Chapter 26: Snow day
"Thanks for the lunch!" Sapphire waved as he exited the Aether House. They had spent the morning training in the rain, before stopping to eat lunch in the Aether House in which Hau had interrupted halfway through, running in with some Ghostium Z and horror on his face, with Acerola following. "Alright, and now we-"
"What do you think you're doing?! H-Hey, stop it, right now!" At the bottom of the stairs for the house was Lillie, facing off with a Team Skull Grunt.
"Yo, your bag was moving right in front of my eyes! I'm just supposed to ignore that?! If you've got some rare Pokémon in there, hand it over! I can make some sweet cash, and even if it ain't rare, I could still get some dough!"
Lillie stepped back and held her bag away from the Grunt, and as the thug moved closer-
"PSI DROPKICK OMEGA!" Sapphire suddenly appeared while screaming in Japanese, kicking the Grunt in the side as he flew down the stairs. The boy faceplanted on the ground after the attack, but Cobalt gracefully flipped from his shoulder and snorted, watching as the Grunt got back up.
"Yo, what the hell?! You tryin' to be some knight in shining armor, yo?!"
"Sapphire!" Lillie smiled as Sapphire got up, brushing mud off his face and clothes.
"Ha! I'm a-okay!" He turned to the Grunt, pointing dramatically as he posed. "Now, begone, evildoer!"
"I ain't letting you be the hero o' this tale!" The Grunt tossed out a Pokéball with an underhanded throw, but Cobalt simply roundhouse-kicked the ball back, letting it smack into the thug's face.
"Yeah, listen, I suggest you just start running. We've beaten a lot of grunts up 'till this point." Cobalt used Ignition to light himself on fire and become more intimidating, causing the Grunt to yelp and start running.
"I'll get y'all back for this, yo!"
"Cobalt, come on, even if we know we could have beaten them right away, you can never turn down a Pokémon Battle." Sapphire crossed his arms and shook his head while Cobalt just scoffed.
"Yeah, sure, don't thank me for not wasting our time." before they could begin their usual bickering, Lillie bowed her head in thanks.
"Ha… thank you, Sapphire."
"It's no prob. But why were you out here on your own? Where's Hapu?"
"Well… I wanted to see what it felt like to be a Trainer, so I tried to take a stroll on my own… But then Nebby and Nebbles tried to get out of my bag right when that Grunt showed up." She looked down at her bag and unzipped it, holding it up. "Come on you little troublemakers! You'd better thank Sapphire too!" The two Pokémon 'pewed' their thanks, though Nebby did jump up to nuzzle him.
He chuckled and pet the cloud-like Pokémon, getting more used to telling which was which. Nebby seemed to like him more and liked to nuzzle him, while Nebbles preferred Willow and wanted to be pampered by the girl. "Oh, Lillie!" Acerola hopped down the steps waving lazily. "What's the matter? You look all worn out. Want to rest up at Aether House for a while?"
"Oh, Acerola! Thank you, I think I might take you up on that." Lillie walked up and entered the building, while Acerola turned to him.
"Well, I'll be heading to the Trial site… Just head on south from Tapu Village." Acerola hopped away, and Sapphire nodded at Cobalt, who jumped back up onto his shoulder.
"Alright, it's time for one spookfest of a Trial!" Spooks' ball vibrated on his belt in amusement while Cobalt groaned.
Sapphire lifted his shoe with his hands and grinned at the black sand sticking to the bottom of his shoe before he let go to stomp down some more. "This is so cool!"
"Can we go to the Trial now? I want to beat up some ghosts."
"Calm yourself, my child." Sapphire raised a finger and lifted his chin, trying to sound-wise. "Exercising evil spirits is something that must be done cautiously, and with great care."
"Yeah, okay, Reigen."
They approached the Trial site and saw Acerola humming to herself as she swayed back and forth outside the doors to a destroyed supermarket. She turned as they approached and waved lazily, "Oh, you've arrived! That means the time has finally come!"
"Yep! We're ready to rock and roll!"
"Good to hear! Hau had lots of fun with his Trial, so I bet you will as well!"
Sapphire recalled the terror on Hau's face as he returned to the Aether House and sincerely doubted that.
"Anyway, your goal is to go inside there and take a picture of the Totem! Give your Rotomdex here, and I'll give it a program to let it take pictures of the Ghosts!"
"...And defeat it?"
"Eh? No, you'd probably die if you fought it."
"Uh…"
"Good luck~!" He continued to stare at the young girl, before turning his head towards Cobalt. The jackal could only shrug, so they entered the building and began wandering around.
The store was barely lit, only a few lights were on and they were incredibly dim and flickering. The only other light was grey and muddled coming in from the windows, partly because even though the rain had stopped the clouds were still in the sky, and partly because the windows were incredibly dirty.
Both Sapphire and Cobalt jumped as something clattered to the ground, and Cobalt quickly lit himself on fire to light up the area. Unfortunately, he forgot that he was sitting on Sapphire's shoulder.
Sapphire's shirt swiftly gained a hole in the sleeve.
After putting out the fire they snuck towards where the noise had come from and saw one of the checkout machines running continuously, even though it didn't seem to be plugged in. "Cool!"
"Creepy..." Ignoring Cobalt's instincts, Sapphire tapped Volt's resting place in his bag, and the Pokémon popped out while activating his Pokéfinder. Nothing appeared on his screen at first, but as he flew around, they saw a Ghastly biting at some of the wires. Volt quickly took a picture, and the Pokémon jerked when it realized they were looking at it, shooting up into the air.
It breathed in and barfed out a Smog, making Sapphire jump back while Cobalt jumped up and used Foresight, before unleashing a Force Palm to launch the Pokémon into the ground. The Ghastly phased through the floor, popping back up and hissing as they tried to bite down on the Fighting-Type.
Cobalt unleashed a Blaze Kick, throwing the Ghastly away and through several shelves. It shook itself off, before disappearing, thoroughly beaten. "Well, I'm willing to bet that wasn't the Totem, with how easy it was to beat, plus it was a Ghastly, but at least we got a picture, just in case… Alright, let's keep going then!"
They continued through the building, crawling under boxes and shelves to try and find any hidden areas that the Totem could have been hiding in. Something began banging around, and they stuck their heads around a corner to see a shopping cart rattling, the rusted metal parts screeching against each other.
"Volt."
"Zzt, on it!" Volt once again jumped out and activated the Pokéfinder, showing a Haunter messing around with the cart.
"…Dude, what are you even doing?" the Haunter looked up as Volt took the picture, shrugging at Sapphire's question, before powering up a Dark Pulse. "Spooks, show them fear!" Spooks popped out, countering the attack with a Dark Pulse of his own.
"So, this is my rival's Haunt, huh? Guess I'll be taking it over!"
"That pun sucked." Spooks ignored Cobalt, using Ice Punch to freeze up some of the gasses coming from Haunter, while the Haunter cackled and hovered back, disappearing as they used Shadow Punch. The shadows around them lengthened, before Haunter shot out of a shadow behind Spooks, slamming their fists into Spooks' side, idly firing a Smog at Cobalt. "Hey! I wasn't even part of this fight yet!"
The Ghost-Type flailed around midair, before firing a Shadow Ball at the wild Haunter. The ball exploded and caused Haunter to grunt, while Cobalt suddenly glowed slightly, and a Shadow Ball grew in his paws. "Hey, you just used Copycat! Awesome!" Cobalt launched the attack, sending Haunter directly into a Shadow Claw used by Spooks.
As Haunter slammed into the ground, the Pokémon phased away, heavily damaged. "Alright, another one down… But I'm betting that also wasn't the Totem."
"What a bore! If any Haunter should be this Trial's Totem, it should be me!"
"You'd scare people off with puns, not skill."
"I dunno, that sounds like a good idea to me."
"See? Our leader gets me!"
"Whatever."
As they spoke to each other Sapphire twirled as he saw a flash of yellow in the corner of his vision. He looked around, trying to see if he could spot the yellow again, but nothing appeared. "Hm…"
They resumed the exploration of the building, making their way into the back of the abandoned market. "Do either of you see anything?"
"Nope."
"Nada."
Sapphire sighed, squinting as he tried to see through the murky lighting of the building. Suddenly, before his eyes, the gloom seemed to lighten slightly, and shimmers of light seemed to be reaching over the edges of several shelves. "Oh, hey, that's better. Did some lights come on or something?"
"No? It's as dark as ever." Cobalt looked up at him and sighed. "Did you drink from a glow stick again?"
"I did that once! Let it go! Wait, why?"
As Spooks processed that Sapphire had drunk toxic chemicals from a glow stick and somehow wasn't dead, Cobalt inspected Sapphire's face. "Well, your eyes are glowing."
"Seriously? Hey, didn't that happen during… I think Willow's Grand Trial on Melemele?"
"Yeah, I think so. After they started glowing, you could see the invisible psychic mines that had been laid down."
"And now I can see in the dark." He looked around and blinked. "This was in the book, I think. Apparently, people could use aura to not just talk with Pokémon, but see in the dark and stuff… Like Willow told us, remember?" All of a sudden the clarity ended and the building was as dark as it used to be. "Oh, it's ended."
"You were probably activating it subconsciously, like how I used to with my aura translation. If you train it, you should eventually be able to use it whenever you want."
"So we'll have a leader that's positively glowing with skill!"
"Creator damn you…"
Sapphire chuckled and continued walking, letting Spooks float next to him as he argued with Cobalt. As they neared the back of the store, Sapphire had to carefully step over some broken glass, careful to not cut up his shoes. He spotted a double door and grinned, pushing them open and finding himself in a four-way intersection of hallways. "Guess we'll have to find our way through."
Half an hour later, and they were completely lost. "I think we should head that way."
"I thought we came from that way?"
"Both of you are wrong, we came from that direction."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Well then." Sapphire narrowed his eyes, before turning to a blank portion of the wall. "This is all a big illusion, obviously, so we've got to break right through it!"
"Yeah? And how do we do that?"
"PUNCH EVERYTHING!" Sapphire wound up and slammed his fist into the wall, sending flakes of dried paint falling to the floor. "Come on, we'll obliterate any obstacle standing in our way!"
Cobalt watched him continue to punch the wall, before shrugging. He began punching as well, his attacks easily breaking through the walls. Spooks followed suit, destroying the building around them. Sapphire winced and shook his hands, knuckles throbbing, before throwing his arm to the side. "Alright, let's destroy this entire illusion all at once! Cobalt, Aura Detonation!"
"Alright, let's do it!" Cobalt began charging up aura in his tiny body until he was visibly glowing with power. It was the technique they had come up with when facing Willow but hadn't been able to execute. They had spent the time while Hau was taking the Trial to train it, and so they knew it could work. Spooks placed his hands on Sapphire's shoulders and melted them into the shadows so they wouldn't be harmed before Cobalt erupted.
An explosion of blue light shone through the fake halls, completely disintegrating everything around them, and once the light died down, they were back in the main market. Spooks let himself and Sapphire fade back out of the shadows, and the boy immediately began to hurl. "Don't… do that again. I don't think humans are meant to exist in such a space…"
"What happened to you?"
"I was brought to the shadow realm…"
"Alright, Yugi." Sapphire flipped him off, before they all jumped, including Spooks. Even though he had been floating.
Yeah.
"Leave… now…" They spun around and beheld Acerola, standing in front of the double doors that led to the illusionary halls, and Sapphire let out a brief shriek at her sudden appearance before calming down. "The Trial is done, so leave…"
"…Yeeeeaaah, uh, if you're trying to copy Acerola, you've got to sound more bubbly yet lazy at the same time. I get it's a paradox, but she somehow pulls it off."
"Go, already… get out…"
"Also, we didn't take a picture of the Totem, or at least, I don't think we did. After all, we only got pictures of the Haunter and Ghastly, and they were easy to beat."
"Leave…! There's nothing more here…!"
"Plus, there was that infinite hall thing, I assume the Totem was making that, so it's probably through those doors. Do you mind moving?"
"FLEE!" Fake Acerola turned around, her eyes shaking voids that drooled ooze and her mouth an endless hole.
"Oh hey, that's pretty cool!" Sapphire stepped forward and pulled on her cheeks, peering into her mouth. "I'm assuming that's some Ghost-Type stuff, but it's pretty neat!" he looked up and used his finger to scoop up some of the ooze running down her cheek and hummed. "So is this ectoplasm or something? It feels kind of funny… it's firm, yet runny!"
"…" Fake Acerola was silent, Sapphire's interest blindsiding her.
"Man, I wish I could do something like this, it'd completely creep Gearface out. Oh, maybe when I die one day I can come back as a Ghost-Type and do the same thing! Hey, what Pokémon are you? I have to come back as you specifically so I can pull this off!"
"Uh… I'm… a Mimikyu?"
"Mimikyu? That's probably an Alolan Pokémon, I haven't heard of them!" Cobalt and Spooks stared at Sapphire deadpan as he slung an arm around Fake Acerola's shoulders, grabbing Volt from his bag. "Hey, Volt, what's a Mimikyu?"
Volt buzzed nervously, floating in front of him and showing a picture of a Pokémon covered in a cloth that resembled a Pikachu. "Zzt, Mimikyu, the Disguise Pokémon. The actual appearance of the Pokémon izz unknown, azz any who try to witnezz what izz beneath itzz rag die, some from the shock of seeing what wazz beneath it, and some from a mysterious illnezz they contract shortly after witnessing itzz true form. In an effort to be loved, most Mimikyu make disguisezz that look like the popular Pokémon Pikachu, though some make disguisezz that look like other Pokémon."
"Aw, that's pretty sad! Don't worry, I bet you're really cute underneath your rag!" He patted Fake Acerola on the head and ruffled her hair, causing her eyes and mouth to turn normal.
"Thank you…"
"No problemo! So you're the Totem, right? Mind if I take a picture of you?"
"Sure… I'm fine with that." Fake Acerola blushed before the illusion dropped to reveal the Mimkyu and the cloth disguise they hid underneath. They were about as tall as Sapphire's knee, so he knelt to pat Mimkyu on the head.
"Alright, Mimkyu, say cheese!"
"C...Cheese…" Volt flashed as he took a picture of them, with Sapphire making a peace sign, and Mimkyu copying him by using some black substance from beneath their disguise to form a hand making the v. After the picture was over and done with, Sapphire stood and stretched.
"Welp! That was pretty fun! Sorry if I was supposed to be scared, but I'm more frightened of the monster that you can't see. I was too fascinated by the ooze thing you were doing to be scared!" He grinned, all while Cobalt rolled his eyes.
"So, are we not fighting, or…?" Spooks cackled at Cobalt's question.
"Well, we don't want Sapphire to be spooked to death if Mimikyu's disguise is accidentally destroyed, right?"
"Ah, that's probably what Acerola meant by 'I would die if we fought.'" He chuckled and nodded. "Well, we've got the picture, so let's get this back to Acerola!"
"Will…" Mimkyu grabbed his pant leg, pulling slightly with their ooze arm. "Will you come back and visit…?"
"Huh? Sure!" He smiled brightly, nodding. "Lemme guess, you're lonely because no Pokémon want to look at you because they're afraid, right? Well, Sapphire fears nothing! I'll come by often to play!" He knelt and lifted Mimikyu's cloth to prove that he wasn't lying and bluffing.
Cobalt and Spooks had to retrieve the Ghostium Z a few minutes later for the now pale, comatose boy.
Inferno and Storm landed on a small rock out in the sea near to the ranch, the bird preening himself proudly. Storm chuckled at the smug bird, crawling around the rock. "Alright, alright, you're faster than me."
"Of course I am!" Inferno flapped his wings as he settled himself on the peak of the rock. "Although I'll give you credit, you did manage to keep up a good while."
"I mean, even though I've gotten faster, I'm not exactly up to the standards of a bird Pokémon who's been flying his whole life."
"True. From what I can tell, your body is built for speedy, quick turns and maneuvers, not extended flight."
"I guess? You'd know more than me." Storm looked down into the ocean water and grinned as best he could with his mandibles. "Hey, it's Chinchou! Come up and say high!"
"Chinchou? Oh yeah, the other Water-Type Sapphire captured." Inferno flapped his wings, flying away before circling to hover over the water as Chinchou swam to the surface.
"What is it?"
"Rude," the bird scoffed, "Just wanted to talk with the most reclusive member of our team."
"It's not like I'm part of the team. I asked Wave to make sure Sapphire knows I don't want to battle unless I can be fully submerged in water, not that fake water bubble stuff Wave uses."
"You know that he doesn't put you on the team for that very reason, right? You can never be sure that a perfect lake or pond will be nearby to the next battle."
"Well, that just means I can relax underwater here as much as I want."
"Got it, you're not lazy, just violently introverted," Storm spoke with a laugh. "You know that we'll just tell Sapphire you want to be on the team next time he swaps us around then, right?"
"Whatever…" Chinchou ducked back under the waves while the two hovering Pokémon chuckled.
"I'm totally telling Sapphire to put her on the roster next time he calls."
"Think she'll be pissed off by that?" Inferno questioned.
"I mean, prob. But she should think about the team unless Mimic transforms into a Water-Type, she's the only other Water-Type on our team."
"Same goes for you, you're the only Electric-Type."
"Yeah, but I have a lot of powerful attacks, Wave has to improvise a lot." Storm fluttered back to rest on the rock again. "Of course, the main problem is that Sapphire doesn't have a nickname for Chinchou."
"Are you kidding me? That's the most important thing in his mind." Inferno and Storm laughed as the bird settled on one of the bug's mandibles. "Probably already has something like shocksurfer in mind or whatever."
"Eh, that's kind of a mouthful, maybe current? Like an ocean current or a current of electricity."
"Except that Sapphire would not make a name that is so logical."
"Your name is Inferno, and my name is Storm, he can make logical names."
"Only if they sound cool though."
"True."
"Alright, I'm feeling spry and whole again!"
"You were in a coma for, like, several hours."
"Semantics. Neither heaven nor hell can hold Sapphire Chaser." He turned and saw Spooks sucking in shadows in the corner of the room they had gotten in the Pokémon Center. "…What exactly is he doing?"
"He said something like, 'I was aiming to evolve dramatically and unleash a flurry of puns during the Trial, but since we didn't end up battling, I must instead become one with the shadows.'"
"What does that even mean?"
"Don't ask me."
They left Spooks there, going outside to train. "So, I don't know anything about this island's Grand Trial, but we should do some training for it." He grabbed his pokéballs, releasing the rest of his Pokémon as he neared the beach by the Aether House. "But, first things first! Shieldon, have you decided on a name?" Shieldon looked around without answering at first, still confused about how modern technology allowed him to teleport from one place to another, before nodding.
"Shield. Don shield."
"He says he prefers Aegis because it sounds cool."
"Coolness is always what is most important, remember that, Aegis." He placed his hands on his hips, the sleeves of his hoodie waving in the wind until it became untied from his waist and fell to the ground. "Dammit… now then, Aegis…" he looked over the Pokémon's stats on Volt's screen and whistled. "Wow, you're pretty tough. Heck, you might be close to evolving with how strong you are."
Spirit huffed and tossed her head, muttering something that he could partially understand before she once again headbutted him. Wave rolled her eyes from her position in the waves around her, "Stop trying to act so haughtily when I could easily beat you." Spirit stomped her hoof, saying something back and causing Cobalt to laugh mockingly at her.
"Guys, guys, come on now." Sapphire shook his head and sighed. "Metang and Chrysant aren't fighting, look at them!" He pointed at the two Pokémon, of which Chrysant was happily nodding along to Metang's unintelligible binary. "Okay, maybe not the best example. Anyway! Training!"
"Right." Cobalt stepped forward and clapped his paws together, "Okay, guys, the Grand Trial is a Dark-Type Trial. I… don't think we even know where the Grand Trial is, but we can check that in the guidebook later. I'll obviously be the ace-in-the-hole for the Grand Trial, but everyone else here is either neutral or at a disadvantage, like Metang and Spooks… who is still probably doing whatever he's doing with shadows."
"01000111 01101111 01101001 01101110 01100111 0010000001101001 01101110 01110100 01101111 00100000 01100010 01100001 01110100 01110100 01101100 01100101 0010000001100001 01110100 0010000001100001 00100000 01100100 01101001 01110011 01100001 01100100 01110110 01100001 01101110 01110100 01100001 01100111 01100101 0010000001101001 01110011 0010000001101110 01101111 01110100 00100000 01110110 01100101 01110010 01111001 0010000001101001 01101110 01110100 01100101 01101100 01101100 01101001 01100111 01100101 01101110 01110100 00101100 00100000 01101001 01101110 00100000 01101101 01111001 00100000 01101111 01110000 01101001 01101110 01101001 01101111 01101110 00101110"
Volt buzzed as he began to circle around Metang, "Zzt, should I look up a translation website…?"
"Yeah, okay, we're fixing this." Sapphire slapped a small device onto Metang, right below his nose. "Binary translator Gearface made. Thank god for next day shipping."
Cobalt blinked. "...Is that a thing? I don't think next day shipping is a thing with mail, especially overseas."
"Shut the heck your mouth. Alright, Metang, does it work?"
Metang hovered in place, beeping noises coming from the device before a robotically generated voice spoke from it. "The machine seems 01110100 01101111be working adequately."
"Hmm… looks like it has some troubles… I'll send a text to Ant and tell him, but for now, this should work fine." Sapphire waved over Volt to type out a message, while Cobalt waited for him to set up their training regimen for the day. "Cobalt, c'mon, get everyone training! I'll be done in a sec."
"Me?"
"Sure, I trust you to handle it. You're my partner, so when I'm unable to lead you've got to take up the reins. You've done it before during battles, right?"
"I mean, I guess, you're just better at coming up with training regimens…"
As Cobalt began to set up their training for the day, a white-furred quadrupedal Pokémon sprinted down Mount Lanakila with a grimace on her face. She could sense a misfortune approaching- hell, the ground underfoot was already shaking with its approach!- and had already warned the Pokémon as many Pokémon on the mountain as she could. Most weren't worried, they were perfectly used to the cold and could easily survive the incoming disaster, while the humans weren't as durable as Pokémon or as used to the cold.
She hopped from rock to rock gracefully, knowing instinctively which path to take. The ability to sense disaster and misfortune did not just mean things like earthquakes or hurricanes, as long as she counted something as a disaster, her abilities could tell her exactly the course to take. She called it Chance Dancing, and she had trained it in such a way that she could feel even actions that would lead to a reduction in danger.
In this case, she counted not being able to reach the bottom of the mountain as a disaster, and her Disaster Sense hummed in the back of her skull, nudging her to rocks that were noticeably less icy and she couldn't slip on, or to paths that weren't fragile and wouldn't crumble beneath her paws. She knew that a human village lay at the bottom of the mountain, and her sense of pride in her Disaster Sense wouldn't let her leave any human to die.
She blinked as the throbbing in her skull led her to a path that led slightly away from the village, but she trusted it and let it lead her down the mountain until she was looking down at a beach near a white house. On it she could see several Pokémon training, she couldn't recognize them all due to living atop the mountain for her whole life, but they were probably a Trainer's Pokémon. Movement drew her eyes and she beheld what was likely their trainer until a raging headache hit her.
The boy she was looking at… would face an incredible disaster in his future, not just the one that was approaching now! But he was also critical for preventing the incoming one… She grimaced and pushed through, jumping down onto the beach and running towards the Trainer and his Pokémon. The boy looked up at her approach and blinked. "Uh, I'm feeling oddly threatened by the Pokémon with the sharp horn rushing towards me."
A small blue Pokémon jumped in between them and narrowed his eyes, "What do you want with our Trainer?"
"There's an avalanche approaching," she quickly explained. "The nearby human village will be covered in snow, your Trainer apparently can help mitigate the damage."
"What do you mean apparently?"
"Cobalt, what're they saying?"
"An avalanche is apparently gonna crash into Tapu Village, and you can help protect it." Absol expected the human to not understand, but he simply nodded.
"Alright, that matches what Volt is telling me." She looked to the side to see a blue object floating next to the boy, with a picture of her on it and several lines of words apparently describing her. "They can sense disasters and try to warn people about them. How am I supposed to help?"
"I don't know, my Disaster Sense is just telling me that you can assist." As the blue Pokémon once again relayed her words, and the boy nodded.
"Alright, Volt, send a message to Willow that if she's nearby to Tapu Village to come as soon as she can." The blue Pokémon jumped onto his shoulder and thePokémon swimming formed a bubble to carry her onto dry land as the Trainer nodded at her. She nodded back and led him to the village, looking up the mountain as she went. Her eyes widened as she saw the wall of white crashing down the side and cursed under her breath.
"Don't corrupt Sapphire's mind, he's young and innocent and has never cursed." The blue Pokémon's tone was light, but he was also looking up grimly at the snow.
"Crap, can't get people out because it's coming down right now!" Sapphire hissed as he watched it come down, looking behind him back towards the beach.
"The logical course 01101111 01100110action currently is 01110100 01101111retreat," the floating metallic Pokémon spoke up, "we cannot hope 01110100 01101111stop the full force 01101111 01100110an avalanche, considering they can travel at up 01110100 01101111one-hundred miles per hour."
"I don't exactly feel good leaving people that might be hurt, Metang," Sapphire shot back.
"If we were 01110100 01101111be buried alongside the people 01101111 01100110this town, we would not be able 01110100 01101111assist. I strongly advise we retreat."
She nodded at Metang's words, her Disaster Sense agreeing with him. If they got to a safe place and waited for the avalanche to crash into the town, they would be able to free people from the buried houses. If they attempted to stop it, her senses told her that they would be able to save no one.
"Screw logic!" Sapphire glared at and snapped at the Pokémon. "I ain't letting people be buried under a mountain of snow while I get to safety!"
"You're a fool then," Absol grunted to herself, watching as the snow got closer.
"Not a fool," the Pokémon on his shoulder corrected. "Just a kid who's determined as hell."
"Alright, Cobalt." Sapphire slid to a stop, glaring up at the approaching snow. "Let's blast right through this! Mega Sphere!" The Pokémon apparently named Cobalt did a front flip as he jumped from his shoulder, flaring his aura as he poured it into his paws, forming a massive sphere of energy. He launched it forward, and while it did vaporize some of the oncoming snow, most of the attack was swallowed.
"Again!"
"Take this!" Once again snow was disintegrated, but with so much, they barely made a dent.
"One more!"
"Hragh!"
Absol scowls as the two idiots continue to try and stop a literal force of nature. She wasn't sure why her Disaster Sense had told her to get him, especially when the boy isn't doing anything that was causing a reduction in the disaster that was barreling towards them.
"This is a foolhardy endeavor that will only end in pain and suffering. I should not have allowed myself 01110100 01101111become your Pokémon."
"I ain't keeping you here," Sapphire shot back without looking, hair waving from the power Cobalt Gabe off as he fired another sphere. "By all means, get to safety, Metang. You two, Absol, Aegis, But I'm not giving up. The reason I believe we can do this is because I believe in my team."
"You cannot stop an avalanche through sheer force 01101111 01100110will. It is an impossible venture. I calculate that you have a zero percent chance 01101111 01100110victory."
"You think we'll give up because something's impossible!? Because of something as idiotic as a calculation?!" Cobalt grinned at Sapphire's roar, pouring more energy into his spheres and firing them more frequently. "We'll destroy the concept of 'impossible' and protect everyone!"
The tan-colored wolf suddenly jumped forward and howled, causing massive pillars of stone to shoot up from the ground, blocking the snow. It didn't help much, most of the snow simply flowed around them, while the rest crashed through, but the wolf simply made more and more pillars. "You're sticking around Chrysant?! Give it everything you've got!"
The Water-Type, seeing Chrsyant's contribution, simply rolled her bubble forward before firing jets of water at the snow and freezing them halfway there, making pillars of ice. They were incredibly small when compared to the stone pillars, but she didn't give up and continued to freeze more and more ice to block the snow. "You two, Wave?! Then keep it up!"
"I-I want to help!" A small Pokémon suddenly jumped from the blue device and began blasting bolts of lightning at the snow, barely doing anything, but even then Sapphire threw a thumbs up at the tiny Pokémon.
"You're doing great, Volt! Never give in!"
A wave of fire flowed forward before it was consumed by the avalanche. The shiny flaming horse trotted forward, refusing to be outdone by three Pokémon smaller than her and unleashed several more blasts of flame, aiming to melt more and more of the snow. "Alright, Spirit! Let's burn our way through!"
Even with all of their actions, however, barely anything changed, and the wave of icy death barreled towards them without fail. Absol expected any of the five Pokémon or the Trainer to start losing energy and begin to panic… but all of them continued to grin, even as the snow was almost on top of them. "Come on! Give it everything we've got!" The boy suddenly raised his hand, grabbing five crystals from inside the bracelet on his hand, jamming them into the top of it.
"Let's do this!"
"Are you close enough with Spirit to pull off a Z-Move with her?!" Cobalt questioned, still firing sphere after sphere.
"There's no better way to get close with someone than risking your life!" Five different colors exploded from the boy's body, and he visibly winced in pain, but he just grinned through it, pointing his hand forward, letting the flame-red spread to Spirit, water-blue spread to Wave, rock-brown spread to Chrsyant, electricity-yellow spread to Volt and maroon-red spread to Cobalt. "Spirit, Inferno Overdrive, Wave, Hydro Vortex, Chrysant, Continental Crush, Volt, Gigavolt Havoc, and Cobalt, All-Out Pummeling… the power these moves wield are astounding, but only now will they be used to protect!"
Sapphire turned to her, Metang, and Aegis. "Now's your last chance to escape… but we won't give up." Metang rumbled in their mechanical voice, a weird device on them beeping as they closed their eyes in uncertainty, while Aegis just trotted in front of Sapphire, lowering his head to be used as protection… even though it wouldn't help. "Heh. Thanks, Aegis." She, however, was not uncertain about her decision.
"Fools, the lot of you." She turned and booked it, her senses blaring in warning of the oncoming snow, but a small hum in the back of her mind telling her of a path she could take to escape. But it seemed that she'd been mistaken in her earlier judgment. The boy had been of no help at all. Even now, she could hear him blustering over the roar of the avalanche.
"All together, the power of five Z-Moves in one! We will harness the strength of the gods themselves as we propel ourselves forward and shatter our ultimate, god-given fate! The attack that has no equal, in hell, heaven, or on the mortal plane—!"
"JUST ORDER THE ATTACK ALREADY!" Cobalt roared.
"UNLEASH THE POWER, OF Z-CATACLYSM!" There was a massive flash of light and she could feel the rumbling of the rocks and earth before it was completely covered by the snow. Absol barely managed to jump to safety, climbing several rocks and avoiding shards of ice, before sliding to a halt. She looked back, expecting to see a buried village behind her, with perhaps a few roofs sticking through the snow…
Instead, she saw a saved village. Of course, there was snow and ice on the ground, and several of the houses near the edge of the village were snowed in, but the majority were completely safe. And standing right where the snow, piled several meters high, divided before the village, stood the team of seven and their Trainer.
The five Pokémon who had unleashed their 'Z-Moves' as Sapphire had called them were lying in the ice, awake but completely drained, and Metang was hovering behind Sapphire and holding their arms out, psychically holding back several tonnes worth of snow, which were teetering dangerously over them. And directly in front of them was a massive Pokémon with a rectangular head, the evolved form of Aegis, with a glowing shield emanating from him, keeping back even more of the snow. The rest had been either completely vaporized or blown back, slamming into the mountain. But now there was a seventh Pokémon, a purplish one made of gas, using shadows to hold off the wave of cold.
Sapphire stood and watched them, smiling. "And that… is how you tell a disaster to piss off. Somebody better have been playing 'Rap is a Man's Soul' during that…" He then fell to his knees before passing out from using five Z-Moves all at once. The Z-Power Ring on his arm smoked dangerously, the five crystals jammed into the top shining much duller than they usually did. Absol watched in awe, bringing her Disaster Sense to the forefront of her mind. This couldn't be possible… was there perhaps a second avalanche coming? An earthquake? Anything?!
But no… no. Nothing else was coming. Somehow… somehow this boy and his Pokémon, they had taken a force of nature, of which they had a zero-percent chance of stopping, and changed fate. "Alright… we should… get Sapphire to the Pokémon Center… glad to see that you finally showed up, Spooks… even if you were late…"
"Hey, I wanted to make a dramatic entrance after evolving into a Gengar!"
"Damn you to the Reverse World…" Cobalt shook his head and slowly pushed himself up, grabbing Sapphire and dragging him to Spirit. The horse let Cobalt lay Sapphire across her back while they all backed away, letting Metang, Spooks, and Aegis finally let go and the wall of snow fell with a wumph noise.
Absol looked around as several people who had been inside their houses exited and looked up at the snow, while others helped get the team into the weird red metal building, and the rest got to work on shoveling the snow away from the partially covered houses. An avalanche that hit head-on could destroy wooden houses and cabins, it was only because almost all of the force had been stopped that no one was buried under rubble, instead of simply trapped inside their houses for a short while.
"How…?" Absol just shook her head. "How could they so blatantly alter fate?" Chance Dancing using her Disaster Sense did not alter fate, just led her down one of an infinite number of paths she could take which would lead to one of infinite predetermined points. The path they had taken had absolutely no chance of succeeding and led to a brick wall of death. Despite that absolute fact, they conquered fate and changed it, smashing through that wall and death itself.
As Absol turned away, she saw some girl running towards the team, a pink Pokémon beside her before she began fretting over the boy's unconscious body. This team… Sapphire… he intrigued her. Absol swished her tail, before bounding away.
I kind of modeled Sapphire in this story from the very beginning after an original character in a novel I want to write, the biggest differences being that this Sapphire is excitable and childish most of the time, while the original character is deadly serious with some dry sarcasm here and there. But the altering reality through sheer force of will and boundless determination is something they kind of share, haha… granted, most characters in the novel can do that since willpower is a tangible force in my story… but I wanted to introduce Absol dramatically, lol. Almost worried that I made it too dramatic... but then I remembered that Necrozma steals the light of the sun and moon, Groudon and Kyogre try and destroy the ocean and land... really, most of Pokémon can be incredibly dramatic when you get to it.
Metang getting a translator was something I was gonna do from the start, I didn't change anything since nobody commented that they hated his binary. Since I wanted each Pokémon to have a quirk, Metang having to speak through a translator that sometimes malfunctions (on the words to and of) is his thing, besides the superintelligence of course.
Now, for the Ghost Trial… You, by the rules of the Trial, do not need to defeat the Totem to pass the Trial. Now, I know that in-game players have to fight, but by the rules laid out, fighting Mimikyu is completely unnecessary. I haven't read the manga myself, but a friend told me after I was done writing this that something similar happens there. Even though I love writing battles, Sapphire making friends with the Totem makes more sense to me… Mimikyu are lonely Pokémon, so Sapphire, who is so energetic and excitable, is incredibly likely to make friends with it.
...And he's definitely dumb enough to see what's underneath a Mimikyu's disguise to try and make them feel better lmao.
Anyway, another group-chat Omake. Once again warnings for cursing and language.
Omake Name: Nuthin' dog, what's up with you?
The oldest joke in the book.
6:01 A.M. Group-chat: Sapphire_Takes_Those_L's
Your_Supreme_Overlord has signed in.
Your_Supreme_Overlord: Rise and shine gamers, let's get this bread.
Blueberry_Pancakes has signed in.
Blueberry_Pancakes: Listen here you little bitch
Innocent_Babey_(ᗒᗨᗕ) has signed in.
Blueberry_Pancakes: I know that I wake up at the crack of dawn every day
Innocent_Babey_(ᗒᗨᗕ): Good morning, what does 'let's get this bread' mean? ( ≖.≖)
Blueberry_Pancakes: BUT IT IS HALF AN HOUR BEFORE DAWN AND I DO NOT WISH TO BE DISTURBED
Emo-Kun has signed in.
The_Voice_Of_Love has signed in.
Emo-Kun: What the hell is going on here
The_Voice_Of_Love: If it's so early here in Alola, what about in Kanto?
Emo-Kun: Oh shit yea, what time is it where you are?
Your_Supreme_Overlord: 1:01 in the morning, baby!
The_Voice_Of_Love: Oh, well it isn't that late I guess.
Innocent_Babey_(ᗒᗨᗕ): Still, try and get some rest, Anthony! (っ◔◡◔)っ
Your_Supreme_Overlord: Man, I won't be sleeping for several hours, my sleep schedule is completely screwed, so I'm ruining your sleep schedules.
Your_Supreme_Overlord: Fuck medical school.
Blueberry_Pancakes: Haaaahaha
Feeling_Thorney has signed in.
Blueberry_Pancakes: You're stuck in school while I'm out here walccing
Feeling_Thorney: Why is everyone in the group-chat up so late?
Emo-Kun: Pot meet kettle.
Blueberry_Pancakes: Fucking exactly
Blueberry_Pancakes: Willow you need to go to bed before 6:30 this is why you can never wake up before noon
Innocent_Babey_(ᗒᗨᗕ): Does Willow always stay up this late? ಠ_ಠ
Feeling_Thorney: I enjoy stargazing, so I maximize my time doing it!
The_Voice_Of_Love: I don't think that's healthy.
Emo-Kun: let's ask the doctor in the chat lmao.
Your_Supreme_Overlord: I can confirm, your brain will self-destruct within several days.
Blueberry_Pancakes: You heard the nerd
Blueberry_Pancakes: Go to bed.
Your_Supreme_Overlord: Say I'm a nerd again, you won't.
Blueberry_Pancakes has linked a video: Calling_Anthony_A_Nerd_50_Times
Emo-Kun: Oh shit, it's going down now.
Your_Supreme_Overlord has signed out.
Blueberry_Pancakes: OH BOY HERE IT COMES
Feeling_Thorney: Here comes what?
Your_Supreme_Overlord has signed in.
Your_Supreme_Overlord: What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little bitch? I'll have you know I graduated top of my class in the Navy Seals, and I've been involved in numerous secret raids on Al-Quaeda, and I have over 300 confirmed kills. I am trained in gorilla warfare and I'm the top sniper in the entire US armed forces. You are nothing to me but just another target. I will wipe you the fuck out with precision the likes of which has never been seen before on this Earth, mark my fucking words. You think you can get away with saying that shit to me over the Internet? Think again, fucker. As we speak I am contacting my secret network of spies across the USA and your IP is being traced right now so you better prepare for the storm, maggot. The storm that wipes out the pathetic little thing you call your life. You're fucking dead, kid. I can be anywhere, anytime, and I can kill you in over seven hundred ways, and that's just with my bare hands. Not only am I extensively trained in unarmed combat, but I have access to the entire arsenal of the United States Marine Corps and I will use it to its full extent to wipe your miserable ass off the face of the continent, you little shit. If only you could have known what unholy retribution your little "clever" comment was about to bring down upon you, maybe you would have held your fucking tongue. But you couldn't, you didn't, and now you're paying the price, you goddamn idiot. I will shit fury all over you and you will drown in it. You're fucking dead, kiddo.
The_Voice_Of_Love: What.
Emo-Kun: Is that the Navy Seal copypasta?
Your_Supreme_Overlord: You're goddamn right it is.
Innocent_Babey_(ᗒᗨᗕ): That was an interesting read. ❁_❁
Blueberry_Pancakes: Truly one of the greatest memes, alongside Updog and JoJo references.
Emo-Kun: Updog isn't a good meme anymore, nobody falls for it.
Blueberry_Pancakes has linked a picture: That's_Where_You're_Wrong_Kiddo-jpeg
Blueberry_Pancakes: Yo, Willow. Have you ever seen my Updog?
Feeling_Thorney: Excuse me?
Emo-Kun: Told you so.
Blueberry_Pancakes: Wait for it. Willow, I've totally shown you my premium Updog.
Feeling_Thorney: What is Updog?
Blueberry_Pancakes has linked a video: Ladies_And_Gentlemen_We_Got_Him
Feeling_Thorney: Wait.
Actually managed to trick a friend with Updog recently. It was a magnificent feeling.
Anyway, leave a review on everything you liked in the chapter or just a 'nice.' Both are always great to read.
Sapphire:
-Riolu, Cobalt
-Torracat, Claws
-Midday_Lycanroc, Chrysant
-Vikavolt, Storm
-Gengar, Spooks
-Noibat, Blast
-Talonflame, Inferno
-Seadra, Wave
-Rotom, Volt
-Eevee, Puffball
-Ponyta, Spirit
-Ivysaur, Hemlock
-Chinchou
-Ditto, Mimic
-Bastiodon, Aegis
-Metang
Willow:
-Meowstic, Cream
-Dartrix
-Slowpoke
-Grimer, Abaddon
-Murkrow, Karasu
-Leafeon
-? ? ?
See y'all next time.
