down. It had been like striking a dense, fleshy boulder.

Judging by the lack of any kind of give from a strike that hard, he knew the only way he'd win was to unbalance this man. Brute force would never work. His strength had never been an issue, as he'd always had enough physical strength to move boulders they dug up in their fields, and even stop a Tauros mid-charge. It was hard to admit this human mass of muscle could physically overpower him, but he didn't have time to nurse his bruised ego.

The man grabbed the axe again, yelling as he tore it from the ground in an explosion of dirt and snow, and spun blindly in Alex's direction. He jumped back, but the man kept spinning, letting his momentum do the work as he spun his weapon in a whirlwind of death. Alex swore. The counter to a move like that was relatively simple, but Jess and Arthur were better at it. He was usually too big to safely duck under the opponent's weapon.

He had a staff this time, however, and a poorly trained opponent. The three ghostly dragons had been much cleverer and stronger, even in the humanoid forms they'd sparred with. The Jarl was quite tall as well, which made ducking under the spinning axe much easier. By the time he noticed the foreigner he was swinging at had disappeared, he was already having his sloppy footwork knocked out from under him.

He landed on his back with a grunt, and he snarled, fully intending to rise again. A quick jab to his wrist's tendons caused his hand to drop the axe. The staff rested against his throat once more. "Yield." Alex said, looking down.

The Jarl laughed. "We do not surrender 'ere. We fight to a glorious end…you 'ave thee wrong veapon for thees country." His laughter faltered as the black edge of the stave turned sharp suddenly.

"I said Yield." Alex repeated, pushing enough to draw a small drop of blood. "I didn't come here for your women or your lands. I want information. You can keep your life, and everything else."

The man looked at his axe, and reached for it, only for a massive claw to hold it in place. Shruikan growled at his cronies, who looked ready to jump in, despite the cry of Ziinkrif. The closeness of the massive, and now sparking black Salamence seemed to erode the man's bravado. "Fine! Bloodee foreigners…I talk, you take your death dragon, and go avay."

Alex let up on the staff, and nodded to his dragon, who backed up several paces. "Good. You said you're a Jarl, right? Who is your High King?"

The man sat up, grabbed his axe, and then used it to push his considerable bulk to a standing position again. His face had a new look of fury upon it, and he looked ready to start attacking again. "How do you know of thee High Keeng!? We do not speek of him to foreign scum! Who told you! I vill keehl heem myself!"

Alex rolled his eyes. In truth, he'd been guessing, based on prior experience with this seemingly familiar culture, that a High King even existed. "Nobody told me anything." He let his eyes flare up with blue psychic power. His voice took on a deeper tone, and echoed with power. A simple, but effective trick. "I know he exists. Where do I find him?"

The man stared at the strangely garbed dragon-riding foreigner, and his demeanor did a one-eighty. The men behind him mumbled, and shifted uneasily where they stood. Offensive postures shifted to defense, and several made signs of what he assumed were warding with their fingers in the air.

The Jarl eyed him for a long time, and then shouldered his massive axe. "North…by thee edge of thee storms…he ees my fatha'. Do not kill him, Nahgah Gein."

Alex sighed, looking northward. He was accruing all sorts of new titles that he had no idea the meaning or significance of. He let the power fade, and his voice and eyes returned to normal. "I have no intention of killing him. As I said, we…did not come here to fight."

The man looked at him suspiciously, one eyebrow rising. "You come 'ere…not to fight? You are strange man indeed, but then, foreigners are always strange. Ah. I s'pose every man 'as his own vay of reaching Sovallah."

He eyed Alex again, and then his dragon, and the woman beside it, a bit longer than he needed to. Alex coughed, getting his attention. His cronies had noticed her now as well, as she'd approached with Shruikan. Red hair was uncommon here, judging by what he'd seen of the genetic makeup of the village, and her looks were likely more alluring than any woman in the region that they knew of, trapped as they were behind a massive wall of wind.

"Grrrm. If you weesh to spend thee night, I vill ahllow eet. You fight well, you fight with honar, you ride the Dovah vith no trace of fear! I vould not want to anger such a man. You are velcome een our village. For thee night." The man gestured to the village, and Alex heard the men murmuring. He didn't need to read their minds this time, either. The barely suppressed lust was obvious.

He glanced back at Jess, speaking mentally. "Well? Do you want to deal with oversized, pent-up men for an evening?"

She smirked back at him. "Is that a hint of jealousy under that irritation?" She winked, then pretended to ignore him as she patted Shruikan. "I don't mind staying. Connor is learning about the culture from the natives. We should too."

Alex nodded at the Jarl then. "Very well, your offer of hospitality is accepted. I just have one question…where can I get a helmet like yours?"

That brought laughter from the Jarl, and the gathered warriors, who'd sheathed their weapons. He patted Alex on the back hard enough to drive him forward a few steps as they headed for the village. "We shall geet you thee finest 'elmet we 'ave! And then, we feest!"

After Alex had his helmet and received sufficient mocking from his woman and his dragon after trying it on, he recalled Shruikan, and the entire village seemed to calm down. They set about gathering information, then. The village was called Frändiheim. Their leader aside, the villagers were, after a few pints of 'Nor Mead' and several cries of 'Skoal!', quite friendly.

Or rather, as friendly as one could expect sequestered people to be to outsiders. Jess found that the men spoke to her far more openly than the women did to Alex, and while they were certainly not ugly, what with their rustic charm and primarily blonde hair, they simply couldn't measure up to Jess in looks. The men were a bit different, mostly blonde, with a few brown and black heads thrown in, their features might've been pleasant, if a life of beating each other to a pulp hadn't warped them. With little else around to entertain them, the men, not one of whom was under six feet tall, had needed something to vent their testosterone on. The local fight club was very popular.

They didn't think highly of bathing, either, primarily because heating anything in this region took a very long time, if one managed to even find a source of fire, and something to burn. That more than anything assuaged Alex's ingrained fear of being romantically stabbed in the back. He knew Jess better than he knew his family, and yet, he couldn't quite shake the fear. It was certainly justified, what with her looks and the amount of attention she got. After his first real love had essentially cheated with the majority of the town behind his back, with no less than thirteen others (that he'd been told about), long before Jess her family had ever moved to town, he'd had the underlying paranoia.

She was well aware of that, however. Such details were hard to hide from someone you shared a mental link with all hours of the day. Thus, she never gave him reason to worry. Despite the men and their willingness to talk, all she really got from them was endless ego-boosting compliments towards her beauty. They spoke rough, but she could sense their honesty, and it was rather flattering.

Thus, Alex was the one who got the most useful information. From what he could tell, the women found his gaze too intense for their liking, and his beard was, by comparison to the villager's, scrawny.

Despite that, he learned that they were the only village allowed to live within the High King's 'Ven Vund' or Wind Wall. This was, supposedly, the most fertile land in Norstad. He hadn't really noticed a difference between it, and the other frozen, barren tundra but he took the villager's word for it.

When he asked why only their village was allowed here, he was told that it was due to the fact that each of them had blood ties to the High King himself. From what he was told, the High King was an immortal, a deity, of a sort. He was sometimes portrayed in legends as a prankster, other times, he was told tales of how he'd traveled the world, taming Pokémon, averting disasters, seducing women, and fathering countless children over the course of several thousand years.

He had power too, not unlike Alex's, or so the Jarl had said, once he'd brought up the High King again during dinner. He said that those like Alex were sent to live with the king in his northern fortress, where he trained them, and if he found them worthy, sent them to the Seidr's Isle. There, they were supposedly taught by an order of old men known as the 'Graybeards'.

Once more intrigued by the uncanny similarities to his favored RPG he was finding in this isolated village, he asked what power these Graybeards supposedly had, but at that, the Jarl clammed up saying, "You ask the High King. Ees not my place to speek such words to a foreigner." More and more, he was becoming convinced that there was a reason behind their cultural norms and the uncanny similarities, but the women had been as stubborn as the Jarl to talk about their origins, if they even knew of them. Many of the younger women had simply stated such things like legends of Alduin as old stories that had always been known. Whether they were true or not wasn't even questioned.

He then tried to draw out a name for this High King, but the Jarl was having no more talk of him, and instead began questioning him about his dragon and whether it was actually the harbinger of the end times. Alex assured him that Shruikan wasn't going to end their world, but even despite that, he knew the Jarl had doubts.

Apparently, they really didn't like black scaled dragon types around here. He scolded Alex, claiming his Salamence was probably one of 'Alduin's offspring'. Of course, that only made the fact that he had tamed such a creature all the more impressive to most of the villagers. Most had never seen a Pokéball, and when he'd recalled the dragon, they had been awed. It seemed these people were rather easy to impress with technology that must've seemed magical to them. Unlike the Articuno riders, none had heard of Pokémon Trainers before.

Eventually the two retired to the bed set aside for them, in the Jarl's own spare rooms. Alex sensed him sneak up to their room to summon Jess, and from what he sensed on her end, it was evidently to attempt to cuckold him.

He felt a bit smug as he sensed her deliver a bone-shattering kick to the man's crotch, before returning to the fur-lined bed. Now, he'd definitely be spending the night alone. The adrenaline kept her up however, and she nudged Alex, suggesting that they further incense the man by making it obvious as to what they were doing in the borrowed bed.

Both had discovered that, after a good night's sleep, the urges that had been muted in Tao's home had now returned, with a vengeance. Not that either of them minded.

The next morning, they were rather satisfied, even though the broken bed frame had interrupted their sexcapades, forcing them to sleep on the floor. The furs were padding enough, and they'd slept on harder surfaces.

They bid farewell to the Jarl's woman, or rather, the leader of his own personal harem, and then left. She claimed her husband was recovering from the drinking of the previous night, but it seemed Jess' kick had been quite effective in crippling the man. She hadn't held back.

They headed north then, to the fortress the Jarl had spoken of, and shared what information they'd found out the night before. It was clear something was off in this region. The similarities to the established lore of Skyrim was too much to be coincidence, but according to the locals, it had been a part of their culture for as long as they'd had a culture to be part of. Alex wondered if it was like this in the rest of the region, though the village of matriarchal Articuno riders was new.

They both agreed then, that this 'High King' was likely the one behind these similarities in this particular village. If he was the prankster he'd been made out to be by his own relatives, tricking an entire village into accepting a fake culture as their own, similar though it was to the rest of Norstad, was right up the alley of a being that was supposedly immortal.

That too wasn't all that hard to believe. They were in a region that was home to Xerneas, after all. It was rumored to grant eternal life to those it deemed worthy, and it didn't seem entirely impossible that a person given such a gift would then use it to influence people over generations. It had happened in Kalos. It would be even easier if he possessed some kind of psychic power as well. The people seemed relatively happy with their simple culture, despite the violence. That was more than most dictators allowed.

As they approached the northern edge of the third fierce wall of wind they'd encountered, they saw it completely vanish, for a moment. They were able to make out a tower as the snow and black clouds cleared. It was clearly metal, but it had been painted to be the same color as mahogany wood, and like the village, there was a Nordic vibe to the style of the building, with traces of what looked like Eous influence. Jess had even remarked that it looked similar to the tower she'd seen in Ecruteak City.

Something drew their eyes, as it shot from the top of the tower, where they made out what could have been a landing platform. It had extended from the tower, slowly, and they had agreed it was likely an invisible aircraft of some kind. Whoever this High King was could have just left, but as the outer wall of wind returned once the barely visible outline of the ship passed through it, the platform remained extended, and the wall of wind that surrounded the tower remained lowered.

The two Trainers shared a look. "Seems like an invitation to me." Jess nodded in agreement, and Shruikan began ascending towards the landing. The wall of wind turned fierce again as they landed, and Alex recalled his dragon, then took Jess' hand and made their way towards the entrance at the top of the tower. He walked towards where he assumed there was an entrance. It looked like a wall of mahogany brown metal, but as they approached, battered by the ever-increasing wind, the wall seemed to split in half, and opened to admit them.

Neither one of them could see the interior, but Alex trudged forward anyway, his free hand keeping his hat on his head. The room before them revealed total darkness within. Alex walked into it, and extended his senses. What he found intrigued him. Since he'd gained this ability to understand Pokéspeech, he'd found conversing with Ninetales to be that much more interesting. They were as clever as a Delphox, but much, much wiser. Not to mention shy. Always interesting, though.

Blue and white balls of flame lit the interior of the room, and once more, he noticed the theme with mahogany brown. It was real wood this time, even the floor. Covering the floor was a standard Pokémon field used for battling, usually indoors at gyms. The entire floor of the tower must have been devoted to the field, such was its size.

On the opposite side was the Ninetales, and though one might've expected the regional ice type variant, this one seemed just as fiery as the more common line of the species. Its fur was a silvery blue, however, and no Trainer stood behind it.

A voice rang out through the room, presumably via some sort of intercom. "Welcome, welcome! It's been so long since I've had such…interesting guests. The ones that just left were rather…prejudiced, but you two…you two are cut from the same cloth as me! How wonderful!"

Alex and Jess shared a look. It was clearly a man speaking, though he had an almost genuine-sounding Galarian accent. Most people could easily fake one though, and it seemed to be universally enjoyed the world over, given how often it appeared in televised dramas. His mother had watched a lot of them when he was growing up.

Alex spoke first, "Right…umm…who am I speaking to?"

"Oh, how ruuuude of me! Kurama! My entrance, please." The Ninetales, which had been sitting in the gloom and grooming a fore-paw seemed to roll its eyes.

One of the tails glowed, and pointed to the center of the field. Blue flames swirled as a very obvious opening in the field's Pokéball center raised up an equally obvious platform, upon which was a man.

His hair was whitish blonde, his eyes were gold, and his fine clothes and hat all had a theme of light blue, white, and bits of gold accents. He was built thin and wispy, and there was something almost...fae about him. Especially his wide, shining golden eyes that reminded him of Fairy Type Trainers. Alex just slowly raised one eyebrow at the man as he made a dramatic pose, before the flames dissipated.

Alex brought out his Pokédex then, and thumbed through it hurriedly, then closed it just as quickly as he confirmed exactly which Pokémon the man's color scheme was matching. It was a trend with Trainers, especially wealthy ones, and this man seemed to be emulating the 'shiny' form of Xerneas. Evidently, the one in Norstad did not look like its Kalosian counterpart.

"I am Percival von Guterstein Velhavende Locuples the Third. But you can call me Percy!" The man finished his absurdly long name with a flourish, and Jess golf-clapped, far more amused than Alex was. He had a growing suspicion that the man's previous guests had been their own quarry, which likely meant the jovial attitude and flamboyant charm was a farce.

"Percy…very well…I'm Alex, Champion of Unova. My lady here is Jessica Gladstone. We're chasing down a band of homicidal zealots that we have reason to believe came this way…" He paused, eyeing the man.

Most humans had the normal typing and his enhanced vision had, thus far, always confirmed this. Those who had dual typing were rare, but it was usually obvious. This man, to his eyes, seemed normal as well, but something was off. It was like he had a second typing, but for some reason, it was eluding his gaze, hanging at the edge of his peripheral vision.

"Oh, they did come this way. I assume you mean little Caleb and his…followers. Yes, they came here to deliver Yveltal to me. In exchange for information." Percy walked to his Ninetales, patting the lovely fox, before taking his place in the Trainer box on his side of the field. "I assume you already know what they're after. I'd be disappointed if you didn't. I gave them a clue and a ship, for you see, I have a vested interest in finding Xerneas as well."

"Do you have any idea what he's done with Yveltal? There are still reports coming in, from all over Kalos. Seemingly random people, turned to stone, their businesses and land are being legally fought over by the Kalosian government and the Arceans who want to buy them. And you just let him fly off to go gain eternal life? Why!? You don't look like any Arcean I've seen." Alex stared the man down. He wanted to like him, but something about him brought a deep-seated sense of dread. Jess didn't feel it, and he had no idea why he did. It was more of an instinct, than anything.

Though the signal had been spotty, his Holociever, which also functioned like a television, had kept them somewhat informed of what was going on in Kalos and Unova. After years of relative peace without random teams of criminals interfering with the affairs of the world's many regions, a new wave of them was evidently starting up again. On the heels of Tao's return, rumors were coming in across the globe of rising tensions and power plays between enemies. The dragon had predicted turbulence, for now that Unova was again a 'major player', others would accelerate their plans for domination.

Percy rolled his eyes. "Well you're right. I'm no Arcean. I've done the 'cult of personality' thing, and it was amusing for a while…but then I got bored. Little Caleb's group is…a bit too violent for my tastes."

"Then why help him?" Alex asked, reaching for Hydrus' ball.

"Because he's the only real connection to the outside I have anymore. The only one that will speak to me, anyways. And, he wants Xerneas as badly as I do. Fret not, Unovan Champion. He can't get what he wants without me…and I have no intention of letting that man persist for eternity." Kurama followed his Trainer onto the field and Percy gave his Ninetales a thorough petting as he spoke, and then took his place on the area for Pokémon. "Enough. No more answers! If you can give Kurama and I a decent Battle, I'll tell you whatever you want to know. Deal?"

Alex nodded his agreement, but as he went for Hydrus' ball, he saw the flamboyant man make a gesture that, to his eyes, registered as some sort of psychic power. His hesitation was momentary before throwing the ball, but he did a double-take as Leo, not Hydrus, was called out mid-nap.

"I'm not interested in your Swampert. Battle me with your Luxray, one on one, no type advantages…I find his thoughts intriguing…and that fur, oh, it's so lovely!" Percy's Ninetales stood then, tails flaring out behind it. A low growl filled the room, and Leo's ears flicked in annoyance.

Alex raised a brow at Leo as the large cat yawned, and glanced at his Trainer. They spoke with the speed of thought. "Well? How about it?"

Leo stretched and dug his claws into the field, smacked his lips, and then opened his intense gold eyes, taking in and staring down his foxy opponent all at once. A small smirk appeared on his lips.

Leo's words were slow, careful, and his tone had a persistent air of superiority. "Mmm…yes. I shall Battle this one…" Suddenly, his mane stood on end, electricity flowing through it. Sparks covered the rest of his fur, and he returned the intimidated fox's growl with a loud roar that shook the air.

Percy clapped excitedly. "Ooo. Careful Kurama…you woke the kitty from his nap." The Ninetales loosed a Flamethrower then, and Leo countered with a Thunderbolt. The two attacks canceled out in the air, and Leo's eyes lit up, piercing the smoke, and following his opponent. A condensed ball of dark energy came flying out of the cloud, but Leo dodged it easily. It exploded in a manner Alex recognized, and left a crater with a horizontal swirling pattern in the field.

Alex smirked. So, someone else had thought of condensing the energy of spherical pulse moves. So much for being original. "Get close, and strike hard." Leo was better with physical attacks, though his special ones were almost as strong, due to his training. It made him versatile, which was useful against the flying and water types he usually battled.

His Luxray wasted no time then, charging the fox, only to pause before attacking. There were nine copies of it now, and they began running, circling the electric lion, and smirking as they did. "Ohoho! What to do, what to do! I do so enjoy it when he uses this move. More Shadow Clones, Kurama!" Percy seemed to be enjoying himself, but Alex only smirked.

"Double Team is an effective move, I'll grant you that…but…" Thunder manifested in Leo's jaw, surrounding his formidable fangs as he leapt at one of the foxes, clamping down hard on it with the Thunder Fang, and throwing it from the field. "You can't fool the eyesight of a Luxray."

"Can't I?" Percy snapped his fingers, and the bluish white flames lighting the room vanished. "Confuse Ray."

Though the change in light didn't affect Leo, it did cause him to lose track of his opponent for a moment. The ray hit him from his left, as soon as Kurama ran back onto the field. Flames shot from its tails again, lighting the room once more, only to reveal eighteen images of the fox. Leo's head was spinning, and he growled, arcing a Thunderbolt through three of his best guesses.

They vanished, only to reappear seconds later. "Seems like your Luxray is having an issue with aim!" Percy chuckled, and this time, each fox formed a condensed orb of dark energy. Fifteen of them shot towards Leo, who strafed to his left, and dodged three, before the real one struck home.

He rose from the hit slowly, shaking his head. The confusion was gone, luckily. "Pretend to stay confused." Alex said through their link, smirking. Leo walked forward shakily, and then ran for one of the Ninetales, attempting a Crunch attack. He bit through the illusion harmlessly, and hit the ground hard. He looked around, panting on purpose, still pretending to be confused and pulling it off rather believably.

Percy sighed. "Oh well. It seems this is decided. Finish it." The fourteen Ninetales formed Flamethrowers this time, but by then, Leo had singled out the real one. As the flames approached, he shot a Thunderbolt towards the real Flamethrower, just as the others hit him. He pretended to go down in the cloud of smoke from the collision of the moves.

Percy opened his mouth, but paused, seeing Leo rise again. The cat gave him a grin, before unleashing a Discharge across the field with another air rattling roar. He chased after the edge of the electric wave quickly. As it passed through each clone, Percy shouted, "Dark Pulse!"

Leo's Thunder Fang caught the condensed dark ball of energy, tossing it elsewhere in mid-air before he came down with a Crunch attack, causing the fox to flinch. He finished the fight with another Crunch, tossing his opponent across the field. Kurama struggled to stand, but his Trainer was by his side.

"That's enough…pretending to still be confused…clever. I almost bought it, until I realized he'd hit the real Flamethrower. I'm sufficiently amused! Well fought, both of you. You are welcome in my abode!" The man turned, and paraded through another door, this time made of real wood, at the opposite end of the field.

Alex glanced at Jess, shrugged, and followed the man. He still had questions. Percy led them into a posh lounge, complete with everything one might expect a rich snob to have in such a room. Fireplace, large screen television, adjoining kitchen that also had a bar. It had the same color scheme he did, light blue, white, and bits of gold.

"Go on then," Percy spoke as he settled behind the mahogany bar. "Ask away, I can sense you have a thousand questions."

Alex raised a brow. "Can you? I'd heard you also had psychic abilities…"

It was their host's turn to raise a brow. "Heard? Oh, from that village. Hmm. Yes, I suppose some of them are psychic in nature. Like switching your balls to call out your Luxray." Leo and Kurama had followed them in, and the large fox settled on a couch as Leo stayed by Alex. Both he and Percy pet him, and he purred in delight. "I meant what I said. Your fur is gorgeous. I love unique Pokémon."

Alex glanced at his Ninetales. "I can tell…have any others? Like, say, Xerneas?"

The man gave him a grin, then hid his expression behind his long, flamboyant hat brim as he set about making drinks. "Yes…once. A long, long time ago. Before she fell asleep…she granted me eternal life, and we traveled the world together. Then, she left me alone to rot in this tower…"

Alex tried peeking under the man's down-turned hat as his tone changed and he'd lowered his head, to no avail. "Can't you leave?"

The hat shook side to side. "Not anymore. Xerneas deemed my attitude…destructive, and confined me to this prison until I learned my lesson…I've been here ever since…for thousands of years."

Alex nodded, taking the information in, when Jess spoke up. "How old are you, then?"

Percy gave her a look. "I'd expect better manners from someone like you…but if you must know…I was around for the final years that Arceus's last true Holder spent on this plane. I saw him die, I saw his cult crumble, I saw the chaos of the first ages of the Dark Times…and I got a bit too involved in them for Xerneas's tastes. Among others. Thus, the tower. So to answer your question...over ten thousand. Give or take."

"Why have you molded an entire town's beliefs and culture on a video game?" The question came from Alex, and the two men stared each other down for a tense moment before Percy answered.

"Because I was bored…and because after the tyrant that caused Arceus to interfere in the first place was dealt with, there was no culture left. The people of this region lost any kind of connection they had to their past in the flames of war…that is, until the Pokénet was created. The village outside is…more influenced than the rest of the region, and you'll find many of the other village's legends more tied to the Draconids than to any video game. Though I doubt the rest of Norstad really wants or uses the Pokénet. I helped create that, you know. I got the idea from the Old Net."

"The Old Net?" Jess asked, confused. This time, Alex answered.

"It's what our ancestors had, and what the PokéNet was based on…much of what we know comes from it. Science, technology, culture, there was a ton of information found…but it was never entirely released to the public." Alex stared Percy down again, who was in the middle of fixing drinks for them.

"For good reason." He muttered. "Our ancestors were violent, stupid people. They killed each other, the local fauna, and almost killed the planet, before inhospitable conditions tore their society apart. Things got so bad, our entire race eventually reverted back to living in caves. Until Arceus showed up, anyway."

"That doesn't mean that knowledge shouldn't be available." Alex growled, crossing his arms.

Percy gave him a look. "Yes yes, the Unovan ideal of free information, speech, etcetera. I've read Professor Aristole's treatises. You know not what you're asking for. There are some things on the Old Net that are best left there. Dead and Forgotten."

"That didn't stop you from using it to warp an entire village's culture." Alex shot back. "Why choose such a violent model, anyways? The rest of the world gets on fine without killing each other these days. Why convince these people to avoid technology and embrace violence?"

Percy sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, as if he'd had this argument a thousand times. "You're just like him…look, all these people knew after they were dumped here on me was what I told them, when I was able to break free of my prison here…if only by a few hundred miles. They were my offspring, and I taught them what I had to, to keep them alive in this region."

Alex raised a brow. "I suppose you could call that noble. Why do they call you the Fairy King?"

Percy grinned at him. "I may have helped avert a disaster or two…or, at least, armed one of the Heroes of the day to face it. Galar got to survive and thrive, in the end, and all it cost me was Caladbolg. I've seen what Galar has become, the inherent rot in their society is growing, thanks to their power consumption and reliance on technology. One of the many reasons you won't find such things in Norstad. They don't need technology. They don't want it."

Alex rolled his eyes. "We'll just have to disagree on that. Your kinsmen would benefit greatly from it. At the very least, they'd stop dying of disease so often. Or avoid freezing to death."

Percy slid a glass of what looked like orange juice in front of Alex. Jess's drink looked similar, though hers was red on the bottom. "They might, but in time they might also become so high on their own sense of self importance that they get convinced the entire world should share their culture. By force, if necessary. It's happened before. Before the Old Net revived the old gods and knowledge of them, this land was called Hyperborea. I promise, the people of modern Norstad are far better than those 'alpha' personality types preceding them. Technology will only revive that sense of self important and toxic nationalism. It's better off dead, and forgotten."

"Oo! A sunrise! How'd you know?" Jess spoke then, breaking the tension between the boys.

Percy gave her his best knowing smirk. "After a few millennia, you learn how to find a person's favorite drink."

Alex glanced at his, and sipped from it, blinking once. "A screwdriver?"

Percy nodded, sipping from his own. "Not unlike mine. A sonic screwdriver. Everything's better with a bit of sonic. I had a friend who absolutely loved these."

There was silence as the three enjoyed their drinks, not awkward persay, but more like a pause. Finally, Alex broke it saying, "Why did you tell Pravus where Xerneas is? He could ruin the entire world with eternal life, and you're assuming he won't just take it and run."

Percy put his drink down, and met Alex's gaze. "Like I said, he's the only one who will talk to me anymore. All of my friends are long dead or not speaking to me, and the only new ones I can make think I'm a deity, and are also trapped in here. I need to get out of this tower. He was my only option. I can leave for a few hours, by foot, but that doesn't really help. And I'm eventually forcibly Teleported back. It's quite painful. I'd much rather have a 'hero' like you off retrieving Xerneas for me, but I don't think you understand just how isolated I am up here."

Alex raised a brow. "Are you saying you'll tell me where Xerneas is? Because I'll gladly go and try to bring her back here. You don't strike me as an evil person. Perhaps Xerneas will feel the same."

Percy looked down at his blue drink for a long time, then nodded. "I'm not the man Xerneas locked in here. It's been thousands of years…the only interaction I have is with my Pokémon, my bank representatives, and people who only call on my expertise when their precious 'transfer system' has an error. You should know that if you help free me, you'll gain quite a few enemies. The people leeching off my fortunes won't appreciate losing access to them."

Alex glanced at Jess, and she agreed, mentally, that he seemed nice enough. It wasn't that hard to believe someone this ancient didn't have access to money, either. The general interior of this prison wasn't spartan in the least, and certainly looked comfortable. There was one thing that still bugged him, though. "I want your word, Percival. That you won't abuse the gift you've been given. Help your people, 'High King'. Bring them into the future, don't just assume they're too violent, or primitive. Like you said, it's been millennia. People change."

"Not as much as you'd think..." Percy said, sighing again. "Fine. You have my word. Get me out of here, and I'll see to it that my people join the rest of you in your technological bliss. Don't say I didn't warn you."

He stood then, and his hands glowed pink as an evil smirk appeared on his noble features. "Let's make you suited to the role of saving Xerneas from the Shadow, 'Hero'."

"Wai-" Alex didn't get the word out before Percy pointed at his clothes, and they warped as his large frame was covered in pinkish white light, changing in appearance, and feel. The white robe became hardened, bone-like, while the black sections became dark colored chainmail, and they shifted around, covering his vital areas, and leaving the joints protected by the 'chainmail' at the joints.

He stared in disbelief. Not only was his appearance now a fair reconstruction of the 'dragonbone' set he'd gotten for his character back when he'd wasted his time playing games, Percy had left his head uncovered. As he drew out the obvious homage that was his helmet and souvenir from this icy land, he found it shifting in color and feel, to match the rest of the dragonbone. He turned, and saw a long bluish-purple cape as well, the symbol of dragons burned into the back, hanging from his shoulders.

He gave Percy a look as Jess burst into laughter once he donned the helmet. "You can't be serious…I look ridiculous."

Percy raised an eyebrow as he saw the cape, and then shrugged. "You look like suitable 'world-saving' material to me, Hero." He winked at Jess, who burst into another fit of giggles. "Oh? You find his attire funny? Perhaps we should change your appearance too!"

"Don't you da-" But it was too late. Whatever fairy nonsense Percy used worked its magic on his one true love. Her hair turned brown, her clothing became a combination of steel and leather. Her shoes were replaced with steel boots, and she sighed, looking at all the changes. "Seriously? Who am I even supposed to be?"

Percy grinned. "One sworn to carry the burdens of the 'chosen one'." It was Alex's turn to burst into laughter. Jess just stared at him, not getting the joke. "Don't worry, the locals will think you fit right in. It's not permanent either. By the time you bring Xerneas back, you won't even notice it."

Alex drained the rest of his drink, and nodded at Percy. "How far, exactly, did you personally warp the region's culture as a whole?"

The wealthy man raised a blonde eyebrow. "Oh? Why do you ask?"

Alex smirked. "I have an…idea, should we need the aid of the locals. It might even help put them on the right path to rejoining the rest of civilization. But first, I need to be able to speak their tongue."

Percy eyed him for a long moment, and walked out from behind the bar, blinking in surprise at their capes as he moved around them. Jess had one as well, crimson, and emblazoned with the symbol of fire types. The leather in her armor was similarly crimson colored, and the whole thing worked nicely. Percy had some fashion sense, at least.

"Oh my…now isn't that interesting…no wonder you two get along so well…" Percy looked up from their capes, and then at Alex.

"What, what is it?" Alex said, eyeing the cape in the classic blurple that represented dragon types hanging from his back.

"These capes are…part of this glamour. They're special. They reflect the type someone is most in tune with…and you two are very strongly tied to Fire and Dragon it seems. Are you of the Draconid clans, Redwood?" Percy said, staring at him intently, but with no fear whatsoever.

"I'm…not sure. My great great grandmother might've been from one of the clans…but the family history isn't something I've ever really looked into."

Percy tutted at him. "You should. Understanding from whence you come can sometimes help you understand where you're going and perhaps even keep you from repeating past familial mistakes. Regardless, the power of Dragons flows within your blood, of that I'm certain. You asked how much I influenced the region? Well…there is a legend…of those who gain or are born with the affinity for Dragon Types. Dovahkiin, is the word they call them. One I'm sure you know the meaning of, if you recognized my influence in the village below. The legends Norstad has for them are different from what you know…but I can share them, and the knowledge of the Dragon Tongue, with a pair like you two."

"Now as for actually learning our tongue...that will require you two to lower those mental shields of yours. I can share with you my knowledge of the Words, but unless you can use Hyper Voice properly, they won't help much."

Alex stared at him for a long moment. "Wait…Hyper Voice? The Move? Are you telling me that you know how to Shout? Are you telling me that Shouting is even a thing!?" He fought down the excitement. The urge to rush headlong into this absurd scenario that he was definitely here for was all but overpowering. There had to be a catch.

Jess just looked confused. "Shouting? You're a bit soft spoken normally, Alex."

Percy grinned at him. "Nii los ol hi saag, Dovahkiin." Alex took that as a 'yes'.

"It's an…ability that certain dragons from certain media possess…and now that I recall just how many Dragon Types can actually learn Hyper Voice…it seems media is mimicking reality." He said to Jess, still suppressing the excitement. "Share the knowledge, Percy." He lowered his mental defenses then, and he could already feel his lover's disapproval. Tao had warned them to never lower their guard, but now, the two men's minds linked.

It wasn't the same as his link with Jess, or even his team. It was a minor connection. Brief. Limited. Percy's haughty accent rang in his head. "Oh my...yes...yes, you will do nicely indeed. You were born for this role."

Alex's suspicion rose, as did Jessica's. She had, of course, heard every word. "What do you mean?" He said, warily. The unease remained, and it only grew now that his very being was brushing against Percy's. It was like something about the man was fundamentally opposed to a part of his own core.

"Don't worry about it..." Percy said, "This knowledge will only aid you. I'm sharing my knowledge of Hyper Voice as well. With both of you. You'll be able to use it, but how strong it is will depend entirely upon your ability to master the Move. Prepare yourselves...this is going to hurt."

The pain was, for Alex, instant, and unbearable. He felt Tao's sudden concern, distantly, and he felt his body slump back into the bar stool. His head throbbed, and his ears refused to work as thousands of Words thundered in his skull all at once, each one with their own meaning. Finally, the painful torrent ceased, and one last bit of knowledge came from the strange man.

The knowledge of Hyper Voice. The sacred art of Shouting. It wasn't all that different to how he drew his psychic power for a Confusion level attack, and he knew that, had he not unlocked it, this knowledge would've eluded him. He also sensed that his years of practice inhaling Leaf smoke had increased his lung capacity. He now knew how to Shout, as did Jess, but he knew his would be stronger. For a time. His size, for once, was beneficial rather than hindering.

His vision swam as his ears started to work again, though it was a long time before he heard more than the throb of his heartbeats. He looked up to see the eyes that snared his soul, full of concern. With a start, he realized their connection had been cut. From his team, as well. He hadn't been so alone since battling N on the Victory Plateau. It seemed like a lifetime ago, but in reality, had only been roughly half a year. Slowly, he reconnected with them, assuaging their fears. The shock of the knowledge transfer from Percy had disrupted his mental links to them.

And as he looked at the man again with his psychic sight, he now had an inkling as to why.

Alex kept his revelations to himself for the moment and stood, meeting Percy's gaze. The hints of his powers had now, in hindsight, seemed so obvious, but Percy's revealed typing now only confirmed what he suspected about himself. Still though, he hesitated. He needed more before he fully accepted what his psychic senses were telling him.

Percy spoke with his mouth this time, their connection was also gone now, and Alex's mental defenses rose once more. "The mighty hero awakens. And how do you feel, Dragonborn?"

It took Alex's ears a second to register that Percy had spoken in the tongue of dragons, the language of Norstad. He understood it perfectly. "I'm...fine..." He managed, and he sensed Jess' concern grow again.

"Alex." She said, shaking him slightly. "Focus. You're speaking their words. Not ours."

He nodded again. His skull was still pounding, but Jess, for her part, seemed far less affected. He felt terrible, and as he groaned softly, he felt a drink being pushed into his hand. He looked up to see Percy, and a refilled Screwdriver.

"Drink." The eccentric man said softly, "It will help with the nausea...though I imagine you'll need a rest before your skull stops pounding."

The fact that Percy knew how he felt didn't surprise Alex. The two had stared into the other's very core, and found them to be opposites, but not necessarily enemies. As expected of the fairy typed man, Alex's mind had zero effect on his mental state. Apparently the title of Fairy King was literal. Percy was every bit as sly and tricky as advertised, but Alex had sensed a genuine goodness, likely the same Xerneas had, when he'd been given eternal life. It was buried deep after ten millennia of maddening isolation, but it was there. He stood with a grunt, and drained roughly half of the drink. It did help. A little.

"We should head out..." He said, speaking his birth tongue, but still sounding groggy.

Jess looked ready to protest, but Percy cut her off. "I expect you to return with Xerneas, Hero. And tales of adventure, of course."

Alex rolled his eyes. "I have an idea as to what I might need to do…now, where do I find your friend?"

Percy shrugged. "Xerneas does her own thing, and I've been cooped up here too long to know exactly where she is. She does tend to move her tree from time to time. Here's my advice, Dragonblood. Life needs life to live. Where you find an abundance of it, you'll likely find her. Oh, and look for an Ash Tree. She prefers that species for some reason."

Alex nodded again, then looked at Jess. He could tell she was already planning to mock him for the obvious wish-fulfillment he was about to enjoy, now that she knew he was fine, but he honestly didn't care. How often did one get a chance to fill such legendary boots? To literally step into a story like this? It was unheard of. But, if he was honest, he genuinely hoped it was real, and not some fever dream caused by leaving Tao's realm.

"Ready to go?" He asked Jess as he recalled Leo into his ball. His loyal feline had also been silently mocking his appearance. The rest of his team had joined in, and found it quite amusing, once the link was re-established. He'd spent much of his time in the Swamp playing the very game that Percy had based his town and this armor on, so they had a second-hand grasp of the situation, and how outlandish it was.

"Yes…just don't get too distracted, 'hero'. We have a mission to fulfill." She sighed, and shook her head at him. She looked just as lovely as a brunette, but he did admittedly miss the red.

He headed towards the door, striding with confidence as he straightened his posture and let his tone even out. He could pretend to be whole, for the moment. If only for her sake. "Oh, I know…but I'm fully intending to use this to our advantage in that regard. Fare well Percival. We shall return soon!"

The man simply laughed. "As you say. Go! Save the world, Dragonborn." He shook his head as he watched them depart, and looked at Kurama. "You were right once again, my friend. A descendant of the Dragon Clans, and a Psychic. That…is a bad combination to be enemies with."

The blue fox had been lounging on one of the white leather chairs in the posh room as the humans drank and chattered. "Of course I was right." He said, his telepathic voice filling the room. "My premonitions always come to pass. You, of all humans, should know that."

Percy joined him on the couch, and petted his fur again. He gestured to the brushes he used on the tails, and they floated over, grooming the lovely blue fur, mussed from the earlier battle. "I'm surprised you let the Luxray win."

The fox snorted. "I did not. He caught me by surprise. But we will Battle again, that much I know."

His owner raised a brow. "Oh? Another vision? Does that mean our would-be Heroes will be victorious?"

The fox smirked slyly. "Perhaps. I never said his Human would be using him." The fox yawned, drifting slowly to sleep. "Truthfully, the next series of events is…muddled. Anything could happen."

Percy sighed, still brushing his fox. "I don't care anymore…I just want out of this damned prison." He gestured at the wall then, and it lifted, revealing the ceaseless storm outside. He longed for lovelier vistas. Like Alola. Oh, how he'd missed the sun.

Somewhere over the Jhötunn Forest - Norstad Region

Caleb Pravus tapped his pointer finger in mild irritation. "Anything?"

"No sir!" One of the ship's pilots said immediately. No doubt spurred by his new blackened eye. "This forest appears to have no trace of the Fairy Aura either."

Pravus swore, and the entire bridge of the ship held its breath. Upon leaving the strange half-breed's tower, their Prophet had begun swinging at anyone who was in reach. Naturally, that had meant the entire bridge crew. They all had fresh bruises, reminding them of their leader's ruthless power. None dared speak against him, though. That would ensure their families disappeared. Quietly. Without a trace. They were expected to take his brutality, and smile. For the glory of Arceus and his Prophet.

"Enough of this." Pravus snarled, standing, and moving to the front window. He scanned the area below himself. A massive forest, surrounding a massive mountain that was separated from the rest of the region by an equally massive river.

They had checked the forest south of this one as well, and extracted information from the locals, who had been resistant, at first, until his Darkrai made itself known. They had said that if anyone knew where the 'rainbow hart' was, it would be the Jhötunn miners who hunted these woods, fished these rivers, and mined this solitary peak that loomed over the area. He was getting sick of mountains, and thus far, the woods were devoid of human life.

"Is the analysis of the culture complete?" He waited to a count of five before snapping his fingers.

One of the bridge techs spoke up nervously. "Yes, my Prophet. It seems to be a blend of the lore you'd expected, and mythology from some ancient culture called the 'Norse'."

"And? Is integration possible?" Pravus turned his head slightly to glance at the technician.

He stood up straighter, and Pravus decided to hold off on beating him. "Unlikely, sir. The people of this region are uneducated, isolated, and wholly devoted to these entities they believe walk among them as friends, guardians, and…even lovers, apparently. It would take a full-scale Inquisition to establish a useful foothold. Given the lack of available resources and infrastructure, it wouldn't be worth our time."

The Prophet nodded, returning his gaze forward, and the tension bled from the bridge. Slightly. "Infiltration it is, then. Who or what are these barbarians most likely to open up to?"

He heard the blonde-haired man once more examining his computer, and allowed him a minute to gather more information. One minute stretched to two. Then three. He sighed.

"U-uh…let's see…the patriarchal figure of their beliefs is someone by the name of…Woden, Odin, or the Allfather. The titles are interchangeable. It says here he has an eye-patch, a spear, and is flanked by all manner of beasts." The tech spoke hurriedly, knowing he'd pushed the Prophet's patience. The information they'd extracted had been high in quantity, but details had been scarce.

Pravus sighed once more, and shook his head. "No. I'm not limiting my vision, and spears are so…easily broken."

There was more clacking of keys on the board, before the tech spoke again. "Here's something. A figure by the name of Shor. Also known as Thor. The son of Woden. It says he's clad in heavy armor, wields a hammer that sparks with lightning, and is regarded as the ultimate warrior-hero. Something the locals greatly approve of. He's even known to, supposedly, wander from village to village seeking a worthy battle. He's the 'favored deity' of the peasants, and a few even see him as a King…or something. It's not clear...but there's mention of some sort of 'great hall'."

The Prophet looked down at the woods again, and sighed. "Fine. It will do. Load the Kecleo data." He turned to the pilot. "Set a course for the other forest. Try to find our people, and stay unnoticed. I don't want those damned birds taking another ship down."

He pulled up his PokéPad, and transferred the data on his newest persona. The macho fire-and-blood type wasn't really his thing, but this was Norstad. It was inevitable. So be it. The Articuno riders no doubt knew exactly where his quarry was, and for all their power, they were still barbarians. They'd fall over themselves to let the 'mighty Shor' speak with the beast. They might even let him drag it away without a fuss.

For the first time since arriving in the frozen hellhole that was Norstad, Pravus allowed a smirk. It quickly faded as he heard the voice of his lieutenant. "My Prophet, we've received a comm from the Dominus. It was text only, and marked for your eyes alone."

"Send it." Pravus waited patiently as this new message made its way to his personal pad. He turned as he read it, and his knuckles turned white as he gripped the pad tighter. A black aura surrounded his body, and the feeling of imminent death permeated the bridge. For all who were not him, all they could feel was the ever-growing, creeping terror, a chill on their very souls that indicated their mortal lives were about to be snuffed out.

Very rarely had he gotten so angry. Very rarely had anyone survived seeing him in such a state, but this time was different. He needed these pawns. Fornia was on the other side of the planet, and reinforcements were not coming. He exhaled slowly, and the cloud of black miasma that crept from his mouth floated harmlessly into the air, dissipating.

"So…Unova's Champion continues to nip at my heels…and now Kalos' newest has joined with him as well, and has befriended the riders…Samson…" The man in question, his lieutenant, still recovering from the undiluted fear he'd felt, blinked twice before answering.

"Y-yes, my Prophet?" He even threw up a shivering salute, fist to heart.

Pravus grinned, only his eyes now radiated that terrifying color, but it was enough. "Send the word to Headquarters…kill the Unovan nuisance. I care not how. I am through being lenient…" He turned again, glaring out the window as his will was done.

He would avoid the intrepid Trainer, for now. This was a mission for stealth, and Unova's newest 'hero' had an annoying tendency to interrupt his plans. None of his agents in the Swamp had reported back. Bradley, the only one to make headway with the Sage, had vanished, and the signal from Ghetsis' frigate was offline, and had been for days now. He had been the one in charge of making sure Redwood stayed occupied and frustrated. Once more, the aged criminal had failed. If he wasn't dead yet, he soon would be, but his Shadow Triad minions would continue to be useful. Upon saving their beloved master from crippling madness evidently brought on by a combination of age and losing to not one but two teenagers, the shadow beings had been awed by the Prophet, and he had shared with them the identity of his true patron. Despite the return of Ghetsis' competence, more or less, the Triad's loyalties had shifted to a man who was not unlike them, and had much bigger, and likely more successful, goals.

Few Pokémon Trainers had been so irritating in so short a time, but that was why he had assassination squads, and Doctor Ein, to keep the kids with potential from ever becoming Trainers. His death squad was composed of Trainers who had traveled through each of the Fornian satellite states, beaten their gyms, earned their badges, and trained their teams. They would eliminate the pest posthaste. But before he could savor Redwood's head on a plate, he had to play dress-up. Pravus left the bridge then, eyes returning to normal, as he descended and strapped on the Kecleon Belt.

It modified his appearance in looks and feel. Within moments, he was clad in iron and leather armor that hid his face well under a full Skiddo horned gray helmet, and a square-headed hammer appeared on his waist, covering over the black baton he used on especially deserving subordinates. He grabbed it, testing it out, and it sparked as he swung it. Good enough, he supposed. He sat then, and waited patiently as the stealthed ship shot over the mountains, back towards the 'sacred woods' the fliers evidently defended.

All he had to do was beat Redwood to the prize he had no doubt the greedy Trainer also sought. Once he had the Life Pokémon, he could easily depart, and nothing the trapped 'Fairy King' could do could keep him from departing with his prize. There were things to do back home, and Fornia would provide a sufficient barrier from any more Redwood interference.

In truth, he was surprised there was interference at all. Gilroy Redwood had been flagged as a potential enemy, and any relatives of his that were found to have serious potential had been labeled 'incompetent' as Trainers years ago. The only one to receive such a label had been this very boy. He had no idea how he'd obtained a Trainer ID anyways, but it didn't matter now. The order had been given. There was only one punishment fit for those who meddled with the Prophet's affairs.

Sahqoreyth · Mar 28, 2024

Chapter 18: The Way of the Hyper Voice

Hrothofkiin – The Seidr's Isle, Norstad

On the Seidr's Isle, there is an order of men, rather than Pokémon, who make their home in the volcano-riddled hellscape and use the power of their Voices to keep the elements from annihilating their fortress. It is known, as Hrothofkiin.

Pokémon do inhabit this fiery island. Species like Magmar, Magcargo, even a smaller breed of Charizard, but they take little notice of the humans within their midst. Indeed, most have no idea what humans even look like. This balanced ecosystem of fire and ice is one of the last places on the planet free of human meddling.

In this high fortress among the volcanic peaks of flame and ash, the 'Graybeards' as the locals call them, watch over their homeland of Norstad, from one of the three highest locations in the region, the other two being Ymir's Wahlom, and Valaskjalf, the home of those who ride Articuno.

It is as their nearest and greatest of volcanic peaks erupts, with a fury they've not seen in generations, that the Graybeards consult with the two elder members of their order. Koraaviik, the only man known to be able to read the Dragon Scrolls, and Zuwuth, the leader of their order.

The assembled men, all gray, bearded, and cloaked in similarly colored gray robes, bow to their leader. Zuwuth's Voice is rarely heard, for he rarely speaks. His power is truly fearsome, but today, he must speak. Luckily, all those assembled can withstand the power of his Voice. For a time.

"My brothers…" He says, speaking the tongue of Dragons in but a whisper that causes the innermost chamber of their fortress to shudder, and shake loose dust and rock, "The Fairy King has passed on his knowledge of the Voice…to an outsider…and it has awoken something… something perhaps better left...asleep."

A few of the younger and not-so-gray bearded men murmured softly to each other, but the elders continued to listen. "Hush." The command from their leader filled the room, and silenced all other tongues with his thunderous whisper.

He spoke again, once more in soft and hoarse tones. "The Scrolls have been consulted…Koraaviik senses not malice from this outsider, but hope. For our people. For the future. Clad in the bones of dragons...he brings change wherever he goes. This is only part of what the Scrolls foretell. Koraaviik believes that now, where the Scrolls become vague...is our best chance to positively influence...this new Speaker. If we do not...the power of his Voice may unbalance everything. According to what we know...he hunts a foul presence, recently come to our lands. You have all felt the presence I speak of."

Indeed they had, for a brief moment. Pure, undiluted anger, rage, fury, all backed up by a power that, to their finely honed senses, had seemed utterly foul. "For this reason...this outsider must be brought here." Zuwuth continued to speak, and the soft, but powerful reverberations of his Voice continued to shake them all. "He must be taught our Way. His Voice must become stronger, for this outsider's presence has been noticed by more than just us. The World Eater stirs once more...and we must venture to the mainland to give what aid we can, preferably before He rises again."

The bearded men shared several looks, and then, as one, nodded, and waited for their leader to appoint someone to leave. They did not leave often, and did not do so lightly. The people of their land had a tendency to worship them as minor deities because of the power their Voices had, something none of them wanted, but admittedly enjoyed. While it lasted. Always, they returned to Hrothofkiin.

"Koraaviik shall fetch him." The murmurs started up again, largely in protest, but Zuwuth cut through them once more with the power of his authority, and his Voice. "Koraaviik has yet to leave this place...but there is none more skilled in our Way. He will bring this outsider to us as quickly as he can...and then we shall test his Voice."

The murmuring stopped. There was a reason only twenty or so Graybeards existed. They rarely recruited, and often, those they did recruit would be torn apart in this very test. The applicants needed to survive the unbridled power of four Voices for as long as they could. The minimum was thirty seconds.

Only Zuwuth had lasted longer, though how long exactly, nobody knew. He was a private old man, and kept to himself. Often, applicants would barely last five seconds, and be torn apart by the sheer power of their better's Hyper Voice. That was simply how it was, and the people of Norstad knew this. Yet every year they came regardless, seeking power. It was their way.

This stranger, whoever it was, would likely die if tested so quickly. The fact that Zuwuth knew this, and proceeded anyway, was odd. Their order valued all life, an unpopular opinion in Norstad, and thus they thoroughly disliked testing applicants. Often, the masters who did the testing needed months to recover from the sadness of losing a promising pupil.

This was a stranger, though. A foreigner. It was likely that only a few would feel sadness if he failed. The universal dislike of outsiders pervaded even here, in this fortress of tolerance and ancient knowledge.

Koraaviik departed then and with his Voice, tamed one of the Charizard in the nearby volcanic areas. Though they were small, due to a lack of berries, their forms were actually capable of diving into the freezing sea, for what they truly lived on. Fish. Like most Charizard, their tail flames could handle being under water, for a brief time. This offshoot's tail's burned even in the water, making longer dives possible. Their wings had also adapted to cut through not only air, but water, and would not freeze.

They were strong fliers as well, for often they had to range many miles from the island just to find enough fish to satiate their hunger. Koraaviik's mount had been forced to aid him, but in appreciation of the strength of his Voice, agreed to bear him for as long as his journey lasted. The Charizard of the isle often did this when the Graybeards needed to leave, as they were the only local species with wings. They didn't mind, provided they were fed.

Koraaviik had seen the nature of this new force of change within the Dragon Scrolls. Once they'd been returned from Unova's Elite Four history specialist, who had deciphered new passages about future events, he had been eager to meet the hero described, face to face. Zuwuth had, at first, denied him. But his skill at Tinvaak was unmatched in their order, and finally, the aged elder had agreed to let him go. He hadn't been back to Norstad's mainland in decades. He was eager to see his home.

A sound like thunder boomed for miles as the seer and his mount approached the fierce winds surrounding the mountains between the island and the mainland. The wind stopped. The snow halted. His Charizard flew through, unfazed. The Pokémon had sometimes seen the powerful humans stop volcanoes with their voices. Wind, by comparison, was nothing.

The Revak Feykro - Norstad Region

After several nights of sleep while Alex and Jess crossed the incredibly vast, barren tracts of icy tundra, Alex finally felt better after his encounter with Percival. Indeed, at that very moment, as he rode atop Shruikan's head, he felt wonderful.

He could feel this new power, and whatever it had awakened, eager to push forth. To be used. But both he and Jess had agreed that until he knew what he was doing, he shouldn't try using the Hyper Voice.

The desire to do so anyway burned brightly despite this. He was like a spoiled child on Festivus Eve, staring at a large present that he had an inkling about the contents of, and wanted to enjoy. He wanted to shout to the heavens in this new, strange, tongue. Just to see what would happen. But he resisted, and patiently rode on. Bad things tended to happen to those who just blindly jumped into using new powers and Alex had read enough comics to know better. That didn't curb the temptation, though.

After two days of hearing his thoughts, Jess was rather sick of reminding him not to start using this new power. They'd agreed to go and get Connor, before trying to find out where Xerneas was. It made sense to visit the Articuno riders first. They had implied they knew where Xerneas was after all. Pravus would likely seek them out as well. Probably in a disguise. It's what Alex would've done, in his situation, now that he was evidently stripped of Yveltal.

Finally, Shruikan brought his riders over the 'sacred woods' they'd stumbled onto previously. The downed airship was all but buried in snow. There was no sign of human life. Alex swore quietly, and continued on. If Pravus had beat them here, this could get a lot harder. Shruikan circled the downed ship thrice before skirting around the eastern edge of the woods.

They flew slowly, obviously, unthreatening, or as unthreatening as a black Salamence could be. Alex had even tried taking the helmet off, only to discover that it wouldn't budge. None of their glamoured armor would, it seemed, unless they needed to relieve themselves. It seemed they'd be wearing it forcibly until they brought Xerneas to Percy. The lack of freedom to copulate would speed their journey considerably. The 'High King' had read them well.

Alex's neck hairs rose as they flew further alongside the edge of the forest. He could feel eyes on them and more than one Articuno could overpower Shruikan. He'd hit them as well though, with an electric attack, before they plummeted to an icy death. The clouds were always stormy in this region, and his electric bolts were quite strong. To attack the intrusive dragon was to ensure fainting of all parties, and a likely fatal drop for their riders.

"Jess…you should join me up here, and do the talking. I get the feeling they don't care for men, and right now, I look like a local." He sensed her amusement at his mental words, and Shruikan slowed again, as the woman floated up to hold onto the free head spike, limned with her deep scarlet pinkish aura. They could both fly true, but Tao had warned them ceaselessly, almost to the point of madness, that they were not to, under any circumstance, waste their power.

Small tricks like glowing eyes were easy. Flying, especially for Alex and his larger form, wasted too much energy at the moment. Jess had a smaller build though, and thus could fly whenever she pleased. In terms of psychic power, she had gained an advantage. Her Delphox had favored her, and Arthur was bound by the Swamp Sage not to teach Alex any more until he was told to do so.

Not long after Jess joined him upon Shruikan's larger head spikes, a pair of Articuno gracefully arced down to them, and flew on either side of their dragon. He eyed the Articuno, as they eyed him, ready to attack if provoked. Though as they saw the ferocity of the dragon's gaze and the sparks around his intimidating fangs, the birds seemed to drift away, slightly.

They spoke the tongue of Norstad, and for the first time, Jess was glad Alex had pushed Percy into sharing it with both of them. It had seriously affected her lover, enough to make him too exhausted for copulation. Even though he'd recovered now, she still had suspicions about Percy, no matter how well he made a Sunrise.

"Hail, strangers. Why are you flying in this region?" The blonde haired female rider on their right had spoken first. The left rider, a severe looking woman with raven hair, simply stared at Alex, and he gave a slight nod. The severe expression lessened slightly from outright disgust to cold ambivalence.

Jess answered, as they'd both mentally agreed she was the one being addressed. "Well met, rider. We fought alongside your clan at the airship by the edge of the forest. We've come to see my brother, Connor."

Alex and Jess shared a look as they saw the blonde woman blush. Her stony demeanor melted in an instant, and she looked almost shy. "Right…Connor…right…he's umm, this way." The Trainers shared another look as the two riders pulled ahead of their dragon, who sped up to match them. Shruikan knew if he lost sight of them, this mountainous area would make them hopelessly lost. He had no idea what Norstad looked like, he'd seen no maps, and his Trainer hadn't thought to ask for one.

Thankfully, he kept pace easily. They banked up, suddenly, and Shruikan followed, every bit as graceful. At least to Alex's eyes. They could both sense Jess watching the birds, and felt how badly she wanted one. She didn't know what one had to do to acquire such a partner, but she was so very willing.

The two riders paused at the edge of a sheer cliff, and waved them over. The three looked down, and took in their first view of the rider's home. "Welcome…to Valaskjalf."

Thus far, Norstad had looked like a frozen wasteland, acted like a frozen wasteland, and felt like a frozen wasteland. It was cold. Barren. Cold. Icy. And cold. Alex sighed in relief as he felt the warmth coming from below, and spied the source of it. Hot springs. A village full of lovely Legendary Bird riders, and they, even now, were bathing in hot springs.

Jess punched him, hard, as she knew where his eyes were wandering, driven by instincts older than their race. While the women below were indeed as lovely as their icy mounts, he knew they couldn't compare to his love. Even if their 'endowments' put hers to shame, he was glad he didn't feel any temptation to try to seduce one. Partly because he guessed how that would go, but mostly because Jess was all he needed and he refused to even contemplate an action that might ruin things with her. He didn't care about size of 'assets', either as by this point he knew how to handle her body. After so many days of camping in icy caves he was tempted to find a secluded hot spring for them, but that wouldn't happen, so long as their damned armor didn't come off.

He just smirked, looking up from the mostly steam-shrouded ladies below to meet Jess and her eyes. "Connor must not want to leave. I can't say I blame him."

Unlike the rest of Norstad, Valaskjalf was nestled in a lush clifftop valley of green grass, trees with leaves of gold and red, and below, in the depths of the fjord it occupied, was a massive black lake, dark and foreboding. Both he and Shruikan felt their gazes drawn there.

Their view was interrupted by the massive form of a white Articuno flying up in front of them. There was a screeching sound as the Articuno's rider brought her spear up to Alex's neck, covered mostly by the horned dragon bone helmet. His staff, which was now disguised as a Greatsword, had caught the spear, and the weapons shivered as they pushed against each other.

"Lokra! Stop! We're allies!" The spear lowered at the sound of his voice, and the words of the dragon's tongue. The ice and electric attacks that had formed in their mount's maws faded. Neither had wanted to take the first shot. Lokra, however, never hesitated.

She eyed him for a moment, then smirked. "I know those eyes. You're the Trainer. An…interesting outfit you've chosen...and you know our words, too...so quickly..." The massive white bird flapped backwards, twice, and was over the village again. "Come! Your friend awaits!"

The large bird arced then, swooping back down into the village, where Alex finally got a sense of scale for it. Next to Iizlokraan, the buildings were quite large. She was too big for most of them, though, as he got a sense of her size against fellow Articuno as well. They seemed to be thriving here, and he was glad places like this still existed, even if there was a bit of a confusing bias towards men. In fact, looking around, he saw exactly zero males, but every woman he stared at too long seemed to glare back at him.

They landed soon after Lokra did, and much of the villagers, entirely women and small children, who were also female, stared at the massive black Salamence in their midst. Some murmured whispers of Alduin, and Shruikan finally asked who this Alduin was, according to these humans. Alex gave him a mental explanation of what he knew of the character, but warned that there was likely more to it. Reality always had more to it. If a dragon type had earned that name even from humans who flew on Legendary Birds, it had to be formidable indeed.

A nugget of Percy wisdom floated up from his brain then, and he shared that with his dragon. The people of Norstad often used many names for their gods, demigods, and Pokémon of importance. Alduin's other names, ones not influenced by Percy's nerdiness, would give more clues as to the dragon's nature, though, Alduin the World Eater seemed to sum him up in the local's eyes.

Jess spoke for them, only half paying attention to his mental words. "So. Lokra. What has my brother been up to, exactly?"

The aged woman smirked, hopping down from the lofty perch her mount had taken. "See for yourself." She led the way into the largest building, one that had steam leaking from the roof of it, and with one look inside, Alex knew they'd found the center of this village.

"And that's how we recombined the three Legendary Dragons of Unova into One Dragon, and brought about a new golden age for our people." Connor's voice wafted out nearby, and Alex smirked. Someone might as well use that line. He didn't need it.

There was Connor, his friend, half nude, and surrounded by a spring's worth of similarly un-clad women. Many didn't even have clothes on, and the steam did nothing to hide any of it. Looking up, Connor saw the fuming face of his suddenly-brunette sister, and the smirk of his rival, underneath what looked like a helmet straight from a video game that he too was quite familiar with. "Oh, Muk."

The girl's attention suddenly shifted towards them, and Alex crossed his arms, staying silent, and hopefully imposing. His instinct said to let Jess talk here. This was clearly a matriarchal society, and he didn't want to know what they did with the males of their tribe. Historically, such villages never had very humane methods used for regulating the gender not in power, and as pretty as the village was, this was still Norstad. Everything was earned here, including reputation, and often done so through violence.

"Making maps are we, brother?" Jess walked up to the edge of the spring, which was still the natural rock that it had formed in. The villagers had built around it, and carved it a bit in certain places. Being a main spring, this one had depictions of Articuno all over it.

Connor laughed, scratched the back of his head, and shrugged. Alex had rarely seen him in such good spirits since their reunion. He'd been edgy, short tempered, and sharp tongued. Apparently steam and breasts had returned him to something resembling his younger self. "Yes, well, there was no need for a map. After I rescued Billy, there was nothing to really…do…until you two returned. So. What did I miss in the giant freezing wind vortex?"

Jess looked ready to chew him out some more, when her brother snapped his fingers. Gren appeared, suddenly, and judging by the gazes of the many women in the spring with him, they were impressed.

Gren offered an egg to Jess, not fooled by the illusion around her, and she stared at it as it began to shiver in her hands. A crack appeared on the shell, and she looked slightly panicked, thinking her touch had somehow ruined an egg, until she looked at the women sharing the spring with her brother for guidance. The girl's faces had gained smiles at the sight of the egg, their eyes wide with wonder. This was expected, then.

Realizing what was likely about to hatch, Alex put a hand on her shoulder, and told her his suspicions, via their link. She grinned. No one on record had ever seen a baby Articuno. No one, on record, had even seen a Legendary Bird egg, let alone a hatching one. The sound of lovely chirping filled the immediate room, and the shell didn't last long as it glowed a bright white, before a small burst of icy breath split it apart, shattering it into tiny frozen chunks of ice.

Like her kin in this feminine paradise, the little female was a lighter blue than the Articuno seen in other parts of the world. Each talon stood unsteadily on Jess's hands as the baby bird met her Trainer's lovely eyes. She chirped happily, and lifted her damp wings towards Jess' face. Her Trainer didn't seem to care that the baby was covered in egg juice still, they nuzzled each other, and knew their bond was permanent. She named the baby Articuno in the tongue of her homeland. Folokraan, or Fo, for short. She pressed a blue and gold Luxury Ball to the little Pokémon, and it dinged shut almost immediately. The bond was cemented.

She let the baby out again immediately, and it chirped, happy to see her again, and now suddenly more dry and fluffy than damp and gooey. It was a lovely sound. Jess walked out of the hall then, completely forgetting her brother as intended, and onto the unoccupied wooden walkways that surrounded the main hall of the village, and allowed its inhabitants to traverse it by foot. Not that many of them walked.

She pulled out her Froslass, and showed her the Articuno. Then, Jess asked Lassi to consider staying in this place, to train, and live. There were signs all over the village about missing daughters, but nobody seemed to be investigating them.

Lassi looked around at the entirely female paradise, and then at one of the posters. She nodded. Using her powers over the night, and over the cold, would likely overwhelm whoever was stealing little girls. This village was, also, beautiful. She could spend eternity looking at it. It truly was the ideal place for an icy, female ghost to spend an afterlife.

She looked at her Trainer, and then her Articuno. She would be safe with a Legendary Bird by her side. Her voice was light and airy in Jess' head as she floated away into the paradise. "This is where I shall spend my eternity. Thank you, Trainer, for bringing me. The Snorunt will always be your friends."

Jess turned to find Alex behind her, watching the ghost float away. "It's quite an honor, you know, to be allowed to spend your afterlife in Sovallah. This place…this is the hall that guards the gate, according to Percy's lore."

Jess and the adorable little bird stared at him. Alex had a feeling the hatchling understood them perfectly. Jess spoke then, "I don't know about you, but I don't see a hall…I mean the village is nice, but it's not exactly Thor's Hall." She knew the legends as well as he did. They both could trace at least half of their lineage to Germania, a land known for worship of the 'old gods'. They'd been stamped out, buried, lost to time, and then recovered, but the stories had never left. With the recovery of the Old Net, they had simply regained their old names, which was fine, for the 'gods' in this area of the planet had always possessed many monikers.

Alex found his gaze drawn back to the ominous lake of dark water below the village. "There's...something off about this place. You deal with Connor. I need to...look around." He'd been feeling a pull towards the lake below the village since they arrived. As if something in there demanded to see him. Shruikan felt it as well. Exactly as his Trainer did. It was a call to the dragon, and one who would call himself such. A challenge. He knew it then, as he watched Jess with her newest, and now fluffiest, party member. Percival's gift was calling to one of them more than the other. He'd altered or awakened something in Alex that simply hadn't happened with Jess.

He stepped close to Jess then, and lifted his helmet, effortlessly. His eyes snared hers for once, and they kissed. The helmet came back down by itself once they'd parted, and he winked at her. "Train your new partner. I have a feeling this is going to take a while."

With that, he raised a fist toward the heavens. He spoke the tongue of the dragons. "Rise."

Shruikan's massive form shot past him, and he grabbed a head spike as it did. He climbed atop the dragon's thick neck, and the two flew out, slowly, over the basin below. Their senses tingled as they spied hundreds of icy, watchful eyes from the Articuno above.

As they hovered over the lake, Alex sighed. He saw the telling shimmer of massive white feathers, and Lokra, upon her mighty mount, descended to their level. She spoke in the tongue of Norstad as well. "I thought I recognized your armor. It is not what you wore last time, Unova Champion."

Alex nodded. "I went to see your High King. He gave me this outfit, and the...title of Dragonborn." He turned so she could see his cape, and its symbol. "Apparently it's in my blood. This...Well is calling to me…I must face it."

Lokra regarded him for a long time. "The High King…pagh…fine. If Oberon thinks you are ready, by all means, awaken Nidhogg."

Alex tilted his helmet-horned head at her. It seemed Percy also had other names, so he let that slide, and instead asked, "Sorry…Nidhogg?"

Lokra nodded. "The dragon we sometimes call Alduin. The World Eater. He Who Sleeps At The Foot Of Yggdrasil. Go on then, Dragonborn. Summon him with your Voice!"

Alex looked down at the well's churning, black waters, and nodded. Lokra ascended, and raised her hand. The riders, and their mounts, began to sing. He let the breath build within him as he prepared his Hyper Voice. His first Hyper Voice.

He didn't know what he would say, and as he hesitated, he noticed something. A small flame, coming fast over the mountains to the west. Only one flying species had a flame-tail like that, and Alex let the breath go. That Charizard was coming straight for him. He decided to wait.

The song faded as the fiery tailed intruder soared down beside the bone-covered Trainer, and his black scaled partner. As the song started to pick up again at Lokra's command, the man upon the smaller Charizard's back opened his mouth.

Thunder boomed. The air itself shook, and any trace of the song the riders had been singing faded under the force of his power.

"Not. Yet." The old man said, his voice echoing through the fjord. The very air shimmered between himself and Alex as they locked eyes.

Alex nodded, and looked to Lokra. She swooped down to them, saw the man, sighed, and then flew up once more. "Sisters! The Graybeards come to interrupt our challenger. They mean to train him before the test commences." She turned to the old man. "You have two weeks. That is how long Nidhogg can wait for his meal, now that he has their scent."

With a grunt that was more of a snarl, the gray-robed man motioned for Shruikan to come along as he and the Charizard took off. Alex looked at Jess, finding her easily despite not having the hair of flame to catch his eye. He nodded, and she did the same.

They would stay connected, but it wouldn't be as…intimate as a connection was when in close proximity. That had been one of the first tricks Alex had asked Tao to teach him properly. Jess had asked as well, and he'd finally relented. Tao had also generally refrained from giving Alex too many advancements where his psychic power was concerned, as he was well aware the Sage was teaching him, but communicating across thousands of miles was useful, and, the dragon had surmised, necessary for Norstad.

Shruikan followed the smaller Charizard until they came over the stormy peaks of the western mountains, sometimes referred to as 'Alduin's Wings'. The sky darkened, and the man on the Charizard began to speak.

An approximation of his face appeared in the clouds as they rode along, and Alex just stared, impressed.

"This is the only method by which I may speak without a whisper…"

His words boomed for miles, but luckily, this was Norstad. Nobody was around. These mountains were deadly, and inhospitable.

"I understand." Alex said in a more normal tone. Shruikan was next to the Charizard now, and the bearded man's ears would be able to hear him without having to shout. "Can you tell me how to use the Hyper Voice?"

The old man looked at him for a moment, and then Shouted. A wave of Unrelenting Force pushed against Shruikan, and while it hurt, his flight was uninterrupted. Alex and his dragon shared a look.

"I guess he doesn't understand." Alex smirked, and looked back at the bearded man with sunken eyes as he reached for his own power, inhaled, and finally Shouted as he chose three random words, "Dovah! Nagah! Qo!" His thus far suppressed Voice harnessed the power he and Shruikan had at their disposal, dragon, psychic, and electric. The Sediidah, or Threefold Attack.

Shruikan channeled the summoned power as Rayquaza had against Groudon, and unleashed a Hyper Beam level move. The man and Charizard were blown away by the Taijitu move as the three energies combined into one intensely powerful attack. To Alex, it seemed that the long hours of endless training under Tao had finally started paying off where it mattered. In battle. It was also useful to know what shouting an element's name in this tongue caused. Shruikan had taken command of that summoned power with ease.

Zuwuth hadn't appointed Koraaviik the Scroll Reader for nothing, though. His Charizard was damaged, but was revived by a whisper from the old man. His gray form bent slightly, and the Charizard was fully healed once more, almost instantly.

They faced off again against the dragon and his equally fearsome rider. The clouds spoke once more. "My apologies…Dragonborn. You are as the Scrolls have foretold. Forgive our… skepticism. The Fairy King Oberon is devious and sly."

Alex simply nodded. It made sense that men like this would fear Percy. The gray cloaked and bearded man was dual typed, as normal and dragon. The inherent fear of fairy types was ingrained in all dragons. Not because of their cute, fluffy, adorable shapes, but because of their total immunity to dragon energy, which as a rule, could bind or enhance the other types as its wielders saw fit. When he'd asked the First Dragon why Arceus had decided to make his most powerful creations weak to such fluffy, but rather rare creatures, he'd simply rumbled something about humility, being brought down a few notches by Arceus, and had moved on with his lesson. In human form, Alex had first hand experience of how irritating such energy could be. He was after all, at that moment, encased by a glamour that would not come off. He'd lifted his helmet by pure instinct earlier, but hadn't actually expected it to move.

"Oberon shared his knowledge of your Speech with me, and the knowledge of Hyper Voice. Combining the elemental energy of combination Moves is something I've long since mastered." Alex let his eyes flare with his psychic power. "Go ahead. Test me. And when I pass…you share your knowledge of a particular ability…"

A single agreeable boom of thunder answered him from the clouds, as the face disappeared. The Graybeard and the Trainer flew on, back to the fortress of Hrothofkiin. As they landed, the clouds darkened to signal the speech of the Graybeard, but Alex paused him with a tap on his shoulder.

He gave Shruikan a nod, and had him continue on behind the fortress. Alex guessed there was probably a training area back there. The fortress shook as the massive dragon landed, and as the inhabitants of the fortress rushed to the main chamber to investigate the shudders, they came upon a sight straight from legend. They had all heard the scroll-read prophecy of how the next dragon-blooded human would appear.

A figure clad in the bones of dragons, his brothers, who his Force had overpowered, would come to the summit of this fortress, and shake the island to its core with his training in the Voice.

Zuwuth stepped forward from the crowd of men, and Alex faced him down, standing several inches over him, as he did with most humans. He opened his mouth, and requested a taste of his Voice. Traditionally, that would be his shouting of Force, which was essentially what a regular Hyper Voice attack was, but Alex had tapped into another word he knew quite well, thanks to Koraaviik.

Yol.

The small wave of flame that appeared from nowhere singed the bearded man, and Alex chuckled. The fortress chuckled with him, as Shruikan found the little human's reactions amusing. They thought themselves powerful because they had learned an old trick of the dragons.

His kind had legends of Nidhogg too, and the mocking tone of his downfall in these human's songs irritated Shruikan. Humans always knew just enough of the truth to be dangerous. They couldn't all be like his Trainer, it seemed.

Zuwuth eyed the shaking fortress suspiciously. Then looked at Alex again. "You are the foreigner the Fairy King has shared our knowledge of Hyper Voice with…I admit your Voice is powerful…" He paused as Koraaviik whispered to him. "Yes. Right. Quite powerful. Oh?"

He looked at the foreigner again, his face as unreadable as a cliff side. "Let the Trials begin, then."

Four Graybeards, Zuwuth, Koraaviik, Arngeir, and Bjorn surrounded him, and as one, unleashed the power of their Hyper Voices. And with it, they awakened something that, until that moment, had been mostly asleep within Alex. Alex looked down at himself as the smoke and dust of the shivering fortress obscured him for a moment. The sheer power these men were producing with this attack appeared, visibly, as waves of air, and from four directions, they slammed into his form relentlessly. More than that though, their Voices were empowered with draconic energy, something his own Shouts hadn't had.

Yet.

Despite their power, he was unhurt. He stood before the unbridled power of four trained Hyper Voices, and didn't flinch. Instead, his eyes flared, and the familiar deep blue glow of his aura deepened into something else entirely, becoming a potent mix of blue and purple. His irises retained the light blue of his psychic typing, but the power of dragons was surging within him, and radiating off his larger form. The overwhelming presence he was giving off as he mentally pushed the change further almost overpowered the men responsible for testing him. There were limits yet to break with this energy he thought, as he clenched a glowing fist with immense satisfaction, but for now, this would do. It was power enough to rival Pravus, which was what he was still after. Tao's training promised to keep him alive, but this awakening power might just be enough to cage the bastard.

He blinked, and as he looked down, he couldn't deny it anymore. It had been staring him in the face, really, throughout his journey. Dragon types always seemed to have a connection with him. He could even, technically, breathe fire now. Soon, that ember would become an inferno, in a form akin to a Flamethrower. Gone was the normal typing common to almost every member of his race that his psychic eyes had seen. To his eyes, he was part dragon, part psychic now. He'd never seen a human with anything other than normal typing, and wondered what that meant for him.

He eyed his skin, but no changes were visible. As far as he knew, he would appear normal amongst humans. He felt he could tap into this new power though. Push it to its limits. Who knew, perhaps he'd even gain a proper dragon form. His granduncle had investigated rumors of people who could change their shapes into those of dragons. It was a myth of Draconid tribes from foreign lands, but it had ended in disappointment, and with the assumption that such things simply weren't possible.

As he looked around the chamber, Alex realized all sound had vanished. The fortress still shook, as the Graybeards focused their power on him, and he stood in the midst of it, unfazed. Shruikan's voice echoed in his skull. "Finally…I knew there was power akin to mine in you. I knew it from the moment we locked eyes…Dragon and Psychic…hmm. You will be strong, even among our kind…few are able to combine those types together."

He thanked his draconic brother, and as the old men ceased Shouting, for they'd done so for roughly a minute by now, their leader stepped forward. "You are, indeed, Dragonborn! The blood of the Clans flows within you!" He said, shaking the fortress with his proclamation in the tongue of the Dovah. "I dub thee Dragon of the West…it is an honor to be in your presence."

As their leader bowed, so too did the other bearded men. "Alok." Rise. Alex said the word, and it rippled through the gathered men. None could deny that his Voice had serious power…but it still needed training and refinement.

"Come." Zuwuth said, turning and heading for the courtyard. "We begin your training immediately." Koraaviik had informed him of what the Dragonborn had started, and they had little time to waste. Every few hundred years Nidhogg would awaken to try to break his ancient prison. Each time, the Articuno riders of Valaskjalf were able to lull him back to sleep with their own Shouts. In years past, they had begun to summon the Graybeards to help them. His last attempt for freedom had taken the lives of Lokra and Zuwuth's predecessors.

"Brother…you might want to see this…" Alex heard Shruikan's voice again as he headed up the steps within the fortress, to the doors leading to the back. Even the design of this temple was uncannily similar. His suspicions rose as he sensed his dragon bow his head to…whatever awaited them outside. That was strange. Shruikan had only ever bowed to Tao.

As Alex joined the Graybeards outside, they looked up, startled by both the huge, black scaled Salamence, and the figure it was bowing towards. Arcing through the ash-filled sky was the green form of the First Rayquaza.

"So." His own Voice thundered in the sky, clearing it of smoke and ash. "I see you have found my home away from Unova." His mouth moved as he spoke the language of Norstad better than Alex did, as if he'd been born to it.

The Graybeards had all bowed as well, but the Dragonborn walked towards the large dragon, smirking. "It's been a while. How is Brad's-"

"There will be time for that laterrr." The Rayquaza snarled. "You have set into motion events you cannot understand. Because of this, I must train you far sooner than we had intended."

"Y-you intend to train him, master? Personally?" Zuwuth asked, daring to look upon the jade colored dragon.

The Rayquaza nodded. "The training of his Voice will be left to me, and me alone. You are strong, for mortals, but you are not worthy of the name dragon. Not yet. Shruikan, join us." A giant green paw enveloped Alex as he stepped into it.

The great dragon then arced into the sky, and headed for his home on this island, the biggest volcano, recently erupted. It was also close to the fortress. Within the volcano, in the lava below, which glowed blue for some reason, not red, was the resting form of the red Rayquaza that Brad had tamed. It was still injured, as the battle with Groudon had been somewhat recent.

Once they landed, the Rayquaza looked them over, and nodded. "I see. The Original Dragon trained you. That makes some sense. In any case, you were not supposed to learn of this for several years yet…you've only just acquired Psychic abilities. But now the power in your blood has woken up…and in turn it has been noticed by Nidhogg. Know that the World Eater enjoys the taste of Dragonblooded Humans. In the past, he traveled far and consumed many of them. The Draconids never completely recovered from that, as a people."

The massive green dragon brought his eye to their level then. It was as tall as Shruikan. "You have shown remarkable restraint, control, and prowess already…Dragonborn…" The large dragon chuckled. "I hardly even recognize you. You've changed much in the space of a few weeks."

Alex had to agree. He'd been expecting to relax with this time away from the Swamp. Not that he minded getting stronger. His team was full of powerhouses, and he knew that he was the weakest link in it. Oranguru had said as much, but had refused to make him stronger. Now, in some ways, he'd made up for his weakness.

Alex met the dragon's eye, nodding. He could see the similarity to Tao's. Not in color, for none had the golden eyes burning with inner light like Tao possessed, but in the very shape. This Rayquaza, more than any other, was as close to a copy of the First Dragon as one could get. Others had been formed from their surroundings, like Brad's, and had taken on different subtle attributes based upon which mineral essences they formed from. This one had evidently been a piece of Tao himself, and like the dragon, did not require a female to procreate.

"Train us." Alex said in the tongue of their kin, "Teach us to use this power."

The dragon eyed the two young ones, and smirked. "Very well. Let us transform your Hyper Voice into what it was meant to be. The Strunzul. The Storm Voice."

Valaskjalf, Upper Cliffs - Norstad Region

The armored form of Shor, the God of Thunder, looked down upon the village below, and grinned. These women were notoriously…eager…when powerful male strangers visited. Or so his sources had said. He would blend in quietly, and work his way to their leader.

As he walked into the first inn he found, the eyes of every female rider there stared at him. He walked up to the counter, smirked, and said, "By Woden's saggy left testicle, give me some Nord Mead."

That brought on a familiar drinking song, and he proved he could 'chugga'mugga'mead' like no mortal could ever hope to. In short, he blended perfectly, despite his choice of character. The intel about Shor sometimes visiting the taverns of Norstad had proven accurate. Several weeks passed and the season slowly shifted to the heat of spring in the small village, while the rest of Norstad was still entirely frozen. Jess didn't mind it though, her 'Lil' Fo' kept her quite comfy when it came to temperature.

There had been some hesitation when Connor suggested the villagers give his sister an Articuno as thanks for him giving them many daughters. The village's seeress had eventually agreed to his skillful persuasion. She was the only one he'd been denied carnal access to, to keep her 'pure' or something. Apparently, like most ancient cultures, these riders valued the preservation of 'innocence' that they attributed to certain aspects of the female genitalia.

With her golden locks, she was easily one of the loveliest women around. She was a strong fighter, too, and often she and Connor would spar for roughly eight hours at a time with his team facing her Articuno, and the other members she'd added since meeting him. He would be lying if he'd claimed that he hadn't been interested in the seeress. He'd had more than a few partners in the days Alex and Jess had been away, and like any breathing male, he'd enjoyed himself. The whole situation had gotten stale quickly though, as he realized that, while the riders enjoyed themselves, reproduction was regarded as necessary, and emotions were kept out of it. It was hard not to feel like a dispensary after the twentieth such visit, gorgeous as his partners were, they did have a tendency to openly tell him, to his face, what his role was, and how they viewed him for filling it. It was just as he'd been tiring of being a reusable seed bag that he'd met her.

The seeress was different, for out of all of the women he'd had the pleasure of speaking with, she'd actually regarded him with more than lust, and had proven to be as skilled at battling as he was. Jess had explained, poorly, the thrill she got from sparring with Alex, but Connor hadn't quite understood what she'd been referring to until he battled the seeress. Judging by the looks she'd given him in return, the attraction was mutual, but custom kept him from pushing their dynamic further.

Then, 'Shor' had appeared, and his golden-haired beauty had been stolen away with little more than a glance and a pointed finger. Connor was furious, but none of the elders seemed to care. One did not deny a 'god' his desires, and it was well known that Shor needed a wife. From a legal standpoint, Connor was an outsider, and worse, a male. He was for reproduction and genetic diversity in the clan, nothing more. He had no voice.

After his threat to simply stop procreating entirely, they'd given him an egg, and said that if it hatched for his sister, she could keep it, provided she raised it for two weeks around the village, to learn how to properly handle a Legendary Bird's care.

As time passed, Connor grew to have doubts about this Shor character. Like his sister, and Alex, he had learned the old stories as well. They were the myths of their ancestors, carried on by songs. Those mythical beings had many names. Shor also went by Thor. Woden was sometimes Odin.

This Shor acted nothing like the character portrayed in the legends. He was dark, brooding, and clearly hiding something. Connor was not alone in his suspicion. Lokra suspected this figure as well. He was far too interested in her daughter, the aforementioned seeress, who she'd skillfully paired with the strong Trainer for a reason. She knew men well, as she knew her offspring, and the taboo denial would only, eventually, result in a vigorous, and likely fruitful furthering of their bloodline. Someone would have to replace her eventually, after all. Iizlokraan would need a new rider, and someone else would become the Konaar Boiik. Despite the expected pairing with Norstad's favored god, the seeress avoided Shor whenever she could, and Lokra kept him from their sacred spaces, declaring they were very much for women only.

It was hard to deny him without offending his divine authority but the more they interacted, the more Lokra was sure that this man had taken Shor's visage through some kind of magic. Unlike her fellows in this region, she knew what technology was, to a point, and knew what modern technology could, theoretically, be capable of. If this was the case, then it was heresy, and even more of a reason to not embrace technology.

Lokra was one of the few to have actually seen Shor before. While this pale imitation made a good visual recreation, it lacked the thunderous power the true being emanated. She did not have the words to describe a holographic projector, but she could smell Bouffalant stool a mile away.

Finally, when she had kept him from her daughter for as long as she could manage over the course of several weeks, Lokra challenged him. "Mighty Shor. If you have truly returned to us to rule in Woden's stead, open the Gates to your Hall, and the Life Pokémon." That, had got his attention, and he asked to be reminded of the exact procedure required to open the gate. He didn't want to mess up. Pravus also acted quite drunk at the time, but that wasn't unusual for Shor.

Shor had stood once he heard the relatively simple steps involved, and nodded, then walked outside. He had sensed the growing power of the presence in this place over the weeks he'd stayed here. He had a feeling subduing it would lead to what he truly sought. The Shadow whispered to him, telling him that what he needed was right here, in the village. He was too obsessed with his prize however, to fully heed what it was telling him.

What looked like storm clouds surrounded him then, and he floated out over the deep lake. The riders watched, but Lokra stayed perched, shaking her head as her proclamation rang through the fjord. "Nidhogg does not want this one. He wants the Dragonborn that was promised."

Pravus looked at the elderly chief, and noticed a small Pachirisu chattering to her, on her shoulder. It then ran away, disappearing into a crack in the ice her mount perched on.

She grinned, continuing. "He says this one has an aura that would taste foul. Nidhogg desires a Human with Dragonblood."

Shor looked at the Well, fuming. He couldn't just whip out Pokéballs as the God of Thunder. He only had one option. He drew his hammer, and pitifully small sparks of electricity played over it. They had impressed in the taverns, but right now, he needed more. More his belt simply could not provide.

A familiar Voice cracked the air over the fjord. "If the World Eater wants a Dragonborn…he shall get one!" Thunder boomed, and then, riding a bolt of electricity down to the disguised Pravus, Shruikan appeared, carrying the large dragonbone armored form of his Trainer.

They pulled to a stop in front of him, but held off on attacking. He was still Shor, God of Thunder…for the moment. Shor gestured to the Well, but Alex shook his head. His Voice reached every rider, who like before, had gathered on the cliffs. "I would dishonor myself and our hosts by taking a God's sport from him. By all means, summon the World Eater, mighty Thor." At his words, Lokra had the riders begin singing again. Their song quickly filled the fjord.

Pravus stared in disbelief. He knew that smirk. He'd faced this human before…but something was different. Just different enough for him not to realize who was playing the part of hero. For the moment. It was as the look of recognition came over his now-helmetless red-bearded face, that Alex Shouted, "Al! Du! In!" Destroyer. Devour. Master. Thunder boomed as the fury of the three words echoed into the water, and unbound the World Eater.

A dark chuckle echoed through the fjord. "Heh…heh…heh…ahst laat…" A pair of truly enormous wings lifted out of the well, and as they rose, they expanded, darkening the sky as the leathery appendages unfolded. Rayquaza had warned them of the World Eater's size, but he'd left out just how gargantuan he really was. Massive serrated black scales made up his crest, which like Tao's went from his curled horns pointing upwards all the way to his tail, which seemed more like a mace. The waters of his prison glowed an icy white blue with the rider's song, but the World Eater ignored it. He was not going back to sleep, this time. This time, he was free. A Dragonborn had undone his binding.

The rider's song faded as they realized not even the magic of old could cage this dragon now. He would either be defeated here, or once more rule over their land with a scaled fist. His power had, after millennia, finally built up enough for this. The Dragonborn whelp would help him regain what he had lost over the eons, or bring his doom.

Every aspect of him was black. Wings, scales, everything but his eyes, which burned yellow, and seemed to spark with electricity. He was a Black Salamence, though his similarity to Shruikan ended there. Massive plates of hardened, jagged scale covered his gargantuan body, from snout to tail tip. Even the wings were edged with razor sharp spines, though the leather parts of the appendages remained free of such scales, indicating that the World Eater could likely fly. Air filled the massive classic draconian wings as they pulled his titanic girth from the bowels of Norstad. Alex surmised they'd probably changed to accommodate their host's incredible size.

The fjord shook as the beast's head rose, and then, after four thunderous booms from each clawed foot, the dragon was standing in the well's water, finally free of his icy prison. The fjord was barely big enough for him anymore. "Go ahead, mighty Shor!" Alex let his voice carry. "Show us all the power of Woden's own son! Mjolnir can handle the serpent!" His words reached everyone watching, and as Shor remained motionless, murmurs began to rise. The true God of Thunder would never hesitate to battle his nemesis. Or battle in general, really.

Shor was instead staring down Alex as he hovered in the air, fists locked in what was undoubtedly white-knuckled fury. Alex smirked at him. After several weeks of training, he could do many things with his Voice now, and not all of them had to split the sky with thunderous power. Those kinds of Shouts were, admittedly, his favorite though. He could also sense the mad mind of Pravus, or rather, the dark absence it left in reality. He was not the only dark typed human, but each human who acquired that typing gave off their own personal 'wavelength' of darkness and Alex recognized his. It was hard to forget after their encounter on top of the PNN building.

In a desperate attempt to stay in character, Shor twirled his sparkling hammer, and shot towards Nidhogg. It was like trying to take a brick wall down with a small coin. His 'hammer' bounced off the dragon's snout harmlessly, and it didn't take long for the dragon's massive black paw to swat him into a nearby building.

Alex saw Jess and her Articuno, who was almost half her height now, head for the ruined building. She knew Alex had a plan, as right before arriving they'd psychically shared information, amongst the feelings of joy now that they were close again. Now she played her part: keeping the disguised entity that was probably Pravus, or some other Arcean, from slipping away.

With the nuisance gone, Alex turned to his own part of the plan. Subduing Alduin so that the way into Uppsalir would be open once more. Permanently.

Before he could act, the dragon turned his gaze up, and snarled in the tongue of dragons. "For your words, you will Die!" His roar shook the entire mountain chain. In this instance, his fury was well justified. There were two last lines of defense for Valaskjalf, a Braviary, and a Talonflame, a pair of birds charged with guarding the gate and the lake by Woden himself.

Over the years, they had, naturally, become bored, and had convinced a Pachirisu to ferry messages to the trapped Nidhogg for them. Or be eaten. The electric squirrel had done as it was told, but the contents of what it had said to the caged dragon, via electric shock, was always antagonizing, infuriating, and mocking in nature.

In that moment, the Pachirisu in question had fled when it realized Nidhogg was going to probably be free soon. The pair of birds had only seconds to cry their rage at the betrayal before a blast of lightning obliterated them. They had been told Nidhogg was actually doing fine, trapped beneath the water, and was grateful the birds bothered to speak to him at all in his solitude. They had been wrong in their assumptions, and now the Pachirisu in question was nowhere to be seen.

His millennia long irritant disposed of, the dragon turned his focus back to Alex, and the other Black Salamence that dared to challenge him. Another amused chuckle filled the fjord, and the dragon pulled in his wings. They still blocked out most of the sky, for Alex, but keeping them extended constantly was unnecessary.

His words shook the entire fjord as two gargantuan yellow eyes stared them down. "You are the Dragonblood? Ha! I thought you'd be bigger…"

Alex looked up at the massive dragon, arms crossed. "I could honestly say the same thing. The songs say your wings 'darken the sky', but from what I can tell, you could maybe block the sun for a few miles. If that."

The dragon snarled. "Ignorant worm…I am the Night!" He puffed his chest up, and roared again. Everyone and everything held their ear orifices as the dragon's furious Hyper Voice raged through the area.

Alex waited until he was done, unfazed. "You are the night, hmm? Impressive, considering this is the land of the midnight sun. You are aware it doesn't set at this time of year, right?" His Voice echoed in every ear gathered, especially the dragon's, the hate filled eyes focused on him, and his smirk, as he stood arms crossed atop a smaller version of his own kind.

There were chuckles from the surrounding village on the walls, and the dragon glared at the human females. The World Eater's Voice needed no enhancement to be heard, but somehow, this gnat's words were just as loud. The dragon snarled again. He'd had enough Tinvaak.

Alex and Shruikan had been waiting for the very moment his eyes narrowed and began to spark again. They zipped up, high, and Alex Shouted down at the still land-bound dragon. "Come, wyrm! Your destiny is upon you!"

Alduin's massive wings flapped downwards, and the concussive blast tore apart several of the houses near the water. He flapped again as he gained air, and every thatched roof in the village blew away like dandelion seeds. His head turned towards his prison, and his Shout was heard for miles. "Viidost! Praakem! Fonaar!"

The well of water bubbled, and then, slowly, the heads of thousands of Pokémon began to break the surface. Arbok and Ekans, though they were dual poison and ice types. They dwelt in the lowest parts of Norstad, preferring to hunt in the dark, but over the long centuries, Nidhogg had become a source of warmth and life for them and his Shadow was only too eager to corrupt them, as well.

Then he had left, only to call them to the surface. The day had finally come. The gate would open, and the snake's rage would ravage the land as much as their draconic master's.

"Blaze Kick!"

As the first slithering intruder crept forth from the Well, it found itself facing down a flaming foot, which fainted it easily. In large numbers, the snakes were unbeatable, but there was only so much room on this shoreline.

Ardor flipped back into the line of defense on the fjord's beach as his opponent fell, and pounded his chest as he stood side-by-side with Gar, and Sophos, the Alakazam. Being the Champion of Kalos, Connor was more than capable of handling a swarming mass of poisonous, icy snakes.

As the eternal light of the midnight sun shone down on them, more than a few slithered back to the water, rather than faint. They lived underground, and the light was irritating. As was the heat from the fire ape. Their master did not notice however, for the massive dragon had followed his dinner into the clouds.

Only then did he realize his mistake. Norstad's airspace was always full of dark, snowy clouds that never completely stopped dumping snow on the region, and today was no exception. Even over Valaskjalf, they were present. Though the steam from the village was one of the few places that melted the snow before it ever came close to its inhabitants.

Given his massive size, Nidhogg had long since lost the rapid speed and maneuverability most Salamence had, but there was another advantage Shruikan and his Trainer had that the large dragon did not. Mega Evolution.

The dragon's eyes widened as he saw the smaller dragon change, and grow considerably stronger, and faster. "What!? No! How has a mortal gained such power!?"

The clouds lit with his fury as he fired a Charge Beam, but it might as well have been moving in slow motion against the smaller, faster dragon, who barrel rolled out of the way, and responded with his own mocking roar, goading the beast further as he followed them.

As the apocalyptic battle raged above, giving only brief glimpses of the massive dragon's form hidden within the clouds as it discharged another Charge Beam, the snakes of the Hvergelom began to slowly overwhelm Connor, and his three defenders. The cleverer ones had slithered up the rocks, and the less clever ones had followed. The cries of Articuno filled the air as they joined the battle, and pelted the snakes with their Ancient Power.

Jess stood beside Folokraan, glancing at the two battles. Alex could use ice against a dragon, but Connor needed all the aid he could get. He was already burning through elixirs. Jess looked down at her newest partner, and then nodded. There was really only one choice they could make in a situation like this.

Sahqoreyth · Mar 28, 2024

Chapter 19: The World Eater

The World Forge – Mountain Adjacent to Hrothofkiin, Two Weeks Earlier

"Show me what you already know. Let me taste of your Voice, Champion of Unova." His Rayquaza's semi-mocking tone echoed throughout the volcano. For some reason, Alex could not sense the Legendary Dragon, and it made battling him much more difficult. Even Shruikan could not follow his stealthy movements through the smoke-filled magma chamber.

The inside of the volcano was largely obscured, and had Alex not spent so much time around smoke, both from the Leaf and a certain super powerful dragon, he likely would've coughed himself raw, but it didn't seem to bother him. Whatever the Graybeards had done had changed him, it seemed. He was eager to test his new limits.

Suddenly, Alex's vision shifted, and he recognized sight through Leo's eyes, which cut through the obscuring smoke, and were all but immune to trickery. Alex gave the mental equivalent of a glance to his Luxray, who preferred to keep his eyes closed and napping.

"Teach me this 'dragon-tongue' of yours and Shruikan's. In return for my Sight Beyond Sight." Alex rolled his eyes. He was really nicknaming his ability. He wasn't the only team member to do so. Blaze echoed that he wanted to speak it as well. The fact that he couldn't speak the language of what his own species supposedly was, was irritating.

Arthur wanted in as well, and soon the entirety of their team had made their wish to understand this strange tongue for themselves known. They had second-hand knowledge of what was going on in this region from Alex's interpretation of what he saw and shared, but it wasn't enough.

Eventually, Shruikan caved to their wishes, and shared with all of them, the trick many dragon types used to make themselves seem Legendary. Not the Hyper Voice, but the very words it used to shape reality. Tao informed Alex that he would be drawing on his knowledge of this tongue as well. It was a strangely familiar power, but it was also new and unexplored. The Dragon's Tamer could only imagine how the white scaled behemoth was using this new power. He found it odd that the Original Dragon did not seem to recall his own species' language.

Alex glanced at his disguised staff, wondering if what he sensed about Tao, and this language, was true, but he put that thought on hold for now. Tao could wait, his patience was literally infinite. It was good that he focused, for as his eyes had moved, distracted by his internal shenanigans, Rayquaza had decided to strike his distracted pupil, and his Dragon Tail, limned with purplish-blue energy, came hurtling towards Alex.

He was reminded of Lizardon's attack, and had a feeling the similarities were purposeful. Using his borrowed visual prowess, he dodged the tail, which seemed to move in slow motion to Leo's vision. It really was almost unfair how much slower everything else was to him these days. No wonder he napped so often.

His eyes tracked the Rayquaza, and as requested, he unleashed his Hyper Voice. "Yol! Toor! SHUL!" The Rayquaza raised his brow at his pupil's choice of words as a torrent of bright flame, on par with a Flamethrower, not an ember, hit the dragon squarely in the face.

He was singed, clearly, and even had small, but still irritating burns. So much for fire not harming dragons. The burns healed instantly, but the dragon was still impressed he'd even needed his regenerative ability at all. Every human he had trained over his long life had always started with small Voices.

Then again, he realized, he had never actually properly felt the Voice of a true Dragonblooded mortal. They were rather rare. He'd been in their presence, but none had unleashed their power on him. It sent a chill through his ancient bones, bones so similar to his apprentice's attire. This power, unchecked, could devastate his fellow dragons. It had before. He grumbled inwardly. Tao had been right, the Sages were indeed crucial to dragons, and every other living thing on the planet.

They kept events like that from ever occurring again, trusting that their powerful human pupils would not, if put in a true position of leadership, abuse the powers that set them so far above most of their kin. Oranguru had told the green scaled dragon, on his latest visit to the Swamp, of the human from Unova and his potential, and so far, he had been correct. The human showed no signs of dark temptation. Yet.

He was calm, easygoing, sarcastically witty, and clever. When he needed to be. His use of this newest power would be a truer test of his right to rule. Dragonborn always had an inborn desire to lead. Power was intoxicating to them. That did not always end well for them, and more than one empire had been founded by such a person across the epochs. The lineage of the Draconids may have been shattered by Alduin, but their bloodlines continued all over the world as a result.

"Good. Very good. You understand the nature of Fire…" The dragon eyed his pupil and Alex shrugged, smirking.

"I had the Graybeard who collected me share his knowledge of stringing a few particular words together…though, I knew what these, when combined, would do." The dragon raised his scaly brow further, and Alex chuckled once more. "Well…it was more like an educated guess."

The dragon stayed silent, hovering in the air as he usually did, resting on his coils.

After several long minutes in the sweltering heat of the volcano, he finally spoke. "I see." The ancient Legendary Dragon took another long pause, during which he sighed. Heavily. "That silly game has prepared you already, somewhat, but you must have noticed by now. The reality of using the Hyper Voice is a bit different, isn't it."

Alex nodded. The first chance he had, he'd tried breathing ice, electricity, speaking words of death, combining words of death into three-word Shouts that, in his experience, were devastating. Many had not worked. The few that did either did something completely different, or didn't have a visible effect.

Moreover, there were words in Norstad's tongue that he simply didn't recognize the origin of, though he knew the meaning. Many times, as he'd mentally examined his new vocabulary, he had noticed that there were often two words, with identical meanings, but were definitely not rooted in prior languages, like so many other languages were. The most universal was 'Common', originating from Galar, but it was standard practice to teach youngsters the language of their homeland as well as Common. In Unova's case, Common was the only tongue they had ever needed.

Tao's voice echoed in his head again. "When your kinsmen worshiped me, and followed my guidance to govern them, they too spoke the dragon tongue…my memories of that time are…still clouded."

Alex focused on the dragon, as he was being unusually talkative. He'd sensed Tao's thoughts, more or less, through their bond, and this 'dragon tongue' was naggingly familiar to him, and bonded as they were, Alex could tell he did not like this gap in his knowledge. "I shall help you gain clarity…when I return."

He heard the Tao's chuckle echo in his skull. "If you return. You've stepped in it this time, apprentice." The human's unease swelled, but the First Dragon continued, "But, you are more or less prepared…or you will be, once Rayquaza trains you. Listen well, do as instructed, and you will find Victory again."

The large, coiled green dragon sighed again. "You are not the first Human to have some prior knowledge of this power, but you need to listen, and listen well. This is not the Shouting you know, forget everything you were taught by your fantasy world. The real one is quite a bit different and if you continue blindly with guesses and improper verbiage, you are going to kill someone."

Alex stared at the dragon in return for a moment, and then nodded, deciding to trust Tao's advice as well. Neither of them had steered him wrong. He regarded Rayquaza again, and for the first time, sensed just how much stronger the dragon was. He was a dragon type now as well, but Rayquaza was far older. Wiser. And his looks matched his typing. Alex still appeared as a normal human, albeit one in heavy bone armor.

Alex bowed in the Unovan style, fist to palm, towards the dragon. "Teach me properly. Master."

The dragon grinned, and acquiesced.

Over the next several weeks, Rayquaza began molding the flood of knowledge Alex had gained, giving it the structure of an actual language. The difference between learning this one and, say, Japanese, was that after each lesson he could use these new words in varying combinations. Between that and repetition, his Hyper Voice grew stronger at an alarming rate. The Graybeards would have feared such rapid progress, but Rayquaza had other fears. Nidhogg, Alduin, The World Eater, this being had many names even amongst dragons. Even with such rapid progress, he feared it would not be enough to stop the prehistorical calamity that had been sleeping for so very long now.

It was through this ancient tongue that Arceus had imbued his dragons with the ability to manipulate their world with ease that no other Pokémon type had. With naught but their Voice, they could stop natural disasters, provide water for humans and Pokémon alike, even heal. Evidently, the humans of old had also discovered it at one point, but thankfully, none had possessed the power of Hyper Voice needed to activate the Words.

The Hyper Voice, when empowered with draconic energy, had the ability to manipulate the other types, provided there was a source for them. This also included fairy energy, though it was unwieldy, and natural sources of fairy energy were extremely hard to find, well guarded, and typically immovable. Alex had then realized that his crystals could serve as such sources, and just like that, he felt the need to collect the rest. He knew he'd eventually need all of them, but had put them from his mind when Tao warned him of greed.

With this great ability, the dragons of their world had kept the peace, devastated violent armies bent on conquest, and had even battled against the Successor's minions. But few of those yet lived, and those that did, did so in prisons no mortal was likely to find.

Unless they gained knowledge from a fairy king and flew to one such prison that happened to have a village around it.

Alduin was another subject of his training, for the human had blundered onto him, and the imprisoned dragon had finally sensed a source of raw, unrefined power that he could use to regain his own. Even when newly awakened, Dragonborn had immense power buried within them. Alex had felt it during the long hours of training under Rayquaza. The dragon warned him that his newfound strength was indeed finite, but even after hours of Shouting, he felt he could do more, if he needed to.

To better prepare him against his foe, Rayquaza gave the human and his team a crash course in history. Not human history, full of holes, inaccuracies, lies, and agenda's, but history as viewed through the very eyes of the Sky Guardian, and his kin, over uncountable years.

He started, with Giratina. Ever since the discovery by humanity that the white Arceus both did exist and were actually clones of the true Arceus, which presumably resided within his own dimension, the rumors and legends around the ghostly dragon had only increased.

Some said he was the destroyer, the opposite force of Arceus, who brought creation and life. That could only mean Giratina was the harbinger of death and destruction, surely. The truth was much more complicated, and as they were short on time, Rayquaza gave the young human just enough to whet his appetite for the full legend.

Arceus was as much a force of destruction as he was creation. He did as he pleased. He was the Alpha. From him, he had created Guardians, or as humans called them, Legendary Pokémon. There were twenty-three other such powerful Pokémon, or so Rayquaza said, each coming from a piece of Arceus' infinite power. Despite some being older and some younger, they were all more or less matched when it came to power, but all fell short of Arceus. Twenty-three beings on Tao's level was still a lot to grasp, but Alex filed much of this information away for later. His Gruncle would love it.

Giratina had been designated the Omega, but instead of being created last, had spent much of the early ages of creation as a valued, loved, and trusted friend of the masters of reality, time, and space. Then, came his betrayal. For reasons Rayquaza had glossed over, despite loud protests from Alex and his partners, Giratina had been imprisoned.

This imprisonment came with a cost, however. Beings that held that kind of power were not so easily un-made, as Arceus soon learned, and thus, an entire dimension had been created to imprison Giratina. From there, he could watch as creation grew ever-brighter. That hadn't been enough for Giratina though, Rayquaza had said, so he had used his dimensional prison to his advantage, infecting one world after another with the essence of his new power, acquired after falling from Arceus' good graces. Shadow energy.

All throughout creation, aberrations had begun appearing. Pokémon sometimes turned inexplicably dark, enraged, powerful, but the cost was high. Their very minds were warped by this new force, and often, those infected with the Shadow would eventually fade back into the nothingness from whence they were created. Some Pokémon possessed the ability to cleanse them, but they were usually on par with Legendary Pokémon, and as such, weren't commonly found. Much like their creator, they required long naps to keep their power from fading entirely.

This Shadow energy was not like the dark type energy some Pokémon had, and such Pokémon were not, automatically, drawn towards those with evil intentions. In reality, it was the very antithesis of existence. Anti-matter. The domain over which Giratina claimed lordship, for not even Arceus could handle the volatile substance with ease. With enough anti-matter, ghost energy, and dark energy, one could manifest the Shadow's power. The Aura Guardians of the past had abandoned such research when the Shadow had started talking to them, but the not so wise had listened eagerly, and grabbed at power as soon as they had the chance.

Nidhogg was, in Rayquaza's own words, a 'unique' situation. As a Black Salamence, he had been extremely strong, especially amongst his own kin, and like most dragons with such an advantage, had come to rule over them. Norstad had, once, been green and lush, with marshes, ancient forests, and fertile coastal islands.

A human wielding the power of Giratina had come then, and through trickery, infused the black dragon with Shadow. Unlike the Arceans, this wielder had known what she was doing, and thus, the Shadow and the dragon had become one, a perfectly closed heart that science still could not quite replicate.

Nidhogg, then named Alduin by the locals, had entered into an unstoppable frenzy of raw emotion, a true tyrant, a second tyrant, for he first appeared not long after Arceus had Judged the primitive human warlord from Norstad, his Tyrantrum, and his army of bloodthirsty conquerors. Up until his infusion, Alduin had killed the humans that tried to slay or tame him, but otherwise let them go about their insignificant lives in relative peace. Dragons did not often concern themselves with the opinions, or lives, of humans. Many in that age had considered them lesser beings, hampered by their mortality.

Not long after Arceus returned to his rest after losing his Tamer, Rayquaza had been tasked by Tao with helping to put Alduin down once it had been devised that the Renegade's Shadow had infected him. Indeed, forces from across the planet had united, at the Sage's behest usually, and the battle had been epic…but costly. Norstad had become a frozen wasteland after that conflict. Xerneas had gone to sleep, expending her remaining energy to save her land from becoming entirely desolate, and the Dark Times began in earnest.

Alex had been eager to know more, but his mentor would not budge. The rest of that tale was too long to speak of at the moment. He knew what he needed to know about Nidhogg. Now, he would gain the power that might suffice against his weakened, imprisoned form.

Rayquaza warned that even with the Strunzul, or Storm Voice, Alduin was unlikely to be an easy opponent. He was not at his peak, but each moment he spent free of his cage would see his dark power restored. This would not be a battle to the faint. There was only one outcome now.

In truth, they had simply not possessed the strength to end Alduin back when he was first imprisoned. He had been too unstoppable. After millennia in the Hvergelom though, he might have been weak enough for a Dragonborn to handle. Taming, subduing, and in unfortunate cases, slaying, was something they were literally born to do. A counter-balance to the dragon's powerful Voices, so that one evil minded dragon did not dominate humanity with no hope of ever unseating such a beast.

Slowly, Alex began to grasp how to properly wield the dragon's tongue, and with that understanding came a new level of strength. The entire fiery island had quaked as he practiced his Hyper Voice, and eventually, even the sky thundered at his words. That was when Rayquaza had deemed him ready.

The red-orange scaled Rayquaza, now somewhat healed after a few items from Alex's bag helped stabilize him, had vacated the pool of blue lava in the caldera known as the World Forge. Rayquaza claimed to live here, but Alex didn't entirely believe him. His mentors were sly, and the details they gave about themselves were usually lies to avoid the question entirely. He didn't know what the Rayquaza was avoiding, but mountains were large, and he was well familiar with just how many caverns they could have.

The two dragons circled the volcano's peak, and once more, the Graybeards had gathered in their courtyard. Something was about to happen, they just did not know what, exactly. "Step into the lava." The green dragon's voice echoed in his head, and Alex nodded.

He would've stripped, but aside from his helmet, his armor was thoroughly stubborn when it came to removal. He'd found that it would shift when he needed to badly relieve himself, but then it would reform shortly after, and once more be unmovable. As it was, he'd left his bag with Shruikan, as well as his belt.

His team watched him now, from the relative safety of the circular rock ledge surrounding the pool of strange blue lava. Whatever this was, he'd said, he would face it alone. He'd kept his staff however, and it still looked like a greatsword, strapped to his back.

He'd expected heat once he stepped into the pool, but was instead met with a tolerable, invigorating warmth. "You know the Words." His Rayquaza thundered. "Use them."

Alex glanced at the sky then, and inhaled slowly, then exhaled. Using this attack, he'd learned, required near-perfect breath control. Something he'd long since unknowingly mastered thanks to his shenanigans with the Leaf.

He drew in a deep breath then, and the clouds darkened. His Rayquaza smirked. It was time. Alex's trained Voice rocked the skies. "Naal viilut do dii sos, faal Strun Du'ul engein wah zey!"

The clouds parted with each word of his Hyper Voice, forming a circular hole in the stormy gray clouds. Then, from the center of the hole in the dark clouds, a massive bolt of pure white lightning shot down, striking his form. As his mentor had instructed, he called upon both his psychic and dragon power for this moment. It was a good thing he had, for his form was still very much susceptible to that much raw energy, and being torn apart by it.

He looked down as the pool glowed bright with a fierce bluish-purple color, electricity sparked over it and his own body, and Alex lifted his head to the sky again through the massive pain he felt, and endured. A torrent of dragonflame erupted from the volcano as his human yell became something much deeper, a true roar that ended in fire.

He looked down again as the pain subsided and his shout ended, but aside from a few admittedly cool looking sparks of electricity arcing over his armored façade at various points across his body, there was no physical change. Mentally though, he felt renewed. The long green form of Rayquaza, followed by the red-scaled form of his younger western counterpart, descended to the lava pool once more.

"The Storm Crown has accepted you, Dragonborn. Cherish it, for in these times, you will be challenged for it. Unique individuals are appearing all over the world lately, even in Norstad." Alex nodded, listening to the dragon carefully. Rayquaza was usually not so forthcoming with facts like this. More and more he had a feeling there was some sort of global communication setup used by Sages and other such powerful Pokémon, but he kept his curiosity in check for the moment.

"So what exactly does this 'Storm Crown' do?" The dragon sighed at the Trainer. Humans truly understood little, and always having to re-educate them was tedious. Then again, now, this one would actually live long enough to pass on this knowledge to many generations, but he too would eventually end. Dragons, while functionally immortal, could still be slain.

"You are a newly formed Dragonborn, and while your Voice is strong, it alone is not enough. The Graybeards awakened your potential to wear this, and now that you have it, you can harness the power to bring down the World Eater. Doing so will make you worthy of keeping it upon your head." The large green snake brought his giant eye so close to Alex, it towered over him. This seemed to be some sort of 'thing' dragons did for emphasis in Tinvaak.

"I know of the Sage's reluctance to enhance your psychic potential. Dragons, however, are beholden to no Psychic Type. And you, now, are a dragon as well. As you grow older, this 'crown' will keep your body from degrading. It takes time for Humans to gain the immortality of this typing, and many Dragonborn before you have failed to attain it. Mostly because they tried building an empire too early, and were slain in the name of greed."

Alex looked down, but even then, the giant eye was unavoidable. He started to understand. To dragons like Tao and this Rayquaza, he was a hatchling. All dragons helped younger ones, when they were this small. It was a general fact amongst their kind that their numbers had dwindled during the Dark Times. All newborns needed to be given the chance to fully mature, at least. Where they would live was another matter, but any dragon worth their scales could defend their territory from a young upstart, and if they couldn't, many simply disappeared from the world to pass on quietly, knowing their time was ending. This behavior had been observed by the humans, of course, but none had so far figured out where exactly the elder dragon types went, when their end was upon them.

Once the Pokédex became a standard item to hand out to new Trainers, many of the myths about dragon types had faded. Professor Dracaena, of Fornia supposedly, was the one responsible for discovering most of the new info on them. Nobody knew where her lab was, though, for Caleb Pravus and the Arcean Church had labeled her a suppressive heretic. For Trainers clever enough to find her, it was rumored she gave out rare dragon types.

"So…it makes me immortal? Just like that? I don't think I believe it…" He met the eye's stare, then.

"You were just struck by the natural fury of lightning and lived, unscathed, while standing in a pool of molten rock." The dragon smirked as he spoke.

"Good point…" Alex sighed, and Rayquaza rose again as he spoke. "Moreover, you can now summon the power of your crystals, with naught but your Voice. You won't have to rely on your partner's power alone to fire beams of energy at my Scroll Reader."

As Alex awkwardly chuckled, he noticed six bright flashes from the ring around the pool of lava he still stood in. He smirked. His team had, upon hearing this news, attempted to speak the name of the elemental type they controlled, and the result had been Mega Evolution. Supplying the power for all six was taxing, but not as bad as he'd expected.

No longer did they have to wait for him to connect them to the power. They were always connected, and as long as the Plates were on his person, they could draw from them with the right draconic word. Doing so took far more stamina than having Alex help them ascend, though. Still, it was a useful ability to have, when needed. Only Terra and Blaze had done this previously, on their own, but they'd both admitted it had been pure instinct, and had been unable to do it again.

Alex looked up at the large green dragon once more. "This will likely make us stronger, true, but from what you told me, it took an entire planet's worth of unique and powerful Pokémon to bring Alduin down before. How are seven of us going to manage that?"

The dragon again smirked, and then, hatched a plan.

Valaskjalf – Present Day, Norstad Region

Folokraan and Chari launched into the air, and since Fo was still too small to ride, Jess remained on her almost red Charizard, who even then, mega evolved as they headed towards Alex, and the monstrous outline of Alduin in the clouds. The rest of her team had followed her orders, joining Connor's below against the horde of ice and poison snakes. Both Alex and Connor had warned her to never 'split her party', but she had enough partners on hand to help both of them, and she trusted her girls to do their best.

Delphi alone was making short work of the Ekans and Arbok with her cunning mind. Her flames bathed the cliffs in fire, and when that wasn't enough, she and Gar combined their power to rain fiery meteors on the lake. Along with Sophos, she was also distributing items to those who needed them via telekinesis. With the cliffs out of the fight, the snakes soon found themselves in a very large barrel, pelted from above by Articuno's Ancient Power and hit from the shore by the now reinforced team following Connor's orders. Seeing their tides turn, many fled beneath the water before ice or fire or ground attacks could make them faint. Getting her own stash of healing potions and elixirs had been the first thing Jess had done once she'd left Alex for the first half of her own final semester, and now, the decision to build up her own stockpile was paying off.

As her Charizard took her up into the dark clouds, she came upon a sight straight out of a legend passed down from her ancestors. Many Unovans hailed from the supercontinent, and in the northern parts, full of mountains, snow, and danger, the people had, in the absence of society, reverted to following the beliefs of their ancestors, preserved in stories older than any existing civilization.

It was in this way, with a bit of help from the Old Net, that the stories of the 'old gods' as they were commonly called, lived on. Now, she saw the bone-armored form of the awkward, tall farmer next door facing down a dragon that could probably eat a mountain, and still hunger.

There was something different this time though, and as Jess took a closer look at Alex and his dragon, she sighed. He'd gotten stronger. Again. Just when she finally had an edge thanks to Delphi and Folokraan, he'd gone and unlocked something new.

Then, she saw it with her psychic gaze. His shiny new typing. He'd told her that most humans had normal as a default, and he'd never seen anyone that proved otherwise. Somehow, it seemed, he'd either gained a dragon's power, or awakened what had already been inside. Her own psychic power had given her vision akin to a psychic type's, a useful trick for someone who hadn't memorized the Pokédex. Unlike some Trainers, she'd had a social life, while her brother and Alex spent their days playing games in between bouts of extensively reading Pokédex entries. They claimed it was the best way to study. Given their top tier grades in subjects relating to common Pokémon knowledge, she couldn't really argue.

The plan they'd cooked up rather quickly soon became void as she realized even an ice attack from Fo would do next to nothing against a beast like this. She felt her lover's focus turn to her for a moment, as his dragon continued the admittedly beautiful spectacle of dodging and weaving between Charge Beams that could likely tear apart mountain ranges. With each dodge, a Dragon Pulse would slam into Alduin's face, hitting his eyes or nose. It was full of soft parts, and breaks in the armor that was his massive scales.

"Don't worry, the plan will still work. Find Terra below. Rayquaza gave us a strategy to bring him down, and we're going to need ice." His focus shifted again as Alduin's maw lit up with electricity, and the dragon, enraged, charged at the irritating gnat with enough persistent rage to keep him attacking constantly. Seeing this, Shruikan began flying ahead of him, only outpacing the massive beast thanks to the speed of his Mega Form.

While Jess was initially worried for them, she'd felt better once she'd heard his Rayquaza returned, and had trained his 'voice'. Whatever that meant. She'd tried using Percy's knowledge too of course, but nothing had happened, and the riders hadn't taught her their songs. She looked down again, and spied the three riders that Lokra had left to keep 'Shor' confined. He was, to all appearances, still encased in ice.

Nodding to herself, she took off towards where she sensed Alex's earth turtle was patiently waiting in the cold. He'd been reluctant to come out during this adventure, as he had no desire to experience winter, and while he had Thick Fat to protect against attacks, that did little to mitigate the freezing temperatures of Norstad. He was, after all, still a grass type, and they hated the cold.

While his lover may have been worried about the gargantuan dragon snapping at them now, it was in truth what Alex and Shruikan had been goading the Shadow infused dragon into. Blind rage.

In this way he would hopefully waste his power, enough for their final attacks to bring him down. For once, his belt was empty, as the rest of his team was positioned around a perimeter that was several miles long, and just outside the sacred forest. He'd been leading the dragon from the Hvergelom for several long minutes now, mocking him with his words with each missed bite from the massive Thunder Fangs and Charge Beams. Just one hit was likely to seriously injure both of them but Shruikan was too small for Alduin's slow attacks.

He glanced back again, and the scene had not changed. Alduin was still furious, and still using his Thunder Fang to snap uselessly at where he thought his opponent would be. He was having a hard time adjusting for the speed of Shruikan's Mega Form, and while he was smaller, he was definitely faster. Though, as their course had been somewhat straight, the massive dragon had gained more and more speed. It seemed, in a straight line and with enough build-up, a dragon this massive could indeed still be fast. Alex expected no less of a black Salamence.

Finally, Alex took Shruikan down below the clouds, emerging right over the remains of the Arcean's ship. He felt his team sound off as they caught sight of them, and then felt the numerous reactions to the sight of an enormous Black Salamence descending right behind them from the clouds, attacking with blind fury. The massive jaws snapped shut again with an ominous crash of teeth, but both Alex and Shruikan were focused on getting where they needed to be, as quickly as possible.

"He's using a Charge Beam!" The warning came from Arthur, who had perched in one of the forest's trees. Already in his own Mega Form, as were the rest of them, he began moving towards where he felt the dragon was likely to fall. His role was the most important, for out of all of them, only he possessed a weapon capable of truly ending Alduin's rage. Or so they hoped.

Now only feet from the snow-covered ground, Shruikan turned in mid-flight, and saw the familiar build-up of the move in question. He launched his own Charge Beam into the sphere, and the cancellation of the moves caused an explosion within the beast's mouth. The dragon roared in pain, and Alex spied serious burns on the insides of his mouth. "Hmm…not so fireproof on the inside…noted."

Pained as he was, the angry, hungry, and now wounded dragon slammed into the ground, from his perspective, out of nowhere. He let his left front limb stop his momentum, and as he slid along the frozen tundra, he made giant hills of ice and dirt in his wake. Alduin looked around, and paused as what little of his former self remained stared in horror at the wasteland his home had become. Even when he'd been locked away, it had never been this bad. What little ember of hope had remained for his homeland faded. It was all dead. Buried in snow. Gone. There was no point in holding back anymore.

The dragon's shock was short-lived, as he felt a super-effective attack slam into him. The gnat had launched a Dragon Pulse, rather than use his own electric power against his. If he wanted a battle of type advantages, that was no problem for Alduin. He raised his massive, spined tail and it began to glow with the purplish-blue energy of dragon type moves.

"Dragon Pulse!" The command came from Alex who, atop Shruikan's head, had a good view of the dragon. Shruikan, Blaze, and Chari all responded, and as the Dragon Tail came moving forward, it faltered, and the power faded as Alduin's tail was left minus the power he'd summoned. It slammed into the ground uselessly, as Shruikan once more avoided it.

The dragon's sparking eyes looked around, but failed to find the source of the other two pulses in the kicked up snow and dust. Then, he remembered he was on the ground. His wings rose to propel himself up once more, and then stopped, frozen in place. He looked up only to find his wings lifting into a Blizzard attack, followed closely by three more Dragon Pulses. The attacks tore through the thin wing membranes, and he roared in pain. A quick look at the damage told him he wouldn't be flying for a while. That was fine. These gnats would taste just as good on the ground.

Another Charge Beam lit the area, as the dragon shot in vain at where he suspected his enemies were hiding. The massive torrent of electricity tore a half circle of destruction in the landscape just north of the sacred forest, but Blaze and Chari had kept moving as soon as they'd attacked. Because they had such useful moves, and were ranged special attackers, they were key to bringing this dragon down. Now that he couldn't fly, Alex felt victory was more realistic. When he'd seen the sheer size of the World Eater, he'd been half convinced they would fail, and everyone would die, but now…they had a chance.

As the Charge Beam faded, the Dragon Pulses came once more, from three different directions. Furious, Alduin ignored the other two, and charged the one he could see. Shruikan. Alex and his dragon had chosen their location in his eye line for a reason, though.

The earth shook whenever he breathed, and after millennia of such things, Alduin rarely took notice of it anymore. He flew in battle, and did not fear ground attacks, he'd grown in Norstad, and did not fear the ice, and dragons alone could not hope to outmatch him. Not with the power the witch had bestowed on him. He'd been reluctant to accept it at first, but he could not, in that moment, recall why.

It was as the ground shattered that he remembered the warning of the Black Witch. If he stayed on the ground against clever opponents, he would die. She had seen it. Suddenly finding himself knee deep in rubble, and at least fifty feet below the surface of Norstad's tundra, the dragon snarled, deep and low. Deep as the hole was, his head still poked out of it, and he glared at the smaller Salamence, and his rider who were standing on the new cliff's edge, smirking at him. He was tiring of these games. This Dragonborn had more than one creature at his command, and this fight, while initially in his favor, was rapidly turning.

He saw the earth turtle with the massive Ash Tree in the center of its shell stomp out through the snow, where it was soon joined by four other Pokémon, all surrounding the new pit the turtle had created. It was large, for a gnat, and powerful judging by the size of the hole its Earthquake had caused. But that would not be enough.

Shadows began rising from Alduin's scales, and a purple fog leaked from his mouth. He'd never gotten a chance to truly use the dark powers the witch had granted him, but now was as good a time as any. He would not be imprisoned again, and if he was truly to fall here, he would make the songs of his death worthy of his glorious life.

The dragon roared, and a foul stench filled the air, one Alex, Shruikan, and Blaze were all instinctively familiar with. They'd scented it before, though this was far more…pungent. Lizardon had given off a similar stink…right before mega evolving.

"All of you! Attack! NOW!" Using his Voice rather than telepathy, there was no hesitation. Even Fo joined in with her own Ice Beam alongside the Taijitu swirls of numerous dual-typed spheres of power that were even then slamming into the dragon. Many had a type advantage over him…and yet, they did little to stop Alduin.

One massive black claw gripped the edge of the pit. Then another. The dragon's head rose further from it as well, into the sky, and where once there had been remarkable eyes of pure electricity, there were now only two vacant sockets leaking what could only be described as pure Shadow energy. Rayquaza had been correct then. Someone had infected Alduin with it, and now, he was benefiting from it.

Alex raised a hand, and the attacks stopped. The dragon continued to rise over them. His wings stretched once more, and blobs of shadow filled in the holes in his wings. "Umm…Alex…do something!" Jess' voice filled his mind, but he stayed motionless. They needed perfect timing. There wouldn't be a second chance.

The dragon rose further, and his horned head blocked out the midnight sun of Norstad, blanketing the upturned snowy battlefield in darkness similar, but different from the night's. The dragon opened his maw, and a ball of pure black energy formed within it. Anti-matter.

Basic physics was a staple of any education in their world, and one did not need to be a scientist to know that an attack composed of that many antiparticles slamming into normal ones would create an explosion far greater than one caused by slamming a single regular particle into its' opposite. The ball forming in this dragon's maw could, quite possibly, literally eat the world, and at the very least, decimate Norstad. It seemed the ancient people of Norstad had been quite literal when they named him 'World Eater'.

Alex nodded at Shruikan. Now was the time. He raised a fist and shouted a word, and from the sky, a bolt of white lightning struck and illuminated both of them. "Dragon Rush!" Shruikan shot forward, sparking all over, and limned in the energy of his kind, straight towards the dragon, but as he came close, his trajectory shifted, and the attack shot past the dragon's head with no effect.

Jess stared for a moment, shocked, awed, and then terrified. The attack had missed, and that ball of death was only growing. Yet, all she sensed from Alex was calm, and intense focus usually only required for Taijitu moves…suddenly suspicious, she glanced at the massive dragon's neck, and grinned.

While Alex wished to comfort his lover, and the few others he sensed watching this battle, he didn't have the luxury. He and Shruikan had a part to play, if Arthur was to have a chance. The electricity still sparked over them, and Shruikan held the power.

Then, with a roar of 'Dovah', the smaller dragon shot back towards Alduin. Instead of a Dragon Pulse or Claw however, his fangs were limned with the bluish-purple energy this time. They sank into the scales of the dragon's neck easily, and then, Shruikan's form began to grow. Fifteen feet…twenty…as he absorbed the millennia of built up draconic energy, Alduin rapidly shrunk. Rayquaza had not lied when he said the prison had weakened the beast. Only consuming a Dragonborn would let Alduin's body stay as large as it had been. Now, Shruikan and his rider took a piece for themselves, leaving the dragon withered.

He was still large, almost forty feet tall, and as Shruikan's fangs left his neck, he began to plummet into the pit. Arthur, who had jumped onto Shruikan and then Alduin, suddenly found himself without a dragon to stand on.

That too however, was part of the plan. Sacred Sword alone was not enough…but a Sacred Sword attack from several stories up might be. Arthur glanced at the shriveled dragon below him. He was smaller, his muscle gone, and his skin hung on the ancient bones of his frame loosely. Their eyes met, and the World Eater closed his as the Shadow left him. He knew this was his end. Arthur smirked. His friends had given him a perfect target. Now, all he had to do was let gravity make the hit connect.

He poured as much power as he could manage into his right arm, and then combined the fighting type energy with his psychic power. Neither had an advantage, but Sacred Sword was not a normal move, and the additional psychic power only sped his form towards his target. He was a streak of blue and blinding gold in an otherwise gray sky as he shot down towards his prey with a burst of speed.

He drove the sword home, into the dragon's skull, right between his massive horns, and his Sacred Sword cut through Shadow, scale, sinew, bone, and then brain. With a final, terrible, almost pitiable cry, the World Eater departed from the mortal plane. His last act was to launch the death sphere he'd been building up towards the sky. Eventually, it would connect with something that would spark a reaction. What it met first though, was Arthur's second sword arm. Satisfied that he'd stabbed the dragon's brain, he'd launched himself back upwards at the ball of antimatter and with a perfect thrust, the ball of darkness dissipated harmlessly before the Light.

Alex recalled the rest of his team, save Arthur and Shruikan. His Gallade floated victoriously over the pit, Excalibur raised in victory, as Shruikan landed beside Chari, Folokraan, and her rider. They had all had attacks hit the dragon, the victory belonged to all of them. Alone, they would've surely perished.

As Alex dropped from Shruikan's new lofty height of thirty feet, at his best guess, and landed on the snowy ground with a thump, he felt himself immediately tackled into it by a familiar presence, in feel if not looks. "Forget what I said earlier. I'm glad you got stronger. You had me worried for a minute…"

Alex sighed, relaxing into the snow which, against his otherworldly garb and 'enchanted' armor, felt cool, not freezing. He brushed a brown lock of hair from her face, only to realize it was mostly braided now, not unlike the other riders. Evidently, they'd accepted her into their fold quite easily. It hadn't been especially hard, as she now looked like a native, retained her beauty, and had a knack for battling. Upon hearing Unova had many female Trainers, held in just as high regard as their males, some of the riders had considered, for the first time, making use of the outside world's technology. Having multiple magical Pokémon on hand was, as demonstrated, incredibly useful in preventing world-ending disasters. Perhaps if they had held more Pokémon, then Norstad would've been able to handle this reawakened menace with its own power.

"Pfft. No need to worry. This is what top-tier Trainers do." He let his speech switch to telepathy, which was by its very nature, far more intimate. "Besides…you should know by now, I'd die, gladly, before I let anything harm you. Even world-devouring dragons." She rolled her eyes, but her face flushed regardless, which was all he'd been trying to see, really. A few weeks apart hadn't seemed all that long, but he had, quite literally, missed her face.

Once the following session of intense kissing had ended, the two headed towards the pit, and looked down. Shruikan and Arthur joined them. Alex spoke softly, glancing down at their fallen foe. "I know he was destruction incarnate…but it's still a shame such a powerful dragon had to die like this…"

A mental voice thundered in their skulls, and the four looked up to see a pair of Rayquaza descending from the clouds, one crimson colored, and one that was jade. "Do not mourn him. His tale may seem tragic, but that traitorous egg-breaker deserved far worse than this. We will take care of his remains." The green dragon winked at Alex as he and his red counterpart used their combined telekinesis to lift the massive form from its grave. "We will bury him where he hatched. It is the very least we can do…and even that he does not deserve." As they eyed the body, Jess winced in disgust as the green Rayquaza reached a claw into the dead dragon's skull, through his eye socket, and pulled from it a small, shining orb. He tossed it to Alex, who pocketed it in his bag without a word.

Alex and the pair of Legendary Dragons had discussed what was to be done in the event of their success, namely with the World Eater's corpse. They had also made contingency plans for failure, but those were no longer needed. Alex had been the one to argue against burning the corpse. Dragons had their own rituals for death, and while he did not know them, Tao had offhandedly mentioned it during the training on his extra-dimensional plane. The pair of Legendary Dragons would set what remained of his essence to rest, and then they would make good use of the World Forge, and all that spare dragonbone.

With the body safely handled, Alex and Jess headed back to Valaskjalf on their Charizard. Shruikan was exhausted, and needed time for his body to adjust to the sudden growth spurt. The rest of his team was tired as well, but Blaze always had strength to fly with Chari. Many of his partners had fired multiple Taijitu attacks, and Alex had no illusions that, without them, and the final Sacred Sword, it wouldn't have been enough to end Alduin.

The village was mostly intact, save for where a few of the ice snakes had climbed up. As they reappeared, Alex withdrew the orb Rayquaza had tossed to him. Jess eyed him quietly, as he'd promised to explain it later. As they flew over the Hvergelom, every eye in the village once more was drawn to the lake.

The orb in Alex's hand flared, and then shot forward, arcing over the village, and slamming into a stone wall behind the main hall. Runes appeared around it, a door became visible, and the massive stone slabs that comprised it slid open.

For the first time in quite a few centuries, a male Voice rang through the village of the riders. "Behold, Riders of Valaskjalf! The way to Uppsalir is open once more! Your charge remains the same: guard it with your lives." Shor's Voice reached all of them, but none moved towards the shining doorway. Beyond it, even more red and gold leaves could be seen. Green, untouched grass made a path through it, but beyond that, the view was obscured by light.

Lokra's massive Articuno met them over the lake. "You…you retrieved Woden's Eye? We thought it lost forever." Alex nodded, and the Chief Flyer looked him over again, as if just then gaining a measure of true respect for him. Both siblings had spoken of his strength, but Lokra was the kind of woman that believed what her eyes told her, and the Trainer had not appeared all that intimidating when they'd first met. Strong, yes, enough for breeding, but respect was another matter entirely. "You will be sung about for all of our days…Dovahkiin."

Alex chuckled. "Thank you. I've always wanted that, honestly. Your songs will outlive all of us. They've done so before."

Lokra glanced at Jess then, and sighed. "You were right. I will not doubt your words again. All of you, despite being foreigners, did everything in your power to keep this village intact. To keep this world intact. You may consider the Riders of Valaskjalf your friends until your days end."

Alex smirked, and enjoyed the moment, but soon, the smirk faded to a look of dark determination. "There is one more matter we must address…the changeling in your midst…"

The two women followed his eyes, and Lokra's narrowed. "Aye, you speak true. The deceiver will pay for his crimes. None may imitate the Gods, and live."

The three flew towards where Folokraan had imprisoned the 'mighty' Shor with her Ice Beam. The armored man stayed silent as they landed, and then grinned, showing blinding white teeth once he saw Alex.

"You've much to answer for, Pravus." Alex said, as he made a three-point landing from Blaze's neck. "You can't wriggle free this time. Unova knows your true colors, as does Kalos, and by now, the world. Your cult will never recover from this."

"Won't it?"

The voice came from behind them, and not from the figure trapped in ice. Alex turned, and glared. Of course he'd escaped. Arceans always managed to slip free. "No tangible evidence exists to tie the deaths in Kalos to me, or my people. They're casualties of the mighty Yveltal…and as for Unova…well, the world knows how you people view my glorious western coastline. Your opinions will be seen as bias, and nothing more." Pravus was floating as he spoke, and the disguise was gone. His figure was outlined in darkness, and his grin was entirely too confident. "Imagine what they'll think when they hear fair, equal Unova has denounced Fornia for their beliefs."

Alex raised a brow. "We haven't-"

Pravus cut him off with his sinister, almost greasy baritone. "Oh but you have." He held up a black baton that had hung at his side, and presumably served as a base for the hammer he'd used earlier. He clicked a button just above the handle. Alex's voice came out, easily recognizable, but filled with pauses, and clearly out of context. "I- swear, I will- see- the- Arceans- fall! Their- cult will never recover from this!"

The Prophet laughed as he saw the rage in the boy's eyes. "You must thank your granduncle for me, he gave me the idea. Having recording devices on hand is so very convenient…"

"Yol! Yolos! Sook!" Though his Shout was quick, Pravus' form easily moved to the side as a spinning torrent of flames shot up around the space he'd just been floating in. "I see you've learned a new trick…irritating, but it matters not. You cannot hit me…and I have better places to be."

He moved like Arthur did in the air, quickly, and able to suddenly adjust his trajectory. In the space of an eye blink, he was out over the Hvergelom again, and heading straight for the newly made door. Alex made a move to follow, as did Jess, but Lokra held them both back with a hand on their shoulders. "Patience, young ones. Do not think us unprepared for filth of his kind."

Alex looked at her. "He's after Xerneas! If he gets through that door, he may very well attain immortality!"

Lokra shook her head. "You should listen well to my words, Dovahkiin. I know my home better than you do. Besides…our King wishes a word with that one."

Alex and Jess shared a look. "King?"

Faarangar, Hall of The King - Uppsalir, Norstad Region

Pravus sailed victoriously through the gap in the stone walls. He'd discovered the spot days earlier, but had known it needed a key of some description. He'd wheedled the information from some of the more infatuated riders, about the key's location. The dragon Nidhogg held it, and had done so since his imprisonment. The way to Uppsalir had been closed for millennia, and though the riders were loath to admit it, without the Life Pokémon's power freely flowing from that sacred place, Valaskjalf would eventually suffer the fate of the rest of Norstad. Only the Articuno had prevented it thus far.

He ignored the beauty of the place, the large, gorgeous trees with their equally gorgeous leaves, the warm, green grass that seemed to invite him to lie upon it and rest. His Darkrai, ever present in his shadow, propelled him through all of it, until they came before a massive hall. "What is it? Xerneas? Why do you stop?" Pravus's words were directed towards his 'mount', but his questions were answered as thunder boomed, and lightning cracked the sky.

A massive torrent of volatile plasma arced down from the top of the hall, and slammed into the ground before Pravus's hovering form. It was a figure, male, by the build, clad in a dark brown cloak and hood. He rose slowly from the smoking crater his arrival created. A strong baritone echoed through the glade surrounding the nordic hall. "No further will ye tread here, Shadow minion."

Pravus glared at the man. "Who are you, to bar my way?"

A light breeze blew the hood back, revealing an all-too-familiar face. Long, red hair, a long, red beard, and burning crimson eyes met his own. For the first time in a long while, fear crawled up Pravus' spine. The man grinned, letting the cloak fall behind him, and as it fell, he drew a weapon.

It was, of course, a hammer. The hammer. The true God of Thunder raised it towards the ever-present gray clouds that surrounded Norstad, and bolts of electricity arced down towards it. Electricity sparked over the God's heavily muscled and golden armored form. He gripped the hammer by a sturdy looking bit of leather hanging from the short handle. The weapon began to spin, glowing with the white-blue shine of lightning as it did, and Pravus swore, silently.

Sahqoreyth · Mar 28, 2024

Chapter 20: The Best Laid Plans

Valaskjalf's Main Hall - Uppsalir, Norstad Region

Alex and Jess looked up at the sky, as the clouds had suddenly turned dark, not dissimilar from when he used the Strunzul. Then, the sounds of battle became clear. Heavy booms of thunder echoed from the gap in the newly formed door behind the village's main hall.

Alex shouldered his way free of Lokra's grip, and met her weathered gaze. "No offense to your…King, but Pravus is our quarry on this hunt."

He glanced at the sky again, as the clouds arced with streaks of lightning. He remembered then, something his granduncle had told him once about this particular weather formation, when he'd been younger. When the clouds boomed and lightning cracked the sky, it meant Thor was hammering away at something. Growing older, he'd learned his ancestors had also considered it a sign of rage sometimes, and a bad omen at sea.

Jess picked up on his thoughts, and the same underlying excitement was shared by her as well. She'd heard the same legends, and the chance to see one literally smiting evil before their very eyes could not be passed up. She gently moved the Chief's hand as well. "We will try not to interfere with, or disrespect your King…but Alex is correct. Pravus is the sole reason we came here. We cannot let him gain what he seeks."

Lokra sighed, and then shrugged. "Fine." Then, she jerked a thumb at the red haired, red bearded figure behind her, still grinning, and still encased in ice. "What do we do with this?"

Alex opened his mouth to say something, but Arthur popped free of his ball instead, his voice echoed to all within earshot, but his mouth did not move. His arms extended into swords as he glared down at the figure. "I will handle this." His eyes narrowed, and Alex raised a brow as he sensed his partner's thoughts. "I am well acquainted with the trickery of Zoroark…the one thing they can never hide is their foul stench."

The man hissed at Arthur's words, and then, changed form. As the form that had been entrapped was rather bulky and muscled, the lithe form it took then was easily able to slip free of the ice, but not before Arthur had mega evolved, and leapt after it, arms shining gold. As was the running theme with Pravus' team, the Zoroark had not been the color most of its species shared, appearing instead with fur that was black and purple. It had also appeared infected with Shadow, but of all of his team, Arthur was best prepared for that. His sword arm had, after all, stabbed Alduin's ball of dark matter, and dissipated it.

"I…think he can handle it." Alex said, watching as the malleable form of his Gallade caught up to the creature easily, and delivered a spinning roundhouse kick, whilst hovering, to its jaw, sending it sailing into one of the many rock cliff faces that surrounded the village.

The women nodded, and Lokra spoke then, "If you are intent on intruding upon the King's sport, I shall go with you. He is not aware that you are allies…and he sometimes sees treachery where there is none."

Alex and Jess shared a glance. If the legends were true, the god in question had a 'brother' well known for mischief and redirection. Such a sibling would make anyone paranoid. The excitement only grew, and they had to struggle not to fly ahead, propelled by their power. Lokra could've kept up with them regardless, as she was quite fast, and ran in a manner similar to Connor with her center of gravity forward and her arms out to the sides, though where his form was perfected, hers was still somewhat unsteady.

Eventually, the trio came upon a sight that awed them, as it seemed straight out of an old legend. It was indeed Thor, or Shor, as the locals had named him, and he was going blow for blow with Pravus, whose form had…mutated, into an approximation of himself, and what looked like parts of a Darkrai.

Massive fists of dark energy met the thunderous fury of what could only be Mjolnir, and as the three watched, smiles slowly came to their faces. The God of Thunder was toying with the man, laughing as he swung away at the energy hands. As they arrived, he glanced their way, eyes widening as he saw Lokra. The glance was exactly what Pravus had been waiting for.

The wind picked up and howled with ominous fury, as Pravus' arms, which were purple and identical to a Darkrai's, spun in slow, circular motions as balls of pure black energy formed within them, and then merged together, growing larger. Alex's eyes widened, as he recognized the move. "Watch out! That attack will put you to sleep!"

The ball of darkness shot forth, and Shor swung his hammer, sending it skyward, where it dissipated harmlessly.

Snarling in irritation, Pravus glanced his way, noticing the intruders for the first time. His eyes were glowing a lighter green, but the irises were still human, and still as dark as ever.

The God of Thunder gave him what seemed like an appreciative nod, and Alex had to fight down the fanboyish excitement. It was just a nod. No reason to lose his cool. "If you start calling him 'Senpai', we're over." His love's mocking tone echoed in his head, and he fought down a chuckle.

Instead of rushing forward with his hammer, Shor raised it above his head, and began spinning it by the leather bit attached to the handle. "You like to play with the wind…let us see if ye truly know its fury…" At his words, a tornado rapidly formed and surrounded the pair, almost obscuring them from sight. Thankfully, Leo was interested in watching as well, and he shared his sight freely. He was an electric Pokémon after all. This 'God of Thunder' could be a fantastic opponent.

Pravus and his opponent glared at each other, and slowly, a black haze began to fill the swirling air, coming from Pravus's own body. Even to Leo's sight, it made things murky. It seemed that the Prophet had yet more up his sleeve.

For his part, Pravus had deemed this whole weeks long infiltration venture a failure. He had not expected a God, or whatever this red haired being really was, to be waiting at the threshold of his prize. He was so close, he could feel the Fairy Aura. It permeated everything in this place. Life bloomed all around him. He needed that power.

At that moment, two things happened at exactly the same time. An airship, no doubt Percy's borrowed one, de-cloaked over the forest, further in, and dark figures began dropping from it. Pravus grinned. Perhaps his minions weren't as inherently useless as he'd thought…though he'd need to keep their task from being interfered with. The Unova Champion and that older woman with him were fierce fighters. He did not recognize the brunette beside the Champion, but assumed she would be capable of defeating his people as well. Why else would they bring her?

As he took a moment to ponder his options, his Darkrai's instinct caused it to suddenly shrivel up, and fade back into his shadow. Pravus fell to the ground, powerless, and snarled at his shadow. Then, he noticed. The area around himself and Shor had turned pink and glowed with the power of the fairy typing. He recognized the move as one of Xerneas's own.

Then, it appeared. The clattering of hooves echoed through the glade, and a kind, almost motherly voice echoed to all within earshot. "You come for that which your foul form cannot take in, Human."

Shor looked up as well, at the topmost roof of his hall, and he caught his hammer, causing the tornado to fade as well. The gold and red leaves of the glade swirled atop Shor's Hall in a miniature cyclone, and slowly, a form manifested within them. Within moments, Xerneas, she who gave life eternal, stood upon the hall's roof, and gazed down at them with x-shaped irises.

She was, in a word, lovely. White fur, light blue in some places, and deep blue horns that lacked the rainbow coloring at that moment. Xerneas' grace was unmatched as she leapt down to the pair of fighters, and trotted right up to Pravus.

Nobody moved.

"You have gained the Dark Typing. My power would drive you to utter, crippling madness. Forever. Take your forces, and leave. I will not have senseless fighting in my own grove." The hind spoke, and as she did, Shor grimaced, but otherwise stayed silent.

Pravus stared at Xerneas, his own expression unreadable, save for an eye twitch. Here she was, the one Pokémon capable of granting him what he'd sought for years, and now, it was beyond him because of his past choices. He was furious. His shadow formed a perfect circle around his feet, and the air grew colder. The stench of death filled the area, and the pure, undiluted rage that was of his very core, surfaced.

"It…matters…not…" Pravus snarled, glaring at the Life Pokemon. "I will draw what I need from you by force…if necessary. Or, you could give me what I seek, and I shall leave…"

Xerneas stared the human down, towering above him. "Your kind has not changed. You do not listen. You do not heed those Arceus himself put in charge of balancing your planet. You are as greedy and vile as every other Human who has come here before you, seeking my power, all but drooling at the thought of living forever…" The hind lowered her head to Pravus's height, meeting his gaze directly. "You know not what you meddle with…nor what you are truly asking for..." Her horns began to glow with every color of Infinity, and Shor stepped back several paces. "It is better for all, if you simply…cease."

"You Guardians are all the same…" Pravus said, looking down at the pink terrain surrounding him. "You think you have a choice in any of this…you think the decision is yours…" He looked up again, and Xerneas flinched, visibly. His eyes shifted color, and now burned with red energy, radiating from them in wavy lines of power. "You are tools on my belt…nothing more…" He drew a Pokéball that was entirely black from his pocket. "Now, get into your ball…"

The Life Pokémon brought her head up again, horns radiating with power. Being so close, Alex resisted the urge to fidget. Then, he remembered. Fairy types and dragons mixed poorly. What she said of Pravus was likely true of himself, as well.

The sky, for once, cleared over the area above them, and Xerneas was no doubt responsible. From behind the clouds, the moon appeared, despite the ever-present light of the sun during this season. It was full, and seemed to glow as Xerneas drew more and more power.

"Cease." Xerneas answered. An orb of light blue, similar in appearance to the moon in many ways, formed between Xerneas' horns, and at almost point-blank range, the Life Pokémon launched the Moonblast at Pravus. The man grinned, and opened his Dark Ball.

Much like the Ultra Ball, the Dark Ball had undergone a series of advancements as well over the years, despite being highly illegal. In the Fornia region, they had increased its ability to capture Pokémon beyond that of any other Pokéball, going as far as to include move-dampeners, and not even require it to touch the Pokémon it was aimed at. In a show of cleverness, Doctor Ein had turned the opening of the ball into a vortex, of a kind, that had the power to draw in even those considered Legendary. The first Pokémon it absorbed would be the one it caught, and Xerneas was directly in front of him.

Pravus grinned as the ball began to drag the massive hind towards it. The fairy type attack had been completely swallowed, and it looked as though the Life Pokémon would be as well. The four onlookers leapt into action, as they'd been waiting for the man to either retreat, or try something.

Alex and Jess, having expected Pravus to attempt a final, desperate act to catch Xerneas, launched a combined Psychic attack at Pravus' ball. It was the immediate threat, after all, but it was intercepted as his Darkrai rose from his shadow, and canceled the attacks with a Dark Pulse.

Jess' eyes widened as she met the Darkrai's gaze. "Wait…that Darkrai has-" Her words were cut off by the sound of thunder, booming almost directly beside them. Both Shor and Lokra had leapt into action as well. Shor's hammer created a fissure in the ground, and Pravus's Darkrai retreated into his shadow once more, levitating him above the attack.

Xerneas's hooves dug deep into the lush grass, but the ball's pull was incredibly strong. It had been made with the sole intention of capturing Legendary Pokémon, and Alex began to understand how the Arceans always seemed to have a Legendary up their sleeve. Even Tao would be susceptible to such a thing, if his defenses were down.

Seeing his attack had failed, Shor spun the hammer quickly, and let it pull him through the air towards his target. Lokra, for her part, had kept her spear handy, but the dark limned man moved away from it easily as she cast it towards him. She pulled it back to her hand with a yank upon what looked like a rope of some kind, but was pure white. Fallen tail feathers from Iizlokraan no doubt, tied to her weapon for easy retrieval. The spear nicked Pravus' face as it returned, but he didn't seem to notice or care.

The ball pulled Xerneas ever closer, and the Life Pokémon became truly desperate as her capture became inevitable. Before anyone had time to do anything more, she turned into a swirl of black light, entered the ball, and after a violent series of shakes, was caught with a ding that sounded more like a tolling bell than anything else. The Fairy Terrain faded, and Pravus grinned, eyeing his prize, only then remembering that an increasingly furious 'God' was hurtling towards him. The fun was over now, and it was time for this foul entity to feel his wrath.

Shor's hammer smashed into the Dark Ball with unerring accuracy, causing it to smoke and spark in Pravus' equally smashed hand. It released its occupant as the man dropped the ball, and snarled in pain. The Life Pokémon appeared again, horns once more lacking their golden color. She was motionless, and her head was lowered, but she seemed unharmed.

With a battle cry that echoed through the glade, Shor brought Mjolnir around in all its sparking glory once more, intent on finishing this, but Pravus dodged it gracefully in the air, and once he did, a familiar looking hand reached out from Pravus's knee, and grabbed the god's leg. Pravus spun, and the hand threw Shor towards his hall. The armored form of the Thunder God's body sailed through the air, and smashed through the wood of his hall easily, as he disappeared from sight.

Pravus' triumph was short-lived though. Alex had called out the first ball he reached for, which meant Terra was now on the scene, and had mega evolved. An Energy Ball containing the power of the ground and grass typing slammed into Pravus, and with its sheer size, drove him into the air, and over the trees. He snarled and pushed, but could not free himself from the massive, spinning Taijitu sphere of balanced grass and ground energy. Of all his team, Terra remained the best at condensing the layers of his Energy Ball.

All eyes went to Xerneas, but she hadn't moved, and looked more like a statue than a living Pokémon. Her x-shaped irises didn't move either, her gaze was locked on the spot Pravus had been. In the distance, they heard a pained yell, and a loud boom. Then, from the trees, a pillar of swirling dark energy rose into the sky. They could all guess its source.

Dark energy began to rise from Xerneas' form in small wisps, but before anyone could notice, Pravus once more appeared in the air, furious, and hurtling towards them. He was changed again. Alex began to wonder just how many transformations he had.

Dark energy covered his body like a robe, flaring out behind him as he flew through the air towards them, eyes burning with rage. Literally. The sound of splintering wood and thunder boomed from behind them as once more Shor flew into the air, and met the man wrapped in darkness hammer-first. Finally, Mjolnir met its' mark on the Fornian autocrat's cheek, and Pravus sailed towards the ground, impacting with a boom that shook the area.

Shor followed, as did more thunderous crashes, the sound of truly titanic combat. It said much that Pravus was able to hold his own at all against a being that was called a God, and had, if the legends were to be believed, been alive for countless millennia. The sound of cracking branches filled the area near them, and seconds later, the two men came hurtling out of the nearby forest, and back to the front of the hall. Pravus's jaw was askew, and already bruising, no doubt from a hammer blow.

Pravus bounced across the grass once Shor stopped, and groaned as he slowly rose again. His face was partially caved in on the left side, but that didn't seem to be stopping him. "I don't know…what you are…but you will not…win this…" He raised both hands towards the red-haired figure, and a look of pure rage came across his frightening countenance, black and red lightning arced from each fingertip towards his quarry.

At first, Shor laughed, loud and booming, until the first sparks touched his form. His visage grew grim then. "You meddle with power you do not comprehend…" He spoke through gritted teeth, and slowly raised Mjolnir to intercept the streams of burning plasma. Though it arced across his skin, it left almost no trace upon it, in fact, his skin appeared more like metal than anything else, in that moment.

"I am Power!" The lightning grew larger, more uncontrolled as Pravus poured everything he had into it. It was striking Mjolnir now, and Shor was doing everything he could to not be blown away by the ferocity of the attack. It had definitely caught him off guard.

Xerneas watched the display while remaining motionless.

"Qo! Ner! Kaask!" The Storm Voice boomed through the glade, louder than anything so far, and the power of it warped Pravus's lightning back on himself. It formed a spherical cage of volatile plasma, and burned both the ground and the air as it entrapped Pravus. He turned, slowly, towards Alex.

"You…are going to die…slowly…" His entire form was trembling, and small cracks had appeared by his burning red eyes, sundering his very skin. Blood had begun to drip from each of them. Finally, he was reaching a limit of some kind. Hopefully.

"Not today…" Pravus' head turned suddenly at the voice to behold Shor, hammer in hand, smirking. With another mighty upwards swing, Mjolnir sent the spherical cage of lightning into the air, but this time, in the direction of Valaskjalf itself.

Pravus gripped the electric 'bars' of his cage, searing his hands as he screamed at them in a manic frenzy, "You will all perish for this! Grrrraaagh!" He shook the bars with a rage that could only be described as manic, but the Storm Voice had effectively entrapped him. For now.

"For the Prophet!" A new cry from a new voice came from their left, in the woods, and from the trees came Pravus's lackeys, surrounded by their Pokémon. By this point, anything resembling the 'rules of battle' had long since been discarded. Every Pokémon they had was out, and the sheer numbers looked to be ready to overwhelm them.

That is, until an enormous beam of ice formed a massive wall in front of the newcomers, and around Shor and the three humans. Iizlokraan's telepathic voice echoed to all as she spread her wide white wings and shrieked, "They are safe, begin the Purge!"

The four looked up as the sky filled with what seemed to be all of Valaskjalf's riders. Ice Beams and flying type attacks began to rain down upon the comparatively small group of Arceans. Hydrus and Leo joined Terra, as they were the ones with the most energy left, and soon the Arceans had once more been effectively corralled by the riders.

More than a few openly and loudly complained about being frozen in the same manner twice, but before anyone could give orders for what to do with these new captives, a blur of black and purple zipped through them, freeing many of the Trainers, but only some of the Pokémon. As before, many had been cleansed of the Shadow's influence by the Articuno, but those who hadn't were now free, and were quickly recalled as cries of "Retreat!" echoed through their ranks.

A green and white blur followed the black and purple one, and they began to clash atop the wall of ice. It was, of course, Arthur, still engaged in battle with Pravus's Zoroark. At first it had seemed at a disadvantage, but now, the cunning fox-like creature was taunting the Gallade, who despite his speed, could not land his sword strike on it.

In seconds, Leo joined Arthur atop the ice wall, and with a combination of Iron Tail and Sacred Sword, kept the Zoroark from escaping. The tail of Leo's Mega Form, when using Iron Tail, became shaped like a scythe. He also gained saber-teeth, which made his Thunder Fang quite a bit stronger. He was even just as fast as the other two, a fact the Zoroark soon became aware of.

Alex glanced at how the dark fox fought, and then noticed something. It was using Night Slash to cancel out Leo's Iron Tail, but the other claw was bright with white energy, which parried the Sacred Sword, and kept Arthur at bay. Of course it knew Aerial Ace.

Iizlokraan landed before them, and Lokra hopped on her back, and then nodded at Shor. The Thunder God gave a nod as well, and then the Chief joined her fliers in the air. Various fire and rock attacks kept most of the Articuno at bay, but the dwindling group of Arceans soon found themselves between two walls of ice, as Iizlokraan created another, and prevented retreat into the forest.

The few who had gotten away were dropped back amongst their fellows, and their hard landings caused havoc and broken bones as they slammed into their comrades. It was as close to seriously attacking the Trainers as the Articuno came. Seeing the tide turning, the battling Zoroark suddenly vanished as Sacred Sword and Iron Tail bisected the dark, grinning figure. It vanished in a wisp of darkness, little more than an illusion. One that had fooled even Leo's eyes. The sly fox appeared again atop the Thunder God's hall, and let out a chilling howl that echoed for miles.

Arthur and Leo quickly leapt after their prey, only to find it recalled into a Dark Ball. They looked up, and beheld a very haggard, very burned Caleb Pravus. He called down to his minions, "Enough. We have what we need. Retreat." With that the man, who was still clad in a robe of dark energy, flew further upwards, before vanishing entirely.

Leo shared his sight with his Trainer, and Alex grimaced. "Their ship is above us."

"Not for long!" Lokra and Iizlokraan launched into the air beside Shor, at the same time the Arceans were ascending towards the ship as well. Some had what appeared to be jetpacks, but most rode their Pokémon up.

"Sandstorm…" The air around the ship became filled with harsh sand, enough to make even the massive Articuno, and Shor, pause. "Power Gem." The voice was Pravus's, and it echoed through the area, but the Pokémon launching these attacks was nowhere to be found. Thus, the rock type energy slammed into Iizlokraan from seemingly out of nowhere, and brought the massive bird down, hard. She was wounded, by the joint that connected her left wing to her body, but she managed to land relatively safely on the grass below.

Shor, for his part, had smashed the beam meant for him away with Mjolnir, and continued upwards, towards the faint outline of the ship in the whirling sand. Suddenly, with no warning, a massive Gigalith appeared above Shor, and though he paused for a moment, he continued towards the dropping mass of rock Pokémon.

"Explosion."

The grin on the God's face faded as the Shadow infused Pokémon did the only thing it could do: obey. A massive explosion usually would not have harmed him so much, but at that point, it was too close to avoid. Shor took the hit full force. The sound of engines burning filled the air as the smoking form of Shor fell earthward, alongside the fainted form of the Gigalith, which slowly faded into nothingness as the Shadow energy claimed another life. Pravus did not even bother trying to recall it. There were plenty of replacements in the Fornia region. The ship powered through the fading vestiges of the Sandstorm, and then, was gone.

Before Alex could spring into action to save the Thunder God, he felt a soft hand on his shoulder, and glanced at Jess, who pointed. In the ensuing battle and confusion, Xerneas had been momentarily forgotten. Now, it was evident that ignoring her had been a mistake. The Life Pokémon was almost entirely dark purple, and Shadow was radiating from her form. Her white fur was slowly turning purple, and still, she remained utterly motionless.

Alex moved towards Iizlokraan, potion in hand. If anyone could cleanse the Life Pokémon, it surely would be this Articuno, but another of the Legendary Birds got to the massive hind before he even reached her, and her rider. Up above, a pair of riders caught the falling form of their King, and carried him to the ground. He too would need healing.

Jess and Folokraan approached the Life Pokémon. She remembered the last time she'd faced down a Legendary Pokémon battling with the corruptive power of the Shadow. The Life Pokémon's horns glowed with a dark power, and a ball of bluish-purple energy formed between them. Jess's eyes widened. She'd recalled reading about Xerneas being able to use Outrage, but nobody had ever survived seeing such a thing. She'd hesitated the last time, against Tao, when Alex hadn't. She would not make the same error twice.

She nodded at Fo, and despite being young, the little Articuno flapped towards the Life Pokémon, and touched her beak to the hind's snout. The purifying light was all Xerneas needed. The orb of dragon energy faded back into her body, and the Shadow burned away in the face of her multicolored power as it surged across and down her form. With her horns once more golden, the giant deer shook her antlered head before regarding the ones who had saved her.

"Thank you, little ones…I almost lost myself…" She looked between Jess and Fo and almost seemed to smile.

"We should've acted sooner…we're sorry for not doing so." Jess bowed low, and her Articuno copied her Trainer as best she could.

The Life Pokémon eyed them for a long moment, and then seemed to nod. "I understand, Human…things often become confused in Battle…now tell me…why do you and your mate wear a veil of Percival's power atop your clothing? What has the Fairy King done now?"

Jess began explaining the events leading up to the most recent battle, while Alex tended Iizlokraan's wing with a Max Potion. The great bird nuzzled him in thanks, and he gave the under feathers of her chin a good scratch. Soon after, he rejoined Jess, patting the smaller Articuno once he did. She chirped, and pushed into his hand. It was nice to see even Legendary Pokémon enjoyed it when he patted them. Magic fingers indeed. "…and that's how we ended up here." Jess finished.

"Percy asked us to try to convince you to end his imprisonment…" Alex said, picking up the conversation, "He wanted us to capture you, but I have a feeling doing so would be the wrong way to free him."

The large Pokémon brought her gaze to him now, eyes widening slightly as she saw his typing. As with all Legendary Pokémon, she too had the sight psychic types used. "And do you believe the Fairy King has changed? Will letting him out benefit, or cause strife to the world? From what I have heard, you have not known him long."

Alex shrugged. "I can't claim to understand Fairy Types, but I do know this: His mind and mine touched, briefly, and in that moment, I saw true, honest regret. It's buried, but it's there, and he feels it daily. He's desperate to be free again…desperate enough to ally with a lunatic like Pravus, and convince him to bring you to the tower. The thought of freedom consumes him. If he was actually released, he'd probably be fine..." Alex looked down for a moment, subconsciously stroking his beard as he thought. "How about a compromise? Free him, and if he returns to his darker persuasions, I will personally help you jail him again, in a much smaller tower."

Xerneas took a moment to think as well. She had curled up on the grass as Jess had told the story, and then, finally, nodded. "Very well, Dragonblood. If you speak true, I will release him from his imprisonment…in truth, I did not intend it to last so long…but I was…waylaid. If you speak true, and he has repented, I shall grant him his freedom. But I will need to see this for myself, before I believe it."

Alex nodded, glad that they'd at least managed to fulfill one mission successfully. He had no idea why Pravus had suddenly retreated, but it couldn't be a good thing. He wasn't the type to leave empty handed. Even in Castelia, the smoking remnants of his tri-energy cannon had disappeared after the battle, and building camera footage caught him taking it into his shadow, and then vanishing instantly. "Thank you…I'm sure he will do anything to avoid imprisonment again, even if it means behaving…now that's settled…can you make these outfits disappear?"

The Life Pokémon seemed to chuckle, a light huffing sound, and then nodded. Her horns glowed for an instant, and Alex and Jess sighed in relief as the armor faded away. They made a show of stretching, and Alex shoved his now once more iron helmet into his bag, trading it for his hat. He avoided holding eye contact with Jess though. Now that they were free of the armor, weeks of suppressed urges were rapidly bubbling to the surface. The danger was gone, but the adrenaline was still pumping after facing Alduin, and then Pravus.

Xerneas stood and a small smirk appeared on her mouth. "I will grant another favor. To the both of you." She focused her x-shaped irises on Jess. "Your mate has acquired the immortality of the Storm Crown. For saving me from that…pestilence, I grant you the same. You can still be wounded, maimed, or slain, but should you avoid such things, you will live a span of years akin to Percival's." The antlers upon her head began to shine. "Be warned, Human. That which I give, I can also take. Do not squander this gift. And always remember…every living thing has an end…do not think you have avoided death. It comes for us all, eventually."

Jess knelt, both knees resting on the grass. "I understand. You have my word…I will not waste my chance for a longer life."

The golden light flared, and from each of the seven multicolored orbs on Xerneas' antlers, a drop fell to the ground, halting before it hit. Slowly, each drop formed above Jess' head into a multicolored orb that radiated life energy onto her, her belt, and Alex's. It was pleasant, warm, but inherently infused with fairy power. It descended into Jess's head, and then she began to glow as well, though it soon faded.

"It is done." Xerneas said, looking slightly exhausted, "Now pardon me…I must see to Shor."

Alex thanked her again, and then knelt beside his love. "How do you feel?"

She shrugged. "Rejuvenated…but otherwise…the same."

Alex nodded, smirking. "I felt the same way. Who knew immortality would be so easily found…"

Jess raised a brow at him. "You call all of this easy?"

He shrugged. "No…but think about it. Some people spend their entire lives seeking out what we've gained in the space of a few weeks…

"The difference is obvious, love." She put a hand on his cheek, "We weren't looking for it. You gained yours to fight Alduin and save the world. I gained mine by keeping the balance in check. A Shadow infused Xerneas awake at the same time as Percy's Yveltal would bring even more death to this land…" She looked at the white and light blue hind. "The balance would've been disrupted, and the repercussions…worse than I can imagine, I'm sure."

She flushed as Alex's arms wrapped around her. "Tao would b- er, is proud." He said, as the dragon corrected his speech with the speed of thought. "Apparently, we've done well."

Percival's Airship – Somewhere Over Norstad's Western Edge

"S-sir? Not that I'm not glad but…why did we run? Xerneas was righ-" The sentence was cut off as the haggard looking Prophet of the Arceans struck his lieutenant across the other side of his jaw. Now he'd have matching bruises.

"Listen when I speak, Samson. I said we had what we needed." Pravus grinned, a macabre expression given that half of his face had a hammer indentation. The cloak of Shadow was gone, and the streaks under his eyes had scabbed over, the blood that had wept from them had also been washed away, yet he still knew he would need time to recover. His hands were a mess, but he had repaired them. Somewhat. Battling Shor had been more taxing than he'd anticipated, and the 'God' had very nearly killed him.

Pravus held up an object then, and Samson managed a small smile as well. It was damaged, sparking, and utterly useless for its original purpose, but they'd done more with less. His favored Zoroark had, out of all of his tools, performed the best. Not only had he deceived the riders, and kept the Gallade with the irritating sword at bay, he'd retrieved the Dark Ball from where Shor's hammer had knocked it to the ground without the 'heroes' even noticing.

This new generation of Dark Balls was tied directly to their lab back home, and sent a full genetic profile of whatever it captured to their lab in Sacreus. They didn't often try cloning Pokémon from said profiles, as it was a long, arduous process, but in this case, the replication of the Life Pokémon would be worth it. Though it was no longer bound to the ball, Xerneas had been within just long enough to be infected with Shadow. The ball had finally run out of power once Xerneas cleansed itself, but that no longer mattered. They would make their own Xerneas, and from it, draw the secret of immortality.

The Fairy King's Tower – Northern Norstad

Several days had passed since the fall of the World Eater. Alex, Jess, and Connor had all been welcomed as heroes in the hall of Faarangar, and had earned the aid of Shor as well, should they one day require it. Naturally, Alex had been fascinated with the 'God', for upon getting a proper look at him, not distracted by a major battle, he'd discovered that he too had a dual typing. Fighting, and electric.

Shor, who preferred to go by Thor in private, had soon realized that humans were no longer as…gullible as they had been in the past. They had grown up, fallen, and then rose again. Even the Earth was vastly different to how he remembered it. Eventually, after several mugs of mead, Thor hinted that his origins were in the stars, but beyond that, refused to reveal more. That night had been spent singing songs, drinking mead, smoking plants, and enjoying the hard-won victory against the dragon, and the Prophet. The fact that he'd retreated at all still nagged at Alex, but he was too comfortably numb to care at that moment.

Then, when the dawn came, they'd met once more with Xerneas, who offered Alex and Connor a reward for their part in keeping herself and her home free of the shadow's taint. For Connor, she gave a Flame Plate crystal, and though it wasn't immortality, he still appreciated it. He'd been given an Icicle crystal by the riders, and had two more for his allies as well. A gift from the village they'd helped defend. For Alex, Xerneas's gift was a bit different, as his body was incompatible with her power, but his team's was not. For each of their Pokémon, she gave a gift of strength, and life saying, "A reward for their part in bringing down the World Eater. So long as your Humans continue to live, you will be allowed to stay by their sides, well past your own normal span."

The two humans again thanked the immortality granting Legend, and then departed. That had, in truth, been their biggest fear in earning immortality. Now, that fear was somewhat allayed, and Alex fully intended to return the Life Pokémon's kindness, when he was able.

Shruikan received enough energy to forgo recuperating and adjust to his new size entirely, while Blaze had been healed, and had grown several feet taller as well, reaching a new height of fifteen feet. Such was the power of the Life Pokémon. Shruikan and Blaze had, naturally, begun to spar, eager to test their new strength. Despite it, Blaze remained more than a match for him, for he was a cunning flier, and by far the best battler on their team. In his opinion at least.

Terra had received power as well, in his Mega Form, and the tree upon his shell had grown. He had grown bulkier, and was now easily one of the largest Torterra on record. He'd nicknamed the tree 'Yggdrasil', after Xerneas, which was what Shor called her. Much like Nidhogg, she had many names. Hydrus had been given a similar boost, and now the massive mud-fish was large in his own right. He was now as tall as his Trainer, who had gained three inches of height himself, from drawing power from the World Eater. They were both 6,5 now, and Alex guessed correctly that his Mega Form would be even taller. His little Mudkip wasn't so little anymore.

Leo had accepted a healing from the Life Pokémon and had filled out with muscle as well, but otherwise was content with his strength. Upon hearing Blaze's 'best battler thought, he'd joined in the sparring match between the two fliers, and had brought both down rather easily, demonstrating that Shruikan had not mastered his electric power as well as he thought, and Blaze would always be weak to it. Though their pride had been bruised, the lesson appeared to stick.

Arthur had been a different story altogether. He asked not for healing or power, but rather knowledge. Unfortunately, Xerneas had not been able to answer his questions, which were focused on his true identity, or his mother's, but with her latent psychic ability, she pointed him towards one who did know such things. The Foggy Swamp Sage. Needless to say, he was now even more determined to get back to the Swamp quickly. Out of all of them, the Sage had taught him the most, and after battling that Zoroark, he knew he needed to get stronger.

Before they could all return home though, they had one last thing to take care of. Xerneas accompanied them to Percival's tower, and a trail of life stretched all the way from Valaskjalf to the circular northern wind wall. It would no doubt fade, in time, but wherever Xerneas walked, life followed. Once the three humans and the Legendary Pokémon reached the wall of wind, Xerneas took the lead. She summoned a wind of her own, and opened a path through the howling barrier. As she passed through, it faded entirely, and they continued north to the tower.

That too was surrounded by wind, but this time, Xerneas approached the north-western side of it, and waited. Then, after several minutes, the wind rapidly increased. The circular tornado surrounding the tower moved, condensing, and reaching far above into the clouds. A figure descended from them then, spinning rapidly in the wind. Down it came with blinding speed, rising again just above the group as it spread its wings. The red-finned Lugia responsible for keeping Percival and his descendants behind the wind walls appeared, and dispersed the last wall of wind with a single flap.

"Yggdrasil. You come, at last. The Fairy King suffers greatly. I did not think you would jail him for so long." The Lugia's telepathy reached all of them, and his baritone was soothing, and full of concern.

Xerneas responded in the same manner. "I was…waylaid. Shortly after I left, my Kalos counterpart was awakened early, forcing me into slumber. While that region grew lush, ours all but died…the time has come for Norstad to be reborn…and I would have Percival's help…if he allows it."

The Lugia descended as she spoke, and then landed, folding in his massive wing-arms. He briefly glanced at the humans, and then ignored them, focusing on the Life Pokémon. "He may not…long has his hatred of his jailors burned…he wants nothing more to do with me…" The Lugia looked down, but the expression of sadness was easy to read.

"He may have spoken out of desperation, Sea Guardian. Do not lose hope so quickly. It is in his nature to despise being caged." The white Pokémon seemed to perk up slightly at her words, but the look remained unchanged. The three humans watched quietly, but said nothing. Alex noticed Connor fidgeting, and guessed he was eager to finally capture a Lugia. This one, however, already seemed to have a Trainer.

"I will open the tower…but do not expect warmth from him…being imprisoned for so long has…changed our King." The Lugia turned then in a single graceful motion, and raised its arms. Alex held onto his hat, as he could guess what was coming next. The air moved rapidly as the Legendary Pokémon flapped its wings, and the resulting wind forced the tower's lower doors open in an instant with a loud boom.

Then, they waited. Several minutes later, Percy appeared in the doorway, Kurama was behind him, tails extended. The fire fox snarled, but Percy patted him. He stayed put as his Trainer walked out of the tower, or rather, stopped at the very edge. As he did, a faint barrier of pink energy appeared. It had been invisible before, and now began to glow in front of him as he approached. He was still trapped, for the moment.

Xerneas started forward as she saw him. "Percival…" She stopped as she noticed a Pokéball in his hand. It was entirely black, and disturbingly similar to the one that had entrapped her.

"Yggdrasil…you finally come…but what brings you, I wonder? You are not in a ball…nor do you appear forced…have you come to gloat, then? To mock your former Tamer as he rots in this Hel?" Alex and Jess shared a look as they noticed his body language. He was tense, like a coiled spring. Or a trapped animal. Connor reached for Gren's ball. He had no doubt they could strike before this 'fairy king' tried calling out whatever was inside that ball. From what Alex and Jess had mentioned of their meeting with him, he could guess at what was within.

Xerneas seemed to sigh, and then, her deep blue horns began to glow gold. The barrier of pink energy appeared in its entirety then, and it encased the whole building. Then, it began to shrink. The energy flowed into Xerneas' horns, and once it had faded entirely, the Life Pokémon looked renewed. To Alex's eyes, she'd seemed fine, but only now did he realize how strained she'd been. And she'd bore that strain for millennia. While asleep. The power of Legendary Pokémon never ceased to amaze him.

Percy stepped into the snow, and gave a short bark of laughter, his expression one of disbelief. He then looked up at Xerneas. "Why…why, Yggy…why set me free now? I could be just as evil as before for all you know…just as twisted…"

Xerneas' horns glowed with psychic power then. A Heal Pulse. It washed over Percy, and he visibly relaxed. "I did not wish you to be entrapped for so long…there was a war, in Kalos…my counterpart was awakened, and thus, I was…"

"Turned into a tree…" Percy finished, sighing. "Of course…nobody could reach you while comatose, and I would guess you only awakened recently…I took your silence as a sign that you were ignoring me, content to let me rot, but you had no say in any of it…"

Xerneas nodded. "Several years ago, I awoke once more…but I was drained. It took a long time for my form to adjust to maintaining this barrier, and staying awake…I am sorry, Percy…you did not deserve to be trapped for so very long…"

Percy looked down. "I didn't…but that's just how things happened…and nothing can change it now." He met the Life Pokémon's gaze again, and pocketed the Dark Ball. "It matters not, I suppose…I am immortal, after all…what's a few millennia to someone like me?" He managed a weak smile.

"A very long time…" Xerneas said, and she brought her snout to his forehead. "Far too long…I knew you would snap out of it eventually…now, we can finally bring our family back together." She gave a meaningful look towards the Lugia, who still sat several yards away, and kept his gaze fixed on the ground.

Percy walked over to the Lugia, and gave a sad smile. "You deserve an apology old friend…the things I said to you…I was not myself. Will you join me once more on our journey?"

The Lugia regarded him for a long time, and then nodded. "That is all I have longed for over these long centuries…" Then, the Lugia brought one of its large hands forward, and with a blink of psychic power, three Pokéballs appeared in his hand. Percy took them, and put them on his belt, before finally regarding Alex and Jess. He didn't even glance Connor's way.

"You two made good on your promise, and for that, you have gained an ally." He took his hat off, and bowed low. It was formal, perfect, the kind of bow one gives to a king. "I am at your service, whenever you require it."

Alex nodded, and Jess thanked him. Alex spoke then, "You should know, Percy…there is a condition to your release…if you turn out to have not changed at all, if all of this is a trick of some sort…" He leaned in close to the man's face, eye to eye, as he mimicked Tao and Rayquaza. His tongue shifted to the language of Norstad. "I will jail you again myself, in a much, much smaller prison. Do you hear me, Fairy King?"

Percy grinned, despite the chills running down his spine from that glare. "Ooo. The little dragon has teeth now…very well. I've no desire to be imprisoned again, nor to make an enemy of a Dragonborn. I'll be on my best behavior…" He offered his hand, and Alex glanced at it for a moment, before grasping his wrist. They shook once. "One final token, Dragonborn." Percy said, reaching into his pockets. "A reward for setting me free." He pulled out a white crystal, with the symbol of flying types within it, alongside a pink one with the symbol of fairies. "Flying for you, and Fairy for your lady. Make good use of them."

Alex eyed the pale crystal even as Jess eyed hers. "Oh…I intend to…" He could already feel Blaze's excitement. Being the only one not able to use a Taijitu move had been…irritating for the proud Charizard. Now, they could finally practice combining the two types he embodied most.

Percy brought out a blue and white Luxury Ball then, and offered it to Xerneas, who entered willingly after bidding the foreigners farewell. He hopped on his Lugia then, and called down to them. "I'm leaving, I've spent far too long in this frozen Hel. You have my number. If you need me, I'll be in Alola!" By that point, Kurama had been recalled as well, and with his belt now five members heavier, Percy took off on his Lugia, and shot into the sky with a loud whooping shout, arms stretched wide as he breathed the free air again.

The three Unovans decided to leave as well then, and they traveled aboard Shruikan's now much roomier metallic undercarriage. Once they'd made it halfway down the trail of life Xerneas left, Connor announced that he had a few more loose ends to tie up, and that he was leaving. He wished his sister good luck with school, gave Alex a nod with the promise of seeing him soon in the Swamp, and then leapt off of Shruikan, and into the air. His Garchomp appeared then, mega evolved, and carried him southwards, towards Valaskjalf.

The flight back to Unova was a long one, but since they were no longer in a hurry, the massive Salamence took his time. His speed, when moving in a single direction at least, had increased as well, but the whole trip still took several hours. Several hours less than it previously had. Alex knew traveling the world would be much easier with such a fast flier.

Once they were back in Unova, Alex did much the same as Connor did in Kalos. They'd had a chat in Faarangar after the battle, and had agreed that they needed to cement their reputations as Champions in their respective regions as soon as possible. Both Alain and N were still around, and they knew from past Champions that the passing of that torch would not be so easy. They were both legends and heroes in their own right. They agreed that Unova and Kalos should remain friendly rivals, but Connor made it clear that he had his own path to tread now, and he wouldn't be following Alex and his sister everywhere like a third wheel.

Unova had, thankfully, been calm in the short month or so that Alex had been gone. N had only remained for a few days after the New Year, before leaving to travel the world. With him gone, Tao had kept the region in balance, and the region had prospered as a result. Ancient ruins had been cleared out and raised, old buildings repaired, and expanded upon. Unova had always had a knack for building, but with the return of their dragon, the desire to regain their position as the head of a legitimate continent-spanning empire had returned.

Since there was yet a month remaining before Alex had to return to the Swamp and the University's second half began, he spent the time resting. For about three days, he and his team recuperated from Norstad, mostly by sleeping. They were still recovering from the effects of Tao's world as well, and Jess did the same thing he did, as did her team. Folokraan was the only one who wanted to be awake, but she learned to be patient in those long days. With nothing pressing to deal with, they and their Pokémon enjoyed a well-earned break.

Eventually, they'd started to get fidgety, it was back to training. The training weights returned, and once they were adjusted for size, Alex realized there was a limit to how effective their original method would be. At some point, the weights would simply be too heavy to transport, and even now, they were already incredibly hard to move. Still, they trained with them daily, both at the Redwood's ranch, and across Unova.

Alex and Jess had landed in Castelia upon returning home, and had spent three days there in a spare room that John Crimson offered them. It was there that Alex first got the news. His granduncle had finally passed on. It was a crushing blow after all he'd accomplished in Norstad, and he realized just how distant he was from his relatives once he understood he now had nobody to call home to. He returned home then, and his better half kept his family distracted as he went to have a chat with his brother.

Eric was, as usual, at the local swimming center, riding around on his Blastoise. When he saw his brother, clad in strange white and black clothes, arms crossed by the edge of the pool, he'd guided Squirt over to him, and gave the water turtle a rest. The pool was only so big, but they often swam hundreds of laps, which tired out even the strongest of his swimmers.

"Let me change. Then we can talk." His brother blew past, and headed to the locker room, while Alex was left to stand awkwardly beside his Blastoise. Several minutes passed in silence, and eventually, Squirt leapt back into the water with a content sigh.

Once he'd changed, his brother returned, wearing their granduncle's lab coat over his usual blue attire. He'd gotten glasses as well, and almost looked like a Professor. He was still too young to pull it off though. Alex also spied a familiar diamond-shaped blue crystal pinned by the collar. It seemed the new method for Mega Evolution had reached even their backwater region.

"Where the Hel have you been?" Eric said, arms crossed. Alex raised a brow. He could count the number of times Eric had genuinely been angry with him on one hand, but he still knew that look.

"Norstad. There was…pressing business to deal with, after the New Year. Maybe you missed it, but the Arceans decided to give Ghetsis an airship, and throw him at us. Along with the Forces of Nature." Eric pinched his brow at his brother's word, and Alex only smirked. Even that looked grim, however.

He'd been more depressed than usual of late, but had put off proper mourning. Castelia had been full of fans, friends, and Trainers he'd battled on his first pass through the region, and Unova had required their Champion to keep his composure.

"You missed the funeral, you know. You missed quite a bit, actually. Malina came back, and she wasn't the only one wondering where you were." Eric's tone wavered as he spoke, and Alex looked closer at his brother. His cool demeanor was gone, and then he realized, this was hitting him just as hard. He supposed it would. His Gruncle had taught many Trainers, and had been hard not to like. He and Alex had been close, but so had the rest of their generation. The Professor had taught all of them.

Alex sighed, and they stood in silence for a moment, before he gestured for his brother to follow him outside, behind the pool building. Their conversation had been attracting too many eyes for his liking. It was especially unnerving since he knew many of those who were staring. "How did it happen?"

Alex knew he'd asked the right question as he saw his brother wince. "I…found him. He'd been missing for several days, nothing new, but he missed John Crimson's news report. Twice. When I went into his lab, I knew…I could…smell him."

Alex did the math. Two weeks. It had taken two weeks for someone to notice the Professor wasn't around. Alex fought down the sudden rage that had been mixing with his sorrow for the past three days at the thought of his favored relative literally rotting, alone and forgotten. He fought the emotions down into a clenched, shaking fist as Eric continued, "He opened the old door to his room in the basement…I found him in the bed."

Alex stayed silent for a long while. They were outside now, and he stared at the countryside of their hometown. The sky was gray, but the grass had remained gold, even under the harsh snow of winter, which was now almost entirely melted. "This is the price. He said being Champion would come with a cost. I'd even bet the old bastard knew this would happen. I'd be off on some epic journey, and he'd pass on while I was away." He swore silently.

"Have you been home yet?" Eric asked, his eyes also on the countryside. Alex shook his head. "You should go home…Malina might still be around. She missed you."

The thought of facing his favorite cousin after missing her father's funeral was too much right then. He shook his head again. "No…I'm going to leave again. Soon. There's nothing left for me here. I should've moved out years ago anyways."

"So you're just going to leave your family behind?" Eric said, turning to him.

Alex sighed. "No. Not entirely. I'll keep in touch, specifically with you. His lab is yours now. Go home, clean it up, use it. He left it for you, and knowing you, it's still a dusty mess covered in white sheets."

Eric shifted in place uncomfortably. Once more his brother's words had been unerringly accurate, and for some reason he could not fathom, they were ringing with an indescribable truth that he couldn't ignore, even if he'd wanted to. "I'm no Professor…" He mumbled, "And you should stick around."

Alex let his eyes flare blue, and his voice came out changed as the power added reverb to his voice. His brother flinched. "I have larger concerns to deal with now." He let the power fade just as quickly as it came. "He knew that. You should all know that too. N was always the one keeping the region safe, and not just ours. The entire eastern half of the continent has been saved by him, and the other Champions. More than once. That's my job now. Keeping the world in balance."

Eric rolled his eyes. "And who gave you that job? Does it pay well? What do you earn in a year? Will it pay for the house? How about the ranch? The lab?" Alex raised a brow, but his brother continued his tirade. "You have responsibilities here that you haven't even begun to deal with, brother of mine. You need to take care of those, too."

Alex shook his head. "No, I don't think I do." Eric opened his mouth again, but Alex cut him off and Eric found his forming words crushed by the forceful tone of his brother's voice. Something had definitely changed him, in Norstad. "You have always been the favored son. We both know you are first in line to inherit the house. Not me." Eric pinched his brow again, and turned back to the view. "And yes, it does pay rather well." Alex said, resisting a smirk. While his allies in Norstad didn't use traditional currency, they had given him several artifacts that were useless to them, but were priceless to the right collectors, or museums, here in Unova. Having currency was useful, sometimes.

He watched as his brother looked up again. His demeanor had changed. The cool façade was back. "I've been meaning to talk to you about that…the whole 'favorite son' thing." Alex stared him down now, arms crossed. He'd been expecting something like this for a while, now that he'd essentially proven his skill. "You're right, of course…in hindsight, you've been right quite a few times. You are the better Trainer, Pokémon listen to you more than they do with me. You have a talent for this…and I should've helped you out a long time ago. I'm sorry."

Alex let his eyes soften. Eric had turned to him as he spoke, and Alex waved his words away. "You had your own pressures to deal with. I understand the fear of dad's wrath quite well. Even if you had gotten me a Pokémon or something…we both know what he would've done with it." He offered a hand then, and Eric went to shake it, but Alex shook his head. "Not like that. Here…"

He showed his little brother how men shared a sign of trust in Norstad, and then began regaling him with the tale of his adventure. He hadn't seemed too interested at first, shifting uncomfortably at his harsh words towards the Arceans, but after he mentioned a certain hammer-wielding 'God', Eric's attention was hooked.

Once they'd finished talking, the two brothers went home, and set about cleaning up the lab. Eric agreed to take over maintaining the PC dimensions holding their other Pokémon, something he'd been doing anyways since the Professor passed. They both avoided the basement. Alex did so because he still couldn't stomach the thought of his Gruncle rotting down there, Eric did so because he hated the stink of Leaf and dead human. Eventually he'd brought in their cousin Aria's Bellossom to fill the basement with a more tolerable odor, but without windows, it would likely hang around for a while.

The rest of the family welcomed him home, as Jess had used her charms to cut through their anger, and explain why they'd needed to be away from Unova. What had started out as a trip that would take a few days had extended once Pravus had disappeared, and Alduin had woken up. His own parents were noticeably quiet, distant, and it took Alex a whole evening to realize they were avoiding him.

He guessed correctly that they were somewhat ashamed for holding him back for so long, something he'd confirmed after briefly sensing their thoughts, but he made no effort to forgive them for it. Evidently his battle against N had finally proven that he was, in fact, really good at being a Trainer. He'd spent most of his life ostracized thanks to them, a guilty conscience was the least they deserved. Twenty years, and a day. That was what he decided they could guiltily wait through, before he let the past go completely, and made any kind of attempt to reconcile.

He spent the next several days resting more, between bouts of training, alone in the lab's basement with Jess, and sometimes Eric. The door to his granduncle's room had been shut once more, and he had no desire to open it. He was more determined to fill the room with the stench of the Leaf, and after a few sessions with his Gruncle's old bong, the room returned to its usual odor. For him, at least.

Alex and his team had been home for a week when Leo discovered something that would once more further their journey. He'd been prowling through the barn behind the house, enjoying the unease he caused in the Tauros, Miltank, and Bouffalant. It was only right that prey should fear him, after all. That was when he noticed a pair of sad yellow eyes watching him from the rafters.

A quick sniff told him it was a Noctowl, and he briefly recalled hearing that his Trainer's now deceased relative had owned one. He was by no means the most articulate member of their little family, but he felt he should at least try to say something. Reaching out with telepathy was Arthur's domain however, so instead, he settled for 'Pokéspeech', the universally understood tongue that only Pokémon could truly speak.

"I heard of your loss, feathered one. You have my sympathy." The eyes blinked at his series of growls, and a voice echoed in his head as the Noctowl responded.

"Thank you…my partner had something for yours. Some…information. Papers. That sort of thing. He tasked me with passing it on before he…" The voice trailed off, and even Leo's usually cold hunter heart lurched for the sadness emanating from the bird.

Before he could try to comfort the Noctowl, it fluttered down from the rafters, a wooden box in one taloned foot. "Here." Came the voice again. "It is his. Now…leave me to my grief."

Leo moved towards the bird, and gave a low, rumbling purr as he nuzzled it. It was his kind's way of sharing affection, and the electrical current, while normally damaging to a flying type, only brought warmth then. The owl blinked again in thanks, and then flew out of the barn, and into the night. Leo then began the arduous task of trying to lift a large, square object with his fangs, but found his mouth too small. In this form, at least.

He growled the draconic word for electricity and mega evolved by drawing on his Trainer's stash of shards. Then he picked the box up, lifting it easily. His actions did, however, draw notice from his Trainer. He brought the box outside the old man's lab then, and soon, his Trainer appeared from within with damp eyes that were also rather bloodshot. The rest of his team were asleep, as only Leo ever prowled around at this hour. He dropped the box before Alex, and then let the power of the Plate crystal fade.

Alex gave the large cat a thorough scratch as he wiped the slime from the box, and opened it. Once he saw what was within, he walked into the abandoned lab, and took a seat in one of the lounging chairs by the back window. They still smelled like his Gruncle, and Leaf, of course. Inside was what the Noctowl had promised. Documents, yellow with age, but atop them was a much newer device. A Holociever, the resulting combination of the Cross-transceiver and Lysander's Holocaster technology. Alex had one of his own of course, everyone over the age of thirteen usually did despite how popular Rotophones were becoming, but this one was the familiar mahogany brown of his Gruncle's.

His team had taken to lounging around outside their balls since coming home, and all of them focused as Alex got their attention. Terra and Hydrus woke from the naps they'd been taking in the puddle of mud they'd made just outside the lab. Shruikan opened one giant, yellow eye which was visible from the lab's window, and though he was otherwise occupied, Blaze paid as much attention as he could.

Arthur and Leo usually stuck by their Trainer. Arthur did so because he was fond of speaking with the other humans, especially the little ones, and Leo did so for much the same reason, though he was mainly after belly scratches and many pets. Alex looked up at his Gallade, who had just taken a decent hit of the Leaf, and had put a sword-arm on his shoulder. The Holociever was, of course, capable of recording messages as well as sending them, and as Alex powered it on, his Gruncle's voice filled the room.

He heard dainty footsteps rushing up the stairs from the basement, and he looked up to see Jess. He paused the message, and started it over for her. He hadn't really listened anyways, after hearing a voice he was sure he'd missed ever hearing again. He wiped away the tears in his eyes he hadn't even noticed had formed, and then played the message again, for them.

"Alex…by the time you hear this, I'll likely be gone. Cliché, I know, but it is the truth, and a sad one at that. I can only imagine what you've achieved in Norstad. Knowing you, it's something you're not ready for, but have already somewhat mastered." Alex fought down a laugh as the holo-image of the old man coughed and wheezed, then looked at the hand that had covered his mouth. He wiped the bloody smear on his coat absentmindedly, and continued on.

"I can only hope that what the Dragon taught you has helped you survive that barbaric land. And yes, I was the one who asked him to train you up. He thought you needed more time to mature, but I know better. I've seen how you get when you have new knowledge to devour. Just remember that not everyone is used to seeing supernatural power. Humans have a history of persecuting those with psychic abilities, so keep them secret, if you can." Judging by the Professor's smirk, he knew how well that would go.

The old man coughed again, and thumped his chest. He took a hit then, and Alex realized he'd recorded this in the very chair he now sat in. "Ah…I've so much to say…and not enough breath to say it. Good thing these silly devices don't have hard time limits." The bong in the image went away, and the Professor entwined his fingers. A serious look came over his old, haggard face, and Alex leaned in subconsciously. He knew that look. What came next was important.

"I don't need psychic power to guess that Pravus wormed his way away from you. He's escaped professional Pokémon Rangers with ease, and Fornia is essentially a fortress. Try not to dwell on it. I can say that if he did retreat, it's because he found a way to get what he wanted. Eternal life. Don't look so surprised, he's been after that for years." Jess chuckled then, as they had both looked surprised by the Professor's knowledge. "Listen. If he gets what he wants, then our species is doomed. Pravus has mastered the art of indoctrination through his cult, and once he has this continent, he'll move on to another. He already has roots in Sinnoh, but that's Japan's problem. Let their Champions handle it. You have more important things to do."

Alex raised a brow, but the Professor continued on, "In this box, and in my room, are several hundred hard documents that are essentially a record of what that bastard has done. You'd think anyone with a brain would burn that kind of information rather than record it, but that's just how the Arceans operate. They record everything so they can use it later. On their enemies, and their own. It's part of what keeps people in their cult. Blackmail and fear are powerful tools…and with them you can finally dismantle this foul cult."

A Noctowl flew into the scene then, and landed on the chair. The Professor gave him a scratch, pondering his words before speaking again. "I tried exposing the Arceans for what they were, and was labeled a pedophile for my trouble. I caught one of their 'teachers' diddling students, and they put me on a PokéMeter until I 'confessed' to only having accused the man because of my own supposed desires. I said whatever I had to, to get out of that room. But this isn't about my name anymore. After this latest attack, Unova has a good idea of what the Arceans are about, and that means the end-game is coming. Unova was never meant to be indoctrinated, it was always a scapegoat. A focus for loyal Arceans to center their hatred on. Ghetsis was supposed to lay the foundations for future conversion of Unovans, but you stopped that plan cold when you united the dragons. Now that Tao is back, Unova will never follow Pravus. He learned that the hard way when he captured Tao, and all but started a war."

The Noctowl hooted once, and the Professor nodded. "I'm getting to that, Soren." The old man shook his head. "I've already told Tao of this, and he assured me that Unova would be ready for a surprise invasion. He said he could rally the entire eastern coast if needed, but that remains to be seen. In any case, it's not where you're needed. You need to travel to Fornia, and expose this bastard for the slime he is. Without the support of his people, his empire will crumble. Pravus has always underestimated the value of his own supporters, and that is the weak point that you need to strike at."

The Professor made an imitation of a building falling with his hands. "Expose Pravus beyond the shadow of doubt, and the entire thing comes crumbling down. The trick, as I'm sure you know, is getting Arceans to see, and believe, that their Prophet is a lunatic. I can only give you the tools lad. You'll have to figure out the rest. My advice? Start from the ground up. Most Arceans have never seen the Pokénet. They have no accurate idea of how the world sees their home. From their perspective, their cult is helping people all over the world, rooting out 'psychic warlords', and even curing 'drug addiction'." He demonstrated how effective that had been on him, by once more toking on his bong. "You'll understand how deep the indoctrination goes once you get to Fornia, and meet them. But don't give up on our western brothers. They may have their brains baked by all that sun and wildfire, but the people of the western regions were a part of what made the Dragon Empire so feared. If you intend to unite us, Hero of Unova, you'll need them on your side too."

The Professor let out a hacking cough again, and frowned into his hand. Blood trickled from either side of his mouth, and he wiped it on his sleeve. "It seems my mortality is catching up with me, so I'll end this, and hope you return from your journey alive. I've recorded other messages on here, for the rest of the family. This is the last. Pass them on once you're done with this." Soren hooted again, and it was a low, mournful sound.

The Professor leaned back into the chair, and sighed. "I don't know what the future holds for you, lad. All I can do is help you with this enemy, but you need to understand something…there will always be another Pravus. Another madman, another power-hungry intelligent being bent on dominating the entirety of Mankind. Knowing you, you're going to stop quite a few of them, but eventually, one of them will find a way to break you. This is a task too big for one Trainer, even a Champion, to handle alone."

Soren's eyes widened and his head turned rapidly towards his Trainer, but the Professor continued on, "The Pokémon League has a group of people within it, an adjacent branch with the same goal, specifically, people who run things behind the scenes, and operate in the shadows against other, more…dark-minded people, in the same shadows. There's a reason only a limited number of Mewtwo clones were ever made. There's a reason there always happens to be a heroic Trainer at the right place, at the right time, to stop a disaster. Someday, this group is going to contact you, as they did me, and when they do, I'm going to ask you to do something I told you never to do. Trust them. They may not be perfect, they're as Human as we are, but they're the best hope for our race's future. At least in this old man's opinion."

The old man coughed again, and gave a weak smile to the camera. "I can't guide you on your future adventures…but they might be able to help. Good luck, lad…remember what I taught you…keep your greed in check…and don't spend too long mourning my wrinkled ass…I've lived long enough." He held up his right hand then, and split his pointer and middle fingers from his ring and pinky finger, making a V-shape as the thumb curled up against his hand. He winked. "Live long, and prosper." With that, the recording ended.

Alex choked back a laugh. Tears had started flowing down his cheeks, and his repressed emotions were rapidly demanding a release. "I can't…did he really just…ugh…he would go out on a note like that… nerdy old bastard…" He wiped his face dry, only to look up and see that Jess and Arthur had done the same.

"I…I do not understand his last sentence." Arthur said, tilting his head at his Trainer. He'd tried mimicking the symbol the old man had made, but it was hard to do with three fingers.

Alex laughed again. "Don't…don't worry about it." He shook his head, and met Jess' gaze. "Shall we have a look in the basement?"

He could see the worry she was trying to hide. She more than anyone could feel the emotional turmoil within him, but as always, his practiced stone-faced façade stayed passive and unreadable, if a bit tear-stained. Only his eyes gave him away, as he had to blink back more tears. "Sure…" She said, after a long moment, "Let's…see what the old nerd left for us."

Alex raised a brow towards her as the four of them headed into the basement. "Does that mean you're coming with me to Fornia?"

He knew the slap was coming, but didn't dodge it. It was a good distraction from the pain everywhere else. The back of his head still hurt, though, and he adjusted his hat. "Like you even have to ask. That old nerd should've predicted I'd be going too. Besides, I know how golden coast girls act around Trainers like you. I'm not letting you out of my sight."

The four approached the door, and as they entered the old bedroom, Leo snarled in disgust. It was faint, but the smell of decay still lingered. To his keen senses though, it seemed almost fresh. Alex gave him a pat. "Wait upstairs…but lend your eyes. I'll need them." Leo did as he was bid, and soon, the night hunter's vision became Alex's.

With a glance, he could now make out shuffling foot marks on the old brown carpet. The indentation on the bed where his granduncle had laid down. There were clues all around the room to his hiding spots. A hand on his shoulder brought his focus away from the bed, and to the closet instead. It had been opened recently, judging by the pattern on the floor, and he knew nobody but his favored relative had reason to go digging in there.

Within, he found a much larger cache of papers, and after a bit more searching, found back-ups as well. He personally wouldn't have hidden them all in the same room, but it was good enough. He dug through the first box, and at the bottom, found a folder labeled 'Elaine'. Within, he discovered why his granduncle had been so Hel-bent on bringing the Arceans into the light, if not bringing them down entirely.

It was clearly a covert report, detailing the actions of 'Doctor' Ein as he infiltrated a large soon-to-be-purchased hospital in New Tork City in an effort to collect more stem cells for Shadow Infusion into Pokémon eggs, in order to create a Pokémon that was both monstrously strong, and could still evolve. Apparently, something had gone wrong while he was collecting from an unnamed 'female subject', but Alex could guess who they were talking about. The fools had even listed her room number, if not her name. Given the number was manually highlighted, Alex guessed his granduncle had known it was his wife's.

He shared what he'd found with Jess, and they both agreed then. These people needed to be stopped, or there would be more cases like Elaine's of collections gone wrong. For all they knew, there already had been in the intervening years. They hid the back-up caches away in different spots, and made digital copies as well. It was as they were finishing up that Alex decided to check his Gruncle's Holociever for other messages.

There were indeed more as his Gruncle had promised, including a smaller text based one for him, apparently. It read "Send these to their intended recipients lad. No peeking." There was one for everyone in the family, even his father, and he had to resist the temptation to open that one. He could only imagine what the old man had to say to him. He did as the note instructed, and knew it was likely to cause a stir in the main house.

Once everything was ready, Alex and Jess agreed that they'd need to leave at the start of the summer. That would give them time to finish school, study with the Sage a bit more, stock up on items, and prepare disguises to enter Fornia with. The last few days of their break went by swiftly, and though parting again was sad, it was made bearable by the fact that they could, if needed, reach out telepathically to each other, despite the distance.

Alex had an idea to solve the issue of distance, and after he'd helped her move into her room for the latter half of the semester, he began traveling south along the coast once more, heading for the Swamp.

Sahqoreyth · Mar 28, 2024

Chapter 21: Taunts, Tales, and Teleportation

Jinia Town - Transylveticut Region

The first thing Alex had done on his way south from dropping Jess at Unova University was return home, to show Eric the cache of documents their granduncle had found on the Arceans. Once he'd read through several, including those detailing what had happened to their aunt Elaine, Eric understood his brother's disdain for the group, and admitted he'd been skeptical about what Alex had told him a few days earlier about Norstad. It seemed like something out of an old legend, a cult that powerful, led by a man so blatantly evil, but he couldn't deny hard evidence when it was right in front of him. He still didn't buy into that bit about feasting with Thor though. The World Eater seemed believable enough, given what he knew of how those northern regions matched the power of Mega Evolution, and the size Shruikan had gained. What fascinated him was that for Alex and his dragon, their size gain was permanent, which meant it wasn't Dynamaxing.

Eric had offered to go to Fornia as well, but Alex had convinced him to stay in Unova, to study, and run the lab instead. He also gave him a method of contacting Tao, and once he'd announced that the Redwood Lab was open again, something strange had happened. Applications from potential aides, who were really just students roughly Eric's age, came flooding in. Apparently, working at the lab of a Champion's relative was a big deal, even if said Champion wasn't really running it. In fact, many people had started moving to Derrion Town, and the surrounding areas.

Curiosity about their region's newest defender brought them, but they stayed for the gorgeous views, and clean air. Alex headed south again once he'd said his farewells to his family after a last home-cooked meal, and before he left his home region, he found Tao, who was helping to repair New Tork City, resting atop the Empire building. It was the tallest skyscraper in New Tork City, and gave a decent view of most of the Unova region's capital. From up there, the damage from the 'civil war' became easier to see. It had been extensive, and expensive. Saboteurs were also still an issue, as what few Arceans remained refused to give up on their Prophet's dream of bringing New Tork down.

Aside from that, Tao had things well under control. Rosa and Nate were busy hunting the cabal down, and the sly dragon had informed his Trainer that he'd ordered them to do so together because, once upon a time, he had helped Unovans find love, as well as balance. He had sensed that hunting the remaining Arceans would bring those two closer together. Hearing that from Tao had caused Alex to laugh for a full minute. Not just because after extensive discussion, Alex knew he had no conception whatsoever of what instinctual drive sparked most human relationships, but because many Unovans had been waiting for that exact development between those two Champions. It was obvious to anyone that saw them together, except them, apparently.

Hilda, he'd been told, had remained at the Plateau, and had a winning streak that was getting to be as long as his own. He'd rolled his eyes at that. He did actually lose battles. Most were one on one, but a full six on six usually saw him the victor. Only in the Swamp, against much more seasoned Champions, had he had trouble claiming the win.

He asked the dragon what his infinite wisdom said about his own romantic entanglement, but the First Dragon refused to answer. That, was when Alex proposed a trade of information. He claimed to know why Tao was having such a hard time remembering the so-called 'dragon tongue', despite having access to Alex's knowledge of it, and also claimed he could solve said problem. In return for wisdom.

The dragon could easily tell when Alex was lying, but he'd agreed after a long few moments regardless. In this case, Alex wasn't bluffing. There was a benefit to being part psychic type, and sometimes, even Legendary Dragons needed an extra pair of eyes to see what their own could not. Through their mental connection, Alex had sensed a block on what he assumed was Tao's speech center, buried deep in his brain, and locked by…something. He also sensed his new Voice could remove said block, and make the dragon even stronger. Had it been any other Legendary, he might've paused, but the last Pokémon he worried about having more power was Tao. He had always ruled fairly, even when the offspring of the first Dragon Emperor's lineage had not. There was a reason Arceus had placed him in charge of an entire continent, let alone the north american continent, the one historically that was the most in need of balance.

Instead of shouting, Alex whispered a series of dragon-words into the ear slit of his white scaled friend, words relating to memory, blockage, and the recovering of such things. For a moment, the dragon's eyes turned half white, and half black, before swirling into a familiar circular pattern, and regaining their pure golden color. The dragon thanked his Trainer, as that particular memory block had been a result of being torn in three parts for thousands of years, and then haphazardly shoved back together as two thirds of a whole Pokémon several times. It was enough to scramble anyone's mind, and Tao had simply hadn't noticed the block upon regaining balance.

He also quickly demonstrated that, while Alex may have had the Voice of a dragon, the Original Dragon's would always be superior. He did more with one word than Alex ever could, but then, that was par for the course with Legendary Pokémon. That word had been 'Yol', and the torrent of fire Tao shot into the air around them burned hotter than any Flamethrower, and had somehow been rainbow colored.

What exactly he remembered of the past, he did not say. Instead, he addressed the knowledge Alex had wanted in regard to his own relationship. His response was thus: "To understand how I guide lovers to each other, you must first dismiss the fanciful nonsense your species has created around the entire institution. There is no such thing as a 'soul-mate'. The concept of 'souls' is an ancient, outdated, and entirely Human one. The body and mind are always connected, not separate, and what affects one will affect the other. This is how all of existence functions. In Balance. This is why maintaining it is so important. Death. Un-death. Immortality." He grinned knowingly at his Trainer, who rolled his eyes. "They all effect the body and mind in different ways, but they effect both the body and the mind. One cannot be, without the other. Usually. The reality of my ability is simple. I use my Divine Sight to gaze into the…core…of a Human, and then use my psychic abilities to divine something about their strongest, and closest, potential match. Then, I lead them to each other. The result is usually positive. But there are always exceptions. Sometimes, running across another strong match can tear the first apart."

He leaned down to his Trainer, his massive golden eye towering over him as his soothing psychic baritone thundered in his skull. "You will be hard pressed to find a better match than that of Fire and Dragon. Though she may not have the typing, yours is as fiery a Human as I've ever seen. She burns brightest in your presence, and you in turn are fueled by hers. It is a rare match, but a good one. Cherish it, for it will not come twice."

Alex pondered the dragon's words, and then finally bowed, thanking him for his insight. Evidently his opinion of Jessica Gladstone had risen during their training in his home dimension. It's not that he wasn't glad, he was more curious as to how he hadn't noticed, and then, slowly, he recalled the long hours he'd spent focused on perfecting his martial arts forms while his love and Tao had been off in the rock garden on top of the tower. He'd assumed they were meditating, but evidently, they'd talked as well. It hadn't seemed strange, as the dragon had often isolated them from each other when teaching.

Once Alex departed from the building, he continued on his way south, riding on Shruikan, who had never seen their home continent from the air. Not with his own eyes, anyways. The eastern coast of the States was, in a word, gorgeous. New Tork was not the only metropolis on the way south, but Alex had no intention of going near a city. He got enough challenges from flying Trainers as it was. Something as unique as a Black Salamence would be mobbed in a foreign city. In Unova, the locals had quickly learned to associate the massive dragon with the Champion who rode on his back, clad in white. While many still wanted battles, far more often he was asked for autographs, or given Holoceiver numbers so he could set up future battles.

Jinia Town was the largest town on the eastern coast, and the last one of significance before the Swamp. Alex hadn't stopped there last time, as he'd been in a rush, but this time, he decided to pay a visit. He rode in atop Leo, though that didn't really do much to stay subtle. His golden-furred Luxray attracted almost as much attention as his giant black dragon. They stayed at the Pokémon Center that night, before heading further south towards the grassy plains north of the Swamp in the morning.

He soon discovered that he was not the only returning Trainer who wanted to continue south the next day. There were tons of other Trainers, some he knew from the last time he'd been down here. They had made it to the Sage. The vast majority however, had not, and were new Trainers who had been invited due to their skill, and not their station as Champion. Evidently, Oranguru had lowered the standards one had to meet to attempt to cross into the Swamp.

Not only that, but Alex soon discovered, over a bowl of Leaf with several other Champions, that these new Trainers were all given guides of some sort to the Sage himself, rather than wandering the Swamp aimlessly until they had a vision, or went mad from having too many. Eventually, Alex had, at the behest of the other primarily grass type favoring Champions, singled out a girl, clearly from Unova, and used his 'natural charisma' to find out why she was here. Said charisma consisted of 'Hey', the most common way to start a conversation in Common, and the question 'What brings you down here?' He was clearly a wordsmith.

It was clear she recognized him, and she even claimed that they'd battled once, but after a few hundred road battles, the faces start to blur. She didn't seem to mind his lack of recognition, and answered his blunt question about her purpose for being here, claiming that she had come to learn from the Sage. He was half tempted to ask why she hadn't gone to Tao instead, but he had a feeling that it was none of his business, and wisely avoided prying.

The returning trainees shared a look once Alex explained what he'd heard, and a few were understandably irritated. Getting to the Sage in the first place had been difficult for all of them, many had experienced their own personal Hel as they'd relived past traumatic events, and came through them, again, unscathed. But now these new Trainers, not even Champions, were getting a free pass to an island that had been cramped with a few hundred humans. Now, there would likely be thousands.

They decided to head out at midnight, while the newbies slept, and found they weren't the only Champions with that idea. The returning students had figured space would be limited, and Arceus only knew how many had already reached the Sage. By the time their mixed group of flying types reached the Swamp's edge, the first light of dawn was filling the sky. Then, they saw her.

The purple-haired woman from their last exam was standing on the open plains before the Swamp, arms crossed, her Dragonite by her side. She waved down the group of twenty or so Champions, and once they landed, she began explaining what they'd evidently missed in the two months they'd been gone.

"I know many of you may have mixed feelings about these newcomers," She began, eyeing those who nodded at her words. Alex remained impassive, stone-faced. This woman had acted like a sifter before, separating the skilled from the unworthy. He had no doubt she was doing the same thing now. "Understand that they are here because they wish to learn from the Sage, and nothing else. They will not be competing to become his top student, though they have that option, many have chosen to avoid potential death, and simply be guided to the Sage."

She looked ready to say more, but a familiar sound cut her off as a helicopter, blades whirring away with obnoxiously loud noise and wind, set down beside the group of Champions. They collectively groaned as they saw the symbol on the side of the machine, and Alex looked down, embarrassed. There was only one news network global enough to be interested in a story in this place. Naturally, they had a HQ in one of the largest tech-savvy cities on the planet. New Tork.

Thankfully, it wasn't John Crimson who stepped out of the chopper, but rather a woman, blonde hair, curves in all the right places. The men amongst the group eyed her openly. Some looked away quickly, fighting their instincts. Others did not. Alex just chuckled, as he recognized the woman who'd been summoned by Joey after his first attempt at an interview. He couldn't really blame the others for staring, her cleavage remained glorious, but he'd already developed an immunity. Praise Arceus.

The purple haired woman crossed her arms, and glared at the blonde, her harsh voice cutting through the sound of the whirling blades with unusual ease. "We've already had this discussion. No."

The blonde frowned, and then turned her gaze to the crowd of Trainers, several of whom looked ready and able to 'assist' her in whatever way they could. A familiar feeling of 'oh shit' tingled up Alex's spine as he saw her eyes catch his hat, and then his face. She smiled, and waved obviously. "Champion! Alex Redwood! Remember me?" The group slooowly turned to look at the white and black clad Trainer as Alex moved up to the two women.

The examiner eyed him with a severe look. "You know this…floozy?"

Alex gave the blonde a nod, and then met the examiner's sharp gaze. He had no earthly idea what a 'floozy' was, but knew a derogatory term when he heard one. "I do. She's from Unova. In fact, if it wasn't for her and her cameraman, I might never have run into Ghetsis at the PNN, Reshiram and Kyurem wouldn't have been freed, and the Original Dragon would not have been reunited."

The cameraman in question was, of course, Joey, who had evidently stopped training at the Dragonspiral Tower, and was now outfitted with a camera on his shoulder. His Raticate had a similar device strapped to its back. The symbol of balance remained on his t-shirt, and his shorts, as always, remained the same. He grinned, and waved over-excitedly at Alex as he saw him. Alex waved back, smirking. He knew how badly Joey was crushing on his coworker. Evidently Tao had guided him, as well.

The purple-haired proctor looked between the three of them, and then settled on Alex. That same nervous feeling returned. He had no idea why this woman always put him on edge. "They want access to the Sage, so they can…'document' his training with their devices."

At that, Alex frowned. The last thing they needed at the compound was the distraction of being on live TV. Especially with so many new, untrained recruits. He turned to the blonde then, and met her gaze evenly. "Go home, Haley. I'll give you a story when I come back, but this…this place isn't for the modern world. There's no PokéMart in there. It's literally just a Swamp. A girl like you wouldn't last five minutes in there. The Krokoroks here are Human eaters."

"And this clearly dangerous Swamp is taking in thousands of skilled Trainers." Haley countered, "The world has a right to know where their loved ones are disappearing to."

Alex nodded. "It does. I agree, but this is something to learn about after the training is done. Not during it. You have my word, exclusive interview. With you, not John Crimson. But only after we're done here. It could take a while, though, so you should go home, and find a better story. Like where the Swords of Justice have run off to."

She raised a manicured brow at him. "What, they've disappeared?"

He raised a not-so-well-kept brow at her. "Nobody has seen them since that Beheeyem invasion fiasco. Anywhere. They're not around Unova. If you really want to give people a story, find out where they've gone. We could've used their aid this year, no?"

The blonde nodded, sighed, and then snapped her fingers. "Joey, we're going home." She glanced back at Alex as she left, and he resisted watching anything but the back of her head. The view was, of course, glorious, but he had never been an 'ass man' as his fellow males so eloquently put it. He had endeavored to understand all aspects of the great mystery that was women. "You'd better keep your word, Champion."

"When have I ever not?" Alex said as the chopper began taking off again, and headed north. He sighed. "Bloody reporters…"

"They're not the only ones to try to enter." The woman said, once they could hear themselves think. "But I do appreciate you getting rid of them. They've been pestering me for two weeks."

"You were about to tell us something else…?" Alex prompted, smirking.

The purple haired woman brought her plain wooden staff down towards his head. By pure instinct, he caught it, and she seemed genuinely impressed. "Not bad. You've improved."

Alex smirked. "I try."

The staff spun with a blur, and he grunted as it slammed into his stomach. He'd seen it coming, but he wasn't nearly fast enough to block it. He was however, fast enough to tighten his abdominals to take the hit. It had moved past his guard far too easily. "Do. Or do not." The woman said, smirking down at him.

"There is no try…" The Champions groaned, in unison. It was a lesson Oranguru had drilled into all of them. Painfully.

"Right, listen up!" She began again, pushing Alex back to the front of the crowd. "Things are a lot different this time around. For you veteran disciples, you have the chance to gain access to the air space over the Swamp." The Trainers shared a look. More than a few had been shot down by absurdly powerful Hyper Beams because they'd tried flying. "Don't worry, our snipers know who to target, and who to let pass…of course, this gift does not come free." She grinned down at them, and Alex noticed it was similar in many ways to the way Leo grinned at his prey before pouncing. He felt the large cat's ball hum on his belt. Evidently that was a compliment.

"To gain access to flight in the Swamp, your task is very simple." The woman gestured to her Dragonite. "Beat him, and you may fly with the best." The Champions murmured again. This woman had been absent during their first stay here, but the few times she had appeared, usually after shooting down a student breaking the 'no flying' rule, she'd let her Dragonite battle some of the more eager Champions with their own dragons.

While the absurdly proportioned dragon looked silly, its power had been monstrous. On the level of the Sage, or at least very close to it. It had taken down renowned dragon types belonging to rather strong Champions from across the States with a single blow, usually a Dragon Claw. Naturally, this had made everyone even more uneasy in her presence. Alex stepped forward unfazed, and smirking. "Challenge accepted. One on one?"

The purple haired woman grinned as her unnerving stare fell on him. "No substitutions. Will you be using your Charizard? Or perhaps that lumbering black beast you rode in on?" Blaze and Shruikan immediately began arguing, via their telepathic link, over who would fight the Dragonite. Blaze had seen it first, but Shruikan needed the battle experience. They were silenced and shared their surprise with the examiner as Leo sprang forth from his ball, and snarled at the Dragonite.

The woman raised both eyebrows, and walked towards the Luxray, who was sparking with electricity already. "I didn't know you had such a…fierce warrior on your team…oooh…his eyes are…uncannily similar to yours, actually, now that I look..." She said, looking up at Alex, comparing the two.

Alex smirked, and his normally blue eyes turned red and gold as Leo shared his sight through their link. "They are, aren't they? I like his colors, too. Black and gold just…it just works."

The look of awe at his Luxray's coloring faded, but the smirk remained. It was his turn to unnerve her with his gaze, and though she'd never admit it, a chill went up her spine. Those eyes had fire in them, even when they returned to being blue. "Dragonite. Go." She gave the command once she returned to her side of the imaginary field they were using. There would be no 'ring outs' here.

Leo's form had begun to glow as she'd walked back, and the two fliers on their team protested. Leo had fought Kurama after all, and this Dragonite deserved to face a dragon. Leo roared as his saber-toothed Mega Form crouched down into a battle stance. "He who strikes first, gets the meal…" Leo's mental voice growled to the other two. Alex chuckled, and his two overeager battlers quieted. They had argued, while he had struck. It was too late to change now.

Seeing his opponent had mega evolved, the Dragonite glanced at his Trainer. She shook her head. Alex fought down his disappointment. He hadn't seen a Dragonite's Mega Form, and Draco Plate crystals were exceedingly rare. If anyone had one though, it would be a Trainer like this. He smirked at her. "Not a wise choice. Leo's Mega Form is…deadly."

The purple woman rolled her eyes. "You'll excuse me if I'm not intimidated. He may have a unique color, but I'll bet he's spent most of his life fighting Flying and Water Types. He's never faced down a Dragonite." Alex just shook his head. A Black Salamence was, in his opinion at least, far deadlier than a Dragonite, and Leo often sparred with Shruikan.

Leo snarled at the woman's words, and she raised a brow. His new form's mane was, unlike his normal one, sleeker, though it extended under his jaw as well, not unlike a Pyroar's. Electricity shot through it, and it flared out in an array of black with gold streaked fur. It would provide the conduit that would guide the plasma he generated with his attacks. There was, in truth, a reason Alex had let his proud cat take the lead again. None of his team were as good at night battling, and though the sun was coming, the night was still their ally.

The Dragonite assumed the battle was on, and launched forward, its fists encased in fire and lightning, one claw for each. Alex frowned, as Leo dodged the fire one. The electric claw hit, and he snarled in surprise and pain. Usually such attacks didn't damage him much, but then his Trainer realized, these weren't actually punches. Fire and electric type energy had covered the dragon's true attack, Dragon Claw.

He saw the purple haired woman moving her mouth, but no sound came out. The electric claw turned to ice, and he swore as he and Leo reached the same conclusion. She knew the dragon tongue. Since returning to battling regularly, Alex didn't use it in battles, as it put a target on his back, and was unfair against Trainers who couldn't power their partners up with their Voice. He did much the same with telepathy, though he kept their battle strategy silent, only shouting moves verbally.

He whispered his own words, and the sky darkened again, as dark, ominous clouds rolled in from seemingly nowhere, and covered the rising sun. His Luxray grinned, and melted into the much heavier shadows as an Ice Claw sliced through an apparition of his form. Then, like the night hunter he was, Leo came out of the shadows from seemingly nowhere, his massive saber-teeth wreathed in lightning. They sank into the Dragonite's bulky leg, and then the cat disappeared just as quickly.

The woman frowned, but said nothing about his tactics. As far as using the Voice went, augmenting one's Pokémon was more of a legitimate rule violation than changing the weather. Plenty of Pokémon did that anyway, just by appearing. Leo struck again, this time with his claws. He and Alex had discovered that his bones were actually quite good at conducting electricity, and since his claws had the same composition as his teeth, they'd figured out how to use an entirely new move. Thunder Claw, they called it. He was still getting the hang of it without mega evolving, but in this form, Leo had no issues controlling his elemental typing.

Three red gashes appeared across the Dragonite's chest and exploded with electric energy, and it roared in frustration, then glanced back suddenly at its Trainer. It nodded once, and Alex knew they were shifting strategies. "Careful, Leo…use a ranged attack this time."

While Leo much preferred physical attacks, his special ones were almost as strong. He agreed with his Trainer, and did as ordered. He didn't take opponents this strong lightly. A bolt of Thunder arced down from the sky, and the Dragonite hissed as he narrowly dodged it. The searing plasma had struck his tail, but it was a glancing blow.

Suddenly, the woman shifted her head, right towards where Leo was hiding. Alex had enough time to swear, and his lithe cat was already moving in the shadows, but they might as well have been in slow motion.

The Hyper Beam tore across the grassy plains they were battling upon, and hit Leo directly. He began panting, and winced. It had hit his bulky abdomen, namely the muscles, and while nothing was broken, he'd almost been taken out in a single hit. Had he not been in his Mega Form, he would not have held on, but a sliver of strength was all he needed for a counter attack.

The Dragonite was panting as well, and Leo took the chance to hit him directly with Thunder. That was the downside of Hyper Beam. Monstrous power, but it left a Pokémon unable to dodge, or attack for a moment. In a battle like this, that was a dangerous strategy. Evidently, the examiner had expected it to take Leo down.

She reached the conclusion the same time he did. Alex could see it on her face. The next hit would decide this, and he knew what move she'd be using. "Hold your breath…" Alex said, watching her. "She found you somehow, last time. Shield your mind, and hold your breath. Don't move."

Moments passed, as the Dragonite waited, a smirk that mirrored his Trainer's on his face. Alex growled softly. They were waiting for him to strike, but, they didn't know where Leo was. He hoped. "Use it." He finally said to his partner. They might as well try. Their spherical Taijitu attacks had stopped Hyper Beams before, after all.

Leo formed the Electro Ball, and Alex's Zap Plate crystal flared from within his pocket. Leo would provide the dark type energy, as in this form, it was a part of him. The examiner narrowed her eyes. She had once mentioned her distaste for 'Z-Moves', after thrashing a particularly cheeky trainee on one of the rare times she'd visited. He had a feeling she didn't consider his new variant any better.

Darkness formed one half of the condensed ball, and the electric shard flared, powering the Electro Ball that made up the other half. Leo swirled the energy in his maw, condensing it. That, more than anything, was what made these moves so deadly. Unfortunately, they were also a bit flashy.

The Dragonite leapt into the air and hovered there on his tiny wings as the orange sphere that was his Hyper Beam built in his own maw, and Alex suddenly had an idea. Leo growled, but affirmed that he could at least try to do it. As expected, the Hyper Beam blew away their Taijitu sphere formed in haste and partial stealth in a massive explosion that sent a concussive wave billowing for miles across the largely uninhabited grasslands this close to the Swamp.

Moments later, the sky boomed, and had the clouds not been overhead, Leo likely would've had a much harder time calling electricity down from it. Especially while he was trying to use a complicated move. The Thunder attack slammed into the Dragonite, and it gave a pitiable whine as the electricity struck its wings.

Leo appeared behind the Dragonite as it readied another Hyper Beam, not dissimilar to the way a Greninja did. The condensed Electro Pulse was smaller than he could make it if he had time to properly focus and prepare, but it was still quite powerful. Powerful enough to slam into the Dragonite's back, and send him spinning into the soft earth below them.

When the dust cleared, a crater with horizontal swirling patterns surrounded the fainted Dragonite, who was lying on the bottom. Leo landed, and let his Mega Form fade as he trotted towards his Trainer. Alex fed him one of his preferred treats, Moomoo Milk from back home, and the large cat purred, then rolled on his back, expecting a belly rub.

Alex obliged him, smirking, even as he felt the static charge run up his arms, and make his hair flair out. It was curly, so often it was deceptive as to how much he actually had up there, but when he pet his thunder cat, it became quite obvious. He needed a trim. "How did you keep dodging, anyways?" Alex said, speaking mentally to his large cat. "You looked like a Zoroark for a minute."

Leo didn't respond for some time, during which the purple-haired examiner healed her partner, and made her way towards the two. "I did what the fox did, in Norstad. Used Dark energy to make an approximation of my image that's so lifelike, it can fool the eyes of a Luxray. I call them Shadow Clones."

He purred as Alex broke into a laugh. "No. Just…no. Call them Anything but that. Please." Leo rolled onto his stomach then, purred against his Trainer, and tapped his ball's button with his nose. He rather enjoyed the inside of his Pokéball, and he'd earned a nap. And he was definitely still calling them Shadow Clones. Alex sighed. Felines.

Looking up, Alex noticed the examiner waiting for his focus to return, and once he stood, she spoke. "Well done…I admit, I didn't think you had a chance. Not without your Charizard, and a type advantage. You've improved while you've been away."

Alex nodded. "I got some training from Tao and my Rayquaza…who should be here by now…but yea. I went to Norstad, too. Saved the world. Met some Legendary Pokémon."

She gave him a smirk, and that feeling of nervousness returned. "So basically, the same thing every other Disciple did."

Alex smirked. "It really is the best job in the world."

A smile cracked the usually stone-faced woman's weathered features, and she gestured to the Swamp behind her. "Fly on in. The others know not to shoot you down."

As he stood atop his massive dragon's head, holding onto a head-spike that was taller than him, he could see he needn't have worried about Shruikan being able to fit in the Swamp. The Swamp's trees were gargantuan. They might leave a dragon-sized hole in the canopy wherever they descended, but he should be fine battling.

The air above the Swamp was, surprisingly, full of Trainers. Evidently, he really wasn't the only one who'd improved. The examiner had demonstrated early in their training that they had no chance against her, something the usually proud Champions had not accepted until they'd actually lost to her. Alex had been no exception. Now, it seemed, many had passed the test to earn the right to fly. He sensed many more Trainers below, as they flew over.

There were likely some who assumed they could follow the guides to the Sage without attracting attention, but Alex knew better. He'd spent three months in this Swamp, and had learned early on that the Swamp did what the Swamp wanted. There were no shortcuts to the Sage, not for those who, like the other Champions, had come to try and become his honored student.

Shruikan, as always, gathered looks wherever he flew, and thanks to his size, they created a swathe through the many flying types in the air. More than a few looked irritated enough to attack, but a glare from the massive dragon usually made them think otherwise. Deciding to check on his 'home' first, Alex had the large dragon descend on the western side of the Sage's Isle, only to find that his home away from home was occupied.

Alex felt Arthur's irritation rising, and sighed. He also spotted Red, and figured he could let the second most well-known Trainer in the world give a chance to explain why his Mewtwo was sitting suspended in the air atop his wrecked home. The cat-like psychic type was meditating in the midst of the ruins of their little 'house' that had been made of mud, wood, bark, and no small number of vines. A psychic barrier encircled the meditating Pokémon, who had evidently landed on the roof, and then pushed it downwards, demolishing everything.

It was repairable, but it would never be the same. Hydrus was just as irritated as Arthur, and as the rest of his team noticed, all except Terra were genuinely mad that their sleeping space had been crushed by the Pokémon arrogant enough to claim to be as strong as Arceus. Red's Mewtwo was something of a legend, and after Blaine had passed on and given his ball to Red, the only Trainer he trusted with Mewtwo, the psychic type had grown…vocal. And disobedient. There was a reason Red usually kept him in his ball.

As Shruikan landed, he snarled at the meditating Pokémon, who opened one eye, and then the other as he did a double take. "Its going to pay for crushing our home…" Shruikan's snarls only made the Mewtwo smirk, and Alex patted his horn, before leaping down.

"Peace, Shruikan…" He said, speaking to the dragon's mind. "This is Arthur's fight…"

The dragon grumbled, but spoke mentally to their Gallade. "Make sure my words ring true, sword-hands."

As if in response, Arthur popped free of his ball. He'd been quiet on the trip south, and Alex knew Xerneas's words still rang in his head. The Sage knew who he was. Why had he not told him? That thought had steadily grown more and more irritating. Thus, now that they were finally here, he was ready for some answers, and was in no mood to deal with Red's Mewtwo.

Blue psychic power surrounded Arthur as he walked up to Mewtwo, who blinked in irritation as the Gallade marched through his Barrier with ease. Arthur stared him down, his face an inch from the genetic Pokémon's as he projected his words. "Get. Out. I won't ask nicely again." There was a low 'oooo' sound from the few Trainers besides Red that had come to, evidently, see what the Mewtwo would do next. Shruikan's arrival wasn't subtle, and their crushed domicile seemed to be a recent event.

Red came up to Alex who was already moving towards the two psychic types. "I'm sorry, he just…he randomly popped free of his Pokéball a few minutes ago and vanished. Then I found him here. I have no idea why he's doing this…"

The Mewtwo gave his Trainer a brief, irritated glance. "This does not concern Humans. Go away. This is between me, and the little prince. The Dragonslayer." Mewtwo smirked again, and before anyone could blink, he was suddenly sent flying to his right, and everyone else's left. Arthur's Night Slash was humming, and radiating dark type energy.

He glared towards the hole in the foliage the Mewtwo's body had caused. "I told you...to get out." His right arm, the arm which had struck first, was shaking, and Alex blinked as he sensed his Gallade was dangerously close to losing himself to rage. Where had that come from?

Given that their telepathy was being broadcast audibly, everyone noticed how mad Arthur looked. Around the compound he'd been, by far, the most active of Alex's team. Sparring every day, with humans, Pokémon, anyone really. He'd trained relentlessly, as he had been convinced that he was their team's weak link at the time, due to his inability to Mega Evolve. That was no longer the case now, though.

This Mewtwo in particular had often mocked the Gallade, 'sparring' with him in his Mega Form, which gained the fighting type. Arthur had withstood the verbal abuse though, and kept his cool, something everyone had admired, even as the Gallade lost consistently. Arthur's noble demeanor and nickname had only irritated Mewtwo, and Arthur had become the focus of his irritation on a daily basis. It had been good training, but the harsh words often struck a nerve he had, until now, ignored.

The other Champions around the area, evidently brought by Red, or just curious to see what his Mewtwo was doing, all visibly flinched as the Genetic Pokémon's voice rang through the area. "So…you've gotten proper training…" The two sides of the Mewtwo-sized hole in the foliage were wrenched apart with psychic power. His eyes were shining deep blue, and the Mewtwo approached Arthur slowly, levitating above the ground.

The gathered Trainers, Alex included, winced again as the Mewtwo turned his gaze towards Red, lifted the human into the air, and forcibly drew a Mega Stone from his bag. They all knew which one it was. Mewtwo raised a finger, and Red's keystone activated the Mewtwonite X. He sighed contently, as he finished mega evolving, and flexed his larger muscles as he landed before the Gallade. "Go on then, little prince. Hit me with everything you have. Make your dead mother proud."

Arthur's eyes flared blue, and the area between the two psychic types began to break apart as each one called on their power. Sparks flared as their auras brushed against each other. Arthur did not Mega Evolve however, despite being given the chance to do so. Mewtwo's eyes narrowed, and he began to form a sphere of black energy between his palms. Arthur did the same, and his sword arms were glowing gold.

The gold light formed a similar orb between his palms as he condensed the energy into a sphere he knew his opponent could not match, and though Mewtwo's grew darker as he poured more of his awesome power into it, Arthur's only grew brighter.

"ENOUGH!"

The force of the psychic shout disrupted Mewtwo's concentration, but Arthur's held fast. He gave his opponent a grim smirk as the Shadow Ball Mewtwo had been forming vanished without his focus. The Foggy Swamp Sage descended through the canopy above them, staring down each fighter, before focusing on Arthur, who had kept the shining ball of power between his hands. "I said that's enough, Arthur…"

The Gallade seemed to growl, but then paused as a single, massive claw rested on his shoulder. Shruikan brought his head down to the Gallade's level, and met his gaze, blinking once. Arthur sighed, and let the energy go.

The Sage sighed, and pointed at Red, specifically one of his Pokéballs. A red light shot at the Mewtwo, who seemed ready to attack the Sage, but was forcibly returned to his ball instead. It shook violently, but the Sage's deep pinkish aura of psychic power kept it shut. He turned his gaze to the Gallade, and his Trainer.

"You two. Come with me."

Alex gave a nod, and bowed, but the Sage had vanished with what he assumed was Teleport. He let the rest of his team out of their balls, and then turned to Red. "They're going to start reconstructing my home. Help them out, if you can, hmm?" He gestured to his wrecked hovel. "This is partly your fault." Red simply nodded, keeping the brim of his hat covering his face.

Arthur gave Red a pat on the shoulder before following Alex. "Know that I blame your Mewtwo for this. I know you wouldn't do something like this with no provocation. You're a good Trainer. One of the best, in fact, if what Alex says is true. Many have failed to tame a Mewtwo. Don't let this incident keep you from trying. You'll reach him…eventually." Red met the Gallade's gaze for a moment, and then nodded.

The walk to the Sage's chamber would take several minutes, and Alex spoke quietly to his Gallade as they moved. "Are you okay? I've never seen you that angry…"

The Gallade flinched, a frown on his usually happy face. "I…I just…I have no excuse. I lost control, for a moment…I let his words get to me…"

Alex stopped, and faced his Gallade, putting a hand on each shoulder. "Anyone would have. I know how much you liked meditating in your room, and I know my own emotional turmoil hasn't helped with yours."

Arthur looked up, at that. "That's not-"

Alex cut him off. "We've had a rough week, my friend. Focus on the positive. Nobody got hurt, and you kept your head, in the end. Which is good because that attack, which was incredibly cool by the way, would've seriously hurt an Oranguru."

Arthur looked down again, and sighed. "I don't know what it was…I just used Sacred Sword and pooled the energy…"

Alex smirked. He'd thought that's what had happened. "We'll work on it. Now let's go."

The Sage's compound was, they realized, much larger now. Several more dorm buildings had been added, and several others were yet being built, just to accommodate all the new people. There was even a second mess hall, built onto the side of the first.

The Sage's chamber seemed unchanged, at least. They found him where he usually was, meditating in his wooden bowl-throne, perfectly balanced upon one of Swamp Tree's roots. Alex mentally reached out to the tree, grinning. "Hey, Swamp Tree."

"Redwood, my man. Welcome back."

The tree's voice was as casually chill as it always was. "Thanks Swamp Tree. How've you been?"

A hint of sarcasm entered the tree's voice as it responded. "Pretty good, you know, pretty good. I've just been sitting here for a few months. Being a tree. Winters over, so that's good. I love spring. It makes me grow taller."

"Yea?" Alex said, resisting a chuckle. "Do you ever, y'know, consider maybe not growing? You're already pretty large, Swamp Tree."

"Asking a tree not to grow is like asking the sun not to shine, Redwood. Trees gotta do what a trees gotta do." Even the Sage was smirking now, though Alex could tell he was trying to hide it. "You're one to talk. Look at you. Last I saw you, you could barely lift a pebble. You were smaller, too. What happened?"

"I'll tell you all about it." Alex said, as he walked up to the throne, and bowed. Arthur did the same.

The Sage opened his eyes, examined his student, and raised a brow. "So. You awakened your Dragon blood. Well, nobody saw that coming, I'm sure." He shifted his gaze to one of the rafters in the hall, and the lead Passimian guard dropped down, and reluctantly handed over a very large, very juicy looking Sitrus Berry.

Alex had a feeling he'd just seen the conclusion of some sort of berry bet. The Sage split the fruit in half, and offered some to Alex, who broke his piece in half, and gave some to Arthur. They munched quietly, sitting together as Alex recounted their adventures in the land of ice and snow.

"So. Tao trained you to use your psychic powers, did he." Alex nodded, and the Sage sighed. "Well, he didn't teach you anything too damaging, so that's something. Besides, you showed control in Norstad. You could have that region worshiping you as a dragon-god hero, but you didn't stay."

Alex nodded again. "Norstad's better off being led by a hero of their own. And, Jess was better at using her powers. She surpassed me during our training. She also had help from her partner. Mine refused to teach me anything because you forbade him from doing so."

"For good reason," the Sage mumbled, "You had yet to unlock the other half of your potential. Now, we can move forward. Arthur, consider my ban lifted. Teach him whatever he wants."

Arthur smirked, as did his Trainer. "With respect, master," He said, "I think you already know what he wants. He's determined to learn it from you, and if I'm honest…it's been a while. I've kind of forgotten how…and I wouldn't have the first clue about teaching it to a Human…I can move fast enough to make it seem like the real thing, but that's just a ninja technique I picked up from Gren."

The Sage raised a brow, and looked between the two. "What does he wish to learn now?"

Alex's smirk widened. He'd been shielding his thoughts, and it was nice to know the Sage hadn't pried, though he had no doubt his mental defenses would be no match for his power. "I want to Teleport, master. It seems like something that could be incredibly useful, to a Trainer. Especially one with a power base to manage."

The Sage tossed the last of the fruit into his mouth, and raised a brow. "How?" It was weird, seeing his mouth occupied, and yet hearing him speak, undeterred by it.

Alex blinked. "Well, for one thing, I could continue my duties as Champion, and study here."

The Sage nodded, and then a look of understanding came over his face. "I see what you're after…it also lets you visit your woman. And anywhere else you can remember. Hmmmm." The large Pokémon stroked his chin, which had a respectable white-furred beard on it. "Very well. I see no reason to keep you from such a skill. You have proven that you can handle power. The World Eater was no small threat. I'll expect you to bring her here, for training. If what you say about Pravus is true, she will need it as well, before you venture to Fornia."

Learning to Teleport wasn't exactly difficult, as he was, after all, a psychic. It was an ability most of them had, and one Arthur was glad to remember. It would be incredibly useful in a battle. The trick, as the Sage showed them, was to tap into the global field of energy surrounding their planet, and use their psychic power to move along it. It was, in actuality, quite simple. All you needed was a clear image of your imprinted destination, though Alex soon realized, he could only go to places he'd already been, and remembered quite well.

That was fine, as it gave him a reason to travel the world. He'd gone back to his room once he'd gotten the hang of it, and while there, grabbed extra clothes, and shoved them into his bag. His shirt, pants, and robe didn't really need washing since they were clothes from Tao's world, but having extra underwear was always a good thing. He appeared back in the Sage's hall, grinning like a child. "This…is amazing. Thank you, master." He bowed low.

The Sage seemed amused that the human was so glad to get underwear. Naturally, the Sage didn't need any. Teleportation was something most unevolved psychic types did with ease. Seeing a human use it was interesting, but his student had no issues picking it up. Once he'd done it successfully, he had the move down. "Remember there's a limit to how many times you can use it. Don't forget. Or you'll have to spend time resting wherever you end up."

Arthur glanced at his Trainer once he sat back down, and Alex nodded. "Master, there's something else…when Xerneas thanked us for saving her, and her home, she told Arthur about his origins…or rather, she told him that you knew of them."

The Sage sighed, but shifted his gaze to the Gallade, who was looking down at his crossed legs. "She was correct. Since the moment you arrived, I had a feeling, but seeing you both now…it's clear my instinct was spot on. I did not tell you because…the situation is…complicated."

Arthur looked up at the Sage. "Who am I?"

Oranguru usually prided himself on being emotionally distant. Unattached. Wise. But seeing this Gallade, the sadness in his eyes, the lack of understanding…it moved him in ways he thought he'd been immune to. "Settle in, both of you." The Sage said, "This is going to be a long story…"

"Arthur, you hail from the land known as Albion. I'm sure you've never heard of it. Small, just north of Wyndon City. It's a nice place, really. Rolling fields of green, kind people, the weather is terrible, but then, that's just a part of living there. In actual fact, Albion is where your species first originated from, though you've all spread out over the eons. Your ancestral roots are in Albion, and your egg, young Arthur, was likely created there." The Gallade looked ready to respond, but stayed quiet. He needed to hear this.

"As I said…the situation in Albion is…complicated. Fragile. You see, the Humans of that land have lived there for uncountable millennia, but, unlike any other society on the planet, they actually allowed Pokémon to rule over them, and hold positions of governmental power. Specifically, your line, Arthur. You are, in my best guess, the Lost Prince of Albion."

Arthur blinked. "What…? I…hmm…tell me about my mother."

The Sage nodded. "Your insight serves you well. Several years ago, there was…a shift in the balance of Albion's power. A group of Humans, for no discernible reason, rose up against you and your family. I know for a fact that your line always ruled with the inherent grace and kindness your species is so naturally imbued with. These Humans though…they had a benefactor. A woman in the shadows, pulling their strings. She became Queen after she killed your father, and your mother was forced to run, with no mate, a fresh egg, and a Houndoom on her heels."

The Sage sighed, and sank into his throne. "I will be honest…when they drove your mother to flee her home after they'd killed your father, I did not allow her to stay in the Swamp. She came to me with an egg, I'm assuming it was yours, but I could not let her stay. You see, to this day, there is a…dedicated…group of Humans and Pokémon alike under the new Queen whose sole purpose is to hunt you down, and end any chance of the old line returning to power. Anyone who helps refugees of the 'royal family', is severely punished. I wasn't willing to start a war. They would've torn the Swamp apart to find her, and keep you from hatching." The Sage kept his gaze on the floor. "I know that her egg hatched, and that she fled to Unova, seeking the protection of four Pokémon, three of which had, in the past, served her family."

Alex broke in then. There was only one quartet that could possibly fill that role. "The Swords of Justice…but they've-"

"Disappeared." Oranguru said, nodding. "I am aware. I know this much, young Arthur. Your mother fell to the hands of this group that hunts you, even now. I also know that shortly after she died, the Swords went missing. When you return to Unova, go to their Pledge Grove. That is where my Future Sight led my gaze when I meditated on this. If there are answers, you will find them there."

The Gallade glanced at his Trainer, and Alex nodded. There was no question. Arthur was going to the Grove immediately, to remember what he'd forgotten. He Teleported away, and Alex sighed at his master. "He never stops."

The Sage smirked. "I know. I wonder who he gets that from."

Later that night, as Arthur handled his business, Alex returned to his 'home' to find that Terra had seriously outdone himself with reforging their hovel. The design was essentially the same, but the combined mastery of the earth and water that made up the Swamp from Terra and Hyrdrus allowed it to be molded in ways humans could never dream of achieving. Not without years of work. It was even big enough for Jess, and had passable shelter from the rain that would no doubt come as summer approached.

He recalled his tired team, amazed at their work. Blaze and Leo had also helped sculpt the stone, so everyone was thoroughly exhausted, which was perfect, because Alex had a feeling his belt wouldn't be on all night.

Alex was finally free to Teleport wherever he wished. His possibilities were limitless. He went to Alola first, and bumped into Percy at a restaurant his family had visited on an earlier trip. Percy suggested he get something for his lover, and deciding to actually trust the fairy type's advice, he let his random, wandering gaze, and the universe, guide him. It was a trick he'd picked up from Tao, and was often a good way to make decisions his conscious mind focused too hard on. Once his eyes read the familiar, and hilarious words on the random package they'd settled on behind the counter, Alex knew what he'd be getting her.

Unova University - Unova Region

"Thanks for the Tapu Cocoa." Jess said, smirking. He'd returned to his lady's dorm, only to find that her new roommate had invited her boyfriend as well. Naturally, Alex had enough to share.

Her roommate smirked. "Yes, thank you…it's seriously good." She pouted at her partner. "He never gets me anything."

Jess buried her face in his chest suddenly, and she stifled a giggle fit as Alex nonchalantly sipped his drink, and said, "I know what the ladies like." The boyfriend, whose name he hadn't been told, nodded, as he got the reference. Alex chuckled as well.

They'd Teleported away then, as upon hearing he could take her anywhere, his better half had demanded to see Lumiose again, namely because she needed to shop, or something. He didn't mind, and managed to use her own memory of the city to appear there, right outside Lumiose Tower. The great thing about Kalos, he discovered, was that everyone was ready to battle, and usually with Mega Evolution. Those battles were always interesting. Especially since he was down to Hydrus and Terra, whose stamina was quite impressive. Everyone else was still tired from constructing their home again.

Alex and Jess gave themselves three months, before they headed out for Fornia, as upon prodding its outer defenses they had learned the Professor had been correct. Fornia was a fortress, and entering it was not simple, even for Arceans. Training in the Swamp by day, and adventuring at night Alex was battling tons of Trainers, and seeing many battle styles. More than once, a wandering blackbelt had even challenged him to a battle of martial arts, and not Pokémon. Some, had even fought alongside their fighting types, claiming that was how people battled in the Imperium of Man, and both he and Arthur found those kinds of matches rather enjoyable.

Arthur, after returning from his Pledge Grove adventure in which he reunited with Keldeo, was no closer to finding the missing Swords. He informed his Trainer that there were many Gallade who were considered great knights in the Pokémon Leagues throughout the States. For a reason he kept private, he wanted to travel to those Leagues, and battle those Gallade. Having read the same legends Arthur had, Alex could guess why.

The Sage had been right, as always. His species had a thing for tournament battling. Shruikan and Blaze helped expand the number of places they could Teleport to, by the day. Alex was making a trail essentially, slowly reaching ever closer to Fornia. It was impressive just how massive the continent was, and he knew once he got in range of Fornia that he'd be battling Leagues all the way back to the Swamp. He wasn't trying to become Champion, but he did have a series of six on six wins against the Champions he came across randomly on his travels west. He also challenged a few gyms, both with his main six, and his other partners who were eager to train after their holiday hiatus. Some of them were, he discovered the hard way, simply not strong enough yet to solo gyms as his main six had, so he resolved to train them more, and thus focused mainly on road battles and sharing experience as they moved quietly ever westward.

Jess was with him, of course, and despite being trained by Alex, Arthur, and even Delphi, she just could not grasp how they used Teleport so easily. She'd had the hardest time grasping the universal energy web that she was supposed to reach out to, and move along. She hadn't realized just how connected she was to the planet at large, and Alex teased her for it all the time. Being a rancher, he'd always known he was a part of a larger, interconnected web of life.

One night, they'd visited Percy, who'd heard about Jess' inability to learn Teleport. He gave them Tapu Cocoa, and had then told Jess that the key to understanding teleportation was understanding how every living thing was connected, and tapping into that web to move through space. He'd finished his lecture with the words "Life needs life, to live." She giggled for a moment, pondered his words, and then blinked away. Moments later, she returned, still smirking.

Once she learned how to Teleport, Alex brought her towards the Swamp, as instructed. She was eager to learn, of course, but with their new ability to be literally anywhere at any time, they'd been rather distracted on the way down.

With sudden access to places the world over, Alex felt less guilty about catching multiple partners. Being able to Teleport, and only needing four hours of sleep since his training in the World Forge, meant he could finally train his other partners, or at least tell his cousins to let them out. It was summer, after all. He'd found the right evolutions for each of the Eevee he'd caught together, and once they were all trained up, he set them to guard the ranch from their tree-home in the nearby forest. With powerful moves learned by way of TM, and perfected with training.

At first, the proud group of genetic variants claimed to have better things to do. Then, they'd realized just how many reporters, tourists, rabid fans, and even wild Pokémon came around the Redwood Ranch lately, and would, if ignored, trample the wild Pokémon's homes. More than once a Pokémon intelligent enough to pay attention to human media had sought him out, for training. Sometimes they wished to be caught, other times, they left after learning to incorporate elements of the Dragon Style into their battles. His eeveelutions grew stronger as they battled off more and more people, but the two that shone strongest were his Espeon and Umbreon. He wasn't all that surprised. One guarded the ranch during the day, and the other took the night. Always their patrols were in balance. He was glad at least two of the litter had picked up his lessons.

Alex gave similar tasks to his other partners as he had with the Eevee, and slowly, his family noticed that certain chores were just randomly being taken care of by his Pokémon. His Muk and Garbodor cleared the garbage by splitting it between themselves fairly, before wandering away to find more. His Machamp helped his uncle and older cousin with ranching. His Leafeon and Chikorita tended the plants. He also knew that his cousins could find uses for those he sent over. More than once now, they'd bonded with the Pokémon in question, and he'd simply given them to the relative in question. Slowly and subtly, the younger generation of Redwoods gained full belts from the prolific Champion. Evidently, all those hours chucking pebbles at the now-exploded stump just outside their home were paying off.

Thus, it was well into summer by the time Alex and Jess finally arrived at the edge of the massive Swamp. She too battled the dragon woman, and earned the right to fly in on her Articuno. Folokraan was quite large now, and had proven herself by beating down a certain Dragonite with icy ease born of a quadruple weakness. Once they returned to their swampy abode, Arthur had popped out, just in case a certain Mewtwo decided to make an appearance again. It didn't.

Connor eventually made his way to the Sage, and then back through the Swamp again to earn the right to fly. There was a reason Garchomp was feared, and a favorite of Champion level teams. He'd smirked at Alex and his sister, who were in the middle of sparring, as he sliced down through the canopy of the island. Evidently, he'd been victorious against the Dragonite as well, and had also acquired power he supposedly wasn't ready for.

Once Alex, Jess, and Connor had all arrived, finally, it wasn't long until Hilbert showed up as well. N remained nowhere to be found. Since Alex could Teleport now, Hilda didn't have to battle quite so many Trainers, which had given her time to finally visit this Swamp her brother constantly pestered her about. She was surprised to learn that the Champion could travel so far so fast, and hadn't expected him in the Swamp, but her brother was glad she'd finally made it down. Naturally, the other Champions were quite eager to 'get to know' the girl who'd beaten down the original Team Plasma. When they asked Alex for an introduction, he'd smirk, and send them to Hilbert. He knew how that would end. The elder twin was overprotective, quiet, and ruthlessly strong. Even if they got through Hilbert though, Hilda usually wanted to face them next, and most discovered pretty quickly that the female half of the duo that brought down the original Team Plasma already had a romantic interest. It wasn't hard to guess who.

When everyone had finally returned, they were almost halfway through the summer. The Sage gathered his first generation of pupils, and told them, and other worthy disciples, why so many regular Trainers had been allowed to the Swamp. They weren't unskilled persay, they just hadn't all won a League yet.

Part of proving one could be the honored student of a Sage was being able to teach, as well as learn. In fact, often the advanced lessons on achieving inner peace were based solely on how well one could train a pupil.

Alex had been doing this already, in a fashion, and once he had time, he'd organized the Trainers who wanted to learn from the man who'd united the Original Dragon. A change happened in the training ground over the next few weeks, after the Sage told them to let those who wished to learn, do so. With the influx of Trainers had come plenty of fan bases, and Unova's was, naturally, rather large. Even though all the Champions had not come down, the Trainers who showed up before him seemed more than eager to learn from the twins, and Alex as well.

Some Champions had convinced others to learn from them, but the more Alex taught about balance and especially the martial arts of the Dragon Style, and how they were related, the more trainees he had who were both newcomers, and old Champions. Everyone was eager to learn a new style of 'Kung Fu', which was where Connor had chimed in.

His meteoric rise to the rank of being able to fly had been gotten him rapid recognition among the other Champions, and he too claimed that he could teach Kung Fu. Apparently, he'd also said the Tiger Style could easily beat the Dragon, but Alex hadn't much cared. His disciples spoke for themselves. It also helped having Jess around, for her skills were almost as good as his. When it came to using psychic power however, Alex was entirely outclassed.

In truth, he'd essentially copied Tao's method of instruction, though it would take much, much longer to complete on this plane. Some students didn't care, and went weeks without rest, determined to master everything they could be taught.

Those were the disciples who soon unlocked a second typing, like their mentor had. Dragon and psychic was rare enough that Alex was the only human around the Sage's compound who'd had that combination, and most of the combinations that did appear in the Champions were normal, and something else. He also soon noticed that the Sage didn't care if his honored disciple was a psychic type or not. He trained and groomed many Trainers personally, Champions and regular Trainers alike, and Alex gained a bad habit of beating them in battles of Pokémon, and fist.

Eventually, Oranguru suggested Alex battle his longtime neighbor, and the scarlet headed Champion of Kalos had grinned at the offer to battle. He opted for a battle of fists. Evidently, he knew how a six on six would go. The so-called 'masters' of the Tiger and Dragon styles met on the Pokémon battlefield towards the back of the island. It was surrounded by trainee housing made from the bamboo that grew in the swamp, and almost felt like a stadium.

Connor summoned his Raikou, and Alex rolled his eyes. Evidently, he wanted his mentor to watch. That was fine by him. Tao appeared in a psychic Teleportation flash, towering over Alex, and setting the crowd watching them abuzz with murmuring. Many people still hadn't seen the Original Dragon in the flesh, but he always made an impression. The massive white and black dragon grinned at the tiger-like Legendary. This was a bet long in the making.

As the two humans clashed after sharing a nod, it soon became obvious who the more skilled fighter was. Alex hit Connor's balance points with every move, and the explosive strikes, which made Raikou's style so deadly, simply couldn't hit his opponent in return. The Champion of Unova was a black and white blur. He moved like water, and struck like thunder. He almost reached for his staff, but Connor hadn't allowed that.

Seeing defeat looming too quickly for his ego, Connor had given a shout of "Haaaa!", and flared his second typing's power, and as fighting type energy claws formed around his fists, Alex smirked at him, and mouthed a word in the tongue of the Dragons.

"Dovah."

His eyes shifted from shades of light blue and bluish-purple to almost pure white as he pushed his limits. His power flared, and then condensed around his form in a shield of aura, and the smirking Unovan Champion launched forward again, as he began to, finally, attack without pulling his punches. Everything thus far had been a warm up.

Though Connor scratched his opponent many times, his claws never seemed to leave much more than a few marks, and each time Alex struck in return, Connor nearly doubled over. He glared at his rival, and wondered when he'd gotten this good.

Connor flared his fighting type aura again, with more shouting, and as he did, it turned yellow, and began sparking with electricity. Alex's smirk grew as he recognized the trick Thor used in battle. "Really? Are we going there?"

Connor grinned. "Come and find out." He dropped into his stance again, and Alex sighed. His rival didn't seem to get it.

Though the Kalos Champion's muscles had grown exponentially, he was simply not fast enough for the advantage Teleport gave to his opponent. Each strike from Alex slammed into his target's weak points, and given that he had limited uses of Teleport, he didn't pull his punches.

As his fighting type energy faded, revealing just how hurt his body was, Connor grinned at his rival, who remained seemingly immune to the bloodless slashes all over his face, chest, back, and legs. "Alright, I give. I know when I'm beaten."

Alex let the power fade, and smirked at his rival. "You've become rather good with fists. You almost had me." The numerous slashes sparked as the skin sewed itself closed, and the tears in his robe sewed themselves shut. He stretched then, and glanced at Tao, who glanced at Raikou, who snarled in irritation.

The large tiger stalked over, and placed something at Alex's feet. Ghost, Dark, Steel, and Fighting type crystals, shards of Plates from Arceus himself. Each flared as Alex connected to them, and lifted them up via telekinesis. "Thank you. We should Battle again in the future. I still need more of these." The tiger glared at the human, and then blinked, as Tao growled at him in return.

Raikou stalked back to Connor, and returned to his ball without a word. He'd had enough of draconic smugness for one day.

The dragon had followed Alex back to his 'home' of course, and watched him pocket his new prizes. "You should have Arthur bond with them. And there is more to know, before you set off for Fornia."

The retrieval of these particular Plate crystals had been the final step in their plan to leave. The Swamp was unbearably hot, as it was the middle of the summer, but they knew Fornia would be hotter. Alex had mentioned that they planned to look at Albion eventually, assuming they survived Fornia, and the Dragon hadn't missed a beat.

Arthur had practiced forming 'energy balls' of many types now, but only ghost and psychic ever really worked. Once he had access to a fighting crystal, his 'Excalibur Sphere' as he called it, was easy to use. Especially in his Mega Form. He knew he needed to be stronger than Mordred. He'd read the legends, and, he remembered just how close their first encounter had been.

Once he'd bonded to each, and formed spheres with each, the Gallade had returned to his ball to continue practicing. It was safer in there, and it was designed to help his power grow. Perfect for training. Alex and Tao chuckled at his behavior. He really was always on the move.

Jess had been busy gathering crystals as well, like Steel, Water, Electric, and Grass. They would need to find more before reaching Fornia, but they'd manage. It was no secret that the regions Fornia controlled around the Stoney Mountains were literally brimming with ancient stones and fossils. Blissfully ignorant Archaeologists were more than willing to join the Church, if it meant discovering and reviving an extinct species of Pokémon.

Scientists had hypothesized that the Stoney Mountains were some of the first places Mew began to copy DNA from. Life flourished in those regions, but the Arceans kept a lock on all of it. One thing Alex was looking forward to most, was finding all those new species nobody had yet been able to freely catalogue.

Tao looked between the two Trainers, and sighed. "You're ready to leave, and yet you aren't disguised." Jess smirked at the dragon, and summoned the fairy type energy from her crystal. Ever since being immortalized by Xerneas, she'd had a knack for using it to disguise things, which was good, for she had no Pokémon that could make use of it. Yet.

With a wave, their appearance changed, and they gained the dark tanned skin, and golden hair so common in the Fornia region. At least among Arceans, which was who they were trying to infiltrate. Their features had changed as well, though to those who knew them, like family, they were still recognizable.

The dragon nodded, seemingly satisfied by their attempt at disguise. "Very well. The first thing you'll want to do is gather the other Plate crystals. If you do that, Pravus will never overpower you. Next, comes having Pokémon who can use those crystals. In times long passed, Battlers carried ten partners, and the strongest among them was decided by going head to head in clashes of ten on ten. This will be the same rule set in the upcoming World Tournament: Ten partners, no substitutions, and the freedom to use whatever Move your Partner can learn. The limit of four will be removed, for World Tournament Battles."

The Sage descended then, floating down through the foliage on his fan, and yawned before giving Tao a nod of respect that was returned in kind. "Mm. You're telling him? Fine." The tired eyes shifted to Alex, and the Sage spoke again. "For this particular tournament, Trainers and Pokémon are encouraged to use as many Moves as they're capable of remembering, in whatever style they wish. Items and healing implements will not be allowed, with the exception of potions. Every Trainer will have one, per match, and it is up to them to know when to use it."

Alex arched a brow at his two towering mentors. "What's the purpose of such a tournament? Ten Pokémon? Most people can barely go six on six."

The Oranguru chuckled, and munched on what appeared to be a Pinap berry, seemingly immune to the rough exterior, the massive, flat teeth crushed it without a thought. "This tournament is meant to draw out the strongest Trainer in the world. What happens after will be for that individual to find out. To that end, the League's founder wanted this particular test to be as fair as possible, with a focus on making participants rely on strategizing with what abilities their Pokémon have, without item usage getting in the way. Essentially...it will be a contest in the style of the ancient world, in a time when Humans were able to draw much, much more from Pokémon in terms of power. This competition will reawaken that knowledge, and set the stage for the final act."

Alex's brow rose further. "Final act?"

The Sage chuckled. "You'll find out, if you manage to win. For now...gather your four new team members, and prepare. I will inform the other Champions. Most will already have four more partners ready to fill out their belts. Once more, you are behind, Redwood."

Alex nodded, as the Sage floated off to dispense more wisdom, and Tao returned home with a 'bamf' sound common to Teleporting. He already had several Pokémon in mind for his four new slots.

His original six would be used for full battles, and the other four would be useful in Fornia. He fully intended on training the new four just as hard as the rest of his team. He needed battle-hardened partners who could use the other crystals in his possession, and most of his thus far captured partners back home simply didn't want to battle as much as his main six did. Jess was still trying to decide what she wanted for her team, but Alex already had his first pick. He needed an Aron. An Aron from the mountains around his home region, of course. He and Jess bamfed to Unova as well, and parted, to go about finding more partners. Having four new ones would further help hide their identities in Fornia, as they could pretend to be mediocre Trainers who had Pokémon more as pets and friends than as competitors.

It was as he began searching the mountain closest to the ranch, and caught the gaze of a particularly ravenous Aron, that he knew he'd found his partner. He needed an Aggron that was powerful, and hungry. It was literally the key to his plan against the Arcean's defenses working. He offered the Aron an Ultra Ball, once he'd convinced him that it wasn't food. The little Pokémon asked to see his team, and Alex took his request by reading his thoughts as he spoke.

They appeared behind him in a multicolored flash, smirking, and the little steel type's eyes widened as he saw just how outclassed he was by his new teammates. Hydrus terrified the little one, but the others he didn't mind. Blaze was only slightly impressed at how fearless the little Pokémon seemed around him. Steel types usually took one look at the Charizard and refused to battle. His flames often turned blue against real opponents.

Alex knelt down to the still-chewing Aron, and smirked. "Come with me. The time is right, and there's no better team." The Aron blinked, and then pushed the Ultra Ball button, which dinged shut. One down. Alex smirked at the ball. "I'll call you Cenomons."

Author's Note: I'm putting this here, since it's technically the start of the World Tournament, which we're now getting into in the current chapters. If you want to, potentially, see your OC Trainer in this Saga's setting, send me their full name, notable personality traits, physical description with as much detail as possible (or a picture, if AI can nail it) in a private message. Include their team of up to ten partners, and what you think their general skill level would be in this slice of the Pokéverse, like number of Badges, or if they have eight, how many of their partners are at or near 100 in terms of level.

Teams should be kept within reason (Legends and several mythicals are not allowed in this Tournament), but since this Pokéverse favors Trainers (we'll get to Why, later) they can have whatever nature you like, and since moves aren't limited, maybe include who has mastered which moves. And by mastery I mean, they can use strong or weak versions of said moves.

One final note, if you want me to potentially use said original character somewhere else, or just want it for the tournament specifically, let me know. Ideally, I'd like to eventually include as many people as possible, within reason of course, but I can say there will be many more Battles to come, and I could always use more random Trainers. People we see in the tournament may pop up again in the future, based on who/what they are and how well they do, but in general I will endeavor to use your submissions in the manner you want to see them. And due to the dice rolls I use to decide battle outcomes, you may even find them advancing pretty far. I look forward to seeing who gets submitted...assuming anyone is even interested.

As always, enjoy.

Sahqoreyth · Mar 28, 2024

Chapter 22: Rise With The Storm

Unova University - Northern Unova Region

Once Alex had his Aron, he'd visited his brother, who was in the middle of a summer-long experiment at the University's lab. He looked around as he entered the lab building, and he felt his team drawing his gaze towards one of the lab's habitats. Then, he saw why.

It was an Amaura, clearly a hatchling, and it was as white as the snow within its habitat. It looked to have once produced berries, like the other Amaura and Aurorus habitats nearby, but evidently the little one had frozen all of it. He was huddled up, alone, and shivering.

Each of his team told him to go to the little one, and Alex hopped into the habitat, and approached the Pokémon, reaching out to it in a manner not unlike a Ralts, with emotion. Good feels flowed into the shivering Pokémon and his tiny head rose to look at the large intruding human. That was when Alex noticed. This Amaura was pure ice type. That explained why the air around it was noticeably colder.

"He's the most recent hatchling in this line that we've been breeding specifically for Special Attack power. Moreover, like most second and third generation 'fossil' Pokémon these days, the rock typing impurities have been lost. We have their entire genome, finally." Eric said, approaching as he noticed his brother, staring at the tiny Pokémon.

Alex smirked. "My team insisted that I pet him. He doesn't seem to mind." Indeed, the habitat had started to look slightly greener since the Trainer had started scratching the hatchling. The sounds of enjoyment the little male was making were adorable.

He'd almost thought the little one was female, but he had then noticed the tips of the frilly ridges along his neck. They were more of a deep blue, rather than pink. There was that, and the electronic sign on the door of the habitat that had listed his sex with true Pokédex accuracy. The ridges had been pure white a moment before, but the blue was actually working nicely with the pure white of the skin. He was adorable.

He felt Terra give the mental equivalent of a nudge. "Can we keep him?"

Alex smirked. His team was becoming clever. They knew he'd be reluctant to take an ice type because of Terra's dislike for it. Having him ask, was supposed to remove that hesitation, apparently.

He spoke directly to his first Pokémon then, and stared at his oldest partner, with his third eye for a long moment. "They freeze the air around them, and you heard Eric. He'll be strong. Are you sure you want an Ice Type like that around?"

Terra seemed to chuckle. "If I did not, I would not have asked." He gave the mental equivalent of an eye roll. "Humans."

Eric handed the Pokémon an Oran berry as Alex's focus snapped back to his surroundings, and the little long-neck stared at the lab-coated student, motionless. Alex scratched the spot under his chin again, and then gave him a Sitrus berry. It made adorable sounds of enjoyment as it devoured the fruit, and Alex smirked at his brother. "Is this the first time he hasn't frozen what you've given him to eat?"

Eric rolled his eyes. "We get it. You're psychic."

Alex smirked. "You don't need psychic power to know a hungry hatchling. Where's the mother?"

Eric's expression grew dark for a moment. "Frozen. Passed on. The others abandoned him after that. He needs a social learning environment, or he's going to end up losing control of that power. He needs to learn his limit, and not fear it…"

The Professor-in-training paused, as he saw his brother's smirk shift to a grin.

"No."

"Oh come on!" Alex said, chuckling as the tiny Pokémon rolled on its back, and demanded a belly rub, entrapping Alex's stupidly large hand with its tiny feet as he paused in the scritches. Leo had joined him, for that. They all enjoyed their Trainer's hand scratches, but sadly, they all could not fit in the lab. "Look at him, he needs us. And, I need an Ice Type. As well as my Plate crystal."

He looked at Eric, and Eric sighed, pinching his brow. After a moment, he pushed his glasses up, and the lighting in the lab turned them white. Alex resisted laughing. "Fine. He's yours to take care of. But I expect regular reports on his health. I'll get your crystal." Since returning from Norstad, the lab had three whole months with the Icicle Plate shard while Alex was off 'preparing' to study it. Evidently, it had come from a village of Articuno riders. Eric supposed if anyone would have shards of an Icicle Plate, it would be such a village.

Alex was painting a Luxury Ball in the white and blue colors of his new partner, who seemed eager to enter the ball for some reason. Finally, he booped his nose against the button, and it dinged shut immediately. It twitched in his hand then, and made sounds of enjoyment as the little Pokémon ran around within his new home. Alex smirked. Hatchlings. At least this one wouldn't eat his ball. Four times.

Cenomons, or 'Ceno' for short, was now in a Heavy Ball, one that had stood up to his jaw strength. Evidently the Ultra Ball had been unacceptable, so the little Pokémon kept eating through them until his Trainer got the message. Alex had brought him into the mental 'web' that made up his team then, and the little one learned to use words, rather than brute force. At least with them.

As Eric finally returned, crystal in hand, he eyed the newly painted ball. It wasn't so much 'paint' as it was using a stylus to draw, color, and pattern Pokéballs to suit their Trainer's preferences. Naturally, the woman who'd invented this tech had made a fortune when the Pokéball companies bought it from her. By this point, it was standard with most balls. Styluses were, of course, sold separately.

Alex eyed the Icicle crystal, and Eric sighed again as he handed it over. "Don't teach him anything ridiculously powerful right off. His affinity for Special Attacks is…off the charts." Alex rolled his eyes, and his brother glared at him. "Seriously. Don't teach him Ice Beam until he learns it on his own."

Alex smirked, and gave Leo a scratch. The large cat had come for the belly rub, but had stayed, waiting for a moment like this. He gave Eric a feral grin, and the Professor-in-training shifted uncomfortably as he recalled how well Leo had handled such attacks, despite being fresh from the shop.

Alex smirked. "I think he can handle it. If he can't, I'll teach him." In reality, he was planning to let the little one mature a bit. Pokémon grew faster than humans, as a rule, so a few weeks wouldn't be too long of a wait.

Eric raised a brow. "Teach him what? Those overpowered C-Moves?"

Alex held up a finger. "No. Just no."

Eric's brow rose higher. "But the 'c' is for cryst-"

Alex's finger pushed against his brother's nose, booping it. "I said…No. We're not just replacing one letter. That's just lazy, and presumes they're related."

The younger brother waved his sibling's finger away in disgust. It reeked of Leaf. Of course he'd had a bowl before coming. Typical Alex. "Fine. Tye-jee-too Moves." He mumbled something about 'foreign moon languages', and then his gaze fell to the crystal. "Do you really need it so soon? We're learning so much. That thing literally gave us the perfected Aurorus genome. I touched it to mine, and it turned pure Ice Type. It rewrote strands of DNA! With a touch! It's incredible."

Alex shrugged. "I'm sorry, I need it back. It's high time we got to Fornia. We've given Pravus far too much time with…whatever he managed to escape Norstad with. Hopefully we can find and destroy whatever path to immortality he's trying to make."

Though he'd gone over the events a hundred times, Alex still couldn't figure out why the Arcean Prophet had retreated. He'd gained the upper hand with his Gigalith, and then just vanished. It defied logic. Most likely because Pravus knew something he was as yet unaware of. Finding out what he'd learned or retrieved was one of their main objectives. For now. And it required quite a bit of stealth.

Eric pushed his glasses up by the center rim again, and sighed. "Alex, those crystals are shooting pure Arceus-level Infinity Energy into the Pokémon who use them. For attacks, and for evolution. It can't be healthy."

"If it isn't, we'll soon find out." Alex said, eyeing his new Pokéball, as he teased it with his mind. It glowed blue, and was rocking slowly. The hatchling within was already sleepy. After going so long without food, or family, he needed a nap. He too was now in the mental web, and his older brothers had taken in his story, short though it was, while Alex talked. He could tell they felt protective of the powerful little ice dinosaur, but before too long, he wouldn't need protecting. "I've been monitoring those using the crystals for evolution for a while now. Where I can, anyways. There's rumors of problems with Mega Evolution in general, but I can never find anything solid on it. When and if there is a case, I'll deal with it. Personally. Then I'll stop it from repeating."

Eric stared his brother down. "And what if your 'case' ends up being unfixable? What if every case results in a death? Will it be worth the risk then? What if it can't be fixed?"

Alex smirked at his brother. "Can't? There is no can't. There is no try. If something needs to be fixed, I'll find a way to fix it. It's that simple."

Eric sighed at his brother. "Tell your Sage that giving you Teleport was a bad idea." Alex smirked.

Several Days Later – Victory Plateau, Unova

Alex waited patiently at the top of the Victory Plateau. He'd Teleported in five minutes ago, and this Challenger was still walking up the stairs. The Unova League tournament had just ended, and this summer's newest hotshot had fast tracked his way to the Champion. Through the Four, and through Rosa.

Five minutes became ten, and though the wind howled across the barren battlefield, Alex didn't mind it. It was cold on the plateau, true, but Norstad was much colder, he could wait hours up here, despite the relatively hard wind. It was rather nice, when one had it to oneself. Finally, the Challenger came in, looking confident. They always did.

Being the Champion of the hardest League in the world, Alex had the option to give his challengers a choice.

Battle six on six against his team, and claim victory over the entire Victory Plateau, or, battle six on one…against the Original Dragon, and become the Champion. Given that they had enough Champions already, Tao had come up with this system early on in Alex's reign, and nobody in the League had objected. Tao knew what having too many Champions could do, and even Hilbert had agreed that there were enough, for their League at least. The Victory League was not the only League in Unova, but it was home to the strongest Trainers they had. With this system, genuinely good Trainers could challenge and potentially beat two of Unova's Champions, one former, and the current one, and move on with that kind of record on their Trainer Card. Those who wanted to dethrone Redwood could still make an attempt, but would accept the likelihood that they'd leave the Victory Plateau without two Champion level victories.

All who fought the First Dragon, lost. Alex refused to battle them again immediately after that, not that the six on six match would've helped. Alex's team was, supposedly, just as strong as Tao. Stronger even, if one believed such rumors. Most Challengers went for the dragon, always staring blankly in surprise as their Master Balls failed to capture the dragon that already had an 'owner'. It was depressing how many Trainers with enough skill to beat the Four and one of the four past Champions opted to try for an easy victory to claim the title of reigning Champion. Those, did not get invited to the Dragonspiral Tower.

What few Challengers that did decide to battle Alex, or whichever Champion pair was available, also usually lost. Alex had a perfect record in such battles, and only Hilbert's record, who had a much, much longer string of wins and a single digit number of losses, came close to the newest Champion's win streak. He privately counted his most memorable loss from the Swamp, which would always keep him below a perfect streak, but he and Hilbert remained far above the other Champions, each of whom had many more losses. Evidently Hilbert had not been the 'easy pick', though Nate and the others were very much on his level. Being the Champion, Alex had naturally practiced with each of them, and the Four. It had been surreal at first, training alongside the Heroes who'd brought down Team Plasma, but the Champions themselves were quite over Team Plasma. Nate was an aspiring Dragon Tamer, and while he was genuinely ferociously strong, he was also easy to counter with ice, dragon, or fairy moves, all of which the other Champions and Elite Four members had. Had he been using the team he'd traveled with for League matches, Hilbert claimed Nate would likely be unbeaten, but it seemed the powerful Trainer was determined to learn how to wield dragon types despite their weaknesses. He and Damon often trained together. Will and Shauntal kept each other quite sharp, and nobody interrupted the romantic vibes their sparring had, which left Alex and Nick with Hilda and Rosa.

Hilda was far more outgoing than her brother, not to mention beautiful, in a rougher sort of sense. She was built thicker than most women and her chosen profession had made her rather muscled. Not that that dissuaded any one of her hordes of male fans from lusting over her. The real knockout beauty was Rosa, though. Rising into the starlight of Pokéstar Studios in her teen years, she'd grown into a proper movie star, and had the dazzling looks to match. The word was, her fanbase had eclipsed even Elesa's, though both she and Elesa had quite a lot of overlap in their respective fan bases. While Rosa was undoubtedly the most famous of Unova's Heroes, Hilda's team was superior to hers, and easily on par with Hilbert's. Alex had eventually been told to rank them, in terms of team strength, and he had done so. From the lowest overall level, which was where Rosa's team was at, followed by Nate, then Hilda, and finally Hilbert. His own team was reaching their level, and he could battle Hilbert to a draw, but it was like playing chess with a master. Their moves and counter moves always ended in a stalemate or a mutual KO, hence Hilbert's top ranking. Despite his strength though, he was also the one least likely to be around. Nobody knew where he wandered off too, many assumed it was to a women he'd fallen for, but Alex had a feeling he flew out on his Braviary and found places with absurdly strong Pokémon to battle against in the wilderness of the States.

While some of the Victory Leagues challengers did seek, and lose in their attempts at claiming the title, others simply wanted the prestige that beating the Victory Plateau's Elite Four would bring them. A record like that, especially with a win against a pair of Unovan Champions, could open doors for a Trainer. Alex's own record had caught more than a few eyes over the past several months, as he had many wins. He'd stopped keeping track of the exact numbers ages ago, but evidently one of his devices was just automatically recording the data.

Hilda and Rosa had all but ordered him to start 'marketing himself', and once he realized just how much demand there was for random Champ-themed merchandise, for some reason, he'd allowed their 'marketing guy' to start 'selling his image' or whatever. Evidently, that meant giving him shelf space next to the other Champions on the Join Boulevard. He'd suggested selling copies of the black and white hat with Tao's symbol on the front, identical in style to both Hilbert and N's classic hats. Apparently, what was once old became new again, as the marketing guy claimed they were flying off the shelves. He'd then suggested a range of new products they could make simply with stills captured from his public appearances, branded onto said merchandise, and Alex had given him the go ahead to give the people what they wanted. He still found it hard to believe someone would want an item like a lunch box or bag with his face on it, but apparently, they did.

He didn't understand half of the obscure business-like nature of selling these random products, so he'd left it to the strange man who seemed to gleefully enjoy and revel in it. As long as the impressively large paychecks kept coming in from the sales, he didn't mind doing the occasional cameo in Pokéstar Studios, either. Whenever the strange man called, it was usually with such an offer. Or to talk about how comfortable his 'ballroom pants' were. How they had plenty of ball room. He really liked that joke.

Finally, the Challenger crested the top of the stairs, but before Alex had a chance to speak, the Trainer on the opposite end of the field spoke first, as he stepped into the light, and pointed a finger at the Champion. "I want your team, Redwood. Not the Dragon."

Alex glanced at the Trainer harder. He seemed familiar…and then the Emboar on his undershirt, below the black leather biker jacket, reminded him. The kid from Aspertia, with the Tepig he'd passed over for Terra.

He hadn't lost any of his protagonistic charm. The flame tips of his hair were now done all the way to the roots. He'd acquired black sunglasses, and Alex didn't need psychic power to know he had a motorcycle downstairs.

Alex shrugged, still clad in the primarily white robes from Tao's otherworldly tower. "Time to see what you've learned from your journey. Single or double? I don't do Triple Battles up here, or any of that rotating nonsense…sometimes, less is more."

The flame haired kid, who had to be fifteen going on sixteen, swiped his thumb across his nose, and smirked. "Double, then. Doesn't matter, I'll crush you in any Battle!"

Alex rolled his eyes. Then again, for all he knew, he was about to be blindsided by a plot armored protagonist. Unova had a habit of making Trainers who, sometimes literally, bulldozed through every Trainer they met on the road. He kept his guard up, suspiciously. The kid was only normal typed…still, he had managed to beat the Four, and Rosa. While Rosa was more acting focused than battle focused, she was still easily strong enough to stand with the other Champions.

Alex had recently begun to help each of them, including Nick, to embrace their inner power, and gain the ability to use Plate crystals. Then, he'd taught them how to do one Taijitu move. The others, they would need to learn on their own, if indeed they could learn them at all. Most Trainers seemed to be able to handle one or two.

Down in the Swamp, it was another story. Everyone there was a professional, and almost all of them had every kind of Plate crystal already. Alex hadn't believed there were so many crystal users in one place, until he'd lost several one on one matches to Trainers who outmatched him because of their versatility with attacks and combinations, all fueled by crystal power.

Alex had surmised that there were only a limited number of types, and thus, a limited combination of balanced energy attacks. Some, like fire and flying, he'd discovered, had simply been incompatible. Blaze could power up his Flamethrower with the Sky crystal, but forming a balanced sphere of fire and air was quite difficult. The result was usually an explosion, as the air simply fed the fire and caused it to expand beyond Blaze's control.

Many Trainers had begun to spread word of what this supposedly super-strong Champion had on his team, and he knew there would be Trainers designed to break him, but that was what his other four were for. Honestly, they needed the experience more than his original six.

They were his best kept secret, though they were still quite young. His newly evolved Lairon had lived up to his name, and devoured everything he could in the obscure, unmineable mountains Alex discovered via Teleport. He'd needed quite a bit of metal ore to evolve, but there was always metal being formed on this planet. The humans of this era did not want for resources, and Arceus's gift of Infinity Energy continued to replenish them, no matter how fast humanity mined.

The Aron species was often where builders got their materials from. They were super strong, literally shed usable sheets of steel, and were quite good at battling. It was just common sense to have them around work sites. There were more than a few decent Trainers who also worked construction.

Focusing on the Challenger again, Alex shrugged. He hadn't noticed that he'd been silent for a good minute. The intimidation factor was starting to wear off as the Challenger waited, impatiently.

Hilda and Rosa always gave him crap for not being 'menacing enough' to scare off most Challengers. Back when Kanto had held the title for 'hardest League in the world', Lance, their leader, had been shrouded in mystery, and dragon types. The Champions who beat him were likewise rumored to be strong. After battling against Red in the Swamp, Alex understood the hype, as that had been one of his one on one losses.

Alex decided he could always attempt the 'edgy but cool' thing Lance and even Gary Oak had done, at one time, and this poor kid would help spread his reputation. He'd send him to Tao, as well. He'd be fierce, with a bit of training.

"Very well. A double. That'll make it shorter." The flame kid's smirk faltered, as he saw Alex's. It was way too confident.

A flash of green and black came from the belt of the Champion, and he spoke to his team, "Hold off. Let's see if this one is worth evolving for." He could hear the cameras whirring around them as they floated into the air, and began recording as his Pokémon took the field.

The League ref's voice came over the intercom, hidden both out of sight, and away from anything the Champion could break. "This League match will be a Double Battle. The Champion may not substitute. The Challenger may do so as often as he desires. Begin!"

"Verrignus! Leif! Go!" The same Emboar from last time appeared alongside a Leafeon now. They both looked strong, but Alex saw no reason to worry. Terra and Shruikan were quite tough, and made an excellent team. Shruikan respected the earth tortoise's strength, and Terra had the dragon sometimes use his claws to help maintain the living verge growing on his shell.

"Flamethrower."

Shruikan flapped into the air, and as he bathed the plateau in flame, Terra looked unfazed. Ground types could handle fire easily, and this wasn't directed at him. The air became distorted by the heat. The Leafeon countered with a Razor Leaf, only to find that in the new heat of their battlefield, the leaves were all but useless, as they turned to ash halfway across.

That applied to Terra's leaves as well, but that didn't matter much for this battle. He wasn't using Razor Leaf, or kid gloves. "Earthquake." Alex spoke again, and his starter reared up onto his hind legs, before coming down. The force of the slam shattered the ground. Massive, steaming boulders rocked both of their opponents as the entire mountain shuddered.

"Verr, punch the boulders!" The Emboar turned, smashing them apart with Brick Break as the attack rocked him. He managed to take less damage, but his Leafeon partner was down. "Bufo, you're up!"

A Seismitoad appeared next to the Emboar now. "Hyper Voice!" Alex tried not to smirk, and failed.

The large frog's seismic tones were rather impressive, as they shattered the rest of the boulders, flattening the field once more, and while his Voice was untrained, it was actually somewhat strong. The Emboar ignited his fists on the flaming beard around his chin, and charged as his Trainer pointed at Terra and shouted, "Fire Punch!"

"Aerial Ace." Alex kept his arms crossed as he gave the orders, and stayed completely unreadable. Both Terra and Shruikan knew many moves by now, in preparation for the World Tournament. So did his entire team, but usually he tried to limit himself to four. In League battles, at least. Perhaps if the World Tournament proved appealing enough, he'd change Unova's ruleset, it would certainly make things more interesting, but also had the potential for abuse. He made a note to find a specific rule book on the next World Tournament. Since it had been officially planned for next summer, Trainers the world over had embraced the new ten Pokémon limit with eagerness, and many claimed that the ruleset the World Tournament would be adhering to this time was rather exciting.

Thunder boomed through the clouds above the plateau as his enormous black dragon arced down through the air, causing it to whistle ominously as he approached. Shruikan mercilessly slammed the fire pig with a type advantaged move. His punch never even came close to searing his scales, such was Shruikan's speed, even with all his added size. The darkness of the night also helped. Shruikan was quite hard to see, when he didn't want to be seen.

The Emboar smashed into what was left of the stairs Challengers ascended to reach the plateau, and Alex sighed. Aside from not being menacing, constantly breaking the plateau's marble foundations was another thing he received crap for. He could fix the earth of the field itself, but marble and stone were different. Apparently. He took Terra's word for it.

"Seed Bomb." Terra's attack bombarded the Seismitoad, who managed to catch one of the dense energy spheres, for a moment, with the vibrations from his hands. The other 'bombs' landed around the valiant toad, and the resulting explosion of grass energy knocked him out.

Alex glanced at the fainted pair of Pokémon. He knew one of them was the kid's starter, and when your first Pokémon went down, it usually meant the battle was as good as done. He'd been wrong before, though.

"You can back out now, if you like. Your record will still have four victories, and a Champion level win on it. Nothing to sneeze at, since they're from this League." The Champion still had his arms crossed, as he waited for the Trainer's response.

"I still have three left-"

Alex cut him off. "That's your first Pokémon lying by the stairs there. Do you really want to make your other three fight a Battle your strongest couldn't win?"

The spiky, flame haired kid called his three out then, and Alex eyed them. A Noivern, Weavile, and Aegislash, all fairly strong. He had to admit, the kid's team had most of the types covered for. It was balanced well.

"What do you guys think?" The kid asked, as the three eyed their opponents.

Alex gave the next command, mentally as two beams of light shot into his partners, awakened by his Voice. "Alok."

The Plate on his Salamence's chest flared, and his form became that of a Mega Salamence. The storm clouds around the Plateau increased in size and darkness. The heavens thundered at his arrival, and his roar was just as loud and intimidating as the fury of nature. Terra was similarly changed as the light from the Meadow Plate crystal shot into his form, and helped him ascend to the next level. The tree on his back moved to the center, and three more spikes, the same size as his others, sprouted from the shell. The now clubbed tail, ideal for Woodhammer, rose into the air.

One roared, and the heavens roared with him. The sky flashed, and the massive form of the Mega Salamence glared down at the three remaining Pokémon. Terra, for his part, slammed the plateau with his clubbed tail, shaking the entire conical mountain their League was perched upon. The very earth felt ready to shatter under the power of that Torterra.

Whatever enduring confidence the kid's team had, vanished in the face of these masters of the earth and sky. These battles were as much a head game as they were a contest of strength and skill. Too many people forgot that.

He was being kind again, though, and he knew it. Lance would've crushed his opponent's entire team with the ferocity of his dragons, and sent them back to the Pokémon Center. Laughing.

He decided then to be the Champion he'd always wanted to be. A kind one, a strong one, someone Unova could rely on, just like N. If everyone became too afraid to battle him, he'd never get challenged. Still, there were times, like now, when a Challenger's team simply had no chance, and needed more training, lest they get seriously hurt.

"Go to the Dragonspiral Tower. Train there. The Original Dragon will make you strong enough to challenge me, team to team." The two Trainers locked eyes. "After all, that's what made my team so strong." He left out the whole traveling dimensions and space-time differentials thing. Years of training had the same effect, no matter the plane you were on.

The kid glanced at his Emboar again, then nodded. "Right…we'll be back for you. My Emboar will never stop until he proves that you should've chosen him."

Alex raised a brow. "Your Emboar will never win until he accepts the Trainer he has, not the Trainer he wanted, a very long time ago. Good luck getting that through to him, though. There's a reason I didn't choose a stubborn Tepig."

The kid chuckled, wearily. "A wise choice…but I can handle his stubbornness. I'll take your advice, Champion. Then we will return, and win." The two bowed in the Unovan style, fist to palm, grinning. They shared a hand-made sandwich with their teams, before the challenger departed, and Alex started a fresh bowl of the Leaf while he let his team run around or nap as they pleased.

Alex watched them go, and patted Terra and Shruikan, now once more in their base forms. "Well done, you two. At this rate, we'll run out of Challengers."

"You've got to be Mukking kidding me! Again!?" Alex shared a look with his partners as the enraged tones of Rosa climbed up the stairs to the mostly-smashed entrance. He sniffed, and the familiar scent of burned Leaf was still hanging around. That too was another thing Rosa had forbidden both him and Hilbert from doing up here. He glared at the cameras, which were still on. Bloody robots never turned off.

He chuckled, "Time to go!" With that, he recalled his partners, and Teleported himself and his team back to Jess's dorm room. It had become their unofficial preparation area for the impending cross-continent journey. She'd gotten the room to herself, as after a month of listening to the 'famous couple' going at it in the privacy of the bathroom (what little there was), her roommate had requested a transfer. Being ultra-rich, Jess hadn't seemed to mind that the price of renting her room doubled for the rest of the semester.

They'd spent a lot of time in the room over the course of the semester, though it was mostly sans clothing. Being able to Teleport almost anywhere gave them a wide range of places to enjoy each other, but they both agreed her room was nicer. Cozier.

Final exams were over by now, and the only students left on campus were either flunkies, or people who really needed to take a break. Eric was in the latter category, as were his lab buddies. Alex had taken to calling them the 'Brain Trust', and the nickname had stuck. Even amongst their Professors.

With him sleeping at the campus of his alma mater, Alex's hovel in the Swamp had turned into the island's local recreational area, and had grown to include more beds, most of which were hammocks, designed solely for relaxation. Battles were held, Leaf was smoked, naps were taken, and it wasn't long at all before it was unofficially dubbed 'The House of Perpetual Chill'.

After finding crumbs and what he sincerely hoped was jam in the hammock that passed as his own bed in the Swamp, Alex had decided to sleep in civilized quarters at night from then on. Jess hadn't seemed to mind. They'd tried looking for a real house somewhere, but the prices were truly insane, and the upkeep was even more so. And, why should they pay for a view they could get just by visiting a memorable spot they could Teleport to?

Eventually he'd offered to build her a house, something his instincts immediately regretted, as he saw the look in her eye. She'd kept her thoughts on the matter hidden as well, a hard thing to do given that they were but a thought away from each other all the time these days. She'd accepted his offer, which had led to research, some math, and the conclusion that Cenomons would need well over forty years of shedding, as an Aggron, just to get him some of the materials he'd need for such an endeavor.

Then there was everything else that went into buildings that he'd never considered, as he'd literally built a home out of mud and vines, and had been content with it. Now he had to account for plumbing, wiring, heating, power, air flow, location, and thousands of other tiny yet important things.

Needless to say, he put it on the back burner. They'd be camping for a while anyways, until they found lodging in Fornia, though he supposed they could always sleep elsewhere, and Teleport back in the morning. The only problem with that was risking not remembering where they'd stopped the day before, and losing yet more time playing catch-up.

Thus, they'd decided to try to camp out as they crossed the Stoney Mountains, sneak into Fornia, and then find a hotel or something they could use as an anchor. The reason they didn't already have one had been yet another factor in what had kept them waiting well into June to depart. The only way to get into Fornia was by land, or sea.

The sea routes were all thoroughly patrolled by the many battle-capable yachts that the Arceans used to advertise how well-off and prosperous being one of them was. Given how their airships had been constructed, Alex didn't really consider their navy a threat. Not yet, anyways. Sacreus, Fornia's capital, was landlocked so it made little difference.

With the sea cut off, and no desire for plane travel and the level of danger it brought, as Arceans had a bad habit of bringing down unfriendly aircraft, that left traveling over the land, and after a test-incursion, they realized just how famous Blaze had become. He'd been recognized and chased for miles outside Fornian territory, and only a quick recall and Teleport had saved their bacon.

The footage of him battling Lizardon was still one of the most popular things on the Pokénet, even though a year had almost passed. Evidently, they'd seen it in Fornia too. Alex hadn't even tried Shruikan, much to the dragon's dislike. He'd claimed the night could conceal him, and Alex had countered that his 'hundred-foot wingspan' blotting out the stars would give them away. As would literally any light, for the night was dark blue, not entirely black.

Thus, they'd decided on going full tourist, and playing the role of conversion-friendly newlyweds. Two tan, blonde, blue eyed strangers on the precipice of breeding. The Arcean who'd approved them for travel in their territories had practically drooled when he realized the potential. Evidently, recruiting couples was a big deal.

Now, everything was ready, packed, and as Alex bamfed into the dorm room again, he blinked, as he noticed his love, talking to a strange man. It took him longer than it should have to recognize the student in charge of dorm housing, but he was kind of proud that his paranoid, skeptical mind hadn't immediately leapt to worries of romantic backstabbing.

The man just stared at him, and Jess sighed. They'd tried keeping the ability to Teleport somewhat secret. Like most secrets, it had gotten out almost immediately that the Champion could get where he needed to instantaneously. Apparently, Unovans thought that was a good idea, and he supposed having a defender who could pop in literally whenever was a somewhat comforting thought. And probably a decent deterrent against crime.

"Don't mind him. He's carrying the bags. Here's the key." Jess said, as she handed it over. The man nodded, and then promptly left.

He was glad to be rid of them, honestly. They were quite loud, and had stayed well over a month past the end of the year. Since the girl was rich, the increasingly absurd room rent hadn't driven her off, and since her lover was the Champion, and an Alumni, they couldn't really just tell him to scram. Especially since he could just poof right back five seconds later, and nobody would be the wiser. Thus, the University had quietly accepted the ever increasing rent, and had then proceeded to do what schools usually did in the summer months.

There were four bags in all, their usual two, and two solely for sleeping bags. They hadn't bothered with a tent, as that was what Shruikan's massive wings were for. Arthur popped free of his ball to grab the extra bags, and then they all Teleported once more, to the rendezvous spot.

Somewhere Near the Sippi River - Kentu Region

The Sage had informed them, after some deep meditation, that their journey would go as well as it needed to if there were three entering Fornia, not two. Tao had divined much the same, and even had a suggestion as to who else should come along. He'd grown up in Fornia after all, and though he'd needed a better disguise than tanned skin, Brad had still proven himself somewhat capable.

He'd had only a Charmeleon when Alex first found him, and as the son sparred with his father, Blaze, the two humans had talked. Brad had been reluctant, at first, to go back to the region that had essentially controlled his entire life. After only a few months in Unova, he'd started to understand just how bad things were back home. Just how strong the delusion really was, and what kind of effort would be needed to remove it.

Alex had reminded him that his family, though they likely claimed to be willing to serve, were still under that regime, and his disappearance had likely made life difficult for them. That, more than anything else, was what convinced the Trainer to come along. If they'd been mistreated, there was a good chance some of them would defect as well. Alex had tasked his rival with securing aid from the north of the massive region, and while he was doing so, he could find his family as well, for that was where they'd lived. Once he had them, he'd send word to Alex and Jess, and they would help free them.

Alex hadn't really wanted a third wheel, but he supposed it would keep himself and his woman from lusting after each other all day on the golden coast's famous beaches. They'd still be doing that, of course. They were 'honeymooning' after all, and he had no doubt the Arceans watched everybody they let in.

Brad had promised to build up his team, in preparation for the journey west. Within only three months, he'd actually managed to pull a decent one together, as he brought them out for inspection by Unova's Champion. There were several species most Fornians had, like Lycanroc, Ursaring, Gogoat, and the regional variant of Marowak that was both fire, and ghost. Alola and Fornia were culturally similar, but Alolans always said their neighbors were a bit…weird. They too could see through the devout façade. This hadn't stopped the Fornians from acquiring, and then breeding, the rare variants of known species found on the islands, though.

For her part in gaining four new members, Jess had found a Swablu, who she'd called Aria after they sang together, near the University's campus while Alex had been hunting for an Aron. The randomness of the universe had guided him to the little Amaura, who he'd nicknamed Gelauros. Eric had immediately shortened it further to 'lil G', and it had been Alex's turn to sigh as every other lab student had agreed it was better than using Imperium High Gothic for 'ice lizard'. Such was the future of the scientific world.

Brad was surprised when Alex and Jess had showed up with belts carrying over six Pokémon. Then, he saw them unstrap their bags, and begin to pack their main six balls away.

Alex put his balls in his bag, as Jess did the same, leaving them with their newer partners. The others hadn't particularly liked being shoved in darkness, as they wanted to see what was going on themselves, but until the plan came to fruition, they could wait. For now, their function was helping their newer, younger teammates, and Alex was glad that his team was mature enough to be okay with waiting a few weeks. Of course, if he needed them, they could pop free and help, but they had all agreed that should be a last resort.

Once the balls were away, they donned their disguises. Brad's had gained pale skin, and blue hair, for some reason. He'd stick out in Fornia, but nobody would recognize him. No Arcean would associate with such a person, or so the former Champion had said. As long as nobody official took a harder look at him, he could blend in perfectly.

He entered the region at the northern port where the Kanadia, Fornia, and Dakota regions all intersected. Being one of the larger ports of entry, Brad could slip in amongst the hordes of people unnoticed, and once in Arcean territory, he could once more act like a loyal Arcean. He was more worried about the 'newlyweds' blending in.

Alex and Jess had gone in the southern route, and had been forced to blend in to the mind-numbing obliviousness of the local population of the Sippi region, which was heavily influenced by the Arceans, and would likely join them soon. Some of the hardcore ideologies, and the mindless undiluted hatred, towards Unova in particular, had given the pair pause as they started to subtly listen for rumors of invading the east.

Evidently, the residents of the Sippi region believed that the Unovans had, somehow, caused the massive Swamp that now covered their ancestral homelands to grow out of control. Apparently, many of the people here had once lived in those southern areas near Floria, or what was left of it.

Since they couldn't actually blame nature for stealing their homes, this conspiracy theory of how and why the Swamp had grown so large had gained massive popularity once the Prophet claimed, through 'Divine Insight' apparently, to know beyond the shadow of doubt that Unova and the Swamp's rapid growth were connected. From there, the people of Sippi had run with baseless, asinine, and genuinely stupid conspiracy theories, and hadn't stopped.

As the two realized the extent of this kind of zealot-like thinking, they both agreed that, even though they had to gain allies, they were better off working towards ideological change from the inside out. The people here were angry over a 'crime' that had likely been 'committed' millennia past, and were speaking of war with Unova based on what essentially amounted to a rumor from a foreign government. If Fornia changed, it was likely that these 'support states' as they referred to them, would change as well. Eventually.

Thus, they did not actually look for trouble on their way through the lush Arciana region's plains once they crossed the border. Despite this purposeful obliviousness, cracks in the Arcean façade were literally everywhere, as were posters of their faces, untanned, and unchanged, listing them as 'threats to the Prophet'. Those, more than anything, had forced them to silently, angrily, ignore the perversions they came across, even here.

They could've gone through Utado, which had once owned the Arciana region, but anyone who entered Nevouri from Utado was closely watched by the Arceans. Being as yet 'unconverted', the further they went into Nevouri, the more looks they received.

They would've gladly pretended to convert to blend in, the only problem was that doing so took months, and thousands of units of currency. They had an alternate plan.

After a last look through his granduncle's room, Alex discovered a note, with a name, location, and Holociever number. The words 'Do not call until in Fornia' were underlined below it. As were the words 'trusted contact'.

This, more than anything, was the riskiest part of their plan. They had no idea what this contact could do for them, and planning alternate routes of hiding in Fornia's wild, Stoney Mountains had taken time, but they had agreed having multiple places to flee to was always a good idea.

Fading into the background of Nevouri had been simple, and as Cenomons dug them a tunnel towards the iron-rich mountains, he was all but drooling. Usually, he was hard to motivate, but the promise of these ore rich mountains had always gotten him going again, as he learned to battle. His patience was finally being rewarded.

Once the voracious Lairon had found his way into an ore-rich cave within the massive mountain chain, the two humans had made camp. Cenomons continued munching away, until he discovered something that was rock, but unlike anything he'd seen before.

He grunted for his human, as he'd learned to show things like this to him, and the human stared back at the Pokémon. "Holy…Ceno just found a fossil. A Pokémon fossil." He held up his Pokédex, and the device scanned it, then came up blank. It beeped loudly then, echoing through the cave, and the words: New Species appeared on the screen.

Then, came a blank space, for a name. The two humans just stared, and shared a look. "Let's find out what it is before we start naming species…"

"Redwoodsaurus." Alex said, smirking. He grunted, as an Iron Tail sent him flying towards the tunnel they'd entered through. He'd just laughed, as it had been kind of fun, smashing through various rock formations and feeling almost none of it. He hadn't realized how much tougher his body had become since Norstad, but evidently, the Storm Crown was doing its work in making him more durable, and eventually immortal.

Once he returned, he found Jess scouring the Pokéweb, and then as he sat down, she showed him what she'd found. "I thought it looked familiar. See? The ancients have data on this. The horns are identical."

Alex glanced at the name, and then at the creature. Three horns, located on the western part of the very same continent, herbivore, quadrupedal, and not actually unlike an Aggron, save that it apparently couldn't stand on two legs.

While the two humans stared at the glowing noise maker, Ceno returned to eating, as he was ravenous. His Trainer's regimen was exhausting, but the results showed, and he'd rather enjoyed winning what few road battles they'd come across.

Even Fornians challenged each other, it seemed. None offered to share a bowl, however. The Leaf was strictly outlawed, but Alexander Redwood had long ago perfected hiding his stash. It was nice to see his instinct for choosing smoking spots held up to even oppressive government-level scrutiny.

It was as Ceno returned to the fossil's spot, that he noticed something. Another one. Another horn shape, all but identical to the first. He was both curious, and ravenous, though mostly ravenous. With about a second of hesitation, he began loudly crunching the rock and bones, and as he did, he ingested the crystallized life-force of the Pokémon that had once been. Since the Pokémon had been a direct descendant of one of the first Mew, as were most fossil Pokémon, the latent gene-altering power had a peculiar reaction with the Lairon's own genetic make-up.

He didn't notice any immediate changes, except that now some ores looked more appealing than others. Pure instinct guided him to a specific blend, but his Trainer barely noticed as he and his counterpart smoked a bowl, and then fell into their usual grunting session. Ceno had also learned to not bug them during those. Humans could be gross.

The next day was mostly spent waiting for Ceno, who hadn't slept, to stop eating, so he could tunnel them out again. Alex had asked for patience from his lover, as he'd seen the look in his young partner's eye, and his responses, and emotions, labeled the meticulous munching of specific ores as incredibly important. Something was up, but Alex didn't bug him. When a Pokémon did something seemingly odd, there was always a reason. That's what his granduncle had said, anyway.

Jess was eager to get back to society, because she'd found a Shield fossil. She'd never resurrected one before, but Alex had a feeling it wouldn't be so easy in Fornia. They had the technology, the problem, was getting someone to lend it to them. He didn't let that dampen her excitement though. A Bastiodon would fill out her team nicely. As they were forced to wait for the mountain eater, Alex and Jess decided to split the party, and explore for more potential teammates. The Pokémon of the Stoney Mountains could be quite strong.

As Jess began to wander, she found a lone female Nidoran, and while she hadn't been entirely newborn, she'd still been a bit young to be on her own. Jess had decided to copy Alex at that moment, and tried asking if she wanted to come along. While she was off winning a partner through trust, Alex had decided to ignore his methods for once, as he spotted something unique within the many cave tunnels.

Typically, Drapion on the eastern side of the continent were more popular, as they were strong, versatile, and purple. Many good teams had Drapion, many villains also seemed to enjoy using them. Alex had spied a red Skorupi however, and realized that was simply the color they took here in Fornia, as he spotted a whole nest's worth with identical red tones. Like their eastern counterparts, they varied in shades, but he saw no purple among them.

Now the trick would be isolating one that wasn't too young, or too weak. Seeing his Trainer hesitate, Gelauros, or Gel, as he'd started being called, simply walked into the nest, all smiles. All of the Skorupi immediately began hissing at it, but backed down when they felt the young one's Frost Breath freeze the air. They backed away as the human followed. Many had learned not to attack Trainers if they wanted to continue living here unbothered. Most humans threw first and asked questions later, and the Stoney Mountains were a popular tourist spot. They had seen many resorts, but very few people using them, on their way in.

Gel went from one crimson Skorupi to another, his Trainer in tow, until eventually he pointed at one Skorupi in particular. It had been near the back of the nest, silently working on perfecting its strikes. Alex noticed it was a male, though he guessed he couldn't have been too much older than Gel.

The two had locked eyes, and it had taken Alex a moment to realize that his little long neck wanted to battle as badly as the Skorupi. The others watched, the hissing muted as they took in the strange white Pokémon, and the human it dragged with it.

The Skorupi accepted the challenge, and the battle was fierce, but short. Thankfully, the pair had practiced turning the little dinosaur's Rock Throw into a Rock Slide, and thus, the advantage was his. The Skorupi was utterly blindsided by the rocks, buried even, and the little long neck essentially pounded him with Rock Throw, for fun, until he agreed to give up, and let the hatchling win.

Gelauros crowed, triumphant, and before he could blink, there was a maroon-colored Net Ball freeing the Skorupi from the rocks by taking it inside. Surprisingly, the ball dinged shut with only a few shakes, and Alex quietly retrieved it as he suddenly noticed the hundreds of eyes staring at him. Gel nudged him, and they left quickly, but unharmed. The battle had been fair, after all, and their brother had accepted the challenge against a Trainer. Trainers caught Pokémon. If he hadn't wanted a Trainer, he could've refused easily.

Despite all of that, Alex called him out anyways as they began the trek back to their camp, and explained exactly what he needed from the Skorupi, and if that was too much, he could easily return home. Much like Ceno, he'd asked to see his teammates, but was less impressed by the Lairon and Amaura. Gel's hatchling eyes had eventually convinced the scorpion, at which point, it returned to the ball. With only one member left, and since he really only needed a ghost type now, Alex decided to let the universe guide him to his last partner.

Jess had been somewhat disappointed when she returned with Nidoran of both genders, only to find Alex already had a poison type in his crimson Skorupi. She'd named her Nidoran Maria, and had called her partner Tony, because it was adorable and nostalgic. She hadn't been as much as a nerd about the anime detailing Ash Ketchum's heavily embellished early years, but she had liked the story of how he and his travel companions had helped a pair of star-crossed Nidoran. Alex agreed to let the Nidoran male stay regardless. His ears were rather large, the clear poison they secreted was potent, and Tony's personality worked well with the rest of his team. Neither of the humans wanted to split them up. There was more room in Jess' bag, so Tony typically stayed there as they moved through the mountains, but Alex trained him as well. He was a good sparring partner for his team of younger Pokémon, and he knew he would never mind having a Nidoking around, in the future. Tony didn't seem to mind either, as his female partner was clearly the better battler. He was just happy to stay with her, grow stronger, and be a part of a larger family.

Once they'd packed up camp, Ceno had agreed to tunnel, and eat as they went. He was still picky about what he ate, so the going was slow, but Alex had a feeling it would be worth it. Eventually, he'd had to let the Lairon roam solo, just so progress could be made through the caves.

Being what he was, he had no trouble finding the group for an occasional nap, but for most of those long days under millions of tons of rock, Cenomons was absent, eating away at the endless supply of ore. The other Lairon he encountered were more relaxed, and less willing to battle, given the abundance of food. Ceno ignored those too weak willed to fight for good ore, and thrashed those who tried to take it from him. In this way, he beat those Lairon worth beating, and earned his experience. His Trainer had taught him useful moves, but he did notice that without him, battling was a lot harder. Despite that, Cenomons found that he relished the challenge, and the rocky steel type slowly realized he actually enjoyed battling quite a bit. Almost as much as he enjoyed eating.

Finally, after almost a week within the mountainous tunnels, which were Pokémon habitats, and largely quite far away from any kind of dig site, the two humans emerged from the darkness, and several minutes later, Ceno joined them. He was finally content, his voracious appetite sated…for now. It was good timing.

Ceno used his mastery of the rock to make a platform for the humans to stand on, as they'd been clinging to a relatively steep cliff side, and as they took in their first look at Fornia, Alex burst out laughing. His hand, halfway to his Holociever, paused.

Before him was a valley filled with trees, and not just any trees, of course. The tallest, the oldest, the biggest. The species for which his family was named. A stand of Sequoia sempervirens trailed through the valley below them, in a very obvious line, only visible from such a high perch, or from the air. As oblivious as he was, Alex knew a sign from the universe when he saw one. He pocketed the Holoceiver number, and then the pair began to follow the very obvious line of massive but also rather young Redwood trees.

Not far from where Alex and Jess had emerged, there was a irritated sigh.

"There's no sign of them. Report back to HQ. The Rebels have them."

The captain of the Arcean Task Force, or A.T.F. as it was sometimes called, spoke into his Holociever. He'd been perched up here for hours, alongside his Mega Lucario, keeping tabs on the strange 'married couple' that had gotten quite deep in Arcean lands, without actually joining the Church, before vanishing for almost a week.

When they'd reappeared, he'd almost missed them, but their classic Fornian looks made them stick out against the gray stone of the mountain they'd perched on. Once they disappeared into the Redwoods, he knew it was only a matter of time. The only people who went to such places were those who wished to rebel against the Church.

Once the new face of Fornia's so called 'great enemy' had forced their Prophet out of Norstad in a clash that was reported as completely different to what had actually occurred in Norstad, naturally painting Alex and Jess as despicable psychic-controlled villains, a strange thing had occurred in the Fornia region. Those who were tired of the blatant lies and mistreatment, and were savvy enough to know what shady business Pravus was up to, gathered in groves of ancient Redwood trees, where they met other people who shared their views on the ruler of their lands.

Though it had been centuries since any of the Tribes had been recognized as a people by the Fornian government, they still remained in what areas of the massive Fornia region the Arceans had not yet plundered in the name of resources. Together, those Fornians who wished to rebel made an alliance, a Rebellion of sorts, and small bases and outposts full of these so-called Rebels had been popping up all over the region, causing havoc to the Church.

Tourists were especially dangerous, for the A.F.O was in charge of keeping them oblivious to the goings on of the government. Once the Arcean Fossil Organization had lost track of the couple, they'd called in the Task Force. They dealt with threats to security.

A response came over his Holociever, "Stay where you are. This hunt is being given to the Hand of Death." The captain stared at his communication device, mouth agape. A Hand of the Prophet? For two random tourist Trainers who probably got lost in the caves? At most, they'd meet the native Tribes and find a way to go back to civilization. While letting them speak to the Tribes was an issue, it was nothing a PokéMeter session couldn't fix. He didn't understand why such a response was warranted, but then, this was a Hand who was coming, the Hand of Death specifically, who was supposed to be a rumor. A bad nightmare.

Despite the grisly nature his missions no doubt entailed, if he was being sent in, it meant the Prophet himself wanted these tourists dead, and there was nothing the Prophet of Arceus did without reason. He nodded at his Lucario, and the loyal hound leapt down from their own perch to follow the tourist's scent. They needed to be useful to the Hand, or he would likely dispatch them as well, for incompetence. Given the strength of the couple's aura, something the Lucario found strange, but was unable to comment on, tracking them was easy. When the Hand appeared, he would have a strong trail to follow, and hopefully, his Trainer would continue to live.

Yavano Tribe Lands - Eastern Fornia Region

Alex and Jess had all but stumbled into the local Yavano Tribe's main camp, and after giving them a moment to cool their surprise and lower their strange metal spears, they'd used words to avoid a conflict, though, as he'd told them something of who they really were, and that they were Pokémon Trainers, several of the 'red-skinned' men had grinned. Even here, there were people up for a battle. It was a pair of battles that Alex nearly lost, as they steamrolled over Gelauros and Tony, and only Cenomons had stopped them from getting the win, in the end.

After hearing they were from Unova, the tribe's Chief, Long-Fang, had made an appearance, and invited them to enjoy some of their Leaf. It was quite a bit stronger than anything they usually smoked, but it went a long way to easing the tension of a first contact. The Chief himself had unusually large canine teeth, but given that Alex had a fair bit of strangeness himself, most notably the tips of his ears which became more pointed by the day, he didn't comment, or stare. Jess hadn't seemed to mind either, and found his ears amusing, claiming that now, he could follow his granduncle, and become a 'full Vulcan'. He considered that a noble goal, but his hair usually kept them hidden all the same.

The tribesmen, over the flames of Chari's tail, explained the current state of Fornia, and the Rebellion they'd created with other 'pale-skins', and after a night of rest and a proper wake-and-bake, the tribe gave them food, supplies, and then pointed them towards the nearest 'Rebel Base'.

The base, as it turned out, was none other than the Majestic Canyon. Surrounded by the massive Great Mohave Desert, the canyon was a massive series of red rock walls, carved away by a river that was older than any tree, person, or Pokémon alive, and would likely outlast them all. It was at least a thousand miles long, or so the Yavano had said, and if you didn't have a guide, getting lost was easy. Many Pokémon also lived in the canyons and waters of the area, which had no qualms about killing humans. Usually, they were fine with subsisting on the enormous Wepear berries that grew in abundance amongst the rocky crags.

Within one of the many smaller canyons that made up the massive one, the local Tribes and Fornians had created a base from which to operate. In an amusing twist of fate, they'd also given them a Holoceiver number to call to get in contact with the Rebel's headquarters, and it was identical to the one they'd been given by Alex's granduncle. They'd told him to use it near the canyon, so he'd waited to do so.

Jess had found a Heracross on their way down to the Canyon, and the powerful female, who she'd called Hera, had been quite useful. Not being able to fly was rather irritating, especially for skilled Trainers. Having a partner that could carry you really was incredibly useful. Especially on stealth missions. She'd proven her strength to the skeptical Redwood by carrying both of them to the Canyon. Evidently, drinking the essence of Redwood trees had made these Heracross quite strong. Jess had remarked that she had done something similar, and had also grown stronger soon after. They'd had to land, as the ensuing laughing fit from the pair made flying hard. Thankfully, they had already arrived.

Alex ignored the giggling females as he dialed the number. The conversation was as awkward and brief as any random phone call, but once he'd mentioned the Yavano, and his granduncle, he'd been told to stay put. Someone was coming out to meet them, apparently.

That someone turned out to be the Dragon Type Expert, Professor Dracaena. She'd rode in on a female Charizard that truly highlighted just how much of a runt Chari was, despite her strength and almost crimson coloring.

More than that, there was something familiar about her coloration. It took Alex longer than it should have to notice that it was identical to Blaze's, which had always been a bit more red-orange than most. Considering the amount of variation in scale patterns Charizard had these days, that hadn't been too noticeable. Pokémaniacs didn't exactly ooze excitement when facing a slightly-deeper-red-orange-than-normal Charizard.

The Professor approached, leaving her own Charizard to laze in the hot sun. She was an older woman, who looked ready to raid a tomb, and had the gear to do it. The traditional white lab coat was shortened, just barely longer than her beige shorts, and a pair of what looked like a hybrid of goggles and glasses hung from the neck of her ordinary white undershirt.

As she looked the pair of them over, she focused on Alex, and smirked. "Now that's a Redwood. I'd know those eyes anywhere. I'm Professor Dracaena, an expert on Dragon Types. I knew your granduncle. I heard he passed on."

Alex nodded, his face as impassive as ever. He nodded at Jess. "This is Jessica Gladstone. She's helping me liberate this region." The two women shook hands, but otherwise didn't speak. He couldn't tell if they liked each other or not. They were as unreadable as felines, and he had long since given up trying to divine the many moods of the fairer sex.

The Professor raised an eyebrow. "Liberation, hmm?" She glanced at Jess again, who kept her own face as impassive as Alex's, and then, the Professor shrugged. "If that really is your goal…you've come to the right base."

They all flew in on their Charizard then, as the Professor had assured them that this was one place Arceans avoided. The Charizard that called the Majestic Canyon home gave no Muks about chasing off humans, and retaliating for stolen Charmander by burning Arcean crop fields. Jess left Alex to take the lead in asking questions this time, and after explaining why they'd come, the Professor agreed to help them. When asked why the Arceans avoided such a gorgeous canyon, she answered.

"There was once a city out here, in the desert, around three centuries ago now. Vega City. Or so the ruin experts call it. It was a hub of…entertainment. Music. Lights. Food. Water shortages. People from all over the world came to enjoy themselves in Vega City. Then, in the space of one night, the Prophet himself obliterated the city, claiming that it was the 'Will of Arceus' that such a hive of scum and villainy be erased from the world. They declared the Canyon a preserve, after trying to mine it, and being burnt out by the local Charizard. What remains of Vega now is just a desert."

Alex raised a brow. "Was it actually the will of Arceus, or his Human mouthpiece?"

The Professor smirked. "The word came from Pravus...spend long enough in Fornia, and you will find he's quite fond of speeches, and hearing himself talk. Officially, the Church blamed the tragedy on the 'unknowable will of Arceus', but the Tribes remember who committed the act. They have a good idea of exactly how Vega became a ruin."

Jess chimed in then, "Could we hear the tale as well? From them?"

The Professor smirked. "If you really want to know, all you need to do is ask. Chief Sike has a powerful Noctowl. With his help, they've shared what they know of the 'Vega Event' with whoever wishes to see."

Having learned several of the customs from the Yavano, such as how to properly greet a Chief, and interact with their fellow tribespeople, the couple had managed to surprise the local tribe here, as well, by showing genuine respect. They were led into one of the many caves the tribespeople used for smoking, and once they'd settled into a circle around Blaze's tail, as he'd offered it freely, the flames shifted to blue, and the napping fire lizard smirked. Alex rolled his eyes. At least he hadn't mega evolved in the middle of the Chief's toke on the pipe.

Chief Sike was an elderly man, though whether he was actually feeling his age, or just had wrinkled, weathered skin from the sun and desert, was hard to say. His hair was entirely black, but then, Alex had yet to see a tribal elder with grays.

A smirk appeared on the old man's weathered face as he eyed the Charizard supplying their fire. He looked harder, as he recognized something he hadn't seen for a long, long time, but then remembered he was in the presence of foreigners. He kept his composure as he spoke, "His fire is strong. Eastern Trainers are as powerful as the legends say they are."

Alex shrugged, and then looked around the circle. Jess glared at him as she read his intentions, but he ignored her, for the moment, as he took in the people they were sitting with. A brief, cautious glance at their minds told him all he needed to know about these people.

Their mental defenses were quite strong, as strong as their own at least, and actually reading their thoughts would be a challenge. Unlike most humans, it seemed the Tribes had learned long ago to guard themselves on that level, even if they did not possess psychic ability. He'd seen Trainers use Aura, and still lack a psychic typing. Alex had discovered a new dislike for crowds after acquiring and developing his psychic senses, for many of the huddled masses of Unova kept their minds completely unguarded. It was hard to ignore, and he'd begun to understand why the Sage lived isolated in a Swamp.

That was when he finally noticed, since actually going undercover and suppressing his power, everything was so much quieter. It was strange, in a good way. "Thank you. I was wondering, Chief Sike, if you wouldn't mind sharing the tale of Vega's destruction with us. We haven't heard of it in the east, and I have a feeling we should have already."

The Chief eyed the stereotypical Fornian tan and blonde hair, but those blue eyes…those, looked genuine, and they possessed the fire of a Trainer. The Chief nodded, and as he did, there was a low hoot above them. As his grizzled Noctowl used its power on the fire, images appeared in the flames, and they shifted as the Chief spoke. "To understand Vega, you must understand the history of Fornia. Long ago, there was peace between the entirety of the western lands. We had peace with the east as well, for the Dragon God ruled us fairly, and maintained the Balance of nature, upon which all of us live. His Empire was vast, and his Tamers fair in judgement. Those were good days."

Alex looked down then. He knew what came next, and resisted sighing as the Chief continued to speak, "Then, over time, the Dragon was passed down his Tamer's family line, and after a few generations, most ignored his wisdom entirely, until finally, the Original Dragon was torn apart by his current Tamer's two sons. Their rivalry split the dragon in three, darkness chose one brother, light championed the other, and the balance was lost to war." He packed a long, wooden pipe as he spoke, but Alex couldn't get a clear look at it.

"At first, we of the western regions did not experience any noticeable difference. Indeed, after several centuries of peace and prosperity, the Dragon became a myth, and the fertility of the planet was attributed to the planet itself, and its connection with Nature, rather than a Pokémon that may or may not have existed, long ago. Protecting the wilderness became a top priority of the newly forming governments who, since the Dragon Empire had collapsed, began to govern themselves."

"We were a naïve group of nations, young, enjoying the new freedom from heavy imperial taxes. No longer did we have to fund a war in the capital that did not concern us. Our wealthy grew great...but we had no idea what our wealth would attract. Eventually, these new, rich, former farmers gathered in a single place to enjoy their surplus of currency from selling their surplus crops. Without an empire to give them to, they had seized the power from the dead empire's infrastructure, and set themselves up as large kingdoms."

The Chief's eyes narrowed, slightly. "Basically…we were a region ripe for conquest. Nobody remembers exactly how long ago Caleb Pravus took power, but he's well past his normal span of years, even by today's standards of old age. Though, recently, it's been rumored that his 'immortality' is fading."

The old man focused on the two foreigners then, "When he first arrived here, he was weak. He destroyed Vega, and all living things around it for thousands and thousands of miles. This desert quadrupled in size because of him, and this Canyon is but a shadow of what this land used to look like. I have a feeling he's going to try something more drastic, now. To make sure he doesn't have to deal with the consequences of destroying a city again. Immortality is his sole desire, and he would gladly disrupt the Balance of the world to gain it."

Alex's eyes narrowed then. He'd had a feeling this might be the case. "He's dangerous, and he has to go down. I understand."

He looked around the circle again, and decided to trust these people, if only a little. He knew removing his disguise would be painful, for it was fairy typed in nature, and Jess could always force him to keep it on, for she had no issues using the crystal. For him, it seared his skin, and ignored his attempts to connect with it. He'd had difficulty with the ice crystal as well, for it made him quite chilled, but in Fornia's heat, it was a perfect balance of temperature.

"Thank you, for sharing that with us. There is something you should know, too. The Original Dragon has returned, and I am the one who made him whole once more. Understand who you're allying with, because the only way a Cult like this comes down is with coordinated strikes at its foundations." Jess gave him the mental equivalent of a hard pinch, but he resisted wincing as he took his own toke on the 'peace pipe', and let those gathered absorb that information.

That, was when his obedient partner and friend for life decided to tap into the power of Arceus, and take his Mega Form. Alex barely dodged the sudden increase of the blue flames, but the other tribe members just stared in awe. He still had eyebrows, but the pipe had been a bit scorched. He glared at Blaze, who continued to nap, and smirk.

The chief was silent for a long while, and as the silence grew, he felt the room's eyes upon him. Unova's newest Champion was, supposedly, as strong as the dragon he'd reunited. A dragon in his own right, apparently, or so the newest rumors claimed. Those rumors had also come with a title. The Dragon of the West.

A long look at the awakened form of the Charizard bonded to this Trainer finally convinced him of what was needed. "The Arceans have much hate for you, Champion… I don't know what you did to Pravus, but I have never seen him so…openly furious at a person. You are, quite literally, the face of the Unovan threat he's preparing his people to fight against. Normally, I would decline your aid, for it is costly, but you come to us with trust, titles, and a Charizard from this very region. Even your surname hails from here. I would be a fool to ignore these signs, but I would also be a fool to ally with you, for when the Arceans discover you, and it is a when, not an if, they will use everything they have to eradicate you. Their Prophet recently labeled you as the Spawn of Giratina, and commanded your death. You'll be hard pressed to find true allies among his Cult."

Alex passed the pipe on as the Chief spoke, and the Trainer beside him, a member of the tribe, took his own toke from the newer, stronger flames eagerly. The scent of their Leaf was similar to the Unovan variants, but stronger. Alex eyed the Chief, but his weathered face was as unreadable as his own usually was. "So…what will you do?"

The Chief grinned as the Redwood spoke. "I'll test you, and your Charizard, and if you prove worthy, you will have our support, now, and should your mission succeed, forever."

One of the female tribe members around their fire coughed hard, as she'd been in the middle of a toke of her own when she'd heard the Chief's idea. "But they're ignorant foreigners! They can't face that Trial. They'll be crushed."

The Chief smirked at the woman. "Our Alolan cousins survived it."

The young woman's brown eyes narrowed. "They had a full set of Z Crystals. And Plates. You know well that these two do not.

The Chief eyed the foreigners again, and Alex suppressed a shiver up his spine as he felt the man's gaze staring straight through his disguise. The Chief smiled slightly, and shrugged. "They have what they need."

The Majestic Canyon - Fornia Region

After some sleep and some breakfast, the Chief led the two foreigners to where the Trial was held. Deep within the Majestic Canyon, even deeper than the Rebel's base, was a series of large valleys that were home to Fornia's Charizard. They were known for being hard to control, as well as for their love of battling. The only other concentration of their species large enough to rival these canyons was the Charicific Valley, in Japan, who were known for exactly the same thing. This was a place for their species to grow stronger.

The Dragon Mountain of Unova was considered a home for them as well, but in truth, Charizard were not as abundant there as they were in these valleys, given that the mountain was shared by many species. Here, only one predator reigned supreme, and the only other carnivorous species were ones who fed on the remains of what the fire lizards ate. When it wasn't entirely ash.

It was a perfect environment for them, really. The sun burned brightly, and made the battles that much more intense. Alex stared down into one valley in particular. Most of them were lush and green on their narrow bottoms, save for the dots of orange and red that marked the younger members of their species. Caves marked the sides of these fertile areas, and flashes of orange could be seen within them, as well. Nests, then. Avoiding them would be a good idea.

The tribespeople had a tradition of battling the strong Charizard, and instead of capturing them in Pokéballs, they were given an egg, if victorious, and judged worthy. It was what made this particular tribe able to live so close to Arcean territory. As long as nobody outright attacked them, their partner's flames wouldn't be a threat to 'civilized society'. That hadn't stopped Pravus from trying, but in recent years, he had focused on fossil hunting, rather than the potential ore the Canyon could give.

The threat of annihilation didn't stop the Tribes from helping the Rebels, for they knew well that there needed to be peace, trust, and above all unity between their people, and their pale-skinned neighbors. They could not ignore Pravus. He wasn't going away. Tales from eras so far past the modern world had forgotten them, always kept the tribespeople wary, and while in the beginning there had been suffering, eventually, peace had been reached. The fall of the human race had ensured that. In the chaotic aftermath of humanity's downfall, they had been faced with a similar decision: ally and work together with the pale-skins, or die.

"Why do your people wish to help the Rebellion?" Alex asked the Chief, as they hiked. Though it was easy to mistake from up above, these valleys were truly massive in scale, and traversing them on foot was sweaty work under the blazing sun. Still, this too, was a tradition. He had no intention of disrespecting the tribe's ways. From what he'd learned of them, there was likely a very good reason they needed to walk. In a canyon this large he doubted the only things that flew were Charizard.

"Caleb Pravus is a blight upon the land. His Cult has mined the earth relentlessly for fossils, though, recently they've lessened…rumor is, they found what they were mining for. But they've ignored the cost. Homes, destroyed. Pokémon, captured…or worse. This land needs to heal, and it will not be able to until the Arceans are no longer spurred into destroying it in the name of their leader." The Chief's tone was even, calm, but Alex could feel the latent tension in his words, a simmering rage. The Arcean's Prophet had done…something to earn the Tribe's fury.

"If you'll pardon my bluntness, Chief…this seems to go beyond a simple desire for a change in leadership. Your people are as involved in the base's operations as the former Cult members. The Yavano educated me, somewhat, on my way here. I know how much you're risking."

The Chief paused in his walking, and then turned his head towards Alex. Given that they were at the back of their group, which included several other Trainers, the others kept going. "Mmmmm. Your words are indeed blunt…but honest. Your…insight…serves you well, Champion of Unova." He continued walking, and speaking, for their journey was long. "You are correct. My people have a personal stake in seeing Pravus brought down."

Alex kept his words short, and direct. "Why?"

The Chief did not answer for a long time, but eventually, he spoke, "When he first came here, Pravus convinced your fellow pale-skins to follow him with…disturbing ease. We suspected treachery, for even then the Arceans began slandering us, despite our long-standing friendship. Their attitudes changed…almost overnight. Then, Vega was destroyed. For well over a century, he had his minions persecute and belittle our people, making us out to be worse than savages. Any who associated with us, were shunned. Trade stopped, and tensions grew…then, one day, many years ago, we received a message. An offer for peace, an apology, and the promise of trade. The first in generations."

He was silent for a long time again, but Alex let him think. He hadn't been lying when he said he'd understood just how much they risked by helping the Rebels so much. His entire tribe, if things went poorly, would likely be wiped out. All their history, stories, practices unique to them, and their home, gone. He was, in short, risking everything to help stop a tyrant. They all were.

"My…daughter offered to meet with Pravus when he sent word that he wished to establish more…concrete ties to the Tribes, and to stop the slanderous lies his followers perpetrated about us. I told her not to go. I told her it was a trap. She did not listen. She went to the Oasis of Glory, and for a while…we had peace." He almost spat the word.

Alex couldn't see his face, but he did notice the reddish skin on the Chief's knuckles turn white as he gripped the strange metal staff that marked his station, a long silvery metal rod essentially, decorated and carved with runes he couldn't rightly place. It also served as his 'belt', for Pokéballs in the colors of his tribe, brownish red, yellow, green, and blue, filled each slot on the staff. Alex did a double take as he noticed there were ten balls, not six.

His distracted gaze took in something else, a symbol of sorts on each ball. A circle split into four parts, depicting what looked like the waterfall that hid the entrance to the Rebel's base, rocky outcroppings in the red stone of their home, an image of the food they grew, Cornn Berries, amongst other things, and an image of a Gogoat with a Charizard circling above it in the sky. Each image surrounded another two toned circle in the center, and he had to resist a smile. He'd know that black and white symbol anywhere. Tao's influence still remained here, even after so very long.

It was good that the Chief paused for long periods of time between speaking, but as he spoke again, Alex's attention refocused. "One day…we received a summons to the Oasis, the place where, supposedly, Arceans go to relax and enjoy the fruits of their toil, for a time. Pravus and my daughter had decided to wed, and he invited every member of every Tribe in the region..." The Chief sighed, heavily. "With his natural charisma, he offered peace, and all the while his followers continued to call us savages. I did not go, as I did not approve. I could not speak to my daughter either, for Pravus had his claws in her, and she refused to speak to someone who wasn't a part of 'Arceus's calling'."

"Obviously, it was a trap. I warned my fellow Chieftains, but even our combined words of caution could not dissuade all of our people who were curious, angry, or a mix of both, from going. I…am told that my…my daughter addressed the crowd of her own people who came to see a ceremony our tribes simply do not practice, and with a word…betrayed them. The Arceans in this 'Oasis of Glory' are little more than soldiers, and underneath the pretty resort façade, lies a labor camp, full of prisoners…and anyone Pravus doesn't want causing trouble. To this day, he claims my people can leave whenever they wish, and yet they do not return. The bars and electric fences make that rather difficult, as do the armed Humans, and their Pokémon. Only a few have managed to escape, and apparently, many do not survive their attempts."

The Chief glanced at Alex again, as their group stopped before the edge of the flame-marked valley of rock that served as the arena for the fearsome fire lizards that called this place home. "This is why every Tribe has agreed to help this Rebellion. We must free our people…and theirs. Fornia must be free, again. Then, perhaps, balance can return to our home."

Alex pulled out Tao's Pokéball, and he resisted a smirk as he heard the other Trainers, mainly those of the tribe, inhale sharply at the symbol upon it. They had all listened quietly as they realized the Chief was telling a story, essentially. Now, this foreigner pulled out a ball that, to their eyes, was infused with the Original Dragon's aura. Or rather, a trace of it.

This ball had held him at one time, evidently, but this Trainer had wisely kept him free of it. Alex offered the ball, and the Chief eyed it closer, and then handed it back. Alex held his hand on it, for a moment, as he spoke "I am the bringer of that Balance. The Dragon's will works through me. You have my word, Chieftain, I will see your people free. We will set them all free."

He took the ball back then, pocketing it. The Chief nodded, once, and then stopped walking, and raised his staff. "We shall see. Behold. We are here."

The valley in the center of this area was a canyon in its own right. It was also where most of the contests of strength were held, and as a result, the once red rocks had turned black from centuries of fire duels. As they looked into the blackened valley of stone, they saw him. Every colony has a leader, and this one was no exception to the rule that such leaders were, usually, large, powerful, and stronger than normal.

The Charizard that served as the king of these fierce Pokémon, for no other title fit his bearing, was massive, and napping. As the group approached the edge of the blackened canyon, the massive fire lizard opened one eye, and in an instant, a fiery aura of red and white surrounded his form. Alex swore, loudly. He had no illusions as to what this trial would likely entail. Battling a beast like that, that had mastered its own power to such a degree, promised to be a challenge.

The Charizard of the tribe's Trainers popped free of their balls as they watched, and the two foreigner's partners were called out. Blaze and Chari twisted high into the air, before heading down towards the Totem Pokémon. Apparently, that was what they were called here, as well.

As Blaze landed before his opponent, he glanced at his Trainer, and nodded. Alex called on the crystal again, and empowered his partner, who took what he needed to reach his Mega Form, and then cloak himself in a similar aura. The power faded, and the magma colored aura held perfectly. Alex smirked. Blaze had been trying to perfect that for months. Naturally, he understood it when he needed to. That was how he'd always learned, after all.

As the older Charizard stood, Alex noticed that they weren't all that different in appearance and skin tone. It was the shape that was different. The king's wings were smaller, but his claws were enormous. He could likely fly when he needed to, but this Charizard obviously preferred the ground. That meant he likely preferred physical moves as well.

A torrent of Flamethrower burned over Blaze, and the fire lizard yawned, as he inhaled the intense flames, and grinned. His tail flame turned blue, and his claws became shrouded in deep sparking red, and orange colored energy. The same as the magma from which he'd evolved.

The younger Pokémon shot forward, and after a flash of red, Chari was behind him. The older Charizard glanced at the pair, and snarled. Technically, one's mate could join a duel. If it was to the death, or for leadership. He glanced at the humans, and then understood. They wanted his help for something, and they were fighting to prove they were worthy of it.

The older Charizard smirked, and rapidly spun in place. A tornado of flames shot into the air, then, a similarly dark red and sparking pair of Dragon Claws rose out of the flames, towards the two fighters. Though the claws were massive, they missed Blaze, or rather, skirled off his aura. Chari went down, landing hard, but relatively uninjured, save for her wing which had taken the impact. Blaze eyed her, and then bid her to stay put as he rejoined the battle and roared.

The female did as she'd been asked, as she'd smashed a wing into the canyon's hard rock wall after being hit. There was no reason to go in now. In the air, Blaze would have to defend her and also attack, and on the ground…well, this Charizard could handle her there, too. She stayed back, as the two males smashed together repeatedly.

For all the fire and claws, neither one seemed to be damaged much, and once it was clear they were drawing towards a stalemate, Alex gave his partner useful information, and a strategy. Battles were as much mind games as they were fights, in contests like this, anyways. A moment's distraction would tip it.

Blaze smirked as he heard and agreed with the plan. His Trainer was convinced that this Charizard was his sire, or at the very least, related by blood. They shared the same facial features, though Blaze's wings were nowhere near as small.

Blaze's Dragon Tail canceled out another Dragon Claw, and the younger fire lizard snarled in the tongue of their species to the older one. "You…are related to me, aren't you…we are similar…"

The elder paused, and the battle did as well, as he eyed his opponent properly, and then nodded. "I did not smell it, but now I see it. You are of my blood…a son I thought lost." He raised a claw and it burst to life with red draconic energy, "But that changes nothing. You started this contest…I will finish it!"

Blaze then did his best imitation of a human shrug, which actually looked halfway decent. He fell backwards in the air as he dodged under the enormous claw. His own Dragon Claw ran along the outer edge of his opponent's. "Very well. I just thought you should know, I have offspring as well."

The older fire lizard's attack paused, eyes widening at the news, for it was always a wonderful thing to have more family. Blaze took the second he needed, and slid his Dragon claw up the older Charizard's burly arm, neck, and then face, in a powerful upwards slash.

The two broke apart then, and the elder was panting. A critical hit, and one that had taken out an eye. Not permanently, but it would need to heal. The claws hadn't actually cut his skin, either. Only faint black marks showed where they'd passed, scraping against the elder's aura shield. Blaze had actually gotten through it around the neck area, and it had not re-formed. In fact, the aura had dissipated entirely now, once he'd broken through.

Slightly irritated with this new injury, the elder snarled. "Enough, whelp. What do you and your Humans want of me?"

Blaze glanced up at his Trainer as he mumbled softer growls. "Something about a Trial…"

The older fire lizard grinned. "Ahh. The Trial…why didn't you say so?" He rose again, and though the aura didn't re-form, two other, smaller, Charizard stepped forward to join him. They were comparatively large, but against the King and his offspring, everyone was small. The two arrivals engaged Blaze immediately, but he had fought battles like this before. He could handle a pair of his kin, but he flew higher into the smoky air regardless, as their flames followed him. He didn't want his sire interfering as he dispatched these two.

Occupied as he was, for the two the King had chosen were skilled aerial fighters, Blaze did not notice what went on below. Five other Charizard, each an elder in their own right, surrounded their king, and tented their wings as they freely gave their power…so that he might attain the same level as one bonded to a human. Focused fire type energy poured into the massive Charizard, and like his offspring, he retained his typing and colors as he Mega Evolved. He was stronger now yes, but most importantly, his wings were now capable of lifting his massive form, which was mostly muscle.

The air boomed as he lifted off, and the weakened elders below curled into circular piles of orange scale, their wings forming a tent above them as they meditated, and kept their own power supplying their King's.

Luckily for Blaze, he had a pair of eyes in the back of his head with a cliff-side view, and saw his sire coming. There was a layer of thin cloud between them, though it was mostly just smoke, it obscured one's vision regardless. Blaze maneuvered his opponents into position, and then kept them there, as his father ascended.

He burst through the clouds with a powerful Dragon Tail, unable to pause as he realized who he was swinging at. The two new opponents went down, and once more, the battle was even. Like Chari, they had smashed into the stone canyon walls, and would need time to recover in order to battle again.

Father and son clashed again and again as the sun turned the sky red, and began to set. Getting here had taken almost a full day, and the days had begun to grow shorter. The summer was halfway finished, and the days were once more shortening to reasonable length.

Seeing another stalemate approaching, Blaze knew this would likely be it. Though he wouldn't admit it, those two had damaged him, almost as much as he'd damaged his sire. The next decisive blow would finish this contest, and he intended to win.

"Wait for an opening…do not rush…" His Trainer's words echoed in his skull, and this time, he listened. His partner had become a skilled fighter of his own kind, and what worked well in battle for him had often translated just as well into his team's battles. "Move with the wind, and let him strike the air. He is tired, though his stamina will likely outlast yours. Use your speed to deliver a blow, you can't match him physically."

Blaze did as ordered, looping through the air as his sire's claws furiously slashed through it. He was picking up speed now, and could feel his wings starting to strain. Moving fast enough just to dodge was taking a lot of focus. He would need that focus for a useful attack. Then, he had an idea of his own. His Trainer smirked, and encouraged him to go for it. His Charizard's battle instincts were great, after all.

He flew high then, high into the smog-filled clouds over this part of the Canyon. Each wing beat cleared it away, and Blaze knew he couldn't use it a second time. He'd need a different trick.

Finally, he flew straight up, and in a masterful display of aerial maneuvering, he came down at his still ascending opponent with a Dragon Tail propelled by gravity. Two large claws came towards him, and then his sire launched them at his progeny and an x-shaped cris-cross of their uniquely colored dragon type energy flew through the air. Blaze smashed through the energy claws with his tail, and rolled in the air until he was soaring downwards with his own pair of Dragon Claws. He used the momentum and opening from the Dragon Tail to minimize the damage, and then roll into an attack from above.

The elder had let his upwards momentum stop, but Blaze had far more speed. Smashing through the dragon energy had slowed him only slightly, and once more the offspring scored a hit upon the king, who grunted, and fell back first towards the ground. He turned slowly in the air, and let his massive wings stop him, but he still slammed onto the ground quite hard, and did not rise to battle again. His Mega Form faded, and he lifted his tail up into the air, the sign amongst their species that told their enemy they were done battling. Charizard did not typically kill fellow Charizard, after all.

Up on the cliff's edge, the Chief turned to Alex, and smiled. "You have trained that one well. If all of your partners are that strong, Pravus is doomed."

Alex shrugged, scratching his blonde hair. "Well, six of them are. The other three are a work in progress…and I still need my last one."

The Chief eyed him again, and then nodded. "A Ghost Type…I think I know one who will work well with you…if you can convince him to Battle."

Alex raised a brow, but the Chief spoke before he could. "But we will see to that in the morning. For now, let us feast among our fiery brethren!" The other fire lizards standing and watching with their Trainers shot their flames into the air, and as they did, Blaze flew past them, spinning into the air, and then fanning his wings out as he came down again, and landed on the cliff. Chari followed soon after, favoring her wing, but still capable of flying straight up. It was, after all, one of the easier maneuvers fliers used.

That night was spent around the King's tail flames, and as the entire group of humans gathered around, their own partners joined their tails with his. Blaze did as well, and together, they shared and recovered energy as the humans partook of their intense fire to burn and inhale their smelly plants.

Sahqoreyth · Mar 28, 2024

Chapter 23: The Long Night Begins

Lab Ein – Fornia Region

"Tell me the odds again, Ein." Caleb Pravus said, as he stared down at his prize, grinning.

The lab coated doctor would've flipped his brown hair flick, if Pravus hadn't made him cut it off. For amusement. Instead, he pushed his glasses up by the brim. "Given the species' popularity, incompetent archeological preservation methods of our race at the time, and the tectonic upheaval of the Stoney Mountains, the odds of finding an intact specimen, let alone one a Mew fused with..."

He was silent for a good thirty seconds as his brain mathed out the numbers. Finally, he sighed, his monotone voice sounded bored. "Astronomically small."

Pravus gave him a look, but let it slide. They had other things to discuss. "Gender?"

"He hasn't figured that out yet." Ein said, smirking.

Pravus rolled his eyes. "Spare me the politically correct BS, and just say 'male', or 'plug' if we must use analogies."

Ein sighed, looking down at his creation. "It doesn't really matter. He's the only one we can make. We used all the other samples to make this one. And he's still part Rock Type."

Pravus grinned. "Oh, don't worry, we'll have a Draco Plate soon enough. It's on its way here as we speak." Ein rolled his eyes. Given the absurd rarity of Draco Plate shards, let alone full Plates, his deranged boss planned to take one from the reigning Unovan Champion. One didn't need to be a genius to know how that encounter would go. Hundreds of team bosses, every bit as strong as Pravus, had fallen to younger Trainers, with less experience. All of whom had also gone on to be Champions as well. Unova especially, had a habit of forging strong Champions. Ein was still wondering how Redwood had gotten around his diagnosis but he rightly surmised the late Professor Redwood was responsible.

Ein looked down at his creation again, and sighed. Pravus did have numbers though, and when it came to Pokémon, that was all one really needed. Empires like this cult were what made creating beings like his Veloraptar possible, and he would be perfect to lead their numbers... when he was finished.

The Pokémon being admired by the two men high above his paddock looked up at the pair of humans. They smelled delicious to the creature within. He eyed them, still hungry after devouring the Gogoat they'd all but dangled in front of him. He knew they'd been testing his leaping height, and soon after that first meal, the metal bar had been built overhead.

He hated how it loomed over him, but he especially hated the 'human' with dark eyes that eyed him like a meal. When he had been alive before, the humans had run from him in terror, but then, he'd been much faster, almost able to fly in those days. This new body, while physically stronger, was still flawed. He could run roughly the same, but he always felt slow. Imperfect.

His intelligent eyes turned to thin vertical slits as he scented more prey. Evidently, this…circular…thing they'd trapped him in had prey within it. He trotted off through the foliage, wincing at how loud his steps were as the new rocky protrusions across his bipedal form brushed and scraped against the foliage. How was he supposed to hunt like this?

Colville - Northern Fornia Region

Brad had, like his partners on this stealthy endeavor, made contact with friendly allies in Fornia's northern areas. The north was a natural forested buffer between the Takoma region and most of Fornia, and with the exception of the city of Pravia to the east, the Arceans didn't seem to mind the Tribe's presence to the west.

Brad had trained his Charmeleon against the Rebel Trainers, and he had finally evolved the previous evening. They'd camped out that night, with the young Charizard folding his wings into a tent, as his father had shown him. Evidently, it was something Alex had him do often, though usually Shruikan was the better choice, as he was now enormous.

It had been a jarring thing, being shoved back into Arcean society, falling into old habits, like praising the Prophet in every sentence he was mentioned. From his new perspective, Brad now saw how deviously ingenious Pravus's set-up was. It was designed for subtle, effective brainwashing. So subtle, the average person couldn't even tell they were being molded, if living the life of an Arcean was all they knew. Some resisted, of course…but they soon either fit in the mold, or vanished. This was why everyone wanted to stay out of trouble. Justice in Fornia had a tendency to be swift.

Though he'd initially entertained thoughts of rejoining his people, the corruption in the world Pravus had built soon became obvious to Brad's awakened eyes, and fear no longer made him ignore it. He knew there was no way he could ever go back now. Taking a cover job as a member of one of the Church's many 'media branches' had been tedious, but the monotony of doing seemingly meaningless tasks had been broken up one day when a group of Task Force members entered the writing room of their little studio, by force.

They'd asked for a specific writer of a specific article that, evidently, Pravus himself had read, and not liked. The consequences for producing 'sub-par work' involved every member of the twenty-man squad taking their chance to mercilessly beat the writer in question, long after he'd lost consciousness.

The job, which Brad had admittedly lingered at due to his feelings of nostalgia, was quickly abandoned soon after that incident. Indeed, Brad had simply vanished one day, and nobody, not even the security in charge of keeping the writers writing, could tell how he'd left. Nobody knew what Pokémon he had at home, as he was new, and Pokémon were not for the workplace. Not at their level, anyways. Those who allowed their Pokémon to be infused with Shadow were granted a higher rank, and since Brad had refused to subject his Rayquaza to the infusion process again after it had failed the first time, he had been sent to discover if the rumors of a 'Heretic Sage' in the Great Swamp were true.

Oranguru had figured him out in seconds, but had convinced the Trainer, with aid from his Rayquaza, to stay, and learn the psychic arts. They had promised the powers he possessed, if awakened, would be enough to help him attain the power he'd craved. He had witnessed the raw power of one of the east coast's Trainers, twice, after being beaten by the Charmander he'd left for dead in the Great Mohave Desert, now a Charizard. Alex's mercy, and indeed the strength of the other Trainers in Unova, had been a good example of how a free society could make seriously powerful Trainers. As he'd trained his Charmander, the bond they'd formed had awakened his potential, enough to lift small objects, at least. That too had been another factor in keeping him from returning to the Arcean fold. He was a 'psychic half-breed' now, at best. If not a traitor.

Brad had put the Sage's training to good use, and eventually, had discovered the northernmost Tribe in Fornia after wandering blindly through the wilderness. The more he had thought during his trek, the more he'd noticed. The Arceans had seemingly no interest in this beautiful, fertile land. It was hard to find in southern Fornia, but the areas he'd hiked through were full of mountains, forests, and even rare Pokémon. It was entirely out of character for Pravus to ignore it.

When he discovered Colville, a city among the massive trees that grew throughout the region, he began to understand. The Okanagan tribespeople here were not only expert Trainers, they could also move stealthily through the trees of their land with almost unnatural skill. Their guerrilla tactics were all but unstoppable, and every time the Arceans had tried setting up a site to dig for fossils or cut lumber, the Tribe had stopped them. Given how far they had to transport everything, the losses in equipment, fuel, and even manpower were significant.

Eventually, Pravus had given up on the area, though why, nobody quite knew. Some guessed he would deal with it later, after the Unova threat was taken care of. Most Arceans didn't seem to care either, for they only had cities on their large water sources, and were happy to leave the mountainous wilderness to the 'savages'.

Colville was not unlike the base hidden within the Majestic Canyon. Though most of the people and supplies moved through the massive trees with a relatively complex pulley system, those who could, preferred having their partners use Vine Whip to swing through the trees. These were usually the stronger Trainers, sent on guerilla strike missions at supply lines.

Like Alex and Jess, Brad had acquired a fossil on his way to this surprisingly modernized city in the trees, and after some training, his new Archeops moved through them just as silently. Once his newly assembled team was ready, after he'd caught, trained, and evolved the partners he needed, Brad asked the Tribe to help him with another mission that required stealth.

Tracking down his family had taken days, and he'd already stayed in Colville longer than planned. Alex and Jess were likely on their way to Mewsia, the only city on Fornia's lovely coast that wasn't entirely under Pravus's thumb. It was through this port that foreigners were allowed to trade and converse with specially selected Arceans, who would give the best impression of the culture their leader envisioned. Their loyalty was, apparently, unbreakable and it made the cult seem enticing to travelers.

Alex had said to take as long as he needed, though. They were going to contact him when they made their move. Until then, Brad didn't have to rendezvous, so he stayed, and he searched. The Pineus family, to which Bradley belonged, had owned a simple estate in the mountainous area of north-western Fornia. An entire mountainside, which had been in their family for generations.

Proud Arceans had been raised there, but none had risen like Bradley. He'd been the only Hand of the Prophet, but not the only Champion level Trainer to come out of their family. He could only imagine what was left of his home after defecting, but he wasn't expecting what he found. Ash covered everything, and the entire mountain had been burned bare. Machinery belonging to the Arcean's fossil recovery branch was already boring into the mountain, and from the looks of the lights over where his home had stood, they had met with success.

Brad smirked, as he mentally whispered to his Archeops. "What do you want to bet they've found elemental Plates and crystals?" His smirk widened. He'd memorized what the three of them still needed, and aside from dragon, and probably psychic, the other crystals could be found.

Brad had always known that his family's mountain contained power. The Pokémon raised on those once fertile slopes had always been powerful. He had not, however, expected to find at least ten of every elemental Plate, including Mind but excluding Draco, just lying around the camp. It made some sense, as in reality, nobody but Brad and his family lived out here, but it still seemed careless. Evidently, the leader of this operation was a 'fun boss', and rewarded hard work before safely storing assets. Brad's smirk grew grim as he eyed the Plates haphazardly stacked about. That was definitely against protocol.

Taking them all but guaranteed ruining someone's life, career, even marriage potentially. Some worker here would talk, the overseer would be replaced…ruined, and the digging would continue. But then, if he did nothing, what had already been dug up would be exploited further. The Arcean Fossil Organization was famous for digging deeper than they should.

A familiar voice echoed in his head. "Examine the man whose life you fear to ruin. He has no mental defenses. These people's minds are wide open. Go. Look. But do not influence."

Brad tensed atop his mount as he replied in the same manner. "Yes, Master." He reached out, and examined the man's mind. Thankfully, the illegal alcoholic beverages, and other substances, were clouding what senses the man did possess. Brad's intrusion went unnoticed, as he examined each memory, each thought, feeling, emotion.

What he found sickened him. This was a man who enjoyed his power, and while he could keep his workers happy, he enjoyed those who needed to be punished in truly disturbing ways. He reached for the Plates, when he paused. "I'm not seeing every angle." He felt the Sage's approval.

The bad emotions were easy to notice because they stood out. Among the kinder memories were his children. But even here, Brad was disappointed. They were far too reminiscent of his own childhood. He'd never seen his parents enough, as he'd been off being educated, at their expense. It had all paid off when he'd become Champion of the Arceus League, and had attained the rank of Hand of the Prophet, but that had almost been worse than being a strong Trainer with a Rayquaza.

He saw that this man's own offspring truly mattered little to him. Beyond making sure they were decent Arceans, he didn't seem to acknowledge their existence. The work he did, for the fate of the planet, was far more important. Finally, Brad left the man's head, his hope in humanity fading slightly after such a thorough look. He shoved the Plates into his bag, but surprisingly, they were incredibly light. His eyes counted each of the types, three times over. No need to be greedy after all.

As he looked at just how many there were though, he reconsidered. The Rebellion could use Trainers with Plates…and the knowledge of how to tap them. Between his Marowak and Scizor, the stealthy trio managed to grab many sets of Plates, before he'd felt they'd pushed their luck. They left when someone shouted, drunkenly, that the pile of Plates had shrunk.

The overseer had laughed, and said they'd just dig up more, but nobody had cheered at that. They'd just finished working, dammit. They needed, earned, this reprieve. As the mood in the camp turned dark and mutinous under the influence of the alcohol, Brad and his loyal flying, stealthy partner headed south.

He'd found the remains of his home, of course, and had been able to access some of the tech that survived in the mostly stone and metal interior. They may have been isolated out here, but his family had never lacked for gadgets. The last record, from several months prior, said they'd been moved south. So south they went, following the trail.

Though the area around the massive Mohave Desert in the region was sparsely populated by humans, what towns did exist, Brad searched through. There had indeed been a large truck with his family name on it that passed through. On their way to Sacreus, or so they said. Brad resisted swearing aloud once he found out.

Sacreus was a unique city, in that it had once existed in an age before Pokémon. Then, a massive meteor-like object had struck it, leaving nothing but death and destruction. Some said it was that event that sparked the final fall for humanity, but nobody really remembered why their race had fallen anymore. The ancient past was the ancient past. They hadn't even had Pokémon, so why learn about them? The ancient's way of life had failed. To most modern people, they were irrelevant, save for the rebooted entertainment franchises resurrected from the remains of the Old Net. As before, the Pokémon Wars Saga was an instant hit, and had again become a cultural icon. That had been the first of many rebooted movies, with Pokémon added in as either support or the main characters, and Unova was to this day still churning out more of them.

Sacreus itself had been rebuilt over time, as people came to live in the crater. It had once been fertile, but the city that grew within the crater soon drowned out what natural life had come from the ancient impact and destruction. Sacreus had natural defenses, massive crater walls for miles around it, and a plasma shield that could cover the upper airspace of the city in times of need. Just in case of impending meteor strikes.

The city had, over the years, also extended downwards. For hundreds of miles, it was said to be a steel under-city that people actually lived in, sometimes for their entire lives. Pravus' headquarters was at the bottom-most level, and reaching it any other way but through the Cult required one to magically dig through tons of rock, and then several feet of metal. Thankfully, they'd brought a mountain-eater with them. But he was, if the plan was on track, still training.

Alex had wanted to avoid Sacreus entirely, as being recognized in Pravus' home turf would be quite bad. The city was thoroughly checked for traitors, and people were switched out all the time if they became suspects of some usually imaginary crime.

Ignoring the upper levels and going for the head of the snake via Cenomons was the best option while they had stealth on their side. Brad had agreed. Much of Arcean society depended on the Prophet. He was a 'holy' man, touched by Arceus, and blessed with apparent immortality. He was the will of the 'God Pokémon' as the locals called Arceus, made manifest. He was also what everyone secretly feared.

Anyone who went against Pravus tended to vanish. But the mere thought of betraying their leader was, to many Arceans, unimaginable. A concept they couldn't even consider…not while he yet lived, at least. Oddly enough though, a few of the latest generation had begun to outright leave because of the rampant abuse within the system. Brad hadn't seen many of them in Colville, but those Fornians were the ones who'd sparked this Rebellion. He did wonder how they might react to seeing their cult leader fall, for from his point of view, anyone who'd suffered at his hands knew there could only be one fate for such a person.

With his parents likely sequestered within the fortress crater-city, Brad resigned himself to waiting. As for his siblings, he knew exactly where they'd be. He was quite familiar with where the Church put children with 'suppressive' relatives. He'd wanted more than his parent's aid to free them, as he was familiar with how heavy security was at the living quarters for children, but he could manage on his own now that he had a team of partners that grew stronger with every battle against wild Pokémon.

He had his stealthy Scizor zip around the camp, once he'd reached it. They called it a dig site, but in reality, it was a work camp, where children of loyal Arceans toiled away, mostly mining useless rocks for enough shards to make a Plate. They were considered done when they found enough shards for Plates of every type, but naturally, 'accidents' regularly occurred, and kept those mining from freedom when their caches of mined shards 'vanished' from the storage sheds, and returned their count to zero. Occasionally some would find a fossil, but those were always taken away quickly. His Scizor returned several minutes later. It had been hard finding two specific blonde, blue-eyed, tan skinned children amongst so many others, but the intelligent bug type had managed it.

Brad eyed the building for a long time, and eventually recalled his Scizor. He would do this himself. He reached out with the psychic power he'd previously ignored. It was a part of him, and now one he embraced. Upon learning from the other Champions in the Swamp that humans could not, in fact, reproduce with Pokémon, he'd come to terms with psychic types. It was hard to claim they were evil when they could speak to you, and emanated genuine kind emotions. It was more emotion than his Arcean handlers had ever shown, and after failing twice against Redwood, he'd accepted the truth. With the truth, had come research of the many claims Pravus himself often spewed at his crowds of brainwashed cultists. Using the Pokénet, he'd gained answers to most of his worldly questions, and also learned that checking one's sources was always a good idea. Biased views existed outside of the Church too, it seemed. After several minutes of mental scanning, Brad found the mind that he recognized as his youngest brother's, and made contact.

"Sam. Wake up. It's your brother. Think your responses, and I'll hear them. Do you understand?" It took a few moments for the groggy preteen to come to consciousness, and realize he was not in fact dreaming.

"Brad? How are you…"

"Later. Listen to me, you need to get ready to leave. Bring our sister." He sensed their youngest sister lying near him, but of the elder there was no sign.

The boy's mind lit up at the thought of not being in the living hell that was the labor camp, but fear kept him hesitant. It was, after all, the Church's strongest tool. "We can't just walk out. The guards will see us. The others will tell. We'll get beaten again..."

"Don't worry about them, just pack your bags. I'm getting you both far away from here. Where's Lisa?"

The younger brother paused for a moment, and then thought, "I don't know…she's…changed, Brad. She's on the fast track to becoming a Hand of the Prophet."

Brad sighed. He knew what that meant. His defection had only served to inspire 'loyalty' to the cause, and Pravus was all too glad to keep a potential hostage nearby. The fact that she was also rather attractive certainly had nothing to do with her meteoric rise to the Prophet's side.

That meant that over half of his family, his parents and sister, as well as any aunts or other relatives who hadn't cut ties already were likely to disconnect from them once it was discovered they'd escaped. Still, he'd decided early on that if he could only save a few, he'd want to get the young ones out first. He knew far too well what teenage years in the Arcean Church were really like.

His Lycanroc and Cloyster had taken out the guards around this particular building, and while those who were unconscious would recover, those frozen in ice would have a long wait to melt, at least until the sun rose over Fornia. But sunrise was far off. Brad had his Lycanroc guide the two children out, and once they were out of the building, he put them on the wolf's back, and had him carry them to Archeops.

He covered their tracks, mended the barbed wire fence that surrounded the work camp, and left no trace of which direction they'd gone. The security here was competent enough to follow tracks, but if there were no tracks to follow, they'd be significantly slowed. Enough for them to get away.

As his large, female Archeops carried them into the sky, his brother babbled away about fossil Pokémon he'd found, while his youngest sister, who was six and considered old enough to work, simply clung to her big brother. She would likely be pretty as well, though Brad also knew the camps were home to many with darker perversions. Such people had an unfortunate tendency to rise to positions of power within the Church. He sincerely hoped she'd avoided such men, but didn't have the courage to sift through her memories and find out. She'd been through enough already.

As his Archeops flew north, towards the relative safety of Colville, she flew just high enough for Sam to reach up into a cloud, and discover they were rather wet, not fluffy. Then, the large Pokémon stopped, and squawked for her Trainer's attention.

They went into a steep, gliding dive and came out over the forests of the north-eastern part of Fornia. Brad swore, and quickly turned the ancient bird around. It would be a longer flight, but he could use his Charizard if necessary. The Canyon Base was now the largest one the Rebellion had left.

Deep Within the Majestic Canyon – Fornia Region

Alex approached the strange orb at the end of the cave the Chief had led them to. Jess had remained at the base, and began the arduous task of learning who everyone was. She wasn't irritated though, as she knew he'd be joining her very soon.

As he looked at the orb, he noticed that it was black on the edges, and white within. Alex glanced at the Chief, who watched him, silently, probably musing to himself with his inner monologue. He did that a lot, and never noticed his tendency to mutter aloud when he mused after toking his pipe.

Alex put a hand on the orb, and smirked. The strange sphere shifted to a familiar swirling pattern of Eternal Balance, and the Pokémon within woke up.

Electric and ghost. That was the first thing Alex saw, and then he realized what he was looking at. It was Rotom, of course, but its black and white form was tied to a similarly colored crystal at the bottom. As the ghost saw the human, it reflexively melded with its crystal, and a pair of golden eyes stared at him from the object he currently possessed.

Alex knelt down and lifted the crystal up. The ghost within eyed him the entire time. "Hello there." The crystal blinked its golden eyes once. "I'm Alex. The Champion of Unova. The one who reunited the Original Dragon." At the dragon's title, the eyes grew brighter.

"The dragon is whole?" The voice was almost incoherent, and faint.

"He is, Old One." The Chief said from the back of the cave, waiting patiently.

The Rotom seemed to stare through him as it processed his words. Alex had no illusions about the intelligence of the Pokémon before him. He could sense the power the ghost had, and knew it was at least as intelligent as Tao, and probably almost as old. The ghost's mind felt ancient.

The crystal suddenly flared with electricity, searing his skin, and he winced. He'd learned to hold in a reaction to pain early in his martial training with the dragon. He noticed the small crystal mirroring his smirk, and Alex arched a brow. "Is that it?"

The Pokémon stared at him, and the voltage increased. He was ready now, though. His eyes flared as he guided the current harmlessly through the parts of his body that could handle such intense shock, and into the stone below him.

The ground flared in a familiar Taijitu swirl as electricity poured into it, and revealed a hidden carving below them, as the two bonded. Sparks began arcing through the air as the tiny Pokémon gave the human as much of a shock as he dared. The equivalent of a Thunder attack. Hopefully, it would only knock the human out, but he could never judge how much they could really take.

Finally, it stopped. The crystal shivered in approval, and then glowed entirely white. Alex stared at the crystal for a long time before deciding it was too similar. He tossed the crystal into the air, on a hunch, and the Rotom within burst free with a satisfying, and sparky, yawn. "I really hate not being able to leave that thing! At least you figured out how to open it. The last guy took two weeks." His voice was higher now that he was free, and he sounded vaguely like his new Trainer when he spoke. It was, somehow, both familiar and strange at the same time.

The small ghost type continued arcing his plasma body in ever more twisted shapes. Alex's eyes were on the crystal though. He'd heard of ancient devices that could contain Pokémon, and those that still existed always had unusual Pokémon within.

Alex pocketed the strange crystal, and shrugged. A Pokéball was a Pokéball. It was common knowledge that ancient civilizations from the early years of the Dark Times had been able to capture and battle with Pokémon. Devices like the crystal had been common, and far more unique than Pokéballs could ever really be. Battling, as a sport, was ancient in their world. An honored tradition that went back to the rebirth of the human race. In a time of chaos, it had united the world. For a while.

He found the small ghost eyeing him, and where his crystal went. He valued it, clearly. Alex reached out then, and brought the new member of their team into the mental web that connected his partners. He could tell the ghost was impressed, and Alex smirked. The plasma being was already conversing with several of his partners, and giving them battle advice.

The Chief approached the suddenly still pair of Trainer and Pokémon, tapping Alex's shoulder. The two blinked, in unison. "He sounds like you..." the Chief remarked. Alex simply nodded, flexing his hand as he focused on healing the burns. Recover was, unfortunately, still a mystery to him, move wise. He could make it seem easy, as he had against Connor, but if he was honest, Tao had mainly healed those wounds. They'd been rather serious. "We should return to the base. Your partner apparently just checked in…with news."

Alex raised a brow, momentarily blank on who was being referred to. "My partner…? Not Jess…then…oh. Ohhhh. Brad? What news does he bring?"

The Chief stared at the Unovan for a long moment, then sighed. "Nothing good…" He pointed to the north then, as they'd reached the top of the footpath that led up the canyon wall.

Alex's team joined them, staring in disbelief, and perhaps for the first time understanding just how depraved their foe was, and the lengths he would go to in order to crush rebellion.

The entire sky was turning black, and not with electricity. That, he could've handled. These clouds had something dark drifting down from them, and they were blowing in from the north. The Chief grimaced. "It has begun. Colville has fallen."

Alex shared the Chief's grim look. He recalled everyone, Rotom included, as Shruikan leapt into the valley below, and circled around for rapid ascension. "I need a better look. I'll meet you back at the base." Before the Chief could respond, the Unovan Champion had grabbed his Salamence's tail, and was already in the air, climbing the massive back of his black dragon. The huge beast flapped into the sky, through the ashy clouds, and then above them.

Shruikan picked up speed by the time Alex had grabbed onto one of his head horns. Dragon energy surrounded both of them as he mega evolved, and accelerated. A normal Salamence in this form could cross continents in mere hours. Flying a few hundred miles north was easy.

It took an hour, but eventually they figured out where the smoke was coming from. Ash clouds blanketed the area for miles around them, and as Alex recalled his dragon, he fell through the foul clouds, and let gravity control him for a minute.

He had time before he'd need to float, so he fell, and as he plummeted, he saw the land below him. Normally, he imagined, the trees that had made up this base of tribespeople were likely indistinguishable from the rest of the massive, ancient forest. Now though, there was a disturbingly perfect circle of charred trees, miles in diameter, that had encompassed the entire settlement based near a slope of a well forested mountain. Nobody had run away unscathed.

Just as he was wondering what sort of Pokémon could unleash this kind of flame in such a perfect circle, he felt eyes upon him from below, and reached for his power. His large form stopped, hovering in the air, and he rapidly ascended towards the clouds again.

It was already too late, though. Blaze popped free of his ball, wings and body enveloping his Trainer as the cone of flames shot up at them from the ground. Though they were intense, it would take far more than that to take his Charizard down. Alex slid onto his back, as his partner glowed with red energy from the Plate shard on his Trainer's hand. They shot into the clouds, and waited above.

They heard the wing flaps as whatever had struck at them rose into the clouds, and Alex felt a familiar sensation of 'oh shit' run up his spine as he spied his opponent, and what his opponent was riding. It was a Noivern, but something about it was…off. It had traded the flying typing for dark, and Shadow energy emanated from it. Its eyes only wanted to kill, and as it saw Blaze, it began to drool. Its mouth was covered in blood, and it took Alex a moment to realize where it was likely from. Picking off stragglers of a disaster. This was a special kind of depraved Trainer then, and likely one of Pravus's chosen Hands. He fit the description.

The man atop the monstrous dragon was clad in similar garb to what the examiners in the Swamp wore, though where theirs was 'camouflaged' this man's was entirely black. Though he wore a similarly colored beret, and though Alex had always found them a bit silly, it did nothing to detract from the imposing presence the burly, extremely pale man gave off. A familiar chill filled the air. The sense of dread that so often accompanied death. It seemed Pravus wasn't the only one with tricks.

The man wore a green monocle-type device over his left eye, and as he stared at Blaze, his smile grew. "That's the one." He said to the Noivern. He raised a gloved hand, and it flared with dark type energy. "Feast, Carporian."

At the man's words, an almost invisible Plate crystal, for it blended well with the man's choice of attire, began to glow, and the Noivern began to change. A smaller pair of wings sprouted from its sides, and the tail gained fin-like appendages. Most notable however, were the pair of massive fangs the dragon now sported. It panted as the change finished, ready to run wild. It's eyes were a mixture of rage and pain in equal amounts, with one fueling the other.

Normally, Alex would've enjoyed seeing a new Mega Form, but he knew a bit about Noivern, and could only imagine what their Mega Form was like, let alone under such a dark Trainer. It was very likely that he'd lose control of that dragon. Even Blaze could tell it was growing annoyed with its rider. It had grown larger, angrier, as his Trainer formed a leash of dark energy from the crystal, and wrapped it about the dragon's neck.

Shruikan, for his part, agreed with their assessment, and used it to his advantage. He'd been called out again once they'd come up in the clouds, and had been told to fly even higher. Now, the low whistling sound of his wings slicing through the air was the only prelude to the Charge Beam that followed. The Noivern glared at where the sound came from, but did not expect what was streaking down from the sky to be a Salamence of massive scale.

The electric beam struck the Noivern with deadly precision as the massive dragon zipped past. Not only was the beast weakened, but his rider was struggling to stay on, and cursing at his mount for being so blind. Preoccupied with his Trainer and their shared paralysis, the Noivern did not see the Dragon Hammer Shruikan aimed their way as he zipped past them again. The more heavily plated tail wreathed in dragon type energy hit with expert aim on the Noivern. The sheer size of it caused the bat-like dragon to sail rapidly through the air before slamming into the ground below with a thunderous boom.

"Time to leave." Alex said, as he recalled Blaze, and hopped once more on Shruikan. He headed south again, before the Noivern could recover. By the time it did eventually fly up again, they were long gone. The bat-like dragon was furious, and with a single sonic-flap accompanied by a Hyper Voice mixed with a Boomburst, it cleared the ash clouds for miles. It hadn't had a chance to use its power at all, and thus the enraged dragon type struck out at the obscuring clouds with obvious rage. The Salamence had robbed it of a battle with a rather strong looking Charizard.

The Hand of Death, now once more perched on the dragon, grimaced. He hadn't even had time for banter. He loved banter. Of course to him, banter was the screams of pain he drew from his targets. His dark expression shifted from an unusually jovial mood fresh from the slaughter of Traitors, to one more accustomed to the hunt. His sharp eyes searched the skies as his mount threw a temper tantrum, and then, a grin appeared on his face. The grin of a hunter who sees prey. By pure chance, the clouds obscuring the black Salamence had been within Carporian's range. Though the attack probably hadn't damaged the dragon from so far away, it had revealed him, and his rider. They had yet further to go until the undisturbed clouds of ash could cover them again.

The Hand's mount was already moving, for he'd spotted the prey as well. Though to him this would be more of a match between rivals, rather than a hunt. The Noivern had felt the thunder of that dragon first hand, and he would not underestimate him again. Each flap of his wings propelled him towards his target, and from below, he heard the obvious tread of the annoyingly fast hatchling that followed them. So far, the promise of food had kept it obedient, and it seemed to like the idea of getting stronger. What they had done after Colville's burning had been sport, to the newly revived Fossil Pokémon. It was bound to the land, but had proven effective in hunting down the humans that had fled from the burning tree-city.

The Noivern ignored the hatchling, and instead unleashed the power of his Voice, now that they were in range. The boom had shocked Shruikan, making his entire system tense up from the sheer power of the vibrations behind the attack. The dragon had continued soaring, but was slowly descending, and couldn't dodge. Alex had been trying to find the pressure point by the back of his skull that would release his tensed muscles for several minutes, but his scales were too thick in his Mega Form.

He'd had Shruikan drop it, and of course as soon as he let the power go, the damned Noivern noticed them. By the time Alex pressed the pressure point, causing Shruikan's wings to work again, they had fallen several hundred feet, and the fanged dragon had gained on them with the kind of speed all Mega Forms tended to have. Then, they heard its Hyper Voice. It was untrained, but the sheer power of it was all that was really needed. Shruikan took the hit hard, and Alex knew they needed to turn this around quickly.

Shruikan used his own Hyper Voice, and Alex smirked at his choice of words as the Black Salamence roared, "Dovah Envok!" The dragon's eyes flared, and an aura of bluish-purple energy formed around him as he circled in the air, and rapidly moved towards the Noivern.

A perfect circle of flame came hurtling towards them, but Shruikan cut through it. His Dragon Ascent wasn't perfect like Rayquaza's, but it was still strong. Where the Legendary dragons like Rayquaza could use such a move to Mega Evolve, other dragons manifested it as a powerful physical attack, and used dragon-typed energy to fuel it.

The energy surrounding the Salamence hit the Noivern hard, and this time, his Trainer knew there would be no second wind. The Hand leapt off his mount, and let it crash below in the mountainous forests that made up much of this part of the region, and had not yet caught fire. The Hand himself floated, a dark aura surrounding him. Much like his servant, he simply hadn't had time to use it before. The black dragon had been too quick.

He drew another ball from his belt, and Alex recalled his own partner, as he floated with his own power as well. Apparently, this battle was happening. He could just Teleport, but he wanted to see how strong the goons Pravus had at his disposal really were. The black clad man grinned at him. "There's no running from Trainer Battles."

Alex rolled his eyes, and as he did, the man threw a Dark Ball. An Absol appeared, as dark and shadowy as the Noivern it was partnered with. This one's expression was entirely different. It took one look at Alex, and began trying to resist its Trainer. To no avail. The power that controlled it now, and bonded it to the Hand, was too strong. It looked on helplessly as its Trainer commanded a Razor Wind.

Arthur appeared in a flash of purple then, from the ball Alex had drawn as well. A Psycho Cut canceled out the attack, but that didn't stop the Absol. It kept shooting the bursts of wind, but luckily, Arthur could use Psycho Cut just as much. It was one of his favored moves now, mostly because of its versatility as a ranged or close up attack.

Eventually, the fight had devolved into a Night Slash tradeoff, between the Absol's horn, and Arthur's blades. When he tried a Shadow Ball to gain some distance, the Absol copied him, and the resulting explosion pushed both back. That, was when they mega evolved. Arthur's arms were limned with gold-orange fighting energy as soon as he finished, but the Absol looked downright miserable as the power of Infinity Energy forced it to the next stage.

Arthur reached out to it. "It's okay…I know you can't stop attacking. Don't stop fighting his control. I can free you of this curse, but you need to keep resisting!" The Absol blinked as it processed the words.

"Aerial Ace." The Absol shot forward at the command, and Arthur met the attack with a Night Slash, cancelling it out. The stalemate resumed, and the usually smirking knight, this time, had a look of irritation on his face as the battle dragged on. Neither Pokémon could get an edge, and what kindness Arthur had shown at first had melted away in the ferocity of the pointless, yet epic clash. "Dammit...it's not working...the Shadow is too ingrained..." His irritation echoed in his telepathy.

Each Night Slash counter parried the attacking Absol, and as it continued to strike, it grew more and more berserk. Finally, the Shadow in its aura flared, as it entered the frenzied state commonly known as Reverse Mode. Arthur's eyes narrowed, as he realized the Absol was too far gone to the Shadow. The dark type energy shifted back to gold, and the Gallade focused his fighting energy into his blades. The almost fiery cascade of Light energy hardened into a glowing pair of golden Sacred Swords as he went beyond his limits with that move, making it into either something new, or a stronger variant of the same attack.

"This ends. Now."

Alex watched his Gallade, one eyebrow raised, as he noted the typing of the energy radiating off of his Gallade once again, the symbol of the Alpha Pokémon was unmistakable, which meant it had to be Light. It made some sense, as Shadow existed, and Tao's teachings all but guaranteed that Light must exist too. He'd suspected for some time now that his Gallade might have a tie to the Light. He supposed it made some sense… legendary fighters usually ascended to the heavens, in the legends. He guessed it was fairly rare though, but if anything could counteract Dark Matter…that would be it. It'd worked before, after all. This move he was readying now seemed different, though. Stronger. More focused. Perfected, one might say. Perhaps, enough to free the Absol of the Shadow. He knew how much Arthur wanted that ability, as he viewed Shadow Infusion as an unforgivable crime. Like most Pokémon.

Arthur glanced at his Trainer and smirked, before shooting forward with his Sacred Sword assault. The Absol, seemingly seeing an opening, powered up an Aerial Ace. Or rather, he tried. His horn simply didn't glow as he charged forward and struck regardless. He'd run out of power, but his Trainer's commands were still absolute. Arthur's strike caught the Absol as they passed in the air, and the Mega Absol's form dissolved.

The Gallade wasn't done, though. He refused to give up on this Pokémon. He landed and turned in one smooth movement. Arthur touched a burning sword tip to the downed Absol's bluish-black oval on its forehead. "Please..." He said softly, to himself, though Alex heard him in that moment. The Shadow faded, in the face of the Light. The Absol sighed, then collapsed, fainted. It could've gone several more rounds, like Arthur, but the sudden removal of the Shadow had knocked it out cold.

The smile Arthur had gained from the warmth of the Light shifted to an expression of cold rage as a black light hit the Absol, and recalled it. "Pointless." The Hand said, smirking, as the ball tolled with the immediate sound of a renewed infusion of the occupant. "I admit…I did not expect this kind of strength. I should've brought my Legends. Pravus suggested as much. You're yet another monstrously strong Trainer that's appeared from nowhere. I get it. But that doesn't mean we'll give up. Not even someone like you can take all of us down. We are relentless. We are immortal. We are legion. You cannot win."

He flung another ball. "Go! Tyrannus!" The Tyranitar had barely appeared, before it's master forced it to the next level of power. It roared not in rage, but agony, seemingly bent over in pain as its body split apart with the infusion of Infinity Energy. Alex stared, trying not to wince. He'd wanted to see what mega evolving with these stones could cause, and now, it was obvious. He had no illusions about who had started this Plate crystal evolution trend. The Arceans were the kind of group to analyze and then copy their enemies. What didn't take them out, made them stronger.

He'd battled other Tyranitar, though, who'd achieved this state the right way. Their power had been even greater, because the crystals could empower attacks. What had been learned in the Swamp was spreading, but it didn't have to result in harm. They just needed a way to keep this kind of power away from people like Pravus and his Hands.

"Send as many as you want, I'll take them all down!" Arthur shouted in fury as he rushed in again, swords blazing, and right as the Tyranitar loomed over him, the Gallade Teleported, and reappeared behind the Hand himself. The swords crossed over his neck like a blazing guillotine. He stared down at the Tyranitar then, as they were still floating in the air. "You don't need to obey him anymore." His arms moved, and the man's head fell. Then, it started to chuckle.

"That's adorable. So righteous. Tyrannus, remove the princeling. Sweep his legs." As ordered, the giant Pokémon turned his sights on Arthur, who frowned. It was clearly obeying, not rampaging. "It's not out of control…it's loyal…" Arthur confirmed mentally to his Trainer, as his opponent's form charged forward, claws wreathed in ghost type energy.

Where a normal Sacred Sword used fighting energy, Light energy evidently had a strong effect on ghost types. The attacks cancelled out, but the Tyranitar was relentless. Several claws got through Arthur's guard as they traded more Sacred Swords and Shadow Claws. After fighting the Absol, Arthur felt his power for the move, extended though it was by a PP Max, starting to run low. The perfected strikes took more power. Tyrannus was unstoppable, and monstrously strong. Eventually, Arthur was cornered from the relentless assault hammering him onto his knees. Alex recalled him as the Tyranitar formed a Hyper Beam with one intent. It shot the energy anyway, not caring that its opponent had escaped as it blew apart the land around it, roared in fury, and set its sights on the Trainer that had robbed him of his kill.

His master's head, which had been caught by his body, now smirked from the palm of his hand. "End him."

The Tyranitar paused, panting, which gave Alex the time he needed. "Hydrus! Finish this." He drew the ball, smirked, and then threw.

The Swampert in question shifted almost as rapidly as the Tyranitar had. Their method was definitely slower, though. The dark shift had been almost instant. Tyrannus recovered, and charged once more. The dark claws returned, but Hydrus smashed the blazing limbs away with well placed Hammer Arms, and followed that with a Water Pulse immediately after opening his opponent's guard.

The Tyranitar took the condensed energy pulse to its face, and went soaring back into the wilderness they were fighting in, unable to stop the powerful and dense ball of water energy from driving him away. The flames from Colville and the dark clouds made the setting ominous. All it needed was lightning. An Ice Beam shot at the Tyranitar, and then arced towards his Trainer, freezing both, as Hydrus burned power to make the beam last. He'd also created a small ice ridge on the landscape, but it would undoubtedly melt, if the ominous orange inferno in the distance was any indication.

Alex recalled Hydrus and Teleported before the Hand broke free, to the tent he'd been given at the Rebel's base. He'd recalled everyone and left quickly more times than he'd like to admit, but being able to be somewhere else instantly made terrifying situations a lot more interesting.

He looked around the tent, and then smirked, as he spied his lover. It shifted to a frown of disapproval as he saw his newest partner was here as well, and not in his ball…crystal…thing. Apparently, he'd snuck away with the Chief, rather than join the others in danger.

"You need a name, don't you… hmm." He eyed the ghost, who shook its head as it spoke.

"If you rename me, I'll have to change crystals. It's an ancient tech thing. Names have power. Just call me Rotom, Human. It's easy, and you can pronounce it."

Alex raised a brow. "Are you telling me I couldn't pronounce your name?"

The ghost stared at him, deadpan. "I'm saying my name, and your language, aren't even compatible."

Alex smirked. "You're not a Terran Pokémon are you…" The Rotom's eyes went wide. "Hah! I knew it. Your mind felt different to any other Pokémon I'd sensed, but after that battle we just had, I noticed. Your life energy, what's left of it, is from a different world."

The Rotom sighed. "I mean…technically…not really…but if that's how you want to understand it, you can work with that." The Plasma ghost yawned then, and twirled something between his plasma appendages. Alex blinked.

"You little…did you steal my staff!?" Jess giggled from across the room doing…whatever she was doing to her hair. Beauty products. Girl things. It was foreign to him, as she had a whole entire array of items that he could probably only name the function for half. It took effort to look as good as she did, though he'd repeatedly told her she didn't need it, but she kept the case anyway. She usually didn't speak during these morning rituals, but now, she did. "He totally stole your staff. We've been toying with it all morning."

He eyed it, but it didn't appear to be covered in unidentifiable liquids. So that was something. He stared at the Pokémon holding it, and then got an idea. An idea that just felt right. He sent it to Tao, who approved, and chuckled as he did so.

"Phaspiro." He said, smirking. "That's your name."

"Phaspiro? Did you take 'phasma' and add 'piro' to it? Why? Because it sounded cool? If we're going for cool, why not call me Stormageddon, Destroyer of Worlds? Honestly, you Trainers-"

Alex shrugged, cutting him off. "I like it. Round Table?" He said to their partners. Arthur had been given a Max Revive, but was still tired. He gave an 'aye', though. Everyone did. Alex smirked, and responded mentally to the snarky sparky ghost type. "It is decided. I dub thee Stormageddon. Welcome to the team, Stormy…you can reside in this, now."

He made a gesture with his hand, and wrenched the staff free of the ghost's grip easily. With a thought, it went from hair-curler length to staff length and formed an opening just the size of the ghost's crystal in the center. The Rotom's eyes went wide. "Waaaiiit wait wait, that crystal has untapped electrical power, to control it you'd need-"

Alex cut him off again with a confident smirk. "The essence of the Master of Fire, Ice, and Electricity." The Rotom tilted his head, then nodded, as he agreed that would probably work. Before he could say as much, the plasma ghost was recalled into the crystal, as Alex pushed it in, and the staff closed around it.

It gained a pair of eyes, and grinned at the Trainer. "Oh, I can work with this…" The staff began to change from within from something simple, to a container with much more…potential. It retained the colors, but shrunk. There was a hollow center, through which, Alex could see the shine of the crystal. Something was obscuring it though, that almost looked like…wiring? "Don't look directly into it, you idiot." Stormy growled.

Alex turned the strange device away from him, and then noticed a button on the small object. He hadn't been expecting the Rotom to change his staff so much, but he let the Pokémon do as he wished. Their newest ally only wanted to make them stronger, or so he'd claimed. Stormy's eyes and smirk appeared above the button he'd created. "Push it. Push the button, little Human."

Alex gave the ghost a look. "It's not going to fire some plasma projectile, right?" He asked, remembering how the ghost Pokémon was classified in the dex.

The ghost grinned. "Not a projectile."

Alex's eyes went wide as he realized what he was probably holding. "Ohhh…yes. So very much yes…" He looked around, realizing their tent was a bit cramped. "This needed a more dramatic reveal anyway. Outside we go!"

He ran out, object in hand, grinning like a child. Jess was behind him, more curious than anything. Evidently, she'd fixed whatever needed fixing. It was clear he wasn't going to mention her slightly curlier hair, but she was more interested in what her thick headed boyfriend had done to his Rotom. "What exactly are you up to? I was only half paying attention in there."

Alex simply smirked. "You'll see." He ran to the topmost cliff of the base, and then shot into the air, not caring about hiding his power at that moment. Once he found a suitably far, suitably high ledge to perch on, he pressed the button.

The now smaller former-staff blazed to life, as a dual colored beam of plasma extended from the hilt where the crystal now resided, white on the inside, black on the edges. Alex laughed in disbelief. It was a fairly long black and white blade. Deadly looking. It hummed as he twirled it around, still not quite believing this was actually happening.

The hilt of the sword-like weapon smirked at him. "You can call me Lux. Luxundus is the closest approximation in your tongue, but literally everybody calls me Lux. You probably should've asked my name, rather than assumed I needed one."

Alex rolled his eyes. "I was irritated. You stole my staff."

The hilt grinned. "And turned it into a plasma sword. And the best part? I can fight like this, and stay perfectly upright at all times."

Alex raised a brow. "Why...what would happen if you fell perfectly vertical?"

The ghost's eyes narrowed, and he shuddered in his Trainer's giant grip. "Bad things, Redwood. Bad things."

"Fair enough..." Alex twirled it around again. "You know…I've heard some of these can extend from both ends…"

The ghost laughed. "Find another super rare extraterrestrial crystal whose origins are a mystery to you, then. I'll make another blade."

Alex smirked, and lifted his sleeve, revealing where he kept most of his crystals. Each fit into the edge of his gloves, around his wrists in an obvious homage to a certain first season of a certain old Earth anime involving cards, dueling, and monsters, but were less bulky. The gloves were, like the rest of Tao's clothing, super comfortable, and form fitting. "I have thirteen."

The ghost eyed them, then blinked affirmatively. "I can use all of those. With this container, anyways."

Alex chuckled, "I like the sound of that. I'm probably better with a saberstaff anyways." He turned to Jess, who'd followed him, and had thus far been staring with a knowing smirk. She'd been in his head. He'd always wanted a laser sword. They were iconic. And so very useful.

He pressed the button again, and let the hilt hang from his belt in his tenth slot. Under his robe-like jacket. He smirked, trying not to laugh at the similarities to his childhood heroes, specifically a combination of the Aura Guardians, and several people from the Pokémon Wars Saga. There were some differences, though. The nine miniaturized balls that hung alongside the hilt on his belt. He wasn't going to hide them anymore. Their surprise advantage had literally gone up in smoke. Had he been wearing regular pants, they would've surely fallen with all the extra weight, and he wondered if that was why the League limited Trainers, usually, to six partners. Alder, one of Unova's now passed Champions, had carried at least nine openly, but then, they had been mostly on his shoulders.

He turned his gaze northward, towards the clouds of ash as Jess joined him, and examined Lux's new form. "I found one of Pravus's Hands. He managed to take Arthur down. Hydrus cleaned up, though. Whatever chance we had at stealth is gone, now. We don't have time to wait in enemy territory while we train Ceno."

Jess stood next to him, eyes wide as she saw the sheer scope of it. The entire sky was darkening, bringing with it an artificial night. "That just came from Colville alone?"

Alex shook his head. "It's spreading. The entire northern part of the region is probably catching fire."

She looked up at him, eyebrow raised. "So, what do we do now, oh wise Tamer of the Original Dragon?"

He gave her a look. "Plan B, obviously. That one's more fun anyways."

Jess rolled her lovely blue eyes. "You only think it's fun because you and the Council of Dorks like smoking together."

He winked at her. "You could join us…but I know how you get around that much testosterone. And Leaf."

She sighed. "Just tell your dragon. I'll go talk to the people I already know. You get the Chief."

Alex nodded, and then reached out to Tao. While he was a part of their mental web, he was more…web-adjacent, connected to Alex, but not the others, if only so the stray thoughts of a Legendary and ancient mind, full of things sometimes best left forgotten, did not reach the ears of his impressionable hatchling of a Trainer and his partners.

"Plan A failed. Pravus burned the north." Alex gave the dragon a moment, either to process his words, or finish whatever business he was in the middle of.

Finally, a response. "Plan B it is, then. Come home, young Hero…there's something you need to face here. A challenge that you are finally ready for, I think."

Alex let the contact fall, and smirked. There was always something else to face. It had a habit of making him stronger. He opened his Pokédex, out of habit as he checked the time, then paused as he saw the date. They'd been in Fornia much longer than he'd realized. Almost half the summer, which was now ending. "Two years to the day…huh. It feels longer. Right Terra?"

The giant grass tortoise joined him with a flash of green, and inhaled the warmth of the late summer day as he gave his slow, measured, mental reply. "It does…but I would not change a second of it."

His Trainer gave him a scratch under his mossy, dirty chin, and then hopped on his back. He began packing a bowl of the Leaf as the turtle brought him down towards the other humans the long way, so he could enjoy the sunlight while the sun yet shone. The clouds were clearly unnatural, and they were spreading. Alex knew this was likely the first step of whatever Pravus had planned for Unova, and knowing him, it would be brutally effective.

Sahqoreyth · Mar 28, 2024

Chapter 24: Into the Abyss

Three Days After Colville's Burning, Dragonspiral Tower – Unova Region

Word reached the Original Dragon that the Governors of the thirteen 'States' who had come when he'd called, had finally arrived. Tao had expected the first plan to fail. They'd given Pravus too much time while trying to penetrate Fornia's defenses. Time to mobilize his Cult. His armies. Whatever he'd escaped Norstad with. He'd had half a summer to set things in motion, and he certainly had now. As soon as Alex entered Fornia, the Prophet had started mobilizing. The Rebel spies had been fed false information, and the 'holy army' formed undisturbed and undetected. Now, they'd illegally invaded Orre, made their way up Mount Battle, and had claimed it in the name of the Arcean Church. Evidently, it was now a part of Fornia.

Almost immediately after hearing this news of aggressive action by the massive Fornian army that numbered in the millions, the other Governors not under Pravus's thumb had received the Original Dragon's summons to the ancient seat of his empire. The Dragonspiral Tower. It was now much as it had once been in ancient times, a castle that awed those who looked upon it, as well as a fortified seat of power that could, if necessary, house the citizens of Unova in times of strife. Tao had been working to clear the underground levels as well, which were just as numerous as the upper levels, and much wider. Much of Icirrus Town's plumbing and other services had been disrupted by the excavation, but Tao had been able to re-work them with minimal inconvenience.

The followers of the dragon attended to their guests between martial and Pokémon sparring sessions. After a night of rest, for many Governors had traveled far, they'd gathered at the top of the tower, which now acted as an open-air meditation area under a dragon-sized pagoda-esque structure. Like his tower in his separate dimension, this area not for training or learning was covered with trees and grass at its top, and typically served as a place to meditate. Today though, it held a meeting of the strongest political figures on the eastern coast.

"Thank you for coming. We've much to discuss." Tao was upright, resting on his coiled body much like a Rayquaza did whilst sleeping. "As you've no doubt heard, the Church of Arceus is mobilizing. They're determined to spark a war with the east. They've raised a massive army to do so. Make no mistake, their ultimate goal is to conquer us, State by State, region by region, until they can reform the old empire under their Prophet."

The leader of the Kanadians spoke then, an elderly man of tribal descent with the classic black hair, and darker skin tones. Kanadia had several tribes that sailed on its frosty oceans, and this man's garb marked him as one of them. "Is there no way for peace to be maintained?"

The dragon shook his head. "They're marketing it as a 'holy war'. Their soldiers are devout, and fanatical, to the point of violence. Evidently, my powers and philosophy are the antithesis of everything the Alpha Pokémon stands for. So sayeth the Arcean Church."

The room stayed awkwardly quiet before someone among the crowd of leaders spoke. "Are they?"

The golden eyes of the massive dragon narrowed as his lengthy body arced over the suddenly slightly terrified men who, in that moment, suddenly remembered they were very very small compared to this Pokémon straight from prehistory. His massive golden eye stopped beside the Governor of Transylveticut. A thin man in a nice suit, with a thin moustache, that curled up at the edges into little swirls.

Of course. The man who lived in daily fear of the Swamp. Transylveticut was famous for its massive Swamp, which was too deadly to enter, and its superstitions, that most of the other States simply found silly in this age of rationality and reality-bending science. The dragon spoke once more. "I will forgive that impertinent question, for it has been millennia since I was last whole, and you humans have a tendency to forget, what with your short life spans."

The dragon rose slowly as he spoke, wings expanding, as he towered over all of them. His eyes flashed with psychic power. "See now, leaders of the States, and behold the history you have forgotten." He linked to each of their minds, and was pleased to see that among the many emotions the group of leaders were feeling, treachery was not one of them. These were hard-working men who wanted to see their people safe, and live through a time of peace. Unfortunately, nobody ever really wanted to be the target of a madman with an army. This was simply another stumbling block they needed to surpass. Tao had a feeling it would make them stronger.

The scenes he displayed for the gathered leaders showed the details, at least some, of his own creation by Arceus himself, a melding of three dying dragons, unified in a single balanced whole that emerged from a very bright spherical object. Time skipped forward, and next the humans watched as Tao was bid by Arceus to guard this continent, and use his awesome power to promote peace, and balance. Of course, in those days, the people who lived upon the continent had other ideas as to who should rule it. The wars of the ancient past had been large, and brutal, but Tao had sought out those who did not want to fight, who did not give in to their anger, bigotry, and base, greedy emotions. He taught them the secret of true power. They were his first students, and they were legendary for being all but unstoppable in those ancient conflicts. The combination of divine wisdom, and power had made them superior to any foe.

Tao spoke then, to each of them. "I have always been a peaceful minded being. I do not like violence. I do not like killing that which I've no intention of eating. I do not enjoy wasting the potential of a life. But mark me, if the Balance is disturbed, I will do what I must. Every time, regardless of who my foe is."

"What if Arceus broke the balance?" Someone asked.

Tao gave a heavy sigh, and the smoke from his nostrils filled the pagoda, and covered the round wooden table they'd gathered at. Thankfully the windy benefits of being thousands of feet high meant that it didn't linger. He didn't bother looking for the speaker. "If the Alpha Pokémon ever willingly disrupts the Balance, then weep, little Human. For the end of existence will be nigh."

What he showed next was a series of disturbing images. Humans, and Pokémon, who could not be dissuaded, lay dead by the thousands as Tao hovered over their battlefield. His sparking claws were covered in blood, as was his maw, and he wept openly at what he'd been forced to do to quell the senseless bloodlust of those ancient days, and restore balance to his new land.

From that senseless destruction though, came something truly impressive. The Dragon Empire. The golden age of the land whose capital would eventually be known as Unova, had stretched from coast to coast, and flourished under the Original Dragon's guidance. Each of the leaders was treated to a sped-up view of the Empire growing, flourishing, and many could not believe just how large it had truly been. The history books didn't do it justice. Coast to coast, their continent had once glowed with the light of civilization, and peace, for the Dragon Empire was not once successfully invaded in all its long years.

As the visions began to fade, the men were given an aerial view of three spires on a recognizable chunk of land. Unova's center, the capital, so created and named in the days of the Dragon Empire's apex, the glorified capital alienated many, and would eventually become the stage upon which all Tao had wrought was undone. The Dragonspiral Tower stood to the west, the Imperial Palace had stood on the easternmost coast, and finally, one massive tower that, to this day, stood over Castelia as a home to visiting foreigners of political importance. Unity Tower. There had even been a city around the one in the past, as well. In fact, as the men looked closer, they saw that all of what was generally referred to as Unova's capital had, at one point, been one single massive city. Seeing this, and knowing what the region currently looked like, was humbling. Nature had reclaimed their dying ruins of an empire in the chaos that had followed the dragon's split.

"You asked if my power and philosophy went against the Alpha." The dragon spoke, "My power is of the Alpha, as are my teachings. None understands the importance of maintaining Balance, and the price it takes to do so, better than Arceus."

The Governors looked amongst themselves, as they spoke quietly, even though many assumed the dragon could hear them anyways, which of course, he could. He let them bicker though. They were politicians after all. Arguing was their forte. Finally, Unova's Governor stepped forward. He gave a bow in the old style, right fist to left open palm. The dragon returned it, and then, the man spoke. "What do you suggest we do, Dragon of Unova?"

The dragon, who had remained hovering over the group, now returned to the coiled position he'd started in, and gave the man a grin that sent…not fear, but a chill of what could almost be excitement up his spine. It only grew as he processed what the ancient Pokémon said.

"Reform the Empire."

Thankfully, nobody seemed to outright reject the dragon's words, though there were more than a few rumbles of discontent. It warranted discussion at least, and it wasn't like everyone in the room hadn't considered it before. There had always been one point of contention, though. The Unovan Governor repeated it to the Original Dragon. "And who would be our Emperor?"

The dragon's grin only grew. He found it amusing that humans, even after thousands of years, had changed so little. A taste of power, real power, and many would salivate at the thought of ruling it all. He could sense the building greed in several of the humans before him, right that very moment, their twisted egos mentally listing reasons they just knew the dragon would say their name, and catapult them into the position they deserved over their rivals. His response shattered their ambitions. "I've already chosen my Champion. And given that he's just spent the summer in enemy territory, and is quite frankly the strongest Trainer we have available, he's the right Hero to lead our forces."

"What about N? Or the other Champions?" Someone asked. The Dragon's eyes softened.

"N has returned to the wilds…defending Unova for so many years against the shadow of his father…it took a toll on him. He realized that his obsession with hunting Ghetsis down had caused him to ignore something as obvious as reforming three dragons into One. Once Ghetsis finally passed, his drive to Battle faded. Consider him unavailable, for this conflict. It will take time for his Pokémon team to draw him out of this state, but when they do, he will be...fierce. As for the other Heroes...they too will have parts to play, as Generals of my legions." The dragon retained his unsettling and entirely too confident grin as he finished speaking. The men took in his words, and began to bicker while the dragon mused to himself.

Every aspect of Tao had liked N. He'd saved Unova, and several other regions, many times over the years. He'd said he was leaving to train, to find a new level of power the bond between humans and Pokémon could give, but Tao doubted he would have success. Not any time soon, at least. Only one other power truly rivaled the potential of Infinity Energy, and Mega Evolution, but nobody had rediscovered that method, as far as Tao knew. It had been effectively purged from history, and for good reason. Some things were best left forgotten, and undisturbed.

The Governor's debate was far more intense this time. The majority were opposed to the dragon's suggestion. Unova, and a few other State leaders, remained neutral for the moment. There would need to be a vote, but it seemed obvious how that would go. The leader of the eastern half of Texico spoke up then. "We've always seen fit t'govern ourselves, pard. Why would we put a whelp in cherge of our people? Any ijit can battle Pokémon."

The dragon's golden gaze fixed on the man with the classic Texican hat, which was white, and matched the rest of his fancy suit. Few of these men had issues with flaunting their material wealth. He resisted a sigh. "Because he is the one among you who proved himself Worthy. Billions of Humans on this continent. Thousands of years, and yet not one of you managed to do what he did. I lost count of how many times the Balance of the world nearly fell because one of your kind found one of the Orbs of my sleeping halves and tried to use it to take over other Humans. Even when both parts of me were awake, you all viewed me as two separate dragons, and that was how I remained. Even N did this, though he more than anyone understood my situation, and was aware of my reclusive shell."

The dragon stared at each of them as his commanding mental voice rang through their skulls. "Redwood is…different. He looked at me, and saw a being torn apart. He had the power, and the instinct, to reform what was sundered, and ever since, he's done nothing but use his considerable strength to keep the peace. Only one other Human has ever absorbed my lessons so…thoroughly. The First Dragon Emperor." The Governors who opposed, quieted then. All knew the legends of the last Emperors who had ruled the Empire. They'd been reduced to kings after the Original Dragon was torn apart, but the difference in authority had been minimal. Their descendants had still held power enough to call up armies, and sunder the capital in a chaotic, violent final battle, after which, the Orbs were hidden.

But the first Emperor had been a dragon of a different scale. Wise, powerful, and fair he had crossed the continent on foot, and slowly, convinced the disparate warring peoples to unite. It had taken a lifetime, but when he'd finished, his offspring had inherited the largest empire the Earth had seen since the old civilizations fell six millennia earlier.

Were it not for the curse of mortality, he could have gone on to unite the planet. Alas, his daughter did not possess his abilities, and despite Tao's best efforts, her...desires...had led the burgeoning superpower to the brink of civil war when the time came to name a successor. Thus, the Trials had been devised, first by humans, then by the dragon. Seven times the sagest humans of that age passed the rules for the criteria of an Emperor between them, until it was finally done, but the results spoke for themselves. Peace and prosperity reigned for millennia in a world darkened by madness, until the dragon was torn apart, but given that the last Emperors after the dragon's split had not faced the Trials, many Unovans still believed them to be infallible at picking a successor. They had never failed.

The men huddled again, and while a few had changed their minds at the dragon's words, most remained unconvinced. Unova's Governor spoke again. "Wise dragon, we would like the opportunity to examine your choice, if we may, if only so that those with doubts may have them assuaged. I know how strong your Champion is, I've met him. I agree with your choice. With guidance from us, and yourself, he could be a fine Emperor, but the others are proud, independent leaders. They need more than a verbal voucher for something this…monumental. With your blessing, we wish to test his capabilities. As we did in the old days."

The dragon pretended to ponder for a moment, and hid his smirk. He did feel slightly guilty using the human leaders like this, cleverly baiting them down the path he wished this conversation to take. It was necessary though. Fornia was a legitimate threat, and the east needed a figure to rally around, if they were to have any chance of stopping Pravus. "Very well. How will you test him?" He already knew, but he knew how humans got when they realized he could read their minds.

After another huddle, though this one only lasted five minutes instead of twenty, they agreed, and told the dragon what they intended. He'd tried not to break into laughter, and as always, kept his composure. He told the group that he would summon the Champion, and that they were free to enjoy his tower as his honored guests.

Once they'd all left, he began packing a bowl in his favored piece, the storm-forged glass he'd made but recently. Though it was new, it was growing on him. He'd almost decided on a nickname for it, even. He chuckled quietly to himself as he puffed the clouds of smoke into the cold autumn afternoon. "Humanssss…sssso very predictable." He shook his head, and then turned his golden gaze east across his barely recognizable lands. His divine gaze could just make out the murk of what the humans now called the Abyssal Ruins. Once, it had been a palace so lovely, even Arceus had enjoyed visiting it. Now…nothing remained but sand and ruin. The dragon grinned to himself.

For now.

Rebel Canyon Base - Fornia Region

Alex stood from the shell of his Torterra, who received many looks from the gathered Rebels. He was rather pleasant to observe. The perfect melding of earth and nature was…calming, almost. This was fortunate, for his Trainer's words would likely confirm their worst fears.

"Fornians, Tribespeople, Rebels, I know I am new here, but bend your ears for a moment. It's important." He was in the main room of the base, a massive cave, really. It was full of tech, supplies, and equipment. A gleam of something bright and multicolored caught his eye. He did a double take. Were those Plates? What were elemental Plates doing here? And how were there so many? So many questions. He buried them, for the moment, as the base gathered around. The Chief had told several of his underlings to run down the halls when the Unovan began speaking, and they had done so. Within minutes, the entirety of the Rebellion, or most of it, had gathered in the cave. There was almost not enough room.

"Many of you have seen the clouds." He started, and the murmurs began immediately. The sun had just begun to set, but rumor was that the sky had been darkening unnaturally all day. Given the intense and oppressive heat outside the canyon, many did not leave the caves. "They are ash clouds, from the trees of Colville. That's where it started. I saw the destruction first hand, when I ventured north. The northern Tribe's lands burn, and the Prophet's own Hand lit the blaze." He'd kept his battle cam recorder on, as it had proven incredibly useful, and now was no exception. He expected footage of what was basically a zombie would go viral quite quickly. He'd let someone else put it on the Pokénet this time. Like the media figures he'd sent it to. He had enough eyes on him already.

The murmurs increased to panic, as the most common first thought was 'what if we're next?' A few former Arceans even started shaking where they stood. "This is what we get for defying the Prophet!" Someone shouted, but she quickly clamped her hands on her mouth as everyone glared in her general direction. "Sorry…old habits…" She was trying not to break down completely. Fear had that effect.

"Rest easy, Rebels. I did not say he'd come here next, though he will eventually." The growing hysteria died down slightly as Alex used his Voice in a different manner. Tao had taught him the trick, and he had to admit, it was useful. A bit of power, the right tone, and humans were naturally, subtly influenced to focus harder on what he was saying. So long as it was the truth. Naturally, the result was silence.

"I have a way out of this place, a direct line to Unova. We can get there today. All of us, even those in the other bases."

Alex gave them his best smirk, and tried not to shudder with anticipation himself. He'd been preparing for this for months, and now, the war scenario was actually happening. A bit quicker than any of them had expected Pravus to attempt, but it was happening all the same. Tao had expected him to have an army of well armed zealots, he just hadn't expected it to materialize so quickly. It was clear now, that the western States had been planning this for some time. Two more army groups aside from the one at Mt. Battle were already reportedly heading east, or so the rumors claimed.

"How?" Someone asked.

Alex gave the dragon the mental equivalent of a nudge, and in an instant, the Original Dragon appeared within the massive cave as he Teleported to his Tamer. He floated above them in a long circle, and had just enough space between the crowd and the pointy, potentially deadly stalactites above him. His scales would protect him, but the humans below looked somewhat fragile. But then, they always did.

The dragon smiled as, almost in unison, the people put their fists to their palms, and bowed in the old style. It was a style that was universal on this continent. Vestiges of his Empire were everywhere. If he could but unite them, they could rebuild rather quickly. His serpentine form arced gracefully over all of them, taking in their faces, and already noticing some hereditary features from his time, faces so familiar, he could likely guess family names with accuracy. For whatever reason, even with Arceus' own blessing, the human race seemed unable to physically change their form much. Their minds had grown, but their bodies remained largely the same, if a bit taller. All that really changed was how well the humans took care of them in this age. Though he supposed that millennia of eating nothing but berries and Pokémon, two things Arceus's gift had directly effected on a genetic level, might also be a factor in their longer, if still pitiful life spans.

"Hello again, children of the land. It has been some time. Come, and I will once more take you to the safety of Unova, with the promise that we will one day return. Though your homes may be burned…" He trailed off, hoping one among them would yet remember the ancient words.

Chief Sike stepped forward, and smiled. "The land endures. We remember your lessons, great Dragon. Our loyalty is, as it was in those golden years, yours. And your Tamer's. We will follow your counsel, and the ancient accords, when the conflict ends."

The Dragon eyed the Chief. "If this conflict goes poorly, it may mean the enslavement of everyone that is not an 'Arcean'. That is how close we are to Unbalancing, my friends."

The Chief's eyes were wide, as were all of the Tribe's. "Are we so far gone already? How did we not see?"

A massive talon, currently not on fire or sparking with electricity, rested upon the Chief's shoulder, and a golden light filled the cavern. Every human there, sighed softly as it filled them. "Have hope. Every night must have a dawn. Though this one promises to be long. It will end." With that, he lifted back into his circling in the air, and then spoke to them all. "Gather your possessions, little Humans. We Teleport to safety in five minutes." He knew it would likely take them longer, but he could wait. His patience was infinite. He scanned for his Tamer, and sensed his thoughts.

The dragon's voice echoed in his skull. "Where are these Plates? Show me."

Alex directed his gaze, and the dragon followed it. He floated over, and the people around watched, clearly interested, but also tried to pack at the same time. The dragon looked at each, and then glanced to his left. "These are from a cache. Evidently, one of those tasked with safeguarding these did not do their job well enough."

"Do not be in a rush to judge, mighty dragon." Came Brad's voice, as he came around the left corner, and stepped next to the pile. "The Arceans dug these up, and I can guarantee you that if they had a guardian, it's either enslaved and corrupted with Shadow Energy, or was killed off for resisting too much."

The dragon's eyes went wide. "They would not dare kill mythical species. They are unique, precious, powerful. Pokémon born of the fusion of Arceus and the infinite potential of the evolutionary spiral."

Alex blinked. "The what now?"

The dragon literally brushed him off, with his massive tail, the way a male Pyroar did to its cubs. He forgot how attentive his latest Tamer was. It was almost irritating, not being worshiped as a deity anymore. In the past, humans had simply smiled, nodded, and accepted that he sometimes used strange terms they could not dream of understanding. But then, he'd never asked to be deified in the first place. The humans had done that by themselves, and they'd outgrown most of those tendencies over the millennia. He had no intention of dragging them backwards. "Never mind. You, Fornian, are familiar with where these were dug up. Now tell me. Did you ever hear legends of who specifically guarded your mountain?"

The once more tan and blonde Trainer thought for a moment. Like Alex and Jess, he'd ditched the disguise once subtlety had been thrown out the window. "Azelf, I think. There was a crater-lake atop the mountain…but I guess the Arceans drained it. Before they burned everything."

The dragon sighed. "If they have one of the Lake Guardians, we may be in serious trouble." The two Trainers raised a brow as the dragon spoke to them, and them alone. "As you know, Mew was one of the first Pokémon Arceus created. As such, it's quite powerful, and you've seen how messing with the base genetics can increase its strength. The Lake Guardians appeared not long after interacting with Humans and their powerful but latent psychic emotions. They settled by lakes the world over. Typically, there are three on every continental landmass."

Brad spoke then, also within his mind. "So they're strong. And? Pravus has plenty of Pokémon stronger than Azelf."

The dragon sighed, as he shook his massive head. "You don't understand, and I do not have time to enlighten you. Just know that if Pravus has Azelf, and the other two, he could very well tame me, and force me to obey him. Like the...Spear Pillar incident, in the place your kind calls Sinnoh."

The two Trainers shared a look, as they both very much understood. Everyone had heard the rumors of the mysterious power that had literally bound Time and Space in one place, and summoned Giratina's epic wrath. Pravus could not be allowed to replicate those events. This time Alex spoke. "I have an idea of where Uxie resides. Jess knows about Mesprit…but she refuses to talk about it."

The dragon stared at him. "Have her go confirm whether Mesprit is still in her lake. You do the same for Uxie. Send Arthur to check."

Alex nodded, and called the Gallade out. He affixed a Psychic Plate to the horn on his chest, and the two merged, turning it to a more scarlet color. Then, Arthur mega evolved, and Teleported to where they'd once come across traces of the mythical psychic type, as they were traveling west. Alex picked up a crystal from the nearby pile, and raised a brow at the dragon. "I thought these felt weird…they're dead. Just rock. Fakes?"

The dragon shook his head. "Merely dormant. Their energy is infinite. It would take divine energy, like mine, to wake them up again."

Alex nodded. "Then we should take what we need, and you can give the rest to the Trainers you deem worthy of leading. I trust your judgment, oh wise dragon." He couldn't resist his smirk.

The dragon sighed, and stretched a massive claw over the pile. The plates and crystals were illuminated by a golden circle of light that appeared on the rock surrounding them. A golden triangle outlined it, and various runes not based on Unown filled in the gaps between as the dragon, offhandedly, constructed this magic circle. The Light flared, and then, Alex felt it. Any human within a hundred miles that had any kind of latent psychic senses, felt it. It was power. The Infinite power of the Alpha Pokémon.

As Alex and Brad took what Plates they needed, Jess joined them. Brad eyed one of the Plates. "What do these even do, anyways? I get how the crystals work, but these seem…different."

Tao took the Plates and crystals the two Champions did not require, and with a twist of his claw, hid them somewhere safe. A temporal pocket dimension that he alone could reach into from anywhere. "The Plates are essentially just crystals, and the crystals are shards of one of Arceus's own Plates."

Alex blinked. "What? What do you mean? How are there so many if they belonged to the Alpha?"

The dragon's massive eye focused on him, as it usually did when the dragon grew irritated at his constant questions. "Arceus had to shrink his form to interact with this planet, and even then, he was still so large, his mass accidentally pulled in a planet-killer of a meteor towards the Earth. He shattered it with ease, and then noted how the remnants covered the planet, albeit briefly, before burning up. He then decided to give this fallen world a gift. He used his Judgement, and found the Earth worth saving. Alex and Jess have been shown this already." He stated, glancing Brad's way, before focusing back on Alex. "That, little Human, is why there are so many shards over your planet. With them scattered, the Alpha infused them with enough Infinity Energy to restore the Earth ten times over, and the result is the fecundity of Pokémon and natural resources that your race continues to squander."

Alex opened his mouth to speak again, but Tao cut him off, reading his thoughts, and simply answering. As he did, when the questions of the secret history of their world could not cease from spewing from his Tamer's mouth. His hunger for knowledge was ravenous, but then, most of his student's shared that trait. The promising ones, anyways. "Your burned, frozen, and drowned husk of a world was so out of Balance when the Alpha found it, his gift was necessary. It was the sorry state of your world that had even garnered his notice at all. This is why most of these Plates have grown dormant over millennia. Much of the Light powering them was drained to help nature regain Balance, but that which was lost can be re-awakened, by a being such as myself."

Alex simply nodded then, as Tao continued. "Your ancestors, while not as advanced technologically, had a very good grasp of how to wield and manipulate the energy introduced to them by the Alpha. Your kind called it 'magic', and yes, I will teach that to you too. When you are ready. With this knowledge, they took the broken shards of Arceus's power, and made them into items that boost the power of a Pokémon's attacks just by holding them. They mistakenly named them Plates, as they assumed that was what they originally looked like. The real ones were much, much bigger, and had differing shapes, but the re-forged ones work with about twenty percent of the power they once had, while attached to the Alpha."

The three Trainers shared a look, and Brad nodded, then spoke. "I knew that much…but given what they are, I figured there was…more…to them."

The dragon brought his massive golden eye down to the humans, and they remembered just how small they were. "There is more to them, but if you wish to draw out that power, you will have to figure out how by yourselves."

The three simply nodded, and began attaching the Plates to their partners. All save Shruikan, who could not fit in this cavern anyways, and Gelauros, who was still a bit young for such power. As with Shruikan, each of the plates bonded to the Pokémon it touched, and infused them with power. They stayed where they'd been affixed, melding seamlessly, and apparently painlessly, to the Pokémon in question.

Once everything was finally gathered, Tao Teleported.

Icirrus City - Unova Region

Moving objects and humans to a space thousands of miles away wasn't hard, persay, it simply took energy, depending on what was being Teleported. After several trips back and forth to each of the bases, Tao was genuinely tired. The results though, were impressive.

The entirety of the Fornian Rebellion sat in the shadow of the Dragonspiral Tower. There was a wide, circular moat that enclosed the base of the massive structure properly now, and to the immediate north, a forest. One which had grown to immense size, despite the upheaval the raising of the tower had caused. The Pokémon that had once resided within the tower had been relocated, at the behest of Tao, to the forest. They hadn't seemed to mind.

Icirrus Town had changed quite a bit since Tao's return. In the space of a year, the population of the usually remote town had exploded, and the locals soon became a minority, forgotten in the flood of Unovans desperate for the dragon's wisdom. Now, the newly crowded town, and all its inhabitants, surrounded the new arrivals as word spread that the Original Dragon arrived. His long snaking body was obvious, even from a distance.

There were a few murmurs as the Unovans noticed the Rebel's weapons and tech, which had been Teleported with them, when possible. There was a flash of green in front of the new arrivals, and then the very earth shook.

Slowly, the unmistakable form of the Champion rose above them all on a rising pillar of earth. He was standing, arms crossed, on his Torterra's shell, newly adorned with a beautiful jade colored Plate. Once he was high enough, the turtle stopped lifting the ground. "Unova! Welcome our friends from the west. These are the people who stood against Caleb Pravus when fear held back all others. Consider them our allies, in these dark times." The crowd murmured, at first, but it wasn't long before those of the east walked forward to help those of the west move their supplies and technology to the old fighting gym that had only served as a place to smoke Leaf and practice martial arts thus far. Now, it seemed like a good place to house these Rebels, for the moment.

Alex reached out to his media connections then, reporters and the like that he'd met and befriended as he'd traveled towards Fornia over the course of the summer. It didn't take long for them to respond to his summons, as Alex had advised each of them via text messages, Haley included, to stay around Icirrus once Plan B had been pushed into effect. As he saw the blonde amongst the varying trendy neon colored hair styles her cohorts were sporting walking through the crowd, he smirked. They stopped at the edge of his 'pillar', and then they gasped in unison as their bodies were raised into the air by a strange blue power.

Once they reached the top, a few looked disgruntled, but Haley cut off any words of anger with her eagerness. "Champion! You've…returned." The look of excitement faded into one of disbelief as she saw their mysterious Champion sitting on the shell of his Torterra, several cups of steaming tea floating by his head.

He sipped his own nonchalantly, and smirked as the cups floated to each of them. "I did promise a story…"

"You said you'd tell us about the Swamp." She remarked, crossing her arms as the others joined her, each taking their cup.

"Wow! This is good…sorry…" Haley glared at the one who'd spoken, and sipped her own tea. She blinked. It was actually delicious, and her brain said, 'drink more of this immediately', but there was a story here. That came before all else. She raised a brow at the Champion, expectantly.

"And I will tell you of the Swamp, for it's a point of contention among those who would war with us. But right now I need all of you rolling. This is important. For those of you who haven't noticed yet, there's a reporter here from every State not currently under the sway of the Arcean Church." A few of them shifted uncomfortably at his words. He took another sip as the cameramen with the reporters switched their equipment on.

"Look, Alex, we don't want to get in the mid-"

"It's too late for that." Alex interrupted whoever had started speaking. "War has broken out, and the front lines are already being drawn. The east and the west are once more headed towards war." He gave them a moment to process. "This isn't about me, or my feelings on the Church. Or their issues with me. This is about Caleb Pravus's ambition to become the next Emperor."

Haley spoke, once they were ready to start recording, "What do you mean?"

"Tao has informed me; the time has come. One way or another, this continent will once more be united. Either under the Dragon, and whoever he names Emperor, or under Pravus, who will force his doctrine on all of his subjects, one way or another."

"Wait a minute," The man he'd invited from Kanadia spoke up now, "Are you saying there's a chance Tao would name you our Emperor? Politics and Pokémon are two very different things, Redwood. I will freely admit you're very good at battling, but what do you know of running an Empire? Our Emperors of old were trained from birth to rule fairly."

"And look how that turned out." Alex retorted. "It doesn't matter if it's me, or N, or Hilbert, or any other worthy candidate in the eastern states at the moment. The point, is that we're on the brink of war. The Governors are in the Dragonspiral Tower at this very moment, waiting for word on who the Dragon will name."

"Not quite."

The two words thundered in the air as the massive serpentine form of Tao arced down from the fog of wonderful smelling clouds that had subtly sprung up around him as the humans dithered. "You have their eyes?" He spoke mentally, to his Tamer. Alex nodded.

"Behold Humans!" His telepathic baritone thundered for all to hear then, "Your leaders have an announcement." The massive dragon circled the entirety of Icirrus, his equivalent to hovering, and the fog he'd created faded under the beat of his enormous wings. The gathered leaders of the eastern States had come onto the balcony right above the tower's entrance for their announcement.

Unova's Governor stepped forward then, and bowed to the dragon above before addressing the Champion, and the gathered media representatives. By now, most eyes were upon them. Word of war traveled like wildfire. "After some advice from the Original Dragon, we have agreed. With this brazen move by Pravus and his Church, especially after the unprovoked burning of Colville, we cannot ignore it any longer. War is inevitable."

Kanadia's Governor spoke then, looking down at the new arrivals. "Fornians, brothers of the west, who would you follow in reclaiming your home?"

Each of the Chiefs had been gathered, all save for Colville's, and it was the Canyon's Chief, Sike, who spoke for them then. "We support the Dragon, my northern brother. We will support his Tamer, the one you call Redwood."

"We are all in agreement, then." Unova's Governor said again, "The Dragon has chosen, and as in ancient times, his candidate will be tested. Champion, do you accept this test? Understand that you may very well die if you even attempt it."

Alex finished his tea, and placed it on Terra's shell. The grassy surface covering the shell swirled around the cup, holding it in place as his Trainer launched into the air, surrounded by psychic energy. He floated up to the tower, and bowed in the air, fist to palm. "If you are all in agreement with Tao's choice, then I accept. What is my task?"

The Governor nodded at the Champion. "Go to the Abyssal Ruins. Find the center most chamber, and retrieve what lies within. You will know it when you see it. If you are worthy, we will know. If you are not…you will never leave that place. Good luck."

If the Champion was concerned, he didn't show it. He instead nodded, and floated back down beside Terra. He motioned for the gathered representatives of the media to come down from the shell. Luckily, they'd finished their tea. The cups were rather tiny.

Haley crossed her arms under the ever-impressive cleavage. "You promised a story."

Alex smirked, and flashed a pair of UPBs, or Universal Poké Bus. "On these, you will find a firsthand account not only of hard evidence that Caleb Pravus's own Hand lit the fire that burned Colville, the source of the darkness that now blankets Fornia, but also of several…let's call them 'indiscretions' committed by several of the Arcean Church's own higher ups." He offered them to the group. None of them moved. At the mention of the Prophet, all but Haley and Joey, who was still filming all of this, had gained expressions of reluctance.

"Listen, Champion, I know I owe you and your Swampert for stopping that avalanche back in Ontarec, but I don't want to get involved with the Arceans. The rest of Unova has no interest in this ego war between you and their holy man." The man who spoke then looked little different from most other Unovans with his black hair, pale skin, medium build and brown eyes, but then, beyond incorporating elements of black and white in their outfits, they didn't really have 'cultural clothing'. Unova was huge, and humans came in many varieties.

Alex sighed, and then walked forward to the only one of them who still had fire in her eyes, that instinctive need that would drive her to dig into this. He nodded once at Haley, and then looked at the man who'd spoken. "Watch the videos, Kyle. You'll understand then what Tao and I already know. What our enemy really is. This is unedited, first-person viewing of the people Pravus knowingly puts in positions of power. You can't fake this level of realism." He looked down at the pair of devices in his comparatively oversized, white gloved hand. "I wasn't able to stop any of it over the summer. Not without revealing myself neck deep in unfriendly lands. But I did leave my BR in the rooms they used to commit these acts. Triggered by the door opening. I had to shorten the recordings to thirty minutes, rather than just let them record indefinitely. The battery burnt out the first few times…but I soon discovered I didn't need thirty minutes. These…pathetic excuses for men didn't waste time. Ever."

After a reluctant nod from Kyle, Alex recalled Terra, packed his cups and teapot away into his bag, and shot into the air on his own power, headed east. He hadn't noticed at first, but flying was ridiculously easy now. In fact, most of his abilities had seemed stronger, since he'd stopped hiding them.

Picking up on his thoughts, he heard the dragon, who yet circled the city, speak to him as they passed in the air, with the speed of thought.

"It's the build-up. You've expanded your reserves by not constantly draining them with training. Now, lifting even your large form is easy. You'll find your Special Attacks are stronger as well."

The Champion smirked, and patted his unlit plasma sword. "I'm better in close range anyways. I always wondered why you taught me the sword and the staff. Did you foresee this or something?"

He saw the dragon smirk, "No. I trained you in the sword because, if you recall, you were so bad with the staff, you accidentally knocked Arthur out while practicing basic moves. Twice. A practice sword is essentially half of a staff. If you could master one, I knew you could grasp the other. Eventually."

Alex rolled his eyes, and continued flying further away from Icirrus. The dragon coiled directly above the growing city, and shot an awe-inspiring spectacle of ice, fire, and lightning into the air with a single breath. "Go. I know you will overcome this. Dovahkiin."

The Word reverberated in his head in a familiar, and not unpleasant way. He'd gone far too long without practicing his Shouting, too. Tao had stirred the urges he'd buried through the long summer, but now, he felt like one peep could crack open the sky. He decided to take a minute to balance the motivation with the calm he needed for battle. That, more than anything else, was the key to Tao's fighting style. The unifying balance of harmony and focus.

The gathered crowd of people, which had only grown larger as word had spread like a Fornian wildfire across the region, gave wild cheers. Some even chanted, though they didn't seem to be able to agree on shouting 'champion', 'emperor', his name, or any of the other titles he'd evidently gained, but couldn't make out in the din. The people seemed to agree with the dragon's choice as well. He only hoped he was worthy of their admiration.

The cheers audibly faded as he flew away from the town, and he hovered on the outskirts. After discovering a shared love of the Leaf, the Fornian Trainers within the Rebellion had introduced the Unovan to something they called a 'vape'. With this strange pen-like device, they inhaled the oils derived from the Leaf in a relatively harmless fashion. It had a stronger effect, a lack of smell, and was incredibly portable. He had to admit he liked the ease of access, but he'd always prefer a bong.

Still, it was convenient to have on hand, for times like now, when he had to give Jess a minute or five to realize that they were leaving. He'd just finished packing the absurdly portable device back in its safety-container within his backpack when a familiar ball of red hurtled into him with the full speed of a psychic-powered tackle.

By pure coincidence, he'd parked himself by a clearing within the forest that spread between Icirrus and the center of the region. They landed hard on soft grass, but since he'd manage to toss his pack somewhat safely out of harm's way, Alex didn't mind taking the hit on his back. Nor did he mind the beautiful, smirking redhead who shifted into a straddling position atop him.

"Emperor!? Seriously? When the hel did you two come up with this?" She was trying to sound irritated, but she kept giggling. The good mood was infectious. Their surroundings also helped. Golden grass, leaves with fall colors all around. As spots went, it was not bad at all.

"It was Tao's idea. He said the east needed someone to rally behind, or they'd end up fighting each other." Alex smirked up at her, though it faded slightly. "Even with me leading our forces, he thinks there's a strong chance Pravus could win this. Fornia is a fortress. The best the east has is Unova, and they've attacked directly several times now. The closest thing we have to Sacreus is the Dragonspiral, and that's surrounded by innocent bystanders these days."

Jess shook her head, and suddenly, Alex found himself surrounded by hair. Not that he minded. She always managed to smell amazing. "You'll be fine. You have a plasma sword. That pretty much beats everything. Especially when combined with psychic powers."

Alex rolled his eyes. "We don't even know what Pravus is. From what the Chief showed us, he seemed to devour the very life around Vega. What kind of…thing…can even do that?"

"Whatever it is, I'm willing to bet it's susceptible to being sliced in half. By plasma. Have I mentioned how much I love your sword?" She sighed, and laid her head on his chest.

"You know, some people could take that as innuendo." His words had a sarcastic tinge to them.

"With you, everything is innuendo." The redhead tilted vertically to look at him. "Make me an Empress. Then you can have your 'innuendo'."

He let the quiet grow for a moment, holding his tongue until he felt her gasp slightly. He smirked, and winked for good measure. "If that is what you wish." He reached for the power needed for Teleportation, but she stopped him, with the speed of thought.

Her face was crimson after that. "On second thought…you should probably take care of that before you go wandering into underwater ruins…that you might not come back from…"

He rolled his eyes, and their bodies as well, and smirked down at her. "Stop. You know my tendency to survive these things. Besides, every other Unovan Champion has already gone down there. I'm probably not going to be able to find anything, they picked it clean."

Mentally, they both doubted that, as he always found something, but it was having that same thought at the same time that made them pause in amusement. She smirked up at him. "Stop talking."

Sacreus – Fornia Region

"Turn it off."

It was a brief command, but like all of his commands, it was obeyed with machine-like swiftness. Caleb Pravus, Arceus's own Prophet, sat on the obsidian throne-like structure within his command center, thousands of miles below the fortress that was Sacreus. Shrouded as he was in a spherical blob of darkness that was deeper than the rest of the red tinted command room, all that was visible to his obedient minions of their Prophet was his eyes, which flared a deep purple when he spoke.

The glow faded, as it did when he went silent, and the room waited for his commands. His Hands, the important ones anyways, flanked him on either side. The room was octagonal, and filled with various screens showing different data. The one that was now silenced, had been broadcasting one of several eastern media networks.

Redwood's message had reached the entirety of the east, which presented an opportunity. "Why didn't you interrupt it?" A female voice, belonging to the sister of his former Right Hand, a position she had now willingly filled, broke the silence. It was a long moment before the eyes flared again, and the prophet answered, his mental, ethereal sounding baritone echoed in their ears with sarcasm and hints of mirth.

"Did you not hear? War is...inevitable. And their Champion is on his way to the ruins." The eyes shifted in the shadowy blob, and stared down the Hand of Death. "Make sure the ruins act as a tomb to yet another failed candidate. Understand that there will be no more 'mistakes'. Accomplish your mission, or die trying."

The Hand in question was sporting a new scar on his neck, the edges of which peeked just enough over his uniform to be seen. His pale skin made the sutures holding his head on stand out rather obviously. His words were monotone, and low as they rumbled through the room. "What is dead, may never die." His eyes narrowed. "But…the Redwood whelp yet lives. I will correct this...oversight. They do tend to happen when I am not properly equipped. I need my team. For all the ridiculous rumors around him, I will grant that his tools are quite strong."

After a long moment, the eyes blinked once in acceptance. "Granted. Use them well. I do not have time to waste replacing them." The Hand bowed, and left the chamber to begin the long trip to Sacreus's surface. The eyes turned to one of the minions working the tech that served as a direct line to the Arcean forces currently in Orre. The posturing had done exactly what he'd wanted. His enemies had gathered. Now all he needed on this fire was fuel.

"Tell General Marius the time has come. I want the stone as soon as possible. Don't let the locals hide it." His words were followed by the usual 'yes sir', and those assembled watched as the blips representing their troops surged down Mount Battle. Taking it had been easy, and after cutting power to Phenac City, the residents of Orre were essentially blind to their presence, and even if they had noticed the army, they had no method of sending word of the attack to their allies. None that would arrive in time, anyways.

In one move, Fornia gained thousands of miles of land. Most of it was desert true, but the border was all the Arcean Prophet was focused on. For the first time in centuries, the western states had a hard border. They also could now easily defend Fornia from both sides. It had taken longer than he'd wanted, to solidify his western coast, but it had been done. Now, he didn't have to worry about an attack from two sides. He was wary of Alola, but wanted their rather strong Champions unwilling to test the rumored strength of the Arcean fleet.

It was about five hours before the 'mission accomplished' signal came from the General in charge of the southern lines. If the shadowy Prophet was pleased, he didn't show it. "Good. Have them split in half. Reinforce Texico City, and Utado's border. Any word from the Dakota region?"

The response was quick. "Yes, my Prophet. The Dakotans have pledged fealty. All criteria have been met."

The shadowy ball that had encased the Prophet since the burning of Colville swelled, and then faded away. Pravus sat comfortably on his throne of blackened stone, and the grin upon his unblemished face could cause nightmares. "Send word to our media, then. The time has come."

The shadows faded as the tech crew set up the lighting the public would need to see their leader on screen. Finally, the lights turned green, and the Prophet stood. He was the picture of what every Arcean strived to be, and as his charismatic crowd-wooing tone began being echoed across the western states, it wasn't hard to see why his people loved him so much. While in public, he was quite charming.

"My people! Faithful Arceans, trainees, converts, and new allies, I have an announcement. The Alpha spoke to me last night, by way of a vision. He showed me who was responsible for burning our forests, and blackening our skies." He paused for effect, and then focused his dark eyes on the camera directly. "Unova. More specifically, their Champion. My own Hand confirmed his presence in the area, atop his Charizard." A grainy picture was shown then, captured from the camera they'd placed on the resurrected raptor, depicting a vague figure in black and white atop a Charizard. Pravus continued, his diligence to 'evidence' satisfied for the simple minds that populated his power base. "His crimes are obvious, and he cares not. Now, I know many of you have heard rumors, of our 'aggressive actions' in Orre, but know this. The people of Orre have always claimed to be peaceful. Loving. Uninterested in politics between the east and west. This reputation is nothing but a farce. After sending my own Hands to figure out the true intentions of our neighboring region, we found hard evidence of correspondence with Unova, and those who would oppose our Alpha. They were the ones who let the psychic puppet into our lands so he could enact his nefarious deed for his deranged psychic overlords."

The Prophet's tone grew grim as he steepled his fingers, and leaned towards the main camera. "Though it pained me to do so, my only option was to take their lands quickly and secure our front line, before the Unovans entrenched themselves on our border, and began spreading their psychic heresies to the populace of Orre. I am proud to report that our forces were able to take the region without the loss of life. Now, we have a strong, united eastern border that will keep our enemies at bay."

The Prophet stood then, raising both arms as he continued orating. "This is not the only news. With the blessing of the Alpha, the Church has decided to erase the borders separating our allies' lands. They are no longer necessary. Nor is any reading material, digital or otherwise, originating from Rebellious sources, like Unova. Stay tuned to your Church-approved channels, and you will know the Alpha's rewards." Pravus lowered his left arm, and the right's hand curled into a fist as he continued his tirade. "The Alpha has decreed it! With the removal of these restrictive, unnecessary borders and new policies, once more, our land will be whole. We will not roll over for the Unovans, we will take their lands, by force if necessary, and show them the true Path to the Alpha! One Fornia, under Arceus, now and forever!"

The Prophet made a motion across his throat with his hand, and the recording lights switched off. "Send word to the Kipnuk and Arciana regions. The time has come. They know their objectives." The person he'd commanded fiddled with his device for a moment, before nodding to his Prophet. The word was given. Pravus grinned. "Now then…give me a report on our star player."

A female minion, clad in the usual navy-blue suit that bore all sorts of medals, proving her years of dedication and loyalty to the Church, and the Prophet, came forward at his words. "The subject was extremely effective in combat, exceeding even our lowest parameters as he hunted stragglers from Colville…however…he did hit…a snag...on his return from Colville..."

The Prophet's eyes flared red as he recognized the tone of fear that accompanied news of incompetence in his subordinates. "What kind of snag…"

Sahqoreyth · Mar 28, 2024

Chapter 25: The Trial of Eight Paths

The White Wolf looked down upon the Dakota region's capital city of Fargo as the latest blast of freezing winter air slammed into him. Judging by how early the winds were rising, he knew this one would be a bad one. Typical. Winter was always worse during wars, and nobody had ever really wondered why. Close as they were to Kanadia, the city was almost perpetually covered in snow, and the gray stone buildings made the entire city look bleak, and sketchy. Tonight though, something had changed. The streets were alight with golden beacons bearing a symbol that once stood for peace. The people rallied around these light-bearers, despite the cold.

Even in the howling wind of the year's first snowstorm, Geralt Redwood's enhanced ears could hear the chanting, and it wasn't staying civil. Quickly it had gone from Arceus, to something about Unova, which involved blood, and then devolved into continued, unnerving chants of just 'blood' as they started marching en mass towards the west. He pressed the device in his ear. "This is Wolf. You can consider the Prophet's words in this regard to be true. Fargo is lit up with their symbol. They're whipping the locals into a frenzy, and taking them west..."

A woman's voice responded in his ear after a large yawn. "Copy, Wolf. You can go to sleep now, you know. It's four in the morning."

He tried to think of a clever quip, and then realized he had nothing. Being awake for over a hundred and fifty hours took a toll on one's creativity and wittiness. "Perhaps you're right." He muttered into the device. "Wolf out."

His ears twitched as he heard crunching snow behind him. Two footsteps. Then, as it came closer, the two became four. His partner's evolved form had taken on an appearance similar to their species' Day Form, but anyone with eyes could see that Ghost was special. By the time they figured out how, the battle was usually over. Geralt gave his huge, pure white furred Lycanroc a thorough neck scratch as they eyed the city. "Find anything?" The wolf huffed, irritated. "Lycan."

Geralt sighed. "I figured…come, Ghost. Let's get some rest. You've more than earned it." The large ice and rock type yawned, displaying his long, sharp fangs, before huffing in agreement. Though neither would ever admit it, they were both exhausted.

Scouting Arcean territory had become quite difficult of late, but the Pokémon Rangers were a part of the League as a whole, and they didn't skimp on winter gear. It wasn't his usual dark leather, but he didn't mind. It was warm enough.

Geralt and Ghost had been all along the 'new' border between east and west, and what they'd seen had not been promising. The League had wanted a situation report, before deciding whether to aid a side, or withdraw from the north-western quadrant of the world until things calmed down.

Either way, it seemed that either Fornia or Unova would become the next superpower to control these lands. He wished them luck. Those who claimed that mantle, with the exception of the divinely created Original Dragon, had a tendency to overreach with their power, and eventually collapse. It was a historical fact that, before the dragon first came, humanity's ancestors had tried re-establishing old world powers, with little success. Once the land had fractured, it had stayed that way until Tao appeared, despite humanity's best efforts.

Everyone had, apparently, had their own idea of how to govern properly. The eastern cities had wanted to retain their control of the continent, but the western cities had refused. Sides formed, but oddly enough, a line of States in between both agreed to not war with either side. In the end though, they hadn't had a choice. History was vague on how exactly they got involved, but all anyone knew these days was that east, west, and center had collapsed into senseless wars of revenge, and their factions grew more and more splintered as greed and betrayal in a fallen society ran rampant. Naturally, the result had been a war that ravaged the land from coast to coast. It had taken another war declared by the Original Dragon and his first Tamer, the man who would become the first Dragon Emperor, to unite them all again. Before that, no one had been able to stop the carnage

Despite Tao's best efforts, it was only after taking out almost all of the armies who'd opposed him that the war was brought to a blood-soaked end. Even then, the ideologies of the past had persisted, and when the Dragon Empire fell, east and west resumed their feuding, though admittedly, their conflicts had been little more than skirmishes. The forced migration from Floria and formation of several new middle States had reinforced the buffer between east and west, and the fighting had been with Pokémon, rather than firearms. Bullets did little against most final evolutions, and they certainly had never matched a Hyper Beam's power, or destruction.

Geralt sighed in disgust at the city below, and turned, heading towards his partner's massive form, easily big enough for a human or two to ride comfortably. "And so once more, Humanity repeats the past, blood is spilled, families are torn apart…and none of them will remember how terrible it truly was in about three centuries."

He felt a freezing nose push at his ear, for Ghost stood as tall as his shoulders. "Lycanroc. Roc, Lycanroc."

"Hmph. If you say so, but whatever hope I had in them vanished a long time ago. Be honest, Ghost. You've seen what I've seen. Humanity's only special power is to step on the backs of their fellow man so they can spend their brief span in obscene luxury. Over and over, we repeat this." The wolf grabbed his fuzzy white hood, and stopped him for a moment. He made a high-pitched sound, almost like a whine, but with more of a questioning inflection.

Geralt laughed, yanked his hood free from his partner's jaws, and then shook his head. "What about him? The goofy kid I knew was always more interested in where his supply of Leaf was going to come from, than politics. His first decree as Emperor would probably be Leaf dispensaries in every university campus. No. I don't believe Alex can handle this. He is in way, way over his head."

Ghost snorted, and then moved his massive head between his Trainer's legs, lifting him up effortlessly onto his back. The white furred and primarily ice typed wolf trotted atop the snow, which was reaching four feet of height, minimum, as they headed down a slope, through the dead trees. "Lycan. Lycanroc."

Geralt settled into his usual riding position, and sighed. "Sure, he might've changed and gotten quite a bit stronger, but what if he's changed for the worse? What if who he's become is little better than the man he's fighting?" The wolf turned his head, looking at his Trainer with one eye, while the other navigated. "Roc? Lycan. Lycanroc." Ghost snorted, and picked up his pace. Evidently, he remembered the kindness he'd sensed in his Trainer's relative, and doubted it had turned so sour so quickly.

It was Geralt's turn to snort now. "I suppose you have a point…and last I saw him, he didn't seem too different...but again, that just means our new 'Emperor' is probably more focused on Leaf than politics." He felt the growl from his partner, and sighed, letting the issue drop. "Fine. I'll be skeptically optimistic, but you know what those ruins hold. If nobody tells him, he's going to die in there."

Ghost gave a softer growl, of agreement, as they cleared the trees that covered the rise they'd perched on for several hours now. Any further conversation was put on hold as the wind began to pick up again, and howl. Ghost howled in return, and then began sprinting across the snow. It was risky, but in a storm like this, especially at night, he doubted any Arcean would see their white-furred figures against the blinding white of the snow. This was a satellite territory for them, and a newly gained one at that.

His doubts were proven incorrect as, after several hours of running towards their rendezvous, a hail of red tipped arrows arced down in front of Ghost, forcing the large wolf to stop hard. A quick glance told the Ranger that they were being toyed with. The arrows had formed a perfect circle around them, and then he saw the brown feathers that served as the arrow's fletching. "Muk." There was no point trying to outrun Decidueye.

They came quickly then, roughly six Trainers, each with a Decidueye. The leader of this merry band of soldiers, atop a blue and black feathered Decidueye, hopped down into the snow, and crossed his arms as he looked Geralt over. "What business have you in the Prophet's lands, stranger?"

He was thankful the gear he had on was concealing the League emblem on his usual attire. Not only did it show who he served, it marked him as a Top Ranger. One of two, assigned to this part of the world. He raised his hands, showing open, empty palms. "I'm just passing through with my partner here. We're not looking for trouble."

The man, who was as blonde and tan as most other Fornians Geralt had seen, gave a smirk that told Geralt this was going to devolve quickly. Still, he might as well attempt to avoid a fight. The officer speaking was as tall as Geralt, and clad in similarly white clothing, suited for winter. He was still deep in the Dakota region, as they'd been heading east after moving far enough south of Fargo to, he had hoped, avoid detection. The fact that they'd even seen himself and ghost in the snow and storm in the dark of night was a credit to their Pokémon's sharp eyes.

"Trouble has found you, stranger. I'll need to see your ID. War is brewing, and we can't abide spies. You understand." He gave another smirk, and then raised a fist. His squad was garbed much the same as he was, and though they lacked the adornments that marked their leader as an officer of the Church, they each had helmets, whereas their leader only had what appeared to be a naval beret that didn't look like it could repel the cold very well. Arceus' emblem was emblazoned on the forehead of each of the squad's white helmets, and though he hated to admit it, he rather liked the look of their black T-shaped visors. Sleek, intimidating, and likely made of something strong. What they lacked in manners was made up for in aesthetic, and as he looked closer, he grimaced. Cipher's hand was in their armor's design. It made some sense, given where they'd fled to avoid the Jennies. Had he been a normal Trainer, he might've been intimidated.

Ghost gave a low growl as the men approached, and Geralt hopped off of him, patting his raised hackles. "Easy, boy. They're just doing their jobs." He looked at the soldiers, and then their leader. "I'll cooperate, there's no need to get rough."

The man chuckled, and Geralt fell to his knees as one of the men smashed the stave he carried against the Ranger's back. Each had ten slots for Pokéballs, five on each side, and was adorned with Arceus' symbol at the top. Just below that, were three bars of some kind of material that could light with the power of fire, ice, or lightning as their wielders desired. He doubted the metal was high quality, but then, that didn't make it hurt any less.

"There isn't. But we're going to be rough anyways…search him." Their leader had approached, seemingly immune to the ever-increasing sound of Ghost's snarls. Ghost was eyeing the Decidueye, each of whom had an arrow trained on the large Lycanroc. For all the good they would do against an ice type.

Geralt smirked as two of the soldiers tried to find pockets on his jacket, and then remove said jacket, but doing that while he was on his hands and knees was rather difficult. He met their leader's eye, and in that moment, decided he'd had enough of playing nice. He sat up onto his knees, slowly. "One would think…with all that 'divine guidance'... you people wouldn't la-"

He was cut off as the squad leader backhanded his face with a clenched fist. "I'm sorry, I missed that last bit. What were you saying?" The smirk had returned, and Geralt's reluctance to injure these men was rapidly fading. He'd been awake too long, and these idiots were keeping him from his bunk. Worse, his mouth was going to taste like blood for quite some time. The bastard hadn't been gentle.

His eyes met the leader's, and the man flinched, as they'd turned into thin vertical slits, like a cat's. The irises around his thin vertical pupils had turned an icy blue. "I said…you lack Manners." At his words, Ghost lunged, and the snow around them turned red with blood and feathers.

Unova University – Unova Region

The tumble in the autumnal trees and golden grass had lasted well into the night, and though Alex had been eager to move on to the ruins, a text from his brother via his Holociever stopped him. He was needed at the University's lab. Immediately. The time stamp marked the missed calls and message itself around right after he'd flown out of Icirrus, and he hoped whatever his brother needed didn't take too long, but then he remembered he needed to pay the lab a visit regardless. The sooner the better.

Thankfully, Teleporting cut his travel time down to nothing. He appeared in the middle of Gelauros' old pen, and the little Amaura popped free of his ball, crying with delight as he recognized his old home.

He looked up at his Trainer, and made a questioning noise. "Go ahead, bud. But don't get too distracted. We're leaving soon." The little Pokémon had run off to the other nearby members of his species as soon as he'd heard 'go ahead'. For all his training, he still had the ability to ignore commands that all hatchlings and young Pokémon seemed to share. They did as they pleased, and had a blast doing so.

"Finally." Came the irritated tone of his brother. "I sent that four hours ago. I thought you'd be in the ruins by now, and that we'd missed you. What were you doing?" Eric's arms were crossed, and the blue eyes, so similar to his own, examined him through the glasses on his face.

Alex coughed. "Things. Stuff. What do you want? I'm kind of on a short timeline."

Eric rolled his eyes. "You're the one that found four hours to…jump in a pile of leaves?"

Alex looked down at his clothes, and sighed. He'd removed the leaves in his hair, but a few had evidently managed to hide in his pants. It wasn't all that surprising. He'd tossed them aside, and the wind had picked up several times. He yanked them free of his belt and pockets as he spoke. "Something like that. What do you want, brother?"

"Well, first, I guess I should congratulate you? Does this make us royalty now?" He had a teasing tone and smirk. Alex had no patience for either. He'd dallied enough, and only because Jess had kept refusing to let him get dressed. Not that he'd minded.

"I have no idea. What. Do. You. Want?" He repeated, letting the irritation show, slightly.

Finally, the all-business-no-nonsense look came over his brother. "Your plasma sword. Jess mentioned you had one. May I see it?"

Alex gave the mental equivalent of a glance to Lux, who gave the mental equivalent of a nod. He tossed the hilt to his brother. "I was planning to show it to you anyways. I want you to-"

Eric cut him off as he examined the hilt. "Reverse engineer it, and distribute copies to those the dragon deems worthy?" Alex nodded. "Well…we'll take a scan, and then see what we can do."

"Lux." Alex said, as Eric turned towards the part of the lab that held the equipment, as well as the rest of the still-working Brain Trust. "Come on out. I don't want your energy messing with their scans."

"Oh fine." Eric jumped in surprise as the black and white Rotom departed his container. "I was going to have some fun with them. The smart Humans always get so panicky when their little machines stop working."

"I know." Alex said, smirking. "But we just don't have time, and they need these machines. War is brewing, and knowledge is going to help us more than pranks."

The ghost, much like his Amaura, had stopped listening and floated over to the group of Aurorus and their young who had welcomed Gel back with reserved warmth. When it became clear he wasn't going to freeze them all by accident, they each nuzzled him, murmuring apologies for their past behavior. Gel, from his emotions, just seemed happy to finally be able to socialize and not freeze everything solid. Teaching him to control his power had taken Fornia's heat, and most of the summer though.

Alex sighed. "Champion of Unova…Tamer of the Original Dragon…and these are my ever-loyal partners." He shook his head. They were still new. He wandered over to the rest of the Brain Trust. There were five in all, including his brother, who was currently working on the scanning device. It would examine his plasma sword's composition down to the core, and more importantly, provide the bones of what would become a schematic, hopefully.

"How goes it, Frankie?" He asked, casually leaning against the side of his workstation.

Frankie was as thin as Eric, though he lacked glasses, and a proper lab coat. His attire was sufficiently nerdy though. The green eyes met his, and the Professor-in-training grinned. "Alex. Always a pleasure. In short…it's not going well. But it could be worse."

Alex raised a brow. "Oh? What have I missed?"

"Professor Juniper came out of retirement for this, and Professor Bianca gave us the Elektross data you said we'd need. Moreover, Professors from all the other eastern States are arriving every day. I could name them for you, but we don't have all night. Tao is putting them to good use, or so I hear, but we're still woefully unprepared for this war. There's already been blood."

Alex's eyes went wide. "Already? Where?"

Frankie shrugged. "Not sure, but skirmishes are happening all over. Utado has already fallen, and Texico is apparently where most of the fighting is happening for the moment."

Alex chuckled. "Well that's not too surprising. They've been ready for this for centuries."

"True, and that's why they're still holding." Frankie nodded, and then sighed. "But everyone else is not. The Illinowa and Tenina regions are also reporting attacks, asking for aid. They're likely to be overrun before we can reach them, though. The Prophet's army is enormous, early estimates are saying they number in the millions, and those are the low estimates of those on the border."

Alex glanced at his brother. "Then I need to move quicker. I could be out there, on Tao, stopping them. We could halt their advance fairly easily…"

David, another of the Brain Trust, chimed in then as his station was next to Frankie's. "Are you insane? That's the worst thing you could do!"

Alex raised a brow, and David continued. "What kind of General marches onto the front lines, no army, no support? Even if you do become the King, it's wasted effort if you're killed off in the first skirmishes." The Champion shifted uncomfortably. The words rang with logic.

"You really think they could take on the Original Dragon?" He said, quietly.

David, who was as pale and nerdy as the rest of them, made even more so by his green sweater-vest and tan khaki-esque pants, simply shrugged. "You'd know that better than I would, Tamer, but this isn't the ancient past. Generals don't go one on one in this era. We have weapons capable of handling Legendary class Pokémon. You need to assume Pravus already has access to such things, and is hoping you fly out to make yourself, and the dragon, a target."

Alex sighed. "I bow to your wisdom. Regardless, I need to move. Brother, are you done yet?"

"Annnnd…yes." Eric said, as the scan dinged, and flashed a green light, showing a successful compositional analysis. He tossed the hilt back to Alex. "As expected, the scans indicate that we can indeed reverse-engineer these. The power source is going to be an issue, though. Your Rotom's crystal is…unlike anything I've ever seen. It's from the old civilizations. We won't be able to replicate that. Their technology might as well be magic, to us."

Alex nodded, as that was what Tao had called it. He pointed the hilt at Lux, who was absorbed by the black and white beam of light, not dissimilar to a Pokéball's, that recalled him. He recalled Gel as well, giving the young Pokémon a moment to say his goodbyes. He chirped cheerfully once he had, and returned to his ball as well. "Hmm. Call up the scan data."

His brother did so, and the two eyed the information, which was now displayed on the large screen that each of their work stations was placed around.

Eric began chattering away, as he assumed it was too complicated for his brother to grasp with a glance. "You can see here how each of these…let's call them wires…connect to the crystal. It acts as both the focusing lens, and the power source. I can make a suitably sized replacement for focusing the beam, the real issue is a suitable power source."

Alex eyed the data. While it was, for the most part, beyond him, he'd had enough basic engineering lessons from his Gruncle, who'd given them while he'd worked on his old car. During his years in high school and then University, it had been his main mode of transportation, and fixing it had been his job. His father refused to pay for maintenance, and had told him he could always walk if he didn't want to bother learning how to fix various car parts. That had backfired, when he'd not only maintained the vehicle, but upgraded it with tandem rotors, and hover technology.

"So…if I'm reading this right, it's going to require a crystal regardless?" He was absentmindedly stroking his bearded chin, eyes still on the data.

Eric nodded. "I tried punching in the calculations for the Plate crystals, but for some reason, they won't work, apparently."

Alex reached out to Lux. "Is there a way around this?"

The ghost seemed to chuckle in his head, and the hilt of his sword floated before him, the face once more appearing on the handle as it spoke to all of them. "Those crystals contain Infinite energy. Without a Pokémon to control them inside the weapon, activating it would be like turning on an infinitely powerful laser. It would slice through anything in whatever direction you pointed it at. Before exploding with overloaded energy."

"So we need crystals like yours…or with less power…damn." Eric sighed, and pushed the brim of his glasses up. "I don't think this is realistically possible anymore, brother."

Alex, however, was smirking. He walked over to the machine, and began typing in commands. It was easy enough to run a simulation. Such things were covered in the basic science classes the University taught. "I disagree. You forget, we're in Unova. We have an entire mountain's worth of…viable crystals." He said, as the simulation flashed green with acceptable parameters.

Frankie spoke up then. "Of course! Chargestones! That's…kind of brilliant."

Alex continued on. "They should have enough energy to last twelve hours, and if you add a way of recharging them, we'll be fine. Moreover, the crystals grow quick enough to give us a suitable supply without ruining the cave. The Pokémon that rely on the magnetic field they give off will likely be undisturbed."

Eric shook his head. "Mining them is going to be tricky. If anything disturbs the Pokémon, it'll be the equipment."

The six of them sighed, quiet in thought as they tried to think of a way to avoid permanent damage to a beautiful natural environment of their home. Alex spoke first. "Then don't mine them."

Five pairs of eyes looked at them, and more than a few had eyebrows raised to Spockian levels. He continued on when nobody interrupted. "These blades shouldn't be mass-produced. In fact…" He punched in more numbers to the simulation, a base estimate cost for the materials they would need. They all gasped at the number of zeros. "That's what I thought. The metal components are precious, but we should have enough in reserve to arm those Tao wants to lead our troops. Have the Trainers go into the caves themselves. They can find their own crystal. If they're competent enough for the Original Dragon, they should be able to retrieve one without harming the local wildlife. Hmm...we could even make a test out of it, were we so inclined...maybe when we're not on the precipice of war."

Eric nodded, and then took over, punching in yet more to the simulation. "It'll take some time to finalize the schematics but…this could work." His voice took on a tone of command, and Alex watched, somewhat impressed, as he started giving orders. "Sarah, get to work on the recharging station. It'll have to be in the hilt, and don't skimp on the quality. We can't have these become unusable with wear and tear. They need to last. Also, account for the effect of temperature. It's going to be a long winter, and our leaders shouldn't need to worry about the battery dying from the cold."

Sarah, who looked as masculine as the rest of them thanks to her short haircut and muscled body, nodded, and then Eric pointed towards Frankie. "David, you and Frank focus on the emitter. It shouldn't be too complicated, but make sure the length of the blade can be adjusted. The people using these are going to come in various sizes." The two nodded, and then began chatting quietly as they called up the data, and began to work. "Zack," Eric said, turning to the last of their group. "You and I are on materials. We need to figure out what these components are going to be made from, they need to be relatively cheap, durable, and easy to acquire. Furthermore, we need to make sure that, when combined, the metal doesn't melt, or negatively impact the weapon's function."

Zack, the only one among them who didn't have brown hair, but instead sported a fauxhawk of light blonde got to work as well, and Eric turned back to his brother. "Why are you still here? Go! Become an Emperor. All of this is pointless if you can't rally the people."

"Good luck!" The Brain Trust said, with remarkable cohesion and timing, despite the fact they were working. "Don't die." Eric added. Alex gave a nod, put Lux's hilt back on his belt, and then Teleported.

Scandaga Lake – Upper Unova Region

While Alex had focused on getting the Fornian Rebellion to Unova, Arthur had been tasked with finding Uxie, the Lake Guardian of Knowledge. During the first part of the summer, Alex and Jess had come to this lake for a few days, mainly to recover from Norstad. During said stay, the Giver of Knowledge had made himself known to the Gallade, and his Trainer. He'd even had a name, given to him by a Trainer, now long passed.

"Merlin!" Arthur let his telepathy echo over the water. "Wake up! Azelf has been captured!"

The lake was silent, the water calm. Arthur scanned it with his third eye, and found nothing. He was still sleeping, then. Sitting cross-legged by the lovely shore, Arthur began to meditate, keeping track of his Trainer, while simultaneously scanning the lake, inch by inch, for the telltale disturbance that would mark where the mythical Uxie rested.

It took the better part of the day, and the sun had set before Arthur finally located the mythical being. He nudged the sleeping Uxie mentally, and felt the mind of the creature stir. He nudged again, but it remained asleep. Having an idea then, Arthur tapped into his newly acquired Mind Plate, which had fused with the now scarlet horn on his chest, and let the energy flow through him, as he mega evolved.

He raised an arm then, and moved it in a slow circle. Within minutes, the water of the lake was churning in a clockwise spiral around where he sensed Merlin resting. This, combined with a third persistent nudge, awakened the Lake Guardian.

Uxie appeared, rising from the waters by the shore. "Well well. The young Prince returns. Alone this time, are you?" Arthur nodded as the small Pokémon stretched and yawned, but his eyes remained closed. "I know of Azelf already. I also know that Nimue, the one you call Mesprit, is safe in her lake."

Arthur's eyes went wide. "She has a...nickname as well? Who named her?"

The powerful psychic type smirked. "It's not important. What matters, is that she is safe. Now, given these developments, I have decided. You and your Trainer could benefit from my wisdom, especially in this, a time of war. Take me to him."

Arthur shook his head. "I'm to take you to the Original Dragon. He asked for you specifically. By name."

The Uxie tilted his head at that, though his eyes remained shut. "Did he now? I see. Very well, take me to Tao, then." Merlin floated over, and one of his tails touched the Gallade's unsharpened hand. With that, they Teleported.

The Dragonspiral Tower – Unova Region

They appeared instantly before the Dragonspiral Tower, and there were murmurs around them as they did. Arthur sensed his Trainer nearby, rapidly heading east over Unova. He'd only half focused on what Alex had been doing once he finally got a response.

As he looked around, he noticed the humans from Fornia had set up in the old fighting type gym, and since it had largely been empty, it suited them well. The two psychic types floated into the air then, and shot towards the top of the tower, where the massive form of Tao encircled the top. He was meeting with the human leaders, and even at rest, his length encircled the topmost tower of the castle-like structure three times over.

"Here they are now." Came the dragon's pleasant mental baritone. "Welcome back to civilization, Merlin. Your skills are sorely needed."

The Uxie made a bow to the dragon, and then to the humans, who seemed surprised by it. "My knowledge is at your service, great dragon, free leaders of the States." The closed eyes shifted back to Tao then. "I am glad you have been made whole again."

"Let me bring you up to speed." One of Tao's tendril-like whiskers, which dangled down from his snout, reached out to tap the psychic type on his forehead.

Merlin nodded, then. "I see. Things are dire indeed if they're strong enough to block your vision. Let us determine the state of Illinowa and Tenina."

Merlin raised his stubby arms, and between them, an orb of psychic energy formed, not unlike the various ball attacks that served as the base for Taijitu moves. It floated over the round mahogany wood table the humans were sitting around, and expanded. Electricity sparked over the orb at first, but then Merlin opened his eyes, focusing the shining rainbow colored orbs on the psychic sphere alone, and the sparks faded, revealing the two regions.

They all gasped, collectively. The view was aerial, and even from the height Uxie displayed, they could make out many of the cities and towns of the two regions, engulfed in flame. A low growl rumbled through the pagoda as Tao saw the destruction.

"He burns territory he would claim as his own?" Unova's Governor spoke, disbelief in his voice. "How does he expect to quell rebellion? The people will despise them for this..." He spoke again, as Uxie's view zoomed in, and showed what must have been the Illinowa region's militia being marched towards an encampment surrounded by strong bars of metal, and covered with razor wire. Within, the citizens of the region were huddled together. It was cramped, cold, and muddy as most prison camps historically were. Such things had not been used in ages, however. They'd been deemed too cruel. In wartime, non-combatant civilians were supposed to be locked in their homes, but evidently the Church was done pretending to care.

Merlin answered the Governor, as he enjoyed answering questions. It was his nature to share knowledge. "The Arcean Church will likely subject them to long hours of indoctrination. Given their past success rate, the locals will likely bend the knee to the Prophet in a matter of days."

Illinowa's Governor, who had attended this meeting late, spoke up then, the desperation clear in her voice. "Surely his people will decry this…barbarism. Burning homes? Imprisoning soldiers? Indoctrination? The Arceans I know would never stand for any of this."

Tao's eyes flashed, and gathered the attention of the group. "The Arceans you know are little more than delusional puppets, fed only enough information to keep them sincere. Most of the Prophet's followers are completely oblivious to what their army is actually doing, and Caleb Pravus is a master of manipulation. Observe."

They sat in silence for a moment, before a portable television set floated up to the pagoda by way of telekinesis. One of Tao's tendrils switched it on, revealing the dark suited form of the ever-charismatic Prophet of Arceus. He'd added to his attire, presumably under the pretext of being at war. A symbol of the Alpha Pokémon now hovered directly behind his head, encircling the man's head like a halo of sorts. Tao's nose tendrils lashed, angrily sparking with blue at the sight of the Alpha's symbol adorning the head of a Champion of Shadow who'd sunk so low as to infuse unhatched eggs with that foul substance.

He had his hands raised, as he was in the middle of orating. The soothing tone of the Prophet's words filled the small building. "Many of you have sent in questions. The most common of these is 'Do the Tenina and Illinowa regions belong to the Arcean Church?'" The Prophet chuckled for a moment. "Do you think Arceus wonders if this tiny ball of a planet is loyal to Him? No! Because he is the Alpha and it does not matter what our opinions might be. Tenina and Illinowa are both a part of the world we're going to build with the power of our righteous Crusaders!"

He raised his hands higher, and the cheesy triumphant-sounding music that had been in the background as he spoke swelled with far too many trumpets. "The future belongs to Arceus' chosen people! We will do whatever we must to achieve the world we dream of!" A grim look came over his face. "No matter how many psychic heretics stand in our path."

The broadcast ended, returning to a view of a standard media news set, with a pair of Church officials dispensing 'news' to the populace. As they started gushing over their 'brave Prophet's words of wisdom' Tao flicked the screen off, in disgust. "We are dealing with a man who has mastered illusions, and has been preparing for this conflict for over a century at least. Do not expect aid or sympathy from his people. To them, we are all heretical blasphemers, and short of Church-officiated rehabilitation, all we have earned for our 'sinful actions' is death."

Unova's Governor looked around the table, meeting the gaze of each of his counterparts, and nodding. "We are agreed, great Dragon. Our forces will answer to you, and your Tamer, should he survive."

Tao nodded, but otherwise remained silent, his eyes instead focused on Merlin. "Arthur." He said suddenly, breaking the silence, "Your brother has arrived at the ruins. Join him. He's going to need your aid." With a formal bow, the still mega evolved Gallade Teleported to the city closest to the ruins, one he was thankfully familiar with. Humilau.

Merlin tilted his head at the dragon. "You never told them? Either of them?"

Tao shook his head. "If they are to be proven worthy, they must overcome the Trial by themselves. We've given all the aid we can. Now, it is up to them."

The Abyssal Ruins – Unova Region

Arthur zipped through the air with impressive speed. By levitating his lighter body, he was able to fly faster than either of the humans with whom he usually spent his time. As he came over Undella Bay, the full moon was reflected on the water's surface, and in the bright night, the primarily white robed form of his Trainer hovered over the gentle sea.

The Gallade joined his Trainer, and the two eyed the ruins below. From where they hovered, the structure was little more than a slightly darker blue blob, just barely visible thanks to the faint glow of the Marine Tube. "This lack of light is going to hinder us." Arthur spoke through their link, and the rest of their team welcomed him back. Gelauros had been included now as well, though his mental voice was still child-like, he was learning as quickly as Cenomons had.

Alex nodded, and then descended. Arthur lowered himself as well, and the two stood on what passed for a beach in this area. Arthur whirled, glaring at the cliffside above and behind them. "Alex…we have gawkers."

He gave the mental equivalent of a nonchalant hand wave. He'd sensed them as well. "Let them gawk. As long as nobody interferes, I don't really care who watches." He wasn't all that surprised they had a crowd. Undella Town was right behind them, for the ruins were directly east of the coastal town. They'd had time to gather, and despite the late hour, his ears told him many had made the trek. This did, he realized, have the potential to make history. He was only reviving the ancient culture of his entire people. No pressure.

"Alright boys." Alex spoke softly, "Come on out."

At his words, nine Pokémon appeared beside him and his Gallade, and all but Gel ignored the murmurs of the crowd behind them. Shruikan flew over them all, and circled in the air as the sliver of a sandbar would never support his size. The little Amaura gave a happy shout, and when those watching waved at him, he let loose a Frost Breath, which received a smattering of applause.

Alex chuckled, and let the youngling do as he wished, for the moment. The others would be enough. "Terra. We've never been able to get a proper scan of these ruins. Reach deep. I want to know how far down this structure has been covered by three thousand years of silt and dirt." The earth turtle slammed his feet into the beach, and closed his eyes. His entire form glowed with brown energy as he merged with the earth.

"Arthur, take Lux, and Blaze. Clear the water of bystanders, as well as the beach to our south. Don't terrify them. Be polite." He eyed his Charizard more than his Gallade, but they both nodded, and flew off.

Lux stayed, however. "I think you're going to be needing the sparky kitten and I." He said, yawning, and stretching his plasma arms.

Alex shrugged, for once, not in the mood to argue with the plasma ghost. "Ictus, Ceno, Leo, keep an eye on Gel. I'll let you know if we need you. And make sure nobody comes down the beach."

At his words, his Lairon moved towards the sliver of sand that connected their sandbar to Undella Town. One Rockslide later, and the path was sufficiently blocked from bystanders. Ceno marched back then, and dug into the sand, which was still warm just under the surface. Leo joined him, thoroughly enjoying the sand, as felines do, while the crimson Skorupi and Amaura had a sparring match, much to the delight of the onlooking crowd.

For his part, Alex had Hydrus Mega Evolve, and then set off across the water, the white and black ghost trailing behind him. Eventually, he zipped back into the hilt, as Hydrus's swim speed made it hard to keep pace while floating.

Under the darkened water they went, and Alex's eyes flared blue as he looked around. The glow kept the water from interfering, and his vision was surprisingly decent. He attributed it to the brilliant full moon above the bay. On any other night, he would've preferred to find a solitary spot and enjoy the stars.

Instead, he moved through the cold water, ignoring the foul salty taste leaking into his mouth, thanks to the speed at which Hydrus was zipping through the water. There were faint traces of power all over, and as they approached the first, he knew what he had to do.

Each of the other Champions had visited these ruins before, or so they'd told him, and they had all agreed that while the area certainly had an interesting and mysterious history, anything of worth had already been 'recovered' by themselves, and other divers.

As usual though, his eyes spotted something the others had missed. To him, someone who had grown up with RPGs, and the various puzzles therein, it was obvious. To Trainers who'd been doing little else but battling since they were teens, he could understand how they might miss something like this.

He turned Hydrus towards the Marine Tube, and smirked as he saw the unnaturally triangular 'rocks' by the edge of the enormous trench the tube had been built over. He'd always thought their sides were too perfect to be natural. Evidently, they had not been disturbed, which was fortunate. He spoke mentally to his mudfish, "Can you lift those?" He gestured at the stone pyramids, and the Mega Swampert swam over.

He nodded. "Heavy…but not too heavy. I'll be slow, though."

"That's fine." Alex said, hopping off his back. "I can swim on my own. Big hands. Bring these to each entrance of the Ruins. I think you'll find there's exactly enough for two apiece."

The mudfish blinked, and then raised a brow at his Trainer. "How did you know these were here?"

Alex smirked, crossing his arms. "Every kid sees the Marine Tube at least once. I did tell you we've vacationed here, did I not?" Hydrus shook his head. "Hmm. Well, you were still a bit young the last time we came through. Right before Nimbasa, remember?"

Hydrus thought for a moment, then nodded, and smiled. "I was so…small."

Alex gave his head fins a pat. "We were all small. Now get moving, bud. The others should be done by now." Hydrus nodded, and then further impressed his Trainer by lifting two of the pyramidal objects at once.

Though his hands, and thus the jets on his upper wrists, were occupied Hydrus could alternate between which sacs held his oxygen, and which propelled him through the water. The ones on his shoulders folded open, and two streams of water shot behind him from his shoulders as they propelled his hulking form towards the dark outline of the ruins, his large tail-fin guiding his trajectory.

After surfacing, and inhaling deeply, Alex propelled himself over towards the ruins once more, hovering above them. His unearthly clothes were already dry, and his bag was watertight. It made diving much easier. Lux floated beside him, his ghostly tail still attached to the hilt of the blade he called home. "What makes you so certain those pyramids belong by the ruins?"

Alex shrugged. "I noticed that when I was younger. My brother and I went diving by the ruins. I couldn't go inside, as I didn't have a Pokémon, which meant wandering around underwater for a few hours."

The floating ghost raised what passed for an eyebrow for his species. "Wait…you're guessing?"

He smirked. "Something like that. Just trust my instincts on this." The small ghost sighed, and returned to the hilt. Alex flew back towards the sandbar, and took a closer look at the people occupying the cliff.

They were cheering, as the rest of his team had indeed finished, and now Arthur and Blaze were sparring, though they'd refrained from using moves. It was an impressive display, seeing a Mega Gallade go hand-to-claw with a Mega Charizard. He gave Ictus and Gel an Elixir, and then recalled everyone but Terra, Leo, and Cenomons. Shruikan still circled above them, his massive form occasionally blocking out the moon.

The giant earth turtle blinked once at his Trainer, and his Lairon yawned, then trotted over. He scratched them both under the chin. "How does it look, Terra?"

"It goes down quite far…further than the records say it should. There is a secret within, and the land below feels…odd." He looked over at the dark blob beneath the moonlit waves. "I sense much power within…old power. The kind the Sage warned us not to test."

Alex nodded. "I expected as much. Well done." He shifted his eyes to Ceno. "Can you make eight long, straight rods of metal?"

The Lairon tilted his head. "Why?"

"I…you know what? You'll see." He winked at his partner. "Trust me. It'll be quite the show."

Ceno grunted. "Mmph. How long?"

Alex glanced back towards the bay, and made a generous guess. "Fifty feet apiece should do it. They don't need to be high quality, they just need to break the ocean's surface."

The Lairon looked at the mountains just west of the bay, then nodded. "I can do it. Will take some time."

His Trainer nodded. "Go then, find the ore. We can wait."

It took the better part of several hours, during which Alex meditated, floating over the sand and sitting cross-legged in the air. The voices from the cliff had grown quieter, and he resisted the smell of food that occasionally wafted down. Evidently there was a party up there. Finally, he blinked out of his trance-like state as he felt the cold metal nose of his Lairon nudge him. "It is done." Ceno yawned. "I need a nap." He pushed the button to his ball, and returned to it.

Alex stood, and stretched. Hydrus had finished some time ago, and contented himself by burrowing into the sand by the edge of the risen tide. Now, he rose as well, and lumbered over, still in his Mega Form. Each of the long rods floated into the air, surrounded by blue energy, and he ignored the shouts from above as he set out across the bay again.

The speed of his Swampert made placing each of the unwieldy rods relatively easy, though if he was honest, Hydrus did all the work. They placed each one in front of the pyramids, and once that was done, he gave his mudfish a well-earned rest.

Floating into the air, he got the attention of his team. Lux and Leo woke from their naps, and after a few moments, Shruikan appeared in the sky once more. He'd been hunting while they'd waited. Thankfully, Wailord was not an endangered species in this part of the world.

"Leo, you have the one closest to the shore. Shruikan, take the north. Lux, the south. I'll get the eastern one." As each of his team moved into position, he nodded at his dragon, and the black Salamence turned his maw to the sky. With a roar that sounded more like a thunderclap, dark clouds rolled across the otherwise beautiful night sky. "Ready? All together now…Thunder!"

His Pokémon summoned the energy for the attack with ease, and with a Shout of his own, Alex managed a similar effect. Eight bolts of searing plasma struck the rods, traveling down their length, and into the sand below. Then, eight glowing triangles appeared in the dark water.

"Again!" The Thunder attacks struck once more, and the glow increased. It took five in all, but eventually, eight beams of white-blue light shone up from below the water, and into the sky. He didn't feel the earth rumble, but he could hear it, and once it stopped, he smirked. It was the ever-welcome sound of a door, far away for the moment, being opened. "Well done, all of you. Return."

Lux didn't need to be told twice, and once Leo and Shruikan were in their balls as well, the Champion flew over the ruins. Thunder sounded again, but this time, it cleared the roiling clouds the dragon had summoned, once more illuminating the bay. The full bright white moon was hanging low in the sky by now, but he was finally ready.

He raised two fingers in the victory sign towards the cliff full of gawking Trainers, and then dove into the water. Originally, people had been against excavating the ruins, but over the years, and completely by accident, the eight square stones by each entrance had been uncovered. Usually, one's path through the ruins depended on where one dived into the water, but now, the deceptive structure revealed its four entrances, and from each one, a soft light radiated.

Alex smirked, and headed in. He waited for the telltale click that would signal he'd set off whatever trap lurked in these ruins, and expelled would-be trespassers, but evidently powering the pyramids had not only disabled said trap, but drained the water from the interior as well.

Each entrance was covered by a strange, malleable membrane that admitted his form with ease, and after seeing that, and the cuneiform symbols on the wall, he realized which written language they belonged to. "Atlantican? Odd…nothing in our history suggests we had much contact with them…" There was a theory proposed by leading anthropologists that suggested the people of Atlantica had migrated from Unova, but both Unovans and Atlanticans had found said theory either ridiculous, or unlikely. Then again, he realized, Unova and Atlantica both had lost large portions of their history when the old empire fell. It couldn't be a coincidence that both had gaps in their history centered around three millennia past.

The Dragon Empire had been little more than a small kingdom, in the end. Who knew how many people had fractured away from it over the course of its violent decline? He walked through the ruins at his leisure, navigating by way of one of the numerous maps that detailed the insides. As expected, the area had indeed been picked clean by scavengers, but now that the water had vanished, and the trap was inactive, he could explore at his leisure.

Eventually, he made his way to where the map marked a path upwards, and while there was indeed a hole in the ceiling, there was one in the floor, as well. Given that it appeared to be new, Alex jumped in, and floated down slowly. Or rather, he started slow. About halfway down, something interrupted his power.

Thankfully, he only dropped ten feet or so, landing in a three-point pose, hard enough to bruise his knee, but otherwise unscathed. He stood slowly, looking around, and as he did the blocks that made up the chamber began to glow with the same whitish-blue energy as the fields above. Comparing this room to the ones he'd gotten maps for, he realized he was indeed off the map.

It was a smaller room than the maze of tunnels upstairs, but like the upstairs, it had several blocks containing script. Thankfully, the cuneiform did not seem to extend down here. Instead, he noticed the letters were written with the shapes of Unown, the very creatures that the language spoken the world over, known only as 'Common', were derived from.

There was only one exit from this room, only one path forward. Above it, he softly spoke the words that had been placed there. "To restore Balance to the world, you must first find Balance within yourself. Hmm…"

He crossed the threshold into the next room, and stared in awe. There was no doubt now. This was the Throne of the Dragon Emperor. One of them, at least. The last heirs to that legacy had both claimed that title, and had both sat upon thrones, but history claimed the one that supposedly sat within the Relic Castle was the newer one. This one, was thought to be the one used by the first Dragon Emperor, and most others throughout their civilization's reign. The chamber itself was large, larger than anything the maps had detailed, and the room was shaped much the same as a ziggurat, save for the ceiling, which was flat. No doubt, that was what served as a floor for the upper levels. As with most pyramidal structures, it became much, much wider underneath.

Perched atop a smaller, and yet equally flat-topped ziggurat within the chamber was the throne itself. The rooms above had to be newer additions, because despite three millennia of ocean currents passing over them, the stones that made up this room were much, much older, judging by how eroded everything was.

The throne was in a state of disrepair as well. He'd begun climbing the smooth-edged steps, and found that the back part of it had been shattered in some other time. The armrests and seat itself were also rounded and marked with signs of wear.

Who dares to approach the Dragon Throne?

The voice echoed through the ancient chamber, sourceless by its very nature, though Alex was sure he'd heard multiple voices layered within the question. He stepped before the throne, and then turned, eyeing the vast chamber beyond.

He let his Voice echo through the chamber, as he Shouted back. "One who would be King!"

The white-blue energy suffusing the ancient stones shifted then, almost seeming to move. Then, he noticed, it was moving. Towards him. It gathered in eight spherical blobs on the stones around him, as the light was drawn from the entirety of the chamber, darkening it to his eyes, and illuminating only the throne now. The orbs rose into the air, and he could tell most were different colors. Red, blue, white, green, black and white, gray, gold, and in the middle, pale yellow

He is no Harmonia. It was the centermost orb of pale yellow light that spoke now, Leave, intruder. You are not welcome here. Be glad to have seen what you have seen, and depart with your life intact. Seemingly finished, the central orb floated away from him, but the other seven remained. It paused, almost like it was watching them. The seven spoke in unison.

Speak, Tamer. Why have you so diligently sought out this chamber? What quest brings you here?

"The Original Dragon has been revived."

Each of the orbs seemed to shimmer, and glow a little brighter at his words. The one that had floated away coalesced into a humanoid figure, a ghostly shape of a man, tinted the same color.

Each of the orbs did the same, and Alex knew as he saw their robes that these were the Sages upon which Ghetsis had based his own. The central figure wore a crown, though it was as phantasmal as the rest of his form. That marked him as the last true Harmonia. N had declined to even examine the Relic Crown, and when Rosa had found one as well, he suggested they were fakes, though their purpose was beyond him. Who would put a fake crown deep within a maze?

The ancient King floated back towards him, hovering over all of them, above the final steps before the throne itself. His hair was long, and unremarkably styled, and his beard went about halfway down his chest. His eyes though, were what held Alex's attention. He knew them. There was no mistaking the familial similarities, the inherent kindness, and sadness as well. This had to be one of N's ancestors.

As his form coalesced, so too did his words. "Who? Who has reunited the dragon? Name him, so that we may prepare the Trial."

Alex bowed properly, as Jess had shown him, and then glanced upward at the King, smirking. "You're looking at him. Alexander Redwood, at your service."

The King blinked. "You? Impossible. You are nothing. Where is my heir? He's the one who really reunited the dragon, isn't he?"

Alex shook his head, slowly. "I'm not surprised that you do not know, but I can guess how you came by what little knowledge you seem to possess. I'm not the first Human to come here in recent times, am I?" The ghostly King looked away, frowning, and then glared at Alex once more as he spoke. "I thought so. The man who came to you, Ghetsis I presume, you entrusted him with finding and training your heir, didn't you? The man who could reunite the dragon and rebuild the ancient empire."

"A lucky guess." The King snarled, and the Sages looked at him, several raising eyebrows at the venom in his tone. "Speak then, if you know so much. Where is my heir?"

Alex sighed, softly. "Gone, now. Traveling the world, seeking greater wisdom and power to draw forth from his partners."

The King's eyes narrowed. "Then we shall await his return as he gathers wisdom. Your news is appreciated. Now leave, and be glad you do so with your life. We usually take it from those who see this place. Leave the dead to rest."

Alex shook his head, and continued speaking. "I cannot. Your heir, known to us only as N, failed to unite the dragon. He couldn't even envision it, after what Ghetsis subjected him to throughout his life." The King's eyes went wide, and the rage in them was obvious, but he kept speaking. "I'm guessing you told Ghetsis where to find your heir, but I know what he did after. All of Unova does, N himself told us as much." In reality, it had been more due to John Crimson's determination to unveil the story of Unova's greatest hero, but the result was the same. Unova had only cheered their Champion more once they knew his origins.

He went on then, to explain what he knew of N's history, how he'd grown up, and what Ghetsis had forged him into. How he'd eventually freed himself of that destiny, but never quite finished walking that path. How he'd become the Champion, and kept Unova safe from Ghetsis' madness for years. How he'd traveled across the lands that had once also been called a part of Unova with Zekrom, and kept them safe as well, and finally, how he and N had battled for the title of Unova's Champion, faced down the rampaging Kyurem, and reunited the dragon.

"So you see," Alex said, finishing his tale, "He never had the chance to become the King you wished for. He was diverted from that path the moment Ghetsis found him, turned into little more than a puppet with just enough knowledge to be a competent leader. He never understood Humans, he barely understood Pokémon, and even as the Champion, the idea that the three dragons were One was simply never pursued. Mankind attempted to fuse them again, and only managed it with Kyurem."

The rage in the King's eyes had faded to sorrow once more as the tale had continued. Once Alex finished speaking, he resumed the form of an orb, and left without a word, sinking deeper into the pyramidal structure, to the floors that were presumably below.

The seven remaining figures shared a look, and then as one, nodded. One of the Sages, whose green tinged clothing bore a green circle with a square within it on his shoulders and chest spoke then. "You have proven your worth, Tamer. By your hand you restored the dragon's balance, and kept Unova safe. You succeeded where our King's own bloodline failed. At the very least, you have proven worthy of taking the Trial of Eight Paths. We will determine if you are worthy of bearing the crown."

"And if I fail?" Alex asked.

The man's countenance grew grim, and this time the Sage whose red tinged clothing bore a circle with a red flame within it spoke. "Failure means death. You must be willing to give everything, to become this land's rightful King. Will you face the Trial?"

Alex nodded.

The man with the green markings spoke again, as the seven other ghosts did as the King had, and floated into the lower levels. "Come, then. I will be your first challenge." With that, he vanished as well, and below the steps leading to the throne, another staircase of stone appeared. Though it seemed just as old, it had not been exposed to millennia of water, that much was evident.

The Path of Earth

Alex descended the stairs, until he came to a doorway that lacked a door. Above it, the words 'Path of Earth' appeared in the language of the Unown. He stepped through the doorway, and a wall of hardened stone rose behind him, sealing it off.

The ghost from before appeared again. Though it was hard to tell in the light of the throne room, he'd noticed each of the sage's phantasmal forms had a colored tint to them. This was what had made their clothing appeared colored, despite being ghosts. "Welcome. I expect you have many questions."

Alex smirked. "You have no idea."

The ghost seemed to chuckle at that. "Ask then, and I will do my best to sate your curiosity."

Though a torrent of questions came to mind, Alex paused, until he thought of one that seemed more important on an instinctual level. "What is the nature of this Trial?"

The ghost tilted his transparent head, as if eyeing the Trainer for the first time. "What a question. This Trial was designed by the Original Dragon, and ourselves, to test the aptitude of those who would be King."

Alex smirked. "But there's more to it, isn't there?"

The ghost nodded. "By traveling each of the Eight Paths successfully, you will unlock your true power. Each of the dragon's candidates possesses such potential, always, but only this Trial will draw it forth."

"How, exactly?" Alex said, arching a brow. "I'm already stronger than most Humans, and I don't really need more strength. Nor do I desire it."

"Oh, but you will require it, and soon, should you succeed here." The ghost said, nodding as only a Sage could, "There are many Humans who can match, and surpass, your current level. A true King must transcend all others. Now, let us begin."

The ghost's form sank into the floor, and the square blocks that made up the simple chamber flared green, before fading away to white nothingness. Alex looked around, reminded of Tao's world. The Sage's voice echoed again, "Kings are brave. Kings never lose hope. No matter what they face."

The blankness shifted, and an image straight from his memory appeared around him. The green tinged ghost stood beside him, as they watched the memory unfold. There he was, younger and with a patchy face full of newly grown beard, as he stood in the midst of an icy cavern, surrounded by two Legendary Dragons, and his childhood hero. Kyurem stared him down, and beckoned him forward for battle.

The scene shifted again. Arceus floated before him this time, and the Sage gasped in shock as it unleashed a Judgement attack upon the figure before it, who spread his arms wide, and welcomed it. Only now, seeing it from a different perspective, did Alex recall actually raising his arms. He'd done it on instinct, then. He hadn't even noticed. He'd been more focused on his failure and imminent death at the time.

More scenes followed. He faced down Tao himself, on the verge of rampaging, and calmed him. He flew into battle atop his Charizard as they faced down a golden Groudon. He faced down the Forces of Nature, and willingly battled their leader into submission. He dove headlong into the enormous wind wall that surrounded Norstad, atop his black Salamence.

As the scene shifted to him stepping into Rayquaza's volcano and being struck by the Storm Crown's power, the Sage turned and looked at him. The scene paused, and stopped moving forward. "You bear the Storm Crown?" Alex nodded. "I see…then the dragon's will is made clearer." He waved a hand, and the visions continued.

Another slight gasp came as he saw the maw of the World Eater snap behind Alex and Shruikan, as they led the great beast towards his doom. He'd never realized just how close those jaws had come. It was a matter of inches. The memories increased in speed as they flew by, more for the ghost's benefit than his own by this point, or so he assumed. His journey across the continent had included several close calls, and eventually, the room portrayed his current predicament.

The shadowy form of what could only be Caleb Pravus loomed over him, and those terrifying red eyes he'd displayed in Uppsalir filled the room. The ghost nodded. "I understand now. War has come once more. You were right to take this Trial." He pondered for a minute, and then spoke again. "You have faced down dangers most Tamers of my era would have run from. Even some of our Kings would not have held fast before the World Eater himself."

He gestured to the still-looming presence of Pravus. "This fear is different, though. You've seen the effect he has on the common people, and how easily he controls them. You've seen him go toe-to-toe with a being our species once labeled a God. Your fear is justified, but you must let it go. Do not allow it to hinder you, to cause you to pause. You faced down each of these tests by remaining steadfast. Your actions were well-intentioned, and honorable. Hold true to your courage, Tamer, and you will make a fine King."

Alex, for his part, nodded, and let the apprehension he'd had about facing Pravus down melt away. He might very well die if he faced Pravus as Thor had, in mortal combat. But if nobody faced him at all, his home, his people, his allies, would all be turned to little more than slaves. Jess entered his thoughts. There were worse fates as well for the women of the east. The Arceans were disgustingly blunt about wanting to 'breed with ideal females' as they called it. He felt his resolve burn to life, and a surge of energy ran up his spine from its base, giving him chills.

"What…what was that?" He asked the ghost.

The green tinged figure grinned. "That, was the first step on your path to awakening. You have traversed the Path of Earth. Go on, Champion. Face your next trial, and be aware, my counterparts share my knowledge. The more they learn of you, the harder this will become."

The Path of Fire

"Great…" Alex muttered, as the room returned to normal. One of the walls opened, and he moved towards it. Another doorway without a door. Another inscription in the language of the ancients. 'Path of Fire'.

Within the next room, he found the red tinged ghost, bearing the mark of fire, meditating the same way he did. Legs crossed, floating in the air. Though each of the Sages looked different, this one had been the only one to have a long, thin mustache that dangled down past his chin. Long beards that would be at home on a storybook mage's countenance had been the norm with his peers.

The Sage did not waste time as Alex stepped before him. "A true King has the willpower to remain good and moral in the face of overwhelming evil. Shame, doubt, anger, fear, sorrow, these emotions will cloud your judgement, and make you susceptible to corrupting influences." He opened his eyes, and examined Alex. "I sense much anger in you, though you bury it well."

The room flared white, and once more, an image from his memory came forth. One he'd repressed. He couldn't be more than eight or nine, but unlike some of the other visions he'd seen in the previous chamber, this one had crystal clarity to it. It made sense. Negative events always left a larger impression, and were more easily recalled.

His younger self was on the playground of his local school, building a castle that, he realized now, looked remarkably similar to the Dragonspiral Tower. An ordinary day, at least for him. Alone, but suitably entertained in his solitude. And like most of his early days, this one included the arrival of a group of older children, each flanked by a Pokémon, as they circled him.

Their leader, a typical brat with a bandage across his nose, clad in red and black, stepped forward, stomping on his castle. "Alright Redwood. What've you got for us today?" His younger self held up handfuls of now-crushed sand, that slipped through his fingers. "Not good enough." The older boy bent to lift him up by his shirt, but his younger self stood, instead.

He'd been taller than most, even back then, and he glared the boy down, before pushing him away, and freeing his shirt collar. The boy stumbled back, and gave a command. "String Shot!" The boy's Cascoon sprayed his younger self with the sticky, purple substance, and his younger self struggled to move. The boy pushed him over then, and delivered a swift kick to his stomach. Alex winced, and he could swear he felt something stir in his stomach as well, but he was too focused on the image of his younger self.

With each kick, the sensation increased. That had been but one day, in the middle of years of such taunting. Always he was at a disadvantage, for he'd always lacked a partner. He felt sympathy from his team, but he ignored it. The old feeling of painful solitude was returning with a vengeance within him. Ein's sneering face filled his vision, and the room, as he taunted his seven year old self through the stages of grief. Pure, undiluted hatred built as he realized just how much he actually hated Doctor Ein. Being a generally chill person, it was rare for him to actually hate someone. There were those he disliked, those he saw as trash, due to their own choices, and he simply did not associate with those people, usually. But Frank Ein held a special place in his heart, as the direct source of his ruined childhood.

The red ghost eyed him, and the scene shifted once more. It was his father's study, back in their house, and he immediately knew which memory this was. His father had not been pleased that he'd earned a Trainer Card. "What were you thinking!?" His father shouted, slamming the desk angrily. "Sneaking off after we told you not to! Shirking your chores for weeks! All so you could do what, play around in the woods!? You are not a Trainer, Alex. You will never be a Trainer! You heard the Doctor, and I know you're not that Stupid!" Alex felt himself shudder, as he realized he had more than a bit of hate for his parents as well. He did love them, of course, his mom moreso. They hadn't beat him or anything. His mom often made very good food, and his dad had gotten him his car, probably so he could do endless menial tasks around town easier, but still, the amount of emotion he felt towards his father specifically in that moment, shocked and scared him.

The memory faded suddenly, and the room was empty. Normal. Even the red tinged ghost had vanished.

"We sure showed him, didn't we."

A cold chill went up Alex's spine, as his own voice came from behind him. He turned, and beheld a perfect likeness of himself, but something was off. He couldn't figure out what, though. The doppelganger kept speaking. "We were quite the little rebel! Playing with Pokémon every chance we had. Trying to Battle…though it wasn't like real Battling, was it?"

His clone chuckled. "Oh no, nothing could compare to that thrill. Well, almost nothing, right Leafhead?" Alex glared at himself. "Don't deny it. I'm you. We spent our wonderful teenage years getting stoned in Gruncle's basement, just so that we could get through every single Mukking day we were forced to live through without a Pokémon of our own."

Despite himself, Alex looked away from his clone. His words rang with too much truth. The copy of himself was in his vision though, no matter where he turned. "Now now, don't ignore me…I've been ignored enough! You remember, don't you? The pure, undiluted rage we felt for father…you never wanted to admit it, but it felt good to hate him. It was right. He wronged us, and you know it. He wronged us just like Doctor Ein did, that Bastard. Honestly, by comparison, you could say our father wronged us worse than Ein. It's his fault we spent half our life in misery! Ein gave the diagnosis, but it was our parents who bought into the Bouffalant Stool. You might have repressed the past, but I recall it clearly! A few good years will never change that…"

"And what are you?" Alex said, finally forcing himself to speak. "An illusion, nothing more. A trick. An amalgamation of bad memories."

The red ghost appeared then, standing between the two of them. "Not quite." He gestured to the clone. "He is as real as you are. He feels your feelings, thinks your thoughts, and if you fail to overcome him, it is he who will go on to walk the other paths. You, will remain here, and when he leaves, you will vanish into nothingness." The ghost grinned. "This is your Trial…" He raised his ghostly hands, and Alex looked down, noticing a familiar looking hilt in his palm. His plasma sword.

The snap-hiss of his blade filled the room, but it had not come from his weapon. Though similar to Lux's container, it was simpler in design, a combination of gray and black metal, all but identical to Eric's schematics. His doppelganger's blade was pure red, and it sparked with electricity. He activated his own, and found it to be similar, though the color was blue.

He barely moved his blade up in time, as the red-illuminated face of his clone struck, and forced a blade-lock, as he sneered. "Finally…I will be free…no more repression…no more being buried under your other emotions, forgotten, and left to fester…I will right the wrongs done to us, and I'll start with our dear old dad." The clone struck again, and it took Alex a second to realize his fighting style was the same as his own. His clone's eyes flared with psychic power, and the two identical humans clashed within the small room, moving with impressive speed. They spun into a blade lock, and then spun away, each using the spiraling motions that made up Tao's fighting style.

"Perhaps some music, to make this more appropriate!" His clone said, grinning as he gestured to the room. A familiar tune echoed in the chamber as violins started humming a low, but building beat and his opponent grinned, dragging the crimson blade along the stone of the floor as he stalked ever closer, not caring for the damage it did. "Remember this? From those old Earth games you enjoyed so much. A classic piece of music from the Old Earth orchestra they kept in the Pokémon Wars Saga. You immersed yourself in that nerdy nonsense to dull the ache of your life, your lack of friends and Pokémon. Do you remember what this one was called?" His clone smirked.

Alex grimaced. He knew as well as his doppelganger did, the name of this particular song, and as the music swelled, he finally gave in. He hated fighting. Battling was one thing. It was sport, to his people. A contest of strength and honor, but always one that had good natured emotions behind it, or was supposed to, anyway. For Alex Redwood, it wasn't about winning or losing. It never had been. It was about the thrill of battling alongside the partners of one's heart and mind. Of understanding one's opponent, and overcoming them with the bond Trainer and Pokémon shared. This, however, was not a battle. This was a duel.

He took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly, letting his nerves fade as he found his center. He met his own gaze, and smirked, as he saw an unnerved expression cross his own face. His clone hid it well, but these were his own features. He knew what he looked like when he was worried. He fell into the stance Tao had drilled into his muscle memory, and let his power course through him. It flared off his large form in waves of deep blue aura.

"Duel of the Fates." He looked down at his sword, and his smirk widened. "Appropriate. I couldn't have chosen better."

Rage came over his clone's expression, and with a yell, the two clashed once more. Sparks flew from their blades each time they hit. The speed of the music increased, and so did their strikes. The room shook, and Alex realized that his clone was every bit as good as he was. He needed an edge.

"Is this really the best I can do?" Alex smirked, as he yawned, and made a circular motion, disentangling their latest blade lock with one hand, as the other covered his mouth. "I thought you were supposed to be the embodiment of my wrath." He smirked at his clone, and raised his sword above his head, holding it horizontally, as his free hand made the universal gesture for 'bring it'.

"You want wrath!?" The veins in the clone's head bulged, and his psychic aura of power coalesced from faint waves, to a proper aura, not unlike Connor's had been. It was rounded at the bottom, and flared uncontrollably at the top. The color changed as well, from a lighter blue, to a deeper bluish-purple, more akin to dragon energy. Then it began to turn dark red, and his clone's form sparked with red lightning. "Repress this!"

His clone lunged again, and Alex barely managed to deflect the first strike. The others were just as strong, and his arms ached as they took the repeated impacts. Still, it had the desired effect. His form was sloppier. Slightly. He needed more goading. Alex gripped the blade with both hands now, and the impacts were slightly easier to handle. He forced them into a lock again, and the plasma hissed and screeched as the swords met.

"Is that it?" Alex managed, still outwardly smirking. "Years of being kicked around. Mocked. Insulted daily. Cast aside like a worthless dimwit without even being given a chance! Perhaps you're not as full of rage as you let on." He swallowed, as he saw the look in his clone's eyes change from incoherent fury, to the cold stare he'd reserved for those who had truly managed to piss him off. A chill went up his spine. Was that what he'd done to those who'd been on the business end of this glare?

"You want to see our rage? I'll show you our Mukking rage!" A wave of psychic and draconic energy slammed into the real Alex, sending him flying back into the stonework by the entrance to this chamber. He hadn't noticed, but this time, the door was blocked by fire. Another chill went up his spine as his doppelganger began speaking in the Dragon Tongue.

The draconic energy flared as the clone Shouted. "Mul! Qah! Diiv!" While the effects were not identical, they were close enough to the original Shout his other self was purposefully copying. His teeth grew longer, sharper, his hands were clawed, and red scales appeared across his face, and presumably, the rest of his body. His ears were pointed, and a pair of horns jutted up from his brow, and curled backwards, slightly. The copy of his hat had fallen to the ground, and his hair had become a similarly colored crest of red scales that trailed down under the white robe that covered his clone.

Alex grimaced as he looked over that which had once been himself. Twisted, and evil. That was what he would become if this clone was allowed to leave. Though, whether he could match him anymore was a mystery. He got his answer, as the crimson scaled form of his clone seemed to vanish, and he barely had time to duck as the crimson blade cut horizontally across the wall where he'd been standing a moment before.

He spun away, once more in his dragon stance, but he might as well have been hopping on one foot for all the good it did him. "They will all PAY!" His clone screeched as he slammed their blades together, and effortlessly forced his large form toward the other end of the room. Looking down, he saw that the clone's shoes had been torn apart by a pair of massive, clawed feet that could only be described as draconic. There were only three claws on them, but they had better traction than his shoes, and Alex grunted as the draconic aspect of himself slammed him into the other wall. He could feel the heat of his own blade pushing ever closer.

That, was when he recalled a useful trick from the aforementioned games their epic music had originated from. He Teleported behind the furious copy of himself, and once more fell into his stance. His own power flared, and instead of wildly billowing above him, it coalesced around him like armor, outlining his form with at least an inch of protection. Though how well it would hold up against focused plasma remained to be seen.

His clone charged him again, and once more, their blades locked. Once more, he was being driven towards a wall. A corner, this time. Evidently his clone planned on doing this as many times as it took to work. He knew as well as Alex did that his Teleport had limited uses, and he'd used quite a few of them today.

That was when he switched his blade off, ducked under the slash that followed with his opponent's momentum, and elbowed his clone in the abdomen. Despite being scaled and durable, his strike had hit with enough force to make the dragon-man gasp and let out a hacking cough. It stopped midway through, becoming a soft sigh as Alex reignited his weapon under his opponent's guard, and felt his sword slash across the abdomen, dealing a serious, if not fatal blow. Evidently, not even his scales would protect him from a weapon like this.

The power faded in a red mist, as his clone doubled over. His eyes were bloodshot, but they still retained some of the blue. Alex caught his clone as he fell, letting the blade he'd used for this fall to the ground. His doppelganger still seethed with rage, but it was dying out quickly. "Make…them pay…make all of them…suffer for…putting us through that…hell. We never…we never deserved it…"

Alex nodded, sagely. "We didn't. But we never gave up, did we? Every single person in our life, save one relative, told us to give up on being a Trainer. Even Jess thought that, though she never said it plainly. And we became the Champion anyways. These emotions you revel in…they helped get us there." He brought his clone close, in an embrace. "I never forgot you. All the rage, anger, sorrow…I always felt it. But I balanced it with the joy and love we gained once we finally had our chance…" He met his own eyes. "You are as much a part of me as every other emotion. Now come home." There was a warm sensation in his stomach as he felt the weight in his arms vanish, and once more, he felt power surge through his entire being, originating from his stomach.

The soft sigh of his clone was all that was left of him as his body vanished. Alex found himself kneeling in the red tinged chamber, and the similarly colored ghost rose up from the floor, arms crossed, one hand stroking his thin chin in thought. "I've rarely seen a manifestation with such raw power…and you still tamed it. You have walked the Path of Fire and come through unburnt. Advance to your next challenge."

The Path of Water

Alex bowed, and moved on to the door that appeared on one of the chamber's walls. Once he approached the next chamber, he looked up, reading the words once more. 'Path of Water'. He entered the chamber, and found it cooler, more refreshing than the previous one. The orb of spectral energy that was the blue ghost coalesced before him, and he blinked in surprise.

He hadn't noticed before, as he'd been placating the former King, but this ghost was undeniably female. She was beautiful, but had features akin to her fiery counterpart that marked her as hailing from Eous. Her voice was softer than the others, but just as confident and inherently wise. "Hmm. I was sure the fire would end you."

Alex raised a brow, and then smirked. "Fire cannot truly harm a dragon. Let alone one who would be King."

The ghost seemed to chuckle. "Keep telling yourself that, 'your highness'. A true King acts with love, and accepts all of his subjects. I've seen your memories. How do you expect to rule a people whose defining aspect of their society is the antithesis to everything you believe?"

Alex tilted his head. "I don't follow your thinking…"

The blue ghost walked around him in a clockwise circle. Like her counterparts, her ornate robes bore a symbol within a circle. A crescent moon, and three wavy lines that no doubt represented water, or the ocean. Like the others, it marked her shoulders, and her chest. There was no cleavage to speak of, which was in line with the clothing of ancient times, if he recalled correctly.

"The people of the west view Arceus in a manner that is entirely foreign, both to you, and the Original Dragon. They worship him with blind devotion, and are so bound to their Prophet, they would, and have, gladly maimed themselves to demonstrate their loyalty." As she spoke, the room shifted with her words, though this time, the image was not from his memory.

It was the interior of an Arcean Church. Having never been inside one, Alex looked around, curious, and realized that it was disturbingly similar in layout to the numerous Pokémon Stadiums that littered the world. A circle of plain chairs in rows that stretched to the building's ceiling surrounded a central raised dais, upon which was a pulpit for speaking. Behind it, was the Arcean Cross, supporting the Alpha's symbol for all to see. Around the chairs, images of Caleb Pravus's admittedly appealing features, a bit exaggerated naturally, adorned the walls and free spaces in the form of paintings, and statues.

The ghost spoke again. "You've seen how the Church negatively impacts its followers, but you've completely ignored the beneficial aspects of cult worship that the Fornians have incorporated into their cultural psyche."

Alex frowned. "I fail to see how forced brainwashing is beneficial to anyone."

The ghost nodded. "And thus you've remained blind to a potential weak spot in an enemy, or even a beneficial way of thinking for your own would-be empire."

Alex's frown deepened. "I will not subject my people to brainwashing. Of any kind. I couldn't care less what they believe in, it's what that belief drives them to do that I intend to stop."

The ghost's arms were linked in her kimono-esque robes. She raised a perfect eyebrow at him. "And what happens when you claim victory over Fornia? Let us pretend for a moment that you win this war you are not prepared for. You march into Sacreus, burn the city, and kill the Prophet in an epic clash that will be sung about in Unova for millennia to come. Is the Church going to disappear because you've cut off its' head?"

"Well I-" Alex started, but the ghost cut him off.

"Is the faith and belief in Arceus going to vanish from the hearts of Fornians simply because you, an invading and victorious conqueror, tell them to stop believing so blindly? What are you going to offer them in its place? Science? They know more about genetics than your Professors could learn in a lifetime. They have machines capable of shooting elemental energy as easily as projectile weapons fire bullets. Your scientific mindset is not going to sway them. Pravus has already blended their beliefs with the basic truths of the universe. Are they going to stop following the Prophet of Arceus's command to kill you on sight simply because you dismantle their Church?" The ghost eyed him expectantly, and he was allowed to answer this time.

"I expect not."

The ghost sighed. "Consider this your Trial then, you who would be King. Half of a continent's worth of Human lives will be affected by your actions. Many already have been. The people of Fornia have held these beliefs for centuries. How do you expect to free them from this?"

"I don't know!" Alex finally said, raising his voice. He looked down at his feet. "If I had my way, they would have never been subjected to this foulness in the first place."

"And many would likely be happier for that." The ghost said. "But you cannot change what has already happened. Not without angering the God of Time. Bad things happen. All over the world, and many of these things are much, much worse than indoctrination into a Cult that fills the basic needs of living for millions of people. What do you intend to do about these terrible things? As King, your actions will eventually affect the world as a whole as well, like a stone cast into a calm lake. Can you truly handle that responsibility?"

Alex thought for a long moment, and as he always did when faced with a philosophical question that stumped him, he relied on Tao's teachings. "What can I do, but try to prevent what atrocities I am able to stop? I can't be everywhere. Even as a King. Even if I could Teleport freely, anywhere in the world, I could never stop all of it."

The ghost nodded, and smiled. "The dragon's wisdom has reached you, then. That is promising. Now, answer the question I first posed. How do you expect to free the people of Fornia from the stranglehold their Church has on them? How will you prevent the rise of another Pravus?"

He thought again, and then the ghost's own words echoed in his skull. "A true King acts with love, and accepts his subjects, no matter who, or what, they are." He nodded, feeling more confident in his answer, though the ghost's face was as impassive as his own usually was. "All I can do is try to show the people of Fornia what they have lost in their blind pursuit of their Church's 'divine truth'. Families torn asunder. Childhoods ruined. Genetic experiments. Shadow Infusion of Pokémon Eggs. Murder, destruction of the land, these are just a few of the Church's own actions that, without Pravus, I can illuminate. They can't ignore my words forever. Even if I have to go to every single one of them and convince them face to face, I will free them from this oppressive mindset."

As he spoke, he felt a strange sensation in his stomach. Then, he realized it wasn't his stomach, but his abdomen. A surge of energy moved through him, cooling the heat that the Path of Fire had seared him with. The ghost smiled again. "I believe you. I've seen the strength of your willpower, as well as the power of your Voice. If anyone can reach the Fornians and help them rejoin the world in peace and prosperity, I believe it is you. The dragon has, as always, chosen well. Remember my words, Champion, and move on to your next test."

The Path of Air

The wall of water that blocked his path backward remained in place, and another entrance appeared on the opposite wall of the chamber. Alex bowed, and continued on. If he was being truthful, the issue of the Fornian's indoctrination had been one both he and Tao had been unable to find a solution to, but after this, he expected the dragon would agree with using Words over violence.

He was, like Alex, not a violent creature. Pravus had earned his fate, but his followers yet had a chance to be redeemed. Most of them, anyway. He sighed, pausing against the wall of the tunnel that connected the Path of Water to wherever he was heading next. He almost would've preferred another plasma duel. Almost. He hummed the tune of the Duel of the Fates as he moved on to the next room.

As with the others, the door to the next room bore the same lettering. It read 'Path of Air'. He moved into the room, and blinked, as it resembled, strongly, the rock garden that Tao had in his other Tower, the one that resided on another plane.

"Look familiar?"

The voice that echoed through the square room was lighter, but unmistakably masculine. An airy spherical orb floated before him, and coalesced into the pale gray form of a bald man, with a short beard that resembled a chin strap. On his robes was a circle similar to the other three, though this one had a swirl of gray and blue within it, that evidently represented air.

Alex nodded. "It looks like the one Tao has in his…other tower."

"So it does." The ghost nodded, and smiled. "What brings you to me, you who would be King?"

Alex blinked. "Erm. I'm trying to complete the Trial. I'm here to walk the Path of Air."

The ghost nodded, still smiling. He was sitting cross-legged in the air, and his hands, both curled into fists, joined at the knuckles. They weren't threatening, however, as the pose seemed more meditative than anything. "And how do you think one walks such a Path?"

Alex thought for a moment, and then floated into the air, mimicking the ghost's sitting position with a smirk. This brought a chuckle from him, that devolved into a full-bellied laugh. "Oh…oh that's good. I set myself up for that one. It's been an age since I've had such a clever challenger. Literally."

Alex smiled as well. This ghost was one he inherently liked, and he suspected he'd been friendly with Tao as well. Had he yet lived, he expected the two of them would've become good friends. "I'm glad I could entertain you. Now then, might I ask what this test will entail?"

The ghost nodded. "To open your next Chakra, there are several lessons you need to know, though judging by your partners, you already know them!" He chuckled again.

Alex blinked. "Open my what now?"

The ghost blinked as well. "Has…nobody told you? Surely you've studied the secret behind the ancient King's powers. Nay, you must have felt them opening. You wouldn't be here if they were still closed."

Alex shook his head. "Most of the knowledge of the old empire was lost in the war that the two brothers started. What we know now was only kept alive via oral traditions, until someone wrote it all down again, but much of that is considered historically questionable, and with the return of Tao, much has been revealed to be false."

The ghost sighed. "I see. I never liked those boys, but I believe the one who sought Truth would have ruled us better. I have always been partial to living in the light, though." He shook his head, and put aside the topic of the ancient 'heroes' for a moment. "The surges of power you've been feeling after each test. Have you not wondered what they are? Has the increase in your strength not been significant?"

Alex shrugged. "I was told that this test would grant me more power. I just assumed it came in bursts. Evidently there's more to it…?"

"So much more!" The ghost exclaimed. "I would've thought the dragon would tell you of what exactly this Trial does, no?" His eyes went wide. "You do know what happens if you fail to open them all, right?" Seeing the blank look on Alex's face, the man frowned. "How has nobody explained this to you!? This is why I should go first. Air is first in the cycle anyways!" He sighed again.

"Perhaps…" Alex said carefully, "You should start from the beginning. Explain it now. Knowledge acquired late is better than total ignorance."

That brightened the ghost's expression, and his demeanor became cheerful again. His moods seemed to shift as often as the wind changed direction. Which was appropriate, he assumed. "True enough! Knowledge is indeed power, and if the empire's knowledge is gone, you must not know anything! Do we at least still have contact with Koria?"

Alex raised a brow. "Koria? They're on the other side of the planet. Moreover, that's Imperium territory. If you value your freedom, you avoid the Imperium. That's just common sense."

The ghost stared at him for a minute. "Imperium? Wait…the Imperium of Man? They're still around!? How in the name of the Dragon's divine dong did the Imperium of Man outlast our own empire!?"

Alex blinked. "The Original Dragon has a dong? Odd. He implied he didn't have…parts." When it came to typically genderless Legendary Pokémon, he went by the tone of their psychic voice. They could, after all, change it on a whim. He'd always assumed it was based on preference.

The ghost laughed again. "Oh, he does, hence the masculine terms we use to refer to him. He simply lacks the urges that drive Humanity. Well. Not so much 'lacks' as ignores entirely. It's hard to procreate when you're literally one of a kind. Anyways!" he said, waving a hand, "On to the topic of Chakras."

Alex nodded, listening attentively. It wasn't all that different from how he'd been educated by Tao himself. Many of their philosophical lessons had occurred in his rock garden. The ghost began explaining. "Chakras are pools of energy within oneself. They flow throughout your body…much like a river. Unfortunately, some aspects of this material world can block the flow of this energy, and without training, it becomes blocked off, and useless, trapped behind the emotional baggage of one's life."

Understanding flooded Alex, and he spoke as the ghost paused. "And this Trial is meant to unclog those…energy pools, and thus, the King appears to be powerful…"

"When in reality, he is as strong as anyone who has learned to let their energy flow." The ghost finished. "For you though, there is much more energy than normal. Such is always the case with the candidates the dragon chooses. This too, is why the Kings of old were so strong. The dragon would seek out these powerful individuals, and teach them his ways, unlock their power, and with it, they maintained peace in the Empire. The last King's sons never took this Trial, and while they were educated in the dragon's teachings, they never proved worthy of the crown, or attained the power their father did. Instead of making one of them face the Trial, the dragon chose to side with both of them, rather than tear the empire apart with civil war... Alas…it tore apart anyway."

Alex nodded. Their offspring had gone on to have a war anyways, with Unova as their battlefield. The final conflict had seen both Reshiram and Zekrom, emboldened by rage, truth, and ideals, clash repeatedly, and destroy much of Unova in the process. "I think I get it…so how do I open this…Air Chakra?"

The ghost chuckled. "A true King lets love and good emotions guide his actions. He uses them, to fight against the hatred that is unfortunately so common in the world. Or rather…used to be. I sense much has changed over the millennia. This is not a bad thing. This Chakra's energy is located in the heart, and is blocked by grief. I sense much grief within you, though you've buried it deep. What makes your heart so heavy?"

Alex looked away, face becoming impassive. "My…granduncle. He passed, recently. Not even Tao could heal him."

The ghost tilted his head. "Tao?"

Alex nodded. "The Original Dragon. I gave him a nickname."

At that, the ghost burst into laughter again. "Oh! The stones on this one! You gave a nickname to a creature of the Alpha, formed from the energy of Creation itself! Oh, oh ho ho! That is…genuinely amusing. But fitting! Very well. Tao. It works, I think." He made an 'ahem' sound. "Now then, you were speaking of your granduncle?"

Alex looked away again, then sighed. It had taken a Trial he couldn't afford to fail to finally face this particular demon, and as he felt the grief, he understood how it was blocking his energy. "He was the only family I had that believed I could be a Trainer...the only adult, anyways. He never gave up on me. He taught me everything I know. It's…a darker world without him in it."

The ghost nodded, his jovial amusement faded now. "I see. You are versed in…Tao's teachings, yes?" Alex nodded. "Then you know about the energy that makes up…" He gestured to Alex.

Alex blinked. "You just gestured to all of me."

The ghost chuckled lightly. "Indeed, and that is exactly the point. All of what makes you who you are, the energy that formed in the unique pattern that is your conscious mind, that never truly fades away. Energy cannot be destroyed, young Redwood. Only changed in form. The energy of life is infinite. An infinite Spiral of infinite possibility, if one can but reach for it." He gave the Trainer a minute to process his words. It was something he'd already learned, as it was literally basic science, but hearing it again drove the ghost's point home.

An ephemeral hand touched his shoulder. "The love your granduncle had for you has not left this world. It still lives, within you, within your memories of him, and perhaps, even in Arceus' own realm. He is a loving Alpha, and if your granduncle is the kind of man who could produce a student that has passed three of these Trials, I think he has found a spot amongst those of our kin the Alpha deems worthy to spend eternity with.

Alex smirked. "I don't think he'd like spending an eternity with a deity."

The ghost nodded. "Indeed, I got the sense from your recollections that he was a man of science and knowledge. Fret not though, Arceus is a being who can be...very rational. Now, as I said, energy can only change in form, and should one wish it, one may re-enter the world as whatever they wish. A bug. A Pokémon. Another Human. Some stay in the Alpha's realm for uncountable millennia, but eventually, everyone wants to experience this prime material plane once more. Even if doing so causes them to forget who they are…for a time. The urge to live…it's instinctual, even for a ghost."

Alex raised a brow. "What of you then? Do you not want to re-enter the cycle?"

The ghost nodded. "I feel the pull every day. The urge to come back. But if I did, the Trial would be incomplete. My knowledge would vanish until whatever I returned as passed on, and even then, who knows if I would ever remember all of it. No, the dragon commanded I stay to test and educate the Kings of the future, and if my happiness must pay the price for that, then I pay it gladly."

"Thank you…" Alex said, forcing himself to smile. Slightly. "Perhaps someday I can find another to take your place. Then you can all, finally, move on, hmm?"

The ghost shook his head. "My duty is eternal, young Redwood. I will be here, even after you and your long legacy are gone. But I appreciate the sentiment."

The ghost removed his hand, and nodded at the Trainer. "Now, let the sorrow and the grief flow away. You may yet meet your granduncle again. Or you may not. Either way, I do not believe he would want your thoughts of him to hinder you. Remember the kindness he showed you, and go forward knowing that it will never truly leave you. More than most, it has shaped who you have become."

It took several minutes, but eventually, as the ghost said, the memories of the many, many fun times they'd shared eased the heaviness in his heart. He was right, in a sense. The Professor's legacy went beyond just himself, too. He felt the energy surge again, and noticed that it was indeed quite a large pool. If the ghost was to be believed, it would only grow larger. He hoped he could contain it.

"So passes another walker on the Path of Air. Move forward, Champion, and remember what you have learned." Alex stood as the ghost spoke, and let his feet touch the ground once more, though if he wished it, he felt he could've floated with ease. Even with his oversized body.

He bowed, fist to palm. "Thank you, wise Air Sage. I will keep what you've taught me in my heart." The ghost returned the bow, and smiled as he watched what was likely but the first of many Redwoods to come, proceed in his trials.

The Path of Light

Alex moved on to the next room, genuinely curious as to what it would be, now the four basic elements had been covered. He read the letters at the entrance of the next door. 'Path of Light'. That, more than anything, piqued his interest. Learning about Light energy would be invaluable against a man who'd found a way to infuse Shadow into eggs, amongst other things. He stepped quickly past the threshold, into yet another square room. At least, he assumed it was square. The blinding golden light within seared his vision, and he brought the brim of his hat down, though it did little to help.

Eventually, the light coalesced into a golden colored ghost, who bowed to him in the Unovan style. Arceus' symbol adorned his robes where the elemental symbols had adorned the others, on the shoulders, and the front of the chest. His gray beard easily went down to his waist, and his ephemeral eyes were kind. "Greetings, you who would be King. Welcome, to the Path of the Light."

Alex bowed as well. "Thank you. Tell me, what must I do to…wait a minute…I know you!"

The ghost blinked. "What? You…do?"

Alex nodded. "We lost much knowledge in the ancient war, but not all. Not the face of the man who advanced our world's technological capabilities by leaps and bounds thank to his scientific research!" He bowed again, lower this time, and in the formal style Jess had made him practice to perfection. "It is a genuine honor to meet you, Professor Aristole."

The man smirked under his golden beard. It was full and curly, and unlike the other ghosts, he'd apparently kept his hair fairly short. "It is…a relief, I will admit, to know my work has not been forgotten, or unappreciated. Now then, on to the Trial. I've learned much of you, Alexander Redwood, over the course of these trials. I know you have the ability to Teleport, as I once did, and this means you must already possess part of the understanding required to unlock this Chakra."

Alex nodded, and the ghost continued on, one finger raised, as if he were lecturing. It was, in fact, the exact pose the Aristole Archive in Castelia City had him immortalized in by way of a statue. "Tell me, Tamer. Why do you wish to be King?"

Alex tilted his head. "Unova needs a leader, and the dragon has deemed that the time to reunite our fractured land has finally come. He's chosen me to lead them. Until I die, or he finds someone better."

The golden ghost nodded, and looked him over a second time. "And what of when this war ends, hmm? For one way or another, it must surely end. What then will you do with your Kingly title? Pass it off to another?"

Alex blinked. "I…hadn't really considered that."

"Consider it now, young defender of men. One must always be mindful of the future, especially a King." The ghost gave him another smile, but there was a glint of light in his eyes that seemed to indicate he was enjoying this.

Alex thought over what he knew of the man, and then nodded. He'd been famous for teaching, and his students had been a large part of what held Unova together after the empire fell apart. Now, he was likely going to try to educate him, as well. He met the ghost's eyes. "Defender of men?"

The ghost nodded. "Your name. Were you not aware of its meaning?"

Alex shook his head. "No…but it's starting to seem appropriate…very well…once this war ends, I suppose I'll do my best to rule. If I turn out to be terrible at it, someone else will be taking this Trial I imagine."

The ancient Professor chuckled. "And what if you turn out to be great at it? What if, under your rule, this continent flourishes in a manner it hasn't experienced since last the dragon was whole?"

Alex frowned, slightly. "Speak plainly, Professor. If there's a point you're trying to get at, I'm not seeing it."

The room shifted to blinding white, and then, as with the others, displayed an image. An image of the world. From his perspective, Alex and Aristole were standing above it. "Consider our planet." The ghost began, gesturing at the world. Lines appeared across it, and it took him a minute to realize they were the boundaries humans had drawn on their maps. "Many cultures, many peoples, many civilizations. For eons, we have fought each other in the name of one of these things. One culture does not like another. One kingdom invades a neighbor to gain more resources, power, and land." The lines shifted as he spoke, and he blinked at Unova and Fornia. They were the more recently drawn ones. "Over and over the cycle repeats, and when a leader dies, the result is usually a fracturing of everything said leader created. Our last King is no exception to this rule. Nor, I expect, will you be."

Alex shrugged. "Tao told me the Storm Crown would turn my body immortal, provided I'm not slain by way of a weapon. In fact, he implied disintegration would be the only thing that would stop my regeneration."

The ghost nodded. "Such is the power of the Storm Crown. What do you know of its history?"

Alex shrugged again. "Very little. Rayquaza and Tao have never told me much of it."

The ghost chuckled. "I expect they haven't. If you were aware of it, you might not want to bear it. Yet bear it you must." Alex raised a brow, but the ghost continued on. "Once donned, the Crown cannot be removed, until your disintegration. In you, our wise dragon has finally created a Human with a lifespan long enough to, perhaps, realize his ultimate dream."

Alex crossed his arms. "He hasn't mentioned this dream to me."

Another chuckle. "I expect he wouldn't. The dragon is a private being, always waiting for the right moment to impart knowledge so that he may turn things in his favor, but always remember, his dream is what guides his actions and words. It is the base of his truths, the heart of his ideals."

"And what dream would that be?" Alex asked.

The ghostly Professor gestured at the world, and Alex watched. Slowly, the lines began to shift. First, Unova covered the whole continent it had once reigned over. Then, the border stretched south. Then across the ocean. Slowly, to every region, land, and government. The end result was a single, unified, globe-spanning empire.

Alex stared, not quite believing what he was seeing. "Are you telling me the most peaceful being I know is ultimately after world domination?"

The ghost laughed then, and nodded. "Indeed. Though I imagine that phrase still carries the negative connotations it once did. The dragon confided in me during my life, and told me of the world he envisioned. A utopia, where all of Humanity and Pokémon could live and flourish together. But not just on this planet. Across the stars, as well."

Alex shook his head. "I…I don't believe it. Humanity already tried the interstellar empire thing. It didn't even last a century before the colonies demanded independence, and started a war. That war ended our interstellar journey permanently. That's basic history."

A subtle change came over the ghost, and Alex had a feeling he was about to finally reach his main point. "This is true. But do you know what happened to those colonies, after their war?"

Alex shrugged. "I imagine the old governments of Earth eradicated them, their families, and then nuked their planets. We were…a very violent people. Nothing good happened to them."

The Professor shook his head. "In actual fact, one of my students discovered an ancient document. 'The Mars Accord'. Evidently, all of the colonies, and the Earth, agreed to a ceasefire and to cut all communications and trade. Given what we know of ancient history, this was likely around the time our home planet was rapidly falling into chaos as the environment lost its balance, and pushed Humanity to the edge of survival."

Alex stared at the ghost. "So…what, you expect me to conquer the world, head into space, reunite the old colonies, if they even live still, and then…what? Spread across the universe?"

"If you manage to achieve world peace on Earth, would you not want that to be shared by our forgotten brethren? What of other sentient species? What if our Human methods of unity could help them keep from murdering each other as well? What of primitive races, still growing? What if we could enlighten them, and lift them up to join us in the stars? Is this not an ideal future to pursue?" The ghost eyed him, expectantly.

"I mean…" Alex thought for a moment. Then a longer moment. A minute. Five. The more he thought about it, the less absurd it seemed. He was, according to beings created by a genuine deity, a human who'd achieved immortality. At the very least, his span of years would be longer than most. He asked himself, for the first time since donning the Storm Crown, what kind of immortal he intended to be. One like Percy? Going around the world, influencing people, entire cultures, with knowledge from old video games? He could, he realized, do more. A lot more.

Then, his realistic skeptic side kicked in. Humanity would never stop killing each other long enough to get along. There was too much hate. He'd likely be killed by it long before he ever made it to space. "It is a good dream." He said, finally, "But no more than a dream. You are not an idiot, you know how our species acts. Our default is violence. We stab each other in the back the first chance we get, all so that we may climb to heights of power and wealth on the backs of others, and live in absurd comfort for our brief span of years. Humanity will never overcome its greed. Not as long as Money is our God."

"Those…" The ghost said, "Are not your words. They are your granduncle's. Realism can be a useful thing to have. Skepticism has it uses as well, but you should know by now, all it takes for the greedy to control our world is good men, like you, with the power to change what we are, standing aside and doing nothing to stop them. Do you intend to spend your years watching Humanity devour itself over and over again?"

"No." Alex said, before he could contemplate the question. He knew he was the kind of person who would act. He'd never hesitated in trying to help before.

"Will you stand idly by as unworthy men try to achieve this dream before you?" The ghost asked.

Alex blinked. "What do you mean?"

"The Storm Crown is a unique item. It was originally bestowed by the Alpha unto the Human he deemed worthy of Taming him." Alex's eyes went wide, but the ghost continued, "Once he died, it passed to another, the Successor, who reveled in its power and brought destruction wherever he went. Others saw this power, and claimed it for themselves. Ninety-nine times it passed through the hands of different Humans, each one killing their predecessor just so that they could enjoy the crown's gifts. Eventually, Tao had your Rayquaza take it from them, the way a parent takes a dangerous item from a child. We were not ready to bear it during the Dark Times, but now, here you stand, crowned and tested. Unless my instincts are wrong for the first time in my afterlife, you will pass this Trial."

Alex stayed silent as the Professor continued. "I ask again, Champion of Unova. What do you intend to do with these gifts of life and power?"

He sighed. "What can I do that better men have not already tried? I can't erase the borders." He said, gesturing to the Earth. At his words, the lines reappeared. "We're too divided. The Imperium and Eous alone would be impossible. They've been fighting for centuries. There is too much hate. Too many divisions. One person can't remove all of them."

"The last one to Tame Arceus did." The Professor's words were quiet, and Alex realized his tone had risen above civilized levels. "For a brief time, he managed to unite the world. Would that the Storm Crown had been on his head longer. By the time he donned it, he was already lost to our mortal coil. You, though, have a chance to succeed where he failed."

Alex opened his mouth to speak, but the ghost cut him off, and gestured at their planet. "You should know this already, you who would be King. These lines…" He gestured at them, and they vanished, revealing the Earth as it was. "They are Human inventions. Little more than an illusion. A true King accepts all beings. Something you are more than capable of doing, based on your training so far."

Seeing it before him drove it home, and he felt a surge of energy in his forehead. His third eye opened, and the world took on a new appearance. He gasped. Lines of energy surrounded and connected the planet, gathering at various points across the globe. Everything was connected, and he realized that unless he did something, humans and Pokémon would continue to walk down the same violent path they always came back to. They'd be trapped in this cycle forever, as they had for the past ten millennia since Arceus departed. They would continue to rise and fall in an endless cycle. Unless someone broke it.

"I understand." He said, finally. "I will remember your words, Professor. I have to ask, though…N seems like he was far, far better prepared to achieve this…ultimate destiny of our people. He can do things with numbers that make my head throb. How am I supposed to lead without that kind of knowledge?"

At his words, the Professor frowned. "That knowledge was passed to the one you call Ghetsis by our last King, but this did not ensure Ghetsis in turn prepared the Harmonia heir with everything he learned here. The King is capable of passing it to you, as well. He has the means. Whether he will actually give it, is another question entirely. One that depends on you, and your actions. Now go. Your next challenge awaits."

The Path of Resonance

Alex continued on from the chamber, pondering the ancient Professor's words. After that, he genuinely had no idea what awaited him next, and as he approached the next doorway, every bit as identical as the other five had been, he read the words at the top. The 'Path of Resonance'. He blinked. A sound-based trial?

He supposed he'd find out, and he continued on to the chamber itself. He found yet another square room, and the only thing that made it unique was a spiraling staircase that ascended upwards, with no railing to keep one who ascended it safely on the steps. A familiar orb of gray light hovered by the stairs, and it gave off a twinkling sound as it bobbed in the air, and then ascended upwards.

Alex followed, and soon realized the stairs did not require a railing. They were surrounded on all sides by rock once they reached the ceiling. He kept climbing, eventually floating as the monotony of climbing steps was straining even his legs, made strong by countless hours of training and travel.

Finally, he came to a much larger room, and as he glanced at the floor, he realized it was the very room he'd entered through when he'd first come to the ruins. It had changed, though. The maze of walls had sunk into the floor, and a staircase had appeared in the center, not far from the one he'd just left.

The gray ghost manifested before the stairs, and he was greeted not by a man or woman, but by a mask, plain and unreadable. The figure's robes bore a G-clef on the chest and shoulders, and said robes did much to hide the shape of the ghost.

As it spoke, Alex's usual method of determining gender failed, as it had two voices, male and female, and they blended together perfectly. "Welcome, you who would be King. You have already unlocked your Voice's power, so for this Trial, you shall aid me in setting the stage for your final tests."

Alex gave a short bow to the figure. "I am at your service."

The ghost seemed to chuckle, and its voice switched to the Dragon Tongue. "A true King can stir the hearts of their people with their Words. A true King does not speak lies, and refrains from divisive speech. This is something you have not always succeeded with, and even now, your Voice is being twisted, Dragonborn."

Alex blinked, but before he could ask how, the chamber was alight with Pravus's voice, crowing to his followers about how he'd captured 'hard evidence' of the Unovan Champion's supposed bigotry. Said evidence was, quite obviously, pieced together from different recordings but he supposed with enough fear and delusion, one could believe it was genuine.

The ghost's mask shifted to a sly, smirking expression as it watched him fidget uncomfortably. "Is your skill at Tinvaak so weak that you will let it be turned by a machine?"

"Nid."

The Word reverberated through the chamber, and the ghost shuddered visibly. "Interesting…the Storm Voice has grown strong within you, who would be King…unleash it! Raise this ancient ruin, this seat of our people's ancient power, and show your people the strength of your Voice!"

Alex looked around the room, but saw no other path forward. He only hoped the raising of this structure didn't accidentally hurt anyone. He let his Su'um build, and then, began to speak. As he did, he felt the newly gathered energy in his body flow through his throat, and his Words seemed stronger than they ever had before.

"Alok, hil do faal Lokoltei.

(Rise, heart of the Empire.)

Naal dii Zul dreh hi daal wah lein. Alok.

(By my Voice do you return to the world. Rise.)

Naal dii Su'um fen faal Dovah Lokoltei daal. Alok.

(By my Breath will the Dragon Empire return. Rise.)

Naal dii Fen dreh faal Dovah Krund daasin ont zos. Alok.

(By my Will does the Dragon Throne surface once more. Rise.)

Aal nunon bahlaan praal voknau nii."

(May only the worthy sit upon it.)

The ghost eyed him as he spoke, head tilting at his choice of words. The mask shifted to a smile though, so he assumed that was a good thing. It took a moment for the reverberating Words to stop echoing in the chamber, but as they did, the entire room began to shine, and the ghost gave a bow as the entire structure rumbled, and did as it was commanded.

"You have mastered the ancient tongue. Normally, this part of the Trial would take days. I have never seen it finished so quickly." The ghost bowed. "Ascend to the final challenge, you who would be King. Rise…or die." The figure vanished then with a genuinely disturbing giggle, and Alex headed towards the staircase to the top, even as the building continued to shake of millennia of silt and dirt build-up. It said much of his Voice that it continued to rise, despite the metric tons of weight upon it. Not even Tao's tower had been so deeply buried, but then, nobody had wanted to bury the Dragonspiral.

The last King Harmonia had not been a popular man, once his sons and grandsons tore their capital, and their dragon, apart with genuinely senseless war for centuries.

The Path of Battle

The stairs led up to another level, and seemed to continue. Alex would have gone straight up, had something not caught his Trainer's eye. A familiar shape, a battlefield, and an opponent upon it. Their eyes met, and Alex stopped ascending. It was too late to back off now. He didn't need a sign to guess what kind of Trial this would be. His team, thus far watching his progress, stirred from their earned rest, ready to battle. Their Trainer's awakening power had revitalized them, and the surging energy had only made them all eager to prove their worth. Even the young ones.

The palace structure stopped shaking by the time Alex reached his side of the field. His opponent was another ghost, one Alex hadn't been able to make out clearly before. Now, he knew why. An appearance like this would've distracted him. She was clad as he was, in robes from Tao's tower, in the same pattern of white and black. Her hair was as black and curly as his, though it was longer. Even her eyes were blue, and intense, like a Luxray's. The woman smirked at him. "Hello there. Care to Battle?"

Alex decided to take the advantage. If this ghost, presumably some sort of shape changer, was going to mock him by gender-bending his own appearance, he was going to make use of the absurdity. "Ladies first."

The ghost chuckled, and as she did, her skin turned pale white, and the rest of her became equal parts black. The most noticeable change was their eyes, unnerving, and devoid of pupils. One was pure white, on their black half, and the pure black eye was on their white half. "So be it. One on one...no substitutions. Best of three." They called out a Pokémon then, and it coalesced in a flash of green. A Tropius appeared, and he found his hand drawn on instinct to Gel's ball. He paused, as he saw the smirk on his opponent's face. He had a feeling then, that they knew exactly what was on his team, and what was needed to counter it. The Tropius was a lure, judging by how strong it was. It had been trained, but not nearly as thoroughly as his team.

He sent Gel out then, and nodded at the ice type, as they joined their minds. Alex shivered, but he could endure the close contact for this. "If you feel the urge this time, my friend, do not repress it. The time has come. Give it all you have."

The white and blue Amaura gave a battle cry, and the air around the field turned cold. The Tropius fidgeted in discomfort. "Sunny Day!" The long-necked grass type, no doubt a distant genetic relation to the Amaurus before it, raised its head high in the room, and suddenly, heat filled the field. It felt not entirely unlike Fornia had, during the daytime hours of the summer.

That, was what Gelauros had trained in. He breathed deep, and exhaled frost, keeping his core as cold as he needed. The Amaurus had a feeling he knew what was coming next. Against orders, he fired an Ice Beam at the Solar Beam the Tropius shot towards him, and the two moves canceled out in an explosion of energy. It was a credit to Gel's strength that he managed to stop a Solar Beam that powerful.

The two Pokémon fired another series of beams, each one colliding with the other, and Alex found himself smirking. The ghosts knew what was on his team, but they hadn't accounted for Gel not having the rock typing that evidently even their era had been unable to remove entirely. In short, the Sages were not as omnipotent as they appeared. He gave Gel the plan then, and the Amaura sighed, but agreed it would be worth it.

The Tropius prepared another Solar Beam, and this time Gel took the hit as he leapt into the air, and found a shot on this particular opponent's weak spot. For Tropius, it was usually between their wings, or their fruit. Either would do. The blast from the solar beam faded, leaving the white skin of the Amaura smoking with heat, but otherwise, he seemed unharmed. Barely inconvenienced.

The little mouth opened, and a powerful orb of ice formed within it. With pinpoint accuracy, a thin beam of ice slammed into the Tropius, and froze it solid. Given how much damage it had done, the battle was over. Gel began to glow as he ascended to his adult phase amidst the spiraling bright white energy, and grew larger, taller, Alex guessed, than even his kin back at the lab. He pulled out the Pokédex, and it listed his height at an impressive nine feet, five inches. Growth patterns suggested he'd max out at twelve, when he'd aged a bit.

The air around them, despite the move from Tropius that yet lingered, was freezing cold. Especially on Alex's side of the field. He gave Gel the affectionate scratch he was looking for, and then recalled the tall Aurorus, who'd retained his coloring of pure white, and deep blue.

Next up came a Feraligator, and Alex answered with Hydrus, rather than his Torterra, to the evident surprise of his opponent. Within moments, the two Pokémon mega evolved. Having not seen a Feraligator ascend before, both he and Hydrus took it in. It was most comfortable on all fours now, and seemed to have reversed along its evolutionary path, rather than gone forward.

Now part water, part rock, the light blue plates of armor covered the Pokémon's form completely, but the muscle beneath suggested the Mega Feraligator could still move rather quickly despite them. Hydrus charged forward, only to, in the blink of an eye, find both hands occupied and wounded as the bulging arms struggled to keep the predator's deadly jaws from crunching shut. They had barely seen it move, and Hydrus had relied more on instinct than battle technique to avoid being seriously chomped.

Hydrus glanced at his Trainer, and Alex nodded. The Swampert focused then, as Pokémon and Trainer glowed a deep blue, and an aura of power settled over his Mega Form. Hydrus wrenched the jaws open with sudden strength, and then rotated in place, tossing the Feraligator into the nearest wall with a seismic impact. With a new unfamiliar weakness to fighting moves, the gator winced in pain, long enough for the aura-covered form of the Swampert to appear behind him as he struggled to stand.

Hydrus eyes shone an ominous blue as the bulky mudfish ended the match with one swift, merciless Drain Punch.

Alex flashed the victory sign. "Best of three. What am I unlocking next?"

The black and white figure turned into a blur of gray then, vaguely in the shape of a humanoid. A mouth appeared on the head, but only when it spoke. It was unnerving to watch it move as the ghost spoke. "This Trial is not for a Chakra. The others do not care for me, because I represent something they all detest. Combat. Conflict. And the honor inherent to Battling in this world. If they had their way, I would simply not exist, but they cannot deny our species' will to compete. This is the drive I test in all applicants. Tell me, you who would be King, are they right? Would our world be less prone to violence if Battling for sport was not so commonplace?"

Alex smirked. Unovans in particular had already had this dilemma before, not surprisingly, from N. "I would argue that because everyone, more or less, knows how to Battle, the world is less...unfair. Those who are otherwise weak can become strong with the right partner. They don't need to sit idly by, trampled by those who are stronger. They have a chance to resist, and it is that very chance that dissuades so many would-be criminals."

"And what of Trainers like you? Do you not crush all who oppose you? I know your record, you know. Not bad at all. But to an average Trainer, they have a better experience not facing you at all. Defeat stings." The ghost paused, which was the only way Alex knew it was time for a response. There was no face to read, which was also unnerving.

"Defeat does sting...but I generally try to leave those I beat with some sort of wisdom. If they want it. If they don't ask, I don't push it on them." He shrugged. "Sometimes a reality check is useful. I've needed one more than once, and I've lost as well. I know exactly where my strength is, more or less, I know my limits, and how to surpass them...though I expect I'll have to re-evaluate them once I'm out of here."

The strange mouth smirked. "Do not assume you will get out so easily...our King is not likely to surrender his family's legacy."

Alex glanced towards the stairs then, "We will see about that." He turned back to the ghost. "To answer your question, Trainers like me have an obligation to not run around crushing the hopes and dreams of whoever we meet. Obviously, sometimes only a Battle from someone on their level is the only thing that can set them straight. Those are the kind of Trainers I enjoy beating the most. They're always a challenge."

The ghost-smirk widened. "You understand, then, the responsibility of power. Intriguing. If only there was an organization in this world that could monitor and keep such Trainers in check."

Alex smirked back at the ghost. "If only." He headed for the stairs then, more than ready to finally pass this test, and start turning the tide of this conflict.

The Path of the King

Alex glanced briefly at the words above the door to this, the final challenge. He knew he should've felt tired, but seven pools of energy within his large form had been awakened, and now flowed freely. They demanded release, though he knew not what would occur when and if they were finally freed.

He stepped into the final chamber, and knew from his map that it was where Hilda had first found the Relic Crown. Evidently, that had not been the real one. The ancient King from earlier stood before him now, crownless. He gripped the ethereal crown with his right hand, and as Alex eyed it, it became corporeal.

"So. You've actually made it." The ancient King gestured at the walls of the room, and they lowered, revealing the topmost room of the ancient ruins for what it was. The ancient lighthouse of Unova's eastern coast, once regarded as one of the Wonders of the ancient world, and one thought lost to war. Four pillars supported the crest of the ruins, and as the King gestured again, blinding light formed where the walls once stood.

"A true King must always be mindful of how their actions can, and will, affect the world at large. They see the consequences of said actions, and with that sight, are able to guide their people towards the path they deem worth following." The ghost had his back to Alex, but then, he turned, and the two locked their gazes. "A true King remains detached, impartial, and chooses what he believes to be the right course of action. This is his duty. His curse."

Alex met the ghost's eyes evenly. "I accept the burden."

The ghost chuckled. "Do you? Heavy is the head that wears the crown. You will never be rid of it. As long as you live, and you will live for a very, very long time, Alexander Redwood, you will be bound to Unova in ways you cannot possibly understand. Not yet, anyways."

Alex let his smirk play across his normally impassive face. "I accept the burden."

The King's sad eyes narrowed. "A true King inspires hope. In himself. In the future. Do you have any comprehension of what that means? Do you have any idea of what awaits you, once you take this crown?"

Before he knew it, Alex was standing directly before the old man. He could read every line on his face. His psychic gaze was telling him far more than ever before. Each of the ghosts had possessed dual typing, not surprising, given who must have trained them, and the King was no exception. Ghost and psychic. He could tell this specter of a bygone age longed for his own heir to be here, standing before him, but that was simply not how events had unfolded.

"I accept the burden."

With those words, the ancient King sighed, and the crown vanished from his hand. His ghostly form faded into nothingness as he whispered his final words. "Then may you carry it better than we did. For Unova."

Alex bowed again. "For Unova." As he straightened, he felt the gathered power surge once more, rising high into the sky where it touched...something. The normally blue aura of his psychic energy shifted to gold, and his power formed in a familiar shape atop his head. The crown reappeared, and thunder boomed while lightning cracked the sky outside the now risen palace.

Eight bolts of plasma arced down from the heavens, and struck the glowing chamber, and its sole occupant. The crown pulsed with power, as the incorporeal Storm Crown merged with the corporeal vessel that could contain its awesome power. A circular opening appeared in the top of the room, and Alex ascended through it, lifting his form easily. He didn't even notice the weight of his large build anymore. Indeed, as the energy flowed freely through his body, his eyes saw what he imagined N must see regularly. Numbers that would have made his head spin but a few hours earlier. Patterns. Shapes. Paths half seen, and yet still very much there. It would take time to be able to read them properly. Apparently, this was how the Harmonias had seen the world, but to Alex, it was just another thing to master, with time and effort.

Then, he looked down, and his good mood shifted to one of unease. Undella Town was thoroughly wrecked. The Marine Tube had shattered, and now only a small salty lake, directly south of the upturned town, was what remained of the beautiful bay that had once drawn crowds of rich tourists. The pyramidal structure that was the Dragon Palace rested atop a newly risen land mass, and as golden light shone through it from the inside out, the weathered stone renewed.

Ancient carvings made themselves clear again, and the damage of eons of water flow faded before the energy surging through the building. Seven orbs of light joined him in the air above the palace, forming into the various ghosts he'd seen below.

For your service, a second life I grant. Use it well.

A quick glance at the Sages told Alex that they had not, in fact, expected the hauntingly familiar tone of pure power that came from the heavens at that moment. Each of their multicolored forms shone bright with blinding gold light, and in the space of an eye blink, the seven of them were transported to the main entrance of the palace, now once more revealed and made whole. A pair of dragons were carved into both sides of it, one black, one white, and both reminiscent of the Original they'd no doubt been made to resemble.

Alex looked again at the Sages, and smirked. Each now once more possessed a body, though their skin tone remained the same color their ghostly forms had been. Evidently their 'service' would continue, even after these new forms expired. But for now, the pleasures of corporeal existence were theirs to once more enjoy.

As one, they bowed towards him in Unovan fashion, and with one voice said, "All hail the return of the King!" A roar followed their words, and Alex glanced up to see a familiar dragon, arcing through the sky. Tao smiled down at them, and then, went sailing through the air as a purple colored Outrage attack slammed into his left side, catching him completely off guard. Alex followed the trail of the beam, and spied a familiar Noivern, with a familiar Trainer on its back, head once more attached. Pravus' Hand of Death. Below him, running quickly over the mountains in the distance, he made out figures garbed entirely in black armored suits, their features covered by helmets with T-shaped visors.

"Muk."

Sahqoreyth · Mar 28, 2024

Chapter 26: The Fornian Blitz

Unova University, Main Lab – Unova Region

"Work, damn you." Eric Redwood muttered to himself as the fabrication machine, which usually produced Pokéballs, attempted to create yet another plasma sword hilt.

The screen before him flashed green, all the components were in place, but once more it all shifted to red, and gave an error message. The probability of the finished product exploding on ignition had lowered by three percent, but unfortunately the whole number remained in the low eighties. An almost assured malfunction. Unacceptable for war.

The younger Redwood sighed, and ran the faulty blade through the machine dedicated to deconstructing the parts, and it spat them back out in small reusable piles. The rest of his team had long since passed out, and the sun was rising on a new day. He knew his brother would likely be done soon, one way or another, and he was determined to not be completely outshone.

A loud, powerful, and yet somehow calming mental baritone thundered in his skull, "How goes the work?"

Eric didn't need to ask who or what was speaking, as this was at least the eighth time the Dragon God of his homeland had asked. All night he'd been putting off giving up completely, but he was at his limit now. The last configuration had failed.

He knew it was no coincidence that Tao had reached out to him moments later. His understanding of focusing the power of Chargestones had helped reduce the probability of failure from the ninety-nine percent that had demoralized his team into mental exhaustion after almost a day of consistent failure to create a suitable hilt.

Beyond that though, the dragon's knowledge ended. Eric responded in his head, somewhat familiar with it by now. He could almost vaguely sense the same feeling he had when in the dragon's presence, but in his head.

It was a strange feeling, and he had no idea how his brother had gotten used to it so quickly. It was almost too calm. "I'm out of ideas, great Dragon. The Tesla lenses are converting plasma fine, and the crystals can handle the energy flow. The insulators keep overheating though, and we simply don't have the kind of heat sink necessary to handle focused plasma. The emitters are fine, theoretically, but with such limited insulators we haven't really been able to test them. As it stands, they'll blow apart in our hand after roughly five seconds. The containment field has the same heat problem."

The dragon seemed to rumble in his head, a noise he'd come to associate with pondering. "I think I know how to give you some aid. Only one other, that I know of, has wielded a weapon like this before."

Eric waited patiently, but Tao remained silent. Five minutes passed. Then ten. Eric began to drift off, and soon, he'd joined the rest of his team in deep slumber. They were all awoken by a thunderous bampf from the back of the lab, near Gelauros' old pen. Eric groggily made his way towards the noise, and his brow rose to Spockian heights as he beheld the smoking form of the figure that had appeared in their lab.

He was a thin man, skin as pale as snow, which almost matched his hair. That, however, was tinged with the golden color of a pale blonde. His clothes were a strange mix of white, cyan, and whitish-gold, and as he rose from the three-point stance he'd landed in, he raised a fist in the air.

"You'll pay for that, you pompous lizard! Bloody arrogant Dragon Ty-" His words paused, as he saw the five nerds standing before him, half asleep. "Hmm. So you're the 'group of experts' trying to cash in on my expertise, eh?" His eyes settled on Eric. "You must be the little brother. He wasn't kidding when he said you were total opposites. Same eyes, though."

The man sighed, then glanced skyward. "Fine. But you owe me, Dragon. You, and your whelp. Twice now I've had to get involved in his affairs." He paused, as Tao presumably responded. A genuine smile came over the man's features. "Now that is the kind of gratitude I deserve! Very well." His gaze turned back to the Brain Trust, and he gave a flourishing bow. "Percival von Guterstein Velhavende Locuples the Third, at your service." He grinned up at them, golden eyes alight with mischief and maybe a hint of madness. "But you can call me-"

"Percy." Eric said, breaking the 'spell' the charismatic figure had over them, that had kept them silent through his shenanigans. He gave a bow in the Unovan style, and the other members of the Brain Trust did the same.

Alex had, in recounting his frankly ridiculous trip to Norstad involving demigods and giant dragons, mentioned the aid and irritation the 'fairy king' had given them. He'd also mentioned that he was Xerneas' Tamer. That likely meant that he was immortal. Eric only knew of one other such Trainer, blessed by the Legendary hind's Kalosian counterpart, the once more enthroned King AZ.

Percy's unsettling grin focused on Eric, and the younger Redwood again wondered how his brother kept meeting such ancient beings. And befriending them. "So, my fame runs before me. Alright little Redwood, show me what you have so far, and I'll make it work."

Eric's brow rose higher. "Just like that?"

Percy nodded. "I am now extremely invested in getting the lizard's minions properly outfitted, though, if you ask me, you're all doomed. Pravus's troops carry mass-produced weapons that are essentially advanced, portable versions of what they used to keep all of Unova from retrieving the Original Dragon, in the middle of New Tork City. Pravus may be madder than a hatter, but he's been preparing for this. By the time Unova is ready, assuming you get even that far, you'll be in for a long, bloody, war."

Eric pushed his glasses up with one finger, and let the fluorescent lighting hide his eyes. "With respect, 'Fairy King', we're not going to lay down and let him conquer us. This is Unova. We bow only to One. Before we're through, the Fornians will remember why."

Percy's grin widened. "Even if that One is your brother?"

Eric flinched, but nodded again. "If even half of what he told me about Norstad is true, he can…handle it. With the Dragon's help."

Percy chuckled softly. "Fighting spirit in the face of hopeless odds. I like it."

By now, they'd walked over to the machine responsible solely for testing the components that would make up the blades. Percy's golden eyes flew over the data, and he smirked. "Having heat trouble, hmm? I ran into a similar problem. And Chargestones? Interesting choice...but it works. I guess. If you like blue."

A tired looking Frankie yawned, and joined the two, followed by the others. "Can you fix it?"

Percy's grin returned. "Do Ursaring defecate in forests? I have a solution, little nerd, but you're not going to like it."

The group looked at him expectantly, and he continued. "There exists on this planet a type of metal suitable for handling high powered currents of energy. It's actually quite plentiful...if you know where to look."

Eric spoke up then. "And where, exactly, would we find this metal?"

Percy chuckled. "On this continent? Only one source exists, and Caleb Pravus has been...thorough... in keeping it all for himself. Where do you think he got so much for Sacreus' bunker city? His troop's armor and weapons? Where do you think all that ore the Church has been mining goes?" The five tired nerds stared at the Fairy King, too tired to deal with this kind of high-energy pep at the break of dawn.

Percy raised a finger, and gave his best impression of a Professor. "There exists a special Pokémon, in some parts of the world, worshiped since ancient times for giving Humanity the means to rebuild their towers that scrape the sky. On this continent, they exist only in one place, and any others that are discovered, or that manage to escape, are rounded up by the Prophet's own Hands."

Eric pinched the bridge of his nose. "Muk."

They'd all heard the stories, of course. Of the supposed living fields of metal that the Arcean Church used to build their infrastructure so quickly. Naturally, such absurdities were common amongst the many conspiracy theories made by those who claimed to have successfully left the Church, and were convinced that they needed to 'spread the truth'. The problem, was that the Church had countered them by releasing pretend conspiracists, until any and all rumor involving them was seen as most likely baseless. They'd buried the truth behind nonsense. It was common tactic of theirs, to flood the 'zone' as it were, with BS.

The Church had, of course, denied the existence of such efforts, or people making them. Now though, much of what had once been considered 'hate speech' from 'disgruntled thieves, unworthy of the Church' now rang with an unnerving air of truth.

Percy gave a dark chuckle. "The word came from the Church's own members. At Unova's peril, you all ignored it. I mean, even I knew about the metal fields, and I've been locked in a tower for thousands of years." He glanced at the main monitor, and smirked. "Here. Pictures will do better than words. You lot have at least one satellite, aye?"

"Yes..." Eric said, recalling how Alex had spoken of the reason Percy had been in his tower. "But they don't like us using it..."

Percy immediately began typing commands into the console, grinning like a madman. "Please. They won't even know I was in here." The screen flashed, as he easily bypassed the passwords both for the computer, and control of the satellite. Usually used by students whose goal was to one day report the weather with some accuracy, it didn't have the best zooming-in capabilities, but Percy made do.

The screen lit up with the University's campus, and then moved thousands of miles in the space of a few seconds. They gasped, as they saw Fornia, and the thin man swore in a language that none of them knew. "Draaf. I knew it was bad, but…" Fornia was, in a word, on fire. The entire northern part of the region now burned, with the exception of a few small patches of green, due to water Pokémon no doubt.

The problem, was that most of the sky was now covered in smoke, for the winds favored Pravus' plan, and were blowing in a southern and eastern direction. They were winter winds, and they had come early this year. Once over the Stoney Mountains, the air currents brought it all east, in an ever-encroaching blanket of ash-filled darkness. The cloud avoided the populated areas of the regions under Arcean control, namely the cities, but as it moved ever eastward it would, eventually, cover Unova as well.

After zooming in through the ash clouds, they witnessed a scene straight out of one of old Earth's fairytales. It looked, for all intents and purposes, like a scene from tales of Armageddon, or Ragnarok. Fire, smoke, entire herds of local Pokémon heading in whatever direction they thought would provide safety. Too many hadn't escaped the flames, but thankfully, the region's many ground types seemed to be capable of extinguishing the wounded, and clearing temporary paths in the flames.

"Enough." Eric finally managed, after noticing the looks on the faces of his team. Those images would likely haunt them, but as Percy shifted the camera, a new horror covered the screen. Fornia's southernmost peninsula, to the west of their half of Texico, was mostly desert and scrub.

The only city of note that far south was Arcino, but with their aerial view, they spotted something else, silver against the reddish brown of the ground. Percy zoomed in, and again, the group gasped.

While a relatively new discovery, the Hex Nut Pokémon had exploded in popularity…on other continents. Unovans, amongst others, had eagerly waited for more to appear in their regions after their discovery in Alola, and yet, very few had. Within a few years, the Meltan had all seemingly vanished completely, even from the islands. Now, from an aerial view, they saw where they'd all wound up.

Meltan had a tendency to explode in population, and their evolution was, in some places, considered a mythical Pokémon. The large silver pools, visible from orbit, appeared to be filled with hundreds, if not thousands, of the species, all forced together as molten ooze, stuffed in giant craters upon the ground. Unable to form singular bodies, the nuts that passed for their heads floated helplessly in the pools.

Percy's tone was grim. "This, is where the Arceans get their metal from. I have it on good authority that, through means I'll leave you all to imagine, they've managed to make the Melmetal produce something much stronger than iron. In my day, such a thing was accomplished by a bond with a Tamer, and an appropriate diet. They just toss in the ore, and these pools produce a building material on par with ceracrete."

David spoke up then, looking just as pale and disturbed as the other four. "S-so how are we supposed to get what we need?"

Percy chuckled. "Leave that to the professionals." He set the satellite back to its original position, and left as tracelessly as he'd entered, even going as far as deleting the logs of the machine's use and movement. He turned then, to the fabrication machine, and examined the in-progress schematic. "I'll handle it, at any rate, but first…let's adjust this…"

His fingers flew over the keyboard, and the other five watched, somewhat amazed, as the strange man with the fancy clothes and hat reduced the percentage of failure upon completion to acceptable parameters. Once they had the materials they needed. "The holy lizard wants you five focused on armor, now. The east has great Trainers, and strong Pokémon, but they keep dying because their opponents are far better equipped. Solve that, while I get your metal."

"And how do we do that?" One of the nerds asked.

Percy chuckled again. "Speak with Rayquaza. The older one…er, you may know it as the 'eastern one' as well. He's the one in charge of supplying your…materials. Get to it!"

Percy gave another flourish with his hat as he bowed, and then vanished with a flash of energy the five had come to associate with those who could Teleport. "Bloody psychics…" Eric muttered, still eyeing the schematic, and what changes had been made. He couldn't argue with the fact that Percy was either brilliant, or knew what he was doing. Or both. He glanced at the others. "You heard him. Back to work. I'm going to take a nap."

The Dragon Emperor's Palace – Unova Region

Tao, thankfully, was not so weak as to go down from one Outrage attack. His scales were scorched, but he managed to right himself over the ruined, empty buildings of Undella, only to find that the focus of his awakened fury was already going claw-to-claw with Shruikan, in a rematch both had evidently wanted. A Tyranitar and the Swampert called Hydrus were engaged as well, trading titanic punches. Both were surrounded in a shield of aura, but the Tyranitar's was blackish purple, and shocked to the touch. Thankfully, Hydrus was part ground type, but it still stung with every hit.

Alex had been surrounded by seven multicolored lights once the mega evolved Noivern had struck Tao. His team had popped free on their own, their power surging as their Trainer's did. He split his mental focus with ease, and helped each of them fight simultaneously as they moved to engage the Hand's team, including his younger members, who had teamed up, and taken on a group of black clad Arceans that had made their way onto the remnants of the beach.

He'd worried, for a moment, until he sensed Ictus. Evidently the surge of power, and fresh victory with Fell Stinger, had been enough for the crimson scorpion to evolve. Between him, Gelauros, and Cenomons, they could handle things.

Alex's eyes were still burning with golden light, and the Sages each withdrew a crystalline spherical 'Pokéball' that was evidently common to their era three millennia past. They had called out their revived partners once the Arceans had begun charging the palace. Evidently, they were here for the new 'Dragon Emperor', but capturing the newly risen seat of the Empire would deal a telling blow to morale.

The nearby Trainers perched on the cliffs above Undella, who'd sensibly hauled ass once the ground started shaking, were now engaged as well. From seemingly nowhere, the Hand had appeared with a small army of elite Trainers. Blaze joined Shruikan in the sky, and the three dragons cartwheeled over the former bay, lighting the area up with their flames and beams of energy.

The Seven Sage's Pokémon went forth to help as well, only to be met by three figures who appeared seemingly out of nowhere, in the blink of an eye. Evidently, the Shadow Triad had found new employers.

Lux spoke then, eyes widening at what he sensed. "Go to the dragon! Merge your power with his. That will…handle this." The ghost flitted back into the hilt, which Alex then ignited, as he sailed through the air towards the Original Dragon.

The Hand of Death chuckled, appearing before him from seemingly nowhere. Alex shifted in mid-air, and zipped past him, but he followed behind, shouting, "What is it with you, and running from Battle? I bet N never turned his back to his enemies this often!"

Alex ignored the obvious goading, meant only to distract him from uniting with the dragon. He was Tao's Tamer, and it was time Fornia understood exactly what that meant. It was a lesson Unova had learned long ago, and it was one that had stuck in their cultural psyche.

Spiraling through the air towards Alex, the two met, and the human landed atop his icy crest, that made up his horns, and formed a ridge down his back. Ice swirled up around his shoes, holding him in place. The dragon snarled, glaring at the sky. "We're too low…"

Alex was busy focusing on his plasma sword, as the base opened to admit his Draco Plate crystal, when an ear-splitting screech tore through the sky. His focus was broken. There was power in that cry, that could only have been a Hyper Voice. From above the clouds gathered by the lightning that had struck the still-glowing lighthouse atop the palace, a figure straight from pre-history appeared.

Where the east coast had Tao, the western coast also had a Legendary Guardian of their own, in the distant past. Some claimed it had been Ho Oh, but the most infamous Legend was the Pokémon known as Ignavis, though whether that was its nickname or its species name, no one was sure. Ignavis had been the product of 'dark sorcerers' in the western regions, evidently created by infusing Shadow into a Moltres egg via ancient and lost magical arts from another region. The stories claimed that Tao had slain the bird after it scorched half the Empire, but evidently, it had risen again several times through the ages.

Where once flames of red, orange and white had covered the wings, purple now dominated. Alex could see the resemblance to Moltres in the gold and red feathers, now tainted with blackish purple, but this creature was now far beyond that species and seemed more similar in appearance to the Galarian variant of the Legendary bird, cursed to an existence of constant and painful rebirth if the legends were true. The enormous bird's blue eyes were, even from this distance, filled with pain. The dark form of the Hand of Death appeared atop the bird's head, and he guided it towards the pair. It let out a shriek of rage as it spotted Tao, and once more, the dragon and the firebird dueled in the sky.

Ice formed in a protective block around Alex as he knelt low to avoid the massive flaming razor sharp beak of the Legendary bird. "Focus on empowering the crystal." Tao's voice came, calm as ever, even though he currently was whirling and slashing about in the clouds so quickly Alex could hardly follow his spiraling movements. "It will take much for me to achieve the next level."

Alex smirked. He'd figured as much. He began chanting low, in the dragon tongue, hilt grasped with both hands as dark fire met the three elements at the dragon's command just beyond his icy protection. Finally, he felt Lux give him the signal. It was ready.

His eyes shifted from gold to blue, though he hardly noticed, as he raised the hilt, ignited it, and sliced through his icy shield. Tao had just forced the Shadow-infused bird back with a torrent of fire that sparkled with blue electricity, and the hilt flared as the Original Dragon's Tamer finished his incantation, and activated the power with a final Shout.

"Dovah Envok!"

The Light energy that had been surging through him now transferred into the Original Dragon though his sword's hilt, and his form turned pure white as the infinite power of the Alpha remade him. A second pair of wings jutted out from above his hind legs, looking more akin to Reshiram's than Zekrom's. An aura of brilliant gold formed around Tao's altered form, which was significantly larger in size, at almost a hundred and fifty feet in length. His facial tendrils now constantly sparked, and a pair of blue flames that looked suspiciously like eyebrows now adorned the dragon's scaly brow.

The most notable change however, aside from a noticeable increase in size, was his tail. Where before it had resembled a lizard's save for the icy crest on the end, it now was entirely encased in sparking ice, and took the shape of a wicked looking serpent-like appendage that resembled a tail with the sharp head of a lance. Despite the ice, it seemed to move as fluidly as his regular form's appendage. His wings were covered on their edges with icy spikes, and his claws were now much the same as the crest running down his back, in that they too burned with fire.

Tao gave a roar that echoed across the former bay, as he ascended to his Mega Form, the symbol of Infinity flashing briefly above his head, before he refocused his attacks on his quarry. That roar got everyone's attention, and many paused to stare in awe at the dragon above them. The Unovans cheered, and the tide began to turn as Tao's tail rearranged the ice surrounding it, momentarily obscuring the deadly weapon that was the tip as a mix of Zekrom and Reshiram's tails formed around the serpentine appendage, and roared like a rocket engine, sending the dragon and his Tamer straight towards the dark bird at unmatchable speed.

Like Alex, Pravus's Hand had come prepared, and while each of their teams were battling, the two of them were yet perched atop their Legendary partners. That is, until a powerful Air Slash, which was also somehow sporting dark purple flames, slammed into the dragon's head as he charged, and sent his Tamer plummeting.

Tao focused on fighting the dark phoenix, as he assumed his human would be fine. He'd survived the Trials after all, and had successfully walked each path. He could handle the corpse-being that, at that very moment, followed the Champion through the air, down into the forests just south of Undella. The two massive Pokémon had drifted further west, as they clashed, and there was no doubt that Nimbasa was getting quite a show.

Alex managed to halt his fall, stopping his momentum at the last second, and then landing gently. The Hand of Death had no such respect for their terrain. He came hurtling down, and his landing left a crater within the small, wooded clearing they'd found. There was a small river just behind it, that sounded like it connected to a waterfall of some description not far from them.

Finally down to just his sword, but still, even then, mentally aiding his team in their own respective battles, Alex ignited the blade once more, as he connected with his Rotom, and fell into his usual fighting stance. He had no doubt the Hand had orders to take him alive. Though he imagined dead would work just as well.

The man gave a dark chuckle, and black energy swirled in his palms, coalescing into a deadly, and admittedly cool looking pair of scythes that curved up along each of the man's arms perfectly. Fighting him in melee combat would be unwise, it seemed. "Come quietly, Redwood…I don't want to be in this backwater region when the army gets here. The Blitz has already begun. It's not going to be pretty…but you were all given plenty of time to join us."

Alex gave the plasma sword a twirl as he shifted his stance, and the lower end of it sprang to life as well. The new blade remained the same black and white color, but an aura of draconic energy surrounded the entire weapon as Lux drew on the crystal still within the hilt. "We were never going to join your cult…not by force. We value our freedoms too much on this side of the continent."

"Exactly…" One of the dark blades sliced towards him, but it seemed to be moving in slow motion to his new, strange vision, and he dodged it with ease. Alex chalked it up to the recent power-increase, and let the energy of the universe flow through his eight opened chakra points. His eyes shifted to dark blue as he reached for the energy, and formed an aura shield of dragon and psychic typing over his form. Not unlike the ones most of his team were slowly getting the hang of controlling. "You all value your pointless freedoms far too much…you have no structure, no goals, your governments are weak, and your Trainers…leave much to be desired."

Alex decided to strike then, or try to, only to find that the strange black metal repelled his dual-bladed sword. So far, it was the only thing it hadn't cut clean through. Their exchange of blows occurred faster than normal eyes could follow, but in the end, Alex only managed a small singe mark on the man's thigh. It healed before his eyes, and he grimaced.

The Hand found it amusing, though. "Cut me as much as you like…it will make no difference. I'm just toying with you." Another furious exchange of blows came then, and the truth of the Hand's words became evident as Alex realized who the better fighter was.

He forced himself to smirk, despite the increasingly dire circumstances. "I had a feeling you were holding back…time to stop playing around, then." Though his words were confident, the bravado was empty, as yet another lightning fast exchange resulted in yet another stalemate. He couldn't break the man's guard, but neither did he seem able to get through his own as easily as he claimed.

The Hand chuckled. "If that's the best you've got, we started this war early for nothing."

"You haven't even seen a glimpse of what I have in store for your Prophet…and I'm not expending it on you." Alex's smirk widened, and the Hand's face went cold, neutral, unreadable.

"Then you shall die."

The blows came faster then, and the man assaulted Alex's dual-bladed guard with the relentless power only undeath could give. He was a corpse. He would keep fighting long after Redwood was exhausted. For his part, Alex tried every combination of moves he could, but it was never enough. No shift in fighting style worked, and he could barely keep the incoming blows from cutting him.

The Hand's scythes dripped with crimson, and the pale man licked one. His eyes widened, slightly. "So…that's the difference…interesting…but not enough, Dragonborn." The Prophet's Hand stopped playing around then, as both blades forced the dual-bladed plasma sword up, leaving the little hero's midsection open, for a moment. A moment was all he needed.

Alex watched the scythes twirl impossibly fast. His new, and still unfamiliar heightened perception could track such things easily, but his body was nowhere near fast enough to dodge this. Not after the injuries he'd taken. His arms and legs bore the most cuts, but Tao's clothing really was invaluable, as it stitched back together, it also mended his skin with makeshift stitching, made of pieces of the strange fabric. It would need tending later, but for the battle at hand, it was useful, and kept him from bleeding out.

The Hand's weapons did something strange as he arced his weapons up for the finishing blow. They came together at each handle, and formed a proper length dual-sided scythe, right as the man brought it down towards his tired opponent with a vertical two-handed strike. The pale Hand growled in his throat as he saw his weapon stopped by a blade similar in curve to his own, one that was black, and bore streaks of red.

"Not today!" A triumphant voice crowed from atop the waterfall. Alex glanced up to see a black scaled Haxorus blocking the path of the deadly scythe's blade with a blade of his own. "Dual-Chop!" The dragon began smashing his head at the man, who struggled to hold it off, for a moment. Long enough for the Haxorus's Trainer to jump down, grab the large form of the Champion, and leap away.

Alex only got a brief glance at his would-be rescuer, before their escape was halted. A gleaming metal shackle had the man around the ankle, and as Alex got a proper look at him, his eyes widened. "Lance!?"

It was indeed the blue haired boy he'd battled some years before, the grandson who'd been named for his famous relative, and apparently puberty had finally hit him. Moreover, his attire seemed familiar, and it took Alex a minute to recognize the Opelucid Gym's new outfits.

"Glad you remember me." The Dragon Tamer said, somewhat sarcastically. "The Dragon called for reinforcements. Nate answered." He gestured at the sky then, and Alex stared, as did Pravus's Hand. The skies over Undella, and the area immediately south and west, were teeming with dragon types, each fully evolved, and many trained by Nate's own hand. Leading them, arms crossed atop his Hydreigon, was the Champion turned Gym Leader, and one of Unova's many Heroes. A man arguably as ruthlessly strong as Hilbert, who was set on becoming a true Dragon Tamer.

The battle between Tao and his shadowy opponent quickly turned. A hard crunch on the phoenix's neck stunned it long enough for the ice-covered, sparking tail to stab it in the heart. Blue flames overwhelmed purple, and the firebird fell from the sky, landing in the salty puddle just south of Undella's ruins, and all that remained of the bay. The heat from the Pokémon's passing burned away any remaining water, but thankfully, any Pokémon in the bay had quickly followed their instincts, and swam east, towards Unova's harbor once the ruins had begun shaking. There was plenty of room for them there.

Sensing the conflict had shifted, the Hand of Death began to move to escape, only to find himself wrapped up by a pair of Dragonair. Lance's equally blue-haired sister came through the foliage surrounding their little clearing then, and gave a nod towards Alex. "I'll make sure he stays put. With the others we've captured."

"Keep him wrapped up." Alex said, caution in his tone, "If we give him a chance to flee, he will take it. My team has his Pokémon handled." Indeed, each of them had subdued the Hand's Pokémon, usually by way of fainting. Only the Tyranitar had escaped underground, quickly outpacing his Lairon in digging speed.

Blue light surrounded their little group, as Alex lifted them into the air, ignoring the cries of surprise. They paused, as they saw the field of battle. Plenty of Trainers had, evidently, fallen to the surprise attack. Most had been out hoping to see history, not die in the first skirmish of the war. Only the strong had survived the Arcean's unified brutality. This would not be the first time their better equipment and tactics would kill all but the strong, and indeed, it was happening even at that moment, all along the newly established front between east and west.

Alex landed them next to Tao, who was still in his Mega Form. His long neck turned towards them, and focused on the prisoner they'd brought with them. The eyes narrowed, and began to glow with bright golden Purging Light as they focused on the Hand of Death, who began to laugh.

It was an unnerving sound, one that almost hurt to hear, but eventually it was silenced by the thundering Voice of the Original Dragon. "Ahvakaar…" The eyes flared, burning with impossibly bright Light energy, and the laughs turned to a brief, pitiable scream as the Hand was incinerated. The Dragonair, who to their credit had not moved, had been untouched, and even healed, in the Light the Original Dragon now wielded.

Tao raised his head again, and snorted in distaste. His eyes focused on his Tamer, and he spoke only to him, then. "If ever you doubt why Pravus needs to die…remember the creature you just saw. Undeath is the antithesis of what we stand for. There is life, there is death, always in Balance. Undeath disrupts that Balance, usually by increasing the amount of death, and the world around such creatures suffers as a result. They are beings to be pitied, for they should not be, but are."

Alex nodded, responding the same way. "I hadn't intended to like it, but…it really is inevitable. If he takes total control, the number of things like that Hand is only going to increase. But that does make me wonder…what of Ghost Types?"

The dragon's eyes glanced away, "They…are quite different. Mainly for guiding the dead who get lost or diverted on their path to Arceus' realm, though they can also be lost themselves, and be very powerful because of it. Some, like your little spark, were simply composed of Ghost Type energy originally, and imbued with sentience. What gives said sentience varies between ghosts. Undeath is…different. Ghost Types come to be when those with Normal typing pass on. Usually, their energy goes straight to the Spirit World, but there are always exceptions. Abominations are…different. They can only be raised with the Shadow energy you've seen, given the freedom to once more roam among the living, but do not forget, always their goal is to empower the Shadow. It's not surprising Pravus figured out how to bind the dead to his will. There may yet be more of these."

Alex raised a brow at that, his third eye glaring at the dragon. "And if I encounter them, what am I supposed to do? Slicing this one didn't really work."

The dragon sighed. "It would have, if you'd found an opening…but his form was impressive, even I have to admit. Most cannot use dual-scythes so effectively. If you want to put these creatures down, you will need to Purge them, as I did. You meet their gaze, you hold it, and then you summon the Light. If they are not part of the natural order, they will be burned away. It has other uses as well, but stick to using it to cleanse the abomination's partners for now. I will make sure they do not cause more trouble."

Alex mulled that over as he did as instructed. The Hand's team had eventually been corralled, and all but the Noivern had accepted being bound. Once they were free of the Shadow's taint, they each apologized for what they'd been unable to control, and Alex found he understood them completely when they spoke. Likely a result of King Harmonia's gift. With the team cleansed and the purple egg of the phoenix in the Sage's capable hands, Alex climbed onto the Original Dragon's back, after thanking the siblings, and the two soared towards the palace. It was covered with lazing dragon types, all who had an eye on the massive form of Shruikan circling them overhead, like death itself. Alex spied Nate by the front entrance, speaking with the Sages.

The newly raised palace had been hit quite hard, but the Sages had earned their keep, and had kept any Arceans from entering. Now, they were barring Nate's way. Alex hopped off of Tao, who then perched by wrapping around the building. In his evolved state, he encircled all of it, easily. The dragon gave Shruikan a look then, and the massive dragon landed on the newly raised earth, then curled up for a nap.

Nate glanced at the Champion, and the two shared nods of mutual respect. He hadn't been around as often as Hilbert, and Alex hadn't made too strong of an effort to hang more. Namely because of the man's obnoxiously loud friend Hugh, who hung around him almost every day, trying to beat the Champion turned Gym Leader. He had not, according to Hilda, beaten Nate even once, but that hadn't stopped him. Nate hadn't seemed to mind their lack of contact, as he'd been focused on Rosa at the time, and little else.

Alex spoke first, "Thank you, for responding so quickly. Without the dragons, we would've tasted defeat, not victory."

Tao chuckled, and a murmur of draconic laughter rumbled from those also perched on the steps of the enormous pyramidal palace. The two humans stared up at him. "Victory? No…not victory. Not yet. This is only the first of many sparks that will ignite the flames Pravus craves." The dragon's eyes focused on the Gym Leader then. "We are going to need her. Wake her up." Nate bowed, and nodded, evidently quite aware of who Tao meant.

He turned to Alex then, and shrugged. "Tao told me to guard our homeland. That's what I've been doing. I hunt them, and Rosa jails them." His expression seemed to indicate he didn't care for the current state of affairs, and neither, frankly, did Alex. Tao sent a mental wave of agreement as well, though his mind was engaged now with the Sages, who had each floated up to him, and bowed in unison.

Alex spoke then, "I think it's time we change that. I don't need Arceans in Unova. Not while we're at war, at least. They've demonstrated that they'll do whatever their cult leaders order them to. No matter how morally questionable. They're a risk to our people, while this conflict exists."

Nate raised an eyebrow of his own as the Champion spoke. "So what do you intend to do about them...Dragon Emperor?"

Alex gave the man a grim smirk. "I'm going to give them a chance to redeem themselves…and I have a feeling many will take it."

Nate flinched as the Champion summoned his massive, napping Salamence with little more than a glance. The man leapt atop the dragon's head with a jump that no normal human could ever match as he flew by the formerly buried palace, Nate followed on his Hydreigon, as Tao and the Seven Sages properly conversed for the first time in millennia. Other dragons followed them into the sky, each carrying several prisoners bound to their backs by rope.

Now cleansed of the Shadow, the Hand's formerly enslaved Pokémon had agreed that, with their master gone, their loyalty to the human's cult was void. They'd taken off south, to the verdant forests, with Absol leading them. Said Absol had also promised Arthur that, should he ever need their aid, he would have it, for what he'd tried to do by freeing them in Fornia. Alex had listened in, mostly by accident, but again found himself understanding Pokéspeech with no difficulty.

The thunder of dragons headed north, towards Opelucid City once more, and as Alex and Nate peeled off and landed in Lacunosa Town just to the east of New Tork City's northern borough, he grimaced at what the town had become. Gone was the sleepy little walled village. After being turned into a prison by the Arceans under Ghetsis, and then reclaimed by the Unovan residents, the town had become the unofficial holding area for any Arceans that had been deemed a threat by the Unovan's police forces, and newly expanding military.

Conditions were, compared to the Church's prisons, luxurious. Three meals, time for exercise, and even access to TV. Nobody…official had come to the quietly forgotten town, and thus the 'prisoners' had never been interrogated.

"I'll need to see them one at a time." Alex said to Nate, as they headed toward the now militaristic camp's main building.

Nate chuckled, as he saw who'd come out to meet them. "That's not really my call."

The two Champions were as awkward and flustered as they'd ever been in the other's presence, and Alex waited patiently as the awkward small talk between he and Rosa dragged on. When there was a painful pause, he spoke. "It's time we freed up these people for the front line. You included, Rosa. One way or another, today, these Arceans are no longer our burden. I need a room. Soundproofed. Send them to me one at a time."

The woman glanced between him, and then Nate, who just shrugged, and then she nodded, seemingly glad for the chance to be free of watching these people. After weeks of hearing them whine and threaten litigation, which due to the current state of war, and governmental reorganization, would be pointless, she was ready to push them on someone else.

He ended up being given the mess hall, which had once been one of the townspeople's homes. The original occupants had been 'transferred' to Fornia, and the new Arcean occupants had been trampled to death in an icy stampede from Kyurem. Thus, it had been repurposed.

The first of the two hundred or so people he'd be forced to speak with came in, and set the tone for how most of the 'interrogations' would go. She was evidently someone who'd been captured from Castelia, in the sewers, amongst other militant Arceans who had been planning sabotage for use in this very conflict.

To his credit, Alex tried every other method first. He asked about her family. She had a husband, and three children. He asked where they were, and found they'd been scattered effectively around the Church's territory. He asked when she'd last seen them. She hadn't answered. He asked if that was what she'd wanted, and he came to learn that she'd been raised in this cult, and didn't know better. Staying apart was what families did. Saving the planet was too important.

He turned on the TV he'd had brought in then, and showed her the video that he'd asked Haley to work on over the summer. A guide for someone who'd been brainwashed into the Arcean cult and the many, many things they didn't know about it. He knew it needed some updating now, but it got the point across, once she watched. She saw how easily Pravus had whipped her deluded countrymen into a bloody frenzy. Getting her to watch had been a conflict in itself. Only by forcing her eyes and ears open by way of a brief, controlled burst of psychic power did she finally literally see the long history of sketchy violence and practices her Church was party to.

In truth, he'd only forced her eyes for a moment. Once they'd seen the screen, they'd stayed open out of pure human curiosity, and she'd been engrossed in the hard, disturbing evidence behind the Church's activities, much of which she knew the Church had already very specifically denied. From her perspective, it had been a little odd. At random times, the Church-run news network would make announcements about events they hadn't been openly linked to, with no other information about why they denied these claims officially being released. Most of their people hadn't known about the incidents in the first place, but they just assumed that the Prophet, for whatever reason, knew they had to be aware of this information. If they were going to Save the world.

It took several hours, but eventually, he felt certain that the woman understood, to a degree, the truth of things. Her resistance towards him had eroded to irritated acceptance, rather than outright shunning. He gave her a choice then, in exchange for turning infiltrator, Unova would find her relations, free them, and show them what she'd seen as well. He offered to help de-program them to the falsehoods they'd been fed, and eventually she agreed. She would claim to have escaped custody, and would be churned back into the machine that was the Church.

From there, the Rebels would guide her, as they were most familiar with what they needed to find. Tao had them focused on gathering as much intel on their foes as possible, though those among the Tribe that had wanted to fight, had been encouraged to do so. They were the ones currently in charge of whipping Unova's many skilled Trainers into physical fighting shape, and some semblance of an army.

Alex called in the next candidate, and after a few more hours of similar tactics, he'd convinced the man in question to settle a farm somewhere in Unova, and leave saving his family from the Church to the Dragon Emperor himself. He suddenly had a long list of names and locations to memorize, but Alex found that it was actually quite easy. His mind categorized information in a useful, and entirely new way since his trials. He found he could feasibly Teleport close enough to many of the people in question, and for those he couldn't, he always had other methods of travel.

Sorting through the entire 'camp' took several days, but Tao assured him that he had the war handled, for the moment, and that what he was doing was more important. There were billions of Fornians under the Church. The better he became at breaking their delusions, the quicker this war would end.

In the end only eighteen had refused his offers, even after learning, and more disturbingly, accepting, what their Church had done. They'd told him that it was the only way the Prophet could Save the planet. Before he could, he needed to dominate it, and because he was immortal, in time, he would. They had believed that they were the first generation of an army that would one day spread Arceus' Word to the stars as well. A Star Crusade, they called it. Where humanity would expand rapidly under the Church's influence, and cleanse any unworthy sentients or psychic-heretics they encountered. According to them, Pravus already had a working ship as well, one that could travel the stars in hours, rather than years.

It was a convincing tale, Alex admitted, and one he might very well have believed if he, like these people, had grown up with indoctrination in every hour of his early life. The more he broke their illusions however, the more he wondered. His granduncle had nurtured his skeptic side, but he'd always had a rational outlook on things. He'd figured out Santa shared Mom's handwriting when he was five, by comparing presents. He probably wouldn't have fit in, in Fornia.

That thought prompted a final round of interrogation. He let the now all but belligerent prisoners each ramble on for five minutes exactly, before cutting through whatever parroted nonsense they were spewing with a Word that silenced them as it shook the very air. He'd then asked what became of kids who had been like him, who were inherently skeptical. Or at the very least doubtful, of what the adults claimed was truth.

Each of the men had grinned at the question. It was a disturbing look, one his instincts told him was genuinely evil. The worst side humanity had to offer. What they told him was, in so many words, the same. Children like him were shipped off, sometimes for years at a time, to the Navy. There, trapped on a ship with naught but open sea for miles, they would learn to obey…or be thrown overboard to the Sharpedo swarms that acted as their battle-yacht's engines.

Many of the Sharpedo grew quite massive, and the strongest of those, were captured and infused with Shadow. The Navy had held their largely unnecessary blockade of the ocean for years. Japan had no interest in their land, and Eous was busy fighting the Imperium. Alola was isolated, but they hadn't weighed in on the current conflict yet. Word of it probably hadn't even reached them.

It seemed once again the Prophet had engineered a useful tool that accomplished several things at once. A powerful navy, which would keep the Alolans from going anywhere near the western coast regardless of what they decided, and a system that sorted the weak, and created strong water type Trainers. Still unnerved, he'd finally asked Tao what he thought, and the dragon seemed surprised. Evidently emperors of old believed their decisions were the right ones. Rarely did they consult him, after taking power.

The dragon had mentally watched his protégé interrogate the Fornians, and he had quietly grown cold in dread. This rhetoric was being spewed from low-level information gatherers. He knew, based on what he'd learned of the organization, that this 'devotion' would only be stronger the higher ranked one was. The army of 'Crusaders' were considered soldiers, and therefor were relatively high in the pecking order. They, and their families, were given the best lives the Church could offer in return for service, and thus, their loyalty was quite strong.

Finally, he gave his Tamer an answer. "Men like these are going to be the majority in those who've taken up arms against us. Their…certainty will be much stronger, their faith unquestioning. You will need your Voice to make them listen…or…you can try to Purge them. It is not always an attack, but can sometimes remove a being's inner conflict with…let's call it 'divine insight'. Once Purged, even their Bishops are likely to bow to you."

He could feel the dislike of the option in the human, and it was a long while before he responded. "And what would those I Purged be like, when this war ends? Will I be ruling over a bunch of devoutly loyal subjects missing half their natural emotions?" The dragon let silence speak for itself, and he sensed the human sigh. "That's what I thought. I can Purge men like these…the infiltrators, the soldiers, if we must…they'll never turn…but for the general masses, the civilians, I will need the right Words. First, I think I need to visit someone whose likely found them before…"

Shor's Hall, Uppsalir – Norstad Region

Alex felt a bit awkward, just Teleporting to Thor's own hall, but he did remember it well enough to do so. His stupidly large fist pounded the door three times, and after a moment, one of the Einherjar opened the door, and nodded at him in greeting. "Dovahkiin. You are welcome in Thor's hall always, for bringing Doom upon the World Eater. Come. Feast. I will retrieve Thor." Alex nodded, briefly examining the warrior as he entered and followed him. Most of Thor's warriors looked identical, well over his own height of six feet and five inches, bearded, and with similar skin to Thor's though where his was golden, theirs was silver, and up close he noted, faint straight lines ran across the warrior's skin, much like Thor's. It was not long before the God of Thunder himself appeared, grinning broadly as he saw Alex.

The grip hurt less, Alex noticed, as he and the Thunder God clasped the other by the wrist, in the manner of his people. "Welcome back, Dovahkiin. What brings you again into mine hall?"

He met the god's eyes then, and saw them widen. "You may have heard…I recently became the ruler of my people. You may have also heard that we're at war…and it is not going well. Not yet, anyways, or so the Dragon says. He claims to have a plan, and I trust his word." He saw the being casually rest a hand on the hilt of his hammer as he listened and nodded. "I come seeking your help with…a matter of the Voice. I know your people would usually just charge in, fight, and let nature decide who the strongest is, but I don't want to kill millions of people. Especially as I intend to rule them, as well. If I don't kill as many of their relatives, I'll have less…revenge-driven enemies, in the long run."

The Thunder God nodded his golden-haired head once more, "I understand. You believe the power of the Storm Voice will sway them from their…religious indoctrination. You would be correct. This means you are also aware, or at least assume, my people did something similar once."

Alex nodded. "Something like that…but from what the legends say, it wasn't a hostile takeover. The Aesir and Humans interacted plenty without…too much senseless violence."

That got a chuckle from the Asgardian, as they sat, and ate of the feast that took up most of the central room of the hall. To Alex's knowledge, the food was always fresh, and always present. And always delicious.

"The Humans were not that difficult to bend…we came to this world, shooting lightning and healing wounds, stopping natural disasters with skills we all, to a degree, possess. The belief that we were superior, and therefor divine, came naturally, in many cases, and it was not something we discouraged." The gold-skinned being put a hand on his shoulder then. "I know you hesitate to cause more bloodshed, and more violent cycles of revenge, but you need to understand something. These…Fornians, they are not like the Humans we encountered so very, very long ago shivering in the cold of this very land under straw-thatched roofs. They are smarter. Cunning. Aware of the natural forces, and unnatural ones, at work around them. They are more like the Jotuns. And I assume you have heard tell of how many of those we had to kill. Many by mine own hammer. There are some minions of Shadow that will not break, not even to a Hyper Voice."

Alex munched quietly on a random piece of meat, attached to a perfectly sized bone jutting from it. It was delicious, easy to chew, and none of the meat got on his hand, for the bone-like protrusion accommodated his ridiculously large fingers. Seeing the young human still in distress, Thor sighed.

"Very well…to know the Word to break them, you must know who they are. What the bedrock of their belief is. You must shatter the wrongness of it in an impactful way…then, at least, they will be confused, and hesitant to fight. They will think, and in that moment, many will understand what they are a part of. The good ones will rebel, and the number of dead will…lessen. The good news is that you are fighting a cult mentality. What breaks one thoroughly enough will likely work on most of them. But first…"

The Dragon Emperor smirked then, as the understanding slowly came across his features. "I must know my enemy. Thank you, Thor…I do appreciate the wisdom. And the food." They both chuckled at that, and bit into their respective hunks of meat. Alex caught the god's eye then, and saw a crimson eyebrow rise suggestively. Alex smirked, and rolled his eyes, but swung his backpack around anyways.

After several minutes of casual chatting, and setting up the instruments involved with enjoying the Leaf, the Aesir spoke, "And you say this…bong…can be fashioned of thunderclouds?"

Alex shrugged, but then nodded. "That's how the Dragon made this one. It's practically unbreakable. Do not." He said, as he saw the grinning god reaching for his hammer. He had a bad habit of smashing it into unbreakable things.

"I will forge you a new one!" Thor said, grinning at the dark grey instrument. He wanted to try Mjolnir's strength against that of the Original Dragon's. He'd heard the legend of the serpent's power, and now there was a chance to test himself against it right in front of him.

"After we smoke. I have a spare he made as well, just as useful, and a bit cleaner if I'm honest. It is always wise to carry a spare. You can bang on that one." That, thankfully, kept the God of Thunder from smashing the already packed instrument, and the two enjoyed the brief hours of peace, before the war that was to come.

Norstad had changed quite a bit since Alduin fell. The Everwinter had finally broken. Sun returned to the land, and Percy had made great efforts to regrow the forests. It was still cold, of course, but nothing compared to what had once been. While the Fairy King had rounded up the strongest of Norstad's new Trainers, each of whom had been inspired by the songs regarding the Fall of Alduin, and the role a Trainer had played in it, Thor had promised himself, his host of warriors, and a squad of Articuno flyers to reinforce their Unovan friends as well. He claimed to have a score to settle, with the Prophet. They were due to rendezvous with Professor Buckeye's forces in Ohiana over the next few days.

That only left Kalos unusually quiet. In all the long years the two had been allies, whenever the Imperium threatened Kalos, Unova would come to aid. When previous incarnations of Fornia had done the same as the current one, Kalos had come to Unova's aid, but now, after four attacks on the capital, and the outbreak of war, there was naught from Kalos but silence.

Lumiose City – Kalos Region

"It is time, Venu. Dark Burst." Four shadowy wings, akin to a Venomoth's, surrounded the figure under the full moon. He was a man, garbed now in a skin-tight suit that looked quite breathable, despite the skin-tightness. It was mainly purple in color, though there were hints of black as well. In the night sky, he was hard to see.

He soared high over Lumiose, and grinned. "Finally…those Hearts will be mine…"

The darkness in his wings flared as they continued to carry him ever higher. A voice came quietly from them, one he'd rarely heard of late. "Do not forget to whom you promised those artifacts, Dark Moth…"

"I remember, hag…" The man muttered. The legends said that whoever possessed both would be granted unlimited power, and while he'd been tempted to use that himself, another had made her interest in them known. She had been quite persuasive in convincing him that having ultimate power all the time was something that, inevitably, would ruin his relationship with the one he wanted revived. Therefor, he would bring the Hearts of Life and Death to her, and she would revive, in all capacities, the woman he'd lost. He did not doubt her skill, and did not desire any errors in such a revival process.

"Now…descend, my Shadow Spore!" The wings flared again, and orbs of darkness descended upon the sleeping citizens of Lumiose. Over the past few weeks, incidents involving people turned into 'super villains' had been an almost daily occurrence. It hadn't been long before most of the city had been affected by the oddness.

Normally, the Gym Leader would call in the League's help, but Clemont had, supposedly, locked himself in Lumiose Tower. In reality, nobody had seen him in public for quite a while. It wasn't all that unusual, as he'd created an automatic Gym Leader to handle his challengers while he invented decades ago, and the people of the region were now quite familiar with Clembot, but it had been months now with no word from anyone in the Gym. Aside from the machine, who wasn't programmed to answer questions about his maker.

With the absence of any official response, two Pokémon Trainers had answered the call to action. In their own words, these citizens turned dark called themselves villains. The two who stood against them figured there might as well be heroes, too. Nobody knew how the two heroes had acquired the Burst Hearts the turned citizens always seemed obsessed with stealing, but they'd given the ability to fuse a Trainer with their Pokémon, and become something new altogether. When normal Mega Evolution had failed, they'd stepped up, continuously, to drive off the unnaturally powerful opponents, and eventually cleanse them of the Shadow's influence.

Now, most of those who'd been cleansed were once more given the power, and once more, the Dark Moth's minions rose. The abilities his own Burst Heart gave him empowered both the citizen in question, and their Pokémon partner with varied supernatural abilities that made them quite strong. As expected, this usually led to chaos, but thus far, it had been relatively isolated chaos as Dark Moth tested his powers. It wasn't long before Lumiose was alight with the sounds of battle, as the local Trainers rose to meet the overwhelming numbers of brainwashed 'villains'.

Thankfully, the two Trainers who had become Kalos' newest faces of justice hadn't been slouching when it came to figuring out what was causing these transformations. They'd discussed the possibility of what might happen if the Shadows hit more than one person at once. After that, they'd reached out to the League itself by physically visiting the Elite Four's home, and in response, the Champion had been sent.

He'd rallied the other Gym Leaders of course, and their mission was to break into the Lumiose Tower, to find Clemont, and have him activate the city's defenses. They had a stun setting, as well as a violent one, for when the invaders came for blood, and plunder. Given that the people attacking currently were citizens, stunning would be enough.

Connor Gladstone had joined the two 'heroes', and quickly realized this…'Heart power' was easily as strong as Mega Evolution. His Infernape Ardor had put up a good fight against the dark-winged moth man, but it was soon clear that their side needed a boost. That was when the female Trainer, who was part Ledian at that moment, handed him an empty Heart. Since it belonged to another, they could only use it once, but given that it was empty, it would work. Maybe.

The fused combination of Trainer and Pokémon on a Champion's level quickly brought the villain down, hard. They'd only traded a few blows, and that had been all the burning ape man had needed. Raikou's fighting style, and their shared fighting typing, had enhanced the fusion, and Connor was almost disappointed that they could only use it this once. It would definitely smash through Alex's aura shield.

The 'Ledi Girl' proceeded to use what appeared to be some variation of a bright Silver Wind, and managed to engulf all of Lumiose within it, effectively cleansing the city of the shadowy balls of energy driving the citizens mad. Connor let the power fade, and both he and Ardor stretched, still in sync, as they became themselves once more.

"Oof. That's going to be sore for a bit. You two do this all the time, hmm?" He approached the girl, and her partner 'Night Cat', a Trainer who evidently had a Liepard, who'd held the swarm of powerful minions off while the Champion removed the source of their power. He handed the girl the empty Heart, and she stuffed it away.

Night Cat spoke then, "Our Pokémon fused with the Hearts when we found them. One was, apparently, once Xerneas's, and the other held Yveltal. We inherited some of their power. When a Pokémon becomes tied to a Heart, it's…painful to remove them from it. But it can be done, the plus side though, is no lingering side-effects. Borrowing the power of a Heart not your own can be…strenuous, on both the Trainer and the Heart crystal. It's best not to do it too often."

Connor frowned at that, mulling over the information. Kalos' entities of life and destruction had likely been subjected to significant pain, if it was true. Perhaps that was what made them so much more shy than their Norstad counterparts. The heroes left then, to protect their 'secret identity', and Connor joined the Gym Leaders in Lumiose Tower.

They were in the midst of tying up a struggling Clemont, whose entire body was radiating a dark, visible aura. His eyes were constantly rolled back, and he appeared to be unconscious, like a puppet almost, when he moved. The struggling ceased as Connor stood before him. Clemont grinned then, but an elderly woman's voice came from his mouth. "Ahh! The Champion…good, good. I'm glad you are here. Now my collection of Heroes is complete…I finally have the entire Kalosian set!"

Connor raised a dark crimson brow, as the others readied their Pokéballs. Despite being tied up, Clemont rose into the air, and his face's grin was…unsettling. "What do you mean? You're speaking nonsense…" Connor said, also readying a ball.

Clemont raised his arms then, and the Champion swore as the three heroes of his homeland, the Swords of Justice, stepped from the shadow. They were engulfed in the same purple energy as Clemont, but none more so than Cobalion. The steel and fighting type's eyes looked tortured, and the veins around them had taken on the same color as the energy coursing through him, and his counterparts.

"Fall back!" Connor ordered, and the Gym Leaders quickly did so, before the Swords could strike. Kalos was no stranger to strategic withdrawal. They moved into the Gym's battle arena then, and summoned their partners. All of them. Clemont's own team of a Diggersby and a Luxray joined the Swords, burning as dark as they did, and the battle quickly devolved into chaos.

Then, tearing through all of it, came a dark purple Flamethrower that threatened to engulf the Champion's whole party. An aura shield of scarlet-pink energy surrounded each of them before it hit, as well as their partners, and moved each of them away as another equally large, but normal colored Flamethrower collided with the first.

The pair of Delphox who'd cast the attacks stepped onto the Gym's field then, and Connor stared as a member of his own Elite Four, and hero in her own right, came shambling out to stand beside Clemont. He was busy reviving his partners, who had not been shielded or moved. The Swords had each defended themselves, seemingly on pure instinct, with their Sacred Swords. It had diverted most of the flames from them.

Kalos's newest Champion turned to see their rescuer then, and pinched his brow. It was, of course, his sister, once more in a different outfit. It was frilly and Kalosian, but she'd kept the black and white color scheme. "I had it handled, sister."

Jess smirked at him as she joined her partner in the Trainer's box of the field. It seemed they'd be doing this properly, as Clemont had shambled backwards alongside the Swords, leaving only Serena to face her. "If you'd had that handled, you wouldn't have been falling back to this entrance. Take care of Clemont, would you? Bind him. I can cleanse them all once we settle this…"

Connor followed his sister's gaze, and raised a brow as he eyed the two Delphox. They both had unsettling grins on their sly features, and their eyes burned with psychic power. He summoned his Garchomp, and moved for the electric type Gym Leader.

The two foxes made an unseeable motion with their arms, and two more massive Flamethrowers collided. By now, their field was clear, which was good, for the intense heat had charred it, thoroughly.

The Delphox who opposed them had an aura that seethed with Shadow, and it flared as the voice from before spoke again in the same unsettling tones, tilting the Fox's head sideways as it spoke. "I'll show you mine if you show me yours…"

She brought out a staff of dark wood then, another Flamethrower already prepared. Delphi brought her own staff out, a similar attack readied as well, which manifested as a small but intense burning sphere within the reddish brown colored wood claws that made up the tip.

The voice's owner laughed. "What the Hel is that supposed to be? Everyone knows Ash staves are the best."

Delphi glanced at her Trainer, nodded, then turned her sly eyes back to her opponent. "I prefer Redwood." She seemed to chuckle as she attacked, and her opponent quickly did the same, only to find that she'd been outclassed. The Blast Burn tore through the Flamethrower, and hit the enemy fox, her Trainer, and Clemont as well in a massive explosion of flame that left Delphi panting, and leaning on the sturdy Redwood staff. Of the Swords, there was no sign.

Gar had been handling the Luxray, and Connor let him battle on his own instinct, as he knew it would be good practice for the real Luxray they were preparing for. Gren had struck the Diggersby from the shadows, only to be countered by a quick Thunder from the electric lion.

Strong as Gren was, he was not the hardiest of Pokémon, and though he managed to hang on through the critical hit, Connor recalled him. Gar could handle the Luxray alone, and as Clemont fell, singed by magical fire, The Luxray in mid Thunder Fang had paused, instinctually drawn by the pain from his Trainer despite his being possessed. Gar gained the distraction he needed to strike, and he brought the thunder cat down, hard, shaking the entire gym with his Earthquake.

The dragon type roared triumphantly, and Connor used an escape rope to bind the possessed Gym Leader, as Jess did the same to Serena. She brought out her Articuno, then. Though it was nearing winter, it very much felt as though it had arrived as Folokraan materialized from her ball. The entire gym became akin to a storage freezer in temperature, and ice began forming over every surface in the gym.

Gone was the hatchling, as after she'd begun to battle, she'd grown rapidly in size. Few could withstand the power of a Legendary bird. Compared to her kin in her village, she was still noticeably young, but given that most people never got the chance to see an Articuno this close, it wasn't very noticeable.

The spectacle she put on was enough of a distraction. Icy blue light enveloped the Trainers, and their partners, and the Shadow burned away as it burned intensely white. The humans regained consciousness, but their partners remained fainted.

Connor stared at his sister in disbelief. "When did she learn that? Is that a move?"

Jess nodded. "Purge. Her sisters know it as well. The strongest of them can cleanse Shadow with it." She left out picking it up from the Original Dragon, when he'd assigned her to call on Kalos' aid. Officially. She'd dressed for Kalos, but hadn't expected to be ambushed by civilian 'super villains', and then face down one of the Elite Four in Clemont's gym. Despite all the flames, she'd managed to remain unsinged.

"Useful…" Connor muttered. His own lover, the village's seeress, hadn't mentioned that it was an actual move. She'd claimed it was just something Articuno could do. Moves could be shared, with enough training, and having a partner that could cleanse Shadow would be useful. He glanced at their cleansed allies, and then back to her. "Why are you here, anyway?"

She raised a crimson brow at him. "Because Pravus is invading us, idiote. Unova calls for aid."

Connor chuckled. "The mighty 'Dragon Emperor' needs help eh? Well I'm employed by the Pokémon League. And they are, for the moment, taking a neutral stance. If you want Kalos's aid, you need to speak to their Prince."

Jess rolled her eyes at them, patting her Articuno, and then recalling her to the recolored Luxury Ball that she seemed to enjoy. "And where is Calem, hmm? I'd heard he vanished."

Connor glared at her. The only ones who knew the Prince's public identity were the Elite Four, and the Champion, and he had a feeling she'd been reading minds again. The League had an agreement with those who governed Kalos. Their people would both protect and train their royalty, and nobility, and in return the League had gotten to use one of the region's oldest castles for their Elite Four to face challengers in.

Calem had certainly proved that the region's royals could still battle with the best of them after he'd gone from helping Professor Sycamore to being dragged into the Flare Incident, but after his Chesnaught had fallen to Alain's flames, he'd simply vanished. "Probably at the palace. Good luck getting in." Connor muttered, as he looked around for the Swords of Justice. It seemed in the chaos, whoever was puppeting them had made a strategic retreat of their own.

Jess smirked, recalled her partner, and headed for the exit. "Compared to this, getting in there will be cake."

Unity Tower, Castelia City – Unova Region

The encircling form of the Original Dragon shifted outside of the window as the room within was a mix of chaos and activity. From the tower, the eastern forces had been coordinating. They were retreating on all fronts, save for the Kanadian one. Their massive border wall that spanned the majority of the continent's width proved quite useful in repelling the Crusaders, and the Trainers manning it were some of the best Kanadia had produced.

Each of the eastern Trainers who now found themselves soldiers in a reborn empire were given leave to, if they desired, take ten partners, rather than six. Their enemies had capitalized on the trend once the League officials running the World Tournament had announced the raised Pokémon limit cap. Most serious Trainers had enough partners in their storage systems to fill four extra slots, and the Original Dragon himself had given them leave to expand their belts, as soon as possible. Statistically, larger teams meant more squads surviving. Being the largest population on the planet had its advantages, and new Trainers from the capital were arriving to reinforce what remained of the State's militias by the day. Slowly, something resembling a proper front had formed, but the Fornian advance was relentless. It was also slow.

It had troubled Tao that these Crusaders, all decent Trainers who had full teams of ten, only ever walked towards their forces, on foot. Plenty had capable mounts, who would make useful firepower as well, but the Church's legions remained on foot as they marched. When his Tamer had mentioned the abomination's talk of a Blitz, Tao had called in his ace in this war.

From the east, Norstad specifically, Rayquaza came at the head of roughly fifty Graybeards, each of whom had been trained for, and seen, war. They had been busy as, at Tao's request, they had taken the bones of the World Eater, purified them of any potentially lingering taint, and then forged them into armor the likes of which had never been seen this far west.

It wasn't long before Texico too eventually called in the retreat east. Despite being prepared, the Crusaders were too relentless, and the desert didn't provide the kind of food the greener lands to the north did. Tao had told them to retreat towards the Swamp, which had, of course, been met with trepidation.

Many who lived in the central areas of the continent could trace their roots back to that salty, ever-growing Swamp. It had forced their ancestors west, towards lands not occupied by humans for quite some time. They had flourished, especially under the dragon's empire, but they never forgot, and the Swamp grew larger all the time.

It was from the Swamp, that their secret weapons were coming. The Champions of the east, many of whom had thus far been forced to sit by, training, as their homes were invaded, had been summoned by their master. The Sage had given them a choice when war broke out, and panic, as well as anger at those whose States had willingly turned and supported the Arcean Church, surged through the now bustling island that had become akin to a small city with how many Trainers now resided there.

Their options were stay, and be considered allies in the war to come, or they could go home, be found out for their psychic powers, end up in a camp, and help no one. Only a few had left, and contact with them had quickly been lost. Gone were the mud huts that had littered the island, as the clever Champions, ever in search of more ideal places to chill, had learned that combining certain energies from their Plate shards created useful, sturdy building material. The dormitories had changed as well, becoming properly furnished apartments that eventually rivaled the Swamp Tree in size as more floors were added to them, simple in design, small, but private. With such a large surge in population, getting everyone comfortable had been their first priority, and everyone had helped build, if they wanted a roof over their head when the rain came. Slowly, the long days of hard work, and equally frustrating training, drove out many who had come to the Sage seeking 'magic powers'.

By the time Tao called on the Sage, they were mostly ready. A squad of the hundred strongest Champions had been drawn together, Trainers who had, like their 'Emperor', awakened a typing-based power. Some had even changed their normal typing as well. It was these hundred that Tao had called to the tower in their capital.

There, they had met the new Dragon Emperor, and had each, eventually, pledged to help. In some capacity. Nate, Rosa, Hilda, and even her brother were there with Alex. Evidently, they were all being given command, as they had all successfully bonded with the Dragon of Unova at some point, and understood his methods and battle style quite well by this point.

Their confidence was reinforced when Tao addressed them with his thundering mental baritone. "Champions. Each of you has been called here because the very Balance of our land now lies with whoever wins this unfortunate conflict." His head rose slowly within the room from the window it was leaning in through on the tower as he spoke, and his Tamer smirked, long familiar with how the dragon manipulated his fellow humans during Tinvaak.

"I am forming a force of…elite fighters, in both martial combat, and Battling. You have each demonstrated a gift for both. Now, I am calling on you to fight. Unova requires your aid…and should you choose to accept, we will outfit you with the…appropriate gear for the station you'll be holding." The dragon gave his Tamer a nod, and the Champions of Unova each smirked. Rumors of what Alex had on his belt now had exploded after the skirmish outside the newly raised Imperial Palace.

Naturally, the rumors about copies of his weapon had also spread, and the Brain Trust, in conjunction with the smiths of the Graybeard's order, had perfected armor for their elite troops.

Eric had explained how the armor was compressed into the device on his belt, but Alex had lost track after he'd sidetracked into explaining something involving 'nanofiber-bots'. Evidently, he'd copied the usefulness of Tao's clothing into the mesh joint-coverings each suit had, and the suits would, upon being damaged, attempt to repair both the wearer and itself. The pieces of dragonbone had been forged into unique designs, and given 'enchantments', based on the Champion who'd be wearing the armor. Many had held their titles for years, but nobody had questioned how the Graybeards had acquired a list of traits and abilities that could only have come from the League. Alex's own armor had been Voice Forged with Plate shards of every type, the majority of which had come from his own gathered collection. He'd held onto the Flame, Meadow, and Earth crystals, as they had sentimental value to him.

The Dragon Emperor stepped forward then, and addressed the group as he hit the new bone-white belt, and activated his own armor. It covered his tall form from head to toe, and the white bone armor made a good contrast with the black mesh beneath it. It strongly resembled what Percy had garbed him in, namely the Dragonbone set from the video game he'd influenced Norstad with, albeit with some key differences. Each forearm sported a carved Salamence head with its jaws open, though thankfully the carved teeth didn't obstruct his hand's mobility. His helmet covered most of his face, but kept the classic styled horns as well. Each step clanked heavily on the metal roof as he strode towards them. His fellow Champions activated their own armor, which formed up from their belts in the same manner that his had, namely with a flash of energy as the belts reconstructed the protective coverings around their wearers.

Alex saw many of the hundred gathered smirk, as they recognized his helmet's design, as well as the armor's. Spiky protrusions of dragonbone in Percy's aesthetic adorned the man's wide shoulders now, and he brought forward the leathery black cloak that hung from the back, concealing most of the armor from sight. He raised his right hand then, igniting Lux and the other Champions did the same with their own freshly made weapons. "Who will join us?"

The hands rose quickly, and the Dragon Emperor smirked. His lower jaw was the only part of his face still visible, aside from the intense, and bluish-purple eyes, now burning with energy. "I'm glad you're all ready…you'll have to find your own Chargestones, but once you do…you will have your sword. It will be a symbol of your rank out in the field. Do. Not. Lose. It. And don't forget to keep it charged."

The Champions were each given armor then, and they soon discovered that each suit had already been tailored to their fighting styles. Their emperor then bid them to go into the Chargestone caves, and come out with a crystal that felt right to their senses. They had each gained a heightened perception from the Sage's training, despite it not always being psychic. It took several hours, but eventually each candidate returned with a crystal. No one was harmed, and the wildlife remained somewhat undisturbed. Galvantula had a reputation as a fast special attacker, and many 'foreign' Champions had been eager to add an electric spider to their teams, but beyond that, the local Pokémon seemed intact in population density.

When they returned to the top of the Unity tower, they found the Unovan Champions, each covered with a leathery black cloak similar to the Dragon Emperor's, in that it concealed their forms well and hung down from their armored shoulders. Each set of the armor came with one, but nobody else had figured out how to activate theirs yet. They were called down to a certain level of the tower then, and it didn't take long for the Champions to realize they were being sorted by region, as each floor of the tower had been repurposed to connect with and coordinate the forces in the corresponding region.

The Dragon Emperor met with them once they came in, and gave each a freshly fabricated hilt. Evidently, Percy had returned only hours earlier, but his Melmetal were already proving invaluable. Percy had been given a blade as well, though according to Eric, he'd somehow changed it to be pink, before rushing off somewhere else.

Once the Champion in question managed to ignite their new blade, Alex welcomed them into the Scales of Balance, the chosen moniker of their new order. They were then sorted, by their personal preference, to one of the Unovan Champions, and put into their squad. After some minor shuffling, they each had sixteen fellow Champions under their banner. Nate and Rosa were deployed to reinforce the south then, and would be getting those the Sage next deemed ready. There were several who were worthy, but an even hundred had been required first. Now, the others would be called up in waves determined by their readiness, outfitted, and split between the two commanders in the south.

The twins were sent to the north and center part of the lines, where they had been told to dig in when possible, and combine the local militias into a proper force. Jess had left picking her squad to Alex while she was off in Kalos, and naturally, she'd ended up with an all-female team, with an even split of Champions and Articuno Riders she'd befriended in the Swamp. Quite a large group of riders had agreed to join this new fighting force after his latest visit to Norstad, and were given blades as well. Armor, they declined, as they claimed they did not need to wear Alduin's bones to be safe. Alex's own squad was comprised of mostly men, for there hadn't been an even split in sexes. Many of the female Champions had learned quicker than their male counterparts, and thus, there were more of them amongst the first hundred.

Those under him were the comrades he'd known best while training, and fellow Leaf heads, one from each of the eastern regions currently being invaded. By no coincidence, they were also, usually, the strongest of the Champions from their homeland. For the moment, he led both squads, as Jess was busy. They would be in charge of relieving the Kanadians in the far west, and taking the arctic regions there. Then, they would push down into Fornia itself, and force the Church to defend, rather than attack. The Blitz had, according to the dragon, begun in earnest. Crusaders had begun running down exposed eastern camps, and the Scales were needed desperately. Within five days, the Dragon Empire had managed to provide an answer to the soldiers charging towards them. It remained to be seen if they would be enough.

Sahqoreyth · Mar 28, 2024

Melting Point

(The following is a short story that fits snugly into Chapter 26, and introduces several important characters. Skipping is not advised, for this one.)

Sacreus' Bunker Base – Fornia Region

Doctor Ein made a noise of disgust, as the name 'Wes' was read aloud from the report that had just come in. Their scouts had discovered where the Veloraptar had gone in only a few short days. Evidently, the presumed-dead Trainer called Wes had come out of retirement for this conflict, and somehow, had stolen Ein's prized creation. Ein assumed he felt somewhat embarrassed that his own state of Orre had fallen so…quickly. This was retaliation. His precious Veloraptar had been 'snagged' apparently, or so the locals who'd witnessed the event claimed.

Though the beast had been fast, the time power of a nearby Celebi, one thought previously to be only rumor, had given the aged Snatcher a fair chance at catching the Pokémon. He was too young, and frankly unstable, to handle a Dark Ball, and thus the capture had worked. The promised Draco Plates had been delayed by some seemingly random act of thievery, and now, the chance to mold the Pokémon's mind, and evolution, was gone.

He turned to his ridiculously garbed employer, who quite literally fancied himself a demigod, and said with all the reverence he could muster, "We need to retrieve him, my Prophet. Without that specimen, we have no chance of de-thro-"

The doctor was interrupted by a fist, encased in Shadow energy, slamming across his cheek. He was on the ground then, and Pravus loomed over him, glaring down with those awful eyes of red. "Do not presume to give me orders, Doctor. You'll get your pet back…or we'll mine up another. Our destiny is before us…do not spoil it by having such a loose tongue. His eyes glared at the technicians around them, working at their stations. Most, the smart ones, simply tuned out events like this, and focused on work, unless specifically called by name.

The ones who did not last long at their posts, and there were always a few, were the ones who listened too obviously, or in some cases, dared to watch said events unfold.

The room turned an eerie red, as black and red arcs of lightning flew from the Prophet's outstretched fingers, and into the workers who'd let their eyes wander. The Prophet had not been gentle, and many of the burns were serious. He had expected things in Unova to, finally, work to his advantage. But evidently, a sky full of enemy dragons was impossible to fool.

"It is time we put the Redwood whelp in his place. Begin marching the lines east. Tell the Generals the time for the Blitz has come. No stopping! No rest! I want this land conquered before the Unovans can form a hard defensive line." The Prophet's words had a hard edge, and his loyal minions worked rather quickly, despite their injuries, to accomplish the Leader's orders, and send out messages to the commanders on the border.

They had already begun pushing, though in reality, they had been marching rather slowly. Now, each of the Crusaders would summon a Pokémon to ride into battle, and the already retreating easterners would quickly be overwhelmed by their combined speed. All across the border, the Arceans advanced.

His lieutenant, Samson, stepped forward then. "My Prophet." He bowed his head. "The Texicans have known this was coming for a while…their Champion learned far more than he should have in Orre. I'm afraid this has caused a drive for unity amongst their people. As far north as Kentu's borders, we've had reports of organized resistance…and Ohiana has Professor Buckeye, and his Suicune."

That got the Prophet's attention. "He's summoned the North Wind? It seems the first part of this war may begin in earnest. Prepare a ship, a fighter. Make sure there are plenty of Dark Balls. I'm going to declaw his forces, too."

The lieutenant saluted, quietly glad that, for once, relatively bad news hadn't been met with a random, brutal beating. "Yes, my Prophet." The man might've felt sympathy for the Trainers about to lose their beloved partners to the Shadow, but they were heretics. They deserved no less for daring to oppose the savior of mankind.

Fifty Miles East of Arcino – Fornia Region

"You know, when I said you could disguise me, I had something else in mind…" The voice belonged to Wes, the unofficial 'hero' of the Orre region, and the man he was speaking to was quite a long way from home. But Percy had a task to complete. And a promise to cash in on.

The Fairy King smirked at his last-minute partner, who was now guised as a little girl. Cute, blonde, and complete with pigtails. He'd bumped into Percy on the only road that went into this part of the desert, and they'd found that their destinations were the same. Thus, they had joined forces, for a time. Everything had gone smoothly until they came closer to their goal. Percy had insisted on disguises, and though they'd made good time with them, Wes had been demanding a different guise for over an hour now, as they'd traveled across the dry brush landscape to their destination.

Percy was guised as an old man, with a beard of gray that covered most of his face. He'd even gone with an eyepatch, over his right eye. The story was, supposedly, that this random grandfather just happened to be wandering through a desert with his relative. Completely believable.

His argument had been that people in Norstad traveled across vast swathes of wastes just to survive all the time, but Wes had a feeling Arceans avoided that. Their Church paid for everything, which included transportation to wherever they were 'assigned'.

In the end, it hadn't mattered. They came upon their destination without encountering anyone. Now up close, Percy could see many details his abrupt satellite scan of the area hadn't picked up on. The facility was in what had once been a crater, which could only have come from a meteoric impact. Pools of undulating silvery metal were all over the crater, and had plenty of space between them. Oddly enough, there was no wall, not even a fence, surrounding the crater. Only several large, and easily avoidable turrets, placed about the rim.

"I can feel the heat from here…" Wes muttered, his adult man's voice sounding entirely unnatural coming from the little girl he currently was.

"Hush." Old Percy said, smirking. The Trainer had a point, though. It was hot down there. That was likely what was keeping the Meltan, and their evolutions, in a constant liquid state. Then, the wind shifted, and the two shared a look. There was a…noise, of a kind, on the wind. A terrible high pitched groaning sound. The sound of hundreds of Melmetal, and their prior evolutions, crying out in pain. Apparently being forcibly melted together in burning holes in the ground was something they didn't like. "If we can free them…they would make powerful allies."

The little girl glared at the old man. "Or, they could run amok, and be disintegrated by those turrets. We need to find a way to help them out of those holes and disable the heat, as well as take out those guns. Seems we have two tasks."

Percy was already moving. "Dibs on the heater. Have fun with the giant guns!" He gave a casual wave as he strolled down the crater's steep edge, moving slowly, and letting his magic camouflage him. Wes was on his own. As a rare act of mercy, he dispelled the poor man's fairy typed disguise, and gave him a robe of shadows instead. It wasn't as stealthy as a genuine one, but tricking one's perception was a trademark of fairy energy.

Knowing the Arceans as he did, for Caleb Pravus had sent many a brainwasher to his tower, over the years, he knew their buildings typically went for a fortified underground approach. After many failed attempts to convert him, Percy had been 'given' inside secrets usually only reserved for Church members who'd put in their time, and worked for it. Evidently Pravus' reasoning was that he'd already done his time, and had still been doing it, thus he could be trusted. If he joined. The Prophet himself never actually visited him though, not until he'd been useful.

Eventually, Percy had acquiesced to their requests to 'ally' with their organization. It was better than rotting away in that tower, forgotten by the mortals of all but his home region. Technically, he was considered to be at 'stage eight' of twelve on their Church's 'path to enlightenment'. The completion of which, made one 'immune' to disease, and supposedly death. There was, of course, not one shred of evidence that completing each stage, something the people had to pay thousands, if not millions, of units of currency for, actually worked. The first Prophet, the man who'd founded the cult, and set up most of the current rules and regulations, had himself died of a sudden heart attack. Then, Pravus had seized control, and those who questioned him disappeared. Or so the rumors claimed.

It was an unusual death, to non-Arceans at least. In those early days, they'd been the largest of several regions in what was now Fornia, and the east kept an eye on them. Under Pravus, they had dominated, and expanded, uniting the Fornia region under one banner in a matter of years. The Prophet's.

Evidently the first Prophet, a normal, if charismatic human by all accounts, had been sequestered on one of his naval ships after their cult was sued into becoming ocean-bound refugees, and the advanced medical technology that could've saved him was too far away to do anything. Or so Pravus had told his mourning followers. All anyone knew of the man assuming control of what the original Prophet left behind was that he'd appeared one day on the coastal beaches, and had been helped by the original Prophet, who'd just happened to be strolling by that morning.

It wasn't long before the strange castaway had befriended the first Prophet, become his confidant, and upon his death, took over the, at that point, almost entirely naval cult whose only land holding had been Port: Land, close to the Kanadian border. The official Church statement had been that Pravus' predecessor had been called to Arceus' side, and therefor had to abandon his body. Or something. Getting those details had been a slog, for many had not wished to speak of the first Prophet. Only the current one mattered, apparently. After well over two centuries of control, it wasn't surprising that the current generation was so unflinchingly loyal. Percy knew how malleable humans could be, if one influenced them young enough. It was why immortals and long-lived tyrants were so effective.

Once Percy finally found a bunker entrance, he used what skill he'd honed over the long millennia to subdue a guard, examine his mind, and take his place in the order of things by way of disguise. In this manner, he slowly made his way through the rank and file, until he made his way lower into the facility, broke a machine, and then found a maintenance worker, and took his identity as well. The illusions hiding their unconscious (and possibly deceased) bodies would hopefully last as long as their mission here would.

The room he was looking for, he had learned, was indeed located deep underground. A furnace, evidently powered by not one, but two male Heatran. As he finally came upon the chamber in question however, he found the armed guards, in standard soldier attire, already violently and permanently dispatched. Someone was inside, mumbling to themselves.

The room only had one entrance, from a walkway that, thanks to the technician's knowledge, Percy knew was over sixty percent Dolomite, a durable, heat resistant blending of metal. The walkway was above the chamber, most of which was taken up by the machine within. The two Heatran were there, and they were massive, held unmoving in some kind of stasis, constantly giving off as much heat as they could manage.

Percy decided on stealth at that moment, and listened in. "No…No. No. Nonono. Where the hell are they? I know there's *burp* some here." The man speaking, and belching in between sentences, looked like a Professor, and had the hair for it. Wild, spiky, with a bald spot only visible from behind. It was pink, save for faint streaks of white within. For the most part, he seemed like a normal human, but he'd already taken down four soldiers of the Church's Task Force, who lay unmoving on the floor of the underground prison with gaping wounds in their vital organs. Looks were deceiving.

Another, far more annoying voice came then. "Aw geeze, Rick. I don't think this guy is alive. Rick? Rick! I don't want to be an accomplice to murder, Rick! I want- I want to go to school!"

A loud belch filled the small underground cavern, followed by more speech from this Rick person. "School? You want be some *belch* miiiindless sheep that comes at the call of a *burp* bell? Fine. If all you're going to do is *burp* biiiitch, then you can go. Here. Go on, Grampa is right behind you." Percy glanced down, and his eyes widened as he saw the man fire a device with a pink crystal embedded in the top. At the push of a button, it tore open a portal in reality. It was a pinkish scarlet color, but the smaller owner of the annoying voice walked through without complaint.

The belching figure went back to rummaging, and moments later exclaimed, "Woahoho! Jackpot!"

Deciding he'd had enough stealth Percy dispelled his illusion as he leapt the stairs down to the machine, and winced at the intensity of the heat. He turned to his fellow intruder, who hadn't noticed him, and said, "Hello there."

Rick stood and turned slowly, and Percy got his first good look at him. Bored expression. Bloodshot eyes. Pink hair. Professor's labcoat. In one hand was the device that had torn a hole in the very fabric of space for travel. In the other was a large, almost plant-like seed looking object that seemed to pulse with heat. Rick handed him the seed then.

"Here. *Burp* Hoooold this. I can only carry two." He reached down to grab more of the strange objects, and Percy winced as he examined it in his reluctant grasp.

"I'm Percy by the way… erm, What…exactly am I holding? And why?"

"Heatran Seeds. The only thing that *burp* burns hotter than these babies is my eternal devotion to Szechuan Sauce. I need them for my…uhh…science. Just follow me through the *burp* pooortal, quick trip, in and out." Rick stood then, and Percy observed that his 'seeds' seemed to be more…fresh, as they were dripping some kind of ichor.

"Not so fast…" A new voice crowed from above them. The two men looked up to behold a new figure, another man, though almost as flamboyant as Percy. He had a long brown coat, and under it, a suit of clothes whose color scheme seemed oddly familiar. Deep blue, steel gray, and a light blue as well.

He too held a device. It was thinner than Rick's and had a blue crystal embedded at the tip that was the same light blue hue as his clothes. He was staring at them with what seemed like disbelief, as he pointed it at them, and it buzzed for a moment, then stopped. Percy felt a brief intrusion into his mind, but it was so quick, he almost missed it.

The crimson, almost scarlet haired man spoke again, then. "Ahh…Humans. Of course, it's Humans." He stared down at them with sad, angry eyes. "I thought you'd been wiped out…all that effort, and you destroyed yourselves anyways. Gave in to your 'inevitable doom'. It's enough to make a man give up…for a time. The running never really stops."

Percy raised a brow at him, ignoring the unsettling throbbing from the seed that, the more he looked at it, seemed more flesh than plant. "You seem to have outdated information. We bounced back. Have you really not seen a Human since Old Earth fell? How old are you?"

The red headed man adjusted his bowtie then and smirked, "Old enough, actually…right. Humans. Earth. House call. Imprisoned Meltan in a hellish crater." He looked down at his side then, and Percy spied a rather small Meltan, clinging to his pantleg. "You never said you were from Earth. But I'm here now. The Doctor is in."

He strode down the steps then, past Percy and a silent, unnerved Rick. He had visibly tensed at the man's words, specifically 'Doctor', and was looking at the strange man like he knew him, but the newcomer no longer seemed to care that they existed. The Meltan clinging to his right leg was struggling to stay somewhat solid in the intense heat the machine holding the Heatran gave off.

There was a familiar noise as a pink portal opened, and then closed rapidly, as Rick stepped through, leaving Percy holding the throbbing seed. "That's not a plant seed you know." The 'doctor' said as he scanned the machine with his tiny stick, and appeared to, somehow, read what it had to say about it.

"What is it then?" Percy asked, holding it away from him.

"It seems Humanity is as brutal as ever. Heatran give off the most heat when they're in intense pain. What you're holding in your hand is what whoever put these poor fellows in there had cut off, to keep that pain fresh, to keep the heat coming, to keep…the Meltan melted." He stared at Percy then, as if noticing him for the first time. It wasn't an unpleasant stare, nor was the man ugly. Not Percy's type, for he'd had both sexes and everything in between in his time, but attractive enough. "Where am I, anyway? Location, Year, etcetera? All I found was empty tunnels on the way in."

Percy set the 'seed' down, and then summoned his Glaceon, who formed a Water Pulse in a small, spinning sphere that he could wash his hands clean with. "You're some miles west of Arcino, in the Fornia region, some giant underground crater facility. The people running this operation are called Arceans. They're a…religious group. Big on militancy."

The doctor sighed, voice dripping with sarcasm as he examined the machine's controls. "Fan-tas-tic. I love a cult. Militant, eh? Let me guess. Plenty of guns?"

Percy shrugged. "A few firearms, like pistols perhaps, but their main weapon is the staves they make from the metal here. They're capable of shooting elemental beam attacks in the form of flame, ice, or lightning. They're quite strong. Are you telling me you just appeared in this place with no idea what was going on?"

The redhead nodded again, then blinked. "That's kind of my MO. Wait. What? Are you telling me you've all already gone and surpassed projectile weaponry for beam energy?" He looked at his bare wrist the way one might look for a watch, paused for a moment, then shook his head clear of old habits.

Percy chuckled. "Most modern regions are capable of producing capture-spheres that hold their partners in their own pocket dimensions. They're quite cozy, too. Beam weapons aren't that hard to reproduce, but it's cheaper to just teach a Pokémon how to use Hyper Beam."

The doctor raised a brow, and then lifted his dark brown long jacket, revealing a team of his own. "Capture-spheres? You mean like these?"

The Pokéballs looked rather old, to Percy's eyes, a bit knackered, but ordinary, to him. A nice combination of red and white in the classic style. He'd quickly reacquainted himself with the modern world's capture technology, and had even begun sneaking it to those in Norstad he knew could benefit from having them. This 'doctor' and his team looked several decades off, but then, some claimed the older balls worked better than the new. He hadn't been around for that era, so he didn't know if such things were true.

"Humans who can Battle…right. That…complicates matters. Deal with that later…for now, friend Percy, white-clothed, pale-skinned Percy, you have ice types yes? Like your Glaceon here? I want you to have them use Ice Beam on this console." He gestured to it, and then took several steps back.

Percy's Glaceon, who was already out and listening, used Ice Beam then. While it did cool, it evidently wasn't enough. His Beartic got involved as well then, and that was when the doctor deemed it ready. "Alright…we should be all set. L-9, would you do the honors?"

A Lucario materialized from his belt then, shaking his head as he once more became corporeal, and not energy. He gave his partner a nod, and with a motion so fast even Percy's eyes had trouble following, the console split in half diagonally. The Lucario gave his aura-bone a twirl, and it faded then. The redhead gave his friend a pat on the head, and then eyed the tanks.

"Oh…that seems to have woken them up…" He slowly turned to Percy, awkward smile on his face. The kind one makes when they know they've accidentally messed up.

His Glaceon began growling at the tanks, and Percy glanced from her, to the doctor. "What does that mean?"

"Well, do you know what happens to cold glass when it's rapidly heated?" The glass on both tanks began to crack, as the fluid holding the Heatran began to boil once more. The two angry males were awake, in agony, and the area around them would boil for it. It didn't take long before the entire holding cell began splitting apart.

"It means run!" The Doctor shouted as he bolted for the stairs and Percy sprinted after the redhead. He wasn't all that worried about stealth, for not many people were authorized to be this far down, and the roars of the pained Heatran began echoing through the tunnels as they broke free of their prison, incoherent with rage. Anyone with sense, would run from a sound like that.

"Not that I don't like exercise…" Percy said, panting after several minutes of running, "But do we have a destination in mind?"

"We do!" The Doctor said, taking a sudden right. He led them into a large cavern, big enough for aircraft, and with an equally large exit, which was open. On the 'landing area' outside, little more than a slab of poorly made metal, was the sleeping form of a God. Or the closest thing Pokémon, and humans, had to one. The beast that controlled and maintained the very flow of the Time Vortex.

Dialga.

They sprinted out of the enormous hangar, for indeed there were several aircraft which were currently stored away in the walls of the red stone common to the area. Behind them, almost forty feet of wall rapidly melted, as a pair of massive Heatran, eyes burning with purple shadows, came charging after them.

Dialga opened one eye as the Doctor approached it, and Percy, who had run before with other Tamers of Legendary Pokémon, found himself suddenly cautious as he saw the sad, angry eyes of the Time Deity.

"Right…" The Doctor said, as he saw Dialga's reaction, stopped, turned, and raised a hand. The two massive Heatran prepared another Magma Storm as they rapidly approached. "This is where it gets complicated." The man snapped his fingers, and Dialga Roared.

Meanwhile…

Wes had decided to test his recently snagged Pokémon on the Arceans guarding the large, imposing energy cannons that encircled the base. Having had an interest in fossils and the creatures his ancestors had named 'dinosaurs' since he learned that was what Orre was most famous for, he knew exactly what species this Pokémon had come from. That was why he'd laughed when he saw the ID on the vest he'd been wearing, and the name the Arceans had evidently given this revived species. He'd called the Pokémon out some hours after escaping the Arcean onslaught, but quickly realized that bonding with a Pokémon like this could help turn the tide of the oncoming war.

After taking down the entire crater rim's defenses in less than twenty minutes, Wes knew he'd made the right choice. Oddly enough, he hadn't been tainted with Shadow, which was a nice change of pace from the Pokémon he usually took from Arceans. He'd tied them to continued Shadow Infusion for years, had even told the League, but nobody had acted on the information. Now, his home had paid the price.

He gave the raptor a scratch under his thin chin as he came trotting back, and the beast made a trilling sound that anyone could tell contained joy. "Not bad. Not bad at all. Now we go get ready to help the Meltan. This way."

The creature did something then that surprised the Trainer. It crouched low, and stared directly at him with an unnerving amount of intelligence. He wondered what exactly the Arceans had done to the creature, or if said intelligence was just a part of this species, but decided to trust the inherent kindness of every Pokémon he'd ever befriended. He climbed onto the creature's back, and wrapped his arms around his neck.

They began running then, and though he was slowed by the weight, the Pokémon's speed was still, especially for a part rock type, quite impressive. They assaulted each pool quickly, and Wes called out his Espeon and Umbreon to give them a hand once they quickly found their opponents overwhelming them by disregarding any kind of battle etiquette, or rules.

There was a reason he was a top-ranked Trainer, even if he did come from the sparsely populated Orre region. He'd handled far more grunts in his time than the Church had garrisoned here. Thankfully, this was only half of the population. The others were, he had learned after studying a map and shift schedule by one of the turrets, all garrisoned in the tunnels below, and were off-duty.

Once they were done, they could only sit and wait, until Percy disabled the heat. A few of the Nut Pokémon had, upon seeing their torturers beaten, tried climbing out of their rocky prison. The heat always melted them however, and they oozed back down into the pool of silver and eyes.

After five minutes of pacing, Wes sighed. "I'm done waiting. I'm doing what I came here to do." His Pokémon perked up at his words, which had broken the 'silence' between them. In truth, this close to the pools, the Meltan and their evolutions drowned out the chance for conversation. They sensed freedom near, and all of them yearned for it. The sound was overpowering. "You three stand guard. E.S.P., help them up with Psychic when the heat goes off. I'll be back." His Espeon nodded, and sat himself by the rim of one of the central craters.

With that, Wes dashed into the nearest tunnel. His contacts in the Fornian Rebellion had given him a map of the complex that revealed enough of the structure to get him where he wanted to go, and nowhere else. Thankfully, it was easy enough to follow.

When the Arcean Crusaders had overwhelmed Mt. Battle, and then the entire Orre region in a few hours, and claimed the region theirs, they had taken prisoners to ensure that the 'heroes' of the region didn't stir up any trouble.

Naturally, this had meant kidnapping the girl who could see auras. Rui. Dear to both her cousin Michael and Wes, the Church had claimed that she was in a safe place, being well treated, as long as everyone obeyed the new order. Before long, what few residents the region had were suddenly giving their conquerors their hard-earned money, to take 'classes' on the cult they now had the pleasure of paying to be part of. Those who resisted usually conformed once they were threatened with being shipped away to a mining camp in Fornia. Even in Orre, the locals had heard dark rumors of the Church's protocols in such places. War had, undoubtedly, made them worse. It always did.

Only a few had persistently resisted the Church, but it was enough for Wes to decide he'd had enough of sitting around. The disappearances had started slow, but eventually, he kept an eye on those who did defy the Church, and it wasn't long before he had tailed the black clad Task Force members to the only road that existed in this part of the desert.

Now, finally, he was here. After hearing the Meltan's cries, he doubted these people were treating her well. Humans who could do that to innocent Pokémon were the worst kind of scum. He needed to free as many people as possible.

The tunnel before him read 'Prison', but the letters were in the shape of Unown. After hearing several rumors about such things, Wes moved slowly past them, down the hall, and towards the cells, which were little more than Iron bars and melted out caves. It was oppressively hot, and the entire place stank of unwashed, sweaty human.

Forcing himself to ignore the stink, he listened, and his ears caught a hint of her voice. He knew it quite well. Wes stalked towards the noise, until finally, he found Rui's cell.

She was repeating something. Over and over, hunched in a corner of the small cage carved into the rock. As cells went, it was rather nice. A real bed. A real pillow. A toilet that evidently had been cleaned, and recently. He raised a brow as he tried to make out what she was mumbling. "Rui?"

She twitched at the sound of his voice, and began rocking in place. "I can't see them, I promise…I can't see them… I can't…"

Wes glanced at the bars, and then called out his Typhlosion. The air shimmered, and the bars melted quickly as the Pokémon turned his back to them, and snorted, causing his flames to rise. He then moved to stand guard in the tunnel, hiding low on all fours.

Wes gave the bars a second to cool, and then stepped into the cell. The entire time, she had kept repeating the same words. "Rui? It's me. I'm getting you out of here."

She stopped rocking in place, and glanced at him, eyes wide in terror. "No…please Doctor…I can't see them, I promise…I can't…"

Wes' eyes narrowed. "Doctor who?"

Rui looked back at the corner, still repeating the words. He moved to touch her shoulder, and when she didn't strike at him, he picked her up, and set her on his Typhlosion. "Typho…get her out of here. Run all the way back home if you have to. But keep her safe."

Typho was one of his best trained Pokémon, who Wes had trained almost as long as his Espeon and Umbreon. The powerful Pokémon nodded, but followed behind his Trainer as they tried to quietly move back through the tunnels. Rui kept whispering however, and every few minutes, she'd grow louder. Typho would calm her by generating some heat from his neck, but it never stopped her mouth from moving.

They parted as they returned to the central hallway of the prison. After examining the locks he hadn't melted, Wes figured there was an electronic 'open' switch somewhere, and indeed there was. He defeated the man guarding it, who called himself a 'Bishop', and had claimed superiority to a Trainer like him. After a quick battle, Wes took the man's ID card with the bored expression of a man who'd done this several hundred times, and eventually, found the switch to open the cells. He smirked as he saw many residents of Orre stumbling free.

They each looked tired, but determined as they recognized the Snatcher, and it wasn't long before they began rushing for the exit. Wes joined them, and led them out of the tunnels. Right as they ran out, and returned to the craters of Meltan, the entire complex began to shake, and roars of pure rage echoed throughout.

Wes told everyone not fit to battle to flee, and all but a small group of Trainers did. They had Pokémon partners that had been taken, and refused to give up on them. Wes had explained that they were likely infused with Shadow now, and lent them his Snag Machine. At least until they recaptured their friends, and left this hellish place.

Once they'd left, his Espeon got his attention. The Melmetal were climbing up, forming cohesive bodies. The craters glowed with the white energy of evolution, as many of the Meltan came together to reach the next stage. They'd been unable while melted, but now, they all sought revenge, and that fueled their evolution.

In the end, the craters produced roughly twenty of the giant living metal beings, who began moving, unified, in each compass direction of their crater prison. They would cleanse all of it. They moved into the shaking tunnels, and exacted revenge upon the humans that had inflicted unimaginable pain upon them for decades now. Each giant had been surrounded by a crowd of Meltan at their feet, who aided their evolved kin with unified and timely Flash Cannons. Collapsed tunnels were easily fixed as they moved through the complex, but the metal used to prop them open was weak, and would eventually break if the shaking continued.

With Typho and the residents of Orre on their long way home, Wes recalled his eeveelutions, and decided to try to find Percy. He had no love for the man, but it felt wrong to abandon a fellow traveler when they'd come here together, and he wouldn't wish being captured by this cult on anyone after getting a firsthand look at their prison. Thankfully, he didn't have to look far once he climbed to the crater's rim again. The exploding hangar caught his attention, as did the unmistakable figure of Dialga, facing down two giant Heatran.

He was already moving towards the massive figures atop his raptor, but quickly realized he was too far to do anything. Dialga roared, and Wes watched as he ran. The two Heatran shrank in size as the Roar's power surrounded them, and seemed to calm them, slightly, though they still attacked with a pair of Magma Storms. He saw a Glaceon freeze the waves of molten rock in place, and then watched as a Lucario smashed them to pieces with a single strike from a bone club that looked like it was made of pure energy.

Things seemed to calm down then, and by the time Wes had run over, the same Lucario had subdued the pair by using its aura waves to keep them calm, and somewhat docile. Percy was speaking to a red-haired man with a unique fashion sense. "And they won't remember any of it?"

The man grinned. "Nope. It's like their trauma never happened. Now, all I have to do is bring them home, and their sense of time will return fairly quick. They'll have a few nightmares…but in time, they'll fade. Provided they're not disturbed."

The doctor chuckled as he saw Wes approach them, and raised a brow at his choice of mount. "Is that...what I think it is? Oh you are...gorgeous!" Wes opened his mouth to warn the stranger away, but the initially hesitant Veloraptar allowed the man to touch his snout, and then trilled as he began scratching the underside of his neck. "You'll want to get him right under the jaw, back here...that's the spot he likes best. Isn't it you beauty."

Wes raised a brow at the man. "How do you know that, exactly?"

The man winked at him as he gave the beast, whose tongue now lolled out of his razor-sharp toothy maw, a thorough scratching. "I speak raptor."

Wes shifted, and he glanced down at the raptor's legs. Dangerous looking claws adorned each limb, perfect for gripping and tearing prey, but now, one of them was twitching, in direct time to the man's attentions. He felt himself laugh, despite the absurdity of the situation, and the looming form of the Time God above them.

Percy and Wes gave a bow as the man made his way towards Dialga, though they didn't quite know why. It seemed right. The Doctor placed a hand on Dialga then and gave them a wave with the other. The two were then encased in a cube of blue energy that floated into the air, and shot skyward, where it shortly disappeared. Percy smirked, as he'd heard the strange doctor shout with glee as they vanished.

Wes raised a brow at him. "Was…was that Dialga's Tamer?"

Percy nodded. "He called himself the Doctor…"

Wes' eyes slowly hardened, and he glared up at where the cube had vanished. "Doctor who, exactly?"

The Fairy King shrugged. "He never gave a name, just…doctor. Why?"

Wes went on to fill in the events he'd dealt with while Percy had chatted up strangers who seemed to be able to warp space and time as they pleased.

Once he was finished, the light blonde man shook his head, and recalled his Glaceon. "I don't think that doctor was the one your Rui mentioned…he's not tied to this place, in fact, he seemed surprised that Humans still even existed on Earth."

They had begun walking again, on their way from the base. The crater now smoked from every entrance, and destruction was everywhere. Wes followed Percy, as he seemed to have a destination in mind for them. "Really? Well then who was she talking about?"

Percy glanced at him. "Like you have to ask. There's only one doctor I know of that meddles with Shadow infusion. That would have the...depraved idea of creating a place like this. You've met him, if the legends are true."

"Ein…" Wes spoke the name like a curse.

"Exactly." Percy said as he crossed his arms, and stopped. The Meltan that had traveled with and then been left behind by the Doctor was now stood beside him jiggling with excitement. They were before one of the larger rock formations just outside of the crater. Before Wes could ask why they'd come to stare at a rock, he got an answer.

The stone exploded outward, as a roughly ten-foot-tall hole appeared in the side of it. From it, came no less than twenty lumbering Melmetal, all surrounded by small groups of their prior evolution. Dark red drops circulated through each of their bodies, and Percy didn't have to ask where they'd come from. There was a reason humans had been warned not to anger powerful Pokémon. This was often the result. The Meltan that had been with them thus far rejoined its kin, and was soon lost in the swarm of golden hex nut heads, and silver.

Percy spread his arms as each of the giants stood before them, forming a semicircle. "Hello Melmetal! And hello Meltan as well. I expect your revenge went well, aye?"

Each of the creatures began readying an all-too-familiar sphere of normal type energy that presaged the use of a move absurdly common to powerful Pokémon like these. "Now now, no need for that…I'm Percy. This is Wes. With efforts from both of us, we freed you, and now, we'd like your help."

The balls of energy stopped growing in size, but still remained. One of the Meltan by the centermost giant wobbled forward, and Percy touched its mind.

Gratitude for freedom. Let us live in peace.

The Pokémon let their attacks fade, and turned then, but not before Percy spoke. "I'm afraid it's not that simple. Hear me out, please." The giant's eyes moved back to him, and waited, motionless.

Percy took the pause to speak, "I for one, am fully behind letting you all get back to what you were doing before you were imprisoned here, however, I imagine quite a few of you still yet hunger for revenge, yes? I saw…I saw the data for how many Meltan had simply fallen, dissolved to the heat. You have my condolences…as well as an opportunity to strike back at those who've been abusing you. Unova and Fornia are at war, and the east could use a supply of metal, gathered properly of course. In return for your aid, I'm told that the Original Dragon, who is indeed now once more whole, intends to give you land in which to live, undisturbed, once this is all over."

The Melmetal looked at each other, and three of them wandered away, evidently not interested in revenge, only rest. Percy didn't blame them for leaving, but thankfully, the Meltan following them stayed, and began to shine, as they combined with the other swarms around the giants to form another Melmetal. That left them with eighteen.

"Good." Percy said, smirking now that he had their attention. "The lizard will work out the details with each of you. You will have your chance for revenge."

The newest Melmetal intruded on his mind then, and Percy winced. The contact was powerful, and, he realized slowly, boiling with rage for all those who'd died senselessly. There are others. Must find them.

"Leave that to myself, and my allies. Your prison was obvious, easily found from orbit, but if there are others, they will be harder to track. They're all likely underground. We'll begin searching for them as soon as we return to Unova." A single Meltan oozed from one of the giants as Percy spoke.

This one knows of others. Give them same agreement? Land? Home?

Percy nodded. "I'm sure the dragon won't have an issue with that. I'll use this one's memories to find the others. Now prepare yourselves…this might feel strange."

Each of the Melmetal placed their fists on the ground, and knelt on both 'knees', as they sensed what Percy was about to do. He turned to Wes then, and chuckled. "It seems this is where we part ways. Tao will move you to Orre…since apparently that's what you want. Are you sure you wouldn't prefer somewhere less…hostilely occupied?"

It was Wes's turn to chuckle. "If I wanted unoccupied, I wouldn't go east. That's where the soldiers went. My moneys on south. No Church down there."

Percy shrugged. "South of Orre, and free of Arceans eh? Well, if you really want to test the legend of the 'Dark Continent', you go right ahead. I'm bound for Unova…I've a debt to collect on." Percy offered a hand then, and Wes gave it a shake, before taking the three-point stance he'd been told, by Percy, was the best way to survive Teleporting, as it could be tricky.

He reached out to Tao, then linked with each of the Melmetal, and with the dragon's aid, Teleported all of them to Unova.

Wes was redirected to Orre with little more than a thought from the Original Dragon. It was where he'd wanted to go, and he didn't mind when he reappeared in Phenac City. It was close enough, and, his ride was parked here, conveniently.

The Trainers from earlier approached him, and returned his Snag machine. Evidently they had gotten their partners back and flown home. They had even cleared them of Shadow with nothing but the strength of their bonds, and rather quickly at that. The local Trainers had learned how from the best, after all.

He'd half expected them to take the machine for themselves, but the people of Orre had come to associate such things with two particular Trainers they considered heroes. Nobody would willingly rob their remote region's icons of their ability to cleanse captured Shadow Pokémon.

Back in Unova, Percy set to work on getting the Melmetal comfortable, and it wasn't long at all until the Brain Trust began fabricating the war's first plasma swords. Only time would tell if they would be enough to shift the oncoming tide in the east's favor.

The Redwood Saga (Pokémon Fanfiction, Crossover)

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