Chapter 18

What Comes Next

Ruby and Tide brought Tesla to the hilltop overlooking Serene Village. After the Poliwrath swam off, Tesla wanted a safer place to talk.

"So you two risked your safety to return my expedition orb?" Tesla questioned as she took the orb from Tide's bag.

Ruby and Tide nodded, nervously awaiting the Ampharos's response.

"Well then…thanks so much!" Tesla responded enthusiastically.

Tide and Ruby gave a confused look, causing the Ampharos to ask "what…what's wrong?"

Tide shuffled in place and said "We..thought you'd be mad at us for chasing after you alone"

"No, not really, life is an adventure, and the world is far too big to not explore it!" Tesla said in a jolly voice.

Ruby then cut in with "so, you're a member of an exploration team?"

"No, no i'm not..but I work with them sometimes…everyone calls me the dashing wanderer!" Tesla explained before striking a pose.

"Oh…ok" Tide replied, clearly bummed out from the revelation.

Tesla noticed his face as she turned on the orb and said "what's wro…wait this isn't my orb"

Ruby gave a surprised look and asked "wait..why do you say that?"

"This isn't mine, it's a blank one waiting for activation…I must have grabbed a blank one when I left Lively Town..whoops" Tesla admitted nonchalantly before turning it off.

Tide hung his head even lower and said "there are blank ones just lying around….darn it"

"What is bothering you?" Tesla pressed.

"Tide and I want to form an Exploration Team…but we're only 12" Ruby admitted.

"I see, the age requirement is still four years off…but maybe there's something you can do in the meantime" Tesla began.

Tide instantly perked up and asked "what?"

Tesla turned on the expedition orb and said "activation code 3980 Activate 0"

"Activation successful" the orb replied with it's artificial voice.

"Set operation parameters, authorization Tesla" The Ampharos began, causing the orb to blink.

Ruby and Tide gave a confused look as Tesla continued with "limit job radius to 20 miles of Serene Village, begin rookie ranked team"

"Wait what? Are you registering us as a team? I thought you had to graduate to get an expedition orb? We're too young" Tide demanded.

"I've meet quite a few exploration teams, you two have a lot of potential…thanks to some new mines, orbs aren't quite as expensive as they used to be. So consider yourselves junior apprentices. You can get some real experience, that way you'll have a headstart when you actually join a guild. What will your Team name be?" Tesla questioned.

"I don't know..um" TIde was flabbergasted, he was being offered a legitimate step to becoming an exploration team.

Ruby brought Tide close and turned around, whispering "hey! This is awesome, what's our team name gonna be?"

Tide nodded before breaking the huddle and saying "since exploration teams lead the way in new areas and guide people to safety…how about Team Beacon!"

Ruby froze at the sound the name…beacon was incredibly important to her…or at least something named beacon"

"That's a good name, right Ruby?" Tide asked, snapping her back to reality.

Ruby gave a nod as Tesla said "very well, Team Beacon it is, I'll need to take your pictures"

Tide stepped forward as Tesla said "Member one-Tide, photo now"

There was a blue flash and Tide's picture appeared, Ruby did the same afterward, and then both of their pictures appeared on the orb's display.

"Connect to Lively town nexus" Tesla ordered as he continued to set up the expedition orb.

"Connecting…connecting…connection established" The orb announced.

"Restrict teleportation to Cafe Connection 0032, add contact number for Tesla and finish setup" The Ampharos finished.

The orb flashed a few times before saying "Setup complete"

Tide picked up the orb and said "so… we can do job requests now?"

"Only ones that won't take you too far, simply go to cafe connection and access the nexus there to check what's available. You also can use the orb to teleport back there." Tesla explained.

"But, if we show up, how will people know we're actually serious about helping them?" Ruby questioned.

Tesla nodded and said "good catch, just turn on the orb and show your team profile"

TIde gave Ruby a smile and said "let's rest up today, and find a job after school!"

Ruby smiled back before turning to the Ampharos and said "sounds great, thank you so much Tesla"

"Not a problem, now go on home, your parents must be worried about you two!" Tesla reminded them.

The two youngsters nodded and ran off down the hill, ecstatic at their new status as junior apprentices.

Tesla smiled at their enthusiasm before walking off to Cafe Connection, He carried more than enough Poke to pay for a teleport at Cafe Connection. He needed to head back to Lively Town, Lana would already be angry enough at him being out of contact so long…

Blake was sparring with Blaze when Alex arrived. After Blaze walked up and whispered something to Alex, the Haxorus's blue eyes went soft, and it eased Blake's nervousness.

Blaze nodded in response when Alex whispered back and went down into the bluff so they could talk.

"Alex…I don't want to…" Blake was cut off as the Haxorus put his hand on her shoulder.

"I know you don't want to talk about you past, and I'm sorry if Blaze said that you needed to tell me. Given how I was talking earlier, he made a very rational assumption" Alex admitted.

Blake gave a confused look and asked "what do you mean, you need to know right"

Alex shook his head and answered "I only have one question. Do any of your new memories include how you came to this world?"

"No" Blake answered without hesitation.

"Ok, then I don't need to know," Alex assured her.

"Wait…really?" Blake responded in surprise.

Alex montied for her to follow and they sat down overlooking the ocean, the sun was just now beginning to set.

"Look Blake, it's clear that whatever memories they have now, they're really bothering you. Blaze told me how off you've been today."

Blake hung her head, only for Alex to say "hey, don't be like that, your improving every time with your swordplay, and from what Xavier told me, your psychic powers are coming along nicely as well"

"So, you're not gonna ask me about my past?" Blake asked again, just to be sure.

Alex shook his head and replied no, no im not. Still, there's a bit of advice I want to give you"

Blake nodded and answered "ok, what's that?"

"Blake, take it from someone who's kept some bitter truths from people…it's not a good way to live. Regardless of how horrible some truths are, they are even worse if you keep them all to yourself" Alex admitted.

"What truths?" Blake questioned.

"Oh, the fact that I was going to be erased from existence as soon as we stopped the collapse of Temporal Tower. That was the hardest two hours of my life as far as I can remember. Even as I began to disappear, getting it off my chest was such a liberating feeling" Alex admitted.

"but…Dialga brought you back" Blake added.

"Yea, but I didn't know that was going to happen. Knowing my fate was hard enough, but keeping it from Blaze was even harder." Alex admitted

Blake nodded, it's clear Alex knew what he was talking about.

"So, given my extreme example, opening up to someone about your past will definitely make you feel better" Alex assured.

"But, I can't tell anyone besides you, Blaze or Xavier, what if I damage my relationships with you? I need you all to…guide me" Blake admitted before finally shedding tears, letting her fear out.

Alex hugged her with one arm and said "It's ok, let it out…you can open up to anyone, just change the details if you need to, and you don't have to do it anytime soon"

Blake managed to stop crying and said "thanks Alex"

Alex gave her a gentle smile and said "look, me and Blaze, we'll take care of you, ok? We're in this together"

Blake managed a small smile and replied "thank you..so much"

Author's note-hopefully that got some emotion out of you…still kinda working on making moments like this

1. Team Beacon, couldn't come up with anything better honestly…

2. Incorporated the overall Exploration teams ideas into the expedition orb and Nexus. Once we get to Lively town, I explain things further

3. Yea, I decided that Alex's eyes were blue, then again I never decided in Outriders when he evolved, so, much like something else, I went back and edited chapter 60 of Outriders for future content.

4. Alex's little sister style relationship with Blake will be developed more, just wanted to ease into it.

5. I noticed a lot of new followers to my profile, but no new reviews. PLEASE leave a review, even if there's nothing particular, list what you like about this story so far. A part of my horrid writer's block was a lack of feedback.

Next time-Ruby and Tide have their first job as Junior members while Blake has a mission of her own.