Attached

A Pokémon Persona Crossover Fanfiction

by Three Black Noises

Chapter 3

"You know, you really shouldn't use anger to power your attacks." a voice said.

"Well excuse me, young, lady? But I'm not going to be a cry baby just because I got a little hurt." Sarah said; trying to keep her voice casual.

"That may be true," the voice said; coming a little closer, "But your anger will run out eventually, and where will you be then?"

"Out of choices?" Sarah asked.

"More like out of power, but seriously, you need to relax and let your own method come to you." the voice said; now directly in front of Sarah.

"wow! An Azumarill!" Hope whispered

I reached out and touched the new arrival. Her hands; or paws, or whatever they were called;) rested on Sarah's shoulders and squeezed gently.

"Hay! what are" Azumarill broke off in a rather surprised "oh dear!" before saying, "This must all be hard for you, not knowing anything about your new friends, you know, with you being blind and all."

"I think my friends and I will find a way to overcome that obstacle." I said as I felt Azumarill's fur; finding it to be rather rough.

"Your fur doesn't feel like I thought it would." I said in reflection.

"It's rather rough isn't it. That's so we can swim through the water at fast speeds."

"So, can you, help Sarah?" Chris asked.

"I might be able to, just give me a few minutes please." Azumarill said to; I think all of us before turning back to Sarah again.

Now, my name's Christina, and I'm right here. I'm not going to put you down, and I'm not going to force you to do anything my way. All I ask is that you relax, and let your own style come out." Christina said in a very calm voice.

"Take as much time as you need Sarah." Hope encouraged.

We're all here with you." I added.

"I know." Sarah began, "But I have to try so hard because, I, I, I!"

the pitch of her voice rose with each "I" until she was almost hysterical.

She then took a hitching breath like she was going to say something, but ended up not saying whatever she wanted to.

"Just let it out." Chris and Christina said; with Chris leading very slightly.

"You'll feel so much better once you do." Liz said from a very slight distance away.

"You all might hate me." Sarah chided.

"If anything else, I'll stay with you." Hope said.

"It's just that, I, I!" she took another hitching breath but held it for several seconds before exploding,

"Never ever want to evolve!"

She took a moment to catch her breath before saying, "Wow, I said it, and, all of you are still here."

She walked up to me. "You're not mad at me, are you?"

"Not really, but I can't help the thought that fait is playing a very crewel joke on me."

I paused for a second as I pet Sarah on her chest.

"Mother hates me now." she said dejectedly.

"Evolution can do that." Liz said; now closer.

"You don't get it." Sarah said; now calm.

"Mother was a Prinplup. She loved me. She became Piplup. She still loved me. She became Prinplup again.

She said she hated my guts, and she'd kill me if we ever meat again."

Sarah delivered this with an almost mechanical rhythm; her voice dropping into somewhere between mail and female range.

Silence persisted for several minutes as we all thought about her words.

"Your mother was a breeder!" Liz, Christina and Hope said.

"That means something?" I asked; not seeing how that made a difference.

"That would explain the sudden personality change." said Liz.

"So." Sarah said; evidently trying to figure things out.

"The Piplup stage can't produce young," Liz said; prompting her.

"So someone made her evolve!" Sarah said.

"And creatures that are forced to evolve can keep their old personality." Hope said.

"And Pokémon evolved in that way can't always hold their new forms, especially if they're raised in captivity with no battle experience." Christina added.

After a few seconds Sarah continued, "She changed back into a Piplup, and when she changed into Prinplup the correct way, she, became selfish?"

"Or it could be evolution high." Chris spoke up darkly.

"What?" everyone except Chris and Liz asked.

"When a Pokémon evolves for the first time," Liz began, "Especially one with such a drastic personality change as from Piplup to Prinplup, the new personality overrides the old for about five minutes or so. During this time, they make decisions that go against their normal way of looking at, or doing things. When the high fades, they often times, have no memory of the event."

"That's horrible! we all said.

"Most of the time in this kind of situation," chris began, "The new personality becomes the permanent personality."

"But if that's the case; you know, with me being the property of a breeder and all, why was I dropped off at Juniper's lab?" a bewildered Sarah asked.

"This was probably your mother's first brood," Hope began; stepping close to Sarah and lowering her voice, "So your most likely the only survivor given that your kind are only supposed to have one child a year." She finished unhappily.

"So we do only come one at a time." sarah said.

"Normally yes, but in captivitty, things can be, somewhat different, given the fact that in the wild, you're kind normally meet up in an isolated place and do the whole mating, raising young thing." Liz said.

A few moments passed before Sarah asked, "Do you think they timed mom's evolution to make her forget the pain of that loss?"

"Probably dear." Liz said quietly.

"I guess I can see why, but I still wish mother and I didn't have to go through that." Sarah said somewhat sadly.

"We all wish things didn't happen in our lives," I began, "But we have to play our hands the way they're dealt."

"What?" Christina and sarah asked.

"It just means you deal with things the way they are, as they come up." I explained.

"So what, just move on now?" Sarah asked in my direction.

"Yes. You can't change it, and at least it's out in the open now." I replied.

"And I feel so much better now that you know and except what I've been through." Sarah said; turning back to Christina.

"So much so in fact that."

The blast of water came so suddenly that Christina had no time to dodge it.

"Wow! I guess it does work better when you're calm." Sarah said in utter amazement.

"And would you calmly be issuing a challenge to me?" Christina asked.

"No. The attack just came to me after I got all that stuff off my chest." sarah explained.

"Just be lucky you attacked such a nice pokémon."Chris said before adding,

"Any other time, you'd be in over your head after doing something like that."

"I think I'd like to make it a battle. I need to learn how to do these anyway." Sarah said.

"That's very brave, but I'm afraid I'll have to pass. It won't be much of a challenge, because," Here Christina paused a bit,

"Well, I'm completely TM taught."

I wasn't sure if a TM was the same in this world as it was in the games, so I asked about them.

"Well they let a trainer teach a Pokémon skills without all the work it would normally take but"

Christina acted like she wanted to continue, but after several seconds Liz took up the thread.

"You have to use a TM repeatedly to keep a Pokémon fluent in a skill, but if you use a TM to much," Sarah jumped in with a heavy tone in her voice.

"Let me guess, the Pokémon can't learn the move, the right way?"

"Or not at all." Chris added; sounding sad.

"And if you do something like swap out TMS repeatedly over a long period of time, you can destroy a Pokémon's mind." Liz continued.

"That's horrible!"I exclaimed.

"That's why` my trainer gave me up." Christina broke in.

"I never knew a human could cry so much, she felt so bad." she continued.

"She was Marr help azu, but she Marill mare."

Her voice became frantic, "zoo! Marill zu!"

She then made a long peaceful "aaaaaaaah" sound, then became quiet all together.

"What happened to her?" sarah asked before being silenced by Chris.

"Pip Piplup plup?" Christina asked; causing me to gasp.

(She's very sensitive to what she hears right now.) Liz told me in my head.

(One of the side effects of the speaking TM is that it makes a speaker forget everything about speaking, including there own language, if not constantly reapplied.)

(So she's learning the Piplup language now?) I thought back.

(Once that particular TM is done invading the speech center, it leaves it, like a clean slate, able to absorb anything vocal given to it.)

(So what, that's a yes?) I asked; feeling somewhat uneasy.

(More or less.) Liz answered.

(Nobody is really sure how a Pokémon learns their name at first," Liz began,

(But somehow, when a Pokémon is born, they can only say their own name, and most of the time, never go beyond that.)

(And I guess the younger a Pokémon is when a speech TM is used on it, the easier it is for said Pokémon to forget something as basic as saying their own name?) I surmised.

"Is it to late?" Sarah asked; fear creeping into her voice.

"Not if we hurry." Liz whispered. "just relax and let me have control."

Sarah relaxed, and a few seconds later said Christina's Pokémon name several times.

Christina eventually started to pick up on her own language again, and; apparently; Liz ran Sarah through several more derivatives of "Azumarill" before letting her have control of her own voice again.

"Boy! That felt weird." Sarah said.

Christina responded with a long string of sounds derived from her name, and I suddenly had a horrible thought.

"If Sarah is speaking her own language, how come I can understand her but not Christina?"

"We still don't know that much about what happened when you came here." Chris put in.

"If I had to make a somewhat educated guess, I would say you can understand Pokémon no matter what language they speak,

so long as they've joined you as a friend or a partner, but if they already know your language ..." Liz finished.

"I won't need to understand the language they speak." I finished; understanding how it'd make things easier on the translation bug if it didn't have as many languages to translate simultaneously.

"That does make a kind of weird sence." Hope said.

It dawned on me at that point that the translation bug; working in this way; would also allow me to know immediately if a Pokémon was capable of speaking english or not, without them having to show off that particular talent and possibly put themselves at risk.

sarah and Christina carried on there conversation, but I couldn't understand Sarah at all.

I indicated this, and was told that; most likely; I could only understand a Pokémon in my group

if they were talking to me or someone else in the group.

"But that means I can no longer understand Christina now." I said; feeling a little sad for her.

"I, sort of have an idea." Liz said; now moving very close to me.

She touched me on the shoulder, and I could understand the conversation again.

"But, if you can't see, how can you fight, and stuff?" Sarah asked.

"I'm still working on that, but I can show you what I've worked out so far.

Christina went through a series of mostly hand-to-hand moves that seemed to rely on close proximity to an opponent.

"So what would you do if your opponent is farther away?" Sarah asked.

Christina responded with a brisk attack that I guessed was watergun.

"Try and find me!" Sarah challenged. She then immediately dove off of the road and hid somewhere. Guessing by the sounds she made, it was in a bush.

Christina made several nervous sounds before seeming to get a bead on sarah and issuing a sudden blast of water in her direction.

A strange surprised screaching sound suddenly issued from the place Christina was aiming for, and Liz let out a small gasp as the water made contact with the object making the sound; judging by how fast the sound stopped all together.

Everyone but me exclaimed as something, walked? out of the bushes and stood directly in front of Christina.

"Christina! I'm over here." Sarah said discouragingly from somewhere off to our right before coming back over to us with a gasp.

"SO, you're Christina Brightstar huh?" the creature standing in front of her asked in a voice that was both pretty and somewhat gruff.

"That's me, why?" she answered in english.

"because, I believe you just challenged me, and I intend to answer said challenge." The creature replied.

I started to ask what the new arival was before remembering I had an accessible Pokédex.

Pidgeot, the bird Pokémon

This Pokémon is Capable of flying incredibly quickly at speeds of mach 2 as it seeks prey.

as a result, its large talons are feared as wicked weapons.

Its well-developed chest muscles make it strong enough to whip up a gusty windstorm capable of bending tall trees with just a few flaps of its beautiful wings, which it can spread to frighten its enemies.

In full flight, by the time the flapping of these wings is heard, Pidgeot is long gone.

Its outstanding vision allows it to spot splashing Magikarp, even while flying at 3300 feet.

It can then skim the water's surface at high speed to pick off these unwary prey.

This Pokémon has a dazzling plumage of beautifully glossy feathers.

Many TRAINERS are captivated by the striking beauty of the feathers on its head, compelling them to choose Pidgeot as their Pokémon.

I read all this as Christina replied to the Pidgeot.

"And how are you going to answer my challenge, seeing as you can't use water moves?" she asked.

"Like this." The bird answered, just before he shot a blast of water at Christina.

As it hit her; and before any of us had time to react, he grabbed her in his talons and took off.

He only got about thirty feet up, before he plummeted back down to earth, face planting into the ground with Christina still in his tallons.

"Some bird you are, can't even fly." sarah laughed.

"sarah!" Hope chided.

"No she's right. I can't fly that well, yet." The bird said quietly as he picked himself up off the ground.

"I've only had my wings for a day at most, and they aren't all grown in yet, I don't think." he continued.

"So that's why a Pidgeot is here in Unova. Because you were raised in captivitty?" I guessed.

The bird made some sounds before responding, "Guess I'm pretty easy to figure out huh."

"Oh dear! Your wings. No wonder you can't fly very high." Hope exclaimed.

"You think you could use your magic fairy power to help him out?" I asked her; half teasingly.

"I don't know." She replied; circling the bird, "But, for the record, I never asked to have this power.

She paused for a few seconds; presumably as she looked at the wings in question.

"But , if I were given the choice between this, and permanently changing into who knows what at some random time,

well, I choose the weird healing powers."

She stood still, thinking before saying; more to herself than anyone else, "Hmm, these wings are pretty big.."

"I think my powers are pretty much useless at this point." she finally said.

"Oh you're the next healer aren't you?" Pidgeot asked.

"I'm afraid so, Mr..."

"Where are my manners today. My given name is robin, so you may call me that if you wish." the pidgeot replied.

"But aren't you a boy?" sarah asked with a laugh.

"Yes I am, but robin can be a boy's name to." he replied.

I wanted to see if I could befriend Robin, but I also didn't want to push my luck.

"well, Robin, it was vary nice meating you." I said.

"Likewise." he responded as I pulled out my cane and began to head back in the direction of the citty and the Pokémon center.

We walked toward town in silence for a few minutes before I decided to speak up.

"I hope he'll be okay, robin I mean."

"He's vary young, but he'll do fine on his own." liz assured me.

"why didn't you ask him along?" Chris asked.

"Yeah, why didn't you." Robin asked from a few feet behind us.

"Well, I wanted you to have whatever life you want. Why?" I asked; doing my best to hide my surprise.

"well if you want to call yourself a trainer, you need to work on your friendship skills, seeing as you not only left me behind, but Christina as well." robin replied without missing a beat.

"That's right, and I'd guess it looked pretty odd, a Pidgeot escorting an azumarill." Christina said.

"I don't doubt that at all, but I've already had an incredible run of good luck so far and wanted to actually earn my next Pokémon friend the propper way." I explained.

"That's all vary well and good, but I want a blind trainer. And seeing as you're the only one in unova, would you please consider having me as a friend?" Christina asked.

"I'd love to." I said, and we shook hand and... paw?

"That just leaves you Robin. why'd you come back, aside from escorting christina." I asked.

"Oh that's easy. You see, I might not know vary much about being a bird yet, but I do know plenty about reading humans. You had that look on your face back there that said, 'I really really want to train him,' so I'm here to give you one more chance to except me." Robin explained.

"I'd love to realize one of my dreams and befriend a Pidgeot, but only if you want to give up your freedom after a day and join me." I answered; praying he'd say yes.

"Seeing as you asked that way," robin began.

"Hold it!" a voice yelled.

We all gasped as a man; probably a little older than me; aproached us.

"I'm Liam, and I here by challenge you for ownership of that Pidgeot." he declared.

"Look, I'm not sure why you'd want a Pidgeot, but this one just gained his freedom, so you're not taking that away!" I exclaimed.

Liam just laughed.

"And how are you going to stop me good sir, with a piplup and Clefairy?" He laughed again. "I don't think so."

Sarah made an insulted sound and started to run forward, only to be stopped by Hope.

"No Sara! He's to strong for you!" Hope cried in desperation.

sara tried to brake away from Hope, but; to her credit; she kept the angry Piplup back.

Liz put her hand on my sholder, then leaned down and whispered in my ear, "He's got five badges, so mind what you say."

"What's wrong Piplup? don't you 'wunna fight?" liam taunted.

"No she doesn't!" Christina exclaimed, and her and Hope held sara back.

"He's just trying to bate you Sarah." Christina explained.

"I have to agree. He's probably got an electric or grass type that he could easily win with." I added.

"You're pretty smart for a rooky." Liam complemented.

Sarah stopped fighting, and Christina let her go.

Robin walked passed me, but as he did, he lened in and whispered, "I know what I'm doing." in a tone that also said, "Play along and we'll get through this just fine."

To Liam he said, "I'll represent myself."

"Must be my lucky day." Liam said; just before releasing a raichu from its Poké Ball.

"Oh no!" Sara said.

"I thought this would happen. Michael?" Robin asked.

"Yes, I'm here." I replied.

"Look, I imagine you want to give me commands, but I know what I'm doing, okay?" robin added.

I could tell by the tone of Robin's voice that he had a plan to win the day, so I simply said, "I trust you Robin." and left it at that.

"Raichu, Thunderbolt!" Liam commanded.

His raichu happily complied with an extremely jubilant cry, and I feared the worst for the bird I almost befriended.

Robin; however; showed no signs of alarm as the attack hit him. He didn't even cry out.

Needless to say, we were all surprised.

Liam recovered quickly and gave another command.

"Raichu, Electric Streem!"

I had no idea what that ment, but it turned out to be a way of telling Raichu to use something slightly less powerful than Thunderbolt, but not to stop until all its electric energy was used up.

Robin still didn't cry out, and; out of concern; I checked both Pokémon in my Pokédex.

Liam's Raichu; it turned out; was level 23, while robin was only level 16.

This didn't really matter; as Raichu should have gotten a bonus from being the same type as the attack he was using; what was known as a STAB or Same Type Atack Bonus.

On top of that, Robin; being a flying type; should have taken double damage from the electric attack.

My Pokédex told me that, while robin did take extra damage due to Raichu being electric type, he didn't take double damage from being a flying type.

This baffled me at first, but then I remembered that a technique existed in the games called Roost.

this technique allowed a flying Pokémon to recover its energy, but made it a normal type for the one turn it was recovering.

I figured the same principle could work on a flying-type Pokémon that wasn't actually flying, and that seemed to line up with what my Pokédex was telling me.

After all was said and done, robin still had slightly more than half of his health remaining, and I realised how shrewde he'd been.

By makeing raichu use up all its electric energy, robin had just put himself in a tactical position that put all the odds in his favor.

"Hay! What gives!" Liam almost shouted.

"I get Raichu to use Thundrbolt, and you're supposed to scream and fall over so I can take you home." He said; slightly calmer.

"Well you forgot one vary vital thing." Robin said; still calm.

"and what's that, Mr. My feathers don't get ruffled by nothing?" Liam asked.

"Oh, I know this one!" Chris and Christina both said like they were students in a classroom.

"Yes you two?" Robin asked.

"Because you aren't flying!" They both said in unison.

"That's correct." he stated.

"Oh really, in that case, Raichu, Mega Kick!" Liam commanded.

The raichu tried to kick robin as instructed, but Robin; to his credit; was nimble enough to dodge every single attack easily without even breathing hard.

I really, really wanted to give a few commands to robin, or some advice; at the vary least, but he seemed to be doing well enough on his own for the time being, so I held my tung.

"Oh that's how you 'wunna play it? Fine, I've played this game before. Raichu, Dig!" Liam commanded.

I knew what was coming next, and I wasn't wrong. The raichu stopped kicking and dug his way underground.

"And now you're going to try and nock me off my tallons." Robin sighed.

"So what if I am huh?" liam challenged.

"It won't work." Robin said just as Raichu burst out of the groun.

The attack was right on target, but I could tell that robin had a plan for how to avoid it.

I thought he'd do something awsome like counter the move with one of his own, but he simply sidestepped out of the way.

"You sure this is your first battle?" Liam asked.

"Oh yes, though your Raichu's attacks are so easy to read it's almost laughable." Robin replied as raichu sent out what I believe was a thunderwave attack that would have paralyzed robin if it made contact.

Robin kept moving even while talking, and the attack whiffed; that is to say it missed at nearly point-blank range.

The Raichu then ran straight at Robin, in what was by no accident a Takedown attack; a move with a high degree of wrisk involved, as it harmed the user if it connected, and left them wide open if it didn't.

Robin seemed to have a plan for this to, as he took six quick steps back and let raichu come at him.

As Raichu was about to connect, Robin stuck out his left leg, and Raichu connected with it; causing him to take damage from connecting with the Takedown attack itself, but making him trip in the process.

as Raichu tripped, robin simply grabbed the giant rat in his talons and just held him.

"Game over." Robin declared.

"How do you figure?" Liam asked in an angry tone; not that I really blamed him.

"Well, let's see. I have your Raichu in my talons, facing away from me with his tail rapped under him so he can't use any remaining electricitty without shocking himself. He can't use any physical moves as he can't really gather any momentum in this position, and, as I just said, he's facing away from me." robin calmly explained.

"Oh yeah, and..." Robin said before beginning to peck at Raichu's backside.

"He, can't, avoid, these." Robin said between pecks.

Raichu; to his credit, didn't cry out with each peck as I expected him to do.

After seven more pecks, Robin simply stopped and continued to hold Raichu in his talons.

"I'll still win, because you're a bird." liam tried.

"And that matters because..." Robin offered.

"Well you can't hold on to my raichu forever." liam almost spat back.

"He doesn't have to." another voice said.

I knew that voice, because I'd heard it just yesterday.

"Alder, what are you doing here?" I asked; more than a little surprised.

"Looking for you, as a matter-of-fact." He answered easily.

"Well you found me. So how much longer does Robin have to hold on to raichu anyway?" I replied.

"Less then two minutes now."

"How can that bird hold on to anything of Raichu's weight anyway?" liam asked.

"Well, I happen to be vary strong in my non-flight-related skills, seeing as my human masters up to this point have seen fit to disable my ability to sore in the sky." robin answered before anyone else could.

"and, even if I did let your rat go this vary instant, I've racked up more damage on him than he has on me, so I'll still win by default." Robin finished.

Liam seemed to be out of things to say, so we just waited.

After about a minute, Liam did speak.

"Alright! You win! I forfeit! I give! Uncle! Whatever! Just please let Raichu go, okay?"

Robin seemed to look at Alder who nodded his head, so Robin let raichu go

"You're a really smart bird after all." Liam said to Robin before turning to me.

"As for you, we're not done yet. I might have lost Robin to you, but I will defeat him in a Pokémon battle some day, even though I get nothing out of it, but my own satisfaction."

"I look forward to the day when you and I have a propper battle with our own teams of fully trained Pokémon." I said, and we shook hands.

"Raichu, Return." Liam commanded.

I heard the sound of Raichu's Poké Ball activating, but before it could perform its function, Raichu used an attack on Robin.

Robin almost dodged out of the way, but the attack; probably return; connected anyway.

As Robin let out an extremely high; pain-filled scream, Raichu laughed maniacally while the Poké Ball did it's work.

Before it could fully complete its assigned function, sara and Christina mannaged to get off, some kind of water attack, that connected with the Raichu just before he got drawn all the way into his ball.

Hope ran over to Robin and began to assess the damage.

"Oh dear, let me help you." she said.

Robin tried to say something like a negative response, but Hope was already at work calling on her Magical Leaf healing attack.

As the attack connected, Hope seemed to chant something under her breath.

Whatever she was chanting seemed to be working, as Robins pained sounds turned into relaxed ones.

"That's all I can do for him." Hope said when she was done.

"He'll be good as new by tomorrow." she finished as she walked over to stand beside sarah.

"Wow. That's, umm, thanks for that." Liam said in Hope's direction before tapping Raichu's Poké Ball.

"This little rat, and I, need to have a little talk at the Pokémon center regarding the proper use of Return." he said as he began walking away.

"Thanks for a great, demonstration. Oh and you won't be using those tactics again, by the way." he called in Robin's direction.

"Your welcome, though I have plenty more where those came from." Robin called back; sounding almost normal again.

"Well, that was, eventful." Alder said after Liam was out of earshot.

"I'm just glad it all turned out fine in the end." I replied; glad to be talking to someone who had the knowledge I lacked.

"So can that happen with any Pokémon, or just one I haven't claimed yet?" I asked.

"As long as the Pokémon in question is already registered in your name, they're safe from being challenged." Alder explained.

"That's good to know." I said.

"Hay Mr. Alder?" christina spoke up.

"Yes azumarill?" he answered in kind.

"Why did you single us out anyway?" she asked.

"To be blunt, I was hoping to extract a favor from Michael here, in exchange for putting all of you up for the night." Alder explained.

"That depends on the favor." I began, "As you know, I'm just starting out as a trainer, so I'm afraid that I can't do much for someone like you at this point."

"You have a different view-point than most trainers, and that's what I need." Alder said with a flourish.

"Viewpoint?" Christina said; stepping in front of me.

"I'm sorry sir, I'm christina brightstar, and as a fellow creature who shares his disabillity, I can't in good conscience allow you to take advantage of it."

"Brightstar, As in Brightstar limited?" Alder asked.

"The vary same." she confirmed.

"You're crystal's daughter?" Chris asked.

"Yes, but I'm really not supposed to let people know that, as mom wants me to have a normal life." she explained.

"I don't doubt that at all. And, while your name won't give you any points with me, his disability is in no danger of being used against him." Alder said.

"So who's Crystal Brightstar, and what's brightstar Limited?" I asked after christina seemed to have no more objections to Alder's proposal.

"Why don't we take Alder up on his offer, and continue this conversation in doors." Liz suggested.

"I had no idea why Liz would suggest this course of action, but I didn't see any harm in listening to Alders proposal; and gaining more information about this world at the same time, so I agreed as I folded my cane and took Liz's arm.

"So how come you started sarah out on Bubblebeam instead of watergun?" Robin casually asked as we walked.

"I don't really know exactly. Why?" I replied; both surprised by robin's knowledge of Pokémon moves as well as his will to question a total stranger's motives.

"Well that move is closer to advanced than beginner." Robin replied smoothly.

"I didn't know Sarah's battle level yet, and she seemed comfortable starting with bubble beam, so that's where we started." I replied.

Robin didn't say anything for a few seconds, but eventually he drew breath to speak.

"I know I'm the new bird on the team, but you really should have sara practice simple moves like bubble and water gun before working on bubble beam." he said.

"Your input is valued, though I wonder why you'd say such a thing." I responded; hoping to get a small glimps into the depths of Robin's knoledge regarding Pokémon battle tactics and moves

"To be direct, sarah's execution of bubble beam is more than inadequate. The beam lacks cohesion due to the bubbles being to small and far apart, and the path is irregular due to her lack of focus."

robin said all this without any need to beat around the bush; while at the same time giving a calm delivery that invited further discussion.

"I do to have focus!" sarah almost yelled.

"Okay, then using bubble beam on me while walking surely won't be a problem for you." robin calmly challenged.

Sarah, tried; several times, to answer his challenge, but she only got as far as drawing breath for the attack each time before letting the last one out in disgust.

"You're right, I don't really know the move vary well. I just want to help Michael out as best I can." she said in a vary low voice.

"If only..." she trailed off.

"If only what?" Liz and I asked at once.

"Well, if I could see how I do the move, maybe... Ahh forget it." sarah said.

"Actually, you can, for I just happen to know mirror move." robin said.

"What's that?" Sarah asked in wonder.

"It's a technique that lets a Pokémon coppy the last move used on it. He already did it before with christina's water attack." I explained.

"So, if I stopped and used bubble beam on Robin right now?" Sarah asked.

"Let's find out." Alder said as he stopped walking.

Liz stopped to, and Sarah planted herself in front of Robin and began to focus her powers.

The attack came out much as it had the entire afternoon. This time; however, I was able to hear the problems robin spoke about.

Sarah stepped back once she was finished, and I heard robins wings move a few times.

Suddenly, Liz was standing directly in front of me.

Her unique fragrance permeated my nostrils as I waited for something to happen.

absent-mindedly, I placed my hands on her arms; enjoying the pleasing feel of her velvet dress as the fibers rubbed against my hands.

"Your velvet dress feels nice." I complimented.

"Uh Michael, that's not actually"

Liz was cut off by robin seeming to half blow, half sing out a breath that quickly turne into, what I guest was supposed to be sarahs bubble beam attack.

Just as I'd heard when robin was on the receiving end of sarah's attack, now I actually felt how the move impacted against Liz's body.

As I expected, Liz jercked several times as each salvo of bubbles splashed against different parts of her body.

I also noticed how not a single salvo hit anywhere near the same place, and the strength of each one was drastically different.

One even hit Liz square on her noze, yet she didn't even make a sound.

"Well, that was" Robin began, but liz's laughter cut him off.

"Oh sorry, but I've never seen mirror move do anything like that before." liz said after her laughter calmed down.

"But that move? That. was, mine?" Sarah asked in shock.

"It was." Robin confirmed.

"It looked, so, stupid."Sarah said in a whisper.

"Well, mirror move reflects the level of mastery the original user of the attack has." Robin explained calmly.

"And, how long, does mastery take?" Sarah asked in a trimbling voice.

"That depends on several issues." liz answered; still standing in front of me.

"Your determination isn't one of them, however your current lack of prier knowledge is." Robin said quietly as he began to walk again.

Liz moved into position so I could take her arm in sighted guide mode as sarah spoke again.

"I know I must start from the beginning, but I don't have a lot of time to do that." she explained as we all got moving once again.

"I'm not leaving yet sarah. We still have time, so you should use it." Hope said from the front of the group.

"I've been told about your situation, and how you want to support Hope on her chosen path, but unless you hone your skills, you won't be able to give much support to Hope, emotional or otherwise." Alder explained.

"All that aside, I've been given an incredible opportunity by the medical field, but just because I had no choice but to grow up really fast due to where and what I was born as doesn't mean you have to make the same choice." Hope explained.

"But I have to be their for you." Sarah argued.

"Not for the first few weeks you don't." Hope shot back.

"What's this about?" I asked before the conversation got so heated I'd never be able to follow it.

"Due to my unique powers, I've been given a chance to trabel the world on a rather big ship, helping out people and Pokémon while at the same time gaining more knolledge regarding said powers." Hope explained.

"And those first few weeks?" I asked.

The ship I'm to spend my time aboard is playing host to an academic conference of sorts, at which I'm giveng a presentation regarding my abilities." Hope explained.

"So sarah can spend that time being a kid, getting stronger, and having fun." alder concluded.

"That's right." Hope confirmed.

By this time, we'd arived at Alder's house.

"And I won't be using my powers on anyone in a life or death situation during that time, so rest easy until the conference is over okay?" Hope asked sarah during the time it took for Alder to open the door.

"Good evening.- said a voice that I recognized immediately as trey's."

"Same to you!" I said as he vacated a chair almost in front of me.

"But what are you doing here? I thought you were with Juniper. Hope asked as the rest of my friends came in with alder.

"I was." said Trey before adding, "I guess Alder did not tell you yet."

"I'm betting the fact that we ran into some new friends had something to do with that." Chris put in.

"It did indeed. Completely ruined my pitch." laughed Alder.

"Oh well, stuff happens. So, can we all have a seat? Liz seems to think we need to discuss a few things away from prying ears." I explained.

Trey lead me to a chair as the rest of my friends took seats.

"Trey, our new friends are Robin, the Pidgeot, and the Azumarill is, apparently, someone named Christina brightstar, daughter of Crystal brightstar of brightstar Limited." I explained.

"Well, to get right to the point, she's more or less the reinventor of the modern computer age after her Joule OS put all others to shame." christina explained.

"Joule OS? as in, operating system?" I asked.

"We are still talking about a Marill here right?" I asked; trying to get my head around the fact that a Marill; a rat of all things; was some how responsible for the current state of this world's computer status.

"Yes we are. She made your Pokédex to." alder explained.

"Okay? and her company is this brightstar Limited right?" I asked.

"That's right. and the reason I didn't want us discussing this stuff outdoors in public is because I don't want people trying to harass you or Christina in order to get to Crystal. Not every one is okay with a giant Marill practically running the Pokémon trainer world after all." Liz explained.

"You have seen this crystal?" Trey asked.

"Seen, but I've never spoken to her. she's a little taller than me by the way." Liz replied; the last part in my direction.

"I've engaged her in conversation in dealing with a few of my prier masters. She's, a little bit odd, but she knows her stuff." robin added.

"What kind of life did you lead?" Alder asked in amazement.

"Several, however I'd rather not talk about them now. I am trying to get away from all that after all." Robin answered lightly.

"Okay. well while I process all this, what did you invite Trey here for?" I asked; not sure what would come next.

"He's here to see your first battle."

"I can only battle with sarah and Hope right now, so I'd better not be battling you."

"No no." Laughed Alder. "It's two trainers I'm teaching. They'll be here in the morning, but I thought I could give you another free night.

And judging by that littel demonstration Robin and Sarah treated us to, your first training session didn't go as planned, so I'm thinking you could use another free night right about now."

"You're right. Sarah's pretty beat, and Robin could also use some TLC as well, but he probably has that by now with Hope having done her thing earlier." I said.

Alder began putting things away.

"I invited Trey here because I wanted all of your friends on hand to partake in your first trainer battles." he explained.

"Single or double?" I asked; trying to keep up with him.

"Just single for now. They each need someone else to battle besides each other."

"That makes sense. If they battle someone else, they can learn a new battle style." Liz added.

"You're on your way to forming a great team!" encouraged Alder.

"I don't know about great, but smart, that, I can understand. With the battle lock-out in place, I haven't really had a chance to see how they'd work together as a team yet." I explained.

"Would you like one?" Alder asked without missing a beat.

"Yes I would, but, against you? now?"

"Why not. We still have a few hours before bed, and Liz, Trey and Chris are your only team members who can still battle.

That, and, I'm itching for a battle right about now. That is, if they want to."

Liz took some time to respond.

"What about the lock-out? Will you not get in trouble?"

Alder laughed. "I think, as a former champion, I have enough pull to let you three battle in an unofficial capacity, even if it's just for tonight."

"But, as a former champion, doesn't that mean your Pokémon are really strong?" sarah asked.

I started to translate for Alder, but Trey beat me to it.

"It does sarah, but, for Pokémon at their level, I'm probably one of the only trainers in Unova that could give them a real challenge, aside from the elite four.

"All right, I'm in." Liz agreed.

"I guess that I am in to. This was not what I planned to do here tonight, but sure! I may as well see if all of my training paid off or not." Trey replied.

"I may as well test out my new body so, count me in as well." Chris said.

"Great! It looks like we have ourselves a battle. As you only have three Pokémon Michael, I shall only use three as well, or, to say it officially; for the younger Pokémon in the crowd, we have a three-on-three battle."

"That works for me, but can I have a few minutes to look over their stats?" I asked.

"I'll give you five minutes or so. I really want to see how you do with them, out of the box, so to speak, but you need to know what moves they have, so take some time to learn what moves they each have, and I'll go prep the arena and my Pokémon for battle."

Alder left smartly as I took out my Pokédex; that, somehow; was programmed by a giant Marill.

I'd deal with that revelation later, but for now, I had a battle to; hopefully; win.

About six minutes later, Alder was back.

"well, everything's ready." he announced.

I got up from where I'd been sitting while looking over the data my Pokédex supplied for each of my friends.

"Do you wish to use your cane?" Liz asked.

"Yes, it's short enough of a walk for that." I answered as I gently pushed Liz's arm away.

Within twenty seconds, my Pokémon and I were in Alder's battle arena located in the back of his house.

As soon as the door closed behind us, Alder's personality changed.

Now. You're challenging me to a three on three battle, and I'm going to come at you with everything I have.

The only concession I'll make is this."

He sent out three Pokémon.

"Seeing as I know your three Pokémon, it's only fair that you know mine. So for this battle, I'll be using Bouffalant, Vanilluxe and my pride and joy, Volcarona."

As Alder introduced them, each of his Pokémon came forward and made a sound.

"Now, just so you know, I'm probably not going to use them in that order, but I will send out Bouffalant as my first Pokémon.

Now choose a pokémon, and call your first move." Alder challenged.

"Okay, so do any of you three feel up to taking out that Bouffalant?" I asked.

(I'm not so good in the physical department.) declared Liz.

"Chris?"

"What's up?"

"Think you could"

"Way ahead of yuh." Chris said as he took the field.

"Okay, let's start with a fakeout Facade combo!"

Bouffalant took the hits and didn't seem phased at all

(This could be a problem) I thought as I said out loud, "Follow up with headbutt!"

"Reversal!" Alder commanded.

"You to! I shouted.

The two reversal attacks collided in midair, but Chris got thrown back a good ways.

Chris climbed to his feet saying, "Okay, that didn't turn out so good."

I couldn't help but agree with him.

"If close-up attacks won't work, then stay back and use Thunderbolt!" I commanded.

"You got it boss!" Chris replied.

I'll never forget what happened next; absolutely nothing.

"Chris?" I prompted.

"That's so weird. I can't use that move. I try to do what needs to be done to execute that move, but nothing happens." Chris said; more perplexed than scared.

"Would you like me to take over for you?" asked Trey in a soft voice that showed his understanding of Chris' plight.

"No, I can manage." Chris answered; not sounding phased in the least.

"I didn't plan on you finding this out in such a way," Liz began, "but if you need one of us to step in, just call for us. Okay?"

"Okay." Chris said as he took the field once more.

"I guess we have to stick with close-range moves. Watch out for those horns and see if you can land a Mega kick without taking damage yourself." I said.

"Stop Raichu with Head Charge!" Alder commanded.

"In between the horns now!" I shouted.

Chris got my meaning and landed his attack below the horns while staying between them.

The assault only seemed to anger the giant creature, however, and it countered by using Head Charge to send Chris flying across the arena.

"Earth Quake." Alder calmly commanded.

As Chris landed, Bouffalant executed a perfectly timed Earth Quake.

Chris screamed in pain, and, I could swear I heard glass; or something like it; braking.

"What in the world? Why did he have mirrors on his" Alder began before going silent.

"They weren't mirrors." Chris began, "They're psychic reflectors, and I think they were their to make it look like I still had electric powers."

"I'm sorry. I didn't" Liz began.

"I don't think you would hurt me on purpose." Chris cut in, "but how bad is it?"

He picked up a peace of the 'glass' from the floor.

"That bad huh?" he asked. "Only the nerve endings are left. Oh well, can't change the past." he said; more to himself than to any of us.

He walked over to Liz.

"I guess you and I were on some kind of quest to get that fixed huh?"

"indeed we were, but no luck has come our way in that regard." Liz answered sadly.

"Oh well, guess we keep on, keepen on." Chris answered; dropping the 'glass', and rubbing his cheeck at the same time.

"You want to keep going?" I asked as Liz used her powers to remove the glass from the field.

"Sure thing." he responded as he enterd the battle area once more.

"Chris, use" I began, but stopped when I caught a whiff of a strangely sweet aroma.

"Where's that smell coming from?" I asked as I tried to localise the sourse of the smell.

"Um, I think, it's coming, from me." chris said slowly.

"How's that possible?" I asked.

"He's alolan." Robin responded from a ways away.

"What's that?" we all asked.

"Not a what, a where. It's like Kanto and jotoh, but it has no gyms or league." Robin replied.

"That's probably why we haven't heard of it before. Please, continue." Alder offered.

"back when I first started, having owners, my second one wanted me to see both the world and how humans handled Pokémon.

To that end, we stopped off in Vermilion City to battle the gymleader Lt. Surge.

I didn't take part of course, but the person ahead of us was from this alola place, and he kept going on and on about how Surge's raichu was so different than the ones he'd battled."

"And the details match up with what Chris is doing now?" Alder asked.

"They do." Robin confirmed.

"Okay. so let's see what you can do Chris." Alder challenged.

Seeing as Alder had just given me the okay to see what chris could do, I gave the command once more.

"Chris, please try to use thunderbolt, okay?"

"I'll sure try." he said, and I heard him take a new stance.

"You've got the poze down pat." Alder commented.

"Sure but that's allll" Chris trailed off quietly.

"What!" Liz and I exclaimed.

"Something weird here. It feels so, happy." Chris said in a trance.

Suddenly, Liz was in front of me, taking some kind of attack chris was putting off while gasping deeply.

after a second or so, she did something to him that caused him to cry out before falling to the ground.

"Sorry Chris, but those are latent psychic powers you're throwing out, and as your friend I can't allow you to use them without first learning to control them." she said in a rush.

"I can control them right?" he asked weekly.

"I see no reason why not. Your powers are already coming from a good happy place, and that's the hardest thing for a psychic Pokémon to learn to do. I had to disable your powers for the night. and I'm deeply sorry if I've caused you any pain." Liz said as she picked him up.

"Pain? No Liz, I feel great!" Chris said.

"That's because you were blasting out your psychic energy with reckless abandon." liz chalenged.

"Oh no!" Chris exclaimed; still week.

"Don't worry. You have my word we'll get to the bottom of this." Liz said firmly.

"I'll help however I can." I offered.

"Good, because, vary soon, you're going to start learning about psychic powers as I teach chris about them. And after that, well we'll just see what happens between the two of us." liz said.

"So, I guess I'm out of the battle?" Chris asked.

"For safety reasons, yes." Liz replied as Trey walked over to stand by us.

"You and your Pokémon handle yourselves well in a tight spot, but, what now?" Alder asked me.

"Liz, I know you said"

"Don't you even give the matter a second thought. I'll just have to" Liz began before Trey's small furry hand landed on my shoulder.

"Please, I can do this. Please let me finish what Chris began. I feel bad for him."

"I do to, But, please be careful Okay?"

"I will." Trey said as he left my side and stepped onto the battlefield.

"Bouffalant Head Charge!" Alder commanded.

Bouffalant headed for Trey with a strong Head Charge.

I opened my mouth to give an order, but that was as far as I got.

Trey made a dismissive sound, and Bouffalant stopped in his tracks; causing all of us to gasp except Alder, who just stood their quietly.

"Strange, most Wigglytuff don't choose to remember disable." he said calmly.

"You never know what will come in handy. That is why I keep all of my moves in top form, and I never let go of any of the knowledge I have gained." Trey confidently shot back.

He then did a vary strange thing, he seemed to take flight.

"That's not going to save you! Bouffalant return!" Commanded Alder.

As the creature began to leave the field, Trey suddenly rushed in and delivered two fast kicks that did a lot of damage.

"A kick version of Pursuit?" chris asked.

"clever. Not only did you disable my Bouffalant's strongest move, but you also found a way to deal damage to his weekness without taking damage yourself." Alder reflected.

"I've never seen a Wigglytuff move so fast!" Liz exclaimed.

"Vanilluxe, take the field and use Ice Beam!" Alder Commanded.

The ice cream cone fired a huge beam of ice in Trey's direction, but the surprisingly nimble Wigglytuff just dodged again.

I couldn't suppress my amazement any longer.

"Wow Trey! But you cant dodge forever, you have to"

I never finished my sentence, because I heard Trey flop against Vanilluxe.

"Don't let him drink you dry! Rapid-fire Ice Shard now!"

Trey flew away before the ice creature could hit him, and the attacks also seemed to have less power now.

(Did he just drink some of Vanilluxe's, um, insides?)

(As strange as that sounds, the answer is yes.) Liz answered back.

"Now your Pokémon is weakened." Trey cried

Alder began to laugh. "Well well Trey, I've never seen that technique used as a battle strategy. Good thinking on your part, but I have a way out of this. Vanilluxe return, and Volcarona, smoke him out."

The moth began to spread fire across the upper part of the room, and Trey began to cough.

"Get out of their Trey! Return now!" I screamed over the building sound of the fire.

Trey came back toward me, but Alder was ready.

"Fire Blast!"

The fire in the room became a huge ball of fire that smack squarely into trey; seeming to do a lot of damage.

Trey fell into my arms, and I noticed how hot he was.

"Trey?" it was Hope from the sidelines. "come here. let me heal your pain."

"I am not" began Trey.

"Yes you are, even if you don't want to admit it." Hope broke in.

"At the vary least, let me cool you down." Sarah added.

"Go to them. Please let them help you." I said.

"Okay, but call me if I am needed." Trey said before moving off to join the, um, medics.

"Okay, just lay down right here and let me put some water on you." Sarah said vary gently.

Trey did as he was asked, and I then noticed Christina blowing out lots of air.

"What are you doing?" asked Trey.

"Trying to help Sarah out, but, I seem to have lost Water gun now as well." Christina said, and I suddenly noticed I could understand her.

(I thought that)

(It seems that us taking her in for the night counts as having her as a team mate.)

)I guess that makes sence.)

Trey sighed with relief as Sarah's water cooled him down.

"Christina, can you prop up Trey's head? He got a nasty burn on his forehead I need to tend to."

"Sure thing Hope."

(Liz, can you take over for Trey?)

(You feel the need to ask?) Liz asked with a little laugh as she took the field.

"Hah! Now we've got them. Volcarona, Overheat full power!" Alder called.

"Bend the flames around you and try to move in close."

Liz did as I asked, and Alder let out a gasp.

"Okay, neat trick Liz, but it won't work. Volcarona, spread your flames into a wall in front of Liz."

The moth knew what its master wanted, and started to build a wall of flames toward the ceiling.

I thought Liz would use Teleport to avoid the flame wall, and continue her head-long rush, but she instead vaulted over the wall before it could reach the ceiling.

She then proceeded to land two kicks on the fire moth.

Reinforced with psychic power, these kicks drove the fire moth to the ground, where Liz then landed on top of it.

"Point-blank Psychic." I said; no longer needing to yell.

"Fight her Psychic with yours!" Alder commanded.

The two attacks clashed, and I guess Alder didn't want a stalemate, because he yelled "Rapid Quiver Dance!"

(we're all goners if you don't disable that Quiver Dance.)

(I'm already on it.) Liz replied.

I could feel Liz's willpower as she tried to disable the Quiver Dance.

Liz and Volcarona must have had equal willpower, because both pokémon ended up on opposite sides of the field.

Volcarona staid down, but Liz climbed shakily to her feet.

Alder checked Volcarona for injuries, then recalled it to its ball.

Liz was panting and swallowing profusely, but otherwise seem fine.

What happened?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing much, I just lost my psychic powers, that's all." Liz responded.

"For how long?"

"I don't know, for a few hours, at the vary least.

"I shouldn't have asked you to do that."

"If I had any reservations about going through with your command I would have said so. This isn't the first time this has happened to me."

"I shouldn't have tried that in a battle like this." Alder piped up.

"It wasn't your Volcarona's fault, and it wasn't the command you gave either. Basically when our attacks collided, they canceled each other out, but the will power involved all came back toward me.

I shut down my psychic receptors to prevent an overload, so it's all me. This does mean however that I am benched as far as this battle is concerned."

"So how come Volcarona was just laying around?" Sarah asked.

"He probably just went into shock. Give him a little time." Robin said unexpectedly.

"Volcarona's done for the night." Alder said as Trey stepped forward. "So I shall once again"

A beeping sound stopped him mid sentence.

"What does that sound mean?" asked Trey.

"It signals braking news, but it had better be important news at this hour." Alder said as we made our way back to the front of his house.

"What does this news relate to?" I asked.

"Most likely to the league or the championship status. All current and previous champion stay apprised of all developments concerning the league."

"They wouldn't be reporting about chanpionship status this late, would they?" Liz asked.

"All championship challenges are held in private, so it's possible." Alder admited.

We arrived in his sitting room. "Hello in here please." Alder said to the air.

The beeping stopped, and a message must have appeared on a screen somewhere, because Alder exclaimed, "No way in a million years!"

"What happend?" Robin asked.

"It seems that someone beat the national league with just one attack!" answered Liz.

Christina spoke up, "They can't make that claim without proof! Can they?"

"Oh, we have proof, it's downloading right now." said Alder.

"But I thought that beeping ment that news was already here." I added.

"That's usually the case," Alder said while typing on his keyboard, "I've requested some rather special video footage to be downloaded, in this case, video from multiple survailence cameras.

You see, when one of these matches is held, we film it with professional camera's, but I need the survailence footage so I can construct the events in 3d."

"What does 3d mean?" Asked Sarah uncertainly.

To my surprise, Robin answered.

"It means that one can take a flat picture and make it more like real life, in so much as being able to change how the picture is viewed.

This makes it easier to spot details you could mis in a flat or 2d prospective."

The pc beeped, and Alder began to rapidly click his mouse.

"What are you doing?" Asked Trey; moving closer to get a better look.

"Lining up all of the video files."

Trey then gasped.

"Oh, sorry about that. I should have warned you about that flash. It's how we make sure everything is in sync."

"Can we get sound?" I inquired.

"After I sync everything up. I can then apply the soundtrack, that shouldn't take to much longer."

While Alder finished his work, Liz and I found chairs and sat in front of the pc.

Robin then came up to me.

"I'll have a really good vantage point from here." he said by way of an explanation.

"I don't mind." I said as alder finished his work.

"Okay, now we should be able to see, and hear, what caused the fastest loss in pokémon league history." Alder said.

The soundtrack kicked in then.

"We good?" a voice asked.

"The challenge issued by," the voice cut out for a second, "Will now begin."

"Oh sorry, we block out the names in case of hackers." Alder explained.

A muffled voice said something.

"You're kidding right?" Asked the person who was apairently the commentator.

"Can we clean that up?" I asked.

"Let me." christina said, moving in front of the screan.

"Can you mewt the commentator?" I asked.

"Sure thing, but" Alder said before getting it.

That part of the video was put on a loop, and christina stood there, moving her ears back and forth rapidly.

Suddenly, she began to speak in a strange way.

"I must request to face the entire national league all at once." A pause, and then,

"It must be this way. My powers are so great, I could quite easily destroy a single target in one attack."

"How is she doing that?" robin asked.

"If you're wondering how Christina is speaking english, it's because of the speach TM that was used on her. The most commen side effect, is that the pokémon can mimic english, but not ever speak it again."

The video continued. "You can't take this decision back after the battle starts." An official said.

"I won't need to. My intent is to preserve the entegraty of all pokémon present." said a woman's voice that sounded kind of snobbish.

My blood went cold, because I recognized the Challenger's voice.

"What's her name?" I asked.

"Someone you know?" asked Alder.

"No, not directly, at least if it's who I think it is. What does she look like?"

"Like she'd be better off as an elevator made or something.

Let's see, the log lists her as Elizabeth, no home town, no last name either, now that I look."

"Oh boy." I growned.

Suddenly, Sarah let out an exclaimation.

"All those Pokémon? How is she going to"

Everyone gasped.

`She doesn't even have a Pokémon on the field!" Alder exclaimed.

"What happened?" I asked; dreading the answer.

"It lookgh like a big, something, fell out of the sky and knocked all those Pokémon out." Trey explained.

"Can I please see that again?" Liz asked.

"You and me both." mutturd Alder as he rewownd the recording.

"I'm going to put it in frame step mode." Alder pressed a control.

He then pressed it rappidly until Robin began to squalk.

"Stop! Stop! Stop!"

"What!" we all asked.

"Right their! I see something!"

"Right where?" I asked.

"Robin clicked his beek.

"Where your beek is pointing?" Alder confirmed.

robin nodded, and Alder began zooming in.

"Call me crazy, but that looks like one of the fae to me." Alder said.

Ten minutes earlier...

The brite flash covered the battle field as the shock wave from the medior's impacked elimenated all resistance.

the many pokémon assimbled before the young woman fell to the ground with no will to continue fighting.

The spectral pixy responsible for the attack returned to the woman's side without fanfair.

"Great, now what?" mumbled some of the trainers.

"Gentalmen and ladies," the young woman intoned, "It is not my desire to bring harm to anyone here in this room, or in this world.

But I, Elizabeth, must secure my release from this world immediately.

In less than three days, the equivalent of your Arceus will brake free from its prizzen and destroy another world i've come to care for very much.

So I must escape from here and renew the seal before it is to late."

An older lady stepped forward.

"So, I take it, you came here, to this world, against your will?"

"Indeed. And, if I had the time to get to this place according to the laws of this world, I most cirtainly would have."

"Okay, so all you want is access to the portal in the hall of fame room?

Fine. Just get out of here and we can all forget this imbairasing situation ever happened."

"That was my plan. Are all your pokémon okay?"

The trainers fell to, checking their pokémon with physical senses as well as those provided through technilogical means.

It was finally decided that all pokémon were just knocked out and would be fine by the morning.

"Good, that's a relief." Elizabeth said before heading for the adjacent room.

"So, now what?" one of the trainers asked the older woman after Elizabeth had left.

"Do we just go back to the way things were before this event?"

"I think that would be the best thing. Noone outside of this room need ever know of what happend here today."

"So I still have my title?" asked a woman slightly younger than elizabeth.

The older woman opened her mouth to respond, but a loud boombing shook the tower before she could speak.

Elizabeth came flipping back into the room, went sliding half way across the florr and stopped without any sign of being hert.

"I guess the portal didn't like the fact that you took every shortcut possible to get here." The young woman scoffed.

"Now Iris, don't be that way. It's obvious something's vary wrong." the older woman replied.

"even I can see that Cynthia; with all do respect." Iris replied.

Elizabeth climbed to her feet and faced Cynthia.

"That portal is ment for one other than myself."

"What are you going to do, now that you can't leave this world?"

Elizabeth opened her mouth to respond, but a tower gard enterd the room; breathless from a fast climb.

"Ms. Elizabeth?" he asked.

"That's me." she said, turning to face him.

"Do you by any chance know someone by the name of Margaret?"

Elizabeth brightened. "She's my sister. She'll know how I can"

"Elizabeth!" yelled a voice from down the stairs.

A rather severe-looking woman enterd the room. she looked a lot like Elizabeth, but unlike her younger sister, Margaret was all business.

"You used your persona against these people!" Margaret yelled; it wasn't a question.

"I had to if"

Margaret raised a hand, cutting Elizabeth off midd sentence.

"You know that isn't allowed."

Elizabeth nodded at her sister, then turned to the e4 and champions gathered in the room.

"Answer me this, please. Is their any conceivable way that someone can raise a team of Pokémon to face you fine trainers if only given two and a half days?" she asked.

They all shook there heads.

"at the vary least, you're looking at a year, and that's only if you're vary lucky, and have lots and lots of money." Cynthia told Margaret.

"If I didn't have to renew the seal on Erebus, that wouldn't be a problem." Elizabeth said to Margaret.

"I may not have the finesse you do, but I can take care of Erebus, just this once." Margaret answered.

"Besides which, time flows differently here. Instead of two and a half days, you have more like four months. still not enough time to raise a team to defeat these trainers though." Margaret added.

"So, how offten do you have to renew this seal?" asked Iris.

"Once a year." elizabeth and Margaret answered; as Iris wasn't looking at either one when she asked her question.

"So if two days is now four months or so, then, does that mean that Elizabeth has more than a decade she can spend here?" Iris asked Margaret.

"At the vary least child. why do you ask?"

"I have me an idea." Iris said; turning back to face Cynthia in the process.

"How long would it take to turn elizabeth here into a gym leader?"

Cynthia didn't take to long to respond.

"I see where you're going." She said before turning to face Elizabeth.

"If you're willing to sign a ten-year contract, we can turn this hole situation into something that can benifit the entire world. You see, we've drafted a new set of rules that will hopefully make better trainers out of the existing trainer poole, and help new trainers avoid some of the pit falls that existing trainers have been facing, practicly since dot. But if we ever hope to implement these rules, we need someone to fill the position of dark type gym leader."

"What is a gym leader?" asked Margaret.

"A powerfull trainer who tests the metal of other trainers and awards them for having a strong bond with their pokémon, and demonstrating sound strategies in battle." answered elizabeth.

"So, I take it, that, you would also need to have a strong bond with your Pokémon to achieve this?" Margaret asked after a moment of reflection.

"That's the general idea." answered Cynthia.

Margaret turned to her sister. "This sounds like it's just what you need at the moment."

Elizabeth nodded to Margaret, then faced the room in general. "I'll do it. You have just obtained a dark gym leader."