BM: Alright, give it some gas!
Tyler: You got it! *revs engine* Wooh, buttery smooth and the revs climb much faster.
BM: Great! *wipes brow* Man, I'm all tuckered out, clutch plates are heavy. Anybody up to do the intro as I grab a drink?
Noir: I'll oblige. Hello everyone and welcome back to another chapter of Roadtrip. I'm extremely pleased to announce that we've surpassed twenty main chapters already. That's in part due to your continued support and I must say, thank you so much! *sniff*
Tyler: Are you crying?
Noir: How dare you accuse a lady of such things!? I merely got soot in my eyes.
Jewel: Geez, someone's in denial.
Noir: Shut up.
Disclaimer: Companies don't ownership over any I portrayed.
"Tyler! Lookout!"
"Ow!"
Tyler rubbed the spot where the clay pigeon struck him on his head. He turned to look at Samuel who whistled while looking away, clearly clutching the remaining targets in his hands. Tyler groaned as he chucked one of his own clay targets straight towards Samuel. It smashed into pieces on his forehead as he chuckled.
"Ahem, ahem." Jewel cleared her throat as she looked expectantly at Tyler. He grinned and scratched the back of his head awkwardly before tossing another up into the air. As it flew, a flurry of pink stars shot towards it, shattering the target.
Josh had purchased a fair amount of training equipment, which consisted of clay targets for long range attacks and extra potions just in case someone hurt themselves. Raymond and his team took quickly to the training, with Jewel jumping with joy at the opportunity of distance training. Fortunately, the others were perfectly fine with this and resorted to sparring with each other.
"Aaaaaand think fast!" Tyler exclaimed as he threw a target behind his back. Jewel responded by quickly destroying the target with a closely packed Swift. Tyler let out an impressed whistle and Jewel giggled. Autumn had been watching intently after she finished sparring against Noir.
"That was great. Nice job, Jewel." Tyler said with a grin as he scratched her below her chin, Jewel purring happily. Autumn walked up to the both of them with an excited look.
"Can we spar? Please?" She asked almost impatiently. Tyler nodded and turned around, only to spot Jewel trembling as she looked at something in the distance.
"Hey Jewel, what's wrong?" Tyler asked with concern which only grew as he spotted what she was looking at. A trainer could be seen walking down the path with a grim scowl, a scowl that Jewel was all too familiar with.
"It's him." Jewel muttered under her breath as Autumn joined in her staring, growling as she spotted the trainer in question. Before Tyler could speak up, Jewel and Autumn had rushed over towards the trainer. He barely dodged the two quadrupeds. It was at this moment that realized who this person was and so he hatched a plan.
"What the fuck!? Hey, control your fucking Pokemon, dipshit!" The trainer yelled as Tyler caught up. Tyler gave him a furious glare.
"Rich coming from you, shit stain." Tyler retorted. The trainer only grew angrier.
"What the fuck did you call me you worm!?" He yelled before grasping two Pokeballs from his belt. Tyler in turn also grabbed two items. Though, this time they were translating badges. He walked over to Jewel and Autumn, both of them who were giving the trainer the nastiest snarl they could manage.
"You jerk! Kick me while I'm down again, will you?" Jewel spat bitterly as she glared harder at the trainer.
"Hah! The little eevee and vulpix evolved! What am I supposed to do? Beg for mercy? You're weak, always have been and always will be." The trainer replied after recognizing the both of them.
"They're not weak. You are." Tyler calmly replied. The trainer turned his attention to Tyler and grabbed the scruff of his shirt.
"Tough talk, dipshit. Think you can prove it?" The trainer spat directly into Tyler's face. A swift flick of his finger was all it took as Autumn head-butted the trainer in the chest roughly.
"You're treading on thin ice. We're no longer weak." Autumn spoke with deep conviction which was the most determined she had been throughout the whole journey with Tyler. He smiled at her and scratched the back of her neck.
"You've messed with the wrong trainer, asswipe!" The trainer yelled as he threw all three of his Pokeballs. A Magcargo, a Shiftry and a Hippowdon stood in front of their trainer, all ready for battle.
"You're outnumbered, so what are you going to do, genius? I'll be sure to pay you back tenfold for that hit." The trainer said with a confident smirk. Tyler seemed disinterested and looked around him before a small smile grew.
"Or am I?" He said before snapping his fingers. Immediately, the background began to fizzle and distort before the true background emerged through the illusion. Noir, Epsilon and Ava stood beside him, accompanied by Josh and Ruby, Samuel and Helios. Amanda, her team and Vince's team completed the entourage. All of them stared down the trainer, who visibly shrunk back at the sight.
"Thanks, Noir." Tyler said with a smile with Noir responding with a quick flick of her mane and a smirk. Raymond walked forward and stood right in front of the now nervous trainer.
"Care to repeat that? Or would you like to shut up, suck up the fact that I saved you from a humiliating defeat and walk away? And let me stress, I don't appreciate you talking down on my Pokemon, my team, my companions. You missed out on two amazing Pokemon just because you suck at being human." Tyler spoke with a piercing stare, pure hatred aflame in his eyes. The trainer nodded hastily with Tyler tilt his head to the side to indicate that he should probably leave.
The trainer nodded frantically and quickly recalled his Pokemon before running away as quick as possible. Tyler breathed a sigh of relief as Josh pat him on his shoulder.
"Glad that's done and dusted. But was all that really necessary?" Josh asked curiously with Tyler giving a hearty chuckle in response.
"Oh, absolutely. After hearing what Jewel and Autumn said about him, I made sure I'd scare the shit outta that slimeball. Plus, it would be good training for Noir and her illusions and I will not stand for anyone insulting my Pokemon." Tyler replied with a proud smile as he stroked Jewel and Autumn, both of whom were blushing.
"Aww, you're so sweet! You're gonna make me cry!" Jewel exclaimed happily.
"Jewel, you're already crying." Autumn giggled while pointing at the tears staining her face.
"Seeee!?" Jewel exclaimed as Tyler and the others laughed uproariously. Tyler turned to Noir with a satisfied smile.
"Nice job with that illusion of yours. Honestly, I think we strongly underuse it." Tyler commented honestly. Noir smiled and laid a hand on her hip.
"Thank you and yes, I also feel we've grossly underused it. I used to be one of the best at it back in my pack and I must say, using it after so long feels incredibly good." Noir added.
"You were part of a pack? I thought Zoruas and Zoroarks were a solitary species." Epsilon asked as he hovered closer to the group. Noir shook her head.
"Not all. Some form small packs but most are in fact solitary. Your evolution line's not, right?" Noir asked somewhat curiously. Epsilon shook his head and adopted a pained expression.
"No, we aren't. Beldum form enormous packs though they are far and few between. Though, I wasn't in a pack long enough to know what it's like." Epsilon replied with a somber look in his purple eyes.
"Actually, Epsilon. I wanted to ask you on what happened. You don't need to tell us if you don't want to, though." Tyler said while waving his hands to show his sincerity. Epsilon slowly shook his head.
"No, it's fine. Ask away." Epsilon said in a pained tone which Ava noticed which prompted the Rock / Ice type to nuzzle him. Epsilon visibly relaxed. Tyler and the others smiled at how both of them cared deeply for each other.
"Alright, I'll start. When did you leave?" Tyler asked as everyone had sat down on the soft grass, listening intently.
"Almost exactly a week before I met you, Tyler. I'd been wandering the forests for longer, though that was when I decided not to return."
"But why did you leave? I recall you said that you were ostracized because of your eye color." Noir asked as she laid down, resting her head on her paws.
"In truth, that's not just it. Supposedly, our pack has been at war with a large pack of Charizards for a long time. We occupied the mountainous niche alongside the Charizards and all was well. That was up until roughly twenty years ago where there was a deadly skirmish between a group of Charizards and a group of Metang and Metagross, which thankfully only resulted in injuries instead of casualties.
However, from that day forward, the Charizards and us continued to pull each other into conflict, even when it was absolutely unnecessary. Though, not all of them hate us and I don't personally hate any of them. Turns out, everyone did and that's when they ousted me out." Epsilon muttered at the bitter recollection. Ava frowned slightly before nuzzling the Steel / Psychic type lightly.
"Don't worry, Epsi. We're here for you now. Everyone has helped me feel like I belong and it's only fair that we help you as well." Ava said with a small smile. Epsilon looked around and noticed everyone giving him a determined look, especially Tyler.
"When I said you're all not just my Pokemon and are my friends and companions, I meant it. You can rest assured we have your back." Tyler announced with a steely resolve. Epsilon nodded happily.
All of a sudden, the whirs in the background died out and the lights in faraway buildings went out. Roughly a few seconds later, they all simultaneously turned back on again.
"Another one? Goddamn, this city needs to get its shit together." Samuel exclaimed as he leaned back on a tree with Helios and Ruby beside him.
"You can say that again. What the hell is up with the electricity?" Tyler asked to no one in particular. He noticed Josh who had a look that told them he was thinking hard.
"You alright, Josh?" Tyler asked which snapped Josh out from his thinking. He nodded but still scrunched his eyebrows.
"Yeah, I was just thinking. Today's a public holiday, right?" The blonde asked with Tyler nodding in confirmation.
"Think about it: During public holidays, cities usually shutdown large facilities and factories so that the workers can get a well-deserved break. This also cuts down the usage of electricity by a large amount." Josh explained with Amanda perking up.
"Ah ha! Then that means the outage isn't cause by overloaded circuits!" She answered proudly with Josh nodding.
"Exactly. We've ruled out freak occurrences and power overload out, so all that's left is power instability from the power station itself." Josh reasoned with everyone nodding. Tyler suddenly snapped his fingers as he remembered two things.
"Hold on, maybe that strange building has something to do with it? Sam and I noticed that it didn't shut off during the power outages, even though every other building with generators also went down. And remember the picture my mom and Lucas showed us? Maybe those figures have something to do with this." Tyler spoke as he scratched his chin. Surprisingly, Samuel perked up.
"Dunno bout you guys, but I feel like there's some shady shit going on. I'm not an engineer or electrician or whatever, but I don't think buildings with generators normally turn off in power outages. The fucks in the weird ass building must be doing something." Samuel suggested, which was uncommon. Josh gave him a 'oh damn' look. Even more surprisingly, Julius spoke up.
"I had been scanning the auras during the power outage and I detected something odd. There seemed to be a large spike of power in roughly….. that direction." Julius explained before standing and pointing over towards the strange building again. Amanda and Tyler looked even more confused.
"You know what? Rather than sitting on our asses all day, how about we ask Cynthia and Lucas fer a search permit? Maybe we can find the cause of all this hullabaloo once and fer all." Amanda reasoned with everyone nodding. Tyler grabbed his phone and selected her contact.
Roughly a couple minutes of talking later, Tyler ended the phone call with a pleased smile.
"Mom told us to meet her and Lucas at 8. So to kill the time, anybody up for more training?" Tyler offered with a grin which was unsurprisingly responded by plenty of nods from his Pokemon. Before he could grab his clay targets for long distance training, Ava got his attention.
"Hey, Tyler? Epsi and I want try sparring, so do you mind if you watch over us?" Ava asked nervously as she had never requested much from Tyler before. Tyler looked over to Jewel who shook her head.
"Don't worry about my training, I was going to take a nap anyways!" She giggled shamelessly as Autumn, Noir, Tyler, Ava, Epsilon and Arceus facepalmed. Tyler chuckled and beckoned for the two non-bipeds.
"Alright, you two ready?" Tyler said as both of them nodded and took their battle stances. Tyler smiled at their determination, especially at Ava who was at a severe type advantage.
"And BEGIN!" Tyler exclaimed which prompted both fighters to rush each other. Epsilon threw a Bullet Punch which Ava sidestepped. She responded by sending a multicolored Aurora Beam, which crashed straight into Epsilon. Unfortunately, her attack dealt negligible damage.
Epsilon launched a Confusion with Ava barely leapt over. This in turn made her open to his Metal Claw which knocked her up quite the distance, dealing huge damage. Ava however, was not done as she launched another Aurora Beam, expecting Epsilon to dodge it, which he did. Ava got close and fired off a Thunderwave.
Epsilon was expecting this however as he fired a Bullet Punch right after he dodged the beam. Ava dropped to the ground as his fist flew over her. She immediately got an idea and blasted his arm with Powder Snow, which dealt little damage but froze his arm solid. Epsilon went a little wide eyed as he panicked slightly, trying to unfreeze his arm. Ava seized the moment and paired up a Take Down and Rock Throw.
She slammed hard into the Metang and used her momentum to throw a sizeable boulder which smashed to pieces as it struck Epsilon head on, dealing considerable damage. Unfortunately, this thawed out Epsilon's frozen arm. Both of them fired a special type attack with it being Aurora Beam for Ava and Confusion for Epsilon. The two beams collided and exploded, filling the arena with dust.
"Woah! I think you two can call it off now." Tyler exclaimed as he coughed. Eventually the dust settled and what he saw surprised him.
There was now a large blue quadruped where Ava stood which had a light blue belly, multiple ice crystals on its back, a long curled tail and two enormous sails that shimmered in various colours.
On the other side of the arena stood a metallic blue quadruped as well, this one noticeable lacking a discernable neck and head. It had a large and striking X on its front side which was flanked by two purple eyes.
The two newly evolved Pokemon looked at themselves and then eachother. Slowly, a smile crept onto both of their faces as the Aurorus rushed up to the Metagross with her same old cheery smile.
"We did it! We evolved!" Ava said in a deeper yet feminine voice with glee. Her sails flashed a happy green as she smiled. The Metagross laughed in a deeper robotic tone.
"Finally! Wow, I feel great! Yargh!" Epsilon exclaimed happily as he pounded the ground which shook a bit, a testament to his newfound power. Tyler couldn't hide the smile on his face as he and the others approached the two.
"Look at you two. You're huge!" Tyler exclaimed as Samuel snickered quietly. Jewel, Autumn and Noir walked up to the enormous pair.
"Wow, Ava you are so big now! Can I ride on your back? Pleeaaase?" Jewel begged cutely with which Ava responded by laughing and lowering herself to allow the Sylveon to ride her back. Without warning, Jewel wrapped her ribbons around Autumn and plopped her onto Ava's back as well, much to the Fire type's surprise. Ava began walking around with Jewel laughing loudly and Autumn giggling. Tyler shook his head and turned to see what Noir and Epsilon were doing.
Noir was lying on top of Epsilon who was desperately trying to knock her off, which was difficult due to his biology. Noir knew and wore a mischievous smirk during it all. Epsilon eventually gave up and breathed an audible sigh before walking to catch up with Ava. Noir's grin grew even wider.
"Fantastic, now you serve multiple functions. A place to sit and as a mode of transportation! Good work, noble steed." Noir commented proudly before laying back and closing her eyes with Epsilon grumbling in response. Autumn had heard the conversation and leapt off Ava's back before running over to Epsilon and whispering something to him, calling Ava and Jewel over silently as well. The Steel / Psychic type nodded slightly.
"Why is it so wa- YEOW!" Noir yelped as she quickly leapt off Epsilon's burning hot exoskeleton and diving into a nearby pond, scaring the Magikarp and Goldeen that reside within. Autumn had heated the top part of Epsilon's exoskeleton while Ava blew a constant cool breeze as to protect Epsilon from any actual damage, as Jewel made sure Noir didn't wake up. The four Pokemon were laughing hysterically as the Dark type emerged from the pond again, soaking wet. Tyler and the others had been watching the whole thing, joining their round of laughter.
A few hours after Autumn dried Noir off and getting dinner, the group prepared for their meetup with Cynthia. She and Lucas had decided on meeting up at a nearby unused pier at the edge of Veilstone. As there were plenty of piers both used and unused, this would ensure that nobody would spot them as no one had a reason to use that particular one.
The wooden boards creaked and shook as the weight of five cars passed overhead, not enough to break them. Tyler, his team and his friends all exited their cars and made their way down the pier. Vince had finally returned from his meeting, much to his Pokemon's enjoyment. Everyone looked around at the empty but well lit pier and the ocean view in front of them.
"Pretty nice view, huh?" Tyler said as the group walked down the pier. Josh nodded.
"Yeah, really reminds me of Lake Verity though." Josh commented with Samuel giving a thumbs up and stuffing his hands in his pocket.
"It's pretty nice but nothin' beats the view from Virbank to Castelia back in Unova." Amanda said proudly as everyone rolled their eyes.
In the distance, Cynthia can be seen looking at a document of some sorts. Lucas was playing a game of catch with Sol and an empty Pokeball, which the two seemed to be enjoying. Both of them noticed the group approaching them and stopped doing their tasks. Though, Lucas got hit with the Pokeball he was previously throwing around with Sol smiling innocently. Tyler gave Cynthia a smile and wave which she happily replied.
"Ah, there you are. So, what's the situation?" Lucas said as he, Cynthia and Sol approached.
"Alright, hear us out. So, we may have an idea on what's going on. You've noticed the power outages too, right?" Tyler asked Lucas who nodded. Cynthia however had no idea.
"There were power shortages? I was at Fuego Ironworks and I just arrived here." Cynthia asked.
"Yeah, plenty of em actually. We've already had two in two days and the citizens said they had multiple for a few days now. Also mom, can I ask why you were at Fuego Ironworks." Tyler inquired before Cynthia raised her documents.
"This is a list of all of the customers that had bought titanium in the past month. We searched for the code of purchase which matched ours and sure enough, there it is. Registered to someone named Chris Sommers." Cynthia said while pointing out the circled part of the document.
"So, it's safe to say that whoever this Chris Sommers is must be the one that manages the cash and resources of Team Galactic, right? I mean, most companies and organizations have a dedicated person or sector that handles the buying." Amanda concluded with Cynthia nodding.
"That's exactly what Lucas and I thought of as well. Anyways, what about these power outages?" Cynthia asked again which Lucas answered.
"Right. So actually, it's not only Veilstone that's having these power outages. Apparently Hearthome is as well." Lucas answered as everyone looked even more confused.
"Though, I should mention that the ones at Hearthome are a bit further and far between as the last one happened a week ago. Nevertheless, it's still unclear what's causing the ones over there." Lucas finished as Tyler stepped up.
"Speaking of causes, we might have a theory on what's causing the ones here. Sam and I noticed that every time the power goes out, all but one building loses power. Josh and Ruby also overheard that the power outages have started roughly a week ago. And finally, Julius detected a spike in aura every time the power goes, which according to him comes from the building." Tyler explained as Lucas and Cynthia began thinking.
"Interesting, but which building is it?" Lucas inquired as Tyler pointed at the large building on top of the hill. Lucas cocked his head to the side.
"The Stratos Observatory? Are you sure? I'm pretty sure their telescopes don't sap that much power." Lucas spoke in an unsure tone.
"Mhmm, pretty sure of it. My eyes don't lie, that building was still lit even when the others weren't." Samuel suddenly spoke which only further confused Lucas. Vince noticed that they were getting nowhere fast and decided to step in.
"Hey, I have something you all might be interested in. I was actually pretty close to the building when the power went out and I swear to you, I heard a very faint whirring noise for a few seconds. When the power came, it stopped." Vince described with everyone nodding. Lucas still looked unsure but decided on a plan.
"I'm still not that convinced that the observatory is at blame, but whatever. Here's what we'll do: Split up into two teams. Team A will visit the observatory and find out whatever's there and Team B will head over to the power station, which is just south of Veilstone." Lucas proposed. After seeing nobody had any objections, they began to assemble their teams.
Team A consisted of Tyler, Josh and Samuel, while Team B was made up of Vince, Amanda and Lucas. Cynthia couldn't be picked as she had to keep a low profile as to not shock the whole region with her sudden appearance.
The group agreed on carrying out their plan tomorrow as it was already getting late. The made some small talk, with Tyler challenging Lucas to a battle of wits and Samuel talking about his family at Canalave, which he was pretty embarrassed about.
Right before the group left, Cynthia stopped Tyler by placing a hand on his shoulder. Tyler turned around and saw that Cynthia had something in her hand. It was an old photograph of three people, all three of which Tyler were familiar with. Tyler could feel a small tear form as he grabbed his family photo, taken right after his birth.
"I'm still very sorry, Tyler." Cynthia said as she and Tyler went into another hug. Tyler sighed and shook his head.
"It's really alright, mom. Better late than never." Tyler said with a small smile as he looked his mother in the eyes. The two parted with a wave as Tyler joined the rest on their walk back to their cars.
Roughly thirty minutes later, the door to his room was swung open. Tyler groaned as he stretched, his joints popping a bit. He was tired and so were his Pokemon minus Ava and Epsilon who were now much too large to sleep in the room.
"Man, what a day. I'm super tired." Tyler muttered as he realized he had something to do. Quickly, he caught Jewel in midair and carried her to the bathroom, much to her displeasure and the others amusement.
After they had all taken a shower, Tyler made himself comfortable as now only three Pokemon took a spot on the bed. Tyler laid in the middle while Noir flanked him on his right and Jewel on his left with Autumn taking the spot between his legs yet again.
"Hey, Tyler?" Jewel said as she was already curled in a ball. Tyler gave a 'hmm?' in response.
"I'm glad to be your Pokemon." She said with a smile. Tyler felt the other two react.
"Me too. I was so scared when I first met you." Autumn said with a shy blush.
"Agreed. You've been great to travel with as being alone is rather… lonely." Noir said as she folded her hands behind her head. Tyler chuckled as one by one, they fell asleep.
"Same here, girls. Same here." He mumbled before drifting off to sleep.
That is all for this chapter of Roadtrip! Stay safe, drink water, practice social distancing and stay healthy! Bruhmeister, out! Look out below!
*thunk*
Tyler: Ow, what the hell? Why didn't you just give it to me?
BM: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯