Unova Smith and the Legend of the Lost Pokemon
"Are you sure this is the right place?" Tracey nervously asked as the group arrived at a small deserted island on the outskirts of the Orange Archipelago. The only thing of note was a large and ancient temple, quite reminiscent of the ones that laid to the far south of the Unova region. "This place is giving me the creeps..."
"Tox..." Toxel couldn't help but shudder as he gazed towards the ancient temple.
"Well these are the coordinates that we received from Professor Oak." Chloe noted.
"It wouldn't hurt to head up and check, Professor Willow and his expedition team are likely waiting at the base of the temple." Brock suggested.
Ash excitedly punched at the air as he leaped from Lapras' back. "Alright, I can't wait to meet this long lost Pokemon!"
As the group began making their way towards the ancient temple, a small expedition team came into view. The first was the man in the photograph that Oak had sent them, a fairly young Professor as he was at least a good ten years younger than Cerise but about eight or so years older than Ash and his friends. His white hair was shortly trimmed while his lime green and black colored tracksuit made him stick out like a sore thumb, his sneakers matched the color scheme of his tracksuit while a white lab coat laid covered most of it.
"Professor Willow!"
The other two figures glanced towards the group as Ash called out. The first was about a year or two older than Ash and Chloe, his short blonde hair was kept in a scruffy manner while a pair of red trimmed glasses sat before his brown eyes. The younger man wore a white lab coat much like Willow, however his choice of clothing was vastly different as he wore a bright yellow t-shirt that had a picture of a Magnemite designed across the middle while a pair of red jeans covered his legs. The younger man appeared to recognize somebody in the group as he flashed a light smile before offering them a friendly wave.
The third and final member was not much older than Willow as he looked to be in his early thirties. A brown fedora sat atop the man's head while a brown leather jacket covered his upper body. Ash was rather alarmed by the sight of a brown whip that sat upon the man's belt but the lack of Pokeballs caused Ash to quickly calm down, the man also had a rather gruff sounding voice as he could be heard uttering something to Professor Willow before the group got within hearing distance.
"Hey Ash, Chloe, Brock!" Professor Willow greeted, already having been informed of their names. He then sweated lightly upon taking note of Tracey's presence. "Sorry but I wasn't informed that there would be a fourth, greetings I'm Professor Willow!"
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Professor. The name's Tracey!"
"Tracey, eh? That's a nice name." The blonde scientist softly spoke while looking him over with interest causing Tracey to faintly blush.
"Heh..."
"Alright then I believe I should properly introduce myself, the name's Professor Willow. I've been traveling throughout the world in search of a undiscovered Pokemon in an attempt to make a name for myself and I believe that day as come! This is my research assistant, Ren. Though he'll soon be leaving my company to work for some new up and coming Professor going by the name of Cerise."
"That's my dad!" Chloe exclaimed while Ren offered a light smirk.
"I knew you looked familiar."
"Good to hear that he's getting some more assistants, I wonder if he's given out any Pokemon yet." Ash couldn't help but ponder.
"Well least we know Leaf won't be lonely there." Chloe then turned her attention towards the third man. "And I know who you are, my father's mentioned you before. You're Unova Smith, renowned treasure hunter and adventurer!"
"And ladies man too from what I hear." Brock smirked while hoping that the man's luck would rub off on him.
Unova Smith tipped his fedora in greeting before giving Professor Willow a stern look. "I get we needed a trainer to come along with us but did it really have to be kids?"
"Ash comes highly recommended by Professor Oak, I trust his judgement." Professor Willow spoke in Ash's defense. "Besides if we waited for somebody else it could take days, you really want that?"
"I suppose not," Smith grunted while shifting his eyes back towards Ash. "You been in ruins before, kid?"
"Nope." Ash was quick to shake his head.
"Eh, I suppose we all have to start somewhere." Smith sighed while placing his hands into his pockets. "Very well then, stick close to me and don't touch anything unless I say so."
"Okay... so where's this long lost Pokemon supposed to be?" Ash questioned.
"Somewhere deep inside the ancient ruins, Dr. Smith here translated the ancient text within and it describes a Pokemon that doesn't match any known Pokemon in the Pokedex database. It's described as 'small and blobby, a bit jiggly too'."
"...are you sure you're not talking about Ditto?" Chloe couldn't help but question. Ditto had been a recent addition to the Pokedex database, if Willow was out of touch with civilization the past few months it easily could have gone over his head. Though little did they know it would have been impossible for a Ditto to exist back then as technology didn't even exist, Ditto's background was still relatively unknown to the general public with only a few being in the know.
"That's what I thought!" Willow exclaimed with a quick shake of his head while producing a rough sketch from his pocket, the Pokemon shown did look quite similar to Ditto when you looked at the lower half but had a head of sorts, which Ditto lacked, consisting of a singular nut which contained the creature's eye. "Assuming the description's correct, this is what it should look like!"
"Wow, I'd love to sketch that!" Tracey eagerly exclaimed.
"...is that a nut on it's head?" Brock tilted his head.
"It does look a bit like Ditto..." Chloe commented.
"Wow, I can't wait to see it in person!"
"Pika pika!"
"But there's said to be puzzles and guardians within the temple, hence why we need both you and Unova Smith with us." Ren stated.
"Yeah, I don't have Pokemon partners. I only had room in my life for one and they've been dead for a long time now." Smith grunted. "I have no interest in getting another one."
Professor Willow shot a glance towards the sky before gesturing for them to move on with a wave of his hand. "Well let's get a move on shall we?" The group began ascending the temple's stairs with Professor Willow and Unova Smith leading the group as they made their way up towards the entrance to the ruins. Ash and Chloe walked side by side with Chloe walking a bit close to Ash as she couldn't help but feel a bit nerved, Brock was right behind them while Tracey hung back with Ren.
Immediately upon entering the temple, they found themselves in a fairly large room that contained the remains of a statue. The statue was that of a Pokemon but which one? It was hard to say as the Pokemon's figure had crumbled to dust, it did have wings based on what remained visible but they didn't strike any bells with Ash. "A Pokemon..."
"Yeah, a statue of a Pokemon. Don't see how it's relevant though, that Pokemon's likely dead by now." Smith dismissed with a wave of his hand while taking a step towards what was obviously a passageway currently sealed behind a wall. "'Inside lays treasure that a great evil once sought to rule the world. To get further into the ruins, one must complete a series of trials and puzzles to prove one's worth. Are you ready to prove your worth to the heroes of old? If so, say the magic word and enter!' ...what magic word?" Smith grunted while looking the entire wall over. "There's no 'magic' word here."
"Why not try 'please'?" Chloe suggested.
"Oh please, that'll never-" Smith went quiet as the wall began lowering behind him. He sweated before lightly lowering his fedora as he walked into the next room which contained yet another group of stairs, this one leading below and further into the temple.
"Well that was convenient." Brock sweated.
"Stairs... why did it have to be stairs?" Ren sighed out while following the others deeper into the ruin.
As soon as they reached the next floor, a large statue of an bipedal fox Pokemon came into view. Another statue laid beside it in ruin, whatever the Pokemon was it was impossible to tell. Ash's attention flickered back towards the fox Pokemon as he retrieved his Rotom Phone. He silently prayed that it'd still get service and fortunately he was in luck as a singular bar was displayed.
'Zoroark the Illusion Fox Pokemon, bonds between these Pokemon are very strong. It protects the safety of its pack by tricking its opponents.'
"Zoroark, so that's what you are... but what's a statue of it doing here? It says they aren't found in Kanto/Johto or the Orange Islands." Ash tilted his head.
"Maybe there were Zoroark here a long time ago but they died out?" Chloe shrugged. She wasn't fond of the idea but it wasn't unheard of, some wild species simply couldn't survive in other regions.
"Illusion... like Ditto?" Tracey couldn't help but question.
"Yes and no, Zoroark's transformation is temporary and only lasts until the caster is struck. It can give you quite the advantage on the battlefield though as Zoroark could mislead you into using a Psychic attack on him, giving him the edge!" Willow informed while Unova Smith cast a look around the open room before approaching another wall to read the ancient text.
"'Here comes a challenge from the Hero of Ideals and Hero of Truth, if you wish to earn the first piece of the puzzle and progress further into the temple then you must complete our trial by solving this simple question. What is the greatest treasure of all?"
"What kind of question is that?" Ash asked with a tilt of his head.
"An easy one, love." Smith simply responded with a brief look of regret. "No greater treasure than that, kid. Trust me." The Zoroark statue came to life and gave a light nod before crumbling apart to reveal a small black cube. Unova Smith began looking the cube and the structure it sat upon over as he looked for potential traps while Ash began stepping forward as if he were in a trance.
'Help me. Let me out!' His hand slowly began reaching for the box, his fingers slowly grazed against it as a light began surrounding the box.
"Kid, don't!"
"Ash, what are you doing?! You don't know what that thing is!" Chloe anxiously cried out. Ash shook his head as Chloe's words dragged him back to reality, he glanced around with a confused expression before gasping out as the light caught his attention.
"What-?" The light engulfed the room, temporarily blinding everyone present as they shielded their eyes.
"Ah!" As the light faded away, a small Pokemon could be seen standing where the black box once stood. It's appearance greatly matched that of the sketch but upon closer examination it was quite obvious that the species wasn't Ditto, the lower half was a grey colored blob while the nut was grafted to the top and contained the species' singular eye.
"Melt? Melt! Meltan!" The species beamed before leaping into Ash's arm to give him a hug.
"Huh? Y-You're welcome..." Ash sweated as he could only guess what Meltan was attempting to say.
"Meltan, eh? Well that's a perfect name for the species!" Professor Willow remarked before shooting his gaze towards a set of passageways that opened up across the room. "I wonder if there's more further in."
"There must be, I mean what else would be here?" Ren shrugged.
"Melt!" Meltan eagerly pointed down the rightmost passageway as if to confirm their suspicions. Ash followed Meltan's gaze while clenching his fists. "Well if Meltan's friends are down there, I say we help them out!"
"Pika pika!"
"Tox tox!" Pikachu and Toxel chimed in agreement.
"Melt..." Meltan gazed up towards Ash with an admirable tone.
"Ash is right, we can't just leave if there's more down there. They're probably scared and desperate to be free!" Chloe exclaimed.
"Right, I say we go on ahead. At first I thought this Meltan was the only one of it's kind but it sounds as if there's others!" Professor Willow exclaimed while gesturing towards the passageway. "Smith, lead the way!"
"W-Whoa!" Ash and Chloe exclaimed as the ground crumbled loose beneath of them. Unova Smith was quick to turn around, grabbing hold of his whip before lashing out, the whip quickly surrounded Ash and Chloe and tightened around them before pulling them to the safety of the ground. Tracey and Ren nervously glanced towards the ground beneath their feet while Brock cautiously took a step forward before lightly testing the floor.
"Mind your step everyone, it appears the floor might not be entirely stable." Smith warned. Much to Ash and Chloe's relief, Brock and Croagunk soon caught up with them without trouble.
"You two okay?"
"Yeah, we're fine." Ash spoke up.
"I'm a bit shaken but alright." Chloe's head leaned against Ash's shoulder while her body lightly shivered.
"Ah!" Tracey shouted out as he began falling through a forming hole.
"Gotcha!" Ren grunted out, quickly dropping to his knees while outstretching his arm to grab hold of Tracey's before he could fall to his doom. Ren grunted and tried pulling Tracey up but didn't appear to have the muscle, Brock and Willow rushed over to lend their aid and helped Ren pull Tracey up resulting in Tracey falling into Ren's arms as he got yanked up.
"Off..." Tracey grunted out before gazing up towards Ren, his cheeks glowed a faint red color as he looked into Ren's eyes. "You saved me..."
Ren couldn't help but blush as their eyes met. "Well I couldn't let you fall..."
Brock helped the pair to their feet. "I'm all for romance but we really should get out of this hall before the rest of the floor gives."
"Right." Tracey and Ren gave a quick nod while giving each other longing looks.
The group cautiously advanced before stepping foot into another room, much like the previous room this one also contained a statue however it was the only statue within the room and completely intact. Chloe was quick to notice the colorization of the statue.
"Emerald... wait a moment, the other statues were black and white! What's with the inconsistent color scheme?"
"Unfortunately whoever wrote the text doesn't provide an answer but this 'hero' is referred to as the Emerald Hero. Perhaps the color schemes matches that of these 'heroes'?" Smith shrugged.
"Well I recognize the Pokemon in this statue, it's a Lucario!" Ash exclaimed.
"Another foreign species." Brock remarked while stroking his chin with a thoughtful expression. "But if they are 'heroes', why did they lock Meltan and his friends away?"
"If one wishes to continue they must pass the Emerald Hero's trial. Mother nature can be a cruel mistress, Fire and Water are both sources of natural disasters but when put to the extreme which of the two forces is stronger than the other? Is it fire that can burn down villages and forests in a single afternoon or is it water that can ravage and flood the lands, destroying homes and the natural environment alike?"
"Huh..." Brock tilted his head as he thought the question over. Chloe and Professor Willow similarly looked thoughtful as it sounded like a trick question.
"Wouldn't it be fire?" Ash answered.
"Kid..." Unova Smith facepalmed.
The Emerald Lucario shook his head before leaping off from it's platform, swinging it's bone club in a wild and savage fashion as it tried striking Ash down! "Whoa!" Ash ducked and rolled with the club just narrowly missing his forehead!
"Ash, emeralds can scratch easily! Send out Sandslash or somebody that can pack a powerful punch!" Chloe shouted out.
"Powerful punch...? Primeape I choose you!" Ash shouted while tossing a ball forward.
"PRIMEAPE!" The ape furiously screeched while bursting from the ball. The monkey shot a quick glance towards the statue before striking with his fist, shattering it to pieces with a singular blow. "Prime... ape..." Primeape heavily panted while shooting an eager glance around the room as he desired to punch something else. His eyes then laid upon a black box that laid in the rubble of the emerald. Primeape raised up his fist as he prepared to strike.
"Primeape return!" Ash hastily called out as he worried what would happen if Primeape did break the box. "Don't worry Primeape, there'll be a chance for you to fight something soon. I promise."
"Melt!" Meltan eagerly raced towards the box before giving it a light touch as he attempted to free his friend but strangely enough nothing happened.
"Huh?" Chloe raised an eyebrow. "But last time..."
"Ash touched it and it opened?" Tracey looked puzzled.
"...Ash, try touching this one." Ren suggested.
Ash looked just as puzzled as his friends and shrugged his shoulders before giving the box a soft and gentle tap, much like before the box lit up and began glowing before fading away to reveal the Pokemon within however it wasn't just one Meltan this time... it was five!
"Whoa!" Chloe leaped back from the startling reveal while Brock scratched at his head.
"Just how many of you are there?" Ash question Meltan.
"Melt!"
"Melt!"
"Meltan!"
"Melt!" The Meltan beamed before gesturing towards a final passageway that began opening up, suggesting that the rest laid within the next room.
Professor Willow looked the Meltan over before uttering a light laugh. "Well this species just gets more interesting by the second, I can't help but wonder if these little guys have an evolution."
"An evolution?" Ash tilted his head as he had trouble picturing what an evolution of the species would resemble. His eyes then lit up as he thought back to the trial. "Oh right, what was the answer to the riddle?"
"It was both." Smith spoke with a light grunt. "Both can cause a great amount of suffering and loss, neither one is a preferable fate. Both are equally terrible." The group began making their way into the next room, unlike the previous ones there wasn't a set of stairs or a long hallway they simply stepped into the next room. Another passageway laid nearby, likely the one that Meltan avoided going down.
Two statues laid at the center of the room, one was simply a pile of silver rubble while the other?
"Ho-oh!" Ash loudly exclaimed.
"Pika pi!"
"Tox...?" Toxel tilted his head in a cute manner as this was the first time the Pokemon's name was brought up since his arrival.
"Solid gold..." Unova Smith gave the statue a lick before giving it a nod of approval. He didn't seem as interested in Ho-oh as the others but then he didn't seem to share their interest in Pokemon. "We should get this to a museum."
"Ho-oh?" Ren and Tracey all gave Ash looks of confusion and curiosity while Willow tilted his head.
"How is it that you know about Ho-oh?" Willow asked.
"Pikachu and I saw it back when we started our adventure all those months ago, it was flying through the sky after we scared off my Fearow's old flock. I wasn't sure what it was but upon scanning it, it turns out to be a Pokemon that nobody saw for thousands of years!"
"Pika pi!" Pikachu nodded in confirmation.
"I don't believe it..." Ren shook his head with a dubious expression. "You sure you didn't accidentally swipe the wrong button?"
"Nope it was Ho-oh and I'll prove it!" Ash pulled out his Rotom Phone and began hastily scrolling through the 'seen' section, his thumb unintentionally rested over Mewtwo as his image scrolled past, before stopping to showcase Ho-oh's entry. "See?"
Professor Willow and Ren leaned forward before gasping from shock. "Oh my, you did see Ho-oh!"
"My apologies." Ren hastily bowed.
"Must have been some luck, seeing an incredibly rare Pokemon like that on your first day as a Pokemon trainer!" Tracey exclaimed with a slightly jealous tone.
"Was it luck? Or was it fate?" Smith spoke while gesturing towards a bronze statue that sat against the room's northernmost wall, the head was chopped cleanly off but soon be seen laying next to the statue's feet. The face looked strikingly familiar causing Chloe to gasp out.
"It's you!"
"It can't be..." Brock trailed off.
"Think about it, Meltan couldn't open the box but Ash could. It's clear that he's the descendant of the Rainbow Hero this room mentions, Ho-oh's probably watching over him out of respect for his ancestor." Smith explained.
"That does sound plausible..." Ash trailed off though he couldn't help but feel as if there was more to it than that.
"Melt!" The Meltan all eagerly pointed towards the statue causing the group to divert from the subject course.
"Oh right, I bet there's more of you inside!" Willow exclaimed while turning towards Unova Smith. "Smith, what does the text say?"
"'Here lays the final trial, by now you have gathered up the Meltan that we locked away for their own protection. A long time ago there was this great evil known as Yveltal, he wiped out the majority of Melmetal and Meltan for pure sport and would gladly have continued down that path had we not locked them away, with their consent of course. However upon the Rainbow Hero's passing, the Meltan remained locked away as only he had the power to free them. Try as we might we just couldn't free them. And here lays the final treasure, behind this door lays a great treasure of great value and power. But you must first defeat the room's guardian to earn it's respect and undying loyal, only then will the treasure room open up. So says the Emerald Hero and the Heroes of Truth and Ideals."
"Yveltal...?" Ash pulled out his Rotom Phone but there wasn't any relevant data on display. "Who or what is a Yveltal?"
"What does it matter, whoever they are they were defeated a long time ago and are long since dead." Smith simply shrugged it off. "Now how about we focus on freeing Meltan's friends so we can get out of here and get this Ho-oh statue to a museum?"
"You want to lug that statue out of here?" Ren sweated.
"It belongs in a museum!" Smith exclaimed.
"The text mentioned a guardian... did it mean the statue? The emerald Lucario did come to life." Chloe suggested.
"I'm not sure..." Brock gave the Ho-oh statue a firm knock. "It sounds pretty solid to me."
"Well then wh-" Ash went silent as the Meltan held hands and began circling around the Ho-oh statue while excitedly chanting out.
"Meltan..."
"Melt..."
"Meltan..." A bright blue light engulfed the Meltan's bodies causing everyone to gasp out as the six Meltan began morphing into a singular large and bulky being. It retained his grey color scheme but his body had grown solid and no longer jiggled about, the nut atop his head had grown along with the rest of his body but another large nut formed around his neck while several large black bolts wrapped around his arms and shoulders.
"M-Melmetal!" The newly evolved Pokemon cried out before turning it's attention towards Ash while getting into a combat stance.
"Melmetal... of course!" Professor Willow snapped his fingers. "Meltan must evolve by combining with other Meltan, much like Magnemite fuse into Magneton or Dreepy fuse into Drakloak and Dragapult!"
"Dreepy?" Ash didn't understand that reference but he did catch onto what was happening. "You're the guardian?"
"Melmetal!" The newly evolved Pokemon gave a swift nod while remaining in a combat stance.
Ash looked the species over, it was newly discovered so he didn't have much to go on but based on the looks he had to wager that it was a Steel type. "Okay then, if it's a battle you want then it's a battle you'll get! Primeape I choose you!"
"Primeape!" Primeape rapidly punched at the air as he burst from his ball.
"Mel!" Melmetal began rapidly spinning his body while extending his arms before shooting off across the field where he began repeatedly bashing his fists against Primeape's forehead causing the monkey to utter out furious sounding grunts.
"Prime..." Primeape grunted out, his eyes began turning bloodshot red as he shot a glare towards Melmetal.
"Whoa, what move was that?!" Chloe exclaimed.
"No known move, that's for sure." Willow remarked while thoughtfully stroking his chin. "How about we call it, Double Iron Bash?"
"Close Combat!" Ash shouted.
"Prime!" Primeape lunged forward and began rapidly punching his fists against Melmetal's body from a close distance causing the titan to grunt out in pain before retaliating. Electricity crackled around Melmetal's body before firing off in a large electrical bolt, the bolt shot through the air before making contact with Primeape's body. "Prime!" The monkey angrily screeched as electricity surged through his veins. "Prime... prime..."
As usual Primeape only looked more ticked off than worn out, each successful attack only further enraged Primeape and made him stronger!
"It knows Thunderbolt?" Ash questioned with a light tilt of his head. "Focus Punch!"
Primeape took a deep breath although Primeape didn't show it, Melmetal did hit pretty hard. Primeape's right fist glowed a bright blue color as he pulled it back, his eyes locked directly onto Melmetal as he uttered out a loud angry screech before shooting forward to punch the titan's chest! Melmetal grunted out as Primeape's blow sent him flying back, sending him towards the golden statue which soon turned to a pile of rubble as Melmetal's body collapsed against it.
Unova Smith opened his mouth as if he were about to protest before closing it while performing a light shrug.
"Mel..." Melmetal groaned out, it's singular eye turned to a swirl as he laid against the ruin's floor.
"Alright Primeape, you did it!"
"Pi Pikachu!"
"Toxel tox tox!"
"Primeape!" Primeape beamed at his teammate's praise before returning to his Pokeball while Ash reached for an empty one before giving it a good throw. The ball swooped through the air before opening as it approached Melmetal's body. Melmetal soon disappeared in a beam of red light as he was absorbed into the Pokeball, which began to shake back and forth for a short while before eventually chiming out to mark the capture as complete!
"Unknown species acquired. Sending to Professor Oak for analysis!" Rotom Phone exclaimed from Ash's pocket as Melmetal's ball whisked away in a beam of bright white light. The final room opened up as Melmetal's ball disappeared, giving way to the treasure room.
"The treasure room!" Brock exclaimed.
"I wonder what's inside?" Chloe couldn't help but wonder. "The three heroes acted like it was a pretty big deal."
"Well let's find out-What the heck? The room's empty!" Ash exclaimed upon coming across an empty room. Everyone else quickly entered and began looking around, even running their hands against the walls as if there were a secret passageway but to no avail. If there was any treasure to begin with, it was long gone.
"How disrespectful..." The possessed Rex sneered at the sight of the ruined Yvetal statue. Shadow Raichu followed him into the next room where they quickly laid waste to the statue with Raichu's Iron Tail, unlocking the pathway to the next room where they came across a ruby and sapphire colored Lucario. Yveltal was supposed to 'choose' but didn't have the time for it so he blew both up with Shadow Raichu's Hyper Beam attack, unlocking the final passageway to which he laid waste to a silver statue causing another Melmetal to burst free from it's confinement. The Melmetal tried to attack but one quick Flamethrower from Dragonite downed it, and Raichu began chopping away at it's body with Iron Tail while Rex advanced. Nothing but nuts and bolts remained, hidden within the remains of the silver statue. As Rex entered the treasure room, a bright green and yellow light surrounded his face as he eyed the treasure within.
"The Jewel of Life, perfect!" Yveltal cackled out. "Soon my plans will come to fruition..." By the time Professor Willow, Ren, and Unova Smith arrived, Yveltal was long gone.
"Oh boy, a new Pokemon!" Oak exclaimed upon seeing his transport machine light up. "I wonder what Ash caught to-Arceus almighty! What are you?!" Oak couldn't help but exclaim at the sight of Melmetal.
"Melmetal!" Melmetal beamed down at Oak before pulling him into a tight hug forcing Oak to let out a grunt before breaking off into a light chuckle.
"My you're a strong one, aren't you? I can't wait to learn more about you."
"Melmetal!"
"Thanks so much for your assistance today kids," Professor Willow smiled at the group as they stood at the island's shore. Willow, Unova Smith and Ren stood next to Professor Willow's boat while Ash and the gang beside Lapras. "There may not have been a treasure but we got to rescue a long lost Pokemon!"
"The battle alone was worth it for me!" Ash exclaimed while clenching his fists. "I can't wait to see what else Melmetal has in store!"
"Take good care of him and don't worry, Oak will keep me posted on whatever you learn about it."
"So you'll leaving, eh?" Tracey couldn't help but frown as Ren stepped towards the boat.
"Yep, I start at Professor Cerise's in a few days..." Ren shot a longing glance towards the ground before brightening up as he looked back towards Tracey. "I know, why don't you come work for him? I'm sure you'll love it!"
Tracey blushed lightly while shooting a glance towards his friends. "I'd love to but I already made a promise to my friends that I'd help them navigate through the Orange Islands. But I promise that once our journey comes to an end, I'll head to Vermillion City and meet up with you!"
"I'll hold you to that," Ren smiled while taking hold of Tracey's hand, the two stared longingly into each other's eyes for a moment before separating as they made their way towards their respective rides.
"What about you, Unova Smith?" Brock questioned. "Where will you go next?"
"Wherever adventure awaits, kid. There are plenty of treasures out there to discover and I intend on finding them!" Unova Smith tipped his fedora to them as he bade the group farewell. "So long kids, good luck on your adventure."
The groups waved and gave each other a final farewell before climbing aboard their rides as they continued towards their respective destinations.
"Alright, next stop Navel Island!"
"Pi Pikachu!"
It was too early to bring in Brandon so I couldn't resist making an Indiana Jones spoof. I loved Indiana Jones. I avoided showing what will be Hilda's signature Pokemon as I'd like to refrain from making it a starter if possible. Ash has Pikachu, the Emerald Hero has Lucario, N has Zoroark... but I'm keeping my options open as I feel that by the time I get to Unova, Legends Full Dragon will (hopefully) be revealed and released! There's no rush on picking her ace :)
But yeah, Melmetal was that Pokemon I was hinting about. Ash has a genderless species now
Next time, Sky Battle at Navel Island! Won't be terribly long as it's two vs two, I'm not having Charizard job so he's sitting it out.