Warning: Slight Gore in 1-2 paragraph(s) in this chapter. Skip them if you don't want to read, ok?

I had a very short sleep of 3 hours at that night. My mind was still fresh about the whole city and despite Julia's words, it couldn't just brush this off. It was... so overwhelming and horrible at the same time, that I get tear up for those people who live in such conditions. And was the New World just a dream?

I don't know what causes me to stay at night; 10:25 pm to be exact, but here I was now fully awake and walking on the empty streets of Lower Peridot Ward. Equipped with warm clothing against the cold winds, my bag with some food and writing stuff, a videocamera to record and a flashlight.

My curiosity was the reason, why I'm outside. It wants to know more about the place and a spark of adventurous spirit was still in me to explore the area. So I give for the sake exploring. Luckily I bought 3 Pokemom with me for my safety and mostly for the project purposes, which were Vanilly (Swanpert), Starry (Swellow) and Tirami (Mightyena; my strongest ones. I decided to let out Tirami from her PokeBall, as she greeted me with a jump and nuzzled me, happy to see me again. She serves as a bodyguard of mine.

"Same here, buddy. Let's do some exploring like the old days." I patted her head, before we headed towards the west direction of our way, avoiding the ruined train station and headed a bit north from here. Bringing the light back and forth, I only saw garbage at almost every corner or some Rattatas fleeing from us. Nothing special about.

We walked near the broken train tracks, which Tirami chased the some Pidgeys in a playful manner, despite she made some noise and knocked a few things over, much to my annoyance and had to keep her close by or else trouble comes very fast in a unknown far place.

Nothing eventful happened, which I was very grateful for it and I could document the surroundings in peace, yet I careful distance myself from suspicious things. Mostly taking pictures or doing mini videos and writing down my doings, like how my father does that with his research. I hope, this will help me understand the city better.

10:45 pm

In almost every 3rd trash can, you'll find a Gulpin inside it. Sometimes 2-3 will share one as "a roof over their heads"...

A small horde of Stunkys love to cause mischief in an alley, having chased off 4 people...

The only Pokemon, that enjoy the toxic waters are mostly Grimers or Skelps thanks to their poison type. No Goldeens or Magikarps.

Mr. Seacrest was very generous to show me his small garden, after I proved myself to be respectful during a Pokemon match. Serves as a refuge for both Bug-and Grass Pokemon.

Currently I was near an abandoned huge factory, leaning against a wall and Tirami scanned the path for any possible attacker. The only thing, that still bothered me was that smell fromthe lake and wrapped my scarf around my mouth and nose, to block it at least off. Looking at the pictures, it pains me to see the poor Pokemon had to adapt to such poor conditions and I'll be glad to tell my documentaries to Ame, once I return to theGrand Hall after doing some more.

I returned my gaze towards, when Tirami is wieggling her tail and stood still, before suddely and over me and barked.

"What's wrong?" I quickly stood up and packed my stuff.

Just moments later, loud crashes were heard and things were thrown around the streets. The next thing I knew, we were being blasted away by an explosion and would've been thrown into lake, had I not called Starry out just in time. Starry flew us around and landed behind the building but far enough that we'd be safe from any other explosion. We looked to see if we could find the source of the ruckus. I caught a glimpse of a serpentine Pokemon's silhouette swiftly moving in a fast speed, knocking out what I imagined looked like Zangooses. Upon creeping closely and but keeping hidden behind some boxes, I noticed the aggressor was a Seviper, whose size was much longer and bigger than the average. A territory battle between two mortal enemy Pokemon? But why in the middle of a street? It was very odd, given it takes place in a small neighborhood with the streets had appeared empty to me, in retrospectit was probably better that most of them were not outside.

The snake looked very terrifying to me and the fight gave me goosebumps, because of how violent it was. I wondered if I should intervene and stop their fight using my pokemon. Yet, I was concerned they might not be able to do a thing, since it had been long since they had a proper battle. I didn't want my pokemon to get hurt unnecessarily. As such, I couldn't make an action, and had to be satisfied by just watching and praying that no one be hurt irreparably.

After watching a couple of minutes, I thought that I had perhaps better record this fight. Not only because I could talk with my father about it later, but also because this was a rare opportunity to learn more about territorial instincts of these Hoenn-native pokemon and perhaps make a documentary later on. I pulled out the videocamera and began to videotape the fight.

Like the documentaries I watched in class back at the Trainer's School, the fight was -as expected-very violent and heated between the two Pokemon species. Though this was clearly a 6 vs 1 battle, with the Seviper outnumbered by the Zangooses, it was surprising thatthe Seviper always kept the upper hand, by constantly using Poison Tail against them. Three of them went for its tail, which I assumed wasan attemptto apprehend the snake, only for it to...

My eyes widen in shock, when I saw the 3 Cat Ferret Pokemon being sliced in half and 2 more soon going through the same fate. I... I couldn't speak. I never saw such explicit aggression at so close a distance before in my life, but I tried my best tosuppress my urge to scream.

Then there was only one Zangoose left. From its looks,it was female and shiny, but a different color palette than what I was used to; its claws were greyish silver instead of the usual red colours, thoughits patterns were still blue. She had practically avoided all the attacks, but her body was covered in bruises and scratches mostly and looked pretty exhausted. Her expression displayed fatigue, not surprising given her wounds. However, her eyes glimmered with wrath towards this situation, as her fellow comrades were slaughtered and her body wasno longerresponding properly due to the injuries, often stumbling and almost falling on the ground.

I... feel sick and helpless now, seeing this in front of my eyes. Normally it's natural for such wildlife situation with casualties, it feels so wrong at such place. And the size of that Seviper is terrifying me; t's so long that he could easily over power a group of Zangooses.That's not normal , isn't?

However I saw her grabbed some small rocks from the floor and swiftly threw them right into Seviper's mouth, as soon it prepared for a Poison Fang. It fangs barely reached her left claw, when he was chocking and I could see the triumphant smirk on Zangoose's face, as took this opportunity to escape, but not before giving a last sad look to her fallen comrades first. Angrily, that it's opponent flew, the Fang Snake Pokemon hissed and slithered at the direction, the enemy took.

I was relieved, that at least it had some good outcome from this gruesome slaughter, but I feel sad for the 5 Zangooses, who lost their lives in such manner and I wanted to edited the slaughter. I walked a few miles, before I decided to sit on a bench near some withering flowers. Surprisingly I had a nice conversation with a Doxie during a small battle who complained about the lack of greenery and that awful smell it came from the lake and even gave me a Rose Insence for a good smell, before she left. Well at least, you won't have to complain about the horrible smell near the lake.

Packing my gift in my bag, I decided to work on the video editing now, cutting out that gruesome part out of it- and my memory- and began to rewatch it at least 5 times, if I need some other improvements to adjust. But part of me wanted to know about this Seviper, since it looked no other like the average ones, I encountered back in Hoenn. The only clues I got were the big size and it's sharp reflexes; the latter trait a common one among many and the tail couldn't cut something through, unless...

But then, I saw something around the corner and I paused to see 3 figures in black cloaks running somewhere, holding something I couldn't regonize. Who were they?

"Mitsuko! My thoughs were interrupted, as a female voice shouted through the silence. I turned around to see Julia waiving from afar and ran towards me with Plusle and Minun in tow.

"Hello Julia. What do you want?"

"Oh hi, Mitsuko. It's good to see you again?" Julia greeted me "What are you doing at such hour outside?"

I wanted to avoid her question, since I didn't want to answer now, but this would only drawn somebro suspicion and said a little of the truth, "I went outside for a walk, because... I couldn't sleep very well. That's all."

Her cheerful expression changed a bit upon hearing this, but was probably convinced due to yesterday's events, "No need for such look. I can understand."

Phew, thank Kyogre she feel for it, I was relieved, now less worried and was wondering, why is doing here, "So, what brings you at night as well."

"Well, after the whole train investigation and the negotiation drama, 3 people broke inside and stole some very important documents regarding some top secret info and stuff about them." Her expression went angry to the next line "And we found out, they going to target my gym next!"

I raised an eyebrow, upon she mentioned the 3 people. Could they be the same ones in the video? I don't know, but maybe I could help her somehow without showing her the footage.

"Listen, Julia." I said carefully "When I returned from my walk, I passed a factory down the tracks, when I spotted exactly 3 people in black cloaks holding something... Maybe those are the thieves."

The cheerleader looked at me with some widen eyes, before she grew a huge smile on her face and her electro rabbits cheered all suddenly.

"That's it, Mitsuko!" Julia exclaimed in triumph "They must be at the Mooswater Factory now. Like Rini said."

"Ehm... Who's Rini?"

"You'll see. Also by the way: Do you have Pokemon with you?" She asked with in curiosity

I nodded and showed 3 fingers with my hand, the amount of Pokemon I brought with me. But for what reason, does she ask me that?

"Then follow me Mitsuko. We're gonna boom their faces. Let's go!" She grabbed my wrist and dragged me away from the direction I walked.

Oh great... What did I signed for now...

After minutes of running, we arrived at a different factory. I was trying to catch my breath, as Julia walked towards the door. The factory had the sign "Mooswater Factory" on the top middle.

"Locked" Julia exclaimed, as she scanned the door. "But no problems for me. I got this...", the cheerleader suddely grinned, as she swung her leg with such force, that the door lock instantly broke. I looked at her with some shock, yet amazed how she was capable of doing this without a Pokemon's help.

"Did you just..."

She simply nodded.

"Observation: Detection. Julia's presence confirmed." A female voice stated with little emotion making us turn around and saw two people.

The voice belonged to was a young woman around the middle of 20's with short green hair and matched eyes. She also wears a pair of glasses, a lime green bodysuit with dark green gloves and stockings and white boots. That must be Rini, she mentioned earlier.

The boy followed behind her was around my age and looked similar like her. He was wearing glasses, that are below his eyes, a dark green shirt, with a light green undershirt, brown trouser that have been rolled halfway up of his lower leg with white socks and brown boots. His expression looked bored, as his eyes darted around the streets.

Julia ran to the girl and hugged her, as she reluctantly returned the hug, before breaking off. The boy looked at me with some surprise and a hint of curiosity. It felt... very awkward for me, but remained silent.

She turned to towards me, "This is Florinia. We've been BFFs since middle school as well as roommates. She is also the Gym Leader of the Onyx Ward and the instructor head at Onyx Trainer School in this city.." Julia introduced.

"Greetings: My name is Florinia. Note: You must been the Ambassador of Hoenn, Ame told us before. It's a honor." She spoke in a short and reserved manner, yet her tone was still polite, as we shook our hands.

"Aaaaand this is Fern." Julia continued not even trying to make it interesting.

I extended my hand towards him, but he declined it and looked me somewhat observed and said just "Hello Miss Ambassador." His tone was a bit cold, yet half-heartedly.

I turned around to Florinia and asked her about what are we doing next. What she said, made me speechless.

"Acontinued interrogation of the culprit to the attack on Grandview Station provided us with partialinsight into the organization's ongoing plots. They called themselves Team Meteor."

Team Meteor? What an odd name.

"The operatives are allegedly ready to unleashmore explosive destruction, targeting the next mostsensitive points of the city." Specifically, the Grand Hall, and...

"Julia's gym. The Neo-Circuit Power Plant." I added on, recalling the memory passing a bright yellow building during my exploring and read the sign for it.

"Hey, Neo-Circuit is such a lame name!"Julia protested. "It's called the Electro-Dazzle Happy Boom-Time House of Cheer."

"Whatever it means." Fern replied in an annoyed voice "Can we just go inside and get over with it?"

We entered into the factory afterwards with Julia and Fern still arguing over something I couldn't fully understand Inside, my nose became aware of the most awful stench that was surrounding the whole area. I put the Rose Incese out from my bag and hold it closely to my nose and sniff it a few times, as it lovely smell distracted me from the stench and even sprinkled a little in my scarf. Bless that Doxie, who gave me this. It feels like spa for me now.

Now covered both my nose and mouth with it and feeling much better, as soon as we arrived in front of a filtration basin filled with crimson water inside.

I think I've never breathed anything so disgusting in my life! It kind of smells like the waters outside. Except this is at least tens of times more gross than what I've been used to now. How the hell can those 3 hide out in such disgusting place!, I thought, feeling like to vomit, if it weren't for my scarf and the Rose Incese.

Me, Florinia and Julia looked at the water which was the same colour as the ocean, but more wine red. "Observation: The liquid indicates high levels of pollution. Estimated toxicity . . . 90%" Florinia explained to us, while observing the water.

"And this is being dumped in the Azurine Lake. No wonder it's poisoned and-"

"Yeah, yeah. The ocean is poisoned so much, making it unhabitable for anyone to live here, so they moving away from this environmental bullshit. Can we go now?" Fern suggested interrupting Julia, becoming impatiently

"Agreement: Let us proceed. Observation: The path divides into two. The most efficient way to observe the surroundings would be to split up in two parties." Florinia said "Julia and I will take the west side and you two take the east, understood?"

I simply nodded, as I felt unsure teaming up with Fern. But maybe I'm just worrying too much with all that and I need to calm down already.

"Warning: Be careful brother. Estimated the values of dangers. Proceed with caution." I hear Florinia warning him, before she left with Julia.

Having nothing else to say, I was ready to go with him, even though I was a little sceptical about the last sentence. Values of dangers... I probably had knew, that would happen... But I better focus on my cooperation with Fern instead and find more about this evil team.

Things can now finally become interesting. Flobot told me about a certain young lady, who is the ambassador of a different region, the champion made a partnership with, aside that Team Meteor thing.

Judging from first impressions, she was relatively a quite person and someone insecure person. The way, how she wanted to greet me, tells me that she at least is polite, but... I want to see more from this one. Now that it was just the two of us.

"So, you're Hoenn's Ambassador. Mitsuko Birch, huh? I said, as she turned around me in surprise.

"Yes I am... And you're Florinia's brother, right?" Her voice remained calm.

"Yup.

We both walked down the corridor in silence first, as I saw two people in black coming towards us, calling us intruders. They send out a Herder and Bibrabel. Let's see, what Pokemon she has now, I though, sending out Roselia and she send out a Mightyena. How impressive.

I ordered Roselia to use Stun Spore, fully paralyzed the Bibrabel, though it went for Water Gun, which wasn't that effective on a Grass Pokemon. My eyes darted towards Mitsuko ordering her Pokemon to use Thunder Fang on her opponent's Herdier. And judging by the extra boost in this field, it must've been very painful for that pitiful weakling to stand a chance.

Once Roselia had finished hers with Mega Drain, both losers recalled their Pokemon back and ran off like cowards. So she isn't a weakling, very interesting to say this. Maybe I should ask her about it.

"By the way. You seemed to have some good skill in Pokemon battling. Not the newbie, I'm right?"

She simply nodded to me, than I find out, she retired in favour for some stupid Pokemon research with her father. How boring, sounds like more what my sister would do, I though and we continued to walk further, Such strong skill and she's really wasting it on some stupid research, she's doing with her old man.

As we fought more, the further were getting inside, the more I want to know about her. What were are goals? What does she wanted in such hellhole? Why did she choose Reborn from all the regions? She seems so... such a wonderful example, of what would I see in every trainer of Reborn and... Perhaps not now, Fern. Do more questions!

As I went on, she told me she's the representative of Hoenn, who agreed a partnership with Ame and is interested about what lies in this region during the "Restoration Project" they doing. Oh, so she's just coming for this kind of business? Oh how boring, I rolled my eyes, as she responded with some That's-my-duty-shit. Just nevermind.

A/N:Happy (late) New Year 2021, guys!Hope you enjoyed this chapter, because it was a struggle with, due to lack of motivation and other stuff, I had to deal with.Please let me know, how the story is so far? Do you like it? Comment and tell me your opinions with a review.Stay online for the next update.