~~~~~~

I'm alive! Yay!

04/13/2023: Polished and fixed typos

Kay had come across multiple new Pokémon on his way to Hadwarf City. Zigzagoon, Mareep, Sparkowl, Yemin (an Electric and Fighting-type Pokémon, with ears that reminded him of a Pikachu), Weedle... Pokémon he hadn't been able to see before. Or at least, he didn't remember seeing them in the flesh, only on books they had around the house.

He was now sitting in the Pokémon Center, having lunch with Sparkowl and Trishout.

The rest of the morning had been kind of... uneventful. They had just battled with some trainers along the way and, but nothing more than that.

Even so, Kay was happy. He was on a journey to find his father, all by himself. He had dreamt of battling along Pokémon for a long time. Pokémon of his own. He thought that it was still a dream and that he'd wake up soon. But he didn't want to.

He stretches and looks at his Pokémon. Both Trishout and Sparkowl had finished their meal and were already communicating with each other. He smiles.

He decides it's time to go.

"Trishout, Sparkowl, time to go!"

Kay returns Sparkowl to her Poké Ball and lets Trishout climb to his shoulder.

Once outside, Kay smells the scent of something burning nearby. Soon, he hears the screams. He looks to his right and locates flames coming from the western part of the little city.

Kay runs as fast as he can and finds a group of people in front of the houses that were set aflame.

"Please! Someone do something!" A woman at his side screams.

"Someone put out that fire!"

"Keep the children safe!"

"Call Aster, fast!"

Aster? Wasn't that the name of his father's friend?

"Aster, please hurry up!"

A blue-haired man with a strange haircut rushes out of the building with a Poké Ball in hand. His blue eyes darken as soon as the scene enters his vision.

"Wait, what's happening here!? Another fire!? Stay away, I gotta do something!"

'Another fire?' Then that meant that the city had suffered this accident before. Not once, but several times. Kay looks around for a brief moment and registers several other houses with darkened roofs. Who would set up so many fires?

In the second he had lost looking around for evidence of other fires, the young man named Aster had made his way through the crowd and was now standing in front of the intimidating flames.

"Now, Suicune! Extinguish these flames!"

From the Poké Ball Aster throws, a majestic Suicune is sent out. It lands gracefully and lets out a powerful cry that makes Kay, and, even Trishout shiver.

"Wow..." is all Kay can muster to say before Suicune uses Hydro Pump against the flames, extinguishing them in a matter of seconds.

"Excellent, my friend!" Aster walks toward Suicune and pets its chin, making the Pokémon purr against his touch. The people cheer for Aster and thank him. "Come back." He stores Suicune into its Ball and turns toward the people. "Don't worry folks, I've got it. No need to thank me. I'm just doing my job!" He smiles reassuringly.

Once the people return to their everyday routines, Aster sighs and starts walking to the northern gate of the city.

He looks at Kay once he notices him.

"Hm... and you are...?"

Kay almost jumps to the sound of Aster's voice, for he had been standing there without moving since he had seen that Suicune. Elegant, gorgeous, beautiful... he didn't know how else to describe the feeling of seeing it. He had heard about a Pokémon that was able to purify polluted masses of water, no matter the quantity. The drawings of the old books at home resembled the Pokémon he had just seen. But the beauty of it just left him speechless.

"Hmmm... are you talking to me...?" He says, still dazed.

"Yeah... I've... never seen you around here. Yet, you have such a familiar face..." Aster looks at Kay for a moment in silence before shrugging his shoulders. "Whatever, I'm a little busy right now. Just keep yourself away from trouble, okay?"

With that, Aster resumes his walking. But, before Kay can even blink, Aster turns to him again with a startled look in his eyes.

"Wait- you are Kay!" Aster pats Kay's shoulder friendly, then looks at him from head to toe. "Look at how you've grown! It's me, Aster! Don't you recognize me?"

"Your face doesn't ring any bells, sorry..." Kay scratches his neck.

"Well, you still were an infant when I met you." Aster laughs. "Your father was my mentor..." Aster doesn't finish his sentence before looking at Trishout. "Is that your Pokémon? So, Clover finally decided to spill the beans, huh?" Aster lets Trishout smell his hand, and the Pokémon growls happily. "Say... Why don't you come with me to get that punk that almost put the city on fire?"

Kay shrugs his shoulders. "Yeah, why not? But who would do something like that? How would anyone let a kid do something like that-?"

"Don't get me wrong. I'm not referring to a person here. You see, I'm talking about a Pokémon. But I'll have you know, that's not a normal Pokémon. It's one of those mysterious 'X Pokémon'!"

"X... Pokémon...?" Kay crosses his arms. "Never heard of 'em or seen them... Not even in books."

"Well, we still don't know much about them, so you won't find any book or document talking about them easily. For some time now, they started popping up all over the region."

"Then they're not native?"

Aster nods. "Exactly. As I told you before, we lack information about them... all we know is that they come from another world: the Xenoverse!"

"What?! 'Another world'? Xenoverse?!"

Aster nods once again. "I know it's a lot to take in, but we need to hurry. We'll talk as soon as we get there. Knowing that little punk, it might have gone to Stardust Beach. You can reach the place through the northern access. I'm waiting for you over there! Prepare yourself for a battle and heal your Pokémon if you need to!"

Kay watches as Aster disappears around the corner.

"Well, let's go then..." Kay sighs as he starts walking toward the northern gate, Trishout growling in agreement.

He passes by two trainers along the way, but they don't want to battle him, for their Pokémon were injured. Kay understands the situation. He is pretty sure that X Pokémon had something to do with it.

As soon as his boots dig into the sand, he hears a voice.

"Wow, it took you no time, Kay!"

The boy runs toward Aster. He was preventing the Pokémon from escaping.

A weird-looking Elekid was looking at them. It was red, and it looked very angry. The appendage sticking out of its head looked like the little piece of rope of a bomb. Little sparks came out of it.

"I managed to corner it, but I want you to fight it, to prove to me how much you are worth."

"Are you sure about this?" Kay scratches his neck, nervous. That Elekid looked strong and he wasn't sure that he could defeat it.

"Yeah. Now, pay attention. As I told you, this crook comes from another world... so, it's impossible to catch it with common Poké Balls. Therefore, I developed a Ball capable of imprisoning the explosive fury of X-species Pokémon." Aster digs into his pocket and produces a black and white Poké Ball with a red X on the front. "Here, the result of years of research!"

Kay takes the Ball and stores it in his pocket.

"Let me tell you something" Aster pats his shoulder. "Studies on these Pokémon revealed that they are extremely powerful, and have great stamina and resistance, along with great health. Despite the troubles it made, this Elekid is not especially strong, so, picture it like this. Your Trishout is a clear example. He's at his 100% right now, right?" Kay nods. "Well, this Elekid too, but, for this X Pokémon specifically, that 100% is 200%. As for normal Pokémon, also these must be weakened to be caught."

Kay nods, still overwhelmed by the quantity of information Aster just gave him.

He steps further. Trishout was ready to battle. His tail was moving from side to side.

"Come on, Kay! Show me you are a worthy addition to the Versil research team!"

"Trishout, Tackle!"

As soon as Trishout's feet touch the sand, he starts running toward the Elekid.

Both Pokémon tackle each other, and Trishout is sent backwards. Kay gasps. Using special attacks would be wiser.

"Trishout, Ember!"

The Elekid is hit by the little flame, but it does not move from its place. That move had done nothing.

"Damn..." Kay starts thinking for a move as fast as he can. He remembers the scream Trishout had let out in the battle against his mom. "Trishout! Do that move from earlier!"

Trishout takes the hint and lets out a scream. Elekid had started running toward Trishout again to tackle him, but the sound wave coming from Trishout's mouth forces the X Pokémon to stop. It falls on its back.

"That's great, Trishout! Thank you!" Kay smiles. Maybe it was going to be easier than he thought.

"Kay, that move Trishout just used is Babble, a Sound-type move. Sound type was discovered recently, soon after I joined the research team. I'd say it was about nineteen years ago."

Kay nods.

"Ok, then. Use Babble again!"

Trishout was about to perform the move, but Elekid was faster. The Scratch sent Trishout flying toward Kay's side.

The little lizard growls in pain.

Kay shakes his head. Trishout still had some energy left, but he didn't want to force his Pokémon to suffer another direct hit.

He takes Sparkowl's Ball and sends the little bird out.

"Thunder Shock!"

Sparkowl starts flying toward the Elekid, and delivers an electrical current that paralyzes it for some seconds, seconds that Kay takes to his advantage to attack it again. Sparkowl uses Peck, and Elekid is unable to get up again.

It was seated on the sand, growling.

Kay takes the Xeno Ball Aster had given him, and throws it toward the Pokémon. The Elekid is stored into the Ball. All of them were looking at the Ball moving from side to side, prepared in case the Elekid broke out of it. But that never happens.

Kay walks toward the Ball, smiling. It hadn't been that difficult. But if there were more of these Pokémon throughout the region, that meant that there may be more powerful. But, for now, he didn't want to cross paths with any of them. The battle had made him sweat, and exhausted.

"I knew you would've managed it easily!" Aster pats Kay's shoulder.

"Well... I'm not gonna to lie. It made me sweat quite a bit..." He blushes lightly. Admitting that was kind of... embarrasing.

"Anyway... Time to go back to the lab!"

~~~•~~~

"I have to say, you made an awesome work out there! Congratulations!" Kay takes the bottle that Aster gives him and takes a swing of water. After entering the lab, they had gone inside Aster's office and sat down. "I was sure you'd be able to handle this all on your own." Aster chuckles.

"Well, it wasn't as difficult as I thought it'd be." Kay admits.

"Anyway, I welcome you to my lab! This is where I run my research on X Pokémon. This is where we conceived the Xeno Ball, only thanks to mutual respect, the only device capable of containing the power of those mysterious creatures..." Aster takes a pile of papers on the table and starts organizing them and putting them aside. "We don't know how many other X-specimens are still lurking in the Eldiw region, but one thing is sure..."

Aster sets down the pile of papers he was holding suddenly, making Kay flinch.

"They are dangerous?" Kay says, unsure.

"Exactly. They are serious threat to the balance of the region! You have to be ready for anything!"

Kay nods. "I will."

"Good. Now, will you allow me to give you a little suggestion?"

"Sure!"

"Alright... So... if you want to become a real trainer, I suggest you challenge the Gym Leaders of the region. You see, also Hadwarf City has a gym... Why don't you start with that?"

"That sounds good! I will, thanks. Also... what do I do with this Elekid? By the looks of it, I'm pretty sure it's a Fire type, and I already have Trishout..."

"Yeah, you're right..." Aster scratchs his chin for a moment before getting up. "You could leave it here so we gather up more information. It would help a lot with the research."

"You sure it won't try to escape or destroy the lab?"

Aster laughs. "Don't worry. Once they have been trapped inside a Xeno Ball, for some reason, they are more docile and, as I told you earlier about the percentages, they turn to 100%, meaning they're easier to defeat. We don't know what does this, but maybe it's because they are under the effects of the Ball. Now, if you release them, maybe their characteristics turn to normal again. We never tried that, anyway..."

"So basically, the Xeno Balls can regulate their health and power?"

"Mmm... that's one way to put it, yes. But as I said, research of these Pokémon is almost unexistent. We'll discover more with time, I suppose." Kay takes the Xeno Ball with the Elekid and hands it to Aster. He sets it inside one of the drawers of the desk. "We'll conduct some research later..." Aster looks at the clock displayed on the screen of his laptop. He gasps. It was a quarter past 4 in the afternoon.

"What is it?"

"Ups! I was so into this conversation that I lost all sense of time. I have a meeting in some minutes. I better go now or I'll be late. Kay, good luck with the gym. And take care!"

Aster gets up and pats Kay's shoulder. Before going out, Kay clears his throat.

"Wait!" Aster turns around. "You said something about the Sound type being discovered about nineteen years ago, soon after joining the research team. How old are you?"

Aster laughs. "Well, nineteen years ago, I was 15, so you can make a guess."

Kay makes a quick calculation, and his chin reaches the ground.

"You're 34? You look a lot younger than that! Maybe I'm being a little rude by asking you this..."

Aster laughs. "Everyone tells me that, so no worries, it's okay. In fact, thanks! You're making me feel younger already!"

After this little holdup and some laughs, Aster exists the lab, and so does Kay.

He goes to the Pokémon Center to heal his Pokémon and have something to eat.

Then, he starts preparing for the gym.

He battle trainers from the route before Hadwarf City. After the training, his Pokémon are exahusted, but happy. Kay was patient with them. Even if they fell down, Kay would cheer them on and leave them to rest for a while frequently.

He has some dinner at the center and pays for a room to sleep.

He takes off his boots and jacket and lets Trishout and Sparkowl out. He lets himself fall on the bed and stretch. The day had been full of emotions. His birthday, the start of his journey, meeting Aster and being able to see a Suicune with his own eyes, aknowleding the existence of the X-species and the Xenoverse, battling an X-Elekid and capturing it... He was so tired he couldn't stop yawning.

His Pokémon curl up beside him, and he pets their heads softly. His eyes starts closing and he drifts off into a sleep full of dreams of adventures he expected to have.

He was eager for tomorrow's battle with the Gym Leader of Hadwarf City. He knew he'd win.

~~•~~

SORRY!!! Chapter's short and I took a lot of time to take it out.

You see, inspiration has completely abandoned me these days, and now that I don't have to study, I sleep more and wake up late, and I have to help with home chores. I know it's not an excuse, but really, I haven't been inspired lately. I have a lot more of free time, and when I'm on holidays, I am lazy as hell and don't want to do anything that requires thinking to much.

But well, here's a new chapter. For those who have seen Aster already... You didn't expect him to be 34, right? There's a post on the Instagram account of the people who make the artwork for the game, and it's the post of Aster with his full body artwork. Someone mentioned that he was very young, and Elite4 replied that he was 34 and involved himself into this research when he was a teenager. I didn't know when he joined the team, so I'd guess he joined it when he was about Kay's age, so 15. I just had to make 15 plus a number that gave me 34, so 19 years before Kay's adventure started.

Welp, I hope no one is going to throw garbage and tomatoes to me because of taking a long time just because I wasn't inspired.

Sorry again for the wait.

See you in the next chapter! (I typed "Sew you in the next chapter". Good thing I verified typing errors before posting this, because I sure as hell have no reasons to sew anyone!)

-Pkmnacezelda