Chapter Twenty: The Mill North of Moomoo

…

Moomoo Farm was a great place to rest and refresh before the upcoming season after an event like World Championships.

I was allowed to work on the farm in exchange for being given a place to live and Inoru stayed with me.

My routine was straightforward, I woke up every morning and helped Whitney's aunt, the owner of the farm, by moving hay, cleaning the barn where all the Miltanks slept, and did regular farm work all morning. After lunch, I spent all afternoon training my team, making them spar, drill, and exercise with me by jogging around the perimeter of the farm.

I was allowed to let my Pokémon out for all hours of the day, which was great for them instead of staying cooped up all the time in their balls.

It was springtime, the flowers were in bloom, with bug Pokémon buzzing happily.

Espeon was training me every night within my dreams mainly in meditation and history, and by letting my Pokémon frolic with other wild Pokémon and rest, I felt they were growing while resting too.

Growlithe sometimes chased the farm Pokémon, and it was great fun for him so long as he never went overboard. Vigoroth didn't seem to know what to think of the farm, as did Ursaring, but I enjoyed seeing Growlithe trying to include them in his fun.

After two full weeks of working on Moomoo Farm, I heard something strange.

A few local villagers who would come and trade with us spoke of weird occurrences.

A village far to the north had been completely flooded, and the ones nearby were abandoned. The Pokémon were acting strange too, frightened and attacking people, very unlike Pokémon in the wild. My monk training told me something was disturbed by their spirits. Floods in northern Johto were odd, the nearby levee to a great lake hadn't been actively working for almost fifty years.

I had a room in a barn near where the Miltank slept.

I began to pack my things as Inoru walked in, still holding a pitchfork.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"Up north. I won't be gone long. I think there's something weird that needs checking out."

"You heard about the flood." Inoru said blankly.

"Yes." I said. "It's my job to go and fix whatever's going on, something is probably disturbing the aura of all the Pokémon nearby."

"How do you know this? Why is this your job?"

Espeon told me about both things.

"This is what Elder Toji sent us out to do Ino, to do something impactful. To truly make a difference."

Inoru shouldered his pitchfork. "Whatever makes you happy."

I walked after him out of the barn, finished packing my things. "Is there a problem?"

"You've been acting strange ever since your loss to that girl from Sinnoh."

"Dawn. What about her?"

"If you really feel this issue with the flooding needs help, reach out to the Rangers or the League." Ino said calmly while some Miltank grazed on the hill behind him.

"This is about our mission."

"I think this is about pride." said Inoru. "You were never levelheaded to not go looking for a fight, and despite that, the Initiates of our temple chose you for our pilgrimage. This is the first time I must do as I was instructed."

I squinted at him.

"Elder Toji put you under my supervision Nico, you are not to go to north."

"And why's that?"

"It's a lesson in pride. One you must learn if you're ever to become an Initiate."

This wasn't fair. How was I supposed to find my own path as a monk if I couldn't explore strange occurrences like this by my own devices? I handled Rocket fine on my own back in SlowPoké Well, and Silver, why couldn't I handle this!?

"Well what do you know? You were just made an Initiate conditionally."

Inoru just shook his recently shaved bald head, walking away without another word.

Technically I had to say whatever Ino told me. But I wasn't going to pass this on to Professor Oak or the Pokémon Rangers. I was at the top of my division in Johto, I could handle whatever was going on up north.

…

That night, I slipped out of my bed as Inoru slept, making sure his Bellsprout was currently taking a nap near the gardens of Moomoo Farm too as I snuck out.

I waited until I was out of earshot of the barn and whistled up Growlithe.

"C'mere boy!"

He appeared out of the shadows of the farm's grazing areas and panted, smiling at me.

I rubbed his head. "We're going for a walk, come on."

I left the front gate of Moomoo Farm heading on the path northward. It wasn't an official route, rather it lead to the few villages nearby and a very old lake.

Vigoroth and Ursaring were standing by the front entrance and I drew my Pokéballs for them. "We've got a mission. Return."

They both nodded and then I withdrew them, and left Moomoo Farm.

Daybreak soon came, and I was well gone on the path northward.

I had a few more weeks before I challenged Ecruteak, Morty's Gym could wait anyway. Better than staying doing farmwork and meditation all day.

The forest surrounding the path north of Moomoo Farm was eerily quiet. Not even the wild Pidgey were seen in their nests, as if all the Pokémon nearby were gone somewhere, somewhere very strange.

Growlithe whined, he didn't like this either.

"It's okay boy, I'm sure they're just migrating."

He stayed closer by my side.

Eventually, I reached Nuriko, one of the three series of villages connected to these occurrences.

I immediately drew my 'Nav and took pictures.

Nuriko was abandoned. Sure it was a very small village, but everyone was just gone gone.

Houses empty and abandoned, no signs of their Pokémon.

I checked the entire village for tracks, perhaps wild Pokémon had scared them off, but there wasn't any sign of struggle or Pokémon at all.

"Weird huh?"

Growlithe merely looked at me and gave a quiet whine, still perturbed by how odd this all was.

Then, a Pokémon did approach.

A Tauros approached out of the nearby forest on the town outskirts, the first Pokémon I'd seen since Moomoo Farm, a rarity in not just its species but for a world so abundant with these creatures.

It looked mad, very odd since Tauros were hostile but rarely left grasslands and plains.

Growlithe barked, his hairs on the back of his neck standing on end.

We were standing near a well, and Growlithe and I were forced to dodge Tauros' attack by diving out of the way.

Tauros had pawed the ground and bellowed, charging forward.

Its horns blasted apart the stone of the well into a million pieces, shrugging off the blow with ease, the Tauros turned, its hooves gliding across the stone floor of Nuriko town center as it turned to face me.

What the hell?

A part of me wanted to capture this Pokémon, but I hadn't ever seen a Pokémon act so strangely.

"Growlithe, attack!"

He spat fireballs, all of which just seemed to piss off Tauros worse. They were clearly effective and dealing a fair bit of damage, but the Tauros was deadset on just attacking us.

Growlithe used Bite, timing his attack perfectly when Tauros tried to trample the fire puppy underhoof, but even that seemed to bother it, with his fangs digging directly into his leg to the point where I could see Growlithe's fangs bared from exertion, growling wildly to take down this Tauros at all costs.

I hastily drew a Great Ball and hurled it at the Tauros, I was just trying to buy time here.

"Vigoroth, Ursaring, go!"

Both Normal Type Pokémon barely had time to make sense of the scene, because when Tauros quickly burst free from my failed Great Ball, he came rushing right at him.

It took both Ursaring and Vigoroth to Tackle the Tauros to the ground, the strike so strong the paved stones of the town center cracked beneath it.

"Vigoroth finish it!"

The Tauros struggled and struggled, bellowing with rage as Ursaring kept it pinned beneath his weight as Vigoroth's claw glowed white. A massive Slash attack from Vigoroth struck the Tauros so hard that a part of its horn chipped, directly between the eye and its curved horns.

Vigoroth panted, Ursaring looking to me for further orders as the Tauros laid knocked out on the ground.

My Pokémon were fine, but it wasn't them I was worried about. This wild Tauros was acting extremely uncharacteristically for itself, as well as wild Pokémon in general.

Wild Pokémon could certainly be hostile, but attacking a village? Sure it was empty, but it just strolled out of a forest looking for a fight. Even injured, with nothing to gain, it kept fighting.

I withdrew Vigoroth and Ursaring and placed my hand on the Tauros' chest, the Pokémon slumbering quietly.

Espeon had taught me a small trick, by timing your breathing to a Pokémon's, you could subtly enhance your Aura connection well enough know how it was feeling. Very useful for Pokémon knocked out, or simply unwilling to emote properly.

This Tauros's rage was strong enough to last into its, or, her sleep. Something had deeply disturbed this Pokémon's spirit.

The monks taught me such events could be triggered by a variety of factors, but the greatest and most common was the appearance or mistrust of mythical Pokémon such as Raikou, the three Legendary birds, or others.

A part of me told me it was time to tell Professor Oak what was going on, but I could be mistaken about mythical Pokémon being involved. I still had no clue as to what was causing all of this.

"Let's go boy." Growlithe bounded to my side and we quickly left the Tauros there, leaving Nuriko with a light jog.

The Pokémon in the next village over were nowhere to be seen, odd, as it clearly had been overrun by the same kind of Pokémon like the Tauros who had just attacked me in Nuriko.

The houses were all destroyed, burned down, or merely caved in on themselves. The town was also deserted, with barely any of it still functional. The fountain in the town center didn't have flowing water, and all power to the village had been diverted elsewhere. In fact, the entire town didn't appear to have any functioning buildings or infrastructure of any sort left.

Just what in the world had happened here?

I took pictures of the ruined village, and when I walked off to see the devastation of the flooded village nearby, I had decided it was time to tell the Pokémon League, or at least someone.

The village had been flooded so badly that I could barely see the remains of the town underwater.

I stopped taking pictures, when what appeared to be a young girl's plush toy of a Mankey appeared to float to the top of the hill above the town near my feet.

I gulped at the sight.

I opened my Pokénav and was surprised to see there was no service out here. This was a decently remote area of Johto, but not too mountainous to be out of Pokénet range.

I checked the time, it'd be sundown soon.

Whatever the hell had caused all this was not normal, however many people or Pokémon had died were caused by something seriously powerful, or malicious, or both.

There was only one place left I hadn't checked, and that was the power plant, an old hydroelectric dam that hadn't seen use for years.

I looked over at Growlithe, who was sniffing the village girl's plush toy sadly.

"We have to fix this boy. I don't think we want to be still out here at around nighttime."

He sat at my feet, strangely unexpressive for a moment before he walked off with me towards the mountains.

…

It was sundown as I approached the dam, and unsurprisingly, it wasn't in fact out of use.

A group of men had a few trucks parked out front, arms crossed with Arbok and Muk while chatting quietly.

Pokémon and men guarded the railings around the massive hydroelectric plant.

I got a bit closer, trying to listen to what they were saying.

These thugs were Rockets, one of them even wore a black hat with the big red R on it. The rest looked like common toughs in trench coats and dark jackets.

I looked over at the dam, a huge amount of water had clearly been poured out, but what the hell was Rocket using it for? Where was the electricity being diverted? The dam used to power the villages back when it still ran, but all of them were deserted or destroyed now.

Judging by just how much water the dam had let flow out to destroy the valley and forests around the plant, they had clearly consumed a great deal of power.

There was only one way into the plant, and that was through the heavily guarded front entrance.

Luckily, I saw a way up that allowed some darkness to disguise my climb.

…

I walked out of eyesight of the Rockets, walked down the rocky path to the emptier side of the power plant, and I switched out Growlithe with Vigoroth after I managed to swim to the bottom of the dam.

I crawled out of the water, glad the pipes above me that could open at any moment weren't running right now.

I climbed onto Vigoroth's back, and my starter began the ascent to the facility from the bottom of the giant. The Pokémon was more than strong enough to support my weight while climbing up the wall.

It took a few minutes, but under cover of night, we had snuck onto a side of the railings around the edge of the hydroelectric plant.

I instantly withdrew Vigoroth, he was just too big and visible to use while sneaking around.

I hid between a large pair of sloped pillars on the edge of the plant as I heard a guard began to walk nearby, his flashlight completely missing me.

After he walked off, I opened a door leading inside the facility.

Now I know where all the villagers went.

Them and their Pokémon had been enslaved for lack of better terms to get the plant back to operation, or for what other purposes I don't know.

One of the main turbines and machinery rooms for the plant were in full view when I walked in, but there were too many Rockets around to set them free from the cells built into the walls of the power room.

I kept sneaking around the edges of the walls above the room, and began to explore the facility, hearing mutters and footsteps of Rockets to stay out of view.

There had to be a communication room somewhere, my Pokénav still wasn't functioning properly at all.

The hydroelectric plants interior had been completely renewed for operation, and judging by the decor and black banners, Rocket had made it their home, at least for a while.

A small office inside the plant seemed to have a computer and a printer, likely being the plant's old records and administrative room when it was still working.

…

I had to work in silence and secret, my Pokénav was barely working, but I managed to know a single person's contact ID since we last spoke, Ash's, since Gary joked we should all delete it and I promised everyone I never would.

While doing my best to get the computer unlocked, I heard a Rocket shout behind me.

"Hey! What're you-!"

I beat the guard to the punch. I smacked him in the chin with a lunging elbow attack, sending him sprawling back. Then I kicked him clean in the side before hitting him over the head with a backfist.

The Rocket dropped, still unable to draw a Pokéball in time.

I patted him down, finding a badge I could use, guess even low level Grunts could use these computers.

I used the badge's security chip to log in, and then found a simple communication app to message Ash Ketchum remotely.

SOS - Rockets at NRK Hydroelectric, need backup

Now to get out of here as soon as I could.

Oldest trick in the book, disguise myself as a guard to make the escape easier.

I checked the badge I stole.

Thanks Marty, I appreciate the get up.

I locked the knocked out Rocket in a nearby metal locker in the office, making sure to destroy the computer before I left. I had used it to get help, no reason for Team Rocket to use it at all anymore.

Luckily the guard I impersonated had a similar height and build to me, so wearing his outfit didn't tip off anyone.

A pair of Rockets walked down the hallways outside the office and didn't seem to notice me. Just keeping my cap down and my hands in my pockets did the trick.

I just imitated how all Rockets seemed to walk and act, tough, standoffish, and silent.

I almost seemed to walk out towards the front entrance, home free, when, a Rocket officer appeared.

"Hey you!"

I stupidly froze.

"Yeah, you, new guy!"

I turned. "Yes?..."

"The captain wants a mandatory inspection of all the prisoners done. Come on."

"Uh. Can't I go and do that some other time? I was just about to go do, a uh. Thing."

The woman well into her twenties scoffed. "Fool. You know no one can ignore the captain's orders. Come along unless you want him to get thrown over the dam."

A smart move would've been to run. Now. But whatever inspection this was couldn't hurt right? Blowing my cover now was dumb, but not as dumb as potentially helping Rocket continue their operations.

I sighed.

It probably would hurt.

I always told myself I'd never properly hit a girl.

I instead threw out Growlithe, Vigoroth, and Ursaring at the same time. These Rockets didn't look like much anyway and I was right at the front entrance.

She instantly drew her own Pokéball. "You can't-"

Growlithe tackled her to the floor knocking the Pokéball out of her hand as Vigoroth picked her up and chucked her like a ragdoll towards a nearby trash dumpster.

She hit it with a painfully loud clang.

A guard on a nearby tower looked over towards me. "Hey! What's going on down there!?"

"Uh, n-nothing! I just-"

"Why do you have your Pokémon out!? Has there been an attack?"

"Nope! Just checking to make sure they're all fine."

"Wait a minute. What's your name?"

"Marty. I'm the new guy."

The Rocket sounded unimpressed. "Marty huh? What's your last name?"

I tried to keep acting my best like a Rocket. "Marty McFly."

"Marty McFly huh? You stay right there, I'm coming down there to check your badge."

Shit.

I began to try to power walk to the gate but the courtyard in front of the power plant was big enough to give the guard from the tower enough time to spot what was going on.

As I began to show the Rockets at the front gate my stolen badge, the guard from earlier yelled and pointed to me.

"Help! I think he's an imposter!" he shouted, checking over the knocked out Rocket I had snuck into the dumpster.

Acting first, I released my three Pokémon for what seemed like the millionth time today.

These Rockets were like most grunts, honestly if I knew stealth was optional for this mission, I might as well have gone without it.

They were laughably weak fighters, their Pokémon equally so.

Then I heard an alarm blare, and more Rockets left the trucks parked outside the plant.

…

I hectically ran back inside the dam, unable to fight through the sheer number of Rockets outside.

The next few minutes were a maddeningly confusing and frustrating battle through the halls of the hydroelectric plant. Rockets would appear, running out of barracks, maintenance rooms, seemingly thin air, and I would continue to breeze through all of them.

I chuckled as I easily healed Growlithe from a nasty bite from a Golbat with a Potion, the video games were accurate in how Team Rocket was so weak.

Eventually I was forced into a large room that appeared to be the central operating room for the entire dam.

It had large consoles and computer screens about, a few scientists and others around.

A familiar man turned to me. "Ah, Nico, good to see you again child." he said jokingly.

"Proton? I thought you were in jail."

"Broke out." he said casually. "I'm impressed you made it all the way to me within our headquarters."

"Headquarters?"

"Oh yes, all our real fighters are off doing a job in Fuchsia City. But I'll soon have them back to defend us here at full strength now that this place has been found." I was confused as Proton spoke. "Not that that'll change anything of course, it certainly won't change anything for you."

The scientists nearby drew Pokéballs, likely to release the same Magnetons, Weezings, and Voltorbs I'd already defeated a dozen times.

"No need, I can wrap this up here." Proton said. "As captain of our operation and Rockets main executive, I think I can handle a child."

"I don't think you remember how it went last time."

"Well boy, do your best."

Proton tossed a Pokéball onto a large flat metal floor in the middle of the control room, releasing a proud and loud Houndoom.

"Growlithe, get him."

Houndoom instantly began to coat the floor acting as a makeshift ring with smoke.

"Growlithe, you know what to do!" I said.

It didn't work. Houndoom's smoke was so strong that Growlithe couldn't see anything, and its fireballs were barely enough to illuminate where it was. However, the same applied to Houndoom.

I saw Houndoom get hit with a red return beam and Proton shouted. "Destroy! Go Crobat!"

Crobat used its echolocation to spot Growlithe through the smoke, and I saw Growlithe fly towards me out of the smoke.

Vigoroth got hit with a knocked out puppy as the Rocket scientists laughed all around me. Growlithe crumped at Vigoroth's feet, a bright purple mark where Crobat bit him with its poisonous fangs directly through his fireproof fur onto his neck.

I gasped.

"I thought you were supposed to be the best of the Pokémon League Nico! What is this?" chuckled Proton.

I couldn't let him get away with that.

"Ursaring, get him!"

The bear Pokémon roared and jumped onto the battlefield from my side.

Houndoom was switched out now, and had a Flamethrower strong enough to melt away the smokescreen in seconds. Ursaring could land a few hits, but it didn't matter, this Houndoom was absurdly tough, it looked like Ursaring was hitting it at full power with Slash and was getting blocked or countered.

Even landing flush didn't seem to do enough damage, how was this Houndoom so strong?

"Fire Fang!"

"Block and counter!" I said after Proton's order.

Ursaring was simply too exhausted, Houndoom had been fighting circles around him and didn't appear skilled or quick enough to deal with a Houndoom of this caliber.

I returned Ursaring to his ball and stared at it in thought.

Proton crossed his arms, tutting. "Did you really think one of the top Rocket operatives didn't have top tier Pokémon at their disposal? The only reason you defeated me that day was because I was sure any trainers of a threatening quality were gone from Azalea."

I nodded to Vigoroth, and he got into the ring too.

Proton used the same smokescreen Crobat combo but Vigoroth actually managed to win the round.

He was furious enough that his teammates were defeated, but still confident and skilled enough to funnel that rage into perfectly clean techniques. Crobat repeatedly got hit again and again while trying to use Fly and continually missing Confuse Ray.

Vigoroth was moving so fast and so much that he was able to disperse most of the smokescreen away as the battle continued, using his footwork to reposition effectively and never stay in one place as Crobat kept attacking.

I could vaguely see the battle, Vigoroth countered Leech Life through the smoke with a wheel kick, and traded hits.

Crobat latched onto his shoulder with Poison Fang as Vigoroth then pummeled Crobat with Slash.

"Huh, not bad." Proton shrugged.

I watched Vigoroth pant, gripping his poisoned shoulder, he was probably as mad as I was that we were losing to these murderous scumbags.

Proton sighed. "Let's finish this." he said with an air of boredom.

"Come on Vigoroth, you got this!"

Houndoom wasn't playing around like he was with Ursaring, because he knew Vigoroth was actually a tougher fight in seconds. Instead, Houndoom went blow for blow, quite even for a moment with Vigoroth.

Vigoroth would land Slash with a kick, and Houndoom would land a blazing hot streaming Flamethrower, just barely blocked by Vigoroth.

Houndoom won out, using a combination of Crunch, Dark Pulse, and Flamethrower to blast through Vigoroth's defense and counters. He was still very fight ready, but after being knocked onto the metal floor of the control room and repeatedly struck, I don't think Vigoroth was okay.

I wanted to run out and hold Vigoroth, he was clearly burned, poisoned, bitten all over, with damage to his bones and skin. He had taken some hits, some from people decently malicious like Silver, other times from official matches, but this was the worst I'd ever seen him.

"Uh oh." Proton tilted his head with a smile, seeing Rockets fill the room as the electric sliding doors to the control room opened. "I don't think think this went the way you thought it would."

I tried to fight a few of them off, successfully too, but there were over a dozen of them. Maybe with my Pokémon helping me like they were until now, I could've fought them off, but now, they were all knocked out.

I landed a couple hits before being hit from behind, tackled, and had my arms pinned behind my back.

I got hit so hard in the face I felt my head rock back. Then, my vision blurred.

I saw Proton walk through the dim colored lights of the control room. "You showed so much promise Nico. But you believed too much that Pokémon were worth fighting for, ah. Such a shame."

I felt my lip was bloody, looking up at him. "Let me heal Vigoroth. That's all I ask."

"Don't worry child. He'll be fine. Powering our machines and serving the whims of Rocket and whatnot. But I doubt you'll ever see him again."

"You fu-"

I was stopped when a Rocket grunt kneed me in the stomach.

"Enough of that." tutted Proton. "Nico is our guest now. He needs to watch my plans."

"Wh-Why?" I sighed. "Why not just kill me?"

"Killing has its uses." Proton smugly admitted. "But considering that you'll likely never see the light of day ever again. I think it best to torture you as you watch the complete end of the Johto region. Come."

The Rockets dumped me in a chair as Proton waved a hand towards his computer screens. "The plant underwent the basic renovations to produce power again, that was the easy part. The hard part however."

I saw a pair of bright red eyes within a room through a security camera. Through the light waves produced in the room, the light blue color of the Pokémon through the darkness of the room, I think I knew what it was.

It was hard to tell since I could barely see it, but it broke my heart to know what it was.

"Suicune." I whispered.

"Yes dear boy, the first Pokémon of legend seen for centuries. Fully harnessed, Suicune can summon a rainstorm powerful enough to stop fires of mythical proportion, also to flood cities and whatnot. Unfortunately, the beast refuses to listen, as such we have to keep a constant flow of electrical energy into its machine to disturb it, and all of its energy out to harness the water for our uses."

Torturing it to create waves with constant shocks, and sucking out its essence to control the water and make the floods. Just when I thought Proton and Rocket couldn't sicken me more.

So that was what was causing wild Pokémon to wreak havoc.

"In a few days time, we'll harness enough power from the dam to maximize Suicune's water output and the machine we created will be finished. The greatest flood Johto's ever seen will allow Team Rocket to build a world where we can control everything from its watery corpse."

Proton closed his eyes, placing his hands over the console with a smile. "And the boss will finally allow me to rule everything once and for all. You'll get front row seats to it Nico."

"It won't work."

"Who do you think you are boy?" Proton laughed. "Red? You think you're special because you're a monk, because you're supposedly enlightened? You're a child. And Red is gone. His legend is gone. His ability to stop Team Rocket and our plans to take over the world are gone. You're not his successor, you're just a poor imitation of him."

"You're wrong."

"You'll never mean anything Nico. The day will come when Team Rocket burns down the last of the old world, your monasteries along with them."

I was knocked out by a blow to the temple.

…

When I awoke, I wasn't in the cells with the villagers I saw.

I knew Rocket could become powerful, but how did it ever manage to find and capture a mythical Pokémon? Even the legendary beasts were as rare as Pokémon like Ho-Oh and Lugia.

My ankle was chained to the bed post built directly into my dark cell wall.

Just as Proton said, I could see only the floodgates from where he was going to release enough water to drown the entirety of Johto and whatever else he could along with it.

There was nothing I could do. My Pokémon were gone, and were possibly suffering a fate worse than me. And Inoru was right, this was about pride.

My pride, my stupid pride.

I knew I could handle Rocket after SlowPoké Well, but I had no idea what I was dealing with. But even if I had turned back to Moomoo Farm after seeing what they did to the villages, I think they would've found me like they did all the townsfolk.

It was cold and dark in this cell. But Team Rocket hadn't taken away the one thing that let me hold hope Ash could bring the Pokémon League and get help.

I still had my pendant of Mew, Elder Toji gave me almost a year ago.

I recited a prayer in my head, I didn't have a candle or incense to burn, but it didn't matter.

Savior Mew. Lead us to the light. Save us from evil. Protect our souls, protect our bodies, protect our friends. Protect our Pokémon.

…

I met Espeon in my dreams. This time in the same white rooms he'd use to show me things.

"What do I do? I'm trapped!"

"Concentrate Nico. Focus, on your hope."

"On what? Hope for what?"

"Visualize what you want most."

"Being a champion?"

"No Nico, think about what you truly desire after reaching this point in your journey. Your time with the monks, what have they truly taught you?"

I thought about it.

All this time, I never really considered what I wanted most. Sure winning badges and then reaching a point in my Pokémon journey where I was so famous the monastery could come back to relevancy could happen, but, I didn't ask myself again: Why?

As of now, having been completely separated from them and locked in a cell, I know what it is that I want.

Happiness, not just for me, but for my Pokémon. This was the most empty I've ever felt, and I didn't have Growlithe, Vigoroth, and Ursaring with me.

I don't think I'd ever felt this sad, if I could cry through my dream, I would.

I know what I hoped for.

Growlithe was back in the grassland surrounding Moomoo Farm, Vigoroth and Ursaring watching over him stoically. I'd be sitting in the grass on my Pokénav, having dinner ready for them with the food I'd bought at the Pokémart for them in my pack.

And they'd gather around, and eat.

As of right now, that was all I hoped for.

"Good." I heard Espeon say. "Now focus."

On what?

I felt it.

Just for a moment, through Aura or something I couldn't explain. There was something nearby. Perhaps stoic, very strange, but powerful.

Possibly Suicune's spirit.

Being in such close physical proximity to a legendary allowed me to tap into its gargantuan Aura, able to communicate with it. Espeon's advice worked, as horrible, empty, and alone as I felt.

There was a bit of hope that such an entity was nearby.

"Hello?"

There was no response, but I think I was heard.

"If you're there. Whatever you are, I'm here. And I know you're there."

Again, I think it heard me.

I was alone. At least, in the physical world. But Espeon showed me something else as I waited to be rescued. If, I was rescued.

I turned in the white room to Espeon. "I know you're supposed to be my calm spiritual guide, my protector from limbo and all that. But, can I hug you?"

"Of course Nico."

I hugged the spirit.

And I felt tears slip out of my eyes.

…

In Olivine City, a group of teens met at the foot of the lighthouse.

Crystal yawned. "Ash. What is it?"

"It's almost midnight." Gold said tiredly. "This better be important."

"I think it is." muttered Ash. "Nico is in trouble."

Gary laughed. "I only half believed you on the train over. The top ranked Trainer in our division needs us?"

"This is serious." Ash fixed his beloved cap, Pikachu sitting on his shoulder. "Who knows what Team Rocket is planning, I know Nico. He'd never ask for help unless he really needs it."

"Right, the monk, sucks at expressing himself." Gary joked.

"No, Ash's right. He never asks for help for a reason. You saw how you took the blame from everything with the Sinnoh kids when he had nothing to do with it." Crystal said. "He needs our help."

"I know it's a little late to back out now, but why do we gave to help him?" Gary said. "Yeah we trained together and watched my big bro become World Champ again. But what do we owe him? We should just let the League handle this and be done with it."

Crystal smacked him in the back of the head. "Ow!" he said.

"Who cares what we owe him? It's the right thing to do." Gold said. "We might be rivals during competition. But out of the ring? We're friends."

…

…

…

Author's Note:

Not much to say except Merry Christmas everyone and Happy Holidays! If you have any suggestions or feedback, feel free to let me know. I hope you've all been enjoying the fic, stay safe everyone.