With a roar, the bizarre Salamence began to enter the building.
Ash knew he had to act fast or this was going to turn ugly.
"Pikachu use Iron Tail!" Pikachu slapped the Salamence in the face allowing Ash to get behind it.
"Hey you over here!" Ash yelled to get its attention. The Salamence turned around to face Ash screeching as if excepting his challenge.
The Salmence began to charge up a Throat Chop but was struck in the back by a Dragon Pulse first.
Iris had joined the fight with her Haxorus along with the Paldea elite 4 and their aces.
Larry's Flamigo and Hassel's Baxcalibur attacked first with Brave Bird and Glaive Rush but the Salamence was able to take it sending them back with Scale Shot giving it enough speed to dodge Tinkatons Gigaton Hammer and Clodsires Poison Jab.
The Salamence screeched rushing forward with an Iron Head.
"Pikachu use Quick Attack!" "Use Ice Shard!"
Pikachu and Baxcalibur's priority moves threw the Salamence off kilter giving Haxorus, Tinkaton, and Clodsire a chance to hit it with Breaking Swipe, Play Rough, and Toxic.
"Ash, do you think it's a Dragon-Type?" Iris asked. The Salamence went for Dragon Claw which Flamigo's Close Combat countered.
"Ya, why wouldn't it be?"
"What if it's one of those Paradox Pokémon?" Ash didn't think about that but it would explain the salamence's bizarre appearance.
"It might be but it defiantly looks like its still part Dragon"
"Get me to it I might be able to calm it down"
"Larry, can your Flamigo lift Iris towards Salamence?"
"Why on earth would you want to do that?"
"Trust me it will work"
"Well, who I'm I to question you" Flamigo swooped down and picked up Iris well Clodsire and Tinkaton overpowered the Salamences Throat Chop with Megahorn and Skitter Smack sending it back into a wall.
The Salamence tried to get up but was struck by an Icicle Crash from Baxcalibur and Thunderbolt from Pikachu.
The Salamence staggered to its feet roaring as if it wanted to fight.
Iris landed on the back of the Salamence and began to stroke its scales.
"There, there don't worry it's okay your alright there's nothing to be afraid of"
The Salaemence finally gave in collapsing to the ground from exhaustion.
With the beast finally down Ash took out his Pokedex to see if he had anything to say.
"Roaring Moon the Paradox Pokémon. It is possible that this is the creature listed as Roaring Moon in an expedition journal that still holds many mysteries. According to an article in a dubious magazine, this Pokémon has some connection to a phenomenon that occurs in a certain region"
So it was a Paradox Pokémon a Dragon/Dark Type connected to Mega-Salamence.
"Dose anybody, have a spare Pokeball?" Iris asked.
"Oh yes, I do Ms. Iris" Poppy happily replied handing over a Nest Ball.
Iris tapped the Roaring Moon on the neck sending it into the Pokeball.
With no fight left the Roaring Moon was caught quickly.
In a clump of bushes overlooking Levincia, nobody could see the piercing yellow compound eyes watching them intently with a burning rage.
Julianna needed to train.
Things like this can't keep happening. She can't keep relying on other people to bail her out of Team Star encounters or fighting the Titan Pokémon.
She knew at some point no one would be there to help her.
According to Nemon's social media posts, the best time for training was at dawn or dusk when many Pokémon were at their most active.
So that's how Julianna found herself outside Cabo Poco at 06:30 running a marathon with her Pokémon.
If her Pokémon were going to be in top shape she had to be too.
The running took a while since Clodsire took a long time to catch up to Charcadet and Quaxwell.
But after the run, Julianna was defiantly feeling energized even if she was sweaty and sticky.
Now was time for battle training so Julianna needed a fourth Pokémon to battle Iona she decided to kill two birds with one stone.
With the help of the dex-nav whichever one of her team defeated would be the one she caught.
"Okay, you three whichever one of you can find the strongest Pokémon wins okay?"
Quaxwell and Charcadet took off into the woods eager to win well Clodsire lumbered to a stop beside her not interested in the competitiveness.
So far none of the Pokémon Charcadet and Quaxwell mostly Normal or Flying types that she didn't feel like capturing.
Then the Dex-nav alerted her that Charcadet was battling a Toedscool.
That was a Pokémon that she was interested in.
Charcadet easily overpowered the Toedscools Mud Shot with Lava Plume knocking sending it deflating on the ground.
Julianna quickly tossed a Great Ball.
One, Two, Three caught.
"Alright, congratulations Rebelde you've won the race!"
"Char-char cadet!" Charcadet elbowed Tulio to rub in his victory.
Another Ground type will be helpful for battling against Iono.
Actually, that would be a great name for her, Ayuda.
With her new Pokémon in two Julianna moved on to battle training.
Charcadet and Quaxwell would make good training partners since they were both competitive and a bit egotistical (very egotistical in Quaxwells case)
Quaqsire could help Toedscool adjust to the team being the most level-headed one.
Well, she let her Pokémon practice battles she felt satisfied watching them exchange moves.
They were getting stronger so that they wouldn't need help to take down Team Star or the Titans.
Florian wasn't exactly sure how to go about this.
He was a safe distance from Porto Marinada so that no one would see his newly acquired Tauros.
That would be an awkward thing to explain where that came from.
He was going to wait a week and tell them he was so inspired by the festival that he got a Tauros himself.
Perhaps throwing it out of the Pokeball and seeing what it would do was the best plan?
Once it was released from the Pokeball the Tauros immediately snorted at him bearing its horns ready to charge.
So it was going to be like this he was going to need to battle it to earn its respect.
"Alright, Crocalor let's go" Miguel saw the Tauros and gave Florian a "Man you really want to fight this thing, man?" look.
With a loud bellow, Tauros charged forward with a Flame Charge.
"Use Yawn!" Tauros bulldozed through the white bubbles charging into Crocalor with Flame Charge. So it was fast that could be useful for contests.
"Use Snarl!" Crocalor fired rings of black energy from his mouth although it didn't seem to do much to the Tauros.
With a snort, the Tauros turned, and Double Kicked Crocalor in the face.
"Use Yawn again" Tauros once again plowed through the Yawn with Headbutt smacking into Crocalor sending him flying back.
Alright, he was going to need to use his brain to win against Tauros.
"Smoliv, Nacli go!" Tauros turned to face its new opponents.
With another loud snort, the Tauros raced forward with Flame Charge.
"Use Helping Hand and Headbutt!" Smoliv tapped Nacli with her leaf surrounding her with a golden aura before the Tauros slammed into her with Flame Charge knocking her out in one hit.
Nacli slammed into the Tauros with the boosted Headbutt stopping Tauros and giving Florian the chance to strike.
"Use Yawn!" Crocalor went for Yawn again with Tauros stopped by Nacli's Headbutt letting the white bubbles hit Tauros causing it to collapse into sleep.
Florian returned Tauros to his Pokeball deciding that he had done good for tonight to show Tauros his strength.
Although he needed to come up with a proper name for him not just Tauros.
After getting to spend some time with Tauros he thought of a name that suited him.
El Macho seemed like a pretty good name for him.
Now that they were safely back at the academy Ash, Iris, and Goh were able to talk about Roaring Moon.
"So your scarlet book says the exact same thing as the Pokedex?"
"Yep, whoever wrote the dex entries probably used the book for information about them" Goh explained.
With a safe distance between them and the Pokeball Iris sent out Roaring Moon. Roaring Moon was completely still head tucked between her wings one eye glaring at them.
"Yeesh that thing looks scary" Goh grimaced moving behind Ash and Iris.
Ash had to admit that Roaring Moon was a very intimidating sight the feathers covering its wings obscured its face making it harder to read its face so you couldn't tell what it was thinking.
Ash made sure his Lucario and Sirfetch's Pokeballs were close by in case it tried anything.
Still, Roaring Moon didn't move it lay motionless making taking heavy hissing breaths.
"I'm going to try and get closer to it" Iris began to get closer to Roaring Moon.
Ash tensed up as Iris was close enough to Touch it. The abnormally large front claws compared to Salamence sticking out.
Ash made sure Pikachu knew to jump into action if anything happened.
"Hey, I know you are probably very confused right now it's okay I'm here for you" Iris rubbed Roaring Moon's forehead which seemed to calm her down.
Roaring Moon began to dig its claws into the ground making shapes as it attempted to draw something.
"Wh-whats it doing?" Goh asked still afraid of it.
"Looks to me like she's trying to tell us something," Ash remarked.
Roaring Moon moved its claw to reveal a crudely drawn picture of a moth with spikes and a long tail.
"Wow, it kind of looks like a Volcarona" Iris remarked.
"Hey, Goh do you think that it might be one of those Paradox Pokémon in your book?" Ash asked.
"Good idea" Goh pulled out the Scarlet and Violet Books and began to flip threw the pages.
"Ugh ha! yes right here Slither Wing it says that it's an ancient form of Volcarona from a paranormal magazine"
"Paranormal magazine you've got to be kidding me what other junk does it say in those books?" Iris half yelled to not disturb Roaring Moon.
"Oh, that's not the weirdness one. I think that the weirdest one I've read was Iron Jugulis it says its the offspring of a Hydreigon that fell in love with a robot"
Ash and Iris had dumbstruck faces. Ash wondered how these Paradox Pokémon could be real enough that one was standing in front of him but the information on them sounded like a child wrote it.
Ash wasn't a biology expert but that explanation of Iron Jungle-gym jambalaya whatever it was sounded pretty impossible.
"Goh that makes no sense"
"Well the definition of Paradox is a seemly contradictory statement that when examined makes sense so there's got to be some method to all this"
Roaring Moon hissed and pointed to the drawing of Slither Wing.
"Do you know Slither Wing?" Roaring Moon nodded.
"Do you know where Slither Wing is?" Roaring Moon shook her head.
"Do you want us to find Slither Wing?" Roaring Moon nodded again.
"Don't worry I promise we will find Slither Wing" Iris's promise got Roaring Moon to unfold her wings pressing her snout to Iris's hand.
"Now you still seem pretty tired how about you get some rest" Iris returned Roaring Moon to the Pokeball.
"Do you think that was why Roaring Moon was so upset when she attacked us?" Ash asked.
"It could explain the shift in personality but Slither Wing also doesn't seem like friendly Pokémon either" Ash got a look at the Slither Wing drawing. Goh was right it didn't look like a particularly nice Pokémon. In fact, it looked like something you would see fighting in an old monster movie.
Suddenly Ash was struck by a flurry of sharp leaves.
"Ow, what was that for!" Iris shouted.
Looking around Ash couldn't see anything that would have used Razor Leaf.
"Caps-kid!" Ash looked down to see the same Wild Capsakid that they had run into twice before.
Before Ash could do anything Finizen burst from his Pokeball to stair down the Capsakid.
"You want to battle Finizen?" Ash asked.
"Fin! Fin!" Finizen chirped in response.
"Alright then use Aqua Jet!" Finizen shot forward with Aqua Jet slamming into the Capsakid.
"Caps!" Capsakid bit down on Finizens fin with Bite.
"Escape it with Double Hit!" Finizen struck twice with Double Hit sending the Capsakid tumbling back.
"Caps!" Capsakid screamed to the sky to use Sunny Day creating harsh sunlight.
Capsakid ran forward with surprising speed smacking Finizen with Leafage.
Capsakid must have had Chlorophyll as its ability to make him fast under sunlight.
Capsakid began to run rings around Finizin striking him with multiple Razor Leafs and Leafages.
"Finizen focus!" Ash yelled.
Finizen put its fin to its forehead to block out the sun to see where Capsakid was.
"Now use Aqua Jet!" Finizen went for Aqua Jet avoiding Capsakids Razor Leaf and hitting the Capsakid as the sunlight faded.
"Now finish it off with Aqua Tail" Finizen surrounded his tail with water slamming the Capsakid and knocking it out.
"Alright Finizen way to go"
"Fin! Fin!" Finizen hopped over to Ash's bag and retrieved a Pokeball.
"Fin!" Finizen smacked the Pokeball with his tail capturing the Capsikid.
Ash, Goh, and Iris stood in shock as Finizen stood up on his tail proudly displaying the Pokeball as if he had just caught a criminal.
"Alright, Geeta the incident report has been filled" Rika announced adjusting her glasses.
"Oh thank you, Rika sometimes I don't know what I'd do without you here"
"Well, I don't intend to go anywhere. Besides, if anything did happen I'm sure Rinto could take over for me"
"Yes, hows is he doing anyway your father said he's doing excellent at the gym competition"
"Yes, he's taking on the Kofu tomorrow. I'm really happy for him he's finally gotten more Pokémon than Gallade"
"Anyway, I was meaning to ask you. Have there been any other reports of Paradox Pokémon aside from the two we've already seen"
"About that there has been one unconfirmed video circling around some forums today" Rika loaded up the Video of a trial camera of a large pair of moth wings lumbering through the bushes.
Although the body wasn't visible Geeta knew that it was a Slither Wing.
"First the Darkest Day incident in Galar and now this? I swear that Ash Ketchum shows up somewhere and nothing but issues follow him" Geeta sighed.
"And that's not the only thing if you look up Ash's history he just seems to be followed by chaos"
"I really need to reach out to Sada about this we need to know why all these dangerous Pokémon are coming up from the crater.
"Well we don't need to worry about the Roaring Moon Iris caught it"
"Well I do trust a trainer as capable as her with owning a Paradox Pokémon it would still freak the public out if they knew the true extent of what's happening in Area Zero" Geeta walked to the edge of her office.
"I'd like you to send Ash and Iris a note. I want our elite four to battle them two against Ash and two against Iris all let you four decide who wants to battle who"
"Yes, Geeta all get started on that letter right away. But can I ask why you want us to battle him I mean no offense but I think we all know what the outcome will be"
Geeta stared intensely at her copy of the Scarlet and Violet books "If these Paradox Pokémon start coming up more frequently then we need to be able to protect the region who knows what could be down there"
End Credit Song-Can You Hear Me Now by The Score
And that concludes the Running of the Tauros and only one more chapter with the Gym battle until we're done the Levincia arc so look forward to that.
Also new captures very fun I'll do a Team Recap at the end of next chapter