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Lumiose City - South Boulevard Pokémon Center

'Alright then,' Zack said, cycling through the menus. The PCs at the pokémon center had a helpful team management app that let him reorganise the pokémon kept in his storage. Right now it was useful for releasing pokémon safely into the wild. Rather than Zack needing to physically return Fletchinder to her home on Route 3, or else carelessly introduce her to an unfamiliar location, he could remove her from his team on the computer.

Through some kind of magic, the system recorded where Fletchinder was captured and released her from captivity at the nearest possible pokémon center. Beamed through the internet and popped out safely on the other side. Zack had no idea how it worked, and found it best not to ask because the explanations weren't half as interested as he'd have hoped.

'Adios,' he said quietly, pushing the holographic release button and watching the icon representing Fletchinder move from where it said "Lumiose-S" to "Santalune" before taking flight and fading from view. And that was that.

He needed one more thing before his return to training. Zack went back a couple of menus then ran a search for Clawitzer, bringing up its move list. He took out his notebook and started a new page, jotting down the techniques that interested him. According to the list, Lethal should be able to use Aura Sphere, Dark Pulse, Dragon Pulse, and Heal Pulse.

The last one interested him the most. With a quick heal technique on his side, he could push his team harder for longer. They'd hate him for it, but who cared about that?

Lumiose City - South Boulevard

'Look, I- I'm sorry, Wayne, but I've moved on!' Gremlin said, turning his head to the side, eyes scrunched as if to block out the sheer sorrow of it all. Wayne looked a bit put out.
'But… but dude,' he said, pulling something out of his coat. They were a bit squashed, but mostly intact. 'I bought you bananas.'
Gremlin's eye opened a crack. 'You- you did? Oh, uh.' He cleared his throat and sprang onto Wayne' shoulder like nothing happened. 'Well that changes things. Zack, I'm hanging out with Wayne for a bit.'

'Whatever,' Zack said, walking out of the center and turning down the road. The Aipom waved him off dismissively.
'He'll understand one day,' he said. Then paused, yelling. 'Oh, make sure you give us your number so we don't lose you again!'

Wayne frowned as Zack carried on walking because he apparently didn't hear them. Then Wayne grinned. 'Huh? Nah that won't be a problem. If we need to find him, all we need to do is look him up on the PSS. It's easy as P-S-S! Or so the commercials tell me.'
'The what?' Gremlin started as realisation slowly dawned. 'You mean you could've looked him up any time you wanted and you didn't?'
'Pfft. Duh, where's the adventure in that?'

The monkey stared at him for a moment, then thrashed around wildly. 'Zack! Zack, I've changed my mind. Zack? Zaaaaaaack!'

Lumiose City - Route 16 Gatehouse

It didn't take Zack long to cross the city. After so many days, he'd started to familiarise himself with its layout and shortcuts. He liked the walk; it gave him time to think. But he didn't think he'd walk into a mob outside the Route 16 gatehouse. Curious, he wondered where they'd come from, and soon found they all wondered the same.

'Settle down, settle down!' barked the lead guardsman, his Clauncher dangling threateningly from his belt. 'Access to Route 16 is being temporarily restricted until we can find the vandals responsible for blowing it halfway to smithereens. The city-yadda-yadda anyone with information should come forward at once.'

Guess I'm not going back that way, thought Zack as he walked off. According to a map at the center, the next Route down was Route 14, which he could access by going north. With any luck, the other trainers who needed to use Route 16 would have the same idea and pass him on the way. He just hoped his team was ready for it.

Route 14 - Laverre Nature Trail

Youngsters Cedric and Toulouse made the long trek along Route 14. Even in the morning sun, the route looked dark. Its dead and dying trees laced their long, bony fingers above a narrow trail, blocking out all but the tiniest speckles of sunlight.The ground was wet and boggy, each step accompanied by mud sucking at their shoes while thorns and nettles grew like cobwebs, snaking along the trail. Toulouse shivered when a cold wind passed, and he looked back the way they came, but the road vanished into woodland's twists and turns. He saw nothing but trees and freezing darkness.

'Are you sure this is the right way?' he asked, doubling his step to keep in line with his brother.
'It's the right way,' Cedric said. 'Papa said we just have to keep following the trail.'
'I can hardly see the trail,' Toulouse said quietly, looking at his feet. The ground was overgrown, and the trail only distinguished by balding patches of dirt. 'I've had enough of this. I wanna go home.'

'Quit being a baby,' Cedric sighed.
'I'm not a baby! You've heard what people say about this place. They say it's haunted.'

Cedric snorted. 'You'll believe anything you hear.'
'Will not!'
A dark grin spread across Cedric's face, but Toulouse couldn't see it. 'Well, I suppose it can't hurt to tell you.'
'T-tell me what?'

Cedric stopped dead in his tracks and stared at Toulouse with wild, glaring eyes. He hissed lowly: 'There is one ghost, not far from here, actually. She was once a little girl who'd gone out picking berries in the forest, and she loved picking berries so much she soon lost track of time. Before she knew it, the sun had nearly set, so she hid inside an old log cabin. She was so scared as she sat in that cabin. So she started to sing an old lullaby her mother sang for her. She sang it long into the night, and long after they came.'

'T-they?' Toulouse whimpered, shaking in the chilly breeze and holding himself tight.

'Nobody knows what they were exactly, but they do know what they did. The next day, the little girl's parents combed the woods for her. They heard her song through the trees, singing over and over and over again. By the time they found her body, if you can call it a body, it was too late. They say she still sings to this day, luring people to her log cabin, only for them to meet the same grizzly fate.'

'B-bullshit,' Toulouse cried, 'you made that up.'
'You think so?' Cedric said, a smile spreading across his lips. 'Listen. Shh shhh...'

They stood like statues, barely taking a breath. Cedric's lips trembled, straining against his urge to laugh. He couldn't keep it up much longer.

But then something snapped, like a dry bone cracking in two.

'What was that?' Toulouse shrieked, covering his mouth with white, trembling hands.
'I-I don't--' Cedric started, but another snap, closer and from the opposite side of the trail, sounded again.

Then they heard it. The faint humming that sent hairs crawling up the back of their necks. The humming grew louder. Closer. It sounded like a song.

A strained peep escaped Toulouse's lips. 'Cedric...?'

The forest came alive all at once; tree branches cracking, thorns and weeds ripping out of the earth, closing in on them. Something ice cold and dead passed through Cedric and Toulouse, something just outside of their vision, poking between their heads. And it howled in their ears, frantic and louder than anything they'd heard before. Flame exploded overhead, transforming the mummified forest into a frenzied sway of light.

The boys screamed louder than they had ever done before. They screamed until their lungs ran out of air and their voices died in a strangled gasp. They screamed and they ran, as fast as they could, far and away, running until their legs burned and their hearts thundered in their chest.

As the boys' cries faded into the far distance, the laughter began. Hazard and Malis fell over themselves, giggling furiously. Malis rolled on his back, clutching his gut, and kicked his legs in the air, while Hazard banged her fist against a tree trunk and buried her face, willing it to stop.

They rolled over, quaking with renewed giggle fits, and made their way back to camp, fighting the grins that kept creeping onto their faces.

---

'You're back,' Zack said as the two pokémon emerged from the trees. 'Find anyone?'

Hazard and Malis glanced at each other then shrugged. Zack sighed, missing the smirks the pokémon shot at each other.

'Ah, god dammit. Guess people don't come through here after all.' He stood up from the fallen tree trunk he'd been using as a seat and brushed himself off. He fought a losing battle in trying to keep clean; he was still finding bundles of dirt from the horde battle earlier that morning, but a token effort was better than none. He took out Antiq's ball and looked for an open space big enough to call her. 'If they're not gonna come to us, I guess it's time we do a little sightseeing.'

Gotengo, Five Years Ago

Light flooded out the windows into the night from inside the dilapidated building that housed Gotengo’s treehouse. Moze could hear music and cheer from half a block away. It was instinct that brought him to his old hangout instead of his home. Right now he felt the need to be surrounded by people. Not the strangers that walked the streets, the people that knew who he was. He needed to be reminded. He needed his sister, he needed Mia.

Banksy walked right behind him. She tried to give him a ride but he had refused, holding onto her neck for support. “I need my feet on the ground,” he had told her. The Torkoal didn’t understand until she saw how he looked at Lumiose City like he was on another planet. The way he held her tight reminded her of when he was just a child, and he had a bad dream. It broke her heart to see him this way. But she couldn't explain why it was this way either, for her memories were gone as well.

His clothes were in shreds, and before he drank two Potions he had been covered in scratches and bruises as well. There must have been a fight. Xavier and Prou were gone. Did they remember what happened? If they did they would have looked for him, unless they couldn’t because something happened to them…Where he once had memories, there were only fuzzy silhouettes like shadow puppets. A Sniper, a duel, a betrayal, and a Malamar wrapping its arms around his head, squeezing.

There was a party going on in the courtyard, teenagers drunkenly dancing. As Moze got closer to the treehouse, people stopped what they were doing and stared. “Is that Moze?” A few tried to come up to him and see why he was there, what was wrong, but he was unapproachable in his trance as he looked for Salieri and Mia. As he passed through like a ghost the party put itself on pause.

His search brought him inside and up the spiral staircase. Three sets of footsteps came tumbling down the stairs from the crow’s nest. The first one he saw was Rosario, his sister’s Lucario. Rosario came to a stop as Salieri and Mia stumbled after him. Salieri seemed too drunk to notice Moze’s stress right away, so she tackled him with a hug. “BRO!”

Moze braced himself on the stair’s guardrail, absentmindedly returning the hug. “Salieri…”

At first, Mia struggled to hide her pleasure at his surprise visit, but that little smile reversed as soon as she caught a good look of him. “Are you okay?” she asked, breaking her flat tone with concern.

Salieri stepped back and she too fell into unease, looking over Moze’s clothes. His blue bandanna around his neck was stained with blood. “Moze, what’s wrong? What happened?”

“I-I don’t…” Moze felt hot all of the sudden, and could feel the eyes of the partygoers down the stairs on his back, looking at him through the first floor’s ceiling. Tears welled up in his eyes, and he was too tired to hold them back. “I don’t know, Sal, I don’t know.”

He found himself crying completely, currying his face against Sal’s shoulder and heaving with every sob. Salieri pulled him in tightly. He felt Mia come up to his side and hug him too. “It’s okay, Moze,” Mia whispered. “It’s okay.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“That’s all you remember?”

The Soledad Siblings, Mia, Banksy and Rosario were alone in Mia’s workshop, a shack on one of the higher branches with a big table, two computers and crates of electronic supplies. Moze sat at the table with a glass of water, nodding slowly and looking at the wall. “That’s all.”

“Rosario,” Sal said from her corner of the room, where she leaned against the wall with her arms folded and darkness in her eyes. “Go with Banksy back to the Badlands, sweep it over for Xavier and Prou.”

Her Lucario curtsied. “Of course,” she said, her English being much better than the last time Moze had seen her. Or at least the last time as far as he knew. Rosario put a hand on Moze’s shoulder. “I’ll comb the whole desert.”

Banksy wasn’t in the business of receiving orders from Salieri, even in this time period, but she accepted. Rosario jumped onto the Torkoal’s shell, and Banksy flew them out the window in a trail of smoke.

Salieri could no longer hold in her anger, and punched a hole through the wall next to her. “Those bastards,” Sal growled. “I’m gonna go ask if anyone’s seen them in the city. Will you be okay here?” Moze nodded. Sal stepped to the door, where Mia stood.

“You should stay with him,” she whispered to Sal. Moze could still hear their conversation.
“They could be in the city, I have to look-”
“He needs you right now-”
“THEY need me right now.”

Mia grabbed Sal’s arm, but she shrugged the weaker girl off and stormed out. “They won’t be in the city,” said Moze.
“Are you remembering something?” Mia asked, trying not to perk up with false hope.
“No, I just…feel like I’ve lost them for a long time.”

She sat down next to him in silence. She knew that sometimes it was better not to force a conversation. This was one of those times until Moze spoke up. “I should be looking too.”
“No, you need to rest.”
“I can’t sit here. I hate sitting here, I should be out there too. My little sister shouldn’t be the one taking care of me. I’m the one who’s supposed to be looking out for her, and Arnaud, and I was supposed to win the league...how am I going to save him now, Mia?” His voice cracked. “My family is counting on me, I’ve let them down and I can't even tell them why. Salieri shouldn't have to do this, she should have a good regular life like anyone else. I know that's what she wants. She isn't supposed to be that person out there, I am. Stupid, so stupid...I should be out there too...”

Mia waited a bit before she spoke again. “You’ve helped so many kids with so much, it’s okay to let them help you. We’re just glad you’re safe. Salieri loves you and I…” She looked away, cheeks pink. Mia shifted her hand, and slowly put her hand on his. It meant the world to him.

They sat in silence for a while longer. “I remember a name.”
Mia turned to him, adjusting her glasses. “Who?”

Just like his sister, his amber eyes shined with rage. “Nicolette Nostrad.”

Gotengo, Present

As Carter entered the courtyard, Moze kept his distance near the entrance unseen with Shepard Fairey behind him. The place looked about the same as he left it. There were two new shacks on the higher branches, a pulley system with a bucket, and a grill in the courtyard now. The moment Carter entered the door, Moze pointed at it.

The Whimsicott, with his face frozen in a soulless smile as usual, flicked his wrist and generated a Tailwind. The gale was adjusted to be short lived and explosively fast, propelling himself and Moze’s dash at Quick Attack speeds to the treehouse. Moze stopped at the doorway and flattened himself against it, peeking inside.

There were few people present, since most of them slept in late. He could count on one hand the number of teens sleeping off hangovers from the night before on beanbag chairs and couches. Carter was heading up the stairs, from where there was music playing. Moze could hear someone singing along to it in a soft, pained voice.

“~She’s walking so fast, she’s walking so fast,
She walks like a ba~be
Her image it lasts, and I know
She floats along as she goes, she owns their eyes as she
Flies right through the sound, moving her body all around.
Hey, hey mami, hey, hey, hey mami,
I know what you want, I know what you want, I know what you want~”

It was Mia. Moze wasn’t sure how many people on earth had heard her sing. Surely the number could also be counted on one hand. The only other time he’d ever heard it was when he had once come to her home unannounced and heard her in the shower. She was mad and embarrassed for a week. The sound was heaven to Moze’s ears.

He tiptoed up the stairs, following the unsuspicious Carter from a safe distance. On a curve he leapt up, grabbed a stray branch, and climbed the side of the tree towards Mia’s workshop. Moze made his way to the windowsill and pulled himself up.

Mia was inside, air rolling a spliff in only her t-shirt and underwear as she sang and swayed to the music like no one else existed. All Moze wanted to do was to knock on the window and talk. But the more he saw her, the more he was in Lumiose, the hard it was to leave. And on the path he was walking, he couldn’t take them with him.

Carter passed Mia’s workshop on the stairway and began to open the door. Before he could be seen, Moze lowered himself and hung onto the windowsill with his fingertips. “Morning Mia.”

The Youngster startled Mia, who instantly stopped singing, lost her cool and spun to the door. “Don’t come in, I’m naked,” she told him in a hurry.
“Sorry! Sorry!” Carter closed the door. Mia shook her head and lit her spliff, red faced. It was all Moze could do not to laugh. As much as he wanted to see her, Mia was not why he was here.

Shepard Fairey didn’t have that compunction, so he giggled with his bizarre two toned laugh. Mia spun to the window to see the noise, but Moze had grabbed the Fairy and dropped back down the staircase.

He continued up until he saw Carter inside one of the shacks taking the Potion bottle out of his bag. As Carter hesitantly tried to take off the cap, a stone faced Moze pointed to the bottle. Shepard Fairey snapped his fingers.

In the next second, Carter found himself inexplicably holding onto a clump of cotton instead of the bottle, which was now in Moze’s hand. Moze came up behind the Youngster and pressed his face against the wall in a submission hold. “Don’t. Scream. Understand?”

Terrified, Carter only nodded. “Is this Potion Extract, yes or no?” Moze’s voice was firm and quiet.
“Y-yes.”
“Where’d you get it?”
“F-from a man named Pascale in Rogue Plaza, behind Café Lysandre.”
“What does Pascale look like?”
By now Carter was a trembling wreck. “He has a moustache and a gold earring and he’s creepy. P-please don’t hurt me, that’s all I know.”
Moze felt shameful for having to do this, but if he was going to find a source this was the only way. Sorry again, kid. “Have you ever used Extract before?”
“No, no, I got it for me and a friend. I just want her to think I’m cool-“
“If I ever hear you or anyone else in this treehouse gets your hands on another bottle, I will come back for you. Do you get it?”
“Yes, yes, it’ll never happen! I promise, never!”
“Tell no one about this.”

Moze let go, and with Shepard Fairey’s Tailwind, blurred out of the room.

((Ohohoho damn, Grant just slammed that door in her face. He ain't got time for feelings and s**t))

Route 13 - Lumiose Badlands

Sunlight shone over the Lumiose Badlands, AKA the Butthole of Kalos, as Antiq arced across the sky. There, Zack thought, noticing black dots struggling to traverse the arid plane, actual trainers. He signalled Antiq to dive, and the Aerodactyl went into a spin, ice cold wind biting Zack's flesh. They turned up at the last second, hitting the ground with an almighty boom. Antiq stood on her hind legs, wings spread wide, and screeched.

The majority of trainers ran in the opposite direction, frightened for their lives, but some actually ran closer. Stronger than the average scrubs. Zack jumped down and sized them up one at a time.

While some slack-jawed gawkers shot him ignorable questions, Zack set his sights on one trainer at the back, who watched Antiq impassively. They looked like some kind of noble based on their smart clothes and the stylish travelling robe strewn over their shoulder. Zack singled him out.

'Hey you,' he said. The other trainers turned around, some jumping when Antiq thrashed her tail unexpectedly. The noble trainer didn't even flinch. Good. Truly experienced trainers didn't get startled like that. 'I need a battle. Got time?'

The noble glanced around the expectant faces of the other trainers and closed his eyes, sighing. 'Yes, alright.'

He unbuckled the clasp on his robe and threw the lot to the nearest trainer, who nearly tripped trying to catch it, and stepped into battle distance from Zack. He let out the first hint of surprise when Zack recalled Antiq and took out another ball. Half the trainers in attendance let out moans of disappointment.

'How's two on two sound?'
'Like a short fight.'

Zack couldn't help but grin.

'The name's Zack Redgrave,' he said, getting into position.
'Luthar Bullion.'
'You a noble, Bullion?'
'No. Can we get on with this?'

Straight to business, then. The noble held out his ball and released his pokémon. A Gabite, who seemed every bit as silent and focused as its trainer.

Zack lobbed his ball, unleashing Malis. The Charmander hit the dirt with a skid and took in his surroundings. The air was clear, with little in the way of hills or declines for miles around. It was kind of like a landlocked beach, and nothing like Malis had seen before, yet he felt strangely at home. He growled at the retrained laughter of the onlooking trainers; the one holding Luthar's robes had to switch hands to put his fist to his mouth.

'That? Are you sure?' Luthar asked flatly. He was checking his pokédex to get an idea of Malis' level, in case Zack was trying any tricks with a high level, unevolved pokémon. He wasn't.

Zack smiled. Battling a disadvantage was just another part of his training. The point wasn't to throw Malis into a battle he couldn't win; it just had to seem like he couldn't. If he was smart enough, the Charmander would triumph. If you could win fights like these, you could win anything. 'Ball of fire in the air. Go!'

Just like yesterday, when Malis created a ball of flame to light Mia's joint, he span and released fire from his tail, which shot into the sky light a miniature sun. Only this time, as real sunlight filtered through, it seemed to magnify the light reaching the battle. And Malis' tail flame roared with new intensity, becoming almost as big as the Charmander himself.

Malis took a moment to stare at his Sunny Day in wonder, and Zack said nothing as Gabite rushed him. His team had to learn to think and move for themselves; if they got hit by simple attacks, it would be their own fault. Malis snapped his attention back to the battle at the last second, and reflexively avoided Gabite's vertical 'Dragon Claw.' The spectators performed a chorus of impressed 'Ooooh's at what they must've thought was an impossible dodge.

It split the dirt as Malis performed a backflip. As the Charmander righted himself, Luthar called for another 'Dragon Claw!' and this time Gabite slashed sideways. This was a good opening. Zack called for 'Fire Spin' and Malis opened his maw, blasting flame at Gabite, flame that the Charmander used to push himself out of range of the dragon's attack.

Malis skidded backwards as Gabite became trapped in a vortex; the fire spin circled around him like a corkscrew, licking at him for damage over time. It also impeded his movements, for when Gabite moved, the fire spin automatically followed, slowing him to a crawl. It transformed the surrounding sand into glass with each whirling pass.

Zack called for 'Dragon Rage.'

Malis opened his mouth again, this time unleashing a violet flame, which crashed into the immobile dragon type and sucked away his health. The onlookers were cheering at this upset, and Zack let himself smirk.

Luthar, meanwhile, kept his voice steady and commanded 'Sandstorm.'

Gabite swiped sideways with his claw, and the Sunny Day died in an instant. Great winds picked up, blowing sand across the battlefield. Great, thick sand. Fire Spin weakened without Sunny Day, its powerful blades of flame fast becoming pinpricks that did little to impede their captive.

As dark brown sand filled his view, Zack lost track of Gabite. Even wreathed in flame, the dragon had the ability to vanish in sand, and became a thin shadow. This was where his team's independance became vital; without Zack to shout warnings, they had to be able to function solo.

Malis was lost, spluttering in the new conditions, his tail flame reduced to a flicker. He felt his way through the sand, unable to see very far in any direction. He spotted a shadow and, without waiting for instruction, shot at it with Flamethrower. One of the onlookers let out a panicked cry and hit the deck to avoid the flame, and by the time he realised he had the wrong target, Malis was trapped.

Gabite zipped past, his scales singed and marked by fire. He scraped the floor with a claw, and it fell apart beneath Malis' feet, trapping him in a whirlpool of sand that lashed at his body. A Sand Tomb.

He's mocking me, Zack thought angrily. For Gabite didn't need Malis trapped to hit him with his next attack: 'Dragon Rush.'

Zack heard rather than saw what happened next. With a dull, sick crunch, Malis was blown out of the sandstorm cloud and bounced as he landed, his limbs folding under him awkwardly as he rolled to a dead stop.

As the spectating trainers cheered for Luthar's victory, Zack spotted him through a gap in the cloud looking anything but pleased. He seemed more concerned about brushing sand off his suit's sleeve than relishing victory. Zack recalled Malis and sent out his next pokémon without waiting for Luthar to be ready.

He threw the ball into the air over the cloud, where it released Lethal. The Clawitzer took a moment to key into his orientation, then fired an 'Ice Beam!' at the sandstorm.

The beam blew through it, and Zack knew from experience that the ground would get frozen into an icy block. Earth acted as a good conductor for ice type moves, Zack believed it had something to do with type weaknesses. Still, despite the sandstorm still raging above ground, everything below its sight would be a bitter wasteland. And if caught sufficiently off guard, that went for Gabite too.

Lethal span as he fell through the air, landed, and fired another 'Ice Beam' into the sandstorm, swiping sideways until he hit his target. The sand got cleaved apart as the beam blasted it, allowing Zack to see what was going on. Sure enough, Gabite was frozen to the floor, and now took a full Ice Beam to the chest, which took him out with ease.

With the last ounce of power coming from the beam attack, the ice freezing Gabite's legs cracked and the pokémon got thrown onto its back. Luthar flexed his jaw and recalled the pokémon, looking annoyed at what he probably saw as a low blow. He brought out his next pokémon, holding the ball in his palm and releasing it from there.

White light flashed, summoning his Umbreon. Zack grit his teeth, ready for round 2 to begin in earnest.

((Gotta cut it short guys, hope you can handle all these battle posts))

Route 14 - Laverre Nature Trail

Helena rested against a tree as her Pokemon warmed up for the day. They'd been informed of the journey to Anistar City. Ecarlate, who was usually rather stoic, seemed more energetic that morning. Or was it already noon? Helena hadn't thought to check the time.

Ecarlate was able to handle himself on the route. Agility increased his speed, and he was practiced in using it to move, never touching the ground as he battled opponents while moving from tree to tree.

Loki, Feather, and Metric had to work together though. Helena didn't want to push them too hard with such a long journey ahead, but she'd also relented that it was likely they wouldn't be winning any trainer battles without solely using Ecarlate.

Their battles weren't bad, Helena noticed. Grant's advice came back to her as she watched them battle. Loki and Feather were distractions for Deino's Dragon Rage, which dealt decent enough damage to make them victorious.

Salieri's voice message went unheard, even as Helena looked at it. "I cannot deal with that right now," she told herself. The stress of the last few days weighed on her, and her self esteem pretty much didn't exist. Even the first time she ever kissed a boy was a drunken haze.

I'm sure that'll come up later, too.

For now she had to compartmentalize. Get her Pokemon stronger, more in sync, make it to Anistar.

What troubled her most, despite how she tried to set her priorities, was Tyrant. The Pokemon was still a terrifying beast, but she watched him now, calmer. The wild Pokemon didn't stand a chance against him, and he wasn't even fighting them. They were food, picked up in those powerful jaws and crushed. The more he ate, the less agitated he felt.

Makes sense if he'd been sleeping for that long, the teen noted.

Tyrant looked at her now, even when he wasn't trying to eat her there was a fire in his eyes. Rage, a rumbled growl held in his throat. When he breathed, it emphasized the scar that the one armed Pangoro had given him.

Helena took his ball in one hand and rose to her feet. Tyrant eyed it and made no move against her. He's figured this out, too.

Helena made sure not to get too close, but she still approached the beast. He'd stopped feeding to look at her.

As if realizing the potential danger, her Pokemon appeared at her side, on by one. They were a team, standing against something they all knew they couldn't beat.

"I'm gonna take you down," Helena said, trying to sound as bold and confident as she could.

Tyrant's eyes moved from one member to another of her team. Then the monster chuckled, deep in his throat, but booming all the same to the teen's ears.

He snatched up a Skorupi and paid her no further attention as he turned away to continue hunting.

Helena's heart raced after that. It took her a minute longer before she said, "okay, back to training everyone." It wasn't a warm up anymore, they needed to be more serious. Uneasy about giving the Tyrantrum her back, she recalled him and turned to her team.

"We need to learn how to work together," she said. The four of them were her Pokemon, but the only one she really knew was Loki. "But we also need to get to know each other." Helena paused, having no idea where to start.

Oh god, I'm doomed.

Between Route 14 and 16

Pokemon were not all children. In the majority of cases, trainers found young Pokemon that had wandered away or migrated from others. Deep in routes were the older, wiser Pokemon, that were smart enough to avoid the routes. In most cases, trainers were also smart enough to avoid these areas.

Even skilled trainers would face difficulty traversing the routes, akin to constant battle against other skilled trainers. It was rare that someone made it through to the other side, in most cases trainers had to retreat. For some, this was a thrill - an ultimate form of training. For others, it was an impossible task, even compared to facing gym leaders.

Helena wasn't aware of any of this.

It was a lesson that came swiftly as she moved into their territory. An endless sea of battles that she could not have predicted otherwise - at least not to this scale.

"Keep moving!" Helena called to her Pokemon.

The tree next to her exploded from the force of a Shadow Ball and Helena was forced sideways, stumbling until another tree caught her.

[Don't stop,] spoke Loki, blasting the Haunter from behind. He took up the rear with Metric.

The Deino nodded. Timid, terrified, not prepared for any of this. His Dragon Rages were running low, and they were significantly less effective against these tougher Pokemon.

Haunter cried and twisted around to face Loki, who had teleported to appear behind it. The second blast of Psybeam was no more effective than the first. Even super effective, it didn't make up for the difference in level.

The Dragon rage that blasted the Haunter was more effective.

[I said keep moving,] Loki said.

[But-]

[Move!] Shadow Ball exploded where Metric had once stood, the little dragon barely moving to avoid the direct hit. The blast launched him away and Loki turned to see a Gengar, flanked by several Haunter, emerge from the foliage.

Loki fired a psybeam behind him to launch himself to Metric, who was barely able to pull himself to his feet.

Gengar, anticipating the move, launched another Shadow Ball. It exploded where the two had been - dissipating the flash of light that was teleport.

Caught back up with the others, Loki maintained his teleport movements, stopping every few seconds until Metric said, [I can run.]

[Are you sure?]

Metric nodded, unsure but not wanting to slow the other Pokemon down.

Ahead of all of them, Tyrant carved the path. It wasn't by Helena's choice, but by manipulation. After their first encounter, which had taken all hands on deck to blow through, she'd decided to instigate Tyrant's rage by throwing him into a horde of Klefki. Now he charged, assailing his attackers, but even he was beginning to slow down from the constant barrage.

Feather tailed behind, Fairy Wind and Razor Leaf building up the defense from their sides. It wasn't enough to take anyone out, but it helped keep them safe. Ecarlate was carving the path through obstacles, claws cutting through branches and roots as the forest came alive by the chants of a Trevenant and several Pahntumps

As Loki finally caught up to the rest with Metric, narrowly avoiding being dragged back into further battles, it was to the sight of Tyrant soaring back towards them.

He crash landed in the circle of Helena and her Pokemon as they moved to dodge.

The swarm of Pokemon that had chipped away at their stamina made to attack. An action that would have been fatal if not for Tyrant's Roar. Hesitation born of fear caused the younger, less evolved Pokemon to flee, but the olders ones stood their ground.

At the end of their path, as the forest ended and Route 16 fell into sight, was Goodra.

From their sides, and from behind them, stood other powerful Pokemon. Some alphas - taking over Pokemon in an area with forms that were impossible in the wild. Gengar, Trevenant, Victreebel, Honchkrow, Escavalier, Accelgor, all stood around them.

Ammongus, Floatzel, Drapion, Quagsire - all fully evolved Pokemon, were among the crowd in abundance.

Helena looked at Tyrant. She wasn't sure why the thought came to her head, but there it was. What would this ancient predator do, surrounded by so many foes? She knew that answer, because it was what she would fear him doing if they were fighting.

"Loki, take me up!" Helena shouted, quickly making an effort to recall her other Pokemon. The sight below them, as they appeared in the sky, was of the trees falling around them, as the ground broke open and quaked with Earthquake.

Intuition. That word came back to her. It wasn't natural, but it felt obvious when she thought about it. The Pokemon she had most analyzed, the one that had most learned from her and she had most learned from was Tyrant. The thought made her uncomfortable, but it also gave her an idea.

Honchkrow shot after them and Helena released Ecarlate. The Scizor met the bird in the air as Helena thought of brutality.

"Grab its wings!" The Scizor complied, snapping his claws around the Honchkrows wings and eliminating its flight. Even as the beak of the Pokemon stabbed into his gut, they fell. More versatile with his body, Scizor brought his feet into the Honchkrows chest, and pulled on the wings. It wasn't enough to remove them, but it was enough to snap them. When they crashed, and Scizor extended his legs as he released the wings to jump away - quickly caught by the light of his pokeball, it was with one less aerial threat.

Helena could better survey the battlefield this way. Tyrant was ripping Trevenant from the ground, pulling the roots of ingrain with it, as the forest tried to pull him backwards. Victreebel added to this, with a vine around Tyrant's throat. Neither of them could match the beasts strength as he ripped Trevenant's face off with his powerful jaws.

Then he let himself be pulled back, kicking backwards into the motion and crashing into Victreebel, who let out a scream at the sudden assault.

Escavalier and Accelgor charged Tyrant, to prevent his assault and Helena felt herself torn between jumping in, and helping out, or just escaping.

The other Pokemon were also moving forwards now, likely with the realization that attacking one at a time would only force them into the same fate at Trevenant.

Tyrant didn't even flinch as the first two Pokemon struck him, instead he finished ripping Victreebel in half, and slinging the poison filled Pokemon across them, the acid that could dissolve entire Pokemon, slinging across them. Escavalier didn't flinch, but Accelgor cried out in retreat.

Then Gengar and Goodra were upon him.

Get to know them. Be their friend.

Helena was giving the order before she even completely realized why.

Loki appeared before the two beasts, Metric and Ecarlate emerging first.

Dragon Rage blasted Gengar as Ecarlate moved to grapple with Goodra, dodging his powerful fist and slamming a Metal Claw into the extended joint. It didn't break, but the damage was visible in Goodra's face.

Feather emerged next as Honchkrow charged at them, wings mutiliated beyond repair.

Helena was only concerned about one thing before starting this next phase of their battle. She looked back at Tyrant, whose foot crushed Accelgor as he faced down Escavalier.

Tyrant caught her eye. Helena nodded, hoping he'd understand the gesture, or at least her intention. Tyrant looked away from her and snapped at Escavalier who had attempted to make good on the opening. The maw caught the tip of one of his lance arms, and he drove the other into Tyrant's shoulder to try and free himself.

Turning back to the battle, Helena could see it was a losing effort without some direction.

Gengar and Goodra were their strongest opponents by far.

Feather could handle Honchkrow in its crippled state, but she couldn't deal enough damage to take him down.

Ecarlate, Metric and Loki struggled against the remaining two, but it was still a losing effort.

"Loki, they can hit each other!" Helena shouted as Loki barely avoided a Shadow Ball. Gengar looked at her, recognizing her as a trainer, and her plan, and shot a look to Goodra.

But Loki hadn't picked him. Earthquake had cut down many of the trees in the way of Shadow Balls trajectory, letting Loki grab him, get a sight on it, and teleport them in front of it.

The blast exploded in the opponents face.

Back on the battlefield, Goodra slammed Metric to the floor, as Honchkrow proved more resourceful than previously anticipated, taking down Feather with an Aerial Ace.

Helena felt the line push back to Scizor. After that, it was just her between the two and Tyrant.

Tyrant, Helena realized with a sudden rush of fear, whom she had turned her back on. She turned back to see him jump and she flinched, arms raising only for the Tyrantrum to fly over her and crash into Goodra.

The two wrestled and Scizor moved away from that battle, turning to the injured Honchkrow as he stood over Feather's unconscious form.

It didn't take much to bring these battles to conclusion. Crippled, Honchkrow was too vulnerable to take on Ecarlate, speed boosted bu Agility.

Goodra, while putting up the good fight, also couldn't stand up to Tyrant's massive jaws around its adorable head.

As the conflicts ended, their attention turned to Loki's battle.

Masked by the explosion of another Shadow Ball, it slowly cleared to reveal Gengar, Loki at his feet. The Gengar looked smugly back at them - until he realized he was alone.

Tyrant turned to face Gengar, who disappred under the earth.

Helena took the moment to recall her fainted Pokemon, and then turned to Tyrant.

Slowly, he turned to look at her. They were mere feet apart.

"Friends?" Tyrant roared, blowing her hair back, and getting saliva all of her face. She recalled him immediately.

"Not friends. Okay."

Helena looked to Ecarlate. "We should go before they realize how vulnerable we are." Ecarlate nodded, and the two dashed for Route 16.

Kalos - Graveyard, Who Knows Where

Lord Nostrad's machines ripped the earth apart. He stood over the pit, still as a gargoyle, sprays of dirt not daring to reach him. The coffin revealed itself like a fossil in excavation, first at the worm-bitten edges, then at its simple blank front. It hadn't been decorated. It could easily have contained work tools as a human body.

The coffin had taken a while to locate, and Nostrad already knew what he would find. But he had to be sure.

'Open it.'

One of the digsite workers broke from the group of scientists surrounding the grave, and jumped into the pit. He worked at unbolting the locks on the coffin edge, taking each key in turn, working the mechanisms with heavy clacks. Then he prised a crowbar between the sealed wood lips, hammering it down. The wood split, but the seal broke. When the lid cracked open, it unloaded a scent like melted rubber that made the worker gag.

'My lord, it's...' he coughed, covering his mouth. 'It's him.'

He stepped aside and Nostrad saw a body. But not the body. Very similar, yes; its features were marked by Jean, but not by time. It could've been a waxwork doll, an exact double, but it most certainly wasn't Ratio's corpse.

'I think I see something,' the worker shouted out of the pit. He touched his palm to the body's face and turned it to the side. 'There are cracks along the back of the skull, as if something has oozed out. It looks pink?'

The worker pulled his hand away and jumped. Ratio's face lifted away from its skull, glued to his palm, connected to bone by thin tendrils of bubblegum pink flesh.

'He did it,' Nostrad said to himself quietly. He had seen Ratio's dead body buried with his own eyes. Today he had expected an empty coffin, but this was worse. He'd been tricked.