Pokémon RWBY Chapter 17
There were a few different thoughts going on in her head when she was watching the.."fight", for lack of a better way to put it.
On the one hand pokémon were somehow even more versatile than she thought. The two members of Forest team had a dizzying array of tricks that seemed to have plenty of effect. You had some kind of beam that 'healed' the others. Vaguely visible sounds that made the aron flash a few different colors that somehow made him visibly move slower for a few moments or visibly cringe more when getting hit. Dances that made allies faster or stronger. She could almost imagine Weiss using her glyphs to get some similar effects..not the healing one, though. Holy crap, used just right that could be just 'way' too unfair to deal with.
But then the other hand shifted to cover her face in dismay only to see through the phantom limb anyway. These guys..yikes. They looked even 'less' coordinated than she thought they'd be.
Mountain team was..decent. Kind of reminded her of how Cardin led 'his' team, really. Just a battle cry of "let's get 'em" followed by everybody scrambling to do the same thing at once only to get in eachother's way. Passable against large numbers of foes so you could all spread out and do your own thing without micromanagement to frustrate you, but dear god did it make things messy when you did the outnumbering.
Volcano team didn't even bother having 'that' much going for them. They just charged in and tried to take swipes at 'everybody'. The one they wanted to bring down specifically and anyone who happened to be close by their target..the worst offender was a snake pokémon that got so aggressive he'd bitten his own tail, trying uselessly to spin around for a better grip and somehow not noticing he was hurting himself. It'd be funny if it wasn't so pathetic.
River team was keeping their distance, lobbing various shots like they were artillery. Not a bad idea, let them give commands to their pokémon without the orders getting lost in the din of the chaos. But trying to hit a small, constantly moving target when friendlies were 'also' in the firing line/blast zone? You needed accurate snipers, not broad artillery. It was just adding to the chaos in a way that did more harm than good.
And 'most' of Wind team was just diving in eagerly only to get hit by friendly fire..water..and lightning. Or just get smacked by a member of Volcano team. One of the pokémon of Wind team had the good sense to fly out of that glorified mud pit when it looked like a nineteen on one trainwreck.
It was one of those pidgey things, and he didn't even bother going towards his trainer. He just flew near Forest team, used some dirt to put out a fire on the tips of some feathers and sounded outright 'incredulous' when he squawked.
Yang gave him a look of sympathy. "Yeah, too many cooks working on this meal. Definitely looks like I'm going to have to step in just to keep anyone from getting actually hurt."
Actually, seeing that pidgey reminded Yang of that trick Phyllis did on their way from Pallet to Viridian. Making a quick check on the pokédex for the name of it, Yang asked, "Hey, Phyllis. If I manage to get him separated from the crowd, you think you can do Leech Seed on him? Fair warning, he's going to be airborne when you've got a shot."
Richard, Forest's leader, gave her a confused glance. "Um, what good is Leech Seed going to do here?"
Yang waited until Phyllis gave a tentative nod before replying. "It's going to make the little guy easier for me to find after I give him the old one-two."
And with that she started walking into that obscene mess. She probably should have actually said what she was planning to do instead of being vague. Especially since she'd done such a mental critique of how four of the five teams were doing. But her knuckles were getting 'itchy', and this looked like a good chance to throw a good, solid punch.
She ignored Richard trying to say something to her, kept Duncan who was flying overhead in her peripheral vision in case he tried something crazy, and kept focused on the quadraped silver..turtle thingy. She went from a brisk walk to a sprint when it looked like the little guy was going for a breakthrough.
When the aron made a flying leap at one of the trainers, what looked like a fourteen year old girl, Yang took a moment to appreciate how trying to keep track of Ruby when they were growing up made predicting movements from fast objects second nature to her. She didn't always have the best reaction speed for Ruby, especially when she got creative, and she sometimes just got unlucky with her own positioning when Ruby zipped somewhere annoying during training..or just snatching snacks.
The aron was nowhere 'near' as fast as her little sister. In comparison the "fast" leap that many of the trainers and a few pokémon were too slow to fully digest and get horrified by or start moving to try to intercept was almost sluggish to the blond. Hell, she got in just the right position with a second and a half to spare.
Just milliseconds from landing her uppercut she wondered if she was putting a bit too much power into the blow. This wasn't an ursa after all. As aggressive as the little guy was it probably wasn't justified to 'kill' him. From what Professor Oak said pokémon..kind of qualified as people, not just pets like Zwei, and given what she'd experienced with Duncan and Phyllis she was definitely a believer, even if their conversations had been mostly one sided.
Still, Duncan had been absolutely 'wrecked' and left to bleed to death by this stupid tin tortoise. And she promised to get her flying friend some payback.
Then her fist met the metal undershell, and the little guy went flying straight up. Well, not 'entirely' straight. He was spinning and going a little backwards. One part of Yang went "wow, heavier than I thought considering how fast the stubby guy was moving". The other almost casually dodged the now panicked few pokémon that tried to intercept the aron, avoided tripping over the trainer who'd dropped to her butt in the excitement, took two extra steps forward, braced her feet for the follow-up hit, and called out, "Phyllis! Leech him!"
To the little lizard's credit there was no hesitation. Just a pause to aim, waiting for that perfect moment when gravity and the kinetic force of the punch left her target as still as could be, and seeds went out. Three out of five latched on, the two that missed quickly returned from the bulb that launched them.
The faint green stream of energy started to flow to Phyllis just as the aron met Yang's fist a second time. Like a silver cannonball he just tore right through one of the trees, leaving an impressive looking hole that frankly should have 'toppled' the damn thing. Not that anyone moved close enough that the tree 'could' have fallen on them.
There was something about the gawking, stunned stares that made the blond want to strut. Oh yeah, that felt awesome and she 'was' still awesome! Still, probably would be a little mean to gloat when she quickly took down the one guy they'd struggled against, so she kept the gloating to herself.
She just jogged a bit as she followed the green light stream, made an impressed little hum that the aron was 'conscious' after that blow even if too dazed to actually move, admired the little trench that his body had made in the ground after the hit, and gave a harsh stomp that knocked him out.
It'd been a bit of a pain for Shingen to get cameras set up in all the potential spots the encounter with the rogue, abandoned pokémon could take place. Especially since he wanted them hidden and it was hard to hide electronics like that in a forest. Still, he wanted to see for himself how this played out, and being there personally might have affected the outcome.
First and foremost, the Kanto Defense Force, better name pending, needed a lot more work. Forest team performed as he'd expected, very good at playing support for everyone else. Volcano team was an absolute mess, far more aggressive than he'd hoped the heavy hitters of the force would be like. Everyone else landed somewhere inbetween. It wasn't as bad as the worst case, partly due to the expertly executed intervention of Yang Xiao-Long, but still below what he expected. Training people who trained pokémon was certainly an interesting challenge, everyone had their own styles of doing things and with the exception of the two person Forest team nobody really seemed inclined to coordinated with other trainers. He had some kinks to work out before the force could do anything especially serious..or be used as an example for other forces to form in other regions.
And Yang herself was probably going to be even 'more' interesting to make into what he imagined a trainer 'should' be like than the Kanto Defense Force. It was one thing to hear from Professor Oak about her origins, hear some of her thought process during the tournament. But watching both when she stepped in and how she handled the problem..
..well, she most definitely 'did' have a good eye for the flow of battle like he thought. She couldn't have picked a better moment to interject herself. In fact it'd probably be a great idea to ask what she thought about the performance of the various teams and how they could better work together. Maybe a different perspective would help him reevaluate his approach. At the very least she probably had more experience with non-competitive combat situations than even he, a several time former champion with over forty years of experience, could muster. A benefit of being born in a much more brutal world.
It was also rather inspired to use Leech Seed as a way to essentially keep track of an opponent. Usually the move was used as an afterthought when a trainer felt a fight would go on for a while and they wanted to slightly tip the scales in their favor in the battle of attrition. Was that just a one-off idea, or would she come up with similar unconventional ideas for moves other people thought they knew well?
However, getting her into the mindset of a pokémon 'trainer' during a battle would be the biggest challenge. There had been no clash for leadership like he'd expected, no attempt to take charge of the entire force as things devolved from bad to worse. She just sat on the sidelines, observing until she had enough then personally stepped in. Possibly because she didn't see herself as a trainer so she didn't need to bother taking charge, just charging like she was a pokémon in a similar vein as a blaziken. She may have good instincts and a good eye, but if she wasn't 'tempted' to take charge in battle in some fashion, then it was an almost tragic waste of potential.
Of course as she almost casually slung the unconscious aron onto her right shoulder and told her spearow to hold it still while she grabbed her bag, he started to 'really' comprehend part of why Oak was so worried for her. She didn't seem to feel a 'need' to adjust all that much to the world around her. She just took the discomfort, adjusted a little for the sake of balance, then moved on.
There wasn't a 'drive' to make the pokémon she had stronger when she herself was strong. Hell, she didn't even ask for a pokéball to carry a pretty heavy steel type. No need to 'prove' herself when, even after outright losing a limb she was 'still' a force to be reckoned with. Hell, even maimed as she was he suspected she was about equal to the average gym leader's pokémon at the very least. No 'desire' to explore and learn more about the world around her other than what seemed necessary at that given moment. She just took one quick look at the pokédex to confirm something she already knew about but didn't quite memorize the name of instead of trying to learn about the multitude of pokemon in the field at that given moment.
She also alternated between a cool, battle forged confidence and isolated discomfort based on her situation and the reactions of those around her. It was almost like seeing two different people trading places as each of the various trainers crowded and spoke excitedly to her. When the young girl she saved was gushing thanks and various bits of wonderment, the blond was warm smiles and practically bowing like a stage magician. A muscular young man asked her how she had so much force to her punches or how she was carrying the aron with no trouble, she just awkwardly laughed and said she kept in shape. One boy indignantly asked why she didn't jump in sooner, she smirked and said she wanted to see how it played out first. Another mentioned it looked like her spearow was trying to strangle the aron, she awkwardly chuckled and told her spearow to "ease up a bit".
A bit. Not telling the spearow not to try choking an unconscious foe, or confidently saying a bird couldn't just choke a steel type even if it was already unconscious. Just telling him to "ease up a bit". Oddly..harsh considering how empathetic the girl seemed in many ways. Well, it was a good thing Oak had convinced him not to have that aron's former trainer "conveniently" get arrested in front of her. She may be a compassionate, at times laid back person but there were enough rough edges that there 'was' an element of danger there. And he wasn't sure he wanted to know how she'd react if she felt a line was crossed.
He kept switching cameras as she moved until she and the KDF got to the Pokémon Center. Brief exchange with the nurse on duty, a few words with some members of the KDF and then her two pokémon, then she sat down and started waiting until 'all' the injured pokémon were taken care of, eyes locked onto the aron the instant she took it off her shoulder. There wasn't any anger or derision directed towards it, it was like her staring at it like what was a matter of course. As if she absolutely 'needed' to be a guard until someone did something to take the little one off her hands and not even the slightest thought of adding the tough little aron to her team when any trainer Shingen had ever met wouldn't have hesitated to make that kind of decision.
That seemed about as good a time as any for Shingen to head over there. He just had to get one of his managers to mind the store for him while he tried to deal with two interesting projects at once.
Who said retirement was boring, anyway?
It was only when she sat down on a bench in the Pokémon Center and noted just how many chairs, benches, tables, and vending machines were in a place of healing that she noted just how unlike actual hospitals this place 'was'.
The hospitals 'she' was used to her bland, utilitarian places. The seats were generally uncomfortable, the walls at best covered with little medical factoids and white boards where the names of people in that particular shift happened to be. Sure, there was a sense of trying to make people comfortable, but it was always just concerned with ergonomics as everyone went on with their business.
But the Pokémon Center was essentially a big 'clubhouse'. Relaxed, very comfortable seating with random ads and lovingly drawn artwork on the walls, along with some odd bits of memorabilia scattered about. She hadn't noticed the last two times she'd been here because she had a goal, but now that she was just essentially on guard duty..
..a guard duty that nobody else seemed to even think about. Seriously, most of the trainers from the various teams were joking around. Sure, she had a tendency to relax a 'little' more than some situations called for but it was like nobody thought the metal ball of fury that took on over a dozen other pokémon at once would think to bolt for the door! Seriously, did these people just have iffy short term memories? Or was this just another case of "oh, that's just how things happen around here" that was going to keep making her feel like a freak that didn't really belong?
Part of Yang felt she was being a bit too harsh since hey, they'd never fought together before so of course they didn't flow that well together. Random chatter and playing around was a pretty decent way to get to know eachother and a solid starting point for teamwork..
..not that Yang's more random chatter really did anything to improve her relationship with either Weiss or Blake. It was actually kind of funny, her social recluse of a sister was the first one to form bonds with 'both' of their teammates. Blake because of their mutual enjoyment of storytelling, and Weiss..well, actually, the blond had no idea just what changed things between the pair, she was just glad they started to get along. But Yang? The casual party girl who was far more outgoing? It took her over a 'month' for Weiss and her to end up feeling like good friends instead of classmates who happened to sleep in the same room, for her teasing to land as intended to break tension instead of unintentionally creating more. Ruby managed to somehow break 'that' ice after a rather bumpy but still much shorter week. And Blake? She never really fully opened up unless outright 'forced' to. It never felt like a case of trust, at least after the 'scary' episode of her running away after arguing with Weiss. But she just kept to herself so much, and while Yang was sure they were 'close' there was still some sense of..something not quite fully clicking into place. And since she didn't know what that something was, she never really knew how to address it.
And great. That got Yang to start wondering just how many of her friends from Signal she could still call friends by the time the Vytal Festival started. 'Ruby' worked harder to keep in contact with her old friends than Yang did. Where Ruby would try to write letters and keep some form of communication going, Yang just took things day to day and if someone who used to be friendly to her dropped off for some reason? Eh, that's their fault not Yang's. Or at least it 'felt' like that back at Beacon. But..was there something more intrinsically wrong with 'her'?
Shaking herself for once again letting her thoughts go in a depressing direction, something she'd been getting tiredly used to doing ever since she woke up without an arm, the blond gave another glance towards the aron. While there weren't any explicit restraints, there 'was' an electrically powered magnet nearby. It apparently wasn't strong enough to 'completely' pin him against it but there was certainly a strain whenever he tried to move away from it. Actually, did a metal creature have muscles, or some other thing that served the same purpose?
At some point the aron's blue eyes met Yang's lavender. Curiosity and some other emotion on the surface, kind of surprising since Yang expected the thing to be 'scared' after getting flung around and stomped on. But then who was she to talk? It took losing a limb to go from "bring it on" even after getting her butt handed to her to..
..actually, she wasn't entirely sure 'if' her default response to fighting had changed. Not with the way she felt eager to punch 'something', really 'anything' would have done, earlier. And it's not like thieving birds and rats or a metal turtle that didn't see her coming could 'really' be called fights. There was part of her that just wanted something genuinely 'tough' to fight against. A fight that would really test her new limits, push her as hard as possible and possibly leave her stinging with defeat but so long as she'd get to just go 'completely' all out and 'completely' spend herself, both emotionally and physically against 'something'..
For a moment she tried imagining how she'd handle Junior's twin bouncers now, and her mind alternated between blanking out and replaying how she knocked them around when she first met them. Neither felt all that satisfying. Then she came back to the now when the chatter all around just 'stopped'.
She wasn't really surprised to see the old store owner at the door, smiling. "Well, good to see everyone is in high spirits."
The smile dimmed a bit with his next words. "Still, as successful as our inaugural mission was, there's room for improvement. A 'lot' of room. Getting complacent just because everything turned out okay 'this' time is just asking for trouble down the line."
Then the smile went back to its previous brightness. "But that is for another day. Today, you've earned a rest."
Then his gaze went from skimming everyone in the room to locking onto Yang. "Ms Xiao-Long, could you walk with me for a while? I'd like to hear your thoughts on how things went as we consider how to move forward."
It was surprisingly easy to ignore the mutterings and whispers that request inspired. It was a little harder to ignore Phyllis nudging Duncan to come along as the bird kept glaring at the aron. Well the little guy had 'every' reason to hold a grudge, but at least he didn't try attacking while in the..was hospital even the right word when the place was more of a clubhouse than a utilitarian healing zone?
And the aron just kept staring at her as she started walking out the door. Eyes locked onto her until he couldn't see her anymore, then he just stared at a random bit of wall despondently. Somehow it'd feel less..creepy if he seemed openly angry or scared.
Vale was, in some ways, unrecognizable now. Technically speaking the kingdom still existed, it wasn't as bad as what happened to Mount Glen. Still, Beacon itself and a tenth of the city had been entirely claimed by the grimm, and it was only due to the various hunter teams that the grimm hadn't spread.
Now, if the militia and Ironwood's army could actually work together then they might have been able to do something to clear the grimm out of the city at least, even if nobody had any clue how to deal with the chrysalis 'making' the things in Beacon.
Unfortunately a lot of militia members blamed the Atlas army for things falling apart. There were even some rumors of the Atlas army 'wanting' Vale to fall, which led to brawls that went just short of murder, the winners being arrested and the losers straining medical supplies further which led to nobody being able to deploy.
It was hard for Blake to know how the various city councilmen and military heads, or Professor Goodwitch and General Ironwood, were really getting along. She was a bit distracted on patrol with a patchwork team. It's not like anyone bothered to actually give a colorful name to CFBS. Assuming that was the order their initials would go in, anyway.
Coco took a moment to be 'especially' vicious to a beowolf that managed to get close to her, crumpling the lesser grimm's snout with her off hand after breaking its swiping arm with her bag. Before it could try swinging its still good arm, she kicked it hard against a wall and spun her bag into an uppercut, the sheer force taking its head off. Blake was doing her best to keep the rest from swarming Coco as her bag went back to gun form but it was still thirteen to two. Fox probably would have been better suited to covering Coco up close.
Unfortunately Fox was helping Sage against an especially stubborn ursa major, the bear badly bleeding in several spots and several bits of armor cracked but refusing to go down. Yatsuhashi would have been able to solo it but Sage didn't have the same combination of raw power and skill despite using a very similar weapon. If anything it looked like Sage kept hitting different points of opportunity instead of focusing on any particular bodypart. Sure, more damage spread out but no killing blow yet, and they were attracting more of a crowd the longer this went on.
Mowing the proverbial lawn with her minigun a moment, Coco cursed as another wave of twenty creeps poured out of an abandoned autobody shop, with several small nevermores and more beowolves coming from various broken windows and alleys. "Well we're getting a little too popular here! Break off!"
Sage finally managed to do some lasting damage, cutting off a hind leg of the ursa as he yelled back, "And where are we supposed to run to?!"
"Hardware store! The one with a sawblade stuck in the sign!"
As buildings to make a stand went it was..iffy. One story tall, three walls were solid stone, but the side that faced the street was mostly glass. Given that some of the windows were apparently broken from the inside, that was worrying.
Still, Coco was doing a better job spraying bullets into the horde with her back to the building instead of having to worry about enemies coming at her from all directions. And Sage quickly came up and started slapping around any grimm that managed to get by the hailstorm of bullets.
Blake poured as much fire as she could with her gun but at best she was limited to hitting creeps and small nevermores. She barely noted Fox slipping inside, so focused on shooting, reloading, and shooting some more that it was almost like its own form of meditation. A meditation that made her internally groan that her gun just didn't have the penetration to bring down armored targets especially fast and curse herself for not carrying as much ammo as the swarm of grimm actually needed, but until she ran out of ammo it helped keep her from thinking too hard.
No need to worry about Yang, who was stuck in a world full of unknowns without her weapons 'or' one of her arms. No need to think about the bodies of White Fang initiates that they'd found just minutes before the grimm started coming, some with injuries from the grimm and others with a combination of sword slashes and rifle bullets that made her nearly have a panic attack. There wasn't even any need to wonder if the grimm were coming specifically because of her. Just the oddly relaxing feeling of killing monsters.
Of course once she ran out of ammo some of the small nevermores finally started pecking and scratching at the three hunters. Nothing bad enough to actually hurt any of them but it was still distracting. Coco ceased fire, grabbed one and crushed it in her hand as if it was an oversized mosquito instead of a bird. Sage just ignored them as he shoved a pair of beowolves to the ground with his blade. Some corner of Blake's mind wondered if his sword had always had such a dull edge or if the constant patrols just didn't give him the time to -
One of the nevermores managed to get a talon to pull at the edge of her mouth, if she didn't have aura it probably world have torn the flesh right off and widened her smile. Her aura held, and she snarled as she slashed it with her sheath. The bird was stubborn enough to just take the hit, its grip on her face firm enough it got sliced in half instead of just flung by the strike.
Another pair went for her face, one of them trying to go for her eyes. One was knocked aside and the other sent to the ground. Before the grounded one could rise again Blake drove her sword's tip to skewer it.
A beowolf had chosen that moment to crash into her, smashing her through one of the few intact windows. She barely noticed her head crack against the floor. Barely noticed her own furious roar at its roaring face. She just stabbed it twice under the ribs as it tried to pin her down, and drove her sheath into its mouth when it tried to come down for a bite of her neck.
As sharp as her sheath was, the glorified cleaver couldn't quite managed to take the top of its head off. It just scraped against bone and proved to be an excellent point to push the wolf head back while she kept slamming her sword in and out until the grimm finally couldn't take anymore.
It wasn't hard to push the now dissolving body off her. If anything she was annoyed with herself that she had to power-bottom the damn thing instead of just taking it down in a few efficient swipes. She was further annoyed when she saw Fox soloing a beringal. How in the hell did she not notice an ape like that smashing apart the store?!
Then she noticed a hole in the floor where other, lesser grimm were coming out. Okay, as depressed as she'd been seeing people who'd been killed by Adam plus all the other things to make the world seem bleak she couldn't have possibly drawn in 'this' many grimm. Why would there be holes in the ground leading to the old, sealed off subway tunnels, anyway? She thought the main source of grimm into the city was the crysalis that used to be the massive grimm that was sitting in Beacon.
Then she felt the odd..vibrations on the ground. Too minor to hear, or even notice at first in the din of battle but it was getting stronger. Something was moving underground. Something 'big'. Big enough that when her ears heard rocks and gravel shifting around she also heard all the smaller tools in the hardware store shaking.
Not that she could take the time to wonder about that for long. Sage had batted aside a boarbadusk, and as the pig landed on its back with a flop Blake split open its belly to finish it off. Then she picked a cluster of creeps that Coco wasn't shooting at, leaped into the middle of them and slashed away.
The rest of the fight was a complete blur, at some point Coco completely running out of ammo. Then she heard the sound of Atlas soldiers coming their way, the distinct sounds of their rifles replacing the chatter of the minigun. She didn't bother checking how many soldiers managed to stumble into their mess, there were just too many grimm.
Her arms burned with the strain of constantly swinging her blades. Though most were easily dispatched, low end grimm that even a civilian with any random weapon could kill there were just more and more coming until abruptly the stream of grimm just..stopped.
Then someone from the reinforcing squad yelled, "What the hell is that thing?!"
Panting, Blake was barely able to turn fast enough to see what had drawn everyone's attention. About three blocks away some kind of massive snake made of rock had a large deathstalker in its mouth.
It was hard to tell the scale of the deathstalker. It could have been the same size as the one she saw at initiation, or it could have been just the size of a minivan, or anywhere inbetween. All she could say for sure was the rock snake was bitting down on it hard, shaking and writhing until it flung the grimm into a three story building and roared. Its voice was deep, reverberating, and dominant as it celebrated its kill. Then it just..withdrew from sight.
Sage asked what everyone was wondering. "What..the hell did I just see?"
Fox just walked onto the broken glass, made an exaggerated show of rubbing his shoulders as if somehow he wasn't tired at all and said, "I don't know but if it keeps killing grimm like that then it's my new best friend."
Coco gave a humorous huff at that. "Aw darn, I thought 'I' was your best friend."
"Oh you still are. For now."
Author's Note: Ironically the first two scenes, the one with Yang watching the fight and then intervening and then the one with Shingen analyzing what happened and thinking about it, were easy for me. Literally got those done two days after posting the previous chapter. But it felt like I needed another scene or two.
First idea was to have Phyllis and Duncan talking, but it just didn't feel right at this stage to have the pokemon just speaking to one another. Perhaps later on in the story we can have pokemon just going back and forth with one another without humans getting in the way of their interactions, but this jujst didn't feel like the right point.
Second idea was having Shingen and Yang talk, but frankly they'd have said far too much that the chapter had already mentioned in the first two scenes anyway. The only thing we really missed by skipping that was him offering to help tutor her when it comes to working together with her team better, but I think the start of 'that' is going to be a solid way to start the next chapter. No need to drag things out just for someone to mention "oh, we're going to be doing this next" just for the sake of adding to my word count.
And then I had the thought "hey, while Yang is the center of this story, maybe I should occasionally have some things happening in Remnant at the same time. Give some of the others some stuff to say back to her whenever Yang starts talking to the team again.
With that said, and while I've got plenty of ideas for the story to keep moving on, some part of me wants to consider closing Yang's time in Viridian after the next..arc, for lack of a better way to put it. A bit where Yang, Phyllis, Duncan, and the eventually-will-be-in-story-named Chrome get their trial by fire and feel like a team. And once that's done, "Expanding a Pallet" will be done, with the sequel that will probably be called something that references toughness or being rock solid. Haven't really fully decided yet.
But that's stuff that's still a good deal in the future. Not sure how many chapters it's going to take for me to feel like Expanding a Pallet is done, or just what's going to be happening in Vale while Yang does more to finalize having a three mon team. Until then, hope you had fun with this chapter and that I can get the next one out in a reasonable amount of time.