Chapter 10 - Fresh Veggies

"No! No!" Yurie shouted. She held her backpack in the air. "You can't just eat ingredients willy-nilly like that!"

"Piplup" her newly hatched Pokémon chirped back at her. It looked from side to side as though nothing Yurie said registered.

"It won't stop eating," Yurie muttered. She lowered her bag and looked inside. The vegetables she had bought all had a bite taken out of them. "First my melon and now my fresh veggies. He's a menace."

"You get to raise a new Pokémon from the start! That's awesome!" Cyan said. "Not all Pokémon are going to behave from the beginning."

Yurie shot him a glare. "I hope your new fossil Pokémon is as much of a delight as my Piplup."

"Pip?"

"No, I'm not giving you any more food!"

The three trainers continued their small trek through Oreburgh City. There wasn't much left for the group besides checking on Cyan's fossil. They were told it'd take a day, but only roughly sixteen hours had passed. Cyan was unsure if the Pokémon would be ready, but Phoenix felt uneasy about waiting at the center.

They made their way to the laboratory, stopping every ten seconds for Piplup, who would try to wander off. Yurie would have returned him to his Poké Ball, but he would immediately break out and try to walk off. Yurie's Torchic tried to keep the Pokémon in check, but Piplup would just ignore him.

Yurie finally had enough. She knelt and picked up the Pokémon. She held it tight in her arms, making sure that Piplup was facing the other way. She had already tried to pick him up before, and Piplup had done whatever he could to escape, which resulted in multiple scratch marks on Yurie's chin and neck.

"Michika, what have you done?" Yurie muttered under her breath.

"We're here!" Cyan exclaimed as they came to the white building. He peered inside the windows, trying to find the scientist that the talked to the day before. But, he didn't need to.

"What took you so long?!" a voice screeched, catching their attention. They turned to find the female scientist. Her glasses were now cracked, and her long black hair was frizzled.

"You said it'd take a day. It's only been sixteen hours!" Cyan exclaimed.

"Oh, so now you must be the scientist!"

Cyan wasn't sure what she meant. He just assumed that she was under a lot of stress from something.

"Eh? Does it just so happen that the new Pokémon is behaving terribly?" Yurie asked while Piplup struggled in her arms. "Is that why your glasses are broken?"

The female scientist adjusted her posture and then pulled off her glasses. She examined them closely, as though she hadn't known they were broken. "Oh, no. Not at all. Shieldon is a delight. A little bit shy, but a delight. I just fell down some stairs."

"Oh," Yurie said quietly.

"Anyway, I finished the process right after you left yesterday. Your Armor Fossil became a Shieldon!" the scientist explained. She pulled a white Poké Ball from her pocket and held it out. It burst open, and a small, light brown Pokémon with a large silver head materialized in front of Cyan. It looked up at Cyan before smiling.

"Don."

Cyan wanted to squeal with happiness, but he held back. Instead, he pulled his pearl Pokédex from his back pocket and scanned the new Pokémon.

"Shieldon, the Shield Pokémon. It habitually polishes its face by rubbing it against tree trunks. It is weak to attacks from behind," the Pokédex chimed.

"Shieldon! This is amazing!" Cyan exclaimed. He bent over to try to pick up the new Pokémon, but it didn't budge. Instead, Cyan relented and chose to crouch. He petted the Pokémon on the head softly. The Pokémon cooed, and Cyan could feel tears welling up.

"I hope that you can take good care of him," the scientist said. "It's not every day that you get to raise an ancient Pokémon!"

Cyan wanted to brag about already training a Kabutops. He also fought with a Rampardos the day before. His experience with ancient Pokémon was probably more than the average trainer. However, he didn't want to put any more potential stress on the scientist.

"Thank you!" he said simply.

She reached out, handing over the white Poké Ball. Cyan could see that her hand was trembling. In her eyes, there were tears.

"Are you okay?" Yurie asked.

"Yeah, I just," she said before stopping to take a deep breath. "I really took a liking to this little guy! Part of me was hoping that you weren't going to come back for him. But, alas! You are his rightful trainer. Promise that you'll take good care of him!"

Cyan took the ball and held it tightly. "I promise that I'll take care of him! He's in good hands!"

And, without another word, the scientist turned. She wanted to look back at Shieldon but thought better of it. She dashed, disappearing within a few seconds.

Phoenix clapped his hands together. "Well, that was weird. She probably doesn't get out too much. Being cooped up in a laboratory all day will do that to you."

"I can tell that she loves ancient Pokémon, so I'll do my best to make this Shieldon happy," Cyan exclaimed. "Welcome to our little family, Shieldon!"

"Don!" the Pokémon cried out excitedly. He had already forgotten about the scientist.

Phoenix cocked his head. "Family? Interesting. Anyways, where is everybody headed off to next? My next Battle Frontier challenge is in Hearthrome. It'll take me a few hours to get there by flight."

"My contest is in Floaroma Town. It's where my grandmother lives, so I think it'd be a good chance to perform in front of her," Yurie explained.

"I read that there is a gym in Eterna City, so I guess I'm going there," Cyan said.

The three were silent momentarily.

"So, I guess that this is goodbye? Everyone is going off somewhere different," Phoenix said, his voice slowly getting quieter with every word. "That's just the life of a Pokémon trainer."

"Ah," Cyan muttered. "I wasn't expecting it to be this soon."

"Neither was I," Yurie added.

They were quiet again.

"But, what if this wasn't goodbye!" Cyan said, his smile returning to his face.

"More like, see you later?" Phoenix asked.

Cyan shook his head. "Nah. More like, we travel together permanently! Or, at least, until the end of our journeys in Sinnoh!"

Yurie couldn't help but smile. "I like the sound of that! The road can get so lonely!"

Phoenix eyed the two of them. "I'm not sure. I don't want to sound rude, but the Battle Frontier is really challenging. I need a lot of time to train."

Cyan flexed what little muscle he had in his arms. "You saw me battle yesterday! I won't be using Venusaur or Urshifu in gym battles anymore. But, I still want to train and practice with them. They'll make great sparring partners."

"I'm in!" Yurie exclaimed. "If we're together, our experiences will only expand. We'll get to see everything that Sinnoh has to offer!"

"And!" Cyan shouted. "I'd argue that we're all experienced trainers. This isn't our first time taking on challenges, right? I don't think we'll drag you down, Nix!"

Phoenix paused. He ran his tongue through his cheek and then sighed. "You won't hold me down. And, I guess that I would like the company. Count me in. But, also, I ain't walkin' through caves. If you want to be my friend, you gotta deal with me being a little bit extra."

"Extra?" Cyan wondered.

"Extra," Phoenix reiterated. "I traveled with people before, and it didn't end well. But, I'm okay with giving this a try."

"I've traveled with someone too, and it didn't end well either," Cyan said. "But, that was because I decided to go off alone at some point. As long as we're together, everything will be fine!"

"Traveling with friends makes the journey easier to handle," Yurie said. "And if it's the three of us, we can take turns handling Piplup!"

Phoenix put his hand on Piplup's head. The Pokémon instantly tried to peck at him. "Yeah, I guess so."

"So, where are we off to first?" Cyan wondered. He pulled out his Pokédex and looked at the map.

"My contest is in about a week, so I think it's best to head to Floaroma first. It's a bit out of the way from here, but it'll make the most sense for us to travel clockwise rather than back and forth," Yurie explained.

Phoenix put his hands on the back of his head and sighed. "This means that we have to go back to Jubilife. Are you saying we gotta go by that cave again?"

Cyan's eyes lit up. "We can dig for more fossils!"

"No!"

Meanwhile, in Veilstone City

Four figures walked down a dark hallway in the abandoned Galactic HQ building. They used flashlights to guide their path, but they were almost unnecessary. They knew the building by heart.

"Right here," the eldest of the four stated. They turned and walked into one of the larger rooms of the building. The group's eldest member had used the room for all of his experiments roughly three years prior.

"Looks like not much has been touched. I was expecting this place to be ransacked," one of the younger members stated. She was tall with long purple hair.

"I don't think anyone wants to risk any form of radiation," another one of the younger members stated, this one male. He had spiked blue hair.

The fourth member of the group, a female with red hair, glared at the equipment around the room. She looked at the floor before she stomped her feet, stepping on red glass. "The last time that we were here, we lost to those brats. The lake Pokémon escaped. It left a sour taste in my mouth. Charon, you better have a good reason for bringing us here."

"Calm down, Mars," the elder member said. "Set down the generator, and we'll get started. We can't use any of the building's electricity, as it'll tip off the authorities that we're here. But, we need my technology if we're going to get to Cyrus back."

"We're really going back in time?" the boy asked as he placed down a small generator. He plugged it into the generators that the other younger members held.

"We're not going back in time. Instead, we're going to try to pull someone out from theirs. I wish you'd listen, Saturn," Charon lectured. "Be careful with those, by the way!"

"Who are we pulling out of their time? And, why don't we just pull Cyrus before he went into the distortion world?" the female with purple hair asked.

Charon smiled, but it wasn't out of happiness. He was stressed by his younger companion's consistent questions. "Well, Jupiter, I believe that if we pull Cyrus out at that time, we won't be pulling out our Cyrus. Our Cyrus is already in the distortion world. Don't we want his experiences?"

"Are you implying that we could pull another Cyrus from another dimension?" Mars asked.

"Multi-verse?" Saturn added.

"No more stupid questions," Charon said as he hooked up some of his old equipment to the generators. "As for who we are trying to pull from their time." He flicked a switch, and his machine started to make a humming noise. He moved a few levers, setting the time and coordinates. Then, with a sinister smile on his face, he pressed a button.

"A follower of the false God."

Hisui - 150 Years Ago

The highlands were quiet, as usual.

A girl, no older than thirteen, sat cross-legged near the Lonely Spring. She had a fishing rod made from a broken-down tree branch and long string cast out into the water. But, no Pokémon would ever take the bait. They never did. She didn't mind.

By her sat Wyrdeer. It was a large Pokémon that kept other dangerous ones away just by its presence.

But, she was never afraid of Pokémon though. Her clan's teachings instilled in her the idea that she could live in harmony with Pokémon. The creatures could be seen as dangerous, but she always knew that there was a reason for their anger. And, she had never found herself in a situation that she couldn't get out of peacefully.

But, she was about to find herself in a situation that no amount of teaching could have prepared her for.

Suddenly, the highlands started to rumble. The girl was unsure if it was an earthquake or if a storm was suddenly making its way into the area. Wyrdeer quickly stood up, and her fishing rod was shaken into the small spring. She stood up next to Wyrdeer and got close.

"What is it?" the girl asked.

Wyrdeer responded by letting out a snort.

The girl nodded and then climbed onto the Pokémon. She looked out over the highlands, finding something that she had never seen before. Roughly a kilometer south, in the Heavenward Lookout, was a giant purple dome.

The girl's brown eyes widened as she took in the view. She quickly pulled a white band off of her wrist and tied her black hair up.

"Let's go, Wyrdeer!"

Wyrdeer bleated and then began his dash. He was carried by kinetic energy, which allowed him to make dangerous jumps. He quickly descended the mountain with violent grace, and within a matter of thirty seconds, the two were in front of the massive purple dome.

The girl got off of Wyrdeer. She approached the dome. It was slightly seethrough, and from what she could tell, there was nothing different on the inside. However, it did seemingly contain its own storm.

"What is this?" she said. She reached out to touch the purple barrier, but one second before she could, something from inside emerged.

A massive red claw, almost the size of her head, clamped down mere centimeters away from her fingers. She recoiled, and Wyrdeer stepped in between her and the red Pokémon as it made its way out of the dome. Its eyes glowed red, and it snickered, as though it enjoyed putting fear into the girl's heart.

"I've never seen that Pokémon before," the girl muttered.

The Pokémon crossed its pincers and raised them high. They started to glow with black energy, and it prepared to strike.

However, before it could, the dome let out another loud rumble. The red Pokémon appeared surprised, and in a sudden violent storm, the dome began to fade away. The red Pokémon was picked up by the storm and carried into the air.

Wyrdeer could see the danger of the situation. Without looking for his friend's permission, he lifted her with his antlers and then began to retreat. Dirt, stones, and sticks were thrown into the air, but Wyrdeer didn't care. He ran through the lookout and towards Wayward Wood. He was carried by his instincts to protect and survive, which allowed him to leap over a small river with ease. When he felt the wind die down, he finally stopped. He could have run for much longer, but he knew that he no longer needed to. He slowly lowered his head, allowing the girl to get down to solid ground.

She held at her chest and took in deep breaths. She had been attacked by Pokémon before, but nothing like that.

"Kina!" a voice shouted from above.

The girl turned, finding younger children from her clan sitting in trees on the hill above her. They wore the traditional white and gold clothes of their clan.

"Are you okay?" one of the younger boys asked.

"We're fine," Kina said. She turned and looked to the lookout where the purple dome once was. It was gone, but she felt its presence still looming in the area.

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

Not quite sure why this took me so long to write. I think I had a real downer of a year, and I got extremely busy. I never had the chance to get anywhere near my laptop. But, this year is looking to be considerably less busy, so I might have some more time to write!

REVIEWS:

pokemonking0924 - "Cyans first gym battle was over in a flash and he completely overpowered his opponent with Venusaur. Although he wasn't to happy to win this way but he's determined to catch new Pokémon and train them for gym battles (at least until he gets more badges and gym leaders use their best teams) Yuries egg hatching and eating all the food was hilarious, it looks like her new Piplup is a bit of a glutton, I guess it suit Yuries foodie lifestyle." - It looks like Yurie having something that matches her foodie lifestyle is gonna annoy her more than anything.