As the night turned to day, our heroes continued the journey before arriving in the forest that was near Grandtree Arena. Lego couldn't help but be awestruck by the sight of the tree looming overhead. He really hadn't seen a tree that big before in his life… other than the Tree of Might, but that didn't really count.
Wait, would it?
"I heard they call this area The Heartwood," Rei commented as the group followed a path alongside a winding river towards Grandtree Arena. "I'm not sure why though."
"Probably because this is nature," Lego said, "and Mother Nature lurks overhead."
Rei and Akari both turned to look at Lego. "Mother who?!" They both seemed scared and worried for some reason.
"Right, you guys aren't cultured," Lego commented. "Basically, in a nutshell, Mother Nature is an entity that doesn't exactly exist, but also kinda does, that resides within nature, and is the personification of nature. And if this is 'The Heartwood', then that would mean we're in the heart of Mother Nature." He looked at them, expecting them to understand his joke.
"That makes no sense…" Rei commented, calmed by the fact that Lego's response made zero sense and only seemed to just be his bad attempt at humor.
"So would that make Mother Nature a Pokemon?" Akari asked, curious about what Mother Nature was.
"I… well…" Lego took a moment to think about it. Considering Dialga and Palkia resided over Time and Space respectively, Groudon and Kyogre were the embodiment of Land and Sea, and Xerneas and Yveltal were the embodiment of Life and Death… technically Mother Nature could be a Pokemon, if there was one that embodied nature. Considering the 8 different generations of Pokemon that existed, it wouldn't be too surprising if there was one out there, but Lego couldn't think of which one would represent Nature off the top of his head. "Depends…"
"Depends on what?" Akari questioned, curious to know.
Before the conversation could continue any further, the group heard what sounded like a tree falling over, as the ground slightly shook and a large thud! was heard from somewhere in front of them, followed by several more falling trees.
"Oh shit," Lego mumbled. "We might wanna get out of the way, before whatever the hell is causing that gets over here.." Before the group could react though, a golden blur blitzed past them, a gale of wind blowing towards them due to the speed of whatever the golden blur was.
Quickly turning around to see what passed them, Lego felt his heart drop as he saw Kleavor, one of the Noble Pokemon of the Pearl Clan standing behind them, looking at them with one of its axes embedded into a tree. The trio was scared, Rei and Akari especially as Kleaver took its axe out of the tree, and the tree fell over.
"We're dead," Rei said, scared for his life as he believed that the three of them were as good as dead.
"KLEAVEEEEEEE!" Kleavor shouted at the top of its lungs. However, before it dashed forward to attack the heroes, several gusts of winds reminiscent of blades were flung through the hair and hit Kleavor. Although Kleavor seemed unbothered by it, it was visible that the attack did damage to him.
"Scyther!" Came the cry of a seemingly wild Scyther, who Lego turned to see and assumed was the one to use Air Slash against Kleavor. Scyther seemed to be glaring at Kleavor, but the reason as to why was unknown.
Kleavor shouted at the top of its lungs, before fleeing, sparing the lives of the heroes and the lone Scyther that saved them.
"Shit…" Lego said as he sat down on the ground, letting out a sigh of relief.
"I thought I was gonna die," Rei and Akari said simultaneously.
"Hey, are you three alright?" A human voice asked, seemingly alarmed and relieved that the Scyther saved them from Kleavor.
"Yeah," Lego said, before turning to look at the newcomer. "Yeah we're-" Lego stopped mid sentence when he saw Lian, one of the wardens for the Pearl Clan. He had forgotten that Lian would be young, and seeing him in person reiterated that. "...aren't you a little too young to be out here by yourself?"
Lian merely adopted a deadpan expression, as if not surprised by that question. Turning towards Akari and Rei while giving Lego the cold shoulder, the young warden asked, "Are you two alright?"
"I do raise a valid point," Lego stated, a little bit annoyed that Lian simply turned away from him.
"We're doing okay, yeah," Rei said as he and Akari both nodded.
"I'm glad me and Scyther here were able to rescue you before Lord Kleavor ended your lives," Lian said as he put his hands on his hips. "I'm Lian from the Pearl Clan. You are welcome." Before much else could be said, the ground began to shake as more trees were more than likely falling due to Kleavor's rampage through the woods. "We best get out of the open, before Lord Kleavor in his frenzy comes back and decides to chop us in two. Follow me Galaxy folk!" Lian, with Scyther following close behind him, began to quickly run towards what was likely a safe area. With nothing to lose, Rei, Akari, and Lego began following Lian.
'Ya know, I could've sworn he had a Goomy and not a Scyther,' Lego thought to himself. 'I wonder if he still has it…'
'Yeah, he does,' Lego thought as they arrived at a small cave that had what was essentially a house built inside it. The Pearl Clan symbol was on two different banners outside of the door that led to the interior, with a floor of spruce wood. On the left there was a wooden bed frame against the wall, with a shelf of clothes at the foot of it. At the opposite wall were shelves of supplies and materials, ranging from herbs and medicine, to rations and cooking supplies. A round table sat in the middle of the room, next to what was a stove with a large metal pot on it that was more towards the back of the room.
"Little cramped in here, don't you think?" Rei asked Lian.
"We make do," Lian said. "I think it's cozy, considering I've been living here for a moment."
"Goo goomy!" A Goomy said as it slithered from under the table towards Lian. Lian smiled as he knelt down to pat Goomy on the head.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Goomy, but I'm back now," Lian said.
"Scyther!" The Scyther chimed in as it began to talk with Goomy.
Lego put his bag on the ground next to the bed, before pulling a chair out from the table and sitting down. "Well, in any case, we need to talk about Kleavor," Lego stated as he looked at Lian. "We're here due to how Kleavor has been running rampant and nearly killing some people. Our goal right now is to try and get Kleavor to calm down so the Pearl Clan doesn't have to strike down their Lord, and then the Diamond Clan doesn't start another war with your clan by doing something themselves."
"I see," Lian said as he sat on one of the other chairs at the table. He hummed for a moment, thinking about what Lego said.
"If I may inquire, do you know where the warden for Kleavor is?" Lego asked Lian. "Or are you the warden?" He knew that Lian was the warden in the game, but he couldn't actually just say that he knew Lian was the-
"Unfortunately, the previous warden of Lord Kleavor has fallen ill, and as such is not able to tend to his duties for Lord Kleavor," Lian said, which shocked Lego a little bit.
"Huh?" Lego said.
Akari and Rei were also surprised by this revelation. "What happened to him?" Akari asked Lian.
"My father, the current warden of Lord Kleavor, was brought to the Pearl Clan Settlement in the Alabaster Icelands after falling ill. He's alive so far, but our doctors have yet to figure out what the reason behind his illness is," Lian explained. He looked at his Goomy, before picking it off the ground and setting Goomy on his lap. "In the meantime, I've been here to try and tend to Lord Kleavor, but it was shortly after my father returned to the Pearl Clan Settlement that Lord Kleavor fell into a frenzy."
"How long ago was this?" Lego asked.
"A few days ago," Lian said.
"When I fell from the sky…" Lego commented, drawing looks from the other humans, as well as the Goomy and Scyther. "Hmm… something is up, that's for sure." Shaking his head, Lego said, "Regardless, I hope your father recovers. Who knows, maybe by the time he's recovered you can tell him you helped calm Kleavor from its frenzy that drove it to nearly kill some people and Pokémon."
"Even still, I'm not sure it would be wise for you three to attempt to fight Lord Kleavor," Lian stated while crossing his arms. "I can't even get close enough to give Lord Kleavor any offerings of his two favorite foods, and those usually enough to please him and soothe the prickliest of moods."
"Well still, we're here to try and do something," Rei said. "Maybe there is something you haven't tried yet?"
"Maybe there is, but I have seen some of your Survey Corps members after they're nearly killed by Lord Kleavor, when they didn't and did expect Lord Kleavor's attacks," Lian replied, looking at Rei. "They stood no chance, and I'm not convinced you all stand a chance either."
"Damn…" Rei said as he looked down, devoid of hope. Akari was also visibly worried as she patted Rei on the back.
Lego looked at Lian. He knew that solution to their problem, but he also wanted to fact check a couple of things with the young soon-to-be warden. "Do you happen to know if Kleavor is weak to any specific type of attacks from Pokémon?" Lego asked Lian suddenly.
This confused Lian for a moment, before Rei perked up, the hope returning to his eyes as he said, "Oh right, Type Advantages!"
Lego snapped his fingers and pointed at Rei. "Bingo."
"I believe I've heard briefly of what these 'Type Advantages' are," Lian said. "It's when a Pokémon's attack is stronger against certain Pokémon due to their… type, right?"
"Yep!" Lego said. "If you know what Kleavor is weak to, we can go from there to try and weaken Kleavor so we can reason with him. Hell, maybe you could even make an offering to him." Lego sat back in his chair. "...unless you want to try throwing the offerings at him in balls, so we're safe from a distance."
"Throwing the offerings at Kleavor… in balls?" Lian questioned. "You want me… to mash up Kleavor's favorite foods into balls so you can THROW offerings at him?! Well, that's quite an unorthodox approach…" After pondering on it slightly, Lego could see that Lian was coming to terms with the idea. "You Galaxy people... Your inventiveness just blows me away!" Lian exclaimed, sounding excited about the idea.
Rei and Akari both lightly laughed at Lian's energetic response. He was young after all. "It's not the most inventive thing ever, but it's certainly something," Akari commented.
"But we could make offerings from a safe distance!" Lian replied. "It's perfect!" Looking back at Lego, Lian said, "This crazy plan of yours might work!"
Lego shrugged. "Can't call it a plan if nothing is planned so far."
Lian nodded. "Fair enough."
"Scythe, Scyther!" Scyther said, drawing Lian's attention, before pointing at the door.
"Ah, right, you don't like being cooped up indoors," Lian said, as he went to let Scyther out into the forest. "Be safe out there Scyther." The Scyther nodded before it went into the forest, to do whatever it is it planned to do. After closing the door to the cave, Lian looked at the Survey Corps members. "Alright, let's plan."
Gathered around the table, the four humans and one Goomy looked at a drawing of Kleavor that was drawn by Lian's father, while a few journals were open on the table as well. "First thing that is important," Lian said. "Lord Kleavor evolved from a Scyther after it interacted with an ore called Black Augurite. This is probably important information for your Pokédex or whatever."
Akari nodded as she wrote that down in a journal she had in her hands. "Mhm! Professor Laventon will definitely like to know that."
"From what my father wrote down in his own journals about important events in the forest and events involving Lord Kleavor, he mentioned Lord Kleavor not being comfortable around Pokémon that live in the water," Lian said. "The Pokémon that continues to say 'Psy' is one of them." Lego did kinda know that Kleavor was weak to Water-Type moves, so nothing particularly new there to him. "Lord Kleavor also dislikes the rocky Pokémon that lurks in some of the caves, as well as by the mountains and hills. He barely beat some of the rock Pokémon when they were preying on some of the weaker bug Pokémon."
Lego, who was still looking at the journals and picture of Kleavor, looked up whilst being a bit confused. "Hold on, he's weak to Water and Rock-Type attacks?" Lego questioned. "What the fuck is his Type then?"
This drew confused looks out of Rei, Akari, and Lian. "Huh?"
"I'm probably about to say something stupid, but what two Pokémon Types result in a Pokémon that is weak to bother Water and Rock-Type attacks?" Lego questioned. "I know Bug has to be one of Kleavor's Types because he evolves from Scyther and Scyther's other evolution Scizor is part Bug and part Steel, so then what is the hell is Kleavor's- oh my god, he's Bug-Rock isn't he?" Lego finished, cutting off his own train of thought as he realized what he said and how it'd make a little bit of sense.
"I mean, probably?" Lian guessed.
"Wait, Rock is effective against Rock?" Lego continued.
"I thought you were a Pokémon Master," Rei stated as he looked at Lego.
"No no no no no, I know a lot about Pokémon," Lego said. "I do not know everything about Pokémon. Fuck, I can't list the 900 different species of Pokémon there are off the top of my head. Heck, I don't even know all of them, mainly because I haven't been to Johto and I barely remember Unova."
"There are 900 different kinds of Pokémon?" Lian questioned, surprised by that.
"Yep, though you see a lot of certain ones in each region," Lego confirmed. "Like Pikachu."
Akari cleared her throat to get the boys' attention. "Ahem!"
"Right," the boys said in unison.
"So Water and Rock-Type moves," Rei said. "Well… I have a Geodude, which is a Rock-Type. And Lego's Dewott is a Water-Type."
"Stone Cold, my Graveler, is also a Rock-Type since he's the evolution of Geodude," Lego added. With a moment of silence setting in, Lego then said, "We need some more Pokémon of the corresponding Types if we're to do this with no problems."
"And then that means we're going to need to train up the ones we do have, yeah?" Rei assumed, seeing where this was going. "I thought you said we were ready though."
"It's better to be over prepared and have a shit ton of Revives and Potions than to go in with only one Pokémon capable of dealing good damage to Lord Kleavor," Lego said.
"I would also prefer it if we ran your idea by Irida first before we put it into action," Lian added, which brought the attention of the conversation to him. "...what? She's the leader of the Pearl Clan, and Lord Kleavor is one of the Pearl Clan's Nobles. Not to mention none of us are Lord Kleavor's warden, so this could get us into trouble with our respective groups."
"When you put it like that…" Akari began, "maybe it would be a good idea for us to train a little bit and catch some more Pokémon…"
Lego nodded. "Yeah, probably for the better that we do." Lego crossed his arms. "So Lian will send a message to Irida to come down here so we can inform her of our plan to help calm Kleavor down, whilst we also get some extra training in." Lego nodded twice, liking this idea a lot. It was almost foolproof.
"Would it be alright if we set up our tents outside the cave?" Rei asked Lian. "Ya know, so we're nearby when Irida shows up."
"It shouldn't be that big of an issue," Lian said, giving the heroes the go-ahead to build their tents and set up camp.
"Thanks," Rei said as he went to start building the tents.
Lego smiled under his mask and looked at Lian. "This should be exciting," Lego said as he offered Lian his hand for a handshake. "I look forward to working with you."
Lian pieced two and two together, before nodding and shaking Lego's hand. "Same here, but do not ever comment about my age again. Understand?"
"Y-Yes," Lego said.
"Good," Lian stated, before pulling out a piece of paper and preparing to write a letter to Irida. "Let us hope she is open to your ideas."
Lego hummed. Things were going smoothly for him. He'd probably be home in no time if things continue as they were currently.
You know I have a problem when this chapter was started back in May and was finished only NOW. However, I do have a small bit of ideas for the upcoming battles. And I do mean that plural.
Anywho, if you stuck around this long, then I commend you for putting up with this bullshit. It's only gonna get more chaotic from here.
So I will see you all in the next chapter. Toodles!
Lego's Team (On Hand):
Talon (Rowlet, Male), Beek (Cyndaquil, Female), Aqua (Dewott, Male), Stone Cold (Graveler, Male), Velocity (Starly, Male), Kyoka Jiro (Luxio, Alpha, Female)
Akari's Team: Mime Jr. (Male), Ponyta (Shiny, Female)
Rei's Team: Pikachu (Male), Geodude (Male)