Ange has finally obtained the Oracle! Now, to get back to Pyrite Town and keep it safe, so nobody can steal it! Surely this can only go well, isn't that right? There's nothing to be concerned of, nothing at all. Certainly nobody else might be after the Oracle themselves.

KedharS: Hopefully it's good. Maybe she'll finally stop being so hostile now that she has what she wants. But personally, I doubt it.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: I'll confirm it, it's the Ground Oracle. The perfect fit for the sandy desert region of Orre, and the network of mining tunnels that make up the Under.

JoshGamerV: The Phantom's plans are very complicated. There are a lot of moving parts, and a lot of stuff he needs to accomplish. But it's all for one specific goal, I can say that much.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 906

Ange's day had been absolutely miserable. She'd spent the better part of it trapped in the Pyrite Colosseum, forced to watch pokemon fight each other for the sake of their trainer's filthy desires, while bathed in the avarice of the thoughtless scum in the audience. It had been a truly nauseating experience, and one of the worst times Ange had experienced recently.

But finding the Oracle had made it all worth it. For all that happened, this was one of the best days of her life, all due to getting ahold of the Oracle. So what if she'd had to put up with Pyrite Colosseum? So what, if in the end, she wasn't able to find it herself, and had needed to rely on the Phantom and his Mechadoll to track it down?

She would endure that nonsense a thousand times over if it meant she got to hold the Oracle in her hands. Just imagining the look on the professor's face when he laid eyes on the stone she had brought him made her smile.

It was the perfect gift for the only man she treasured.

There was only one problem that she faced.

Misato had another route out of the Under, one that she informed would get them to the surface faster. And after relying on the Mechadoll to lead her to the Oracle, Ange no longer cared about putting up a fight. So she followed the doll.

But they never made it to the surface. Because two people stood in their way.

They were… strange.

Ange blinked, because she wasn't sure if she was seeing things properly. Was she tired? Was that what the problem was?

Standing in front of her were two people dressed up like ninjas. The clothes they wore were exactly like Dokukage's.

The shorter boy didn't wear a mask, revealing a relaxed, passive smile that for a moment brought Rafe's face to mind. But unlike the Seventh Leader, there was a sharpness in his eyes that was impossible to ignore. His grin wasn't fake, like the Phantom's, but it was certainly concealing an edge to it, one Ange wasn't going to yield to. His dark hair was wavy and everything about him gave an air of nonchalance, which was accommodated for by his partner.

The taller of the two was a woman, who looked remarkably similar to Dokukage. She had black hair tied back in a ponytail and a mask covered most of her face, so it was hard to tell at first, but the look in her eyes had the same indistinguishable sharpness of the other ninja she knew. Ange couldn't begin to guess the connection between these two and Dokukage, but as soon as she realized she wasn't imagining things, she knew they had to be tied to him somehow.

Ange was immediately on guard. Dokukage may have been a master at keeping his head down and not drawing attention to himself, but Ange knew he was powerful. And whatever these two wanted from her, she expected they were likewise talented.

"…What do you want?" Ange demanded, her hand trailing towards her belt cautiously. She regretted relying on her pokemon to help find the Oracle now, they were all exhausted and wouldn't be up for a battle under these circumstances.

"I just came to say hello," the boy said, waving at her. "My name is Shima, and this is my comrade, Shinobu. Nice to meet you!"

Ange's only reply was a glare, she had nothing to give these people.

The ninja sighed. "Pity, I was hoping you would be a little more accommodating. Well, I suppose there's no helping it, then. Right to business? I wanted to talk about that stone in your hand right there," he said, pointing at the Oracle.

Ange's caution leapt immediately towards defensiveness. These two weren't just suspicious now, she saw them as threats.

"What about it?" She snarled, bringing the Oracle closer to her chest.

"…Hmm. Judging by your reaction, I'd say you already have an idea of how valuable that stone is," Shima said. "I guess that makes things tricky. I don't suppose you would consider just leaving it with me, then?" He asked. "I promise we'll take good care of it."

"You're crazy!" Ange spat. "I'm not giving this away to someone like you! Over my dead body!"

"Hey, hey, let's not get too crazy here!" Shima said, waving his hands frantically. "No one needs to get hurt over this! You see, we're a member of a certain organization, that's all, and we really need to find all those stones. So it would be a big help if you could just hand that one over to us? We'll make it worth your while, absolutely."

Ange scowled. So these were the types that Professor Reinhart had warned her about. People who were looking for the power of the Oracles, in order to use them for their own ends. Ange couldn't let them get their filthy hands on it!

"Absolutely not! I'm bringing this to the professor!" She shouted. "I'd never let people like you touch it, never! You got that?!"

For the first time, Shima's smile broke. He scowled. "I see, well that's quite a pity then. I would give you girls the whole speech about how we're looking to create peace in our world and bring about a happy future, but I really don't have the time." He nodded to the other ninja. "Shinobu, please retrieve the Oracle as painlessly as possible."

"Yes, sir," Shinobu nodded, and then she stepped forward.

She was gone before Ange could even blink.

Ange had been in a lot of pokemon battles, and even more battles against wild pokemon trying to attack her themselves. Pokemon of all shapes and sizes had tried to hurt her, and she'd used her skills at surviving and her bonds with her pokemon to escape from those hairy situations.

But this was the first time she'd ever seen a human move as fast as a pokemon! The ninja girl was coming at her with the speed of a Rapidash!

Shinobu planted her foot and turned, shifting the momentum of her running into a wide kick aimed right at the Oracle in Ange's hand.

But her foot never connected. Without even glancing her way, Misato's hand shot out and grabbed it, stopping the kick completely.

Shinobu was actually taken aback. An insane amount of force had stopped her leg, and so easily! It was like kicking a brick wall, but even then, without any pain, either. What the hell was with this blue-haired girl, being able to block her so easily?!

She pulled her leg free and jumped back to regroup herself. Misato stepped in front of Ange without a word, staring silently at the ninja in front of them who was studying the Mechadoll just as closely, though having no idea of Misato's origins.

"What was that?!" Ange exclaimed, turning her frustration at not being able to stop the ninja herself into anger directed at Misato. "Why did you step in and stop the blow like that, huh?! I didn't ask for your help!"

Ange didn't think of Misato as a person, so she had no thanks to spare on a piece of machinery. She was just confused why the Mechadoll would move to block the kick the way it did.

"My instructions are to escort you safely out of the Under with the Oracle," Misato informed Ange. "That woman presented a physical threat to your safety and also attempted to separate the Oracle from you. Neither is permitted. To prevent any further threats to your safety and your possession of the Oracle, it has been deemed necessary to incapacitate her to the best of my capabilities."

Ange didn't know what to say that, so she muttered under her breath, "fine, do whatever the fuck you want, I don't care." She stepped back and let Misato handle this. The least that Mechadoll could do was be a shield.

On Shinobu's part, she was completely lost. She was staring at Misato, unable to understand what she was dealing with.

Ever since she was born, Shinobu was praised as a prodigy. Whatever she set her mind to, she could do perfectly. And the reason for that was because she was a master of reading people. She knew what the people she interacted with expected of her, and worked her hardest to meet those expectations like she was supposed to.

That's how it was supposed to work, anyway. But right now, she found herself at a complete loss, with no idea what to do.

Because for all her skill at reading people, she couldn't understand the girl in front of her in the slightest. If her kick being blocked felt like trying to kick a brick wall, then what she was doing right now was like trying to understand one.

Most people were easy to understand. You could determine what they wanted just by studying their faces and their body language, the way they were interacting with you. But this girl, it was like she was a statue. Shinobu couldn't read her at all, she had no idea what this girl expected from her, or even what she was going to do next!

Shinobu's natural instincts, tools that she'd spent her entire life cultivating, they were all falling to ruin in the presence of this girl, and she began to doubt herself. Even with Shima there, expecting her to do her best, she was faced now with a problem that she genuinely didn't know how to solve.

So the first thing she thought to do was go about things the way she always did.

A kick didn't work, the girl had been able to block it effortlessly, in spite of how fast Shinobu had been moving. But if that was the case, then instead of one large blow, what if Shinobu tried to fight with a series of small, rapid blows?

Yeah, that had a very good chance of working!

Shinobu tucked her head in and ran forward, pulling back her arms and unleashing a series of fast punches that wouldn't be outshined by a Machamp's bullet punch.

Misato swung her arms and blocked or deflected every single one. Then she raised her leg and kicked Shinobu in the stomach, knocking her backwards.

"What… how…?!" Shinobu gasped for breath, stunned by the performance. It wasn't possible. She was the pinnacle of skill in her village. She was trained for years to master the arts of ninjutsu perfectly, there was no way that this woman should even be able to follow her attacks, let alone block every single one of them!

She had been completely outperformed by a girl who looked as old as she was. Shinobu, the prodigy? Shinobu, the genius? That girl wasn't even out of breath blocking her attack, she hadn't so much as blinked!

Seeing that, Shinobu began to doubt herself right to her very core.

Of course, what Shinobu could have never guessed was the fact that she wasn't dealing with another girl her age at all. What she was dealing with wasn't even human.

Of course Misato wasn't out of breath, or sweating, or even blinking in the face of an attack. She was a Mechadoll, she wouldn't lose focus over something like that. Of course she could follow Shinobu's movements, her visual receptors were capable of registering data down to the grains of sand in the atmosphere, and her brain was more powerful than the strongest computers on the market, able to process all that information instantly. And then her physical body moved with electronic precision to act upon that data, effortlessly countering each and every one of those strikes that, to a Mechadoll, were moving as slowly as a Shuckle.

It wasn't a fair competition for Shinobu in the first place, she was dealing with technology far beyond what a human would be capable of matching.

But that didn't mean she was going to give up. Fighting with her fists hadn't worked, Shinobu could tell that the woman in front of her was on another level entirely.

It wasn't like those were the only weapons Shinobu had to deal with her, though.

She reached to her waist and pulled a pokeball free from her belt, flinging it into the air.

"Enoki! Go!" She shouted, sending out her Parasect.

The mushroom pokemon landed in the rubble, clicking his pincers. His mushroom shook, tiny spores rolling off it.

"Enemy pokemon detected," Misato said, reengaging from battling against a human opponent to dealing with a pokemon.

"Detect this!" Shinobu spat. "Enoki, use spore! Put that girl to sleep!"

"Parasect!" Enoki chattered, his mushroom flexing. He sprayed a cloud of green spores into the air, sending it swirling towards Misato.

Shinobu smiled victoriously as she saw Misato get swallowed by the cloud of spores. Perfect! It doesn't matter how swiftly you can react to my attacks, one whiff of that and you'll be sent fast asleep! And even if you can hold your breath, Parasect's spores enter through the lungs AND the skin!

"Shit! Spore!" Ange clutched her nose to keep the spores from entering her lungs and putting her to sleep. But in spite of that, and in spite of the fact that she was on the outskirts of the blast, she could still feel herself getting a little drowsy.

But then, Ange was a human.

After a few moments, the cloud of spores fell away, inert, leaving a very much not-asleep Misato standing unfazed.

Once again, Shinobu couldn't believe her eyes. Even Shima, who had been lightly amused this entire time about the idea of an opponent that could give Shinobu a run for her money, was suddenly in shock by the fact that the Parasect's spore had no effect whatsoever on the girl.

"Spore. A move using the special properties of the spore of a mushroom to put the target to sleep instantaneously," Misato calmly analyzed. "Threat capacity nonexistent. No countermeasures necessary."

She raised her hand to reveal a pokeball.

"Deploying Arms."

Misato released her Aegislash. The sword and shield pokemon hovered in front of her, presenting their shield toward the Parasect.

"So, you're finally getting into this, huh? And here I thought you were devoid of emotions," Shinobu scowled. She was projecting. She hoped that the reason the girl had sent out a pokemon was because she was getting invested in the battle- but the truth was, Shinobu had no fucking idea.

She still couldn't read Misato at all!

"I don't know how you were able to avoid Enoki's spores, but it's a different story for your pokemon!" Shinobu said. "Enoki, put that Aegislash to sleep, instead!"

Enoki sent another spray of spores that engulfed Arms, putting them to sleep immediately. The Aegislash fell to the ground, fast asleep.

Shinobu hoped that would at least get some sort of reaction out of this woman. But she was disappointed once again. Misato's face didn't so much as twitch a muscle in response to her pokemon falling asleep.

After all, she had no muscles whatsoever.

But she did move. She walked forward to where her sleeping Aegislash lay, and did something that nobody saw coming. Not Ange, not Shima, and certainly not Shinobu.

She picked up the ancient pokemon as casually as if she was picking up a piece of litter, and held them up.

Brandishing her pokemon with one hand, Arms' tassel arms wrapped up her right arm to her shoulder as she clutched their hilt. Then with her left hand, she took Arms' shield for her own, holding it up towards the Parasect.

"What… the fuck?!" Shinobu gasped, completely having lost her cool. She was so blown away by what was happening that any impulse to maintain her composed façade was completely forgotten, even before her beloved Shima.

Not that he would have anything to say on the matter, because he was as surprised as she was.

"Arms completed," Misato said plainly, pointing the blade of her slumbering Aegislash at Enoki. Then she attacked.

Misato wasn't as fast as when she was boosted by one of her other pokemon. In fact, in spite of her artificial body, compared to a pokemon she was downright slow. But she was still faster than most humans, and faster than a completely baffled Parasect who had no idea how to react to a clearly human opponent charging at him while wielding her pokemon as a weapon.

Misato silently raised her blade and swung the massive iron sword like a drinking straw, slamming the edge into Enoki and knocking him into the air. She practically cleaved the pokemon in half, sending him flying into the rubble.

"E-Enoki!" Shinobu gasped in shock. Misato's amazing display snapped her out of confusion and she was quickly back into an offensive mode. "Quickly! Use…"

Even as she thought of an order, she realized she had none to give. Enoki's speed couldn't compare to the girl, and she doubted that any of his attacks would break that shield, especially not when her own were unable to land. Enoki specialized in his powder moves, after all, and this girl had nullified his strongest one completely!

"R-Return," Shinobu said, recalling her critically injured pokemon to his pokeball.

"Shinobu! What are you doing?!" Shima shouted, angry for the first time Ange had seen him. He seemed truly shocked frightened. "I trusted you to be the strongest ally there was! Are you telling me you can't beat some girl who isn't even using her pokemon properly?!"

He knew it wasn't fair to blame Shinobu for what was happening. This girl… no, he wasn't sure if she could really be called that, given the circumstances. He didn't know what she was, but he knew that she was dangerous, and not the kind of foe that either of them had ever encountered before.

But he knew that Shinobu wouldn't yield so easily. She would try even harder to be worth of his estimation. That was what he respected about her the most, her refusal to give up.

And indeed, Shinobu's passion had reignited.

At the same time, Ange was completely baffled. She knew that Misato was powerful, she had seen its performance in the Phantom cup. But those battles, the Mechadoll had been boosted by a Rotom and then a Porygon-Z. Right now, she was witnessing the raw strength of Misato itself, and…

It was awesome.

But she couldn't let herself get impressed. The thing was just a doll. Nothing else.

Darn it Ange! Misato is fighting for your sake, you don't have to be so mean to her! She's trying her best, you know! Here's hoping Misato will be able to protect the Oracle from the ninja duo!