Storm Sworn
Summary: Found drifting at sea by a woman from her cruise suite, surrounded by a bright ring of Tynamo and residing inside an unfamiliar body, Aric Fisk doesn't know what to think about his old dreams becoming reality. But, he learns fast it's not all rainbows and sunshine. Quite the opposite, really. And much too quickly in his opinion.
Note: Interlude is bigger than expected. Enjoy.
- [ᛊ] -
A slim, feminine figure broke through the surface of the pool. Around her, a small group of aquatic Pokemon swam about. There were two fish, a stiff Feebas and a bright Goldeen. A large Drednaw, whose jaws were so infamous they were labeled as the Bite Pokemon, followed the girl. Its fierce visage remained unchanged despite the break its owner had signaled with a series of clicks underwater.
Despite that, Nessa knew her starter and rubbed the turtle just behind the jaw. It leaned into the touch, making familiar clicking noises with its jaws.
"Good boy, Archie," she cooed to the Water/Rock type for a job well done. "You tanked the hits great!" It had training up the two fish. The brighter one had been a newer addition, captured during a trip before this in Johto. The Feebas was a gift from Elesa a couple of months ago and had made little progress.
The girl bit back a frown.
Both Drednaw and Feebas had been ridiculed as Pokemon not fit for her, given her modeling career. That they did not fit the smooth and graceful image Nessa had shaped herself into, acclimating to the swimmer build from an early age. Her father was an angler, and she had been taken to swimming with a natural ease.
Nessa couldn't care less about their opinion, but the figment had been getting louder with the rise of her status. If they didn't see the worth in the Pokemon, that was their problem. If all they could see was the lack of conventional beauty, it was their loss. Her Pokemon were hers. They reflected all parts of her.
Her thoughts trailed back to the absentminded and "ugly" Feebas as it reentered her vision.
The fish signified how she used to feel a week ago. Stagnant. Unable to grow or find the motivation to do exactly that. Learning about Elesa's "promotion," that quickly changed. Before that? Nessa was stuck at four badges. Drednaw and Toxapex had carried her with their natural bulk while the rest of her Pokemon had yet to catch up with their firepower.
Elesa sent much praise about her work-life balance Nessa's way, but honestly, the dark-skinned girl didn't see it. Between her duties as a league-sponsored trainer, helping her father and mother occasionally, traveling the world for unique photoshoots, and studying as a field medic of aquatic nature, she really didn't have much "life." It was all work and then more work with her.
That was starting to change.
She had thought about her modeling career and realized she already solidified herself, despite all the numerous bikini models and covering up a lot more than them. Somehow, she got lucky and ran with her niche within the new sights of Galar. Although after this cruise, it would take a backseat, she promised herself. She stifled the growth of her Pokemon as is. Elesa, even though she was just a year and a couple of months older than her, was already making much headway on that spectrum.
She may be envious, but her competitive nature outweighed it. Thankfully, not enough that she couldn't congratulate her friend. Her mother had taught her compassion well enough, fortunately. Her father, on the other hand, had taught her how to be confident, strong and to radiate it with a puffed chest.
It had gotten her in trouble a few times while growing up or alienated her as outspoken, so she reeled it back. She wasn't stupid.. for long anyway. She was a kid after all.
When Nessa had first tried her hand at modeling after her first badge, the mass rebuffed her for the color of her skin. It was eye-opening for her at the ripe age of fifteen. She was simply trying to find a way to be independent on her journey through Galar, a vanguard region set to be formalized and the new standard for future frontiers to become stable regions. Her parents had left (fled) their home to get away from all that. Galar would be their fresh start after she had been born, they assumed.
Her father thought his profession would be necessary to feed the migrating masses. Rightly so. He was never lacking in work, but always tried to be available for her. Her mother luckily had a desk job to work from home to file finances of nearby markets. Atop that, occasionally, she would fill in as a cashier for a local business. Everyone in their small town—or well, not so small anymore—was close as they waited for all the infrastructure to be finished.
As a longtime fisherman, her father had learned about many things. Fortunately, one of them was the secret on how to evolve a Feebas into the majestic and mysterious Milotic. And Nessa couldn't help but relate. If it felt beautiful, the Pokemon could reach its peak. A certain scale could help speed up the process, but the model was stubborn. She had flourished under her own meticulous hand and pushed past the negativity with the loving support and her eventual friends. If she could do it, Feebas could do so under her care. It certainly helped that it was a cherished gift by one of her two friends, Elesa, one that Nessa knew she could never repay.
Both her fishes nudge themselves into her palms. She giggled, brushing her nails across their scales. Easily, she could recall getting them around the same time. It was a happy coincidence that Elesa had a familiar present for Christmas. On top of that, the allocated Nurse Joy had even said they were about the same age.
"Quintessa and Queenie, your attacks have become faster!" The horned goldfish preened, but careful with her horn. She laughed and rubbed the area around the base. "You're swimming a lot better, Queenie." The fish had been severely injured (the initial reason she wanted to look into being a medic) but thankfully, it had made a full recovery.
Her Feebas tried its hardest not to look envious of its sister. That wouldn't do. "Tessa, yours have been landing a ton more. The target practice must be working, right?"
The fish bobbed, eagerly. It tried to move fire off an attach but froze, sensing something. It may be a weaker Pokemon as a first evolution, even compared to Pokemon tamed for the same amount of time, but its senses made up for it so it could protect itself accordingly.
Nessa blinked down to it and noticed something as well. It had escaped her attention because she had gotten used to fighting in water.
The surface of the water was moving erratically. It was then both fishes dragged her to the edge of the pool. She barely had enough time to see their expressions and give a confused yelp.
A steaming beam of white cut through the pool from the bottom, lasering through the ceiling and beyond. Multiple blackened bodies fell from the crevice made. A couple of the bodies broke against the edge of the pool. Their broken bodies bled what was left of the pool red until it all ran down into the crevice of ruin.
Since they weren't used to drawing in oxygen with water, her two Pokemon struggled to breathe, fighting back their survival instincts to find the nearest water source and stay with their trainer. Seeing this, Nessa snapped it of her stupor and turn to find her pokeballs.
Apparently, Drednaw was way ahead of her. It had gathered her pokeballs, clothes, and a towel. The destruction didn't seem to bother it.
That made one of us, at least..
The girl shook her head. She clicked their appropriate balls and watched as the red flash absorbed them.
"Dred..."
She nodded then shut her eyes, steeling herself and controlling her breathing. With a few second of that, she scanned the area, focusing on the people.
The once living, breathing and alive people.
There was nothing to be done for them. The attack had annihilated too much. No one would survive after reaching the point that their bodies turned black. That was when her hearing returned. She didn't realized the blast had deafened her.
Over the screams, shouts and stampede running from above and below her, the sailors and other ship crew yelled orders and escorted civilians. She was supposed to help, having originally come aboard to learn firsthand from the sailors and under Doctor Osumi. She wasn't useless. There were things to do.
She could do this.
"—Nessa, assist the doctor!"
"Okay!"
She could do that. That was simple. The good Doctor would know what to do. She would be about to guide the girl. It would allow her to now focus on all of the death and destruction.
A shaky grin slipped across her lips.
So much for Elesa's vacation...
The thought helped alleviate some of the stress.
Then, the cruise rocked like mad, once more. It nearly tripped the girl, but her starter carefully caught her on its shell. "Thank you, Arch."
The Pokemon only stared ahead. Its frown was deeper than ever before, staring ahead towards their destination. Her heart sank. The second crash had come in the medical bay's direction. She redoubled her efforts.
"Break through the rumble with Razor Shell!"
Water coalesced from nothing around the turtle's shell. Drednaw hounded before plunging into its shell as the water gained a more solid shape and crashed into the rumble blocking their way.
"That's enough, Arch!"
It eased to a stop and popped out of its rocky shell. It couldn't see through it and the rumble after all.
Dr. Osumi would know what to do in this situation. With that, she shoved all the negativity away and threw open the door.
The nightmare that followed would haunt her for years to come. However, it was only thanks to her starter Drednaw, psychic partner Pupil the Starmie and the mentor's Slowking could do what had to be done. Through the wreckage, through the flames, past the pools of blood and the piles of blackened limbs, she had saved many people.
And then she made it to the deck of the ship to set up an impromptu medical station.
Between following Slowking's medical direction, wrapping up gushing or burnt wounds, ordering some helpers as extra hands, she made sure they could see another day.
They just had to last until their emergency help arrived. The model was sure twenty minutes had already passed. It couldn't be until much longer.
'Life-Guard Nessa,' came the soft but determined voice of the Slowking. 'If it's becoming too much, it would be best if you depart too.'
The girl shook her head, too out of breath to talk. Her gaze fleeted around. There were a couple sailors around, having set up a perimeter around the sinking ship. They had successfully slowed it so Nessa and a few other helpful civilians or trainers could save others.
Most of them were older than her. But that didn't matter.
Her hands double-checked the belt around her waist. She had gathered the leftover pokeballs of Elesa's Pokemon. Their trainer was nowhere to be found.
Nessa could only hope someone else found her friend.
"I can keep going."
There was much to do. Without Doctor Osumi around, Nessa was the only option.
The Pokemon only nodded. Its gaze lingered on the aquatic battles with a disdain ill-fitted on its usual kind expression.
"Nessa, I got two more with burnt wounds!"
Her tired eyes flicked up to the bodies before squeezing her eyes shut. She couldn't do anything for them. They would need amputation. It wasn't the time and place to do it yet. They might be able to salvage more if she waited for more educated persons to deal with it.
That and she didn't want to do it again if she didn't have to.
She swallowed and turned towards the sailor.
"Just over to Pupil please."
A hypnosis and a teleport later, the two bodies were gone for the nearby island. The people there had been told to set them down and let them rest. If she remembered correctly, someone had a Kangaskhan and a Jigglypuff. Hopefully, they could help soothe any conscious persons or return anyone too injured back to sleep.
They wouldn't be suffering needlessly while they rested, at least.
The problem was that they nor her inability to help would be leaving her any time soon.
" "Pelipper!" "
The trio of white birds dropped off another Pokemon. It was a Mantine, littered with bite and scratch marks from Carvanha. There was a chunk missing from its underbelly, but fortunately, it was nothing a Pokemon couldn't heal for.
Slowking already moved towards it before Nessa had fumbled for a potion. She sprayed the wound and noticed the color of the bottle. It was pink for a Hyper Potion. Huh. She didn't know there was still some left.
"Swannn!"
Another Water/Flying Pokemon gently plopped a severely injured Lombre nearby. It was her own.
"Someone patch up Mantine's wound, please!"
The girl didn't wait for a response and moved onto the Water/Grass Pokemon. She quickly scanned it before nearly smacking herself. As a grass type, it was hard to permanently maim them. The Lombre just needed some rest and nutrients. She would make sure it could do so after this was done. For now, it was low priority.
She dragged it off to the side so it could do just that. It would be down for the count but objectively alright.
"—Yo guys! Look!" One of the sailors pointed past the sea of black and blue. A line of speed boats and aquatic Pokemon were heading their way. "Some help is finally here!"
Cheers and hollering fell deaf on her ears as she tended the next person. Half their ear was torn off. They tearfully revealed broken fingers and a splinter-filled foot. Quickly, the applied a diluted potion to their ear and patched the ear up. For the fingers—she reset the ones she could before wrapping it all up, just so the patient could be able to relax more. As for the foot, there wasn't enough time for her or Slowking to spend prying out each needle. She could remove the most obvious ones, wrap it up and tell the person to stay off the foot for now as she gave them some hastily grabbed painkillers.
There were plenty of other people of similar degrees of injury. A couple much more severe. A few died in her grasp, but she kept moving onto the next one. She couldn't linger. It was a large cruise , and the attack had practically come from nowhere.
Her job wouldn't be done for hours. Nothing Slowking could say would stop her. Nothing would make up for the loss of Doctor Osumi. Nessa only hoped the woman would be proud of her rushed work. Because after all of this, the girl wasn't sure she could do this again.
It took the nearest Nurse Joy to finally relieve Nessa of her duty after realizing how exhausted the girl had become when she, the nearest Gym Leader and their gym trainers arrived.
The trained professional chewed into the sailors for not noticing nor helping her further. A tired nurse could end up doing just as much damage as they did help! When they and Slowking explained the death of Dr. Osumi, her expression softened before hardening again.
"Still, she's just a girl!" A tall and beautiful model at that but she was just sixteen. Her trainer profile has mentioned that today, of all days, was her birthday.
"She assured us she could handle it and told us to focus on the ship.." one of the men trailed off, realizing how weak his counterpoint was.
The doctor didn't have it in her to continue. It was a poor situation all around. Instead, she turned back to all leftover injured. The cruise must have forgone other basic but key features for this wave of Pokemon to arrive unnoticed. It was hard to trust that it wasn't out of malicious intent. There were no redundancies of jobs either if they had been relying on a little girl to play doctor, an apprentice or otherwise.
Nurse Joy of Dewford City shoved down her suspicions for later. She had some slack to pick up. She hoped it wouldn't traumatize Nessa but knew it wouldn't be likely. That girl had done excellent work for a trainer, model, and recent apprentice. This was a lot for her first major contribution.
"I'll need two extra pairs of hands!"
It was a miracle that they had even gotten the S.O.S. out in the first place, given how they struggled to get two sailors to assist her.
Or well, I assumed it was a dragon of some kind. It was more sea serpent shaped with its long neck. It must be a new species from a new region because it was nothing like I've seen before.
The blueish-green creature was covered in white hair from atop its head, around its underbelly, and wrapped around its tail. It was seemingly thrice the size of the young Autumn Tropius; the neck was longer than the body. The round head hung off the cliff, where it greeted me with a long yawn.
I swear, it could swallow me whole if it wanted to. It rivaled the size of the Mega Gyarados, which was insane. A normal Gyarados grew to be 21 ft (6.4m) when straightened out. From what I recall, only Wailord was longer, lengthwise. Perhaps, it changed with the new regions, but I didn't know if this dragon was larger because of age or genes. The white hair and withered appearance made me think it was the former. But Pokemon came in all shapes and sizes also..
Its large pink round eyes were blank and revealed nothing as it peered over us. The Tropius seemed innocent to the tension, and it set me down next to a wall before marching straight up to the grandfather-like dragon. The Grass/Flying type even set the crate with me, but I was too intimidated to further investigate.
"Troop!"
The Pokemon was just tall enough to reach up with its head to nudge the dragon a bit, brushing against the hair flowing out the top of the dragon's head. The stare changed little, but I could.. tell there was a shift of some sort. The pink eyes were like an empty void. Even still, they lightened up with Tropius.
The dino just be some kind of surrogate child to elate the dragon. Most Dragon types had finicky personalities and were tough to tame. I... really didn't want to trigger this dragon so I tried my best to not look it in the eyes.
That's how you would come off as threatening in the wild, right? Maybe, I gotta look threatening? Bigger? Nah...
And so, I deflated against the rough rock behind me as the storm outside worsened. The whistles and roars of the wind broke against the stone. It was a weird experience. I didn't live in a stormy area, nor did I get many chances to engross myself in that patter of rain.
People had said the noise was calming. This storm, however, was nothing like that. Sheets of heavy rain would follow a heavy wind, splattering themselves against the rock. The single opening made the stormy barrage or intense crashing of the waves originate there and bounce around with no rhyme or reason. The barrier was obviously thicker than brick, but I felt closer to the outside world than in my apartment.
Now that I thought about it, it was probably because of my damp clothing and the chill of the rain.
I started shivering. And I hate that. Shivering. It made me feel weak, and it was mighty annoying. I knew it was a normal process to combat the cold, but I couldn't stand fluttering like a leaf in the wind. I felt weak—weaker than I already was—and refused to stop. No clenching of fists or ass would stop it. It would haunt me and deprive me of sleep if the drumming of the rain and the howls of the storm or crashes of the waves didn't.
"...Troo?"
My half-lidded gaze widened. I totally forgot about the tree dinosaur.
"I- uh, have no idea what you're saying." It nudged its head into my lap with a small whine. For a big lug, this fellow was cute. So with shaky hands, I tried to pet it.
Frustration welled up in me.
I could barely keep a straight line. I nearly nicked myself on the points of its scales. The uncontrollable shivering made this normally gentle process far from calm. But I was stubborn and tried to continue, if just for the Pokemon.
It was one of the only familiar things in this strange new world. New Pokemon, unfamiliar Megas and colorful people off the bat—I was finally alone if I could ignore the two large Pokemon. I couldn't do that, but it was less intrusive than a tank full of sea life staring at me, even if the old-looking dragon matched them with its presence alone. It, at least, minded its own business and tried to sleep.
There wasn't much to do nor much I was willing to do in case the dragon decided I was annoying. Although, Tropius' head helped warm me but comforted me little. It wasn't long before the grass dinosaur "fainted" under my careful ministrations.
I couldn't even be jealous. The big guy tried to comfort me. It was my damn fault it didn't work. Closing my eyes only reminded me of death. Honestly, I was not amazed my ass wasn't scared of blinking..
Tropius shifted, and I only barely held back my yelp. I'm fairly sure Ash or anyone else from the anime had this much trouble with the skin of this Pokemon...
Did it get a new form? I tried my best to think of the newest region's name. It was something based on Britain. I heard rumors of Pokemon resembling others. And that wasn't counting the regions before it. A place based on Hawaii came out with an alternative form to Ninetails, a popular favorite of my childhood friends. It was only because of that reason they mentioned it on Facebook posts I saw while drifting through my email.
Who knows what else I missed out on..
A rush of air blasted me from my thoughts. Suddenly, I was frozen, facing the grand form of the pastel pink eyed dragon. It breathed by heaving in the air, enough to affect the spiny leaves. The oversized lizard wasn't quite wheezing, but I was pretty sure it was sick or just incredibly old at this distance.
It slowly approached. My heart increased in fervor all the while. Two arms and its short, but extremely sharp-looking claws extended themselves from the front floofs.
I could only choke on air as I relived my murder. A throbbing pain returned to my throat and my gut as the dragon glided closer yet. It had to scrunch its neck tighter, so it could reach Tropius with the relatively short arms. Then carefully, the dragon shifted the Grass/Flying Pokemon's head, so it lay on its tail.
I only noticed it once it had gotten close and I got over myself. It was puffier than the fluff along the main body of the dragon.
A crackle of rocks drew my attention to the entrance of the cave. A wave of rocks slid down the roof to wall up the opening, muting the storm a ton. It was bearable now.
A gust of air reminded me of the close proximity of the dragon as it stared me down again. It seemed to mull something over with a tilt of its head before it lay down, shutting its eyes.
My heart calmed after the grandparent-like dragon began snoring softly. It was only then I felt thankful, ignoring my trepidation and fears. I muttered softly, "thank you, dragon," and shifted slightly to get more comfortable on the rocks.
There wasn't much I could do with all the hard surfaces, but laying on my back should be better than waking up with a sore ass..
A small nudging broke me from my sleep. It was a slightly slimy feel that gave me a very minor shock. It was weird to describe, but I honestly couldn't care. I had gotten the best rest since forever!
A rumble shook me.
"Troo?"
I immediately shot up, throwing off whatever was prodding me, and scanned my surroundings. I was in a cave, crowded by familiar Pokemon. Somehow, a small pool was added into the cave, where the eel and fish I caught peered up at me. Apparently, they had gotten out of the pokeballs somehow. The Tynamo was a little dizzy from me throwing it into the air by accident, where it thankfully landed back into the pool with a splash.
I rushed it, coaxing the miniature Pokemon into my hand, "I'm so sorry, lil guy!" It returned to its senses and nuzzled my hand. No foul or harm done, it seemed. "Glad to see you too." I swallowed as some of the memories about its siblings returned.
I was glad it could be as cheery as it was. If I had lost my whole family, I...
A weird feeling washed over me. It was a familiar one. One I felt a few times during my... forcibly shortened stay in the medical wing.
My gaze shifted to the sharp, psychic (?) fish. It had tried to do something again. Psychic stuff, I presume. "Hey, thanks for earlier. I don't think I got to say it earlier."
The fish only rubbed against his hands, carefully with its scales. I bet if it had a choice all the cuts that parted across my flesh would have never appeared. It was rather cute for an oversized bladed fish.
"You're a good boy, aren't ya?" I thumbed the head, hoping it wouldn't take offense to it. I don't exactly know how to pet a fish or tell their gender. It was exactly a common thing in my old world. Although, I'm pretty sure the... late doctor called it a male.
It blew out some bubbles and pressed against my palm. A smile lifted my lips. I don't know what I did to deserve this Pokemon's trust, but it saved my life multiple times over. I didn't even know how to begin repaying that.
That was when Tropius reinserted itself with a soft trill. In vines, the dino pressed the pokeballs into my stomach. I released the fish so I could hold the balls as I realized what happened. The Grass/Flying Pokemon had released them. I assume the dragon made a little pool for them.
That was nice of it. Speaking of which, I spied the dragon slumbering at the far end of the cave, wrapping its neck around so its head rested on the fluffy tail. I mumbled another thanks and made my way out.
I nabbed Tynamo while Tropius followed with the fish coiled in its vines. I had grabbed the knife and the short rod from earlier. I was pretty sure I actually knew what the latter was.
I swung it as hard as I could. Admittedly, it didn't feel that strong given everything wrong with me, but it did the trick. The rod extended with interlocking sections and revealed loops. It nearly scared the red Tropius, who flinched, but became amazed at this "magic."
There was one problem.
I didn't have any fishing line.
I thought quickly and limped towards the greenery. Maybe a vine could work? With a swipe of the knife and a yank, I had a vine. Now all I had to do was assess it. I pulled it between my two hands. It promptly snapped.
Damn it.
These weren't jungle vines that could handle the weight of monkeys. They were extra lining to coat the flooring and weird root-feeler things like... My eyes trailed back to the curious dinosaur. More specifically, to the vines carrying the gray and magenta fish.
"Tropius," I started hesitantly, "can I cut off a vine of yours?"
It only tilted a head at me. For a couple moments, I stood there feeling awkward. Then, it clocked with the Pokemon. It extended a vine. I recalled the length of the cliffside.
"Could you make it as long as you possibly can?"
Again, the young dino stared at me, processing the request. Nothing changed so I simplified my question. "Make it longer please?"
"Pius~" it trilled.
The vine circled and pooled around my feet. It seemed like this would be the first time Tropius did something like this because it seemed extra interested suddenly.
"T-That's enough, Tropius."
It stopped suddenly, and I approached with a raised knife. I paused as well. "Is it okay if I cut it?" It blinked down at me before nodding. I sawed with the bottom edge of the knife. I made sure to check and see if it hurt the Pokemon. It didn't, fortunately. "Thank you again," I said, patting the base of its neck, where the vine originated.
I quickly fed one end through the loops, loosely tying it there with some extra hanging off. Spooled the rest around the top of the handle, I searched for something to use as bait. I've never really gone fishing before except once with my father when I was very young. Young enough that I don't recall anything about the trip except his inactive fishing style.
Although, I think I saw something on tv. Some survivalist used some insects as bait. I don't know if they exist here, but what better time to check than now, eh? I upturned some rocks and logs with much assistance from the questioning Tropius. I found a few scattered critters. Tynamo's flashing had attracted the attention of some of them. They were extra tiny bug Pokemon, I think. Most of them I don't recognize, but one looked like a miniature version of Drapion. I grabbed it and encircled the hanging end of Tropius vine to it.
I had my bait.
"Tropius, could you lead me back to the cliff?"
There had been a pool for the eel and fish. It seemed neither had too much problem with drawing oxygen from the air thankfully. But I was sure they would prefer it. Tynamo was already drying out in my arms in fact.
The Grass/Flying Pokemon understood and marched ahead with an excited cry. I tried my best to keep up. I could only limp so fast with full arms, but the Pokemon trail was fresh and easy to follow, so I didn't get lost.
In maybe less than ten minutes, we returned to my start on the island. The pool seemed fuller thanks to the rain. I gently coaxed the electric eel Pokemon into it, where it greeted the fish. Nearby, Tropius watched with barely restrained excitement.
I untied the top end of the vine, careful to watch out for the tiny scorpion's claws and stinger. Lifting the rod behind my shoulders, making them creak in my head, I then swung down, flinging the bait over the cliff and into the ocean water. I found a spot to nestle it between a crevice in the ground.
"Now we wait for a fish to bite!"
- [ᛊ] -
Aes (AN): if it wasn't obvious, Tropius ain't your normal Tropius. She's not just an alternative form, but also a rare mutation, drawing more genes from her father, instead of the usual species copy of the mother. It's been an idea I've been mulling over since forever ago. I'll get into it much later, but I thought I would spoil that much for now.
Also, Nessa—she's a little different from the anime/game from what I recall. Have I managed to convey her as a mature but competitive, workaholic girl so far? Send her get-well wishes cuz she's going to need it.
Elesa, on the other hand... Well, you'll just have to wait and see for the next interlude with her.
Words: [5,691]
Edits: sum
Reviews:
Amaruk1701: honestly, it being dark and gritty wasn't the intention, so I'll take the compliment! I was shooting for mostly realistic.
firefist02: np!
withdrawnmadness000: Basically, I was always under the impression that Mega evolution could happen more naturally (in a way that wouldn't be actively harmful lol) or through nefarious means. Never played X/Y, so I don't know if there's any evidence pointed otherwise. However, your direction with Dynamax is good comparison, but I don't want to spoil the story further. My plan for Eelektross will be a ton of fun! Hopefully, you and everyone else will think so too.
CircusControl: will do!
Any guesses on the dragon?