After walking for a long, long time, we finally reached Kogeta Town, the midpoint of our journey to Floji. At this point, it was already sunset.
"There it is!" Aaron exclaims. "Kogeta Town!"
"Took us more than fifteen minutes, due to that detour," Rotom notes.
"Why does it look a lot less impressive than Grama, though?" I ask.
"Maybe it's because there's no theme revolving around it," Ash suggests. "After all, I can't think of any history that went down in Kogeta Town." I look at the brochure detailing Terelm. He was right. I couldn't find anything about Kogeta Town. I think these towns were built after the Terelmian War, thus making it not worth mentioning.
"So what do we do now? There's no gym here."
"Why don't we take a break at the Pokemon Center? That fight with Pinsir left you pretty beaten up." That was a pretty good idea. If we immediately hit the road again, my condition would be troublesome. After asking around a little for the Pokemon Center's location, we went there and walked straight up to the front desk.
"Welcome to the Pokemon Center," A pink-haired lady greets us.
"Hey, Nurse Joy," Ash replies. "Could you heal our Pokemon?"
"Nurse Joy?" I ask.
"She's the one who runs the Pokemon Center."
"Yes," she agrees. "We're dedicated to helping you with your every need. You'd like to heal your Pokemon, right? Then please put your Poke Balls here." She puts out a hexagonal container with slots for us to put our Poke Balls in them. Allison, Robert, and Lynn return their Hybrimon to their Hybri Balls, then put them in the container. I decide to follow suit and return Liana and Wesley as Ash puts Milcery's Poke Ball in the container. A pink Pokemon comes from the next room and takes the container, then goes back. Pikachu, who did not like going in its Poke Ball, was prepared to be transported to the same room with a gurney.
"Who's that Pokemon?" I ask Rotom.
"Clefable," Rotom answers. "The fairy Pokemon. A Fairy type. These unique creatures are among the rarest Pokemon in the world."
"I see. Nurse Joy, do you think you can get me healed too?"
"Oh, my! What happened to you?" She pointed to my wounds and bruises.
"I got in a fight with a Pinsir. But I held it off until my friends helped me."
"I'm sorry, but our healing service only works on Pokemon and Hybrimon. However, I think a good night's rest will help you."
"Rest? But this is a Pokemon Center, not a hotel."
"Not to worry! Most Pokemon Centers offer free lodging, so you can take a rest here whenever you want." Talk about convenient. The builders of this place must have been prepared for most, if not all situations. Now that I think about it, after my first encounter with Team Rocket, I ended up in a Pokemon Center and woke up to find out that my wounds were healed. So maybe the same thing applied here.
"So why don't we go get a room already?" I suggest.
"I think you're getting ahead of yourself," Lynn says. "We should wait until we get our Pokemon and Hybrimon back." And then right on cue, I heard a familiar growling sound.
"And maybe get some lunch, too," Ash adds. He sure does get hungry quickly. I guess that's what you call a "bottomless pit for a stomach?" But maybe I shouldn't talk either, because I was pretty hungry, too. We went to a nearby counter and put in some orders for some sandwiches. Not the best, but not the worst, either. After a few minutes, we ate as we waited for Pikachu and everyone else to be healed.
Before long, it was nighttime. And Pikachu and the gang were restored. Thanking Nurse Joy, I take Liana and Wesley's Hybri Balls and send them out. Allison, Robert, and Lynn do the same.
"Okay, I'm wiped out," I yawn. "Should we go grab ourselves a room?" Everyone else agrees. According to Nurse Joy, there were some rooms available on the second floor. We wouldn't all fit in one room, so I got a room with Ash, Wesley, Robert, and Aaron. Liana, Allison, Chloe, Lynn, and Susie were sharing a room, too.
"So what do you think we should do tomorrow?" I ask Ash.
"Maybe we'll look around Kogeta Town a little more," He answers me. "Most of the time, when I was traveling, there was something I could do in each town or city."
"Well, that seems interesting," Wesley says. "I wonder what'll happen tomorrow."
"Maybe there'll be some sort of competition?" Pikachu suggests.
"I hope so, buddy," Ash agrees. "That would be awesome."
Since none of us had anything better to do, we decided to hit the sack. For some reason, this slumber was different. Probably only because I was beaten up a little bit. I thought my wounds were healing as I felt this blissful sensation. But even so, the feeling of foreboding danger crept up on me in my dreams. I swear, the first days (or week?) I spent here in this world all had my senses going haywire. Was I paranoid about something?
Suddenly, the stinging impact of something striking my face jolted me awake. Turned out Pikachu was whipping me with its tail in order to force me to get up.
"What was that for?!" I scream at Pikachu.
"Sorry," Pikachu apologizes. "But you were still asleep when we were getting ready to go."
When Pikachu said that, I looked out the window, and it was something like ten o' clock. I think that was some flaw I had- I always woke up late. The next thing I did was look at my body. And my hunch I had yesterday was correct. My wounds were all healed, which definitely meant sleeping had some special effect on me in this world.
Remembering what Pikachu told me, I got out of bed, and prepared for the day. I put my clothes on and brushed my teeth, then I was ready to get going. The five of us left the room, and we waited outside the girls' room until they came out. But something was wrong. They were taking an oddly long time. Knowing the girls, they'd be up and kicking already. So what's the holdup?
"Hey, guys," Robert says timidly. "Is it just me, or does it feel like they're taking way too long?"
"You're right," I agree. "You'd think by now they'd already come out."
"Should we go in there?" Wesley asks.
"What?!" Aaron says in shock. "Heck no! The last time I did that, I... well, I'm not gonna tell you, but it was nasty! All I'll say is that I was chased out of there. They were really mad at me after that fiasco..."
"Settle down, Aaron," Robert reassures him. "I don't think they'd deliberately take this long. Maybe they're not doing that anymore."
I had no idea what the heck they were talking about, but I decided to push past that and opened the door, despite their bickering. And I got a shock as soon as I did. When I opened the door all the way, there was... nobody?
"Where are they?!" I scream. "I thought they were here!"
"Did they leave already?" Ash suggests.
"No way," Robert says. "The girls have never left me when I was adventuring with them. Knowing them, there's no way they'd ditch us."
"Then were they kidnapped?" Rotom asks. Now that was terrifying. We could rule out the possibility that they abandoned us on a whim, but the possibility that they were taken away was horrifyingly plausible. But who would do such a thing?
"We can worry about who did it later," Wesley says. "We gotta save everyone!"
All of us nod in agreement, and we race downstairs to the entrance of the Pokemon Center. We considered asking Nurse Joy, but she was oddly absent. In her place was a male employee, and when we asked him about the situation, he said he had no idea on the matter. So we had to find them ourselves. But having no idea where to go was an inconvenience, to say the least.
"Where should we go?" I ask.
"Rotom can fly, right?" Wesley replies. "Then Rotom and I can scour Kogeta Town by flying around."
"You sure? The culprits might get you, too. Who knows what they're capable of."
"I'll be fine. I doubt they can get me."
I was a little skeptical, but I decided to let him do his thing. After all, Liana was the closest one to him, and I didn't want to stop him from finding his little sister. I mean, I even promised him I'd help him find her if they got separated again back in Grama Town.
"I think we should split up," Aaron suggests.
"Great idea!" Robert agrees. "We'll cover more ground that way. This should be our rallying point. Got it?"
We approve the idea, and we take off in different directions. Since I had no leads, my only choice was to wander aimlessly. I remember crossing a bridge, passing a mall, and finally reaching a huge park. None of those places seemed like good areas to hold someone hostage. Where could I go?
"Are you sure we're in the right direction?" A girl's voice asked. Who was that?
"I told you, I have no idea where Hop is," A boy's voice replied. Two people came into view: A boy with a gray beanie and red shirt, and a girl with a green beret and gray jacket. They both looked very worried. Did they need help? I decided to answer that myself and go over to them.
"Hey!" I hollered at them. "Is something wrong?"
"Uh-oh!" The boy yelped. "We've got company! Go, Grookey! Use Magical Leaf!"
"C'mon out, Sobble! Use Water Pulse!"
The two of them send out a Pokemon each in a state of panic. One of them looked like a green monkey, while the other looked like a blue frog. The two of them quickly unleash their moves, and I roll away in time to avoid the attacks.
"Woah, woah!" I scream. "I'm not here to fight!"
"Yeah?!" The girl countered. "Then where's Hop?!"
"Hold it, Gloria!" The boy exclaims. "I don't think he's a Team Noir grunt. Look at his clothes. That's not their uniform."
"Oh, yeah. You're right." After the two of them calm down, I decide to get to the point.
"I'm David," I introduce myself. "I'm looking for my kidnapped friends."
"Looking for your friends?" The girl repeats. "Then you're just like us!" What a coincidence. So they were looking for someone, too? This was certainly starting to seem a little fishy. If we weren't the only ones affected, then certainly the police would be on the case, right?
"Let's introduce ourselves too," The boy suggests. "I'm Victor. And this is my cousin, Gloria. Have you seen anyone with blue hair with a cyan, fluffy jacket?" I shook my head. They explained they were looking for their friend named "Hop," which I thought was a pretty weird name. I gave them a description of my missing friends too, but they also had no clue where they were. How would these kidnappings happen in just one night, and how would nobody know where they went?
"Wait," I said. "You thought I was a Team Noir grunt, right? Why?"
"We think Team Noir's behind this," Gloria admits.
"Truth is, we've had a lot of run-ins with them," Victor says.
"Then you know how annoying they are," I said. "I'm actually quite lucky not to have run into them so often, but they're quite the menace. But getting back on point, if our friends were kidnapped, then they've gotta be held somewhere..."
"True. But where?"
The three of us ponder this for a while. No particular area sprang to mind. Wandering around seemed to be kind of useless, anyway. I considered asking around to get leads, but I ruled it out, since nobody seemed concerned about this, and even the police weren't working on this. What could we do? But then, the luckiest of lucky breaks happened. I heard something from behind me, and it was none other than Wesley and Rotom, calling my name to get my attention. Rotom immediately noticed Grookey and Sobble, and read their entries.
"Grookey," Rotom recites. "The chimp Pokemon. A Grass type. When it uses its special stick to strike up a beat, the sound waves produced carry revitalizing energy to the plants and flowers in the area. Then, there's Sobble. The water lizard Pokemon. A Water type. When scared, this Pokemon cries. Its tears pack the chemical punch of 100 onions, and attackers won't be able to resist weeping."
"That's nice, Rotom. So what did you find?" I ask them.
"We found an abandoned storeroom," Wesley informs us.
"And we think that Liana and the others are being held there!" Rotom exclaims. Now that was one vital piece of info! I had the feeling I could count on them, as I thought both of them were quite skilled at searching from the air.
"You two should go and let everyone else know," I tell them. "I don't think we can take them on by ourselves. We'll meet at the Pokemon Center!"
"Roger!" Both of them say simultaneously, and they fly off.
"We should get going too," Victor says.
"But where's the Pokemon Center?" Gloria asks.
"...Oh no! I just realized! We're lost!"
"Seriously? You're just like Leon. You're utterly useless when it comes to directions..."
"I can help," I volunteer. "I just so happen to know a trick to fast transportation. But I need the two of you to get closer. Okay? Good. Zoom!"
The spell instantly transports us to the Pokemon Center, and Victor and Gloria stare in disbelief as they process what just happened.
"...How did you do that?!" Gloria asks incredulously.
"Believe it or not," I proudly announce, "I have the power to fight on my own. I know a plethora of spells, and the one I just used on us is Zoom. It transports me and nearby people to places I've been before."
"Well, that's something you don't see every day!"
"Zoom, huh?" Victor repeats. "Kind of a weird name, but that's incredibly convenient. Wish I knew that spell."
Now that we were at the Pokemon Center, we had to wait for Ash and the others to return to us. With the guidance of Wesley and Rotom, they got there in no time. I introduced Victor and Gloria to them, and they introduced themselves in turn.
"So, where was that abandoned storeroom again?" I ask Wesley and Rotom.
"Follow us," Rotom promptly says, and it takes off with Wesley tailing it. After running after them for a long time, we arrived at an abandoned storeroom, true to their word.
"You know," Ash says, "It's possible that it's actually Team Rocket is doing this. Or even worse, maybe Team Rocket and Team Noir have joined forces..."
"How do you know that?" I ask him.
"Whenever I chased Team Rocket down for stealing my Pokemon, I often caught them in some sort of abandoned area, kind of like this storeroom."
"But why would those two jerkface teams work together?"
"...I dunno. I think my imagination's going wild."
After shoving that worst-case scenario off to the side, I peered through the wide, open door, but I couldn't get a good view of things. There was this huge crate blocking most of my vision.
"Well," I sigh, "If I try to peek any further, I bet I'm gonna get busted. So, got any bright ideas, guys?"
"I've got an idea," Rotom says. "See that window?" It pointed at a shattered window way above us. "I'll go up there and see if anyone's guarding them."
"Great idea, Rotom!" Ash cheers. "That way, we'll know what to do. Alright, hit it!"
Rotom flies up and peeks through the window it mentioned earlier. After a while, it goes back down to us.
"So what did you see?" I ask.
"Sure enough, the girls are there and tied up," Rotom says. "There's also someone else in a blue jacket, but nobody else is there."
"'Blue jacket...?'" Victor mutters. "That's Hop!"
"Who in the world would tie them up?" Gloria asks.
"Doesn't matter," Ash says. "All that matters now is rescuing them. Let's go, guys!"
Before I could say anything, Ash took off, and the rest of us were forced to follow him. This seemed pretty fishy to me, but it didn't take long for us to reach our friends.
"It's Ash!" Allison gasps.
"David and the others, too!" Liana adds.
"Victor! Gloria!" Hop says. It didn't take a genius that he was the one in the blue jacket.
"You guys alright?" Wesley asks. "Sorry we were late, but we're here to-" But he doesn't even get to finish his sentence. He's interrupted by a loud, slamming noise behind us, which is followed by a bunch of terrible snickers. When we turn around, the storeroom's door was locked shut, and Team Noir had appeared.
"You're here to rescue them?" Robin finishes for Wesley.
"Nah," Nick says mockingly. "I don't think so. Oliver?"
Oliver, who had not said anything yet, pulls a remote from his pocket, and quickly pushes a button on it. I was able to process what happened in time, and I jump out of the way as a giant cage slams down, trapping everyone else.
"No!" I yell. I furiously turn back to Team Noir. "You monsters! What do you plan on doing with them?!"
"That's for us to know," Oliver replies, "And for you to never find out. Go, Sneasel!"
The brutes follow suit and send out their Pokemon as well. Looks like I'd have to fight on my own... Or at least, until I Metal Slashed that cage. I tried my best to think of a strategy. Sneasel was a Dark and Ice type, so maybe Frizzling it would be a good choice. I charge my magical power and prepare to attack. But Robin's too quick for me. It orders Nickit to hit me with a Quick Attack, and it connects. It doesn't do much, but it stops me from charging any further.
I decide to try again. I begin charging another Frizzle, but I charge at Nickit. Robin calls another Quick Attack, but reading out its moves gives me the upper hand. I jump up in time to avoid the attack, then launch the fireballs at Sneasel. A super-effective hit! Sneasel's stamina is quickly blown away as it hits the floor. But it hasn't fainted yet.
"You're a cheeky one," Oliver mocks me. "But we're even cheekier. Sneasel! Screech!"
Sneasel lets out an unpleasant sound. It's so bloodcurdling it takes me off-guard. In fact, I'm so surprised I don't even see a Scratch from Nick's Stunky coming. It does more damage due to my defense being dropped. I had to do something quick! If I tried to fight alone any longer, I'd get wiped out. I set my sights on the cage. If I Metal Slashed it, then my friends would be set free. Without a second thought, I dash at it.
"What's that loser doing?" Robin asks to nobody in particular.
"I dunno," Nick says. "But more importantly, why's he running towards the cage?"
"You'll see why!" I yell. "Metal Slash!"
The two-handed swing splits the cage open, letting Ash and the others out. Turns out I didn't need to slash at the ropes that were binding the girls and Hop, because Ash and everyone else had already untied them. Everyone quickly jumps out.
"Since when could he do that?!" Oliver screams.
"That's for us to know," I repeat snarkily, "And for you to never find out! You guys alright?"
"We're fine," Gloria says. "Now let's wipe them out! Come out, Sobble!"
"You too, Grookey!" Victor cheers. The duo sends out their Pokemon in order to support me.
"Let me help you out," Hop says. "Now, Wooloo! Lend us a hand!" When Hop sends out his Pokemon, all I see is something like a sheep with its woolly coat closely shaped like a ball. Rotom jumps in and reads its entry.
"Wooloo," Rotom says. "The sheep Pokemon. A Normal type. Its curly fleece is such an effective cushion that this Pokemon could fall off a cliff and stand right back up at the bottom, unharmed." If it could survive that, then it could be a total tank! And when I say "tank," I mean "Something that could shield its allies for a long period of time."
"All our work, wasted!" Robin screams angrily. "But we can take it back! Nickit, use Beat Up on Wooloo!"
Nickit charges at Wooloo and lands an attack. The attack alone barely does anything, but Nickit rallies its teammates, and Stunky and Sneasel charge in to deal extra damage. But even after their combo, it probably wouldn't have made a difference.
"That does nothing, dude," Nick says. "So we'll just have to turn it up a notch! Use Poison Gas, Stunky!"
Stunky turns around and releases a noxious fume from its tail. Before we could dodge, it smothers us all and we inhale it, which poisons us. They got pretty lucky, poisoning all of us at once. But even worse was when I pulled a Pecha Berry from my bag to heal myself, and Weavile quickly jumped me and took it away, then ate it. Shoot, that was my only Pecha Berry! These guys had a decent strategy, that's for sure.
This turned into a pretty sticky situation. Would we finish them off before the poison wiped us out? The only way to find out would be to fight. Remembering that Sneasel is weak to my Frizz spell, I throw another Frizz at it in an attempt to finish it off. But by some miracle (At least for them), Sneasel survived! How could that be?! I could also feel the toxins chipping away at my stamina. Talk about insult to injury...
"We've got your back!" Victor exclaims. "Use Magical Leaf, Grookey!"
Grookey, after concentrating its power, fires leaves made of pure energy at Sneasel. It probably wasn't very effective, but it got the job done, as Sneasel fainted. Gloria commands Sobble to use Water Pulse on Stunky. But when it hits... Stunky starts acting weird. Was something wrong with it?
"Water Pulse has the potential to confuse the opponent," Rotom explains. If Stunky was under confusion, then that would be something we could exploit. I hoped it would stop attacking us, or it would attack itself, or even better, it would attack Nickit. But I guess that last possibility was a little too-over-the-top, since Rotom explained that Pokemon, when they are confused, either attack their target or themselves. And I saw firsthand that that was true, since Stunky somehow hurt itself in its confusion.
But what snapped me out of those thoughts were that I was still poisoned. The toxins kept flowing through my veins, which I knew would slowly knock me out. I quickly turned to Ash in desperation, and he immediately saw the look in my eye. Nodding, he pulls a Pecha Berry out of his bag, and he throws it at me. I eat it midair, and swallow it as soon as I could to squelch that poison. I signaled to my other allies, and their trainers also use the same kind of berry to heal their Pokemon.
Now that we got that out of the way, I had to think hard. What were Nickit and Stunky weak to...? Entering a thinking stance, I try to conjure a plan to pull the floor out from under our foes. I ask Rotom what I should do, and it said we should use Ground-type moves on Stunky... but I remind it that we didn't have that kind of moves at our disposal. Then it suggested to use Fighting or Fairy-type moves on Nickit. I didn't know any "Fairy-type" spells, but I could think of something close to a Fighting-type move.
Sticking my sword in the floor, I rush at Nickit as quickly as I could. When I start to get uncomfortably close, I hop and kick it in the face. Then as I rebound, I kick it again. I suppose I replicated the Double Kick move closely enough, as Nickit seemed to take considerable damage. I land near my sword, which I pull out of the ground.
"Woah! That was awesome, David!" Ash cheers.
"Don't count us out yet!" Nick says. "Stunky, Poison Gas again!"
But it doesn't go the way Nick expects it to. Instead, Stunky, who is too confused for its own good, turns around towards them and unleashes its poisoning move on its trainer and his friends.
"Dr-Drat!" Robin coughs. "Nothing's going r-right for u-us today! I-I'm beginning to th-think this p-plan was a waste of t-time!"
"And what a waste of time it is," I say. "See ya! Woosh!"
I cast the spell and put a little more gusto into it, which is enough to send Team Noir flying. In fact, they fly so fast they crash right through the storeroom door, and they eventually fly away from sight. I had to say, sending bad guys blasting off was turning into something like a pastime.
Later, it was sunset. And it was at this point Victor, Gloria, and Hop were about to go on their way.
"Thanks so much, guys," Hop thanks us. "We were in a real jam."
"And we couldn't have saved Hop without your help," Gloria says.
"It's the other way around," I correct her. "I don't think I could have rescued the girls if I didn't have you by my side."
"Let's meet again sometime, yeah?" Victor says, giving me his hand. "And let's have a battle later, too!"
Shaking hands, the crew and I see the trio off. For some reason, I felt like I've seen them before... But that didn't matter. Our journey here in Kogeta was beginning, and this would be just the start of it.
The one in which David meets the Sword and Shield protagonists, Victor and Gloria, as well as their buddy, Hop.
You'll notice the names for the Team Noir trio are different. That's because I grew unsatisfied with their original names, so I changed them to Robin, Nick, and Oliver. Also, Oliver's Pokemon is supposed to be Sneasel, not Weavile. But otherwise, its moveset has remained unchanged.