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Chapter 132 - Planning and Pantsing
CHAPTER 132 - Planning and Pantsing

It had all come down to this. My future relationship with the Poketch Company rode on this entire battle. I stared at the Poketch Watch I wore on my wrist and took a deep breath. Craig had recommended me and had put his full faith in my capabilities after witnessing my battle with Candice. I couldn't afford to flounder here.

"Welcome, challenger," Fantina started. "This will be a five-on-five battle with… two switch-ins allowed. I reserve the right to use any Pokemon in battle, and try to not kill my ghosts. Send out your Pokemon."

I grabbed Electabuzz's Pokeball and held it tight. I had mulled over my first choice over and over throughout the last week, and my only two options had been either him or Jellicent. Buddy would have been a safer choice, with his regenerative abilities being as strong as they were, and they'd allow me to scout any kind of illusions Fantina might employ. What ended up tipping the scales, however, was the fact that Electabuzz had a very important job that only he was capable of.

And it was related to, but was not his ability to sense ghosts.

With a smile, I sent out honey, who whirred his arms around, generating sparks of electricity all over his body.

Fantina sent out a Haunter.

Most ghosts' forms were hazy and made out of a smoke-like substance, at least while their bodies were not solidified. Haunter was different. I nervously bit my lip as the ghost type oozed up from the floor and slowly took form. The ghost type bulged and bubbled while two smaller hands separated themselves from the main body, secreting poison that dripped onto the floor. Purple, noxious fumes exuded from its body, and a gaping, empty mouth slowly opened, forming into a sinister grin.

Haunter opened its eyes and began to laugh.

A laugh that sent shivers down my spine. The sound was deep and guttural, but it sounded like it was inhaling instead of exhaling. Like a laugh slowed down and played in reverse. Even honey had lost his usual grin by now.

"Disappear," Fantina said.

Haunter cackled and phased out of existence immediately. She was pulling no punches, just like with Denzel and Cecilia. I took a deep breath and began to count.

Five seconds was about correct, according to the footage I watched.

"Discharge, make it quick!" I yelled.

With a defiant scream, Electabuzz clapped his hands and immediately sent out a low-powered surge of electricity all around him. Haunter's body hissed and popped, and the ghost type stared on with fury as the Discharge ran through his body despite him being invisible.

"Night Shade, and get back," Fantina said.

A ghostly copy of Haunter appeared in front of the poison type and flew toward Electabuzz.

"Thundershock," I said.

Another low-powered electric attack hurtled toward the shade, creating a shadowy explosion in between the two Pokemon. There was no need to waste Electabuzz's precious stamina if his attack wasn't going to hit his opponent.

What I was doing here was simple. I was planting a seed in Fantina's mind. She did not yet know that Electabuzz could sense ghosts, but she did know we could counter them. By showing my hand this early, I was signaling that Discharge was the only way that I had found to fight back against their invisibility.

I was luring her into a false sense of security, and hopefully, it'd pay off later if I could catch her by surprise.

"Haunter, Shadow Ball. Delay them."

Two spheres materialized in front of Haunter's hands. One flew at terrifying speed toward Electabuzz, and the other was more powerful, but slower.

"Now get in there and Curse."

There it was, I thought as I saw the poison type disappear. Curse was Haunter's most bothersome move. By delaying the two Shadow Balls, Fantina was countering my Discharge tactic, since honey would have to sit still to use it, and doing it twice in a row that fast was beyond his capabilities. I couldn't counter both attacks, and there was also the fact that Haunter was approaching to use Curse.

But that was fine. I snapped my fingers.

"Protect!" I yelled.

The first Shadow Ball slammed against a transparent, green barrier, but I knew that Electabuzz wouldn't be able to keep it up for long. Haunter was hiding somewhere close, just waiting for the Protect to come down so that he could Curse Electabuzz.

"Now, Discharge again!" I hurriedly ordered.

Honey immediately understood from my tone, and he sent out another low-powered Discharge all around himself. He knew where Haunter was, but he was still acting like he didn't know. In fact, he was acting so well that he was almost convincing me. A strand of poison dripped onto his head, and the ghost cried out in pain from the electric shock.

"Curse," Fantina said again. Haunter's pain-filled screams turned to a burst of joyous laughter as its eyes turned red, and Electabuzz gripped his chest and started coughing up blood.

I recalled him. I couldn't afford to have him take that much damage, especially when I'd need him later down the line. As it stood, I could have surprised Fantina with a powerful Thunderbolt that might have almost taken Haunter down, but I needed to keep my cards close to my chest. I was thinking long-term here.

I grabbed Tangrowth's Pokeball and released him. With him, I could simply go with brute strength. The grass type's vines wriggled anxiously as he stared at Haunter, who responded with a mocking laugh. Sending out a grass type against a poison type might have seemed unwise, but I knew from my hours of studying that the only poison type move this Haunter had was—

"Fill the arena with Smog!"

Haunter quite literally vomited, spitting out both poisonous liquid and Smog out of his mouth.

"Bind, just like we practiced!" I yelled.

Haunter was a ghost, but its body was quite a bit more solid than most, which was why it was slower both to disappear and travel while it was invisible. Drakloak, for example, could do so in barely two seconds, but Haunter needed five, which was only slightly slower than Dhelmise when it used Phantom Force. Tangrowth quickly flexed as a thin layer of darkness surrounded the six vines that shot out of his body, wrapping around the ghost type as it kept using Smog. I inhaled sharply when I realized that the poison was so corrosive that the vines were melting off, as if they had been dipped in Acid.

Still, it was enough to slow Haunter down, and Tangrowth diligently replaced the destroyed vines with new ones, quickly reaching fifteen in number.

Our practice had paid off. Bind by itself wouldn't have affected Haunter, but with a little bit of dark type energy, it worked. Thank Arceus for Chase and his Flamethrower for giving me the idea.

"Knock Off!"

Two out of the dozen vines let go of the ghost, straightened, and became truly dark. This wasn't like our makeshift tactic to slow Haunter, this was a move that would pack a real punch. Tangrowth slapped Haunter with both, and the poison type flew away, turning into goo as it fell on the ground.

"Get in there and keep hitting it with Knock Off!" I screamed, pointing toward Haunter.

It was starting to regather itself now, just like Jellicent had done against Zweilous, but I knew from experience that that process took energy and time.

And I also knew there could be trickery involved. As Tangrowth kept smacking the goo around with Knock Off before it could reform, I kept my eyes sharp, watching every single corner of the arena. Haunter hadn't done this in any of the videos I had watched, but I could never be too sure—

And certainly enough, there it was. Haunter was slowly reforming in the corner at my side of the battlefield while Tangrowth was focusing on bait.

"Angel, get back! The real body's here!" I yelled.

The grass type turned, and I saw that his face had been sprayed with poison from hitting Haunter too much. Tangrowth propelled himself with his vines and ran toward Haunter, but the ghost type had been too far to catch. He flew into the air and disappeared too quickly.

What I hadn't expected was for the supposed bait he had been hitting to also form into a coherent body. There were two of them.

Was this a new illusion I hadn't seen in any videos? A new trick that Fantina had taught her Haunter?

Or had this always been in her arsenal, and this was the challenge she was issuing to me?

There was no way to find out. I knew the plan would go off the rails at some point either way, now it was all about minimizing my mistakes and not letting the fight snowball out of control.

Which one was the real one?

"Haunter, attack," Fantina said.

Attack? What the hell did that even mean?! One of the Haunters started sending out Shadow Balls toward Tangrowth while the other disappeared. I suspected that Curse was coming, but Tangrowth was strong enough to withstand it, at least at the start. The damage would slowly stack up over time, but I could always switch again—

"Above you, angel!" I warned.

Haunter reappeared, and its eyes turned crimson. Tangrowth shrugged off two Shadow Balls from the other one in the distance and hit the Haunter above him away with Knock Off, but he'd be slowly afflicted by Curse. He winced, and his vines wriggled erratically from the pain.

"Hit the Shadow Balls before they get to you," I said.

He caused the next Shadow Ball to explode early by hitting them with vines. He was too big to dodge, so he'd still take some amount of damage from the blast, but this was better than taking damage for free. He propelled himself forward, hunting the Haunter he had just hit away.

Like I had been thinking before, I could always switch, but that meant that Togetic wouldn't be able to use Wish—

But I had dealt with this before! Plans needed to be adaptable! If I fell into the sunk-cost fallacy problem again, I was risking a loss! Tangrowth Knocked Off the Haunter, who was fleeing for dear life, but he wasn't leaving him enough time to turn invisible. If I had to guess, the real one was the one who was safely away from the fight, only fighting with Shadow Balls.

"Haunter, Smog," Fantina said.

Or Smog, now. I winced.

And then recalled Tangrowth. Long term, I probably could have won this, but I knew that wouldn't be the right thing to do. Electabuzz or Jellicent would be fine here, but Jellicent's abilities to float would mean that I'd be able to hit the real one easier.

I sent out buddy, who took to the air with a short Water Sport. The water type tilted his head as he stared at the two Haunter— one of which was still filling the arena with Smog.

And then his eyes shone so brightly that I could see them through his head. That was hatred.

"Calm down, bud," I breathed out. "Stay sharp. Get close and hit the real one with Shadow Ball. It's the one using Smog."

Jellicent narrowly avoided a Shadow Ball with Water Sport, and then stared at me to shake his head. For a moment, I feared that he just wouldn't listen to me, but I understood what he meant after a second. That wasn't the real one.

Jellicent summoned a huge cloud above the Haunter using Smog, and raindrops fell like bullets, penetrating through its body and turning it to mush. He took a Shadow Ball to the face before nimbly flying backward out of the poison's range, but Haunter quickly followed with one of its fists wreathed in shadows.

"Water Pulse, get him off you!" I yelled.

The water type instantly spat out a huge ring of water that was so highly pressurized that a part of Haunter's body disintegrated.

It was both of them. Both of them were real, and one had just fainted. It was only now that I noticed that they were both slightly smaller than the original one had been, and Fantina must have seen the realization on my face, because she immediately stopped her hands-off approach.

"Curse before you faint," she simply said.

The Haunter that had been hit by Brine surged forward, its body deforming until it looked just like a flying, poisonous liquid. It had taken in so much water from Brine that it appeared bloated. Meanwhile, the remains of the second Haunter joined the first one, bringing it back to its original size.

"Jellicent, Shadow Ball!"

He absolutely could not be hit by Curse here. I was out of switches, and even though he'd be able to last longer than the others with Recover, the damage would eventually outpace his regeneration. The water type gathered an immense amount of ghostly energy and let out a deep, booming sound as he sent the attack flying toward the misshapen Haunter.

The ghost laughed one last time as it exploded. Fantina waited for the remaining parts of his body to gather again to recall him.

"Haunter is unable to battle. Leader Fantina, send out your second Pokemon," the referee said.

I exhaled and felt my body relax slightly. Haunter was a tough Pokemon to beat, and despite having to use two switches, I had done so without losing anyone or taking substantial damage. I ordered Jellicent to Recover as Fantina sent out a… a what?

My ears tingled as I heard grains of sand shift on the floor. The sand slowly coalesced into a sand castle, and eagerly wiggled. I waited for a sound to come. A sound that I had expected to be disturbing, just like every other ghost Fantina usually sent out.

There was nothing. Just silence and the sound of wind blowing against the sand. And for some reason, that unnerved me a lot more.

Palossand was the toughest thing my team could have faced. Despite being a ground type, the fact that it was made out of sand made it excellent at soaking in water, especially with the Water Compaction ability. It also knew the attack Giga Drain, which meant that Jellicent was done for if he ever got too close.

Not that I was planning on doing so anyway. I had made a contingency plan for each of my Pokemon, just in case they'd face Palossand. Togetic and Electabuzz would have been screwed, while Tangrowth might have won eventually, but he had taken some damage from Curse and other attacks. Jellicent, however, had a straightforward way to win.

"Sandstorm," Fantina lazily ordered.

Palossand silently moved its towers around, and a Sandstorm soon overtook the entire arena, hampering my visibility so much that I could barely see Jellicent anymore, and Palossand was also impossible for me to find. I already knew that this was coming. This was how Palossand fought. It isolated trainers from their Pokemon, and if they weren't used to fighting independently, then they'd be screwed. Fantina already tended to have a hands-off approach to her battles, so she wouldn't be affected at all.

It wasn't a problem for Jellicent, who would be able to sense him and maneuver quickly, which was why he was in the most advantageous position to take it down.

"Keep moving and hit it with Shadow Ball!" I yelled, hoping that buddy would hear me through the Sandstorm. "Recover when you can, and watch out for Hypnosis!"

If Fantina was ordering her Pokemon to do anything, then she was unintelligible. I anxiously gripped my pants as explosions rang out in the storm. I had never fought like this. Not seeing what my Pokemon were doing was making my anxiety shoot up to dangerous levels, but I could only place my trust in Jellicent and hope he would succeed. He had all the resources he needed to win.

So while he was fighting for me, I would look ahead and fight for my team. While he bought me time and dealt with Palossand, I would remake my remaining plan from the top down to account for the lack of Wish and switching.

On the fly.



Jellicent felt drowsy for the first time in his entire life as he stared in Palossand's general direction. Hypnosis was the attack Grace had warned him about, and he had to fight his own instincts to look away and fly off. The water type felt a deep hatred whenever he could sense Palossand, and it was affecting his quick thinking and judgment. He had felt it when fighting against Zweilous as well, but Grace had been there to talk to him and keep him aware of his actions.

She was no longer there. Jellicent felt the entire side of his face disintegrate— a deeply uncomfortable feeling that he stopped with Recover. The Sandstorm was affecting his maneuverability with Water Sport, and it was also affecting his aiming. The storm was so strong that it caused any Shadow Balls or Poison Stings to drift in the wind and miss, and Grace had warned him not to use water type moves. Hex would be usable, but then he would get hit with Giga Drain. Meanwhile, Palossand easily predicted how the wind would affect his attacks and aimed them perfectly. The water type spat out a Water Pulse to intercept another Shadow Ball, causing it to explode close to his face. He Recovered again. He felt the Palossand's form loosen as it writhed away from him, no longer in its sandcastle form.

He was in a dilemma, but he could not afford to wait. Grace would hate for him to simply get hit and dish out nothing in return.

Jellicent turned his levitation off and felt his body loosen as he dropped to the ground, narrowly avoiding another Shadow Ball. He narrowly stopped himself just a few feet off the floor and propelled himself forward with another Water Sport. The earth opened up below him and churned out hot, molten rocks, but he managed to zigzag around them due to how telegraphed Earth Power was.

He would rather get hit by Giga Drain and deal damage than do nothing. Or was it his instinct screaming at him to murder this Palossand and atomize it until it was nothing but inanimate sand that had brought him to this decision?

When the water type reached Palossand, he stared into its hollow, white eyes that sat in the windows of its castle for a single moment, and he could tell that the feeling of hatred was mutual. Yet they were both attempting to hold it back. Both going against their desires.

They had both been trained with love, hadn't they?

Jellicent let out a booming sound as he hit Palossand with a point-blank Shadow Ball, and the sand castle shivered as he began to drain his energy. The water type immediately started to Recover, all the while, he was showering the ground type with Shadow Ball after Shadow Ball. There was no pain, just a slight discomfort. Jellicent did not even realize that his body was currently withering faster than he could Recover due to Giga Drain.

The only thing was filled his mind was taking down Palossand.

Jellicent screamed louder and louder, and Palossand's body shivered in anger as it silently raged, its two pale eyes contracting in anger. The two Pokemon would fight until one would be left standing.



I snapped out of my thoughts as I heard Jellicent let out an ear-piercing, deep scream.

"Buddy?!" I hesitantly screamed.

The scream kept going on and on until the Sandstorm started to slowly subside. I wiped the sweat off my hands and waited with bated breath. He wasn't screaming anymore, and the Sandstorm was slowly disappearing, so that must have meant that he won.

I gasped when I saw the state Jellicent was in. His entire body was shriveled, his eyes were a pale red instead of how vibrant they usually were, and he was lying face-up on the floor. Palossand had been flattened, and only sand remained where he had stood.

"Palossand is unable to battle. Leader Fantina, send out your third Pokemon."

Jellicent could still theoretically battle, but he barely had the energy to even float. He had done such a good job, taking out Palossand on his own like that. No one else on the team would have been able to take him out alone.

"I'm withdrawing my Pokemon out of the fight," I told the referee. He nodded and announced that Jellicent was unable to battle.

Fantina sent out her Pokemon.

It was a single, red eye at first, just floating in the dim room, but then a pale skull appeared in front of it, followed by gray, wispy cloth. A Duskull. The sound of cold wind filled my ears as the ghost type rose into the sky.

I braced myself. The eye was the same. The same as Dusknoir's.

But I knew myself, so I had meticulously prepared for this. I had forced myself to watch videos, over and over, getting panic attacks that my Pokemon helped me to deal with until what I felt was no longer crippling dread that stopped me from even thinking, but just terror.

I could work with terror.

Still, seeing the real thing was a lot worse than I had expected with the days I had spent analyzing the footage, but that also meant Duskull was the Pokemon I knew the most about. I swallowed as I sent honey back into the field, who wiped the blood from the Curse from his mouth.

"Disappear," Fantina said. An order she always gave with Duskull. What was coming next was a non-vocal Shadow Sneak, and then Will-O-Wisp.

See, in the beginning, I had believed Duskull to be an unstoppable force like Dusknoir had seemed to me all those months ago, but watching the footage had made me realize that it was weak.

I knew everything.

"Protect," I simply said.

Fantina's eye twitched as Duskull reappeared before ramming skull-first into Electabuzz's Protect. The impact from the Shadow Sneak was so strong that the ghost type was repelled a few feet, and that was what we needed.

"Thunderbolt!" I ordered.

The electric type yelled, bringing his hands forward and electrocuting Duskull with a powerful Thunderbolt. The ghost type's eye flickered, and the cloth on its body smoked as it cried out in pain.

Duskull's cry of pain, in this instance, was the sound of a strong gust of wind.

"Again!" I yelled right as Electabuzz stopped his first Thunderbolt.

"Dodge with Shadow Sneak."

Duskull was too quick, and avoided the Thunderbolt by a large margin. The electric attack continued forward until it hit Fantina's side of the barrier, and Duskull disappeared into the shadows.

Now was the time to reveal that Electabuzz could sense ghosts. If we could catch Fantina off-guard before she switched, then I'd be in the best position possible.

"Go get him," I said, but Electabuzz's antennas twitched. It was a code we had prepared beforehand, and he now knew that he needed to reveal his ability. Meanwhile, to Fantina, it would just be a vague attack with no meaning.

Honey broke into a run so quick that he became a blur, and I assumed that he was going toward Duskull's general direction.

Then he clapped his hands, slid on the floor as he stopped in place, and his fur sparked. I grinned as a Thunderbolt hit directly where Duskull was, and the ghost was forced to reappear. Duskull's goal was to hamper opponents with Will-O-Wisp before switching out. It wasn't a good attacker, so I knew that Fantina had wanted to switch out as soon as Electabuzz had been hit by the attack. It would have been impossible to dodge for long. Protect would work once, but honey couldn't use the move that many times, and he had to wait a long time in between uses.

Duskull's eye flickered off as it fell to the floor, and Electabuzz used Thunderbolt on it one last time for good measure. I had caught Fantina off-guard. Her eyes widened in surprise, and she had just been more expressive than she had been all day.

I was winning.

"Duskull is unable to battle. Fantina, send out your fourth Pokemon."

Now was when it would get interesting. Fantina had two Pokemon left and two switches, and while Jellicent had been fighting Palossand one-on-one, I had been thinking about who she could possibly send out against me.

There were two Pokemon I thought she'd use. The first one was Lampent, because she knew I had Tangrowth waiting in the back, and it would be a powerful Pokemon to take him down, but she wouldn't use it now. She'd wait until I had him out.

The second one I thought she'd use to deal with honey was Shedinja, because she didn't know he could use Fire Punch. And even if he could, getting in range to hit the damn thing would be nearly impossible. Wonder Guard meant that nothing else we had would be able to even hit it.

With the information she currently had, those two made the most sense to me.

I groaned when she sent out her Doublade. Predicting it correctly would have been so damn satisfying, but I had been wrong yet again. I'd need to improvise for this one, but that was fine. Fire Punch was still clearly an unknown to Fantina, especially since she sent out a steel type—

"Swords Dance."

Excuse me?

Swords Dance?

Both swords unsheathed themselves, and their steel blade shimmered after doing a short flip. Swords Dance was a notoriously difficult move to learn, and Doublade hadn't had it in any of the videos I saw. How many times was I going to get tripped up by the same fucking problem? Gym Pokemon progressed too, just like mine did!

"Slash."

"Thunderbolt!" I yelled, sweeping my arm. I needed to force her to switch out here. The move was quick to use, but it drained a lot of energy from the user, meaning that they wouldn't be able to use it over and over.

The two swords separated, causing the Thunderbolt to just fly in between them, and then they rushed toward Electabuzz.

"Discharge in front," I continued after clicking my tongue.

He had two, maybe three more Protects left in him, and I wanted to exhaust all options before using one of them. Electabuzz nodded, and electricity flew out of his body, this time only going toward the Doublade. The swords didn't seem as easily affected by pain as her other Pokemon had been though, since they just took the attack head-on and kept flying toward Electabuzz.

"Protect!" I begrudgingly ordered.

The thin, green barrier appeared in front of the electric type, stopping the first Sword from Slashing at him.

But the second one broke through the Protect and tore across honey's chest, leaving a thick gash.

"Fire Punch before it gets away!" I hissed. I hadn't accounted for the fact that two, Swords Dance boosted attacks might be enough to break through Protect.

After a single spark, fire engulfed Electabuzz's fist, and he hit the steel type away from him with a defiant scream. His scream turned into a cry when the other sword slashed across his arm. I ground my teeth as I watched Electabuzz fight was essentially a one-against-two. He sometimes managed to hit the swords away, but they kept overwhelming him with fast, nimble attacks. Discharge wouldn't be enough to fight them off, either.

I ordered him to use another Protect to buy himself another few precious seconds, but he was done for. Electabuzz fell to the ground with deep, bloody gashes and cuts all over his fur.

"Electabuzz is unable to battle. Challenger, send out your third Pokemon."

Doublade was too much of a threat, and princess wouldn't work well against them. She could only restrain one at a time, and they could maneuver in the air a lot better than she could. It would just be a waste to use her now.

I grabbed Tangrowth's Pokeball and sent him out, and I stared at Fantina.

Switch into Lampent. You want to switch, don't you? I thought. Come on, Tangrowth's a grass type, and bulky enough to fight your damn swords.

I relaxed when she did recall her Doublade, and smiled when a Lampent appeared on the field. I had been half correct, at the very least. Its sinister, purple flame shone brightly in the dimly lit arena, and its two emotionless yellow eyes stared at Tangrowth.

Now, the situation might have seemed like it was deteriorating, but I knew from experience that Tangrowth was capable of withstanding many fire type attacks, especially when he hadn't taken that much damage just yet, and Fantina was underestimating him. The problem stemmed from—

"Disappear," Fantina said again.

From that, and now, I had no way for my Pokemon to figure out where Lampent was.

How could I—

Suddenly, something lit up inside of me. A potential opportunity, and a potential disaster.

First came the opportunity.

"Tangrowth, start Power Whipping all around you!" I yelled.

Angel extended vines all around himself, smashing the air in order to try to catch Lampent wherever it was. Knock Off would have been better here, but he wasn't capable of using that many. Two at a time was his maximum, and that dark Bind might have been a good idea, but Power Whip was just faster.

The floor cracked, kicking up dust and rocks as vines crashed against the ground.

"Will-O-Wisp."

There it was. The potential disaster. The fire type appeared to Tangrowth's left, and a series of flaming, purple orbs that filled my ears with giggled flew toward Tangrowth, who couldn't even hope to dodge the homing flames. Just Tangrowth getting burned wouldn't actually be the main problem. Even with his attack power lowered, he packed such a punch that I believed his Knock Off would be able to deal with Lampent if we restrained him.

Well, I couldn't waste an opportunity to attack. It was too late to stay on the defensive and think.

"Get him and Bind!" I yelled.

A thin layer of darkness wreathed Tangrowth's vines, and he held Lampent in place.

"Burning Jealousy," Fantina said.

Lampent's hollow eyes suddenly raged with such intensity that I felt my legs shiver, and everything around it caught fire. The ground, Tangrowth, his vines, and even Lampent itself burned away in a fierce, purple flame. Angel's vine withered away, but we had time for—

Fantina recalled her Lampent, using her last switch of the battle. She released her Doublade again, and I held my breath. She might have thought that angel would have outlasted her ghost.

And honestly, she might have been correct.

I squinted at Doublade, anticipating the worst…

"Aerial Ace," she ordered.

I exhaled, releasing all of the tension I felt.

No more Swords Dance. This was still okay.

The two swords left their scabbards and began flying toward Tangrowth, and streaks of air formed at their tips. Angel was still burning, and the flames were chewing through his vines, he had been burned by Will-O-Wisp, but he could still fight.

"Bind one, and Knock Off the other!" I yelled.

The advantage of Aerial Ace was that the move seldom missed. It couldn't be deflected unless the power disparity was immense, and the move's user would almost always reach its target.

The disadvantage was that the move was not flexible. It was hilariously telegraphed, and Tangrowth could use it to his advantage. The first Doublade just cut through the three vines Tangrowth sent to Bind it, so he decided to tie as many vines as he could into a huge braid. The Doublade bounced against the tied-up vines, and Tangrowth quickly unwound them and wrapped them around the steel type.

He had been too slow to stop the other sword, however, and it buried itself deep inside of the grass type's body.

Now that the first sword was restrained, Tangrowth slapped the second one away with his hand wrapped with Knock Off, and then smashed the first one all over the floor. I grinned when the first sword fainted, going limp on the ground, but my smile slipped when I remembered what move was coming next.

"Tangrowth Ancient Power in front of you!"

"Retaliate."

Retaliate was Doublade's gimmick, and it would deal a lot more damage when one of the swords had fainted. The last remaining sword's eyes flashed with anger, and he blurred toward Tangrowth, who raised a barrier in front of him.

Doublade tore through Ancient Power and then penetrated through the grass type's entire body before falling onto the floor and fainting.

"Doublade is unable to battle. Leader Fantina, send out your last Pokemon."

Tangrowth was on the verge of fainting, but I sent him an apologetic look, and he responded with two slow blinks. Princess could deal with Lampent, but I would rather give her as much help as possible.

Fantina released her Lampent and immediately ordered it to use Fire Spin. Burning Jealousy could only be used at close range, and Fire Spin was the second best fire type attack it owned.

Still, at this stage, a simple Fire Spin could take angel down.

"Ancient Power," I said.

The grass type sluggishly raised another rock, sent it toward Lampent, and the ghost type easily dodged.

Yeah, I figured.

The flames finished Tangrowth off.

"Tangrowth is unable to battle. Challenger, send out your fourth Pokemon."

Well, in my case, this was my last. I sent out princess, who announced her presence with a cheerful chirp. A heavy contrast to the horrible sounds that ghost types usually let out of their mouths.

"Start off with Wish," I ordered, just in case. Togetic tightly shut her eyes, and a bright light escaped from her body and flew through the gym's roof.

"Disappear and Shadow Ball," Fantina said.

Ghost type attacks couldn't be redirected by Psychic or Extrasensory, so I'd probably have to take that hit.

"Fairy Wind, keep it constant," I continued. Even though he was invisible, Lampent would still get hurt.

The ghost type appeared behind Togetic with a Shadow Ball already loaded, and hit her in the back. Her head whirled almost one hundred and eighty degrees, and she ignored the pain with a cute grin. Her eyes shone brightly, locking Lampent in place.

That's my girl, I grinned as I felt pride swell up in my chest. "Psychic!"

Princess laughed, and then smashed Lampent against the floor with such speeds that I barely saw him move. The control was still lacking, but the power was there, and power was what we needed to win.

"Will-O-Wisp," Fantina commanded.

"Ancient Power, drills!"

A drill lodged itself inside of Lampent's lamplight, interrupting his attack, and Togetic continued her onslaught, grabbing the ghost type and sending him flying against Kadabra's barrier. The light inside of Lampent flickered as its eyes became fainter and fainter.

He was on the other side of the arena now. That was how powerful Psychic could be against unprepared opponents.

"Ancient Power," I said again.

I saw Fantina raise an eyebrow, and I smiled.

Yes, from this far.

Ten drills emerged already formed from the ground and flew toward Lampent, who was barely cognizant enough to even float. The first two tore through both of its arm-like appendages, pinning him to the floor, and the last eight stabbed him right in the head with surgical precision. Its flame went out, and its yellow eyes paled.

"Lampent is unable to battle. Victory goes to the challenger."

I recalled princess after congratulating her and shivered in excitement as the spectators let loose a thunderous applause. It was like everything just clicked during the battle in a way I had never felt before. An impressive victory was what I had needed, and an impressive victory was what I got.

Four against five.
 
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Chapter 133
CHAPTER 133

Arceus, I was tired. My entire body felt sluggish as I trudged toward Fantina to receive my money and my TM. I felt cold, and my sweaty clothes clung to my body. I knew this was a weakness of mine, but if I was this tired after one tough battle, things didn't bode well for the Solaceon tournament.

Or maybe it wouldn't matter. The part that tired me out the most was making sure things went according to plan, so maybe improvising would help? Either way, I'd have to fight some battles back to back there, and I'd need to figure out a way to improve my stamina. Maybe Denzel could help. I didn't know how he did it, but that boy could work for an entire day straight.

I stared up at Fantina, making sure not to make a weird face due to her strange haircut. She extended her hand, and I gave her my Pokedex and trainer ID.

"Congratulations, challenger. You are now the owner of the Relic badge and the Shadow Ball TM. I've also transferred twenty-thousand Pokedollars to your account."

"Thanks," I exhaled. Togetic could learn that move, and it'd be good for coverage. "And thank you for the fun battle."

My friends were no doubt waiting for me in the lobby, so I turned away to leave, but Fantina called out to me again.

"Your Electabuzz. It can sense ghosts, can't it?" She asked.

"Yes, he can," I nodded. Of course, she'd figure it out. "Is that important? I mean, I know it was crucial to my win, but I don't even know why he has that ability."

The gym leader's eyes widened slightly. "You… do not know?"

"What?" I said, feeling dread fill my heart. "Is it bad? Is it like a disease or something?!"

"No, no," she immediately said, alleviating my worries. "Look, why don't you come see me tomorrow night, and I will tell you about it, my dear," she smiled.

My dear? Now that the battle was over, Fantina appeared to be a far warmer individual than I would have thought, especially for a ghost type specialist. The image of her cold, expressionless face had been ingrained in my mind from all the footage of her I'd watched, so seeing her smile genuinely took me by surprise.

"T—tomorrow night? Uh, yeah, I'll be there. What time?"

"Right after closing time, so seven in the evening."

"Got it," I nodded. "Thank you!"

It wasn't every day that a trainer of my caliber got to speak to a gym leader. Roark and Candice were already more than I thought I would have ever gotten, but now Fantina too? And she was helping me with Electabuzz? Until this point, I had almost given up on figuring out what made him special. I thought that maybe it could have been a random gene, or that he was just more sensitive to minute changes in temperature, but apparently, there was more to it than met the eye.

Either way, I'd find out about it tomorrow.

"Grace! Your battle was amazing!" Cecilia called out.

My friends swarmed me, complimenting me about the battle.

"That Sandstorm from Palossand was crazy powerful," Denzel said. "I kind of wish I saw what went on during that fight."

"Well, it did end in a draw," Justin said. "But that might as well be a win against such an opponent."

"Excuse me, Justin," Pauline shook her head. "It was a win. Grace just chose to recall her Jellicent."

"That's literally what I just said…"

"To be honest, I would have rather fought Pallosand than that Dhelmise…" I started.

We kept talking as we slowly made our way out of the lobby. I caught a glimpse of a raven-haired girl that quickly walked out of the gym. That must have been Lauren. I had messaged her about the time our battles would take place, but she hadn't answered me and left me on read, so I thought that she might have changed her mind. Dad had been waiting for me outside of the gym and embarrassed me by celebrating way too loudly, and he kept bragging to passersby that I was his daughter. We quickly left so I could hand my Pokemon to a Center, and dad somehow managed to pack all of us in his rental SUV. Electabuzz and Tangrowth had gone through the wringer, and it'd probably take multiple days for them to recover. Togetic and Jellicent could stick around, since the former had only gotten hit once, and a potion would be enough, and the latter would heal on his own.

I gave my Pokemon to Nurse Joy, and we were all about to head to Pauline's room to have one of Emilia's spontaneous parties when my phone rang. I frowned until I noticed that Melody— my sponsorship liaison— was calling me. Right, in the heat of the moment, I had forgotten that they were supposed to push this whole thing out today. I told the group I'd join them later and quickly entered my room.

"Ms. Pastel," Melody said on the phone. "I want to congratulate you on your decisive victory against Fantina. The company is very pleased with your performance."

"Thanks," I said with a tired sigh. Maybe I'd sleep instead of going to that party. "Feel free to call me Grace. I mean, I'm the kid here, it feels weird if you call me by my last name and I still call you Melody."

"Very well, Grace," she said. "Now, as you know, we're going to start heavily promoting you today. Do you have your company-issued laptop with you?"

"Yep, yep," I exhaled. "Uh, what do you want me to check?"

"Your emails. Your pictures from the photoshoot came out wonderfully."

I turned on my computer and opened up my email messages. The Poketch Company had sent me the pictures as soon as my battle with Fantina concluded. I wondered what would have happened if I had lost. Maybe they would have waited a few weeks, or for my next gym battle instead. I opened up the pictures, and my eyes widened in surprise at how good I looked. I was literally model-worthy, even with the damn burns.

"Did you alter these?" I asked.

"A bit," Melody said. "But don't sell yourself short. Good lighting will go a long way to bring out a person's best qualities, and you do look great without it already. Are you alright with us putting these on our website? We have a 'Trainers We Work With' page that we want to put you on today."

"Yeah, just a sec," I said before looking up the Poketch Company's website. In retrospect, I probably should have checked this out before signing, but what was done was done.

On top of the page, there was a picture of Craig, and then a long list of trainers they were currently sponsoring— although their pictures were smaller than his— along with their ages. I recognized a few names on there. They were almost all famous trainers that had made it to the Conference multiple times.

"Eighteen, twenty, twenty-two, nineteen…" I muttered. "So I'm really going to be the only first year on there? Did any of these people start late?"

"No. And we did tell you that," she said.

"Yeah, I know, it just feels strange," I continued, clicking on one of the trainer's image. His name was Ramon Casaus. He'd made it to the Conference for the first time last year.

The picture aggrandized, and there were multiple short videos of a few of his battles that automatically played, along with a short summary of his life. How he'd been raised in Sunyshore, started his journey with a street Rattata that everyone looked down on, but kept persevering. Today, he arguably had the most powerful Raticate in Sinnoh.

"What're you gonna write for me? I don't exactly make for a good rags-to-riches story," I chuckled.

"No, but there is the story of how you went through Mount Coronet and lived, which we really want to sell. Other than that, we want to accentuate your middle-class, girl-next-door vibe. People go crazy for that."

On one hand, having Melody talk about me like I was a product was a little annoying. On the other, I was kind of happy she was just being honest with me. It was weirdly respectable.

"I'm guessing that you're hoping that I'll eventually grow out of my shell," I said as I kept browsing through the website.

"I mean, yes, but we certainly won't force you to do so."

"Eh, I guess I'll just try my best. You can post the pictures."

"I will relay the message to the company immediately," Melody said. "One thing I forgot to mention was that we'll be mentioning your father in your blurb."

I frowned. "Did he consent to that?"

"He did. Arthur's been with us for decades, he understands."

"Won't people say it's… like, nepotism? I mean, I know that my dad had nothing to do with you working with me, but if I'm the first first-year you've sponsored, and my dad's working for the Poketch Company… people will talk, won't they?"

"They will, but we opted to be honest instead of hiding. The information's already out there, and it'd be very easy to figure out. Honesty goes a long way. By showing that we have nothing to hide, people will speculate less. Just don't engage with any kind of arguments, either online or in person."

"Yeah, I wasn't about to," I said. "I did have a few questions, though."

"Is it urgent? We're just about to launch your marketing campaign."

"Oh, it doesn't have anything to do with that. I was wondering… there's a tournament I was going to sign up for when I got to Solaceon."

"Okay, your campaign's live. Refresh the page, and you'll see yourself," Melody said. "And I did hear about that tournament, just a second…"

I heard Melody start to type, and I refreshed their website. Sure enough, there I was. I did notice that they placed me right under Craig instead of on the bottom like they would have if they weren't giving me special treatment. A lot of trainers on this list would probably be pissed off the next time they looked. Under my picture, there was my story. They talked about how I was raised by a single father in Jubilife, and that he struggled to care for both of us.

They had embellished this a whole lot. Dad worked good hours unless there was a new product coming out soon, and we never struggled with money.

Although struggle could mean working hard, which in this case was true. I skipped ahead until Mount Coronet, and I was surprised to see how accurate they were about the whole experience.

"How'd you get everything down to the last detail?" I asked.

"We spent days watching Mr. Williams' interviews and corroborated the data," she said nonchalantly. "Regarding your tournament, I found it. It seems relatively high profile… a minimum of three badges and a maximum of five badges for entry, so it's self-contained rather well. There won't be a skill disparity too large, which means more viewers from the get-go, since the matches will be more entertaining. What'd you want to know about it?"

"You told me about a cash bonus," I started. "Could you replace that with an item? Like, TMs or something."

"You want something specific," she guessed.

"A Shiny Stone—"

"No, too expensive. We can negotiate on less expensive items, but a Shiny Stone is a no-go for now."

I internally cursed. I thought that maybe with my battle against Fantina, and if I proved myself again by doing well in the Solaceon tournament, then they'd be willing to give me the stone. I was asking for a lot here, but I figured, why not.

"If I can't get a stone, I'll stick to money," I said. "Can I get a range of how much it is I'll get, by the way? It'll help me a ton with budgeting."

"Sure," Melody said. "Let me shoot a message to the higher-ups. They should answer shortly."

I heard her type again.

"You're a fast typer," I noticed.

"Hm? Oh, I mean, it's basically what I do all day," she chuckled. "I'm always answering or sending emails to different branches so that we can coordinate with our trainer outreach and sponsorship programs. It's actually my first time being a liaison, though, so this is rather new for me too."

"Looking forward to working with you then, Melody," I smiled.

"Likewise."

In the end, the specific bonus I'd get for the Solaceon tournament was 105,000 Pokedollars for first place, and it slowly descended from there until I was out of the top ten. Obviously, I'd aim for first, but I knew that it'd be hard since trainers with five badges would be there.

Hard, but not impossible. I had just come out of a battle, and I was excited for more. After a quick shower that I hoped would have woken me up, I tiredly stood up and made my way to Pauline's room.

"I told you she'd come," Emilia said. "Your money. Hand it over."

"And don't forget me," Justin said.

Pauline groaned as she digitally handed both five thousand Pokedollars.

"Hiya," I waved. "Wait, were you betting on if I was going to come?"

"Showering," Cecilia said. "And yes, they were. Pauline was convinced that you'd fall asleep on your bed after your call."

Well, it wasn't like the thought hadn't crossed my mind. Sleeping after a warm shower…

"Yeah, that does sound like me," I chuckled. "So now that we've all got our badge, we should probably think about leaving soon, huh?"

Emilia's expression soured.

"Yeah," she just said. "We should probably wait for Denzel to talk about that."

"I'd like to meet with Louis first. Maybe we can travel together again…" Cecilia trailed off, creating a few seconds of silence.

"Oh!" I sprung up, trying to change the subject. "On another note, Fantina asked me to meet her tomorrow night—"

"What?" Denzel said as he burst into the room.

"How'd you even get in here?" Cecilia asked.

"Duplicate key," he grinned, showing us his keycard. "What's this meeting about?"

"Remember how Electabuzz can sense ghosts? She apparently has the answer to that."

"A ghost type specialist would know more about that than anyone else," Justin nodded.

"Anyway, we were talking about making plans to leave?" I said again. "We've got to be sort of quick if we want to make it to Solaceon before the tournament starts."

"I mean, there isn't much to say," Denzel shrugged. "Route 209's relatively long, but it's super easy. The only dangerous thing there's the Lost Tower. If any of you want to catch any water types, you can also fish in the river."

"A Gyarados would be cool," Pauline hummed. "But it's so much effort. You've been carrying that Feebas of yours for months, and Magikarp takes longer. I wouldn't even have one by the Conference, I bet."

"Well, if you want it, you've got to work for it," he said. "But it is true that it's unlikely you'd have one by the Conference if you caught one now."

"I'll figure something out," she grumbled. "Maybe wait until I've got eight badges to get it as a seventh Pokemon."

"You only have three, isn't it too early to worry about seven?" I teased.

"Ugh, shut up. I'll catch another soon."

"I do want to stop by the Lost Tower…" Cecilia hesitantly said.

Denzel stared at her like she was spouting nonsense. "Okay, you know what, scrap everything I said about there not being anything to say. You are insane."

"I want to catch something there, and it's easily found on the bottom floor," she quickly added. "We can handle those."

"Don't do anything crazy, guys…" Emilia sighed.

"The bottom floors… yeah, that should be fine, I guess," Denzel said. "Why is it that only Grace and Cece want the crazy ass Pokemon that require risking their lives. Ugh, I don't want to fight wild ghosts again."

"Don't be a wimp," I teased.

Cecilia face grew serious. "I'm serious. I want a Golett, but if we don't find it on the first floor, then we can leave. I've read up on the tower, and the first floor is only slightly more dangerous than the route as a whole, and it's the main way trainers can catch ghost types in the region. There are even people that walk there from Solaceon to maintain it every day, and most of them don't have Pokemon."

"I remember hearing about that," Denzel nodded. "Most people don't bother with true ghosts though, because they're impossibly hard to raise."

"I mean, I'd be willing to help you if you really want Golett," I said. "We can at least go to the second floor—"

"Grace, no," she denied, shaking her head. "Let's all stay safe, okay?"

"Arceus, alright."

I had told dad I'd stay safe anyway, so it was probably better that way. I'd feel terrible if Cecilia didn't find her Golett, though. I found how lifeless it had been against Pauline to be creepy, but the Pokemon certainly fit her. Plus, maybe she'd be able to breathe life into it. They couldn't all be like robots.

"Okay, the Lost Tower's at the halfway point of the route, and other than that, it should be smooth sailing. The whole route as a whole is flat and easy to traverse too. You could even ride a bike or a car across it."

"How many days?" Justin asked.

"Four to five days. Like I said, quick."

"That was anticlimactic," I joked.

"I mean, there's a reason trainers from western Sinnoh sometimes complain about people from the east having it easy," Denzel shrugged. "If you're from the east, all the routes other than that swampy hellhole on route 212 and the foggy, mountainous route 210— of which 212 is optional— are easy, and you've got access to four gym badges."

"Meanwhile, if you're from the west, you only have access to three, and then you'll have to go through Eterna Forest if you want to get all of them," Justin nodded.

"And the travel time is insanely long," I added. "Well, they can always take a plane to Sunyshore before the Circuit starts or something. I heard that Volkner was the second gym leader who was challenged first the most behind Roark."

"I'd like to see a list of those statistics," Justin mused. "It seems like it'd be interesting."

"They release 'em after each year," Denzel said. "I used to look at them a bunch."

"Wait, they do?" I asked, grabbing my phone. "Where?"

"Official League website, where else?" he laughed.

Well, there were a few cool nuggets of information on there. Candice and Byron were most often challenged seventh or last. Candice, I had expected, but Byron was a surprise. And thinking about it, with the route we were currently taking, he'd be the one Denzel, Cece and I would challenge last too. Meanwhile, Roark and Volkner were almost always early, and they were generally considered the most beginner-friendly gyms. The rest of them were usually in the middle. If we kept progressing as quickly as we were, though, the order wouldn't exactly matter, since we'd be fighting against gym leaders' personal teams or close to it for the eighth badge and the entirety of the next Circuit— even though they'd probably still have to hold back to some extent.

Unless I became the Champion this year, of course!

I was getting a lot more confident lately. I'd have to watch out, or I'd get a big head. Sort of like Chase.

Speaking of Chase.

"Should we call Chase?" I asked, looking at my friends. "You guys haven't even met properly yet—"

"I tried, dude," Denzel said. "He said no."

"Aw. Doesn't he feel lonely?" I pouted. "One way or another, I'm getting you guys in the same room before we all leave!"

"You don't have to do that…" Emilia said, hiding a grimace.

I ended up spending another three hours at the party before I left. Well, at this point, these were less like parties and more like normal gatherings, but Emilia liked calling them parties anyway. I released Jellicent, who was still in his withered, wrinkled form, and I had princess use Wish on him so that he'd recover quicker. Then, I also sprayed her back with a potion. After that, I decided, against my own judgment, to look at the forums to see what people were saying about me.

Needless to say, I was blowing up.

No, really blowing up. I thought I had been famous before, but this was on another level, and my megathread had far surpassed all of my friends. Not only had I handily won against Fantina, but I was getting sponsored by the Poketch Company, who had leaked that I owned Turtonator, which up until now had just been a rumor. There was also our double battle that had made the rounds a few days earlier.

The forums were in an uproar. Most of the reactions were supportive, but as always, there was the occasional hater.

So her dad works at the Poketch Company, and all of the sudden, she gets a sponsor? People always say that being a trainer is about skill, but this seems like some coordinator bullshit to me.

She knows Craig Goodwill, doesn't she? He flew her back to Eterna on his Salamence, so maybe there's something there.

They only hired her because she's gay, not because she deserves it. Companies these days are woke as hell. I'm boycotting the Poketch Company and moving to Retani Industries!


"Well have fun with your shitty Retani phone, asshole," I angrily said. "Damn it, now my evening's ruined."

It was funny, how the internet could turn on you—

No, I couldn't think like that. The internet hadn't turned on me, my brain was just focusing on the negative. To see these comments, I had to scroll through hundreds of supportive comments that I just glazed over and ignored.

Why did my mind work like that?

I ended up blocking the last user. At least the first two weren't obnoxiously bigoted, and it was partly because of Craig that I'd gotten the sponsorship, so their comment hadn't been unfounded.

I wondered when Melody would message me again to guide me through my first online promotion.

Probably before I left.



It was the evening of the next day, and I had patiently waited until seven to show up at the gym. Denzel had been acting weird today, and he vanished during the afternoon, which probably meant he'd been doing something related to Louis again. I walked into the lobby and raised an eyebrow when I saw a pink-haired girl waiting on one of the chairs. What was she doing here after closing time? Did she have something to talk to Fantina about too? Had the gym leader double-booked? There was no gym trainer to be seen at the reception, so I simply sat away from her and fiddled with Togetic's Pokeball in the meantime.

"Hi. This seat taken?" The girl said.

I almost jumped. She had gotten here so quietly. Upon closer inspection, she looked extremely young. Too young to be a trainer, but there were almost never exceptions, so she must have been fifteen either way.

"I'll sit anyway," she said, plopping herself down next to me. "Watcha doin'? I didn't expect another trainer to be here after closing."

"I had to talk to Fantina about something regarding one of my Pokemon," I explained.

"Oh, word?" She said. "Me too! I guess she double-booked."

I let out a slight chuckle. "Well, I don't think it'll last too much time, so it should be fine. What's your name?"

"Mira Compton! Just Mira's fine, though."

"Nice to meet you. My name's—"

"Grace, I already know. You've been all over the news today, and it's not your first time."

"Right, that makes sense," I nodded.

"I was there to see your battle against Fantina with my two friends. You were really good! I had my own battle today, actually, and there was a bit of an accident. I wanted to impress Fantina, but I ended up making her angry. I guess I got what I wanted though, which was her attention."

"An accident?" I asked.

"Yeah, my Haunter killed hers," she said nonchalantly. "Now she won't be able to use it for weeks, and she'll have to have a gym trainer posted up there in case it comes back early. Ghosts tend to be angry after they die."

My mind swam. First of all, this girl fought Haunter, which meant that she probably had four badges just like I did. Second of all, she owned one.

They were so rare outside of the top floors of the Lost Tower and so difficult to train that most trainers didn't bother. But she just dropped that like it was nothing.

"Scared ya?" Mira asked with a childlike smile.

"No, just surprised, that's all," I said. "My reason for being here's a lot more mundane than yours. You're lucky that this happened against a ghost type specialist and not anyone else, though, or you potentially could have been disqualified and have your Haunter taken away."

"I know, right?" She said playfully. "I mean, Haunter's been so out of control lately that I don't think I'll even be able to use him against other gym leaders at this rate. That's why I need Fantina's help. She's the best at raising ghosts in the region. If she can't help me, nobody can."

I narrowed my eyes at her and held back a hum. She was similar to Candice in a lot of ways, but also fundamentally different. When Candice was happy, you could feel it radiate through the room, and the feeling would spread to you in turn. I couldn't feel any of that from Mira. She was hiding behind a fake veneer of cheerfulness, but we all had our skeletons in our closets. I wasn't about to ask personal questions to a girl I barely met.

"Mira Compton and Grace Pastel?" A gym trainer asked.

We nodded, but he asked to see our trainer IDs just to be sure. He then led us to Fantina's office. It felt odd, to see her with her hair down and wearing normal clothes instead of that extravagant, sparkly dress.

"Ah, you are both here. Take a seat, my dears," Fantina said with a warm smile.
 
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Interlude - Fantina
INTERLUDE - FANTINA

Two children currently sat in Fantina's office. Fantina stared at them both for a few seconds. There was a lot of passion behind those eyes. A drive to improve in Pokemon battling. A drive she had once had, but no longer felt no matter how much she tried to rekindle it. Their drives both felt distinctly different, however. Like fire and ice. Warmth and coldness. Grace Pastel and Mira Compton.

"Apologies for the impromptu meeting," Fantina said. "I have a contest gala to get to in an hour, so we'll make this quick."

"An hour?" Grace said. "Uh, should we maybe reschedule? That doesn't sound like enough time to—"

"Shhhh!" Mira hissed. "I'm not leaving until I get my answers. I've been looking forward to this for months."

"I will make it, do not worry," Fantina said. "I suppose we can start with Grace Pastel, then, since I asked her to come here first."

The blond girl timidly nodded.

"I assume you do not have your Electabuzz with you?"

"No, he's still at the Center," she answered with a slight wince. "Your Doublade did quite a number on him. Do we need him here?"

"Not exactly," Fantina shrugged. "But it would have been easier to ask him questions. Was your Electabuzz owned by someone previously?" She asked.

Grace frowned. "No. I don't think so, at least. I found him hanging around the power plant at Valley Windworks. He was friendly, but I just attributed that to the fact that he was used to humans, since they usually travel between Floaroma and the plant to go to work."

"A sound assumption," the gym leader nodded. "Still, you ought to ask him, but it does not derail the point I wanted to make. How old is he, then?"

"I don't… know? I'd say a few years old at most, he's clearly still a kid."

"Alright, let me explain what I believe happened. When a Pokemon is young— and I mean young, a few weeks old at most, they tend to learn a lot of things very quickly."

Grace hummed, and she seemingly thought of something. "Yeah, I have a young baby Pokemon with me that learned a lot of moves really fast."

"You have a baby? D'aww, how cute!" Mira squealed.

"You see this phenomenon in human children as well. They are knowledge sponges, especially during their first years. Alas, most Pokemon grow up a lot quicker than that. Still, I believe that when your Electabuzz was a newborn, it must have been in constant contact with a ghost for him to learn what they feel like. A process that can only be learned early in a Pokemon's life, unless they are a ghost themselves. Of course, once it is learned, it can be worked on and improved regardless of age."

Fantina watched as Grace silently digested the words she had just spoken.

"Either way, the ability is not always guaranteed. Your Electabuzz would have had to be quite close to this ghost, and it would have had to be quite powerful. It also could not have been a one-off experience. For him to be as good as he is, he would have had to quite literally be with this ghost for his entire infancy."

"He's… he's never told me anything about it. Never even hinted at it."

"Maybe it is a memory he does not wish to revisit, or he is keeping it a secret until he is ready," Fantina said. "Or maybe he simply does not think that it would matter to you."

She muttered something, and her eyes widened. "I've… I've got to go," she hurriedly said before bowing. "Thank you for your time!"

"Oh, nonsense, my dear. I was quite interested in your Electabuzz. He's only one of the few Pokemon I've seen that is capable of sensing ghosts that well."

"Thank you again! Have fun with your contest gala thing!" She said as she ran out of the office.

Well, what an interesting night this had turned out to be, and she was only halfway done. For this girl's Electabuzz to be this good at sensing ghosts, he would have had to be… raised by one from birth, Fantina reckoned. An odd thing to think about, but not impossible. Pokemon were known to adopt children from different species, even in the wild.

Ghosts were hateful, but they were not all a monolith. They were capable of love, too.

"Now, you," Fantina sighed. Mira Compton's ghost had ruthlessly killed her Haunter in their battle, and it had to be disqualified during the fight. Still, she won rather handily. Fantina hoped that she would be there to calm him down whenever he reappeared. "That Haunter of yours. I assume he has been getting worse? You did not expect it to kill mine. I could tell from your face during the battle."

"Well, duh. It's not like I'm on the verge of breaking down because of how impossible he is, or anything," she said, laughing nervously.

Fantina stared at the young girl with pity. Ghosts were Pokemon with an untold amount of potential, but they were also incredibly hard to train. Doing so had brought the gym leader close to multiple mental breakdowns in her youth, and it pained her to see another trainer so close to one of her own.

"Tell me about your Haunter," Fantina said.

"He just hates everything that lives," Mira said. "Wild Pokemon, trained Pokemon, humans… he just wants to torment and kill all of them. I… I don't know how to fix him. It's been getting harder and harder to justify getting him out of his Pokeball. I'm at the end of my rope."

She was sobbing now. Fantina opened one of her drawers and handed her a box of tissues.

"I understand that you are in pain, but that is not what I meant, dear. What is your Haunter like? Is there any particular food he enjoys? Most people do not know this, but even true ghosts are capable of ingesting and tasting things. Does he like to lazily float in the wind? Soak in the sunlight, that can provide them the only warmth they will ever feel? Does he enjoy speaking with the other members of your team, perhaps? What kind of music does he like?"

Mira sniffled and blew her nose. "I don't… I don't know? Arceus, I'm so lame."

"Therein lies the problem. Your Haunter doesn't try to kill you, does he?"

She shook her head.

"Then why not spend more time with him? There is this stereotype where ghosts are supposedly incapable of love, and that they are just bloodthirsty monsters that would do anything to kill, but it is far from the truth," Fantina continued. "They are Pokemon. They are capable of love, of warmth, and of friendship. You simply have to work harder to get them there."

"But I'm— what if he sees another trainer or something. I'm traveling with two people, and he doesn't even know. I haven't told him yet."

"How can you expect your Haunter to be civilized if all you use him for is gym battles?" Fantina asked. "There will always be a risk, but you have your other Pokemon, don't you? If all else fails and you can't get your Haunter back to his Pokeball, they will be there to stop him. You are a good trainer, Mira. Your victory against me today was extremely impressive, despite the hiccup. You should trust your team more. Plus, it should be a good bonding exercise."

"My team hates him, though…" she grumbled. "My Kadabra, especially. My Magnezone wants to fry him every time he's out, too."

"Well, you will have to work something out on that front. You know your team better than I could ever hope to. Every Pokemon is different, including ghosts, but you should try to treat him as you would any other. If you had, let us say, an aggressive Furret, would you keep it permanently restrained to its Pokeball, or would you try to communicate?"

"Communicate."

"Exactly, my dear. Now, I will not mislead you and say this process will be an easy one, but all certainly is not lost like you appear to think."

Mira crumpled her tissue and smiled. "Hey, I just got a really dumb idea just now. Can I tell you?"

Fantina raised an eyebrow. "Sure, I will entertain you."

"Do you think Haunter would like to play catch?"

"Oh, what a wonderful idea!" Fantina laughed. "See? This is what I was talking about! Play games with your Pokemon! Teach Haunter that there is more to life than just killing! And who knows, maybe one day, he'll be your most affectionate Pokemon."

"Thank you, miss," Mira firmly said. "I needed that. By the way, one more question. If I ever succeed at fixing my Haunter's behavior, how would I go about… evolving him?"

Fantina stopped laughing, and her expression grew serious. Her next statement almost came out like clockwork.

"You are not ready."



Fantina walked out of her gym and stepped into her car. Some gym leaders enjoyed being driven around by gym trainers, but she had always liked her independence.

There had been such passion behind those two girls. Passion was not always positive. It could make someone jubilant, but it could also drop you into the deepest pit of despair.

"Passion…" she sighed as she drove out of the parking lot. "I used to have it, once."

Growing up in post-war Kalos had been difficult for Fantina. Her father had died in the war— not because he'd been a combatant, but because he was caught in the middle of some kind of infiltration mission gone wrong, or at least that's what her mother had told her growing up. That entire generation— the ones who lived and fought through the war— had been so deeply affected that they were all broken in some way. For Fantina's mother, that was simply a fear of Pokemon so deep that she rarely went outside until her death. Her uncle moved in soon after and took care of them with construction jobs that were dearly needed after the war.

Fantina had a pleasant childhood, all things considered. As pleasant as one of her generation could have had. Despite being a shut-in, her mother loved her dearly and cared for her, while her uncle became a fatherly figure she had desperately needed. She had been terribly lonely, however. She struggled to make any friends due to her eccentric behavior—

Fantina slammed her foot on the break and honked.

"Putain, met ton clignotant!" She swore. "Merde!"

Arceus, she loved Hearthome, but the drivers could leave a lot to be desired. She felt the bottom of her car rattle.

"It's nothing, just the drivers," she sighed exasperatedly.

One day, when walking through the streets of Lumiose city, Fantina almost died.

There had been rumors of children dying in the post-war shanty towns to the south of the city, and as foolish as she had been, she decided to go and check in the middle of the night. She wasn't ashamed to say that she soiled herself when she came across a Gastly in the middle of licking a pale, unconscious teenager. Fantina still remembered it like it was yesterday.

She immediately ran home and never told anyone about it. She had only been eight, so getting berated by her uncle if she admitted what she had seen seemed like a terrible trade-off.

"The morality of children can be awful like that," Fantina chuckled. "But it was that lapse in judgment that allowed my future to take place."

A month later, the rumors stopped, and Gastly was found and driven out of that section of the city. The news said that he'd killed seven people in total— six children and one adult, and yet, as a young girl, she couldn't help but be morbidly intrigued by the ghost. Fantina had felt a pull, begging her to go back and check on him. It took her another six months to find the Gastly again, and Fantina recognized him instantly due to a particular slant he had in his noxious eyes.

With her whole body shivering like a leaf, the first thing she asked of this serial killer ghost was if he wanted to be her friend.

"You were taken aback, weren't you?" The old woman chuckled. She'd always been strange like that. "And yet, here we are now, almost sixty years later."

Of course, it had taken her months for her to actually befriend Gastly. She used to sneak out of her house at night to bring him leftovers or snacks, which the ghost loved, but he still always haunted her on the way home, appearing in the corner of her vision and scaring her enough to make her fall over multiple times. Fantina hadn't cared. She'd vent all about her problems while walking home, and he would listen in silence, occasionally popping in to terrify her when he got bored. They did eventually become friends, though, and he stopped his killings. Sometimes, he'd even go to her house and listen to her worries until she fell asleep. Luckily, her mother never found out, or she would have had a heart attack right then and there.

Fantina parked her car in her driveway and made her way toward her large home. It'd been gifted to her by a judge high-up in the Contest Committee when she had been supposed to retire out of becoming a gym leader. Alas, Cynthia convinced her otherwise, and Fantina was a woman of her word.

Four more years. Well, more like three and a half, now.

"Wait for me," she said as she opened the door.

Fantina stared at the antique wooden clock in her entryway. She had forty minutes to get to her contest, which was ample time to get ready. After all, she wore the same stylish haircut, a similar amount of makeup, and similar dresses every day for work, so doing this had become a routine.

Which meant that she could continue reminiscing about her early days.

When Fantina turned fifteen, she asked Gastly to join her team. The ghost accepted immediately. They had practically been inseparable at this point, after knowing each other for years. She'd wanted to become a Pokemon trainer for as long as she could remember, as many children did. Oh, now she knew that a part of it was heavily crammed into the brains of children in case another war ever broke out and Kalos needed another fresh batch of trainers— especially when they had lost so many during the Great War. The government had wanted the new generation to pick up the slack.

Maybe Fantina just got swept up in the excitement, but she couldn't deny that for more than a decade, she truly lived for Pokemon battling. She spent her entire early career in Kalos, going through their own version of the Circuit many times, gathering as many ghosts as she could in the process. She had built herself quite a negative reputation because of it. When she turned twenty-three, however, she decided that she wanted something new. Things had begun to grow boring, and she figured that a fresh journey in a new region might do the trick.

Fantina had been correct. Not only was her love for battling rekindled once more, but she fell in love with Sinnoh as a whole, but especially Hearthome. It reminded her of Lumiose city in a way that nothing else could. Of course, these days, Lumiose had been completely modernized from the top down. Eventually, she grew to enjoy staying in Sinnoh more than Kalos. Not only that, but the gym in Hearthome was run by a ghost type specialist, just like her!

She went through the Circuit in Sinnoh twice, but it was custom to retire or start working whenever a trainer turned twenty-five. What else to do but become a gym trainer for the Hearthome gym? At this point, she still owned a Haunter. The secrets of evolving one into Gengar were still locked away from her and only known to a few key people.

Sylvestia, her mentor and the previous gym leader of the Hearthome gym, had owned three. Fantina worked hard, and soon enough, she took her under her wing and designated her as her successor. She had begged Sylvestia for years to tell her the secrets to evolving Haunter, but every time, she said no. She told her that she was not ready. Fantina had hated that answer in her young age, and yet today, it was her saying the same thing.

Hypocritical, wasn't it?

"You followed me?" Fantina said, glancing at the floor as she silently put on her purple heels. "I told you to wait for me, did I not?"

The gym leader smiled and got into her car once more. The contest gala she was going to was in preparation for the next Grand Contest next week. When Fantina had been younger, she probably would have despised this kind of event, but now? She enjoyed herself very much.

"Things change, and yet you stay the same, don't you all?" She said as she started her car.

When Fantina turned twenty-eight, Sylvestia announced her retirement. No one protested her ascension to the position of gym leader, and she did feel happy. Still, at the back of Fantina's mind, doubt had already begun to creep in. Already at this point, she hadn't enjoyed battling as much as she used to, and they had once again grown boring. She had discovered Pokemon contests a few months earlier, and she'd been participating in them in her free time.

But Sylvestia had spent years training her, investing money, time, and resources into her. It would have been rude of her to refuse now when she could have said something years ago. She respected her and the gym too much for that. Fantina was still training her own successor, and she wasn't even sure she'd be ready by the time she retired.

She knew now that she should have refused. Battles— whether they were close or a sweep— were dull. Running the city, she did not mind much, especially since Nyla stayed on top of most issues, and she was an excellent mayor. Oh, she had considered turning her battles into mini-performances, but at the end of the day, battles were still battles. The goal was to pummel enemies until they were unconscious, and turning the whole ordeal into a performance just meant that she was wasting trainers' time and running out the clock to put on a show. A single year was already barely enough to trek through Sinnoh without a flier.

"You are ready, now," Sylvestia had told her the day before her ascension to the role. The words had sent shivers down her spine.

Ready had not meant that she was ready to wield the immense power a Gengar could have. It had meant that she'd been ready to hold that knowledge. It was so tightly held to prevent it from leaking to the public that Sylvestia had waited all those years to tell her.

"You see, Fantina, if a Haunter wishes to evolve, it must haunt a human to their breaking point. Torment them until they die, but not do the killing themselves."

"But… you own three Gengar,"
Fantina had said, her face paling. "And what do you mean until they die? You do not mean… suici…"

She hadn't found the strength to complete her sentence, and it had died in her throat.

Sylvestia just responded with a crooked smile. "I fought in the war, Fantina. You know what that entails. No one came out of that conflict with their hands clean."

"But—"

"Silence. You know now that the consequences of this getting out would be catastrophic. Trainers with Haunter are rare enough, but don't you think that some of them would kill to gain a Pokemon as powerful as Gengar? I will not let the reputation of ghosts be tarnished further."

"I can not do this. My Haunter does not kill. Not anymore."

"Oh, you will, and so will he. Children are too soft these days,"
she cackled. "Fret not. We won't be wasting an innocent life."

Fantina was not proud of what she did next. A mix of pressure from the mentor she had looked up to for years and a morbid desire to own the elusive Gengar had made her accept. The Sinnoh League had issued her a spy from Galar that had sabotaged and blown up Snowpoint's port, killing or injuring hundreds, and causing the city to be isolated during an entire summer, which was when they were supposed to stock up on resources to last for the winter. Needless to say, it was a complete disaster. It was the closest Sinnoh ever got to starting a war, but cooler heads prevailed. The spy was thrown under the bus by Galar's government, an official apology was issued, and they helped pay back for the port's reconstruction.

It took Haunter a month and a half to break her, and no one ever told a soul.

Eventually, Sylvestia retired, and then died a decade later, passing away peacefully in her sleep. Her ghosts all split up and left. Fantina never managed to find them. All she knew was that they were incredibly powerful— more than her own, if she had to guess. Thankfully, they had been raised with love, so wherever they were, they were peaceful. That, she was sure of.



Fantina stepped out of an elevator that brought her to the contest hall's last floor. There, the most well-known individuals in the coordinator industry were gathering for tonight's gala. Well-known coordinators, judges, donors, executives, and businessmen were all here. It was taking place in a large ballroom with high ceilings adorned with crystal chandeliers. The walls were draped in a luxurious white fabric, but the ground was still carpeted pink, just like on the first floor. Guests arrived dressed in their finest attire, mingling and chatting over hors d'oeuvres and drinks served by waiters in tuxedos. A well-known band filled the room with music, making themselves sparse in the corner. The centerpiece of the gala was a grand stage, which served as the focal point for any speeches. Fantina would have to give one later in the night.

"Fantina!" A large man yelled out, his arms outstretched. "Just in time, as always. How was work today?"

"Do not talk to me about work, Thomas," she said, rolling her eyes. "Not tonight. If you must know, though, I have come across two interesting trainers in the last two days that were in need of some advice."

"We do live in interesting times, don't we? All that rabble about Team Galactic has my wife worried. She's glued to her television all the time."

"This is a gala, Thomas. We are raising money for a new stadium to be built next year in Solaceon— the first of the city. Let us not speak about such morose topics. You will scare away the guests. I heard you were a judge during the last contest here. A shame I missed it. I had to train my successor."

Thomas stroked his chin. "Hm, yes. There were a few coordinators there that caught my eye, but you know how exigent I am. I want something new and refreshing, not the same boring garbage. One of the coordinators here had the most wonderful performance with a Beldum and a Rockruff… her name was Emilia Lussier, if I remember correctly. A few more months, and I can see her going places— oh! If you'll excuse me, I must speak to Temperance," he said, pointing toward the famous coordinator.

Lussier… Fantina turned toward a couple sitting in the room's corner, keeping to themselves. Alice and Harry Lussier ran a real estate company that was lobbying to expand Hearthome further, but they were mostly old-fashioned people that didn't go out much. Were they her parents? Lussier was a rather uncommon last name. Next, she turned toward Temperance. Her hair was dyed a combination of platinum white and garnet red tonight, it seemed. It was said that she changed the color of her hair every time she performed, and next week's contest would be no exception. She was Thomas' favorite coordinator due to how fresh and different everything she did was. According to most, she was the favorite to win the Grand Festival this summer.

Fantina would not participate this year— not with Team Galactic running around. She sometimes did, and she had won multiple times, but these days, she was mostly a judge for high-stakes contests. The gym leader grabbed a glass of champagne and made her way toward another familiar face to make small talk. About two hours later, a shiver suddenly ran up her leg, and she tapped her heel against the floor in a rhythmic fashion.

"Thank you for the wonderful conversation, Paul, I will see you later," she smiled.

"Oh, already? Don't forget to talk to Nyla about that expansion into route 212! The Lussiers won't shut up about it, and I owe them a favor."

"I will take the best decision for Hearthome, Paul," Fantina said. "This is about contests, not business."

"Contests are business, Fantina. This isn't the old days any longer. There's money to be made, and I'll jump on any opportunity. Plus, wouldn't a second hall do Hearthome some good? There are too many coordinators here, and the contests are always at full capacity— so much so that they have to sell those priority tickets to the grand contests for a higher price. If we can open another one to the south, then it'll give them more opportunities to shine."

Another shiver up her leg. She responded with another heel tap. Her head scanned the room for a specific individual.

"I'll think about it," she absent-mindedly said as she emptied her glass.

The gym leader searched the room for around ten minutes, and eventually found who she was looking for on the balcony.

"The LSS never rests, it seems," Fantina smiled as she leaned against the balcony's railing. "You could have come up to me, and we would not have had to waste time. Would it not be better to talk inside? It's cold."

"No one's here," the man said. "This is as good of a spot as it gets."

"It'll turn heads."

"Let them turn. There's a spy here for Team Galactic."

"They have warned me already," Fantina said, her tone growing serious. The agent stared at her feet and chuckled dryly, but she ignored him and continued. "Who is it?"

"Fabian Mcclure. One of your fellow judges for next week's grand contest."

"Fabian? He would not—"

"Blackmail. Your friend's been taking kickbacks from experienced coordinators and giving them better scores in return. Team Galactic got a hold of that. If it comes out, his career will be ruined, and so will a few dozen coordinators involved in the scheme. Well, not like the League cares."

Fantina clicked her tongue and sighed in disappointment. "Merde! What is he giving them? Fabian is wealthy, but not that wealthy."

The nameless agent laughed. "You see too much good in the world, Fantina. It isn't money they want, it is information about you. They can't infiltrate your gym or the League, so they've infiltrated the coordinator industry instead since they know it's practically your home these days. And even though you act like you're blind to it, it's full of self-serving, corrupt bastards."

"Let us not get into a debate about corruption. You said they want information about me?"

"The latest news is that they plan to try something the night of the grand contest next week."

"And I assume you haven't arrested Fabian yet and done something about this because he's too useful to you?"

"We've bugged his phone. He's talking to a middleman, so he's still of use. We'll get him soon. Just need to tie up some loose ends and figure out where this person is exactly. Fabian's a small fish. The middleman's the one we're really after. Well, his memories, specifically. He'd have to be rather knowledgeable about Team Galactic if he's doing jobs this important for them."

Fantina tapped her foot against the floor, and the shadows responded.

"Fabian's staring at us," she said. "Don't turn your head."

"That's what your ghost says?"

"I have multiple hiding around tonight, since I felt nostalgic," she smiled. "I think I ought to leave early."

"No. Give your speech and act like nothing happened."

"Is that Cynthia's direct order?"

"No, more like a friendly recommendation from the LSS. Cynthia's not involved in this, she's working on something else regarding the Directorate at the moment."

"Then I will not follow this recommendation," Fantina shrugged. "Gengar, my dear, is Fabian still staring?"

Fantina smiled as she felt the shadow gently wrap around her leg. It was a coded language that only she and her ghosts knew that they had created and perfected over the years.

"He is? Good. And you, nameless agent, I assume you have a teleporter with you?"

"Sure, but I'm traveling light," he said, revealing a single Pokeball hidden below his suit. "That means no fighting for me. I think I'll slip out if you leave, since things might get dicey. I wouldn't do it if I were you."

"Get back inside. Act as if nothing happened after I leave, and stick around for a few minutes before you make your exit."

"Don't be rash. We can't shadow you to protect you because your ghosts always throw a fit. It's too dangerous."

"Oh please, do not speak to me about danger, young man. You know what I am capable of. I will not be chained by people weaker than I. Get back inside, now."

This time, she was not asking. Shadows furiously wreathed beneath her feet, and the agent blanched.

He took a sip of his glass as he turned back to enter the building. Fantina stared at the sky with a heavy sigh. Of course, she knew of the corruption festering in the coordinator world, but she never expected it to be this widespread, and for Team Galactic to be involved. Her good mood had cratered to dangerous levels. Even mindless battling would have cheered her up some.

"Well, it is time to leave," the gym leader said. "Drifblim?"

The balloon-like Pokemon appeared in the sky, and her red eyes shone in the darkness. Without any warning, Fantina jumped off the balcony, catching one of Drifblim's yellow arms midair, and the ghost gently lowered her to the ground. Fabian had no doubt seen her, which was the plan. Fantina winced when she tried to move her arm and shoulder.

"I am sixty-five, I can not be doing these things," she laughed heartily. "Still, how fun! Brings me back. Stick close to me, my dears."

It was a command issued not only to Drifblim and Gengar, but the remaining four ghosts that hid out of their Pokeballs. Usually, it was just those two, but tonight had been different. They had gotten so good at it that the temperature did not even lower no matter how close they were. Fantina did not get back in her car. Instead, she decided to go for a nice walk in the middle of the cold night. Fabian was no doubt panicking by now, sending a message to whatever middleman he was in contact with. The middleman would, in turn, tell his contacts in Team Galactic that she immediately left as soon as a mysterious stranger spoke to her. Paranoia made people act rashly, which was what she was hoping for.

Ten minutes later, her leg shivered again in code. Five people. Fantina tapped her foot against the floor and slightly gestured with her fingers. She turned into an alley, and five people followed. An abandoned building would have worked better here, but alas, this part of Hearthome was too affluent to have any. It was dark, but her eyes had always quickly gotten used to the absence of light, and that was enough for a short battle. Fantina stopped in her tracks, and she heard the people following her release their Pokemon.

"Arbok, Acid! Shiftry, Night Slash!"

"Nidoqueen, Sludge! Liepard, Assurance!"

"Houndoom, Dark Pulse!"

"Dark Pulse, Umbreon!"

"Drapion, Pin Missile!"


All of them yelled at the same time, and all attacks shot out simultaneously.

"Hold back," she quickly responded.

A Dusclops appeared in front of Fantina, shielding her with Protect. Drifblim dropped down from the sky, blocking the grunts' escape path. Banette and Gengar jumped out of her shadow to strike the attacking Pokemon. A hole formed in the middle of Gengar's body as two Dark Pulses simply passed through him and rammed against Dusclops's Protect. The poison type laughed, pointing a ghostly hand toward the Umbreon, and a bright light of concentrated energy flew toward the dark type, who yelped and fainted after one Focus Blast. Banette swiped at Nidoqueen and Arbok with Shadow Claw, disappearing with Phantom Force in a split second when she needed to dodge. A purple Flamethrower washed down the alley from the sky, taking care of the rest. The battle was over in just a few moments.

Five dark types? They certainly had come prepared, but it was not enough to take her down. She had decades of experience under her belt.

"Chandelure, light up the area, will you? I need to see their faces properly."

A pale, purple light shone down the alley, but Chandelure was still nowhere to be seen.

"Mismagius, keep them still."

The five grunts shivered as Mismagius appeared behind them and whispered in their ears. Their arms and legs were suddenly joined together.

"Fuck! I can't— how'd you tie us up?!" One of the grunts screamed.

But they weren't. It only felt like they were thanks to Mismagius' illusion, so they were incapable of running away.

"Now, now, what should I do with you?" Fantina quietly said as she approached the culprits. They couldn't have been a day over twenty-five. The youngest of them even looked eighteen. A shame, what Team Galactic had done to them. "Let's start with the obvious. What was your goal here?"

"It was—"

A young girl screeched, interrupting him. "Shut the fuck up, Samuel! Don't say anything!"

"But she'll kill us, won't she?!"

"They'll kill us whether we talk or not, you fuck!"

Samuel seemed to be the name of the youngest one. After asking them the same question a few more times, Fantina decided to use him as a wedge, along with handing them a snippet of hope.

"Look, I could just have everything ripped from your brain come tomorrow morning, but if you talk, I promise that I will make sure that doesn't happen. You will have to serve some time, but at least you will still be you."

"What good is your promise?" A female grunt said. "Don't make me laugh. We'll die here for our ideals if need be!"

Fantina stepped toward Samuel. "How old are you?"

"Seventeen," he timidly answered, ignoring his comrades' protests.

"Seventeen… well, I think that if you cooperate, you could be out of prison by the time you're twenty-five—"

A man spoke up this time. "Don't listen to her filthy mouth—"

Gengar loomed in front of the man, his multiple rows of long, sharp, needle-like teeth, terrifying scarlet eyes and perpetually shifting face in full display. The grunt held his breath, hoping not to inhale the poisonous fumes that the ghost could emit. Depending on how antagonistic Gengar felt, one whiff, and he'd drop dead.

"Gengar," Fantina warned.

The ghost laughed and sunk into her shadow. He'd always been overprotective.

"Listen, children. There are two choices here. Either you speak and at least have a chance of coming out of this unscathed, or you do not, and the League rips out your memories tomorrow."

After hesitating for a few seconds, Samuel spoke first. "We got a message that said to kill you before you got home. Apparently, you knew something. That's all we've been told."

"Don't try to fool me with half-truths. That was just stating the obvious. Your Pokemon are good… at least at the five-badge level, or around those lines. A pitiful assassination team for someone of my caliber, but trainers that good do not grow on trees, and I suppose that your leader did not want to sacrifice his more valuable assets in case the plan failed. Either way, surely that means that you were told more than this. Here, let me try something. Did you know that Team Galactic's ultimate goal is to end the world?"

They all froze.

"Ah, so you do know. And yet you still help them? How curious," Fantina mused. Letting them know did not exactly matter, since no matter what happened tonight, they wouldn't be going back to their headquarters. Still, she omitted speaking about Dialga and Palkia.

It had only been a theory, but the League believed that there were two tiers of Team Galactic members. Those who knew the real plan of the organization, and those that were being fooled with platitudes and empty promises. They had only captured and stolen the memories of the former so far, but that was the only way that they had figured a literal doomsday cult had gathered so many members.

And apparently, these five knew.

That complicated things. The odds of them making it out of this with their memories intact had considerably lowered unless they gave her pertinent information.

"Tell me everything you know, and I'll try to keep you alive."

The statement came from the heart. Fantina did not like seeing these poor children misled, so if she could avoid it, she would try to spare their minds. Of course, if push came to shove… well, it would be for the greater good.

The greater good, however, often just meant evil, but the League was content to dish out evil if the world would be saved— Fantina included.

"There's been a new directive… we were supposed to aim to kill the gym leaders to soften up the League forces in preparation for a potential attack on the three lakes," the youngest spoke. At this point, the others had all given up, aside from the girl. "You were deemed to be the easiest because you don't have protection from the League, and infiltrating it is basically impossible. We could infiltrate the coordinator industry to keep tabs on you instead. There was also the objective of killing Cynthia the next time she decided to get out of her damned fortified island."

Fantina almost broke into laughter. Killing Cynthia? With that Spiritomb keystone she carried in her pocket at all times? It might as well have been impossible. Even she— a ghost type specialist— found the Pokemon too much to handle. There was a reason Cynthia never used it in the few battles she still sometimes fought. All those damned 108 souls could agree on were an unshakable loyalty and love to the Champion. Still, she said nothing for now.

Cynthia… Fantina still remembered that bright-eyed fifteen-year-old that wiped the floor with her all those years ago when she challenged her gym for the first time with only a Gabite, a Togetic, a Roselia, a Milotic, and a Lucario to her name. She'd only been using her four-badge team, but it made her feel like a cornered Pokemon all the same. Fantina grabbed her phone and quickly sent a coded message to the League. The other gym leaders weren't as good as she was, and they were in great danger, especially since they carried their Pokemon in their balls at all times.

"You were planning on doing something the night of the contest," she continued. "What was it?"

"It would have been the same thing we tried now, just with thirty people instead of the measly five we managed to gather on such short notice. We would have waited near your home and attacked you when you came back from the post-contest party— hopefully drunk. It might still happen, I don't know," Samuel said.

So it wouldn't have been as bad as Fantina thought. She had almost expected a massive attack on the contest hall to get to her, but perhaps that would have generated too much public outrage due to the massive amount of casualties and put the public on the side of memory extraction. Still, thirty? She would have had to go all out, and even then, it might not have been enough. Fantina would have to call the League. Perhaps it was time to end her days of independence and get some guards.

"Where are your headquarters in the city?"

"Samuel, don't you dare!"

"It's to the southeast near the gate to route 209, but they're probably evacuating by now—"

"You fucking rat!"

"—We were supposed to send a message to confirm if we succeeded by now, so they probably know it's gone wrong."

Still, Fantina sent another coded message to the League after asking for the exact address. If they could make it in time…

"Who's the middleman between Team Galactic and Fabian Mcclure?" Fantina asked.

"Only Daisy and Derek know…" Samuel muttered. "They're our leaders."

"Samuel, you fucking traitor! I'll make sure the Commanders get you for this, you little worm!" Daisy continued to yell, squirming against her non-existent binds.

"Aïe, aïe, aïe," Fantina groaned, pinching her nose. She was completely brainwashed. "Are you sure you don't want to tell me? You'll die, or your mind will be irreparably altered. We will figure it out. It's just a matter of figuring it out tonight or tomorrow morning."

The man called Derek silently thought to himself, biting his lip as he no doubt considered his future. It was strange, that a man wanting to end the world cared about his future. Fantina could not really see the difference between dying tomorrow or a few months from now. Maybe there was more to the plan than met the eye. Would Cyrus' followers be spared in some way? With Dialga and Palkia under their control, anything they wanted would be possible. Fantina sent the idea to the League.

"Argh, fine! There's no way we're getting back in now anyway, Daisy!" Derek screamed in frustration. "Samuel already spoke too much. The Commanders would kill us or worse. We're not getting in… our best chance is to help the League stop them. Our contact in the city… his name is Abel. The fucking League—" he spat the last word, as he did every time he mentioned the government. "—probably knows more about him than we do. All I know is that he's as slippery as an Arceus damned Eelektross. I don't know what Pokemon he owns aside from that Malamar, but they allow him to be undetected wherever he goes."

Fantina hummed as she ignored Daisy's indignant cries. She petted Banette's head, which she had solidified, and the ghost nuzzled against her hand. Abel was that criminal from Unova that they still hadn't found. The League didn't exactly consider him to be a priority, but now, that might change.

"So he's joined your organization, then?"

"No. He hasn't, he just works for money," the grunt said. "Team Galactic's been paying him for his service, and he's excellent at information gathering. We're just working together out of convenience, or at least, that's what I've been told. He's after two big-wig billionaires. He doesn't seem to care much about anything else."

"I know who he is after. Let's stay on topic. So he is in the city, then. Where is he, currently?"

"I don't know."

"Where was the last place you saw him?"

"I don't know."

"How can you not know?"

"It wasn't him that we met! We just talk via texting! It was an associate of his that always took the money. Some no-name kid that never speaks and has a fucking creepy grin that reaches his ears and a blank stare. Barely even blinks."

"What does the kid look like, then?"

"Barely ten, if I had to guess, but I'm bad with ages. White, dark brown hair, pale and thin, I don't fucking know. He's like any kid you can see on the street. The only thing different about him is that Arceus damned grin and blank stare. Barely even looks human."

"Fine. You've been of use. I will make sure you don't die. You are just children. Surely you deserve a second chance after you serve your time."

"T—thank you," Samuel sighed. "Thank you so much. What about our Pokemon?"

"The League will take and rehabilitate them."

All of their faces sank. Alas, she had done all she could. Fantina phoned the police, and ten minutes later, they were all off to jail. The League would take another few hours to arrive.

"Well, this sure was a mess, wasn't it?" Fantina told her ghosts. The cancer that was Team Galactic was spreading a lot more than she thought, and there'd be a lot of cleanup to do. Depending on how deep the rot went… she'd have to go after the Contest Committee itself. Her Pokemon all laughed as they disappeared into the shadows, and for some reason, her mind thought back to that young Mira Compton.

"Love your ghosts, and they shall learn to love in return."

The next day, Fabian, along with a few people in the industry, was arrested. The Galactic base in Hearthome had been completely vacated, even though they got there barely an hour after her call. The League learned of Team Galactic's ultimate plan thanks to the five grunts' cooperation, along with a lot more information about how Cyrus' inner circle operated. The man wished not only to end the world, but to create a new one in his image for himself and a few thousand of the members of his organization.

The rest? Well, they'd be left out to dry.
 
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Chapter 134
CHAPTER 134

Pauline currently sat in her mother's office with her arms crossed. She had never felt this conflicted about something in her entire life. She was a person of action, not reaction, and yet, when it came to Emilia and Denzel, she couldn't help but flounder like a Magikarp out of the water.

It was so unlike her. She'd wanted to burry everything a deeply as she could.

And yet, she was finally ready to admit everything.

"Mommy. How do you know… wait, let me rephrase. What do you do if you like two people?"

"Pick one and move on," the old woman answered.

"I'm serious! I can't just pick one."

"Sure you can. If you had to choose one right now, who would it be?" Josephine said.

Pauline opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She couldn't choose. "I— I can't."

Her mother clicked her tongue dismissively. "Life is a series of difficult choices, Pauline."

"I know that! You've engrained it into my head since I was a fucking baby! Sometimes, you don't know what to do!"

"I cannot give you an answer. It is up to you to decide what you want in life."

Pauline irritatingly tapped her foot against the floor. What she wanted wasn't possible. It was unreasonable, selfish, and there was simply no way for it to happen.

Her mother smiled at her. "Why come here when you've already made a decision?"

"It won't work."

"Why not try it?"

"I wouldn't even know where to begin! Plus, we're leaving soon, and Emilia's staying here, so she'd obviously get jealous if I traveled with him and not with her if they were dating me! And hell, I don't even know if Denzel likes me anymore. He's hanging out with all these others girls, and I hate it! I… I can't do it."

"The issues you raise are valid," Josephine acknowledged. "And personally, I couldn't ever imagine sharing the person I loved with someone else, but then again, who knows what your friends are like."

Pauline scoffed. "You hated dad and never dated anyone else."

"I did love him for a few weeks," she laughed. "Look, I do not have all the answers. This is certainly a conundrum I've never encountered before. All I can tell you is to know that your choices—"

"Have consequences," the girl sighed. "That was useless, but thanks anyway. I don't feel like going back to the Center. Can I stick around?"

"Obviously."



Denzel sat on his bed with his head in his hands. He'd delayed this long enough. Sylveon was starting to become unmanageable, and he had to put his foot down. They'd talk one-on-one so that there would be absolutely no distractions. Denzel made sure his phone was on silent mode too. Emilia was freaking out about some massive scandal regarding some judge, but he hadn't looked into it yet. The trainer released Sylveon, who happily greeted him by wrapping a ribbon around his leg. He felt a relaxing sensation spread throughout his body, and it took him a few seconds to come back to his senses.

"No, Sylvi. I already told you not to do that— at least not without my permission. You can wrap it around my hand or leg, or whatever, but no powers," Denzel scolded.

Sylveon's huge, blue eyes twitched, and the fairy type looked incredibly hurt. Denzel felt his heart wrench.

"That came out more aggressively than I wanted. Sorry. But you know that there needs to be boundaries with these things. Come here."

He gave a hesitant nod before jumping on the bed and lying down next to his trainer. Denzel sighed, not knowing where to start. Talking to people was easy and straightforward, but talking to Pokemon was a lot harder.

"You've been changing, Sylvi," he started, making sure to use a gentler tone. "Slowly but surely, you've been becoming… different. Now, I've welcomed some of these changes. I don't care if you're becoming more brutal in fights, but some of them are too much. You can fight as much as you want when training with the team or Pokemon of our level, but you've got to hold back against Maeve. And that's not even the worse of it! For example, I've caught how you look at people I spend time with. At first, I thought it was just because Maeve and Mira were new and you weren't used to them and their Pokemon, but now even when I say that I'm going to spend time with the people you do know, you try to do all these things to get me to stay."

"Sylv—"

"Let me finish. I've been trying to keep my hands off of the relationship drama between you and the team, but… this might be me being paranoid, but I'm pretty sure you've been manufacturing conflicts so that I'd have to stay and diffuse them."

The fairy type stood completely still.

"I know they like you for real, and that you do dislike it, and that you genuinely don't want to bother with it, but it can't be a coincidence that these fights mostly happen when I say I'm about to go hang out with the others. You've been… you've been manipulating them and playing them off of each other. Even Snorunt, who doesn't have a crush on you. That is not okay, Sylveon."

He protested, and after a few moments, Denzel understood what he meant.

"I know that you're bothered by it too, and that you do love the others, but you can't deny that you've been using it to your advantage. The only one you seem not to manipulate is Feebas. This needs to stop."

Sylveon said nothing.

"I know you're attached to me, but you can't keep hoarding me to yourself. I know I've been kind of absent lately with all my meetings, but that's temporary. When we're back on the road, we'll be able to spend more time together," Denzel said, petting the fairy type's head. "Promise me you'll try."

The Pokemon hesitantly nodded.

"Okay. I won't tell anyone about this. It's partly my fault too, I should have intervened sooner instead of hoping the issue would fix itself. From now on, if you step out of line, I'll tell you, okay? And if you do it again, then I'm forcing you to confess to the others, and you know that won't be pretty."

Sylveon sighed and agreed.

"Thank you."

Now, it was time to go to sleep.



Last night.

What Fantina had told me tonight had been completely unexpected. In fact, it was so out of left field that I'd been in denial about it for a good few hours after the fact, but at this point, what else could I do but wait to speak with Electabuzz himself? It hurt to think that he potentially had this secret past that we never spoke about, and it made me think that I hadn't exactly been good to him. What if he'd been hurting all this time, and I hadn't found out? I couldn't help but think back to the first time he'd sensed Mars' Dusknoir, but he'd seemed cheerful enough. After that, he had helped with Mismagius in Eterna Forest, but there were also no signs of distress.

Maybe I was overthinking things?

Then again, this proved to me that I needed to ask about Jellicent's past too. Who knew if he was hiding something?

But again, maybe he'd talk to me about it on his own one day? Would I be overbearing?

"Damn it," I groaned, leaning against my room's wall. There was nothing I could do until I picked Honey up from the nurses tomorrow and asked him myself.



"Your Pokemon are as good as new, Ms. Pastel," Nurse Joy smiled. A Chansey stood next to her and nodded. "We hope to see you again!"

"Thanks. Have a nice day," I said before turning away.

It was bright and early in the morning. So early in fact, that I didn't have to contend with trainers swarming around me to ask questions. There was barely anyone outside. I considered going back to my room to talk to Electabuzz as fast as I could, but I figured that it'd be better to go to Amity Square to talk. Since dad would probably still be asleep, I quickly got on a bus and took the relatively quick trip to the park. I released Electabuzz, who yelled loudly and stared at me in anticipation.

Right. He still didn't know if we won or not.

"We won," I said, sitting on the floor. "Pretty handily, too, you and everyone else did a wonderful job. Come and sit."

He celebrated, flexing and whirring his arms around, but I patted the ground next to me, and the electric type slowly stopped, then hesitantly sat.

"Buzz?" He asked.

"Just you and me this morning," I said. "What, you don't wanna hang out with me? Come on!" I joked, playfully tapping his back.

Electabuzz chortled, and my hair stood on end. He was getting a lot stronger. I leaned against my knees, taking a deep breath, and he nervously stared at me.

"Listen, hon," I started. "I spoke to Fantina after the battle about your ghost sensing ability, and she told me what she thought about it. If you don't want to tell me anything, it's fine, but I have to ask. Before I took you in, and when you were just born, did you hang around with a ghost?"

The electric type froze and then scratched his head awkwardly. I could tell that he hadn't expected me to figure it out and that he didn't particularly feel like talking about it either.

"Well, I say hang out, but according to her, it was more like you were raised by them," I continued. "Um, I don't know what happened, but I'd like for you to talk to me about it. If you've been bottling something up inside, then I'm here for you. Not necessarily today, but in the future—"

He interrupted me by placing a hand on my shoulder.

He was ready.

I almost expected him to tell me that a human that owned a ghost hatched him and then abandoned him, but it was nothing of the sort. It took a bit of trial and error, but Electabuzz ended up explaining everything to me. He never knew his parents, since Elekid tend to live alone right from birth, but a powerful trio of ghosts had taken care of him right after he hatched.

Three Gengar.

Needless to say, if the topic hadn't been so serious, I would have been skeptical. Finding a wild Gengar was a rarity in and of itself, but three? And the fact that they took care of him was strange too. Why? Was it just out of the kindness of their hearts? It was impossible to know. They took care of him for months, protecting him from predators, and he learned to sense them too. It was just as Fantina had said, except that it was three instead of one ghost. One day, however, the Gengar all left while he was sleeping. Electabuzz stayed in the same spot for months, hoping that they'd be back, but they never returned. To this day, he still didn't know why they left or what happened to them, but a part of him thought that it was because he was too weak and that they'd gotten tired of having to save him so many times.

"So that's why you put yourself down so hard after every loss," I said with a pained look. I welled up and hugged him tightly. "I'm not going to abandon you, you idiot! We're family! I love you! No matter what happens, I will always stick by you."

Honey held me tight, and let out a few tears of his own. We stayed like that for at least five minutes to let our emotions settle down. Seeing him beat himself up so badly made me feel like there was a hole in my heart. How had I not seen anything? What kind of parent wouldn't figure out that their kid was hurting?

"I won't tell anyone you cried," I said, letting out a sad chuckle. "It'll be our secret."

Electabuzz stared at me, his eyes red, and pointed to my thighs. I nodded, and he placed his head on my lap, and I stroked his head.

"Was that why you wanted to go to the power plant so badly? I remember you telling me that the signal was stronger the more powerful a ghost was… that Dusknoir felt just as strong as one of those Gengar, didn't he?"

"Ele," the electric type confirmed.

It all… everything made so much sense now. I had never thought there had been anything wrong with his past behavior, but having the extra context helped so much. Mismagius had probably felt significantly weaker, though.

"So you want to meet them again, then? Ask them why they left you?"

Electabuzz nodded. He'd been so enthusiastic about joining me because he knew that with a trainer, he'd be able to travel far and wide to potentially meet the three Gengar again. On his own, he'd never be able to grow as strong as he needed, or at least not as quickly. It would have taken him years to get to where he currently stood— and he had reached this point in a few months.

"I promise you, Honey. I promise you that I'll help you find them again and get you your answers. If they aren't in Sinnoh somehow, then we'll go to the other regions. I was planning on doing that anyway."

His eyes widened, and he stared at me in surprise.

"Right, I haven't told any of you, have I? What do you say I release everyone else now? Of course, what you told me about your past can stay between us for now, if you'd prefer that."

"Ele," he agreed after thinking for a few seconds.

I kept scratching his head for another twenty minutes, where we just sat in silence. I watched as the sun slowly rose, and people slowly started filtering into Amity Square. I figured that just having some time to ourselves was nice. I released the entire team after finding a more secluded part of the park— including Turtonator, who I desperately wanted to call Sunshine, but couldn't. Knowing him, he'd bear a grudge for weeks. I told Angel and Sweetheart that we'd won the gym battle, and they celebrated happily. Tangrowth picked her up to stop her from messing up the floor with her stomps, though.

"Listen up, everyone!" I said, clapping my hands. Turtonator ignored me and lay down on the grass. "I came to this realization when we were back at Savika's cabin, but Sinnoh's just the start! I'm going to become the best trainer in the world, and to do that, I'll need to travel to different regions after I mop up Sinnoh," I said, half-jokingly. Larvitar nodded, not understanding that I'd been joking, and I chuckled in response. "I'll have to figure out how to get enough free time to do it while being the Champion, but you catch my drift."

Turtonator let out a dismissive snort, and Togetic's eyes narrowed.

"You think I can't do it, huh? Well, just you watch, because you've got front-row seats!" I said. "Anyway, it's nice out today, and we're already here, so I figured, why not stick around a lil'? Angel, feel free to take Sweetheart to the lake if you want. Princess, do you want to go too?"

Togetic defiantly shook her head as she stared at the half-asleep Turtonator.

"Fine. I guess you can add to the stories I'll tell," I sighed.

Today, I'd tell Turtonator about my experience at Valley Windworks. I had skirted around Team Galactic before, skipping past the incident at the lake next to Twinleaf and my meeting with Roark, but I figured that I couldn't ignore such a pivotal moment in my journey. I leaned against Jellicent, who solidified his body for me— but not too much! Just enough for it to be comfortable.

The moment I uttered the words Team Galactic, Turtonator's eyes shot wide open.



Cecilia was currently watching the news in Pauline's room. Surprisingly though, Pauline wasn't there. She'd gone to talk to her mother about something, but she wouldn't say what it was. Emilia was there, but she was glued to her phone, looking up something about some disgraced contest judge that apparently took bribes from coordinators to alter their scores. The story was still developing at this point, so who knew how many people this touched. Cecilia knew that since the coordinator world was a private entity, anti-corruption measures were nowhere as prevalent as for trainers, since the latter was run by the government. Justin was there, but he was also engrossed in his own research for his fifth team member that he would try to get by the time they were at Solaceon. He wanted to have his six as soon as possible, unlike Pauline, who was taking her sweet time.

Meanwhile, Grace had been missing since this morning, but she had messaged them to let them know that everything was fine and that she was just with her team at Amity Square. Supposedly, there was a lot for them to talk about, but Cecilia didn't want to pry.

Suddenly, one of the news anchor said something that held everyone's attention.

"And we are now receiving word from the League itself that Team Galactic was involved in the scheme with contest committee member Fabian Mcclure. Apparently, they threatened to expose his bribe-taking tendencies if he did not reveal information about Fantina. Due to the current cooperation of five members of Team Galactic in custody, we are learning more and more about this elusive terrorist organization."

"And you forgot to mention that they were operating through a middleman, the well-known—"


"What?!" Emilia yelled, staring at Cecilia. "Put it back on!"

"Ugh," Cecilia said. "I don't want to hear about Team Galactic. It brings bad memories…"

To a time when she did not care about whether she was alive or dead. It seemed so far away, now.

"Emi, you need to think about how your actions affect those around you," Justin scolded.

"Oh. Sorry," Emilia said. "I've been so into the news today that I didn't realize. I'll just look at it on my phone. This is incredibly depressing for the little coordinators like me or Vincent. It's the first time corruption of this scale was ever found in the industry. The grand contest next week was canceled too. This'll have ramifications for years to come. Which means if someone wants to reform the industry like I do, now's the best time to do so."

"I don't think you'll like what you'll find. Team Galactic— sorry Cece— Team Galactic probably has a lot more contacts in high places. The League can figure it out."

"That's right. Team Galactic is dangerous. You're better off keeping your head down."

"The Contest Committee will throw a hissy fit and will oppose investigations at every step of the way. They'll stall so long that it'll take years to do it properly. It would be much easier to do it from the inside. What I do wonder though, is why Fantina hasn't done anything about it until the League stepped in? Someone like her must know a lot of what goes on on the inside… I need to unearth it all."

Emilia had changed, since entering Hearthome. Cecilia couldn't have imagined the scared girl in Eterna Forest potentially investigating Team Galactic's influence in the coordinator world, but she was different now. More confident.

Too much confidence, however, could be dangerous.

"Just be careful, Emi," she sighed. "Sometimes, it's better to let the situation resolve itself."

"I won't poke the Bewear, don't worry."

A few hours later, Cecilia decided to go back to her room to rest. She needed to start getting ready for the Solaceon tournament as soon as possible, so she'd start training early tomorrow. She'd been slacking lately, and her overconfidence against Fantina had nearly cost her the battle.

But at the same time, they were leaving soon, so maybe it'd be better to spend more time in the city with Grace, if she wished. She still hadn't found a piano to practice on, and Cecilia had found an establishment where people could freely play. If they went there early or late, then they wouldn't need to annoy any passersby. As she opened the door, she couldn't help but giddily anticipate the look on her girlfriend's face when she would find out. Maybe Cecilia could make it a surprise? Tell her that they were going someplace else, but secretly bring her to the—

A man sat at her desk, his feet on the table and a lit cigarette in hand as he leaned back against her chair. A child with a disturbing grin and blank stare happily pointed at her, making weird gurgling sounds. A third person— an old woman, stood against the wall and looked blankly at her.

And a Malamar stood in the middle of the room with a wicked grin that sent a shiver down her spine.

Abel.

How had he gotten in here? A Pokemon Center was the safest place a trainer could ever be, and the windows didn't open from the outside, and they were reinforced with the toughest material possible! And yet… it was open, but showed no signs of it having been busted. Cecilia didn't freeze. She immediately tried to bolt, but she felt an invisible force restrain her body and drag her toward Abel, who lazily turned toward her. The old woman gently closed the door and stood in front of it, blocking her with a grunt.

Cecilia couldn't breathe. She couldn't think. Her vision swam, and she tried to scream, but Malamar's eyes lit up, and her throat closed up until she almost choked.

"Malamar, stop toying with her and insulate the room, will you?" The Unovan said.

The dark type playfully laughed as the room became distorted.

"There you go. No one can hear you scream now, so let's not waste time with your childish antics. I hope you don't mind the cigarette, I opened a window for the smell."

Who cared about a cigarette? Her life was over. Cecilia silently raged as tears streamed down her cheeks. Josephine had been wrong. He did come after her.

And in the end, after all her trials and tribulation, she was still weak.

"Oh, please, don't get your knickers in a twist," Abel said, rolling his eyes. "Now that I'm not getting paid, I don't want anything to do with you. It's your father I'm after. Unfortunately though, my hand was forced and I had to do this, since I'm rather pressed for time."

Cecilia silently stared up at the unassuming man. Brown hair and eyes, average height, clean-shaven, an angular face, and an obnoxious smile exuding confidence.

Ten Pokeballs at his belt.

"Let's have a nice, long talk, Cecilia."
 
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Chapter 135 - Turning Point II
CHAPTER 135 - Turning Point II

"T—talk? What do you want to know, I—I'll tell you anything!" Cecilia blurted out as fast as she could. There was no point in fighting back. She had her Pokemon, but Malamar would never let her bring them out, and even then, she would lose the fight. He was a much better trainer than she.

Abel hummed, the child let out a gurgling laugh, and the woman grunted. Who even were the other two? Cecilia had never heard of the man having accomplices before back in Unova. Maybe they were two new people he'd found in Sinnoh? People he had mind controlled? Abel took in one last, long drag of his cigarette and threw it out the window.

"That hit the spot," he smiled. "So you'll cooperate then? That makes things easier. First, I need you to call your father right now, but you'll need to act natural. Tell him that you've had a change of heart, that he shouldn't fly back to Unova, and that you want to meet him and talk things out… hm, I need a concrete date. Zazza?"

The old woman grunted.

"Look up how long it'd take to walk to Solaceon— actually, let's just do Veilstone. Easier to get lost in the crowd, and he'd be convinced more easily."

Walk. Abel didn't own a flying type, then, and even if he owned a teleporter, he'd probably never been to either Solaceon or Veilstone, so he wouldn't even be able to get there anyway. Cecilia silently absorbed the information as Abel threw his Xtransceiver toward the woman he called Zazza, and she caught it at unnaturally high speeds. Her arm was so quick that it became a blur.

"Now, let's keep going. You're going to tell him that you'll meet him in Veilstone… just tell him that you'll go to that vacation home you own in the western parts of the city. I already know the address."

Her heart sank even deeper. She absolutely did not want to see her father again, but if it was to survive… she nodded weakly.

"Ah!" Abel laughed. "You don't want to see your old man, right? I can see it on your face. Don't worry, all I need is a tuft of your hair, and you'll be set. You won't have to meet him, and you probably never have to see me again, and I'm a man of my word, but you just have to really sell this call."

The woman let out a slight, gruff sound, baring her teeth, and lifted up ten fingers, then two.

"Twelve days to get to Solaceon. Tell him you'll meet him in fifteen, then, at 5:00 pm. I'll need to prepare some things in advance."

"I—I don't feel like I can—"

"But you will. Then I'll have a few questions about how you used to behave with your old man."

"Please, just give me a few minutes—"

"I said I was short on time, wasn't I? Beggars can't be choosers, Cecilia, and right now, you are most certainly a beggar. See, I don't see the point in senseless violence. What's the point in controlling someone or killing them unless I get paid appropriately? I want nothing to do with you, so just do this for me, and you'll stick it up to your dear old dad. He abused you, he didn't pay me in full, we've both been screwed, so it's a win for both of us. Dan? Give her her phone."

The child's impossible wide grin somehow widened, and he excitedly hopped off the bed, getting her phone out of his small pocket. Cecilia's eyes bulged, and she let out a small gasp. He dropped the Poketch into her hands.

"When did you…?"

"Dial his number."

Cecilia's hands trembled as she listened to his command. An idea popped into her head, screaming at her to call the police, but would Abel notice? She could fake the entire conversation and hope they'd pick up on it.

But the risks were too large. And why even go so far to protect a man she hated? She wasn't thinking straight—

"Put it on speaker," the man said.

Well, that plan was moot regardless, then.

Cecilia had blocked her father's phone number long ago, and the closer she got to completing it, the more fear she felt. Why… why was she more scared of her father than the criminal in front of her? It made no sense! She slowly brought the phone up to her ears and—

"Cecilia. I did not think you would ever call me again."

It took everything she had not to sob right then and there. His voice inflicted such terror upon her, even now. Cecilia had thought that she had been freed, but he still had a hold on her. Clarence spoke with a voice devoid of any warmth or love for her, and it sent ice coursing through her veins.

She bit her lip, and had to force herself to let out her next words.

"Father," Cecilia started. She stared up at Abel, who lazily lounged on her chair, but still observed her to make sure she didn't step out of line. "To tell you the truth, I have been thinking these last few weeks, and I feel like I have to apologize to you."

Damn it. The words tasted like ash in her mouth. She reviled him. None of it was real. She wanted to snap at Clarence and tell him how much she despised the fact that they were of the same blood.

Even if Abel hadn't been there, Cecilia felt like she wouldn't have been able to say it.

"Have you now?" Clarence said. "I find that hard to believe. You are lying to me, Cecilia."

The girl froze, and her eyes darted to Abel, who motioned to her to keep going.

"I'm not," she said, her tone smooth and calm. "I genuinely feel sorry. I hadn't seen that you were doing everything for my own good. I heard that you were flying out to Unova soon, but I want to meet you again. How about our vacation home in Veilstone in fifteen days? Does five in the evening work for you?"

Clarence laughed. "You thought you could fool me, couldn't you? I can tell from the way you speak, Cecilia. You are a terrible liar. If you truly felt the words you were saying, then you would not be using that calm tone of yours."

Abel stared at the ceiling and let out a sigh that turned into a frustrated groan. "Give me the phone," he whispered.

Cecilia whimpered. She had failed. She might have hated Clarence, but he knew her.

"Good evening, Clarence."

Finally, her father placed some emotion into his voice. "A—Abel? What are you doing with my daughter?"

"What's the problem? Weren't you the one that begged for me to get Malamar to control her for weeks before scamming me? Cecilia and I have a lot of things in common. Maybe we were working together to take you down."

"Nonsense. I've already told you that I cannot pay you. There's too much at risk, especially now that you've involved yourself with Team Galactic."

Cecilia felt a chill run through her entire body. Abel was involved with Team Galactic? She was too distressed to even understand what the information implied.

Abel laughed, and the child imitated him, letting out gurgling sounds.

"Your hands aren't so squeaky clean either, Clarence," he said. "It's a wonder how quickly the Directorate changed their mind on bailing out the Bianchis, isn't it? You wouldn't believe how much I know about your friend Harvey. I could sink him, and your dear merger by association."

What was… what was going on? The Bianchis were involved with Team Galactic too? At least that's what she felt he was implying. The new majority in the Directorate was seemingly listening to what they wanted, too. This was a complete disaster! A national security failure of the highest proportions! What was Cynthia doing?!

Everything was intertwining.

"But getting that message out would require a deal with Sinnoh's League, and you would serve time. You would never do it."

Abel sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

Then he grinned, staring at Cecilia.

"Correct. It seems we've reached an impasse, then."

He was lying.

"Look, there's a lot of risk involved, and a lot of moving parts, but I would be willing to pay you under one condition," Clarence said.

"Which is?"

"Use your Malamar and bring me back my daughter."

Cecilia dejectedly stared at Abel, then at Malamar. He appeared to be actually considering the option. She let out a sad laugh. What a horrible man her father was. Never in her life had she seen such a psychopath, narcissistic shell of a human. Was it over, then? If it was, she might as well try to fight—

"No. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. I don't work with people that have already fleeced me," he shrugged before glancing at her. "You already owe me the money. You are an honorless piece of trash, Clarence. You should see the look on your daughter's face right now. I'd watch out if I were you. If looks could kill… and she doesn't even know what you just said."

Cecilia froze. What?

"Aren't you going to kill me first?"

"Kill you? No, no, not unless you force me to. Killing clients is bad for business. All I want is my money, and then I'll slip out of this Arceus-forsaken region."

"Good luck with that. How's Hearthome treating you? I've heard a full man-hunt for you is currently on the way."

So that was why he said that he'd been short on time, Cecilia thought.

"I'll easily slip out. I always do."

"We will see about that. I believe we are done here, then?"

"See you later, Clarence. I'll make sure I'm paid in full. Oh, and by the way, the phone was on speaker the entire time, you moron. Your daughter heard everything. I'm not going to be the one sinking Harvey, she will. Say goodbye to your merger, Clarence. Now you know what happens when you cross me."

Abel hung up Cecilia's phone before her father could even react and threw it on her lap.

"Well, your acting skills could use some work," he continued, getting up from her chair. "Forget about my questions, I'm leaving this city. Those pieces of shit grunts gave up everything about me. Dan, they know what you're dressed like, so you'll need to change."

The child jumped up and down excitedly.

"None of that," Abel said, clicking his tongue and recalling Malamar. Even though he'd said he wouldn't mind control her, the relief she felt when the psychic type was gone was immense, and the room immediately returned to normal. Still, she wouldn't scream— not when he was about to leave peacefully.

Her eyes widened when the child's entire body changed in front of her. His skin turned purple, and his face grew thicker, more square, while his hair turned from dark brown to a lighter one, and he grew taller by more than one foot.

He'd turned into Abel— clothes and all.

"Not now, and not in front of her, damn it!" Abel groaned, losing his composure for the first time. He turned to Cecilia, and his stare grew sinister.

"I won't tell anyone what I saw! You can let me be!" She begged.

"Arceus…" he sighed. "Well, ignoring the obvious, I feel like things will work out in my favor if I let you run around. Dan, you're grounded. Zazza—"

"Wait! Before you leave, I have to ask you something."

"No. I don't owe you anything."

Cece decided to ask anyway. "Amy Saunier… was she under your Malamar's control at any point?"

Abel scoffed. "Oh, that's what you wanted to ask? Well, why not. She was not, but she certainly was under your father's."

Cecilia's shoulders slumped. So Amy had said the truth when she said that nothing had been done to her during that fateful night at the hotel. She bit her lip and blinked to chase away tears. They hadn't been friends for months, but it was still sad to see that she'd done so much evil out of her own volition.

At least she had closure now. She would never forgive her.

"Satisfied? Zazza, grab Dan and let's go."

The old woman, who Cecilia had almost forgotten somehow, grabbed Dan by the neck and jumped out the open window, and she heard a thud. She was on the third floor, and yet she'd landed like it was nothing! The air beyond her window grew strange and distorted. Extrasensory. Abel jumped into the patch of air and was slowly lowered until he reached the street. Cecilia ran to the window and saw the passersby scream, recognizing him as he released a Xatu and teleported away.

Cecilia took a deep breath and closed her window.

And she collapsed on her knees, crying her heart out in relief and confusion for fifteen minutes. She called the police immediately afterward.



I'd still been talking to Turtonator when I got Justin's call telling me that something had gone wrong with Cecilia. As it turned out, we had quite a lot more in common than I ever believed we could have. Kamaile Nalanie had a run-in with Team Galactic during his trek through Mount Coronet. He'd been traveling with two other trainers he'd grouped up with at the outpost, and he was helping them through the mountain. They found Team Galactic in the middle of the mountain, where patrols were scarce, and the wildlife was dangerous. The fact that they could have potentially still been there while we were inside terrified me, but my experiences with Team Galactic had been easy compared to what Kamaile went through.

When it became apparent that they wouldn't hesitate to order their Pokemon to kill them, the two trainers with Kamaile ran away, leaving him alone against a squad of grunts. He fought valiantly, but it wasn't enough. One of them had apparently been so powerful that even Turtonator stood no chance, which if I had to guess, meant that it was a Commander. I tried to get more information out of him, but he refused to tell me anything else. Kamaile ended up dying after trying to recall his Pokemon to not get them killed, and that caused Turtonator— the only one who'd been left— to go into a rampage so powerful that they had been forced to leave because of the heat.

I didn't know if the two trainers that ran ever said anything about Team Galactic, but it looked like they hadn't, so that helped explain his inherent hatred toward trainers. He saw them all as the same people who got his trainer killed.

To be honest, could I even blame them for running? They had barely known each other.

I couldn't. I could blame them for not reporting it to the authorities, but running? I might have run too, unless I froze first. Kamaile seemed to have been a heroic person. Not everyone would be capable of standing up to Team Galactic like that, and maybe the two trainers had thought that he'd run too. Turtonator despised them for being 'cowards' and escaping, but he was holding them at impossible standards.

Standards I'd have to meet, if I ever wanted to be able to use him in battle.

Still, I said nothing to Turtonator. Even if he had asked to speak alone without my other Pokemon listening, he'd let himself be vulnerable and told me his story, so it was something we would talk about at a later date, and I'd need to call the rangers to tell them about how Kamaile truly died.

The Pokemon Center was swarming with local policemen, the International Police, and League trainers. It had been completely cleared of trainers, but I was allowed through. I saw Louis on the way to where they were leading me, but we could only wave at each other before the police led me away.

"Cecilia Obel wouldn't talk without you there," the cop explained.

"How bad is she?" I asked, feeling my stomach drop.

"She seems composed enough, just slightly shaken. She just refused to speak to anyone without seeing you first, which is why you were called here urgently."

I nodded, and the cop opened the room's door. They were apparently using the Center rooms as makeshift interrogation rooms. Inside, Cecilia brightened up as soon as she saw me, greeting me with a slight smile. I was glad to see that just like the officer had said, she hadn't completely broken down, and she didn't seem to be faking it either. Still, I could tell that she was more affected than she showed.

"Cece!" I breathed out as I rushed toward her. She stood up and hugged me tightly. "What happened? Justin told me a bit with his phone call, but… are you okay? Did you get hurt anywhere?"

"I'm fine," she nodded. "More angry than anything, now. I was powerless… but we can talk about that later," she said, glancing toward the two other people in the room— a man and a woman who both looked to be in their forties.

They both sat on chairs that they had no doubt brought from other rooms. The woman sported a short bob cut, and the man had an elongated face with thick, sharp eyebrows. They both had black hair, wore long, brown coats and ties, and looked sleep-deprived with deep bags under their eyes.

"Good evening," the man started. "I'm Agent Looker, and this is Agent Lynn with the International Police. Normally, we'd ask you questions individually, but… these are extraordinary circumstances, after all, so we were willing to make an exception."

I stared at Cece, who simply responded with a curt nod. I was surprised to see that the International Police was seemingly taking over the investigation, but I knew that they were helping with Team Galactic, so it wasn't too out of the ordinary.

"We'll be recording this conversation, by the way," Agent Lynn said. Her voice was surprisingly docile and soft. She pulled out a small audio recorder and turned it on. "Today's the… what's today?"

"The 15th."

"Thank you. January 15th, and we are speaking to Cecilia Obel and Grace Pastel," she continued.

I saw Cece grimace at her last name, and I patted her thigh to support her.

"So, Cecilia. You called the police an hour ago, telling us that Abel was in the Pokemon Center. There were multiple people that witnessed him getting out, but we'd like to know what you talked about," Lynn asked.

Cecilia told us everything— including the fact that Abel had two accomplices and that he accused the Bianchis of being directly involved with Team Galactic. The thought of it made my head spin. Team Galactic, Abel, the Bianchis and the Obels were all linked, and we were in the middle of it all. It felt like trying to survive in the middle of a hurricane. Still, at least it looked like Josephine had been partly right. Abel didn't care about us whatsoever, he just wanted to use Cece as a means to access her father. He was still a terrible person, though. He'd threatened her to get her to do his bidding, knowing that she'd be incapable of refusing and fighting back. Not only that, but he also worked with Team Galactic. From the way she described him, it seemed that he did indeed put money above everything, but he held grudges and held them well. Cecilia had also told the police about how he valued honor, which was funny, because nothing about mind control and basically being a hitman seemed honorable to me.

Despite hating him, I was starting to understand how he functioned.

"Let's get back to the two individuals accompanying him," Looker said. "You said that the smaller child called Dan changed his face in front of you?"

"Not just his face. He became an entirely different person and turned into Abel."

Looker stared at Lynn and hummed. "Sounds like a Ditto, no?"

Before hearing about its transformation, I had thought that they'd both been mind controlled, but apparently not? Ditto turning into a human was banned by the law, but Abel was a criminal, so I supposed that made sense. Plus, if the blank stare and the creepy grin was anything to go on, they'd make any kind of mind control really obvious. A Malamar was a lot subtler than that.

The woman agreed. "Would fit the way it turned purple when it changed, and the fact that it didn't talk, just gurgled. Ditto can only turn into things that it sees. But what about the woman? Zazza, you said?"

Cecilia nodded. "She never said anything either. Just grunts. But the… Ditto didn't look that powerful, while she seemed to have superhuman strength. She moved so quickly, and jumped out the window like it was nothing."

"Hm… doesn't seem like a Ditto to me. They can't become stronger than what they turn into, humans included. We'll have to keep a tab on it for now," Looker told Lynn as he took notes. "It's most likely related to the hair he asked of her. A strange requirement for a transformation."

Ditto, Malamar and Xatu were his confirmed Pokemon now, but there were still seven more unknown ones. The fact that he had a teleporter explained how he'd managed to escape so many times, and it also meant that the League would have to work a lot harder to arrest him.

"Um, are you going to arrest Harvey Bianchi and Clarence Obel?" I sprung up. Getting rid of them would make most of our problems disappear.

"We can't go in detail about that, but we'll certainly do something about it, along with Sinnoh's League."

I sighed in relief. There was also the fact if what Abel had said was true, the Directorate was somehow involved with Team Galactic as well, and they also had something to do with the recent bailout package that had been passed. Cynthia needed to do something and clean house, because this was quickly becoming untenable.

But maybe that was Team Galactic's strategy. They knew that they couldn't win in a direct confrontation, so their plan was to be a thorn in the League's side to slow them down until they could enact whatever plan they had. Maybe they wanted to create a coup and take over the region, or maybe they just wanted to sow chaos.

Agent Looker and Agent Lynn kept asking Cecilia questions for another hour and a half, mostly going over her story over and over again and asking for more and more detail each time they did. They also told us that everything here was confidential and that we weren't allowed to leak her detailed testimony to the public outside of our circle— meaning the people who had been interrogated here today. Of course, it had unfortunately already leaked. People knew that Abel had been in a Pokemon Center, and they knew that he'd spoken to Cecilia, but they were mostly concerned about the media getting a hold of the full testimony. I also told them about Team Galactic hanging around in Mount Coronet, along with a potential Commander and they told me that they'd look into it. After that, they gave us their number in case we remembered anything else, thanked us, and left.

"How are you really?" I immediately asked her.

"I'm terribly angry," she answered. "Despite all the progress we've made, this is the weakest I've ever felt, Grace. We're big fish in a small pond. The wider world… is so much more powerful. I thought I was making progress. I thought I'd never be weak again."

"You'll grow stronger," I said firmly. "We all will. And look, odds are, your dad and Louis' dad are finally going down, right? I mean, Josephine talked about plausible deniability, but they're beyond that now. They're fucked."

"Harvey is. Clarence might be fine, since he wasn't accused. The League will probably investigate him, though."

I pressed my head against my hands. "Right. Abel can't get his money back if Clarence loses everything. This was a warning. He sank Harvey to show him that he might be next."

Cecilia nodded, then waited a few seconds before talking again. "You know what Abel told me before he left?"

"Hm?"

"He said he felt like things would work out in his favor if he let me run around. I keep trying to think about what it means, but I can't."

"Didn't he just mean with your dad? You've literally just exposed Harvey for working with Team Galactic, didn't you? You did what he couldn't, and now he's going to get arrested, and Clarence might give him his money."

"No, that's too obvious," she shook her head. "I might be overthinking it, but I think he meant something else, and it scares me."

If it wasn't with her father, it could only mean Team Galactic, but how? We weren't doing anything with Team Galactic, and even though Turtonator was connected to them, I wasn't about to jump into the burning house and try to fight a terrorist organization. Wait, even that made no sense. He was working with them, not against them, so in what way was Cecilia going to help him? It made no sense!

Maybe he'd just said it to bother her… no, he didn't seem like the type. Damn it, this was bothering me too, now.

Honestly, the more I thought about this, the worse it got. Abel was working with Team Galactic, and so was Harvey, but they were also enemies. How did that even work?

"I'll try to think about what it meant," I said. "Coming up blank right now, though."

"It's alright," she smiled. "To be honest, I'm taking this a lot better than I thought I would. In the moment, I was terrified, but I'm… I'm okay, at least. I didn't completely break down, I just feel tense. Thankfully, Abel won't come after me again. I did learn something, though."

"What is it?" I asked.

"When Pauline saw Abel back in Eterna, he had his Malamar with him, right? And when he came here, he also had his Malamar, a Ditto, and some unknown Pokemon," she said, before hesitating. "Mars… Mars has Dusknoir hanging around her at all times, and when Fantina took down those five grunts, she told the media it was because at least one of her ghosts always stays outside of their Pokeball. Cynthia walks around with her Garchomp out at all times…"

I was slowly starting to get her point.

"Good trainers always have at least one Pokemon out. Or at least people that are expecting to be in danger."

"Exactly," she nodded. "If I had had Slowking with me when I walked into my room, then… I know Abel is more powerful than I am, but maybe he could have bought me enough time to run away. If Abel had worse intentions than he did, it would have been over for me."

She was completely right. We always had at least one Pokemon out on the routes, but in the cities? We almost always traveled with them in their Pokeballs. Of course, sometimes they'd be forced to go back in, like when we entered certain buildings or public transportation, but Pokemon like Slowking were allowed in the majority of places. Ghosts were convenient, since they could hide wherever you went. I had already thought about how necessary psychic types or Pokemon capable of psychic type attacks were to a trainer in the wild due to how excellent they were at protecting us, and I believed it was time to put my money where my mouth was. In my case, Togetic could work. Electabuzz could work too, since he had fast reaction times and knew Protect.

I'd have to tell this to the others too. The safer we were, the better. I sighed, suddenly feeling a wave of exhaustion wash over me. So much stuff had happened these past two days that the world felt completely different than it had been before.

"Should we go meet the others?" Cecilia asked. "I think we should have a meeting."



Pauline's room was packed.

There'd been more people than everyone expected. Pauline had thought that it'd be just our old group, meaning that Louis would be included, but he'd brought with him his two traveling companions, one of which was Mira, who I had met in Fantina's gym, and the other was Maeve, who'd fought him at the Floaroma tournament. Apparently, she even knew Chase. It was funny how small the world could be. After asking Cecilia if she wasn't too hurt or shaken, Louis placed himself in the corner of the room and kept fidgeting nervously. Emilia nervously licked her lips, staring around the room as her eyes settled on Chase, who was leaning against the wall and staring out the closed window. Slowking tapped on Cecilia's shoulder, and the girl winced due to the telepathy. Someone was coming.

Denzel and Justin strode into the room, and they were the last to arrive.

Why were Maeve and Mira here? Louis had already told them everything right away before he was interrogated, so we figured it'd be good to bring them in. Maeve seemed extremely nervous, and she probably didn't want to be involved in this. The fact that she'd forced herself to come meant that Louis had made himself some good friends in our absence.

Why was Chase here? Well, his case was a bit muddier. I had pushed to bring him in until everyone ended up accepting. Denzel and Cecilia hadn't pushed back too hard anyway. He was technically not allowed to be there, but when I phoned Lynn, she surprisingly gave me the okay.

Apparently, the League was announcing something big regarding the Directorate tomorrow, so they didn't exactly care about confidentiality anymore.

"Let's get started," Denzel said. "We need to make a concrete plan for the future—"

"Wait, is no one going to explain why I'm here?" Chase interrupted with an irritated tone.

"Hold on… no one told you? Grace?" Denzel asked, looking at me.

Oh. Right. In all of the excitement and wrangling I had to do to convince to get him out of his comfort zone and a room full of people…

I simply forgot.

"Oops?"
 
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Chapter 136
A/N: For the people that immediately read the last chapter as soon as it was uploaded, there was something I forgot to add: Grace told the International Police about Team Galactic having been in Mount Coronet. If you know what I'm talking about, then you read the chapter after I edited it.

CHAPTER 136

"Pffft— hahahaha!" Mira laughed, doubling over. "Oh man, you guys are a riot! You're telling me this guy doesn't even know what he's here for?"

"I don't even know you," Chase said. "You're making a terrible first impression."

"Mira…" Maeve groaned.

The pink-haired girl sprung up. "We should be friends—"

"No."

"I'm sorry, Chase," I sighed before quickly bringing him up to speed. He didn't seem to react very much, although I caught him sneaking some worried glances at Cece. "There, you're caught up."

"Okay. So what is this for? Are we going to fuck up these guys, or what?" He asked.

"You know what, I'd enjoy that very much," Pauline smirked. "But we couldn't even if we wanted to."

"All of us combined? They can't be invincible."

"Don't be stupid, guys," Denzel said. "We're not going after anyone. That's not what this meeting is for, this isn't a movie. Let the League do its job."

"We believe that since everyone here has been involved with Cecilia or Louis one way or another, we'd best bring you all into the loop and find ways to defend ourselves in case things go south again," Justin explained.

"I mean, I think I got the gist of what happened when Louis told us but… aren't your dads going to get arrested? We should be fine," Maeve said.

"Don't be naive," Pauline rolled her eyes. "See, this is why—"

A stare from both Denzel and Emilia shut her down.

Emilia started to speak. "What Pauline meant to say is that while yes, Harvey will probably get arrested, it'll take an investigation from the International Police and the League. They were implied to be transferring funds to Team Galactic, right? They'd be foolish to have left a paper trail."

"Harvey's days are numbered, but a cornered Pokemon tends to lash out even if it'd make no sense," Justin said, turning to Louis' friends and Chase. "And unfortunately, you're all involved, so you might be targeted."

"I'll beat 'em," Chase shrugged. "If this is when you ask to travel as a large group, then I'll have to say no."

"We weren't going to," Cece said. "It was just a general warning. Keep a Pokemon out with you at all times, and be careful of who you potentially befriend."

"Not sure this guy's going to make any new friends without me to help," Mira said, pointing her thumb at Chase. He just ignored her.

"Please take this seriously," I chided.

Her eyes narrowed, and she stared me down for a few seconds before relenting.

"Sorry, sorry! I'm a little bit of an airhead."

"Louis?" Cecilia asked worriedly. "You've been quiet."

"W—what?" He recoiled. "Maeve's been quiet too."

"Please don't throw me under the bus," she muttered. "I'm just scared."

"You should leave me, then," he said.

"Of course not. Plus, what's done is done. They already know we're friends."

"Let's get back on topic," Denzel clapped his hands. "Like Cecilia said, you should have a Pokemon with you, even in a city. That's the most important bit to take from this. Something with defensive capabilities would be ideal— like a psychic— but if you're like me and you don't have any, then a fast Pokemon would do the trick. Especially you, Emi, since you'll be alone in Hearthome. Second, we should create a group chat so we can all communicate. Since we're not going to travel together, it'd be good to keep tabs on each other until this whole thing blows over, at the very least."

"Don't forget to bring Vincent up to speed," I told her.

Emilia had tried to bring in Vincent, but he couldn't make it because he was working at his part-time job. We hadn't known if he'd been with us enough to warrant him being here, but we wanted to be thorough.

"Can't we ask the police for bodyguards or something?" Maeve asked.

"Bodyguards on the routes would basically be impossible," Denzel shook his head. "Maybe in the cities, but I wouldn't count on it. The only person they might give one to is Cece, because Abel seems interested in her, but even that isn't guaranteed."

"That's such bullshit," Pauline complained. "They don't give a fuck about us."

"I wouldn't go that far," Justin said. The redhead huffed and turned away from him.

"What's some crummy police officer going to do that we can't?" Mira shrugged. "We're getting to the point where we're more powerful than even those. The only thing that could be useful would be some League trainers, but it's not like that's ever happening."

"So you can be smart. Why aren't you smart all the time?" Chase asked.

"Maybe it's because I want to see your reactions," she joked.

"Emi, you'll have to keep training your Beldum's Confusion or get him started on Psychic, I think," I said. "Not like it wouldn't help with contests."

"I was planning on doing that anyway."

"Okay. Think you'll be alright, then?"

"I don't plan on making you guys worry about me. I've got to be able to do things on my own too," she said.

"Let's move onto Abel, then," Justin said.

"That Malamar psycho? What's there to say about him? Isn't he basically on our side?" Chase asked.

"As long as the money blows that way," Cecilia whispered. "There are still things we haven't considered. What if Clarence offers him a sum so ridiculous that he not only stops going after him, but changes his mind and comes after us again? Money is all he values."

"Pay him to fuck off?" Mira mused. "That certainly sounds possible."

"There's also Louis' dad to consider," I said. "He's more involved with Team Galactic than Clarence, if Abel's words are to be believed."

"My father… I'm going to get my chance to speak to him again no matter what," Louis said.

"Well, hopefully you'll speak to him during visitor hours in prison," Mira cheerfully said.

There was a small lull in the conversation, and I used it as my opportunity to bring up what I wanted to talk about.

"On the topic of Abel… I wanted to ask a question regarding Ditto. Justin, you know a bit about those, right?" I asked, and he responded with a nod. "Could a Ditto that turns into a human potentially grow stronger than one? The police said no, but I wanted to be sure."

"No. That older woman Cecilia described cannot be a Ditto."

Damn, so it really was some other shapeshifter Pokemon. I didn't even know that more existed in the first place, but there was no other explanation. It was the only thing that lined up with the behavior Cecilia had described.

And it could use Extrasensory. That Xatu hadn't been the one to lower Abel out of the building.

"I'm stumped on what it could be, but the people in charge will probably figure it out," I said. "But Cece, I think you're wrong. Didn't Abel say that he'd never work with Clarence again? There's a weird honor code he abides by, so I think that it's plausible."

"I won't take that chance. I've been slacking off too much. I'm going to try to get Slowking a psychic teacher that can teach him how to shield minds. It'll take months, but it's the best I've got."

"But who?" Justin asked.

"I can certainly find one. Maybe not in Solaceon, but Veilstone is a large city. There's bound to be a psychic expert there to teach him. Once they get started, Slowking will be able to continue working on it on his own."

The water type sagely nodded.

"Maybe I'll do the same with my Kadabra!" Mira said excitedly.

"You don't have money," Maeve rolled her eyes.

"I'll pay for it," Louis said. "It baffles me, but my father… my father still hasn't cut off my money."

"You still have a private account, right?" Cecilia asked. "Then you should do what I did, and withdraw everything right now. The situation's changed. Who knows what Harvey will do now?"

"Very well. If you say so, Cecilia, I will do it."

I frowned at that, but let it go.

"How are your Pokemon doing, by the way?" I asked Louis. "Still having trouble with Gible?"

"Well, Denzel's Sylveon has knocked most of his confidence away, so he mostly listens to what I say these days," he said with an awkward smile. "The rest are doing well, and I've caught a Pawniard."

"He's a tough little thing," Maeve said. "Louis carries his favorite rock wherever he goes. I find it cute."

"No flirting!" Mira yelled. "This is a serious meeting. Chase, say something!"

"Huh?" Chase grunted.

"That wasn't flirting," Maeve rolled her eyes. "You can call people cute platonically… you can right? I mean, I'm actually not sure, but I think you can? Any help?"

"How did this get derailed so quickly?" Denzel pinched his nose. "I feel like people are not grasping how serious this is. Let's move on from Abel, there's no way to know if he'll change his mind or not, and we don't even know how his relationship with Team Galactic will affect this as a whole."

"True, that could be a curveball," I said. "I mean…"

Mars had probably moved on from me by now, right? It had been months. No one could be that obsessed.

"I mean, it's probably best to think about it like a mutually beneficial relationship. He hasn't actually joined them, so the moment it becomes inconvenient for him to work with them, he'll stop."

"Yeah, the news said that he was just a middleman. Anyway, I do want to ask everyone to try to get your Pokemon to the next level as soon as you can. We all want to make it to the Conference— or the Grand Festival, in Emi's case— so we should already be doing it anyway."

"I train more than any of you already, Williams," Chase said.

"Wait, what's this? You call people by their last names?" Mira curiously asked.

"Yes."

"You don't know my last name. What'd you call me?"

"Loser."

"Haha! You're too much, man!" She cackled. She tried to slap his back, but he easily knocked her hand away.

Denzel buried his face in his hands and groaned. "For example, I've got the money to buy a Dawn Stone now that I'm sponsored. I was going to wait, but I can't afford to. Plus, I think Snorunt is ready."

I knew what he meant. He didn't particularly mean training, per se. We all already trained a ridiculous amount. I believed what he meant was overcoming the bottlenecks that restrained us. For him, it was not evolving his Snorunt. For me, it was probably not having money for a Shiny Stone and needing to get Turtonator on board.

Our conversation had been cut short. Something I'd hope to remedy tomorrow morning.

For Mira… well, it was probably her issues with her Haunter. For Pauline, it was how picky she was with her Pokemon. She quite literally easily put Denzel's pickiness to shame. At least he had a concrete list, but she was just going at it half-heartedly, hoping something would catch her attention. Justin's was less on the Pokemon side of thing, and more on his indecisiveness during fights. He had clamped down on it during his battle with Fantina, but I didn't know how he'd react in an actual street fight with no rules.

Hell, even I wouldn't know how I'd react.

I didn't know enough about Maeve to come up with something. Cece… well, she tended to rely on power too much, I supposed. Power wouldn't work against tricky people like Abel or against hitmen potentially stronger than we were. We'd need ingenuity to make it out. Not only that, but her Scyther was a lot weaker than it could be in battle due to not listening to her.

Louis' bottleneck had always been his Gible, but it looked like that'd be fixed soon, and Emilia's was the fact that her Pokemon other than Beldum were stagnating. Even coordinators trained their Pokemon's strength. There was a battle phase, after all.

"When we make it to Solaceon, we should stay there and lay low for a bit before going to Veilstone. It works out for us, since there's a tournament we wanted to join. With some luck, this whole thing will blow over while we're there. Abel's goal is to head to Veilstone, so I think we should wait a little," I said.

"I ain't waiting," Chase shook his head. "And I'm not going to Veilstone either. I'm going to Celestic first."

"Route 210's pretty dangerous," I warned. "The visibility—"

"It's important to me and Ri."

Ah. It was true that he had referred to wanting to travel to Celestic multiple times now, but I hadn't known it was sentimental.

"I understand. Just stay safe," I said.

"If Mount Coronet couldn't take me down, some fog won't do it either," he shrugged.

Mira pouted. "Bummer. I would have liked for you to travel with us instead of alone. Maeve told me that she knew you."

"We traveled together through Eterna Forest," she explained. "He was… different, back then."

"I might have been a prick," he shrugged again. "Doesn't really matter now."

"You're still kind of a prick, but you're growing on me," Pauline said. "I like how blunt you are."

Chase smiled. "Thanks, I guess. Ri says that I should be nicer, though. Self improvement and all of that."

"Oh, your Riolu! I missed the little guy. I haven't seen him in so long," Maeve said.

"Little guy? He's more than twice your age."

"Oh. Wait, what?"

The meeting kept derailing, but Denzel, Cece and I kept trying our best to get it back on track. Soon enough, people started to leave. Chase was first, saying that he needed to go and work out. Then, Louis' group left, and it was just us. I left to finally tell dad what was going on, and he told me he'd try to get us official League protection somehow, but I already knew that was probably a lost cause. He was worried to death, especially when he was leaving soon, but I promised him I'd stay safe. My Pokemon were getting strong enough to defend me from threats, and he'd seen them battle.

Still, Abel was out of reach for now, but all we could do was hope that he'd keep targeting Cecilia's dad.

Soon enough, I went back to my room and went to sleep.



I woke up to a soft, yet purposeful knock on my door. Togetic instantly sprung to action, and her eyes started to glow, but I stopped her with a gentle tap. She was sleeping with me tonight, just in case. Now that we knew even Pokemon Centers weren't safe, I was sure that we were all sleeping with at least one of our Pokemon out.

"Calm down, Princess," I yawned. "That's Cece's knock."

I lazily strode to my room, scratching my stomach until I reached the door. When I opened it, I immediately left my half-asleep, dazed state. She looked distraught. Her eyes were red, like she'd been crying. Slowking was diligently following behind her, and he stared at me with pleading eyes. She needed help.

"So you were affected after all," I softly said. "Come here."

I let Slowking through, closed the door and gently held her in my arms.

"I couldn't sleep. I'm so tired, but I just can't fall asleep. I don't know why," she sniffled. "I don't even feel particularly scared. I'm just on edge all the time. I can't stop thinking that something's going to go wrong."

I rubbed her back, letting her vent her worries.

"Can I sleep with you?"

"Come on," I said. "You don't even need to ask, you've done it a lot already. I can get Buddy to help, if you want. He doesn't need to sleep, so maybe you'll feel safer."

She hesitantly nodded, and I grabbed his Pokeball from my nightstand, releasing him. Jellicent stared at me curiously. He hadn't expected her to be here, or to be out tonight.

"You're on watch tonight. Remember how I said I'd keep you guys out more from now on for security?" I said.

The water type nodded and let out a smooth, deep cry.

"He'll be on top of things," I smiled. "Maybe he can bond with your Slowking too. Princess will probably fall asleep though, but she'd probably annoy Slowking anyway— wait, I'm rambling."

Cecilia smiled and shook her head. "It's okay, you know I like it. Plus, it makes me feel like everything's normal."

I relaxed as we both got into the bed. It was true that I was finding it easier not to panic than I thought it would be. In fact, I felt strangely calm. It wasn't like I wasn't worried, but a part of me had already expected things to go to shit. Harvey and Clarence had always been in the back of my head, and I'd known that something related to them would go wrong. Maybe it was because I'd been through so much at this point that I was starting to get used to it.

Then again, it wasn't me that Abel had threatened. It was Cece.

I placed her head against my chest.

"Do you feel it? My heartbeat."

"Mhm," she softly said. "It's so slow."

"Does it help? With destressing you, I mean."

She wrapped her arms around me. "Yes."

Jellicent was having a quiet conversation with Slowking, and Togetic was lazily listening while lying on his head, sometimes chiming in.

"Thank you for being there for me," Cece said.

"Of course," I said. "We're all here for you. The others too."

"I know, it's just… it's special with you. I feel whole with you there."

The conversation paused, and I considered what to say. What she needed was…

"What do you say we go somewhere tomorrow for a change of pace? It'll do both of us some good."

"There was a place I found… a place with a piano. You told me you wanted to play."

My heart fluttered. "You remembered?"

"Obviously. Do you want to go in the morning?"

"Hm, I've got to talk to Turtonator, so that might take a while. What about the afternoon?"

"There are too many people."

"Are you worried about spies?" I asked. Was she so shaken that she didn't even want to go outside when there'd be a lot of people—

"No, you'll just bother the people there. You don't know how to play, right? It'd be annoying to hear that."

"What?! Hey!" I protested.

She giggled, and I started laughing too.

"You know what, you're probably right," I continued. "Thanks for finding it, though. It completely slipped my mind. Oh man, now I'm nervous… I don't even know how to read sheet music. Am I just going to improvise?"

"Wasn't that always the intention?"

"Of course not! I thought I'd have more time to get ready. You need to play with me so that if something goes wrong, we're both to blame."

"Don't rope me into your schemes. I'd have you know that I already know how to play the piano quite well, although I might be rusty."

"Oh. That makes sense," I blankly said, remembering that she used to take all kinds of lessons. "Wait, then you can teach me!"

"I can't start teaching you until you learn how to read sheet music, Grace."

"I know a little. Do, re, mi… fa… la?"

"You might be a lost cause already."

"We all have to start from somewhere, Cece!"

We'd been supposed to sleep, but we didn't do so for two more hours.



I'd overslept, but it was for a good reason. I certainly felt a lot happier today than I did yesterday, and hopefully, things would settle down for a bit so people could have a period to unwind. The League would announce something about the Directorate this afternoon, and hopefully, it'd have to do with the apparent corruption there. It was probably too soon, though. They had only just found out about it, and surely they'd need to at least investigate.

I was back at Amity Square again, and I grabbed Turtonator's Pokeball. He'd told me his story, and I had told him mine, but we hadn't talked about what it meant for our relationship going forward. I released the hulking dragon, and he observed me with a curious eye. Tangrowth was standing behind me, soaking in the sunlight, but he was supposed to protect me from any attacks.

Not from Turtonator. From people.

"Morning, Sunshine," I smiled.

Turtonator responded with an angry snort, dismissing the nickname immediately by beating his tail against the ground. His reaction hadn't been as strong as I had expected, however. He didn't even raise the temperature, which was a big win in my book.

"Sorry, I just wanted to try it out," I said, leaning to the right. "Damn, you did a number on the floor. People work to keep it flat and the grass mowed, you know."

Turtonator ignored me, clearly not caring for the employees here and lazily laid down, awaiting what I had to say.

"Let's talk."
 
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Chapter 137
CHAPTER 137

"First thing's first," I said, sitting down next to the dragon. It was the first time he'd ever let me come this close. "I thought I'd let you know what happened. I cut our conversation short without warning, and I'm sorry about that. Something happened to Cecilia."

Turtonator frowned, making me realize that he'd forgotten who she was, or maybe he'd just not even registered her in the first place. It wasn't like I could blame him— he hadn't spent any time with any of my friends, and he couldn't have even if he wanted to. Pokemon like Turtonator couldn't be out and about in the street unless you had privileges that came with working for the League, and he'd probably try to kill them anyway.

"Right. Uh, Cecilia's my girlfriend and one of the people I'm traveling with. This is relevant because it has to do with Team Galactic."

The fire type's nose flared, releasing thick hot smoke. I explained to him who Abel was, what he had done, and that he worked with Team Galactic. People like him seemed to be the kind of person that Turtonator despised the most: a slimy man that could only get by using tricks and valued money above all else, which must have been the complete opposite of Kamaile.

"We've both spoken about our experiences with Team Galactic, but I need to know. What does that mean for us?"

Turtonator let out a dismissive grunt, and arrogance oozed off of him.

"I'm not asking to use you in battle," I rolled my eyes. "I'm asking you what your goal is. Surely you won't be content with just sticking around doing nothing for the rest of your life. That wouldn't fit your profile. Personally, I wouldn't mind. Sweetheart's taken a liking to you, and she'd hate to see you leave. The others are warming up to you— well, except Princess—"

He let out a loud snort when I uttered Togetic's name. It seemed that the hate was mutual there.

"—And I'd like to get to know you too. You won't have to fight," I shrugged. "But your behavior's clearly changed since I told you everything. You're nicer now, but it's not out of pity. You want something."

All of my Pokemon currently had goals. Electabuzz wanted to meet the three Gengar who raised him. Larvitar… I feel like I was on the brink of figuring something out, but with everything that was going on, I hadn't gotten the opportunity to have a one-on-one with her. Jellicent wanted to grow stronger to protect all of us, and Togetic was in the same vein, although she prioritized me a lot more than the others since I was the first being she laid her eyes on when she was born.

What did Angel want? I turned toward the grass type, and he waved at me with a vine.

I'd have to ask him to be sure, but he seemed to be enjoying taking care of Sweetheart.

Turtonator curiously observed me, not bothering to answer. Like he knew that I already suspected something, and he wanted to see if I could reach the correct conclusion.

"I don't really know what you want," I sighed. "I'm good, but I'm not psychic. I haven't… known you long enough to read you like that."

The fire type closed his eyes disappointedly and made me wait eight minutes until he talked again. Back when he'd told me about Kamaile, he'd spoken the words Team Galactic so many times and with so much hatred that they had been unmistakable. It took a bit of back and forth to finally understand.

Revenge? No, not exactly. He did not want me to seek out Team Galactic, but he did want me to take them down when the opportunity arose, like Chase for example had done during the crisis at Valley Windworks— breaking into the power plant and taking down a few grunts. There was precedent for events like this, like a trainer taking down Team Rocket's secret base at the Celadon Game Corner and then intervened during their takeover of the Silph Co. building years ago during his first year. A prodigy that had taken the region by storm, beating the Elite Four and Champion, then refused to take up the position himself. No one knew where he was now.

I… I wasn't like that.

Plus, Turtonator had used the term when, not if. I had told him about Mars' obsession with me, and my hopes that she had given up, but he seemed to put no stock into that. She didn't match up with the Commander that attacked Kamaile in the mountain, and neither did Charon, so it must have been someone I had never seen.

"It's… not my job to take them down," I said. "I know Kamaile would have, but…"

I couldn't.

Turtonator disappointedly shook his head and turned away. It seemed that he wouldn't agree to let me use him until I promised him this. I could have said yes, but I knew damn well it would have been a lie, even if I hadn't wanted it to be. He was holding me to impossible standards.

Now I truly knew what it was like to own a powerful dragon. It didn't matter how good of a trainer I was. If he saw me as a coward, then he'd never help me. I would need to meet his expectations, not the opposite.

I could only hope that I'd change his mind eventually. If not, well, I was content to just hang out with him. He was annoying and grumpy, but in a sort of endearing way.

"Well, thanks for listening anyway, Sunshine," I smiled, ignoring his cries of protest. "Come on, at least let me call you that!"

He somehow stared me down while lying on the floor.

"It'll grow on you…? Pretty please?"

Turtonator shook his head and blew smoke into my face, sending me into a coughing fit, but Angel waved the smoke away with his huge hand and worriedly looked at me.

"Not— cool! Ugh, fine. I'll just keep referring to you as that in my head, though. You can't stop me."

I considered bringing the rest of the family out, but people were starting to notice and stare at me. I probably had the only Turtonator in Sinnoh right now, and people were beginning to associate him with me, which meant that I was easily recognizable. Kamaile might have been a better trainer than I was, but he'd unfortunately never had my reach.

Or maybe that was how he'd wanted to live. I'd never be able to figure it out until Sunshine talked to me about him, which he still refused to do beyond the bare minimum. He still didn't even speak about his old teammates. Anyway, before Turtonator could get angry and injure someone, I recalled him and released Princess instead. People seemed to leave me alone when she was out, and she was excellent for protection, so I was knocking two birds with one stone here.

I had some time to kill until the League revealed their announcement and my date with Cece, so I considered stopping by route 208 to train and speak to Angel for a bit. Unfortunately, fate seemed to favor something else. My phone rang, and Denzel called me over with a single message.

Denzel W.

Meet me on route 209. I bought a Dawn Stone for Snorunt, and I want you to be there when I evolve her.

Oh, and I'm completely fucking broke, so I'll need you to pay for my ride back?




"Hey guys," Denzel said, scratching the back of his head. Snorunt was jumping excitedly at his feet. "Thanks for coming on such short notice."

"Prrrrri!" Togetic happily yelled.

"She says that she doesn't mind," I translated. "Anyway, you're evolving her already? Even after the meeting yesterday, I thought that you'd wait for a while. Can I see the stone?"

My best friend hesitantly stared around to see if anyone was there. We were at the edge of the route and hidden by the start of a small forest. Denzel pulled out the turquoise stone, and I gasped in awe at the glittering, iridescent gemstone. It shone with a warm glow, and its surface was smooth and flawless. Denzel slipped it under the sunlight, and a pale star-shaped light appeared to glow from within.

"Arceus…"

"I know, right? I had to spend everything I had on this. I have almost nothing left."

"You did at least buy vitamins, right?"

"I did before, but I won't have enough for TMs until next month now," he sighed.

"How much was it?"

"386,000 Pokedollars," he said.

I whistled. Denzel had been sponsored by so many companies at this point that he had a lot more money than I did— well, until now. With his streaming on the side, he'd probably be able to recover pretty soon, though.

"So little Snorunt's biting the bullet, then?" I asked.

"Yeah. I'm nervous, but I think she's ready," Denzel replied, releasing his Sylveon. Togetic squealed, and the two fairies greeted each other excitedly. "Worst-case scenario, I recall her, but I needed you in case she somehow went off the rails and tried to run or something."

"Ah, yeah, Honey could help out with that."

I grabbed Electabuzz's Pokeball, releasing him, and I explained the situation. He seemed to be quite happy for Snorunt. The two had apparently formed some kind of camaraderie after their cooperation during the double battle against Cecilia and Chase. The electric type gave her a loud thumbs up, while Snorunt sniggered and ran up to him, her smile widening.

"You've treated her well, I think it'll be fine," I said.

"I hope so. She doesn't seem to care about anything I say, she's just excited to evolve," Denzel smiled, looking at the ice type. "Snorunt, c'mere. It's time."

Snorunt yelled and dashed back toward Denzel a lot faster than I thought she could be, and he slowly lowered the stone until it touched her skin. The icy type grunted, and I shielded my eyes from the blinding light that overtook her. Togetic immediately created a few Ancient Power drills, just in case, and Electabuzz stood at attention. Sylveon stared at his teammate, seemingly unaffected by the blinding light, and was already ready to wrap his ribbons around her. I wasn't even sure that'd work, since she would become a ghost.

The Dawn Stone disappeared, fizzling into thin air, and Snorunt turned into a Froslass. Her dress-like skin fluttered in the cold, winter wind, and her eyes had a slight yellow glow. She gently placed a hand over her mouth and observed us as the temperature started to drop a few degrees.

"How do you feel?" Denzel asked. "Everything alright?"

I was scared that she'd have a moment like Jellicent for a second, but she seemed… relatively fine. Her eyes were flickering wildly, and they were darting in between all of us, but Sylveon touched her with a ribbon and brought her back to reality.

"The ribbons work on her?" I asked, my eyes widening in surprise.

"I think that with Sylveon, has to do with how strong the emotional connection is," Denzel whispered, watching his new Pokemon with awe. Froslass stared down at Sylveon and let out a small giggle before disappearing, and Denzel panicked as he wildly turned around.

Froslass reappeared behind him, whispering something in his ear, and he fell over. Now that she was closer to me, her body felt so cold. I took a few steps back and cupped my hands around my mouth to breathe out and warm them up. Ghosts lowered the temperature around them, but this was on another level.

And it seemed that Denzel or Sylveon weren't affected by it whatsoever. It was just me and my Pokemon. Electabuzz's fur frosted over slightly, and Togetic's did as well. They were Pokemon, so they'd be fine, but if I stayed close to her for too long, I'd actually get injured.

And it appeared that she was holding back. I smiled. It looked like Denzel had gotten a terrifying new battler.

"Wanna try out her new strength?" I asked innocently. Really, I mostly wanted to figure out more about her before the Solaceon tournament in case I'd have to fight Denzel.

"You mean battle? No thanks. You know how dangerous that'd be— I don't even know what she's capable of yet!"

"I know that, you idiot! I just meant, like, trying out Blizzard or something."

"That's the same thing! What if it's so strong it hits us," Denzel chided. "I'll do it later in a controlled manner."

"You just don't want me to see it," I pouted.

He chuckled. "Well, that's part of it."

"I'll forgive you if you buy me something."

"I literally just told you I was broke, dude."

Denzel released the rest of his team and let them get accustomed to Froslass' new form. She giggled, and her laugh echoed through the woods as she danced, disappearing and appearing at will in front of her team. Sylveon happily watched, and excitedly tapped his feet on the floor. Even Roselia and Lopunny were happy for her, which was a change of pace from their usual jealousy feud.

Denzel and I just hung out for a while, which felt nice, since he hadn't done that in a bit. We had both been busy, but he'd been especially so, which all his sponsored meetings, his not-so-secret meetings with Louis' group, and his content creation. Most of our talk was just friendly banter and catching up. He told me about some of his funny experiences on his stream and some not-so-fun experiences in the forums. Just like me, it seemed that he had a vocal minority of haters, but he didn't let it get him down.

Anyway, it seemed like he'd given up on Caitlyn and let her down gently via text, since they never ended up meeting. Right now, we were better off not getting anyone new involved with us, at least until things calmed down. After a bit, I ended up walking off to have a one-on-one with Tangrowth, since now was as good of a time as any. Togetic stuck with her brother and happily clapped at Froslass' tricks— although from a distance— so she seemed to have warmed up to her rather quickly.

Tangrowth smiled with his eyes as soon as I released him and hugged me with his vines.

"Awww, hey Angel," I laughed. He was acting like he hadn't seen me in ages when it had barely been an hour. Tangrowth led me toward him, and I sunk into his body, embracing him. "We're hanging out with Denzel's team. See them over there?" I asked, nodding toward them.

The grass type stared on curiously, placed me on his head, and I sat down on him. At this point, I was so used to him handling me like this that I didn't even care. I'd used his vines as a pillow multiple times, and they were surprisingly comfortable.

Man, I was collecting these. Jellicent, and Tangrowth made good pillows, and Princess would, too when she evolved.

If I ever figured out how to evolve Electabuzz, well, maybe.

Turtonator and Larvitar were a bust, though. Their bodies were too tough.

"I had a question for you," I told the grass type. A vine tightened around my ankle, signaling me to continue. "What do you want in life? I know you like to experience and touch new things, but is there anything you want beyond that?"

His vines curiously wriggled, and he gave my words some thought. In fact, he thought for so long that I almost believed that he'd forgotten my question, but after five minutes, he placed me back down in front of him and answered with a series of blinks as he gently cupped my cheek with his hand.

Love.

I smiled. "Aren't you the cutest boy ever?"

Sometimes, goals were small.

And that was okay.



The League's announcement was soon, and I wanted to watch. Apparently, it'd be a direct address to the people by Cynthia, and that didn't happen every day. I walked into the Pokemon Center, and Denzel dashed to his room after thanking me for his bus ride. He wanted to stream his reaction to the announcement because people apparently went crazy for that. I did remember a lot of battle reaction videos, and most of them got copyright struck down immediately or demonetized— especially the Conference ones. The League didn't joke around.

Supposedly though, this one would be fine to stream. The League wanted as many people to see this announcement.

"Grace Pastel!" A Nurse Joy called out. "We have a gift bag for you."

"A gift bag?" I said, raising an eyebrow. "From who?"

I wasn't about to get killed by a booby-trapped gift bag, that was for sure.

"The Poketch Company. A certain Melody Summers came to drop it off? Don't worry, we made sure there were no sinister intentions at play."

Well, if Nurse Joy said so…

I thanked her and grabbed the gift bag before taking the elevator to my room as Princess lazily followed behind me. She wasn't used to being out of her ball so much, and she was getting tired. I'd probably swap her out with Electabuzz soon. I was supposed to watch the announcement with Cece, but I supposed that I could open this up first. I dropped the basket on my desk and grabbed the note.

Dear Grace,

The Poketch Company has heard of the traumatic experience that befell your girlfriend yesterday, and we decided to help cheer you up with these gifts. Feel free to share them with anyone you wish.

The Poketch Company


"Well, aren't they nice?" I mumbled as I searched through the bag. Promotion coupons for Poketch products, snacks, sweets— "Holy crap, a ten percent off coupon at Arlyles? Nice!"

And it was valid forever too! A lifetime of ten percent off. The Poketch Company sure knew how to charm me. Since I remembered her telling me she liked pineapple during our stay in Eterna, I grabbed some weird pineapple candy I'd never even heard of before and made my way to Cece's room. She greeted me with a kiss and led me inside. Slowking was standing with his hands behind his back, and he greeted me with a slight nod.

Maybe I'd have him use telepathy on me. It was a learned process, and I was already thinking about getting a psychic type as a seventh Pokemon after my eighth badge. It'd be good if I was already desensitized to the pain by then.

"What's this?" She asked. "Wait, is that—"

I smiled smugly as I lifted the candy bag. "Pineapple candy."

"For me?!" She yelled, kissing my cheek. "Thank you! Where'd you even get these? They only sell this brand in Unova! I haven't had them in months, they're my favorite!"

So that was why I'd never heard of these. The Poketch Company probably found out that Cecilia liked these somehow.

It was getting a bit creepy, but at least they were doing this with good intentions.

"Erm, the Poketch Company," I said. She was still hanging onto me in a really cute way, so I barely managed to get the words out. "You can have them all if you'd like. I'm not really a fan of pineapple."

"Really? Well, don't mind if I do then."

She grabbed the package, and Slowking levitated the remote and turned on the television.

"Darling, taste some," she said, handing a piece to the psychic type.

Slowking looked like he didn't want any, but he couldn't refuse anything Cecilia said, so he ate it anyway. He kept a blank look on his face, but Cecilia winced.

"Just Satisfactory? You have no taste, Slowking. Grace, come sit."

Poor guy. She hadn't told me anything when I said I didn't like pineapple. Girlfriend privileges, I guess. I shot him an apologetic look, and he bowed his head.

I obliged her, lying down on the bed with a relaxed breath. Togetic on one side, and Cecilia on the other? This was heaven. Hopefully, the announcement would be what I thought it was, and Cynthia would finally start cleaning up the Directorate. Right now, the television was simply showing an empty podium where Cynthia was supposed to speak, and every news organization had sent their correspondents to the Lily of The Valley Island, who were sitting in multiple rows of chairs below the podium.

The speech was a few minutes late, but it was finally about to begin. Cynthia confidently strode on the podium with that confident smile she was well-known for, and a hulking Garchomp covered in shallow scars followed closely behind her, along with her spotless Lucario. They each stood on one side of her, and she immediately started her speech.

"Greetings, fellow Sinnohans. I will get straight to the point. After a month-long investigation into the Directorate, the League has found that the majority of the new opposition party is being funded by Team Galactic and the Bianchi Conglomerate— including the Prime Minister, Sophie Richards. The names of these culprits are Joey Rumsfeld, Paula Mccarthy, Erika Anri, Isaac Matthew…"

Cynthia kept listing name after name. In a way, it was chilling. So many people involved in this scheme right under our noses… but then again, she'd been investigating for a month? So that meant that she'd suspected something all along, then.

"Some of these people worked with Team Galactic willingly. Some were being blackmailed due to corruption. A full report about each individual crime committed by each member will be released shortly after this announcement. The culprits are being arrested as I speak, and new special elections will take place to replace them. As it stands, Sophie Richards cannot be Prime Minister, and an acting PM will be voted in by the Directorate in a few hours…"

So it'd just be Vernon, then. Without the opposition, there was no way Cynthia wasn't going to get what she wanted. The Directorate was going to be under her control again soon.

"When the new special elections are concluded, there will be another, final vote in the Directorate to select the Prime Minister. The League is content to share power with non-trainers, but we will not tolerate such a large security breach on our doorstep. Team Galactic is a violent, dangerous organization that has tried to infiltrate all aspects of our lives. Including the Bianchi Conglomerate, who we will be going after."

Our eyes widened. That hadn't been expected so soon, either.

"Harvey Bianchi has been placed under arrest and is being charged with conspiracy against Sinnoh's government and bribery. There were multiple people high up in the conglomerate's echelon that were in the know, and that also contributed to these crimes. They are Jenson Reid, Carmen Hughes…"

Another list of names. So many people were going down.

"As it stands, we don't believe that the Bianchi Conglomerate is capable of running itself any longer. Unfortunately, their products are vital to trainer interests in the region, so as soon as the new Prime Minister is selected, The League will push for a bill to nationalize the company and seize all of its assets."

Holy fuck.



The news had put all of society into an uproar, but people were finding it hard to push back against Cynthia. According to most experts, the investigations that they had revealed were thorough. Hundreds of phone message logs, voice logs, people caught on camera or on a secret microphone by League agents acting like Team Galactic members, and a few perpetrators who had confessed ahead of time to get a better deal with the League made the entire thing iron tight.

Like I had thought, Vernon Harper was back in charge, and the nationalizing bill had passed by a wide margin. The Bianchi Conglomerate was falling apart. Trainer commodities would be produced and sold by the League now, so the prices would finally go back to normal. In fact, they'd be cheaper than they had been before. Another part of Cynthia's speech had mentioned that Clarence was placed under lockdown while they investigated him further. He was still a free man, but going back to Unova wasn't an option for him anymore.

Abel had trapped him completely.

Harvey's lawyers were already arguing that he should be allowed bail, but he was deemed a flight risk, so the League wasn't going to budge. We had all tried calling Louis, but he needed some time alone, it seemed. He'd wanted to talk to his father one last time, and it looked like he had expected some kind of final confrontation, which he apparently wouldn't get. He wasn't even speaking to Maeve or Mira.

As for me? Well, I was happy enough. Just like what we had said, Harvey would no longer be a threat, and Clarence was being watched like a hawk. I could only hope that he'd made a mistake somewhere and that he'd fall too, then there'd really be nothing to worry about. Either way, it was the evening now, and Cece and I decided to finally go to that place with the piano she told me about. I had expected some kind of music-oriented establishment, but it was actually a small mall with a piano just sitting in one of the halls. Most stores were closed or closing at this point, and people were on their way out. According to Cecilia, it was a lot emptier than when she'd come here, so going at night did make sense.

I hesitantly approached the instrument and observed the polished, ivory keys. It'd always been a silly dream of mine, but I couldn't help but think that playing the piano was the coolest thing ever. When I imagined the potential—

Electabuzz slammed a hand on the keys and ruined the moment. I simply sighed, and he let out a bellowing laugh. We were using him and Slowking today. It wasn't like Cecilia had any choice in the matter anyway— Zweilous wasn't allowed to be out in most places in the city, and like Fletchinder, his ability to defend her would be limited. Scyther was just Scyther. That meant that I was going to see the water type a lot more, especially in cities.

"Two rows? That's crazy…" I muttered. I touched one of the keys, and my finger tingled as a soft, mellow sound filled the hall.

"That's certainly a lot to keep track of, but we can just use one row for now," she said.

We both sat at the piano, and Cece started teaching me the basics of the basics. Unfortunately though, we were kicked out thirty minutes later because the mall was closing, so I didn't have many opportunities to learn. At the very least, I knew what keys made what sound… baby steps.

The next day, Chase left for Solaceon. He'd wait for us there before leaving to Celestic, at the very least. My dad also left back to Jubilife that day. The Poketch Company ended up delaying my first online promotion on the forums to let the news about Cynthia's announcement die down. Right now, it'd just get lost in all the traffic.

Finally, two days after Chase, it was time to leave for Solaceon. Louis's group would stay in Hearthome for another day.

A/N: And the Hearthome arc is over! It was a lot longer than planned and by far the longest arc in the fic, but I think the pacing was fine and a lot of things happened all throughout. It's probably the most character development each character's gone through since the start of the story except Chase. The average size of my chapters also kept getting bigger, but I'm only human, so I'll try to stop that nasty habit before I spontaneously combust from writing too much. Anyway, I'll be taking my 1 day break like usual at the end of an arc. If you want to read the foreshadowing/setup for the mass arrest, reread Interlude - The League. I considered making next chapter Interlude - Forums IV, but I think it'd fit better right before the Solaceon tournament instead of now. Thanks for sticking with me like always, and I'll see you on Wednesday.
 
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Chapter 138
CHAPTER 138

I always felt like this after leaving a city, but it was good to be back on the road. This— the traveling aspect— was what being a trainer was all about, and I'd grown to truly appreciate the process, at least as long as I wasn't in a deadly forest or some eldritch mountain. Route 209 was nothing like that, and it was the safest one after the 214, 222 and 213 trio that linked Sunyshore, Pastoria and Veilstone. Those were a bit of an exception, though. Since so many new trainers passed through there, the rangers kept it as clear as possible. Larvitar and Togetic were walking with me, while the others all had one or a few of their Pokemon out.

Justin walked with his Audino, who was carrying a flower he'd found a few miles back. Cecilia's Fletchinder screeched and flew high up in the sky while Slowking stuck by her side. Pauline was off in the distance, walking with her Gothorita and practicing her tolerance to telepathy. She seemed quite down at the fact that we had to leave Emilia behind, but there might have been something else to it. Either way, she was uncharacteristically quiet. Denzel, meanwhile, was being hogged by Sylveon.

"I think we can stop here," he said, nudging his head forward.

The large system of rivers and small ponds that route 209 was the most known for sat in front of us. Long bridges ran through each body of water, and trainers were fishing all along the streams. This was a common spot to get a water type. Larvitar ran up to the edge of the water, and I released Tangrowth to keep an eye on her. The entire team would have a strategic meeting later, and I still needed to have that one-on-one talk with Sweetheart, but she could play around for now.

"Yeah, this is probably fine," I said, dropping my backpack and sitting down. "We made good progress today. Four more days, and we should be good?"

Despite the enjoyment I got, I was mostly excited about getting to Solaceon and fighting in the tournament. There were many potential trainers and strategies to go up against, and I'd finally see what Craig's sister was all about. Louis' group would sign up too, apparently, but like Chase had said, he wouldn't stick around. As soon as we made it there, he'd leave for Celestic.

Well, I also had to review the footage of my battle against Fantina, but I'd do it when we got there. With all the events that happened after the fight, I had completely forgotten about it somehow. I was sure I'd see a lot of improvements, though. Thinking back about the battle made it impossible for me not to smile. It was a testament to how good I'd gotten over the last few months.

I stared up at Justin, who walked up to me. Audino followed behind him and winked at me, eliciting a chuckle.

"Grace. I see you're deep in thought," he noticed.

"Nah, I'm good. What's up?"

"I was looking for advice."

I rested my head on my palm and hummed. Justin and Pauline were going their separate ways now, battling-wise, so we weren't exactly their teachers any longer, but I was always willing to help a friend in need.

"Sure, shoot!"

"It's about confidence… or my lack of it, thereof. I'd like to try to be a little bit more sure about my capabilities come the tournament, but I'm not sure how."

Togetic landed on my lap, and I pet her head as she nuzzled it against me.

"Well, I don't really know. You've got three badges, Justin. That's no joke, you should be proud of yourself. You realize not many trainers reach this point, right? Plus, you won pretty handily."

"Yes, but I feel like I'm still missing something…"

"Something? You've figured out your style, right? Now you've just got to refine and perfect it, and eventually branch out in case you need to pull something else during a battle. That's what I've been trying to do… learning to improve and think of stuff on the spot, things like that," I explained.

The boy sighed. "Well, that's fair, I suppose. I've been itching to try out new things, but I haven't really had the opportunity to. What I did against Fantina wasn't exactly stalling, but more like a proto version of it."

"Pauline not up for a friendly fight?" I asked.

"She's been down."

"I noticed," I said, glancing at her. "You know what, I'll talk to her."

I let Togetic out of my arms and shot up. Pauline tended to help her friends a lot, but I couldn't recall the last time she'd asked for it. She was keeping her distance from Denzel a little bit, which was odd too, but I was starting to get the impression that some relationship drama had gone on between them beyond the fact that Pauline and Emilia were dating, like Cece had theorized.

Gothorita shot me a look that reminded me of Turtonator as I approached her trainer.

"What's got you so down in the dumps, little one?" I playfully said.

"I miss Emi… and some other stuff," she shrugged.

"You weren't that down when we left her in Eterna," I said.

"That's because— things were different. Can we just change the subject?"

I considered pushing on, but it was probably best to let it go for now.

"Why don't we talk about your team then? Any idea for a fourth member? Anything catch your eye so far? It'd be cool if you could catch something on this route. The earlier you can start training them, the more prepared they'll be for the Conference. And don't forget, if you don't have a fourth, you won't be able to participate in the—"

"I know," she rolled her eyes. "I just wanted it to fit, but I think I'll try to catch something if I can't find anything that catches my eye."

"Why don't you just do what Denzel does and look it up in advance? Well, not like you can now that we're out of Hearthome, but y'know."

"I don't know how he does it," Pauline said, looking at our friend. "I find it horribly dull. I had to chew on Rufflet for weeks until it clicked for me, and at that rate, it'll be too late. Maybe if I only needed one more, but I need three."

"Well, maybe he found it dull too, but he had years to do it," I said. "Why don't you ask him about it then?"

"No way."

"Are you guys fighting?"

"No."

"Okay, then why are you just glancing at him every few seconds, but not actually going to speak to him like you want to?"

She clicked her tongue and then ruffled my hair with a frustrated groan.

"What was that for?!"

"For being annoying," she deadpanned. "Anyway, I'll catch something, so stop being such a worrywart."

"Worrywart? Are you eighty or what?"

"I'm going to kill you."

"Yeah, yeah," I grumbled, fixing my hair.

Well, since she didn't want my advice, it was time for the group meeting with my team, then! I asked Togetic to call Angel and Sweetheart over, and released the rest of my Pokemon, excluding Sunshine, because too many trainers frequented this part of the route, and he still despised them with all of his being. I'd release him when we got further in and toward the edges of the route.

Larvitar pulled at my jeans and complained that she had to go out of the water.

"You'll go back later, Sweetheart. I've never seen a rock type like water this much," I smiled, crouching to pet her rocky head. "Anyway, I think it's about time to get started on some new moves, don't you think? They'll come in handy for the tournament. Remember the one I talked about?"

Grunts and nods came out of their respective Pokemon. I heard a faint screech and paused when I saw Fletchinder fly overhead.

"Uh, they should be pretty easy for you to work on. Some of them, you've already been practicing. We only have a few days, so I picked ones that you'd be able to easily learn and possibly master. Let's start with you, Honey. You've got the hardest move, but I know you're up for it."

Electabuzz shot me a thumbs-up and grinned.

I had deliberated between two moves for Electabuzz: Cross Chop or Hammer Arm. They were fighting type, so they'd be excellent for coverage, and it'd improve his physical capabilities that had fallen behind his ranged ones recently. Honey was meant to be a mixed fighter for the team, so he needed to stay excellent at both ranged and close-range fighting.

Hammer Arm was the more powerful of the two, which meant it was more difficult to learn. In fact, it was so powerful that your Pokemon would be slowed for a while after using it due to exerting too much energy. The more a Pokemon had used and mastered the move, the less the side effects would show. The sheer amount of power behind the move would have put anything any of my Pokemon currently had to shame. Unfortunately, we were lacking in time, and I wasn't sure if Honey would get the move to a usable state before the first battles started.

Cross Chop, meanwhile, was slightly weaker, and easier to learn. The move could be devastating in its own right of course, and if Electabuzz or I could identify a Pokemon's weakness during a battle, then it would deal a lot more damage to our opponents. In the end, I had decided on Cross Chop.

"You've been getting stronger, but you'll need to get stronger physically for this," I explained to him. Fighting type moves tended to demand a lot out of the user, which meant that a certain amount of bulk was needed.

"Ele!" He responded, flexing his arms.

"Obviously, you'll make it work," I laughed.

He probably wouldn't be able to use it on a whim, even during the tournament, but it'd probably be a nice option to have. I also told him to keep working on Protect so that he could use the move more, and then I moved on to Sweetheart. She waved her arms around excitedly.

"Sweetheart, you'll keep working on Sandstorm, alright? You're almost there, but you just need a little bit more control."

The rock type stared at me disappointedly, and her arms slumped.

"Aw, don't be sad. You've already got everything else you need."

"Larvi…" she mumbled to agree. Despite this, she was angry with me.

I'd get back to her soon.

"Princess, I've got a TM for you to learn called Shadow Ball, just like what Buddy uses," I said. "You should have no problem learning the move, and he can help you master it. I don't think we'll be using it too much, but more coverage can't hurt."

The fairy type nodded, smiling at Jellicent. It looked like she'd enjoy the time they'd spend together.

"Angel, you're on the cusp of something great," I continued. "Sunny Day. Keep working on it, and I'm sure it'll be useable during the tournament."

He wriggled and blinked twice, gently petting my head with a vine. He was already a monster in battle, but if we could double his speed with Chlorophyll, I was sure he'd be able to dominate even the five-badge trainers I'd be fighting at the tournament. I let out a trembling, excited breath. Just the thought of him destroying our opponents would be awesome.

"Buddy, what I need with you is Whirlpool," I said. "Brine is great, but the way the tournament's set up… the ones that will dominate are the ones that can control the field, I think."

The Solaceon tournament's format was doubles, meaning that each trainer would fight with two Pokemon at a time, and with a total of four Pokemon. I had a lot of synergies I would need to consider, but for now, I'd be content to just let them practice their moves. Jellicent nodded, and after describing what each move roughly looked like, and teaching Shadow Ball to Togetic, my Pokemon went to their respective spots to begin their training. I'd be there if they needed help, of course.

"Sweetheart, wait up. I need to talk to you," I called out.

She huffed at me and turned away, and I felt my chest tighten.

Was this how it felt all the time, dad? Sorry.

"What's gotten into you lately?

I felt the sun brighten slightly and stared at Tangrowth. He was almost there.

"Tar," the Pokemon grunted.

"Don't brush me off. I've noticed something about you lately, but I never asked until now. I'm sorry, it's my fault. I should have paid more attention… but I'm here now. Do you have something you want to tell me?"

The rock type launched into a tirade, causing me to wince. She wanted to get stronger faster. She wanted to be like Turtonator.

Arceus, I was tearing up. This was like having my kid yell at me for the first time, and I was not ready.

"You've been making good progress, though," I said, blinking rapidly to chase the tears away. "And I told you that I'd use you a lot in the tournament, didn't I? Plus, Sandstorm is a powerful move. Just because it doesn't hit the enemy directly doesn't mean that it doesn't make you stronger, you know? It hampers visibility, hearing, and it deals damage little by little. Meanwhile, you'll be like a fish in water. Doesn't that sound cool?"

Larvitar wanted to retort, but she thought for a few seconds and relented.

"See? Winning isn't always about hitting things. Why do you want to get stronger so quickly anyway? You're already growing at a fast pace as is—" I stopped, noticing her look away from me. "Don't even try to hide it! I know you."

What she said next made my heart sink.

Revenge. She wanted revenge on the Rhyperior that had killed her parent.

First of all, that Pokemon was incredibly strong. It had to be, to take down a fully-grown Tyranitar, but that wasn't it. I just thought that it was a terrible idea in general. Nothing good would ever come of it. I hated revenge as a concept, and I felt like she would just be empty afterward if we somehow succeeded.

But… Larvitar didn't belong to me. She was her own person.

What would I have done if it was my dad that had gotten killed? I didn't think I'd try to murder the person that did it, but I certainly would have wanted them to suffer consequences, at the very least.

I sighed.

"Look, I think this is a bad idea, and I don't even think we'll be ready to do this by the end of the year," I explained.

That Rhyperior had probably been elite level, from the little I had seen of it. It had to be, to beat a pseudolegendary without sustaining that many injuries like it had done. My Pokemon would maybe be ready to take it down, but I didn't think I would be.

Larvitar protested, but I stopped her.

"Let me finish. I don't think this is a good idea, and I don't even know if we'd be able to find it again," I continued. "But believe in me. I'll help you get stronger, and if you still feel this way by the time you're fully evolved, then we can talk about it again."

I was really hoping that she'd change her mind.

I heard Honey call out to me, and I stood up. He probably needed some help to get started with Cross Chop. I stopped when I felt Larvitar grab at my jeans.

"Larvi… Larvitar," she said, avoiding my eyes and hiding her face.

She was apologizing for yelling at me.

"Don't worry about it, Sweetheart," I smiled. "You were just feeling emotional, that's all. I yell at my dad all the time— ah, sorry."

The rock type stared up at me confusedly.

"For the dad comparison thing," I said. "I don't want to replace your parent. I promised you that when I caught you, didn't I?"

Larvitar mumbled something, and she had to repeat herself twice for me to hear her.

"You… don't mind?"

She huffed and ran away in embarrassment.

She…

She didn't mind.

Wow.

I felt so happy.



After helping Electabuzz with his form and checking in on the others, I happily skipped toward Denzel, who was working on something with his Lopunny while the other members of his team were training on their own, although they were kind of slacking off to hang out with Feebas. With all the water around, he'd be able to spend a lot more time with his teammates. The normal type happily waved at me, showcasing how much she'd changed since she'd been that shy Buneary that he'd caught in Eterna Forest. The scar on her ear from those Paras was still visible, albeit smaller thanks to her evolved form being a lot bigger.

"Woah, you look happy," he noticed.

"Yep. Larvitar just called me mom."

His expression morphed into one of confusion. "I just won't even ask. I thought that was just between you and Togetic?"

"No, I'm everyone's mom," I deadpanned. "I wanted to ask you to show me your Froslass' Blizzard? I know you tested it out without telling me before we left."

"How do you even know that?"

I grinned. "I didn't. But now I do."

"Ugh. I specifically wanted to hide it from you, though."

"I paid for your ride back when you had no money. You owe me."

"You wouldn't have left me stranded!"

I peered at him, my smile widening.

"Damn, you are ruthless. Fine. Froslass, come on over! Lopunny, you keep on working on the thing."

"Ouch," I said, feigning emotional pain. "Still keeping your secrets?"

"Well, so are you," he said.

The ghost type appeared beside us, and I jumped. I still felt cold, but it looked like she had gotten her temperature problem under control. Denzel, meanwhile, felt no change at all. I was still wondering how that even worked, but I was no professor, so I'd probably never figure it out. I called Togetic over just in case, and Denzel led us to the edge of the route. Froslass was so excited about using Blizzard that she was quite literally leaking cold. She'd probably be able to do what Turtonator did in battle, only with cold instead of heat.

"Go make sure no one's here before you accidentally kill a kid," Denzel sighed. Froslass cheered as she disappeared into the unmaintained woods. "She's been so hyper since evolving, it's like she's not even a ghost."

"Don't overgeneralize them now," I chided. "She was already like this before, it's not like her whole personality was going to change."

"I'll still have to watch out during the tourney, I don't want any accidents," he said. "I don't know how it works, but whenever I have her out with strangers, she's freezing. With friends, she just emits cold, and with me or my Pokemon, we feel completely fine."

"I was just wondering about that!" I exclaimed.

"I wanted to record a video of her at Amity Square before we left, but I had to recall her because people way away from us were starting to feel pain from the cold. The tournament will have barriers like the gyms, so at least she'll be useable there."

I nodded. "Well, I'm sure you'll figure something out."

"Toge," Princess agreed.

After five minutes, Froslass came back and confirmed that the area was clear. Her eyes shone with a pale blue as she started to use Blizzard.

Before, it would have taken almost a minute for her to charge it up. Now? It barely took ten seconds.

The whole area in front of us was covered in frost and ice like we were back on route 216.

A/N: Cross Chop is slightly nerfed and Hammer Arm is slightly buffed here. If I had to go with damage terms, imagine them dealing 90 and 110 damage respectively instead of 100 each.
 
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Interlude - In The Eyes Of The Beholder
INTERLUDE - IN THE EYES OF THE BEHOLDER

A certain fish Pokemon was swimming in the river.

Feebas slowly broke through the water's surface, watching as his trainer, his friend, and Froslass came back from whatever it had been they were doing. He was not allowed to swim too far or too deep. Unlike Amity Square, Pokemon in these waters were too powerful for him to run away from, and there was no one available to protect him. Lopunny cheered at Grace, and even Roselia waved one of her flowers with a look of annoyance.

Feebas did not know this girl. Nothing beyond her name, her voice, and what Denzel occasionally said about her. Nor did he know any of the other friends his trainer was traveling with. The fish felt his fins tighten. How frustrating, to have missed so many events due to his curse of being water-bound. He could technically stay out of the water, but the longer he stayed, the more pain he would feel. Feebas were resistant, but they were meant to live in the water their entire lives. They were no Jellicent or Lombre. Feebas longed to be free from his chains, but he had long resigned himself to staying in this pitiful, ugly form forever. Denzel hurriedly told his Froslass to stick with the team, while Sylveon went and followed him with a bright smile. Feebas longingly stared at the Pokemon he loved, who was leaving without even a look at him. Now that he was gone, the group went to hell.

What's with the look on your face, Twig? Lopunny smugly asked. You seem to be in an even worse mood than usual today.

Silence, Wench,
the grass type snapped back. You are not worth even a modicum of my attention when you are like this. You are nothing more than fertilizer— no, in fact, you are worth even less.

I know your problem,
Froslass' otherwordly voice wrung and twisted across the river, yet her mouth did not move. You are jealous. You wanted a stone for yourself. Have fun being stuck in your pitiful form for longer yet, Twig.

Feebas sighed as he listened to his fellow Pokemon berate each other. They all had nicknames that they referred to themselves as. Roselia was called Twig, which was supposedly a name Lopunny had come up with in Eterna city meant to make fun of her fragile form.

Feebas had missed almost everything in Eterna.

Roselia and Froslass called Lopunny Wench, not due to any promiscuous tendencies she might have had, but because the grass type had gotten jealous of the attention she had gotten from Sylveon when she had just joined the team. Meanwhile, Froslass was referred to as—

I will not tolerate your childish antics, Hog. Maybe when you are doused by my Toxic and it melts you alive, you will understand not to mess with me, Roselia said.

Hog, shortened for attention hog.

Wench, Twig, and Hog. Feebas sighed again. They were the only team that behaved like this. No one else fought day and night like these three did, and yet he could not help but want to be a part of it. And yet, how could he? He was never there for anything. Almost forgotten. An echo of what could have been, if he had been born in another body. Sometimes, he almost wished Denzel had not caught him back in Jubilife. That way, he could have continued living in ignorance, not knowing what he would be missing. Seeing it play out in front of him— bonds so strong that not even insults could break them— was akin to torture. The three had been through a whole lot without him, but Roselia and Lopunny especially. They were practically inseparable, even though they bickered and fought constantly.

Hog still? I thought that you would have moved on to another nickname more fitting of my newfound elegance. Ice Queen, perhaps, Froslass giggled, her form flickering and her eyes brightening. The grass at her feet began to freeze, and so did the water around Feebas The water type looked around in a panicked state, and stammered out a few words.

Roselia talked before he could. He had been too indecisive.

Focus, Hog, Roselia spat, sending a Sweet Scent her way. You are losing control again. I will not be held responsible if you trap Feebas underwater.

The ice type's eyes dimmed, and she looked apologetically at him. My apologies, Feebas. I still have much to work on, it seems. I must have still been excited about that Blizzard earlier.

Look at her,
Lopunny crossed her arms. One Blizzard, and she gets so high off her own supply that she can't stop herself from hurting others. How are you? She said, turning toward the water type.

Truly pitiful, Hog. Worse than a newly sprouted Budew, Roselia smiled, shaking her head. Are you alright, Feebas?

I—I'm okay. Do not mind me, I must be annoying,
he muttered.

Are you sure? Don't hesitate to vent your frustration about this animal, Lopunny said, slapping Froslass. Her hand passed through the ghost, and Froslass let out an obnoxious, mocking laugh. If there was one thing I hoped your evolution would bring, it was to end that stupid laugh.

Back in my neck of the woods, she would have been thrown and sacrificed to the first Beautifly that reared its ugly head,
Roselia reminisced.

We have different definitions of ugly, Twig, Lopunny chided. Beautifly are quite literally named by humans after beauty.

Different definitions of ugly? Feebas could only restrain a dry laugh. Only Pokemon that were already pretty could afford to say that nonsense.

They aren't so beautiful when they stab you with their proboscis and suck you dry, Roselia said. Only an empty shell remains afterward.

I was already thrown out of my clan once, and I lived,
Froslass said. I would have simply frozen its wings and eaten it for dinner.

Don't make me laugh, Hog! You haven't seen how terrifying Beautifly can be. Let me tell you a story from before Denzel so rudely kidnapped me…


Feebas did not like to talk. In fact, he did not talk much at all, outside of the little moments of peace he had with Sylveon.

Well, in truth, when he did talk, he enjoyed it, but he could not help but feel like he was intruding. Who was he, to tell them what to do? To join in on the banter? To converse? They barely knew him as it was! The others just threw him a bone once in a while and then returned to their tight-knit friendship, and he bet that even Sylveon was just pretending to care. Denzel too. He was a burden, nothing else. Feebas tightly shut his mouth and sank deeper into the water, ignoring the voices from his team. He did not want to hear it. If only he could thrive on land like this others! If only he was not stuck in this disgusting, ugly form!

He didn't want to hear more of what he had missed out on any longer. They would all be better off without him holding them back.

Down here, he was at home, and yet, water type Pokemon swam all around him, most opting to ignore him. Why? Even here, where he was supposed to be at his best, no one paid him any attention! The fish locked onto a Goldeen and sped up, ramming into it at full force with Tackle. The water type shook him off, batting him away with its tail fin, and prepared for battle.

There was no conversation. Pokemon seldom spoke in the wild outside of their respective groups.

Goldeen spat out a ring of water that hit Feebas' face and sent him reeling backward, and before he even had the chance to recover, the horn on its head shone and elongated, then the water type run him through, shaking its head to tear across his entire flank. Feebas cried out in pain, and when he saw chunks of his flesh floating upward and his blood soaking the water, he began to feel fear.

Had he truly been this weak and useless all along, then? What was even the point? Goldeen noticed that he had stopped fighting back and left, seemingly satisfied with its carnage. It wasn't like Feebas could even fault it. He had attacked first and out of nowhere, and Feebas were too disgusting for her to even eat.

Disgusting. That was all he was. Feebas slowly sunk into the water as he became light-headed, and every water type avoided him like the plague. The pain was numbing, and he was tired. If he could go like this— simply drifting off to sleep, then maybe it wouldn't be that bad.

But he did not. His eyes snapped open when he heard the muffled voices of his team and his trainer, calling out from above the lake's surface. Today was a particularly clear day, so he could even see the other humans' silhouettes, blurry as they were, and he could also see Sylveon's white and pink fur. Denzel's hand, wading through the freezing water and splashing around to call out to him without a care in the world of what danger that entailed. What if he angered a wild Pokemon and lost his hand?!

He'd been foolish. The negative thoughts had consumed him and twisted his judgment. Of course, they cared about him.

Feebas mustered all of his strength and swam up, putting everything he had into moving his fins. He ended up being so fast that he jumped out of the water, landing in Denzel's arms and soaking him in freezing water and blood.

"Holy fuck… holy— potions, I need potions!" He yelled.

Those were the last words Feebas heard before he fainted.



The next time the water type awoke, he was still in his trainer's arms in the middle of the night. His entire team stood around him as he slowly blinked to regain his senses. His skin felt horribly dry, like he was being prickled with a thousand needles all over, and he was struggling to breathe with the inside of his mouth not coated in water. Still, it appeared that his wounds were healed. There was only a dull pain where he had been torn up, and he would probably struggle to swim for a few days, but he was alive. Denzel was dozing off, but one kick from Roselia caused him to jump awake.

Don't hit him! Lopunny exclaimed.

Wake up, you useless seedling! She yelled, kicking him again. Feebas is awake!

"Shit," he said, wiping his mouth. "Feebas, are you alright?"

The fish simply blinked, and Denzel smiled, placing him back into the water.

"I don't know what attacked you down there, but I'm glad you're alright. Why did you go deeper into the lake? I… something must have been bothering you, no?"

I'm fine, Feebas simply answered, glancing toward Sylveon. The fairy type just silently observed him. I wanted to swim, but I just went a little too far, that's all.

His trainer did not understand his words, but he did understand the tone. That things were fine. Feebas' fins relaxed, and he drifted across the water's surface. He had thankfully managed to fool him. The water type wasn't in the mood for questions, at the moment. Denzel told Feebas that he'd let him out of the ball for another hour or two before recalling him, and he drifted off the sleep again. He was tired, lately. All that work that he'd apparently done in Hearthome was catching up to him, or at least that's what he had told them.

Do you wish to speak to someone? Froslass asked worriedly. If we tell Denzel, he will eventually figure out that sorrow is what you feel.

Oh please, Hog,
Roselia scoffed. The only thing that good-for-nothing human understands is foolish optimism.

But you love him anyways, twig,
Lopunny shrugged. Don't deny it.

Me? Love him? Don't make me laugh, Wench. I only feel disdain for this man.


Froslass giggled. You are infatuated with Sylveon instead, we know that—

The entire team froze when Sylveon spoke up for the first time.

Lopunny, Roselia, Froslass, he said. Leave us.

The trio hesitated but listened. Denzel was their trainer, but Sylveon was also a leader of some sort, although he didn't act like one most of the time. The three Pokemon left Sylveon alone with Feebas, and the water type fidgeted nervously. He usually felt nothing but happiness when he got a moment alone with Sylveon, but all he felt now was crippling anxiety. The pain was making him unable to swim straight, and the tissue hadn't healed completely yet. He was nothing but an eyesore.

Feebas, Sylveon said. His high-pitched voice reverberated across the river. Why did you venture recklessly into the deeper waters and endanger yourself? It seems something troubles your heart.

Feebas felt a ribbon touch his forehead, and a relaxing sensation spread to him immediately.

I'm not needed here, Sylveon. Nothing of value would be lost if I was gone.

Foolishness. Do not utter these words again, lest you stir my ire. Every creature, even wyrms, hold something of worth. These thoughts did not arise in a single day. You have been feeling like this for months, have you not?
Sylveon asked.

How can you say I hold something of worth? What have I done since being caught? I've been here longer than Lopunny and Froslass, yet it feels like I'm the newest member of the team! And it'll continue when Denzel catches his sixth. They will integrate flawlessly and speak to everyone like they've known each other years, and I'll be swimming alone.

Ah, I see. It is solitude that plagues you. A most vexing dilemma. I will answer your query, then. Denzel would grieve deeply if you were to die or leave, Feebas. I witnessed the tears he shed while you lay unconscious in his arms, hovering at death's door. Had it been any other that had caused him such feelings, I would have
bludgeoned them to death until they were nigh unrecognizable. Of course, death would be too easy of a fate. I would keep them until they begged to die. You are a vital member of this team, however, and I will not hold you responsible.

Feebas felt viscerally uncomfortable when Sylveon uttered the threat, and he shivered in fear. The ribbons soon relaxed, and he returned to his normal state, however.

I'm sorry for being so useless, he sighed.

Still, Sylveon was right. Denzel still treated him well, and he released him whenever he could. It wasn't anyone's fault that his body was this way. He'd just been unlucky.

I was not done. Know this, dear Feebas, the rest of the team holds you in high esteem, even if you do not believe it. They speak very fondly of you when you are absent, and they have multiple times wished you were able to be there with them when you could not be.

They act differently with me than they do with each other. I feel like an outcast!

Your concerns hold merit, but consider this from their perspective. They know that you are unable to come out of your Pokeball frequently, so would it not be bothersome to spend those precious moments in squabbles and discord? Would it not be far preferable to spend this time enjoying yourself with them? With me?


Feebas felt his heartbeat speed up, and his tail-fin quivered.

I suppose you're right, he sighed. Still, I… wish it was different.

So do I,
Sylveon sighed. I will tell you the truth, however. I enjoy spending time with you the most. I must not say so, or Roselia and Lopunny will start being callous, and you know how much that bothers me. I… I now try to stop these arguments, if I can.

Feebas' lips curled into a giddy smile. I'm happy that you feel that way about me.

When you've recovered, will you grace me with your beautiful aquatic shows again? The ones you performed for me in Amity Square were quite delightful, and I would enjoy watching the new ones you could come up with.

I don't know… I don't feel like it'd be worth it. I'm ugly, Sylveon. No matter how much I try to deny it, it will always be true. My scales are rough and dirty no matter how many times Denzel cleans them. My fins are ragged, I have this constant blank stare, and my voice is unpleasant. What is there to enjoy about that?

You must stop berating yourself, Feebas. If I tell you that you are beautiful, I am not lying. Any fairy worth their title does not lie. They may obscure the truth in other ways, but the words I speak are true. Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, does it not? When Denzel calls you beautiful, he means it. When Lopunny calls your stare cute, she means it. When Roselia calls you charming, she means it. When Froslass calls you pretty, she means it!

I don't want pity—

Know this, you fool! I have too much esteem for you to offer empty words of flattery. No, my feelings run far deeper than that, Feebas. It is love that I feel, I am sure of it.


Feebas scoffed. Love? When you have all those other beautiful Pokemon chasing after you day and night? We— we don't even spend that much time together—

And yet, I cannot lie. I do not have the heart to reject Lopunny and Roselia, but I feel simply camaraderie with them. With you, it is different.

I'll never believe you!
Feebas yelled.

What was he doing? He was ruining the moment, yet the words kept coming out. He berated Sylveon, and unlike Roselia, Lopunny and Froslass, it wasn't simple banter this time. He poured his heart out, calling him a fake for a hypocrite for leading the others on, and yet complaining about them chasing after him. For being a coward content with the status quo as long as it didn't disturb the peace and Denzel could keep being carefree about everything.

Feebas almost yelled in surprise when he felt Sylveon lift him out of the water. His ribbons were surprisingly strong, despite how frail and thin they looked. He brought Feebas closer and placed the water type's forehead against his.

Feebas. Some of what you said might have been true, but heed my words.

The fairy type paused, and Feebas stared into his huge, blue eyes.

You are beautiful.

Sylveon's feelings poured into him through his ribbons in a way that made Feebas understand that the words simply were true. The water type teared up, feeling validated for the first time in his life. Sylveon's words had unlocked the thoughts that he had hidden deep into the recesses of his mind, and that he would never have managed to free without the fairy type's help.

He was beautiful, damn it, and anyone who thought otherwise was wrong, including himself!

A wave of energy washed over the water type, and he felt an uncomfortable itch as his body elongated until he reached twenty-five feet in length, completely overtaking Sylveon's size. He slowly opened his eyes as his body loosely wrapped around the fairy, and he peered at the Pokemon from above. All of the pain he'd felt from being out of the water had evaporated, and he felt more at home here than he had ever felt. Milotic turned his head to Denzel, who was somehow still sleeping a few dozen feet away in that giant tent that the humans owned.

How…? Milotic muttered, and jumped, surprised by the sound of his own voice. It was smooth, like the flow of a gentle creek. What happened?

His scales had gone from rough and uneven to being so beautiful that they were barely distinguishable from skin. A stunning blue and red motif adorned his tail, splitting it into a fanned pattern.

The answer is simple, Milotic, Sylveon tilted his head, observing the water type's new form. It appears that the condition for your evolution was feeling beautiful.

I had no idea!
Milotic excitedly said. Arceus, I'm so happy!

He tried to crawl on the ground, but he felt strangely slow, and it was difficult to move around. His new body was fundamentally different than his own one, and it would take a few days to even be able to slither properly against the floor.

What happened here? Lopunny asked. We saw you evolve from afar, and wow, you look beautiful… I'm going to miss your cute little fish form, though.

There was a certain charm to it, but Milotic is clearly happy about it, so let us not bring it back as a topic,
Roselia said.

Wonderful suggestion, Twig, Froslass said, appearing before their very eyes. Two evolutions in such a short amount of time? Denzel will be ecstatic. Should I scare him to wake him up?

Let him sleep,
Sylveon said. He deserves to rest.

M—may I suggest something?
Milotic asked.

Why even ask? Roselia asked. You must become more confident, Milotic. You're too damned big to be such a Wimpod.

Twig's just angry that she's the smallest one of us by far,
Lopunny laughed, flicking an ear back. The grass type kicked her in the leg, to no effect. Sylveon sighed and lay down in the grass, ready to observe another round of bickering.

I despise you, Wench. Ask away, Milotic.

May I have a nickname?

You… want one?
Lopunny asked.

Froslass giggled. How amusing!

I want to bond with everyone… to be closer, and I think a nickname would help.


The ice type sprung up. I would like to nominate 'Queen'. If I cannot have it, then he must.

Milotic is a male, you daft Hog!
Roselia yelled. Your corpse will make some nice Pidgeot feed after I'm done with you.

It matters not. You should open up your mind to new things, Twig.
Froslass said. And I am a ghost, no longer capable of death, so your point is void. Still, I can tell Milotic would not have liked it from the look on his face.

Sorry… maybe something slightly more derogatory? Like the rest of you,
he specified.

What about Serpent? Lopunny asked.

You are too simple-minded. As expected of you, Roselia smugly said. Serpent is too elegant. Snake will do the trick.

Milotic's eyes shone. Snake… I like it.

You're not supposed to like it!
Froslass giggled. However, Hog did grow on me.

I must admit, Twig certainly could be worse,
Roselia nodded.

Wench is the worse of the four… Lopunny sighed.

Deal with it, Wench, the grass type laughed. Now come with me, Snake. I will teach you all about the art of keeping these two in line. I have been waiting for someone to finally help me stimmy their egos. Hog has been growing an especially big head lately.

I froze an entire forest a few hours ago.

Lies, you did not freeze an entire forest, you froze the smallest, tiniest subsection of the forest,
Lopunny countered. I could do better than that. One Fire Punch, and it all burns down. You should work on your skills, Hog.

Milotic grinned as he awkwardly slithered toward Roselia. Sylveon waved them all goodbye with his ribbons.



Sylveon's smile slowly faded as he watched his four teammates fade into the distance. The fairy type stood up and sneaked into the large tent, opening it up and closing it again with his teeth before curling up next to his trainer. The fae did not lie. What he had said was the truth. He did love Milotic, and everything he had told him came from the heart.

But the fae did obscure and bend the truth.

He loved Milotic, but he would unfortunately always come second.

Sylveon nuzzled against Denzel's chest and slowly drifted off to sleep. He hoped the evolution he had specifically engineered would make him happy when he woke up in a few hours. Denzel had told him about the method when he'd still been an Eevee back in Twinleaf.

To Sylveon, manipulation was alright if everyone came out happier on the other side. He wasn't breaking his promise, after all. He'd stopped being so violent during training despite the urges, and he was no longer encouraging the others to fight.

All in all, it had been a wonderful day.
 
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Chapter 139
CHAPTER 139

Denzel's jubilant screams woke all of us up— in the middle of the night, if I may add. I groggily rubbed my eyes and cut my breath short when I saw a humongous Milotic looming over him. I didn't know what happened, but Feebas had seemingly evolved while we were all sleeping. Since I had never been too interested, I didn't exactly know the condition needed for his evolution, but I did know it had to do with beauty or something of that sort. Denzel laughed, staring at his newly evolved Pokemon with a childlike grin. We all congratulated him, but we were honestly too tired to offer anything else. It did seem to me that Milotic was moving slowly and didn't know how to properly use his new body, and since the tournament was soon, he wouldn't be able to accommodate to his new form fast enough to move as adeptly as the usual Milotic.

Not that I knew what the usual Milotic moved like. Just like Gyarados, they were incredibly rare due to the amount of work their evolutions took to achieve, and the only one I had seen fight was Cynthia's during the hostage crisis at Valley Windworks. As I entered my sleeping bag once again, the little I did remember was that it was a relatively defensive Pokemon, and it had mostly used Protect to keep Cynthia safe.

Was that a sign of what their species was best at, or was I looking too into it? I was already thinking about what I'd do if I had to face him… but then again, Milotic would be new to this, and he still didn't know any moves except Tackle, unless it learned some from evolving.

All I could do right now was drift off to sleep once again.



I whistled, finally taking in Milotic's beauty. The water type's scales shimmered in the morning sun, and they were spotless, even after trudging through the grass and dirt. It was like nothing could stick to them. Milotic loosely wrapped around Denzel with a happy look on his face, and the boy smiled.

"Apparently, something happened last night… some type of drama," my best friend said. "I wish I was as good as you at understanding Pokemon so I could get the full context. I'm pretty good with Sylveon, but the others are still kind of muddy. It's honestly freaky how you do that."

We had packed up our camp, and we were close to leaving again. We were going to cut it close for registering for the tournament as it was, so we couldn't afford to stay here for too long. We still had to stop by the Lost Tower to find Cecilia's Golett too.

"Don't make it sound like I'm some kind of monster," I said. "I can only do it with mine, not everyone else's. Anyway, any new moves you want to teach him? You have a few days, so there isn't much you can do."

"I'm pretty sure you understand my Pokemon as well as I do, which is insane considering you interact with them way less. You could probably win, like, an award for it or something. And stop trying to pry, I'll figure something out," he said before turning to Milotic. "I know you want to stay out, but you're not made for long-distance travel on the ground. I'll release you as soon as we stop again, alright?"

Milotic quietly nodded and disappeared in a flash of red. Soon enough, we were back on the road. I released Larvitar and Togetic, who followed closely behind. Sweetheart picked up a rock and started munching on it.

"Don't eat too much, or you won't eat lunch later," I warned her. She ignored me and kept snacking. "Whatever you say… just don't tell me you're not hungry. You need to eat your vitamins."

"Toge…"

"I already told you that you aren't getting any," I lied.

How long would I have to keep up this charade? It had been too long now, it'd be too awkward to reveal the truth. Then again, sneaking it into her food was annoying.

We walked through numerous bridges, large and small. This route was remarkably peaceful, and aside from the occasional trainers or our conversations, there was only the sound of flowing water. It was honestly the favorite route I'd traveled through so far. As weird as it sounded, I wanted to cherish these moments because as soon as Princess evolved, I wouldn't be traveling through the routes anymore aside from the occasional landing to let her rest.

Hmm… in retrospect, I'd possibly do it anyway to accompany Justin and Pauline. But maybe it'd be smarter to just fly to Canalave to get my eighth as fast as possible to have time to train for the Conference.

Oh well, I'd cross that bridge when I got there. But the distance between me and the bridge seemed so small compared to just a few months ago. We were all progressing at ridiculous paces.

I turned my attention back to my two friends. Pauline and Justin were speaking together about something, possibly cooperating with strategies for the tournament. The former still had to catch her fourth Pokemon if she wanted to participate, and she was starting to feel the pressure mount. Not only would it not be trained properly, but it'd probably be weaker than everything else on her team.

"...Figured out it's what I want to catch on this route," I heard her say when I focused on the conversation. "Help me find it."

"What? How?" Justin frowned. "Unless Growlithe's smelled it before, it's a lost cause. You should ask Cecilia's Fletchinder for help—"

"Hey guys!" I interjected, jumping in between them. "I couldn't help but overhear your conversation. Which Pokemon are you talking about? Spill."

"You could probably guess," Justin said with an unusual smugness.

"What's that mean?!" Pauline yelled.

"It means that you're obvious."

I hummed, tapping my chin with a finger. "Whismur?"

"You made that joke weeks ago and it's still ridiculously unfunny," Pauline complained.

"I said Exploud last time, so it's different. And yes, it was funny! How about Mankey, then?"

The redhead turned toward me with a blank stare.

"No way… I got it?"

"Justin must have told you something!" Pauline screamed.

"How can you blame me for this when you just told me yourself?" he said. "Just ask Cecilia—"

"I was getting there before Grace interrupted me. They don't exactly live on the route. There are rumors about it living in the woods off-route after we get through these Arceus damned rivers."

"Rumors? How the hell did you hear about those if you just decided to catch one?" I asked.

"Don't act like I just spontaneously came to a decision! I've been looking this entire time, your annoying pep talk just made me take the plunge."

"What made you decide?" Justin asked.

"They're vicious, angry little guys that keep fighting no matter what," she shrugged. "What's there not to like?"

"For someone that picky, your standards are pretty tame," I said.

"Going off-route is dangerous, but maybe we can send a few of our Pokemon to look for the Mankey," Justin said.

"I won't pussy out. I'm going to find it no matter what."

Justin quite literally recoiled. "Language!"

"Don't care. Cry about it."

"Just tell the others about it first," I warned.

"Obviously, I'm not crazy."

"One could argue otherwise," Justin said.

Pauline pushed him away and launched into another tirade. Well, I'd let them bicker. I also had a lot to think about.

Just like before our double battle, we were all starting to train in secret again, and it kind of irritated me. Not having any knowledge was when I was at my weakest, and everyone knew it. What they didn't know was that I was actively trying to get better at countering that, which I had done rather well against Fantina. The battle against her had still taken a long time to go off the rails, though, and a large part of it was still planned. With the Solaceon tournament, I had challenged myself to go in blind from the start.

Togetic picked up a few rocks from the floor with Extrasensory and started to juggle them.

"We should work on new shapes for that," I mumbled. "How about a spear?"

She tilted her head at me confusedly.

"A really long, sharp stick. Better at stabbing things deep, better at taking down large enemies with softer hides, and probably better at pinning things down," I said as images of potential applications flashed through my mind with unusual brutality. My eye twitched. "Might be overkill though, I don't think we'll use it that often, and you'll have to be careful with it when you do."

Her eyes shone in excitement, and she immediately started to work on the shape. The rocks combined with each other and elongated before my very eyes, turning into a spear.

She had already gotten it down perfectly, although the molding was too slow to use in battle yet. Her drills were instant, and Princess would need to get just as good with her spear. In the future, we could talk multiple spears too, but right now, it was too big and complicated for her to create that many. Creating shapes required finesse. Larvitar wiggled her arms and asked her sister for the spear-shaped rock, and the fairy type levitated it downward. Sweetheart grabbed onto it and started munching on it too.

Cute.

But it was time to return to more pressing matters. I could always gush over my daughters later. The tournament was fast approaching, and this was no time to procrastinate. What I had learned from the double battle with Chase and Cecilia other than the fact that I needed to get better at improvising was that synergies were a lot more important than what I gave them credit for. I knew they mattered, but I had believed that strategy and individual Pokemon could overcome them.

Of course they could, but not when the playing field would be relatively equal. There was little Larvitar and Jellicent would be able to achieve together, but Larvitar and Tangrowth could have a lot of good strategies they could possibly implement. The good thing about Togetic being a jack of all trades was that she'd go well with anyone, but I'd need to come up with pairs to use and figure out what the others' strengths would be. Luckily for me, figuring that kind of stuff out was when I was at my strongest.

And I could also theorize about what my friends could use. I might not have known some of their new moves, but I knew how their Pokemon fought. Odds were that I wouldn't meet them for the first few days of the tournament anyway, though.

Secondly, controlling the field would be important here. Togetic with Ancient Power, Tangrowth with his vines, and Larvitar once she truly learned Sandstorm would be excellent at that. The thing about Sandstorm is that it was a lot more versatile than it appeared. One could go for the most powerful one possible, like Palossand had gone against us during our gym battle. That meant zero visibility and zero ability for me and my opponent to command our Pokemon unless they had excellent hearing. At the opposite end of the spectrum, it could also be a weakened version of the attack that would only deal chip damage to everyone around the field, and if Sweetheart could master the attack— which she wouldn't be able to for months— thinking about using the move on the opposite side of the field alone was a possibility. That would have been extremely useful for the tournament, but I doubted that she'd be able to achieve that level of control any time soon. Like Tangrowth, Larvitar was more about brute strength than anything else despite her small size, although her control was still better than his.

Ideally, I'd have one 'field controller' and 'brute' out in pairs. Some could fit both, like Tangrowth, Larvitar, and Turtonator— which I wouldn't be able to use— but some currently only had one specialization, like Togetic, Electabuzz, and Jellicent. I was currently having Buddy work on Whirlpool to increase his control. I'd heard things about Volkner's Electrivire being able to turn his whole battlefield into a living hell for non-electric type with something that went beyond the move Electric Terrain, so I knew there was potential there. Controlling the field was kind of his shtick as a gym leader.

With how famous I was now and with how skilled I had proven to be at battling, I was starting to think about asking him about how to evolve Honey when we stopped by. I might have had to impress him in a battle to do so, but maybe I could call in a favor from Candice. Being self-sufficient was nice, but I'd be foolish not to use my connections to my advantage. If I did do that, though, I'd probably have to visit her again in exchange. Candice was definitely the kind to ask for that. If I could manage, I'd have liked to get Honey to his final form before the Conference.

Hopefully it wouldn't be anything too crazy, because I'd already be tight on time—

"Thinking again?"

I jumped out of my skin and turned toward Cece, who chuckled. Fletchinder was preening herself on her shoulder, and Slowking had his usual blank stare.

"Arceus… yeah, I was theory-crafting. What's up?"

"I've been thinking a lot myself," she said. "I'm nervous already. You and Denzel have progressed leaps and bounds recently, so I hope I'll keep up the pace."

"Come on, don't get all flaky now," I said, bumping against her arm. "You'll do fine."

"It's not just about you guys either. The skill level there will be significantly tougher than anything we've faced before. This won't be like Floaroma. There'll be more than first-years there."

"That's true. No matter how good we are, experience is a tough thing to beat."

People that had been with their Pokemon for years would have a lot more tricks up their sleeves, even if they were at our level. Cece didn't do that well against tricks, so I was starting to understand why she was getting worried.

"But I've been working on countermeasures," she smiled. "I think things will work out if I manage to master what I've been studying."

"Studying?" I said, raising an eyebrow.

"In a manner of speaking, yes."

"Looking forward to it then," I said. "By the way, Pauline wants to catch a—"

"Mankey, yes."

"You know? She just told me!"

"Well, Fletchinder picked it up thanks to her excellent hearing, and Slowking relayed it to me through telepathy."

I stared at her blankly. That was so cheating!

"Have you been listening in on everything everyone's been saying? The new moves, what they were practicing… wait, it means that you could also potentially know what the Pokemon are saying too…"

Cecilia's face turned into a confident smile.

"You witch," I scoffed.

"I did say I was studying," she said. "And it'll only work this well on you and the others, although there might be some shenanigans I could come up with against unknown trainers…"

Using a Pokemon with excellent hearing and a psychic type for information gathering was an incredible strategy. I'd need to start being a lot more discreet with my training.

"Why would you reveal it though— oh, you probably just figured out every single new move that everyone was working on before the tournament, so you don't care anymore."

She nodded. "Forgive me?"

"Yeah, yeah…" I grumbled. "Oh! I had a favor to ask of you, actually, so I retract my forgiveness. I need Slowking to speak to me."

"But the pain—"

"Is something I need to get used to sooner or later. I want a psychic as a seventh, but even beyond that, if something happens to you or Pauline and I need to communicate quickly with your psychics, this'll go a long way, especially if the message is long-winded and complicated."

Cecilia turned toward Slowking, and he said something to her. She sighed and accepted my request.

"Only tonight, though. The first time's the worst one. Pauline threw up, and I got a headache that lasted for hours, so I think it'd be best if you were sitting down at camp."

"I'd rather not have to go to sleep feeling sick."

"Well, it's either that, or you might slow us down here. You don't want to miss the tournament, don't you?"

"Yes ma'am," I laughed.



It was nighttime now, and my Pokemon were training their respective moves in the distance, away from prying eyes or ears. We had made it through route 209's river system, and we could see the Lost Tower looming in the distance shining with a pale purple hue. We'd reach it tomorrow, and Cecilia would hopefully be able to catch her Golett. I nervously strode up to Slowking and stared up at the psychic. The first time was always the worst, but Cecilia had put the fear of it in me and now I was feeling a lot less confident than before. My pain tolerance was… probably average, but it was probably different with mental stuff. Cecilia had prepared water, towels, and some type of pill? It might have been for the headache.

"Ready?" She asked.

"Uh, yeah. Wait, do a countdown! From five! And keep it to one word for now?" I panicked.

"We don't have to do this now."

"No, I have to push myself through it or I'll never start."

"Well, I did tell Pauline the same thing," my girlfriend sighed. "Very well. Slowking?"

I tightly shut my eyes and tensed, clenching at my jeans as she counted down. Hopefully it wouldn't be too bad—

Hello.

A deep, gentle voice rang out in my head.

My head suddenly felt like someone was driving an axe through it and it was being split in two. My vision went blurry, and every sound sent another throb pounding through my skull. Cecilia said something, grabbing onto my arm to keep me from falling over, but it sounded like a jumbled mess of sounds and echoes. It took at least fifteen seconds for me to be able to stand on my own and hear properly again.

"Grace!" Cece said, keeping me still.

"I'm… fuck."

She gently laid me on the floor, placing my head on a towel and wiping the saliva, snot, and tears from my face.

"You had a stronger reaction than most. I've never seen one this bad," she said, her face twisted with worry.

I blinked a few times, trying to work through the words. I could hear them, but registering what they meant took a while.

"That was the worst," I exhaled. "It still hurts like hell."

"I have some aspirin. Are you well enough to sit up and drink?"

"Just give me a sec," I winced as another wave of pain coursed through my head. She helped me up and handed me her bottle, along with the small tablet. "I've always been bad at— at taking pills."

"Just take a deep breath and tilt your head back."

I nodded, swallowed the tablet after a few tries, and then laid back down.

"It should start to feel better soon," she said. "And I don't think we should do it anymore."

"It'll be better the second time, you said."

"But when it's this bad, it essentially amounts to torture. I won't let Slowking put you through this."

"I— I'll think about it more clearly tomorrow. Hold my hand, please?"

She held my hand tightly, and I inhaled sharply when I realized she was tearing up.

"Why are you crying?"

"Because I did this to you. It was my fault."

I bit down on my tongue to distract myself from the pain. "I wanted this, Cece."

"I should have said no."

"I'm capable of making my own decisions and facing the consequences," I said. "I'll be okay tomorrow morning… I hate it when you feel like this."

We both felt silent, and Slowking placed a hand on his trainer's shoulder.

"Sorry," she sniffled.

"The pain's getting manageable already," I lied. "Hey, it's cold as hell out here."

"Do you want me to carry you to the tent?" She immediately asked.

"No, just… stick around," I said, extending my arms.

Cecilia lay down next to me, sharing her warmth with a tight hug. The first time with telepathy was supposed to be different for everyone, but it was a hell of a gut punch for me. Damn it, I couldn't even think clearly about a potential reason, but one thing I needed to do for sure was try it again tomorrow after the Lost Tower to see if it at least would get better at a quick rate. I already dreaded that moment, but a sample size of one wouldn't do the job.

Eventually, we went back inside of the tent and fell asleep together. The next day, my headache was completely gone.

We finally made it to the Lost Tower.
 
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Chapter 140
CHAPTER 140

The Lost Tower looked a lot bigger from up close. For some reason, it had been built in a hole of some sort, where huge stairs led to the gaping entrance. There was no door or guards, nor were there any other trainers near here. After taking a deep breath, I stared up, counting five floors. Each would get progressively worse, and there were stories about the fifth floor being impossible to escape from.

We were only going to the first floor though, which was only slightly more dangerous than the route, which meant not at all.

"Come on guys, in and out," Denzel said.

"I hate these types of places. Gives me the creeps," Pauline shuddered. "The sooner we're out, the sooner I can go back to finding a Mankey."

"Try to not get attacked by an Ursaring this time," I said.

"Pfft, we manhandled that thing."

We slowly stepped down the stairs, and it felt like the temperature was lowering with each step we took. Even though this was supposed to be safe, we had taken as many precautions as we could. I had Honey and Buddy with me, which would be able to sense ghosts, and Denzel had his Froslass, which was not helping with the cold. Cecilia released her Zweilous as soon as we reached the entrance, while Justin had his Audino, which he had taught Heal Pulse. Pauline had her Charmeleon up to help with the cold and the lighting. I squinted at the tower's entrance, unable to see anything but darkness. It seemed that sunlight simply couldn't penetrate past the door.

Denzel stepped inside first, and he disappeared into the dark. Pauline quickly followed behind him, and soon enough, we were all inside of the tower. Blue torches adorned the walls, lighting up the entire floor, but whenever I stopped paying attention, they seemed to shift places, never staying in one spot for long. The floor was made out of teal bricks, and patches of grass and moss grew in between the cracks. Layers and layers of graves were laid out all across the ground, for humans and Pokemon alike.

Maurice Walburton - 1357-1412 - A brilliant mind and fearless explorer of the unknown (Innovator, Chemist, Traveler). Died doing what he loved, charting the Land Of The Fog. His map was never recovered.

Salla (Gigalith) - 988-1399 - Solaceon's trusted guardian. Enjoyed soaking in the sunlight. Died failing to protect the village from pack of Weaviles.


Died… failing? What a morbid thing to put on a grave. Now that I was looking, all graves seemingly had a negative message at the end of them.

Ediva Hunter - 971-1000 - Friend of Pokemon, Pokemon interpreter, a friendly woman born into a world of sorrow (Breeder, Architect). Died before she could open her breeding business.

Well, that one was at least alright, by comparison, but she died terribly young.

"These are all from hundreds of years ago," Cecilia breathed.

"The tower's hundreds of years old, so yeah," Denzel whispered.

All of these graves did share one thing. All of these people and Pokemon had their lives cut short due to some strange, unexplainable death or perished in a tragic way. No one here had gone peacefully in their sleep or of old age. What I was also learning was that a lot of Pokemon lived incredibly long lives. For example, a lot of rock types seemed to live for hundreds of years, and some had been so old that their birth year hadn't even been recorded.

"They don't bury anyone here anymore though," Denzel continued. Froslass' eyes flickered and warily wandered toward the stairs to the second floor off in the distance. "The latest dates are all around 1450."

"I wonder what happened…" Justin muttered.

"Maybe they just ran out of space," Pauline said. "Sh—shit!"

Our heads whirled toward where she was looking, and a Litwick disappeared with a high-pitched laugh.

"Little fucker was staring at us," she said, sighing in relief. "No signs of Golett, though, and the floor isn't that big."

I turned toward Electabuzz and Jellicent. They had both been supposed to sense that. "What happened?"

In short, there was too much ghostly energy here for them to discern any individual ghosts. Their senses were getting overwhelmed, and that meant that we would be going in blind. I didn't like the sound of this one bit.

"I think we should probably leave," Cecilia said. "Something about this feels off."

I wiped the sweat off my forehead and hesitantly nodded to agree. "I mean, it's not like there's any hidden spots. We can see the whole floor, and there isn't much of anything there."

"I think I'll just swallow my pride and buy a Golett instead. They're expensive in Sinnoh, but—"

"Are you children looking for a Golett, perchance?"

We all screamed, and our Pokemon immediately got into positions to battle. Justin fell on the floor, scrambling backwards, and Electabuzz stuck close to me, surrounding me with Protect. Zweilous snarled at the source of the voice with flames gathering in their mouths. Pauline crouched, placed her hands on her ears, and shut her eyes with an ear-piercing shriek.

An extremely old woman stood before us, cane in one hand and teacup in another. She wore thick, transparent spectacles, along with white and purple robes. There not even a single inch of her skin was left untouched by wrinkles and creases. Her hands had strange blue colorations that I often saw in older people, and her lips were so thin they were barely visible. Her eyes were sunken and dull, almost unmoving.

"Who the hell are you?!" Denzel screamed. "Our Pokemon could have killed you! Don't just jump out like that!"

The old woman laughed. "Hoho, I am the Tower's Overseer, young man. One of two."

The Overseer spoke so slowly that it was almost irritating, but that was probably me being petty about how badly she had scared us. She also had a weird accent that I couldn't exactly place. Eastern Sinnohans and Western Sinnohans spoke slightly differently, but this was on another level. If I didn't hang onto her every word, I risked missing something.

"So you tend to the graves and things like that?" I asked, relaxing slightly.

"Among other things," she said, her hand trembling. "I couldn't help but overhear your conversation about a Golett?"

"I am looking for one," Cece said.

"You won't find any on the first floor, my dear. The Golett here have long been taken by trainers passing through. There are a few left on the second floor, however. They help tend to the graves. It is their life's work."

"But I was sure…" Denzel trailed off. "My information said that there'd be some left."

"Your information was incorrect."

"And you don't care if we take one? Doesn't that mean more work for you?" I asked.

The old woman sipped on her purple-tinted tea and grinned. She was missing almost all of her teeth. "This is a sunken place, children. Long forgotten despite its proximity to civilization. No one dares to come here any longer. Every few years, a few children come, look around the first floor and leave. No one ever comes to honor the dead."

"I noticed that everyone buried here came from Solaceon," Justin said.

"This place was originally built to bury the dead from there when it was but a simple village," she nodded. "But it is not a normal cemetery."

"The deaths," I declared, echoing my previous thoughts. "They're all tragic in some way."

"My, my, what an interesting group you are," she smiled. "But if you want your Golett, you will have to venture to the second floor. I am willing to guide you there if you wish."

"Do you have any Pokemon to defend yourself?" Justin asked.

The Overseer snorted. "Nothing of the sort."

We all looked at each other, considering our options. If a woman this old was capable of going through all the floors to manage this place, then the threat was probably overblown. We agreed and decided to follow her up the second floor, which would… take a while, with how slow she walked.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Mathilda."

No last name? Well, alright.

"Is your colleague around? We wouldn't want to intrude…" Denzel said.

"She is on the top floor, at the moment. Do not worry about her, she follows quite a different philosophy than I do. You will not meet her today."

"So, Mathilda," I said, trying to fill in the silence. "When's the last time you received visitors?"

"A month ago or so, but they quickly left before I could say hello," she sighed. "The last time I spoke to anyone must have been at least eight years ago, if memory serves me well."

"Don't you get lonely? I guess you have your friend, but—"

"Friend? Ruth and I are nothing of the sort," the Overseer said, her eyes narrowing.

I bit the inside of my mouth and stopped talking. Angering her when she was helping us would be a terrible idea.

"But I would be wrong to scorn you," she said. "Especially when you discovered the true meaning behind the tower."

"The deaths, you mean?" I asked. We were almost reaching the stairs now.

Mathilda nodded. "Let me teach you a lesson, children. Why do you think a tower like this one attracts and creates ghosts when normal cemeteries do not?"

Well, the answer was obvious now, but I still had to do a double-take at the fact that this tower apparently formed ghosts. I had known that many ghosts would be there, but that hadn't even been on my radar.

"Well, I guess it has to do with the context of the deaths," I said. "But cemeteries have a lot of people that died early too."

"Dying early is often, but not always tragic," she shook her head. "In certain cases, the lives led were still fulfilling. Tragic implies that something was left unfinished."

My mind flashed back to the first grave I had seen. The man had died charting the land of the fog, whatever that was, so it implied that he hadn't finished doing so. Personally, I found that a horribly arbitrary way to define a tragic death, but maybe it was simply a difference in philosophy.

"When someone commits to an ideal or a goal and does not finish it in their lifetimes," she started. "A residual, negative energy begins to gather. It has multiple names, but I prefer to call it Miasma. If you want to really get technical about it, the energy does not exactly come from this plane of existence, but the deaths… facilitate its transfer into this realm."

"From that energy, ghosts are born? So it's like reincarnation, then?" Denzel tried as we stepped up the stairs.

"No, it is not that simple. It takes hundreds of deaths to form a ghost, and even then, the Miasma must be packed so tightly together… this tower itself only births a single ghost every few decades from the residual Miasma that remains here. What comes into the world does not have any memories from the humans and Pokemon it was born out of. The ghost… is an echo. It can hold similar personality traits, likes and dislikes from the living things it was made of, but not always. The more tragic and numerous the deaths are, the more powerful the ghost. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule, like with that Froslass of yours, or Spiritomb. Your Jellicent holds potential too. Perhaps explore options to increase his ghostliness."

Buddy stared into the back of her head like a hungry Talonflame but said nothing.

Meanwhile, I swallowed at that name. The little information the public had about Spiritomb was already enough to keep me up at night.

"How do you think this tower is arranged?"

"The… the more tragic the deaths, the higher in the tower they're buried," Justin guessed.

The Overseer grinned. "Welcome to the second floor, children. The Hall of Memories."

I blinked a few times, trying to make sense of what I was seeing. The second floor was somehow bigger than the first, even though that made no sense with how the tower was built from the outside, and there were a lot more graves. There was a lot more grass here than on the first floor, and it almost overwhelmed the teal bricks. The room seemed to be obscured by a perpetual, thin fog. There were windows that supposedly led to the outside, but the openings were just shrouded in darkness. I shivered. It was like we were completely cut off from the outside world. In the distance, a few Golett walked in a robot-like fashion, their eyes and rune illuminating the dim room. Some of them were pulling weeds, while others swept the floor with thick brooms. Some even shined the graves with tissues. The others were simply standing at attention, probably waiting for something to necessitate their movement. On this floor, the deaths were a lot sadder, but some of them were not at all gruesome.

Amice Keriell - 1366-1383 - A bright child, sick from birth, that vowed to survive and live a normal life. Tricked by the whims of the fae. Let this be a lesson to all to not bargain with what we cannot understand.

The whims of the fae…? I stopped and stared at the grave, trying to decipher what it could mean. I didn't like the tone of it one bit.

"Ah, this one," The Overseer smiled. "He ventured into the woods to the northeast and asked for a fairy to cure his illness. A foolish endeavor, but it was not his fault. There were a lot of legends about the fae in those times, including the one that they could grant wishes, although for a heavy price. But as you know, all rumors are born from a hint of truth."

"What… what happened to him?"

"Well, I do not know," she said. "The fae can be ruthless, just like they can be kindness incarnate. It would depend on which one he met and if he offended it. He died, so his offer must not have gone over well."

I frowned, feeling more uncomfortable than I had since I stepped foot into the tower. That was an overgeneralization if I ever saw one.

Aethelred (Bronzong) - ?-1415 - Bringer of rains, protector of our crop, lover of plays. Died mysteriously in the night. Could not prevent the coming famine caused by drought.

Camilla (Luxio) - 1434-1450 - Went on a rampage, then starved herself after failing to protect her life companion from harm. May they rest together—


That was it. I was done with reading anything. This was just the second floor. I wanted to get out of here as fast as I could.

"So do I just… catch one?" Cecilia asked, pointing toward one of the Golett. "Can I choose the biggest one?"

"Go ahead, young one," she said, sipping on her tea. "They will not resist a Pokeball's hold. They lack the individuality to do so."

Was that cup even emptying itself?

"I don't want a mindless drone, I want a Pokemon," Cecilia said.

"They are Pokemon. They were built in ancient times for manual labor, so this is what you will be getting, I am afraid."

"You'll be able to breathe life into it," I said. "I'm sure of it."

Cecilia hesitantly approached the largest Golett that reached up to her waist, and bumped its forehead. The Pokeball chimed without even shaking. That was it. Cecilia had caught her fifth Pokemon.

"So we can dip now, right?" Pauline nervously asked.

"I don't see why not. We got what we came here for," Denzel said.

"Won't you stay to honor the dead?" Mathilda asked.

"Erm, no," Pauline said. "I… uh, respect your job, this place and what you're trying to do, but it's giving us the creeps."

"Very well," she said, dipping her head. "I will lead you back to the exit. No ghosts will attack you in my presence—"

Shadows slipped through the cracks in the floor, lashing out and destroying some of the bricks. The darkness coalesced into the form of an old woman that looked exactly like Mathilda. The clothes, the face, the exact same wrinkles. This went beyond genes, this was… like a reflection of her.

"Mathilda," the voice echoed throughout the room. "You dare bring humans into this sacred place?"

"Step aside, Ruth."

"That's Ruth? Is she even human?!" Denzel yelled.

"Obviously not!" Pauline said.

"Silence!" Ruth screamed. My ears rang, giving me a headache. "We had a deal, Mathilda. No humans past the Foyer."

The Foyer… that must have been the first floor. Our Pokemon all tensed, readying their attacks in case everything went south.

"You are stuck in the past. Nothing is forever, Ruth, no matter how long we may live," Mathilda said, her voice turning otherworldly. "Some rules can be bent to make our time here a little easier."

"That is humorous coming from you, of all people! What are you thinking, Mathilda? Do you want this tower to fall into ruin?"


I didn't understand. Why would we coming here mean that the tower would become ruined?

"Ironic, is it not? The people buried here failed to achieve their goals, and yet we were given a goal we are incapable of reaching. An unending task. How much longer, Ruth? One hundred years? Five hundred? A thousand? You have asked me plenty, and I know you would not like the answer."

My eyes bulged. These two were ghosts! But what ghost could even turn into a human?!

"If I am kept here, then the next best thing is following our directive."

"You are not focused on your task, Ruth. Hatred still drives you."

"Hatred for you! I am focusing on my task, while you play with humans! They will spread rumors about this place, and trainers will come to ransack this tower. I will not let them leave."

"Do not be foolish, Ruth. You are not thinking clearly."

"You and your love for humans!"
She spat. "I should have done this centuries ago!"

Shadows were thrashing under both of their feet, now, and I knew there were about to fight. I stared at my friends, and we carefully stepped back. Electabuzz placed a hand on my shoulder to stop my trembling, and I took a deep breath. I needed to think. Why did Ruth seem to care so much about guarding the tower if she hated humans so much? Did she just care about the graves for Pokemon? No… it seemed that she cared for everyone here. Mathilda's words were strange too. It seemed that she wanted to change things, but there was something about her words that made it seem like Ruth wanted to lea—

"Do not leave me!" Mathilda called out to us. "The ghosts here are beyond your capabilities. If you are without me, you will get attacked."

"Even on the second floor?" Justin harrowingly said.

"I will only say this one more time, Ruth. Step aside, or I will kill you, and we will talk about this when you are done clearing your head in the Dusk."

"You make me sick. You're the one keeping me—"


Mathilda took a deep breath. "Stick close to me. Do not engage, you will just make her focus on you instead of me."

Suddenly, she was sucked into her teacup, becoming a Sinistea, and Ruth's arms bulged, separating into segments that were thinly linked by darkness. Red runes were inscribed on her skin, which turned into a dull gray, and then turned into thick rocks. A single purple eye stared at us with unending hatred.

It was a Runerigus. Native and only found in Galar, and yet somehow, it was here.

How was a Sinistea supposed to win against that? Never mind that they could somehow turn into humans that were exact copies of each other!

A ball of green energy shot out of the teacup, and Runerigus let out a hellish scream, somehow jumping toward us with both of her hands coated in sharp shadows. The Energy Ball crashed into her, but she ignored it, swatting Sinistea away like a bug. The teacup flew into a grave, destroying it and sending Runerigus even further into her unhinged rage.

Sinistea appeared fine, and she floated upward with another Energy Ball charged up. This time, the ball split into ten smaller ones, and she sent them flying forward like a machine gun. The ground type brought both of her arms forward, blocking the attack with Protect, and created two Night Shades alongside her.

She sicked them after us and then returned to fight Sinistea.

We all issued a flurry of orders, and every attack under the sun crashed against the two Night Shades. Dragon Pulse, Flamethrower, Icy Wind, Disarming Voice, Shadow Ball and Thunderbolt all impacted them, but they seemed completely unfazed by the attacks. The first shade slashed across Froslass, and she flickered in and out of reality as the temperature dropped and frost started to coat the graves and the floor.

"Recall your fucking Froslass!" Pauline yelled as Electabuzz shielded her from a Shadow Claw. "She can't control herself if she's not focusing!"

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Denzel yelled, scrambling at his belt. He recalled the ice type and sent out his Roselia instead. "Roselia, battle! Focus on the Night Shades!"

Jellicent's entire face was destroyed in a single attack from one of the shades, and he flew off to regenerate. Roselia brought a flower forward, spraying one of the shades with Venoshock, but it had no effect at all. Electabuzz was working overtime to shield anyone in danger with Protect, but one slipped through and slammed his arm so hard that it bent wrong. I felt my stomach drop and immediately recalled him.

"Angel," I breathed out as soon as I sent him out. "Battle, restrain the Night Shades."

If we didn't have Protect, then his vines were the best we had for protection. The grass type coated them in dark type energy and wrapped as many as he could around the two shades, but it was barely restraining their movement. Still, it was enough for us to run and get out of harm's way most of the time. To our left, Sinistea sent out a Shadow Ball toward Runerigus, and she was finally starting to crack her stone armor that hid her true body underneath.

As Justin released his Krokorok, I was starting to understand something. Their attacks were all incredibly impressive, and beyond what we could hope to achieve. They charged faster, were stronger, and had more versatility than I'd ever seen from a wild Pokemon, and yet—

The Night Shades, Sinistea and Runerigus were all holding back to protect the graves.

Still, we were on the verge of getting annihilated by something that wasn't even its real body. The Night Shade let out a silent scream, tearing more of Tangrowth's vine apart as Charmeleon's Flamethrower coated its body. Krokorok attempted to slow the other one down with Sand Tomb, but it could apparently fucking fly too. The shade slammed him away, and Audino hurriedly dealt with the worse of the damage with Heal Pulse.

"Knock Off, Angel!" I yelled. If I couldn't restrain them with vines, the best we could do was deal as much damage as possible in hopes of finally dealing with them. The grass type's vines tensed, and he slapped a Night Shade away from Pauline, finally dealing real damage. "Dark type moves! Only dark type moves work!" I yelled.

"Zweilous, Crunch!"

"You too Charmeleon!" Pauline yelled, releasing her Gothorita. "Payback!"

"Not them!" I countered. "It's too dangerous!"

Only Zweilous, Tangrowth, and Jellicent could take any hits. For the others, one or two, and they'd have to be recalled to avoid dying or being irreparably wounded. Zweilous ran up to one of the shades as darkness danced in their mouths, and both of the heads bit down, destroying a part of the shadow, and another one of Jellicent's Shadow Balls slammed into it right after.

Its eye just glinted as it regenerated the damage immediately.

I flinched as the real Runerigus crashed into a mass of graves and an unsuspecting Golett, which were all destroyed. The ground type was barely a thin, long shadow now, and all of its armor had been destroyed. Sinistea used the opportunity and helped us dispatch the Night Shades with two Shadow Balls that were bigger than I'd ever seen. When I looked into them, it was like staring into the abyss itself. I was hypnotized by the sheer amount of grief and emptiness present in the ghostly spheres.

Grief, not hate.

Two was all it took. We were truly outclassed at every level.

The teacup flew in between us and the shades, shielding us from the explosion that came with their destruction with a Protect of her own. I didn't know how, but somehow, a non-fully evolved Pokemon was winning against a fully-evolved one. Were they so old that it truly did not matter? Or was something else at play? I took my first full breath since the battle started and assessed the damage. Aside from the three I mentioned earlier and Audino thanks to his normal typing, our Pokemon were horribly wounded.

Krokorok was worse off than anyone else, however. Even with Heal Pulse, he had lost so much blood. Audino used another Heal Pulse, and Justin quickly recalled the ground type with tears in his eyes. It seemed that Audino was capable of healing broken bones, at the very least, so we wouldn't have to rush to the Pokemon Center.

Runerigus had been reduced to a shadow, and it quickly turned back into Ruth. Sinistea did the same, and a body just squeezed out of the cup.

"You disappoint me, Ruth. So many graves damaged because of your childish antics. So many names and memories lost forever."

"I despise you. Just kill me already, there is no need to gloat. If the tower falls, then you will only have yourself to blame. At least I will be able to be free."

"Why fight change, Ruth? A ghost might be eternal, but the world is not. You must have known that things would not stay the same forever. The inside of this tower will stand until the end of time, but we can commit to making our fate a little easier until the time comes."

"I despise this fate,"
the ghost said, more saddened than I expected. "Banished to care for graves for eternity."

"And yet, you do it diligently, because it is your purpose. Our purpose. Things cannot be any different."

"They are all gone, Mathilda. All gone. And we are condemned to a life that cannot end. Even after the world is reduced to dust and ash with nothing left to protect the tower from, only ghosts will remain."

"A tragic fate for we, who were borne of tragic deaths. And yet it must be done."

"Enough of this. I am done with conversing. A trip to the Dusk will do me some good."

"Do not try to avoid hard conversation through death. It will have to happen either way."

"Fine then. I love this place, but I grow tired of it. I want to leave."


Mathilda's face darkened, and I felt my palms moisten. An uncomfortable dryness overtook my throat.

"You know as well as I do that the answer is no. You cannot abandon your purpose. Our purpose."

I stared at both of them confusedly. This made no sense… it was like the roles had switched. Ruth was now the one wishing for change, and Mathilda was the one wanting to keep things the same. But why? Were these two so old that I just couldn't understand?

"So you bring humans to taint this sacred place, and yet you cling to tradition? What a joke," Ruth chuckled sadly. "You are as hypocritical as always, Mathilda."

"Humans coming here will give us a break from the dullness,"
she explained. "But we will not leave. I am a force for change, but that is the line we must not cross. You cling to the status quo to avoid experiencing what could have been if we had not been given this task, but in truth, you want to leave. Every time you see a human, it reminds you of Him, does it not? I know it is painful. You spend decades at a time grieving next to His grave."

"And you spend decades ignoring Him. You never come to the top floor, Mathilda."

"It is too sorrowful for even I."


Ruth sighed. "We are both slaves to the purpose we were given in different ways, it seems."

"You would have known this had you not decided to give me the silent treatment for the last three hundred years,"
she said, turning toward us. "I will lead you to the exit, children. Thank you for keeping us company."

"If you know what's good for you, you won't come back. You thought I was a threat? You have not seen what she is capable of."


Mathilda spared a look at her fellow Overseer. "How much longer, Ruth?" She repeated. "The answer is forever."

A/N: Here are Ruth and Mathilda in game!
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Chapter 141
CHAPTER 141

We couldn't have possibly run out of the Lost Tower faster than we did. Mathilda had simply led us to the first floor before going back upstairs. I drew a ragged breath, opening my bag to down an entire water bottle, washing down all the bile that had built up in my throat in the process. Thank Arceus, we had gotten out of that okay. It was a miracle, really. If Mathilda and Ruth hadn't been holding back, then we would have died right then and there.

"I am never, ever doing any ghost bullshit again," Pauline cried.

"We won't. We won't, I'm sorry," Cecilia said.

"Let's just… go," she said. "Far away from this place. I don't feel safe."

We nodded, opting to wait to put in some distance before healing our Pokemon. We recalled most of them, keeping only one each. I had Togetic with me, who instantly noticed something was wrong, and I explained what happened, much to her dismay. I put a hand in front of me and couldn't stop myself from trembling. The sheer scale of the world and how powerful beings could get boggled my mind no matter how obvious it was and how many times I saw it. I was so weak. I clenched a fist and sniffled as Togetic rubbed her head against mine.

"Thank you Princess," I whispered. "Everyone is fine, it was just a close call."

Another one.

I was tired of being spared by the whims of beings more powerful than I was by orders of magnitude. This wasn't the time to be a scared little girl and cry. I had grown past that. I… I had. I took a deep breath, staring back at the Lost Tower. Just like I thought, it looked a lot smaller on the outside than it actually was somehow, and there was no sign of any battle having gone on there.

Hell, even the numbers of windows were wrong now that I was getting a closer look. Togetic called out, telling me to stop staring, and I nodded. The knowledge I had gotten from the tower was invaluable for a trainer my age. Kids usually didn't learn how ghosts formed, even in school. Oh, everyone had theories, of course. Reincarnated Pokemon or humans was one of the most popular ones, but that had been completely wrong. I assumed only the League and ghost specialists in high places had access to this knowledge.

And this talk about the Dusk? Was that where ghosts were when they died? From the way they had spoken about it, it seemed that they were conscious there. Ruth had called it a good place to clear her head. Either way, the fact that a tower that I assumed was specifically engineered to create ghosts only formed one every few decades helped explain how rare true ghosts were. Why else would someone build a cemetery only for people with tragic deaths? They must have had an agenda of some kind, or at least I believed so.

And then there was the Copperajah in the room.

Since when could Sinistea and Runigerus turn into fucking humans?! I had never heard of any ghost types turning into humans. Creating illusions with humans in it, yes, but becoming full-fledged humans capable of speech? Did that also have to do with their ages and how powerful they were? I didn't have enough information to answer that, but I did have a bit of context. They had the exact same body, like they were clones. That implied that something else had maybe helped them gain this ability. Maybe the person that gave them their 'purpose' they seemed so obsessed with.

I exhaled loudly.

"Should we alert someone?" Justin said. "That tower should definitely be closed to the public."

"If they don't close places like Victory Road, they won't close the Lost Tower either," Denzel shook his head. "And… I don't know, it would feel wrong, wouldn't it?"

I hesitantly nodded. "Mathilda and Ruth are different, but I think they'd both dislike it if we did that. It's a hard choice. I… I don't think I'll be saying anything, but feel free to do whatever you want, Justin. Personally, I don't think they deserve more suffering."

"You're... right. I won't say anything."

In the end, even though she had saved our lives, Mathilda terrified me more than Ruth did. She was essentially holding the latter captive, forcing her to forever tend to the tower against her wishes. If Ruth ever tried to escape, she would be killed repeatedly. They both had a dash of good and evil about them in very different ways.

"I just don't want to speak about it. I don't want to think about it," Pauline said. "Fuck that place."

"Do you want to vent?" Denzel asked. "I'll listen."

The redhead paused. "Fine. Later tonight."

What else… what else? Night Shade! I already suspected the move to hold a lot more potential than I knew due to Fantina summoning five at once with her Frillish, but those had been on a completely different level. They were capable of going toe to toe with our entire teams combined, were only vulnerable to dark moves, and were capable of regeneration. What was different with their shades? Okay, they were obviously tougher due to experience, but even then, they should have taken damage from our other moves! Darkness would be a foil to ghosts no matter what, it seemed. I didn't know much about the type, and not many people did in Sinnoh. There weren't that many high leveled dark type specialists here, so it would take a long time to find any answers.

Damn it, I hated being kept in the dark. Something told me that if I ever wanted to find those three Gengar, I'd need to get more knowledgeable about dark type energy to better protect myself just in case. Damn it, I could have had potentially asked them so much more information... but it was hard to think straight when I'd been on the brink of dying.

The point was, I had abandoned working on Jellicent's Night Shade to practice other attacks, but it seemed that the move held untold amounts of potential. Letting it go was the wrong move. When we were done working on Whirlpool, I'd ask him to try replicating what Runerigus had done, or get as close to it as possible. A Night Shade that didn't explode with one attack and could dish out damage multiple times would be an incredible threat to face. Plus, Mathilda had been somewhat impressed by Buddy when she first saw him.

I was thinking about Pokemon battling, so I had at least calmed down enough for that. I held out my hand again and sighed in relief. I wasn't trembling anymore, despite how shaken I still felt. I turned to Cece, who was staring at Golett's Pokeball in silence.

"Are you… I mean, no, you're obviously not okay, but are you feeling better?" I asked, stepping close to her. She opened her mouth, and I stopped her. "Don't try to blame yourself now. We all agreed to go inside, and we were all tricked by Mathilda."

"Right," she quietly said. "But I failed to keep you safe."

"What? We all worked together to keep each other safe. Our Pokemon all had a part in helping. Your Zweilous was instrumental in keeping the shades' attention away from us."

"That's…"

She didn't finish her sentence.

"Look, we got out at least," I said, forcing a smile. "And you got your Golett."

She showed a hint of a smile. "Right. We should look at… look at the positive. Solaceon is just a few days away after all."

"That's what I'm talking about. And I'm excited to meet your new little guy."

"He's going to be a tough one to raise," she said. "But I hope I don't mess up like I did with Scyther."

"Hard to do that when it currently has no will. Or at least it doesn't according to Mathilda. I'm sure that it'll change though. You could look up information about it when we get to Solaceon."

Cecilia shook her head. "I want to do it on my own, otherwise I would be a fraud."

"I'd say that's a little much, but then that'd kind of be hypocritical of me. Does it even have a mouth to eat? How're you gonna give it vitamins?"

"You know what, that's an excellent question."

"Pfft!" I laughed, feeling my entire body relax.

So long as we moved past the event,

We would be fine.



Golett was a weird little guy, indeed.

My team was practicing their moves off in the distance, and Denzel and Pauline were finally talking again. Every Pokemon was well enough to practice except Justin's Krokorok, and he was tending to him. His Audino was a lifesaver, and Electabuzz's arm had easily been fixed with a Heal Pulse and a few potions. We'd had to use so many that we were almost out of them, though.

I was currently meeting Cecilia's Golett for the first time. Its eyes and rune slowly lit up with a pale yellow light as Cecilia released him, and I could hear the distinct hum of an… engine? Along with some wet clay mushing around inside of its body. Golett blankly stared in between us both and into the distance. It was a genderless Pokemon, but using 'it' all the time felt so dehumanizing.

"Should we just give it a gender?" I asked, observing the golem. "Or call it they?"

Cecilia hummed. "I'd prefer to call it a boy."

I nodded. "He/him it is. Hi little guy!" I waved.

The golem slowly rotated his head toward me, its expression unchanging.

Well, it wasn't like its expression could change. It had no facial muscles, it was just an immutable face. Cecilia grabbed her Pokedex, and I opted to do the same.

Golett, the Automaton Pokemon. These Pokemon are thought to have been created by an ancient Unovan civilization, and they are powered by an unknown energy channeled into their runes that appears to last thousands of years.

"That's a lot vaguer than usual," I complained. "And if he's Unovan, how the hell did he end up here?"

"I don't know. Perhaps the person who built the Lost Tower owned a lot of them, or was an Unovan traveler? Mathilda and Ruth are Pokemon from Galar too, so it's possible that he might have gone through more regions."

"Since they're ancient… does it mean they won't make them anymore?"

Cecilia nodded, and I felt a twinge of pain. Eventually, when their energy ran out, all Golett would go extinct, unless someone figured out how to recreate them.

That was a depressing thought. Maybe their evolutions lasted longer? Not that I had ever seen one.

"Golett… do you eat, darling? Or can you?"

The ground type's head popped open with a hiss, revealing a gaping hole above its neck. Smoke rose out of the hole, and machinery hummed. I curiously peered inside, and I couldn't even comprehend what I was looking at. A cacophony of hot steam, moving wet clay and swirling light all combined to create the sound of an engine.

"Do you just pour it in there? Won't that short-circuit him?" I asked.

"Well, he did open his… mouth after I asked if he ate, so surely not."

"I think you should consider the option that he doesn't even know what he's doing. He might be a bajillion years old, but you've got to treat him like a newborn baby. Plus, he's a cutie."

The Golett closed his hatch and started staring at us again.

"Well, maybe I should look information up after all," she sighed. "I don't want to accidentally hurt him."

"Good," I smiled. "Better safe than sorry. I'll leave you to introduce him to your team properly, but can we do the telepathy thing again later?"

"I don't know, Grace…"

"Please? Just once more to see how fast the pain is going to lessen. Or how slow," I shuddered.

"Just one more time, then. After that, you're taking a break until you get an opinion from a Nurse Joy. Scrambling your brain again that badly this soon can't be healthy."

"Thank you!" I said, kissing her cheek. "I'll make it up to you somehow!"

"I might change my mind."

"Wha— absolutely not!"

After annoying her for a bit longer, I left to join my team again. Since we were out of view of everyone, I used the opportunity to release Turtonator, but him being there made Togetic unable to focus on her Shadow Ball practice, so I ended up having to recall him after barely two hours. I considered speaking to her about it again, but she was getting better, and I didn't want to force anything. She was glaring less and less, and was no longer pre-charging an Ancient Power at all times, she just found it hard to trust him. To Princess, Turtonator was the Pokemon who'd almost killed and permanently scarred her mother, so it would take time to get used to.

Inch by inch, Sunshine was slowly becoming part of the family. He was openly talking to Sweetheart now, and even playing with her by letting her ram into his tough, pale scales with her horn. Still, when he looked at me, I couldn't help but notice the disappointment. His stare was silently screaming at me, telling me that I could do more. I still refused to fight Team Galactic with him, and I would always do so.

It wasn't my job.



"Your Mankey rumor seems more and more like a pile of crap," Denzel said.

"Shut it. You're just scaring them off," Pauline clapped back.

"That's not even how Mankey work. They're supposed to get mad at everything, not get scared of the first human they hear."

It was the next day now, and we were off-route, looking for Pauline's Mankey. There had been a few wild Pokemon attacks, but nothing that threatened us too badly. We weren't that deep in, so the Pokemon were still relatively easy to deal with if we combined all of our strengths. Pauline and Denzel were back to their usual selves, and it appeared they had a breakthrough yesterday night, so thankfully they were friends again.

The telepathy experiment yesterday night had gone slightly better than the first. The amount of pain I'd have to put myself through to get my brain used to the process was daunting to think about, but at least I'd made some progress. Cece didn't want to do it anymore, though.

"If only your Growlithe had smelled one before," Pauline grumbled at Justin. "This would be so much easier. There's just one more day until we get to Solaceon!"

"At this point, you should just catch the first thing you come across," I shrugged.

"I won't give up yet!"

Four hours later, Pauline gave up. We couldn't afford to stay here too long, since we were cutting in close as it was. Louis' group had probably walked past us by now, if Denzel was calculating his hours right. The redhead dejectedly stared at the floor and sighed.

"Look, it's not the end of the world. You can always get your Mankey later, just get something else for now. Or just don't participate in the tournament," Denzel said, patting her shoulder.

Pauline jumped, taking a few steps away as she stared away from us. "Y—yeah. No, I think I'll catch something. The first Pokemon I see!"

"I'll hold you accountable to that declaration," I said.

Around fifteen minutes later, we heard rustling in the leaves. A tall Watchog passed us by, staring at us warily with its large eyes. Pauline just let it through.

"So much for that," Cecilia teased.

"Come on, it was a Watchog!" She yelled. "It's—"

The Watchog came back flying into a nearby tree with two huge claw marks on its chest, and a pool of blood accumulated across the grass. A blur of white jumped at us, but Slowking raised a hand, restraining it long enough for us to see. A Vigoroth shook and struggled against the Psychic as blood leaked out of its nose, staining its fur.

"Let it go," Pauline said, releasing her Gothorita and Rufflet. "I want it."

"There you go," Justin said. "Cece, can you lend me your Slowking? I'm going to go and heal this Watchog."

"Sure."

Slowking lowered his hand, and Vigoroth immediately jumped at Charmeleon, who bit down on its arm with Crunch without Pauline's command. The normal type screamed and forcefully tore its hand away, ignoring the chunk of flesh it lost in the process, and started to claw at Charmeleon with a ferocity I had never seen before in a Pokemon. Gothorita quickly restrained it again, and Rufflet stood, waiting for Pauline's command.

"You're a tough one," Pauline said. "Charmeleon would have gotten overwhelmed without Gothorita's help."

The fire type growled to protest, but her trainer ignored her.

"You have what I'm looking for in a Pokemon. You live off-route, so you're probably not familiar with humans. Let me tell you, if you want to grow stronger, you're going to want to come with me."

Vigoroth squirmed and raged against Gothorita's Confusion, and the psychic gave an irritated grunt in response.

"See? As it stands, you can't break out. Did you know that Rufflet over here can?" She said, nodding toward the flying type. She proudly flared her feathers. "Charmeleon can too, with a bit more work."

The fire type's nose flared in protest, and Vigoroth kept struggling. Pauline crossed her arms.

"We'll wait until you give me an answer. Gothorita, drop him, but keep him restrained if he jumps at us again. I'll stay here until you nod or shake your head, Vigoroth."

The psychic type listened, and unsurprisingly, Vigoroth attacked us again.

This was going to take a while, so I opted to scan it with my Pokedex in the meantime.

Vigoroth, the Wild Monkey Pokemon. Vigoroth is always itching and agitated to go on a wild rampage, and it struggles to sit still for even a minute. If it does, its stress levels rise until it cannot take it anymore, and it blows up into an uncontrollable rage.

Well, that sounded like an extremely hard Pokemon to raise. I did know a bit about the Pokemon and that it evolved into the terrifying Slaking, though. If they weren't all extremely lazy, then they'd probably be stronger than even pseudo-legendaries. In the wild, they simply lounged around and ate any grass that was within reach. I had heard that it was possible to reduce their truancy, but I obviously had no idea how. We all nodded at the Watchog, who thanked us for the help and ran away as fast as it could.

An hour passed. Then two. Then three. Vigoroth still hadn't stopped, although he had calmed down slightly. At this point, I had released my Pokemon so that they could train their current moves. Electabuzz was even sparring with Tangrowth, although they were both holding back a decent amount. Togetic was practicing her control with Psychic and her shaping with Ancient Power. Slowking, and Gothorita were currently working in shifts to let each other rest.

"Pauline…" Denzel groaned. "Just catch it already. I'm bored out of my fucking mind."

"No."

"The tournament is soon, and—"

"Shh. Just a second," she raised a finger.

Vigoroth's eyes narrowed as she approached.

"I think we can come to an understanding, no?" Pauline asked. "Don't you want to fight things?"

Vigoroth grunted.

"Well, I want to make you fight things."

Just like that, Vigoroth nodded, and Pauline caught him easily.

"Why couldn't you just say that from the start?!" I exasperatedly asked.

"Because its judgment was still clouded. We needed to let it calm down first."

"Weird definition of calming down," Denzel said. "But let's go. We're going to cut it short, we have to be quick."

Pauline hadn't given up on her Mankey just yet, but she had gotten her fourth Pokemon.



Less than a day later, we arrived at Solaceon. The small town was swarming with trainers, and it seemed that the usual population felt like it had at least doubled. It was probably good for business, and I had no doubt that they weren't all joining the tournament, but boy, did it feel cramped.

Either way, it was time to sign up.
 
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Chapter 142
CHAPTER 142

Solaceon was a small town that reminded me very much of Floaroma, but without an accent on the flowers. There was a city center that was decently built up with tall buildings just shy of being skyscrapers, and there were some pockets of suburbs isolated from the center and only connected through lonely roads. It was, however, larger than Floaroma, and unlike the small town, this was a proper city with an airport and a decent population. In between the suburbs and the city center, there were simply massive fields full of wheat farms and docile Pokemon that were mostly normal types. Sentret, Doduo, Staravia, Lechonk… there were a lot of wild Pokemon hanging about. I even saw a trainer try to catch a Deerling out there. Apparently, the organizers had set up the tournament area right next to the Solaceon Daycare. It was called a daycare, but in truth, it was Sinnoh's most famous and successful Pokemon breeding company. They raised all kinds of Pokemon of any type, which was almost unheard of since most breeders tended to specialize in a single or just a few types. The Daycare, as it was known, did not have such limitations. If I remembered correctly, Louis' Vulpix had come from here. Of course, they could also temporarily take care of your Pokemon— for a large sum— if you couldn't do so for any reason.

"Did you know that some trainers make money by catching rare Pokemon and selling them to the Daycare?" Denzel said.

"Yikes…" I said. "Couldn't imagine catching a Pokemon and just giving it away, I'd grow too attached."

"They've got to make that money somehow," Denzel shrugged. "But I get ya. They're almost all eight-badge holders too, so they're skilled enough to explore dangerous areas to capture rare Pokemon, and they have their license to go past the six-Pokemon limit, so it's easier to carry them."

"Interesting," Justin said. "What else do you know about this establishment?"

According to Denzel, the Daycare practically owned almost all of the undeveloped empty land here that they used to raise Pokemon. It was so huge that I couldn't see it in its entirety as we approached the fenced-out area. Apparently, the Daycare would lend the tournament organizers some of its land to run the entire event on. Another reason why Solaceon hadn't grown to a massive size even though it clearly had the potential to was because the Daycare held so much influence in local politics here that a simple vocal refusal from them would sink any expansion project. They wanted to keep the undeveloped land for themselves. The business was also run by the massive Hunter household, and all employees— who numbered in the hundreds— were a part of the family. Not figuratively. Literally. The thought of having hundreds of cousins, aunts, uncles, and siblings with names and personalities that I'd have to remember made my head spin.

Hunter was one of the names I'd seen in the Lost Tower. I guess that meant that the woman's family managed to realize her dream after all.

The Daycare itself was a massive, old-looking mansion that reminded me of the mansion in Eterna Forest. A small inscription above the double doors showed that it'd been in business since the year 1001. That meant that the Daycare was more than a thousand years old and basically near the Lost Tower in age, if the dates marked on the graves were anything to go on. There were also smaller wooden cabins surrounding it that I assumed most employees lived and slept in. But the Daycare wasn't where we were going. We entered another building about five minutes away that was swarming with trainers from all walks of life. We entered a queue to sign up for the tournament, and we turned some heads when people noticed us.

"Thank Arceus we made it," Denzel sighed in relief. "Another day, and we wouldn't have been able to sign up."

"Wait, we had another day? I thought today was the deadline," Pauline said. "Why'd you harass me to go faster then?"

"Because something could have delayed us," I explained. "Better safe than sorry."

"I hope Louis made it," Cece said, standing on her tiptoes. "I don't see him anywhere."

"Good luck finding him in this," Denzel groaned as someone bumped into him.

"So many people…" Justin said. "How are they going to fit all of us in the tournament?"

"Good question," Denzel shrugged. "But then again, it is supposed to be an extremely big event. It's not an annual thing like Floaroma. People actively came here for the occasion, since it probably won't happen for years after this."

"Some of 'em are probably just here to watch too," I said.

It took around thirty minutes for it to be our turn, and we each went to the counter one by one. I tried to catch a few conversations from the various groups of people here, and they were mostly about the toughest competition they'd have to face. I was surprised to hear my name come up a bunch, and I felt my chest swell with pride.

Don't let it get to your head, I told myself.

The gist of the signup process went like this. The organizer took my trainer ID to make sure that I had never made it past five badges. People past the first year were allowed, but only in that circumstance. I paid a large entry fee, which the Poketch Company would pay back. It was their way of incentivizing me to enter more tournaments, and I'd welcome the help.

"The tournament starts in five days— five days from tomorrow, I mean," the man lazily said. "The brackets and your opponent will be announced three days from tomorrow. One hour before your battle starts, you'll have to notify one of the supervisors about your lineup."

The supervisors were the people who'd handle everything regarding the tournament after it had already started. That meant Kadabra barriers, creating the outdoor arenas— of which there would be five types— cleaning up after a battle, being the referee… they certainly had their hands full. Apparently, any supervisor inside of this building at the time would do. The tournament would last a total of eighteen days, and it'd be run so that every trainer would at least have a one-day break in between each fight. Battles would be in the double format with four Pokemon each and no switches, so the pairs that you sent out first would be even more important than I thought.

Only the top four would win a prize, which was ruthless for a tournament of this size. Even the Poketch Company would reward me for the top ten. If you weren't at least a semi-finalist, you wouldn't be winning anything. Well, that was a bit harsh. You would be gaining a lot of battling experience against your peers. There also was no group stage like the Conference. It was just a huge bracket. Along with 500,000 pokedollars, the winner would gain the Hyper Beam TM, which was the Daycare's contribution to the prize pool. Hyper Beam was one of the most powerful, versatile moves ever created, and almost every Pokemon could learn it with enough dedication. It also cost close to a million Pokedollars. Multiple millions, if you wanted a reusable one. Obviously, this meant that the TM was what everyone here was after, not the money. Second place would win 250,000 pokedollars and the Double-Edge TM. Third and fourth— so the semifinalists— would win 100,000 pokedollars and the Protect TM.

Another Protect would be huge for me, so third wouldn't be that bad, but I actually wasn't that interested in second place. Once upon a time, I had wanted to teach Double-Edge to Princess, but we weren't walking that path any longer. She was a special attacker through and through, and I was going to lean into that. I could, however, sell the TM, so getting second wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

Hyper Beam, though? The only Pokemon I currently had powerful enough to learn the move were Jellicent, Turtonator, and Tangrowth. Turtonator wasn't going to battle, so I wasn't going to teach him the move, but if I had to pick… I… wasn't sure. Tangrowth combining it with Bind would bring a devastating combo if he could get it off, but Jellicent would have an easier time mastering the move and he would be able to combine it with Mist, which I hadn't used in a while.

Still, it wasn't like I'd be able to use the move on a regular basis any time soon. It took so much energy out of a Pokemon that only the strongest ones could use it without having to rest afterward, or multiple times in a battle, so it would be more like a final resort attack if I were to win it. Cynthia's Milotic and Garchomp could apparently dish them out like they were nothing, which was terrifying to think about.

Either way, we were done signing up. In three and a half days, my first opponent would be announced. I was the last one who had signed up, so I joined my friends outside. Cecilia was smiling with her Poketch in hand.

"Louis, Mira and Maeve made it yesterday, and they're already signed up," she said. "Chase is here too. He's been complaining in the group chat."

"As always," I sighed. "I guess he wants to see us before he leaves."

"Does this call for a meeting?" Justin asked.

"Sure, why not," I shrugged. I bumped an elbow against my old student. "Feeling nervous? You're twitching all over."

"It feels a lot more official now. The prize pool… made me realize that we three-badge holders are completely out of our depth here."

"Speak for yourself! Don't be such a downer," Pauline groaned. "I don't want my rival to be such a wet blanket. I'm gonna get as far as I can."

"You were just like me a few days ago," Justin said. He yelped when she pinched him in the arm and twisted.

I grinned, but then my eyes settled on Denzel and Cecilia. Their eyes were hungry, and they were practically salivating. We were all gunning for first place. If I had to guess, Cecilia was already daydreaming about her Zweilous somehow using two Hyper Beams at once. Her brother was actually famous for his Hydreigon being able to use three. Denzel's Milotic would be able to learn the move, but Sylveon… maybe he could too.

And there was also his sixth Pokemon to consider, although I wasn't sure what it would be.

There was too much at stake to go in completely blind here. The money— on top of the bonus from the Poketch Company— would be crucial for my Shiny Stone, and the TMs were too valuable. I was still going to go in partly blind, but I would at least look up what Pokemon my opponents had so I wouldn't be completely blindsided.

"There are only five Centers here, and they're all fucking packed," Denzel said, browsing his phone. "There are definitely rooms left, but we definitely won't be next to each other. Bummer."

I opened my Poketch and scrolled to see if I had missed anything regarding the Poketch Company. There were just a few messages from Melody asking me to call her before the tournament so that she could give me some pointers on how to behave for the coming interviews.

Right. Interviews. I sighed.

"Chase is in the Center the closest to route 210," Denzel said. "Louis and his group are there too, so we might as well go and see what's up. Maybe we can all room there."

"Sure!" I cheered.

I was happy that we were meeting everyone again so soon, even though Chase was probably leaving tomorrow. I doubted that I'd see him before Veilstone after that, but I just hoped he'd get what he wanted in Celestic.

We had walked for twenty minutes, and we were still nowhere close to the Center. It was at times like these that I missed what big cities had to offer. Public transportation was a blessing. I stared up into the sky and almost swore.

There were damned trainers flying on their Pokemon to quicken their travel time! Damn it, I was jealous. There were a few flying types without trainers too. Must have been wild. Wild Pokemon in towns and cities were known to be peaceful.

"I'll have to tell you guys something in private after this— you know what, I'll just do it when everyone meets," Cecilia said after looking worryingly at her Slowking. Along with Togetic, he was the only Pokemon out, at the moment.

We hesitantly nodded, and another twenty minutes later, we were at the Pokemon Center. We gave all of our Pokemon to Nurse Joy and booked our rooms, although as Denzel had said, we would all be on opposite corners of the Center. I'd still need to see Nurse Joy about telepathy, but that could wait until later. We knocked on Chase's door, ignoring the attention we were getting, and the boy let us in.

"Arceus, it smells so fucking bad in here. Open a window!" Pauline yelled.

"Nice greeting, asshole. I just finished working out, so if you don't like it, leave," Chase said.

I broke out into laughter. Before, his temperament would have angered me, but I just found it funny now. I wondered how it felt, to just say whatever was on your mind at all times. Even Pauline wasn't that blunt. The boy wiped the sweat off his body with a towel and opened his window, bringing in a cooling breeze.

"Nice to see you again," I said. "Bummer that you won't be able to participate."

"I know," he said, his eyes downcast. "I almost considered signing up anyway, but since I'd win, it would last too long and I wouldn't be able to fit in my trip to Celestic. Route 210 is long as hell."

"Are you well-read on it?" Denzel asked.

"A decent amount. I won't be going in blind."

"Good. The fog is vicious, so make sure you're prepared."

My mind flashed back to one of the graves in the Lost Tower. Land Of The Fog. Could it have meant route 210?

"And Pastel, I have something to tell you before I dip."

My eyes widened. "Tomorrow morning? I'll be there. I've got to start preparing anyway."

"No, I mean tonight. S'alright if you don't want to though."

"No, no, I'll stick around."

A few minutes later, Louis, Maeve and Mira entered the room. Mira was as cheerful as always, and Maeve looked extremely pale. She was probably nervous about the tournament. I gasped in surprise when I saw a Combee flying above Louis' head. Two of the heads looked absolutely cheerful, and the other was sleeping. It was the cutest thing I'd ever seen. We all greeted each other with hugs or waves depending on how close we were, and Mira couldn't help herself from commenting on the room's smell. Chase just ignored her, though, and he got up from his bed as soon as she sat next to him.

"Are you avoiding me?" The pink-haired girl said.

"Obviously."

"Come on," she whined. "Let's be friends!"

"Nah, I'm good."

"Louis!" I exclaimed. "When'd you get that?!"

"Good afternoon to all of you," he smiled. He seemed a lot happier— no, happy was the wrong word. He was probably feeling a weight off his shoulder now that his dad was behind bars. Plus, he'd managed to get the money out of his private account out, so he wouldn't have to worry about that. "I caught her on one of the honey trees on route 209. She seemed to have been kicked out of her hive."

"That's two rescues in a row," Maeve said. "First Pawniard, now Combee."

"So now you talk!" Mira laughed. "You should have seen her when we signed up for the tournament. She didn't eat anything the entire day. She wasn't even nervous against Fantina."

"You don't understand," she shook her head. "The last time I was in a tournament, it did not go well, and it sapped me of all my confidence. I still haven't recovered."

"Sorry," Louis said.

"You were better," she shrugged. "I did give you the finger afterward."

"Aww, such wonderful memories! While you all were kicking around Floaroma, I was in Canalave beating Byron's ass!"

Canalave… right. Lauren had taken the same path as Mira, and she was also here somewhere. I had her number, so I hoped that we'd be able to meet before the tournament began. Despite the potential danger… I would have liked to introduce her to the group. She was a lonely girl, just like Chase had been, and I felt like friends would help her get out of her shell. Plus, I felt like I owed Craig with how he had recommended me to the Poketch Company. With how much he doted on her, I knew that he'd be happy if I helped his sister.

Although she could berate her brother like there was no tomorrow.

I'd keep her a secret for now, at least until she gave me the okay. I unlocked my phone and shot her a message, and I was surprised to see that she saw it immediately, although she didn't answer.

Left on read again, I thought with a shrug. I focused back on the conversation.

"Anyway, Louis didn't even check to see if Combee was a male or a female before he caught her! He would have kept her even if she'd been a male," Maeve said.

"Male Combee are known to be extremely weak since they don't evolve," Justin nodded.

"I saw a Pokemon in need, and I wanted to rescue her," Louis said. The bug type lazily buzzed above his head. "She couldn't survive for long outside of her hive. I won't be using her in the tournament, though."

"That's fair," Denzel nodded. "Anyway, Cece you had something to tell us…?"

"Yes. It's about the tournament— sorry if you feel excluded, Chase."

"Nah, go ahead. I don't care."

Cecilia continued. "Close the window and the curtains."

We frowned, but Chase obliged her.

"You know how I used Fletchinder and Slowking to spy on all of you?" She asked. We nodded. The only one who had really cared was Pauline since she considered it an unfair, dirty tactic. "It's already started here."

"Hm?" Denzel raised an eyebrow.

"While we were walking here, I had Slowking out, right?" She asked. "We had a few Pokemon following us, trying to catch on to what we were saying. Luckily, we didn't really talk about anything of note, but they were here. One of them was so small that Slowking could barely even sense it. One was a ghost of some kind, he didn't exactly know. According to him, those feel like holes rather than presences, so he can easily tell. The others were all flying types or Pokemon capable of flight."

"Oh, I thought those were wild," Denzel said.

"Me too!" I yelled.

"No, they were trained. They were explicitly following us. We're all well-known, so we'll be targets for spying."

"Right, Craig talked to me about this at Savika's cabin," I muttered. "He said that trainers at the top spy on each other a whole lot to try to figure out the new techniques that they'll bust out at the Conference months in advance. That's why he wanted to train on Mount Coronet after gathering all the badges."

"He has eight now, so he should be on his way," Denzel said.

"Damn assholes," Pauline said. "That shit should be banned."

"Really? I think it adds to the enjoyment," Mira shrugged. "Makes it feel official and serious, you know?"

"But wait, the odds of them facing us are astronomically low," I said.

"They're not taking any chances," Denzel said. "But when we're assigned an opponent, expect that person to start gathering information on us, not only online, but through spying. Is that what you're saying?'

Cecilia nodded. "Yes. Of course, I am also suggesting you do the same, if you wish. I certainly will."

"Your team is kind of tailor-made for that," Denzel said. "At least until Fletchinder evolves. She's small and quiet."

"And I will take every advantage at my disposal to get ahead."

The room fell silent for a few seconds, and everyone was no doubt thinking about spying methods. I didn't exactly want to do it, mostly because I wanted to get better at improvising, but if I got further in the tournament… I'd probably have to start doing so eventually not to fall behind. But who…? Togetic could fly, I suppose, but unlike most flying types, her hearing wasn't that good— only slightly better than a human. The others were lost causes, since they were too big.

Jellicent… well, there was that thing that Mathilda had told me about him, but I still had no idea how to go about increasing his ghostly side. If I did, though, it would probably mean that he'd be able to disappear and reappear like true ghosts.

Right now, though? It was a bust, and I could easily see who had come to the same conclusion as I had. Justin, Louis and Mira tried to hide their disappointment, but I could read them easily. Pauline wasn't even going to try. Mira had her Haunter, but she probably didn't want to risk him being alone with any humans. Still, if she was signing up, she'd at least figured out how to get him to fight without killing things, unless she'd caught something else. I had studied up a bit on her after meeting her in Fantina's gym, and I knew that she also owned a Kirlia, Magnezone, and Kadabra, although one of those might have evolved by now.

Cecilia had her Fletchinder and Slowking tactic. Denzel had his Froslass, although his lack of psychic would probably hamper his understanding, but maybe Sylveon would be able to relay the information. Maeve— which I had also studied on— had her Staravia, which had excellent hearing.

"None of that shit will matter the further in you go, though," Chase shrugged. "Near the end of the tournament, you'll have seen your opponents battle at least a few times."

"Is that your attempt to cheer me up? Thanks Chasey!" Mira said.

"Don't you even dare call me that."

"Well, it depends on if they try to sneakily learn a move during the tournament, but yes," Cecilia said. "It will mostly matter for the early rounds. The gist of what I was trying to say is, be careful, and work as secretly as you can. As it stands, nowhere is far enough away to protect you from prying eyes, but maybe be on the lookout for any Pokemon and don't reveal anything crucial."

"Thanks for the warning, that completely went over my head. Big tournaments are something else," Maeve said.

"Yeah, there's this excitement that's been building up," I smiled. "I can barely stop myself from shaking."

"Man, getting that 500k would be sweet," Denzel said.

"The money is obviously second to Hyper Beam," Cecilia retorted.

"Well, I need to save. I've got a Shiny Stone to get for Roselia, and… uh something else."

"You're terrible at hiding things, but I'll let that go," Pauline said.

"What were you even thinking when planning your team? You need to be rich for all that stuff," Maeve said. "I barely managed to afford a Water Stone for my Staryu."

"Well, I was a kid with big dreams," Denzel said. "I'll figure it out."

Soon enough, people started filtering out. Mira was the last one to leave, although she asked Chase to stop ignoring her texts. I was oblivious, and even I knew that she was obviously crushing. Well, he didn't appear to care whatsoever though, so that was too bad. I stayed behind to hear what he had to say to me.

"Ahem," he coughed. "Thanks for hearing me out, Pastel, I appreciate you."

"Hm? What's wrong?" I said, suddenly worrying. This wasn't like him.

"I didn't really want to talk about this, but Riolu wanted me not to keep it all bottled up, and he said that he didn't mind if I told people. Since you're kind of the closest friend I have, I felt like you should be the one to hear this."

I was his closest friend? Arceus, I was going to tear up.

"Why are you crying? I didn't even start."

"Uh, it's nothing, just some dust in my eye," I said. I opted to sit at the edge of his bed, and I waited for him to start.

"Did you think I'd fall for that? Whatever, it's about Celestic, but you probably guessed it already. Riolu… Riolu isn't exactly mine. He was originally my mother's, and they were both born in Celestic. She died when she gave birth to me… the fucking shitty hospitals in the Iron Islands are probably to blame, but I can't even bring myself to be sad about it. It's like… she was never there, you know? I don't remember her. I never knew her. It's like this gaping hole inside of me. Something is just missing," he said, gripping his shirt tightly at his chest.

"Oh. I… I had no idea about any of that. Sorry."

"Nah, not your fault. I mean, I've only told my team this, so it's not like I expected you to know. Anyway, my mom met my dad when he traveled through Celestic, and long story short, he charmed her pants off so much that she ran away with him after leaving her folks a letter."

"What? How old were they?"

"Sixteen."

"What about her family?"

"They hated his guts."

Yeah, that made sense.

"Err, something happened to my dad, and he lost his Pokemon… he never told me what it was, but I was pretty sure that they died, and from the way he kept blaming himself his entire life, he probably fucked up somewhere. He retired during his second year, and my mother joined him when he went back home in the Iron Islands. She wasn't exactly a trainer. She was just hanging out with him during his travels with Ri. When she died, Riolu passed on to my father."

I felt my throat tighten. From his tone, I could tell that his father was—

"My father died. Recently. I don't want to go into it," he said. I nodded and let him continue. "Riolu was passed onto me… but even now, I don't feel like he's mine. It feels wrong. Like I stole him, or something, I dunno. When my mother died, her family apparently came to take her body to bury her in Celestic, which is why we're going. We want to visit her grave for the first time. It's really important to us both… and maybe I'll go see my grandparents in the process. They know I exist, but they never contacted me or wrote anything. They probably despise me too, but I want to hear it from their mouths."

"Maybe they…" I trailed off. I knew he wouldn't like pointless optimism. That wasn't how to cheer him up.

"I dunno, I don't really care what they think of me. I mostly just want to learn about my mom through them. Dad never spoke about her, since it hurt him too much. Blew up at me a couple times when I brought her up as a kid," he said. "I don't even have a picture of her left… we lost our house— I—"

He exhaled and clenched his forehead. For a second, I thought he'd cry, but he didn't.

"So yeah, It'd be nice if they had a picture to give me. I have one of my old man. Want to see?"

"Of course."

Chase grabbed his Poketch and scrolled through his pictures until he reached one of him and his father from one and a half years ago. They didn't share that much in common, although they had the same eyes and face shape. His face was caked with dirt and dust, and he wore a large, yellow helmet with a headlight. What surprised me was that Chase used to look like a stick. He'd been thinner than even Justin, which was a far cry from what he looked like now. Maybe expecting his thirteen-year-old self to be well-built was too much, but I'd expected to see traces of it. He'd also been extremely pale compared to the relatively tanned face he had now.

"He was really happy there," Chase smiled.

I offered a smile of my own when I saw how widely Chase was grinning in the picture. "You were happy too. I've never seen you smile like… ah, sorry."

I was so dumb.

"Don't worry, I won't give you shit for it. My dad was a miner, if it wasn't obvious. That day, he and his buddies found a new section of the cave in the mines that had a lot of untapped iron. It was supposed to be the key to getting us the fuck out of our misery… miners in the Iron Islands are paid by how much ore they bring back on a daily basis, and with a vein like this, we were finally going to move to Canalave."

What happened?

The words died in my throat. I couldn't ask.

Chase closed his phone. "I guess that's that."

"Yeah. Thanks for opening up to me."

"Thank Ri the next time you see him, he's the one that convinced me. I'll be leaving tomorrow morning."

"Good luck."

"Thank you, Grace. I mean it."

My eyes widened at his use of my name, but it didn't end there. He offered me a tight hug, and I was sure I heard him quietly sob in my arms. I just rubbed his back and let him cry.

"It's okay."

He'd been carrying this alone for so long.

A/N: All of the OC trainers our characters will fight against were made by people on my Discord, so keep that in mind as we enter this arc. The pacing might get a bit slow/tedious, but I'll try my best to intersperse battles with other things. I'll credit the user after each fight. The next chapter is Interlude - Forums IV
 
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Interlude - Forums IV
INTERLUDE - FORUMS IV

Welcome to the League Circuit Forums! The best website to get any League/Circuit related news!

General → Politics

Topic: The League brings down the hammer

Original Poster: Elena_Varena (Verified Trainer)

Date: January 15th 20XX


Ladies and gentlemen, it happened.

Hundreds of people got arrested by the League today for working with Team Galactic one way or another. More than one third of the Directorate is now empty, and a bunch of higher-ups in the Bianchi Conglomerate are in jail awaiting trial, and none of them have bond! That means they're going to be rotting in there for months.

Good riddance.

I've skimmed the investigation, and the level of corruption here was seriously egregious. Some of these politicians bought new houses, cars, bought their kids into universities, went on fucking vacation with blood money from Team Galactic and the Bianchis. The League was very thorough and shut up every person accusing them of abuse of power reaaaaally quickly with these. This is nothing like the National Security Emergency Act, which was morally ambiguous at best (I don't think we're really getting
any information from all the grunts they're extracting memories from, or Team Galactic would have been dealt with already). This was iron tight. No holes, from what I can see, and people are on the League's side here.

Just a few months ago, people were saying that Cynthia was fucked because of Vernon Harper's upheaval, but now he's back in charge, and Cynthia will be able to get any bills she wants passed, starting with the nationalization of the Bianchi Conglomerate. Potions and other items should hopefully return to their normal price, and there will finally be a cap on their price.

So what are everyone's thoughts on the situation? Personally, I support this, but I'm curious.


►Vivalajoy

I support it 100%. I don't think people realize how close to a disaster this could have been. First, there's the attack on Fantina, then Abel is linked with Team Galactic, then this? If the League hadn't done anything, they would have been signaling that they were powerless.

►Impala07

I don't know, Cynthia basically controlling the entire government (civilian and trainer) makes me anxious. All the new candidates presenting themselves for the special elections are her ardent supporters. The government doesn't give your freedom back after taking it away.

►Kevin_Montpellier (Verified Trainer)

Now you're just being contrarian for the sake of being contrarian. Cynthia already gave up her power once, you moron. Why wouldn't she do it again when the threat is dealt with? Just get Team Galactic out of Sinnoh and everything can return to normal. I think the League's been very honest with us with all the reports they released. They could have said nothing.

►Luna_Frances (Verified Trainer)

That probably would have made the protests a few months ago look like a nursery home. They couldn't have done that, it would have destroyed their image, even if they would have been in the right.

►Impala07

Whatever you guys say. All I'm saying is that don't come complaining when we end up in a de-facto dictatorship like Kanto and Johto where the Indigo League runs everything and the people just have to watch.

►Luna_Frances (Verified Trainer)

Okay, drama queen. We'll see what happens. All I'm saying is that we literally have proof of all this wrongdoing and Cynthia's proven to be reasonable.

►RumblingRun9

Let me get slightly off-topic here. Don't you guys find it weird how Kanto and Johto hate each other and yet they're basically run by the same League? How do they even function?

►Dimdamdam

The Elite Four and the Champion all hate each other and have a region they support. Lance and Koga favor Kanto, Will and Karen favor Johto. Bruno's usually neutral on things. The meetings must be tense as hell, huh? It's basically a constant political civil war, it's a wonder how those two regions even function, but it's the only way they found to stop wars from starting again. Better a political civil war fought with backroom deals and words than an actual hot war.

►Leonard_Morgenstern (Verified Trainer)

Personally, I won't ever be going to Kanto or Johto, especially with how obsessed with bloodlines they are. I mean, it does mean that families can keep their supernatural abilities like Sabrina and pass them down, but I think this shit borders on eugenics.

►Elena_Varena (Verified Trainer)

You are getting off-topic indeed. If you want to talk about Kanto/Johto politics, there are other threads for that.

►Marvin_Samson (Verified Trainer)

What I'm wondering about is Harvey Bianchi's son. He was meant to take over the business, no? Does he expect me to believe that he knew nothing about this? Maybe that's a part of why he wasn't that outspoken against his father when compared to Pauline King or Cecilia Obel. If he knew, then he deserves to be punished too, especially when he's going to keep a large sum of money. Money that his dad made unethically!

►OrangeRexCounty

You're missing the forest for the trees. Sometimes, the simplest explanation is the correct one. He was just tricked by his old man, and he was probably kept in the dark his entire life.

►Pauline_King (Verified Trainer)

Respectfully, go fuck yourself and die in a ditch. You have no idea what you're talking about, and you should stop spreading rumors. We have enough on our plate.

►Marvin_Samson (Verified Trainer)

Okay, I'm genuinely sorry. Your friend got attacked by Abel, right? I shouldn't have brought that stuff up. I think it's fun to theorize, but I forget that you guys are living, breathing human beings sometimes.

——

Trainers → Events

Topic: The coming Solaceon tournament and who to watch out for

Original Poster: Goalducc42

Date: January 23rd 20XX


So my account's blown up these past few weeks thanks to people enjoying my general analysis of promising trainers. I usually focus on Cecilia Obel (huge fan, you couldn't tell by my profile picture), but since there's been a lot more eyes on my stuff than I expected, I figured that I'd start tracking and analyzing other rising stars this year, and I have! Today's post will be a bit special though, since we'll be focusing only on the first-years, not on anyone else.

Discounting the Conference, this event's going to be the biggest tourney of the year. It's backed by the Solaceon Daycare and the prize pool is fucking insane. Hyper Beam?! Everyone wants to get their hands on that! There are a few people missing here that would have been on the list, but are unfortunately not participating, like Chase Karlson or Barry Lane, so don't complain about them not being there! Anyway, I'm going to try to lay out the top contenders for the tournament, so here goes. But wait! I hear your sniveling little voices asking the question: why should you listen to me and not someone else? Well, I've been tracking multiple trainers for more than a decade, and I've had my post shouted out by none other than Candice herself! @Candicefitinurmouf is her burner account, and she accidentally leaked it a few weeks ago after forgetting to log out and complimenting herself. Anyway, she's been under a lot of my posts, and she's complimented me.

Like usual, I'll be checking out their Pokemon one by one. By the way, this isn't in any order in particular, so don't put words in my mouth and start fighting about rankings. Also, keep in mind that the known moves list will most likely be
incomplete.

Cecilia Obel

You know me, so I won't even bother to give an excuse as to why I'm starting with Cecilia first. Despite an average showing against Fantina that made a lot of people start saying that she's overrated, I still think that she's a top contender. And don't you dare call me biased.

Zweilous is still as monstrous as ever. Some people made fun of it for getting manhandled by Fantina's Dhelmise, but you didn't actually see how greatly it's been improving. The main threat a trainer would have to think about when facing Zweilous is its insanely high defense, as we saw during the double battle between Cecilia and her group. It can fight for days, and its offense is no joke either. In that department, it's not as dominant as it used to be compared to the competition, and I'll get to that later, but you can't ignore the fact that it can use two attacks at once, and is one of the rare Pokemon able to do so. It has the most destructive potential of all the Pokemon on this list. Dragon Pulse is its most potent attack, but it has been somewhat lacking in variety, which I think is its biggest weakness. Let's hope Cecilia's remedied that.

Known moves: Bite, Take Down, Dragon Breath, Dragon Pulse, Incinerate, Crunch, Hyper Voice, Stomping Tantrum, Thunder Fang

Known ability: Hustle - source: only known Zweilous ability.


Slowking is who I think is Cecilia's strongest Pokemon by a wide margin. The sheer amount of utility it has with Psychic is invaluable in battle. It can be used defensively, offensively, or as a method to restrain opponents. Not only that, but it has excellent survivability with an already decent bulk and Slack Off. Anyone who wants to take Slowking down will need to have dark or ghost type moves, otherwise I don't see anything getting past its defenses. If I had to find one fault, it's that his water type moves are somewhat lacking, but focusing on improving its psychic abilities isn't exactly a mistake, with how useful they have been in every showing so far.

Known moves: Tackle, Water Gun, Confusion, Psychic, Water Pulse, Slack Off, Disable, Zen Headbutt

Known ability: ??? - not Regenerator - source: doesn't seem to heal when switched out


Fletchinder is still powerful, but you can definitely tell that her not evolving is starting to hold her back. She's going to be fighting in a tournament full of fully evolved Pokemon, and despite her speed, she won't have the firepower to compete. We directly saw this when it took her ages to take down Grace Pastel's Tangrowth despite having the type advantage. She's also ridiculously frail, and one or two attack is enough to break one of her wings and ground her. Now, all of this doesn't mean that Fletchinder is useless. The tournament is held in a doubles format, so her speed can make her a formidable support Pokemon. As it stands, though, I don't see her pulling much weight unless she evolves.

Known moves: Peck, Acrobatics, Tailwind, Quick Attack, Ember, Fire Spin, Agility

Known ability: Gale Wings - source: Incredible speeds at the start of every battle


Scyther, Cecilia's final Pokemon was finally revealed, and I've gushed about it already. It's another speedster, and it can almost rival Fletchinder when he really gets going. It has a decent amount of power behind those scythes too, but the problem is that it just doesn't listen to what Cecilia says. It's not like she even tries to order it beyond simple suggestions either. In a singles format, maybe Scyther would be useful, but right now, I just think that it'll get in the way.

Known moves: Quick Attack, X-Scissor, Air Slash, Agility, Slash

Known ability: Swarm - source: seemingly grows stronger the closer it is to fainting

TLDR: Slowking and Zweilous will have to carry, because the other two aren't good enough to win the entire tournament.


Denzel Williams

Denzel, Denzel, Denzel. What to say about him? He's gotten a lot of fans this past month, and he's the one with the most presence in the group. Even Grace Pastel, who's sponsored by the Arceus damned Poketch Company, manages to keep things relatively quiet, but you hear about him everywhere you go, and he's one of the most documented trainers on here.

Not that I'm a hater. He's got the skill to back his fame, and I think he's being slept on.


Sylveon is a creepy little bastard, and I seriously don't get the people who call it cute. I mean, every time the damn thing battles, it looks like it's having the time of his life. Not that Pokemon don't enjoy battling, but something about that smile and that blood-soaked fur keeps me up at night. Anyway, that's not the point. Ever since the double battle, Sylveon's had some kind of blurry armor around him, and I have no idea what it is. Maybe some fairy type specialist can chime in, but I'm stumped. The armor means that it can take a ton of hits without going down, and even though its offensive capabilities are average, it ends up winning anyway. I'll let someone else contribute to how someone would face this, since I'm out of my depth.

Known moves: Bite, Quick Attack, Play Rough, Double Kick, Detect, Sand Attack, Baby-Doll Eyes, Swift, Disarming Voice, Fairy Armor(?)

Known ability: Pixilate - source: Swift produces pink, fairy energy-induced stars


Roselia is Denzel's frailest Pokemon, but that doesn't mean much considering their unusual endurance. Some people underestimate it, but its poison is seriously potent. Let's remember that it managed to melt off a Cetoddle's fat layer during its battle with Candice, which is an incredible feat, and its poison has only improved since then. Toxic and Venoshock is a vicious combo that people will have to watch out for. Gotta keep working on those grass moves, though!

Known moves: Poison Sting, Stun Spore, Poison Powder, Toxic, Mega Drain, Venoshock, Seed Bomb, Razor Leaf, Leech Seed, Magical Leaf

Known ability: Poison Point(?) - source: incredibly skilled with poison type moves, but not 100% certain.


Lopunny has been the butt of a few jokes after its relatively bad performance in the group's double battle. Despite a mid-battle evolution, it didn't contribute much, and Grace's fans got a bit toxic regarding that (he was not holding her back, you imbeciles), but I'll restrain from making too many comments, or I'll be here for hours. Lopunny's strength is in her versatility and her speed. Denzel's team isn't known for their speed, but Lopunny can seriously go toe-to-toe with a lot of speedsters, and she tends to set the pace of the battle with her attacks. If I get to give advice, don't forget to breathe and slow down the pace, otherwise you'll probably lose.

Known moves: Quick Attack, Double Kick, Fire Punch, Defense Curl, Power-up Punch, Circle Throw, proto Bounce, Shadow Ball

Known ability: Limber(?) - source: Sylveon has the harem, not her, so not Cute Charm, and not clumsy enough for Klutz


Feebas is useless and won't be battling.

Froslass is the biggest threat on Denzel's theme, and he revealed it in a short livestream on Amity Square before leaving for Solaceon. Personally, I would have kept it hidden, but whatever. Thankfully, it's one of the more common ghosts since it's relatively easy to get, and that means we know what most are capable of. An unrivaled mastery of Blizzard, and they're almost impossible to hit in a snowstorm thanks to their Snow Cloak ability (assuming that Denzel's Froslass has it). Unfortunately, since these are going to be double battles, I doubt that we're going to see many field-covering Blizzards, but we probably know how it's going to fight. We saw it happen in the double battle with his rivals: Froslass' teammate buys time while it uses Blizzard over and over and dominates. Before, charging up the attack took nearly a minute, but now? Your guess is as good as mine. Something tells me that it's going to be hell for people to face, though.

Known moves: Icy Wind, Blizzard, Shadow Ball, Hex, Powder Snow

Known ability: ???

TLDR: Froslass + X = Insanely hard to beat unless you extensively plan a counter in advance. Just watch for that Froslass.


Grace Pastel

The girl everybody's been talking about, and for a good reason. Rarely does someone dominate Fantina that hard, and she's recently been sponsored by the Poketch Company! Keep in mind that they have never sponsored a first-year before in the entire history of their sponsorship program, so this is a huge deal. Her fighting style is extremely frightening. She will know exactly what to expect, and when to expect it. It's like she's in your own head, and her Pokemon are no joke, either.

Togetic is cute, but it's also an incredibly efficient fighter. She doesn't pack the biggest punch, but her precision is fucking pinpoint. You rarely see a Pokemon push Ancient Power to its limits like this, since trainers are usually content to use the move as a big, imprecise shield or rocks they launch at the enemy. Not this Pokemon. She will penetrate you with drills from the other side of the arena with control that should honestly terrify anyone facing Grace. Not only that, but the move is also incredibly good defensively, as we saw in the double battle I keep bringing up (seriously, go watch it). But it's not over! It also knows Psychic, which I have no doubt it'll be able to use as well as Extrasensory. This thing is the definition of a field controller, and facing it will probably make you feel like you're getting bullied. Focus on it during the fight, or you'll lose. I'm not kidding.

Known moves: Pound, Sweet Kiss, Growl, Headbutt, Fairy Wind, Ancient Power, Extrasensory, Thunder Wave, Air Cutter, Wish, Psychic,

Known ability: ???


Tangrowth is a truck, plain and simple. It will roll over you and be completely silent while doing so. Seriously, does anyone else find how quiet it is creepy as hell? Tangrowth and Tangela usually have those cute gurgles that people go crazy over, but not this one. Anyway, it's great defensively, but where it truly shines is its vines. It can hit you with Power Whip or Knock Off, trap you with Bind, or drain your energy with Mega Drain to regenerate itself. Not only that, but it can propel itself with its vines to reach terrifying speeds. This thing is her strongest Pokemon, and I don't care what anyone says. If you don't have a powerful fire or poison type, I seriously can't think of any weaknesses. Even ice or flying wouldn't be that effective. You just have to brute force and hit it over and over until it falls.

Known moves: Vine Whip, Absorb, Mega Drain, Stun Spore, Bind, Poison Powder, Leech Seed, Ancient Power, Power Whip, Knock Off

Known ability: Chlorophyll - source: shown in battle with Gardenia


Jellicent is one of her strongest. Brine is going to be a terror in the doubles format, and its mastery with Shadow Ball is better than Fantina's own Frillish. Its defense is mediocre, but it doesn't matter, since it can regenerate any type of damage with Recover until you exhaust it enough. Not only that, but Water Sport improves its speed to an average level, and its maneuverability in the air is second to none. If you destroy the body completely, it can regenerate from a single speck, so basically from anywhere on the field. You'll most likely be fighting this one the longest. Jellicent does have a weakness, though! Obliterate the head, and you buy yourself some time where it can't attack, so if you've got to aim somewhere, aim for the head.

Known moves: Bubblebeam, Night Shade, Absorb, Water Sport, Water Pulse, Hex, Poison Sting, Mist, Acid Armor, Shadow Ball, Recover, Brine,

Known ability: ??? - not Water Absorb - source: ordered to dodge water type moves during fight with Candice


Electabuzz is another strong contender. It excels with almost every attack it owns, but it's also Grace's frailest Pokemon, which is probably why she taught it Protect. Protect, though, is a move that takes months or even years for a Pokemon to use consistently and quickly, so I doubt that it'll have improved its use much during the tournament. This thing is good at long-range and close-range, and Grace likes to mix it up depending on who she's facing (long-range focus vs Candice and Fantina, close-range focus vs Chase and Cecilia), so you'll have to prepare against both potential scenarios. If the battle lasts long enough and you can exhaust it, it should be beatable. SHOULD.

Known moves: Thundershock, Swift (and electric variant), Thunder Punch, Charge, Leer, Ice Punch, Thunderbolt, Discharge, Fire Punch, Protect

Known ability: ??? (Leaning Static) - source: enthusiastic battler, but nowhere near the amount of energy Magmar has


Larvitar is a weird case. It's never fought in an official battle before despite Grace owning it for so long, so there's very little information on it. I managed to track down a few trainers that faced her on route 207, but that information is probably obsolete by now. The gist of it is that Larvitar was good at both control and sheer strength, but again, all of the moves we know are outdated. I'm curious to see if it'll finally see some fighting. You have an Arceus damned pseudo, use it!

Known moves: Leer, Tackle, Horn Attack, Rock Throw, Payback, Stomping Tantrum

Known ability: ???


Turtonator is, uh, insane. All we have is the records of the havoc it caused in Mount Coronet. It's capable of heating its surroundings enough to take down the Pokemon that are going to be fighting at Solaceon by just being near them. People don't give enough rep to the fire typing here. It's always dragon this, dragon that, well, I'd like to see a dragon win by just standing around, thank you very much. Grace somehow managed to catch it, but we do know that she came out on the other side of that cave with burns all over the left side of her body, so she paid dearly for it. I don't think she's capable of using it just yet, though, otherwise I think we would have seen it against Fantina.

Known moves: Dragon Pulse, Flamethrower, Smokescreen, Bulldoze

Known ability: Shell Armor - source: only known ability for Turtonator

TLDR: She will know you inside out, and her Pokemon are powerful. Prepare to think outside the box to trip her up, or enjoy getting rolled while she calls her Pokemon cute nicknames.


Lauren Goodwill

Lauren finally started being more public recently, and her annoying stans are going wild over it. I mean, I get it, she's excellent, but Arceus, go cheer for a coordinator if you're going to be that dedicated. Anyway, I won't bring up her relation to her brother here. I'll be objectively grading her team, and the most recent information we have from her is her battle against Fantina, where she won even more handily than Grace did, although only by a hair if you want to get technical about it. What she's really known for is her use of custom moves/move combinations, which is something trainers usually don't do at her level. People usually wait to pad out their teams with all the natural moves they can learn first, but she just started early, and it's been working. Obviously though, she's been keeping most of them hidden, so don't expect much information on those.

Sceptile evolved during its battle with Fantina, and what it showed us in that short time was nothing short of pure domination. This thing is one of the fastest Pokemon on land, and combined with Overgrow, it wasn't even close. The only person I've seen use that kind of ability that well was Pauline King's Charmeleon, but with all due respect, she isn't winning this. Anyway, Sceptile is insanely good at fighting at close range with Leaf Blade, Dual Chop, and Detect. This is what it excels at. It's essentially a stronger version of Denzel's Lopunny. You can't take it in a straight fight, so you'll have to innovate. Try to lock it down, paralyze or poison it if you can. No custom moves revealed with this Pokemon yet.

Known moves: Quick Attack, Detect, Leaf Blade, Dual Chop, Mega Drain, Dragon Breath, Double Kick

Known ability: Overgrow - source: battle with Fantina


Duosion wasn't a Pokemon that she used against Fantina, but we do know a few things about it. The Pokemon has two individual brains. That means that it can use two Psychics at once, or combine their strengths into one mega psychic. Needless to say, being able to lock two opponents up with two Psychics is insanely strong in a double battle. It is, however, horribly frail. Like, even frailer than Fletchinder, but it can use a custom move that combines Light Screen and Reflect into one permanent barrier, so you'll have to break through that if you want to take it down. Not only that, but it can also protect its teammates with psychic barriers. One hit though, and it's usually done. I think we'll be seeing it a whole lot due to how useful psychics are in these double battles. Good luck.

Known moves: Confusion, Reflect, Light Screen, Psychic, Psyshock

Known ability: ??? - not Regenerator - source: same reason as Slowking


Magmar saw a lot of use against Fantina, and it took down two Pokemon by itself before going down. It's arguably her strongest Pokemon even with Sceptile because of the temperature problem (weaker version of Turtonator's passive heat). Luckily for her opponents, this is a double battle, so it'll have to hold back in that regard, which is why I think it won't do that well in this setting. Its fire type attacks are obviously no joke, but the biggest problem is Lava Plume, which again, it won't be able to use because of friendly fire. See where I'm going with this? Magmar are usually best at fighting alone, and this is no different. That's not to say it's incapable of doing anything, though. Confuse Ray is a huge threat, and Lauren has kept practicing the attack enough to even affect Pokemon at her level. Magmar can also use a combination of Flamethrower and Smog which both burn and poison you. It's a real battle maniac, so don't expect it to go down with simple water type moves. If it's ever the last thing on the field, expect it to burn everything in sight.

Known moves: Ember, Smog, Smokescreen, Flamethrower, Lava Plume, Fire Punch, Confuse Ray, Mega Punch, Flamethrower-Smog combination

Known ability: Vital Spirit(?) - source: will keep fighting until his body is quite literally broken.


Lairon is weak. You heard me, it's her weakest Pokemon, and it will probably be until it evolves into an Aggron. Its offensive power is mediocre at best, and it doesn't sport any good control to remedy that lack of power. What it does have is an impenetrable defense against any physical attack. And yes, its defense is even better than Cecilia's Zweilous. With physical attacks, you can forget about the type advantage with this thing. You've got to deal damage with special moves, and then it'll go down relatively quickly. Just like Fletchinder, Lairon is being held back by being stuck in its second stage, but if it evolves during the damn tournament? Y'all better watch out.

Known moves: Take Down, Metal Claw, Harden, Iron Head, Rock Tomb, Body Slam

Known ability: Rock Head - source: no recoil from Take Down


Seismitoad is another one of her stronger Pokemon. We don't know when it evolved, but it was probably in Mount Coronet where she caught her sixth Pokemon (we'll get there). This thing is a menace, and it's capable of flooding the entire field with Muddy Water if it wants to, which makes its Swift Swim ability come into play (possible combo with Duosion? It floats). It keeps an Aqua Ring going at all times to regenerate itself, and its mastery of Earthquake is insane, even though it can't exactly use it that much yet. Despite what you might think, Seismitoad is capable of singling out a single Pokemon and making the ground shake under their feet only. It also has a completely new move that coats its fist in pressurized water that explodes on contact. Lauren calls it Water Punch, so her naming skills could use some work. Anyway, hit it with as many grass type moves as you can, and it'll go down. If you can't do that? You might be out of luck.

Known moves: Bubblebeam, Aqua Ring, Water Punch, Muddy Water, Mudshot, Earthquake, Drain Punch, Uproar

Known ability: Swift Swim - source: combo with Muddy Water used in multiple occasions, most recently against Fantina


Rhydon is Lauren's sixth Pokemon, and she seemingly didn't care about the type overlap with her Lairon. Like Grace, she also paid dearly for it and came out with a huge gash on her shoulder (at least according to her fans). This thing tends not to listen to her that much, sort of like Cecilia's Scyther but slightly better. What's different with Rhydon is that if it actually listened to what Lauren said, it'd be her strongest Pokemon by far, and the strongest on this list behind Turtonator. These Pokemon are always strong, especially when caught in Mount Coronet, and this one is no exception. Unfortunately though, I doubt we'll see much of it since I think it'd kill most opponents. There's also the fact that it's dumb as hell, and it just flailed around against Fantina without taking down even one Pokemon.

Known moves: Hammer Arm, Rock Blast, Drill Run, Stone Edge, Bulldoze

Known ability: ???

TLDR: Take down Duosion at all costs, and you have a decent chance to win. Sceptile and Seismitoad will probably be used the most. Magmar and Rhydon can't fight well with others, and Lairon is mid.


Mira Compton

This is another one that I feel people have been sleeping on. At first, I thought that she wasn't going to sign up for the tournament because of the Haunter incident (see her battle with Fantina). People tend to give her a hard time for failing to control her ghost, and I'd recommend the utmost caution when facing it. Who knows if it'll kill something? Anyway, her Pokemon seem to all specialize in high special attack bar a few exceptions, and she could definitely win this thing.

Kadabra's psychic abilities are actually worse than Slowking and Duosion, but where it truly shines is its mastery of Teleport. Yeah, this thing can Teleport all over the field like no tomorrow, and it seemingly has a bottomless pit of energy to keep going. This is a perfect remedy to how frail it is. It wasn't even hit once by any of Fantina's Pokemon, and it actually has decent coverage with Charge Beam, Energy Ball, Dazzling Gleam and what I assume will be Shadow Ball from Fantina's gym, so at least its average skill with psychic abilities wasn't for nothing. It also can transfer its status ailment onto you with Psycho Shift, so watch out for that. Try to hit it a few times and it'll go down. Not her strongest Pokemon, but definitely her most annoying.

Known moves: Confusion, Teleport, Psychic, Charge Beam, Energy Ball, Dazzling Gleam, Psycho Shift

Known ability: Inner Focus(?) - source: never seems to be interrupted when focusing on using psychic type moves.


Kirlia is unsurprisingly being held back by its second stage, but it's a lot stronger than Lairon or Fletchinder. The weird thing about this Pokemon is that despite them being usually chill, it's one of the most brutal Pokemon on this list. It will hold your Pokemon with Psychic and kick them using some kind of custom 'Psychic Kick' move. It doesn't really have a name, and Mira never calls it out. In fact, Mira doesn't really communicate with her Kirlia at all when fighting, which is the main problem you'll face. And it's not because of a laissez-faire approach like Scyther or Rhydon, but because it appears that Kirlia can sense what Mira wants her to do through the emotions that she feels during the battle. Still, it shouldn't be that much of a problem, especially when compared to the next two Pokemon on this list.

Known moves: Confusion, Psychic, Psychic Kick, Draining Kiss, Disarming Voice, Psybeam

Known ability: ???


Haunter is a monster, plain and simple. It's basically a stronger version of Fantina's Haunter without the illusions, and it has a bigger focus on its poisonous nature. This thing knows Toxic and Hex, so that'll be what you have to worry about during most battles, but it also knows Curse, which is an extremely annoying move to deal with! Let me remind you that switching in this tournament is not allowed, so facing Haunter will basically be a race against the clock.

Known moves: Lick, Curse, Hex, Toxic, Smog, Shadow Ball, Sucker Punch, Shadow Claw, Night Shade

Known ability: Levitate - source: only ability known to Haunter


Magnezone is by far her strongest, and Mira managed to evolve it during her travels through Mount Coronet. Not only does it have high defenses, but its mastery of Lock-On means that it will never miss an attack unless you have a teleporter. Flash Cannon and Thunderbolt are its bread and butter. Little move variety just like Zweilous, so you have that going for you. Just blast it with fire type moves until it falls, or knock it to the ground and use a ground type move.

Known moves: Thundershock, Thunderbolt, Flash Cannon, Lock-On, Tri-Attack, Discharge

Known ability: Analytic(?) - source: is noticeably stronger when moving after its opponents

TLDR: Annoying as hell to face, lots of gimmicks with Teleportation, Curse and Lock-On. To beat her, you'll have to fight quickly and decisively.


►Will_Bowman (Verified Trainer)

Excellent writeup, Goalducc. Seriously, it's your best one yet. Personally, I'll be at the tournament (second-year here), and I'd rank them like this in terms of who I'd hate to face: Mira>Grace>Denzel>Lauren>Cecilia. Mira's got that murderous Haunter (I honestly don't know why they're allowing her to sign up), and fighting against that Teleporting Kadabra is just too much for me. Not only that, but her Magnezone can counter my water types. Grace just seems like annoying to fight, honestly. Completely unfun. You've got to completely change up your style to hope to beat her, but that means you'll be fighting worse too. Denzel plays the long game with his battles, and I'm not that good at staying focused for long periods of time (big weakness of mine), and that Blizzard you talked about seemed vicious, especially since I'm a water specialist with some… interesting strategies. Lauren could trip me up with her custom moves, but I think I'd be able to take her, especially since I counter three members of her team. Sceptile would probably be a bitch to fight, though, but I'd deal. Cecilia, well, if you deal with Zweilous and Slowking, you're pretty well positioned to win.

►Drew_Cartman (Verified Trainer)

I think you're overestimating Denzel and underestimating Cecilia. I'd swap them if I were you. Sure, Denzel might last long, but he lacks the firepower to deal with the Pokemon he'll be facing. This isn't the little leagues anymore.

►LivingPokedex

Non battler barging in here. My dad's a fairy type specialist that works for the League, and I can shed some light on what Sylveon is doing. Most fairies get their power from feelings and emotions. What I think is happening here is that Sylveon is believing so strongly in the fact that it has some sort of shield that it's manifesting it into reality.

Before you panic, this has its limits. It's not about to summon a rain of acid or whatever anytime soon. It'll keep things small and controlled. Anyway, there is an easy way to counter this, just like how you counter all fairy types: steel and poison. Coat its body with any type of poison type attack, or hit it with a steel type move, and the armor will crumble before your very eyes faster than you can blink. If you don't have any of those, you can only hit Sylveon enough times to chip away at it, but that'll take time.


►Yasim_Benzema (Verified Trainer)

Arceus knows that you don't want your battles with Denzel Williams to last long, or he'll always win. Thanks for the tip. Also, I don't appreciate you calling Lairon weak. I own one, it's just that Lauren isn't using it to its full potential.

►Patcha

I'm so proud of you Goalducc. Not because of your writeup, but because you finally stopped simping for Cecilia Obel for one Arceus damned post. Finally, people are realizing that she's overrated. I know it must have taken a lot out of you. Your fingers were probably burning while you were typing this. It honestly brings a tear to my eye! Hope to see more good stuff from you.

►Denzel_Williams (Verified Trainer)

Interesting analysis you got there. You've got a knack for these, and I enjoyed reading my part. Mind if I show it to my friends? I'd like to see their reactions.

►Goalducc42

HOLY SHIT I AM NOT WORTHY! Do whatever you want, man, it's yours! Thank you for stopping by and reading my stuff. Can you let me know what their reactions were?

►Denzel_Williams (Verified Trainer)

Gotcha! Can't wait to see their faces when I show them this.

►Conrad_Amed (Verified Trainer)

I don't know about you, but I don't trust anything that the Hunter family has their hands in whatsoever.

►VivenDarris

Why are people always so fucking paranoid?

►Conrad_Amed (Verified Trainer)

Maybe because I'm a Solaceon native and that they've held this town back for centuries just because of their greed, you ass. We could have been just as big as Hearthome without them. I don't trust the Hunters and I won't be watching this. Thanks the the analysis anyway.

——

Gyms → Veilstone → Maylene

Topic: Maylene caught on hot mic

Original poster: Impala07

Date: January 18th 20XX


This is breaking news, and the media's having a field day with it. Maylene Suzuki is well known for being a hothead, mostly due to how young she is, but this is something else. Below is a video of her criticizing her handlers from the League. If you don't want to read my explanation and you have the attention span of a Yanmega, there's a video at the bottom. It's been a theory for a long time, but now we have confirmation. Maylene doesn't actually run her gym. It's all handled directly from agents from the League, and all she does is battle people.

Some might say that it was obvious due to her age, but the government kept denying it. Now, it's out in the open, and it's fucking big. This essentially means that the League was running Veilstone
directly ever since Maylene ascended to the position of gym leader two and a half years ago, and people don't take kindly to that stuff, especially since Veilstone's civilian government's been sidelined time and time again due to some 'hidden' Team Galactic base that the League's been looking for for months. The mayor was in on it too, and he's facing calls to resign and the city council is in open rebellion. It's a mess up there, and I'll eat my hat if the League puts out a statement instead of just staying radio silent. With their power play against the opposition in the Directorate and the nationalization of the Bianchi Conglomerate (new name still pending), people like me are getting a bit nervous, but I hope things will return to normal when Team Galactic is finally out of the picture.

►Landon_Pinion (Verified Trainer)

She's a kid, dude. Relax and stop trying to use her for clout. I'm in Veilstone and like usual, the media's trying to fan the flames. People here don't give a fuck as long as Team Galactic is dealt with. No one is even trying to organize a protest. We're all in a united front except ignorant people like you that keep trying to revive controversies. Honestly, I wouldn't even be surprised if you're a Galactic member trying to agitate us.

►Dashtwoun

Newsflash, moron, children can't run entire cities. The League was probably just trying to keep up appearances, but it was obvious if you just used your brain for a single second. For example, why do you think the League even allows for fifteen-year-olds to potentially become the Champion? Do you think that they'd allow a kid to run the entire region and our military apparatus? Of course not. They have handlers for that shit until the kid grows up and learns the ropes. Why would it be different for the Veilstone gym?

►Kendrick_Shepherd (Verified Trainer)

Also, you're trying to mislead people here. The League never said that Maylene ran her own gym alone, they said that she was getting help multiple times. Looking at your history, all you do is complain about the League, but never about the Directorate, and it's also not even a year old. I honestly think you're a spy, I'm going to report your account. Can't have any more infiltrations. Good thing the League added a tip line for this shit.

►Impala07

So this is what it's come to then? We're creating such a paranoid atmosphere that anyone who doesn't conform to the typical opinion is a member of Team Galactic? What happened to free speech? I wasn't even that against Maylene or anything, I was just reporting on what happened.

►Freddie00Y

Nah, man. I'm reporting you too, you're sus. Your last five posts have been complaining about the League. I'm sorry, but it's better to be safe than sorry.

►Impala07

Fuck you. What if they show up at my house?

►Kendrick_Shepherd (Verified Trainer)

If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about.

——


General → History_Discussion

Topic: Sigilyph spotted on route 210

Original poster: Christian_Dewitte (Verified Trainer)

Date: January 20th 20XX


Hey, I know this isn't exactly the right category for this post, but there aren't enough categories as it is, so please spare me, moderators. Below is a picture of a Sigilyph that my buddy spotted on his way to Celestic. It's blurry, but you can clearly tell what it is. No other Pokemon has those weird ass wings and that body shape. To be more precise, he spotted it up in the cliffs near the halfway point of the route, and it escaped into the sky before he could catch it to sell it back to the Daycare.

Now, why is this significant? Well, any trainer worth their while can tell you that Sigilyph are only found in the wild in Unova's desert, but only history and archeology nerds like me can tell you that the presence of
any Sigilyph means that an ancient city or civilization is nearby. They're known to only patrol the streets of their destroyed/lost cities even thousands of years after the fact, and they always take the same pathing/route like an AI in a video game. Over. And. Over. So why did this one escape? Well, I don't exactly know, but it's bound to be interesting. I've contacted some of my archeology pals over in Veilstone, and they plan on making the trip over there to check it out. We could be on the verge of a discovery that redefines history as we know it! Did a group of settlers from Unova make the trek to Sinnoh and settle there? I'll try to keep you posted!

►Worldwiser

Interesting theory, but what if that's just some Unovan trainer's Pokemon that was flying around? If it was a whole group, then maybe I'd be inclined to believe you, but this is circumstantial at best, and your friends are probably going to waste their time. And where would this even be hidden? You'd think the rangers would have stumbled upon it, they know every route like the back of their hands.

►Anna_Cammy (Verified Trainer)

Agree with the above statement, but there's more. This is ancient civilization we're talking about, right? Why would they settle down on those mountains where agriculture is impossible? At least Celestic sits on a flat plateau that goes on for miles, but the location you're talking about makes no sense. The only way this could be possible is if this Sigilyph's coming from a lot further than you think it is, which makes your whole expedition to route 210 moot.

►Fuu-chan

First, the rumors about fairies on route 215, now this? Kind of wack, I wonder what's going on.

►Untitled_05

Blurry picture tbh, can't see jack shit. Probably some clout goblin looking to get famous.

►Christian_Dewitte (Verified Trainer)

The first two of you make good points, and I'm happy this section of the forums is more active than I thought. I still think it's too early to give up. I'm 100% sure there's something there.

You'll see.
 
Last edited:
Chapter 143
CHAPTER 143

I had left Chase's room now, and I was sure I wouldn't see him again before he left. He had been too embarrassed to even look me in the eye. He wasn't used to showing his softer side to people, and opening up to me had been a first for him. His life had been so difficult… Riolu was the only thing he had left that linked him to his parents. I had been right when thinking of Riolu as a parental figure for Chase. Without the fighting type's guidance, I was sure that he'd still be his hotheaded, isolated self instead of the mellowed-out behavior he had adopted now. I'd have to thank Riolu the next time I saw him.

"Well, I've got time," I whispered. "Might as well get the interview guidelines out of the way."

It wasn't like I could train since my team was still in the nurse's care, and I was sure the Poketch Company would appreciate if I didn't call at the last minute. They'd been nice to me, so returning the favor was the right thing to do. I ignored the trainers' whispers as I made my way to my room. It was the same as always. A single bed that could be a double if you squeezed tightly enough, two nightstands on each side, a desk with a chair, a small bathroom, and a television in the top right corner. I considered just lying down on the bed for a few minutes, but my clothes were dirty, so I opted to shower and change first.

After a quick one hour power nap, I called Melody.

"Grace!" She happily said. "We've heard reports of your arrival in Solaceon. I trust your travels went well?"

"There were a… few hiccups, but sure," I said. "How's work?"

"Busy, busy, busy," she answered. "I've been doing a lot of things behind the scenes to build up your image, but I won't go into detail, because I'm sure that would give you anxiety. Can't be too anxious before the big day."

I laughed nervously. "Right."

"Then the sponsorship department had to deal with a dozen angry trainers calling about your preferential treatment, so that was fun," she dryly said. "Anyway, are you ready for your pointers?"

"Yup. Hit me with it."

"With how popular you've gotten, you'll probably be swarmed by interviewers right after your battle. I'm talking dozens of people holding microphones to your face and yelling questions at you. Needless to say, that can be overwhelming for anyone, so just be ready for that."

"Be ready?"

"Yeah, you know, take a deep breath, don't make a bad face, smile— smiling is important, but don't overdo it. You don't want it to look fake. Remember, we're building you up as a talented, but authentic trainer."

"Well, I'll probably be genuinely happy after every battle I win, so that shouldn't be an issue."

"Okay, good. Now, they're going to ask all kinds of questions. I'm sending you a list of potential ones right now that you'll be ready to answer. The battling, strategy stuff, I assume that you've got handled."

"Wait, what else would they ask?" I frowned as I opened my laptop.

"Oh, you know the media."

I opened my emails and scoffed. "What is this? Relationship questions? Questions about Louis and why we split? The favorite Pokemon on my team? This is just drama bullshit."

"But it's the reality of the situation. Louis Bianchi will have it worse, you know? I feel bad for the kid, but it is what it is."

"He can just refuse to answer. I hope he will. Wait, why don't I just refuse—"

"No, that's not your persona. You're a nice, amenable girl. I know this is hard for you, but you've got to work with us."

I groaned. "Fine."

It wasn't like I opposed any of these answers anyway. Questions about Louis, I would just say that it's personal and that I don't feel comfortable talking about it right now. Questions about me and Cece? I'd just say that we're doing really good, but we're keeping the relationship private for now. My Pokemon? I loved them all equally. Even Sunshine had grown on me somehow. There was something about his lazy, grumpy self that endeared me.

"Remember, they'll try to get you angry to get a reaction out of you. Reporters want nothing but to see a rising talent like you slip up at least once. Controversy is juicy. You're too squeaky clean for their liking."

"Okay, I'll be nice."

I did wish I could just have Princess shoo them away, but alas.

"Okay, we have smiling and the questions down, but you also need to speak with an air of confidence. But! You can't come off as a smug trainer either, you've got to walk the tightrope between the two."

"You're asking a lot out of me."

"You didn't actually think we were actually going to let you go through this without practicing, right? We'll get you ready for this, don't worry. If you mess up, I'll be the one on the hook, so your relationship with the company will be safe."

"That just makes me feel a lot more pressure. I don't want to mess up if your job is on the line."

"Eh, I'm not nervous about it, so you shouldn't be. Just relax, alright? The first one's always the most nerve-wracking, but after you go through one interview, you realize that it's not that bad."

"I'll trust you on that."

"Oh, and here's another point: you're amenable, but you can't get walked over either. What that means is that you'll cut the interview short after around two minutes or so. Just give some excuse about having to check your Pokemon into the Center. It works every time."

I smiled at that. It wouldn't even be a lie.

"Now, onto a less cheerful topic. How to handle yourself in case of a loss."

"I—"

"Hold on. I know you've handled losses quite well in the past, like in the battle with your friends—"

Yikes. She hadn't seen my outburst in my Pokemon Center room, that was for sure. I had been a mess for hours.

"—but it's different when interviewers will potentially try to taunt you afterward. You've got to keep your chin up and say that you fought to the best of your abilities. It's okay to be disappointed, but you'll have to appear calm and levelheaded. There isn't really a way to practice that, so you'll be on your own."

"Come on, have some faith in me. Maybe I'll win the whole thing," I said, trying to raise the mood.

"The Poketch Company has full belief in your capabilities, but don't worry if you don't make it to the top ten. There are…" she trailed off, and I heard her type. "There's a cap of 1024 participants, and they're well on their way to filling that out. Even the top fifty would be good enough."

"I'll make it to the top ten," I said.

"Well, a little bit of confidence never hurt anyone," she said. "Are you free right now? We can fill in a few hours of practice if you want. Usually, we'd have set up a schedule, but I know how hard it is to get a hold of trainers."

"Now's fine," I said. She started a video call.

"Okay, I'll ask you questions, and you'll answer them."

Melody coughed, clearing her throat, and started again.

"Ms. Pastel! Ms. Pastel! A moment of your time, please!"

"Yes…?"

"No, see, that yes has to be firmer. You were frowning— don't frown. You forgot to smile, too. You've got to relax your shoulders, you look too tense."

"I didn't even know it started yet!"

"The interview starts as soon as you look at the camera, Grace," Melody smiled. "Let's start over."

These were going to be a long few hours.



Arceus, I was tired. Melody had put me through the wringer with her constant, irritating questions, and I wasn't even close to being up to par. We were going to have a session once per day until my match, which I already dreaded, but suffering now would be better than potentially humiliating the Poketch Company. Thankfully, I was done for the day, and now I was completely free. There were a few things I could try to do.

Reviewing my battle with Fantina was an option, but I could also try to see if my Pokemon were healed to go and train. There was Cecilia's warning to worry about, but I would rather have trained and get spied on than battle without any kind of strategy in place. I was going in blind with my opponents, but that didn't mean I wasn't going to at least have a modicum of strategizing with my Pokemon. I opted for the second option, and thankfully, my Pokemon were all healed. I also used the opportunity to also ask Nurse Joy about telepathy, and while strong reactions like mine weren't too common, there was nothing to worry about besides the excruciating pain, so that was… nice? I opened my Poketch to check what everyone was doing, and they were mostly out training in different corners of Solaceon. Denzel supposedly had something to show all of us later too, but that could wait, and Cecilia had texted us about stocking back up on potions.

Still no message from Lauren.

The best spot to train would be somewhere outside, but the best spot to strategize was actually back in my room. There was no way for anyone to spy on us there if I closed the curtains. My opponent would most likely be someone I had never heard of, but if I could build pairs and talk my team through what we were going to do, the battle would probably go a lot smoother.

Plus, they had already learned all of their new moves anyway, and I could always go out at night, when there'd be fewer people around. I re-entered my room and released the entire team except Sunshine for obvious reasons. They barely all fit in the Center room at this point, and it'd be even worse when everyone was fully evolved. I had kind of chosen a team full of Pokemon that would end up way bigger than me.

My Pokemon each greeted me with their respective cries, and Togetic clingingly flew into my arms. I greeted them in return, petting and hugging each one in return.

"The tournament is in five and a half days," I grinned. "Just like I said, it'll be double battles. That means that you'll have to fight with one another against our opponents."

The entire team looked at me excitedly, except Buddy, who couldn't care less about fighting for sport. Still, I knew he'd give it his best, so I wasn't worried.

"The first two of you that I send out will be the most important part of the battle. You need to have good synergy, since you'll be fighting in pairs. Here's what I was thinking…"

The first, most threatening pair I could think of was Togetic and Tangrowth. Using his Sunny Day, Chlorophyll and brute force combined with support from the air from Princess, I figured that this would be an incredibly hard duo to counter unless the enemy sported an impressive fire type. Poison could be a problem too, but I trusted Togetic was good enough to counter the worse of it with Psychic or Ancient Power while Tangrowth did the heavy lifting.

Not that she was just support. She could pull her own weight too. I reckoned that I'd keep this one shelved for now.

And the reason for that was because I wanted to battle with Sweetheart. She was still the weakest of the group, but it wasn't actually because she lacked in power. It was due to her lack of experience, and that was my fault. I had kind of babied her a whole lot, only fighting easy battles on route 207. Now, I was hoping to let her reach her full potential, which was why I wanted my first battle to begin with her and Tangrowth. I had considered Electabuzz, but Angel would be better at keeping opponents locked down if they proved to be too much for Sweetheart.

Electabuzz and Jellicent was another pair I'd workshopped, and it was thanks to a single technique I was thinking of using. It was simple, as far as combinations went. Brine was Buddy's most powerful water type move, and it was capable of flooding the field if it went on for long enough. I had even tested it with Cecilia's help using a mini barrier created by Slowking. Kadabra's barrier would act as a container for the water, and it'd be enough for any opponents to be ankle-deep in it.

Or something else, if they didn't have ankles.

Then, Honey would come in with a Thunderbolt, electrocuting both opponents. It was his strongest electric type attack— stronger than even Discharge, so I wanted to abuse it as much as possible.

The last powerful pair I had thought of was Jellicent and Tangrowth, although that would probably only be used if I needed some serious firepower to win. Togetic's help would severely be missed here, and without her ability to affect the field, it'd be a cage match to see who knocked who out first. There was a lot of uncertainty in that.

After explaining everything to the team, I let them lounge and relax for a bit. Togetic practiced her psychic on a pillow, and she was getting really good at it. I simply browsed the internet for a while and chatted one-on-one with Emi on the phone to see if she didn't feel lonely. She missed us, but she was doing well. Apparently her channel had taken off after she had started reporting on corruption in the coordinator industry. There were only four videos up right now, but she already had twenty-thousand subscribers. With Vincent's excellent editing, she was doing very well.

Vincent was actually getting most of the video revenue, since he was involved in a lot of the research and again, did all of the editing, so it was starting to become a job for him. As the sun started to set, I finally got a message from Lauren.

Lauren G.

Meet me. Bring your two friends.

What? Meet her where? By two friends, I assumed that she meant Cecilia and Denzel.

Me

Which Pokemon Center are you staying at?

Lauren G.

576 Hunter Lane.

I inputted the address into my phone and then frowned.

Me

That's not a Pokemon Center, that's the tournament building.

Lauren G.

Yes. Meet me there.

Me

Uh, k. By friends, you mean Cecilia and Denzel, right?

She didn't bother answering and just used a thumbs-up reaction instead. It was time to rip off the bandaid and tell the others that I had met Craig's sister in secret. I didn't really think that they'd mind when I explained that she was shy.

Actually, she wasn't shy. She was more of a loner by choice.

Things worked out perfectly, since Denzel was already back and Cecilia was on her way. I called them over to my room, and while we waited for Cece, Denzel showed me his phone.

"Check it out. Some guy on the forum did an exposé on all of our teams. Well, all of us and Craig's sister. It's really good."

"I have something to tell you about her, actually."

He handed me his phone and I was surprised to see that Goalducc was a competent analyst. He didn't meander much and went straight to the point, identifying strengths and weaknesses. I couldn't help but laugh when I saw that he'd gotten Jellicent's ability wrong due to my mistake during my fight with Candice, though. And obviously, he didn't know about Denzel's Milotic or Cecilia's Golett. I had an inkling that she was planning on using him for the first few matches. Lauren had apparently caught her sixth, a powerful Rhydon that didn't listen to what she said, and all in all was probably her easiest Pokemon to deal with along with Lairon. The rest of her team looked as threatening as I expected, but Duosion being able to use two Psychics at once was what worried me the most. Barry Lane's name did catch my eye, however. It was the name of the trainer I couldn't place back when I had thought about his father Palmer in Mount Coronet. Apparently, he was a threat to keep track of. I'd look him up when this entire tournament ordeal was done. Right now, it was better to keep my head in the game.

"He's good," I nodded, giving him back his phone.

"Right? Finally, someone who isn't mean about it too. I followed him, and I think you should do the same."

"Eh, not that much of a—" I stopped. The Poketch Company was going to make me use the forums at some point anyway. "Fine. Goalducc…42."

I typed his name on my phone and gave him a follow.

"You're probably making his day. He was so happy when I replied to his thread that I could feel it through the screen."

"Did you send it to the others?"

"Just Cece and Mira," he shrugged. "I don't want the people who weren't included to feel bad."

"Fair enough. Any spies out there?" I teased.

"Yeah, actually, it was annoying as hell. I couldn't train Milotic at all today," Denzel sighed. "But whatever. I'll figure something out by tomorrow. If I don't, I'll ignore them and just reveal him to everybody in a livestream. Might as well make some content out of it and make some cash."

"Always on that grindset, aren't ya?"

He looked at me disappointedly. "Never say that again."

"Yeah, I knew it was wrong as soon as it came out of my mouth—"

There was a soft knock on the door.

"Ah, Cece's there," I said, shooting up. I released Togetic and opened the door, holding my breath.

It was her.

If I ever became the Champion, I'd have them install peepholes on every door.

She greeted me with a kiss that lingered longer than usual, and she had a very satisfied look on her face.

"Looks like you've figured something out," I smiled.

"Yes," she simply said. "And I also had quite a lot of fun chasing away spy Pokemon."

"You're not allowed to hit them," Denzel teased.

"I did not," she rolled her eyes. "I simply scared them away, that's all. I've had plenty of people do it to Fletchinder."

"Maybe I should just chase them away too. Sylvi could be good at that."

"Oh right, you're spying too," I said. "Anyway, what I'm about to say doesn't leave this room, okay? Don't worry, it's nothing bad."

"Thank you for preemptively saying that," Cece said.

"Remember Craig's sister? Lauren?"

"Yeah, she's here. She's been hanging around the Hunters' place a whole bunch, battling trainers to practice. It looks like she doesn't care about secrecy anymore," Denzel said.

"That's because she's got those custom moves she's hiding, right?" I said. "Probably lures people into a false sense of security— anyway! I met her in Hearthome once, and she also came to see our gym battles. She wants to meet us, like, right now."

Denzel's mouth gaped. "You met her and you didn't say anything? Damn it, I'm so jealous…"

"Don't let Pauline hear that," Cecilia laughed.

"Pauline and I are just friends."

"Of course."

I sighed in relief. I almost thought that Cecilia would be jealous or something, but I was glad that she wasn't. If the situation was reversed... I might have been just a little bit. Not to Pauline's level, though.

"She's hanging out at the tournament building. The one where we signed up. I don't know what she wants to talk about. She's not very vocal."

"Well, let's get going then," Denzel exclaimed. "I already want to ask her so much stuff about her battling—"

"Did you not hear what I said?" I sighed. "Not. Vocal. Don't overwhelm her with your… extrovertedness."

"Ugh, okay."

"And remember, she isn't her brother," Cecilia added.

Right, she probably knew a thing or two about being compared to a sibling. After telling our friends what was going on, we quickly made our way toward the Hunter residence. In Solaceon, quickly meant twenty minutes. Lauren wasn't difficult to find. Her hair was so dark that it actually stood out in a crowd. She still had her Duosion worryingly floating over her head, possibly talking to her while she was listening to music on her phone. The psychic type noticed us and started panicking in its goo, moving around wildly. Lauren stared up from her phone, pushed up her glasses, and then looked directly at us. We waved.

She didn't wave back.
 
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Chapter 144
CHAPTER 144

"Hi Lauren. Nice to see you again," I smiled. Duosion waved at me with its stubby little arms, and it seemed to speak to her.

"Hello. My name is Lauren Goodwill," she quietly said, introducing herself to the others. She always spoke with a whisper. "No relation to Craig Goodwill."

Such a brazen-faced lie! I bit my lip to stop myself from laughing, awaiting my friends' reactions.

"Of course," Cecilia said. "Just a coincidence, I'm sure."

"Uh… sure?" Denzel frowned.

"I'm glad you called us over," I said. "Do you want to hang out with us? We can grab a bite or a drink somewhere."

"Aw man, I heard of this awesome spot on route 210 that sells the best Moomoo milk. It's a bit of a walk, though," Denzel said.

"Moomoo milk is disgusting," I grimaced.

"That's why you're so short."

"Shut it!" I pushed him, eliciting an obnoxious laugh. "Sorry Lauren, go ahead," I said, dipping my head slightly.

"No, I didn't call you over to do that—" she suddenly stopped as her Pokemon wriggled. "I'm okay, Sirris… stop bossing me around."

The Duosion recoiled in its goo. Sirris was its name, huh? It looked like she was nicknaming her team just like her brother. Slowking observed the Pokemon with usual amusement. He was our only Pokemon out at the moment.

"I saw all of your battles against Fantina, and I was also there during your double battle with your friend Chase… I think you guys are good, but I want to push my limits. Grace, I heard that your Turtonator was the real deal," she said, staring at my burns. "I want to battle it. I get four Pokemon to make it fair and no switches… I'll use my Magmar, Seismitoad, Rhydon, and Sceptile. What do you say?"

If I'd been drinking something, I would have spat all over her face.

"Err, thanks for asking, but that's unfortunately impossible," I awkwardly said. "Sunsh— Turtonator's a bit of a grouch who doesn't battle, but when he does, I mean, he's way too powerful. Rhydon would probably be fine, but I don't even think your Seismitoad would be able to handle the heat, let alone us. Not without a psychic barrier to help."

"They've got a bunch set up for trainers to practice battling," she shrugged. "But it's okay, I guess…"

She didn't look okay whatsoever. In fact, this was the most emotion I'd seen on her face when meeting her. Her eyes were downcast, and she let out an exasperated sigh.

"Hey, if you want, I'll battle you!" Denzel exclaimed. "My Froslass could use some practice."

"I'm not in the mood anymore," she sighed.

Denzel's shoulders slouched.

"We can still get to know each other, right?" Cecilia smiled. "Better do it now while the brackets aren't announced and people aren't going too crazy."

Lauren paused. "Sirris tells me that it's a good idea, so I'll come."

I tapped a finger against my chin and watched the Duosion happily bob in its goo. It seemed that it was some sort of guiding figure for her like Riolu was to Chase, except that she had caught it relatively recently instead of knowing it her entire life. Still, I couldn't judge, and it looked like the psychic had her best in mind.

"Alright, I guess we can go grab some food, I'm starving," I complained.

"When are you not starving?" Denzel teased.

"Plenty of times, but a girl's gotta eat! Plus, I got raked over the coals by my sponsorship liaison since I have to practice taking interviews."

"Oh shit, can you give me some tips on that? I was going to take some too, but I'm going in blind and you probably have more media literacy than me by now. I'd appreciate the help. Can't fumble and ruin my brand."

"I'll send you the gist of it later."

"Text isn't enough, I need to see it."

"Ugh, fine," I groaned. "Come see me later tonight."

"The fact that you're doing interviews surprises me…" Lauren trailed off. "When my brother sent me stuff about you, he said you were just like me. I guess that was another one of his lies."

I held back a wince. Poor Craig really wasn't getting any points with his sister.

"I thought you weren't related to Craig," Denzel joked.

"I wish. That was just a joke."

That actually got his attention, and he kept going. "You seem to dislike him a whole lot."

"He babies me too much and keeps trying to help me. That takes away from my own success. I work hard, but people keep saying that it's unfair that I'm doing well for myself. The further away he stays from me, the better."

So it was what I expected, then. To be honest, it sucked for Craig, but he should probably have gotten the picture by now. I felt that if he gave her some space, then she'd slowly start opening up to him.

"I understand that completely," Cecilia nodded.

"I know a bit about you. Your brother is Unova's Champion, right? You probably have it even worse than I do, sorry for complaining…"

"It doesn't bother me much. I tend to ignore the noise."

"I still don't know how you manage that," I said.

We entered a local restaurant close to the Pokemon Center Lauren was staying at, which was different than ours. I looked the menu over a few times and decided to order some chicken fingers, which Cecilia and Denzel relentlessly made fun of me for. Obviously it wasn't just for kids, or it wouldn't be on the damned normal menu. The others all took complicated and fancy meals. I hadn't expected Solaceon to have such a high-profile restaurant.

"So, Lauren. Why don't we talk about our teams?" I asked. Couldn't go wrong with talking about Pokemon to a fellow trainer.

She showed a hint of a smile. "Who should go first?"

"I guess I will, since I suggested it," I said. I proceeded to explain how dad had suddenly brought a Togepi egg one day, and that unexpectedly started my path to becoming a trainer. If Princess hadn't been there, I doubt that I would ever have become one.

Denzel told her about how he rescued his Sylveon as an Eevee and nursed him back to health, while Cecilia explained that her Zweilous was the child of her brother's Hydreigon. I was surprised that Lauren didn't seem even a bit miffed at that. I thought that she'd think that Cecilia should have done everything on her own like she was. Granted, I'd had ten counters ready to defend her. We proceeded to go over how we caught each one of our Pokemon, reminiscing about old times, and I finally learned that Cecilia caught Slowking in the lake north of Jubilife before heading to Oreburgh.

"My first Pokemon was Volis, my Sceptile. He was a gift from my brother. The only one I ever got. He's from the Daycare here, actually…"

Oh. That made a lot more sense.

"They do breed wonderful Pokemon," Cecilia nodded. "We have a friend with a Vulpix from there."

"He's outgoing and always there to cheer the team up, but he hates my Magmar— Mags. He's aggressive all the time, and he's annoying to take care of, but he's a good guy. I caught him near Canalave as a Magby, and he burned my legs."

She lifted her pants to show us, and we dipped our heads under the table. Those looked pretty bad and stretched across both of her tibias. The ones on the right leg were worse, stretching up further until we couldn't see. That must have hurt. It was interesting that she owned a Magmar, though. He was Electabuzz's counterpart, and both of their evolution methods were secret. Hoarded like gold by a few trainers at the top. I knew that Flint from the Elite Four owned a Magmortar, but speaking to an Elite Four member was exponentially harder than speaking to a gym leader, so she would probably have to figure out the evolution method on her own or get good enough to have connections with people high up at the League.

Still, I figured it would maybe make for a nice rivalry if the two ever fought.

"As long as he can burn things, he's happy. That's easy to understand, so I like that. Byron was my first gym badge, and Volis and Mags made quick work of him."

"So you come from Canalave?" I asked. I had never asked where Craig was from and never bothered to look it up, so this was new to me.

Lauren nodded. "When I easily won, people started to talk about my brother helping me. Since Craig's first ever gym battle had been against Byron too, he gave me a bunch of tips about how he fought and the Pokemon he used at that level, so they weren't exactly wrong. I told him to stop, but he keeps trying to help to this day. At least he backed off a bit recently…"

"Yeah…" Denzel said. He was probably thinking about the fact that Craig wanted us to help her instead of him.

"Anyway, I went to Oreburgh next and caught Defiant in the mines there. He's my Lairon. He pulled his weight a lot during that fight," she smiled. "He's the only one Mags gets along with, and they like to spar a lot. Mags's been outgrowing him a lot recently though, so he's been a bit irritated. On the way back to Jubilife, I caught Sirris. He's my best friend," Lauren said fondly.

"Aww," I said.

"He's always there to support me, I don't know what I'd do without him. He runs my finances too, so I don't have to worry about money. He even answers my emails."

Cecilia frowned. "How? He can't really… type."

"He uses his psychic powers to push down on the keyboard. He types faster than any human I've ever seen."

"Oh, that makes a lot of sense."

"You aren't sponsored by anyone, right?" Denzel asked.

"No, and I don't plan on doing so. I want to reach the Conference without any sponsorships at least once. Maybe next year will be different."

"Sounds like Chase," Cecilia laughed.

"Your friend is scary… I don't want to meet him. Sirris told me that he looked like bad news."

"He grows on you. I don't think you'll be able to meet, since he's got to get ready to leave soon."

"Oh, I thought he'd be participating…"

"No, he's got stuff to do, can't stay here for too long," I vaguely explained.

"Okay, well good for me, I guess. I caught my Seismitoad, Prime, next to the river that runs east of Floaroma. She's a little reserved, but she enjoys sparring a whole lot too. She helps keep Mags under control, but he hates fighting her because she's got the type advantage."

"Your Magmar kind of reminds me of Louis' Gible," Denzel noticed.

"Dragons are overrated," Lauren said with unusual confidence. "Sorry… um, ignore that. After that, I went a long while without catching anything else. I considered catching a grass type in Eterna Forest, but none of them appealed to me. I traveled through there alone too, and there were a few close calls."

My eyes bulged. "Alone?!"

Even with the Pokemon I had now, I wouldn't feel confident going through the forest alone. The Pokemon there were probably almost all weaker than what I had at this point except at the center of the forest, but one Poison Sting was all it took. One mistake, and I'd be dead. I wasn't going to take those odds unless I absolutely had to.

"Yes? I didn't really know how to ask for help."

Denzel facepalmed. "You could have gotten yourself killed."

"I was fine. I beat Gardenia easily in Eterna. After I beat her Lombre with Volis, Mags almost completely swept her team by standing around and burning things."

I repressed the primal need to defend Gardenia and let her keep going.

"It wasn't until I came across my Rhydon— Paragon— in the middle of Mount Coronet that I knew I what I wanted. It took my entire team to hurt him enough to catch, and I almost died in the process," she said.

It was only now that I noticed a huge scar running across her shoulder, barely hidden by her shirt. Her coat had hidden it back in Hearthome.

"I can see you want to ask. I took a shard of Stone Edge to the shoulder. If it had been the full attack, I would have died. Paragon's a bit of a special case, since he doesn't really listen to me and just does what he wants. He doesn't really talk to anyone on the team, but Sirris tries to keep him company from time to time. Still, even though he's kind of dumb, he's also really strong… slightly weaker than your Turtonator, if I had to guess," she nodded toward me. "I still think he'd lose handily one-on-one though, which is why I wanted a four-on-one."

Wow, that was a lot stronger than I expected. I'd need to figure out how to take this thing down if I wanted to win. The table went silent, and we were probably all thinking about the same thing. If he was dumb, it was doable… she'd given us a lot of insight into her team, for someone as secretive as she was. I was starting to wonder if the secrecy was more of something that she just preferred because she disliked people instead of a genuine attempt at keeping her team and moves secret. She didn't seem to care at all about the latter.

We finished our food, and Lauren left us to go battle other trainers. She seemed to love doing that even when she utterly crushed the competition. I didn't really see the point in a battle if it was that lopsided, so I preferred to train my team on my own, but maybe I could find a few four or five-badge holders here to practice… but it'd be wiser to wait for my first few matches. I still had a few things to hide.

"I guess she doesn't care about secrecy at all," Denzel enunciated my thoughts as we looked at Lauren growing smaller and smaller on the horizon. "She's a lot different than I thought she was, but she's cool."

"She probably thinks that with the strength behind her Pokemon, it doesn't matter," Cecilia said. "That Rhydon will be an issue."

"And there are the custom moves to worry about. We've got our work cut out for us," I said.

"Training it is, then," Denzel smiled.

We all laughed, and then decided to split up. Before going off to train, I went back to my Center Room to grab my laptop and downloaded the video of my battle against Fantina so I could finally get the autopsy done. I went off to a secluded wooded area that I had no doubt people were observing and released my entire team, including Turtonator for intimidation purposes. I had them work on moves that the public knew I owned while I opened my computer with a sigh. There was literally a Ducklett just staring at me from afar, and a Trumbeak flying overhead. They weren't being discreet about this at all.

I wasn't used to being studied, I usually did the studying. I ignored them and started to play the video of my gym battle. There were a few mistakes here and there that I easily caught. My reaction time when I didn't expect something left a lot to be desired, even if I had improved a whole lot, but aside from that? There were no glaring issues that I could see. The old me would have lost to that Haunter splitting in two I would have tunnel visioned and not switched because I had come up with the Wish plan and I would have been desperate to make it work. I also might have panicked when Doublade revealed Swords Dance. There was real improvement here, and I was glad that I could see it on screen. It wasn't subtle at all.

Looking at myself, I hadn't even been trembling or anything during the battle. I'd just been focused. I was sitting completely still and just staring at the battle and Fantina, barely blinking. I had failed to read the gym leader much, unfortunately, but other than that, I had been in top condition.

I stared up as Turtonator angrily blew a stream of flames toward the unsuspecting Ducklett, who flew away in fear. Jellicent quickly extinguished the burning underbrush and angrily boomed at Sunshine, who just snorted and went back to sleep.

"Don't attack things," I warned. "I know you were holding back, but hurting a trainer's Pokemon is past what we're allowed to do."

His nose angrily flared.

Well, I was a literal child ordering him around, so that made sense. He was kind of cute when he was mad. Not that I'd ever tell him that.

"Yeah, I know you don't like to be bound by rules, but it's just how this works, so cooperate with me here. Call it a favor? I'll owe you later."

The fire type curiously peered at me with the smuggest smile I'd ever seen, and Princess angrily chided him. Electabuzz calmed her down quickly enough, but Sunshine just ignored her and kept speaking to me.

"You want me to stop talking? Alright, fine. I won't annoy you with any more stories today, and you let the Pokemon here spy in peace. It's not like we have anything to hide."

I had said that final part intentionally, hoping to fool some into believing that all of the information on my team was already available online if they looked hard enough. Turtonator lay back down, seemingly satisfied with his bargain, and I just rolled my eyes at him. He was such a diva.

Back to the battle it was. Like I had said, I had been completely focused like never before, like the world around me simply didn't exist. Every decision I had taken had been at least somewhat correct, and there were no glaring mistakes.

So how could I replicate this?

Being completely prepared was certainly a part of it, but that wasn't it. I stayed deep in thought for at least ten minutes trying to think of what had been different, and I finally got it just as I won the battle on the video, funnily enough. Princess' Ancient Power sure made me proud every time I saw it.

My battle with Fantina was simply the first battle where I had come in with expectations that things would go horribly wrong at some point. Sure, in all of the others, I had thought that there might have been some deviations, but never bad ones, so I had always been caught off guard when they did come. If I expected things to go wrong, then I couldn't get tripped up.

It was kind of related to what I had done against Candice too. With her, I had changed the pace of the battle rapidly to catch her off-guard and affect her judgment, so why wouldn't it work on me? If my mind was already ready to counter bullshit, then I'd do it quicker than if it wasn't.

"Note to self, always expect things to go to shit," I whispered.

If it didn't, then great, but if it did, I would be prepared. I started playing back the video with Fantina again, and did so until nighttime in between helping my Pokemon out with their training. Princess had almost mastered the spear. Almost. When I got back, I helped Denzel like Melody had helped me, but it felt a little weird to act like an expert in media when I had gotten just a few hours of help. I was a novice at this, just like him. Still, it brought me back to the Floaroma tournament, where Denzel had helped me escape from a few small-time reporters trying to interview me.

I'd come far, but I would go further still.



Three days later, the brackets were announced, and I would actually have the earliest battle of the group. Mira and Denzel were fighting on the same day as I was, but the rest were all fighting tomorrow. My opponent was named Kyle Thornton, a three-badge holder from Sunyshore with a Watchog, a Gogoat, a Kricketune and a Probopass, and unlike me, he was a second-year. It was surprising to see someone in their second year with only four Pokemon, but I had to remember that I was the exception in that regard, not the rule. People usually took multiple years to fill their roster completely, since they opted to focus on training a few Pokemon to beat the early gyms consistently instead of overextending themselves.

Honestly? I was confident, and this was a perfect opponent for Sweetheart to battle with Angel. I had to physically stop myself from looking up more information, like moves, fighting style or abilities. It felt fundamentally wrong not to research more in-depth, but I was committed to doing this, at least for the early rounds. One of the good things about knowing his team was that I knew that he had nothing to spy on me unless he'd caught something in between Veilstone and Solaceon, so I was freer to train openly. I spent the next two days perfecting my team's new moves and working exclusively on their teamwork.

Finally, the day of the tournament had come.


A/N: Again, all teams in the tournament are made my members of my Discord. I will credit them after each fight unless they explicitly ask me not to.
 
Chapter 145
CHAPTER 145

"Damn it, of course I'd have to face her first."

Kyle Thornton grumbled as he slowly shambled his way to his arena. He stared at his opponent, who didn't even spare him a single look as he approached. Grace Pastel had been called many things. A rising star, a prodigy, the next Gardenia, and it looked like she had the ego to back it up too. What kind of trainer didn't even look at their opponent? Not even a small nod? A set of bleachers had been set up all along the battlefield that the organizers had set up, and there would be five battles running at the same time. The other four battlefields were interspersed all over the Hunters' land, so it was impossible to watch multiple at the same time. It gave the trainers spectating a sense of choice and agency. They had to choose which battle to look at and sacrifice potentially studying another trainer to do so. Kyle felt sad that he wouldn't go far enough to battle with commentators though. It had been his dream ever since he'd been a child to have a Pokemon battle caster gush over something he'd done.

The fact that he'd be fighting Grace Pastel had come as a terrifying surprise, and he had panicked so much that he'd spent a good chunk of his savings on buying information about her from a trainer with two Cutiefly that he used to spy on people. He wasn't even in the tournament, he was just here to make money.

Two hours after that, Kyle had realized that he had simply copied an analysis from a user called Goalducc42 on the forums. So much money wasted. He was a second year, yet he'd been fleeced like a rookie desperately trying to get their first badge.

The man ran a nervous, trembling hand through his hair.

The rational part of Kyle told him that there was no way to win this, but he sure as hell wouldn't give up. He stepped onto the raised platform, grabbing two of his Pokeballs. Grace Pastel supposedly knew every trick he could employ, but what else could he do but try? Watchog would be instrumental here. These arenas were smaller than a gym's, so his incredible range with Hypnosis meant that he'd be able to use the move without even approaching his opponents. Even though it'd take around ten seconds to go off at that distance, his range meant that it was enough time. Meanwhile, Probopass would protect him and buy the normal type enough time to get the attack off.

Further than that? Well, he was no savant. There was no way to plan that far ahead. They'd be fighting on the Rock Field, which was reminiscent of Roark's gym and was ideal for his Probopass.

"This is a battle between Grace Pastel and Kyle Thornton. Trainers, send out your Pokemon," The supervisor called out.

Kyle swallowed and nervously sent out Watchog and Probopass. His opponent sent out a Larvitar and that Arceus damned Tangrowth. He knew that if he didn't focus on the looming grass type, this would be a guaranteed loss. Kyle's Pokemon watched warily as Larvitar let out an excited yell and Tangrowth caressed her head with a vine.

"Begin!"

"Sunny Day," the blonde simply said.

Tangrowth closed its eyes, and the sunlight slowly began to grow harsher. That hadn't been in the information he'd gotten! Kyle snapped back to reality and swept his arm.

"Hypnosis the Tangrowth! Probopass, Lock-On and Power Gem Larvitar!"

Watchog's eyes shone, and he stared down the Tangrowth directly. Grace Pastel frowned as Probopass' eyes narrowed and blinding lights shot out of his turrets, all curving toward Larvitar.

"Block it with Rockslide, Sweetheart! Stop the Watchog too!"

A massive boulder next to Larvitar crumpled and moved in front of the rock type like a tidal wave. The Power Gem simply deflected off of the rocks. Meanwhile, another Rock Slide washed over Watchog, interrupting his Hypnosis right as it was about to go off. How could Larvitar control that many at the same time?! Tangrowth snapped back to reality and finished his Sunny Day.

"Now get in there and Power Whip. Leave Watchog to your sister."

Tangrowth took a single step.

And then ran forward, propelling itself with his vines as fast as a truck. It was harrowingly silent, not letting a single noise escape from wherever its mouth was. There was only the sound of its heavy steps and its vines whipping against the floor. There was no stopping this thing. All he could do was hope for—

Damn it, it was already here!

"Confuse R—"


Tangrowth wrapped a vine around Watchog and threw him back towards Larvitar, who had just been patiently standing around like a kid waiting for fucking candy. The grass type then proceeded to completely dominate his Probopass. Kyle called out for a Thunder Wave, but the Power Whips were too quick and powerful for the steel type to focus on striking back. Watchog shook himself off and got up just in time for Larvitar to run him through with a Horn Attack. It pushed the normal type up to Kadabra's barrier with jubilant screams while Kyle could only watch in horror as his starter failed to even fight back. With the way he was pinned against the wall, there was no way for Watchog to even use any moves.

Kyle watched as Tangrowth calmly slammed Probopass with one last Power Whip, and the rock type stayed unmoving on the floor. Its vines all wriggled as one, working in unison like a school of Remoraid, and he blankly stared directly into Kyle's eyes. The trainer shivered in fear as he grabbed Probopass' Pokeball.

"Keep it up Angel!" Grace smiled. How could someone smile at such violence? His Probopass was more wounded than it had ever been!

Kyle recalled his Pokemon and immediately sent out his Kricketune.

"Sing!" He yelled. If he couldn't get this Tangrowth out of the picture, then it was over. Kricketune strimmed his knifelike arms against the string on his belly, but Tangrowth again just slapped him around like a damn toy, not even bothering to use a move. On the other side of the arena, Watchog was still being pinned.

"Stop playing around and get serious," Grace told her Larvitar.

The rock type grunted and let Watchog go, her horn soaked in blood. This was his moment! She'd grown cocky! Enough with the status moves, he had to go on the offensive! One Pokemon. He'd at least take down one!

"Smack Down!" She yelled.

"Detect!"

Watchog blurred impossibly quickly, dodging the blindingly fast rock that shot up from the ground like a bullet. He didn't avoid the fragments however, and like shrapnel, they tore through Watchog's body.

"Crunch and finish it off."

With a twisted smirk, Larvitar opened its mouth, revealing the darkness festering within. Already bloodied and battered, Watchog was too exhausted to even use another Detect. The rock type tore across his thigh, and Kyle recalled him, putting his Pokemon out of the fight.

Such brutality. Nothing was working. It was like he was being dissected.

Kyle felt empty as he sent out his Gogoat just in time for Kricketune to have fallen. The bug type was simply broken. His arms were bent the wrong way, and his body was crumpled like an old wrinkled shirt. He recalled him as well.

"Aerial Ace the Tangrowth!" Kyle screamed. And yet, his voice felt felt hollow.

Gogoat bleated and started running, slowly building up his speed as streaks of air surrounded his body. If he could get one hit in at least…

"Block it with Ancient Power."

Tangrowth quickly raised a boulder in front of itself, and Gogoat crashed into it head-on.

"Let Sweetheart deal with it," she continued.

Kyle dejectedly stared as eight vines snaked around the Ancient Power to grab his Gogoat. She was going to throw him toward Larvitar again instead of finishing him off with that monstrous Tangrowth! Kyle clicked his tongue and restrained a curse. She was just toying with him! That sadistic bitch!

"Seed Bomb!"

Tangrowth threw the grass type toward his ally, but two seeds fell onto him, blowing up on contact. Tangrowth simply shrugged them off and observed what Larvitar was going to do with a curious eye. Kyle breathed a sigh of relief. At least he'd landed a hit. Two hits. Larvitar ran forward and stabbed Gogoat's flank with Horn Attack before he could even get up.

"No stabbing. Use Rock Slide," Grace scolded.

The ground type grunted, opting to bury Gogoat in a sea of rocks instead. Every time he tiringly managed to climb his way out of them, another layer smothered him, hitting him hard in the head every single time. The grass type was bleeding profusely from his head, soaking the rocks in scarlet red, and looked like he couldn't even think properly any longer.

There was no point to this, was there?

"I forfeit," Kyle sighed, recalling his Pokemon. His shoulders sagged, and he clenched his fist around Gogoat's Pokeball. He knew there was no way he could have won the tournament, but he would have liked to make it to the top two hundred, at the very least. And yet here he was, losing on his first round.

That was the luck of the draw.

"Victory to Grace Pastel. Trainers, please step out of the arena."

Larvitar happily stomped on the floor. Tangrowth ran back toward her, then lifted her in the air to celebrate. Grace let them have their moment, but recalled them after a few seconds with a satisfied smile on her face. It was like she'd known everything about him during the fight. How else would she have known about Hypnosis' range? At least Kyle could rest easy knowing that he'd been worth researching for a generational talent.

"Good battle," she said before leaving.

Good battle?! He snapped his head toward her. Was she making fun of him?!

Was it not enough for her to be so Arceus damned talented?! She had to rub it in too, twist the knife and pour salt onto the wound! He wanted to call out to her, berate her for being one of the rudest trainers he'd ever faced, but she was already gone.

Maybe his family was right, and he wasn't cut out for this.



Oh man, that had been nerve-wracking. My hands were still shaking, my body felt hot.

All things considered, that had gone pretty well, but the battle itself had been sloppy, like I was still finding my footing. If I hadn't stopped that Hypnosis, things could have gotten ugly. Watchog and Probopass would have ganged up on Sweetheart, and she could have lost, which would have been so horrible for her self-confidence that she probably would have destroyed everything around her with Stomping Tantrum after being healed. Coming into a battle with so many unknowns had been terrifying, but I still wanted to do it at least one more time before I started to get serious. Larvitar's Rock Slides had been excellent, and so had Tangrowth's Sunny Day. I needed Sweetheart to stop using Horn Attack so much, though. Stabbing things might have been fun, but blunt trauma was a lot better at taking Pokemon down quickly when they weren't covered in armor. Maybe Princess had rubbed off on her too much since she kept showing off her Ancient Power spear and bragging about it like there was no tomorrow.

If I was being honest, Angel had gone ham too, and all of his Pokemon would probably have to stay at the Center for multiple days. I wasn't exactly used to fighting people that much weaker than I was. I considered my reaction times to have left a lot to be desired, but Kyle's had been so bad that he just left his Pokemon wide open to counters at all times, and he tunnel-visioned hard on putting Tangrowth to sleep. It wasn't like he could have won, but he could have done better than this with the tools he had at his disposal. He could have tried everything he could to interrupt Angel from completing Sunny Day too, and then he would have been nowhere near that fast. If he had researched his use of Ancient Power properly, and from the time it took him to use the move, I figured that it'd be pretty easy to extrapolate that it needed his utmost concentration. When I'd heard that he was a second year, I'd somewhat expected a tougher battle.

It was somewhat underwhelming. Despite expecting a win, I thought I would have had to fight for it. I wanted to keep thinking about the battle, but I was already being swarmed by reporters. They all asked all kinds of questions, but I focused in on one I liked— a good trick Melody had taught me.

"Ms. Pastel, you showed the world what complete domination was like today! What do you say made the difference in your battle with Mr. Thornton today?"

Okay, now all I had to do was smile and stick to broad strokes. No need to go far into details or to be rude and say that my Pokemon were simply stronger and there wasn't much he could have done but delay the inevitable.

"Mr. Thornton focused too much on trying to put Angel to sleep to single out my Larvitar. Once that tactic didn't work, he should have tried something else. Me separating his Pokemon was the nail in the coffin, so I feel like he should have tried to find a way to regroup and have two members of his team focus on one of mine, but that would have required for him to find a way to bypass Angel's vines, which is always tough to do. I can't comment much more about what he could have done without knowing his Pokemon's moves, though."

Nice and straight to the point. Another flurry of questions erupted, but again, I singled out a single reporter.

"Excuse me, does that mean you didn't research your opponent before fighting him today? You're known to be meticulous in your research."

"I'm trying to improve, so I'm handicapping myself for a little bit and only checking out my opponents' teams," I said. "Of course, I don't expect to be able to keep doing it for the whole tournament. There are a lot of good trainers here— including Mr. Thornton— and I'd be foolish to think my skill in battle alone could carry me to first place."

That was good, right? I knew Melody and possibly a whole lot of other people from the Poketch Company were watching right now, judging every word coming out of my mouth.

"Another question here! We saw your Tangrowth throw its opponents toward Larvitar. What was that for exactly?"

"Well, since she's lacking in experience, I figured I'd let her battle as well for practice. She wouldn't have forgiven Angel if he just dealt with everything himself and hung her off to dry."

"You seem quite confident in yourself. If you go against one of your traveling companions, will you do everything in your power to figure out what they're planning?"

"Of course. But again, this was nothing personal against Mr. Thornton, I just figured that I had a good chance to win after looking at his lineup, that's all. It just as easily could have backfired on me. Now if you'll excuse me I—"

Wait, getting my team back to the Center wouldn't even work here, only Tangrowth had gotten hit, and it had barely dealt any damage.

"—I have to go to the bathroom."

I quickly dodged any more questions that made my way and went back toward the tournament building to fake going to the bathroom. I couldn't let them figure out that I was only pretending, after all. I had been a lot less nervous for interviews than I thought, and I had Melody to thank for that, but it was also because talking about Pokemon battling was a genuinely enjoyable thing for me to do. So long as I kept ignoring the nasty questions, I'd be fine, but if there came a day when only those types of questions came, then I'd start feeling the anxiety. Melody sent me a quick text telling me that I had done well, but that I needed to tone done the 'practice for Larvitar' angle because it made me seem like I was 'playing with my food', whatever that meant.

After hanging out in the bathroom for a while longer, I joined my friends who'd been waiting in the bleachers for me. Denzel was still getting ready for his battle and doing some last-minute planning, and Mira was also off training somewhere, but everyone else was here. Cecilia was the first to congratulate me.

"You were beautiful out there, love," she smiled.

"I did alright," I said with a smile of my own. "Need to improve in a lot of areas still."

"Come on, just take the win and stop humble bragging," Pauline said. "Your Tangrowth just completely manhandled everything that poor guy had on his team. I bet you could have fought one against four and still won."

"Probably not, since Kyle had Hypnosis and Sing—"

"Well, I wouldn't want to face such a thing no matter what moves I owned," Maeve shuddered. "It was my first time seeing you battle, and you're seriously scary."

"This praise is embarrassing me. When's Denzel's battle again?"

"Should be in an hour," Pauline immediately said. "Well, more like fifty-four minutes now."

"Should we go watch battles while we wait? I'd like to see what our next potential opponents could be like," Justin said.

Maeve was definitely right, though. So long as Angel had the time to pull Sunny Day off, he was nigh unstoppable by anything that wasn't a poison or fire type— or a tough, big Pokemon that he couldn't lift and hit around like a ragdoll.

"There are a lot of bets going around," Louis explained. "People are looking to make money off of the tournament."

"There was a 19:1 odd of you winning, by the way," Pauline smirked. "It was basically free money."

"You bet?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, it's fun. I tried to get the others to join, but they didn't want to. I made a few pennies."

"It felt disrespectful to Grace's opponent," Cecilia said. "He looked devastated when he stepped off the platform."

"What?" I said, my heart sinking. "I should find him, he wasn't bad—"

"You speaking to him would probably just worsen the problem," Justin said.

I nodded with a sigh, and we went to sit down to wait for Denzel's battle. In all of the excitement and my drive to improve, I had forgotten that I had possibly ruined someone's day. Or week. Or month? When had I gotten so big-headed? It wasn't all that long ago that I'd been battling in Eterna city's arenas and gently helping the trainers I beat to improve themselves after each loss, and instead I had just rushed to leave. Sure, the reporters were a problem, but I could have…

But then again, like Justin had said, unsolicited advice could make it look like I was just talking them down and belittling their skill.

Damn it, this was hard.

"What's Denzel fighting? And which arena?" I asked, trying to clear my head.

"The Grass Field," Pauline answered.

"It would have been funny if it was the snow one," I said, thinking of his Froslass.

Along with the Rock, the Grass and the Snow Fields, there was the Water and the Desert Field. The first three weren't that interesting, but the last two offered actual variations that could sway a battle. First, the Water Field was reminiscent of Crasher Wake's gym, and the entire battlefield would be submerged in water with a few platforms non-water types could stand on. That meant that water types would obviously be king there, and fire types would be at a serious disadvantage. However, if you had an electric type or electric type attacks, countering swimmers would be ridiculously easy unless they were part ground. Meanwhile, the Desert Field was simply odd because Sinnoh had no deserts to speak of outside of the Battle Frontier— which only eight badgers were allowed in— so our Pokemon simply weren't used to fighting on the sand. The weird footing would be a problem and create some variables that were impossible to predict. This wouldn't be like standing on a beach. The sand was deep, and there were dunes of different heights all throughout the field.

"He's fighting against a really weird guy too," Maeve said.

"He told you about it?" Pauline asked aggressively.

"Chill out, okay?" I rolled my eyes. "Sorry about her, she—"

The redhead put a hand over my mouth, and I squirmed in place until Cecilia jabbed her with a finger, finally causing her to release me.

"Don't say anything," Pauline grumbled.

Well, she was just making it obvious now. Justin uncomfortably stared away, probably desperately thinking about how Pauline would even make this work when she already had Emilia. I personally found it impossible to understand too, but I wasn't one to judge. So long as they came to an agreement before they did anything…

In retrospect, they probably were nowhere near that yet. Denzel, for all his expertise in relationship matters, seemed completely blind to it, and Pauline was content with the status quo. I had no idea if Emilia knew about it, too. Maybe I'd try to talk to Pauline about it with some help from Cece.

"Anyway!" Pauline coughed. "Go on, Maeve. I'm sorry, by the way."

"It's okay," she replied. "He's fighting some guy with a really weird team. He just owns six Smeargles."

"Six of them?" Louis scoffed. "Is he an artist, perhaps? I'd love to see what paintings they can come up with."

"No, he's just some weird roleplayer," Pauline rolled her eyes. "Calls himself and his team the 'Heroes of Justice'. He's tried to find Team Galactic grunts and fight them off, but he hasn't gotten any success at finding any so far, so he just fights petty criminals whenever he's in a city."

"Even with the weird team, he's actually good. He's got four badges, and he's still in his first year, so he must be close to you guys, or maybe even on par," Maeve said.

My interest peaked at that. Type specialists were rarer than generalists, but people that only owned one kind of Pokemon were almost unheard of. I did know that Smeargle was capable of learning a lot of moves by copying them, although they'd be a bootleg version of the original. For that reason, not many people used Smeargle, but if this guy managed to get four badges like us, I was sure he'd be somewhat difficult for Denzel to face.

It was still really weird that he owned six, though.

After around thirty minutes of watching battles, we made our way toward the Grass Field and eagerly awaited for Denzel's match to start. His opponent was actually there early, and he wore some kind of war paint on his face, along with a flowing cape that reminded me of Lance. It was like he was wearing a superhero costume, and it was literally impossible to take him seriously. Some people were laughing at his extravagant appearance, but he didn't appear to care whatsoever.

Denzel showed up just in time, and he had a confident smile on his face.

A/N: Thank you Zaberan#1586 for the team! For anyone who might be worried about the pace, I won't be showing every character's battle, I just want to write a few to show how some of them have progressed, so you'll be getting some other battles before we get back to Grace. The PoV switch was a one-time thing to show what it might be like to fight Grace as an average trainer, so that was also an exception. Don't worry by the way, Kyle will be fine.
 
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Chapter 146
CHAPTER 146

"I welcome thee, challenger!" The trainer with the facepaint said. "Prepare to lose to the Heroes of Justice! Together, there's nothing we cannot do, and thou shalt cower before our might…"

He had a haughty, obnoxious voice that reminded me of Louis when I first met him, but a lot worse.

Pauline clicked her tongue annoyingly. "Does he have to talk like that?"

"I think it's just for the extra flair. I like it," Louis smiled.

"...I have vanquished many thieves and miscreants in my short tenure as a trainer, so some insignificant trainer like yourself will never stop me—"

"Are you done?" The supervisor yelled. "We're running an operation here, we can't afford to waste time."

The boy cleared his throat. "My apologies."

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

Elliot sent out two of his Smeargles, but they each had different paintings on their bodies and faces. The first one was painted with bright splashes of red reminiscent of blood with no discernable pattern, and it sported a fierce look in its eyes. The second one was simply covered in white from head to toe, hiding its normally beige skin. The only part that wasn't covered was its tail.

Denzel sent out his Froslass, who giggled as she took flight, and the grass under her froze. Lopunny was next, and she stood steadfast in front of her teammate.

"Begin!"

"Watch for Bullet Punch. Stick to what we said," Denzel ordered. Lopunny's left fist lit ablaze while the other one was coated in electricity. One of her feet turned to ice, while the other simply shone. "Froslass, charge up Blizzard"

Fire Punch, Thunder Punch, Ice… Kick, and Power-up Kick had all been combined in terrifying fashion. The amount of endurance needed to keep those up permanently was something. The rabbit brought both of her fists up, preparing to fight, while Froslass' eyes shone with a pale blue and a cold wind immediately picked up.

"Hah! So you know Fighter's techniques? That matters not! Break through them with Bullet Punch! White Mage, Helping Hand!"

The second Smeargle fiercely clapped its hands, and the other one's muscles bulged as it practically teleported next to Froslass, hoping to interrupt her Blizzard. Without even turning, Lopunny kicked backwards with her Power-Up Kick, hitting the normal type in the back before it could even use its attack like she had anticipated it.

"White Mage, get in there and heal him! Fight back, Fighter!"

I ignored how redundant that nickname was and observed as Smeargle narrowly dodged another kick before sweeping Lopunny with Low Kick. The rabbit fell to the ground, and Fighter jumped with its fist coated in flames, punching Froslass in the nose just in the nick of time. She'd been concentrating too much to dodge.

"Start over, go higher this time," Denzel said. "Don't do it right away."

Froslass shook the hit off and phased out of existence, quickly reappearing about twenty feet higher. There was nothing Elliot could do to stop her, so he moved on to the next best target. White Mage pointed its tail at Fighter like a staff, and a weak Heal Pulse flew off toward its teammate.

"Throw him away, Lopunny!"

With her fists still coated in fire and electricity, Lopunny grabbed Smeargle, spinning him around with Circle Throw toward the other end of the arena, meaning that Heal Pulse just missed. Not only that, but it had also taken damage from Fire and Thunder Punch.

"Quick Attack and do the same for the other one!"

I was seeing his strategy now. Denzel wanted to group the two Smeargles up so that Lopunny wouldn't have to be hit by Froslass' Blizzard. I almost scoffed at how fast the normal type had gotten, and she landed next to White Mage with a deafening crash. She kicked it in the head with Power-Up Kick and jabbed its nose with Fire Punch before throwing him at his fellow Smeargle, who fell over again.

"Get up, quickly!"

"Now, Froslass!"

The ice type laughed, and the right side of the battlefield was overtaken by a deafening Blizzard, and I could feel the cold from here through the psychic barriers. As soon as the Blizzard subsided, Denzel ordered Froslass to charge another one. Fighter and White Mage were still standing. Barely.

"Lopunny, keep them in their half."

The normal type had already been running before the words even left his mouth.

"Heal Pulse!" Elliot yelled. "Fighter, Bullet Punch! Buy some time!"

Faster than even Lopunny, Smeargle blurred in front of her as its fist were coated in silver and began punching her repeatedly. Denzel winced. Froslass could hold back her Blizzard, but that meant that White Mage would simply keep healing Fighter. He already managed to fire off three Heal Pulses before the ten seconds that the ice type needed to charge her attack, and despite being weak, they would stack up quickly.

As soon as the Bullet Punch ended, Denzel sprung to action.

"Circle Throw toward Froslass."

Without a moment's hesitation, Lopunny grabbed Smeargle before he could start another Bullet Punch and launched him toward the ghost.

"Use it in our half!"

Ah. It had just clicked. Blizzard ripped through Denzel's half of the battlefield, rendering Fighter useless for a few dozen seconds. Froslass would have to stay inside of it to keep it going, but she would take no damage from the snow.

Now it was just White Mage and Lopunny. Denzel screamed out a command that I didn't hear, but unlike us, I didn't think he could even see what was going on through the Blizzard. Lopunny's ears twitched, and she grinned before dashing toward White Mage, who could only stare in fear as the normal type relentlessly beat it up with every attack at its disposal. I had wondered about this throughout the fight, but it looked like that Smeargle had no attacking moves, so it couldn't even hope to defend itself.

White Mage went down just as the Blizzard started to slow. Fighter was down for the count too.

"Curses!" Elliot screamed, recalling both Pokemon. "Fine, if I must go all out just this once, I will! Don't say I didn't warn you! Tank, Hero, you're up!"

The boy sent out another set of Smeargle, and this time, the one called Tank was painted in dark tones with patterns reminiscent of what could be on a shield. Hero, meanwhile, was… blank. It just had a single golden line painted in between its eyes.

"Tank, Iron Defense!"

"Charge another one," Denzel told Froslass. "Lopunny, go in."

Once again, Lopunny blurred toward her opponents, opting to focus on Tank to stop him from setting up his defenses. Smeargle shimmered like steel just before Lopunny hit it with Fire Punch, and Tank didn't even flinch. The impact rang out like the clang of metal.

"Hero, Swords Dance!"

For the first time in the entire battle, Denzel looked surprised.

"Switch targets! Hit Hero!"

"Tank, Teleport and Barrier!"

Smeargle teleported in between the two, and Lopunny crashed into an invisible wall. It blocked the normal type's path long enough for Hero to finish setting up with Swords Dance. Denzel clicked his tongue.

"Time's up, get away! Froslass, Blizzard!"

"Light—"

The rest of Elliot's order was cut off by the Blizzard's howling winds. Froslass was seriously putting in work here, and she didn't even appear a bit tired. In fact, it was like her Blizzards were getting faster little by little. Lopunny barely escaped the attack, but she was starting to grow tired. No longer could she have four attacks ready at the same time. Instead, she opted for Power-Up Punch that she had relocated to her right fist, along with Fire Punch on her left, which were the attacks she was the most familiar with.

When the Blizzard receded, both Pokemon were battered, but fine. Tank had set up a Light Screen just in time, and the barrier had shielded them from the worse of the damage.

"Hero, Agility! Tank, keep him protected."

Holy fuck, he was setting up a whole lot. Denzel clenched a fist.

"Blizzard again. Lopunny, stand strong. Defend Froslass at all costs."

Was he abandoning his strategy? The only way this made sense was if he was willing for Lopunny to be caught in the crossfire. The normal type nodded tensely and kept her body completely still.

"At last! Don't say I didn't warn you, brigand! Hero, it's time to let loose! Flare Blitz that Froslass!"

I inhaled sharply as Hero's body spontaneously combusted. There were so many flames that I couldn't even see its body, and Tank teleported away to not get burned.

"Stand aside, Tank. Hero will deal with them. Go!"

The air around Smeargle warped as he jumped faster and higher than Lopunny could. Froslass was caught so off guard that she didn't even have time to disappear, and Smeargle rammed into her before falling down to the floor himself.

The ice type went down immediately, and Smeargle slowly stood up, its body burned and bruised.

"There's an opening! Hold him down!" Denzel yelled as he recalled his Froslass and sent out his Roselia. "Toxic!"

Lopunny dashed, grabbing Hero by the neck, and Roselia looked at the Smeargle in disgust as she sprayed it with poison, although some of it got onto Lopunny as well.

Hero was on a clock now. I looked at Tank, who was simply standing around. It looked like he too had no attacking moves.

"Flare Blitz and Last Resort!"

Smeargle burst into flames again. The fire was so hot that even Roselia caught on fire by just being near him. Lopunny cried out in pain, but her screams were drowned out by the flames that enveloped her. The fireball stood and hit the normal type away with a massive blow that I assumed was Last Resort. She was burned to a crisp.

Smeargle turned to Roselia, his body still consumed by the flames. Was Denzel going to lose?

He sighed and sent out his Milotic. The crowd gasped in surprise at the magnificent water type, who nervously stared around. This was his first battle, and it showed.

"Hit the Roselia!" Elliot yelled.

"Venoshock and Wrap!"

Smeargle was quick, but Roselia's aim was better. The normal type stumbled as the potent poison tore through his skin, although half of it was evaporated by the flames. Milotic seemingly ignored the heat, wrapping around the fireball and he squeezed.

"Water Pulse."

It took four of them for Hero to go down, and Milotic was exhausted. The Swords Dance had been so powerful that the flames had even burned past his hardened scales.

It was just Tank left. He couldn't attack past some punches and kicks, but those weren't moves. They'd be useless.

"Take that Smeargle down," Denzel sighed. That had been a dangerously close call.

Elliot obnoxiously made his Smeargle Teleport all over the field and shield himself with Light Screens and Reflects to delay the inevitable, but after the supervisor chewed him out for wasting time, he forfeited the battle.

"Victory to Denzel Williams. Trainers, step off of your platforms."

Pauline squealed happily and danced on her seat, and we all breathed a sigh of relief. Elliot might have been a strange person, but he was definitely skilled. He had to be, to train his Pokemon enough to use Swords Dance and Flare Blitz. If he hadn't been forcing his team to conform to what looked to be classes in an RPG, then he'd be a force to be reckoned with. Hell, he might have even won.

"You win this time, but not the next, thief! You won the battle, but not the war! I'll have you in my sights now!" Elliot yelled. He then ran away dramatically with an obnoxious laugh.

At least it looked like he wasn't taking it hard at all. Denzel was busy talking to interviewers, so I opted to ask about Mira's opponent before he came back.

"Why are you so out of the loop?" Justin asked. "Even I know, and Mira and I don't talk much."

"I was busy."

"Some psychic type specialist that I don't remember the name of," he explained.

Psychic type specialist? That would probably be one hell of a battle, with how annoying a single psychic was to face.

"Don't get so excited," Pauline noticed. "Her name's Megan Barett. She's a first-year three badge holder, so Mira will probably wipe the floor with her."

"We're first-year three-badge holders," Maeve grumbled.

"We're different," Pauline shrugged.

"Type specialists are usually adept at bringing out the best of their Pokemon," I said. "She could have some tricks up her sleeves. I wouldn't underestimate her."

"Well, her battle's this evening anyway, so you'll have to wait to figure it out," the redhead smirked. "Oh, Denzel's done!"

We all walked down from the bleachers and congratulated our friend, who looked somewhat shaken. I didn't blame him. That Smeargle had almost managed to pull out an incredible comeback, and if he hadn't owned Milotic to resist the flames, then he probably would have lost. I doubted that Sylveon would have been able to do much. Fairies tended not to deal with fire very well.

"The information I managed to get was outdated," Denzel explained. "And he didn't train at all before the match, so Froslass didn't bring back anything of note when I sent her out to spy. Flare Blitz is an insane move to teach. How'd he even get that?! I thought Smeargle needed to see a move and study it for days before they could copy it."

"Well, he must have some connections," Louis said. "It's unlikely that he would have come across a trainer with the move during his travels."

"Whatever, at least we're done. I'd rather fight normal teams than gimmicks like that all days of the week," he said, looking around. "Mira isn't here?"

"She said she'd be training the entire day and not to disturb her," Maeve said.

"What should we do until her match, then? What terrain is it on, even?"

"Grass Field, just like you," she replied. "I wish I could check my field in advance… they only tell you the day of your fight. If I get the Water Field, I'll be the unluckiest girl on the planet."

"Your Starmie would do rather well, no?" Louis asked.

"Yes, but we've never fought in water before, so it'd be a first."

"First Louis' Prinplup and now you?" Pauline laughed.

"What is everyone doing now?" Denzel asked.

"Well, it depends when my next opponent is revealed," I said. "If it's today, then I'll need to go back to my room to figure out what pair to start with first."

"It depends on when the people next to you on the bracket fight, I haven't checked it out yet," he said.

"Oh, I forgot. Do they have a website for it or something?"

All of my friends groaned at me, and showed me the tournament website, which was under serious strain due to all the current traffic. The bracket was huge, but the coders had fortunately included a search function. We were all on the left side of the bracket with the exception of Louis and Justin, who were on the right.

"It feels lonely down there," Louis joked. A sign that he was getting better.

"You won't be lonely with Justin around," I smiled.

Still, knowing the bracket meant that I could just look at my potential two opponents… but I decided to wait. They were fighting today, so it wouldn't be long until I knew anyway. After Denzel brought his Pokemon to the Center, we decided to all go grab an early lunch. During the event, I pulled on Cece's sleeve, and we said that we were going to the bathroom. Pauline and Maeve offered to join, but after an awkward refusal, we were already gone. There were unfortunately people, so we entered a stall and locked the door.

"What's gotten into you?" Cecilia asked, staring to the side embarrassingly.

"I wanted to talk about Pauline," I whispered. "Her relationship issues, I mean."

She relaxed with a sigh.

"Did you think I was going to do something else?" I teased.

"Nothing of the sort!"

I laughed. "Anyway, Denzel helped us… figure it out, right? Doesn't it feel bad watching them flail around each other? Is this what we looked like?"

"Probably. But this is probably the last thing she should have on her mind with the tournament, no?"

"It's already on her mind, she can barely stop herself from looking at the guy," I rolled my eyes.

"Fine… but in this case, it's between three people. We don't want to be rash and do something we'd regret. I think it's best if we let it sort itself out."

"Hm…" I hummed.

I bit my lip softly and sighed. She was right.

"Yeah, it's not our place. This is delicate and we don't want to fuck anything up, especially when things already used to be tense."

She nodded. "You're a lot more reasonable than I thought you'd be."

"What? What'd I do to deserve that?"

"You can be very headstrong."

"Nuh-uh, I'm a very practical girl. I can do all kinds of stuff and be reasonable."

"All kinds of stuff… if we're talking about battling, then maybe."

"Ouch. I'm so hurt," I feigned. "Anyway, let's get out of here. I bet the others are going to be obnoxious about this 'cause they'll think we did something."

"Well to be honest, I thought it was either that or tampons. You always forget to carry some just in case."

"I don't always—"

"I have text messages for proof, Grace. So do Pauline and Emi."



I was back inside of my room, and my next opponent had finally been revealed for tomorrow's battle. I had… an hour left until Mira's battle, so I could at least check what his team was about. Yasim Benzema was a second-year with four badges, and I knew right away that he'd be a lot harder to beat than my previous opponent. He looked to be a trainer that specialized in fighting during a Sandstorm. First, there was a Magnezone, which I assumed was for variety or to cover the weakness against water. His other Pokemon was Lairon, but the two who really caught my eye were Vibrava and Hippowdon.

I didn't need to study his team to know that Hippowdon would create a sandstorm by just being out on the field. Vibrava, meanwhile, was a dragon type, although I knew I'd be able to handle it with enough care. There was no way it'd be as powerful as Zweilous, at the very least, but I would need to be careful. The fact that this team was full of ground types meant that Honey was out of the picture. Even if the Sandstorm would stop us from being able to trigger Chlorophyll, Angel was obviously going to fight again. But who could be his teammate? I feared that Sweetheart wouldn't be able to do much to our opponents, but maybe I could bring her in if one of the others fainted. That left me with Buddy or Princess.

Buddy would be good if we just wanted to rush down the opposition before they could hope to do anything. What I had learned from watching all of these double battles was that they tended to be fast-paced and over quickly, and I could lean into that if I wished, but that Magnezone was scaring me. I had no idea if it owned Lock-On like Mira's, or how powerful its electric type attacks even were. I clenched my hand around my Poketch.

"Come on, I can handle at least one more round of improv," I breathed. "One."

Togetic comforted me by nuzzling against my neck, and I gently caressed her head.

If Princess was to fight, she'd need to support Angel every step of the way. Already, I knew that Hippowdon would be the opponent's field controller, and they would compete for supremacy. Ancient Power would be a huge boon unless we were on the Water Field, but then Yasim would be a lot more screwed than I was.

"I think it's gotta be you," I told Togetic. She let out a firm cry, letting me know that she was ready. "Let's show off your new spears, shall we?"

A grin stretched across her face, and I mirrored her.

"I know, right?" I said. "But remember, only in moderation. Let's not wound more than necessary… I feel bad for what happened to Kyle. Sweetheart's going to be jealous that you're stealing her thunder."

"Prrrri…" she sighed.

"Yeah. With that team, it'll be tough to use them, but I think we can ground that Vibrava with just one spear through the abdomen— a small one, just to be safe. I don't think its scales look that tough. If the abdomen doesn't work, we can go for the wings. Lairon and Magnezone are another story though. Hippowdon… I'm not sure."

"Toge!"

"Looks like you'll fight a dragon after all, Princess. Just try to behave nicely okay? I know you'd do something like picture Sunshine and go completely wild on that poor Vibrava. Promise?"

The fairy type reluctantly nodded, and for some reason, I actually felt bad for her even though what I was asking for was completely reasonable.

I think she's rubbing off on me, I thought as I pet her.



"Grace, you were almost late!" Denzel complained. "What were you—"

"Working," I answered. "And I made it, didn't I?"

Mira and Megan Barett stood on opposite sides of the Grass Field, awaiting for the supervisor to let them start. The man made us wait for two minutes to finish some random phone call, and the battle could finally begin.

"This is a battle between Mira Compton and Megan Barett. Trainers, send out your Pokemon!"

"Gotcha!" Mira laughed, sending out her Haunter and her Magnezone.

Megan twitched nervously at the sight of the ghost, who taunted her with his permanent grin as poison oozed onto the floor, melting off the grass. Magnezone let out a series of static clicks and booms, clearly irritated at the ghost type.

"Let him have some fun, he's been good!" Mira snorted. "Anyway, send out your team, gal!"

With a trembling hand, the girl sent out a Metang and Galarian Ponyta. I was surprised to see a regional form from a trainer that new. Instead of flames, a fluffy purple and turquoise mane fluttered in the wind. Metang, meanwhile, clanged its two fists together angrily. This one had normal colors, unlike Emi's Beldum, but they were still ridiculously rare and expensive. Combined with the fact that she had a regional form, I guessed that Megan was probably the daughter of some rich family.

"Begin!"

"Be a nice boy, Haunter! Toxic!" Mira yelled. "Magnezone, Lock-On and Flash Cannon the Ponyta!"

With a taunting cackle, Haunter vanished, and his poison stopped dripping onto the ground. There was a shimmer across Magnezone's blank stare, and a blinding light appeared in front of the steel type. With a buzzing sound, he sent out the Flash Cannon toward Ponyta.

"Ally Switch!" Megan yelled, her voice trembling.

I blinked, and Metang and Ponyta swapped places without a sound. The Flash Cannon tried to curve to reach Ponyta, but it hit the steel type in the arm. Haunter reappeared right above the Ponyta and dove down toward the psychic type, coating its entire body in poison.

It just washed off of the horse.

"Psybeam, Psychic!"

Ponyta appeared to be immune to being poisoned, and a beam of multicolored energy appeared above her horn, dissolving Haunter into nothing. The bits that were left were seized by Metang's Psychic and relentlessly attacked.

"Man, this is no fun. Go save him," Mira waved at her Magnezone.

The electric type hummed as he flew toward his two enemies. Electricity crackled in between his magnets.

"Ponyta, Psybeam it! Buy us some time!"

Magnezone simply brushed of the beam of psychic energy and exploded in a burst of electricity. Discharge. He didn't even care if Haunter was caught in the crossfire, demonstrating the fundamental differences between her and Denzel. Haunter laughed and reappeared, harmed from the Psychic he had taken but nowhere near done yet.

"You can't poison them, it has Pastel Veil. Use Curse on Metang instead!"

The ghost's grin stretched impossibly widely as his eyes went red, and Metang's eyes flickered. The Curse was beginning to run its course. Haunter, for his part, winced. The first sign of pain that he had ever shown in the battle.

"Focus on Ponyta now. Hex and Flash Cannon."

"Stop them! Ally Switch!"

I winced when the two attacks landed on the poor Ponyta. Hex turned the psychic type into a smoking mess, and Flash Cannon completely enveloped her body. Ally Switch was a ridiculously difficult technique that required an even better control than Teleport, so doing so while under Curse's influence was nigh impossible for a Pokemon of our level. Ponyta quickly fainted, and Haunter licked its unconscious, limp body.

"Stop it, you creep!" Megan shrieked, recalling her Ponyta.

"Sorry, he's still working on that."

"Psychic that Haunter!"

The girl clicked her tongue when a Thunderbolt from Magnezone stopped her Metang from hurting Haunter, and she sent out a Kirlia.

"Wait, you have one too? That's so cool!"

"Shut it! Kirlia, Teleport and Thunder Punch the Haunter! Metang, get it together!"

The steel type let out a series of mechanical sounds and finally managed to restrain Haunter with Psychic again, and Kirlia teleported on top of his body to punch him with its fist coated in electricity while he was restrained. Unfortunately, Haunter wasn't solid, he was viscous at best, so despite the attack running its course, the psychic type just fell to the floor, and Magnezone hit it with another Flash Cannon.

Megan was unraveling before our very eyes. Kirlia wasn't done, but two more of those and she would be.

"Get on top of Magnezone instead and Fire Punch!" She yelled.

This time, Mira was caught by surprise. Kirlia teleported on Magnezone's head and firmly gripped his antenna in order not to fall. Meanwhile, Haunter gathered an enormous amount of ghostly energy in front of his mouth. The Shadow Ball hit Metang, and the steel type crashed to the floor. The abuse it had taken from Curse had proven too much. Kirlia repeatedly hit Magnezone with Fire Punch, and the electric type intentionally rammed against Kadabra's barrier to get it off.

Megan sent out a Farigiraf, her last Pokemon. The tall psychic type craned its neck and both of its pair of eyes eyed Haunter with disdain.

"Toxic and Venoshock, go!" Mira ordered.

"Stop him with Twin Beam!"

Two pink rays of energy appeared above Farigiraf's head and barreled toward Haunter. With all the damage he'd taken, he'd gotten slow. The two beams hit Haunter before he could disappear, and the poison type exploded. Kirlia had teleported back on Magnezone's back, but this time, Mira was ready.

"Just blow up with Discharge, no need to panic."

The steel type hummed, and once again, a blinding ball of electricity exploded outward, engulfing Kirlia. The psychic type fell off of his body and struggled to get up, but as a parting gift, Haunter reappeared around her, choking her from the inside out with toxic fumes. For a second, I was scared that he'd kill it, but he stopped once it fell unconscious.

Everyone around me breathed a sigh of relief, and Haunter was dealt with after another Twin Beam from Farigiraf, who was the only one left standing.

"Man, I wanted to try to win without losing anyone," Mira pouted. She sent out her Kadabra. "Charge Beam. Magnezone, Tri Attack."

"Calm Mind!"

Farigiraf closed all four of its eyes and focused, hoping to resist what was coming. Kadabra's spoon shook and rattled erratically until it bent, and electricity shot out of the tip. Beams of ice, fire and electricity fired out of Magnezone's body. All of the attacks hit the giraffe at once. Burns and ice coated its neck and flanks.

It was still standing.

"Now, Twin Beam the Magnezone!"

"Teleport and Dazzling Gleam."

In less than a second, Kadabra was right in front of his opponent, and a blinding light came out of his spoon, affecting Farigiraf's aim. The Twin Beams hit the psychic wall, and another Tri Attack from Magnezone was the end of the normal type. Its neck went limp, bending more than I thought was possible, and Megan recalled it before it even fell to the ground.

"Victory to Mira Compton!"

A/N: Thank you Sevenfold artisan of the rainbow#0088 and Illuma#0925 for the teams!
 
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Chapter 147
CHAPTER 147

"That was something," I muttered as Mira recalled her Pokemon.

Her Pokemon were certainly threatening, but I felt like I needed to see her struggle more to see what she was really about. She was irritating to face for people that easily got frustrated with snarky comments, but I figured that if I ever had to fight her, those wouldn't work on me. Haunter's Curse was worrisome and Magnezone brought the raw power that Mira needed to her team, but the thing that worried me the most was that Kadabra's versatility. Like Princess, he was the one that would pull the strings in a battle, and the fact that I had identified him as the scariest thing on her team when he had only battled for barely one minute was proof enough.

Strangely, it looked like every non-psychic type attack came from his spoon. Pokemon all had different ways of using moves that weren't their typing, so a part of me wondered if I could cripple him by knocking his spoon out of his hand somehow. Hell, it might even make his psychic moves harder to use. I could have Angel twist his arm until the pain proved too much and he had to let go, maybe? With how frail Kadabra was, that was certainly an option, but there was a problem. Twisting his arm could leave him enough time to escape. With the way Goalducc had written about her, it seemed like Kadabra was capable of using Teleport even under severe pain or strain, so I'd need to permanently stop him from being able to grab things.

Shattering his hands, maybe? One Power Whip would probably be enough. But for that, I'd need to catch him in the first place, which would prove difficult with how adept he was at Teleport. I didn't exactly like that method, though. It felt a lot more ruthless than I wanted to be, even if it was probably the most efficient way of going about things.

I was starting to see battles through the lens of someone that needed to cripple her opponents in the quickest possible manner to take them out of the fight as quickly and neatly as possible, and I wanted to reign that in a little. This was a sport for fun, not some kind of life-or-death fight, and it'd make me a bad influence on Princess, who was already having problems with that distinction. Hell, even Sweetheart was starting to grow in that direction.

Oh well, I sighed. With how the brackets were arranged, Mira would have to go through Lauren before going through me, so I had time to figure it out.

We made our way toward Mira as soon as she was done with the reporters. She seemingly had annoyed them so much with her attitude that they quickly moved on to her opponent instead. The pink-haired girl pouted as she slowly walked toward us.

"Don't make that face when you won, it makes you look ungrateful," Maeve said.

"Alright, mom."

"You were great out there," Louis said. We all echoed his words.

"I know, right? I wanted my win to be more dominant, but it was still fun, and I'm super happy that Haunter behaved."

"What'd you even do to convince him?" I asked.

"Well, I told him that we'd stop playing catch if he killed anything."

We all stared at her confusedly.

"Play catch? How does that even work?" Denzel asked.

"You never play catch before, big boy? I throw the ball and he catches it. I have to play with gloves because his poison gets all over the ball when he carries it with his entire body."

"That's… innovative."

"He's been improving leaps and bounds ever since. I was thinking of buying a soccer ball to see how big we can go—"

Cecilia coughed to interrupt her. "Well, that's all of today's battle done. What is everyone's plan now?"

Everyone that would battle tomorrow answered with training, but Denzel, Mira, and I were free. I actually felt a bit miffed at that, since I wanted to see Cecilia's Golett again, but she wanted to be as secretive as possible. Everyone but us three in the group left.

"Don't look so down," Denzel said, gently patting my shoulder. "You can come hang with me for a bit."

"Don't exclude me," Mira said.

"Err, right."

"I was gonna practice too," I said. "I've got to get my starting lineup ready for my next battle—"

"Which is in two days," my friend interrupted. "A few hours with us won't hurt."

"You're just jealous that your team's at the Center and mine isn't," I jabbed.

"That is a low blow."

"You can take it," I smugly said. "But fine, I guess I'll hang. I had a few questions for Mira anyway."

"You want to know how I managed to be this awesome?" She asked as she struck a pose.

"No, I want to know about your Kadabra."

"That's off-limits, missy. At least until one of us is out of the tournament."

"Alright, alright," I innocently lifted my hands.

We started to walk toward our Pokemon Center so that Mira could get her team healed. Since it was late in the evening and Solaceon seemed to not believe in the concept of streetlights on its long, lonely roads, we were alone in the dark.

"You know, I do have a question that you could answer, though. How does a Kadabra evolve?"

I had the rough knowledge that it wasn't simply by encountering a stressful situation and getting stronger in battle, but I didn't actually know the exact method. They were rare enough that the League itself resigned to mass breeding and evolving Abra into Kadabra instead of their more advanced forms, so clearly there was a bottleneck somewhere.

"I actually don't know either," Denzel said.

"Well, I said no questions, but I guess that one is innocent enough," Mira mused. "Kadabra will only evolve into Alakazam when they want to."

I frowned. "What? So you mean they can do it at any time?"

"Not exactly. They have to amass enough knowledge first, which could take months or years. It can be knowledge about anything, they just have to grow smart enough and learn stuff first. My Kadabra likes history and biology. He'll ramble at me for hours about how enzymes bind substrates to convert them into different molecules or about the books that Cynthia wrote back in the day about Sinnohan history or whatever. Honestly, that stuff goes in one ear and out the next. Or… well, that doesn't really work with telepathy, but you get it. His true passion, however, is Type Energy."

"Type Energy? Could you be more specific?" I asked. That actually went hand in hand with what I wanted to figure out.

"It's his life's work. He wants to figure out where it comes from and how it works exactly. Science can't explain it, the energy's just there inside of Pokemon or floating in the air, and they can convert that into moves. Kadabra channels it into his spoon to use all kinds of attacks. It's like gravity, right? A fundamental law of the universe, but only Pokemon can use it."

"I mean, my Electabuzz had to use physics to first start using moves like Fire Punch, but now he can just do it," I muttered. "So I suppose you're right."

"Same for Lopunny. It's a starting point. They get familiar with the move enough for them to eventually be able to pull on the energy and use it."

"See?" Mira smiled. "Anyway, Kadabra wants to figure out the ins and outs of TE. A Kadabra won't evolve until it learns everything there is to learn about the topic it's passionate about. Everything."

I let out a whistle. That was certainly interesting, but it seemed so daunting of a task that I believed it to be impossible.

And yet, Alakazam existed. They were rare, but they existed.

"And of course, they tend to pick the hardest topics in the Arceus damned universe, and the worse is, when they figure it out, they don't tell anybody. Even their trainers. They hoard the knowledge for themselves like Murkrow do with jewelry. Otherwise, don't you think we would have figured out a whole lot more by now? Hell, we'd probably be living in a utopia and have colonized the stars."

"Or maybe we should be glad that they don't kill us all and take over," Denzel joked.

"They would never do that. Kadabra in general think of themselves above petty human squabbles. War? Money? Power? Why worry about that when there's more knowledge to be gained."

"I know, I was just making a joke. I thought you of all people would know."

"Oh, my bad. I get really passionate about this stuff. Anyway, when a Kadabra evolves into an Alakazam, the floodgates open and they try to learn about everything in the world. Literally everything— all of the knowledge available to us right now. Needless to say, none of them have succeeded yet. They aren't immortal, so they never have enough time to do so. To be honest, even if they were, I doubt that there'd be any way for one to figure everything out."

"It makes you wonder what one might do if one did, though," I said nonchalantly.

Then, I realized what that implied and felt a chill run down my spine.

"Let's hope that day doesn't come," Denzel said with a nervous laugh.

After the two gave their Pokemon to Nurse Joy, we decided to stick in Denzel's room, since his was the cleanest. He took a selfie with his Sylveon to post online, hoping that it'd get more traction after his battle, and then we lazily lounged around his room.

"I heard you had a Milotic, big guy," Mira said. "I didn't think your Feebas would evolve that fast."

"Me neither. I didn't exactly have anything to do with it, which is kind of embarrassing," he said. "It feels bad that I had to reveal him this early. Goalducc already sent me an apology for calling him useless."

"I'm surprised at how good he was already though. He seemed to move quickly enough, and that Wrap was tight," I said.

"It took a bit of practice to get Wrap and Water Pulse up to par, but the biggest challenge was getting Milotic to move properly. Right now, I settled on him secreting water out of his scales to smoothen his movement."

"Don't make it sound so disgusting," Mira said.

"I'm just telling a fact…"

"A disgusting fact. Anyway, I actually had a favor to ask of you guys."

"You didn't want to answer my questions about Kadabra, so…" I said.

"I gave you so much information though! And I know you'll probably use it to your advantage. It's not even about this tournament anyway. It's about Chasey."

"Didn't he ask you not to call him that?" I said.

"Well, he's not here, is he?"

I was going to retort, but then I realized that I called my Turtonator Sunshine in my head or when he wasn't out of his ball even though he disliked it, so I couldn't really talk.

"Set me up with him," she continued. "He's hot."

"He also hates you," Denzel said.

"I can grow on him. I grow on everyone. I'm like moss or a fungus."

"I don't know, the more you try to pry him open, the more he'll shut himself off. You've got to give him his space and act cool," I said.

Mira scoffed. "Pry him open? Who says that?"

"Me!"

"Okay, so acting cool… you mean like, distant? I don't like to play hard to get. I see something I like, I want to go get it, y'know? I wish he'd stayed. Now the only time I'll be able to meet him again is Veilstone."

"I just mean acting normally," I sighed.

"I mean, I guess I can try to help you, but don't expect results," Denzel said. "I managed with Cece and Grace, but—"

"Oooooh, you're the one that set them up? You've got a one hundred percent success rate!"

"Yeah, because I only did it once."

"Whatever, that's good enough for me. Hey, Grace, Chase seems to like you enough, so I think he'd take your advice if you asked him to try to be my friend. I can start from there and work my way up."

"Err…"

I already had Pauline, Denzel, and Emilia to worry about, and now this? Sure, I'd told Cece that I'd let them figure things out on their own, but I still wanted to nudge them in the right direction somehow and observe their progress.

Plus, Chase seemed completely uninterested in Romance anyway.

"I'll try my best?"

"That's not a yes or a no, but I'll take it," Mira said.



It was currently the middle of the night, and I was standing outside close to Sunshine for his body heat that he had so graciously raised for me after I begged for ten minutes. It was a particularly cold night, but this was the only time I'd be able to train my Pokemon's new moves. Cecilia had warned me about some guy with two Cutiefly that had managed to catch her training, so I was on guard for anything. I wished I had a psychic to sense them, but unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to do so until my eighth gym badge and I got my license to carry more than six Pokemon. It might be good to start planning for it in advance, though.

But then again, the last time I had planned for a fire type, I was completely blindsided. Who knew what was going to happen in all those months?

Right now, I was in the middle of a Sandstorm. Togetic, Turtonator and Electabuzz stood with me, and we were protected by Princess' barrier that she had created with Psychic. Sunshine was actually tough enough to brave the Sandstorm, but he just hadn't felt like it, so he asked to be protected as well. It took some convincing for Princess to even deign to include him in her psychic bubble.

The bubble was actually new as well, and we had taken inspiration from Cecilia's Slowking for it. She wasn't as good as he was with it, and she couldn't keep it up for long, but it worked, and it would prove useful in my battle in two days, both for the Sandstorm and against Magnezone's attacks.

Well, tomorrow's battle now, since it was three in the morning.

So this was a way to train her resistance to Sandstorm. Jellicent was practicing his by standing in the storm and making his body as liquid as possible in hopes that the sand would just pass through him, but it didn't look like it was going to work. Tangrowth was simply trying his best to take the brunt of the damage, which his vines protected him from.

Jellicent, Tangrowth and Togetic were the ones I was sure I was going to use in the battle, and they were all training their resistance to Sandstorm. Larvitar was the source, of course, and she'd gotten quite good at it. This was nowhere near Palossand's power, but it would do for now. I doubted that Yasim's own Sandstorm would be that powerful anyway. I had looked up information about Tyranitar recently, and apparently the only ability they had was Sand Stream. That meant that Sweetheart's practice here would pay dividends down the line.

The oddest part of the Tyranitar line was their second stage, where they'd be stuck in a cocoon-like form. I didn't think it was likely, but on the off-chance that Sweetheart somehow evolved during this tournament, I needed to be ready. Luckily, I had a treasure trove of information called the internet.

Pupitar are slow-moving Pokemon that tend to spend most of their time underground to hide away from potential predators while they await their evolution. They live off a diet of rocks, minerals, and soil, but are also capable of eating meat or kibble-based foods. Berries and plants will not be enough to sustain your Pupitar. They are nocturnal Pokemon that are mostly active at night, but with enough work, it is possible to readjust a Pupitar's sleep pattern. They will actually spend most of their time asleep, as rest is quintessential to building up their energy to evolve…

I groaned and wiped some sand away from my screen. Some of the grains were breaking through. Princess let out a small apology, and I smiled at her.

"It's okay, I'm not mad. You pushed yourself well," I gently said. "Sweetheart, you can stop now!" I yelled.

The Sandstorm slowly subsided, and the rock type strode up to me confidently. Her win had made her a lot happier, and all she wanted to do was train all the time. I rubbed her hard cheeks and she nuzzled her head against my hand.

"That was a great Sandstorm. And you're not even tired!"

"Larvitar!" She exclaimed.

Turtonator whispered a congratulation to her, and I teased him about it until he suddenly stood up, causing me to fall over, and walked away from me.

"Come on! I'm sorry!"

I walked up to him, but he stopped me with a glare. Meanwhile, he let Larvitar cuddle up to him as much as she wanted. Togetic stared daggers at him, but Electabuzz got her to chill out. He was getting good at that. His old self hadn't been that level-headed at all, which was a sign that he was growing up fast.

"Fine," I sighed, resigning to suffer in the cold. As I turned to Jellicent and Tangrowth, it seemed that they had taken some amount of damage. I had asked Buddy not to regenerate so we could see how much exactly at the end of the experiment, and there were deep gashes, cuts, and holes all over his head.

"Not bad," I whispered. "You can Recover now."

In a few seconds, he was as good as new. Tangrowth, meanwhile, looked to be relatively fine. Some of his vines had been torn up, but aside from that, I couldn't exactly tell how much damage he'd taken.

"Do you think you'd be able to fight like this without the sun?" I asked. The Sandstorm would stop us from using Sunny Day. "I think this battle will be longer and harder than the other one."

Angel blinked twice, but then motioned two vines to his eyes.

"The sand hurts your eyes the most, huh? We've got to figure out something for that… maybe Princess can give you a shield too? Or if that's too big, one around your eyes?"

"Toge…" the fairy type grumbled.

"Hard to do when he's moving, huh? Well, that's a bust for our fight, but we can work on it for the future, at least… after you get some rest. I don't think I'm going back the Pokemon Center tonight anyway, despite how cold it is," I said, raising my tone at the end of the sentence. Turtonator snorted, and Larvitar imitated him. "Hey, don't behave like he does! He's a bad influence on you! Come back here."

The rock type sadly shuffled toward me.

"Don't turn my kid into you," I said. "Otherwise, I'll have my hands full. One of you is enough."

The fire type rolled his eyes at me, Jellicent floated toward Larvitar to comfort her, and I went back to reading.

…If a Pupitar is caught by a predator and desperately needs to flee, it can fly by—

My eyes bulged, and my head snapped toward Sweetheart. "You can fly?!"

Larvitar blinked at me confusedly, but then excitedly agreed anyway.

"No, I mean—" I stopped, staring into her Lillipup eyes. "You know what, you can fly."

"Tar!" She beamed, her previous sadness completely forgotten.

—It can fly by forcefully ejecting pressurized gas from the numerous vents inside of its body. Once all of this gas is expunged, however, it is no longer capable of flight. It usually takes from ten to fifteen hours for the vents to reach full capacity again. A Pupitar will usually need to spend six months to a year in its cocoon form to evolve fully, but the evolution process can be sped up through the amount and quality of the food that it is fed.

That was interesting. So a Pupitar would always evolve into a Tyranitar, it was just a matter of how long it took. With the amount of food that Sweetheart already ate, I'd probably need to feed her evolved form as much as a Snorlax to get her to evolve quickly enough for the Conference. According to this though, it would mainly have to be nutrient-rich dirt and rocks, and normal dirt wasn't enough to speed up the process.

Where the hell was I going to find that? What did nutrient-rich dirt even mean? Wasn't all dirt… nutrient-rich? Eugh. Now I couldn't help but imagine what the hell was in that dirt.

After more sleuthing, there were apparently a few breeders that sold specialized soil for Pokemon that ate it, but their products cost an arm and a leg.

Well, hopefully by then, my contract with the Poketch Company will have been improved. Plus, I'd win money from this tournament if I placed into the top ten, and even more if I made it to the top four.

With a stretch, I yawned, and Electabuzz sat down to let me lean against his shoulder.

"Man, I'm going to be so tired tomorrow."

"Ele…"

"I know, I know, you told me to go to sleep. Sorry for making you worry about me."



And tired I was. I didn't know what I'd expected when pulling an all-nighter, but at least we had made good progress with training. There had been a little incident where Sweetheart got a little too excited and hit Turtonator with a Smack Down, but he paid her no mind. It wasn't like it even hurt him whatsoever. He was very gentle with her, especially compared to how he treated the rest of the team. He seemed to have some connection with Buddy, and they sometimes went on long tangents about depressing topics like the meaning of life, but he seemed pretty indifferent about the rest of the team, and obviously he still disliked Princess.

Unfortunately, Louis' and Justin's battles were at the same time. Louis would battle on the Rocky Field, and Justin would battle on the Desert Field. After checking in with Justin to see if he didn't mind, I opted to go see Louis battle to see how much he had progressed. Cecilia, Mira, Maeve and Denzel were with me while Pauline was watching Justin battle. Like Louis, he was fighting a fellow trainer with three badges, so at least they would probably be on equal footing. Louis' opponent's name was Victor Hamilton, and I didn't know much about him. I had expected Denzel to fill me in, but with all the training and spying he had to focus on, he hadn't had much time to stay informed about trainers that didn't pertain to him. Still, maybe it'd be interesting to see someone that I had no idea about fight. Maybe I'd try to predict what he wanted to do next.

"This is a battle between Louis Bianchi and Victor Hamilton. Trainers, send out your Pokemon," the supervisor said.

Louis sent out his Vulpix and Gible, while Victor sent out a Rhyhorn and Murkrow. Gible had grown a whole lot in size, and he was at least one point five times bigger than the last time I'd seen him. The dragon type flashed his thick, sharp teeth and roared while Vulpix just stared at him with surprisingly human annoyance. Victor's Rhyhorn had an unexpected amount of intellect behind those eyes that I didn't usually see in Rhyhorn and Rhydon, while Murkrow just lazily took flight.

"Begin!"

"Murkrow, Haze!" Victor yelled.

The dark type let out an ominous caw and beat its wings, and a thick fog set in. A groan ran through the bleachers now that we wouldn't be able to see anything that was going on unless the action came close to the barriers.

"Now, Bulldoze them to bits!" He continued.

I heard Rhyhorn yell and then the floor began to shake. I immediately understood the strategy here. Murkrow's job was to keep Rhyhorn hidden, while the rock type hopefully would Bulldoze their opponents into submissions before they could fight back. I was honestly impressed. Vulpix cried out in pain, and Louis clicked his tongue.

"Gible, Sandstorm!" He ordered.

The dragon slammed a foot against the floor, mixing a Sandstorm with Murkrow's Haze. It was weaker than Sweetheart's but it would at least deal damage to the bird.

"Keep your Bulldoze going!" Victor screamed.

"Use Bulldoze! Find the Rhyhorn!" Louis said. "Vulpix, try to find Murkrow with Flamethrower!"

Streaks of light broke through the Haze and Sandstorm, illuminating the battlefield from within. Both trainers seemed content to let their ground types run wild, but Louis was the one at a disadvantage here. Vulpix was taking collateral damage, and Murkrow wasn't. She wasn't having much luck finding the bird in the air either. If Louis wanted to win, he needed to neutralize that Murkrow.

But he did not. He kept the situation to a standstill until Vulpix's Flamethrowers stopped. She was down. He immediately sent out another Pokemon, and I recognized Prinplup's honk. Louis fought differently from how everyone else did. Trainers were usually proactive, meaning that they tried to get ahead of whatever their opponent had in store. He used to do the same, but he had changed completely. Now, he was a slow battler, and he reacted instead of acting. I didn't like it, but I'd have to wait to see if it paid off.

"Icy Wind! Spread it as wide as you can toward the sky!" Louis ordered.

I couldn't see if the attack hit its mark, but I heard a thud on the floor, and the fog slowly started to clear.

"Ice Beam the Murkrow! Gible, stop your Bulldoze and Sand Tomb Rhyhorn!"

Murkrow shrieked as the thin beam of ice completely froze its wing, and Rhyhorn sank into the muddy floor. Gible's Sand Tomb had changed, and it was now like Krokorok's. The rock type's Bulldoze stopped as it struggled to even stand up in the pool of mud.

"Gible, Twister the Murkrow. Prinplup, Ice Beam again."

A tornado started to pick up, kicking up dust, rocks and draconic energy. Murkrow was stuck in the middle, getting hit by everything. The dark type cawed and attempted to fly off, but it couldn't fly with its frozen wing. Another Ice Beam hit it directly in the face, and the crow finally fell. Before Victor could even send his next Pokemon, Louis pivoted the attack to Rhyhorn.

Victor released a Misdreavus, and it flickered in the morning light, clearly unhappy with the weather. I was surprised that he owned a ghost. Outside of Fantina and Mira, this was the only trained one I'd seen.

"Misdreavus, Shadow Ball!" He yelled, pointing toward Gible.

"Gible, keep that Rhyhorn trapped!"

"Stop fucking panicking and get out of that pit!" Victor yelled at Rhyhorn. "You know what, nevermind, just Rock Slide, damn it!"

Misdreavus disappeared right as it started charging up a Shadow Ball, and Rhyhorn simply ceased his struggling as a boulder next to it disintegrated and the large fragments flew toward Prinplup.

"Whirpool! Gible, Dragon Breath Rhyhorn!"

Prinplup ejected an incredible amount of water from his mouth, and it quickly began to spin, forming into a spiral. The Rock Slide was caught in the vortex, and only the quickest of the rocks made it through, cutting and hitting the water type all over his body. Gible roared, and a Dragon Breath shot out toward Rhyhorn. Misdreavus appeared behind the dragon with a weak-looking Shadow Ball—

"Now!"

Gible turned one hundred and eighty degrees as darkness danced in his mouth. The Shadow Ball crashed into his face. Prinplup quickly shot out a Bubblebeam at the Misdreavus, who hadn't expected such a quick reaction, and neither did Victor.

It took me a bit to understand why. Louis had fought Fantina and won, meaning that he was used to ghostly tricks. Most of the trainers here came from the east, and they hadn't fought Fantina quite yet. In fact, they were probably on their way to do so and participating in the tournament because they were passing through. With how rare ghosts were, Victor probably wasn't used to his opponents being able to fight back.

Gible bit at the Misdreavus with a short awkward hop and destroyed half of its body using Crunch. Some of the Bubblebeam hit the dragon too, but it looked like he hadn't even been phased.

"Finish off the Rhyhorn, quick!"

That poor Rhyhorn had still been stuck in Sand Tomb. It was too heavy to just walk out, even when Gible stopped using the move. It just kept sinking into the quicksand the more it tried to get out. An Ice Beam dealt the final blow, and Victor recalled his rock type.

Louis had looked like he was on the defensive, but he was winning.

Victor grimaced as he sent his out a Skuntank. I reflectively wrinkled my nose, but the Kadabra barriers would keep the smell contained. Misdreavus reappeared next to her companion, ghostly energy leaking out of her.

Louis waited for him to do the first move.

"Skuntank, get in there and Night Slash! Misdreavus, Nasty Plot and support her from afar!"

Misdreavus sniggered as the whispers emanating from the ghost grew louder and louder. With surprising speed, Skuntank dashed toward her opponents, her claws growing dark.

"Gible, Sand Tomb!"

"Jump!"

The poison type leaped over the liquefied sand, landing right next to Prinplup and slashing across his chest. Blood seeped out of the three claw marks, and the water type was knocked to the ground.

"Gible, Dragon Claw—"

"Sucker Punch!"

The poison type blurred behind Gible and knocked him down with another clawed attack. His tough scales blocked the brunt of the damage, but when Gible turned to fight back, a Shadow Ball from Misdreavus hit his side.

"Prinplup, Ice Beam that Skuntank!"

Still on the floor, Prinplup spat out another ray of ice. The dark type's eyes narrowed, and it used Sucker Punch to dodge again, this time hitting Prinplup instead.

"Stop his assault with Bulldoze!"

Before Skuntank could Sucker Punch again, the floor shook and interrupted her. Misdreavus appeared above the melee and hit Prinpup with a powerful Hex. The water type fainted, but in a fit of rage that reminded me of his old self, Gible wildly slashed at Skuntank with Dragon Claw instead of finishing his Bulldoze.

Was he… attached to Prinplup now? Skuntank let out a pain-filled scream as Gible kept digging toward its insides. Misdreavus helped its ally with another Hex, but Skuntank's flank was almost unrecognizable. There was no more purple fur, only flesh, and even bone in some places, but a sharp yell from Louis got Gible to stop before an accident could occur.

"Keep your shitter under control, you incompetent fuck," Victor hissed.

"I apologize," Louis said, recalling his Prinplup. This time, Pawniard came out of the ball. "Prinplup just went down. Retaliate."

If reaction had a move, Retaliate would be it. Pawniard whetted its blades and blurred, slashing across Skuntanks' exposed flesh.

"But it had to be done," Louis finished.

The poison type fell unconscious, unable to deal with the pain. Victor only had his Misdreavus left.

"Strengthen your Sandstorm, Gible. We will drag this ghost out of its hiding place if need be. Pawniard, when it comes out, Assurance."

I smiled. It looked like Louis had regained some of his ego after all. The Sandstorm filled the entire arena, obscuring the fight from view once more. I couldn't see what went on, but Misdreavus eventually fell. Apparently, Pawniard could somewhat see through the Sandstorm.

"Victory to Louis Bianchi."


A/N: Thank you #wobblegonnabe#4235 for the team!
 
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Chapter 148
CHAPTER 148

Louis had improved a whole lot since the last time I'd seen him. He had no secret evolutions, no extravagant tricks to win. He had just used pure unmitigated skill, and he kind of reminded me of a slower version of Denzel with a dash of Justin. Someone who was cautious and liked to be patient, but who was quick to shut someone down as soon as the opportunity arose. I might not have been a fan since the strategy required to react and take damage before finding an opening, but I couldn't deny that it had worked well despite a lot of mistakes that he had made during the battle. Sacrificing Vulpix was an odd choice, but he probably couldn't figure out a way to use her and decided to move on to a new tactic. Still, once his Pokemon evolved, he'd be a force to be reckoned with. Vulpix just needed a stone, but I had no idea when he'd buy her one. I didn't know enough about her to know if she was ready or not.

I was a lot more familiar with Justin's Growlithe, and I felt like he was close to ready, at least. Arcanine didn't share Ninetales' long lifespans or the potential danger with curses if you offended one, but they could be just as dangerous, especially with how quick they were. You could blink, and it would be gone, having run off without a trace. Needless to say, fighting one would be a puzzle in and of itself.

"Good job out there," Denzel grinned at Louis. He'd completely avoided any questions from the press.

"You kicked ass, my man!" Mira said.

"I wouldn't have done it without you," the blond man smiled. "You've been a good teacher to me and my team."

Cecilia smiled. "Louis, your Gible—"

"There is still a lot to work on, but Sylveon put the fear of Arceus into him. He realized that he isn't anywhere close to the strongest he could be, but with my help, he could get there."

"I'm happy you managed to get him to be reasonable, at least," I sighed. "And what was that reaction when Prinplup went down?"

"Let's just say he's been growing a bit attached," he said. "Not to Vulpix though. She dislikes his antics, and he doesn't exactly care about her. It's something I'm trying to fix."

"Well, at least you won," Maeve smiled. "Should we go see Justin? He should be fighting his battle, right?"

"We won't make it if we walk, we should just watch the livestream. They've got cameras set up twenty-four seven… hold on."

Denzel grabbed his phone and went on the tournament website. His eyes widened in surprise.

"Looks like Justin already won."

"Woah," I said.

"I thought he'd be slower. I wonder how he did it," he mused.

Denzel sent him a text message to see if we could all meet, but Pauline decided to go and train now that she'd seen her rival battle. His performance had apparently motivated the hell out of her. I wasn't sure how her battle this evening would go with that Vigoroth of hers, but I had no idea who her opponent was other that he had three badges, so it wasn't like I'd be able to figure it out unless I looked it up, and unless it was for my match or she asked me for advice, I didn't exactly see a reason. Plus, she'd probably go to Cecilia if she needed any help anyway.

"I'm off to train too," Maeve said before shuddering. "I've got to figure out how to battle on the Water Field."

"You got the water field? Damn," Denzel said.

"Unlucky, right? I'm gonna grab a bunch of comfort food and get my Starmie up to speed…"

We split up after that. Louis went to heal his team and decided to stay back to rest due to Combee keeping him awake all night. Apparently, the bug type hated to be kept in its Pokeball. There were a few Pokemon like that in the world, but its incessant buzzing had made it impossible for him to sleep, which made his victory a lot more impressive. Justin joined us after bringing his team back to the Center. Cecilia's battle was in an hour, but she didn't seem like she wanted to do some last-minute training. Apparently, Justin's opponent had completely floundered his start order, and Audino and Lombre made quick work of the opposing Dolliv and Sealeo. The poor trainer had probably expected Justin to start with his Krokorok and Growlithe, but he'd gotten it completely wrong.

One mistake led to another, and he unraveled quickly enough to give Justin his victory. He seemed a lot more confident than he'd been before now that he had gotten at least one win, and we were all proud of his progress. As we walked toward Cecilia's battle, which would take place on the Desert Field, I asked Justin the question.

"When are you evolving Growlithe?"

It was quick and straight to the point. So much so that he almost flinched.

"Grace, some tact please," Cece sighed.

"My bad, I'm just curious. Indulge me?"

"Very well," Justin exhaled. "I was thinking of doing so before my battle with Maylene. I want to wait for us to get to Veilstone to get the best Fire Stone possible so I don't stunt his growth."

"Wait, low-quality stones can stunt a Pokemon's growth?" I asked worryingly. "What about Maeve's Starmie? She bought a cheap Water Stone."

The others all looked on, waiting for him to answer the question. It looked like I wasn't the only clueless one for once, although Mira just looked uninterested. I was suspecting that she was a lot smarter than she acted, Kadabra or not.

"In a manner of speaking," he nodded. "A Pokemon that evolves with a low-quality stone will reach its full potential a lot slower than one that does so with a high-quality stone. With the money I have, I could have Growlithe at his top form just a few days after evolving instead of months."

"Okay, so it was what I thought," Denzel said. "Fire Stones are a bitch to get here too. I originally told you I looked at Vulpix for my team, right?"

"Yeah, a while ago," I nodded. "You also said you stopped when you saw how dangerous they could be."

"That was part of it. High-quality Fire Stones are almost as expensive as Shiny Stones in Sinnoh because they're all imported from Hoenn, straight from Mount Chimney."

"Hoenn's far away, so that makes sense," I shrugged. Sinnoh was far up north, and Hoenn was down at the equator. Kanto and Johto were in between us, and we shared a single island. Galar, Unova, Kalos, Paldea and Orre were all overseas— although Unova and Orre were neighbors, and so were Kalos and Paldea.

There was also Fione, Almia and Oblivia, but I didn't know much about those. They were all hermit countries that never opened their borders to the outside or even sent a diplomatic delegation. There were no embassies, no contact, just radio silence. Ransei, meanwhile, was a hellish place where the Great War had never stopped, and it had devolved into permanent civil wars instead. I vaguely remembered learning that different regions backed different factions there in proxy wars, and with the geopolitical context I had gotten from Josephine, I knew now that it was just a way for them to fight without starting a real war.

"Good luck Cece," Denzel said. Her battle was about to start.

"Thank you."

We sat in the bleachers, and I observed the Desert Field in all of its glory. It had been artificially created by multiple Hippowdon owned by the Hunters, and it showed. It was indistinguishable from a real desert. There were tall dunes that obscured the view somewhat, along with two oases on each side of the field for any water types that couldn't battle on land. I knew next to nothing about the girl that Cecilia was battling, but Denzel filled me in. Valery Graham owned four badges and was a rock-ground type specialist, which meant that she was at home in this terrain. She sort of sported this goth, punk look and had piercings all over her ears, along with one on her nose and eyebrow.

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

I was surprised to see that Cece sent out both her Fletchinder and her Golett. I had expected her to use the latter, but in combination with Slowking or Zweilous to support her weaker teammates. The golem slowly hummed as its rune and eyes lit up, while Fletchinder immediately took flight with a squawk. For her part, Valery sent out a Hippowdon and a huge Onix that was only slightly smaller than Roark's. Cecilia certainly was going to have a tough time here, but I was also silently thanking the legendaries. Seeing a Hippowdon in action before my own battle was going to be a huge advantage. Sand constantly leaked from the holes on its body, which explained how it could survive in Sinnoh's terrain and how it had built this arena in the first place.

Now, how would Cecilia counter this? She didn't seem that alarmed, more like annoyed at that Onix. Hippowdon sank slightly into the sandy dunes and whipped up a thin Sandstorm, allowing us to see what was going on still.

"Fletchinder, Agility and Tailwind. Golett, Iron Defense."

"Don't let them set up!" Valery said. "Hippowdon, Dig and get that Golett! Onix, Rock Polish and Iron Head it!"

Right as Fletchinder beat her wings, creating a permanent, strong gust toward the enemy, Onix shimmered and rushed toward Golett, its huge body displacing massive amounts of sand. Hippowdon lazily sank into the desert and disappeared from view. There was no way Fletchinder was powerful enough to stand up to Onix, but I had no idea what Golett was capable of.

"Stomping Tantrum! Force it back up. Fletchinder, Heat Wave!"

The ghost type mechanically lifted a foot and stomped down into the soft sands. The ground split apart, revealing Hippowdon, who floundered and stared up in complete surprise. Onix wasn't so shaken by the attack and ignored the superheated winds created by Fletchinder. It rammed directly into Golett, but the ground type wasn't even sent away. The Onix's eyes narrowed, and Cecilia grinned.

"Hammer Arm."

"Get out of there!"

Golett slowly lifted an arm. Onix was quick thanks to Rock Polish, but he was also big. The hulking Pokemon clumsily turned around, but Golett smashed its fist onto one of its segments, and Onix let out a booming scream as it writhed against the floor, accidentally hitting Hippowdon in the process with its tail. I found myself surprised at how powerful Golett was, but I must have forgotten how old it was. Who knew what it had had to defend the Lost Tower from during its lifetime?

"Calm down! Hippowdon, just get in there and Crunch that Golett at all costs!"

The ground type shook itself out of its staggered state and kept swimming upward into the parted sand, but the closer it got, the hotter the air was. Fletchinder was still using Heat Wave and whittling it down, and the attack was being powered by Tailwind. The superheated air was so hot that it was constantly warped and distorted. The water in the oases began to evaporate, creating thick clouds that rose high up in the arena. Flames spun and landed onto the sand, where they turned bright white. It was like a scene out of hell.

Cecilia giggled at her work. Arceus, I loved her.

"Onix, Slam that fucking bird!" Valery yelled.

"Stomping Tantrum once more."

Again, Golett slammed his feet against the floor, and again, he disrupted both of his opponents. Hippowdon had almost made it now, but the sand had somehow turned to molten glass— including the sand permanently leaking out of its body— and its skin was being seared. The hippo cried out in pain as its skin swelled and melted off. It was quite literally being cooked alive. How was that even possible? Sand was supposed to be a lot hotter before it actually changed to glass… or maybe it was just that hot already? Hippowdon struggled to get to Golett and burns coalesced onto its thick skin, but Onix finally managed to use its humongous size to hit Fletchinder. The bird crashed into Kadabra's barrier, and the air finally began to cool. With renewed vigor, Hippowdon finally opened its mouth, revealing flattened teeth, and bit down on Golett with a vicious Crunch. The robot-like Pokemon didn't seem like he could feel pain, but the light in its eyes flickered.

"Shadow Ball," Cecilia said.

A half-birthed Shadow Ball exploded inside of Hippowdon's mouth, and the ground type furiously slammed its head against Golett with a move that could only be Iron Head. Golett didn't even move. With Iron Defense, his body was too tough and heavy to be hit away.

"Hippowdon, stand back. You can't deal with the Golett alone. Finish the Fletchinder off, Onix," Valery grinned. The rock type grunted and got ready to slam its full weight onto the fire type.

Right then and there, Cecilia tensed. Not in fear, but anticipation.

And then, a blinding light overtook Fletchinder. Onix flinched, stopping his attack and watched with a curious eye as his opponent evolved. Fletchinder's talons grew to a terrifying scope, and she at least tripled in size—

"Slam into it, Onix! Your damn pride can wait!"

The rock type irritatingly grunted but dropped onto the still-evolving Fletchinder. What was left was a fainted Talonflame with a body that had seen better days. Cecilia fumed as she recalled her Pokemon. There was a bit of an honor system between trainers that dictated that a Pokemon evolution wouldn't be interrupted, but Valery seemingly didn't even care.

"Onix, keep Iron Heading that Golett. You're tough enough to take it down—"

Cecilia whispered something to her Talonflame's Pokeball and released her Slowking right away. The psychic type winced as he landed on the half-formed glass that clung to the scorching sands. The ground was still so hot that just standing was hurting him. The glass somewhat cooled by now, but it was still scorching hot, and nowhere as clear as normal glass was. It was this lumpy, dirty surface with a menacing red glow that cut the psychic type's feet.

"Fuck! This is the one we prepared for! Onix, Payback! Hippowdon, rush it and Crunch!"

"Golett, Hammer Arm the Onix. Slowking, Surf."

Surf? When did she even have the time to learn that? Golett slowly trudged toward Onix and cracked its tough armor with another Hammer Arm. The rock type bellowed out in pain and crashed against Kadabra's barrier, raking against the psychic wall. Just as Hippowdon was about to bite into Slowking with Crunch, the remaining water from both oases crashed into him and sent him away. A psychic bubble around Golett and Slowking protected them from any harm, and the water kept building and building until the entire battlefield was submerged. Dirty water reached up to Slowking's neck and Golett's entire body was underwater. The psychic barriers bulged under the pressure of the massive waves, and the water proved too much for the two ground types.

Both Onix and Hippowdon went down.

With a frustrated groan, Valery recalled them and sent out a Sudowoodo and Carkol instead, but both rock types were immediately washed away by the waves. Steam rose from Carkol's heated coal, and Sudowoodo cried out for help.

"Sudowoodo, Endure! Carkol, create a platform with Ancient Power!"

With surprising control, two circular pillars rose from the earth. Compacted sand solidified into a solid surface. They were both hanging by a thread, but they were still standing. To have resisted such a powerful Surf and used a move that required such focus under the water's strain?

I could commend Valery for her skills as a trainer. Carkol's control was excellent.

"Carkol, Ancient Power at Slowking! Sudowoodo, Rock Tomb!"

"Water Pulse. Finish them off."

Masses of rocks, sand and molten glass flew toward Slowking, who simply waved the projectiles away with Psychic. Two Water Pulses sped up by the same move made quick work of the two rock types, who fell into the water and fainted. When Surf receded, the waters revealed Golett, who had actually fainted. The light in his eyes and rune was gone. It looked like Slowking had improved leaps and bounds, but he still wasn't good enough to retain a barrier on two Pokemon while using a move as demanding as Surf.

"Victory to Cecilia Obel. Trainers, please step off the platform."

Well, that certainly had been eye-opening. I now knew a lot more about Cecilia's new capabilities, and I would have to watch out for her Talonflame, who would no doubt be a huge threat now that she had evolved. Not only that, but I had learned a decent bit about Hippowdon, even though I wished it had done more. For Heatwave, I had noticed that Talonflame needed to be stationary to use it to any effect that powerful, otherwise she would have easily dodged Onix's attack. A few drills from Princess ought to be enough to stop her. Golett was nothing to scoff at either, but so long as I kept my distance and attacked it from afar with special attacks, I didn't think it was much of a problem. Its physical defense was incredible, but it was too slow and nonresponsive to actually dodge any attacks. Of course, I had to account for Slowking's barriers, but if I kept him busy like I'd done with Tangrowth during our battle…

Those were thoughts for another time. Cecilia was already here.

"Well done, Cece," Justin said.

"That was awesome," I told her. "Golett's a lot stronger than I thought."

"Seriously, I thought he'd be your weakest member for a bit, but he packs a punch," Denzel said. "I kind of feel bad for Talonflame, though."

"Kids these days have no honor," Mira said in an exaggerated coarse voice, clearly mocking us. "I personally don't see what the fuss is. She tried her best to win."

"It's just wrong," Cecilia said. "Either way, Slowking's Surf was enough to take my revenge."

"By the way, what was with that glass trick?" I asked. "There's no way that Fletchinder's strong enough to turn sand into glass, right? That's like… a bajillion degrees."

"1,700 degrees," Mira specified.

"That," I said.

"Well, if I must," Cecilia said. "Talonflame's Heat Wave was powered up by Tailwind, but also by Fire Spin."

"Oh, is that why there were flames?" I asked. "I thought that it was one of Heat Wave's side effects."

Cecilia nodded. "See, when I saw that I was going to battle on the Desert Field, I came up with this plan. Fletchin— Talonflames' flames don't usually reach the temperature to make sand melt, but combined with those three attacks? I figured we'd at least get close with enough buildup. It's not a technique I would use against weaker opponents, and I trusted that rock types would be good enough to resist the attack and that Hippowdon's thick layers of fat would shield it enough."

"It's not like the entire place was burning that hot either," Mira shrugged. "If I had the guess, the temperature of the air was a few hundred degrees. The ground, though? Sheesh."

"Yeah… that could probably kill something," Denzel sighed.

"Which is why I won't use it against any opponents. I did mess up somewhat, though. Sand is usually terrible at retaining heat, so I expected Slowking to be able to stand without any pain. His feet are completely burned off."

"You guys are way too brutal with these battles… this is supposed to be for fun. I know we have a skewed perception of what's normal, but I'd relax if I were you. Anyway, where'd you learn so much about sand?" Denzel asked.

"From yours truly!" Mira said, pointing at herself with a thumb. "She asked nicely, so I figured I'd help her out."

"How nice," I said. "I thought you'd be more of the competitive type."

"Meh, I don't exactly care that much about winning the tournament. I just want to have some fun," Mira shrugged.

My eyes narrowed at that statement. I was beginning to wonder why Mira had become a trainer in the first place. We all had different reasons for wanting to make it to the Conference. What was hers? I tried racking my brain for the answer as we started to walk off toward the Center, but I couldn't find any clues from our previous interactions aside from a hidden side of her that she never showed.

Maybe I'd just ask her.

Cecilia had proved once again that she dealt in power. Surf and Heatwave alone were enough to overwhelm most opponents. I was actually starting to wonder if Talonflame wasn't going to be more useful than Zweilous for the tournament. In a singles format, the dragon would probably still be king, but in doubles? Wide-ranging attacks like Heat Wave and Surf ruled. I'd have to start creating a counter now. Princess wasn't powerful enough to shield two moving Pokemon at once. Despite her incredible skill with Psychic and Extrasensory, she was no psychic type. Talonflame had also shown that she was capable of using the attack for an extremely long time, so if Princess was ever too distracted to send some drills at her and we let the heat build up for too long, we would be in big trouble.

Buddy would be the key. He'd be able to resist the Heat Wave while Princess focused on shielding herself. After a twenty-minute walk, we stepped into the Center and Cecilia gave her Slowking, Talonflame, and Golett to Nurse Joy.

"It's a bummer that everyone's training," Mira said. "I want us all to hang out again. I wish the day of our battles all lined up."

"You trained too," I laughed. "Anyway, most of their battles are this evening… what do you say we go watch Lauren fight?"

"I thought that was a given," Cecilia said. "We can go after a short break? I need to get my team healed and eat something."

"I'll come with!" I said.

"I wish I could, but I've got to train with Milotic," Denzel shrugged. "I'll join you guys to watch Lauren though."

"Pauline wanted me to find her when I was free, so I'm out too," Justin said.

"You guys are all flaking. Mira, you should come," I smiled.

"What?! I don't want to be a third wheel," Mira groaned.

"Come on, it won't be that bad," I said.

"And see you flirt and be all over each other the entire time? No thanks. I don't want to be reminded of how single I am."

"There's more to life than relationships," Denzel said. "You could just hang out with them as friends. They cling to each other, but they won't let you feel lonely, I promise."

"Way to speak about us like we aren't there," Cecilia rolled her eyes.

"Hm… fine, I'll hang."



The three of us sat at a table in the same restaurant we went to before. I had to admit, eating out this much did make me feel guilty about how much I was spending, but damn their food was good. Mira constantly swung her legs around in her seat like a kid, and we all watched the tournament on a silent TV. Right now, the two trainers were down to their last two Pokemon. On one side, a Sneasel and a Makuhita were bruised, but not finished. On the other, a Scyther and a Simisear were sneering mockingly at their opponents. Sneasel got on all fours, and an arc of ice hit Scyther in the leg.

"Ouch, that's a nasty Ice Beam," Mira said. "Gotta hand it to that Sneasel, it's pretty vicious."

"But its trainer will lose the battle anyway," I sighed. "Her Pokemon are a lot more wounded than the others, and Makuhita's too slow to dodge most attacks. When it falls, they'll gang up on Sneasel and finish it off."

"Cold, but true," Mira nodded. "Man, I really want to fight on this Desert Field. It seems like a lot of fun."

"Say, Mira…" I said. "If you don't mind me asking, where do you come from?"

Maybe I'd be able to lead with this question first and segway into her reasons for joining the Circuit. I refused to believe that it was simply to get stronger.

"Jubilife!" She excitedly answered. "Born and raised. It's the best city in Sinnoh."

"Well, I'd say that's Sunyshore—"

"Excuse me?" I said, looking at Cece with an amused smile. "You're going up against two Jubilifers here."

"No way, you're from Jubilife too?!" Mira exclaimed. "I knew we were meant to be friends."

"I wanted to learn more about you," I explained. "I know a lot about everyone else… even Maeve. Why'd you join the Circuit?"

To be honest, that had been a pretty bad pivot, but I figured it was better to just be honest instead of dancing around the topic. I noticed that her eyes had narrowed at my first question anyway, so she probably knew something was up.

"Cause I want to be the very best! Isn't that what it's all about?" Mira exclaimed.

I restrained a frown. Another lie.

But I wouldn't push it. If she didn't want to tell me, well, who was I to know? Maybe she would once we grew closer.

"Fair enough," I said. "Mine is similar anyway."

"Any goal is valid, so long as it helps to motivate you," Cecilia nodded.

"You girls are cool," Mira said. "Sorry for being reluctant to come. I'm not used to people wanting to hang out with me. Until I started traveling with Louis and Maeve, I usually had to beg for people to talk to me, so… yeah. I got a little suspicious and started throwing any excuse I thought would stick. I didn't really care about being a third wheel."

"I think you're a good person," Cece said. "Ignorant people will judge you for past events, but they don't know the real you."

"Thanks," she exhaled. Like a weight was lifted off of her shoulders. "Wait, are we like best friends now?"

"Sure?" Cecilia said. "You can call me Cece if you want."

"That wasn't that convincing, but I'll let it go, Cece," Mira giggled. "Oh man, this is great."

"I thought Maeve was your best friend," I raised an eyebrow.

"She is, and so are you guys. I can have multiple best friends, can't I? Oh, and by the way Cece, now that I have you here, can you help me? I need you to set me up with Chase— don't look at me like that, your girlfriend's already agreed! And so did Denzel!"

"Oh, legendaries."

A/N: Thank you Zhijia#9897 for the team!
 
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Chapter 149
CHAPTER 149

I sat down, awaiting the start of Lauren's battle. Aside from a few, we had all regrouped for this specific occasion. Pauline probably had her hands full with getting Vigoroth to cooperate with her. Louis was busy sleeping or taking care of his Combee—one of the two— and Maeve was still training. The rest of us had come to spectate. Of course, most of my friends still had no idea I knew Lauren now since Denzel, Cece, and I had kept the meeting under wraps but she was still among the best first-years in the Circuit, so they still wanted to see her battle. This one was taking place on the Snow Field, which was a flatter and less obstructive version of Candice's gym. There were no trees and minimal elevation changes, just a mostly smooth surface.

"Here she comes," Justin said. I tensed.

Lauren strode up to the platform without a care in the world, and she had headphones on this time instead of the usual wireless earphones. For a moment, I almost thought that she'd somehow battle with them, but she took them off and put them around her neck. Sirris the Duosion was already out of his Pokeball with her. Her opponent was someone I knew nothing about, but he was taller than Denzel and a lot bulkier. He wore aviator sunglasses and had some sort of 'cool' vibe going on. An ugly scar ran on the side of his face, going through his cheek and right above the eye.

"How many badges?" I whispered.

"Four," Denzel answered.

"He doesn't look nervous at all," I said in surprise. Sure, he also had four badges, but he was battling Lauren.

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

"I'll probably lose this battle, but let's make it a fun one, yeah?" Sam grinned. He grabbed his Pokeball and lazily released a Skarmory and Mawile.

The metallic bird stretched out its wings and took flight a lot faster than I expected, and Mawile slammed her second mouth against the snowy ground.

"Sure," Lauren whispered.

She sent out her Rhydon and Magmar onto the field. The two Pokemon that were said not to work well in a doubles format due to their personalities during Goalducc's analysis. Sirris shivered in his goo as he warily observed his teammates get ready for the coming battle. Rhydon were massive, but Lauren's was especially so, coming in at around eight and a half feet and dwarfing Magmar. The rock type slammed its fists together and let out a furious roar that caused the snow under his feet to shake. Magmar was Electabuzz's size, but that was where the similarities ended. Honey loved to battle, but a vicious grin permanently afflicted the fire type's face and his eyes narrowed with glee. His body was permanently on fire, and the snow under his feet melted away.

"Begin!"

Sam laughed. "This is going to be a toughie! Skarmory, Autotomize and Iron Defense! Mawile, stand back for now!"

I nodded as Skarmory's metallic plates shone brightly, and Mawile huffed, clearly angry. There was no telling what that Magmar would do to the fairy type if it got close, and Mawile were closed-range fighters.

Lauren took a deep breath.

"Fuck them up, Mags! Get in there and Lava Plume!" She screamed with such glee that I almost forgot she was the same person. "Paragon, I don't care what you do, just get in there and rip that Mawile apart!"

Magmar's twisted smile widened, and his body flared. He began to run toward Mawile and Skarmory, and while he wasn't particularly fast, approaching him would mean the end of both steel types. Rhydon, meanwhile, was protected from the heat by his thick, rocky armor, and he also slowly trudged forward, each of his steps shaking the earth.

"Skarmory, keep to the air and Stealth Rocks!"

The bird fanned its wings, and small, sharpened rocks fell toward the ground and levitated off the floor.

"Now Rock Slide! Keep 'em away from Mawile!"

Skarmory let out a metallic, jittery screech, and rocks erupted from the snowy ground. With a gleeful smile that mirrored his trainer's, Magmar sunk under the rocks and then erupted with Lava Plume, sending the rocks and a terrifying amount of flames all around him. Skarmory dodged with his improved speed, but Mawile and Rhydon were not spared. The former screamed as a rock— completely red from the superheated attack— hit her in the head, and Rhydon simply brushed the flames and the lava off.

"Icy Wind the Rhydon!"

Skarmory beat its wings, and a frigid wind powered up by the terrain flew toward Rhydon, slowing the rock type massively.

"Melt it off, Mags! Flamethrower!"

The fire type blew a full-powered Flamethrower all over Rhydon, who simply grunted and kept marching. Then, something in his eyes changed.

He was close enough, now.

"Burn the shit out of Mawile, Mags! Flamethrower!" Lauren snarled.

The flames on his back flared and flew far behind him as Magmar spat out another stream of fire toward Mawile.

"Dodge with Sucker Punch! Skarmory, Sandstorm!"

A thin Sandstorm spread throughout the arena. It would slightly hurt Magmar, but everyone else would be immune. Mawile blurred behind Rhydon, and batted at the rock type with its massive jaw.

"Foul Play!"

This time, there was darkness. Mawile quickly sidestepped to avoid getting swiped by Rhydon's tail and swung its mouth at him again. Rhydon's armor split open with a deafening crack, and the hulking Pokemon roared out in fury.

"Mags, blow up."

Another Lava Plume erupted from Magmar's body, and flames and globs of lava poured out of every single pore in his body. Mawile screeched and was overtaken by the flames, and Rhydon finally grabbed her with his two massive hands.

"Finish it off, I don't care how you do it," she said.

"Skarmory, Icy Wind!"

"Tell him to fuck off," Lauren snapped.

Mags seemingly understood that command and simply stood in front of Rhydon, dissolving the Icy Wind into nothing with his body heat. The rock type threw Mawile in the air, and his horn doubled in size as it shimmered in white.

Drill Run.

Gasps and audible winces ran through the crowd as Rhydon's horn eviscerated Mawile. The steel type was immediately knocked out by the blow, and Rhydon threw her away like a rag while Magmar sniggered and the flames on his back intensified.

They were made for each other, it seemed.

Sam recalled Mawile, although his permanent smile did not even waver for one second. He sent out a Magneton, whose three eyes looked terribly angry.

"More. Burn them more," Lauren said.

Magmar flexed, and a massive Flamethrower flew toward the newly released Magneton.

"Shield him with Rock Slide!" Sam yelled out to Skarmory.

This time, the rocks formed a clumsy wall, stopping most of the flames and absorbing the heat. Rhydon screamed, and jagged rocks flew up from under Skarmory. The flying type was almost taken by surprise, but he expertly navigated the air to dodge each rock from what I assumed to be Stone Edge. Skarmory was clearly Sam's best-trained Pokemon, but the problem was that he couldn't approach without getting crushed by Magmar's heat, and the only two ways he could attack were Rock Slide and Icy Wind.

"Now send it toward them!"

The Rock Slide exploded outward, ramming into both Magmar and Rhydon. The fire type quickly stepped behind his teammate, who shielded him from the worse of the damage. Rhydon, however, seemingly disliked that and hit him away toward the rocks.

"Paragon's telling you that you can take it, Mags," Lauren smiled.

Magmar grinned, and another stone hit him directly in the head. Superheated blood poured out from the wound, bubbling and evaporating before it could even fall to the ground. They were all insane.

"Magneton, get in there! Find an opening with Tri Attack! Skarmory, keep up the Rock Slides!"

All three heads blinked in unison and furiously fired countless rays of ice, fire and lighting toward Rhydon and Magmar. The rock type simply shrugged off the attacks, although he winced every time the ice hit him. The floor under both Pokemon sunk as Skarmory shifted the earth into makeshift rocks to stop them from moving, along with occasionally hitting them back.

"Lava Plume!" Lauren yelled.

With an explosion that somehow had grown in strength, fire erupted from Magmar once more, spewing into the floor and consuming everything around him. At this point, half of the snow on the floor had simply disappeared, and vapor had joined the Sandstorm into shrouding the arena. Some of the globs of fire landed on Magneton, but Sam didn't care. The electric type flew toward his opponents with a single goal in mind.

"Explosion!"

Light consumed Magneton, but this was no evolution. Air was quickly sucked in toward his body, and a massive explosion rocked the arena. Only Skarmory had made it out unscathed, and Kadabra's barriers rattled and shook as the explosion run its course. When the smoke cleared, Magneton was but a smoking husk on the floor. Rhydon had a few chips on his armor, but other than that, he seemed completely fine.

Magmar was on the floor, his flames having burned out.

"Get up, Mags," Lauren ordered.

His arms twitched.

"Get up. Fight. Burn."

The fire type stood with trembling limbs, and his body reignited once more. Rhydon sneered at him for a second and then went back to trying to hit Skarmory with Stone Edge, without any success. Goalducc had been right. His reluctance to listen to Lauren was costing him a lot of potential.

"Dang it, I at least wanted to take down one," Sam grinned as he recalled Magneton. "Wanna trade that Magmar? I'll give you any of mine other than Skarmory. If you didn't have six Pokemon, I'd give you two to make it fair."

I physically recoiled and felt nausea overtake me. What kind of person just said that? The worst part was that only Skarmory had heard it, and the flying type didn't seem to care whatsoever. When you were a trainer, Pokemon weren't things to be traded off, especially because you found them weaker than you liked them to be. They were family. This was a second year who'd spent more than a year with some of these Pokemon.

He disgusted me.

"Absolutely not."

"Fair enough," he said as he released a Metang. The steel type took to the air just as high as Skarmory was. "Light Screen and Reflect."

Two layers of transparent barriers appeared around the Metang.

"Paragon. Feel like working with me today?" Lauren asked.

Rhydon's head turned toward her, and he shook his head dismissively.

"Fine. Then Mags, you've got to put in some work."

"The Magmar's weak. Take him down! Skarmory, Drill Peck! Metang, Psychic to restrain that Rhydon!"

Skarmory dove down, spinning so fast that his form became a blur. Rhydon stomped a foot on the floor, and the ground split open in a line in front of him as sharp rocks flew up from the floor. Some of them hit him, and a Flamethrower from Magmar burned him so hard that the metal on his wings started to melt and fuse together.

How was Magmar still going?

Rhydon tried to bat the Skarmory away with his hand, but Metang's Psychic restrained him for a precious few seconds. Skarmory rammed into Magmar, and the fire type finally fell.

"You were a good boy," Lauren said. She recalled him and sent out her Duosion. She had to recall him and release him again so he could slip past Kadabra's barrier. The Stealth Rocks rushed toward him, but they harmlessly bounced off of his psychic shield.

"Keep the momentum going and get him too!" Sam yelled. "Break past his shield!"

Skarmory continued on its warpath and flew toward Duosion, and Metang kept slowing Rhydon as much as it could with Psychic. The steel type crashed into the barrier, which became visible as it struggled to break through. It was a lot more refined that Metang's own protective moves, and it was invisible to the naked eye.

"Expanding Force," Lauren said.

My ears popped as Duosion sucked in as much air and energy as he could. Then, he released it. It was an explosion of pink psychic energy that utterly destroyed everything in its path. The move was a perfect circle, and it chewed into the floor, creating a crater that was nearly the width of the arena. Rhydon and Metang had been too far to be hurt, but Skarmory was a goner. It crashed onto the floor that was now devoid of any snow. Parts of its metallic wings had melted and fused, and many gashes ran through its armor.

It had put in a lot of work. If only its trainer hadn't been such an ass.

Metang followed shortly, and while Rhydon flailed around, Duosion and the steel type engaged in a duel of minds. I couldn't exactly understand what was going on, but they were clearly trying to overpower each other with Psychic, and occasionally, they would try other moves to trip each other up. Metang would feign going in with Bullet Punch, and Duosion would flinch, leaving him open to further mental assaults. The duel was surprisingly equal. I had expected Sirris to win easily, but the fact that Metang had two brains just like him was probably tripping him up. Still, Duosion eventually won out. Metang had grown too tired to keep his shields up, and Rhydon finished him off with a Stone Edge.

"Victory to Lauren Goodwill. Trainers, please step out of the arena."

"Man, that was fun," Sam smiled as he recalled Metang. "I ought to get a rematch one of these days. Your Magmar completely countered my team. Kind of opened my eyes to how fucked I am by a single powerful fire type. Usually Metang was enough to take care of 'em on his own, but not this time."

Lauren retrieved her Pokemon as well, and her outward demeanor seemingly evaporated as she shrunk down to her usual quiet self.

"Yeah… you should at least try to find a counter, I think," she muttered into the microphone. "Something like a Steelix or an Aggron would be good at resisting the heat. Anyway, thanks."

Lauren left the battlefield a burning, crumbling mess. It was even worse than what Cecilia had done to hers. At least the Desert Field had been left in a somewhat recognizable state, but this? If you told someone that this had been the Snow Field just ten minutes earlier, they never would have believed you. It was nothing but upended earth from Rhydon, that massive crater from Duosion, and the snow had completely melted due to Magmar's flames.

If Pauline was violence and Cecilia was power, Lauren was uncontrollable destruction. She left nothing behind when she fought, and I had no doubt it was intentional on her part. Her behavior during the battle had been… interesting. It was almost like a split personality, but I didn't think that was it. Battling might have been the only place where she could ever let loose and talk however she wanted to, along with when she talked with her brother. And maybe her team too? With strangers and acquaintances, she was a meek girl, but otherwise? She could be as snappy as Pauline was.

That Rhydon was the least of my problems. Princess could probably run laps around him like there was no tomorrow. Magmar and Duosion though? They were threats, and at this point, I believed the rest of her team was too.

Against her, Denzel or Cece? No holds were barred. I would find the most efficient way to shut all of their teams down no matter what I had to do. My best friend might not have been as flashy as us, but I knew he was hiding something. I could see it in his eyes. That show with Lopunny and the four different attacks? The Blizzard tactic with Froslass? It was good, but it was bait. A shiny new thing that people could latch onto while he worked on his real tactic.

No, he had something else prepared, and hopefully I would be able to find out if we had to battle.



It was Maeve's turn to fight now. I was actually intrigued since I hadn't really seen her fight since the Floaroma tournament. Would she be a cautious fighter like Louis and Justin? Or a risk-taker like Mira and Pauline? Or someone in the middle like me, Denzel or Cecilia? I was excited to find out. Even if we all roughly had similar ways of fighting, we were so different. Battling showed endless possibilities for every single style, and watching so many battles in this tournament made me realize the incredible growth that everyone had gone through.

The Water Field was the most annoying one to fight on by a wide margin, but it would actually be good experience for anyone still looking to fight Crasher Wake. A few rocky platforms rising from the depths of the water were the only safe havens for non-water types. Some might have said that this was an unfair advantage, but water types that couldn't be on land were so difficult to train and battle with that they deserved a win once in a while.

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

Reuben looked just as nervous as Maeve was, and he adjusted his glasses with a trembling hand. Maeve sent out her Pokemon first— her Starmie and Staravia. The star-like Pokemon spun in place, and the gem in its center gleamed. Staravia screeched and stretched her wings before taking to the air. She wasn't the biggest, but her maneuverability in the air was second to none— even better than Fletchinder's, although that might have changed now that she had evolved.

Reuben sent out a Swellow and a Quagsire. The ground type stared in utter confusion with its beady little eyes, but a cry from Swellow snapped him back to reality.

"Begin—"

Maeve exploded into a flurry of commands as soon as he finished. "Power Gem, Double Team, Aerial Ace!"

Starmie and Staravia split into at least twenty clones. The flying type and her afterimages all rushed toward Swellow, and more beams of light than I could count flew toward the same target. The fact that Maeve had trained her team to the extent that even their fake selves were able to attack was incredible.

"Quick Attack and Double Team!" Reuben yelled out to his Swellow. "Quagsire, Yawn!"

Swellow split into afterimages of its own, but it was too slow. The real Power Gem hit it, and Staravia rammed into her opponent with a ferocity that was uncharacteristic of their species. Quagsire opened its mouth so much that I thought it was about to dislocate his jaw and yawned, and I suddenly felt very drowsy. Swellow and Staravia crashed into the water.

"What?! Is that allowed? What if he drowns?!" Reuben worryingly said. The supervisor just nodded.

"Starmie, get in there and Power Gem underwater!" Maeve quickly continued.

"Quagsire, stop them! Mudshot!"

With a sharp hiss, Starmie jumped into the depths. The Mudshot followed it closely, but I couldn't see if it hit. Reuben ordered Quagsire to jump into the water to help Swellow, but it just looked around confusedly. It might as well have been a Slowpoke. Ten seconds passed. Then twenty. The water occasionally lit up with attacks that could only be Power Gem. It was a game of who would blink first. Pokeballs were generally good at tracking the Pokemon they belonged to, so pointing it in the water's general direction would be enough to save their flying types.

"Starmie!" Maeve yelled.

Swellow was raised into the air by psychic energy and slammed onto one of the islands, and the bird coughed up water. The water clung to its feathers like glue, and it was too wet to fly. Staravia was next, although she was placed a lot more gently.

"I'm retracting Staravia out of the fight," Maeve said, causing me to scoff. She immediately recalled her and released a Skorupi instead. "Venoshock."

The small bug type wasted no time angling its tail toward the Swellow and spraying her with poison that rivaled Roselia's own.

"Mud Bomb!" Reuben ordered.

This time, Quagsire spat out a huge ball of scorching mud instead of a continuous stream. Before it could land on Skorupi, Starmie jumped out of the water and held it back with Psychic. The Mud Bomb collapsed in place, sinking into the water.

"Starmie, jump back in the water before you fall asleep," Maeve said. Her words were like a continuous stream. She spoke faster than any trainer I'd seen.

The star-like Pokemon sunk into the water once more, and only Skorupi stood. Starmie was safest in the water where it couldn't get hit, and it didn't appear like Quagsire would be that good of a swimmer since he was adamant about not going into the water. Plus, Reuben would probably focus on Skorupi instead, where he held the type advantage. Another quick Venoshock finished Swellow off, and Reuben replaced it with a Bronzong.

"Light Screen and Reflect!" He yelled. "Mud Bomb again!"

"Pin Missile and Hone Claws."

Dozens of sharp spikes erupted from Skorupi's body and toward the Mud Bomb. The ground type attack did not explode, but its path was altered enough so that it only grazed the scorpion. His pincers shone and sharpened.

"Confusion it into the water!" Reuben ordered to his Bronzong. The steel type's eyes glinted, he began to lift Skorupi into the air.

"Break free with Night Slash. Keep using Pin Missle to buy time for Starmie to come back," Maeve said.

Darkness festered from within Skorupi's pincers, and he cut up the psychic sack around his body, falling back onto his island. Quagsire used Mud Shot instead of Mud Bomb this time, and no amount of Pin Missiles were stopping that attack. Still, Skorupi was a fierce little bug. Maeve ordered him to use another Venoshock, this time toward the Quagsire, and it was too slow to dodge. The poison seeped onto his skin and melted off its thick layers of fat.

"Gyro Ball, Bronzong!"

The psychic slowly started to rotate and then grew faster and faster as it approached Skorupi.

"Night Slash!"

The two Pokemon hit each other and the dark energy seemingly bypassed the Reflect. That would be important information to ingest. I knew that it was capable of passing through barriers created with Psychic, but Reflect and Light Screen were entirely different beasts. Bronzong knocked Skorupi into the water and it screeched as it made a pitiful attempt to swim.

And then it sunk.

All Maeve could do now was wait. I was nervous for her, and yet she seemed more sure of herself than she had ever been.

Starmie jumped out of the water, carrying Skorupi in tow with what could only be Confusion. They jumped onto Quagsire's island, and the bug type slashed across his back with Night Slash while Starmie blasted him with a Psychic.

"Get back!" Reuben screamed. Bronzong tried to float toward his teammate, but he was slow. Maeve's Pokemon overwhelmed Quagsire with poison and psychic energy until it fainted, but Bronzong quickly took his revenge and smashed the bug against Kadabra's wall with Confusion quicker than he could react.

Reuben sent out a Skorupi of his own, and Maeve sent out her Monferno.

She had the advantage.

"Bronzong, use Extrasensory on Monferno!"

"Starmie, Psychic, Monferno, Flamethrower."

Maeve did not even need to state who she was targeting. Skorupi was immediately restrained as Psychic assaulted its brain and turned it to mush. Monferno's tail flame intensified, and it spat out the largest Flamethrower it could muster. Instead of defending Monferno from the coming Confusion, Maeve put everything she had into one single attack.

And it worked. Skorupi was burned to a crisp and fainted right away, but Monferno was knocked back into the water. He could swim, but he was extremely weak when his tail was extinguished. Starmie jumped to his rescue and placed him back on an island.

Reuben tried for another few minutes, and Bronzong was clearly one of his strongest Pokemon, but there was only so much that it could do in a one-on-two. Eventually, the Flamethrowers and Brines broke through his Light Screen, and the steel type fainted.

"Victory to Maeve Chang. Trainers, please step off the platform."

I had seen enough to understand the gist of Maeve's style. She was a fast-paced battler that took risks, but she was smart about them. During the battle, she had had both of her Pokemon focus on one opponent while Reuben constantly split his attention. Splitting attacks was fine if there was an overarching plan, but I didn't get that feeling from him. It felt like he was still finding his footing as a trainer. Despite his Pokemon being maybe even stronger than Maeve's, the fact that she had cemented her style and he had not meant that she held the advantage.

Maeve had also recalled Staravia without any hesitation. In the moment, I almost groaned due to how strange I had found that decision, but that snap decision had potentially won Maeve the battle. Staravia would have been asleep at the same time as Starmie due to Quagsire's yawn, but it was also unable to fly because of how wet it had been. By switching out to Skorupi immediately, she kept the battle active and running at her pace.

I smiled. Maeve was pretty good.



It was nighttime now, and Pauline's battle was next on the Rock Field. This time, we were all here. I eagerly awaited for her Vigoroth to make its debut. I hoped that she had at least gotten him in line like Lauren's Rhydon— maybe not ready to listen to commands yet, but at least cooperative. Her opponents stepped up to the podium and Denzel squinted.

"What the… what the hell?" He muttered.

"What is it?" Mira asked.

"That's not… that's not who she was supposed to fight. This is a five-badger. Harry Rodriguez. I looked him up when I was researching the trainers with five badges in case I'd have to battle them."

"What? She was supposed to battle a girl with three badges, right? What happened?"

Denzel grabbed his phone and quickly started to type. "She… dropped out? And so did this guy's previous opponent. What the fuck."

My eyes narrowed. "What? That's shady as hell."

"This isn't good. I don't even know if Pauline knows about— ah, she's here."

The redhead frowned, clearly confused at her opponent, but she didn't appear shaken. The supervisor announced their names, and they released their Pokemon. Pauline released Charmeleon and Rufflet. Harry released his Pokemon onto the field.

It was a continent. A self-sustaining island with legs. A living terrarium. Torterra grunted, and the tree on its back creaked and rustled as it took to the field. It was mindbogglingly large, coming in at around nine feet in height and I didn't know how much in width. Were Torterra always that big? A relatively smaller purple bat with a huge wingspan and four wings was released directly into the air. Crobat screeched and its yellow eyes locked onto its enemies.

"Begin!"



Three minutes later, Vigoroth and Gothorita were splayed out across the ground. Torterra and Crobat stood triumphantly over them. Torterra's tree had been lit on fire, but other than that, the ground type was intact. Crobat had been too quick to even get hit once.

Pauline had lost.

Now either this was all a big coincidence,

Or something was horribly wrong with this tournament. I was willing to bet it was the latter.

A/N: Thank you Silvern | School Rumble#4162, Bladewing#8069, and badboysbreadbridge#7111 for the teams!
 
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Grace and Princess fanart
A user on my Discord called ObsidianOlive commissioned this for me. It's the first piece of fanart I've ever received and I'm extremely giddy about it, so I decided to share it here. Enjoy! (Drawn by @artbynath on fiverr)

shisam_cast.png
 
Chapter 150
CHAPTER 150

It hadn't even been particularly close. Torterra shared or even surpassed Tangrowth's bulk, so fire type attacks from Charmeleon hadn't done much but annoy it, and it easily retaliated with devastating Earthquakes that took her out of the fight before she could make use of Blaze. Torterra was too heavy for Gothorita to even hope to restrain it, and again, no clawed attacks from Vigoroth dealt much damage. Plus, the normal type had listened to Pauline somewhat, but it never wanted to hang back and wait for the correct opportunity to strike. Crobat, for its part, was just as quick as Cecilia's Talonflame and could easily run circles around anything that Pauline could throw at it.

The battle had been a massacre. A testament to the difference between a trainer with three and five badges. Maybe if Charmeleon, Gothorita, or Rufflet had evolved, then she would have stood a better chance, but there was no way for Pauline to beat an experienced trainer with tougher Pokemon than she had, or at least not with her violent approach to battling. Pauline calmly recalled her Pokemon, and we all held our breaths. She watched her opponent walk off with a smug smile and then stepped away herself.

But then, she stopped.

"Ah, shit," Denzel sighed.

"Hey, Mr. supervisor? I have a question," she said.

"Hm? What is it?"

"Can you explain to me what the fuck that just was? That wasn't the girl I was supposed to fight. I wasn't even warned about the change. Did you expect me to just walk away and take it? That'd mean that you're straight-up fucking stupid."

"Take it up to the higher-ups," he lazily said.

"No, I want to take it up with you, moron."

"I don't know why it happened, I don't make the decisions, I'm just a referee."

"Got it, so you don't care if the tournament the company you work for organized is shit. You clearly favored this guy! Why else would you put him against me at the last second? And no mentions of a schedule or a bracket change? Really?"

The audience was beginning to murmur in her favor, and the supervisor seemed to be genuinely taken aback, which surprised me. Pauline was right. What did he think would happen? Reporters had forgone interviewing Harry Rodriguez and were instead filming this entire confrontation.

"Look, all I know is that there were two resignations from your opponent and his, so you both moved up the bracket and fought each other instead. That's normal proceedings and if you read the fine print when you signed up, you would have known. I'm sorry if you feel like you've been wronged."

"So are you saying it doesn't matter then? I paid for this shit experience. That is bullshit," Pauline said. She exhaled to keep going, but then stared in our direction. Her shoulders relaxed, and she sighed. "Whatever."

After Pauline told every reporter in the vicinity to fuck off, we joined her. She wasn't as pissed off as I expected her to be— well, correction: she was pissed that she'd been wronged, but she wasn't angry that she had lost. She was taking the defeat in stride in hopes of improving.

"I mean, I knew I'd lose when I saw the Torterra come out. That thing is a monster," she sighed. "I'm not stupid. I just wanted to do as best I could. I could have done better if I could have prepared… ah man, this fucking blows. There's so much I have to work on."

"You were right to be angry," Justin said. "There's no doubt that this was a suspicious development. What were the odds that both of your opponents resign on the same day? Without any warning?"

"But he was right when he said that the normal procedure would just be to move both of you up the bracket," Maeve grimaced. "So I'm not sure…"

"What? Are you saying I would have lost to him anyway in the second round? So what? There's still injustice that was done, and it fucking pisses me off. I'll be taking it up with the higher-ups," she hissed, mockingly imitating the referee.

"Did it show on the website at all?" Maeve asked.

"I checked this morning and it didn't," she snapped.

I glanced at Denzel, silently asking him to keep her in line. She was right to be angry. Something about this just didn't bode well, but I felt like we should stay discreet for now until we gathered more information. Something was still bothering me— something other than that egregious display of favoritism and corruption.

It seemed that Harry knew a whole lot about Pauline's team when that shouldn't have been possible if he'd been caught by surprise at the last minute, but most of all…

His battle hadn't been supposed to be on the Rock Field, and yet he'd shown up just in time. He knew.

"Look, we'll do it together," he told her.

"I don't need a babysitter."

"Okay… but that's not what I said— you know what, let's just get your team healed for now."

The mood grew gloomy as we walked toward the Center. None of us had expected someone to lose this early, especially when we'd seen that we wouldn't battle against anyone better than we were in the first round. But if there was a scheme afoot, why would these people risk it? BattleZone— their company— was renowned for organizing and running smooth tournaments, and they'd make an ample amount of money during the whole thing even if the Hunters were getting a share of the revenue for letting them use their land. With the advertisements, the revenue from the tickets, the publicity… so why?

Harry Rodriguez… I thought as I turned on my phone. I scrambled to look up anything I could find about him. He was a second year from Hearthome, and his two other Pokemon were a Pelipper and a Luxray. He was sponsored by a single gaming company, although it didn't seem like a close relationship. He'd gotten four badges during his first year, but was now well on his way to making it to the Conference. He'd beaten all of the gyms in the east, but where had he gotten his fifth?

It took a bit of sleuthing to figure out that he'd beaten Roark a week before the tournament started. How the hell had he gotten back here so quickly for the tournament? He didn't appear to have a teleporter on his team, and even the biggest Pelipper weren't large enough to carry humans. It couldn't have been a secret fifth Pokemon either, since his battle against Roark had been a four-on-four. At the fifth badge, gym leaders weren't going to hold back in terms of numbers for the fight, and they'd force you to utilize your entire team. Maybe Harry had caught something right after his gym battle… but no. Catching a psychic in the wild capable of Teleporting that far was as likely as winning the Arceus damned lottery, and I didn't think that anyone would trust them enough to teleport anyway. The same thought process applied to a flying type.

So how?

Connections. Just like Craig had carried us back to Eterna, Harry had someone to either teleport or fly him around. Innocent enough in a vacuum, but with the added context, I was growing suspicious. We entered the Center, and Pauline gave her Pokemon to Nurse Joy.

"Hey, Justin and I are going to head back to help Pauline lodge her complaint," Denzel said.

"You'll just censor me."

"Yes, that is the goal," Justin said.

"So keep us updated on anything," he continued. "You guys get some rest for your battles tomorrow," Denzel finished, staring and me and Mira.

"Sure thing," she nonchalantly answered.

The group dispersed after that. It seemed that despite some of us being suspicious of this whole affair, most were willing to give the organizers the benefit of the doubt until something like this happened again. Maeve had grown less confrontational since getting crushed by Louis at the Floaroma tournament. Mira didn't exactly care about the tournament anyway, and even if Denzel and Justin were suspicious, they probably wanted to focus on keeping Pauline from exploding at some poor guy who didn't know anything that was happening.

Louis, Cecilia and I were not most. They knew all too well what money could turn a person into, and I wasn't willing to let this go quite easily. Not when a friend had been wronged.

Especially when Harry Rodriguez would be someone I needed to battle sooner rather than later, looking at the brackets. Hell, what happened to Pauline could even happen to me. Instead of training for tomorrow's battle against Yasim like I had expected to do, we all sat in my room. Combee buzzed over Louis' head, the three faces yawning in unison. Cecilia closed my blinds and released Slowking to tell us if anyone was near, and I had Princess out, and she sat in my lap like usual. It wasn't that I wanted to keep my other friends in the dark. That would have been a foolish decision. Everyone needed to be on the same page, or something terrible was bound to happen if our suspicions were correct. Tomorrow, I would tell them all about what we would discover tonight, and I would also send a message to the group chat before going to sleep for good measure.

The atmosphere was still… awkward. It wasn't that long ago that Louis had left the group because of me. A heavy silence hung in the air, and we all waited to see who would start to speak first. We must have stood there for at least two minutes until Louis let out a slight chuckle.

A single laugh.

Then we joined him, giggling like idiots at the stupidity of the situation. We had a potential scandal on our hands, and we were worried about how awkward things were? It was just so silly.

"Sorry about that," Louis said, wiping away a tear of laughter. "I… wow, I haven't laughed like that in a long time."

"Let's make sure you keep those coming then," Cece smiled.

My heart felt whole again. Like something that I believed irreparably broken had just been healed. Tears of laughter turned into tears of joy, but I hid them well enough and wiped them away with my shirt. Togetic noticed and glanced at me, but I just kissed her forehead and brought her into a tight hug.

"Let's get to the matter at hand then," I said. "Harry Rodriguez."

"There must be something there, right?" Louis asked. "Can we check how many resignations there have been since the start of the tournament?"

"I don't know… Denzel would be useful for this," I muttered. "Let me check the website."

I grabbed my phone again.

"I saw you looking things up earlier," Cecilia said.

"Uhuh," I nodded. "I mostly discovered that he must have an acquaintance or a friend that flew or teleported him back to Solaceon because he was last seen in Oreburgh before this. I tried figuring it out on his megathread, but there was nothing there. Just baseless speculation."

I explained his badge order and how it was strange that he had gotten to Roark so quickly. You could theoretically scale down the mountain on route 207, but nothing Rodriguez currently had was capable of that, which meant that he was teleported or flown to Oreburgh in the first place. We put a tab on that for now.

"How many days did it take him to get back here?" She asked.

"Uh, I don't know, I can't really corroborate anything. He fought Roark and won a bit more than a week ago, and he showed up here five days later in time for the tournament, but that could mean anything."

"He could have either flown directly or waited a few days to Teleport," Louis said.

"So picture this," I said. "I'm Rodriguez—"

Cecilia and Louis both chuckled.

"—and I just beat Roark handily with my Torterra and Pelipper or whatever. Instead of continuing on toward Canalave or just getting a ride to Eterna via my teleporter or flier, I come back here. Why?"

"The rewards. Hyper beam," Cece immediately said.

"Obviously that's part of it, but there must be something else. To backtrack during the Circuit when you don't have to, you must be pretty sure that you're going to win, no? Doesn't that seem suspicious?"

"I don't know… if he has a teleporter or friend to fly him, it wouldn't cost him anything to try. If he loses, he can just Teleport or fly back. Plus, his skills would put him in a good position to win. I think you're looking too deep into it," she frowned.

"That's… fair."

"But then again, doesn't he only have four Pokemon? If he's going to make it to the Conference, he's going to need to catch his last two and train them up quickly. The easiest way to do that is by traveling," Louis said.

"But we could be telling Pauline and Justin the same thing. It's not enough. We're missing something," Cece muttered.

"Ah!" I exclaimed. I had found what I was looking for. "There's been twelve resignations— including the ones we already know of— but the other ten were all before the tournament began. It doesn't tell us the reasons though."

"We lack information," Cecilia said.

"And I'm sure that they could claim that other trainers benefited from those resignations in some way or another," I groaned. "The difference with Harry is that the timing is… too convenient, and that he knew where his battle would take place. Like he'd been warned beforehand.

"Could we track down the two people that resigned from Pauline and Henry's matches? That could give us some insight," Louis asked.

"I've got their names here, but finding them in this town would be…"

"Impossible," he sighed. "It's also possible that they've left already."

"There is something else we can try to do," Cecilia said. "Find Luca Antonovich."

"Who?" Louis asked.

Personally, I knew that Cece just liked to pause for dramatic effect.

"Grace already knows about this, but there's a man with two Cutiefly going around and selling information. Slowking caught one of them spying on me yesterday. He uses their small size to spy on people," she explained. "If anyone knows anything about those two, it would be him. We'll have to pay, though."

"Where is he now?" I asked.

"Now? Not tomorrow?" Louis' eyes widened.

"No time like the present. It's only seven."

"Well, I don't exactly know but I heard he liked to skulk around near the Hunters' home…"



With Combee and Togetic in tow, finding Luca had been easy. Well, it was more like he had let himself be found. Princess had told me that he'd waved at her when she'd been scanning the area in the sky. Luca Antonovich smiled widely as he greeted us with a curt nod. The two Cutiefly flying around his head were barely visible to the naked eye, but they had a pale, yellow glow that made them easy to see in the night. I assumed that was just for flair and that they could turn that off.

"I figured people were looking for me when I saw those two in the sky," he said, pointing at Togetic and Combee.

"And you let yourself be found?" Louis asked.

"Hey, how do you think I get paid?" He shrugged. "I didn't think Grace Pastel and Cecilia Obel would come to ask of my services. You two seemed too goodie-two-shoes for that. So who's it gonna be? Yasim Benzema? Finley Johansson?"

"We're not here for info about our opponents," I said. "We're here for two things. First, the two people that were supposed to fight Pauline King and Harry Rodriguez resigned on the same day. Would you happen to know anything about that?"

Luca licked his upper teeth. "That's gonna cost you."

"Money isn't an issue. I will pay," Louis said.

"Louis—"

"Don't worry, Cecilia. It's the least I can do."

"Pay up then. 50 G's."

Louis grabbed his trainer ID and transferred the money onto Luca's account. To him, fifty thousand was nothing, but Luca was practically salivating. We had probably overpaid.

"Alrighty then. See, one of the poor sods who resigned came to me at first looking for info about their opponents. Sally McCree thought she had a chance against Pauline King, so she was willing to pay a lot. I had my Cutiefly snoop around and found out about that Vigoroth of hers and a few new moves," he said. A small, barely audible chime rang out in my ears. The Cutiefly were nowhere near me, but it felt like they were buzzing around right next to my ears.

I wondered if such small Pokemon were capable of battling.

"She was hyped as hell for her battle, so imagine my surprise when I heard she resigned. I usually try to keep my nose out of things where it doesn't belong, but I got curious. I sought her out before she left, but she wasn't willing to tell me anything. I offered to pay. Me! Can you imagine that? There's nothing I crave more than information, but the bitch just snubbed me. She said she'd changed her mind and that she needed to hurry up to collect the gym badges instead of wasting time here. I tried to push her, but she screamed that it was none of my business. So I go 'okay, whatever,' but this thing is eating at me and I seek the other person instead."

"The one who was supposed to fight Harry Rodriguez," I breathed out.

"Yeah. Another kid with five badges this time. Imagine my surprise when he told me the exact same thing, eh? Funny how that works. You know, when people have the exact same story, that means something's going on. Something a lot bigger than I personally can handle, so I resigned to just chill out and make cash even though my curiosity's eating at me."

I sighed and clenched at my forehead. From the way he'd told his story, it sounded like they'd been pressured to leave. Since Harry's opponent had been supposed to be a five-badger, I reckoned he had a decent chance to win, even without knowing anything about his team. You didn't get to five badges without being an excellent trainer.

And now, Harry had fought Pauline and gotten an easy victory instead of a possible nailbiter.

It felt like this tournament was being rigged.

"Okay…" Cecilia exhaled. "Okay. This is big."

"I'd stay out of it if I were you," Luca shrugged. "I like you guys. You paid me a fuck ton."

I ignored his ironic comment and sent all of this information into the group chat. The others needed to know about this, but we needed to act like we didn't, at least for now. Even though I didn't think it was the likeliest scenario, there was a possibility that they'd been threatened to leave. They could have been paid off too, or simply pressured. It was hard to say no when the full weight of a massive company was breathing down your neck. There was no way to know until we gathered more information.

"We also wanted to ask about Harry Rodriguez," Louis said.

"The big guy himself, eh?" Luca laughed. "Shoot."

"Does he have any relations with the organizers here?"

"With BattleZone? Not that I know of, but if they were rigging this, don't you think they'd have hidden it better than this?" He shrugged. "Feels amateurish to me. Too sloppy. I wish I had more for you, but that's all I got."

"That's fine," Louis sighed. "Thank you anyway."

"And hey, if you ever need more information, I'll be here," he grinned. "Here, take my number. Keep me in the loop."



I stared up at the stars as we traveled through the lonely road to get back to the Center. Just like in Floaroma, you could see them easily in Solaceon. The reactions to the news in the group chat had been mostly uproar, but we all knew that we needed to proceed with caution. Even Pauline had calmed down somewhat.

"Something's been bothering me," I frowned. "If they were rigging it for Harry, why not make Pauline fight her opponent anyway? Why make Sally Mccree resign?"

"Do you think she knew something that they didn't want her to leak?" Cece asked.

"Maybe. But then again, it could be… what if it was to muddy the waters?" I gasped.

"What do you mean by that?"

"If you're the organizers, you could want to make a bunch of people randomly resign to make it look like you're not helping a particular person," I said. "There are always some people that leave a tournament early, so it wouldn't be that strange."

"But Harry was clearly the one that benefited here, no? He crushed Pauline instead of fighting an equal," Louis said.

I nodded. "Yes. So if my theory's right, more and more people will start quitting at random, and there'll be no way to tell if those resignations are legit or not. It'll make the whole thing impossible to prove. It would be suspicious, but suspicion isn't enough to convict someone."

"So we have this trainer with no relations to the organizers… no holes in his story, but he's still getting pulled upward for some reason," Cecilia reflected. "What can he offer them? What does him winning do for them?"

"For BattleZone? Nothing," I said. "Or at least nothing that I can think of. There's something missing."

I chewed on my thumb nail and stopped moving.

Harry Rodriguez. No relations to BattleZone, but still getting help from the organizers. Why? He had five badges, so he was already a top contender. Someone wanted him to win, but we'd already established that there would be no benefits for the organizers to do so. They were already making money, and risking their reputation on such a scheme was suicidal for a company of that size. This wasn't like Clarence and Harvey. The potential rewards did not justify their actions. The more trainers were forced to resign, the more the chances of a leak grew. They'd never be allowed to run any tournaments again, and they'd ruin the relationship they were fostering with all of these advertisers, trainers, the Hunter family—

The Hunter family.

I stopped biting on my nail and my realized my eyes had gotten dry. I had stopped blinking. The Hunter family didn't run or organize the tournament, but they practically ran everything that happened in Solaceon due to the immense amount of influence they wielded. The tournament was happening on their land, and they'd given up a Hyper Beam TM as a reward. They had skin in the game.

It didn't come close to explaining anything. The entire picture was still blurry, and I still had no idea why they would want Harry Rodriguez to win. If he'd been a part of their family, I would understand…

But it was something to look into.

"We need to look into the Hunters."
 
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Chapter 151
CHAPTER 151

The first thing we did before getting back to the Center was run back to Luca and ask him if he knew about any links between Harry Rodriguez and the Hunter family, but he had no answers for us. He'd said that there was nothing there that he knew of, but that he was going to start digging today already. If he ever figured something out, he would contact us and let us know.

For the right price, of course. He was somewhat similar to Abel in that regard, which kind of pissed me off. If there was some scheme going on, why not do the right thing and expose it? Or at least try to work with us.

The second thing we did was call for a group meeting where Louis, Cece and I brought everyone up to speed with the information we didn't manage to convey over text. We were currently in Cece's room to discuss things.

"Tomorrow, I'll try to ask around," Denzel said with his arms crossed. "There ought to be people that know more about Harry… still, none of this makes sense. I mean, he's a good trainer and all, but I still don't understand what the Hunters would have to gain and why BattleZone would be cooperating with this. The risks…"

"The risks didn't deter my father," Cece said.

"But there's no reward at the end," I said. "Unless there is, and we just aren't seeing it. It can't be for money. The Hunters are already filthy rich, and so is BattleZone. Hyper Beam wouldn't put a dent in their expenditure. And there's also how obvious they're making it too."

I tapped my foot against the floor and bit my lip. I was good at these things. Brainstorming and thinking about stuff, but for the first time, no answers were coming up. Why, why, why? No matter how I spun it, nothing made sense. We were back at square one—

Cece grabbed my hand and gently led me onto her lap.

"Relax, love," she said, hugging me from behind. "There's no fire. We still have time to figure it out."

"And maybe it's just a coincidence—" Maeve stopped when Pauline stared daggers at her.

"What was the supervisors' reaction when you guys lodged a complaint?" I asked.

"They were genuinely nice," Justin said. "Understanding and everything. They said that they'd be willing to refund half of Pauline's entry fee for the misunderstanding—"

"Which I took, by the way," she huffed. "Fucking half. Am I worth half a human being?"

"—We're not as good as you at reading people, but I felt like they were trying to be as nice as possible."

Denzel nodded to agree.

"Could they not be informed about the scheme?" I muttered. It would make sense for low to mid-leveled employees not to know. "Or maybe they sold it really well…"

"Either way, we won't figure out more until more time passes. Like Maeve says, it could be a misunderstanding or a coincidence, but the way Luca told us about the two people who resigned… there was something there," Louis said. "If we see more sudden resignations to give Harry an easier path, then we'll know for sure."

"Don't forget they might mix in others too," I warned. "Only helping Harry would be too obvious."

"Let's just go to sleep for now," Mira shrugged.

"Fine."

I went to bed pissed that night. And I also woke up pissed. I should have cuddled with Cece all night to soothe my soul. To be honest, I kind of wanted to sleep with her every night, but I didn't want to be too clingy and ask. She might find it annoying, and I didn't want to be a high-maintenance girlfriend. My battle against Yasim was in the morning just like my first one, and with all of yesterday's events I hadn't exactly had time to plan a general strategy, so I was just going in with the goal of taking down Hippowdon as quickly as possible to get rid of Sandstorm in hopes of using Sunny Day.

I stared at my opponent as I stepped onto the platform and exhaled. For my talks to Princess about not taking out her anger on her opponents, it was hard not to let loose here. I closed my eyes and took deep breaths. I needed to be a good example for her.

Yasim Benzema clasped his hands together, and his head twitched in anticipation. Just like my previous opponent, he was nervous to face me. What that nervousness would do to him during the battle, however? Would it sharpen his wit or dull his senses? That remained to be seen. I grabbed my two Pokeballs and felt at the cold steel with my palms. They filled my hands so comfortably.

The Snow Field had been completely fixed since Lauren had destroyed it yesterday. There were no signs of the crater or the upended earth, and a thick layer of snow had been placed back.

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

We both released our Pokemon onto the field. Hippowdon stood at attention, its body tense, but there was a strange calmness in its eyes. Sand began to leak from the holes on its body and fell onto the snow, giving way to a mix of gold and white. A huge Lairon stomped the floor and stared me down with its resplendent blue eyes. I'd have to keep it away from Princess, but with how high in the sky she was, she was probably safe from most attacks. She tilted her head and curiously eyed our enemies— no doubt scanning for a weakness. Angel's vines waded through the snow and he played around for a few seconds, reminding me of our time up north on route 216 and 217.

"Begin!"

"Start getting in there. Slowly," I told Tangrowth.

There was no point in using Sunny Day. Hippowdon's Sandstorm was already starting to pick up. Tangrowth happily waddled through the snow, sifting the cold surface with his vines. I didn't want to wait for what Yasim was going to do next, but I was waiting for a specific distance for Princess to spring into action.

"Stealth Rocks, Lairon! Hippowdon, Sand Tomb the Tangrowth! Keep it trapped, or we lose!"

Lairon's entire body shook, and it ejected sharp rocks from the holes on its metallic head. The snow below Tangrowth's feet turned to mush, and then the mud from below erupted. Angel tried to get out by propelling himself with vines, but he couldn't. He was too heavy. Too slow.

"Ancient Power. Five spears," I said. "Don't aim for the eyes."

With a sharp nod, Togetic lifted the already-formed spears from the ground. They were thick and wickedly sharp, clocking in at eight feet long each. With a gleeful giggle, she launched each spear flying toward Hippowdon.

"Escape with Dig!" Yasim yelled.

The ground type yelled and sunk into the ground, and the five spears were lodged into the floor. The Sand Tomb under Tangrowth's feet stopped moving, allowing him to push himself out with his vines. Yasim cursed.

"Autotomize!" He yelled.

"Get him," I said.

Lairon's body shimmered, and the steel type skidded onto the floor, narrowly avoiding Tangrowth's Power Whip.

"Keep your distance and Earth Power!" Yasim yelled. "Hippowdon, get up there and Fire Fang!"

Interesting. Yasim was a lot trickier than what I had given him credit for. Geysers of molten rocks and earth erupted under Tangrowth's feet, singing his vines, and Hippowdon unburrowed right behind him with flames dancing in its huge maw.

"Behind you, Angel! Princess!"

One of Tangrowth's vines turned neon green and slammed against Hippowdon's neck, staggering the huge ground type. Five spears stabbed it in the back, burying themselves past its thick layer of fat. Hippowdon screamed but carried out its order, biting Angel with all of the strength it could muster and burning his vines.

"Now run and Dig!"

"Bind."

Ten of Angel's vines wrapped around Hippowdon's entire body. The ground type was too heavy to lift, but it was enough to keep him on the surface. Angel strained against Hippowdon's pull. It was so strong that some of the vines tore away, but they were immediately replaced. I ordered Tangrowth to use Mega Drain and took a deep breath. I couldn't go easy on Yasim. He was good.

I had another plan running in the background but If I could neutralize Hippowdon, then Sunny Day was a possibility. That would almost guarantee my win.

So it had to be done.

"Stab," I cooly told Princess. "Aim for the holes."

"Lairon, free him! Metal Claw!"

Lairon's claws shone, and he tore at Angel with everything he had. It wasn't enough. Tangrowth was constantly draining Hippowdon's energy and replenishing himself. Another set of five spears flew toward Hippowdon and penetrated deep inside of the ground type, each stabbing into its precious sand-creating orifices. The sand streaming out of its holes stopped, and the ground type cried out in pain.

"Princess, another round."

Another five spears. Another scream. Princess' aim was on point today, and the smile that stretched across her face disturbed Yasim to no end. The Hippowdon went limp, and Tangrowth's hold on him loosened. Yasim recalled the ground type and sent out a Magnezone. The true threat on his team.

"Focus," I warned her.

"Fuck up that Togetic. Thunderbolt!"

Magnezone buzzed, and an arc of electricity rushed toward Princess. It was harmlessly absorbed by her psychic shield.

Yasim's expression began to morph into one of disbelief.

"Finish off Lairon with Power Whip."

Tangrowth smashed Lairon again and again, denting its tough metallic armor. The steel type tried to fight back, but he couldn't withstand Angel's assault. After using Tri Attack on Togetic and realizing that even that wasn't going through, Yasim ordered Magnezone to use Thunder Wave on Tangrowth instead. Angel froze and his vines sputtered, allowing Lairon some respite.

"Tri Attack Tangrowth!"

"Barrier on him," I told Togetic.

Three lasers of fire, ice, and electricity hit Tangrowth, but a protective bubble appeared in front of him. She was far, but she was quick.

"That's fucking bullshit," Yasim groaned.

It really wasn't, but I shut up and didn't let it show on my face. He probably thought that Togetic was shielding Tangrowth at the same time as herself, but she wasn't. She'd shifted the barrier to him instead, so she was currently very vulnerable.

"Angel, can you still fight?" I asked. He kept twitching in place.

"Don't fucking talk to your Pokemon midbattle! Lairon, Magnezone, break through the barrier!"

I frowned. Was I not allowed to check if my Pokemon was okay? Lairon was tired, but he still used weakened Earth Powers to try to help. Magnezone was the one doing the heavy lifting here, and his Tri Attacks were even better than Mira's. It was only a matter of time before the barrier broke. Without Angel, I didn't really have an answer to steel types other than Turtonator. I could use Shadow Ball, but he'd dodge those easily.

"Princess, focus on finishing the Lairon. Ancient Power. Blunt force this time, five rocks."

The barrier around Angel disappeared, and she lifted five thick boulders from the ground. With a fierce cry, she sent them off toward Lairon. The steel type dodged the first two, but it was too injured from all the abuse it had taken from Power Whip. A boulder broke against his head, and another against the softer bits on his flank. Lairon reeled, but let out a defiant roar—

The last boulder hit him in the face, causing him to faint. Finally.

Yasim sent out his last Pokemon. His Vibrava. Princess locked onto the dragon, her eyes unblinking. I could practically feel her bloodlust from here.

"Calm down," I said. "Ancient Power, another set of spears."

"Magnezone, forget the Tangrowth! Gang up on Togetic! Vibrava, Rock Slide!"

I clicked my tongue. I'd been content at Magnezone tiring himself out with attacks that would take ages to bring Angel down, but Yasim was smarter than that. Why worry about Angel when he was incapable of fighting? Vibrava beat its wings until they became a blur and rocks rose toward Togetic like they had a mind of their own. She simply flew up to stop herself from getting hit. Magnezone fired off a Thunderbolt, interrupting her from using Ancient Power. She had to focus if she wanted to shield herself. The attack was absorbed into her shield.

"I'm withdrawing Angel," I said. Turtonator would have been ideal here, but I couldn't use him still. I sent out Buddy instead, who floated up into the air. The Stealth Rock penetrated deep into his body, and he groaned before expunging the rocks and Recovering. "Brine. Princess, Ancient Power. Start with five drills."

"Thunderwave that Jellicent!"

"Shield him—"

"Tri Attack, then! Vibrava, Dragon Breath!"

Princess sent five spinning drills toward Vibrava, who weaved in between them with impressive maneuverability. I should have known that it would have been good at that when looking at its wings.

Fortunately though, Brine came into the picture. Clouds formed above both Magnezone and Vibrava, and thin jets of water slammed against their bodies. The steel type was relatively unaffected, but Vibrava screeched as it spat out its Dragon Breath toward Jellicent. This time, both Tri Attack and Dragon Breath hit, but Buddy just recovered.

And he had been the bait anyway.

A drill tore through two of Vibrava's wings, and the dragon crashed to the floor. It tried to fly back up, but with that gaping hole there was no getting back in the air. It was a sitting Ducklett.

"Spear now. One," I quickly said.

With a sad chirp, Princess raised the earth once more. A single spear rushed toward Vibrava, who tried to counter it with Dragon Breath. The Ancient Power jerked to the right and kept going.

"Magnezone, get in front of her!"

"Get in there and Hex."

Jellicent propelled himself with Water Sport, hoping to reach Magnezone in time. His eyes shone with a menacing red as the steel type's body began to smoke, but the spear actually crashed into it, barely causing a dent. Yasim clenched a fist in celebration.

"Do it again. Ten this time. Buddy, Brine."

I wasn't actually going to hurt Vibrava that much, and Princess knew that. I didn't want to battle like that, and like I had said, I wanted to rein that side of me back in.

But the quick mood switch that Yasim just went through that I manufactured? From things being slightly under control to a complete disaster? That caught him off balance. All this time during the battle, I had limited myself to the number five. Five, five, five. Whether drills, spears, or boulders, I had etched that number into his mind and made him feel safe in thinking that was Princess' limit. A tough attack to counter, but he had grown comfortable with it. Used to it.

And then I pulled the rug from under him just like I had done with Candice, but better.

If he'd been better mentally prepared, then this could have been stopped. At this point in time, however? Yasim could only feel one thing.

Despair.

The spears spread out and all converged toward Vibrava. There was no way for Magnezone to protect his teammate from that many without his trainer's command. The raindrops from Brine slowly but surely dented at his metallic shell. I waited to see if Yasim would fight back, but he just stared. That hopelessness I had crafted? I would use it to win. After realizing that no orders from his trainer were coming, Magnezone tried to desperately interrupt Princess with a Thunderbolt, but Buddy flew in between them with Water Sport and tanked the hit before recovering.

I whistled sharply, and nine of the spears jerked away from Vibrava and dissolved into dust. The one that remained lightly stabbed into Vibrava's abdomen and the ground type fainted. That whistle had been my signal for Princess to hold back, and she'd done so perfectly, although I could still feel some reluctance.

Yasim recalled his Vibrava and bit his lip.

"I forfeit."



After slogging through my interviews and escaping by using the Pokemon Center excuse, I joined my friends again. Cece and Denzel were the only ones here. The others were off training or hanging about Solaceon. If I remembered correctly, Pauline was complaining to Emilia on the phone about her loss. Mira was training for today's battle, and I was surprised to see that Denzel hadn't done the same. Justin was rekindling his friendship with Louis since they hadn't talked alone in a long time. I was hoping to go investigate, but I wouldn't be able to do anything until tomorrow when Harry battled again.

Cecilia kissed the corner of my lip. "Your ruthlessness leaves me more enamored with you by the day."

I couldn't help but grin like an idiot, and Denzel frowned at us.

"You guys are weird."

"Shut up. You wouldn't get it," I said.

"No. No, I really don't. Anyway, I'm mostly just joking around. Luring this guy into a false sense of security was as good of a tactic as any."

"It was brilliant," Cece smiled. "I was wondering why you were holding back the whole time, but that reveal was… wow."

"I feel kind of bad. I mean I was pissed about yesterday," I sighed. "So some of that might have slipped into the battle. Hopefully he's fine."

"Should we go somewhere to cheer you up?" Cecilia asked.

"Sure. A change of pace will be good."

"I'll be off. Need to prepare for my battle," Denzel said. "I'm still tweaking a few things."

"Don't act like you aren't hiding something," I smugly said.

"W—What? I don't know what you mean."

"Arceus, that stutter you have when you get caught in a lie is crazy. You should work on that if you want to trick me."

Denzel grumbled as he left. I wasn't going to try to dig deeper into his new tactics unless we were about to battle. I still had a lot of opponents to get through before that, however, so I could relax for now. And now that I'd made it through two opponents without looking up their moves and fighting styles, I could finally stop holding back. I wasn't going to risk getting knocked out this early, not with the Poketch Company breathing down my neck and the money that was on the line.

But most of all, I wanted to face Harry Rodriguez and win. If we both kept winning each round, we would face each other in the top sixteen. That meant that he was the main trainer that stood in the way of a potential reward from the tournament. Thanks to my beneficial position on the bracket, I wouldn't have to battle any of my friends until I made it through him. If none of my friends got knocked out by other trainers, then Harry would have to make it through… Maeve pretty soon. I did think she was a good trainer, but as it stood, I didn't think she had a chance. Denzel and Cecilia would end up having to battle soon enough, and so would Lauren and Mira.

"Grace?"

"My bad," I said, refocusing on her.

"You're anxious."

"Of course. I don't know why, but I want to win against this Harry jerk. Now let's go hang out."

"Where should we go?"

I hummed. "First, go give Angel to Nurse Joy, and then… do you think they have a piano around here?"



Somehow, we ended up knocking on strangers' doors to ask if they had a piano we could use. Cecilia had begged me not to do it because of the possibly fatal amount of second-hand embarrassment that she felt whenever some stranger stared at us confusedly when they opened the door, but she loved me so much that she pushed herself for me.

There was no piano to be found. We ended up having a date were we just knocked on strangers' doors and awaited their reactions. Solaceon was a relatively small, tight-knit community. Not as small as Twinleaf, but small enough for people to not even leave their doors locked at night. An old couple called Daniel and Marge even let us in to have some tea.

"It's not often that we have young people in our home," the old woman smiled as she handed us two cups. "What brings you here?"

Cece stared daggers at me.

"We're trainers just passing by for the tournament," I said. "We've been enjoying Solaceon a whole lot so far."

"It's a great little town," Daniel said fondly. "Full of history, if you know where to look—"

"Please, Danny. Don't bore them with your history again," his wife rolled her eyes. "We should talk about younger things. My grandson always brings up this DailyTube thing on the internet…"

"That's somewhere you can watch videos online," I explained, surprised that she even knew about the internet. "What does your grandson do?"

"He's at Sunyshore University. We raised him, Danny and I."

"I heard it's the best in Sinnoh," Cecilia smiled. "He's in good hands."

"He didn't originally want to go there, you see," Daniel said with a regretful look. "He wanted to work for the Daycare. He was really passionate about Pokemon—"

"He still is, Danny."

"Get off my back for a second, Arceus," he grumbled. "Can I just speak uninterrupted for a second—"

"What was that about the Daycare?" I asked.

Daniel sighed and Marge cackled.

"He wanted to work for them."

"I thought it was a family business only," Cecilia said.

"Oh it is. The Hunters have always been that way. Everyone in Solaceon knows that they hold their share of secrets and that they run things here. They aren't willing to just let anyone in. You see, our grandson Isaac used to date a Hunter. Lisa Hunter, to be exact. He hoped to marry her and join their family."

"He would have had to take their last name, which is egregious."

"You only say that because he's a man and you hate the idea of a husband taking his wife's name," Marge countered. "Let me do the talking. The only way an outsider can join the Hunter family is by marrying a Hunter and taking in their last name. Isaac— bless his heart— really believed that the relationship would go that far."

"I warned him. I did. I explicitly told him that his first relationship would most likely not go that far, but he wouldn't hear it."

Cece and I glanced at each other but said nothing.

"When you two girls find a boy, you should keep that in mind," Marge said. "Lisa broke our poor Isaac's heart, and he decided to apply for Sunyshore University. Now he says that he never wants to show his face here again."

I ignored the fact that they had gotten our relationship completely wrong and bit the inside of my lip.

Okay.

Okay.

This was something. A lead. I needed to push for more information.

"How many years ago was this?"

"Two years ago. We haven't seen him since, but we talk on his video chat thing," she sighed.

"And the Hunters… are they secretive of any potential relationships at all?" Cecilia asked.

"Quiet? That wasn't half of it, they made us sign—"

"Marge."

The old woman froze, and audibly swallowed. Sign what? An NDA?

"They were. Lisa constantly demanded to keep it hidden," Daniel continued half-heartedly, keeping his eyes on his wife. "It never got out, though. They tend to always be secret. That's why we always suddenly hear that so-and-so is marrying into the Hunters, and we're always surprised by it."

"Uhuh," I muttered. "Don't you think that's strange?"

"Well, that's just the Hunters," Marge waved dismissively. "They behave like the clans in Kanto and Johto sometimes, it reminds me of my childhood."

"You're Kantoan?" I asked, my eyes widening.

"I was born and spent the first ten years of my life there," she shrugged. "I consider myself Sinnohan."

"But she'll never stop nagging me about how her damned attitude is because of her Kantoan blood," Daniel laughed.

I sipped on my tea and considered what to ask next while Cecilia kept them busy with small talk. I couldn't assume that Harry Rodriguez was dating someone in the Hunter family yet. That was just my brain desperately wanting to fit the last piece of the puzzle that would blow this whole thing wide open. It would be too easy. Too convenient. It still didn't explain why they would even want him to win so much that they'd rig it so egregiously, and it still didn't explain the relationship with BattleZone. People on the forums were already starting to talk about how this whole tournament was suspicious, and the media was also beginning to smell blood in the water. Cece waited for a lull in the conversation and struck.

"Are the Hunters known to work with other companies? You know, they're cooperating with BattleZone for this tournament," Cecilia asked.

"Well, I'm not that well-versed in their business practices. What about you Danny?"

"They're fiercely independent, but not stupid. If there is money to be made, they'll work with others."

"So it's not the first time?"

"Of course not," he waved dismissively.

Damn it, it would have been a lot more suspicious if it was a change from how they usually operated. I was still missing the last piece, but we had somehow gotten a lot more information than I thought we'd get by pure chance. It didn't exactly have anything to do with the tournament, but it seemed like the Hunters had a lot of skeletons in their closet. We stuck around another thirty minutes before we left. They had both become uncomfortable with the number of questions we were asking about the Hunters and kept diverting the topic to other things. They asked us to come back before we left Solaceon, and we said we'd come. They were nice people, even though they had unknowingly thrown shade at our relationship by saying it was doomed to failure.

I grabbed Cecilia's hand and felt my heart pang.

"Are you worried about what they said?" She asked.

"I thought you'd ask me if I was worried about the Hunters," I dryly said.

"I know you," she smiled. "There's an element of truth to what they said… most teenage relationships don't last long. But we can try, can't we? I think we're good together."

"I do too," I reassured her.

She released her Slowking, and we walked in silence toward the city center.

"Say…" I whispered. "Can we sleep together every night?"

I felt Cece jump. "Wha— wha— um—"

"Not like that!" I quickly added. "I mean sleep literally. Just cuddle, you know. I want to fall asleep in your arms. Eugh, that sounded really corny."

She took a bit to recompose herself and cleared her throat. "O—of course. I was… waiting for you to ask that."

"You were? Why didn't you just ask me?"

"Why didn't you ask me earlier?" She countered.

"That doesn't even work," I laughed.

"I thought I'd be too clingy. I already feel like I hog you from our friends too much."

My eyes widened. She'd been worrying about the exact same thing I was.

"Let's just stop worrying about being clingy and be open with each other," I said.

Cecilia's smile widened. She linked her arm with mine and started planting kisses on my cheek while we walked on the empty road. I grinned.

"I've been cutting all of our kisses short," she said.

"How about we put that to the test?"

We were going to be insufferable to our friends, weren't we?

A/N: Thank you Proof?#6454 for the team!
 
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Chapter 152
CHAPTER 152

Cecelia and I clapped as Denzel finished off his opponent. They'd been good— another four-badger, but this time, he hadn't been caught off-guard like with that Smeargle team and he only lost one Pokemon— his Sylveon— to a fierce Durant. Steel type attacks seemingly got through his armor like a knife through butter, so I had finally figured out a way to counter it— not that I had any steel type attacks. Denzel got to use Milotic extensively. The water type was getting more and more used to moving around in his new snake-like form. He was having more fun than I'd ever seen him have as a Feebas.

It would be a while until Denzel came here since he usually spent a lot of time talking to reporters. Mira's battle was in a few hours, but the entire group opted to have another meeting before then in the Center to discuss what we'd learn and our next moves. Then, I would need to start researching Harry Rodriguez extensively. Inch. By. Inch.

I was a lot of things, but I was not stupid. At my current skill level, Harry was better than me. He was extremely quick on his feet, but his Pokemon were something else. That Torterra was the worse of all. None of my Pokemon I currently had except Sunshine would deal that much damage to the hulking grass type. I needed to prepare days in advance if I was going to win. Of course, I was also going to prepare for my other battles. Knowing moves and fighting styles would probably expedite the whole process so I could have more time to research Harry.

He was just as guilty as whoever was running this scheme. He would pay for what he'd done to Pauline.



"Step one," Denzel started as we all stared at him. He was always the leader in these conversations. "Do you have the number for this Luca Antonovich kid?"

Only Louis nodded.

"Okay, so we can at least contact him again without meeting in the middle of the night. Second, Grace, have you thought about contacting the Poketch Company for help? They know you're smart. If you tell them that you feel like something is going on and explain, I'm sure they'll send someone to check, right?"

"Yeah… I'll call Melody," I said. "I wanted to wait until we had definite proof, but just asking for help can't hurt."

"Third. This Lisa Hunter. Do we know where she is now?"

"Pfft, there are so many Hunters that it'd be impossible to find all of 'em," Mira groaned. "The only thing that's guaranteed is that she works for her family, so she must be here. Probably sleeps in that giant mansion if I had to guess. Want to break in?"

"We are not breaking into a thousand-year-old mansion!" Maeve exclaimed.

"You're no fun."

"The truth is, I asked around about Harry, but when you texted us about the Hunters, I asked around about them too. The questions about Harry came up blank. He's just a trainer. Nothing special, really. But the Hunters? They're reclusive to the point that most of them never leave their Arceus damned property. The kids are all homeschooled too."

"I guess that means that Isaac always went to see her and not the opposite," Cecilia muttered.

"I mean, from the way we got the story what happened was pretty obvious, right? Lisa Hunter was forced to break up with that Isaac guy by her family. It was out of the blue, and the relationship seemed to be going well."

"Could have been going well from the grandparents' perspective while the opposite was true," Mira shrugged.

"Fair enough, but if I had to bet, I'd be willing to say that I'm right."

"How?" Denzel asked.

I paused and felt my lips twitch upward.

"My gut."



Mira had gone off to her battle, but unfortunately and despite her incessant complaints, I wasn't going to come to watch. Louis had texted Luca, asking for him to look deeper into the Hunters if he could. We couldn't infiltrate their home and neither could Haunter because he just couldn't behave or Froslass because of the cold. They'd be found out instantly.

His Cutiefly, however? Those were another story. He had said that he'd think about it and that he was assessing the risks. I couldn't blame him.

"Harry Rodriguez," I muttered as I lazed on Angel's vine-bed. "I will know you inside and out."

Thanks to his gym battle with Roark being recent, I actually had access to his team as it was now. He had used Torterra and Pelipper extensively during that battle, but Luxray and Crobat hadn't seen much use, so I would have to wait to analyze them. As it stood, Harry's strategy was just to roll over everything with his Torterra, and when that didn't work, he actually panicked quite a bit. Nothing that would be debilitating of course, but when his starter was out of the fight, he'd start to slip and make mistakes.

I sighed. Taking down that Torterra would be incredibly hard, but I could trap it, maybe. Slow it down and keep it distracted while I focus on the other Pokemon. Torterra would be coming out first. That, I was sure of. His second was a mystery, and I'd only be able to figure it out when I learned more about how he battled in doubles instead of singles. If it was Crobat… from the little footage there was of the flying type, I knew he'd be able to overwhelm Princess with speed. And he was also a poison type that would easily beat her if it got too close. She would have been extremely useful for Torterra, but I couldn't risk it. Plus, something about its face just freaked me out. It was better than Golbat's gaping maw, but I couldn't help but feel slightly anxious at the sight of it.

Angel would have to do the heavy lifting again, it seemed. If it was Pelipper, then Honey would be the choice. Even if Torterra was a ground type, Pelipper wasn't fast enough to outrun Electric Swift. If I could rush it down with that attack and a few Thunderbolts, then we would trade one-for-one.

Plus, I could think of quite a few ways to bypass Earthquake.

If it was Luxray, then I'd have to use Sweetheart. As young as she was, she was still incredibly powerful and her Stomping Tantrum would be able to stop it from getting too close.

I had counters for everything.

Except that damned Torterra.

And the solution was just a single promise away. If Mars was still after me as Sunshine believed, then it was only a matter of time anyway, right? I'd have to confront Team Galactic eventually, even if I hated to think about it. The thought alone made me shiver in fear.

I bit my lip and Tangrowth hugged me with his vines.

Maybe I could, I thought.

No. I…

Denial was too sweet of a drug. If push came to shove and our lives were on the line, then I would have no choice. Right now, this was still small. I would talk to him about it soon to see if some sort of agreement could be reached.

I had a list of moves for Torterra and Pelipper, so now all I could do was call Melody and tell her what was going on. We hadn't really talked these last three days apart from the occasional text to micromanage my behavior during interviews. The Poketch Company seemed to think I was getting better at them, but that I could still use some tact. I texted her, asking her to speak if she was free.

She wasn't free, but since her primary job was to be my liaison, I apparently took priority. It was a funny feeling, to be the Poketch Company's priority. It was a testament of the potential they saw in me.

"Good afternoon, Grace. To what do I owe the pleasure?" Melody's smooth voice rang out.

"Hi. I'll cut to the chase. Did you hear about what happened to my friend Pauline? The two resignations?"

"Ah, yes we did," she said. "Let me guess, you find those suspicious and want us to step in?"

"Yeah. Well, not step in, but investigate or something and see if this thing is legit or not."

"I wish I could do more, Grace, I really do. We have people from the company looking into it to make sure you're being treated fairly since you're under our umbrella," Melody sighed. "But that's the most that I can do. The hype about the theory's dying down. No one else has resigned since and even though it was suspicious, the evidence is circumstantial at best—"

"It's not circumstantial! Hear me out. The Hunters—"

I stopped, my throat suddenly dry. She was right. I had nothing concrete. Just theories. I had been wrong about the wave of resignations. Only one person had dropped out since, so her information was outdated, but she was on the opposite side of the bracket and had nothing to do with Harry.

"A good company would have delayed the match, but as it turns out, this is how they do things. We read the fine print. For what it's worth, I do believe there's been some foul play, but I'm just one woman. The Poketch Company is a machine. I don't make the decisions, and when decisions are taken, they are slow," she said. "I'm sorry. Even if you lose to Rodriguez, you'll have made the top fifty, so the company will be pleased—"

"I won't lose," I interrupted.

She paused. "Very well. I wish you the best of luck. I don't know much about battling, but I can tell that he was good."

"You watched?"

"I told you I was suspicious, didn't I?" She chuckled. "One word of advice, Grace. Keep your head down and don't try to investigate. You're just a kid— wait, I know how trainers hate it when we say that, hold on let me rephrase. You should just focus on yourself for now. The Hunters… are a lot more influential than most would think."

"I know they run the place," I frowned. "What else do you know? How do you know?"

"I'm from Solaceon, Grace," she sighed. "Their influence never really leaves you, even when you move."

"Influence?" I gulped.

"A metaphorical way of speaking," she reassured me. "What I meant to say is, don't try to be a hero and trespass. They don't take too kindly to that, and it'll be illegal, so it would reflect badly on us. The Hunters are a very private family."

Damn it, it was like she'd guessed that we wanted to investigate. I didn't let my mask slip and simply agreed to her suggestion. Something about this entire town was rotten. I hated it the more I stayed here. The people were nice, but Arceus, I couldn't shake that anxious feeling that had overtaken me since yesterday. It was like something pressing on my chest and never relenting.

After hanging up, I hugged my knees and Angel softly pet my head.

"I won't stop," I said. "Justice needs to be served."



After Mira handily won her battle, Luca sent Louis a message telling him that he was in. Tonight, he would send his Cutiefly to find Lisa Hunter and see if she ever left the Arceus damned mansion. Since she had almost no online presence, there were scant pictures of her online, but during dinner, Justin proposed an idea that had somehow slipped through all of our minds.

"Why not contact that Isaac fellow in Sunyshore? Do we know his last name?"

"Holy shit, that's true," Denzel said, slapping a fist against his palm. "We do have his last name. It's uh… what was it?"

"Frazier," Cecilia said.

"If we can contact him, we can figure out what ended his relationship with the Hunters and potentially get more insight on their family, no?"

"Yeah, but will he even answer? We'd be strangers asking him about his personal life," Maeve said.

"Should we pretend to be someone else? The cops?" Mira asked in an amused tone.

"That would probably fail spectacularly," I sighed. "I think it might pay off to just be honest."

"Agreed," Pauline said. "No games. Just be straight up and try to convince him."

Denzel nodded, and it only took him five minutes to find and shoot Isaac a message on social media. Cecilia and Louis helped him workshop it to appear as polite and easygoing as possible to not pressure the man, and it surprisingly only took him twenty minutes to answer back. When we heard the buzz on Denzel phone— a buzz that I had mistaken for Combee— we all scrambled to check what was written, crowding around him.

"Chill out guys," he groaned. "He says… 'are you guys tricking me… I promise I haven't told anyone anything.'"

"Arceus, what did they do to this guy?" Maeve shivered.

"Tell him that we can call him if he wants. The entire group, to show that we're not fake," I said. "I don't know much about the Hunters, but I doubt that they'd have done it like this."

Denzel agreed and sent the message, texting him his number in the process. Isaac instantly replied, saying to wait five minutes for him to go back to his dorm room. We all flinched when we saw the call pop up.

Isaac immediately spoke up.

"Who are you people? How do you know about me and Lisa?!"

"Hello Isaac. We're… a group of trainers looking into the Hunter family," Denzel said, taking the lead. He stared at me and I gave him a firm nod. Tell the truth. "We heard about you and her through your grandparents."

"Damn it… they weren't supposed to tell anyone. I'm gonna have to call them…"

"Were you threatened in any way?" He continued.

"I was threatened legally, but that was it. Normally I would hide this, but you already know too much. Just leave me alone after alright? I already have a lot on my plate. And do not tell anyone about this. It's not like the cops here would do anything anyway. The Hunters run that too."

"Sure thing," Denzel said.

"Lisa and I dated one and a half years ago during the summer, and long story short, she broke up with me in tears. We were doing really good, but her family forced her to cut me off. I wasn't good enough for them."

"What constitutes 'good enough'? I interjected.

Hearing my voice for the first time, he hesitated. "It was just too much. I wanted to join the family business and be a breeder… to be honest, I still want to be a breeder. It was like a cult in there. They call the family leader the Elder, and he lives on the top floor of the mansion and runs everything in Solaceon. Everything. I never even saw him. They wanted me to do all this weird stuff… pledge my loyalty, leave my home and never speak to my grandparents again, work without getting paid. It was too much. I said no, and they forced Lisa to break up with me. They were the ones who wanted to marry us ASAP. I'm not dumb enough to propose to a girl I've been dating for a few months, but I had to pretend to be on board to my grandparents."

This was it. Definitive proof that the Hunters were shady, but it wasn't proof of involvement in tournament rigging.

"Is that it? I hate talking about this."

"Wait!" Louis sprung up.

"There's another one of you? Just how many people are in the room?!"

"Uh, eight people," Denzel said. Isaac groaned. "Louis?"

"You say this family is like a cult," Louis started. "Is there any… brainwashing going on?"

"No. They're just blindingly loyal to the family head," he denied. "They've been doing this for a thousand years. The Hunters are an institution. They've always been there. People in Solaceon can't imagine their lives without 'em, and it's even worse for the people in the family. You can't free any of them from that influence. I tried with Lisa… I tried to get her to run away to Sunyshore with me. She loved me— she really did— but looked at me like I was insane. I'll never forget what she told me that day."

"I'm sorry," I winced. "One last thing, if it might not be too much to ask?"

"What is it?"

"Do you have a picture of her?"

The call ended soon after that. It took a little bit of convincing, but Isaac sent us a picture of Lisa Hunter, and we relayed it to Luca so his Cutiefly knew what to look for, but he wasn't going to go and check right away. Luca was going to do something else tonight. The goal of the operation was to constantly be on Harry Rodriguez's tail to see if he ever made contact with any organizers from BattleZone or a Hunter. His next battle was tomorrow, and I sure as hell was going to watch it. We eagerly waited for a few hours to check if Luca had any information for us, but he kept telling Louis to stop pestering him when he was working. Eventually, people filtered out when we weren't getting any news. No new resignations. No funny business. No movement. When Harry got active again tomorrow, we'd probably learn more.

I decided to look up my next opponent before going to bed.

Will Bowman was a water type specialist, which caused me to have an immediate reaction and want to send out Electabuzz and Tangrowth against him.

Of course, now that I was researching my opponents, I quickly figured out that that would have been a terrible idea. Why? Two reasons. First, he owned a Vaporeon, a Beartic, a Wugtrio, an Azumarill, a Basculin and a Frillish. Beartic and Wugtrio both knew ground type moves to counter electric types. I felt bad that Honey wasn't seeing much use so far, but it looked like he'd have to be saved in case something went wrong with my actual plan, which was to send out Angel and Buddy.

I grinned. It looked like people not knowing that Buddy had Water Absorb was going to be dividends during this battle. Since Will Bowman had six Pokemon, I wasn't sure which one was going to be left behind, but I was one hundred percent sure that he was going to have either Beartic or Wugtrio. His main strategy tended to be this: have his Vaporeon set up a Rain Dance to flood the terrain and increase the power of his water moves, along with allowing his Basculin to actually travel through the whole field. Funnily enough, his Beartic actually had Swift Swim, which would synergize with that strategy as well. The three most likely Pokemon that he'd use were Vaporeon, which was instrumental to his strategy— along with Beartic and Basculin.

Now who would be last? Frillish was probably out of the picture. She was his weakest teammate who was held behind by not having evolved. That left Azumarill and Wugtrio. They were both physical attackers, but Wugtrio specialized in speed and Azumarill in slow and steady power. Beartic and Basculin were already quick… if I had to gamble, I guessed that Azumarill would be fourth. Wugtrio would mean that Bowman's team would be too frail to resist Angel's vines, but even if I was wrong, I figured that it wouldn't matter very much. My team wouldn't change regardless. Tangrowth, Jellicent, Electabuzz and Togetic were the best possible choice.

"Come to bed."

I turned toward Cece, who was lying down under the covers. She pulled out her arm and caressed my back.

"I'm almost done, I think," I smiled. "Hold on a sec."

The main strategy here would be to destroy— not destroy— take down that Vaporeon before the water from Rain Dance built up enough for Bowman's team to have any effect. The quicker the water type went down, the faster the Rain Dance would stop. I wondered what the interaction between Sunny Day and Rain Dance was, but if I had to guess, Vaporeon's experience with the move meant that it would overpower Angel. It was even better than Gardenia's Lombre. Vaporeon was bulky, but it was slow. The most skilled ones could apparently liquefy their bodies, but Will Bowman's wasn't that good yet. It was light enough for Angel to pick up. If he got in range for a Bind, Vaporeon, would fall.

And with that, his entire strategy would fall apart. Without Vaporeon, Angel could quickly replace the rain with Sunny Day and cripple his water type attacks.

Wait… actually, it was really obvious who he would start with now. Angel was beginning to get a reputation as my strongest, and I'd started with him twice in a row. Bowman would be right to assume that I would do it again, so that meant that Beartic would accompany Vaporeon as his first two.

Oh well, Jellicent would be able to help out and distract it while Angel took care of Vaporeon for us.

I closed my computer and got into the bed. Cece wrapped me into a tight hug and I felt her body heat permeate through me.

I loved her.



I woke up to a frantic knock. I squinted, noticing that it was still dark out. Cecilia groaned.

"What time is it?"

I grabbed my phone on my bedside table and had to blink a few times to read the contents. Four in the morning.

"It's 4 am. I'll go get it," I whispered.

"Do you have to? Wait, you do have to, it's probably important."

I yawned and shuffled out of bed. I almost forgot to release Princess before opening the door, which could have been a fatal mistake. Luckily, it was just Denzel knocking. I was sure I would have recognized his knock if I hadn't been tired as hell.

"Yeah? Figure something out?" I asked.

"Luca sent Louis a message. Harry Rodriguez is on the move."
 
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Chapter 153
CHAPTER 153

I inhaled sharply at the news. Trainer or not, people didn't just leave their rooms at four in the morning. If he'd been out there beforehand, we could have brushed it off and said he was training, but who started training at four? It was a possibility, but it sure as hell was suspicious. I didn't even care if I was just confirming my inherent biases, I just wanted something. Some definite proof would actually cement this thing. We were certain that the tournament was being rigged for Harry Rodriguez and that the Hunters were shady, but we had nothing linking the two.

Nothing yet.

"What does he want us to do?" I asked.

"Come join him for backup," Denzel said, his voice steady. "His Cutiefly can battle, but they're not the best."

"Backup?"

"In case things go… south," he added. "With what we learned about the Hunters today, I understand completely."

I clenched around my pajamas and had to stop myself from taking a step back. I was ready. I was ready. I couldn't be a baby forever.

"Let Cece and I get dressed," I sighed.



It was the dead of night. A cold wind brushed past my hair as I walked toward Solaceon's desolate city center with Cecilia, Louis and Denzel in tow. We had wanted to get everyone involved, but Luca had said that more than four would alert Harry. In a large city, people would have still been out in about, but here? It was like we were in a ghost town. Only the dim street lights illuminated the street, and the dim light of a nearby Pokemon Center could be seen in the distance.

Harry's Pokemon Center.

"Took you long enough," Luca whispered as we reached him. "I've got the bastard skulking around a few blocks away. He's been walking really slow. It's like he really doesn't want to get seen by anyone, so he makes sure every street is empty before he crosses."

I frowned. "How do you even know that?"

Luca lazily pointed back toward the sky. We squinted and noticed a bright light zooming across the horizon.

Cece scoffed. "Is that your—"

"One of my Cuties, yeah," he said. "The other's a lot closer to the culprit himself, and she's just relaying his position."

Louis hissed. "But the light—"

"Calm down, you bunch of amateurs. This ain't my first rodeo. My Cutiefly are special. Those are fairies you're talking about. If they don't want you to see 'em, you won't. Not without a psychic, and Mr. Rodriguez over here doesn't have one of those."

"So what do we do?" I asked.

"We follow. From afar."

We nodded. Since we were here for backup, we each released one Pokemon. Cecilia released Slowking to sense any people approaching. Denzel surprisingly released his Lopunny, and I released Electabuzz in case we needed his Protect. Togetic wouldn't be good at shielding all of us at once if an attack got through. After quickly bringing them up to speed, we slowly followed Luca's Cutiefly which was signaling high into the sky. We could never approach too closely. No, that would be too obvious, especially when Harry was being as cautious as he was. For now the goal was to see where he was going, and it didn't appear to be the Hunter's mansion, which was miles away from the city center. He seemed to be going deeper in.

We followed Cutiefly for around ten minutes, but then Luca's head snapped up and he stopped us with a hand. The fairy type flew in repeated patterns that I recognized as… letters, but it was too quick and too far for me to figure out what it was saying.

"Fuck! Harry's gone," he cursed.

"What?" Denzel exclaimed.

"He turned a corner and teleported. That confirms your theory at least," he said, nodding toward me.

"What Pokemon? What did he use to Teleport?" I quickly asked.

Luca motioned to his Cutiefly, and in just a few seconds, she was in front of us. The other one followed quickly after. The fairy type executed a bunch of acrobatics in the air and spelled out a Pokemon's name.

A.

B.

R.

A.

"Today's a bust," Luca groaned. "Abra used Teleport to get in and out of the street. It barely took five seconds. Luckily with how fast it was, I don't think it noticed my Cuties… hopefully."

"Damn it, that could be bad," I clicked my tongue. "But at least we got something. One, we know that he's getting outside help. Two, we know that he doesn't want to be seen, which is shady as hell. Even someone who was training wouldn't take that amount of precautions, and if he was, why even hide the Abra? This is something more sinister."

"But we still don't know if he's linked with the Hunters," Louis said.

"It's only a matter of time," I said. "Thank you Luca. You've been a great help."

"Pay me?" He said before grinning. "I'm just pulling your leg. I don't mind working for free if we uncover whatever the hell is going on here. That information you got about them from that Isaac guy? Makes them sound a lot more cultish than I'd like. I'll keep tabs on him."

Well, we hadn't gotten what we wanted, but at least we'd gotten something, all while avoiding a fight in the middle of the street with no rules or protection. I had never been in a battle where targeting the trainer was a possibility aside from with wild Pokemon, but humans doing it disturbed me to no end.

But if they did it to me? Well, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to stop my team from killing them.

"One more thing," Cecilia said, raising a finger. "That Abra… has to be from here, right? To Teleport in the middle of an alley like that means that it's been there a lot of times before. Pokemon need to be very familiar with their environment to Teleport somewhere that quickly."

"Especially for an Abra," Denzel added. "If it was a Xatu or even a Kadabra, I would have given it the benefit of the doubt, but… yeah, this feels like it's from here. No way to be one hundred percent sure though."

"Damn, you guys are good. I know nothing about Teleportation," Luca said.

"Meeting that Abra anywhere closer to the Center was probably too high of a risk, which is why he went all the way out here," I muttered. "Now all that remains is: where the hell did he go?"

"Hunter's mansion would be my guess," Denzel said. "But that's just an assumption, and it doesn't explain what the hell their connection would be. Think he's dating one of them after all?"

"Maybe. Maybe not," I said. "Thanks for the help Luca. I'd say that we should confront Harry with what we've got, but that'd be dumb and dangerous. Let's just lay low for now. Maybe the Poketch Company will figure something out."

"I'll bow out then," he said as his two Cutiefly circled his head. I found it hard to stay focused on any of them. "Next time he does the same thing, I'll call again. I'm not about to get beaten half to death in an alley or murdered."

"Fair," I said. "Good night."

"See ya."



I woke up tired the next day. It'd be worse for Louis, who would have to actually battle, along with the majority of our friend group. I wasn't going to watch, however. Today, I was going to do something that could be stupid. I didn't consider myself much of a risk-taker, which I'm sure all the people I knew would scoff at. When something caught my eye, I couldn't stop myself from getting it or at least trying to, like Sunshine. Other than that? I'd say I operated on the side of safety and not recklessness. Reckless was someone like Pauline.

That thing I had said about laying low? I had changed my mind.

I was planning to visit the Hunter's mansion today.

It's not like I was going to break in. That would be tremendously stupid and I'd probably get arrested for trespassing or worse if the cult stories were true. Since their home was more than a thousand year old, they often ran tours there for revenue.

Yes, more revenue. It's not like they were swimming in cash already, they needed more money. Arceus. Anyway, with the influx of trainers and people that had come to the town for the tournament, they were running more and more tours, going as much as doing them all afternoon.

Cecilia and Denzel were of course coming with me. They would never let me go alone. That meant that we had to wait for Cecilia's battle to conclude before going to the tour, and needless to say, she handily won against another girl with four badges. Zweilous and Talonflame wiped the floor with the opposition, although she didn't use the Heat Wave, Tailwind and Fire Spin trick this time because she wasn't fighting just rock types. We didn't want to go in too large of a group to avoid attracting attention, but the others knew what we were doing, even if they had their battles to fight.

The last person that would come was Luca, who wasn't going to miss an opportunity like this. The goal was to send his Cutiefly to figure out if something in the mansion was suspicious, but we would also be keeping an eye out. I doubted that they'd have anything out of order on the fixed route they'd keep us on though.

We stood among a group of fifteen. I was surprised to see how small it was, but they probably didn't want that many people on their property at once.

"Welcome to the Daycare, everyone!" A man smiled. He looked relatively normal. He was an average-sized man in his early to mid-forties. The unique thing about him was his grey eyes. "My name is Reggie," he continued, pointing to the nametag around his collar. "This is my sister, Lane."

Lane smiled softly at us, and she also had grey eyes. I was starting to realize that this was actually the first time I'd ever seen a Hunter in the flesh despite them being so influential. The stories about their isolation were no joke.

"The guide will last thirty to forty minutes, and we'll be starting with some of the Pokemon," Lane said. "Then, we'll show you some of our home."

Reggie cleared his throat. "First, we have to go over some rules. No Pokemon allowed on the premises. We don't want them disturbing our Pokemon or any of our family members."

His Cutiefly were floating high up in the sky, and we were the only ones that could see them, but it seemed that he wanted to wait until we reached the mansion to send them spying. It was too risky.

"Second, no pictures or videos. Third, no petting or calling out to the Pokemon. Fourth, always stick with us and don't go off on your own. Lastly… enjoy your time!"

The group cheered, and they led us toward the huge enclosure where the Hunters raised all kinds of Pokemon. Denzel shot a look at Luca, who shook his head. I couldn't even see where it ended. I could see a few employees in the distance tending to some Squirtle and other water types next to a lake.

"Impressive, isn't it?" Lane said, seemingly catching onto the group's awe. "We've owned this land for a thousand years, and we've preserved it all this time. It's bigger than Solaceon itself, you know?"

Reggie laughed. "When we were kids, we'd get lost out there for hours. We were practically raised by Pokemon, and so were all of our family members."

"I have a question," Luca said.

I froze. It was too early.

"Go ahead!" Lane said.

"What's your favorite Pokemon?" He innocently asked.

"We get that one a lot. I'd have to say Shiftry. What about you, Reggie?"

"You know the answer. It's also Shiftry," he laughed. Something about the way he'd said it was… disturbing. I couldn't place what bothered me about it.

They both moved on to another question from someone else, and Cecilia pulled Luca aside.

"What are you doing? I thought we needed to be discreet," she angrily whispered.

"I am being discreet! I'm blending in! It'd be more suspicious to stay quiet the whole fucking time. You have to act your part. We're supposed to be interested in this stuff, remember?"

She bit her lip and nodded. The Hunters led us to multiple enclosures within the huge enclosure, and we saw plenty of Pokemon. Bulbasaur, Lotad, Deerling… it seemed like they were allowed to roam free here. I might have found their family shady, but I couldn't deny that the Pokemon looked happy, at least. Sometimes, we would come across another Hunter, and they almost all shared those pale, grey eyes except for the ones that had married in from the outside.

Along the way, we learned about how even Pokemon from the same type with a similar body structure could have vastly different needs to thrive. Deerling and Skiddo were a good example. The former was actually quite aggressive and they fought with each other often, while the latter was one of the most docile Pokemon you could get. Deerling actually needed berries to survive and changed throughout the seasons, while Skiddo could live entirely off of grazing.

It was interesting. I hated to admit it, but I was genuinely enjoying myself. Of course, the Hunters didn't actually take us to meet the rarest Pokemon they raised, but they did explain to us that breeders needed special approval from the League before they could raise some of the more dangerous Pokemon, like Gible or Slugma. I was sure that they were hiding them somewhere. Apparently, they had created every single biome in their enclosure, and I caught a glimpse of a manmade desert in the distance before we turned back.

It was time to explore the mansion now. I eyed Luca, who discreetly motioned to his Cutiefly. They followed us as we entered the building and immediately dispersed in order to not be seen. As I stepped inside, my eyes took a few seconds to adjust to the dimly lit interior. Even during the afternoon, this place seemed to be darker than it should have been. The second thing I noticed was the smell— it was an earthen, musty smell that seeped into every corner of the mansion and filled my nostrils to an uncomfortable degree. People lived in here? The air felt cold, although a fire had been lit in the foyer.

The foyer itself was a grand affair. The walls were lined with intricately carved wood paneling, and a staircase led to the second and third floors.

Lane noticed me staring. "You won't be going to the second floor today," she smiled. "Only the first is open to the public. This way, if you will?"

We followed Lane and Reggie to the left, and the old wooden floors creaked under our feet no matter where we stepped. The two guides, however, seemed to know exactly where to step to be silent. I was surprised to see the mansion so empty. I had almost expected it to be bustling with other Hunters, but no one was there. They must have all been working out on the field. It was good news for us since it meant that fewer people would be able to spot Luca's Cutiefly, who had already made their way to the second floor.

"This over here is a painting of the founder of our family, Ediva Hunter," Reggie fondly said, nodding toward the painting. I recognized the name from one of the graves in the Lost Tower. She had pale grey eyes like all of her descendants and brown hair that reached her ankles. She was dressed in golden clothes and was covered in jewelry. I assumed that was an artistic choice.

"All of her life, she wanted to create a safe haven for Pokemon, but she died before being able to accomplish her goal. Her twins took over and realized her dreams," he continued, pointing to another painting. "Siward and Leomer Hunter. The second generation. From then on, the family grew and grew, slowly expanding our lands so that we could take care of more Pokemon."

"Without Ediva, we would never have come this far," Lane softly added. "Let's continue."

The two guides showed us multiple old musty rooms that looked like they hadn't been used in decades. Supposedly though, people frequented this place every day, they just didn't sleep here. They slept in the hundreds of cabins that lined the Hunter's enclosure.

"What's the point of having a huge mansion if you don't use it?" A girl said in a haughty tone.

"We use it, the majority of us just don't sleep here," Lane smiled.

"Who does?" Luca quickly asked.

"Well, the head of the family for one," Reggie said.

I clenched a fist. The Elder that Isaac had talked about. Was he here now?

"But that's not what this tour is about," he continued, pointing to a… Pokeball enclosed in glass. It looked odd. The surface was uneven, and it wasn't made of metal. "Up next, we have the Siward's very own Pokeball that we've preserved all these years. As you can see, it looks different than what we currently use. Back in the day, these weren't mass-produced like today. They were made by specialized smiths that worked with Apricorn trees!"

"Hard to believe, right?" Lane smiled. "They don't use those anymore to make Pokeballs, although some still cling to the old ways in Johto, I've heard. Up next…"

As Reggie and Lisa took us further and further in, I was beginning to grow anxious. Sweat accumulated on my palms that I constantly had to wipe on my jeans. Luca's Cutiefly weren't back yet, but it wasn't like they could just show themselves. They'd have to wait outside until we were done with the tour. After making us look at more paintings, heirlooms and even a statue, the tour finally ended and they began to lead us back outside.

An old man and a Shiftry awaited us in the foyer.

My hands instinctively went to my Pokeballs, but they only hovered there for a second. For being an elder, this man wasn't actually that old. He looked to be only slightly older than Reggie and Lane. In his fifties, maybe? He was balding and on the thinner side, although his stomach stuck out a little bit. He sported a thin, greying beard, and the usual silver eyes. Shiftry was beautiful, and I didn't say that lightly. Every inch of its wooden body was carved with beautiful, flowery imagery, and its white hair was braided into thick locks adorned with a golden hairpiece. It stared at us with cold, yellow eyes.

"Elder!" Reggie and Lane both exclaimed, bowing.

The group stared around confusedly, but we knew something had happened.

Where were Luca's Cutiefly? I expected him to be panicking, but he looked calm. He was acting his socks off, and we'd better do the same. I took a deep breath and stared at the Elder.

"At ease," he laughed. "No need for that in front of the guests."

They both stood up straight. The Elder's voice was raspy, but soft. It was an odd thing to hear. He was possibly the most soft-spoken man I'd ever heard.

"Shiftry told me of a disturbance in our home, and we quickly found the source," he said, stroking his beard. "A Pokemon snooping about."

Reggie and Lane paled.

A single Pokemon?

"We apologize… we were careless," Lane said.

"Do not fret. Everyone makes mistakes," he said. "Now, if the trainer that owns the Cutiefly steps forward, we can all go along with our day. No harm was done. Shiftry stopped it before it could disturb our home."

That meant that it hadn't found anything of note. I restrained a curse.

No one said anything. We all stood, and a heavy silence filled the air. It weighed on us. For two minutes, the Elder said nothing. Why had he only found one? That meant that the other was safe, at the very least, or maybe he was just bluffing.

"Well, no matter," he smiled, staring straight at Luca. "I know the answer already. I just wanted to give you the opportunity to come clean."

Luca's mask slipped, and he snarled. "What did you do to my Pokemon?"

"Reggie, Lane, lead the other guests back outside, will you?"

"Fuck no," Luca said. "Why? If you're gonna do something, do it with them here."

"I won't do anything," he sighed. "I just thought that it would be better dealt with in private, that is all. Shiftry—"

"Elder!" Lane called out. "Not in front of the—"

"Silence," he hissed. She shrunk down like a wilting flower. "Shiftry, release it."

The grass type nodded silently and sliced the air apart with his leaves.

My eyes flickered and the air grew so thick that it was as if I was underwater, yet I could still breathe fine. From the cut, darkness appeared and expanded. It wasn't darkness, exactly. It was like I was looking at the absence of light. A void. The abyss. There was nothing there, and the longer I looked the more I felt like the darkness itself was staring back. A sense of wrongness overtook me and I shivered. It was cold, but it bordered on the valley between manageable and uncomfortable. I couldn't even feel my own heartbeat any longer, and the colors at the corner of my vision faded to black and white. There was a gentle pull toward the abyss, as if it had an effect on gravity itself.

I had never seen a powerful dark type before. Chase's Houndoom was nothing compared to this.

The entire process had barely lasted a second. One of Luca's Cutiefly flew out of the darkness and circled around his head. He breathed a huge sigh of relief. At least one of his Pokemon was fine.

Weren't fairies supposed to resist the dark?

"How…?" Luca asked in disbelief. "No one's ever spotted my Cutiefly before without a psychic, much less trapped her."

"You may take the guests outside," the Elder said, ignoring him. "As an apology for the inconvenience, your visit fee shall be refunded. Lane?"

"I will see to it," she said.

The older man nodded and watched as we were led out of the mansion. We were safe, but we had learned nothing apart from the fact that the Elder truly existed and used an incredibly powerful Shiftry.

Luckily for us, Luca's second Cutiefly joined us shortly after. I didn't know how it had escaped detection, but according to him, he had quickly run away as soon as he felt something was wrong, while his sister wanted to keep exploring to not disappoint their trainer. She got captured, and he got away.

"Guys," Luca said. "I think I'm out."

I frowned. "What?"

"It was fun, don't get me wrong, but that Shiftry…" he muttered. "I'm no battler. It was nice while it lasted, but I'm not fucking around with that family anymore. My Cuties could have died. The Elder knew about me. How else would he have known that Cutiefly was mine?"

"That's…" I started, then sighed. "Okay. Thank you for the help until now."

"The money was nice, but I'm ditching this town. The more I stay here, the more unsettling this place is. If someone told me before I came that the most disturbing city in Sinnoh was Solaceon, I would have laughed at them, but it's true. The Hunters are entrenched here, and there's no stopping them, corrupt tournament or not."

"Wait!" Cecilia exclaimed. "Before you leave, can you ask your Cutiefly if they saw anything?"

"Didn't he say that she didn't?" Denzel frowned. "And the other one just escaped."

"Cutie?" He asked.

The fairy type spelled out a name.

H.

A.

R.

R.

Y.

Harry Rodriguez had been on the mansion's second floor along with that Abra. We had proof now. They were linked. It explained how they found Cutiefly so easily, although answers about Shiftry's powers still remained unknown. That void… it was like a black hole— or at least the visual effects was. The light around it had been distorted. There was also the fact that Abra might have sensed the second Cutiefly before he could escape.

Luca exhaled sharply and clenched his hair.

"Argh… Fuck it, I'm staying," he said, biting his lip.

Hey everybody! I've officially created a Patreon! Now before you get too excited, there are currently no benefits to pledging. There are no advanced chapters, and I won't move poll-voting to there either— that'll stay on my Discord. People were asking me to create one, so I figured I'd bite the bullet and do it. I don't really expect too much, but right now all of the money would go toward art commissions. I'll put your name in a list at the end of every chapter to thank you though. Link will also stay on my signature.
 
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Chapter 154
CHAPTER 154

"Argh… Fuck it, I'm staying," Luca said, his face full of anxiety.

"Are you— are you sure?" Denzel stammered.

"Yeah. I got spooked… hell, I'm still spooked, but this is too big to ignore. I'm sticking around," Luca said with a resolute tone.

Denzel nodded and hurriedly texted the group chat to update them on the situation.

"So we have confirmation of the teleportation theory and that Harry's connected to the Hunters. With how isolationist they were described by everyone in this Arceus damned town, we can assume that he's getting help from them and that he's important somehow," I said. "There's no way they'd let him on the second floor otherwise."

"Maybe he really is dating one of 'em," Luca said.

"Maybe. We can't be sure yet," I shook my head.

"Can't we report him to someone?" Denzel asked.

"He hasn't really done anything wrong yet. None of them have," Cecilia said. "Just being teleported around and invited into a home isn't wrong. The Elder captured your Cutiefly because we were explicitly breaking the rules, and no harm was done to us. They're clean."

"Damn it, you're right."

"They appear clean on the outside, but we know the truth," Luca said with a smug smile. "I want to bring them down. I want my fuckin' name in the history books."

Ignoring his questionable motives, I interjected. "We need to relax for the time being. No more attempts to sneak in with Cutiefly, or the Hunters will know we're up to something. Hell, they probably already suspect you," I nodded toward Luca. "You need to lay low. We still need to figure out what the hell that thing with BattleZone was, so we can take a little break and pivot toward them. If we can make the whole thing fit, I'll be a lot less anxious."

"It's possible that it doesn't fit, Grace," Denzel said. "There are… a lot of actors involved. Can we really expect them to have the same agenda?"

"Fair point," Luca said.

"Isaac told us the Hunters were like a cult. Reggie and Lane bowed when the Elder showed up," I retorted.

"But it's still possible," Cece said. "We can't base all of our assumptions on a single interaction. We barely saw any other members of the family, we don't know if there's a faction that's against whatever is going on. The same applies for BattleZone. It's like Josephine told us, right? With large groups and conspiracies like this, it's always factions within factions."

"You're right. Let's just… get back for now. We can have another group meeting tonight when everyone's battles are done. I'm just going to wait around until Harry's fight to see what he's about. His next opponent's a four-badger, so hopefully the battle can last longer so I can I learn more about him."

"Don't let Pauline hear you say that," Denzel teased.

"Don't snitch," I said. "I think I'll go meet her soon, actually. Luca, I guess you're leaving back to your job?"

By his job, I was obviously referring to his information brokering.

"Wait, are we just going to ignore whatever the hell that Shiftry was?" Luca scoffed. "That wasn't… that wasn't a move, right? I'm not that good of a battler."

"No, it wasn't," Denzel frowned. "That Elder's a lot better than he looks at first glance. I don't know how strong that Shiftry is, but it's definitely better than anything we have."

"Which is why battling is off the table," I said. "We figure out evidence that could sink them and tip off the media if it's just cheating in a tournament. If it's worse like I'm beginning to suspect… then we call the League."

Grim grunts of affirmation rang out throughout the group. Luca left soon afterward. He told us that he was changing his usual spot since it used to be next to the Hunters' property. Needless to say, he was too scared to stick around any longer. We arrived back to the Center around the time Lauren would be battling, and Maeve would be next. Louis and Justin had apparently won their battles, although I didn't know much about what had gone on. Denzel had checked it out via video on the way there, and Louis had won by the skin of his teeth. His Gible carried him and he managed to beat a person with four badges. If he wanted to get better, he'd have to start relying on his other Pokemon a lot more.

"Did you see what Justin said?" Denzel asked as we stepped into the elevator.

"No. You told me he won, is he okay?"

"He says that he's fucked next round— I'm obviously paraphrasing," he laughed. "He's got to make it through another guy with five badges to win his next battle. That's unlucky as hell, with how few of them there are."

"Yeah… it sucks," I sighed. "Not much he can do about it but prepare as best he can. If he loses, then it'll be a learning opportunity."

Denzel's words made me pull out my phone and look at the bracket once more. Specifically, Harry Rodriguez's position. After easily making it through that first battle thanks to probable rigging… none of his opponents would ever have more than four badges until he got a lot further in. His path to the top sixteen had been cleared, and I had no doubt that they expected him to roll through me, so they expected him to go further still.

Yeah, BattleZone was in on this. I was sure of it.

"I'm gonna go see Pauline, then I'm going to snoop around BattleZone," I said. "You guys coming?"

"Sure, why not," Denzel shrugged.

"Sorry, I need to spend some more time with Golett. He needs to get more used to acting like a living being."

"Hey, he's technically not alive," Denzel snorted.

We both playfully hit him in the back, causing him to yelp.

"Did you need to do that?"

"Well, we need to keep the mood up, don't we?" I laughed. I turned to Cecilia. "See you later?"

"Mhm."

I stood on my tip-toes to kiss her and I felt her hands rest on my hips. "I love you."

"Me too. Call me if anything happens."



Pauline's room was a mess. There were empty packs of snacks all over the floor, something had spilled on the carpet, and even though it was still the afternoon, the blinds were closed shut, only allowing thin beams of light through. Pauline herself looked fine. She stared at us from her bed and grunted.

"What happened here?" I asked. "Are you okay—"

The culprit soon revealed himself. Vigoroth jumped from under her bed and I flinched, expecting him to claw at me. Instead, he simply ravaged through the room, clawing at the carpet, the walls and jumping everywhere.

"Just when I finally got him to calm down, you woke him up," she sighed. "Denzel, I thought I told you to knock. You use that key double way too much."

"You're the one that told me you didn't care if I had one. Actually wait, you're gaslighting me. You wanted me to have one."

"That's… yeah you're right, I'm just pissed."

"Why are we just having a conversation when there's a crazy Vigoroth going around?!" I yelled. "You're lucky I didn't have my Togetic out! Recall him!"

"Oh boy, Princess would have freaked out," Denzel chuckled. "Probably would have choked him out or something."

"I shouldn't have to accommodate your bloodthirsty Togetic in my room. Anyway, I looked it up online! I need to get him used to staying in rooms and stuff. Eventually he'll stop being like this—" she stopped, ducking to avoid a soda can. "My terrible eating habits are catching up to me. Anyway, I need to get Vigoroth used to rooms."

"The Pokedex said that it never stops being excited," I groaned.

"There's a difference between this and how he'll be when I train him properly. Hey, Vigoroth!"

The normal type stopped for a single second, grunted at Pauline, and then continued on his rampage. The redhead sighed and recalled him.

"I feel bad for the people that are going to have to clean this up," I sighed. "How are you feeling?"

"Shitty."

"Fair enough. Did you see what happened at the Hunters' mansion?" I asked. "We sent it on the group chat, but you didn't reply."

"I did… I wish I'd been there. You guys, Cece and Louis have been moving on your own for a few days and we've been feeling left out," Pauline said. "Except Maeve. She's a bit of a wet blanket, so she just wants to keep her head down."

"That's fair," Denzel admitted. "But to be honest, it's a lot easier to work in smaller groups."

"So work with us," she said. "We can organize. I'm out of the tournament, so I have a lot of free time. I feel useless out here."

"Sorry. You know what, why don't you come with us? We were going to gather some info after this, but we can go right now if you want," I said.

She beamed. "Fuck yes! Let's let them know what we're made of!"

"I was thinking more of a lowkey operation…"



If someone had told me that Pauline could be extremely polite when she wanted to, I would have called them a liar. In fact, I would have laughed in their face and maybe even called them an idiot.

"So BattleZone's been around for fifty years? Wow, that's impressive," she smiled at a supervisor. "Where'd you guys get your start? You know, we don't hear a lot about how these tournaments are actually organized. I feel like we should appreciate the work that goes into them more."

Denzel and I looked on, trying to hide our stupefaction. Apparently, even he hadn't expected this. We were currently in the building the Hunters has built for the tournament and the same place we'd signed up at. It was rather empty these days. Trainers mostly came here to announce their lineup to a supervisor or lodge complaints about the tournament, but employees still milled about.

"I like you, kid," the man smiled. "I only started working here three years ago, but it's tough work. You've got to fly out wherever they decide to organize the next tournament, the hours are long, kids scream at you for the brackets being unfair… but at least the pay is good."

"Super interesting," Pauline said. "But where did you get your start?"

"Oh, sorry I forgot to answer that. Erm, it was Solaceon, funnily enough. We don't do tournaments here much, but the higher-ups felt like this would make a lot of money. As long as I get paid," he sighed.

My eyes narrowed at that. Solaceon was BattleZone's birthplace, and now that I knew how much influence the Hunters wielded, that was all I needed to know that the people at the top might be content to listen to whatever the hell that family wanted. We had seen Harry on the second floor of the mansion, so I knew that he was working with the Hunters. The link was there. The two entities working together was basically confirmed. Now all we needed to figure out were these two things:

One, why the hell would they want Harry Rodriguez to win?

Two, why make the rigging so obvious at the start? If they weren't going to keep helping Harry along and only needed to stop him from fighting that one battle, why the hell would they make that girl that had been supposed to fight Pauline resign?

If we solved these two questions, we would get to the bottom of this entire fiasco. That was a lot easier said than done. Denzel discreetly nudged Pauline, and she kept going, stopping her small talk to initiate another one of our predetermined questions.

"What brought this cooperation with the Hunters about?" She asked with a soft voice.

"I don't know about that," the supervisor shrugged. "Well, I do know that our old CEO had some kind of connection with the Hunters. They were old friends or something and the relationship between the two companies is good, but recently there's been—"

"What's his name?!" I exclaimed.

The supervisor turned to frown at me.

"Sorry," I coughed.

"If you wanted to know so bad, you could have just looked it up. Adrian Navarro, but he's kaput now. New boss wanted to do a friendly gesture and run the tournament there— especially since the Hunters could cover some of the costs."

Damn it, not a Hunter. Well, it made sense in a way. I doubted that the Elder would allow anyone in their family to get out and start their own business, no matter how successful it could have been. Now that I knew that the Elder and this Adrian had known each other personally, all of my remaining doubts vanished.

"You're the first kids that have come here with such an interest in how we run things. Why's that?"

I swallowed, but Pauline sprung up. "You might have heard of how I got screwed by two resignations. I just got curious, that's all."

"Yeah… sorry about that," he scratched his head. "People're saying that we rigged it for that Harry fellow, but it's just the luck of the dice. I've been telling people that the proper way to run the tourneys when this happens is to delay the match, but they don't want to."

"That was shitty for sure," Denzel nodded. "And a shitty way to run a tournament."

"They always say that you should read the fine print," he shrugged. "People usually like the fast pace. No delays, no bullshit, usually cheap entry. It was raised here due to the rewards though."

"At least I got half of my ticket paid back," Pauline said.

"Wait, what?" The supervisor frowned.

"I got paid back. I knew it! I should have gotten more than half, shouldn't I? It should have been a full refund—"

"That's not our usual policy. BattleZone might have been using out-of-the-box rules, but they technically weren't in the wrong. We're following the rules we set… so why were you reimbursed? Are you kids playing a prank?"

A woman called out to him. "Phil, can you hand me the battle schedule? I think I lost mine, we've got to make more copies."

"Yes! It was just a prank!" I yelled. "Sorry, it was my idea. I guess it was too obvious."

"Sure thing," he said. "Well, I've got to get back to work. You kids get outta here."

We inconspicuously walked out of the building, and I released Togetic as a guard.

"What the hell was that?" Pauline asked. "I was buttering him up for you guys!"

"No, we needed to leave. Don't you get it? You were paid off to stay quiet, Pauline. The person who refunded you went against company policy… that means that some low-leveled employees know about this!"

So why had this guy not known? I had thought that there was no way for mere supervisors to be in on this, but now, that was no longer the case. Josephine's voice rang out in my mind. Factions. It was possible to turn back and tell this employee everything, but there were other supervisors hanging about. What if one that was in on it was listening in? Even worse, he could bring it up to a higher-up and reveal this to the wrong person. It was better to keep this to ourselves.

Or maybe I was growing too paranoid.

"Holy shit," she muttered. "They obviously don't know me if they think that money's going to get me to quiet down. Especially with how cheap they were. Half reimbursed? Really?"

"Yes. Holy shit. Now this is important. Denzel, you went with her with Justin. Did you get the person's name? Or do you just remember their face?"

Pauline shook her head and Denzel groaned, rubbing his chin.

"I'm coming up blank, but he was a shortish guy, I guess. Brown hair is all I remember."

"That doesn't help at all… does Justin remember?"

"Let me shoot him a message."

Two minutes later, Justin answered with a no, and our spirits deflated like a popped balloon. If we knew what he looked like, we could have probably figured out his name and gotten Luca to spy on him, since he wasn't a Hunter.

"Damn it," I hissed.

"Sorry, Grace," Pauline said.

"No, it's not your fault. I can't expect you to remember some random guy's face," I said. "It'd be like asking me to remember a person we passed on the way here. Unless you knew they were important, you weren't going to remember them. It's just frustrating. Every time I feel like we're getting close, it turns out that it goes deeper… whatever, we'll get there," I sighed. "What the hell was that acting, by the way?"

"Impressed?" She smugly said. "I'm good at being a nice girl."

"How…?" Denzel asked.

"What did you think I did when mommy told me to play nice whenever I met her business partners' kids?"

"Ignore her and terrorize the other kids?"

"And sink her business? Please. All it'd take was for little Jimmy to complain that I was mean to him and any deal would fall through. I just don't do it anymore because it's fake. I hate that shit. People hated me for it, but I can be real with you guys."

I paused for a few seconds and smiled. "Thanks for the help. I don't think I would have been able to act like that at all, and Denzel's a terrible liar."

"Right? He's way too sweet to lie," she laughed before turning toward him. "Look at him. He's blushing! Are you embarrassed?"

"Shut up."



The entire group sat, waiting for Harry Rodriguez to fight his second battle. Him battling with Pauline immediately had screwed the schedule a little bit, so it had taken a bit more time for the organizers to recalibrate everything. I had almost expected there to be some shenanigans again, but this time, he was actually battling his designated opponent. Harry released his looming Torterra and his Pelipper this time, while his opponent released a Venomoth and a Heatmor, which was a terrible starting lineup for him. Pelipper would screw over that Heatmor with Drizzle, and Venomoth would lose to its flying type attacks.

But I knew that he was just trying his best to deal with Torterra with poison and fire.

Surprisingly, it wasn't as one-sided as I thought, but Harry still won handily. Torterra almost fainted due to the sheer amount of Sludge Bombs and Flamethrowers it had taken, but it still stood strong by the end of it. Harry's opponent had sent out a Corvisquire and a Boldore second, and I understood now why he hadn't started with those. They were simply too weak to hurt Harry's Pokemon and were being held back by their lack of evolution. Boldore was too slow to dodge attacks, but not tough enough to brush them off. Corvisquire was quick, but it couldn't outpace Pelipper for long.

He fell quickly after that.

I had gotten a lot of good information from that battle, even if I'd wanted to learn more about Luxray and Crobat instead. When Harry fought in doubles, he liked to pair his Torterra with a flying type to take full advantage of Earthquake. That meant that Luxray would probably never come out first, since Harry always started with Torterra. His starter was his anchor. It was impossible for him to fight without it.

Pelipper's Drizzle was more powerful than I'd given it credit for in the videos. It was like the Rocky Field had been subject to a storm and completely flooded. Still, it was less powerful than what I'd have to face tomorrow. Vaporeon's Rain Dance would be a test run for this. If I could handle that, then Drizzle wouldn't be an issue.

That night, I stayed up on my phone, waiting to see if Luca was going to send any texts, but he didn't. We were seemingly at an impasse for now. There was no way to look deeper into the Hunters, and the person we needed to find in BattleZone could be any of the employees. Still, we sent a vague description to Luca in hopes that he'd be able to find something. I ended up having to stop when the light kept waking Cecilia up, even if she was pretending to be asleep still. I could feel her shifting, since she was squeezing me like a pillow.

Not that I disliked that.

Oh well. Tomorrow was another day. I would get to the bottom of this come hell or high water.

And it would start with offering a deal to Sunshine after my battle. I had an offer he couldn't refuse.

A/N: A bit of a setup chapter. I promise the next few are a lot more exciting

Thank you to the people that support me on Patreon - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, Aaron Vera, A ferret, MKK, Oblige
 
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Chapter 155
CHAPTER 155

Like usual, my battle was early in the morning, and it was taking place on the Rocky Field. Will Bowman somehow found a way to wear very little clothes in the middle of winter, and he had a legion of fangirls that kept screaming out his name in the bleachers. My friends tried to join in to counter them, but the supervisor hissed and everyone quieted down.

"This is battle between Grace Pastel and Will Bowman. Trainers, send out your Pokemon."

The air was cool and crisp as I sent out Jellicent and Tangrowth. My lips twitch when I saw Beartic and Vaporeon appear as I had predicted. The massive, looming bear exuded frosty air all around him, and there were clearly outlined muscles in its arms and legs. Its paws alone were bigger than my head by a wide margin. Vaporeon stretched and its ears twitched. It observed us in a calculating manner and tensed.

Rain Dance was coming, and then Aqua Jet and Ice Punch would follow on Tangrowth. I would have him raise an Ancient Power immediately and counter with Jellicent's Hex while Vaporeon watched helplessly as I completely restrained his teammate and shut him down before the battle could even start. Then, I'd use that downturn in Bowman's move to rush Vaporeon and shut down that Rain Dance.

Easy enough in my head. Now it was time to see if it worked.

"Begin!"

"Rain Dance!"

Vaporeon cried out, arching its back and raising its head toward the sky. Thunder boomed, and thick rain clouds appeared above the arena, leading to small droplets, and then an absolute deluge. It was pouring gallons of water, and it would soon fill up the entire arena.

"Aqua Jet and Ice Pun—"

"Ancient Power!" I snapped and raised a hand.

Beartic exploded forward as water enveloped his entire body. It was so quick that its speed was comparable to Talonflame's. The Aqua Jet soon turned to ice, but Tangrowth had already raised a boulder in front of himself to block the attack. With attacks this quick, maneuverability always came second. The ice type crashed into the rock, but to my surprise, it destroyed it completely and rammed into Angel, although the loss of speed has softened the blow.

"Bind and Mega Drain!" I yelled.

"Wish, then Surf!" Will ordered to his Vaporeon.

I ignored the light that flew out of Vaporeon's mouth and bit the inside of my lip. Tangrowth's vines wrapped around Beartic and froze around the ice type's body. He hurriedly replaced them as fast he would, but Beartic was a lot stronger than I gave it credit for. If I just waited around, he'd escape—

And Vaporeon's Surf was coming.

"Hex it!"

A painful Hex from Buddy stopped Beartic from struggling, and I switched the attack to Shadow Ball immediately after that. Only two reached their mark before the massive wave crashed into all three Pokemon, and then onto my side of the barrier. There was so much water already that I couldn't see the floor. The arena had practically been converted into a Water Field. Jellicent easily flew up, emerging from the water completely unharmed. Beartic was next, although it appeared a lot less large and threatening with its wet fur clinging to its body. Vaporeon was only a small head out of the water on the opposite side of the arena that I could see if I squinted hard enough.

"Angel, push yourself up with your vines!"

I grabbed my shirt, hoping that he could hear me, but thankfully he raised himself up after a few seconds. If the Rain Dance kept going though, even his vines wouldn't be long enough to keep him afloat.

"Vaporeon, get under there and cut his vines!" Will yelled. "Beartic, freeze yourself a platform!"

"Don't let them! Buddy, send a Night Shade under there! Angel, Power Whip!"

A neon green light shone under the water and quickly slammed into Beartic's gut. The bear grunted as ice formed under his body. A Night Shade from Jellicent sank into the depths as soon as Vaporeon did.

"Poison Sting and Hex," I ordered.

Sharp, purple darts flew off of Jellicent's tentacles and penetrated deep inside of Beartic, who cried out in pain as it stood on the floating ice platform it had created for itself.

Suddenly, an idea came to me.

"Icicle Crash!"

"Angel, get on that platform."

An explosion rang out underwater and shook the entire field.

"And send another Night Shade," I added.

Vines extended forward, and Beartic clawed them apart as best he could. A set of eight icicles formed above Angel's head and crashed into him, going through his vines. The grass type shivered in pain, but Jellicent's Hex allowed him to drag that damn Beartic off of his platform.

Even though he had vines fully extended downward, the water reached up to his eyes now.

Beartic flailed as it attempted to get back onto his platform, but a Shadow Ball from Buddy shut him down. Angel used the ice type's body as support to step onto the platform, hitting him with two Power Whips to better balance himself. Two huge gashes opened up on the ice type's back and blood seeped into the water.

Angel was safe now.

"Vaporeon, what's going on?!" Will screamed out.

I smirked as another explosion was heard in the water. Buddy's Night Shade had put in a lot of work to buy us time.

"Finish off Beartic."

Buddy gathered ghostly energy in front of his mouth and made his Shadow Ball twice as large while Angel wrestled with Beartic, who was attempting to climb back on and making sure not to slip off. The ball hit the ice type in the back, worsening his wounds, and one last Mega Drain from Angel did the trick. Beartic was out of the fight.

Will recalled his Pokemon and—

Vaporeon jumped out of the water, using its tail to propel itself far into the air and bit into Buddy's tentacle and tore away a huge chunk of his body.

"Recover," I said.

Bowman's face sank when he realized that it had been all for nothing. He released his Basculin— just as I had predicted— and swept his arm.

"Agility and Aqua Jet!"

Whatever he was planning, I had to take down Vaporeon and stop the rain.

"Buddy, it's in your hands," I firmly said. His red eyes dimmed and he bowed his head before sinking into the water.

Basculin was actually the main physical threat on this team. It was too quick for me to split my attention—

Case in point, it was already there.

"Wave Crash! Knock it off!"

"Brace yourself."

Vines grew out of Angel's back and buried themselves into the ice platform with quick Vine Whips. A giant wave surrounded Basculin's body. It rammed into the grass type and quickly jumped back into the water.

Angel did not budge a single inch. On the opposite side of the arena, Wish bore down from the skies and sank into the water. It was no doubt on its way to heal Vaporeon.

Will's goal wasn't to deal damage, but to get Angel to fall into the water and force me to recall him now that it was too deep. I hoped to Arceus that he wouldn't realize that the smartest thing right now would be to leave Angel stranded here and go after Buddy— more precisely, pretend to do so. I could see multiple purple explosions that must have been from Night Shade and Shadow Ball, and I knew that the only way Vaporeon had of fighting back was Bite. Water Type moves wouldn't work against Buddy.

Basculin tried three more times to get Angel off of his platform, but it was too quick for us to retaliate effectively. Power Whip was a slow attack, and Vine Whip wasn't effective enough to take the water type down.

"Forget it! Head Smash!"

There it was. I was ready and the words were already out of my mouth.

"Stun Spore!"

I grinned, and Will winced. Basculin rammed into Tangrowth with all of its strength, pushing past his vines and hitting his true body. Angel's vines writhed in agony, but he shot out yellow spores and Basculin began to twitch.

A single whiff had been enough. See, with Wave Crash, the water surrounding Basculin was enough to protect him from any spore attacks, but that wasn't possible with Head Smash. The water type wasn't completely unable to fight like Angel had been during our last battle, but its speed was at least halved. That was enough for him to Bind it and lift it out of the water.

I stared into Will Bowman's eyes. If your Beartic hadn't created that platform, I might have lost.

"Mega Drain," I said. "No use wasting the energy."

Basculin flailed as he withered and dried until the vibrant green on its body had turned into a sickly khaki. Bowman hung his head as he recalled his Pokemon and sent out his Azumarill.

I restrained a smile. I'd been four out of four for predictions, it seemed.

"Aqua Jet under the water! Help Vaporeon deal with Jellicent with Play Rough!"

Bowman was getting smarter. I would have thought that Buddy would have dealt with Vaporeon by now, but it seemed that it was more resistant than I thought, and Protect was probably working wonders against him. Azumarill disappeared underwater, and I was only left with Angel. I bent over and tried to see through the murky waters, but I could only spot different lights and the rumble from explosions.

Well, it seemed that Honey could finally see some action at last. Will Bowman had made a fatal mistake.

"I'm withdrawing Angel out of the fight," I told the referee. He nodded. "You did great! Buddy, get back up!"

I recalled the grass type as he happily waved at me, and sent out Electabuzz on the ice platform. He stared around confusedly for a few seconds and lowed himself in order not to slip. One look into my eyes, and he nodded.

Arceus, I loved my kids.

"Azumarill, Vaporeon, get back up here!" Will bellowed.

Jellicent was out first.

"Let's finish this off with a bang. Discharge!"

Electricity cracked around Honey's fur and exploded outward. It was so bright that it forced me to cover my eyes. The flooded arena became a death trap. The water smoked, and the smell of ozone filled my nostrils.

Vaporeon and Azumarill's unconscious bodies emerged from the water.

"Victory to Grace Pastel."

I breathed out a sigh of relief and clenched a fist.

Now how the hell were they going to fix this Field?

——

"I'm not going to lie, that was definitely the hardest battle yet," I sighed to my friends. "Without that platform for Angel to stand on, I might have lost."

"That was his biggest mistake for sure," Mira said. "What would you have done without it?"

"Recall Angel, send out Princess and try to get a platform raised for Honey to stand on whenever either her or Buddy fainted. Other than that? Well, I could always have had Honey try to use Discharge or Thunderbolt in the water, but… to be honest, I don't know if he knows how to swim. I should have asked."

"I don't know what you feed that Tangrowth," Maeve said. "How would you even take it down?"

"Me? I'd have Princess restrain him with Ancient Power or Psychic while I took care of the other Pokemon," I shrugged. "Angel's difficult to beat, but it's not impossible. You just can't tunnel vision on dealing damage or you'll lose. Or… you could have a powerful fire or poison type. Either or."

"Well he's been doing the rounds on the forum. People are terrified of him," Denzel said. "And of you…"

"What? Why me?" I frowned.

Aside from Cecilia, my friends all looked awkwardly at each other.

"I don't get it either," my girlfriend said. "Maybe they're scared of your cuteness. I certainly know that I wouldn't be able to fight back against that."

With a sly smile, she hugged and kissed me. We had never shied away from public displays of affection, but we were definitely pushing it these days. Not that I particularly cared.

"If you don't know now, you'll never figure it out," Pauline said.

"It's the way you play mind games," Justin explained. "People dislike that."

"Well I didn't play any mind games during my first and third battles, so they're just biased," I said. "Granted, I could have, but it would have been too dangerous. I couldn't fuck around when the field turned into an ocean."

"See, this is what they're talking about! It feels like you're fucking around with them for fun," Maeve said.

"Well, battles are supposed to be fun, no?" I shrugged. "I can't deny that I like playing with people's hopes and using that to my advantage, but only for battling."

"Let them talk," Cece rolled her eyes. "None of them matter."

"Well, it kind of matters with the Poketch Company…" I sighed. "Hopefully they'll like this battle though. It was a lot more straightforward."

"Soon enough they'll have to remarket you as a ruthless battler instead of some normal girl next door," Mira teased.

We all chuckled, and we made our way to the Pokemon Center so I could heal Angel. Denzel and Mira's battle would be next. If I looked deep within myself, I didn't exactly know why screwing with people emotionally felt so good during battles. It just did. It was fun. That moment where all hope drained from their faces was the moment where I knew I'd win. It wasn't like I did it every time, although when my presence in the Poketch Company was a little more steady, I'd probably start doing it a lot more. I had already heard about how hotheaded Maylene was, and she'd be a prime target to use it on.

Those were thoughts for the future.

We had texted Luca everything Pauline, Justin and Denzel remembered about the supervisor that had refunded her half of her ticket, so all we could do was wait for him to bring back any news. I opted to dip out early. I needed to prepare for my battle against Harry Rodriguez in advance, and there were two things that I thought were necessary if I ever wanted to win. I went back to the Pokemon Center and gave Angel to Nurse Joy, then I went off to my usual training spot.

I released Princess and Honey. The latter's fur was still damp from that little time he'd spent under the rain.

"Hi guys. It's just you two this morning," I said. "This is important practice for our big battle against Harry, okay?"

I had brought my Pokemon up to speed before my battle regarding the tournament's shadyness, and some were a lot more anxious than others. Princess and Buddy wanted me to stop investigating and keep my head down to stay safe. Sweetheart and Honey wanted to uncover whatever the hell was going on, although the electric type wanted to do so in a safe manner, which meant no more infiltration attempts. Angel didn't exactly understand the grand conspiracy at play, but he did know something bad was afoot.

As for Sunshine? Well, I hadn't told him yet.

I did feel bad about it, but I was planning on rectifying that right now. First though, I had to give Princess and Honey instructions.

"You were great, by the way," I smiled at Electabuzz. "I should have brought a towel for you."

He grinned, flashing his sharp teeth and gave me a thumbs up. Togetic chirped, asking about what happened during the battle.

"Oh it was this whole thing. The entire field was flooded. I could tell you got scared when I released you," I said, smirking at Honey. He hurriedly shook his head. "Come on big guy, I know you. You didn't let it show though, and you immediately got ready to attack. I'm proud of you kiddo—"

Eugh, kiddo? I was starting to sound like my dad. Still, one of the most important parts of Pokemon battling was that your Pokemon needed to be ready no matter what situation they were in.

"Okay, you won't actually be learning a new move, Hon," I said. His shoulders sagged. "I know, I know. You need to work on Protect some more."

"Ele…"

"It's boring, huh? Well think about it like this. If you manage to nail Protect down, you'll last a lot longer in fights, so more fun for you."

He brightened up at that.

"And I also need it in case you… you know, need to protect me or any of the others if something bad happens. I told you that we went in the Hunters' mansion, but I didn't tell you about the Pokemon they had. It was a Shiftry."

With how confused Honey looked, I knew he'd never seen one before. Princess was a given, of course.

"It doesn't really matter what it looks like, just know that it was really strong and that it's a grass and dark type. The more you can use the move, the more you can protect me if things go south, okay?"

Now he was on board. Without any complaints, he walked a few feet away and started to use the move over and over. There was no better way to learn Protect. It was a move with a low skill floor, but an extremely high skill ceiling. He'd improve with the move throughout his life, and there was no better way to practice it than brute forcing. The move would prove extremely useful to bypass Torterra's Earthquakes. In every one of Harry's fights that I'd seen, it always came out slow and telegraphed.

If I ever had to fight that Shiftry in an act self defense without Sunshine, I didn't think it could be done.

"Princess, it's about time we start working on your fairy type moves again, isn't it?"

"Prrri!"

"Yours is tricky," I said. "It's called Dazzling Gleam."

I turned on my phone and showed her a video of Mira's Kadabra using the move. It combined a bright flash of light with dozens of tiny explosions that would hurt her opponent. I wasn't exactly interested in the damage it would deal— at least not for the fight against Harry. This would be her main counter against Crobat if it ever got close to her. Blinding it would leave her enough to to run away or impale it with Ancient Power, which to be honest, was part of the plan to deal with the poison type.

"Let me tell you how I think you can get started, and you tell me if it helps, okay?" I started. "When you use Fairy Wind, it's… controlled, right? You diffuse fairy type energy, weave it into the wind so that you're able to control it."

Princess nodded.

"For this move… forget that control. Just let the energy explode out of you and see what happens."

I mimicked an explosion with my hands, sound effects and all, and she giggled at me. I pet her head and let her get to work. I observed the two for a few minutes, and Honey was already panting roughly. Protect would certainly help with his endurance overall. Princess, meanwhile, was… well, she was exploding, and the sparks were there, but the light wasn't. I'd check back in later to see if there was any progress on that front.

I held Sunshine's Pokeball in my hands. It was warm.

The fire type peered down at me with a curious look.

"Hey. I have something to tell you."

He let an annoyed groan escape from his mouth.

"It's not a story this time, I swear! Hear me out…"

I told him everything. Everything regarding BattleZone, Harry Rodriguez, the Hunters and how something was unmistakingly linking them together. His gaze was unchanged during the entire tale, and I couldn't really tell what he was thinking.

"I'm going to ask you a favor. We can trade," I exhaled. "If things go south and our lives are in danger because they realize we're snooping around, I need you to help me. I also want to keep you as a backup for my battle against Harry. I'll try to beat him without you, but you'll be my fourth."

He let out an amused snort.

"In exchange… if I ever come across Team Galactic. I will do my best to take them down. But only once! We'll call the authorities and then barge in before they get there or something so you can have your revenge. That way, I use you once, and you use me once. That's a fair deal."

I regretted the words as soon as they were out of my mouth, but what was done was done. Turtonator's eyes widened in surprise, and he touched my shoulder with a warm hand. I almost jumped. It was my first time actually touching him. He hadn't expected this from me at all, and it showed.

I wasn't actually expecting things to go that wrong, of course. We hadn't really done anything of note except look up information about Harry. Hell, I was sure that multiple people were doing it too other than us— including the media. Luca was in more trouble than we were since he got caught snooping.

But just in case.

"Keep the deal on the down-low though. Princess has been slowly learning to tolerate you, and we'd throw all that progress away if you didn't."

His nose flared in anger.

I clicked my tongue. "What about Buddy then? And Sweetheart? You like them— ah, there's that face. I know you do. Hell, I know even I'm growing on you— wait, don't leave!"

I followed Turtonator, who lied down in the soft grass and obsered Princess and Honey train.

"Can I add one thing to the deal?"

He growled and slightly raised the temperature.

"Let me call you Sunshine."

I grinned when no objections came. Finally.

——

I awoke to the sound of my Poketch, as I usually did these days.

I don't know when I had fallen asleep, but I did. I groaned and realized that I was leaning against Sunshine, who was still asleep. His scales weren't that comfortable, but that was offset by how warm it was. Fire types were awesome. Maybe I could make this a regular thing soon. It was the afternoon now, and Honey and Princess were still working hard. Light was starting to emanate from her attacks, although it was still a tiny amount, and Honey's Protect were coming out faster than before.

I had apparently missed a lot. Luca had been added to the group chat— ah, nevermind, they created an entirely new group chat with him in it instead. I scrolled back to the beginning of the conversation and—

Someone was dead.

A BattleZone employee had died early this morning, and people had come across the body a few hours earlier. I quickly sent a message to assuage their panic, since I hadn't shown myself in hours. Cece berated me and I could hear her screaming through the text .I felt terrible.

"Wake up Sunshine, we've got to go."

He refused to get up and told me to just recall him instead so that he could continue sleeping in his Pokeball. His laziness would be the end of me. I recalled him and the others, opting to have Buddy accompany me on the way back to the Pokemon Center. I wasn't about to be defensless when someone had just died.

——

"Grace!" Cecilia exclaimed as I stepped inside of Denzel room. She practically tackled me and sniffled in my arms. "Don't just disappear on us, you idiot!"

"You should have warned us," Justin nodded. "We were besides ourselves trying to find or contact you. Cece wanted to call the Poketch Company."

"I'm sorry," I grimaced. "I fell asleep."

I rubbed Cecilia's back, and she wouldn't leave my side. She really believed I was dead.

"The cops say it was a suicide," Denzel said. "They said he hung himself in his office."

"And the cops are obviously full of shit," Pauline added. "I bet it was a murder. Someone killed that man."

"We already know the Hunters run things here, so that isn't surprising," Mira shrugged. "Now what are we gonna do about it?"

"Nothing!" I snapped "Do we know who died?" I turned to Pauline. "Is it the guy that paid you off?"

"No. And I would have remembered his face if I saw it. It's on the tip of my tongue, but you know, for the eyes."

"So a supervisor from BattleZone was assassinated. Any leads on why? Luca?" I asked.

"Nope. I'm stumped. I do know that he was pretty high up in the food chain though. Connor Tyson wasn't just a supervisor. He actually had authority on how the tournament was run. To use trainer terms… this is like if a gym leader had just gotten assassinated."

A few surprised gasps ran through the room.

"That high?" Louis frowned. "Wouldn't someone that high up know about the rigging— and be orchestrating it?"

"No, no," Denzel shook his head. "This is proof that there are factions, just like I theorized. If I had to guess, he was going to talk, and he quickly got shut out."

"Killing him for just exposing tournament rigging?" Maeve said. "Rough him up maybe, but murder seems like too much. The consequences don't match the actions here."

"For BattleZone? I don't know, maybe they're just that concerned about their rep," Mira said.

"This entire thing obviously goes deeper than just rigging now. There's something else to this, and figuring out Harry Rodriguez is the key, I'm sure of it," I said. "So there are multiple factions within BattleZone, but the question is, are there multiple factions within the Hunters? Even the most ardent of cults should have people that aren't too into the idea of murder."

"I don't think we can figure it out. They've shown that they aren't beyond using murder for their needs. Luca, I'd stop traveling alone at night if I were you," Denzel said. "And for anyone who thinks this is too dangerous… I'd resign from the tournament and get to Veilstone as quickly as you can. This isn't a joke anymore."

"We're not doing anything about it. I'm going to stay here to fulfill my contract and then we can—"

Pauline interrupted me.

"I'm going to keep investigating."

"So am I," Mira said. "This is fun."

"This isn't supposed to be fun," I exclaimed. "Someone died!"

"We're our own person," Mira shrugged. "Don't tell us what to do. I have my own reasons, and Pauline is the pettiest girl I've ever seen. Even Louis is on board, even if he's too scared to say it."

"I can't let you face this on your own," Denzel sighed at Pauline. "I think this is a terrible idea, but I'm in. Things will work out. What about everyone else?"

A heavy silence settled in the room, and I watched to see if anyone would leave. I was scared… terrified, even, but I couldn't let Pauline, Louis, Denzel and Mira do this alone. This was murder. This was real. I felt my hand tremble, and I clenched my fist. I could do this.

Maybe that was proof that I'd be able to face down Team Galactic when the time came.

Twenty seconds passed. Then forty. Then a full minute. No one wanted to leave. Not even Maeve. It wasn't just about rigging anymore. There was more to this. This entire town was rotting from the inside. I just hoped no one would get hurt because of Pauline and Mira's decision. I had risked Pauline's life when asking to capture Turtonator, so I'd be a hypocrite to say no. There was no way that she'd be convinced.

Sunshine would have to help us if it ever came to blows, and it seemed that it would sooner rather than later.

"Maeve…" Louis muttered.

"I'm staying. What kind of friend would I be if I just let you all face this?"

"A smart one," Luca smirked.

"You too, Luca," Denzel said. "The Elder knows that you tried to snoop. You could be a target. I'm not sure… but it's possible that even the Pokemon Centers aren't safe if what Isaac said about the Hunters running everything is true."

"Nurse Joys are employed by the League and most of them wouldn't be from here," I said. "We'll be alright."

"I'll be fine. This murder's a blessing in disguise— okay, I might have said that wrong, no need to stare like I'm insane. This was like a cold splash of water, right? Sobered us right up. We need to tread with caution here. One slip up, and we're dead."

"The goal should be to gather enough evidence to call the League over," Maeve said. "Beyond that, we can't do much. Especially if that Shiftry sounds as tough as you made it seem."

"It was," Luca said, his face growing grim. "I've never seen anything like it."

"We have no frame of reference. I tried looking up dark type specialists online, but none of them can do what Shiftry did. That means that it was a custom move of some kind," Denzel explained. "Beyond that, we can't really place its exact strength."

"I reached a deal with my Turtonator. He'll take care of it if the time comes."

It took a few seconds for my words to sink in.

"Wow— wow, okay, that's fucking amazing," my best friend smiled. "I feel a lot better about this than before. Now, we just need to be careful when we go out. If they send some goons after us—"

"They won't send anyone," I said. "Well, they might send some, but not for all of us. Mira, Denzel, Cecilia and I are in the limelight. If anything happens to us, that would bring too much attention. Louis, Pauline and Justin aren't as famous, but they are the children of billionaires. Luca and Maeve, you're probably in the most danger here, which is why you can't travel alone. Especially you, Luca. Understood?"

"I'll send my Cuties out instead," he nodded. "They'll come back when they have any info."

"Okay. You should probably go get a Center room in here instead of whatever Center you're staying at so we're in the same building. Cecilia and I can go with you."

"Um… one thing of note I might have forgotten to ask. I'm not a trainer. Not officially anyway. So… I can't stay in a Center room. You'll have to house me."

"Like a fugitive?" Mira joked. How could she be so unserious in this situation?

"Not a fugitive. Trainers are allowed to house non-trainers in their rooms."

"Just go get one, Arceus," I said. "This isn't the time to be petty, you can deal with that after."

"No, because then I have to do this Circuit shit or it's considered fraud!" He exclaimed. "I want no part in it. Someone will have to house me."

Louis sighed. "You can sleep in my room if you wish. You'll have to take the floor though."

"That wouldn't be anything new for me," he shrugged.

"So what now then?" Maeve asked. "What do we do next?"

"Keep your heads down for the rest of the day. If you want to train, do it in groups. Even if we think that they wouldn't send anyone to attack us, we'll be better safe than sorry," Denzel said, crossing his arms.

"The next best move would be to either find an inside man in the Hunter family, or find the guy that paid Pauline off and report him to see the Hunter's reaction when the public learns of it. One of these two, and we're golden," Louis declared. "But how?"

"I know of a way," Luca said. "You know the supervisors run on a schedule, right?"

We all nodded.

"That schedule's written down in the tournament building. The one where you all signed up. I saw it once on a piece of paper nailed down to the wall."

"You're saying that we should…" Denzel trailed off.

"Yes," he grinned. "What do you say we do a little bit of breaking and entering tonight?"

"What?" I scoffed in disbelief.

"So much for keeping our heads down," Maeve sighed.

This was it. This was the point of no return. My contract with the Poketch Company, my reputation, everything rode on this. Risks were risks, but this was something else entirely. This was stupid. But if I didn't come, the others would go anyway. I wasn't going to let them face this alone.

Cecilia shook her head. "Grace I don't think this—"

"For the record, I think that this is the worst idea you've ever had. Do you at least have a plan?" I said.

"Well believe it or not, I've done it once before around a week ago…"

Luca's plan had been full of holes, but it had worked the first time somehow. We helped him smooth over some edges until we figured something that would work out. Maeve was okay with sticking around, but she did not want to break in somewhere, so we had worked out something regarding that. Luca, Pauline and Mira had said that if no one came, they'd be going by themselves. Denzel wasn't about to let Pauline and Mira go off on their own, and neither was I. Justin disliked this but he was with us. Louis was fully onboard due to this reminding him of how scummy his father had been. He wanted to free the innocent Hunters from their cult. Cecilia… was not on board. When she saw how I was starting to go along with the idea, she pulled me aside and began to scold me.

"Grace, you're too obsessed with this. This isn't a joke anymore."

"I know," I said. "But they'll be going whether I go or not. And it's not like it's not the right thing to do. I want to fix things. I want to avenge Pauline. I want to avenge the man that was murdered—"

"You didn't even know him! And at this point, I think you care more about the rigging than Pauline ever did. It's okay to give up on things, Grace. You're in over your head. Let's just… give up. Let's just get you to the top fifty, fulfill your contract with the Poketch Company and let's leave this town and never come back. Forget everything that happened here."

"I won't forgive this slight, Cece. I can't."

"You're not making any sense! Losing a tournament isn't the end of the world, rigging or not!"

I flinched at her raised tone.

"Listen…" she sighed. "I promised your dad I would keep you safe. This is the opposite of that. I can't let you go along with this."

"I—"

I had promised my dad. I had promised him that I wouldn't take unnecesary risks.

And yet, Team Galactic was coming for me, and it'd probably be sooner than I thought. If I couldn't do this, then what was the point? So many promises I'd made were more dangerous than this. Hunting down the Rhyperior that had killed Sweetheart's mom, finding the three Gengar that had raised Honey, my new promise to Turtonator… maybe that was why I didn't feel a particular need to run. Maybe my sense of self-preservation had been so fucked up in these last few months that the current situation seemed a lot less worse than it actually was to me. Cecilia did raise important questions, though. Why was a slight to a friend so hard for me to just look past? Why couldn't I just let go and run?

For some reason,

I just found something being done to my friend— small or not— the most detestable thing in the damn world, and I wasn't about to let them do this alone.

"If we don't go, the others will do it by themselves. If they had all agreed to not go, then I would have changed my mind, but they need our support. Without Sunshine here, they will have no chance. I am going through with this. I'm sorry, but the plan is sound."


Thank you Hatchil#5415 for the team!

The next chapter is in 2 hours. I know some people will wonder why Grace is going along with this and feels so strongly about the situation, but it should be somewhat apparent by now. I mean, I've basically been beating your head with a stick with how obvious the foreshadowing is (and just in case someone somehow comes up with this answer, it is not mind control). If you still don't get it, well it'll be answered somewhat soon (shortly after this arc).

Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, Aaron Vera, A ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe
 
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Chapter 156 - Break-in
CHAPTER 156 - Break-in

It was the dead of night.

The tournament building wasn't exactly a paragon of security. It had been hastily built next to the Hunters' property to host the event, and it looked more like an overgrown camping cabin than anything else. Relatively small and only containing a few rooms. A few windows, a rackety wooden door, but most important of all, absolutely no security or cameras. According to Luca, a supervisor was supposed to stand guard the whole night, but they tended to be lazy with their shifts by going home early. It was a perfect place to break into, but the problem was that we had to do it and leave no traces. We were actually breaking the law here, and if I was found out, it'd put my entire relationship with the Poketch Company in jeopardy.

And yet, here I was.

The plan was simple. Have all of our flying types flying discreetly in the sky and warn us of anyone approaching through the road or otherwise. There was only one lonely road to keep track of, so that'd be easy. Staravia, Talonflame and Magnezone were on top of things, and they weren't easy to spot at night. Maeve and Justin were staying outside to stall if someone came, but we'd use the advanced warning to bail out as quick as possible, since they'd send us a text about it. Next up, we had Mira's Haunter, who easily slipped through the walls of the building to let us know if anyone was inside. Surprisingly, he was behaving rather well. I supposed that playing catch was working wonders with him.

Somehow.

Luca's Cutiefly had a different job than usual tonight. Instead of scanning for danger like usual, they were sticking closer by the Hunters' mansion— not too close. We could see their soft lights shining in the sky. Their goal was to signal immediately if anyone ever got out of that mansion. Maeve and Justin would see it, text us, and we'd run away.

"Can your Haunter be any slower?" Luca hissed.

"Let him be."

"We can't afford to waste time! Fucking call him over!"

Mira groaned in frustration. "Haunty! What are you doing in here? Don't forget, no poison."

The door slowly slid open, revealing the inside of the building. It was pitch black. Denzel took a tentative step forward, but Haunter reappeared in front of him and screamed. He yelled his guts out and would have fallen over if Louis hadn't caught him. Haunter cackled and pulled out his tongue.

"People could have heard that for miles," Cecilia winced. "We need to hurry."

"This is why it should have been that Arceus damned Froslass," Luca complained.

"She can't control the cold yet, this is the best that we had," I said. "Let's go."

Haunter's hand became more gaseous, and the key dropped inside of Mira's hand. Pauline quickly found a light switch and turned it on.

"Good, good. No poison on the floors," Mira smiled, recalling Haunter. "Now keep that Slowking of yours sharp and close the door."

Slowking sagely nodded, and the pink-haired girl winced. Right, she was a lot more used to telepathy than I was. Slowking was our last line of defense. He'd use Hypnosis on any people that made it through, and then we would run away.

"Okay everyone, five minutes maximum. Split up, find wherever those Arceus damned schedules are, and we're out. Pauline, I want you to turn off the lights. People from the outside can see if the lights in the lobby are on, so just keep it to singular rooms for now. There ain't that much to look through, so be quick," Luca ordered.

"Don't boss me around," Pauline said with her arms crossed. He rolled his eyes and ignored her.

"This feels too easy…" I muttered. "Too smooth."

"Well stop complaining and get working," he snapped. "Hop the counter and go through these drawers. Cecilia, help her out. Denzel, Louis, you're with me. Justin keep an eye out, let's go, let's go, let's go!"

"What about me?!" Mira asked.

"There's an annex room in the back. Go through there and see if you find anything suspicious. I'll look in the two offices."

"Sure thing! Oh, right, here's Kadabra for you guys!" She said, looking at us. Kadabra appeared in a flash of red behind the counter and offered a stare that held little to no respect.

I jumped over the counter and helped Cecilia up, then I started to sift through these drawers. We had to be careful about it too, because we had to leave everything in the correct position and order we'd first seen it in. Thankfully, we had Slowking and Mira's Kadabra to count on for that. Their incredible memories would serve us perfectly, and they seemed to get along… relatively fine, at least.

"Files… files… more files," I groaned. "This one's no good. What about yours?"

"Schedules, but not for the supervisors on duty here. They're for the tournament brackets," she sighed. "A bunch of office supplies… pencils, calculators… nothing that we're looking for."

I yelped when every single drawer opened and Kadabra levitated hundreds of pieces of paper, sorting through them in a flash. After around five seconds, he placed them back in the exact position they were in, leaving us with a single paper. Cecilia hesitantly grabbed it.

"This is it. This is the schedule," she said, breathing a sigh of relief. "Pauline, come here! What time did you go lodge your complaint again?"

"Seven-thirty-ish," she said.

"Ish? This is not the time for approximations!" I said.

"No ish! Just seven thirty."

Cecilia traced her finger on the paper. "We've got him. Seven-thirty, that's… Jerry Heo."

"We've got his name, now we can find his picture with enough dedication. Then, we find him. Let's leave. I'll go find Mira, you guys go find Luca," I said.

I jumped over the counter again and jogged to the annex room. The smell of cardboard invaded my nostrils as I stepped inside of the room. I saw Mira look through some papers through the pallet racking. Instead of the usual pouting I had come to expect, she actually looked like she was taking this seriously. Up until now, I believed that she still took this as a game, but I was glad that the gravity of the situation had apparently sunk in for her. Kirlia stood by her side with her arms crossed, and they were mid-conversation.

"...I mean, it's kind of nice that this happened. It's a practice run for later. If the rumors about Veilstone are true, I'm going to have to do some snooping— Grace! What's up?"

"We found what we were looking for. Can Kirlia put everything back into place?"

"Yup. Go ahead," she tapped her Kirlia's head.

The psychic type huffed and the papers all flew out of Mira's hand, traveling to their respective boxes.

"Anything interesting?" I asked.

"Information on past tourneys mostly. I wonder why they brought all of this here instead of keeping it in their permanent HQ."

"Maybe it just helps to have all of their previous info on hand. Let's go—"

Cecilia burst through the door. "Bad news! Someone's exited the mansion and another person is walking down the road. We need to leave, we're going through the fields! Luca's Cutiefly are back and it seems bad."

I grabbed Mira's wrist and dragged her back inside of the lobby. We were almost all out of the door before Luca stopped.

"I'm staying."

My face fell. "What?"

"Are you insane?" Denzel hissed. "We—"

"I'm staying. They're meeting in this Arceus damned office instead of the mansion for some reason and I won't let the opportunity slip by. You guys leave. Go. Go! I'll send you anything I get via text."

I couldn't even comprehend what happened before we were out of the building and running through Solaceon's field, away from the Hunters' property. I didn't know how long we ran for, but when we stopped, we were all back at the Pokemon Center.

All of us except Luca.

——

Being poor when you had been rich in the past was hard.

Luca Antonovich had grown up in Hotel Grand Lake that linked Pastoria, Sunyshore and Veilstone together. In fact, his parents ran the place.

He hadn't seen them in two years.

They'd kicked him out at fifteen for being a failure and he couldn't exactly blame them. Luca was sure that if he hadn't done anything with his life and loafed around— akin to a Slaking— they would have let him stick around. He would have been that embarrassing family member that everyone had. The one that had never done anything with his life, but was fun to have around. He'd been worse than that. Constantly bringing shame to his family, berating teachers when he failed, constantly getting into fights with the other guests' kids, stealing from guests… and it had all culminated to that day when he'd set fire to a building.

All for attention.

He was sure that his little brother had completely replaced him by now. He wasn't needed anymore.

Luca stopped himself from laughing. How incredible that he would think back to his old life in such a precarious position? He held his breath and sat completely still in a corner of the dark annex. His Cuties— his oldest companions that he'd caught soon after leaving home— stood on his left shoulder. He motioned to them to go forward and signal to him whenever anyone stepped inside of the building.

One singular question rang through his mind. One, why have the meeting here? Harry had been let in the mansion, so it couldn't have been him. The risks involved in meeting in the tournament building were so immense… no… no they weren't. Luca was sure that even if they had their eyes on them, no one ever thought they'd be brazen enough to break in. He froze when his two Cutiefly began to fly in unison, spelling out letters. It was incredible how fast the two of them could be.

They are here. One woman, one man. No Pokemon or Pokeballs.

He breathed out a sigh of relief. At least if he got caught, he'd be able to run away. His Cutiefly weren't the best at fighting, but they were still Pokemon.

They are coming.

Luca sank deeper into the annex and ducked under a large cardboard box. The industrial lights came on with a woosh, and steps reverberated through the room. Luca considered grabbing his phone now and texting everything he heard live, but he knew he'd mess up if he did. Somehow, he would drop it, or he'd accidentally get it off silent. He was a fuck-up, and he knew better than to give himself the opportunity to make a mistake.

"...you'll have a great time here. Solaceon's fresh air is going to be great for your wife. She's going to give birth to very healthy kids," a woman said. She sounded young, but Luca wasn't about to peek out to see who she was.

"I'm sure, I'm sure," the man said. "I hope you'll take care of her when I have to leave though. You know how work is."

"Come on, Jerry! You should just quit your job after the tournament. If you right the ship and prove yourself useful, I'm sure that the Elder would be willing to make an exception and take you in."

Jerry.

Jerry Heo.

Holy fuck. Luca bit down on his tongue and sucked in air through the gap in his teeth. He heard the soothing Buzz of his Cutiefly and calmed down. If he could record this conversation and give it to the press… Luca bit the bullet and grabbed his phone to start recording.

"So you're done with buttering me up with small talk, eh? I don't want to join your family." Jerry dryly said. "Why couldn't we meet in your damned mansion. I hate doing this where I work. You're lucky I was on security tonight, or we wouldn't have been able to meet."

"The Elder would have disagreed. Where are the files?"

Luca heard some paper rustling. If he had to guess, he was handing her information on Harry's next opponent. They were still doing some amount of rigging.

"It didn't disagree for that Harry kid."

"He!" The woman hissed with barely contained rage. "You will address the Elder as he if you know what's good for you."

"Arceus, Lisa. Are you threatening me?"

"It is not a threat," she said. "He is offended very easily."

"That was obviously a threat."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Lisa Hunter and Jerry Heo were speaking to each other. This was big. Luca clenched at his heart to try to stop his heart from beating too quickly. For the next ten seconds, nothing was said.

"Okay, I'm sorry," Jerry audibly gulped. "But did you have to kill Mr. Tyson? Just when we shut down that rigging story, it's starting back up again. The business is bleeding, Lisa. We were promised big gains, and this is going terribly."

"I don't know much about your colleague's unfortunate suicide, but he was the one that started this whole fucked up situation to begin with. I thought you could keep your people under control—"

"I can't keep my fucking boss under control!" He snapped. "And don't pretend you can fool me with this suicide shit! You fucking idiots have no idea what you just did. You're so used to getting whatever you want that you just snap and go crazy when you don't! The entire tournament's in jeopardy now, and all your precious Harry will get is a tainted win. At the end of the day, no one will care, and you don't want that, don't you?"

Lisa hesitated, stammering out a few words. "We have nothing to do with his death. And no, we do not want Harry to fail."

"Then leave things to me and tell your family to stop fucking things up. This is already unsalvageable for BattleZone, but maybe we can save Harry's image."

"You can't just come to Solaceon and tell us what to do, Jerry. The Elder will never take kindly to that."

"Tell it— tell him that if he keeps ordering hits on employees that aren't on board with his plan, Harry Rodriguez will sink along with us. And his pals from Veilstone sure as hell won't like that. Not when they've got their hands busy with all the inves—"

"Do not even utter those words, you imbecile! Do not speak of Veilstone."

"It's just us here—"

"Shut. Up. If you only called me here to complain about Robert's unfortunate death, then I believe I have nothing left to say now that I've gotten the files."

"Wait! This is important. I need to hear your next steps. What did Harry and your uncle speak about during their meeting? I know you're privy to a lot of information, so don't pretend like you don't know."

"That is Hunter only, I'm afraid," Lisa said.

"How do you expect me to work with you if you keep me in the dark?"

"Your opportunity to be an equal partner passed you by when you let your boss expose our plan by forcing Sally McCree to resign. Fucking hell… he was supposed to be on our side. What do we do now when Harry has to fight other trainers with five badges, hm? Do we just leave it to chance?"

"He'll make it to the top four, at least! And by the time he has to battle someone at his level, we'll have figured something out."

"You better, or we're throwing BattleZone under the bus," she said. "We won't settle for the top four. We want perfection. All of us."

"Lisa—"

"Shut it. It's not like you even care, you and your friends here are the ones backstabbing your company and rigging the tournament for petty cash. Just figure something out, or we will. The Hunters don't take too kindly to being restrained."

The man groaned. "Fine. Just… stop killing people."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Lisa said with sarcasm so dry it could be mistaken for a desert. "Now go."

"I need to lock up here—"

"Go. I will not say it twice. I'll lock up for you."

"You can't—"

The man stopped and Luca heard him run out of the room. He stopped recording and discreetly placed his phone back into his pocket. He had everything, now he just had to make it out— wait, no! He had to send the video over now! Luca quickly grabbed his phone and—

"There's a kid here, Lise."

Luca froze and felt a shiver run down his spine. There was another woman in the annex. Why hadn't his Cutiefly spotted her?! He quickly scrambled to his feet and started to run, but a blotch of darkness traveled through the floor, blocking his path. From the abyss emerged an Umbreon. The dark type snarled at him, and he hesitantly stepped back. Its fur stood on end and dripped poison so acidic that it formed little pools on the wooden floor.

Lane Hunter snatched his phone from his hands behind him, dropped it on the floor and smashed it with her foot.

"Arceus, today's been a very bad day," Lisa sighed.

Where had that Umbreon even been? How had it hidden its trainer?

"D—Draining Kiss!" Luca stammered.

His two Cutiefly darted toward Umbreon, and their needles sharpened. The dark type's golden circle lit up, and darkness lashed out from the floor as if it had a mind of its own. It was exactly like Shiftry's. An empty void that looked like it had been edited into the world with a computer program instead of a color. Both of his Cutiefly got hit once, and they quickly fell to the ground.

He was really no good after all. Luca's shoulders sagged. That's what he got for not training his Pokemon to battle.

"Just fuckin' kill me," he smiled. He was trying to put on a brave face, but he felt like his heart would stop any moment now. He'd never been terrified his entire life. "Make it painless?"

"Anyone else in the building?" Lisa asked.

Lane hummed. "No, I was skulking around the whole time we were here. It's just him. He was on my tour too. Do we kill him?"

At least they didn't know the others had been there. He'd be gone soon, but if they could track this Jerry Heo guy… then they'd be able to uncover this just as he had.

"Legendaries, I hate being outside. These emotions make me unable to think properly," Lisa complained. "Luca Antonovich… an information broker for the tournament. He's not a League-mandated trainer, so I don't think people would notice if he was gone. They'd probably think he just left. Still… I don't feel like I can take a decision on behalf of the Elder. Bring him back home."

"We were content to let you run around and play your games, you know?" Lane said. "But you had to keep going deeper."

Luca let out a relieved whimper, but he soon realized that a worse fate than death could possibly be awaiting him in the Hunters' mansion.

Who knew what that Shiftry would do to him?

——

It was morning now, and Luca still wasn't back. Nobody had slept.

Something had clearly happened to him. I… I hoped that he was safe somewhere. We tried to keep our spirits up by hoping that he'd been captured or arrested somehow. Maeve had begged to just confess that we had trespassed to the League and hope they'd do something about it, but that wouldn't work. The League wasn't exactly an entity that could focus on a single trainer going missing. Hell, Luca hadn't even been an official trainer, and he had broken the law. He wouldn't exactly be their top priority even if I called Candice. In fact, they probably wouldn't even look into it at all. This was more of a local issue.

I bit my lip and sighed. I hadn't known Luca for long, but it still hurt, damn it. Pauline wasn't that down in the dumps— she had only spoken to him a few times— but she blamed herself the most.

To be honest, it was partly her fault. And Mira's. But we all shared some of the blame— even Luca. After all, he'd been the one that had chosen to stay behind. Only Cecilia and Maeve's hands were clean.

Best case scenario, the League would defer it to the police, and we already knew that the police was worth nothing in this town. One thing about the League bothered me though. Why leave the Hunters to their own devices? They were doing this before Team Galactic was even involved, so the League being too busy focusing on them wouldn't be a good excuse. I didn't know much about governing, but would a nation really leave what was basically an independent city-state run by a cult to thrive within its borders instead of enforcing the rules? The mayor was a sham, the city council was a sham, and the people here seemed to think that everything here was normal. It disgusted me.

"What do we do now?" Denzel asked as he looked around the room.

"We could leave. It would hurt Grace with the Poketch Company, but that doesn't really matter at this point," Justin sighed.

"Let me think about it," I hesitantly said.

"Why?" Maeve asked. "Why risk everything?"

"First, it was to avenge Pauline. BattleZone slighted her and I wanted to expose them for it," I said. "Now, it's to avenge Luca. We didn't know him long, but I hadn't expected— I didn't expect them to… well, maybe he's okay..."

I felt a burning urge inside of me. An urge that wanted to make them pay the price. It didn't have to be me doing it, but if they fell, I would be happy. More than happy. My heart would swell with untold amounts of joy.

"I get it," Denzel said. "If… if you're in, I'm in. Pauline is too stubborn to learn, and apparently I'm too stubborn to let you guys be in danger by yourselves."

"I feel the same way," Louis nodded. "The children in that cult… they need to be freed. They don't know they're being treated as fools."

"Like I said before, I have my reasons," Mira said.

"Nothing changes. We use our fame to our advantage and keep fighting as if nothing happened. Today, we will go find Jerry Heo and have a word with him."

"What if he talks?" Louis asked.

I ignored the violent ideas that flashed in my head. "Listen up. I know this might be shitty of me to say, but we have billionaire friends, don't we? I'm saying we pay him off to stay quiet."

"And if he says no to that?" Louis asked again.

"We raise the price until he folds. Men like him like money," Cecilia anxiously breathed out. "He paid Pauline— a literal billionaire— to stay quiet. His brain only functions in terms of Pokedollars. He won't refuse."

It was on, then.

I was ready.

"We need to line everything up. When we're ready, we'll talk to the media and expose everything. As morbid as it is, we're going to need more than this to bring them down."


Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, Aaron Vera, A ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe
 
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Chapter 157
CHAPTER 157

"Here's Jerry Heo's face," Denzel said, showing us his phone. Jerry was a man on the heavier side of things, but I wouldn't call him overweight. "Found him on the 'meet our staff' page on the tournament website. We have his schedule, so we can probably wait until tonight to go speak to him."

"I want to bring him into a back alley and beat him up," Pauline said.

"That's not at all what we are doing," Cecilia chided. "Please be serious."

"I was serious."

"We wait until seven-thirty then," I nodded. "Then we strike. Offer him to spill the beans about everything he knows. He'll probably ask to not say that he talked, and we'll agree immediately when he does. After that, we're golden. Obviously we'll still record the conversation."

"Fine. Meet outside the tournament building at seven-thirty," Denzel nodded.



I picked up Angel from the Pokemon Center as soon as we all left and spread out, since he'd finally been healed. I released him outside, and he was as good as new. His battle with Will Bowman had definitely been his hardest since Fantina, and he wasn't exactly used to feeling pain, so I wanted to make sure he was alright before we went to find Jerry Heo. The majority of our friends would be busy with their battles in the morning anyway, so I had time. We weren't going to go alone. Everyone needed to participate. With our strengths combined, we could actually pack quite a punch.

"Hi Angel," I smiled. The grass type wriggled and snaked a vine around my ankle. "Want to see the others?"

It had been a few days since all of my Pokemon could just sit and hang out, and I considered it important for them to do so. I was still at the Pokemon Center's entrance, so Sunshine and his anti-social ways would have to wait, but the others were fine. I couldn't exactly go off on my own. Not anymore.

Sweetheart tackled Angel into a bear hug, which didn't amount to much due to the size difference. He raised her with a few vines and placed her on his head— which she had designated as her spot. Angel had been rather sad these days, since she now split most of her attention between him and Sunshine. He wasn't about to lose an opportunity to hog her. I kind of felt bad for her since I had only used her in a single battle, but I was planning on using her against Harry whenever the time came.

If the time came. I wasn't sure if the tournament was going to unravel at this point.

Princess and Buddy stuck by my side. The water type stood behind me with his usual vigilance, especially now that he knew how bad things were. He solidified his body for me and I leaned against his head. I could almost sink inside of him with how soft he was. Togetic was in my arms, as usual. She'd always been a mama's girl. She softly chirped as I pet her head, and I felt the floor shake under me.

She was always prepared.

Honey kept practicing Protect even though I hadn't told him to train. It seemed that he was determined to perfect the move as quickly as he could.

"Don't go too hard!" I smiled.

He turned toward me and gave me a sharp nod. Trainers were filtering in and out of the Center and giving Buddy strange looks.

"Chill out. No death stares," I whispered. He let out a series of clicks and booms that rumbled in my ears. "I know, but these trainers won't do anything. It's the adults that you've got to watch out for— but still, no death stares!"

Togetic giggled mockingly at him.

"I know what you've got under my feet, don't act like you're any better," I said. "But good. Keep it up."

We never knew when someone might strike.

"Hey, I was thinking about finding hobbies for you guys," I called out. "Mira told me that her Kadabra was into research and stuff and that Haunter played catch, so it made me think. I want you guys to be into more than just fighting, you know? Hell, you don't even enjoy it," I told Buddy. "If you ever have something that comes to mind, let me know okay?"

"Tar! Larvitar!"

"Destroying stuff doesn't count," I chuckled.

Togetic let out a series of cries.

"Ancient Power… wait, hold on say that again? I've never heard you use that other word before."

She chirped again, this time raising a small ball of earth from the ground and molding it into a star.

"Molding… did you mean molding? Oh wait, like sculpting! I got it!"

"To!" She cheered.

"Great! With how good you are with Ancient Power, you'll probably get into it quickly. What about you Bud?" I asked, bending my head back to see his immense head. "And don't say protecting us, or I'll pout."

I swore I heard him sigh.

"Think on it then. It's important to me."

It was a bit early to bring it up, but he'd… he would outlive all of us. It was important for him to discover other things.

I snapped my finger. "Honey, your turn!"

The electric type stopped practicing Protect awkwardly scratched his head. Larvitar sniggered at him from Angel's head.

"Don't make fun of him. Your turn is coming," I playfully said. "Don't be shy. You're with family."

Electabuzz looked around the trainers and people passing by.

"Come on, it's not like they'll understand what you just said. I won't say anything out loud."

He answered with cooking, which honestly came completely out of left field for me. I'd see if I could figure something out for him whenever we uncovered what was going on in this hellhole. I should have brought him to the Poffin House after we went with dad… if I had known, I would have.

"Angel?"

The grass type blinked twice. He was a lot tougher to understand than the others, but I was getting better and better at his vine-speak. I kind of felt bad for my friends. I didn't know if I would have been able to be happy if I couldn't speak to my team this clearly. Apparently Justin could understand his Pokemon even less than me and Tangrowth.

He needed to work on that!

Anyway, he answered something akin to taking care of something… it was still blurry. Children, maybe? It was either that or Pokemon as a whole, but the first option made a lot more sense. For some reason, his word for the two was indistinguishable. He always did that slow little vine twirl to the left and that soft blink whenever he spoke of them. The blinking was important with Angel. A quick blink meant that he was irritated or excited, or angry, although I had only seen him angry when our lives were in danger. A slow blink meant that he was happy, but it could also mean sadness or just neutral. Hell, sometimes when he was happy he didn't even blink, he just did that weird eye smile thing. That was why you had to combine the blinks and the motions of the vines to truly understand what he was saying. It was this whole ordeal.

"I'll write you down for taking care of children, cutie," I said. "But you've got to take care of yourself too!"

His vines tensed excitedly, and he smiled with his eyes. How the hell was I going to manage that? Well, he had Larvitar and to a lesser extent Togetic for now, so that would do.

"Sweetheart?"

The rock type stared at me and blanked.

"Think on it, okay? It can be anything."

"Toge," Princess grumbled.

"It can be anything as long as you leave your sister's sculptures intact…"

After around ten seconds, Larvitar lit up like a lightbulb and grinned.

She wanted to swim.

"Arceus," I sighed. "How are you going to swim? Without Angel to act as your lifeboat, you'd sink and drown, and you won't stay this tiny forever."

"Larvi!"

"Okay I did say anything. And sorry, you're not tiny, you're huge. But my point still applies!"

The rock type huffed, turning away from me and almost fell off of Angel's head, but he thankfully caught her before she could create a massive crater on the floor. I knew she would have leaned into that fall to increase the size of the hole.

"I'll figure something out," I sighed.

Could Pupitar skid across water with their jets? Like a stone skipping or a jet ski? The internet had no answers for me because I must have had the first rock type obsessed with water.

"Sculpting, Cooking, Caretaking, Swimming," I muttered to myself.

Now there was only Buddy and Sunshine left. If I had to guess, Turtonator would probably answer with sleeping, because that's all he did in his free time. It was a wonder such a lazy Pokemon could be so powerful when he wanted to be. I would need him to be in top form when the time came, so hopefully he wouldn't be too rusty. He hadn't fought anything since battling us Mount Coronet, but he'd been on the brink of passing out from his wounds.

How powerful would he be when he was at full strength? I was starting to think that the seven-badge approximation I had placed was underestimating him a little bit. I couldn't even imagine all of my Pokemon being that powerful, and yet it was just scratching the surface compared to what Gym Leaders could do with their true teams, nevermind the Elite Four and the Champion. There was still a lot of climbing to be done.



It was seven-thirty, and there were thirty minutes left until the tournament building closed. Justin had lost his battle today, but he'd done extremely well, and I didn't say that lightly. Taking down two Pokemon from a five badger at his level was proof that he was just as good as any of us here, even if he lacked the self-confidence to think so. Maeve had unfortunately also lost, and so had Louis, but she had apparently gotten two evolutions in that battle, so she was quite cheerful.

Not that they even cared about the tournament this point. Maeve wanted out and Louis was entirely focused on taking down the Hunters due to his past experience with his father.

Pauline, Denzel and Justin weren't going to be a part of this— at least not at the start, so they were hanging out outside. Jerry Heo knew their faces and we didn't want to scare him off before we even had the opportunity to speak. It was me, Cecilia, Louis and Mira this time. We stepped inside of the building and were glad to see that Jerry was indeed working. Luca's sacrifice hadn't been in vain.

Cecilia strode up to the man and smiled. She'd be taking the lead for this one since she was the best actor after Pauline. It felt weird to be back here without trespassing. See, because it was so late in the day, there were very little people in the building. Mira went over to distract the only other employee in the room. She could be very persistent when she wanted to.

"Sir! We need your help," she exclaimed. "A fight's broken out on the street! Something about a tournament loss."

"Shit, as if my day couldn't get any worse. Are they using Pokemon?"

"No," I immediately said. "It's just physical."

If he thought that Pokemon were involved, then he'd possibly bring more people in.

"Fine. Benji, I'm going to fix this."

"You got it. It's been pretty dead around here, so you should probably take off early. I'll close up."

"Thanks my brother," he said. "See you tomorrow."

Okay, Jerry was a lot more normal than I thought he would be. I had already pictured him as some kind of evil mastermind, but life wasn't often black and white. The rest of our friends were waiting further down the road and were a single call away. Now this was the riskiest part of the plan— as if this entire thing wasn't risky in the first place. We weren't going to threaten him to speak to us, but we did have to convince him to stick around before he realized that there was no fight.

"How much further?" He asked. "From the way you said it, it seemed that it was closeby—"

"We know you're corrupt, Jerry," I smiled. "We know you paid off our friend Pauline and that the Hunters are probably paying you to do their dirty work."

"What the fuck—"

"We can offer you a lot more than what they're paying," I interrupted. It was technically a lie, since I didn't know how much he was being paid, but I just needed him to speak to us. "Our friends are rich."

"Richer than you'd ever know," Mira added. "Come and talk to us."

"I don't know what you're talking about—"

"Five million," Cecilia said.

Jerry Heo stopped and licked his dry lips.

"Ten. Then I can get the fuck out of this town. Ditch to Sunyshore and retire with my wife."

"Ten's fine," Cecilia nodded. "Will you come and talk to us now?"

"Fine."



At first, Jerry wanted us to come speak inside of his hotel room that BattleZone was booking for him and his fellow employees, but there was no way we were doing that. We opted to do it in a public place— but not too public so that we could actually talk. It wasn't like public parks were swarming with people during the evening. Of course, we had Slowking, Kirlia and Kadabra out for protection. Together, they'd be able to sense anyone that was suspiciously booking it toward us and shield us from any attacks coming our way to leave us enough time to release the rest of our Pokemon.

They were notably having an effect on Jerry Heo too. He twitched nervously every time Kirlia glared at him, Kadabra bent his spoon or Slowking silently studied his face.

"What do you kids want to know then?" He shakily said. "Hurry it up. You wouldn't believe in how much danger I am in here. You don't know what you're messing with. As soon as I get my money, I'm getting my wife and I'm on the first plane to Sunyshore."

"We know how dangerous it is, so spare us," I said. I nodded at Denzel.

"First and foremost, do you have any idea of where our friend is? His name is Luca Antonovich."

"Luca… Luca… I don't really know any Lucas. I speak to a lot of kids for these tournaments—"

"He owns two Cutiefly? Does that ring a bell?" I asked.

"Oh, that kid. We heard a bit about him. He's an information broker, right? I don't know where he is."

We all sighed in disappointment. Well, it was time to get into the real meat of this.

"The Hunters and BattleZone are rigging this tournament for Harry Rodriguez. Why?" Denzel asked.

Jerry clenched his forehead and leaned forward with an exasperated groan.

"Look… this is tough to say—"

"Then stop wasting time and say it," Pauline hissed.

"There's a… a third party that isn't from here and that has nothing to do with us or the Hunters. They want Harry to win to promote his image. The Hunters like this third party very much, especially the head of the family—"

"Stop it. Stop skirting around shit, or we're not paying," Pauline said. "Be brave for once in your fucking life."

"Team Galactic! It's Team Galactic, okay! Or at least it's what I heard! Wait, wait, don't— I'm not a part of them okay? I have nothing to do with them, I just know things because I'm in charge of this rigging thing on the BattleZone side of things and I'm the only one the Hunters will speak to. I don't even want to do all of this! At first I was just in it for the money but then when I learned how deep it went it was already too late and I couldn't leave or they'd kill me—"

I took deep breaths, but I couldn't stop myself from panicking. I took a few steps back and let my friends take over. Cecilia noticed immediately and grabbed my hand. It looked like I might have to cash in that promise with Sunshine a lot earlier than I thought.

Come on, this was stupid. I was already throwing myself in so much danger. I could do this.

"Why the hell would Team Galactic care about a random trainer? Is he a part of their organization?" Mira asked, suddenly very aggressive.

"I don't know that! But it looks like he might be? The Hunters and Team Galactic have some kind of special relationship… they covertly ship them high quality Pokemon sometimes, but that's all I know! I don't know anything about Harry!"

"Keep going. Why did you pay Pauline off?" Denzel asked. It was an obvious question, but I assumed he just wanted to keep him talking.

"Because I wanted to keep her quiet. The plan went sideways from the very beginning… damn it," he exhaled. "Sally McCree, the girl that you were supposed to battle? She wasn't supposed to resign. We were only supposed to keep Harry from battling people with five badges. His first opponent would have obviously won. He was a lot better than Harry was, and his Pokemon countered his completely. I mean, Abomasnow, Gliscor, Altaria, Mamoswine and Darmanitan? He was fucked and everyone knew it, so we paid the kid off. The original brackets weren't made by us due to not having anyone in on the plan there, so we had no way of rigging them at the start."

"Wait, so you're saying that you were only involved with Harry's opponent resigning?" Louis asked.

"Do you know about the man who died? My boss, Connor Tyson? I think he was murdered. He was in on the deal with the Hunters— hell, he was supposed to be the Arceus damned leader and I had to take over since I was his second in command— but he only pretended to be. Evidently, he was disgusted with the whole affair, so tried to make the rigging really obvious by forcing that Sally girl to resign and sink not only the whole tournament, but the whole company. The Hunters threw an entire fit and shut him up real quick. From what I know, they threatened his life, and he stopped. They put me in charge right after that. It looks like they didn't want any loose ends though."

"So all this time…" I muttered. "All this time, it was just an inside job?"

"An inside job within the inside job," he nodded.

"It also means you're fucking incompetent," Pauline said.

"BattleZone as a whole doesn't really know about this. It's only a few select people in key places that are being paid off to influence how the tournament goes. That's why they've denied the rigging so publicly. They even launched internal investigations to make sure everything was clean. Obviously they didn't find anything."

"We didn't hear about any investigations," Justin frowned.

"They were held behind closed doors. They didn't want the company's image to be affected worse than it was. As it stands though, I think it's done for."

"Which is why you're hopping off the sinking ship like a rat," Mira smirked. "Tell us more about this Team Galactic connection. The Elder's chummy with the Team Galactic leaders?"

"I told you everything I knew. Mr. Tyson would have known more, but he's dead. Also, the Elder's not friends with Team Galactic. The family head is."

"Is there a difference?" Denzel asked.

"Of course. The family head is Roland Hunter. He's kind of like, skinny fat with a beard. I only met him once, since he hates stepping out of his property. The Elder they keep rabbling about is their Shiftry."

I blinked.

"What?"

"I know it's hard to believe, but it's true. That… that thing—" he spat. "—has been ruling over their family the whole time. I'm talking a thousand years here."

"Holy fuck," Denzel breathed out. "Oh Legendaries, oh fuck."

"Arceus," Justin sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"That's right. A Pokemon rules over fucking Solaceon. How does that make you feel?" He said, chuckling dryly. "The family head is just his second in command. His lackey."

"And the family head has connections to Team Galactic, not Shiftry?" I asked, just to be sure.

"Correct."

And yet, it seemed that Shiftry was perfectly content with them helping out Team Galactic by favoring Harry Rodriguez and sending them high quality Pokemon. Why?

"This is so fucking convoluted my head is going to explode," I said. "Okay. What else can you tell us about the Hunters? Just say everything you know."

"I know that most of 'em aren't trainers. If I had to guess, it's probably because Shiftry doesn't want any risk of rebellion. I know that the few that do have Pokemon capable of battling specialize in dark types."

"Good, but you have to have more than that," Denzel said.

"Shiftry has some kind of way of muting emotions. It's how he exerts control over the entire family. Stay on their property for a few days, and you'll start to feel nothing. No love, no joy, no sadness, no excitement… just nothing. The only thing he'll let you feel is loyalty. Every time Lisa met me, she was complaining about her emotions annoying her—"

"Lisa? Lisa Hunter?" Cecilia loudly asked.

"Yes, Lisa Hunter! Anyway, that's why none of them are allowed to leave the property for too long except the most trusted members of the family, like Lisa, Reggie, Lane… basically all the trainers. I also know they've been protecting the region from something, although I don't exactly know what. It's a huge deal though. They bring it up a lot."

I thought back to Isaac's story regarding Lisa. She had cried when they broke up, even though Shiftry was supposed to prevent that. Did that mean her love had overpowered his abilities for a few moments? She apparently never left the property when they were dating.

Or she could have been faking it. Reggie and Lane had shown emotions during their tour, like fondness for Ediva… did that constitute as loyalty for Shiftry? I assumed that their smiles and laugh during the tour had been faked, which is why they felt so hollow to me. If I had to gamble… I would say that Isaac could distinguish fake emotions from real ones, especially with someone he'd been dating. Lisa's tears had been real.

"Are you planning on doing more rigging in the tournament?" Pauline asked.

"At this point, no one cares about the tournament," Denzel shook his head. "That Shiftry. How strong is it?"

"How am I supposed to know? I'm no trainer!"

"Do you think you could convince one of the Hunters to switch sides?" Maeve asked.

"I told you I'm on a plane as soon as this is done, didn't I? I'm not going back there again no matter how much money you offer. But if you wanted to do it… you'd have to get one of them to get off their land for at least a few days to cleanse all of that dark type energy bullshit they have going on in there. I wouldn't do it if I were you."

"Okay, do you have Lisa Hunter's number?" Mira asked.

"Mira, we are not kidnapping anyone," Maeve hissed.

"We're not," I nodded. "That would be going too far. We're going to need to convince her."

"Good luck with that," Jerry laughed. "I'll entertain your idea and text her, but I'll have to set it up somewhere near their land. You'll have to do it quick though, because they'll know I'm gone pretty soon. Tomorrow's probably your cutoff line. Any later than that, and the Hunters will catch on that I'm gone."

"Grace, how are we going to convince this girl?" Denzel asked. "It's impossible. And even if we do, who's to say that she won't just change her mind the moment she gets back to their mansion?"

"Lisa cried when she broke up with Isaac," I said. "We have to get him to help. Hey, what Pokemon does Lisa have?"

"Good thinking. She might attack us," Justin nodded.

"A Mightyena."

"A single Mightyena?" Mira snorted. "Okay, we've got this."

"They're only allowed to have one Pokemon each," he said. "I know Lane has an Umbreon, but I don't know anything else."

"Okay, so that won't be an issue. Now we just have to call Isaac and convince him to do this."

"Wait. Grace, you're tunnel visioning," Maeve said. "We have a testimony of the Hunters being linked with Team Galactic. Call the League and it should be all over."

"You didn't record this, did you?" The supervisor panicked.

"No," she smoothly lied. "But Grace, what do you think?"

"Okay. We call the League and see what they do," I nodded after taking a deep breath. "You're right. They have a tip line, right?"

I had thought about this before. I didn't care who brought the Hunter family down so long as something did. If the League was going to step in, I would stand back and watch.

"I disagree with this," Mira protested.

Maeve snapped. "Listen, it just makes the most sense—"

"I disagree. You can't stop me. Not when Team Galactic is involved."

"But we're punishing them by doing this—"

"It's a thing I have to do personally."

I looked at Maeve, who shot me a worried look. We'd worry about her later.

The high from learning all of this was slowly leaving our veins, and we were starting to think clearly. This plan with Lisa would have been good if we didn't have Team Galactic involvement, but there was no way the League would ignore this. It would go at the top of the pile and the Hunters would be discovered. Luca would be avenged.

Jerry scoffed. "You think that'll do anything?"

"Yes it will," Cecilia said. "This is as far as our involvement in this goes."

"Didn't I tell you that the Hunters were crucial to Solaceon? They protect it, along with the entire region. Do you really think that the League would let them run free otherwise? They'll get a slap on the wrist and that'll be that. It wouldn't be the first time they got involved in a scandal."

"Explain," Mira said.

"You kids weren't born yet. It was right when Cynthia took over. That fucking Shiftry tried to expand its emotion-dulling bullshit to the entire town. The League said it was just some wild dark type, and I believed it until I learned what was really going on here a few weeks ago. Lisa explained it to me. Shiftry wanted to make the entire city his personal fiefdom, but the League stepped in and forced him to play nice in his little corner."

It took a few seconds for the words to sink in. The League knew about all of this and just… watched it go on?

"We'll submit the tip anyway," Cecilia said. "Right Grace?"

"Yeah," I said. My voice felt hollow. My respect for Cynthia had just plummeted.

"Are we done here? Should I set up the meeting with Lisa or not?" Jerry asked nervously.

"We're done," Denzel said. "Thanks for the help. Louis, the cash?"

The blond boy produced a huge suitcase full of money. "I'd recommend transferring this to multiple bank accounts. Ideally, you would delay those, but you don't have time. People will ask questions when they scan your luggage and they see that you're traveling with a suitcase full of cash."

"I know a guy," he dismissively waved. "So… I'm leaving?"

We cleared a space and let him go. Cecilia immediately messaged the tip line for the League and explained everything we'd heard about Team Galactic and the Hunters. Hopefully they'd get away with less than a slap on the wrist. Denzel said he would send out the recording to Emilia so that she could edit Jerry's voice. Then, we'd send it to multiple media companies— along with the League again for good measure. A deal was a deal.

"I'm going to clear my head," Mira said.

"Let me come—"

"Not now, Maeve."

Maeve's held-out hand went limp.

There was nothing we could do but wait for tomorrow.

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