Chapter 1: An Electrifying Entrance
"Hey! I think we're getting close to it!" A voice echoed through the cave.
"Awesome, Zoe! Keep it up everyone!" Called another voice from just outside the cave.
In the cave, six Pokémon - a Boltund, a Rapidash, a Shiny Leafeon, a Staraptor, a Primarina, and a Dusk Form Lycanroc - were searching for a ring. Not just any ring, however, but a special ring that held great power. Said to be created and blessed by Arceus itself, this ring held powers that nobody, human or Pokémon, had ever seen before throughout all of recorded history. And outside the cave, a boy and two other Pokémon - a Mightyena and an Alolan Ninetales - were waiting for them.
The boy's name was Trekk. He was an average sized kid, about 16 years old, with black hair, light skin and electric blue eyes. He was a strong Trainer, having badges from several different regions. Though he had never become a Champion in any region he'd visited, he had beaten a fair few Elite Four members from the various Leagues. Right now, he was on a special mission for Professor Rowan of the Sinnoh region, having been tasked with finding the very ring that his other Pokémon were currently digging for. He had insisted that he go in with them, but the six claimed that they were be fine, and that they could handle themselves. Initially, the professor was going to hire the Gym Leaders Roark and Byron to do the job, however he instead sought Trekk's help after finding out that the former two had left Sinnoh for a father-son trip to Kalos. Trekk was happy to help, and before long, his Pokémon had found the spot in Mt. Coronet where the ring was said to be placed.
All of the Pokémon could speak human tongue. Trekk had taken the time to teach them all, since it would be a fantastic convenience for everyone. It was a long and hard process, but eventually he had them speaking English, and even a few more languages as well. They kept this accomplishment pretty low-key, though, as they knew the kind of media attention this would get, as well as all the other wannabe professors who would be begging to make them some kind of research subject for teaching all Pokémon to speak.
"Do you think anything'll happen to them in there...?" The Ninetales asked, quietly and worriedly.
"I don't think so, Cassie," Trekk responded confidently, "they're strong. You all are."
"But, Trekk," the Mightyena asked, "suppose something does happen to them in there? What will we do?"
"We go in, find them, and then find a way to save them," the boy responded. "I know you're worried, Henry, but no matter what happens, they will be alright."
The two Pokémon looked up at Trekk, then exchanged looks with each other. After a moment, they turned back to their Trainer, then went in for a hug. "You're right," said Henry.
"They'll be ok..." seconded Cassie.
In the cave, the Lycanroc named Patch was digging furiously while Zoe the Boltund was sniffing just as furiously for any type of unique metallic scent. While she loved the prospect of adventure, some of her colleagues were not exactly thrilled to be in here. Such as the Staraptor, who made his problems with this very clear. "(I still don't get why I had to come down here)," he said in his Pokémon speech. "(I'm a Flying-Type, I do not do well in enclosed spaces)."
"(Because, Martin)," the Leafeon responded, "(you're the only Pokémon here who knows a Fighting-Type move. My leaves won't do anything against any potential huge rocks we may hit, but your Close Combat will. We need you)."
"(Thanks for the confidence boost, Lila)," Martin responded somewhat sarcastically. In reality, he understood that she really meant it.
"(And I'm here because...?)" asked the Primarina, who was floating along using her Psychic.
"(Maria, you're here because we'll need your Psychic once we find this ring)," answered the Rapidash, who was providing the light with his flames. "(None of us can carry the ring, and you carrying it with your mind will be the safest way to get it back to the professor)."
"(Alright, if you say so, James)."
"(Hey, I smell something!)" Zoe exclaimed, wagging her tail. "(This way, Patch!)" She said, leading him in the direction of the scent and showing him where to dig.
"(I really hope we find it down he-woah-oah!)" Patch yelled as he almost fell forward. He had dug straight into the wall of what appeared to be a small room in the middle of the mountain. There were no actual entrances, implying that this place was not meant to ever actually be found. He was quickly pulled up by his friends who quickly examined him.
"(You alright, Patch?)" asked Zoe.
"(Yeah, I'm fine)," said Patch, "(I think we may have found our place)."
After digging the hole big enough for everyone to fit, they all entered the room and were amazed at what stood before them. There, they saw a stone pedestal, on top of which lay a glowing, golden ring. It was slim, with four spikes protruding from it. "(Wooaaahhhh...)" was all they could say.
"(Well, fellas...I think we have it)," said James.
"(Yep)," everyone responded in unison.
"(Maria?)" Zoe said, turning to the Primarina.
"(Right)," she responded. However, just as she picked up the ring using her Psychic, something began to happen.
The ring started vibrating.
Maria immediately dropped the ring once she saw it. "(I didn't do anything!)" she yelled in a panic, putting up her fins as if she were being accused. The rest of the Pokémon gathered around the ring, observing it to see what would happen. Suddenly, the ring sent out rays of light that hit each of them. It felt similar to the energy that was used to put them in their Poké Balls, but it also felt different.
"(Uh, guys?)" asked Martin, "(What's ha-AAPPENIINGGG!?)" Everyone started yelling as they felt themselves get pulled in towards the ring, as if they were being pulled into a Poké Ball.
Outside the cave, the three who were waiting heard the yelling and immediately rushed in without saying anything. They sprinted through the caves, hoping to make it to their friends in time. However, after a few moments, things went silent. They hoped they wouldn't be greeted by something bad. Eventually, they found the entrance to the room and saw the ring on the ground, glowing brightly and vibrating violently. After a few moments, it stopped. Trekk ran and picked it up. He stared at it for a moment before yelling out a word he didn't often use.
"SHIT!!"
Henry and Cassie walked up next to him. "We didn't...why...what...?" Was all Henry could say.
"Our friends...no..." Cassie said, with tears in her eyes.
"Trekk," Henry said, "W-we...what're we gonna do? You think the ring did something to them? How are we gonna get them back?"
After wiping a few tears from his own eyes, Trekk stood up with a serious expression on his face. "We are bringing this to Professor Rowan. And we are going to analyze and research the shit outta this thing until we find a way to bring them home."
--
Inside the ring, the six Pokémon found themselves floating through some kind of limbo. It was dark and a tad chilly, but they could still see each other. "(Uh, guys...where the heck are we?)" asked Maria.
"(I don't know...)" said Zoe. Everyone then saw that a light was starting to appear before them. "But I think we're about to leave! Hang on, everyone!)"
--
It was an average day in Adventure Bay. The sun was out, and everyone was outside enjoying the weather. Mayor Goodway was on a walk with her beloved chicken, Chickaletta, Cap'n Turbot was out on his boat, the Flounder, and people were sitting down at Mr. Porter's restaurant for a nice lemonade.
And out on the beach, a boy and six pups were enjoying some much-needed time together. While the pups were split into teams of two for a volleyball game, the boy stood on the side as the referee.
"I've got it!" Called out a chocolate lab who was getting ready to the send the ball back over to the other side.
"You've got this Zuma!" Cheered one of his teammates, a small cockapoo
Mustering his strength, Zuma headbutted the ball in the direction of the German Shepherd on the other side.
"It's coming to you, Chase!" Yelled another pup, a bulldog.
"Thanks, Rubble. Rocky!" Chase called out to his other teammate, a mixed-breed of some sort.
"Here!" Chase passed it to Rocky, who jumped into the air and headbutted the ball high. The pups on the other side had a hard time guessing where it would land. They knew soon enough, though.
"It's going to you Skye!" Called Zuma to the cockapoo. She readied herself then hit the ball just high enough in the air for her to call out to the Dalmatian by the net.
"Here, spike it, Marshall!" She called to him.
"Ok, here goes..." Marshall jumped, aimed his paw at the ball, and then...
He hit the ball at full force, but didn't aim high enough over the net. The ball bounced back from the net and hit Marshall, sending him flying back into the sand. "OOF!" Was all Marshall could say as he landed on his back. After a moment, he got up and shook himself off. "I'm good!"
The pups, who had looks of concern on their faces a moment ago, began to laugh along with Marshall.
"Hey, Ryder," asked Chase to the boy, "can we get some water? It sure is hot out here."
"Sure, Chase!" Ryder said to the pup, "I'll go fill up your bowls, be right back!"
While Ryder was away getting their water, the pups broke off to do their own things. Zuma and Rocky started kicking the ball back and forth between each other, Rubble went to sunbathe, and Chase, Marshall and Skye went for a walk along the beach. While they were walking, they saw the Flounder floating slowly along the water. As they saw it, they thought about all the fun times they'd had with Cap'n Turbot. "I can't wait to go out on the next Mer-Moon to see Coral and the Mer-Pups again!"
"Yeah," agreed Chase, "it's fun being a Mer-Pup! Never thought I'd know what it's like to be able to swim and breathe underwater like that."
"Hopefully, Moby won't be up to any of his tricks next time we're out there," Marshall said. "I don't get why he hates the Mer-Pups' music so much. It's so nice!"
"Well, everyone's got their own preferences, Marshall," Skye said, "but I admit, Moby is a tad extreme about it."
"Well, he's got a real sense of loyalty and dedication to his home," Chase pointed out, "you've gotta give him credit for that, at least."
"Yeah, that's true."
They continued their stroll for a few minutes until they noticed something in the near cloudless sky. It looked like some kind of white light, but there appeared to be no source producing it. They all stopped and squinted their eyes to get a better look. "Woah," Marshall said, "what is that?"
"Hmm...I don't know," Chase said as the light got brighter. "But, this is definitely something Ryder should see. Come on!"
"Right!" Marshall and Skye agreed as they followed Chase back to the others.
Back at the beach, Ryder had already set down their bowls and was getting out his Pup Pad to call them to come back. But, he immediately heard barking which told him they were already here. "Hey pups," he said as he put his Pup Pad away, "here's your water!"
"Ryder!" Chase said, running up to him, "there's something happening in the sky! Look!"
"In the sky?" Ryder said, confused as he looked in the direction Chase was pointing to. He immediately saw the light in the sky and was now even more puzzled. "What is that?"
"We don't know, Ryder," Skye said, "we were just walking along the beach when we noticed it starting to appear up there!"
Suddenly, Ryder's Pup Pad started ringing. He took it out and saw that it was Cap'n Turbot calling, so he quickly answered. "Hey Cap'n Turbot," he greeted, "what's up?"
"Ryder! There's a weird, white light lurking over the beach!" The captain said on the other end. "I don't know what that is, but I think it's incredibly inviting for an investigation, wouldn't you say?"
"Absolutely! We'll suit up and check it out!" Ryder hung up the call then pressed the button to call the pups. "PAW Patrol, to the Lookout!"
"Ryder needs us!" The pups all said together as they began making their way back to their base as fast as they could.
Up at the Lookout, the pups made their way to the elevator to get ready for the mission. Marshall was ahead of everybody, and in his head he was cheering for himself for not being last in the elevator for a change. Just before they made it inside, though, Marshall stopped as he realized something.
"Hey, we forgot - OOF!" His sentence was cut short as everyone ran into him and sent them all flying forward into the lift. "...the volleyball," he said as everyone recovered from the wipeout. "Eh, we'll get it when we go back." Everyone shared a chuckle at the usual Marshall mishap and soon headed up to change into their gear. Once they did, they headed up to the top and jumped out of the elevator. Lining up in their usual formation, they awaited Chase's usual words:
"PAW Patrol, ready for action, Ryder, sir!"
Ryder walked in front of the giant computer and pulled up a graphic of the beach on the screen. "Thanks for hurrying, pups. There seems to be some kind of strange light forming over the water, but with no source. We're going to investigate this and see what it's all about. So for this mission I'll need..." He then pulled out his Pup Pad and scrolled through it before pressing it. A pink Pup Tag appeared on the screen. "Skye. You're going to fly up to that light and see if there's any kind of source producing it or anything else worth nothing."
"This puppy's gotta fly!" Skye said, before doing her iconic backflip.
"And Zuma," Ryder continued, selecting Zuma's Tag, "I'll need you to take your hovercraft out onto the water and keep an eye on things from below."
"Let's dive in!" Zuma cheered, ready to go.
"Everyone else, I'll need you all down at the beach on standby in case anything else happens." The rest of the pups nodded and agreed in response.
"Alright! PAW Patrol is on a roll!" Ryder exclaimed as he ran over to the pole that led to his garage. Everyone cheered and howled as Skye and Zuma headed over to the slide. Skye went first and slid down to her pup house, which transformed into her helicopter at the command of her bark. Once she took off, Zuma slid down and jumped into his pup house, which he transformed into his hovercraft. Once they were done, everyone else went and soon they all followed Ryder, who was on his ATV, down to the beach.
Once they reached the waterfront, Ryder put his ATV into hovercraft mode and went out onto the water with Zuma. Skye, in her chopper, flew up to the light to check it out. Once she was close to it, she flew around it and looked to see if there was anything that could possibly be emitting it. After all, a light can't just come from nowhere like that, right? There had to be some kind of source. "How is it up there, Skye?" Ryder's said over his radio, "Do you see anything that could be causing that light to appear?"
"Not really, Ryder," Skye answered, "it's weird, this really does seem to just be coming from nowhere. But, that's impossi- wait, hold on..."
"What is it,Skye?"
"I hear something. It sounds like...yelling. And it sounds like it's coming from the light..?"
"I know this sounds crazy, but do you see anything in there? Like, anything alive?"
"No, I do- WOAH!!" Skye was caught by surprise when she saw six figures fall out of the light.
"What is it Skye!?"
"Six animals just fell out of the light! I'm going to try to save at least one!"
"What!?" She heard both Ryder and Zuma yell over the radio. "Alright, you do that and we'll handle the rest."
"Right!" She flew her helicopter down toward them as fast as she could, hoping she would be able to save at least of them. However, when she finally caught up to them and got a closer look at them, she saw that these were not normal animals. One looked a horse, but it was on fire. One looked like a wolf with rocks sticking out of its neck. And one looked like some weird, small fox with leaves for ears and a tail. What are they? She thought to herself as she continued to try and get closer.
--
They were soon enveloped by a blinding screen of white. Next thing they knew, they were suddenly surrounded by blue, with the wind rushing through their faces.
They were falling.
Their screams rang through the air as they scrambled to assess their situation. Two Pokémon in particular were especially afraid of the water that awaited them below. "(WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!?!)" Screamed Patch. "(WHY RIGHT ABOVE WATER!?!?)"
"(FIRE AND WATER DO NOT MIX!!)" Yelled James. "(HEELLPP!)"
The two Pokémon capable of flight quickly took action to save their friends. Using her Psychic, Maria moved over to Patch and James and quickly grabbed them. "(Martin!)" she called to the bird Pokémon, "(My mind is only strong enough for these two! You'll have to grab the others!)"
"(Right!)" Martin responded, using his great wings to balance himself and fly over to Zoe and Lila. "(Guys! Each of you, grab one of my legs!)" He approached Lila first and positioned himself so that she could grab one of his legs. Once she managed to do so, he moved over to Zoe and was soon carrying them both.
--
Skye was beyond amazed at what she was seeing. She didn't know what kind of animals these were, or if they really even were animals. But, whatever they were, they sure had some incredible powers. She saw as the one who kind of looked like a sea lion magically started floating in the air, then moved and started making the "horse" and "wolf" float as well. Then, she watched as the "bird" grabbed the grassy "fox" and the yellow "dog" and started carrying them like it was nothing. Once they seemed situated in the air, they started hovering for a while.
Admittedly, Skye was a tad nervous to go over and try and interact with them. After all, these were, for lack of a better term, alien creatures who had just fallen out of a weird light in the sky, who appeared to possess great, supernatural powers. She decided to call Ryder. "Ryder, come in!" She said into her radio.
"What is it Skye? What are those animals up there?"
"I don't think they're animals, Ryder! They sure look like them, but also don't. They also have some strange powers. This one that looks like some kind of sea lion is floating magically in the air on its own and also making two of the others float. And there's one that looks like a bird that's carrying two of the others."
"That is weird.Do you want to see if you can talk to them? If you don't want to, you don't have to, if you're nervous about their powers."
Skye thought it over for a moment before making her decision. "No, I'll go. I'll be fine."
"Alright, if you're sure."
"I'm sure. I'll call you once I've spoken to them." Hanging up the call, she made her way over to the creatures who were now slowly moving down towards the water.
--
"(Woo...)," Zoe said as she and everyone else breathed a sigh of relief. "(Is everyone ok)?"
"(Yes)," everyone responded.
"(Alright, good. Now, let's see if we can get to that land over there. But let's try to avoid the town, we don't want to alarm anyone. We don't know where we are)."
"(Right)!" Everyone agreed, and they started slowly heading down. Then, they started to hear something. It sounded like some kind of motor.
"(Uh, guys)?" asked James, "(do you hear that)?"
"(Yeah, it sounds like...)" Maria said as she looked over and saw what appeared to be a small helicopter flying towards them.
"(What...is that a helicopter)?" Lila asked, just barely loud enough to be heard. "(What's that piloting it)?"
"(It looks like a dog)," Zoe said, amazed. "(Like, a real dog - from the books)!" This earned a gasp from everybody.
"(It looks like it's approaching us)," Martin pointed out, "(what do we do, Zoe)?"
"(Don't attack it. The pilot looks young, we don't want to hurt it until we're sure it means harm)." They waited as the helicopter flew towards them. Once it reached them, the pilot called out to them.
"Hey!" Called out the pilot. It was a small, light brown dog wearing a pink jacket, goggles, and pack on her back. "Are you all ok?"
The six Pokémon exchanged looks before Patch spoke. "(She speaks English. How do we respond, Zoe)?"
"(I don't know. None of the books said that these animals could speak human languages)." Zoe then looked over at the dog, who was giving her a confused look, since she wasn't able to understand her Pokémon speech. "(But, I guess if she can, we can)." As soon as she said that, the dog spoke again.
"It's okay if you can't speak, I just need some kind of sign that you're alright!"
Taking a deep breath, Zoe turned to face her once again. "No, we can speak! And we're fine! Who are you?" That sounded a lot less aggressive in my head, she thought to herself.
"Oh, ok, good! I'm Skye of the PAW Patrol! We're a rescue team dedicated to helping anyone in any way we can! Is there anything we can do for you?"
"Well, we would like to know where we are, if you wouldn't mind telling us," Zoe said, hoping they would soon know.
"I can show and tell you!" Skye said in a cheery tone. "Follow me!" She then turned her chopper around and started heading towards the land.
"(Alright, I guess we're following her, then)." With that, the two flyers started moving and carried them along to follow the aircraft. As they flew, Skye gave a brief intro to the town they were approaching.
"This is Adventure Bay! It's a small town on the water, but the name does not fail to describe it! Every day, there's a new adventure for someone to get into!"
"I see..." Zoe said, slightly intrigued. "And you said you're part of a rescue team? How many of you are there?"
"We have a lot of members all over the place, but we're based here in Adventure Bay. The original six of us live here with our founder and owner, Ryder! He's a ten year old human boy, and a technological genius."
"(Wait, did you hear that)?" James asked, his curiosity now piqued. "(Did she say her Tra- err, owner, is a ten year old, and that they're a team of six)?"
"(I know what you're thinking, James)," Patch said, "(but I personally get the feeling Pokémon don't exist here. She may not have outright said it, but I have a feeling that she doesn't even know what we are)."
"(Yeah, you might be right about that. We'll see)."
While they were talking, Skye made a call to Ryder. "Ryder, I managed to talk to them, they can speak. I'm leading them back to the beach right now."
"Copy that, Skye," Ryder said on the other end, "we'll meet you at the waterfront, and we'll see if there's anything we can do for them."
"Alright, see you there!" Skye once again ended the call and continued to lead the six...whatever-they-were's down to the beach.
--
Back down at the beach, Ryder and the remaining pups were waiting patiently. It wasn't too long a wait however, as they soon saw Skye's helicopter flying in, along with six unusual-looking creatures.
"Ryder," asked Rubble, "what are those?"
"I don't know, Rubble," Ryder responded, "but what I do know is that we have to find out how they got here, and if there's anything we can do to help them."
Once Skye landed, she hopped out of her vehicle and ran over to the others. Turning to those behind her who had also landed, she gave another brief introduction. "Everyone, this is the PAW Patrol!"
The first thing the Pokémon noticed was that the whole team was dogs. Thought, they weren't sure what species, as they hadn't studied that far ahead. They also noticed that they were all accompanied by various vehicles, like Skye. They saw what appeared to be an ATV, a police cruiser, a fire truck, a garbage truck, a construction vehicle of sorts, and some kind of boat. Lastly, they saw that each pup was wearing a uniform of some kind.
The pups were amazed at the sight of the creatures that appeared before them. They all sure resembled animals of different kinds, but at the same time they looked...magical, even fantastical. These looked like the kind of creatures that would appear in a fantasy story of some sort. Yet, here they were, right in front of their very eyes.
Ryder was the first to step forward and introduce himself. "Hey everybody, I'm Ryder! I'm the founder and leader of the PAW Patrol. Welcome to Adventure Bay!"
Next to step forward was the largest dog, who had mostly brown fur, which was darker than Skye's. "I'm Chase! I'm a German Shepherd, and the team's police and spy pup!"
Then came a white dog covered in black spots. "I'm Marshall! I'm a Dalmatian, and the firefighter and EMT pup!"
Next was a grey pup. "I'm Rocky! I'm a mixed-breed, and the team's Eco pup!"
After him came a light brown and white pup. "I'm Rubble! I'm a bulldog, and the construction pup!"
Lastly was the pup with the darkest brown fur. "And I'm Zuma! I'm a chocolate lab, and I'm the water rescue pup!"
"And you already know me," said Skye, "but, also I'm a cockapoo, in case you were wondering what breed I am!"
"Pleasure to meet you all," Zoe said, hoping she'd be able to remember all of that. "We're guessing that this is another world, and that we don't exist here, so allow me to give you all a bit of background: back in our world, animals don't like you don't exist, either. At least, not anymore." This earned a gasp from Ryder and the pups.
"Really!?" Zuma asked, slightly disturbed but also curious. "Then, what are you guys? You all sure do look like animals!"
Zoe smiled at Zuma's curiosity. "We are called 'Pokémon.' We are creatures with extraordinary powers. In our world, there are over 1000 known species of us, and there are 18 categories of power, which are called 'Types.' Some Pokémon have one, some have two. Some are strong against others, some aren't. We primarily use our powers in Pokémon Battles, where we face off against one another to decide who is stronger. In our world, there are humans called 'Pokémon Trainers' who raise Pokémon and care for them to be the very best and strongest that they can be."
Everyone was in awe at Zoe's explanation of her world. "That's just the basic rundown. There's so much more to our world than I can feasibly explain in a short amount of time." She then stepped forward and properly introduced herself. "My name is Zoe. I'm a Pokémon known as 'Boltund.' I'm an Electric-Type Pokémon!"
The rest of the Pokémon stepped forward and introduced themselves.
"Hi! I'm James the Rapidash! I'm a Fire-Type!"
"Name's Martin! I'm a Staraptor, and I'm a Normal and Flying-Type!"
"My name is Lila, pleased to meet you! I'm a Leafeon, and I'm a Grass-Type! I'm also what is known as a 'Shiny Pokémon,' which is the rare occurrence of Pokémon having a different color than what you'd usually see! Though, to be honest, I'm really just a darker shade of green than regular Leafeon! Some Shiny Pokémon can have drastic color changes, however!"
"Salutations! I'm Maria, the Primarina! I'm both a Water and Fairy-Type!"
"'Sup, I'm Patch. I'm a Lycanroc, and the variant known as the 'Dusk Form.' I'm a Rock-Type!"
Zoe then stepped forward again to speak. "Unfortunately, our Trainer as well as two of our other friends did not make it here with us." She then turned to her friends and spoke in Pokémon, "(Though, maybe that's a good thing, so they can work on getting us back home from there while we try here)." Everyone nodded and chattered in agreement.
"Well," everyone turned to face Ryder as he began to speak again, "is there anything we can do for you? Do you need a checkup to make sure you're all doing ok?"
"No thanks, I think we're all fine. What say you guys?" Everyone shook their heads.
"It'll take a little more than a drop from out of nowhere to do us in," Martin said, "right guys?"
"Speak for yourself, Martin," Patch said sarcastically. Lila looked up at him and smiled.
"(You know he's just trying to get on your nerves, right)?" She said, raising an eye at him.
"(U-uh, yeah...r-right...)"
"Well, if you guys need a place to stay," Ryder began to offer, "you can stay the night with us at our base, the Lookout." He then pointed to the tower on the other side of the bridge.
"Woooaaahhhh..." all the Pokémon said, amazed that such an awesome-looking place belonged to a ten-year-old boy and his pups.
"Yeah!" Said Chase enthusiastically, "we'd love to get to know more about you guys and where you come from!"
"Yeah!" All of the other pups cheered, supporting the idea.
"A-are you sure?" Zoe asked, trying to be polite. "W-we really don't wanna-"
"Don't worry about it," said Ryder, "it's not a problem at all, trust me."
"W-well, alright, if you insist."
"(Zoe, wait)," James said to her, "(are you sure this is a good offer? What of they try to catch us or-)?"
"(James, if they try anything funny, they won't get far. They don't know what we're capable of)."
"(Yeah, but...we don't know what they're capable of, either)."
"(That's true...tell you what? You keep an extra sharp eye out for things, and you let me know if anything there seems off to you. That sound good)?"
"(Yeah, I can do that)."
"(Excellent)!" She then turned back to Ryder. "We accept your offer. Thank you, very much."
"Of course! Now, let's head home, everyone."
Everyone got into their vehicles, and Marshall threw the volleyball into his truck so that they wouldn't forget it again.
As the engines in all of the vehicles started, the Pokémon got ready to run and fly. Except for Lila, who wasn't as fast as everyone else, so Primarina agreed to carry her with her Psychic.
"Alright, let's go!" Ryder called out as everyone started moving.
As they followed the team to their base, Zoe couldn't help but question once again why she and her friends were here. What was it about that ring that sent them here? Only time will tell, I guess...hopefully.