(Alright, time for the Cobalt Coastlands! Woo woo! Apologies for the update lacking, I've been on a Splatoon 3 kick.

The Reviews

Jacob9594: Yeah, if you thought this was scary, imagine if there was another one.

LogBook: Thanks! I had a lot of fun with that one.

foxcraft fan: Rough life, huh buddy?)

After experiencing a space-time distortion, the trio would head on out to the Cobalt Coastlands, where not only Irida was waiting for them, but also Rei and Laventon.

"Woah..." Aubrey breathed. "Look at that view from here!"

"Ahhh, so magnificent! It reminds me of home," Key brightly smiled.

"Oh yes!" Vanessa agreed, eyes sparkling at that ocean view. "We must be close to Sunyshore, I think."

"Ah, the Cobalt Coastlands!" Laventon mused. "A simply lovely corner of Hisui! Sea and sky, far as the eye can see! What kind of Pokemon await us here, I wonder."

"I'd expect Water-types," Aubrey answered. "Like, imagine a body of water without Water-types."

"Yeah, that would be…really off," Vanessa agreed.

"It would imply that something is wrong with the water itself, right?" Irida chimed in.

"Correct. Like humans dumping garbage in the water polluting it," The younger ranger confirmed.

"Now that you mention it..." Irida trailed off. "Is that a common problem in your world?"

"Yeah." Vanessa nodded. "As Pokemon Rangers, it is our Job to make sure nature stays as clean as possible since it can harm Pokemon."

"How awful...may almighty Sinnoh strike down any blatant offenders," Irida frowned.

"Sounds to me like those people are more irresponsible with their waste than anything," Rei added.

"Oh buddy, you'd be right about that," Aubrey agreed. "So...you wanted to talk to us about what happened out here?"

"I will. But first, if you don't mind..." Irida would face the sea, taking out her own flute and playing a melody on it. The group could tell that it was meant for the old Noble from the sound.

"Such a soothing melody," Vanessa quietly commented out of respect for the old Noble.

Once Irida was done, she turned to the rangers. "Alright...with you, I can be frank. I can't afford to look weak in front of the Diamond Clan leader or the Galaxy Team's commander. But in truth...I sometimes wonder how I ended up with the burdens I bear."

"It's about Arcanine, yes?" Key asked.

Irida nodded. "Yes. We have a warden out here, who is a lovely woman known as Palina. She does not wish to raise a successor to the late lord's seat, even though she takes care of the late Lord Arcanine's pups."

"Ah. Well it sounds like she is a nice woman if she is keeping an eye on his pups." The Sinnoh native smiled, liking this first impression.

"Of course she is. However, some people have started to question her worthiness," Irida continued. "Some don't think she's fit to be a warden at all. No matter what anyone says, Palina is a dear friend of mine. We were both in the running to become the new leader of the Pearl Clan, the two of us striving to surpass one another."

"Sounds to me like you and Palina go way back," Aubrey commented.

"Yes, we've been lifelong friends...which is why I want to ask you rangers for help on this matter," Irida responded. "You know Pokemon better than anyone in the Galaxy Team, um...present company notwithstanding."

"Ah, no offense taken," Laventon remarked positively. "We'd be more than happy to help with this succession issue."

"What he said. There's got to be a good reason why she doesn't want to raise his successor," Key agreed.

"Thank you all..." The Pearl Clan leader was quite relieved to hear they not only had her back, but Palina's as well.

"So where are we heading first?" Vanessa asked.

"To the headland over yonder." Irida pointed out the area in question. "If we can resolve this matter, then it should silence any of Palina's naysayers."

"I'll get to my part in the scouting, rangers," Rei promised. "If you need my help on anything, I'll be in the area."

"Thanks, you two. We will call if we need anything!" Vanessa beamed.

"We'll do whatever we can to do our part!" Laventon waved the ladies off as they started to move out to the headland where Palina and the Growlithe were. On the way to Palina, Aubrey let her Pokemon out to walk along with her, and all of them were pretty relaxed. Soren would be flying around the group as Empathy would try and take Axel for a ride. Vanessa also had her Pokemon out. Quilava walks by her side with Petilil and Teddiursa looking around in wonder, Kleavor keeping an eye on them.

Axel, thankfully was receptive to Empathy's wish to ride on his back, taking time to practice running around with a lot of confidence in his stride. Otzawott would try and keep up...only to trip on a tree root and roll around, landing on his back.

"Dewottttt..." Otzawott got out, embarrassed from the display.

"You okay, Otzawott?" Aubrey called, seeing her Dewott hop to his feet and stand all cool like, showing he was indeed okay. "Good!" Vanessa giggled at this.

"Cute," She commented, hearing a meow. "Hmm?" She turned to her left. "Ooh, Glameow!"

"Rarely ever see Glameow," Aubrey commented. "They're mostly house pets in our world from what I know."

"Mmm...do trainers hardly have Glameow battle alongside them?" Irida questioned, curious to learn more about the trio's world.

"I think it's because they really only show up in my home region and have been rarely spotted in the wild in Hoenn and Unova," The younger ranger explained.

"Hoenn? Unova? Are they a part of almighty Sinnoh's kingdom?" The Pearl Clan leader then asked.

"You could say that," Key answered.

"Yeah." In a whisper, Vanessa would ask Aubrey, "Should we tell her? Cause I think at this point if we told anyone else it would be the clan heads."

Aubrey gave a curt nod. "Might as well let the poison out," She whispered back.

"Right." In a normal voice, Vanessa turned her attention to Irida. "Well Irida, we can tell you though one condition. You keep what we are going to say to yourself, the only other people we have outright told are Professor Laventon and Rei, and we plan on telling Adaman the next time we see him."

"And keeping it secret from Commander Kamado..." Irida paused. "It...must be something of great severity if you're keeping it a secret. Very well. You've proven your worthy of my respect with taming Lord Kleavor and taking this sensitive topic on. I'll show I'm worthy of yours with this."

With that being said, Vanessa would begin their story. "So. First off. Me, Aubrey, and Key are from the future."

Irida paused again, taking a moment to process that. "...I...beg your pardon?"

"We're from the Future. And no. This does not mean that almighty SInnoh is the god of time…" Vanessa clarified. "He's not the god of space you worship either…In fact they are his kids."

At that moment, the three could see Irida's expression drop. "So that means...all the Diamond and Pearl Clan's conflicts in the past were all for naught?" She asked. "I...I don't know what to say..."

"Honestly Irida, history can be warped…pretty easily," Vanessa admitted. "Your clans didn't even know about the Father or the third son. But what you can do is work together with your old rivals. Prevent any more fighting and to live the best lives you can!"

Irida bowed her head. "To be honest with you too, Vanessa...you did know about our warring with the Diamond Clan, yes?"

"Warring?" Aubrey then asked.

"For as long as I can remember, the Diamond and Pearl Clans have fought with each other plenty of times in the past over our truths on almighty Sinnoh," Irida explained. "While things have begun to simmer down with the Galaxy Team playing mediator, as our new clan leader, I...do now wish to end the cycle somehow. With you helping both clans and thinking about your ways, even being in the same vicinity as Adaman without throwing an insult at him for more than a few minutes, it has helped me in a way. You can chalk up the past unpleasantries you've seen from me as skepticism and inexperience on my behalf."

"That is understandable. I guessed you only became the clan head recently," Vanessa wagered.

"Right." Irida confirmed. "Now...as you were?"

"Right well. One night me and Aubrey were both asleep and we were asked by the Father to come here and figure out what is going on with that." Vanessa pointed up at the massive rift from the sky. "Oh, and to clarify, the Father in this case would be Lord Arceus as we know him in our time."

"Arceus..." Irida repeated, nodding in understanding.

"Arceus is also the one who beefed up our Capture Stylers into Arc Stylers here." Aubrey would show hers off, as would Vanessa. "We're pretty sure that his power is what helped us tame Kleavor and Lilligant."

"Oh wow! That makes perfect sense, what with the Nobles being among His chosen few," Irida lit up. "But...what about Key here? She's not a ranger like you two."

"Ah, about that..." Key sheepishly giggled. "Aubrey and Vanessa's fellow rangers and friends were concerned about them being kidnapped at first, but once they knew the truth, I took it upon myself to go to our time's Mt. Coronet and seek out Arceus to allow me to come along and help them in their mission."

"Amazing...wait, how did you do that?" The Pearl Clan leader wondered.

"A humble offering of my culinary talent," The merchant answered with a cheeky smile.

"...Um...huh. Cooking...I'll have to remember that next time I go to make an offering," Irida sounded dumbfounded by this, but decided to go along with it.

"And from what you said, Lord Dialga and Lord Giratina were looking on in jealousy while Lord Palkia was face palming." Vanessa couldn't help but giggle at their antics. "I guess for Pokemon as powerful as them it must be rare to have something homemade...actually speaking of Lord Giratina. He is possibly close by." The younger ranger would see Irida's puzzled expression.

"Lord Giratina?" She asked.

"Oh right." Vanessa perked up in realization. "So, the Diamond Clan would be worshiping Lord Dialga, Lord of Time, and the Pearl Clan has Lord Palkia, Lord of Space. Lord Giratina is the problem child and is the Lord of Antimatter."

"Anti...matter?" Irida's puzzled expression would only solidify, but shook her head. "You said that this Lord Giratina is the problem child...why is that?"

"He kinda rebelled against Lord Arceus." Vanessa deadpanned, much to Irida's surprise. "Rather violently from what the legends say. So he got banished to a World known as the Distortion World."

"Oh goodness..." The Pearl Clan leader breathed, taking a seat on a nearby large rock to get her thoughts in order. "I...I need a moment, I need to process all this before I say any further on the matter."

"Of course. Take your time," Vanessa responded sympathetically. She knew that everything Irida believed up to this point was a lie at this point in time. But she wouldn't try rushing anything, knowing how hard this would be if she was on the receiving end. While Irida went to process all of this, Key and Aubrey would have a quick talk about all this with Vanessa.

"So...do you think Adaman would be the same way? Just have his world views shatter like hers did?" Aubrey asked.

"Honestly? I think he would believe us more outright." Vanessa responded.

"To his credit, he has been quite receptive of our presence here in Hisui," Key mused. "Though I can only imagine Dialga, if this was like a television show, would be screaming at the screen for us making bad decisions and causing some sort of Beautifly Effect."

"What's that?" Aubrey raised an eyebrow.

"Well, it's more of a ripple effect," The merchant responded. "In order to save headaches, one event can cause a ripple effect that makes an entirely new timeline of events. We saw something like that with the alternate evil leaders back at Aether, no?"

"Ah yes, where they each came from timelines where no one was able to stop them…" Vanessa remembered. "Or in Ghetsis' case, he actually managed to beat the kid who beat N and take Zekrom for himself."

"Precisely. Hitting him in the face will always be one of my fondest memories of fighting the bad guys with you," Key giggled.

"Yeah...so, Dialga would be mad at us for doing this?" Aubrey wondered. "For causing some sort of ripple effect?"

"Miss Ranger, I'm going to be blunt with you. This whole mess feels like a massive ripple already. I don't think he has much to complain about with us."

"Oh yeah, like that whole thing we dealt with in the Mirelands," Vanessa agreed. "That is obviously an effect of that giant rift in time and space."

"No kidding..." Aubrey sighed. "At least his anger's gonna be directed at the mastermind than us, yeah?"

"Yeah. And probably Lord Giratina. We could probably see if the portal to the Distortion World is around. We're pretty dang close to Turnback Cave. It would be on the other side of that big cliff there," Vanessa pointed out.

Once Irida had taken a moment to gather her thoughts, she was back to her usual self of skeptical thinking, but the rangers and Key could tell that she was also resolved to crack this case too in her limited scope of events and limited information.

"As the leader of the Pearl Clan, I'll see what I can do to solve this crisis too...though I think if it comes to blows, I'll leave that to you, ladies. I'm not much of a fighter at all," Irida spoke.

Vanessa smiled. "Leave the physical altercations to us. Now how about we go see your friend Palina?"

"Certainly!" Irida agreed, her mood improving.

So they would head on up to where Palina is, Vanessa spotting something down on the beach. "Oh man! East Sea Shellos!"

"Now we know for certain where we are, right?" Aubrey mused.

"Oh yes, this is definitely around Sunyshore City," Vanessa confirmed.

"One other thing I wish to ask, rangers...as a personal favor," Irida spoke up.

"Sure, whatcha want?" Aubrey asked.

"In your future, when you leave Hisui. Would you be able to preserve the history and customs of the Diamond and Pearl Clans?" Irida requested.

"We can certainly try," The Sinnoh native agreed. "I think in some ways it must have been passed down. My family worships the legendary Pokemon of Sinnoh."

"I'm not much of the worshipping type myself, honestly..." Aubrey admitted.

"That's fine. I think as long as people acknowledge the existence of Pokemon like these, that it is enough," Vanessa responded.

"Not only that, but despite you not being as devout as either of us, Arceus chose you to go on this mission, did he not?" Irida pointed out. "I think it doesn't matter, you've proven yourself worthy to Him already."

"Yeah...yeah, I guess I did," Aubrey picked up a smirk. "To think it all stemmed from paid leave turning into a work related week of good times..."

"Yeah. Oh that was a week." Vanessa mused. "The interdimensional Pokemon notwithstanding. Actually, Irida, just to make sure, you have not seen any weird looking white portals open up in the sky, have you?"

"Mmm...none spring to mind other than the current one in the sky, no," Irida answered.

"OK good. Whew." Vanessa detensed at Irida's confirmation there were no white portals in the sky. "We do not need the Ultra Beasts poking their heads around, that would be a whole another crisis on its own."

"I'm also going to elect not asking about whatever these 'Ultra Beasts' are," Irida added, inferring that whatever these things were, the rangers and Key did not wish to do anything bad with them.

"For your sanity, that is a wise move," Key replied.

"Yeah. Agreed very wise move.. I still get headaches thinking about those…" Vanessa's train of thought would be interrupted by the barking of a Growlithe - a Hisuian Growlithe.

"Irida!" A woman's voice called. This woman was dressed in white like a swimmer, complete with old fashioned swim goggles around her neck, and red and white shoes looking made for the water. By her feet were two Hisuian Growlithe, their main difference being dark orange-red fur, a gray mane tail, and a tan muzzle.

"Palina!" Irida responded positively, running over to give her friend a big ol' hug.

"Hello!" Vanessa waved, looking at the Growlithe. "Well these guys look different from what we know." The Growlithe would run over to the rangers, affectionately nuzzling against them as they got used to their scents.

"Irida has told me all about you three," The woman, Palina, said. "Let me see if I got this right...the big one is Aubrey...the white haired one is Key...and you're Vanessa, yeah?"

"That's me!" Vanessa confirmed, petting the Growlithe when she noticed something. "Huh.. feels rocky…" Then she realized what this meant. "Oh, you must be a Fire/Rock type!"

"Irida also told me about how you three know Pokemon differently in your world than Hisui," Palina added. "But seems like I know who you three are now. I'm Palina, warden for the late Lord Arcanine..." Her expression dropped, shaking her head as she remembered the event.

"We heard all about what was happening with you two from Irida," Aubrey explained. "Do you...need a moment?"

"That'd be appreciated." Palina would take one of the Growlithe in her arms, said Growlithe licking her cheek to try making her smile. "Thanks, little guy..." She rubbed his head, her smile returning. Vanessa would give a soft smile at seeing the obvious affection being shown here. Key would even go as far as to wrap an arm around Aubrey, the older ranger smiling. "It's clear to see they are the late lord's pups," The merchant giggled.

"Mhm. Reminds me of me and Vatonage," Aubrey positively remarked.

"Yeah." Vanessa nodded in agreement.

"Okay, I'm ready now..." Palina would set down the Growlithe in her arms. "As you know, we have no lord in the Cobalt Coastlands. That's because our previous lord was...swallowed by the waves." The trio would look on in surprise. "He was rescuing his young pup that was swept out to sea and ended up giving his life to ensure the pup's safe return..."

"Oh jeez..." Aubrey winced. "I'm...I'm really sorry for your loss, all of you."

"Grow..." The Growlithe in question lowered his head.

"This quiet, skittish Growlithe is the child of the previous lord," Palina continued. "I've no doubt this little one has the potential to be a fine lord, but witnessing his father's demise has left deep scars in his heart."

"Palina...look, I know I pushed the issue on you in the past, but I've come around to understand your perspective," Irida apologized. "There are those who want you to strictly raise him into lordship, and I...did wish that you would, but-"

"I know, Irida. You're not like them," Palina cut her off. "Even though you want him to become the next lord of the Coastlands, you wanted me to go at my own pace."

"That would be what is best for everyone even if they do not realize it," Vanessa agreed.

"Right...I could never bring myself to do it with the same strict expectations others would've wanted out of me," The warden continued. "No matter what the rest of the Pearl Clan says, I will stay by this little one's side and let him live his life how he sees fit."

"Palina..." Irida frowned. "Everyone else would question your loyalty to the clan."

"I know they will," The warden frowned. "Now that you know our situation...what will you do, rangers?"

"Well, I think the young lord here is in good hands. So we will gladly help however you need us too," Vanessa responded.

"Yeah. We don't wanna force the little guy into the position when he's not ready." Aubrey would walk on over, kneeling down to the lord's son, rubbing his head.

"Groo groo..." Growlithe looked up at the older ranger, who was giving her a warm smile.

"We're with you all the way, buddy," She spoke positively. "Your dad's always gonna be watching over you in spirit, okay? He'll always be here." She gently pointed at Growlithe's heart. This would cause the little one to cry, prompting Palina to pick him up.

"Is he alright?" Key asked.

"He will be. I can tell these are tears of joy..." Palina remarked.

"I'm glad he has someone like you to look over him." Vanessa had a happy, but at the same time thoughtful look on her face.

"So...what can we do in the meantime?" Key asked.

"There's a Diamond Clan warden out here by the name of Iscan, he watches over Basculegion," Irida informed. "I think it would be beneficial to your scouting of Hisui if you were to earn his respect. I'll stay here with Palina and the Growlithe."

"Basculegion?" Aubrey wondered.

"It's the evolution of Basculin," Palina informed. "If memory serves me right, it's...Water/Ghost, right?" Irida would give her a nod. "Yeah, Water/Ghost."

"Huh. That's weird…" Vanessa noted. "Where we are from. Basculin does not evolve at all."

"Why's that?" Palina asked.

"Well just to ask, what do they look like here?" Vanessa requested.

"Hmm..." Palina put a finger to her chin. "I do know they're out by Tranquility Cove...we could take you there if you like." Palina would gesture out to the sea below them.

"Ohhhhh...they're out there..." Aubrey registered.

"Mmhmm. Surely you rangers can swim on your own, right?" The warden teased.

"Of course! I'm an excellent swimmer!" Vanessa answered confidently.

"Heck yeah! I'm not as fast as her, but I can handle swimming around in the ocean," Aubrey seconded.

"If it would not trouble you ladies, could we go somewhere to change into something more appropriate?" Key requested. "Or at least myself?"

"I don't see the harm in it," Irida answered. "Palina, do you mind?"

"Sure. Follow me, you three," The warden urged, the Growlithe were not as receptive to the idea of going in the water. "Believe me, little buddies, I don't want to as well...but you won't go out there. Irida will stay with you, I promise."

"Yeah. Just stay by her and you will be fine!" Vanessa empathized with the Growlithe. They'd wag their tails at Vanessa as they would stick with Irida, Palina leading the trio to a secluded place so they could change in private.

After a while, the Rangers would go and get changed...well, more like Key and Aubrey did. Vanessa, since her uniform is already wearing clothing fit for swimming, all she needed to do was take off her socks, shoes, vest and shorts. As for Key and Aubrey, the merchant had packed her wetsuit for the both of them.

"Lemme guess, you borrowed my wetsuit from HQ?" Aubrey asked.

"Of course I did!" Key answered positively. "I would've brought regular swimwear, but ah...I don't have a proper swimsuit myself. This is all I could muster."

"It's all good, Key," The Sinnoh native assured her.

"Hmm, is that what you swim around in?" Palina wondered.

"Oh, I have my ways, madam," Key beamed. "We'll show you when we get out there."

"Alright then." After taking a few breaths, Palina gave them a few nods. "Okay, let's get going."

The group would follow Palina down to the shoreline, the rangers and Key acting pretty cordially around the Pokemon in the area, namely the Water-types. Vanessa was smiling at seeing the Shellos and Gastrodon around, giving her a sense of nostalgia about her own partner. This feeling would turn to a puzzled one at seeing the Spheal and Sealeo.

"Huh, was not expecting to see those around," She commented.

"The Spheal and Sealeo? What's wrong?" Palina wondered.

"Well, since they are Ice-types, we wouldn't expect to see them on the beach like this," Aubrey answered. "Not that I'm complaining." The Spheal were rolling around the trio without a care in the world, much to their amusement.

"Yeah, that would be it," Vanessa responded while Key played with the Spheal. She would spot Remoraid and Mantyke in the water. "Ah, now those I recognize."

"As do I!" Aubrey beamed. "Aren't the Mantyke adorable?"

"Yeah...they sure are," Palina responded, averting her eyes from the ocean.

"Bad memories?" Vanessa asked, noting the expression Palina was wearing.

The warden nodded. "Ever since the incident, I've been quite...opposed to the idea of getting in the water again. Every time I did, I could swear I heard the cries of the late lord."

Vanessa had a look of understanding. "That is fine. We can take it from here."

"If you say so. I'll go let Irida know," Palina responded, going off to do just that.

"You think what happened shook her up that bad?" Aubrey frowned.

"I think it did…" Vanessa sighed.

"Much as I would like to help her in that respect, rangers, I am merely a saleswoman, not a therapist," Key admitted, her chipper demeanor diminishing for a moment. "It took me a while personally to get used to being on the company's freighter when I was starting out, but over time I had gotten used to it. Not sure if the same can be applied to Palina here."

"Well...maybe time with the Growlithes can help her out with that," Aubrey suggested. "I think?"

"Yeah, I think it will." Vanessa nodded, looking out at the water and then noticed something, her expression showing confusion. "...Wait…what the heck is that?"

"What is it?" Key perked up, now having an interested expression.

"It looks like a Qwilfish...but it's black and less spiky," Vanessa answered.

"It must be another Hisuian variant," Aubrey wagered.

"Yeah." Vanessa would utilize her Arc Styler, scanning the strange Qwilfish. "...Yup…we got a Hisuian Qwilfish...and it can evolve...and it's the same type as a Drapion."

"Poison/Dark? And it can swim around under the sea?" Aubrey blinked in surprise.

"Oh, don't be too surprised, Miss Ranger!" Key laughed. "You could Surf around on a Tauros, can you not?"

"Yuuuup. And a Rhydon," Vanessa seconded.

"Ooooookay. So whatcha thinking, partner?" Aubrey asked.

"Maybe we could, but how should we approach it?" The older ranger then asked.

"I do believe this is a job for me to assist with, no?" Key held Mantine's Poke Ball in hand. "Vanessa, would you like some help getting to the Qwilfish?"

"Sure!" Vanessa agreed.

"Mantine! Some assistance please?" Key called out Mantine, who landed in the water for Vanessa to board. "He'll ferry you out there. Do be careful - there's no telling what lurks in these waters."

"Oh I will. Meanwhile, that guy might be a problem." The Sinnoh native then pointed to an Alpha Octillery, who had been eyeing them ever since they stepped foot on the beach.

"We'll keep it off your back!" Aubrey boasted, Arc Styler at the ready.

"Right!" Key called out Raichu, who was ready to do battle. "We'll keep that Octillery from attacking you out there!"

"Thank you kindly!" Vanessa climbed onto Mantine's back as she headed over to the Hisuian native Qwilfish, along the way dealing with aggressive Remoraid and even spotted a Basculin that also looked native to Hisui, sporting white stripes. "Huh…a white striped Basculin…interesting." The Basculin was too busy with its own swimming to pay Vanessa any mind, as the Qwilfish was more focused on Vanessa herself, having seen her approach. "Ah... You look aggressive don't cha... Well don't mind me. I have the perfect way of dealing with you." She activated her Arc Styler, launching the Capture Disc. "Capture on!"

This Qwilfish proved to be quite wily, including launching a move that Vanessa hadn't seen before with a barrage of poisonous barbs her and the Capture Disc's way - it was certainly something to keep an eye out for, but it wasn't impossible to avoid with Mantine's vigilant movement.

"Thank you, Mantine!" Vanessa complimented, finishing her capture of the Qwilfish, and taming the Hisuian Balloon Pokemon. "OK! Now let's try out this new ball." She would take a Wing Ball and throw it at Qwilfish. The capture went pretty smoothly, floating on the surface of the water and sending off a firecracker signifying a successful catch. "Gotcha!" Mantine would swim over to the Wing Ball, Vanessa kneeling down to grab it out of the water. "There we go. I think Izzy will be happy with this guy."

Back on the beach, the battle against the Alpha Octillery was going as smooth as it could be, Octozooka attacks slamming onto the beach with black ink.

"Key! Let's attack this thing from both sides! It can only attack from its mouth, yeah?" Aubrey called out.

"Way ahead of you, Miss Ranger!" Key responded, with Raichu even helping his trainer with his own electromagnetism, surfing around the right side of Alpha Octillery while Aubrey and Empathy ran to the left side.

"Magical Leaf, Empathy!"

"Thunderbolt, Raichu!"

"RaiiiCHUUUUUUUUU!" Raichu exclaimed.

"Yarr harr hoooooooo!" Empathy teasingly cried.

Both attacks landed, sandwiching Alpha Octillery between two super-effective attacks and made things much easier for Aubrey to finish her capture with her Arc Styler, taming the Alpha.

"Whew! Good work!" Key giggled. "That was such a cool move we did there!"

"Yeah, you're telling me!" Aubrey beamed.

"That Zisu lady sure packs strong moves…I wonder what else she can teach us," Empathy mused, referring to her Magical Leaf by having some leaves circle around her.

"I dunno, but I'm already looking forward to it!" The older ranger responded.

Vanessa would rejoin them, hopping onto the beach as Mantine went back to Key. "Hey!" She greeted them with a wave. "I'm back with our new friend. Also we have white striped Basculin here."

"White striped?" Aubrey raised an eyebrow.

"Ah, that must be the Hisuian exclusive Basculin!" Key perked up in realization.

"Yeah." Vanessa nodded. "Looked neat, that's for sure. Anyway, meet our new friend." She sent out Qwilfish, who like most water dwelling Pokemon, floated above the ground.

"Is she going to be joining our team, Vanessa?" Empathy asked. "Or is there some other reason you caught it?"

"I think for now she is, but our friend Izzy loves Dark-type Pokemon, so I'm hoping we can get the two of them together at some point," The younger ranger answered.

"Izzy..." Empathy paused, thinking for a moment if they mentioned this 'Izzy' to her before.

"She is a ranger like us back home...her and Finn must be worried about the two of us," Vanessa explained.

"I see...all the more reason to help you rangers get home." The Kirlia responded. "I do wonder if I'll be able to see this 'home' of yours. Maybe the rest of us can come."

"Not sure if the big man would allow it, but...hey, ya never know," Aubrey mentioned.

"Exactly," Vanessa concurred. "I think there is a good chance He would. Now let's go check up on Irida and Palina." Recalling their Pokemon, the group would go rejoin Irida and Palina, who were with the two Growlithe playing without a care in the world.

"Okay, so Palina and I were talking about things," Irida began. "And we decided that if you do want to investigate Firespit Island, you've earned my trust to do it."

"Alright! So how're we gonna get there?" Aubrey sounded excited.

"You could always swim out there...but, Iscan would be your best bet to meet Basculegion," Palina explained. "I could show you the way to his dwelling if you want."

"That would be great, thank you!" Vanessa responded positively.

"Okay! C'mon Growlithe, let's go!" Palina clapped her hands to get the Growlithe's attention, the Fire/Rock dogs happily pawing up at her with visible smiles. "You'll still be in the area, Irida?"

"Oh, absolutely. I'm with you on this situation every step of the way, dear friend," Irida warmly responded.

"That's great...really, give it time, and you'll be a great leader. The way you approach our problems does make things nice," Palina mused. "Pretty sure the other clan's leader would've already made a decision with only five seconds of deliberation."

"At the very least his clan hasn't imploded from this style of leadership yet," Irida defended.

"Maybe they'll be a thing by the time we leave here," Key whispered to her friends with a giggle.

"Yeah yeah, we get it," Aubrey dismissed the idea.

"Oh yes," Vanessa chuckled in a low tone. "That would be funny." With that all said, Palina would lead the group out to go meet Iscan, the warden feeling positive as they went out there, but for why, they wouldn't know till they got there.

(Soooooooooo yeah, I knew this took a long time, but I'm the kind of guy who doesn't have a regular schedule, so my upload schedule is 'Whenever the hell I want'. To all of you who don't mind this and stick around regardless of my irregular updates, I appreciate you all from the bottom of my heart. Next time! We'll meet the other warden in the area, have some love, and [spoilers]napping! See ya then!)