Colress stared up at the sky, which had become cloudy, a few drops of rain splattering on the grass. "I must be off. The research I gathered needs to be cataloged. I do wish you all the best in dealing with that Pokemon if you so choose to go after it. If you do, please consider stopping by my lab. I would love to get my hands on the data for that creature." He turned on his heels and walked off, walking down a path of stairs that led to a trail that winded its way down to ground level.

"Strange dude," Hilda remarked, patting her Samurott's side as the Water type closed his eyes, letting the rain run down his face.

I stared at the spot Colress had disappeared. His words were smooth and his talk about "bringing out the true potential of Pokemon" unnerved me. He reminded me a little too much of another certain blue haired scientist that I knew. Looking at N, I could see that he was staring where I was as well, wearing an expression I was sure I had on.

"Mhm," Robert was nodding with his eyes closed, rocking on the balls of his feet. I rolled my eyes while Hilbert sighed. Then Robert grinned and said the very thing we all expected him to. "Alright, how about we go and find that Pokemon!"

We all looked at each other and grimaced.

"What?" Robert looked between us all. "No seriously, what?"

"We know you all too well," Hilda gave a wide grin as she clasped his shoulder. "And I mean really well."

"You know, you should really be asking our Pokemon if they want to go after a really strong Pokemon like that," Alex said. "They're the ones who'll get beat up while you marvel at the dang thing."

"We might as well get going," Hilbert said, standing up as his Serperior circled him. "We don't want to miss it."

"Wait wait wait," Robert looked confused as Hilda, Alex, and Hilbert began walking off in the direction the powerful Pokemon had left. He shook his head wildly before running after them "Now hold up! You can't just mess with me like that! Only I'm allowed to mess with people like that!"

I stood, too caught up in thinking about Colress to join in their antics against Robert.

"I've seen that Pokemon flying around once before already," Colress had said. "Magnificent creature. His power potential is exceedingly great. But alas, he is not what I'm here to study."

"He was definitely hiding something," N said. I looked at him as he bent down to rub Zorua's head. "You felt the same?"

I nodded. "It's funny. I'm agreeing with someone I find suspicious about how someone else is suspicious. Irony at its finest." Aloud, "Hopefully it's nothing. C'mon, we should catch up to them before Robert falls off a cliff after that Pokemon or something."

"Remind me why we're doing this plan?" I asked as I crouched behind a large boulder in the sand, already soaked from the rain. "I mean, a plan that Robert created."

"Because no matter how crazy it seems," Hilda peeked over the slick boulder. "In the end, it'll turn out alright."

"You and Hilbert really do know Robert well," I remarked.

"Please," she rolled her eyes. "Anyone can spend a day with him and know what kind of person he is." She looked at me. "Though, I must say, he looks more sure of himself than when he left Unova."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked, intrigued.

Hilda tapped her chin. "When we first met the guy he was super enthusiastic about Pokemon battles. He trained a powerful team and took on Alder. Even before he lost to him, he looked like he wasn't really putting in his all. Then when he did lose, I don't think he knew what he was going to do after that."

"Of course," Hilda went on. "He got that assistant job with Professor Juniper, and he had always been good with Pokemon and technology, so it finally looked like he had found what he had been looking for. But..." She shrugged. "Whenever Hilbert and I listened to him go on about how much he loved being in a lab and such, well, it felt like he was putting on a front. I think going to Kalos and being with you two helped him."

I thought about that for a minute. "Did Robert ever say what he planned to do after being Juniper's assistant?"

She shook her head. "Dude never said a word about it. I'd assume he'd become a Professor though."

"Yeah," I said, nodding as I lifted myself up to glance over the boulder to check on things. Alex and Hilbert were hiding behind another boulder on the beach across from ours. Hiding in a couple of shrubs against the plateau was Robert, N, and Zorua. Robert had his Pokedex out along with a notepad. He didn't seem to have a camera on him, but I didn't doubt that he had installed one in his Pokedex.

Robert caught our eyes and gave us a thumbs up. Glancing with Hilda, we both gave our silent orders to Arcaneis and Samurott. Both Pokemon stood ten meters from one another on the beach, the Water type's back to the surf. Both began charging their attacks before they fired. Flamethrower and Hydro Pump collided with an explosion of steam, obscuring the area. We both quickly returned our Pokemon and hid behind the boulder again.

"Maybe that thing was drawn to Hilbert and Hilda's fight," Robert had stated his theory as he began unveiling his plan to draw out the Bug/Steel Pokemon. "So maybe if we pretended there was a fight going on between two powerful Pokemon..."

"Dang," Hilda flashed me a grin. "That Flamethrower might just have been the most powerful I've ever seen. I thought It would overtake Hydro Pump for sure."

I smirked. "Don't worry, Arcaneis knows how to hold back."

Before she could respond, we heard something flying through the air before we heard it land in the sand with a muffled thump. Glancing around the rock cautiously, I could see a large bug shape amidst the fading steam. I hid my head again, wondering how Robert would get a good picture of the Pokemon through all the steam and rain.

"You're not going to capture or hurt it, right?" N asked for the third time as they hid beneath the water dripping bush.

"Of course not," Robert replied as he lay on his stomach. "Of course, we might have to fend it off if it fights us, but I want to do some silent observation on it. That's it. I mean, come on, this is a new species of Pokemon we're talking about!"

He grabbed a pencil from his back pocket and laid it on his waterproof notepad. Both Arcaneis and Samurott were waiting on their trainers to give a command, and they were waiting on Robert's signal. As he fine-tuned his Pokedex to bring up the camera along with the bio scanners, he let himself have a bit of thinking time. He wondered who exactly Colress was and what kind of Pokemon research he did. He only mentioned his interest in how strong Pokemon could be, but nothing really more than that.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Zeno lift his head over the rock next to Hilda. He gave him a thumbs up when he looked his way and both trainers silently nodded to their Pokemon.

As the steam began to thin, a shadow fell over the sand as something flew and touched down in the middle of the steam. Robert pressed a button to start the bio scans while he zoomed the camera in. The steam hid parts of the metal bug Pokemon, but its glowing metallic eyes shone clearly as it looked around. Robert quietly grabbed a recording device and put an earbud into his right ear, listening. Metallic chittering filled his ear. It sounded curious, but also cautious. Low, repeating chitters. Yet it also sounded confused. Robert peered closer as the steam disappeared entirely and saw that the Pokemon had bent and poked at a broken shell piece.

"Curious," Robert thought. "It's like its fascinated by what's around it. Maybe its not native here?"

N plucked the bud from Robert's ear and put it in his own. Robert watched N as he closed his eyes. When they opened, he looked sad. Robert was sorely tempted to ask, but knew a conversation would likely alert the Pokemon to their presence.

Suddenly the metallic bug straightened, cocking its head as if it heard something. Its eyes flashed bright red as it scanned the area. Robert felt a sense of dread as the Pokémon's gaze fell on the rock that Alex and Hilbert were hiding behind.

"Zeno's going to kill me if Alex gets hurt because of my plan," Robert thought as he scrambled to his feet. "Hey!" He shouted, waving his arms as he ran out of the bush and to the right. "Over here!"

The metallic Pokemon switched targets and blasted its beam towards him. He dove out of the way, narrowly avoiding the beam that carved a line in the plateau. Rocks crumbled off the side and Robert could see a small ledge shaking halfway up the rock wall. A round shape poked out from the side of the ledge, wobbling precariously.

"Oh crap," Robert breathed. "Zeno!"

The black haired teen had already propelled himself over the rock, Arcaneis bursting from his Pokeball as he slammed into the wild Pokemon.

"Up there!" Robert pointed at the ledge as Zeno ran over. Alex, Hilbert, and Hilda had all let out their own Pokemon, which the metallic bug was fending off. It didn't look like it wanted to run away this time.

Zeno looked at the ledge and immediately released Corviknight. "Rescue that egg!"

The Steel type flew upwards, which the Bug Pokemon took notice of. It let loose a harsh buzzing sound that blasted Samurott, Ninetales, Serperior, and Arcaneis away as it transformed into its flying mode and zoomed towards Corviknight, slamming the Flying type into the plateau. The impact shook the egg loose and it went into freefall as the ledge crumbled above it. The Bug/Steel's attention switched to the egg and it switched course.

"It's behavior is very erratic!" Robert thought as he ran for the falling egg.

A second Corviknight headbutted the Pokemon off course as N dived, catching the egg in outstretched arms. He tumbled through the sand, clutching the egg against his chest as several large pieces of rock narrowly missed him.

The metallic Pokemon blasted "Corviknight" away as he shimmered back into Zorua and fell onto the beach. Suddenly Samurott leaped up from behind the wild Pokemon, slashing downwards with two long blades that trailed water. It slammed the enemy Pokemon towards the ground as Ninetales fired a blast of flames upwards, blasting the Steel type into the air. It transformed on the ground, smoke trailing from its body as Serperior slammed his tail into the earth, huge vines erupting from the sand as they slammed into it.

As the metallic bug Pokemon retaliated by blasting its beam in a wide arc, miniature fiery clouds sparking with electricity began to gather around Arcaneis, who stood ten meters behind the creature. His yellow stripes began to crackle with electricity as flames burst from his amber mane.

The metallic bug seemed to take notice of the change of temperature as it turned around. It planted its feet, its cannon charging up. Arcaneis opened his maw, the clouds of energy being sucked into his mouth as he charged up his own attack.

"There it is," Robert breathed as he watched Arcaneis about to unleash the move he had named. "Burning Tempest!"

Arcaneis fired the powerful beam of fire and electricity and it collided with the metallic beam blasted towards him. Both attacks clashed with a powerful explosion, but the flames and electricity shot through the smoke, blasting the enemy Pokemon down the length of the beach, crashing through sand and rocks. However, it managed to stand on shaky legs before transforming and flying away into the darkening sky.

Robert hurried over to N, who was trying to stand while not letting go of the egg. Robert helped him up and examined the egg. He breathed a sigh of relief. "Good catch, N. It's safe, thanks to you."

N smiled, looking relieved. "I was afraid that I would hurt it if I caught it, but I didn't have any other choice." He handed the egg to Robert as he knelt to pick up Zorua, who had hobbled over to N on three legs, looking quite proud of himself. "Thank you for lending a hand, Zorua."

"By the way," Robert said as he sprayed a potion on the Dark type's front leg. "What did you hear when you were listening to it talk?"

N looked downcast now. "It sounded confused, but curious. I couldn't exactly make out what it was saying, but when it realized we were here, it's like its whole mind just went into attack mode."

"Very strange," Robert rubbed the back of his head.

"Alright," Zeno said as he came up from behind and grabbed Robert's shoulder. "I hope you're not planning on going after it again?"

"Well, considering it would be unlikely it would show up again..." Robert grinned at him. "Nah. I got all the data I needed... I think."

Hilda laughed as she pounded the blonde on the back. "You see, I told ya! Even if the plan goes awry, Robert's plans have a habit of turning out alright."

"What should we do about the egg?" Hilbert asked as he stared at the oval object in Robert's hands. "I like the orange spots on it. There might be a strong Pokemon inside."

Robert looked guiltily up at the plateau. "Well we definitely can't put it back where we found it. I don't even know if that's the safest thing to do."

"Don't worry," N took the egg back, holding it carefully. "I'll take her."

"Her?" Alex asked. "Wait, can you hear Pokemon eggs talk as well?"

"Not exactly," N shook his head. "But I can definitely feel what she's feeling. And she wants to go with me, so I'll protect her the best I can."

"Hold up," Hilbert held up both hands, shaking his head in confusion. "You mean him being able to talk to Pokemon eggs is normal? And as well?"

Nobody bothered to answer him.

"Considering you saved the egg, I'm not surprised it, I mean, she would want to go with you," Zeno said, nodding. For a second, Robert thought he saw guilt flash through Zeno's eyes, but then it was gone. "I'm sure she'll be safe in your hands."

Filing that piece of information away for later to ask Zeno about, Robert said aloud, "Alright, it's getting dark out. How about we find a place to camp for the night and wait for the boat to arrive in the morning."

"Boat?" Hilda asked. "Where to?"

"Nuvema," Robert answered, already picturing his arrival and his meeting with all the Pokemon he had left at the lab. Smiling at what tomorrow would bring, he told N, "Come on. We'll get that egg warmed up by a fire. Fire is always best for eggs..."

The metallic bug Pokemon jerked as it flew before finally collapsing on top of a distant plateau from where it battled. Rain plunked on its metal skin as it tried to stand on the muddy ground. Suddenly a field of electricity flared up around it, zapping it and forcing it into the mud.

A man in a white lab coat stepped out of the shadows of a tree and bent down next to the electric cage, half moon glasses completely white before they were adjusted to show the yellow eyes behind the glass.

"Hello again, my beautiful creation," he smiled. "It came as a shock when you escaped, but no matter. This proved to be a valuable experiment. However, despite your battle circuits working mostly well, it seems much needs to be fixed." He stood and backed up as he clicked a button on the remote he was holding. The electric field turned off, but the Pokemon was unable to move.

Colress held up a mechanical pokeball and returned the Pokemon into it. "Let's return to the lab Genesect. I'm sure you've missed the rest of your family."