Pride of Your Soul
Chapter 16: Fractures
AN: I said I would work on Fidelity after Platinum Witch. Obviously I lied, because I updated PoYS again. But seriously I will work on Fidelity, I just ended up getting more ahead with this than the former. I'm not abandoning anything; I will update Fidelity, but I just found myself writing more of this. Sorry about that. Also doesn't help that there was a bunch of stuff that happened over the summer like USM news, and me falling into an addiction over Fate Grand Order (great game btw, totally recommend :D).
FantasyLover88: Sorry for the wait, but hope you enjoy!
Tony Anderson: Thanks! Hope you enjoy this chapter then!
xQEAx: Thanks! Hope you enjoy then!
Guest (Apr 11): Thanks!
TeamPiperM: I mean...I guess. There's at least a plausible reasoning for giving Schwartzer the firepower he has now.
Anonymous Trainer: Yeah about that...
TheDarkMaster4000: Yeah I'm full of surprises aren't I? And might as well use available resources, right? Don't worry there's a reason to this and it'll make sense. And no problem, I'm just interested in input regarding my stories in general, and your inquiries were interesting to look into. Why Hugh derailed from his correct assumption? I mean c'mon, there's no way someone as boisterous as Rosa would fall for someone as brash and tactless as Nate, right? :^)
X-keeper 13: Yeah I have a tendency to randomly die and revive on this site, no worries. Thanks btw.
BLACK-BIRD76: Yeah about that...
Thanks btw, sorry for the wait.
Para-DX: Thanks! Here ya go!
SereneNacho: Well I mean I know little of English VAs so I just took the casting they used for the BW2 anime trailer. Don't worry I won't quit. It'll just take a long time most likely. Glad you like how I write though; I usually think I'm half-assed when compared to other more prominent writers on this site, but thanks for the compliment anyways.
Aquille: Yeah, yeah I'm still alive, calm your ass.
Alright, now here we go!
Kyurem stared at the man in front of him who declared himself to be 'Ghetsis'. The man had a rather off-putting smile on his face, as he came with an offer to the dragon.
"An offer, you say?" Kyurem asked.
"Yes, an offer," Ghetsis replied. "An offer that I'm sure you would appreciate."
Kyurem studied them man carefully. The man showed no concern; confident that whatever it was that he was planning would succeed. The man was confident that he would be able to sway Kyurem to help his cause.
"Whatever you do, do not trust Team Plasma, and trust a man called 'Ghetsis' even less."
Kyurem remembered the warning Nate had left him the last time they had met up. Ghetsis certainly did not sound like a common name, and the odds that this man was the same 'Ghetsis' that Nate had warned him about were fairly high. At the very least this Ghetsis did not look like one to be trusted.
"And that offer would be...?" Kyurem decided to humor the man.
"My resources inform me that you are in fact searching for the legendary Pokémon Reshiram and Zekrom," Ghetsis said.
"And you know this, how...?" Kyurem inquired.
"My resources are very potent," Ghetsis pursed a smile. "Anyways, you are searching for Reshiram and Zekrom. You also have someone looking for them on your behalf."
Kyurem narrowed his yellow blank eyes. So this is what Nate had warned him about.
"While I do not doubt in the abilities of your representative," Ghetsis said. "I came here to offer you my services."
"Do you claim to be able to do what my representative has been tasked to do?" Kyurem demanded, refusing to reveal said representative's name.
"In fact, yes," Ghetsis replied with confidence. "I have the resources and capabilities to acquire the two dragons. Arguably faster and more effectively than your representative."
"...Interesting..." Kyurem said. "And pray tell...why are you offering this to me? How does this benefit you in any way?"
"Because differing reasons aside, we share a common goal," Ghetsis answered. "We both wish to see the destruction of this region. So I figured it would be intuitive that we were to cooperate to achieve our goals. Together, we can achieve this goal easily."
Kyurem never let his stare off of Ghetsis. It was obvious that he could not trust this man, even if what he says is true. What exactly he was planning on was beyond the ancient dragon, but trusting this man with his life-long goals was unwise.
"...While tempting, I will have to decline," Kyurem decided. "I have faith that my representative will achieve his goal. Thus, your offer is unnecessary."
"...I see," Ghetsis said calmly. "Understandable. Well then, I shall take my leave for now."
Kyurem had expected the man to show more emotion than that. The dragon was fully expecting the man to at the very least try and force him to comply. Not that anything the man had in his disposal would prove to be any worry.
"Do not be alarmed," Ghetsis assured Kyurem, holding his hand up. "I only came here today to relay an offer. I have no intentions to wage a fight against you. I highly doubt I would stand a chance anyways. However..."
The smirk returned to Ghetsis's face as the man stared back at Kyurem's empty eyes.
"Should something happen to your benefactor that makes him unable to achieve your request," Ghetsis told the dragon. "Just know that my offer still stands."
"...Duly noted."
"...I'll visit again."
The man proceeded to leave the catacombs, leaving Kyurem and his two cryogonals to their thoughts.
"-Surely you aren't considering taking the man's offer, Master,-" one of the cryogonals said.
"Of course not," Kyurem scoffed. "I have and always will place my faith in Nate. However..."
What Ghetsis said had left Kyurem with doubts. Nate's warning had implied that Ghetsis was affiliated with Team Plasma. Seeing as how they were able to gather both dragons at the same place before, surely such an organization would be capable of tracking down both Reshiram and Zekrom once more. But leaving such an organization to the task was something Kyurem would rather not have. He wanted someone the dragon could trust with the task, and Kyurem certainly did not trust Team Plasma.
...No, he would believe in Nate to accomplish the task. The boy was capable enough. He was sure the boy would not let him down.
"...Let us see what happens, at the very least," Kyurem answered. "While trusting them would be what a fool does, they could still have some use."
While he trusted Nate, there was nothing wrong with seeing whether this Team Plasma could be used.
"You're saying we're in Ghetsis's command room?" Nate asked Weiss disbelievingly.
"Pretty much," Weiss said.
Nate could not believe his luck. That he somehow, by some crazy coincidence, ended up in the room of that bastard priest, which surely contained so much information that the boy could use for his own accord and benefits, was nothing short of a pure lucky coincidence. It also confirmed that Ghetsis was still around, and is most likely Team Plasma's true leader, with Colress merely acting as a figurehead, but that was beside the point.
If he could break into the computer and find out what Ghetsis was planning, then that would benefit Nate immensely.
The boy glanced at the computer that Weiss was currently looking through.
"...Hey, you mind if I take a look at that thing?" Nate asked inconspicuously.
"Oh? And why would a random trainer you want to look at it?" Weiss asked.
"Just curious is all," Nate shrugged.
Weiss stared at Nate, her mask giving off the vibe of blank eyes staring through the boy's soul. Nate, however, was unyielding, not being intimidated by the gaze.
"...Alright then," Weiss shrugged, moving away from the computer. "The ball's yours."
Nate smirked as he walked over to the computer. Several files were displayed before him on the screen, confusing Nate slightly.
"Uh..." Nate murmured, trying to figure out which one to pick. "How do I...?"
"Double-click on the icon."
Nate shot an annoyed glare at Weiss, who merely stuck her tongue out with a playful smirk. He still followed the advice regardless, and double-clicked on a random file. The file opened to reveal a schematic on what appeared to be a lynchpin of sorts.
"The hell's this...?" Nate asked himself, before clicking on another file.
The new file had detailed descriptions on two large dragons; both whom Nate recognized as Reshiram and Zekrom. He glanced through the data, before noting two descriptions on their current locations:
Reshiram:
Current Location: Natural Harmonia Gropius
Trainer Status: Unknown
Zekrom:
Current Location: Hilbert Warren
Trainer Status: Unknown
So they had no idea where the two were, either. Well that was one thing Nate did not have to worry about for now. The less they knew, the better. It gave Nate more time to hunt them down.
"Alright..." Nate muttered as he glanced around, before searching through more files and noticing a file that stood out from the others. "The hell..."
This particular file must have something important, if it was stowed away deep within the computer's database even among the other vital files Nate already looked through.
"Hm? What's going on there?"
As Nate was about to open the file, however, Weiss caught his attention. Nate glanced up to the camera feed where, to his shock, he recognized his companions on it, fending off what appeared to be a flock of Team Plasma grunts.
"The hell?! What're they doing here?!" Nate yelled, shocked.
"Friends of yours?" Weiss asked. "They seem to be in trouble."
Nate looked conflicted as he glanced back down to the file he was about to open. He wanted to look through the file stashed behind all the other files, but at the same time, his companions were in danger, and he did not want to take any chances, knowing Team Plasma. The boy glanced at the screen and the file back and forth, trying to make a decision. But as the boy was about to look down at the file once more, he caught sight of Yancy suddenly getting attacked by one of the grunt's Pokémon; her audino barely coming out on her own to defend her.
Apparently that was enough to make Nate decide, as the boy clicked his tongue and rushed out of the room to the warp panel, ignoring Weiss calling out to him as the boy left. Weiss stared back at the warp panel, before sighing.
"He may not admit it, but he does have people he care about," Weiss commented, before proceeding over to the file that Nate had been looking at, before accessing it. "...This is..."
"Gustav, Sludge Bomb!"
On Rosa's command, the amoonguss shot several projectiles of sludge at the group of raticates that lunged for them. As Gustav jumped back, from above several golbats swooped down, ready to slam into the mushroom and Rosa.
"Ice Beam, Audi!"
From behind the girl, a stray icy laser shot out and shot down the golbats, encasing them in ice as they plummeted to the ground. Rosa turned around to see Yancy, along with her audino.
"Are you okay?" Yancy asked as she went over to Rosa.
"...Yeah, thanks," Rosa mumbled somewhat reluctantly, before Gustav pushed her out of the way of another attack from a large viper-like Pokémon.
Meanwhile, Hugh ducked as Magmar spewed an intense flamethrower at the army of magnemites in front of him, roasting them to a crisp. As the magnemites fell, Hugh quickly punched an incoming grunt in the gut, before kicking him into another group of grunts.
"Tch, there's so many of them..." Hugh grumbled. "They're like roaches..."
"Fire Blast!"
"Dark Pulse!"
As more magnemites gathered around Hugh, a giant stream of fire and a stream of dark rings shot out from behind Hugh, blasting the horde of magnemites down. Hugh glanced behind to see a floating chandelier-like Pokémon courtesy of Bianca, and a liepard courtesy of Cheren.
"You alright?" Cheren asked.
Hugh glanced down at the liepard with a pained expression, before shaking his head. No, this was not his sister's purrloin. There was no reason to get worked up.
"Yeah, thanks Professor," Hugh said.
"But still..." Cheren muttered as he glanced around and saw more grunts show up with what appeared to be three magnemites clustered into one in multitudes. "Now it's magnetons. This is going to be annoying."
"Then allow me to make this even more annoying."
From the horde of magnetons, a bipedal weasel-like Pokémon with a pale grey body and a feathered crown shot out and lunged at Magmar with its claws. From the grunts, ZInzolin stepped out, seemingly in command of the weasel.
"A weavile?!" Hugh blurted.
"You honestly expect me to just stand around while a literal war is going on the deck?" Zinzolin asked.
Magmar tried to spew fire at Weavile, but the weasel was too fast for it, instead kicking Magmar in the gut, pushing him back.
"Night Slash!"
"Kh, Fire Punch!"
Weavile already lunged forward for another attack, but Magmar swung his burning fist at the weasel, parrying the Night Slash and smashing it right in its face.
"Oh," Zinzolin mused as Weavile jumped back. "Not bad."
Cheren and Bianca tried to intervene, but the magnetons decided now to get in their way.
"Oh come on!" Bianca groaned as Chandelure proceeded to spew fire at the magnemite-clusters.
"What they lack in skill, they make up in numbers, it would seem," Cheren grumbled as Liepard slashed down an incoming magneton.
While the chaos was going on at the deck, Colress merely watched it all with mild interest, as he sent out MKI.
"Well isn't this a smorgasbord of violence," Colress mused as MKI stared at the battlefield. "Pay note, MKI. Analyze all the data presented to you."
"Acknowledged," MKI nodded, before it suddenly shot its head up. "...Incoming flying object detected on radar."
Colress arched an eyebrow, before looking up to the direction MKI was staring at.
Audi and Gustav were slammed into a wall courtesy of a grunt's metagross. Rosa and Yancy rushed over to their respective fallen Pokémon, while the grunt commanding the metagross sneered at them.
"You two girls are really weak," the man cackled. "Once I beat your mons to a pulp, I'm gonna have some fun with you two hehehe!"
Rosa gritted her teeth as she got back up while recalling Gustav, seeing that he had a terrible matchup against the metagross. As the grunt stalked forward with a lecherous grin, a loud thudding sound suddenly came out as the man stopped. Rosa and Yancy looked confused, until the man fell over like a sack of flour, where Nate stood behind the man.
"Nate!" Rosa and Yancy exclaimed in relief and joy.
As Metagross whipped around in shock, before frantically trying to assault Nate, Brav suddenly appeared behind and stopped the incoming fist with his talon.
"-You're too early to challenge this old man!-" Brav sneered as he lifted Metagross up, before slamming it back onto the ground. The force was enough to knock it out, as Brav hovered back to Nate, while Yancy recalled the fallen Audi, as she and Rosa rushed up to him.
"You were okay," Yancy said.
"More importantly, what're you doing here?" Rosa asked. "We were wondering where you went off to."
"Long story," Nate passed it off. "Now tell me why the hell you lot are doing here."
"We were trying to follow Colress to see if we could find something out about Plasma," Rosa explained.
"I see..." Nate muttered as he glanced around to see the chaos going on. "Alright, so how do we even get out of here?"
Nate then noticed Hugh facing off against Zinzolin, where Magmar was currently fending off a weavile.
"That weavile's pretty good, fending off Magmar like that..." Nate murmured, before realizing something. "Wait, Magmar...? OH WAIT A MINUTE!"
Nate rummaged through his pocket and took out the small red box that Weiss had gave him earlier while infiltrating the ship. If he remembered correctly, this was necessary for Magmar to evolve. What a perfect opportunity this was then.
"HUGH!" Nate yelled out while waving the magmarizer in the air, catching the blunette's attention. "GIVE ME MAGMAR!"
"What the hell–Nate?!" Hugh blurted as Magmar avoided another Night Slash. "What's that box...? Wait why does that thing look familiar...? Wait a minute?!"
Hugh rummaged through his bag and took out the electrizer he had received from Colress earlier.
"NATE!" Hugh yelled out, waving the electrizer up in the air for Nate to see. "THEN GIVE ME BUZZ!"
"The fu–why the hell do you have that?!" Nate blurted, before realizing what Hugh had in his hand. "Oh wait, that is PERFECT!"
Hugh nodded as he quickly recalled Magmar and replaced him with Heracross to combat Weavile, as Nate took out Buzz's pokéball. Nodding, the two managed to hurl their respective pokéballs at the other, while catching the incoming one that they threw at each other. The moment the pokéballs got in their hands, they emitted a brief flash, where they released the creatures inside.
"-Wait, what the hell's going on?-" Magmar blurted, confused that he was suddenly recalled and traded.
"Not now!" Nate yelled before shoving the magmarizer into Magmar's hand. "Hold this!"
"-Wait why am I with you?-" Buzz asked, confused as well of the situation at hand.
"We'll explain later, just hold this," Hugh said as he gave Buzz the electrizer.
Before either Pokémon could further ask what was going on, Nate and Hugh recalled them back into their pokéballs while avoiding any crossfire from the pandemonium that was going on and managed to hurl the pokéballs back to their original owners. Nate managed to catch Buzz's pokéball, while Hugh was able to get Magmar's pokéball back. The moment the balls reached their hands, the same brief flash of light emitted, before the balls suddenly shook violently for a moment and glowed brightly. Once the shaking and light deceased, Nate and Hugh released the Pokémon inside. What used to be Buzz was now a humanoid, gorilla-like creature covered in yellow fur with black stripes, with two black tails with red rounded ends resembling open electrical wires. In place of Magmar was now a large, vaguely humanoid Pokémon with pink lips on its face, and yellow tubular arms with three small claws on each end.
"They evolved...?!" Rosa gasped.
"Wow..." Yancy could only say in awe.
As the new Pokémon examined themselves, Nate and Hugh scanned them with their pokédexes.
"Electivire, the thunderbolt Pokémon. The instant it presses the tips of its tails onto an opponent, it sends over 20,000 volts of electricity into the foe."
"Magmortar, the blast Pokémon. When shooting 3,600 degrees F fireballs from its arms, its body takes on a whitish hue from the intense heat."
"Alright, you're now called 'Vire'," Nate told the electivire. "Congratulations, you reached your final form. Hope you like that name, 'cause you're stuck with it for the rest of your life unless I decide to give you something even stupider."
"-Eh, it's better than 'Buzz',-" Vire shrugged as he punched the air to test his new arms.
"How do you feel?" Hugh asked Magmortar.
"-Not bad. Not bad at all,-" Magmortar nodded as he checked out his new cannon-like arms.
While the two were preoccupied, Team Plasma took the time to reinforce their own infantry, as more golbats and now skarmories surrounded them in the air, hovering above them.
"Jeez, how many of these do you guys even have?" Nate grumbled.
"While impressive that you were able to make such a change out of the blue," Zinzolin said as he stepped up. "We shall not let it stop us from dealing with you intruders. Also how did you get here, anyways?"
"I snuck in. Duh," Nate replied matter-of-factly. "Alright then..."
Nate glanced at his pokédex to check on Vire's data, before noting a change in the Electric-type's move set.
"Yo, did Magmortar learn something new?" Nate asked Hugh. Hugh glanced down to his pokédex to confirm, before indeed finding a new move detected.
"Spread move?" Hugh asked.
"Spread move," Nate nodded. "Use it. Magmortar plus Vire'll take care of them all in an instant."
"Won't it hit us though?"
"It's a risk we're gonna have to take, unless you wanna spend the next hour going through this shit."
"...Fine."
As the flying enemies loomed over them, Nate and Hugh nodded to each other, before ducking down.
"Y'all might wanna duck," Nate warned the others, who proceeded to do so. "Okay good."
"Vire, Discharge!"
"Magmortar, Lava Plume!"
Electricity violently coursed through Vire as he kneeled down slightly, while Magmortar receded his claws in his arms, before bringing both of them upwards. Simultaneously, Vire released a huge flare of electricity as Magmortar released a massive burst of smog and flames upwards. Both attacks covered the entire ship, engulfing the airborne enemies with a flood of electricity and flame. Everyone else was forced to take cover as the Discharge and Lava Plume took no prisoners in swallowing the majority of the ship. After a few seconds, the attacks dissipated, as all the flying enemies fell down like flies.
"What a devastating combination..." Cheren muttered, Chandelure having covered both him and Bianca.
Vire coughed up some smoke from having taken the Lava Plume up close, while Magmortar shook slightly from static electricity from the Discharge.
"How the hell are we still alive?" Nate asked as Hugh quickly took out a yellow spray and used it on Magmortar, healing his paralysis.
The Team Plasma grunts who were caught in the crossfire all fell, either electrocuted by the Discharge or charred by the Lava Plume. The gang noticed Zinzolin was fine, being protected by a green barrier deployed by Weavile.
"So now what?" Nate asked with a slight smirk.
"...It would seem I am in a predicament," Zinzolin admitted as the barrier dissipated.
As Magmortar and Vire slowly approached Zinzolin and Weavile, a sudden stray Flash Cannon shot down and blasted the flooring between the Pokémon. They glanced up to see Magnezone and Metagross floating above them, and landing in front of Weavile.
"While watching him get bullied is tempting," Colress made his voice known from where he stood. "I am obliged to help him out at a time like this. I also can't let you all get too rowdy on the ship after all."
"I don't know whether to feel grateful or insulted," Zinzolin muttered.
"Oh great..." Nate muttered as Vire and Magmortar got ready to battle. "...Huh?"
Nate glanced up to the sky, taking a quick whiff with his nose, catching everyone's attention.
"Nate...?" Rosa asked.
"...So you sense it too," Colress muttered as MKI was staring off at the sky as well. "...It would seem that we have another unwanted visitor."
A faint jet-like sound was audible to everyone on the deck. The sound slowly grew louder and louder, until suddenly something blasted through the skies.
"What was...?" Yancy asked as they all looked up to the sky.
All of a sudden, Heatran came flying down from the skies, slamming straight down upon the unsuspecting Metagross and Magnezone and smashing both of them into the ground. On top of the Fire-type was its master, Schwartzer.
"What the–?!" Zinzolin blurted.
"Well, so this is your base of operations," Schwartzer muttered as he got off of Heatran and examined the deck with his cold red eyes. "...I'll give you points for creativity, I suppose."
"And might I ask what reason you have to trespass on our base of operations then?" Zinzolin asked.
"Hm? Oh happened to stop by," Schwartzer said nonchalantly. "Saw the large Discharge and Lava Plume and decided to see what the commotion was about."
MKI suddenly aimed at Schwartzer and shot a green laser at the black-cladded man, but the laser was shot down by a stray orb of psychic energy from above, courtesy of Latios hovering above the group.
"Now that was kind of rude, don't you think?" Schwartzer asked. "Still salty that you lost the tournament?"
"Not really," Colress shrugged. "MKI simply saw you as an obvious threat and took actions to its own hands."
"I see," Schwartzer muttered. "It can't be helped I suppose..."
Magnezone and Metagross grunted before muscling their way out from underneath Heatran's footing, toppling the Fire-type over, and making everyone else back off to not get squashed by the giant volcanic monster.
"Thunderbolt, Hammer Arm," Colress commanded.
Metagross lunged for Schwartzer while Magnezone shot a violent bolt of lightning aimed at him. Immediately a beam of light shot out from Schwartzer's coat releasing Shiny Haxorus, who immediately parried Metagross's attack, while shoving him into the Thunderbolt attack, electrocuting Metagross instead. As Metagross fell, Weavile suddenly lunged forward and jumped towards Shiny Haxorus. Right as Weavile was about to slash at Shiny Haxorus's throat, he was suddenly shot down from above courtesy of Hidden Power from Latios. Latios then proceeded to shoot another Hidden Power to combat the Flash Cannon that Magnezone shot at him without anyone noticing. Before Magnezone could regroup, Heatran managed to recover during the short span of chaos and spewed fire at the Steel-type, roasting it to a crisp.
"Looks like the rematch is done in record time," Schwartzer chuckled.
"It would be, if I still didn't have MKI," Colress replied as the aforementioned Pokémon proceeded to shoot at Shiny Haxorus.
Heatran intercepted with another blast of fire, protecting its master and its comrade from the assault, before proceeding to breath fire at MKI, who flew back to avoid it.
"C'mon, my team hasn't even broken a sweat yet," Schwartzer taunted. "I would've sworn you would've studied up for a counter plan."
"Considering we just fought roughly an hour or so ago, sorry to disappoint," Colress drawled sarcastically as he stepped up to Zinzolin. "I suggest you step back."
"...Indeed," Zinzolin muttered begrudgingly as he recalled his weavile.
As the battle between Colress and Schwartzer continued, the others were watching from their side.
"This is insane..." Cheren muttered.
"I'll say," Bianca agreed. "Like why did he suddenly just show up?"
"At this point, we're forced on the sidelines though..." Hugh muttered.
Nate stared at the two combatants, particularly at Schwartzer. He narrowed his eyes at the black-cladded man, before glancing over to his equally-black haxorus.
"Wait where have I...?" Nate muttered as he squinted at Shiny Haxorus. After a moment staring at the black dragon, Nate's eyes suddenly widened.
"Huh? Nate...?" Yancy asked Nate, who suddenly stood up.
Everyone else noticed Nate with a thousand-yard stare aimed at Schwartzer and the black haxorus.
"Nate? What's wrong?" Rosa asked.
Nate ignored Rosa, instead walking slowly towards Schwartzer.
"What're you doing?" Cheren muttered alarmed.
The black-cladded trainer noticed Nate walking up to him and glanced at him. He then glanced over to his haxorus, before immediately glancing back to Nate. The boy then proceeded to hasten his pace as he reached into his pockets and revealed his two knives.
"Wha–?!" Rosa blurted.
Before anyone could react, Nate suddenly lunged for Schwartzer and swung one of his knives at him. The man met and grabbed the blade with his right hand before it could cut into him.
"Well this is kind of rude, don't you think?" Schwartzer asked sarcastically as he kept Nate's blade from reaching him.
Nate said nothing, keeping a feral and furious glare at the man.
"Oh well...I really don't want to do this," Schwartzer sighed, before punching Nate in the gut.
"GHUO!?" Nate gagged, releasing his strike from Schwartzer. Schwartzer then proceeded to shove Nate out of the way, alerting his Pokémon to the threat that was the boy.
"NATE!" Yancy cried out.
"What's going on...?" Colress wondered.
MKI stopped its actions the moment Colress got distracted, which Heatran capitalized on by blasting it with a plume of fire.
"Crap!" Colress swore as he focused back on the battle, with MKI falling in defeat and proceeded to take out a pokéball to recall it.
"Hidden Power!" Schwartzer immediately yelled.
Latios instantly shot a Hidden Power at Colress, blasting the pokéball and breaking it before it could get MKI back in.
"Tch–?!" Colress winced in pain, before realizing that the pokéball broke. "NO!"
As MKI got back up, it looked around confused.
"...Input error...input error..." it stated. "Trainer recognition failed...Personal status: Wild..."
"MKI! Return immediately!" Colress hastily yelled.
MKI glanced to Colress, before tilting its head in response.
"...Colress identified...Unable to recognize capture status..." it said monotonously. "...Personal status: Wild...Order priority, minimal..."
MKI then proceeded to change into its jet form, before bulleting to the sky and flying away.
"DAMNIT!" Colress swore.
"Not exactly too keen on letting you guys have more power," Schwartzer commented. "You already have the Forces of Nature and Three Swords under your control. Giving you lot more toys to play with isn't the best idea."
"You swine...!" Zinzolin growled having witnessed him free MKI from Colress's control.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Schwartzer disregarded Zinzolin in favor of Nate, who got back up.
"Why you..." Nate growled as he sent out Zoro and Deo, while Vire jumped back over to Nate.
"Of course, Nate Warren," Schwartzer said as his Pokémon gathered. "I actually wanted to fight you in the tournament. Too bad you lost to Colress though."
"Bite me," Nate snarled.
"Now, now, no need to be rude," Schwartzer chuckled as he took a pokéball out of his coat and showed it to him. "You want this, don't you?"
Nate's eyes widened at the sight of the pokéball as the black man put it away back in his coat.
"This is the reason you're even out here, isn't it?" Schwartzer asked. "Unfortunately, I won't hand it over to you, knowing the consequences."
"Oh...looks like I'll take it by force then," Nate shot back.
"Do go ahead then," Schwartzer challenged as Latios and Heatran stepped forward.
Zoro and Deo lunged at Latios and Heatran respectively, as Vire and Shiny Haxorus shot for each other.
Latios shot up to the sky to avoid a Night Slash from Zoro, while Heatran shifted back to avoid a Sacred Sword from Deo. Meanwhile Shiny Haxorus met Vire's Ice Punch with one of his blades.
"-Whoa?!-" Vire blurted as he felt himself struggling to push back the sheer force of Shiny Haxorus's blade, before prepping another Ice Punch and punching Shiny Haxorus's vulnerable face.
The dragon flinched from the attack, backing off as a result and giving Vire some breathing space.
"-Damn this guy's tough...-" Vire muttered.
"Dual Chop. Luster Purge. Magma Storm."
"Night Daze! Hydro Pump!" Nate yelled as Vire grabbed Nate.
Shiny Haxorus's two blades turned into azure scythes as he charged towards Vire, while Latios and Heatran provided cover fire with their respective moves. Meanwhile Zoro's eyes glowed light blue as his body was surrounded by a crimson aura while creating a dark orb around his claws while Deo shot a violent torrent of water at the incoming Magma Storm, stopping it from burning them down. Zoro slammed the orb down to the ground, releasing a crimson aura that surrounded them, blocking out the Luster Purge. Shiny Haxorus charged forward and sliced the Night Daze through, but to his surprise, only Zoro and Deo was in the dark aura. Shiny Haxorus shot his sights upwards where he spotted Vire midair, with Nate riding on one of his shoulders. Nate then jumped off as Vire fell down with an Ice Punch, while Deo and Zoro slashed down Shiiny Haxorus the moment he was distracted with Vire, before Vire smashed the Ice Punch onto the dragon's head. Shiny Haxorus was pushed back, but simply shook his head to shake off excess ice from the attack and snarled at the Pokémon.
"-Sheesh he's tough,-" Vire muttered.
Nate suddenly darted for Schwartzer, speeding past Shiny Haxorus. Latios and Heatran tried to shoot Nate down, but Deo and Vire were able to provide cover with their own long-range attacks, allowing Nate to reach Schwartzer unhindered. Nate swung his knife at the man with as much force as possible.
What Nate did not expect was finding his attack being bounced back, with a long, equally black blade having revealed itself from Schwartzer's right arm. The boy landed back, glaring back at the new weapon that made itself known.
"Well isn't that a neat parlor trick," Nate growled sarcastically.
Schwartzer waved his other hand in an inviting yet taunting manner, which Nate responded with a growl and lunged for the man. It quickly escalated into a swordfight between Nate and Schwartzer. Latios and Heatran tried to get in to assist their master, but Deo and Zoro impeded their attempts, while Shiny Haxorus found himself an opponent in Vire.
Amidst of the chaos Nate and Schwartzer was raging, the others were simply watching, dumbfounded by the events that just unfolded.
"What...what's going on?" Rosa asked. "Why did Nate suddenly attack him?"
"I don't know..." Cheren muttered. "Although...it seemed like Schwartzer goaded Nate with something..."
Something that Schwartzer said, however, made Cheren ponder.
You want this, don't you? This is the reason you're even out here, isn't it?
Whatever was in that pokéball; it was something Nate wanted to the point of outright attacking him for it. But what was it? It did not help that the man apparently knew Nate's full name, even though no one ever told him his full name. Which could only mean that Schwartzer is someone who knew Nate beforehand. Furthermore, he knew what Nate's goal was.
But the list of people who fit the qualifications were limited. The only one Cheren could think of that fits the qualifications was–.
Before Cheren could finish his thoughts, Nate was suddenly thrown over to them, crashing onto the wooden floor.
"Gaugh!" Nate gagged as he slid roughly across the wooden pavement.
"Nate!" Rosa and Yancy cried.
The boy growled in pain as he got back up, glaring at the man who had punched him in the gut after smacking him in the head as punishment for trying to stab him in the face. Schwartzer simply glanced down on the boy with dull red eyes.
"What's the matter?" Schwartzer asked. "I thought you had more in you. Luster Purge."
Latios managed to evade Zoro's Night Slash attacks to shoot several orbs of light at Deo while the colt was distracted with Heatran.
"-Shit!-" Zoro swore as he saw Deo go down from Latios's attack.
Heatran saw the opening and shot a breath of fire at Zoro, scorching the fox before he could do attempt anything else on Latios. Meanwhile, Vire was smashing Ice Punch after Ice Punch at Shiny Haxorus, parrying any blade strikes he could and striking at any opening he could find. Unfortunately for Vire, said openings were few, if any, and Vire could not block all the strikes Shiny Haxorus went for, a good portion of them slicing the Electric-type with great force, causing him much pain.
"-Damn it!-" Vire grumbled as he went for an uppercut against Shiny Haxorus with an Ice Punch, smashing it into the dragon's chin.
The dragon grunted as he took the attack, but persevered and head-butted Vire, causing the Electric-type to flinch in pain and back off. The dragon then proceeded to slam his tail across Vire, blasting him away and back to Nate. Vire grunted in pain as he struggled to get back up, as Deo and Zoro were kicked back to Nate by Shiny Haxorus. Nate growled in anger as Schwartzer's Pokémon loomed over them. As Shiny Haxorus was about to go in for another attack, Magmortar suddenly made his move; shooting blasts of fire at the dragon to stop him. The dragon backed off slightly in surprise as Magmortar continued to shoot at him, until Heatran got in front of Shiny Haxorus, taking the blasts of fire without so much as flinching. As Latios prepared to shoot them from above, Hugh stepped up and sent out Flygon and Heracross in retaliation. Heracross immediately lunged at Latios with a Megahorn, forcing the blue dragon to take evasive measures, while Flygon slammed his tail on the ground, causing an Earthquake to hit Heatran and Shiny Haxorus. The blunette used the opening to get to Nate, smacking him on the back.
"Oi! Get a hold of yourself!" Hugh exclaimed to Nate, getting his attention. "You're not battling like you usually are."
Nate merely clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"Look I don't know what your beef is with him, but calm the hell down," Hugh said sharply. "You're letting him walk all over you."
Nate glared at Hugh, who returned it with his own stern glare. As much as Nate hated to admit it, Hugh was right. He was letting his own anger and aggression get the best of him.
"Tch..." Nate muttered. "So what's the plan then...?"
"He can't take both of us on," Hugh merely said as Magmortar regrouped with Vire and aimed his cannon at Shiny Haxorus.
"Keh! If we lose, I blame you," Nate snickered as he got back up.
"Noted."
"Well now, you have good friends," Schwartzer commented, getting their attention. "That's good."
"So what of it?" Nate spat.
"Yes, having friends is a good thing. Having someone you can trust is indeed a blessing," Schwartzer nodded. "True friends stick with each other no matter what decision they make."
"...The hell're you preaching now?" Nate asked, genuinely confused.
Before Schwartzer could respond, a faint buzzing noise emitted from his mask.
"Pardon me," Schwartzer said as he placed a finger on where his left ear would be. "What? ...I see. Got it."
He removed his finger off of the side of his mask, before glancing back to Nate and Hugh.
"Well, looks like I overstayed my welcome," Schwartzer said as he suddenly recalled Shiny Haxorus and Heatran. "Sorry, but I'll be taking my leave now. Let's continue this match another day."
"What the–You're just gonna leave like that?!" Zinzolin yelled out.
"...Oh right," Schwartzer said with a much more negative tone. "You're still here."
The blade coming out from Schwartzer's arm was still glistening in the light of the sun above as the man immediately darted for the purple-cladded man. As the blade was about to strike the man, an equally black-cladded man suddenly appeared in front of Zinzolin and caught the blade with his hands. Two other identical men were besides Zinzolin, having brought him back away from Schwartzer.
"...Tch, Shadow Triad," Schwartzer muttered. "I was wondering when you lot would show up."
"We can't exactly have you kill him," the man stopping Schwartzer's blade replied.
"For the record, you should've kept quiet when there's someone trying to kill you," Colress remarked to Zinzolin away, having moved away from the chaos and at a safe distance with his beheeyem.
"And why didn't you try to save me?" ZInzolin asked.
"Well for starters, I knew they were going to show up," Colress retorted.
"Hmph, sometimes I wonder if we truly are allies," Zinzolin huffed.
"Regardless," the Shadow Triad member said, ignoring Schwartzer. "You are all trespassers. It would seem that we will need to evict you all from our territory."
"Fine," Schwartzer shrugged as his blade retreated back into his sleeve. "I was planning to leave anyways. Oh but before I do..."
The masked man glanced back at Nate, who was glaring daggers at him.
"You honestly expect me to let you leave?!" Nate growled as he darted for him with knives in hand.
"Nate, wait!" Hugh yelled.
Nate went for a slash with his knife, but Schwartzer easily avoided it, before grabbing Nate by the face and slamming him down onto the floor.
"Nate!" they yelled out.
"Now there," Schwartzer said. "Trying to kill people is pretty rude, don't you think?"
"GUOGH!?" Nate gagged.
"Having people you can trust is important," Schwartzer said as his mask got close to Nate. "But however...I do hope you can keep their trust."
"The hell do you...?" Nate asked.
"If you keep your secrets to yourself," Schwartzer said aloud enough for the others to hear. "I do wonder how much longer they'll keep trusting you."
"Wha–?!"
"I know of Kyurem," Schwartzer said in a whisper, enough for Nate's eyes to widen. "And I know why you want Zekrom and Reshiram."
Schwartzer then let go of Nate and stood back up.
"I hope you know what you're doing. For your sake," Schwartzer said as he rode on Latios, with the azure dragon rising into the air.
Nate was still stuck in a stupor from Schwartzer revealing such information, until he snapped out of it once Latios rose into the air.
"Wait!" Nate yelled.
Schwartzer did not spare him another glance as Latios proceeded to immediately blast through the skies away from the ship. The boy gritted his teeth, before gazing his eyes over to the new threat that presented themselves.
"Now then," Zinzolin said with a threatening tone, confidence returning to him now that the Shadow Triad has returned. "Now will the rest of you follow his lead and leave? Or do we have to escort you off the ship the hard way?"
"Unfortunately we don't have time for that," the leading Shadow Triad said as he released the mighty legendary Tornadus from his pokéball. "So we're going with option two."
"Oh fuck," Nate groaned.
"TAILWIND!"
Tornadus swung his arms ferociously, causing a violent updraft strong enough to sweep everyone off their feet and thrown off the boat and into the ocean. They all immediately surfaced, with all Pokémon with the exception of Deo being recalled immediately.
"-Hey how come I don't get recalled?-" Deo asked Nate.
"You can swim," Nate replied flatly.
"-Eh, I guess you have a point,-" Deo muttered as Nate looked back up to the ship.
"Hey! What's stopping me from just climbing back up!?" Nate yelled.
As if in response, the ship began to shake violently, causing a small tremor that shook the water. The neon blue side plates of the ship then shifted upwards, creating a set of rectangular wings of sorts.
"Heh?"
The neon blue plates then began to glow brightly underneath, before the sound of a loud engine emitted from the ship itself. The ship then began to lift up from the large body of water, before flying up into the air as the boosters underneath the ship and blue plates flared to life.
"What the...?" Nate gaped.
The now airborne ship then proceeded to move to the west, before blasting off through the skies.
"...Okay maybe that'll stop me."
"Alright, we'll let you know when your clothes are dried," the nurse at the Driftveil pokécenter told the group.
"Thank you," Cheren said, now wearing a complimentary robe the nurse had provided them while their clothes were dried in the drier.
Cheren headed back to the group whom were waiting nearby a table. Nate was eating a beef sandwich he acquired from the local café as the pokémon were eating their own provided food.
"Who the hell makes a flying ship anyways?" Nate grumbled.
"I mean it worked, didn't it?" Hugh pointed out he took a bite out of his burrito.
"It's fucking stupid, that's what it is..." Nate grumbled childishly.
"At the very least, we know what their base of operations look like," Cheren said.
"Yeah I guess..." the boy muttered, before noticing Rosa with a rather troubled expression. "What's wrong with you?"
"...Hey, about what that guy said back at the ship," Rosa started.
"Which one? There were like five of them," Nate drawled.
"Schwartzer..." Rosa said. "He said you were keeping secrets...secrets from us...Nate, are you hiding something from us?"
That got everyone's attention, as all eyes were on Nate now. If there was any truth to the sentiment, the boy did not show it in his face at all.
"I wonder what's up with you, and it's that," Nate drawled. "You really trusting some random masked freak over me?"
"No, it's not like that!" Rosa blurted. "But...it's not like we know much about you though..."
"Wha?"
"She does have a point," Cheren decided to chime in. "We still don't know what your true motives for traveling Unova with these two."
"I thought we made this clear day one," Nate narrowed his eyes. "It was either that or you called the cops on me."
"...If I recall," Cheren replied. "You originally agreed to that condition with your own condition: 'This shit and you all don't get in my way of my business.' What exactly is your business anyways?"
Rosa and Hugh perked up. This was news to them. But the more they thought about it however, the more sense it made. While up to this point Nate was a focal point for solving their own problems, they knew nothing about Nate. They knew nothing about his background, his motives, or his reasons for even agreeing to travel with them. It would not be surprising at this point if Nate was hiding something from them all.
"...And what do you plan to do with knowing?" Nate asked.
"Depends," Cheren said challengingly.
"Hmm..." Nate murmured. "...I'm looking for Hilbert."
"Hilbert...?" Cheren asked, surprising everyone there. "...What for?"
"What? Can't a person go look for their big bro?" Nate asked.
"I figure you would have some ulterior motives," Cheren said.
"Not really," Nate rolled his eyes. "Just some closure if anything."
Cheren stared down Nate. The boy betrayed no emotions for Cheren to go off of. Cheren knew Nate would not budge.
"...Fair enough," Cheren said, deciding to let go of the matter, much to Rosa's apparent shock which Cheren noticed. "I'm not going to force it out of him, if that's what you're expecting."
"What? I wasn't expecting that," Rosa denied.
"Sure you weren't," Nate rolled his eyes. "Are we done here?"
"Excuse me!" the nurse informed the group. "Your clothes are done being dried!"
"Yes we are," Cheren said as he stood up. "Well since all this commotion is done, if you all want to head to the next gym, then that would be at Mistralton City. The gym leader there specializes in Flying-types."
"Good to know," Nate nodded as he got up to get his clothing back, with the others in tow to do the same with their clothing.
"...He's definitely hiding something," Cheren told Bianca in private.
"I mean yeah, that's obvious," Bianca replied. "But...are you sure it's alright to just leave it as it is?"
"What else can I do really?" Cheren asked. "I can't force him to answer. And if whatever he's trying to achieve won't bring the others in danger, then I won't object."
"But what if it does?" Bianca asked.
"...We'll just have to wait and see," Cheren shrugged.
After getting their clothes dried, the quartet was heading through Route 6, where Nate and Hugh had previously trekked the area, where Nate had added Zoro and Deo to his party, heading straight for Chargestone Cave, where beyond that was their next destination, Mistralton City. Rosa and Hugh were walking behind Nate, while Yancy was seemingly content with walking besides him. Nite, meanwhile, was walking in front, seemingly in a foul mood.
"Jeez, what's wrong with you?" Nate asked Nite.
"-I'm falling behind everyone else, Boss!-" Nite exclaimed to Nate.
"Huh?" Nate asked.
"-Everyone else was doing better than me, and Buzz evolved!-" Nite argued.
"Hey you fought a metagross," Nate reasoned.
"-And I LOST!-" Nite yelled back.
"Oh yeah..." Nate muttered.
"-I need to get stronger!-" Nite exclaimed. "-I need to pull my weight in your team!-"
"Don't beat yourself over it," Nate told Nite. "It's not your fault. C'mon lighten up, there's more battles ahead of us."
"-Boss...I guess so...-" Nite mumbled.
"There ya go," Nate said, before glancing besides Yancy. "...Funny how you didn't question me back there. You okay with me keeping any secrets from you?"
"Well I mean you are keeping my secret from everyone," Yancy replied. "So I feel like I'm in no position to demand something like that from you. I trust you."
Nate gave Yancy a funny look, somewhat surprised by her response, before glancing back in front of the road.
"...Thanks, I guess," the boy muttered awkwardly.
Yancy simply smiled in content. Nite just eyed the two curiously as he walked in front of them, before turning around while walking backwards.
"-So are you and her dating or something?-" Nite asked Nate.
"Huh? No, why?" the boy replied.
"-Just curious,-" Nite shrugged. "-She's always near you and all ever since y'all met.-"
"I see..." Nate mumbled.
"Uh...what did Nite say?" Yancy asked.
"Eh? Oh he asked if we were dating," Nate replied.
"Asked if we were–EEEEEHHH!?" Yancy blurted, face beet-red. "W-W-W-WE'RE NOT DATING!"
"Oi, calm down he was just asking," Nate said. "He knows that."
"-So would you date her?-" Nite asked.
"What did he say now?" Yancy asked, her face still red rom embarrassment.
"He asked if I would date you," Nate answered, which did nothing to help ease off Yancy's blush.
"W-Well...would you...?" Yancy asked timidly.
Nate stared at the bubblegum-haired girl with his usual cold, piercing brown eyes. Yancy always felt herself tremble slightly under that calculating gaze of his. Eventually the boy faced away Yancy, before facing his Pokémon.
"Dunno," the boy muttered. "Maybe."
"R-Really?" the girl asked.
"I mean you're not annoying," the boy shrugged.
While Yancy was stuck with her own embarrassment as Nate faced forward, ending the conversation oblivious to Yancy's embarrassment, Hugh was simply watching them in mild amusement.
"They're getting along pretty well," Hugh commented. "Considering how Nate acts around others, kinda surprised that they're getting along period."
Opposite of Hugh, Rosa was internally fuming at the sight. How dare she continue to get doted on by Nate? It may not like it, but the boy did not act nearly as cold or chastising (if ever) to her when compared to how he treated Hugh and herself. While his treatment towards them is far better compared to when they just started their journey, Nate arguably spent less time with Yancy and she still managed to get on his good side faster than either of them. How dare she!?
Rosa took a short exhale to calm herself. No, fuming over the situation was meaningless. Sure Yancy was not a despicable human being, but she was definitely in her way of Nate's affection. Something needed to be done.
Of course, there was something to note about Yancy.
Curtis was looking for Yancy.
She remembered that the green-haired boy she had the pleasure of getting to know yesterday was looking for Yancy. It was also known from him that Yancy had ran away from home and found solace with Nate.
So it was simple. She just had to contact Curtis and inform him that his sister was with them. That was the first step.
"Oi, we're here," Nate informed the group, snapping Rosa out of her plot-making.
Before she had realized, they had already entered the Chargestone Cave. The neon-blue lighting from the cave's famous magnetically-charged rocks glowing vibrantly. Several klinks and joltiks could be seen loitering around, enjoying being near the magnetic stones, enjoying the electricity that they were discharging.
"Alright, so how the hell do we get out of here?" Nate asked.
"I mean..." Hugh remarked, pointing to the entrance.
"Asides from the obvious answer," Nate rolled his eyes. "Oh whatever."
The group ventured their way through the Chargestone Cave, pushing electric stones asides and watching how they magnetically stuck to the galvanized walls to open up blocked paths.
"Oh yeah you two," Nate said to Rosa and Hugh. "You two decide on what you're gonna catch for your last member?"
"Huh?" Rosa asked.
"You two have five members right?" Nate asked in response. "You two have one slot open. If what Cowlick said was true and the next gym is a Flying-type gym, then catching an Electric here wouldn't be a bad idea."
Nate then proceeded to send out Vire, who landed next to Nite.
"Well, I'm good with Vire though," Nate smirked as the Electric-type inspected the environment around him. "So you guys do you."
"Thanks for that," Hugh replied to the Nate's snarky remark with sarcasm. "Although you do have a point."
Hugh glanced around, noting the joltiks and klinks roaming around. Joltik would provide a valuable Electric-typing for the gym to come ahead, especially if it evolved into a galvantula. However, it was also part Bug-type, so not only would it overlap with Heracross in that department, but it would also leave him with a third Fire-weak Pokémon. His only real answer to Fire-types was Tirtouga as it is, so he was not too keen on adding another Bug-type. A similar argument could be made for Klink; while it was a pure Steel-type, and thus shared no roles with any other member, Klink was still weak to Fire, along with Fighting and Ground. This would leave him equally vulnerable to Fire, along with adding another Ground-type weakness and Fighting-type weakness; this time compounding with Tirtouga ironically.
If he got something extremely powerful, like say a Legendary, then type matchup be damned, but the odds of that was highly improbable. Although it would be nice to catch a Legendary; it would let him catch up to Nate, who had a Legendary with him.
But speculation would take Hugh so far, so he needed to actually catch something.
While everyone was to their own thoughts; some good while others more scheming, Nite simply glared at Vire, who now towered over him.
"-What's wrong with you?-" Vire asked.
"-Don't think you're hot stuff just because you evolved!-" Nite growled. "-I'm gonna evolve too and catch up! Just you watch!-"
"-Okay...-" Vire muttered, not caring too much.
Nate sighed as Nite got more enraged by Vire's nonchalance at Nite's declaration, before moving on. Clearly there was no getting through the pig's hothead other than him actually evolving or beating Vire in a fight. Or both. Regardless, unless Nite decided to evolve in the next ten minutes or something, Nate would be stuck with a fussing fire pig.
The group eventually found themselves crossing a narrow stone passage. Peering down, they could see the lower chasms of the cave.
"This is kinda nerve-wrecking, huh," Yancy mumbled. "One wrong step and you could fall off and..."
"Yeah..." Nate muttered off-handedly. "Unless you were made of steel or something, you'd gotta be a suicidal idiot to even consider jumping off..."
The boy trailed off until he spotted something down below. Just barely could he eye someone down there. While they had barely any color on them, a vibrant green could be visible as the person walked away. Nate's eyes dilated once again at the sight of the person.
"Nate...?" Rosa asked.
Nate ignored everyone around him, before proceeding to take a step back, before rushing ahead and jumping off the passage.
"WHAT THE–NATE!" Rosa screamed as the boy just suddenly jumped off the passage.
"-BOOOSSSS!-" Nite cried as he jumped off as well, following his trainer.
"-NO YOU IDIOT–!-" Vire tried to stop Nite, but was one step too late. "-Oh for fuck's sake...-"
Groaning, Vire jumped off the passage after his trainer and foolish partner, leaving the three to themselves.
"Wh-what just happened...?" Yancy stammered, still pale from Nate jumping off.
They were all in shock at the sudden turn of events, until Hugh managed to snap out of it and looked around for a safer way down.
"Well don't just stand there!" Hugh yelled at the two girls. "We need to get down there!"
The two girls snapped out of their stupor as well, before shakily agreeing as they rushed to the other side of the passage and scrambled to find a way down in search of their friend who literally jumped off a bridge.
The boy plummeted faster and faster to the bottom floor. Before he reached it, he slammed one of his knives into a nearby wall, letting the blade dragging down in the stone wall slow down his descent, before finally ripping it out and rolling onto the floor once he reached a relatively safe distance from the bottom floor.
Nite screamed his way down to the bottom floor, before Vire managed to jump down from wall to wall and grab the Fire-type idiot before making a crash landing.
"-Gah!-" Vire grunted, before glaring at Nite. "-You bloody idiot! What were you thinking jumping off like that?!-"
"-Hey I was going after Boss!-" Nite argued. "-You jumped off too!-"
"-Just so that you didn't get turned into roadkill!-" Vire growled back.
Before the two could argue any further, they noticed Nate heading off on his own, leaving them to themselves.
"-Wait, Boss!-" Nite exclaimed, shoving himself out of Vire's grasp and chasing after his trainer.
"-Goddamn it! What the hell's going on!?-" Vire demanded as he gave chase as well.
The boy seamlessly maneuvered through the cave's interior, ignoring any and all wildlife in the cave in pursuit of something. He did not even notice that he had left his two Pokémon, or that they performed a similarly life-threatening stunt to give chase to their trainer.
Eventually Nate made a turn to the right, where he found what he was looking for. In the dead end was a tall man with bright green hair that contrasted his white shirt, black hat and gray pants. The man turned around to Nate, equally green eyes stared at Nate in surprise.
"Who are you...?" the man asked in a soft tone, but found himself getting pinned down violently by Nate.
"I finally found you again..." the boy growled. "Natural Harmonius Gropius...no.
"Hero of Reshiram, N!"
To be continued
AN: Oh no Nate, you're letting your true colors show. Now everyone will know that you're a tyrannical psychopath hellbent on destroying the world...
On a serious note, Nate is starting to slip up. I mean with his ulterior goals right in front of him, it's probably hard for him to keep his cool, but for how much longer until the others will catch on is on him. Well at least Buzz and Magmar evolved. That's always good.
Oh yeah and Rosa's plotting behind everyone's back to get rid of Yancy too...
Yeah this is all gonna just blow up in epic proportions the moment it all comes together. Do look forward to that, cuz I have some plans for that in about like 2-3 more chapters. Trust me, it's gonna be big and emotionally chaotic.
Oh yeah one more thing:
While I'm pretty sure I've done this poll before, now that this story is older than it should be, and y'all had a glimpse of both in the story, I'd like you all to choose between Visorshipping (Nate x Rosa) or Transceivershipping (Nate x Yancy). Will this affect anything about the story? Oh please no, I already know what pairing I'm gonna end with! I'm just curious to see what you all prefer and see how many people I'm gonna please/disappoint at the end :D And see how much opinions change from the first time I did this to now.
Dunno where the poll is, probably my profile. Also only vote if you HAVE READ THE STORY. If not, then I'm sorry but please try to refrain from answering it. I mean I can't actually stop you, but it'd be nice if the results were as filtered as I want it to be, so if you could be so kind.
And current teams:
Nate: Luca (Lucario) / Nite (Pignite) / Vire (Electivire) / Brav (Braviary) / Deo (Keldeo) / Zoro (Zoroark)
Rosa: Eve (Eevee) / Ottavia (Dewott) / Nina (Arcanine) / Mandi (Mandibuzz) / Gustav (Amoonguss)
Hugh: Flygon / Servine / Magmortar / Tirtouga / Heracross
Yancy: Audi (Audino) / Teddi (Ursaring) / Snor (Snorlax) / Toge (Togekiss)
Hey I can update this! :D
Welp, that's all I have to say. Thanks for stopping by, and hope to catch you next time.