Episode 18: A Dynamax Encounter! The Terror of Malamar!
"Okay, what the heck is that!?" Ashton shouted.
"Clearly, it's a Malamar," Kris said.
"I mean, why is it Kaiju-sized? Obviously it's a Malamar," Ashton rolled her eyes.
"Here in the UK we do have Dynamax battles where Pokémon can grow to huge sizes, but that's kept to stadiums and raid dens so civilians don't get hurt," Ziggy explained. He looked around as police started to help civilians evacuate the area. "As you can see, this is why we keep Dynamaxing only to certain locations."
"I just want to know why the Malamar is talking," Dylan shrugged. He pulled out Joker's Poké ball and summoned the Tranquill out. "Either way, we should probably help deal with it."
"All you humans are ants to me!" Malamar shouted. "Soon your entire race will be under my Psychic control!"
"Having it talk kind of ruins the giant kaiju feel of it," Ashton sighed, pulling out Halley's ball. "It's Dark and Psychic right? So Fairy Pokémon will be useful against it."
"If you kids think you can help, then go for it," Annie said. "Ziggy and I will help keep the people here safe."
The trio nodded, then ran over to the London Eye where the Malamar was rampaging. Joker flew out and used Peck to get Malamar's attention, while Kris summoned out Sera the Eevee. Once they got to the Ferris wheel, the gang was surprised to see Team RedHot there, with Tabitha and Aliana fretting over a broken machine while Miror B. stared up in awe at the Malamar.
"You jerks!" Ashton shouted, pointing an accusatory finger at the evil trio. "I knew you had something to do with this."
"She really didn't…" Kris and Dylan sighed.
"Ugh, it's you three interlopers," Aliana spat in disgust. "We have no quarrel with you right now. Our priority is getting this mission completed and to minimize our involvement in it."
"Stop talking and help me with this, Aliana!" Tabitha shouted, banging on the machine.
"What even is that thing?" Kris questioned.
"It uses Dynamax energy to boost the power of the Pokémon it's used on," Aliana explained. "However, a misfire thanks to our 'leader' led it to fire into the water, thus creating the Dynamaxed Malamar over there."
"You didn't even bother to explain what it did!" Miror B. shouted back. "But whatever, kiddos, now's the time for a battle!" He did a spin and tossed out a Poké Ball, revealing a Mr. Mime with an icy appearance.
"Uh, I think your Mr. Mime is a bit frozen there," Dylan raised an eyebrow.
"It's a Frosty Mr. Mime, found more commonly in the northern parts of the UK," Kris explained. "Did you catch that here."
Miror B. paused, then slowly nodded. "Sure… I 'caught' it here."
"We'll talk about your less-than-ethical methods of catching Pokémon later," Dylan said as Joker flew down to them. "Malamar is coming our way!"
"If you kids distract this thing, we can fix the machine and suck the Dynamax energy right out of it!" Tabitha said.
The trio nodded, then stood their ground alongside Miror B. as the Malamar looked down and roared. "Time for your to be destroyed, humans!" it shouted.
"Joker, use Detect!" Dylan commanded.
"Sera, Tail Whip!" Kris said.
"Halley, go for Moonblast!" Ashton shouted.
"And Mr. Mime, set up Light Screen!" Miror B. finished.
The Pokémon followed their orders, with Joker taking a defensive stance as Mr. Mime set up an invisble barrier to protect the team, while Sera taunted Malamar into droping his defense while Halley shout out a moon-powered burst of energy.
Malamar shrugged from the Moonblast, then raised his tentales up. "I'll show you my Psychic power!" it shouted, sending out giant waves of Psychic power. It surrounded the Pokémon, making them flinch from the assault as the area around them became enveloped in psychic energy.
"Woah, this battlefield just got weird!" Miror B. exclaimed.
"That was the Max Move known as Max Mindstorm," Kris explained. "It sets up Psychic Terrain, boosting Psychic moves in power."
"Well that's going to be a problem," Dylan mumbled. "Joker, Detect isn't going to save you forever, so let's switch it up with Hidden Power!"
"Keep going for Tail whip, Sera!" Kris added.
"We can still go for Moonblast!" Ashton shouted.
"Mr. Mime, go for Power Split!" Miror B. ordered.
Joker's eyes flashed as he unleashed his Hidden Power, his energy turning green as he shout out a Bug type attack. Sera continued to taunt, while Halley sent out more Moonblasts, with Mr. Mime using his Psychic powers to change Malamar's attack power.
"You mere humans, stop messing with my powers!" Malamar shouted as he took more damage.
"We're at about 50% completion over here," Aliana informed the team. "But on another note, wasn't Tranquill's Hidden Power Electric type last time?"
"Huh, it was," Dylan noted. "Joker, how did you change the type of the move?"
"Tran-quill!" Joker said, flaring out his wings with confidence.
"I'm guessing he did it out of sheer force of will," Ashton said. "That's pretty cool, dude!"
"It's also illogical," Aliana grumbled, going back to fixing the machine.
Malamar roared again, its spots glowing as it sent out hypnotic waves at the team. Halley was the one to take the attack, gazing into the glowing spots and falling into a trance-like state.
"Darn it, that was hypnosis!" Ashton shouted. "Snap out of it, Halley!"
"Malamar is going to use another big attack, and it'll be boosted by Psychic Terrain as well," Kris said worriedly. She looked at her Pokégear for analysis, before giving a hum of confusion. "Hey, Sera is giving off a strange reading!"
"Is she going to evolve into a stronger form again?" Dylan asked.
"It's similar to evolution energy, but bigger," Kris said. "Actually, her DNA is stabilizing into something else." She held out Sera's Poké Ball, red energy gathering around it. "Is this… Dynamax energy!?"
Sera cheered, rapidly switching between the Eeveelutions before the Dynamax energy stabilized around her body. She waved at Kris, happily jumping on her feet.
"I think… I think Sera wants me to try Dynamaxing," Kris explained. "My Pokégear can simulate the fuctions of a Mega Ring, Z-Ring, and Dynamax Band, so I should be able to do it."
"Then let's get our own Kaiju out here!" Ashton said, a wide grin on her face. "I want to see his giant squid get squashed by a big ball of fluff!"
Kris nodded, calling Sera back into her ball. The Poké Ball gathered the Dynamax energy in the air, growing to the size of a large beach ball that Kris had to use two hands to hold. Tossing it over her head, the ball opened up as the Eevee rapidly grew as big as Malamar, with Sera's neck fluff becoming even bigger than usual. She didn't just Dynamax, she Gigantamaxed as well!
"Incredible," Tabitha said in awe. "No wonder the boss wants us to keep on eye on these kids."
Kris looked at Malamar with confidence. "We can win this battle guys! Dylan, give us the order!"
"Joker, use U-Turn for super effective damage!" Dylan ordered.
"Halley, let's try out a Metronome!" Ashton said.
"Mr. Mime, go for Icy Wind!" Miror B. shouted.
"And Sera, G-Max Cuddle!" Kris finished.
Joker flew right into Malamar, smacking into his head before quickly retreating in an impressive manuver. Halley waggled her finger, then sent out sound waves in a Bug Buzz. Mr. Mime summoned a cold wind to attack, lowering Malamar's speed as well.
"No… I feel my power… fading…" Malamar flinched. He then gasped as Sera started to charge at him, the Gigantamax Eevee jumping up into the air and hug-tackling the Overturning Pokémon, comical hearts floating off the attack. "This sickening sweetness... It's too much!" Malamar shouted, falling over into the water in defeat. A wave of water washed up from the river, getting the entire team soaked.
"Ugh, that was not what I expected to happen," Ashton said, patting water out of her ear.
"But we won!" Kris cheered. "Good job, Sera!"
"Eevee!" Sera replied, before shrinking back to normal size.
"… and that shout be it," Aliana said, turning on the machine and pointing it at Malamar.
"Dynamaximizer, go!" Tabitha said, pressing the button and firing a beam at the Dynamaxed Pokémon.
"We are not calling this machine that," Aliana said flatly.
"Then you can name it when you come up with a better name for it," Tabitha replied mockingly.
"Or you can do so after we kick your butts, again," Ashton said, the trio turning to fight Team RedHot.
"Aw, but we just bonded in a Pokémon battle together!" Miror B. said.
"And I just called the police to take you guys in," Kris shot back, holding up her phone.
Before either side could do anything, Malamar groaned and started to get up. "No, this power, it's draining!" he shouted. Turning to the humans, the Overturning Pokémon activated his Psychic abilities once more. "I won't let you take this from me!"
The blast of Psychic hit the Dynamaximizer, making the machine overload with energy. Aliana and Tabitha ducked for cover as the machine exploded, with one final blast being enough to shrink Malamar to normal size. The rest of the energy, however, rushed around the heroic trio, the Dynamax and Psychic energy in the air reaching critical mass. The ground underneath them started to warp as while glass-like crashed formed in the pavement.
"Uh, guys," Dyaln said nervously. "Remember how Delphi told us to watch our step? This might be what she was talking about."
Suddenly, the cracks tore open, revealing the void of space underneath them that quickly sucked the trio in. The three heroes screamed as they fell into the portal, which quickly closed back up underneath them as soon as they fell in. Team RedHot looked at where their rivals had been, confused on what had just happened.
"A space-time distortion?" Tabitha blinked.
"The Dynamax energy in the machine must have been overloaded with the last attack from that Malamar," Aliana speculated. "It opened up a temporary portal with all of that exess energy. Those kids could now be in anyplace at anytime, in any one of countless worlds out there."
"Shoot, we didn't get any of their Pokémon from them!" Miror B. realized.
"We do have the reminants of the Dynamaximizer, though," Tabitha said, walking over and pulling out parts from the broken machine. The sound of police sirens came to his ears as he smirked. "Our job is done here, team. We now have valuable Dynamax energy research, and the biggest thorns in our sides are out of the way. Who cares where they went; for now, let's tell our boss what we learned."
Team RedHot teleported out of the area just as police cars pulled up. No signs of Dylan, Ashton, or Kris was found at the scene.
[***]
Somewhere, in some other place, Kris, Dylan, and Ashton all fell out of the portal. For Dylan, he landed in a fountain of some kind, groaning as he pulled himself out of the water. Checking that he hadn't broken anything, the trainer gasped he felt his belt and the lack of four particular items on it. "My Pokémon!" he exclaimed.
Looking around, Dylan realized that he wasn't in London anymore, nor anyplace that he could recognize. It appeared to be a traditional Japanese town, with the fountain he had fallen into being in the middle of it. Looking up, Dylan saw that the fountain was that of a man battling a Gyarados, with the man looking strangely familiar to him.
"…Lance?" Dylan said in confusion, before turning to see an older version of the man the statue depicted standing in front of him. The man was almost a spitting image of the Indigo League champion, save for being at the youngest 70 years old. The man spoke to Dylan in Japanese, to which the boy shook his head. "Sorry, I don't speak your language."
The man paused, then shout something to one of the houses. A young man came out, wearing a fancy kabuki mask and having purple hair. Dylan noted that this newcomer was similar to the Indigo Elite Four member Will. The Lance-lookalike explained to the Will-looklike something, to which he nodded and gave a whistle. A Xatu suddenly flew down, its eyes flashing as it locked its gaze on Dylan.
"Can you understand me now, young man?" the Lance-lookalike said.
Dylan nodded. "Yes, and you understand me?"
"You're not the first person we've met that speaks English," the Will-lookalike said, a smirk underneath his mask. "But where are my manners? I am Dokyo, and this man here is Elder Ryujin."
"I'm Dylan," Dylan replied.
"Well then, Dylan, by the clothes you wear I can tell that you are not of this world," Ryujin said. "I want to know your full story of why you were taken here, but first let us get you dried off."
"Wait, I need to find my Pokémon, and my friends!" Dylan said. "I lost them when I was dropped off… wherever this is."
Dokyo nodded. "We will help to find your friends and Pokémon, but we need to make sure that you are safe first."
"Let us have some tea in my house," Ryujin said. "Dylan, let me welcome you to the Village of Black Thorns."
What's this? Dylan wound up in a whole different world! Where exactly is the Village of Black Thorns, and what happened to Ashton, Kris, and their Pokémon? Find out next time as the new chapter of Pokémon World Adventure begins!
Author's Note
Writing the Dynamax battle was pretty fun, and we found out that Kris' Eevee can G-Max too!
I'm going to start posting chapters weekly now, so be on the lookout every Wednesday for a new part of the story. The announcement of Generation 9/ Pokémon Scarlet and Violet version has given me the motivation to get this story out more consistently.
I'll explain more about what the Village of Black Thorns is, but needless to say that Pokémon Legends: Arceus inspired a lot of what's going to happen in this upcoming arc…