Author's note:

I PASSED THE FINAL AND PASSED MY CLASS

LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Ehem-

Hey guys! Long time no see! Thanks so much for waiting, and thanks so much for coming back to read this story! One thing I was afraid of when I took my break was "what if people forget this story exists while im gone?"

I'm thankful for every single person who keeps coming back to read, or those who are just reading through the entire story!

Reviews and views are what keep me going with stories like these, shows that you guys do like what I'm writing, and it makes me super happy. I love writing this story- so I'm going to have fun doing that. I hope you have as much fun reading my story as well.

You are awesome! Let's keep going until the very end!

-Neo

Chapter 20: Wunderchild

~Flashback~

"So you're saying you can create a device that can neutralize anyone who uses an invoker?" Aldrich asked. He, Aldrich and Zennon were standing together over a cliff, watching the champion Lucian go onto his Flygon to fly away from their HQ.

"Yes," Zennon said, grinning maliciously. "I just need a specific device, and a lab. You can find the device in a factory near Mauville City, I believe. As for the lab…"

"We can simply find one and kick everyone out, right?" Aiden asked.

"Precisely. From there, I can create many things, our Master balls, artificial orbs of red and blue to call Groudon and Kyogre, and even Arceus himself...… and most importantly, the device to stop anyone in our way."

"How exactly will this anti-invoker device work?" Aldrich asked. Zennon turned to Aldrich, who stood behind him.

"The device will send a signal to all invokers to deactivate their weight prohibitors and bring anyone who uses an invoker, armor or not, to the ground."

Aldrich's eyes widened in interest. "And you truly believe this can work?"

Zennon nodded slowly. "That is correct." He said. Aldrich grinned.

"I like this. I'm willing to give this idea of yours a shot. Mauville city, yes? I'll go there myself, since I am the only one with Pokémon that can fight."

"Take this," Aiden said, digging into his pocket and giving his Pokéball containing Abra. "in case you need to make a quick exit."

"Yes." Aldrich said, staring at the Pokéball in his hand and clenching it. He then quickly put it in his pocket and turned away. "I'll be off-"

"Before you go.." Zennon said, lifting an arm toward the leaving old man. Aldrich stopped in his tracks without turning back. "This plan of yours, to make Quinton all-powerful once again…We need a back-up plan. Quinton's been in jail for… how long? 10 years? Maybe 20? Who knows at this point- Anyway, he's likely to be a shell of his former self. If you're going to break him from jail after catching Arceus, Groudon and Kyogre, and hand him the invoker that contains their power…"

"You're saying there's a possibility that he could say no," Aiden said.

"Yes." Zennon said. "So-"

"...I've heard enough blasphemy," Aldrich said. He kept marching on. "I'll be back with the device."

~end of flashback~

All Anastasia was doing was staring at Marie lying in her hospital bed, sitting on a chair of her own. She saw the sleeping blonde's stomach rise and fall with every breath. Her Pichu was sound asleep as well, curled up right on his trainer's belly. Anastasia sighed deeply. Standing on her lap was her Ditto, who looked up at the white-haired girl with worry.

"...This is all my fault.." Anastasia grumbled. Suddenly, the door to Marie's room opened, and the person who emerged from it was Lucian, who was no longer clad in his armor. Anastasia's eyes flashed wide open with excitement as she stood up. Ditto stayed stuck on her legs, and slowly slithered back up to her shoulders. The moment Lucian closed the door behind him, the young girl's heart sank.

"I couldn't find him," Lucian said quietly. He sighed a heavy sigh.

"...What do we do now?" Anastasia said.

"On my way here, I called the police. They should be picking up the guys I knocked unconscious and looking for the rest. I couldn't give a facial description of who they were looking for so it's likely the cops won't know what to do." Lucian said. He leaned against the wall beside the door and sighed, keeping his arms crossed.

"...It's all my fault, isn't it?" Anastasia asked.

"Are you blaming yourself again?"

"...I don't know what else to do," Anastasia said. "I just… I just wish I was doing something right. Can you teach me how to fight already? Please?"

"All right. First, answer this. Why do you want to be a trainer?"

"Because I want to feel competent and not be useless."

"You want to become a trainer because you feel inadequate?" Lucian asked. He shook his head. "Listen, kid. You can't find worth with outside things. You can only find worth in here." Lucian pressed his finger on his chest. "With that kind of mindset," Lucian pointed at the wide-eyed girl. "Training and becoming stronger won't help you find your self-worth. What I suggest is instead of trying to find your worth, realize that you're already worthy. It's like trying to find gold when you are already golden."

"You don't get it," Anastasia said. "I'm fine- I feel fine, I am, fine, I'm not trying to do this because I want to feel better about myself- I want to do this because I'm useless! And I want to defend myself! I'll- I want to learn to become strong, and fight too, because I want to be useful to my friends! So I don't let things like this happen again!"

"There's nothing wrong with wanting to defend yourself. But What I'm mostly hearing is that you're becoming a trainer out of guilt."

"What?" Anastasia said.

"Listen. I'll train you on how to defend yourself with hand-to-hand combat if you want. But not on how to be a trainer."

"Why not!? You think teaching me a lesson is better than me wanting to defend myself!?"

"What will happen once you become strong? You'll suddenly feel happy? You'll feel like all of your problems will be solved? That magically, that feeling of regret and uselessness will go away?"

"Wh-What if I say yes?"

"I'd say you're naïve."

"Fine! I'll just be a trainer myself! You'll see. I'll show you what I can do. I'll be useful for everyone, you'll see!"

"How old are you, kid?"

Anastasia glared. "I'm 14.." She said. Lucian closed his eyes.

"4 years ago, when you were 10, what did you decide to do? To become a trainer? Or a Pokémon contestant?"

"I wanted to be a Pokémon contestant."

"Why?"

"...Because my mom was one. I wanted to be just like her when I grew up, so that's what I did, I even do the same tricks as her. My mom Always called me her Golden Girl."

"Did you ever like to fight?"

"...No. I don't like fighting at all…I actually hate fighting… I hate it when I see Pokémon fight each other. And I hate hurting people. But-... If that's what it takes to become useful-"

"Have you thought that you could be useful in another way?"

Anastasia's eyes widened.

"You don't necessarily have to fight to be useful. Keep that in mind. But if you really, truly want to learn how to fight, I can't stop you from training on your own, but, I like to train people who want to become trainers for the sake of it- that have goals. Not to find worth in themselves." Lucian pointed at Anastasia. "Your mother was right from the start. You are already golden."

Anastasia glared at him. "You… you're just- you don't get it! You don't get it at all!"

"You remind me a lot of my own little girl." Lucian said.

"...It's unfortunate," Anastasia said with a glare. "I feel bad for that little girl of yours, to have a dad like you!" She pointed at the man. "You don't even want to train me, huh!? Because I have low-self worth!? So what if I look down on myself!? I can be better, I can be someone! I'm just trying to improve myself, and you're saying that I don't have to!? What kind of answer is that!? Fine, you can just sit back and watch me become strong and protect everyone! There's nothing wrong with wanting to fight to become useful!"

Lucian sighed deeply.

"You don't understand how it feels to be like I am right now!" Anastasia said. Her face flushed as tears started flowing from her eyes. ""You've always been strong! You've never struggled, I bet! You're the champion of Hoenn! Are you doing this because you think you're better?! Because our reasons to become trainers are are different?! You're just going to stand there and just shake your head, stare at me, and say things like 'you'll get it one day', right!? You're just like any adult who thinks they know everything! Well, you don't know everything! You don't know!" Anastasia felt more tears falling from her face, she began sniffling as her hands covered her eyes. She tried quickly to clean her eyes so she could see properly, but the tears kept coming. Her cheeks felt tight, and her jaw was hurting from the frowning she was doing.

Lucian sighed.

"I have a wife who recently quit being a trainer." Lucian said. "She fought for the sake of her brother, nothing else. So whenever she won a battle, she felt empty. Whenever she lost a battle, she beat herself up. She looked like she had everything together, but in reality, she was miserable." Lucian sighed. "It took her years to realize that she never wanted to be a trainer to begin with. She never did it for herself. That's why I have an issue with training you. I don't want you to end up like how my wife was- being miserable. Some people go through life without ever feeling fulfilled, and by the time they realize it, their life had already passed by."

Anastasia sniffled as Lucian came closer to the young girl. He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"I only said I didn't want you to be a trainer... because there's no passion behind your conviction. Only guilt. My wife, Rebecca, was the exact same way before."

"Then- Then... What am I supposed to do..?" Anastasia asked. Lucian sighed.

"I'll be honest with ya', kid, I don't know. I was never good with words. What would my wife say..." Lucian took a minute to think, then nodded to himself. "Hm... Maybe uh, if it feels right to do something, do it? I dunno. I'm really not good at this."

Anastasia chuckled lightly. "You... really aren't." She said. "I'm... I'm sorry for lashing out at you. I just really want to help."

"You can help by-"

Suddenly- Lucian's phone rang. He pulled his phone out from his pocket and put it close to his face. He turned away from the young girl. Her ditto, who was standing on her shoulder the entire time, hugged her face. Anastasia rubbed his body against hers with her hand lovingly.

"Hello?" Lucian asked.

"Dad…?" It was Lucia's trembling and weakened voice that came from his phone. Lucian's eyes widened in sheer shock.

"Wha- Sweetheart!?" Lucian cried. "What's wrong?!"

I know I'm only supposed to call you for emergencies only… but this is an emergency… I need your help.. There's this guy,... he's really strong… and-...!" Lucian could hear the sound of footsteps approaching from the other line. "-I'm near Mauvile city..! Please hel- AAAH!"

"LUCIA!" Lucian cried.

"Lucia!?" Anastasia cried.

"I- I have to go-"

'I'm coming with you!" Anastasia cried. "And I'm not taking no for an answer!"

"Fine- Come on, then!" Lucian cried.

Aldrich kicked Lucia's phone away from her hands. All of Lucia's Pokémon, her Shelgon, her Machoke, and even her Marshtomp were lying on the ground knocked out. Beatrice groaned as she tried hard to stand up, but because her Vulpix and Slowpoke were down, she couldn't get up herself. Soon, however, her Invoker armor disengaged, and she was free to move. She quickly lunged for her brief case, which was lying on the ground next to her.

"Let me go!" Lucia cried. "Let me go! Let me go!" Beatrice swung her head to see Aldrich pulling Lucia up by her hair, and then quickly using his free hand to choke her.

"You were a fool, and only now do you realize this," Aldrich said.

The old man's Infernape watched on quietly.

Lucia clawed at the man's hand, trying desperately to get him off. Beatrice's head darted back to her brief case as she searched desperately for a Revive.

"I wanted to warn you." Aldrich said. "And that's what I did. But you had to try and be a hero. Who were you calling? Your father? What could your father possibly do?"

"My… My dad's the… champion… of Hoenn..!"

"Drat, drat, drat..!" Beatrice said as she searched through the small bags in her briefcase. She had her butler take care of the packing- why hadn't she asked him which bags held what?!

"The champion of Hoenn?!" Aldrich said. "You're the daughter of the champion!?"

"Yeah..!" Lucia said. "And… he's… coming… to get yo-" Lucia's voice choked as Aldrich tightened his grip, and Beatrice felt beads of sweat fall from her face as she searched frantically.

"Darn it, where is it!?." Beatrice said as she opened bag after bag full of nothing but her pictures with her posing with her Slowpoke.

"You are nothing." Aldrich said. "You're merely a shadow of the champion."

"Shut…up! You're wrong!" Lucia cried.

"Do you think so? Do you really, truly believe that you can attain anything you want simply by believing hard enough?"

"Yes!" Lucia cried.

"Naïve...!" The old man said. Lucia groaned in pain as Aldrich tightened his grip on her throat even more.

Beatrice found another small leather bag and searched inside it frantically. Her eyes widened once her hands felt something solid, something other than a photo- a single revive. She pulled it out and stared at her two downed Pokémon.

She could only revive one of them.

"You're a disgrace!" Aldrich threw Lucia away like she was trash. She fell to the ground and groaned in pain. Aldrich shot his palm at the downed Lucia, and flames burst around the man as though it were an aura. The flames around the man all coalesced and gathered to his palm.

"BEGONE!" Aldrich cried. A Fire blast shot out of Aldrich's hand and flew toward the weakened Lucia.

Suddenly, the flames exploded, even before reaching Lucia. Smoke and dust rose and flooded the area. Aldrich lowered his head and sighed.

"Nuisance..." He said. The dust and smoke cleared, and it revealed a fully-armored Beatrice with her hand extended. Standing on her shoulder was her Slowpoke, whose eyes were glowing red. A light screen had formed in front of the young trainer.

"You're not going to have your way anymore!" Beatrice cried.

"Stupidity has brought you into this situation," Aldrich said. "And it won't get you out of it. I have a suggestion. Turn away, and tend to your friend's wounds. And I will be on my way." The old man lowered his arm.

Beatrice smirked before giggling lightly.

"Is there something funny?" Aldrich asked.

"I don't know what's funnier to me. The fact that you think I'll let you walk away after laying a hand on my best friend..!" Beatrice shot a finger at Aldrich. "Or the fact that you have the audacity to say that stupidity has brought me this far! I'll tell you what brought me this far. One hundred percent, unadulterated perfection!"

Aldrich's eyes widened.

"Perfection..?" He said.

"You've made me truly angry! I'll show you what it means to cross me!"

Aldrich smiled with renewed interest. He began chuckling lightly to himself.

"Perfection..! Perfection!" He said. He started laughing like a savage maniac- he placed his hand on his face as his voice went into a high pitch, like a hyena's. "Perfection! Perfection! PERFECTION!" He cried. "That is what you strive for!?" Aldrich's voice returned to its normal deep pitch. "Perfection! Only GODS can do that! GODS such as QUINTON! Show me! SHOW ME THAT YOU ARE WILLING TO-"

Aldrich moved his hand away from his face and immediately saw Beatrice had already teleported in front of him with her fist raised. Her fist slammed into him with enough force to send him tumbling to the ground. Infernape's eyes widened in shock. The fighting/Fire type grit its teeth before throwing a punch of his own.

Beatrice grabbed the Pokémon's fist and held on tightly.

"You can't do anything!" Beatrice said. "I've already seen the future thanks to my Slowpoke. You can't lay a finger on me!" Beatrice threw Infernape's arm away before aiming her palm at him. Water gathered to her palm and began to form an orb of water. Infernape glared at the audacity of this girl- charging a hydro pump in front of him!?

How dare she!?

Infernape flung another fist at the girl in rage, only for it to stop mid flight. The fighting/fire type's eyes darted to her slowpoke, whose eyes were glowing red even still. Her slowpoke had already used the move Confusion to stop its movements.

It could do nothing but watch the Hydro Pump charge.

"Get out of my SIGHT!" Beatrice released the raging torrent of water from her palm and blasted the infernape. Beatrice's eyes shone with psychic energy as the waters of the hydro pump carrying Infernape shined with a pink light. With a flick of the redhead's wrist, the water torrent flew higher into the air, carrying the fighting/fire type along with it.

"Slowpoke! Ice beam!" Beatrice cried. Slowpoke opened his mouth and released a beam of ice toward the torrent of water as Beatrice clapped her hands together. The water waves gathered and took the shape of an orb before freezing into solid ice because of Slowpoke's Ice Beam. In the middle of the frozen floating orb was Infernape. Beatrice gilded her fingers on her hair and flipped it sassily before snapping her fingers. The ice orb that contained Infernape shattered in a brilliant Icey explosion. Infernape's unconscious body fell to the ground.

The entire time, Aldrich was sitting on the ground watching in awe as Beatrice slowly approached the old man.

"Reality is bitter, isn't it? The truth is, you don't stand a chance against me when I'm angry…! So- do you want me to break you next?" Beatrice said. He didn't even care that his Infernape was defeated. He began clapping furiously.

"Brilliant!" Aldrich said, quickly "You have just confirmed it..! You..! YOU!" Aldrich pointed at the girl. "YOU are the daughter of Quinton! I have no doubt in my mind now..!"

"You're absolutely insane." Beatrice said, stopping in her tracks. Aldrich pulled out his Pokeball and a beam of light returned Infernape into his ball.

"I'll let you in on a secret.. I could have left at any point during this fight. But I stayed because of you! You and your father are a splitting image!"

"Quinton is not my father! My true father is a successful businessman!"

"You're wrong. I know you have the genes of the king!"

Beatrice's eyes widened suddenly, for a vision of the future entered her mind. In her vision, she saw Aldrich pull out his Pokéball and release an Abra. Then- he'd teleport away.

"NO!" Beatrice cried. Just then, Aldrich dropped his pokéball, and Abra emerged, just as her vision foretold. Beatrice teleported in front of the old man. Just before her fist reached him- Aldrich had teleported shouted loudly in anger.

Suddenly, the loud flapping of wings sounded in her ears. She swung her head up to see a Flygon descending from the air. Before it even touched the ground, two people leapt from the Pokémon's back. As soon as they touched the ground, Beatrice's eyes widened to see an older man and Anastasia crouching after landing. The man quickly ran over to the downed Lucia and held her close after crouching to her.

"My baby..!" Lucian cried, hugging her downed daughter close to her. "Oh god, I'm so sorry.. I'm here- I'm here, okay!?"

"Dad…?" Lucia groaned.

Beatrice watched on in shock.

"To think Lucia's dad is the champion of hoenn.." Anastasia said. Beatrice spun her head to her.

"What!?" She cried. She turned her head back to Lucia, then back at Anastasia. "WHAT?!"

"I'm as surprised as you," Anastasia said. "Anyway- we should go check on Lucia."

"Ah- Right, you're right." The girls shared a nod before running over to Lucia. The Purple haired girl looked up at her two friends and smiled. Lucia's eyes slowly trailed to Beatrice first.

"Heh... Best...friend... huh?" Lucia grumbled. Beatrice's face grew bright red.

"Sh-Shut up!" Beatrice cried. Lucia's eyes slowly trailed to Anastasia.

"Anastasia... you're here... Thank goodness... You're safe..." Lucia said.

"Yeah- I'm here." Anastasia said, cupping her hands together in worry. "I'm glad you're safe, too."

"Yeah.." Lucia said. "I'm... really happy..." Lucia closed her eyes slowly. Lucian's eyes widened in shock before he cried out in panic.

"We need to get everyone here to a Pokécenter! Anastasia, call an ambulance!" Lucian cried.

"R-Right!" Anastasia went on her phone quickly. "H-Hello!? We- we've got a bunch of Pokémon lying on the ground here- and someone who's really wounded...!"

Beatrice fell down to sit on the ground before sighing. She knew that Lucia was going to be just fine- she's literally been through worse. What was really worrying her was what that old man said to her.

Was she really the Child of Quinton? She knew that she wasn't related to her current father, the one who raised her, by blood. There was no way that the old man was right...

Right?

The red-haired-girl shook her head. It was all too confusing. She needed answers. And she hoped she'd get them soon.

Author's note:

Fun fact: "Wunderchild" means "A child Prodigy"