Hello everyone! It's been a while, hasn't it? But I finally have a new chapter ready!
Like with many other chapters, this one took a lot longer than I expected it to take. I guess I sort of got stuck for a while there, but I guess I eventually managed to find inspiration and motivation to get back to working on it thanks to a strange dream I had. Basically, I dreamt I had posted a new chapter, but wanted to go back and make some changes because the chapter ended on an oddly dark note. It took me a few moments after I woke up to remember that I hadn't actually finished the chapter yet.
While I obviously didn't intend to end the actual chapter the way the dream!chapter did, I still decided to incorporate the new character created from this strange dream into this chapter, since they did in a strange way help me get back into things.
Anyways, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter!
Chapter 56: Think you'll be able to beat our strategy?
It was yet another morning, and Sera and her older siblings were having breakfast together as usual. The atmosphere was quite different today, however, as both of their parents had joined them today as well. Apparently, distortions near their workplace had spread to the point where it was causing problems for everyone, so the ones in charge had given everyone some time off while they attempted to work out a solution.
"I guess they don't have time to just wait for a rescue team to find the rest of the crystals and bring them back to Axis Tower…" Sera thought to herself while quietly eating the berries on her plate.
Sirena was quite enthusiastically talking to their parents about various things, who were listening attentively. Amethyst was looking over at Sirena with a fond smile, while Yoru looked like he was having trouble keeping up with the conversation. Volt looked like he wanted to say something, but Flare just quietly signaled for him to wait his turn. Sera felt like maybe she should say something too, but for some reason, she couldn't really think of anything to say. So, she just kept quietly eating her breakfast.
Once she was done eating, Sera excused herself and got ready to head out.
"Have a nice day, sweetie!" Summer the Glaceon called out, smiling at Sera.
"Um, thanks," Sera responded, looking over at her parents. "I'll see you guys later, then."
Sera headed outside and began making her way to the town plaza. She wondered why she couldn't think of anything to say back during breakfast. Not that she would normally talk that much unless she had something to talk about anyways, but something about it still bothered her. It may have been a while since her parents had joined her and her siblings for breakfast, but it wasn't like she hadn't seen them at all lately. After all, they would usually be back in time for dinner.
Maybe she just had too many things on her mind? A lot had happened recently, after all.
"I should find the others," Sera thought to herself, as she stepped into the town plaza and began looking around. "They're probably around here somewhere…"
As usual, other rescue teams could be seen around the town plaza. Some were talking with shopkeepers and making their preparations for whatever missions they would be taking on today, while others were just standing around discussing recent events.
"Hey, Sera!" a familiar female voice called out.
Sera looked over in the direction of the voice to see Azure waving at her.
"Oh, Azure!" Sera responded, smiling as she walked over to the Marill. "Are the others over at the café?"
"Nah, they're at the dojo," Azure replied, shrugging slightly. "Blitz thought it might be good to get some training done."
"Ah, I see," Sera responded, nodding her head. "So, you came to find me?"
"Pretty much," Azure replied, grinning. "Come on, let's go!"
"Okay!" Sera responded, smiling back at Azure.
The two quickly made their way over to the dojo, and met up with their teammates.
"There you are!" Chiaki said, smiling as he saw Sera and Azure.
"Hey guys!" Sera responded, waving to Blitz, Chiaki and Frederick. "So, what kind of training are we doing today?"
"Hercules is preparing one of the training dungeons for us," Blitz replied.
"Um… There's five of us, though," Frederick commented, tilting his head.
"We don't need to worry about that this time," Blitz responded. "This is only training, after all."
"Yeah, don't worry about it!" Azure said, grinning.
The group headed over to the part of the dojo where some of the more elaborate obstacle courses were set up. Hercules was talking to some of the other Pokémon working at the dojo as the five of them approached.
"Ah, good timing," Hercules said, as he noticed Blitz and his teammates. "We just finished setting things up."
"So, how does this work?" Chiaki asked, looking curiously over at the training course.
"Well, these particular obstacle courses are made to resemble the mystery dungeons that rescue teams explore," Hercules explained. "Using certain mechanisms, we can rearrange the labyrinth to simulate the way the floors of mystery dungeons always have different layouts upon revisiting them. Once that's set up, we place the items you'll pick up, have some volunteers head inside to act out of the part of wild Pokémon for you to fight, and depending on the difficulty level, we may even set up some traps in there."
"Whoa, that's so cool!" Chiaki responded with an excited smile.
"Yeah, a lot of work was put into making it so these training dungeons could feel as close to the real thing as possible," Hercules said, looking over at the entrance to the dungeon. "Of course, there are limits to what we can do with all this. There's only one floor, and instead of stairs, there's a teleportation panel you can use to come back here once you're done."
"I see," Blitz responded, nodding his head. "So, do we just have to defeat all the Pokémon in there?"
"Not quite," Hercules replied, shaking his head. "Lotus, you can bring them their mission now."
"Mission?" Chiaki inquired, as Lotus the Meditite hovered over to the group carrying a scroll in her hands.
"Please take a look at this," Lotus said, unfurling the scroll. "On this scroll, are three items we'd like you to retrieve from Pokémon inside the training dungeon."
The team gathered around to examine the scroll, which had three different items drawn on it.
"So, a scarf… a lantern… and a hammer?" Sera said, looking over the list.
"We gotta find whichever three Pokémon have these items, beat them and take the items, right?" Azure said with a smirk. "Seems easy enough."
"Also, you will not be allowed to bring your items for this," Lotus explained, looking over at the treasure bag Blitz was carrying. "Don't worry, we'll look after it while you're in there, and once you're finished with the mission, we'll return it to you."
"Oh, okay…" Blitz responded, nodding his head and taking off the treasure bag.
"Here, take this," Hercules said, handing Blitz a different type of bag. "You can use this to carry items you pick up in the dungeon, including the three key items."
"You may keep any regular items you picked up in there when the mission is over," Lotus added.
"Sweet," Azure said, smirking. "So, is there anything else we need to know before we head in there?"
"No, I believe that is everything," Lotus responded with a small smile.
"Just let us know when you're ready to begin," Hercules said.
The team stepped up to the entrance of the training dojo, making sure they were all ready before stepping inside.
"Okay, let's go!" Blitz said, leading his teammates inside the training dungeon.
Once all five of them were inside, Hercules signaled to some of the other workers nearby to close the entrance to the dungeon. Now, they just had to wait and see how long it'd take for Blitz and his teammates to clear the training mission.
Inside the dungeon, the very first thing Blitz did was look around for any items laying around on the floor. He wasn't entirely sure how tough the Pokémon they would have to fight inside this dungeon would be, but figured they'd have better chances either way if they could find some healing items as soon as possible. When they couldn't find any, Blitz led the group deeper into the labyrinth. In the next room they entered, a Mankey was running around, and upon seeing the team enter, immediately rushed over prepared to strike.
"Does it have any of the three items we need?" Chiaki asked as he side-stepped the Mankey's attempt to hit him with a Karate Chop.
"I don't think so," Blitz responded, shaking his head.
"Well, let's take it down anyways!" Azure said, grinning.
As the Mankey tried to strike Azure, she was quick to block his paw with her tail. Before the Mankey had the chance to do anything else, Sera rushed over and rammed her body into it.
"Nice one!" Azure commented, smiling at Sera.
The Mankey let out an angry squeal as it charged at the group again. It managed to dodge one of Azure's Bubble Beam attacks, only to step right into the path of Frederick's Dragon Breath attack in the process. With the Mankey weakened from the attacks, Blitz was able to knock it out with an electrified tackle.
"Well, that was a nice little warm-up," Azure said, smirking. "Now I'm up for a real challenge!"
"Hey, let's not get too ahead of ourselves here," Sera said, gently nudging Azure with her paw.
Blitz picked up a seed from the floor, and placed it inside the bag after quickly examining it.
"Looks like that's everything in this room," Blitz said, looking around. "Okay, let's keep moving."
The team made their way to the next part of the labyrinth, where they managed to find two more items, as well as a small amount of coins.
"Ah, something's headed this way!" Azure exclaimed, her ears twitching.
"I hear it too," Frederick said, turning his head towards the source of the sound. "Something with hooves, and I think I smell something fire-y… I guess it's a Ponyta."
"… Yep, you got that right," Azure replied as a cream-colored horse-like Pokémon with a mane and tail made of fire came into view. "Oh, and I think I hear another Pokémon approaching from over there, something with wings."
As the Ponyta entered the room, it didn't take long before it was joined by a Pidgeotto flying in from another direction. Both Pokémon were quick, the brown bird Pokémon swooping down towards Chiaki, while the Ponyta dashed to avoid Azure's Bubble Beam attacks.
"Do either of them have any of the items we need?" Sera asked, glancing over at Blitz.
"No, not as far as I can tell," Blitz responded, shaking his head. "Let's take them down and move on."
As Blitz and his teammates worked together to take out both Pokémon, a third Pokémon entered the room. A giraffe-like Pokémon wearing a green scarf around its long neck entered the room.
"Ooh! That's the one, isn't it?" Azure said, grinning as she pointed at the Girafarig.
"Yes, that's the scarf from the list," Blitz confirmed, nodding his head. "Let's do this, but be careful around the second head!"
On the tip of the Girafarig's black tail was a small and round second head with sharp-looking teeth in its mouth. Chiaki dodged a few Psybeams fired from the main head's eyes as he tried to get close enough to jump up and snatch the scarf from the Girafarig. Frederick meanwhile, gladly let his teammates use him for cover from psychic attacks, since they didn't have much of an effect on him. It didn't take much longer until they had finally obtained the first of the three items.
"Well done," Blitz said, as he put the scarf into the bag they had been given.
"Only two more to go!" Azure said, grinning. "Let's keep moving!"
"Yes, let's go," Blitz responded, nodding his head. "This way, come on."
Outside the labyrinth, Hercules and Lotus were waiting for the group's return, while a few Hoothoot helped keep track of the time, as well as observing the team's progress and relaying the information to Lotus via her psychic powers. Hercules smiled and nodded as Lotus informed him that Blitz and his teammates had already collected the first of the three items.
"Seems like it's going well," Hercules commented.
"But it'll only get more difficult," Lotus said, floating in a lotus position next to Hercules. "Or at least, I hope the instructions I've given will make it so."
"I'm sure they'll put up a good enough challenge for them," Hercules responded, looking over at Lotus. "Plus, there is also one more challenge at the end…"
"True, that's… hmm?" Lotus said, opening her eyes.
"Something wrong?" Hercules asked, noticing the slight confusion on the Meditite's face.
"One of the Pokémon in the dungeon is behaving oddly…" Lotus responded, shaking her head. "I do not think there is any reason to worry though."
"If you say so," Hercules replied. "Let's keep observing for now, and let me know if there's a problem."
"Of course," Lotus responded, closing her eyes as she resumed her telepathic communication with the other Pokémon overseeing the mission.
"Hey! Get back here!" Azure shouted at the purple ghost-type Pokémon as it kept trying to evade the group while carrying one of the items they needed to retrieve, the lantern.
"How does it manage to take the lantern with it when it goes into the walls?" Chiaki asked, as the Haunter did just that.
"That's a very good question…" Sera responded, looking around to see if the Haunter would re-emerge from another wall.
"It's creepy how they can do that…" Frederick commented, shuddering a bit.
"I thought you overcame your fear of ghosts?" Azure asked, glancing over at Frederick.
"Well, I'm not running away in a panic, am I?" Frederick responded.
"Oh, right," Azure replied, smiling. "I'm proud of you, buddy."
"Sera, behind you!" Blitz shouted, as the Haunter reached for Sera's tail with its free hand.
"Ah!" Sera quickly turned around to face the ghost-type Pokémon. "You were trying to pull my tail again, weren't you?"
The Haunter let out a laugh, just before a purple fireball struck it.
"Nice shot, Frederick!" Azure said, grinning.
Before the Haunter had the chance to recover, Blitz dashed into it with an electrified tackle, shocking it and causing it to drop the lantern. Sera quickly caught it with her tail before it could hit the floor.
"Got it!" Sera said, smiling.
"Nice catch!" Chiaki responded, clapping his paws.
Blitz and Sera placed the lantern inside the bag with the scarf, while Azure defeated the weakened Haunter. With two of the items obtained, the group continued their exploration of the training dungeon.
"Everyone doing okay?" Blitz asked, glancing at his teammates.
"I think we're all doing okay," Sera responded.
"Hmm, good," Blitz replied, looking at the bag containing the regular items they had picked up so far. "Our healing items and such are a bit limited at this point, so it'd be best to try to conserve our strength just in case."
"Because getting the last item will be even more difficult than the first two?" Chiaki inquired.
"Well, probably, but that's not all," Blitz responded. "I don't think getting the third item will be the end of the challenge."
"What do you mean?" Chiaki asked, tilting his head.
"Ooh, is there going to be some strong Pokémon at the end for us to fight?" Azure asked, seeming excited.
"I think so," Blitz responded, nodding his head.
"Sweet!" Azure exclaimed. "Gotta make sure I don't use up all the energy for my moves before that, then!"
The group continued moving through the dungeon, trying to find more items while also trying to find the Pokémon that had the hammer. The Pokémon they fought along the way were also getting stronger, and tended to attack in groups. After a while, they come across an unusual sight.
"Huh? What happened here?" Azure asked, as the group came across a Pokémon that had collapsed on the ground.
A blue bipedal Pokémon with muscular arms laid on the ground, letting out a pained groan as Chiaki walked over and lightly poked it.
"I guess someone else already beat him?" Sera said, tilting her head slightly. "But… we're the only ones taking this challenge, right? There's no reason for any of the other Pokémon here to do something like that, right?"
"Yeah, that's strange…" Chiaki commented, looking at the knocked out Poliwrath with a concerned expression. "Should we give him a healing item?"
Before anyone had the chance to answer, a white squirrel-like Pokémon rushed forward and jumped onto Blitz, preparing to sink its teeth into his neck.
"What the… Get off!" Blitz said, sparks flying from his fur as he attempted to shake off the Pachirisu.
However, the Pachirisu held on tightly with its small paws, its body seeming to absorb the electricity from Blitz without issue.
"I've got this!" Chiaki shouted, firing a stream of stars from his paws at the Pachirisu, which hit its target and caused it to loosen its grip enough for Blitz to shake it off.
"Are you okay?" Sera asked, running over to Blitz.
"Y-Yeah…" Blitz responded, nodding his head slightly before looking over at Chiaki. "Thanks, buddy."
"No problem!" Chiaki replied, smiling at Blitz.
"Hey, what was up with that?" Azure shouted at the Pachirisu. "Are you the one who defeated this other guy here too?"
The Pachirisu looked at the five Pokémon surrounding it with a wicked smirk.
"Yeah, that was me," the Pachirisu responded, pulling a small hammer from its tail. "I wanted this, so I knocked him out."
"Ah, that's the hammer we need!" Chiaki exclaimed.
"Yes, indeed," the Pachirisu responded, smirking. "If you want it, you'll have to take it from me."
"Fine with me," Azure replied, shrugging slightly.
"Um, I don't get it," Frederick said, tilting his head. "Why'd you want the hammer?"
"So that you'd fight me," the Pachirisu responded, snickering. "I'm going to destroy all of you, starting with that Shinx!"
"W-What? Why?" Chiaki exclaimed, taking a step back.
"I came here from the world of dreams to end you all," the Pachirisu explained with a diabolical expression one wouldn't expect from such a Pokémon.
"… So, you… want to kill us?" Blitz finally managed to respond after a few moments of not knowing how to react to this.
"I already finished you off in the dream," the Pachirisu said, pointing a paw at Blitz. "And now, I'll destroy you and your teammates!"
"… Yeah, that's not happening," Azure responded, glaring at the Pachirisu.
"I won't let you hurt my friends!" Chiaki said, taking a fighting stance.
"Me neither!" Sera said, taking up a position next to Chiaki.
"There's five of us, and one of you, so… I think we'll win," Frederick stated.
"Okay, everyone! Let's do this!" Blitz shouted, signaling for everyone to make their move.
"Don't underestimate me!" the Pachirisu yelled, barely managing to move out of the way as Sera and Chiaki both dashed forward to attack him. "Ugh… This thing is too heavy…!"
To everyone's surprise, the Pachirisu simply dropped the hammer on the floor.
"There, now I'll tear you guys apart!" the Pachirisu shouted, laughing manically.
Even if it had discarded the hammer, it was clear that they wouldn't get away from this Pachirisu without a fight. Moving at a high speed, it easily dodged Azure and Frederick's ranged attacks. Chiaki picked up the hammer and turned around to give it to Blitz, only for the Pachirisu to suddenly ram into him. Despite being shocked by the Pachirisu's electricity, Chiaki managed to keep his grip on the hammer.
"What's the plan?" Sera asked, throwing a quick glance over at Blitz.
"I'm working on it…" Blitz responded, not taking his eyes off of the Pachirisu. "He's fast, and based off of what happened earlier, my electric attacks won't have any effect…"
"Should we use the Stun Seed we picked up earlier?" Sera whispered to Blitz.
"Nah, I think it's better to save it for later," Blitz responded.
Chiaki kept holding on to the hammer while trying to dodge the Pachirisu's attacks, Azure trying to wait for an opportunity to attack so she wouldn't waste too much energy before they could get to the final challenge.
"Hold still, darn it…" Azure muttered, trying her best to keep an eye on the Pachirisu.
"He'll have to get tired sooner or later, right?" Frederick asked.
Blitz and Sera managed to get over to Chiaki so he could quickly hand the hammer over to them. The Pachirisu moved away from Chiaki and continued running around the rescue team, looking for an opening to attack. Both sides were just waiting for an opportunity to make their move.
Eventually, the Pachirisu made another leap towards Blitz, only to immediately be blinded by a flash of light from Blitz's fur. This gave Azure the chance to finally hit it in the face with a Bubble Beam attack, knocking it to the ground. Chiaki and Sera followed up with a punch and a tackle respectively.
"All right, I think we've got this!" Azure said, grinning.
"Nngh… This isn't how it was supposed to go…" the Pachirisu muttered, glaring at the rescue team as it tried to get up. "I won't lose…!"
"Yes, you will!" Azure shouted before slamming her tail into the Pachirisu with enough force to send it flying into a wall, knocking it out.
"Whew… We did it," Sera said, looking around at the others. "Let's get out of here before he wakes up, huh?"
"Yeah, agreed," Blitz responded, nodding his head.
The group resumed their exploration, having obtained all three items. Now they just needed to find the exit, and deal with whatever final challenge that might await them.
"So, um… About that Pachirisu we fought…" Frederick began uncertainly.
"Still thinking about that guy?" Azure asked, glancing back at Frederick. "Yeah, that certainly was… something. What was all that stuff about "the world of dreams" anyways?"
"No clue," Frederick responded, tilting his head.
"I think I might've heard about something like that," Sera said, looking over at her teammates. "Yoru once told me that there exists a world that some Pokémon can visit in their dreams."
"Wow, really?" Chiaki responded, looking surprised.
"Yeah, I've heard about that too," Blitz replied while looking around for items. "Apparently, Munna and their evolved form Musharna have some connection with it, or so I've heard."
"Oh, yeah, now that you mention it, I think I've heard about it too," Azure said. "So, such a world really exists?"
"Well, if what that Pachirisu said is true, then I guess that proves that it does," Blitz responded. "You see, they also say that it is possible for Pokémon born in this Dream World to travel into the real world by taking certain steps."
"What? No way!" Azure replied, shaking her head. "There's no way that's possible!"
"I don't know… These Pokémon supposedly have abilities that their species aren't normally born with," Blitz explained, thinking back to their encounter. "And that Pachirisu… his body absorbed my electricity…"
"Yeah, and?" Azure inquired.
"Pachirisu don't normally have the Volt Absorb ability," Blitz responded. "But this one clearly did, which means he might've indeed been from the supposed Dream World."
It seemed to take a few moments for the others to process this information, and for a while, none of them seemed sure how to respond to this. After a while, Frederick spoke up again.
"So, if that Pachirisu travelled here from the Dream World, then… whose dream did he come from?" Frederick asked.
"… That's a very good question," Azure responded, blinking a few times as she thought about it. "He said he defeated Blitz in a dream, right? So, does that mean it's somebody we know?"
"Or at least somebody who knows who we are?" Sera added. "So… Somebody from Fenix Town? Or somebody we've met during our missions?"
"Probably…?" Azure responded in an uncertain tone. "I mean, who else could it have been?"
After quietly thinking it over for a few moments as they kept walking, the group concluded that they'd probably never figure out whose dream had spawned that bloodthirsty Pachirisu. It was probably better not to dwell on it too much. Chiaki still seemed to be in deep thought, though.
"Hey, Chiaki? Something wrong?" Azure asked. "You haven't said anything in a while."
"Oh, it's nothing…" Chiaki responded, shaking his head. "For a moment there, I was just… wondering if I too might just be a figment of someone's imagination…"
"Huh? You mean you thought you might be from the world of dreams?" Azure inquired.
"Well, I don't have any memories, and the only Pokémon I know that knew me before I lost my memories is Elina," Chiaki explained. "So… What if I came from one of Elina's dreams, and that's why she hasn't told me anything about my past?"
"Whoa… I never would've thought of that," Azure said, staring wide-eyed.
"Could that be it…?" Frederick asked.
"I don't think so," Blitz responded, looking over at Chiaki. "After all, Pokémon from the world of dreams have abilities or attacks that their species don't normally have, and Chiaki has neither of those."
"Oh… right," Azure replied. "I guess that's true."
"Huh… Guess that isn't the case, then," Frederick responded.
"Ah… I see," Chiaki said, letting out a sigh of relief.
"Don't worry about it, Chiaki," Sera said, smiling at her teammate. "I'm sure we'll find out who you really are eventually!"
"Yeah, once Erebos is dealt with, I promise that we'll help you find the answers you're looking for," Blitz added, smiling at Chiaki.
"You know, why don't we just track down Elina and…I don't know, tickle her until she agrees to tell us?" Azure suggested.
"Wouldn't she just teleport away if we tried that?" Frederick reminded her.
"… Oh, right, she can do that," Azure replied, sighing. "Still, I don't get how you put up with her keeping this all from you, Chiaki. If it were me, I'd just go up to her and demand some answers already!"
"Well… I think she has a really good reason for not wanting to tell me yet," Chiaki responded. "I don't know what it is, but… I trust her. She's my friend."
"… Fine, if you say so," Azure said, shrugging slightly.
"Thanks for worrying about me, though!" Chiaki responded, smiling at Azure.
"Heh… You're so weird," Azure chuckled.
After walking for a bit longer, their goal was finally within sight. There were three Pokémon waiting in a room, with a teleporting panel visible on the floor at the end of the room. All three Pokémon were vaguely humanoid male fighting-type Pokémon. One was a brown Pokémon with long, spring-like legs, one was a lighter brown Pokémon with hands resembling boxing gloves, and the last was a pale brown Pokémon with a spike on its head. The one with the springy legs and the one with the boxing glove hands were having a sparring match as the rescue team walked over.
"They're here," the Pokémon with the spike on his head said, pointing them out to the other two who stopped their sparring match.
"Ah, I see," the one with the long legs responded, not noticing the way Chiaki was curiously looking up at the upper half of his body when he spoke, in an attempt to try to figure out where his mouth was. "I guess that means it is finally time for the final challenge?"
"If they have all the items, yeah," the one with the boxing glove hands said, shrugging slightly.
Blitz retrieved the three items from the bag, and placed them on the floor for the three fighting types to see.
"Good job," the one with the spike on its head said, smiling in approval as he looked over the items. "You've done well so far."
"Thanks!" Chiaki responded, smiling back at the Hitmontop.
"Well, are you ready to get started?" the one with the boxing glove hands asked, punching the air a few times. "Defeat all three of us, and you'll have completed this mission."
"I know I'm ready," Azure responded to the Hitmonchan's question, before looking around at her teammates. "How about the rest of you?"
"I'm ready, I guess?" Frederick said, tilting his head slightly.
"Me too!" Chiaki responded, raising his paw.
"Ready when you are, Blitz," Sera said, looking over at Blitz who was looking over the healing items they had gathered one more time.
"It's less than I'm used to, but it'll do," Blitz muttered before closing the lid on the bag and looking over at the Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan and Hitmontop. "We're ready."
"All right, looks like we're ready to begin," the Hitmonlee said, crossing his arms.
"This may just be a training session, but we won't go easy on you guys!" the Hitmontop said, smirking as he did some stretches. "Think you'll be able to beat our strategy?"
"Well, we wouldn't be here if Hercules didn't think we couldn't," Blitz responded with a confident smile.
"Ooh, good line!" Azure whispered to Blitz with an approving smile.
"Heh, very well," the Hitmontop responded, nodding his head. "Then let's get right to it!"
With that said, the Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan stepped closer to the walls in order to make space as the Hitmontop leapt into the air and landed on the spike on his head before beginning to spin around rapidly. Moving around by spinning on his head, the Hitmontop began chasing after Blitz and his teammates. The Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan occasionally had to move aside when the Hitmontop spun closer to them to avoid accidentally getting kicked by his blue feet.
Blitz tried to observe his opponents' movements while dodging the Hitmontop's attacks along with his teammates, something which was made even more difficult by the fact that the Hitmontop was getting faster and faster.
"Ah, Azure… Help!" Frederick called out, struggling to avoid the Hitmontop's fast movements.
"Kind of busy here…" Azure said, trying to avoid the Hitmonlee's strong kicks after she had rolled closer to his end of the room in her efforts to avoid the Hitmontop.
Chiaki attempted to slow down the Hitmontop by firing a stream of stars from his paw at him from some distance away, only to quickly be interrupted by the Hitmonchan suddenly charging at him, ready to punch. Chiaki just barely managed to dodge the punch in time.
"Hmm… I guess this is the perfect time to use that item…" Blitz thought to himself, glancing down at the bag for a moment. "We only have one, so I have to make it count…"
Blitz kept dodging attacks while waiting for the right moment to make his move. Once he was sure he had the Hitmontop's attention, he just needed to make sure the Hitmontop was looking right at him before making his fur shine brightly. Blinded by the light, the Hitmontop ended up going too far and crashing into one of the walls.
While the Hitmontop tried to get back up, Blitz used his tail to flick a seed over at the Hitmontop. The Hitmontop found himself unable to move as soon as the stun seed hit his body.
"There, now we can focus on the other two," Blitz thought to himself.
With the Hitmontop unable to move at the moment, the Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee both began running forward. Spotting the Hitmonlee moving towards the Hitmontop, Azure tried to slow him down by firing a powerful stream of water from her mouth at him. However, she soon found herself having to quickly roll out of the way to avoid being hit by an electrified punch from the Hitmonchan, which had made its way over at a high speed. The Hitmonchan continued attempting to strike at Azure with electrified punches, forcing her to keep moving to dodge them all.
Chiaki eventually made his way over to Azure, just in time to block one of the Hitmonchan's Thunder Punches. While Chiaki tried to counter more of the Hitmonchan's punches, Azure tried to use this chance to hit it with a few Bubble Beams.
In the meantime, Blitz had managed to get the Hitmonlee further away from the Hitmontop with a powerful Roar attack, and was trying to keep him from getting closer again. Sera was trying her best to help, while dodging the Hitmonlee's kicking attacks. Frederick had managed to catch his breath while the others were busy, and was getting ready to assist Sera and Blitz. He took a deep breath, and fired a Dragon Pulse attack at the Hitmonlee.
Chiaki was getting worn out from fighting the Hitmonchan, especially since the Hitmonchan knew how to get past his defensive moves. While Azure had managed to weaken the Hitmonchan a bit with her long-ranged water attacks, the Hitmonchan had also managed to avoid some of these attacks by quickly moving to the side. Figuring she wouldn't be able to attack as long as the Hitmonchan was expecting her to do so, Azure decided she could at least work on increasing her defense while trying to figure out her next move.
After taking a few moments to increase her defense with her Defense Curl move, Azure gently sprayed a stream of water into the air, enveloping her body in a glittery, water-y veil.
"Ugh… Getting… kind of tired…" Chiaki muttered, panting as he tried his best to keep up with his opponent.
Azure was about to go assist Chiaki, when something suddenly slammed into her, knocking her over. Looking over at what hit her, Azure found that it was Blitz, who had been sent flying by one of the Hitmonlee's kicks.
"Whoa, you okay?" Azure asked, helping Blitz to his feet.
"Ah… I think so…" Blitz responded, trying to shake it off.
"Hey, maybe you can help out Chiaki for a bit?" Azure asked, before glancing over at the Hitmonlee. "I'll see if I can help out with that other guy."
"Okay, let's try that," Blitz replied.
Azure rushed over to assist Sera and Frederick, while Blitz ran over to help out Chiaki. Blitz quickly made his fur shine brightly to stun the Hitmonchan long enough for Chiaki to hit him with a Drain Punch attack, allowing Chiaki to regain some energy by taking some of his opponents' strength. Blitz followed up with an electrified tackle.
Meanwhile, Azure was attempting to trip the Hitmonlee, while at the same time trying to avoid getting kicked away like a soccer ball. Sera used her Helping Hand move to power up her teammates' attacks. She wanted to try lowering the opponents' attacking strength with her Growl, but decided against it since she was worried doing so might be just enough to undo the effects of the Stun Seed on the Hitmontop.
Frederick took a moment to focus, making sure to fire his attacks in the direction of the Hitmonlee whenever he was certain that neither of his teammates were standing in the way of them.
"I think he's getting tired!" Chiaki commented, noticing that the Hitmonchan's attacks had slowed down a little.
"Don't let your guard down just yet!" Blitz responded, not taking his eyes off of the opponent.
By now, it seemed the Hitmonchan was focusing more on defense, blocking and dodging Blitz and Chiaki's attacks with ease. The Hitmonchan even seemed to be able to predict whenever Blitz would use Flash, closing his eyes whenever Blitz's fur began to shine.
"Wow, he's good…" Chiaki said, stopping for a moment to catch his breath. "If only I knew that attack that he used to break through my defense earlier…"
The Hitmonchan continued to block Blitz and Chiaki's attacks, until he was suddenly struck by a Frederick's Dragon Pulse attack. While caught off-guard, Blitz and Chiaki were both able to get another attack in.
"Thanks, Frederick!" Chiaki shouted to the Deino.
"No problem," Frederick responded, smiling. "I thought it sounded like you guys needed a little help."
Before the Hitmonchan could recover, Blitz, Chiaki and Frederick quickly used their combined power to finally take him down.
"All right, that's one down," Blitz said, letting out a sigh.
The Hitmonlee noticed that the Hitmonchan had been defeated, and quickly kicked Sera and Azure aside so he could make another attempt to reach the Hitmontop.
"Ah, Sera! Azure!" Chiaki called out, running over to his two female teammates. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine…" Azure responded, looking a bit annoyed as she got up.
Sera just let out a pained groan, seeming to have trouble getting back on her feet.
"Here, take this," Blitz said, giving Sera an Oran berry.
"T-Thanks…" Sera replied weakly, before eating the berry to regain some energy. "Whew… That's better."
"You need one, Azure?" Blitz asked.
"No, my Aqua Ring move has been gradually restoring my energy, so I'm good," Azure responded, gesturing to the glittery water-y veil around her body. "I'm running out of energy for some of my moves, though…"
"Ah, I think I have something in here…" Blitz replied, quickly looking through the items and pulling out a small bottle. "Here, use this."
"Thanks," Azure said, taking the bottle and drinking the elixir within. "All right, let's do this!"
In the meantime, Frederick was trying his best to slow down the Hitmonlee to keep him from reaching the Hitmontop. The Hitmonlee managed to dodge Frederick's long-ranged attacks with ease, but Frederick still succeeded in delaying him just a little. Sera and Chiaki managed to catch up to the Hitmonlee, with Blitz and Azure following a short distance behind.
Chiaki jumped in front of Sera to shield her as the Hitmonlee attempted to hit her with a Rolling Kick, blocking the attack with his paws. Before the Hitmonlee had the chance to do anything else, Azure hit him from behind with a powerful Hydro Pump attack. Blitz attempted to follow up with a Spark while the Hitmonlee was still soaked from being hit by the powerful stream of water, but the Hitmonlee moved aside before the attack could connect.
Sera was taking the opportunity to try to power up her teammates with another Helping Hand, increasing the strength of their attacks even more. From what Blitz could tell, the Hitmonlee was getting tired. Once they had dealt with him, they could finally deal with the Hitmontop, who seemed to just be waiting for them to attack him so he could return to the fight.
The Hitmonlee was doing his best to keep enduring the combined Bubble Beam and Dragon Pulse attacks from Azure and Frederick. Chiaki joined in a Swift attack, shooting a stream of stars at the Hitmonlee. Eventually, the Hitmonlee's ability to endure their attacks ran out, finally knocking him out.
"All right! Just one more to go!" Azure said, grinning.
Blitz approached the Hitmontop, who looked down at him with a smirk.
"Not bad," the Hitmontop said, seeming prepared to do something the moment the effects of the Stun Seed were undone. "However, you haven't won yet."
Blitz nodded his head, before running at the Hitmontop, hitting him with an electrified tackle.
"I was waiting for this!" the Hitmontop exclaimed upon being able to move again, wasting no time in returning to spinning around on his head at increasingly fast speeds, and this time he seemed to be moving even more aggressively.
Blitz was hit with three kicks with increasing strength in rapid succession before he could attempt to blind the Hitmontop with his glowing fur again. Sera let out a Growl to try to lower the Hitmontop's attack, before having to run as the Hitmontop came charging at her. However, Sera was unable to outrun the Hitmontop at the current speed he was moving at.
Azure and Frederick tried to hit with long-ranged attacks, only for the Hitmontop to come charging at them. Chiaki attempted to dodge or block his opponent's attack, but like the other two, the Hitmontop knew how to easily get past his defensive moves.
He had paid close attention to Blitz and his teammates while they fought the Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan, but with how aggressively he was moving now, Blitz was certain that the Hitmontop was bound to make a mistake at some point. While avoiding attacks, Blitz tried his best to keep an eye on the Hitmontop to find the opportunity he needed.
In the meantime, Chiaki happened to manage to dodge an attack from the Hitmontop by leaping up high into the air, letting the Hitmontop spin past under him before landing. This gave Chiaki an idea. As the Hitmontop chased after one of the others, Chiaki leapt into the air and managed to slam into the Hitmontop upon landing. Chiaki held on tightly to the Hitmontop as he tried to regain his balance. Azure didn't miss this opportunity to hit the Hitmontop with an Aqua Tail attack, while Blitz followed up with a tackle, knocking him further off-balance.
"Nng… Get off!" the Hitmontop snarled as he tried to shake off Chiaki while also trying to regain his balance.
Chiaki kept clinging to the Hitmontop, trying to think of something he could do from here. At least he and his teammates had managed to slow him down. Using his legs to help keep his grip on the Hitmontop, Chiaki used his Drain Punch to drain some of the Hitmontop's energy before finally letting go of him.
"Good work, Chiaki!" Sera said, smiling at Chiaki.
"Thanks," Chiaki responded, smiling back. "Wasn't sure if it'd work, but I guess I got lucky there."
The Hitmontop had fallen over, and was trying to get back up. He narrowly avoided one of Frederick's Dragon Breath attacks, but it was clear that the Hitmontop had been weakened from their attacks. The Hitmontop took a deep breath before lashing out with powerful punches and kicks.
"Not giving up yet, huh?" Azure said, rolling out of the path of one of the Hitmontop's attacks.
The Hitmontop managed to dodge a few more attacks, but couldn't dodge Chiaki's Swift, as the stars homed in on him. Finally, Blitz and Sera finished him off with their Spark and Quick Attack moves.
"… Is it over?" Frederick asked, panting.
"Yeah… I think so," Blitz responded, nodding his head.
"Whew… That was fun!" Azure said, grinning.
"Speak for yourself," Sera responded, looking over at Azure. "Fighting-type attacks aren't super effective against you, you know."
"We did it!" Chiaki said, raising his paw in the air. "We cleared the mission!"
With everything done, the group could finally head to the teleporter at the end and leave the training dungeon.
"Ah, you're back!" Hercules said as Blitz and his teammates reappeared in front of him and Lotus in a flash of light.
Blitz smiled and handed over the bag containing the three items they needed to retrieve for the mission. Lotus quickly looked over it and nodded in approval.
"Good job, all of you," Lotus said, smiling.
Hercules and Lotus returned the treasure bag, and Blitz carefully deposited the few remaining items they had left from exploring the training dungeon into the treasure bag before returning the bag they had borrowed for this mission.
"Well done defeating all of us!" the Hitmontop said as he, the Hitmonlee and the Hitmonchan suddenly teleported over. "I'm impressed with your quick thinking!"
"Oh, you guys already regained consciousness?" Azure asked, looking over at the three fighting types.
"One of the other workers was waiting to heal us once the battle was over," the Hitmonlee explained, standing there with his arms crossed.
"That Helping Hand move of yours really made your attacks pack a punch," the Hitmonchan commented, seeming to have something on his mind. "We could learn something from you."
"Well, we did all learn that attack back before we evolved," the Hitmontop said, shrugging with a sheepish smile. "But it's been so long since any of us used that move, that we kind of forgot how to do it."
"Perhaps we should ask Zap to give us a refresher on that move?" the Hitmonlee suggested, looking over at the other two. "That way, the next time somebody tries a Stun Seed on us, we can undo the effects without much trouble."
"Ugh… That sounds like it'd be even more exhausting," Sera said, her ears drooping down slightly.
"But you still managed to take down these tough opponents," Hercules said, smiling proudly at Blitz and his teammates. "You've all really come a long way."
"Thanks," Blitz responded, smiling back at Hercules. "I'm really glad I came here, to Fenix Town… I never would've imagined that I could ever feel this… confident."
"I'm happy to hear that," Hercules replied, petting Blitz's head. "I'm really proud of you, Blitz."
"We're proud of you, too," Azure said, grinning at Blitz. "You did a good job leading us through that dungeon."
"Yeah… Even when that Pachirisu attacked us out of nowhere," Frederick commented.
"Where did he even come from?" Sera asked.
"He must've snuck in when we were setting things up," Lotus responded, shrugging slightly. "But do not worry. We'll send someone over to take him away so he won't cause any more trouble for you guys."
"Or anyone else for that matter," Hercules added.
"That's good," Blitz said, smiling as he looked over at his teammates. "Anyways, I guess that's enough for today, so we'll be leaving now."
"Understood," Hercules responded. "Come back anytime, okay?"
"Yeah, we will," Blitz replied, nodding his head.
After saying their good-byes for now, Blitz and his teammates headed outside. Worn out from all the training, Sera decided to head home right away. Azure and Frederick went back to the café, and with not much else to do, Blitz and Chiaki decided to go home as well.
Elsewhere, a certain Aerodactyl was somewhat unsteadily flying around. As he landed to take a break, he glanced at his right wing. The injury was mostly healed by now, but like Giselle had told him, he probably wouldn't be able to pull off anything too risky.
"Guess I won't be able to participate in the flying competition…" Aeron said, letting out a sigh. "Oh well… There's always next year…"
Aeron looked up at the purple evening sky, just admiring the view as he suddenly spotted something in the distance.
"Hmm? Is that…?" Aeron said, taking to the air to get a better look.
As Aeron flew closer, he spotted another Pokémon flying in the direction of Fenix Town, a large blue dragon Pokémon with red wings. It spotted him as he flew closer, and seemed surprised to see him.
"Aeron! So, this is where you've been!" the Salamence called out, flying over to him.
"Angeline! Why are you here?" Aeron asked, both happy and surprised to see his friend.
"I'm on my way to Fenix Town," Angeline explained. "I have to deliver a message."
"A message?" Aeron inquired.
"Yeah, some stuff has happened back home, and we could use some assistance," Angeline responded, glancing over at Aeron's wing. "Hey, did something happen to your wing? You seem a bit unsteady."
"Ah, don't worry about that," Aeron replied, shaking his head. "What do you mean something's happened? Assistance with what?"
"Well, you see…" Angeline responded, as she began explaining to Aeron what had recently been discovered on Wyvern Island…
End of Chapter 56