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Shalour City Beach

Audino's omnipresent smile remained as she listened to Grant's next orders. Holding out a hand, she'd liquify and superheat the Icy Wind in an instant with Flame Thrower. Her head would turn then, to look in Reynard's direction.

Mandibuzz, meanwhile, twisted to turn the dive into a land, standing before Oberon. As the baby started to cry, she Taunted. [What's the matter, scared of being eaten?]

Grant, all the while, watched the battle, his long ruby coat hanging from his shoulders, but his arms remaining out of the sleeves. Made dealing with the heat easier.

The Cave

Helena couldn't help but smile as she watched Moze. There was something charismatic about him, and also an odd dissonance. As she watched, Helena couldn't help but imagine how much more fitting their roles would be in other people's shoes. Salieri, the avengers, working alongside Ratio. Moze, the charismatic brother, leading a rebellion of misfits.

"It's..." Helena pursed her lips as she thought. "Huge. Bigger than anything I ever thought I'd be a part of. I always figured I'd be a doctor, save a lot of lives over the course of a loooot of years. Or maybe a professor, or something." Something profitable, but good. Give back to the world. She felt boring saying it, even if the jobs were noble. They were never something she was passionate about, it just felt like her natural place in the world.

But Helena wasn't a dreamer.

"I don't know if I'm cut out to save the world."

((Yep. Plus funny Youtube videos))

The Tower of Mastery

The Mega Lucario glared at Zack with its dead, copper eyes. Passing its gaze felt like the final test before one was allowed admittance to the tower's uppermost levels, and one that got even Zack's heart pumping.

'Zack, come along. Or are your legs as useless as your arm?' Gurkinn called back, his Sylveon sneering sweetly by his side. Zack realised he'd stopped to stare at the gigantic statue, and got into gear.
'Chill out, old man, I'm coming,' he said, adding under his breath, 'don't get your eyebrows in a twist.'

At the summit, Gurkinn pushed open a pair of stone doors, which creaked the gold wheels at their base and let sunlight flood the tower like an inverted lighthouse. Zack held up his arm for a second, but soon his eyes adjusted to the view.

'Sure this is enough space?' he said, stepping into the lush, clear air. The seas were far below, Shalour City in toy-town miniature, all muted except the cawing of Wingull who flocked around the tower's peak and who miraculously didn't paint the balcony in s**t.
'Oh I'm quite sure,' Gurkinn said, 'now shall we begin? Your Haunter please, Zack.'

Hazard materialised in a flash of light as Zack clipped the ball back to his belt. Sunlight streamed through her gaseous body, swirling and pale as she cracked a jagged grin.

'Ready,' Zack said, 'so how's this gonna go down?'
'First, you catch,' Gurkinn replied, fishing into his robes and tossing Zack a small, gleaming object. Zack's left hand wasn't his dominant, but he caught the Key Stone before it flew past him and off the side of the tower, turned it over in his palm. The stone changed colours, flickering from one side of the spectrum to the other as Zack turned it around. All the while, the helix pattern at its core never shifted, remaining the same no matter the angle. The Key Stone was fixed into a black wristband, but Zack wore it like a knuckleduster.

Hazard stared at it too, but stopped when Seelie wrapped a feeler around one of her floating hands and led the ghost toward Gurkinn. The old master smiled at the haunter.

'You seem tired,' he said, looking the pokémon over. 'When was the last time you went to a pokémon center?'
Zack looked up, replied with a frown.
Gurkinn tutted, reached again into his robes and retrieved a Hyper Potion. Zack nodded when Gurkinn glanced at him for permission, and the guru sprayed Hazard all over, healing injuries picked up on the trip to Shalour.

'Much better. Now, evolution is a natural part of a pokémon's journey through life,' Gurkinn said. Hazard gave him a queer look and Gurkinn smiled. 'Forgive me. And unlife. However I wouldn't presume to evolve Hazard without both the trainer and pokémon's consent.'
'You can do that?' Zack asked. Normally Haunters needed to be traded in order to evolve. He didn't see a trade station nearby and, he glanced at Seelie, he wouldn't be caught dead with a Sylveon, temporary or not.
'Zack, I'm the mega evolution guru. This is child's play.'
The trainer shrugged. 'Then knock yourself out.'

'Are you ready, Hazard?' Gurkinn asked, looking the ghost type in the eye without a hint of fear. The Haunter seemed to respond, her ghastly front dissolving into curiosity as Gurkinn took her hands into his. She nodded, and a moment later lit up white. Zack said nothing as Hazard's body joined together, growing larger and rounder, rows of spikes protruding from her back. When the light faded, Hazard's white eyes were red, her jagged smile now a mash of bladed teeth.

'Congratulations, Zack,' Gurkinn said with a proud smile. 'Your Hazard evolved into Gengar.'

Zack took a second to work his mouth into something usable. All he could say was, 'How?'
'You're skipping ahead some, Zack,' Gurkinn said. 'But the short answer is Aura. It might be wise to start considering that as your first or second option when things don't quite add up. For now, we'll see how you handle mega evolution. As she has evolved, Hazard is capable of becoming even more powerful. She can transform into Mega Gengar.'

Gurkinn passed the Gengarite from the vault to Hazard. The new Gengar took it and cackled, springing through the air, bouncing around like a helium balloon in a gust until she returned to her trainer's side. There was enough room between Zack and Gurkinn for a battle, and Zack could feel one brewing in the way the back of his neck prickled, and his blood pumped hard.

'Alright,' Zack said, fighting off a grin. 'Hope you got something worthwhile for me, old man, cause I don't fight to lose. Hazard! Mega Evolve!' Zack punched the Key Stone in front, and Hazard exploded with power.


Hidden Oil Field

'Christ, I hope this one doesn't explode too.'

Roy hadn't allowed Fearow to pause, even after the giant tree monster appeared. They had to keep moving or they'd become easy targets, and not just for the curse that remained hard on their tail. Giant tree monsters would ******** you up and you didn't need to be a pokémon master to know that. It lurched one of its gargantuan legs forward, dropping it far too close to Gogoat and the twins for comfort. They'd be caught up and swept away by the earthquake blast, their bodies mangled beneath tons of flying dirt.

'Alexa, keep hold!' Roy shouted as he pushed Fearow into a dive. Benedict was trying something similar, but Francis wasn't as strong as Fearow. The flying type swept in, and Roy reached down to grab one of the twins by the forearm, letting Benedict grab the other with greater ease as they passed each other. He just hoped they were fast enough to outpace the Earthquake blast wave. Normally it wouldn't touch a flying type, but at this scale, anything close to the ground would be buried, including the fliers.

Poor Gogoat was probably a goner.

The Tower of Mastery

The light cleared, Hazard's body faded back to violet-black, the trainer exhaled and his breath turned to mist. He grinned when he noticed the cold, the sudden chill of the winds, the lost heat from the summer's sweltering sun. Hazard's grin vanished as she looked her body over. Her new form had changed yet again, and that gave Gurkinn the advantage. He was surprised, though he wouldn't admit it. He hadn't expected the mega evolution to work, but here it was.

'Not bad, Hazard,' Zack said, pacing in a slow half circle around his pokémon. Gurkinn could feel Zack's confidence flowing from his aura, hot as a flame, bright like the sun. He knew that Gurkinn's pokémon would mega evolve to match Hazard, but he didn't care, he'd win anyway. Gurkinn didn't know what to make of that. The old master furrowed his impressive brow, and loosed a pokéball from his belt, summoning his own partner.

Jinn materialised in a flash of light. Standing up tall, he pushed his palms together and raised his knee, his aura reaching for Gurkinn's own and finding it. They mingled together, forming a bond, sharing their thoughts, their feelings, their unease as they read Zack like a book. A bead of sweat drained along the Medicham's face as he made eye contact with his trainer. Gurkinn nodded, so Jinn steeled his resolve.

'That was an impressive mega evolution, Zack,' Gurkinn said. 'Few acolytes manage it on their first try but to you it was almost instinctive. You're a rare breed of trainer, which makes it an ever greater shame that you refuse to acknowledge your potential.'
Zack sighed and shouted across the platform. 'If this is gonna be a Lecture Battle, I'm gonna finish it quick.'
'No, this battle will be a lesson,' Gurkinn replied solemnly, 'in aura. In everything. My family used this place to pass on our Key Stones to the next generation, to remind ourselves of life's limitless possibilities beneath this vast sky. Zack, I pray that this defeat will help you realise that a life closed off from others is a life wasted.'

The Key Stone shone at Gurkinn's wrist, and blinding light poured from Jinn's mega stone, dangling free on a chain around the pokémon's neck. The aura shell formed, shattered, power flooding in from the mass of aura that floated invisibly between trainer and pokémon as the Medicham transformed. The teardrop gemstones clinked brightly in the breeze, hovering around Jinn's belt. Four ethereal arms floated at his back, formed of the same transient material as his white turban, hung low over his eyes.

He held his palms together, and allowed his muscles to loosen, his mind and Gurkinn's mind clearing as one. Meditate. Gurkinn could see it now, barely. Hazard's aura, pale pink and surrounding her like a mist. It floated towards her trainer, reaching for his bright, sunlight shine. But unlike Gurkinn and Jinn's auras which grasped together in warm camaraderie, there was nothing but the tiniest whisper. The slightest of bonds. The weakest of links.

'Kick his a** before he goes senile,' Zack commanded. Hazard swung one of her new, massive arms, and cast a Thunderbolt. A sharp crack of electricity. Not Hazard's strongest move, but her fastest. Gurkinn connected to Zack's aura, joining their souls together, and allowing one to read the other. He could feel Zack's emotions like a riot on mute, his thoughts coming in heavy pulses. Zack didn't know of the connection. Without spiritual training, how could he? Zack Redgrave may be a rare breed of trainer, but Gurkinn could cheat.

Jinn danced around the Thunderbolt, fluid in his motion, and returned a blast of Psychic. Hazard could no longer fly; Gurkinn sensed the shock of it sounding off her like an alarm bell. But her improved speed took advantage of the range and she lurched to the side, around the Psychic blast, which shot off the tower and punctured a cloud.

Psychic was just a distraction. Gurkinn sensed Zack's old programming. The trainer had fought telepaths in the past, countless times, trained alongside them to combat their advantage. But telepathy and aura were different beasts and Zack couldn't appreciate the difference. As Hazard responded to Psychic, Jinn landed in front of her. Predicting her movements, responding to her dodge before she made it, and slashing her across the chest with a Psycho Cut. Instant defeat.

But defeat of what? Jinn paused in his ending stance, arm across his chest as the pink scythe of psychic power evaporated before him. His breath misted on the air, as he looked around, first with his eyes, then with his aura. Hazard had dissolved at the last second. Her trainer hadn't reacted in time, but she had. With something faster than thought.

Her aura shone below Jinn like a floodlight, her power pressing on him like the wind. Zack's memories flashed through Gurkinn's mind, and he saw their training amidst hordes of wild pokémon. Attacks coming from all sides, where warnings were split-seconds long and failure meant pain. Hazard hadn't thought about using Sucker Punch, she'd just done it. And now she launched herself from Jinn's shadow with a piercing cackle, her fist crunching between his open legs.

Zack burst into laughter. Half nervous at his near defeat, his hand clasped to his forehead as Jinn leaped away then limped to his feet. 'Oh holy s**t,' Zack snorted. 'Sorry if you had plans to breed that one, but it ain't happenin now. Shadow Ball.'

Hazard launched her attack, a thick black sphere of ghostly power that rocketed across the balcony, scraping the flagstones and kicking up a fine mist in its wake. Jinn was ready. His senses temporarily heightened to incredible degrees with Detect, the Medicham met the Shadow Ball with open palms, delicately guiding it along on a cushion of aura and releasing it into the open sky. This time, the clouds made it out unscathed, but a passing Wingull exploded instead.

'Keep up the pressure,' Zack called across the battlefield. That meant another Shadow Ball while Hazard closed the distance, racing forward while lobbing ball after ball until Jinn could no longer defend. Pressure defeated psychics, in Zack's experience. Their advantage lay in employing strategy without announcing what that strategy was. It was a useless advantage if Zack's offensive kept them on the defensive, and forced the fight onto his terms. Zack's tactic wasn't without its risks, as the attacker forewent their own defenses in favour of all-out assault. An image of a notebook flashed through Gurkinn's mind with the header Strategic Self-Endangerment.

In other words, Jinn redirected another Shadow Ball, then replied with a Psycho Cut through the next. The ball and the cut exploded on contact, releasing a circular wave of power that ate into the flagstones and blew up a screen of rubble. Gurkinn and Jinn both could sense Hazard's aura leaping through the dirt cloud, so Jinn loosed another Psycho Cut right where she would reappear. With a resounding crack, Hazard snapped backwards, grinding against the floor and lying with her eyes scrunched up in pain.

This was it, the moment Gurkinn had waited for.

Zack flexed his jaw, watching Hazard lie flat out, waiting to see if she'd pull off a miraculous recovery. Instead, her mega form reverted, she became a normal, unconscious Gengar, and the chill on the air lifted. Gurkinn's full attention was on Zack's aura, and the whispering of a word, an echo through years gone by, dead and buried. It permeated his aura, conjured up images of fire, the empty feeling of loss, and of deepseated anger.

Though whether he knew Gurkinn was reading him now, or through an instinct, Zack shut it off, forcing himself not to dwell on whatever Cinder was, and barely allowed the thought to enter his head. Zack recalled Hazard, angry at the loss.

'I'm sure you have questions,' Gurkinn said. 'I know you do. We are one.'
'Then get out of my head, a*****e,' Zack shot back. He glanced at Jinn as the pokémon stood staring at him in silence. The trainer flashed with envy, and the feeling that he'd been somehow cheated out of a win.
'If it's any consolation, if we couldn't predict your actions with aura, you would have had us overwhelmed. You should be prouder of your pokémon, Zack. Hazard performed admirably for a first time mega evolution, especially with such a tenuous bond to her trainer.'

's**t, I hate to think how much you'd gab on if you'd lost,' Zack said, crossing the balcony. 'I'm gonna get healed, then we're doing this again. And again. As many times as it takes.'
'Until you can defeat Ratio?' Gurkinn asked, raising his eyebrows somehow. Zack swelled, but said nothing when Gurkinn raised his hand. 'Your desire to defeat an aura master in combat led you here, but now you must listen. Your old ways do not work. You cannot simply overpower an aura master. He will turn your strengths against you. He will use your indifference to your pokémon against you.'
Zack looked like he was about to say something else, and indeed he was, but instead he settled down and simmered. 'What do you know about him?'
'Aura users are relatively few. It takes a great many years to fully master the art,' Gurkinn said, pausing. 'There are certain shortcuts one might take, but a true master is one with decades of experience. Throughout my lifetime, I have known less than half a dozen.'

'I need to beat this guy.'
'You do, do you.' Gurkinn said. 'Which is it, Zack? For your pride, or for your sister?'
Zack grinned, a shy shadow of a thing. 'Can't it be both?'

'Very well,' Gurkinn shook his head, smiling. 'Return to the tower tonight and we will begin our training.' He stepped toward the edge of the balcony and Zack followed his gaze. The tide was going out, and the land joining the island to Shalour City had reappeared. Tourists were already making their way along the beach. 'I am far from Ratio's ability, but I have read your aura. I read Hazard's as well. I saw you risk your life to protect her from the Pangoro. Before we begin tonight, I would like you to think why. It will be the first step you make on a long journey, but you will be happier at the end, Zack. This I promise.'

Shalour City

Zack left the center with his team fully healed and Gurkinn's words still bouncing around his head. He left the tower feeling strange, somehow reduced but not because of the loss. He supposed he'd gotten used to Gurkinn reading his aura, even if he hadn't noticed the old man doing so at the time.

He looked over Hazard's ball as he walked the city street towards the waterside. Of course, he'd been asked to return the Key Stone bangle, but was welcome to use it again during his training. He had also been asked not to tell anyone of the special treatment he was to receive. It wouldn't do to disenfranchise the cultists, after all. Still, formal training in aura was bound to help, as well as practice with Hazard's mega form, and he could tease out more information about what Ratio and Flare wanted with the Route 10 mega stones while he was at it. He was, he decided, performing way better than One Shot and Death Wish.

'God damn,' Zack's voice said from above. 'I wanna bang you. What, you got a problem with that? Big mistake, ********! ******** for ******** sake,' Zack groaned, looking up. It was only that a*****e Chatot from earlier circling the skies above the city. Maybe Hazard would be able to nail it from here, Zack thought, preparing to throw the ball. But the Chatot simply circled once more then flew off over the town and he decided it wasn't worth it. 'That thing's gonna get me into trouble.'

'Nope,' Zack said without bothering to look. He jammed his remaining hand in his pocket and carried on walking.

Zack stopped in his tracks. He looked over his shoulder, raised his eyebrows and got into character. Zack grinned. 'Oh. So you're that pirate dickhead.'

He turned around, facing Ska square. Looks like he'd gone and done One Shot's job for her. He still had Hazard's ball in his hand, hidden in his pocket, ready to release. 'What's a guy like you want with a mega stone?'

Zack's eye twitched very slightly at the name Zachary but he didn't drop his s**t-eating grin. 'I also said dickhead, which you gotta be if you're wastin your time on a piece of s**t like Sableye. Not that it matters. The stone's probably at the bottom of the ocean by now. So why don't you ******** off and let me carry on my day? Maybe get yourself a watch.'

'What, you stalkin people now? s**t, One Shot was right, you are a--'

'--okay that was weird.'

Zack ignored Ska's three thugs, since it was way more pressing that the pirate captain had his hand in Zack's backpack. Ska might find the notebook but the Sablenite had been left with Gurkinn. Though he was still reeling from the time freeze, Zack didn't plan on giving Ska any more free rummaging time. He pulled Hazard's ball from his pocket and released it on the spot, illuminating both Ska and him with a blast of white light.

'Hypnosis!' Zack commanded as his Gengar materialised. The move would be aimed in Ska's face. While Zack hoped that this would take the pirate down off the bat, he didn't count on it. Instead he used both the flash from the pokéball release and the threat of Hypnosis to force Ska on the defensive. With a split second to react, the captain would likely either close his eyes or cover them. Zack would quickly shut his own, grab Ska by the scruff of his neck and drag him around, turning him into a hostage.

He only had one arm, so it wasn't the best of plays, but he also had a pokémon right next to them both. If Ska tried anything, Hazard would take the initiative to blast him with a Shadow Ball.

'Oooh, scary.' Zack tightened his grip, pressed on Ska's throat, nearly choking him as a display of control. 'You see how scared I am right now, mate?'

Zack glanced at Ska's wavering hands, back to his Gardevoir and crew. It wasn't the best situation in the world to say the least. Hazard grinned at him, her chest trembling with suppressed laughter. His one card in this game. They were too exposed right now. His best bet was to get close to a building and use it as cover to escape. Ska had a Teleporter but so did Zack. Assuming Serene didn't crap out on him, he'd put a hundred miles between them in seconds.

Good plan? Not the best plan, but he'd settled for worse. There were a row of buildings to Zack's left, and about twenty paces of empty space.

'Hands where I can see them, start walking when I say. You try anything, I'm gonna crush your windpipe,' Zack said, applying another dose of pressure to help the idea along. 'Any of them tries anything, same deal. You'll be singing shanties through a tube. Now walk.'

Zack hadn't seen Ska drop the trap card. He had a fifty-fifty chance at walking away without setting it off. If his plan didn't fail at the first step, he'd drag Ska towards the buildings one slow step at a time until they reached a gap he could slip through. Hazard would float alongside the two, her very presence drawing heat from the air, causing their breath to mist. 241 was the other big threat. It could get in behind them in moments, but that's what Hazard was for.

If 241 tried a Teleport, it'd be teleporting into a Shadow Ball, which would catch it before it could attack Zack. The Murkrow was also a problem. If it tried that weird time trick again, Hazard would fry it with Thunderbolt while her trainer and his hostage were caught in the Quash effects. If they attacked Hazard, Zack would choke Ska out as hard as he could and run like hell.