Chapter 5: Perfection in the Sun.
Moon looked over his Suntouched City pamphlet near the large golden statue of Jaern that stood in the center of the city. His Six Pokemon eagerly played around with each other as he contemplated his own ideas.
"No word on Orion's team…" he mumbled, shoving the pamphlet into his pocket. "If he's running a sun theme team, he'll have to have a sun setter, likely Vulpix."
"Vee Vee!"
"Meleon!"
"Weeble!"
"Onaw!"
"Mer Grim"
"Olu!"
"Well, if you all believe in me, I suppose we can go give it a sh-"
"Excuse me! You, right there!" Moon glanced over, alongside his Pokemon as an older man approached them. "I couldn't help but notice your Pokemon, you are a trainer correct?"
"I am." Moon replied. "Is something wrong?"
"Yes indeed, you see, there is this pesky little problem that keeps destroying the suntouched garden. Augur Jaern was going to come to our city soon, and we'd like to have our garden actually looking professional. Unfortunately, there's some little pest that keeps wrecking everything. Come with me please."
Moon looked over and returned all of his team, with the exception of Sunny and followed after the man. The Eevee trotted alongside him as they took the fan up to the upper level of the city, where Moon promptly followed the man to a flowerbed. He did notice a few flowers looking bent and chewed up.
"Now, I believe that the little rascal comes around to steal Honey, so I'm going to spread some over these plants. And it should appear."
It didn't take long though, as the man had just pulled out the jar of honey before a shadowy monkey appeared in a puff of smoke and grabbed the jar of honey.
"Get it Trainer!"
Moon looked at the Pokemon. The creature in question appeared to resemble Aipom, except it looked dead. Like, really dead. It had transparent glowing white eyes and a tail. With dark black fur. Its two big ears had scratches and tears on it.
"Sunny, use Bite."
Sunny charged up and bit onto the transparent tail before flinging the ghost monkey into the fence. The delta Aipom collapsed onto the ground and dropped its jar of honey.
Moon took out his Poke ball and tossed it at the little monkey, upon hitting the ghost monkey, it developed into red energy before the ball dinged shut.
"Thank you very much!" The man said, as Moon picked up the Aipom's Pokeball. "Here, take this, it's the least I can do." He handed him a few dollars. "Please keep that little rascal happy, I'd hate for it to come back here."
Moon looked at the pokeball before scanning it with his pokedex. Reading the entry as he made his way to the gym,
Aipom (Delta Species)
The Ghost Tail Pokemon.
Type: Ghost and Normal
Abilities: Cursed Body, Rattled, or Technician.
Information: A Delta Species discovered by SixteenDraws and EchoTheThird that resembles the Pokemon, Aipom. It sneakily places the end of its tail on people's shoulders, making others wonder if they saw a white hand. It has become the rumor of various creepypastas surrounding Lavender Town.
Known Moves: Scratch, Screech, Play Nice, Fake Out, Fury Swipes, Curse, Pain Split, and Shadow Punch.
"Hmm, interesting." Moon said to himself.
It took a couple of minutes, but he eventually made his way to the Suntouched Gym. As he entered the back room, he found that the roof was exposed and open, and he found a kid around the same age as Damian, maybe a little younger. He had spikey orange hair and wore a white beater and red shorts.
"Looks like another challenger is here. Wish me luck buddy!" Moon raised an eyebrow looking at the fact that the boy said to this a shining white rock that stood next to him.
"Uh…hello." He said.
"Hi!" The boy had a slight accent that told Moon he likely had Unovan descent. "I'm uh…well…sorry about the whole awkwardness with the rock. Try not to think about it too much."
"I uh…will…" Moon replied.
"Great, so, you're here for a battle then? I'll use a team of five Pokemon. I'm sure you've heard by now that I specialize in the sun, so I hope you're prepared!" The boy took out his first Pokeball and tossed out a small orange fox.
"Pix Vul!" Moon quickly noticed the small little rock with red crystals attached to a necklace around the small fox's neck. The sun started to glow a lot brighter than normal.
"Okay, Satanel, Battle Stance!"
The Delta Charmeleon emerged from the shadows of the pokeball and braced itself.
"Flamethrower!"
"Satanel, use Shadow Sneak!"
Vulpix's eyes flashed as it let out a blast of fire from its mouth. Satanel quickly vanished into the shadows and moved behind the small fox. He jumped from his shadows and quickly swiped the small fox with his claws.
Vulpix rolled against the ground before jumping back up. It quickly generated a green ball of energy before swinging it across to launch it at the Delta Charmeleon.
"Twister!"
Satanel summoned the blue twister from its tail flame and sent it swirling at the ball of energy. The small green ball of light was whipped into a circle before launched into the sky where it promptly exploded.
Vulplix blinked as it quickly looked around as Satanel had seemingly vanished once again, a shadow emerged below the small fox and the Delta Charmeleon uppercut the poor fox into the sky.
Vulpix recovered in the air before surrounding itself in fire and nose diving down towards Satanel. Satanel jumped up and lengthened his claws as he slashed through the fiery tackle. Vulpix promptly fell to the battlefield ground with swirls in its eyes.
"Not bad." Orion smiled as he returned the fox. "Ivysaur! Go!"
A regular ivysaur emerged from its pokeball. Just like the Vulpix, Moon noted that its flower had some purple sludge attached to its back.
"Scratch!"
Satanel charged towards the little grass frog with sharpened claws. However, Ivysaur moved incredibly fast and dodged the attack with ease. Its bulb plant began to shine as it launched a powerful ray of light towards Satanel. The Delta Charmeleon took the blast in full force and quickly skidded against the ground.
Satanel vanished into the shadows before uppercutting the plant beast with its claws. Moon watched the little purple sludge restore a few scratch marks his skeletal charmeleon left on it. Ivysaur's plant bulb began to glow again.
"Come back Satanel!" Moon returned the skeletal Charmeleon. "Sahara Battle Stance!"
Delta Grimer emerged from its pokeball and was greeted with a blast from the Solar Beam. Which it simply brushed off as its body glowed red.
"Sahara Sand Tomb!"
Sahara summoned a gusty tornado of sand that caught Ivysaur in the back as it was tossed against the rocks within it. Ivysaur fell to the ground with swirls in its eyes.
Orion smiled and clapped as he returned to Ivysaur.
"Okay Aron! Go!"
Moon blinked. "Aron?!...in a sun themed gym?"
His question was quickly answered as the Pokemon emerged from the ball. It certainly did look like an Aron, except it was red and had blue flames for eyes and red flames coming out where its holes would be.
As soon as it came out, a little red balloon developed around it before it was lifted into the air.
Aron rolled into a ball of fire and quickly smashed into Sahara, lighting her on fire as she collapsed next to Moon with swirls in her eyes.
"Well shit…" Moon Mumbled. He returned the Delta Grimer to her Pokeball as he glanced over at the Delta Aron.
"Likely still a fire type…maybe also still a steel type?" he guessed. "If it's got an air balloon, no way in hell does it want to take a ground move."
The sun was still glaring, so Irwin was likely still off the picture.
"Okay, Cobalt, Battle Stance!"
The normal Riolu emerged from his pokeball and pumped its fists.
"Iron Head!"
"Use Force Palm!"
Cobalt quickly dodged the charging Delta before placing his palm on the small body of the Pokemon and blasting it with Aura. The Air Balloon burst as Aron collapsed onto the ground. It quickly got up and rolled into a ball of fire and charged towards him.
"Counter!"
Cobalt braced itself and grabbed onto the ball of fire and quickly tossed it back towards Orion, the Aron smashed into the wall and collapsed into the ground.
"Nicely done Cobalt!"
"Olu!"
"Go Deerling!" Orion tossed out a pink deer with a flower blooming on its head. Moon noted the small black belt around its body. Nothing to worry about there, Cobalt was not weak to anything Deerling could learn.
"Deerling, Jump Kick!"
"Use Blaze Kick!"
Cobalt jumped up and lit his paw on fire as both creature's paw legs collided with each other. Both Pokemon fell to the ground with swirls developing in their eyes.
Moon glanced up and the sun had stopped glaring so harshly. A great sign.
"Irwin! Battle Stance!"
The Croconaw emerged from its Pokeball and sprayed some water into the sky as Orion let out his last Pokemon, a regular Charmeleon, which Moon noted the purple life orb around its neck.
"Aqua Jet!"
Irwin surrounded itself in water and kicked off the ground. Orion's regular Charmeleon paw surrounded itself with electricity. The Croconaw redirected itself as Charmeleon's electrical paw smashed into the ground.
Irwin tackled the Charmeleon with its water tackle and pushed it back. Charmeleon let out a roar as both of its claws developed into fists of electrical punches. Irwin's claws developed into ice as he quickly collided with the fire lizard.
"Aqua Tail!"
Irwin's tail surrounded itself with a Hydro Vortex before he turned and smashed it against the body of the fire lizard. Charmeleon was sent tumbling against the ground where it stopped moving in front of its trainer.
Orion applauded as he returned Charmeleon to his Pokeball and motioned Moon up. As Moon approached him he could swear he heard some faint roar.
"Well, this is the Thermal Badge," Orion handed him a shining metal sun badge. "Pokemon up to level 20 will obey you and yada yada. You know the drill. The next gym is south of here in Vipik City. The leader there is Xaiver, he runs a forestry theme gym with bug and poison types. He's typically responsible for ending everyone's hopes and dreams."
"ORION!" Both boys turned and Moon was taken aback as Nora, alongside another girl who was actually an adult.
The girl had a green bonnet and brown hair, like Nora, she too wore a tank top shirt and skirt, though hers were yellow and brown respectively.
"Oh uh…hi Harmony…I'm kinda in the middle of something."
"Yeah, I can see, but we need to get you out of here! Because-"
"KYU!"
A rumble shook the sky as the left wall of the gym exploded. The four of them turned to the now destroyed wall, where their eyes all widened.
Firstly, a giant gray dragon with glowing yellow eyes and small claws that looked like a husk stomped into the middle of the gym.
"Is that…the legendary Pokemon Kyurem?!" Nora asked in shock.
"My apologies for the damages." From behind the legendary Pokemon, a man with light blue hair and beady black eyes walked out. He wore a white cloak and a small light blue suit below it. He had a face that just screamed "I'm a bad guy." The man dusted his cloak off.
"Legendaries are super difficult to control." The man put his hands in his cloak pocket. "Anyway, I see you're familiar with my friend Kyurem here. I'm sure you know the legend surrounding this beautiful creature. Kyurem represents the ideals of perfection. The Ultimate Dragon Pokemon like no other."
"Who are you?!" Orion snapped.
"Name's Taen, I'm part of the Perfection Cult." Taen rubbed two of fingers together in a bored manner. "Reukra and I aren't quite as aggressive as other Cults are to people. In all honesty I didn't mean to smash your wall it, I meant to come in through your open-"
"Just get to the point Taen! What did Reukra send you here for!" Harmony glared at the man.
"Oh not much," Taen replied. "Just gimme the kids little Rock Pet and I'll be on my way."
"WHAT?!" Orion shouted. "NO WAY! I'll never let you take my friend away!"
"ORION!" Harmony sounded shocked. "It's just a stupid rock! You talking to it all the time is the reason people in this city think you're a weirdo! Just give it to him! He's a murderer for Arceus Sake!"
Taen chuckled. "I'm amused that you think so highly of the rock having no idea just what it truly is. Isn't that right Orion? I would've thought that the descendant of Alder would know what that stone is."
Moon and Nora both exchanged glances with one another as Taen turned his head to Kyurem. "Well, if you aren't going to give me the stone, I'll just have to take it by force. Kyurem, use Glaciat-"
"RESHI!" The ground began to shake again as the stone sitting on Orion's pedestal glowed brightly and expanded. In a flash of white light, a giant beautiful white dragon stood over the five people within Suntouched Gym. It had a tail in the shape of a generator and glowing blue eyes with giant white wings.
"Ah! Yes! I knew it! From the moment I heard about the kid." Taen exclaimed. "Reshiram, the being of Truth. Kyurem has been looking for you, my good pal."
"RESHIRAM!" The dragon screeched.
"Now, we can do this one of two ways." Taen said calmly, "I can't exactly just chuck a Masterball at you, you are technically owned by this bratty child. So how about-"
Reshiram let out a screech before it glowed yellow and took off into the sky, vanishing in a flash of orange light.
"Option number two it is!" Taen exclaimed, clapping his hands. He hopped on Kyurem's back. "After it Kyurem, your prize awaits!" Kyurem sprung into the sky and blasted off.
Moon looked as Nora, Harmony, and Orion just blinked stupidly at what just happened.
"Um…Orion…I'm uh…sorry for calling you a weirdo." Harmony said, blushing slightly. "I came here from Sonata City's gym because I had heard a rumor that the Perfection Cult wanted something to do with you. I just didn't want you getting hurt. We've already lost one gym leader…after all."
"Uh…thanks Harmony."
"And uh…sorry about Reshiram, I can help you find it if you-"
Harmony's words were cut off as a flash of yellow light saw the white stone reimerge next to Orion's foot. The stone wiggled for a bit before settling down.
"I guess it doesn't feel comfortable without Orion…" Nora said, making both gym leaders jump, apparently having forgotten the two of them were there.
"Oh right, thanks again for coming with me…Nora." Harmony replied. "You and your friend here better not tell anyone what you just saw."
"Trust us." Moon mumbled, "We've got stuff we don't want others finding out either."
"Thank you, and as for you Orion, you might want to do something about that. You don't know if Taen will come knocking on your door, but that stone has got to go if you want to keep Reshiram safe."
"I will, Harmony, I promise!"
"Good, I need to get back to Sonata…I have…business…to attend to."
As Harmony took off, Moon and Nora looked back at Orion, who still looked at the White Stone next to him.
"Reshiram…huh? I never knew you were a real Pokemon all along. I'm glad you were here for me when no one else was."
"I'll uh…come back for my battle later." Nora replied. "I think you've got some catching up to do." The keeper of Celebi turned to Moon. "You go on ahead to Metchi Town, I'll catch up with you." A look of realization before she handed Moon a pager. "Use this, it'll summon a Lapras to help you surf!"
Moon nodded his head as he and Nora walked out of the gym. Neither of them paid no mind to the giant golden statue of the second Augur, or the man in the black trench coat who stood near it.
"So…Taen awakened Reshiram like I asked." Reukra smiled. "I'm glad he did it with no casualties, but I'll have to scold his ignorance for causing such a scene." He watched as Moon let out the Delta Charmeleon, which he gave a somewhat genuine happiness to, seeing it with a trainer.
His phone rang and he looked at the ID with an evil smile before answering it. "Ah yes, Anastasia! You're in quite some trouble for letting Harmony catch wind. Get back to work."
That's all for today's chapter, I hope you all enjoyed it!
So, with Taen now introduced, that is going to be our last main character for a bit before the sky cult leader is introduced to us.
You know, I must give the developers credit for their team designs. You can't just breeze through the gyms with one Pokemon. I usually have to switch mine around, and for nuzlocke challenges, they can be quite difficult. On Normal Mode, you don't have to worry about competitive stuff too much until you hit Harmony, who's gym leader number 4. A few gym leaders have some held items on a few Pokemon, but the true challenge starts with her on Normal Mode. Then again, your normal mode challenge starts at Orion, I've only had one run go by where I didn't lose a Pokemon to him lol whether on normal or hard. Delta Grimer doesn't make it easier either though, that free level 25 ground type with a grass immunity might sound tempting, but it's only attacking moves will be Sand Tomb and Return and you don't want this taking a sun boosted fire move, sludge bomb from Ivysaur, or Facade from his Deerling. Even with 31 IVs in Defense and Special Defense, it's still a slightly less awful Grimer.
Speaking of which, you can't actually get Delta Aipom until after Orion, as you need to initate the side quest. Defeat Orion, go to the next route, find some honey, then go back to the man in Suntouched to get yourself Delta Aipom. But I quite liked it. Ghost Normal is an insane typing as Hisuian Zoroark proved, and it gets a good enough movepool to run away with things if you know what you're doing. Like other deltas, I'd argue it does get outclassed, notably by Delta Cake Dwebble for the Normal Type and Delta Charizard for the Ghost Type actually. But it's a fun Pokemon to use...well...assuming you can get around the complete lack of good physical ghost moves.
Also, the developers did make custom music for the boss battles of this game. I'll be bringing them up as they come along. But I know for a fact on YouTube if you search them up it does spoil some stuff for the game that are huge plot twists that we haven't gotten too yet. But I encourage you to give the Gym Leader theme, and the other unique themes I bring up, a listen. Insurgence's music is a bit...dated, they're definitely quite repetitive but given that they mainly use actual Pokemon tracks throughout majority of the game, giving the boss battles their own unique themes made them stand out a lot.
And can I just say, I love that they actually let the villains get the legendries this time around...and... you know...USE THEM! I thought Taen showing up with Kyurem in the first gym would be used as like a "Haha." He's got a Kyurem but never uses it joke. But nope, man actually sends out Kyurem the first time you fight him.
Anyway, that's about it for this chapter, if you have any thoughts or criticism, let me know.
Team:
Sunny - Eevee
Satanel - Delta Charmeleon
Irwin - Croconaw
Shortcake - Delta Dwebble
Cobalt - Riolu
Sahara - Delta Grimer
Ambio - Delta Aipom
Unofficially - Mew
See you all, next time!
