"I want to see the Pokémon Alex has battlebond with!", Bunny would not shut up about Alex having battlebond since the five had left Kat's house. Alex stared at his girlfriend who seemed to shrink under his gaze. Kat would mouth "I'll make it up to you later" as a way of her apologizing for throwing her boyfriend under the bus. But what was Kat to do? She had to help out her best friend and if Alex was to be the victim then so be it. Bunny was practically tugging at Alex's belt to unlock whatever the Pokémon was. Alex slapped Bunny's hand away which caused Bunny to frown. She just really wanted to see this pseudo legendary that he had apparently really bonded with. So much so that he had received the great gift of Battlebond from it. Only those with true love between themselves and Pokémon had been able to access Battlebond so Bunny wanted to see what the Pokémon looked like that had managed to have such a connection with Alex. Bunny would stop as the others were headed to the catching area. She folded her arms across her meager chest and proceeded to stomp her feet. "Come on Alex! Melody has seen and Kat has seen it? Why can't I see the Pokémon that you have battlebond with!", Ava actually wanted to see it as well. What Pokémon had Alex caught.
Alex was really pissed at Kat. He glared at her as she continued to shrink and turn red. He sighed as he reached towards his belt, "fine, I will show you Venus." Alex reaches towards his pokebelt and grabbed the pseudo legendary's pokeball. He tossed the pokeball into the air as Bunny and Ava watched with interest. Venus would emerge from the pokeball as the grass and ice type eeveelution immediately went over to her beloved trainer and rubbed against his legs. "Glasolemos.", Venus cooed as she continued to rub against Alex. Venus would then walk over to Kat and Melody and rub against them as well. She knew these two girls as friends of Alex so they were friends of hers as well. Venus then noticed Bunny and Ava she tilted her head as she looked at the two new trainers. "Glas?", she looked at Alex to see if it was ok to walk over to the two females. Venus didn't know if she was to battle or if she was here to show off to the female trainers. Alex pet the pseudo legendary and smiled, "go ahead, Venus. Bunny is nice, Ava not so much." Ava flipped Alex off and rolled her eyes. Of course Alex would spread lies like that about her.
Bunny ran towards Venus and hugged her, "she's so adorable. Why do you get to have her?" The Glasolemos was utterly confused as to why this female was hugging her. Her blue eyes looked over at Alex who just shrugged. This was just Bunny. She was very touchy freely when it came to Pokémon that she found adorable. She clearly found Venus adorable as she stroked her fur. The creature felt cold which made sense since she was an ice and grass type afterall. "Oh Venus, why don't you abandon Alex and come to me? I'm a much better trainer than Alex. You can join my team with Ribes and the others. Come on what do you say?", now Bunny had crossed the long. Venus would never leave Alex! He was destined to be her trainer she was convinced of this. Venus pulled away from Bunny and ran back over to Alex as she cowered behind his legs, "Glas, Glas!" Venus whimpered behind Alex. Venus did not like Bunny or how she was acting at all. Alex just chuckled, "it's ok girl. Bunny was just kidding. She knows better than to take you away from me. Sometimes she just gets a bit too enthusiastic about a Pokémon she likes. It's a compliment to how beautiful and amazing you are. You'll learn to love Bunny just like you love Kat." Venus nodded as Alex had never been wrong before. Still this little girl seemed to be really and truly enamored with Venus.
Ava sat back to watch the interactions between Alex and Venus. There were certain cues that a trainer and Pokémon with Battlebond had. It just wasn't when a trainer was in battle. The connection was always with a trainer and a Pokémon. They were always connected as she had found out with Grace. Ava wanted to see if Alex and his new Pokémon had that connection with him that Kat claimed they did. Ava could see that the Glasolemos would not leave Alex's side instead she was always around him. This was how Grace was when she and Ava had initially had discovered that they had Battlebond. So that was one check in that column. Ava's eyes continued to follow Alex and Venus, she could see that their breathing was in sync as were their movements. When Alex would step so would the Glasolemos and vise versa. This was another check mark in the column of Alex having Battlebond. And of course Ava could feel that there was some strong aura coming from Alex and his Glasolemos. It was hard to explain unless one had Battlebond. It was just a vibe and connection that those with it could feel someone else that had it. Alex and Venus' connection was weak, but still it was clear that they had it. Ava was absolutely stunned: Alex definitely had Battlebond.
Kat sighed, "guys we aren't here just to admire Alex and his Pokémon. He got a Hariyama too. Remember we are here to take Melody to the catching area. We have to go." Kat had to admit that she was a bit jealous of authentic attention Alex was getting. She had a mega stone! Yet no one seemed interested in seeing Kat's mega Swellow. This made the black haired beauty absolutely upset. Plus she knew that her boyfriend would get a big head by all this attention he was receiving. Melody, meanwhile, did not seem to mind that they were looking at Venus. Melody just wanted to watch the group of friends interact with each other. She had no idea how people interacted with each other as friends. She was like a child in that sense. All The Righteous did was torture or argue with one another. Get a mission and rush out to beat someone to go and do it. That was not normal and she knew it. She had tried to interact with Kat and Alex, but she knew she was incredibly awkward. Plus she knew that they only knew her as the girl that had been crying a lot. She didn't want to be known as that so she wanted to actually interact with the. Melody also took Dexter's words to heart about sticking by them. So she wanted to watch and see how they interacted. "Babe, don't be jealous. I know you want to show off your Mega Stone, but that'll come in time.", Kat started to mock Alex under her breath. He recalled Venus to her pokeball to make Kat happy.
The group would then head over to the official catching area designated by The Institute. They had done this because they did not want the students wandering too far around campus and battling extremely dangerous Pokémon. Of course there was an unofficial catching area that most of the older students knew about which was where they were taking Melody. It had actually been Kat that had known about this area first and shown the others it. This was where Kat had been training her Pokémon against stronger mons. It was the perfect spot for Melody to catch some Pokémon. The official catching area was just a open field, there was no interesting terrain or any of the sort. But the forbidden area, which was gated off, was more rocky which was perfect for hiding rock, steel, etc types. "Come on", Kat motioned for everyone to follow her as she would lead them through the hole in the gate. All five of them would be able to fit through the gate as they entered the off limits area. The area was quite rocky, but there were large amounts of Pokémon that could be seen. "I thought you would want a but if a challenge, Melody.", Kat said.
Melody nodded. She did want to really test herself. The sixteen year old was not going to use Twilight. She didn't know how Ava and Bunny would react to Melody having a legendary Pokémon. Plus Melody still had some trust issues with people. Of course she was damaged when it came to relationships. She knew she could trust Kat and Alex, but she had just met Ava and Bunny. Melody was not sure a hundred percent sure she could trust the two girls. Yes, they were friends with Kat and Alex, but still Melody had wanted to see how they would act around her. Melody had been burned by people she had thought would be friends before. She had thought that initially she could be friends with Marcia which turned out to be a horrific mistake. So Melody did not want to make that mistake again. She could not afford to do that with Ava and Bunny. Plus, she did wanted to train her Victreebel because she had not trained him in years. The sixteen year old smiled at Kat, "so what makes this area so tough?"
Kat and the three other Institute students looked at each other. It was Ava that would finally explain what was so special about this area. "It's where all the tough Pokémon allowed on campus reside. It's a real challenge as you never know what Pokémon is going to pop out of the ground or from behind the rocks. Kat and I have trained here quite a bit to make ourselves stronger. There are some really challenging Pokémon here. There's one in particular that has even taken Kat and I out, it's a tough Pokémon.", Ava rolled her eyes as Kat mumbled something about how Ava had been the one to be wiped out by the Pokémon and not Kat. Ava's red and blue eyes trained on her closest and best friends, "really Catherine? Then why don't you go and try to take that Pokémon in again. Go on show Melody how much of a badass you are. Come on, we're waiting." Kat didnt say anything. She knew that Ava was right. Plus Kat didn't want to face THAT Pokémon again. It was a horrifying Pokémon.
Melody was just going to ask what the Pokémon was, but suddenly the ground underneath all of them began to shake. Kat and Ava started to turn a little pale as they knew what the Pokémon that was coming. The Pokémon that had tormented so many trainers at The Institute. Arguably one of the strongest Pokémon any of them had come across. The shaking of the ground continued to shake from whatever Pokémon was coming. Melody had to admit that she was excited to see what this Pokémon was that had defeated Ava and Kat. Melody knew that Kat was extremely strong, she had seen it up close herself. So for a Pokémon to have defeated her team meant the Pokémon had to be really strong. Melody's fingers hovered over her Victreebel's pokeball as she cracked her neck to see what Pokémon would emerge. Her blue eyes followed the hole in the ground that was slowly making its way towards the students. Kat, Ava, Bunny, and Alex all stepped back as they knew what was coming. The Pokémon finally emerged from the ground as it popped out in all of its glory. "Steelix!", the creature cried as it stared at Melody.
This wasn't an ordinary Steelix, this was an Avantura version. The creature had red eyes, but that wasn't the most interesting part. The creature had a giant magnet on its head. Melody's blue eyes widened as she came to the realization of what type this Steelix was. "It's steel-electric", she said as she looked at the others for confirmation. Ava and Kat nodded to confirm that her observations were correct. It was indeed a steel type, but with this added electric type it was going to be a real challenge. This typing had rocked Gale on Kat's team as Kat hadn't expected the Steelix to have electric attacks which was why Gale had been battered by the Steelix. Ava's fairy types had been hurt and defeated by the steel typing too. They had no idea how to beat the Pokémon. Kat would pass her Pokédex phone to Melody so she could get more information on the creature. Plus Melody needed to know exactly what the attacks her Victreebel had. She had last used him when he was a Victreebel and now needed to know some information on her beloved Pokémon. Melody moved the Pokédex in front of the Steelix to learn some more about this terrifying looking Pokémon.
"Avantura Steelix, a steel and electric type. This one is a female. Avantura Steelix are extremely territorial. It uses its magnet on top of its head to consume its energy. They have been known to attack random people who get too close to their territory. They will not stop fighting until they faint. This one has defeated over 20 different trainers. Good luck.", no one had known the Pokédex to ever wish anyone good luck. Which meant that this was going to be a very tough battle. That was fine with Melody as she wanted to see what The Institute had to offer. The former blonde pulled out her Victreebel's pokeball and tossed the creature out. The Victreebel emerged and did not concern himself with the Steelix rather he just hopped over to Melody and rubbed against the girl. It had been so long since he had actually interacted with her that didn't involve him attacking her. But Melody looked at the Victreebel with a serious look which made him nervous. "Victreebel, I need you to listen. I need to battle with you. We haven't battled before, but I believe in you and we have to take that big Pokémon down. Just you and me. Are you up for it?", the Victreebel nodded enthusiastically. He was ready for whatever Melody had in store for him.
Of course Ava and Bunny wanted to see what this Melody Monet was about. Kat and Alex just looked at each other, they knew that she had tremendous potential as a trainer. They had seen it and now Bunny and Ava would see it too. Melody had quickly looked at her Victreebel's information on the Pokédex and had memorized the attacks that the Victreebel knew. The Steelix did not wait for Melody to call out an attack or set anything up. The highly aggressive Pokémon had buried itself under the ground as it set up a dig attack. Luckily Melody knew that her Victreebel could out maneuver the heavy steel type, "Victreebel, jump into the air and avoid the dig attack. Then when the Steelix pops up use strength sap." The Victreebel did just as Melody had said as the Steelix popped up. Melody's Victreebel was not hit by the dig attack rather the Victreebel would land a strength sap attack which lowered the attack power of the Steelix. This was all part of Melody's strategy. She was going to cause this Steelix to be worn down by the end of the battle.
The Steelix, however, was not one to be messed with. The electric and steel type opened her mouth as a horrifying sound came out of the creature's mouth. "Victreebel!", the grass and poison type screamed out in pain. Melody even grabbed hold of her ears at the noise of the horrific noise from the Steelix. Even the other four students were grabbing their ears at the noise. "Victreebel, Victreebel! You have to listen to me! Try to fight through the noise, I know it's hard but you can do it!", of course Melody knew that this was all for nothing. The Victreebel could not hear his trainer's commands. This made it vulnerable for the next attack from the Steelix. The powerful Steelix would then toss the Victreebel up in the air as Melody watched with terror on her face. The Steelix would then hit the Victreebeel with a gyro ball that sent the Victreebel crashing into the ground. Melody ran a hand through her now short hair as she tried to figure out what to do next. This Steelix was extremely tough and vicious, she needed a way to counter it. That was how Melody battled: she liked to go on counters when she could. That was how Dexter had battled and Melody had copied his battling style.
Then Melody felt the warm sun on her face as her blue eyes widened, the sun was perfect for Victreebel. The grass type could probably outspeed the Steelix which would fit into what Melody had wanted to do. "Victreebel, use strength sap again!", yes they had to try and drain the powerful Pokémon down especially when it went on the attack. The Victreebel again absorbed some of the Steelix's attacking strength which pissed the might creature off. The Steelix again tried to go for another gyro ball attack, but the Victreebel was easily able to dodge the attack thanks to the increased speed of the grass and poison Pokémon. Melody smiled as now she was ready to finally go on the offensive during this battle, "Victreebel use power whip!" The grass Pokémon nodded as Victreebel summoned a large whip as he landed a power whip attack on the steel type Pokémon. In fact a dent emerged in the Steelix's armor from the power whip attack. Melody smiled.
Ava and Bunny were impressed, especially Ava. She knew that Dexter was a great battler. She had studied him all of last year after she had initial met him. The brunette could see that Melady had a bit of her brother's style. Still her's was still unique in a sense. Melody seemed a little bit more methodical than her brother. Dexter would have never have waited to get out such a powerful attack on the Steelix. He would have countered and then kept countering with powerful offensive attacks. Ava and Bunny continued to watch as the Steelix tried to use metal sound again, but this time the Victreebel was not as worried about listening to his trainer as before. The Victreebel had kept pounding away at the Steelix with the power whip attack as Melody watched on. "She's as smart as Kat is in battle", Bunny would say as Ava nodded. Kat was far and away one of the best strategy battlers out there, even Ava had to admit that. But Melody right now would even give Kat a run for her money. Ava wondered what would happen if Melody actually battled one of them. Who would walk out as the best of the best. Ava wanted to see if if she matched up with Melody.
The Steelix would get a reprieve as it used dig to regain its strength. Melody told her Victreebel to jump into the air to avoid the dig, but the Steelix had outsmarted Melody on this occasion. As the Victreebel leapt up, Steelix stuck her head out of the hole she had dug and fired off a gyro ball that hit the Victreebel. The Venus flytrap Pokémon hit the ground hard as the Steelix went back underground. Melody's Victreebel struggled to get back up as Melody looked concerned. This Pokémon was really tough. Melody knew that she had to do something to beat this Steelix. All of her new friends were watching, Melody could not lose to the Steelix. She had to find a way to beat it as she searched and searched her memory for any attacks that could work against the steel Pokémon. That was when her blue eyes widened at the realization of what attack would work against the Steelix as she got a smirk on her face. Melody knew exactly what attack would work against the tough Pokémon.
"Victreebel, when the Steelix pops up again, use hidden power.", the Victreebel nodded as he waited for the Steelix to come back up. It was a waiting game and Melody was willing to be patient. This was like fishing and Melody remembered what Dexter had taught her about fishing that she could not force it. She had to wait it out. The same thing applied to how she would have to wait out this Steelix. After about a minute the Steelix emerged from the ground as she looked at Melody and the Victreebel. The Steelix's mouth was filled with electricity as she charged towards the grass and poison type. Melody took a deep breath as this was what she wanted, she just hoped that it would work this time. "Victreebel, use hidden Power!", the plant Pokémon nodded as flames began to shoot out of its mouth. The Steelix looked on horrified as the flames struck her right in the head as she clamped down on the Victreebel. The flames from the attack would engulf both of them as the creatures both wailed in pain. Everyone watched absolutely stunned.
"Victreebel!", Melody cried. There was panic on her face as she watched the flames start to die down. She was panicked as she didn't want to lose her Pokémon. Not after what they had just endured together. The Victreebel had to be ok, she rushed over to where the flames were as she saw that the Victreebel was burnt to a crisp, but still standing. He was barely holding onto consciousness as he looked at his opponent. The mighty Steelix had fallen! Ava, Bunny, Kat, and Alex's eyes widened at the sight that the Steelix had been defeated. Melody had actually done it as Kat and Ava looked at one another in complete and utter shock. They were considered to be two of the best battlers in the Institute and they could not beat this Steelix. Yet here was Melody who had beat the Steel -electric type with a grass and poison type. There was a shock on everyone's faces, but Melody did not worry about that rather she was concerned about her Pokémon. She knelt by his side and smiled, "you did so well, Victreebel. Go get some rest now." Melody recalled her Pokémon to the pokeball.
There was a round of applause from the students who had watched the tough battle. All four of them were very impressed by what Melody had just done. It was a great battle and showed that Melody was a very intelligent trainer. Of course everyone except for Bunny was wondering how they would do against Melody. Kat and Alex knew what Pokémon she hadn't used which was her Darkrai, battling that thing would be a real test. Given that Alex and Kat along with Ava were the ones who craved battling facing off against a Darkrai was an interesting prospect. Melody just blushed at the round of applause, she was never one for praise even when she was younger. It embarrassed her. Melody just grabbed the pokeball that Kat had given to her and just placed it on the fallen Steelix's head as she officially caught the Avantura Steelix. The rest of their adventure would be the five wandering around and getting to know Melody better. For once Melody Monet felt happy.
There was someone in The Institute that was not happy. Dr. Davis Walkmen had just received a long email from his niece. JJ had wrote to him to tell him that she wasn't coming back. It had nothing to do with Davis. Rather it was because JJ didn't feel comfortable going back to The Institute. There were things going on there that had upset her. She talked about Franz, but Davis felt this was a cover up. Instead he knew who to put the finger at. He knew who he would take this out on.