Lapras Travel Liner

"How much farther is it?" Leviene asked, looking up at the cloudless sky.

"We should be nearly there," Lapras answered, swimming past a school of Wishiwashi.

"I can barely believe it's been this long since we've been there!" Leviene said, before turning towards me. "Can you, Ayueg?"

"Well, it is the hardest continent to get to," I pointed out. "Makes sense we didn't come back after mapping it."

"Yeah, but we should have come back here sooner anyways! This place was so cool!" Leviene said.

"It was," I replied. "I wonder how much it's changed since we were there last."

"Well, we're about to find out!" Leviene replied. "Look, we're almost there!"

I looked out into the distance, and saw that thunderclouds had appeared over the horizon. Not much farther now.

Soon, the perpetual thunderstorm encircling the continent came fully into view. Lightning struck the sea rapidly, and the sound of thunder grew louder and louder.

The only safe way through was the tiny gap in the clouds directly in front of us.

"Hold on tight!" Lapras said, a glint appearing in their eyes as a Protect barrier formed around us.

I grabbed onto one of the spikes on Lapras' shell with a wing, while Leviene wrapped a vine around the same spike, just in time for us to reach the thunderclouds.

Lightning struck down into the ocean on both sides of us. The thunderclaps were almost deafening. One lightning bolt almost struck Lapras, causing Leviene to shriek. I laid my other wing on their back to reassure them.

Before we knew it, the sounds of thunder had quieted down. We had made it through.

In the distance was the Thunder Continent, now in clear view. Several steep cliffs jutted out, adorned with trees. A river delta poured out into the ocean. Sticking out from it all was a large town just above sea level, with buildings the color of the night sky.

The ocean around us started to grow darker as we approached the town. Stars started appearing in the sky, and the sun faded away. We were entering Moonlight Town's nighttime veil.

As the docks grew closer, we began to slow down. Just before we stopped, the moon appeared high in the sky.

"We've arrived at Moonlight Town of the Thunder Continent!" Lapras announced.

Moonlight Town

I hopped off Lapras with a wave, after Leviene climbed down from their back.

"Thanks for the ride!" I said. Lapras smiled back at me.

I turned away from the ocean, and towards the town. Leviene was already running across the candlelit docks. I opened my beak in a smile as I ran after them.

Leviene was such a joy to be around. Ever since I had met them in Serene Village, I scarcely ever wanted to leave their side. We'd been through so much together. We even saved the world together!

If I hadn't been able to bring Leviene back after they disappeared, I didn't know what I would do.

I was so happy to be partners with them.

It wasn't long before we came to the end of the docks, where Gothitelle waited for us, holding a weathered map in her hands.

"Greetings. Team Travelers, correct?" she greeted, a small smile appearing on her face.

"Indeed! Only the best Expedition Team the world has ever seen!" I said with a wide smile. "It's nice to see you again, mayor Gothitelle."

"The same to you both. It's a pleasure to see again the two who saved the world from Dark Matter," Gothitelle spoke, looking back down at her map. "You do remember the way to the plaza, correct? I know it's been a long time since you were here last."

"Nope!" Leviene said, looking up at the starry sky overhead. "Could you remind us?"

Gothitelle stared intensely at her map for several seconds, before looking back at us.

"Go forwards until you hit a three-way split in the road. Turn around, then take the second road on the left. Make sure to walk on that road, not run yet. Once you reach a dead end, turn around and now run, until you pass by a road that goes downhill. Walk backwards down it. Once you feel the ground turn flat again, look up. If the constellation above is Cresselia, take the road to the left, otherwise, take the one to the right. Once you reach a dead end with a painting of Lunala, spin once, then walk forwards until you arrive in the plaza," Gothitelle explained.

"With how weird the layout of this place is, you'd almost think it's a mystery dungeon!" Leviene joked, turning to me. "Did you get all that, Ayueg? I spaced out in the middle of it."

"Of course," I said. It was mostly the case, although I couldn't quite remember if it was the downhill road or the road after the constellation that needed to be walked down backwards.

We'll just have to figure that out when we get there. I didn't want to annoy Gothitelle by asking again.

"See ya, mayor Gothitelle!" I said with a wave, before we both passed by her, and entered the lamplit roads of Moonlight Town proper.

It wasn't long until we reached the downhill road. Were we supposed to walk backwards here, or after the constellation?

"Uh, Leviene? Did you remember if we're supposed to walk backwards yet?" I asked, hoping that maybe they had remembered that part.

"Nope!" they answered. "You forgot?"

"Yeah...any ideas?" I asked.

They looked around the area a bit, before their eyes stopped on a Zoroark, Morgrem, and Meowstic gathered together a short distance away.

"Team Gibbous!" they exclaimed. "Let's go ask them! I've been wanting to meet them!"

"Never heard of them before," I said. "Who are they?"

"They're one of the top search parties of the continent! Pahelia told me about them a few meetings ago, during the one where you fell asleep," Leviene explained, beginning to walk towards them. "She called them the Team ACT of the Thunder Continent."

"Hopefully they didn't chase someone across half the continent like the real Team ACT," I commented, before following after Leviene.

As we grew closer to Team Gibbous, I heard them discussing something.

"Illanero! Where are you?" Zoroark cried out.

"We'll find him," Meowstic said, laying a paw on Zoroark. "He couldn't have gone too far by now."

"What if he became a shadow Pokemon?" Zoroark responded, a look of anguish on his face.

"Then we'll search for him," Morgrem said. "And shadow Pokemon can still be found with connection orbs, right? Once we manage to get another one, we'll find and rescue him in no time flat."

Illanero...wasn't he that one of those Pokemon who had been pretending to be a former human? Pahelia mentioned debunking him a few meetings ago.

Well, no matter. Even if he was, he was still a Pokemon who needed help.

"Hey! Need one of these?" Leviene said, pulling a spare connection orb out of their bag.

Meowstic's eyes widened. "Thank you!" she said, taking the orb, before looking us over. "A Combusken and a Bayleef...you're Team Travelers, right?"

"Indeed! The heroes of the Tree of Life!" I said with a smile, before switching to a more thoughtful expression. "You need any help looking for Illanero?"

"Thanks, but no thanks," Zoroark said, a hint of pride in his voice. "We'll be fine. We're Team Gibbous, a gold-rank Search Party!"

"And what did that get you?" I said, glancing towards the scratched up badge Zoroark wore.

"...smaller bags and shoddier badges," Zoroark said, all pride gone from his voice. "Not our fault SaRO is so backwards with its ranks."

"Seriously, whose idea was it to give the best equipment to the worst search parties and the worst equipment to the best search parties? Anyways, while we appreciate the offer, we don't need any more help than this orb," Morgrem said.

"Once we track him down, we'll be all set!" Zoroark added.

"You just want to be the one to find him so that he'll think you're cooler than humans," Meowstic said, tapping Zoroark on the nose, before leaning over to whisper to us. "I am thankful that you'd be willing to help us, but Stubborn over here is too prideful to let a world-saving team in on our search. He denied the last one that came through here, too. Team Gardeners, I think they were called? They said something about a meeting as they left."

Oh, right. The meeting. We should ask for directions like we were going to.

"Well, best of luck! Hope Illanero is found soon!" Leviene said.

"Also, do you know if we're supposed to walk backwards here, or after looking up at the constellations in order to get to the plaza?" I asked.

"Right here," Morgrem said, before quietly chuckling. "I thought the legendary Team Travelers would be better with directions?"

I decided not to dignify that with a response, and neither did Leviene. Both of us turned around, and began walking backwards. "See ya! Good luck finding Illanero!" I said, as Team Gibbous disappeared from view.

Soon, we finally arrived in the crescent-shaped plaza of Moonlight Town, illuminated only by the stars, and the light from the Lunala statue in the center. I could see the other teams of the Council waiting for us next to the statue. Everyone but Lidequir was groaning. Another one of her "jokes" must have just happened.

In the corner of the plaza, I noticed an empty Kecleon shop. When would they be found?

"There's Team Travelers!" Vernir the Servine said once we reached everyone. "Now we can begin the meeting!"

"Has anything happened since our last meeting?" I asked.

"Saltriv was found!" Acacia the Meganium shouted, smiling widely. "They didn't even become a shadow Pokemon!"

Cheers rang out from every one of us here, save Apoyime, who simply grinned. That was amazing news!

"Where were they?" Leviene asked.

"Twig Woodland," Lidequir the Wartortle said. "Acacia's sister sent us a letter that their best friend rescued them from there." She paused, then added, "She also mentioned an Oshawott with amnesia being with them."

"Really?" Vernir asked. "Did she mention if they said they were a human or not?"

"If this is another imitator-" I began, before Acacia cut me off.

"She didn't mention that. Just that he had amnesia," Acacia said. "I'm hoping that he might be the one, but I'm doubtful."

Apoyime the Sceptile nodded, as Pahelia the Empoleon said, "I really hope he's it. That'll be one less thing we have to worry about."

"Speaking of, who's going to be doing what?" Gen asked.

"I'd like to go to Overcast Village to see Saltriv, and see what's up with that Oshawott," Acacia said. "Is that good with you, Lidequir?"

"Of course!" Lidequir said, before looking towards me and my partner. "Leviene and Ayueg, I think you two should come with us. We still need to investigate that monster that was spotted near there You've trav—"

"No," Acacia interrupted the pun, before looking at us. "Are you good with that?"

"Yeah!" Leviene exclaimed. "I want to meet Saltriv!"

"If Leviene's going, then I'm going," I said. "I'm interested in meeting them too, as well as finding out about that Oshawott."

"What about us?" Pahelia asked.

"Maybe you could help the search parties with finding and purifying shadow Pokemon?" Leviene suggested. "On the way here, we ran into a search party that was having some trouble. You could help people like them!"

I didn't think that even Team Sunset could get through to that team, but it was worth a shot.

"Sounds great!" Pahelia said, while Apoyime gave a grin in our direction. Then Pahelia turned towards Gen and Vernir, and asked, "What about you two?"

"I think me and Gen should help look for the next human," Vernir said. "His name was in that mailbox."

"That's settled, then!" Lidequir said. "Let's—"

A figure emerged from the darkness of one of the nearby roads. A Pokemon with black and grey fur, red eyes, and wide green bands wrapped around both of its arms. A small smile was on their face.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"You may call me Zarude," they said. "I have something to tell you."

"What is it?" Lidequir asked.

"Have you heard of a Pokemon called Eternatus?"

Saltriv's Home

1st Month of Autumn, 23rd Day

Today, I

I lifted the vine holding my pen into the air. For some reason, the words weren't coming easily today.

We formed a search party yesterday, so maybe I should write that first?

Today, I formed a search party

No, that didn't sound right.

Today, I created a search party with Burhalla and Gen!

That's a little better, but it still seems off. And I still need to write about that creature that was on the news, and the search for Flapple, and purifying Flapple, and my plans for the sleepover tomorrow, and the shadow…

That's ok, though! I could do this! Just need to push through.

We decided to call ourselves Team Searchlights! I came up with the name.

No, I didn't. I combined Burhalla's and Gen's ideas to make it. We made the team name together.

We decided to call ourselves Team Searchlights! We all helped to make the team name.

That didn't sound good, either...

When did writing get so difficult? I was doing fine with it yesterday! What happened? What made me lose my motiva—

Oh.

That.

Back in Blistering Shore. Burhalla and Gen had both collapsed. Then...I felt overwhelmed...and used Shadow Half.

I couldn't have been a shadow Pokemon, though, right?

But I used a shadow move…

Maybe it wasn't me, but from Flapple somehow?

No, I saw the shadowy tendrils come from myself. It was from me.

What if I hurt Gen? Or Burhalla? Or mom or dad or—

No no no. Stay calm. Deep breaths, in and out. Feel the morning sunshine on my leaf.

Just focus on the journal entry. Focus on writing.

We decided to call ourselves Team Searchlights! Other ideas we had were Team Search, Team Light, and Team Adventure.

There, that seems good.

We almost had Aron or Rockruff join us instead of Gen, but he asked if he could join.

That sounds a bit off…

We almost had Aron or Rockruff join us instead of Gen. We were about to go look for them, when Gen yelled for us to wait.

That still doesn't sound good.

Maybe I should write about a different part for now, and come back to Gen joining the team later?

We had just entered the third floor, when we were ambushed by a Sandygast! It knocked Gen into a beam of red light, and he became giant! Then he did a massive water attack and nearly killed Burhalla.

Maybe I should just skip today.

Or maybe I could just try not to think and just write anything that came to mind? That might work to at least get something down, then I could revise it later.

Gen and Burhalla were both knocked to the ground, but the dungeon Pokemon kept attacking them. I felt overwhelmed, then I

I closed the journal.

A/N

I'm not dead!

I think I owe you all an explanation for my absence.

In short, burnout happened. Then I joined a review event. Then a RP. Then a oneshot contest.

I kind of had too much on my plate for a while, and I had to step back from this. My apologies.

On the bright side, future chapters hopefully shouldn't take this long. Though I don't think I'll be able to go back to my old weekly schedule, I'll try to shoot for around biweekly to monthly.

I'll also be posting that oneshot I mentioned a few lines ago within the next few months, so there's also that to look forward to.

Also, Herolich made two tracks to be Gen's themes! I'm really thankful for him for doing this.

Longing for Home: youtube watch? v= uTxsN-nO3b0

Regaining Hope: youtube watch? v= uWNGUE6TYpQ

For now, though, take care, and thank you so much for reading.